5 Comments

  1. Post Formats is a great feature! We build themes with heavy orientation on post formats and we use ACF with conditional logic. I support the idea of redesign the formats UI though.

  2. I 100% agree we should revisit Post Formats in general. The way they are implemented now is problematic. However, there are valid reasons why the Post Formats UI was scrapped, mainly that end-users found the design and functionality profoundly confusing. We did some independent user testing and had UX experts look at it. The resounding response was “this is neither communicative nor functional.”

    The issue with Post Formats goes further back than the UI: The formats themselves are somewhat arbitrary (how often have you felt a burning desire to post a “chat” post?), and their implementation in the UI was a clear attempt to compete with Tumblr – a then competitor to WordPress.com. I think if we are to move forward with this project, we first have to go back and look at the idea of Post Formats – what are they, who and what are they for, and what do they do – before we restart the UI process (which is at the very end of the chain). Here are three main issues I think need to be part of that discussion:

    1. The purpose and functionality of Post Formats
    Right now, Post Formats is a rigid list of somewhat arbitrary types, many of which seem irrelevant to most users, some of which have ambiguous definitions (in particular, the Image format). We should revisit the list, find out what types of formats are needed to serve the end-user, and exactly what these formats should do so they behave consistently across all sites where they are used. In short, we need different formats, and firm and unambiguous definitions of what each of the formats should do and how they are implemented in themes. In that process, we also should have a conversation about whether Post Formats should be extensible. Right now, they are not. What were the reasons for this? Have those reasons changed? Should they be? What would that mean for implementation and support?

    2. Post Formats theme support as progressive enhancement
    One of the major UX issues with Post Formats UI (apart from the actual UI, which had serious problems) was the fallback functionality. When a theme did not support Post Formats, added field data like videos, images, etc, was appended at the bottom of the post. This is what’s called “unexpected behavior” that causes confusion for the end user, and it is also a problematic implementation in terms of content hierarchy as one would assume specifically featured content like images, video, etc would be at the top of the priority list. I think this particular problem arose because the lack of Post Format support in themes was treated as a graceful degradation issue: When they are not supported, WordPress gracefully degrades by placing the content on the bottom of the post. Moving forward, I would urge Post Formats implementation to be a first level citizen in WordPress core, with standardized implementation regardless of theme support. Advanced theme support should be a progressive enhancement to extend and improve that functionality. This, combined with clear and unambiguous guidelines for implementation, will ensure consistent behavior across themes.

    3. Extensive end-user testing and consultation with UX experts on implementation
    The final nail in the original Post Formats UI experiment was user testing. The implementation was confusing, communicated its intentions badly, and broke a long list of UX and UI conventions. Furthermore there was not enough user testing during the build process – something that may have solved the problems before they became big enough to warrant the removal of the entire project. Moving forward with this project would require extensive outreach and testing with the end-user of WordPress – the people who use WP every day but don’t participate in forums, dev chats, events, and so on. They are the ones who would use the formats the most and be most impacted by their inclusion. In that process we should also consult with UX experts to ensure the implementation is in line with modern standards. This extension of WordPress’ UI and functionality is non-trivial and requires a significant shift in the mental model of the people who use WordPress. For it to be successful we need a solid foundation of understanding of these people; how they understand the concept of a “post” and what a “post format” should do, what their expectations are for this feature in terms of behavior and display, and how they would implement such a feature in their process.

    So, by all means, let’s press the Reset button. But let’s reset all the way back so we provide a tool that works for the people who use WordPress, not just a tool that brings us up to competitive parity with a service we are not competing with.

  3. I may not have a burning desire to use the chat post format, but I use the status post format extensively as part of backing up and displaying my tweets on my own site. Own your own data FTW. I also use the link post format extensively as part of an internal application that allows me to have an instapaper-like experience, since standard Instapaper, Pocket, ETC., are inaccessible, and I need something to act as a catch-all for notes/links when a plain text editor won’t do. Because post formats exist, I didn’t need to create a custom post type to hold this data.

  4. Agreed with all that. I’ve always had post formats in the back of my head.

    One of the reasons is that some themes do use it. Some themes use it really well (front-end wise), but the back-end part sucks really, really hard.

    I actually have a site for which I’m locked with the current theme because of post formats. I change the theme, I end up with my format-specific content unusable, hidden in arbitrary post meta.

    Also, as I said above, some themes really shine with post formats. Posting a simple video or a photo gallery can look absolutely gorgeous. Something that can’t be done with one “do it all” format.

    I’d be very much interested in working with post formats.

  5. A small set of standard post formats (with accompanying UI) along with the ability to create your own format (and accompanying UI) would be ideal, in my opinion.

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