Plugin Selection / Section by Required / Recommended about merlinwp HOT 18 CLOSED

Hi,

I've just pushed the functionality for selectable plugins in this branch: add-plugin-selection.

The plugin list is now split into two sections (required and recommended plugins) and the user can select which plugins to install. Currently it looks like this:

I would really like to get some feedback from you @richtabor (functionality and UX/design), so I know, if it's good enough, so we can then merge it and create a new release for others to test it out.

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I'd say all of the plugins should be de-selectable — even "required" plugins.

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@richtabor If you make the required plugins deselectable from my experience it ends up in more support because people literally don't get it, that they're 100% required for the theme to work. So they'll deselect it maybe on purpose or by sheer ignorance and then hit me up with "Why isn't this working, blah, blah, blah?", etc…

I do get what you're saying about the "Advanced", but I like "Select Plugins" think that works well.

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@contempoinc I see your point, but I still think the decision should ultimately be up to the user of the theme and that it shouldn't be forced upon them.

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Thanks @capuderg. I like that the required plugins will be positioned at the top. 👍

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Looking forward to this update!

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Good idea! Maybe something like how the content importer works, where you check each one on or off. 👍

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@richtabor the PR is ready for your review.

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Any updates on this one?

from merlinwp.

We have it on the todo list, but I can't give you any specific dates as to when this will be added.

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Hey @capuderg, instead of splitting them out, what do you think about using a badge to signify the required plugins?

Like this:

My thoughts:

1. By using a badge to signify required plugins, if there are no "required" plugins, there is no difference in the UI.
2. Plugins that are listed are obviously recommended (as they are included here in the first place) so we don't need to state that recommend.
3. The less UI, the better (especially for a first-touch experience like wizards).

What do you think?

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The idea behind the word "Advanced" there, is that turning on/off plugins is an advanced setting, apart from what the theme developer selected as a default setup. Does that make sense?

I don't know what else would convey that properly, maybe "Select Plugins". 🤔

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I agree with @richtabor on the plugin selection. The final decision should be up to the user.

As for not splitting them into two categories -> I see your point of "recommended" being unnecessary and I like the badge idea, but I'm not sure "req" will be enough for a WP newbie to know, what it means. Having the full word "required" in the badge, might be to much.

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@capuderg Maybe make it also have a tooltip, if the user were to hover over it? It could say "Required Plugin", or something. I agree - the word "required" may not fit right, unless it was even smaller than it currently is.

Would you be able to remove the split functionality and implement the badge? Then I could go in and explore the UI with the badge to see what works best in real time.

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@richtabor yeah sure. I'll try to push this change in a few minutes.

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@richtabor I've pushed the changes, but they were very little ones. I've just removed the titles and added the "req" badge (span with a class).

I still left the ordering of required plugins on top of the list. But if that is something we don't need, I can remove that as well.

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