Editor: Improve Classic Editor status dropdown layout by poligilad-auto · Pull Request #12304 · WordPress/wordpress-develop

poligilad-auto · 2026-06-24T13:02:01Z

Summary

Keeps the Classic Editor publish box Status control as the legacy select#post_status to preserve existing extensibility contracts.
Makes the Status dropdown full width in the publish box and moves OK/Cancel below it with CSS only.
Removes the earlier radio-button and markup-wrapper approach after the extensibility audit showed plugins and Core scripts depend on the existing select contract.

This is scoped to the Status control layout only. Visibility UI changes are intentionally not included here.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65532

Testing

vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=phpcs.xml.dist src/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
npx grunt postcss:core
npm run build:dev
git diff --check
curl -I --max-time 10 http://localhost:18089
Playwright verification on http://localhost:18089/wp-admin/post-new.php confirmed Classic Editor, select#post_status, no fieldset#post_status, no additional OK/Cancel wrapper, full-width dropdown, and OK/Cancel below the dropdown.

github-actions · 2026-06-24T13:02:10Z

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github-actions · 2026-06-24T13:02:11Z

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props poligilad, joedolson, tyxla, fcoveram.

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github-actions · 2026-06-24T13:06:56Z

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poligilad-auto · 2026-06-25T12:00:50Z

I changed the direction of this PR after doing an extensibility audit of the Classic Editor Status control.

The original version replaced the legacy select#post_status with a radio group. That preserves the submitted post_status values for Core’s own statuses, but it does not preserve the practical DOM contract that Classic Editor integrations rely on.

The audit found real plugin code that depends on select#post_status as an implicit extension point:

GeoDirectory appends custom status <option> elements and reads the selected option to update the Save button text.
AnsPress appends moderate and private_post options to select#post_status.
WPAdverts appends/selects an expired option and changes submit behavior based on the selected option.
BEA Post Status Admin appends custom statuses to the dropdown.
PublishPress Statuses reads and manipulates #post_status as a select throughout its Classic Editor integration.
WordCamp CampTix Invoices appends refunded and cancelled options to select#post_status.

Core also still has assumptions around #post_status behaving like a select, for example in local autosave status handling.

Given that, this PR no longer changes the control type. It now keeps the existing dropdown and limits the change to safer layout improvements:

keep select name="post_status" id="post_status" intact;
make the dropdown full width in the publish box;
move OK/Cancel below the dropdown for spacing consistency;
add a regression test that protects the legacy select markup contract.

That makes this a smaller visual improvement while avoiding the compatibility break from removing select#post_status.

tyxla

I'm on board with this one - thanks 👍

FWIW there's a bit of cleanup we can do. The tests don't seem useful, and the markup change looks unnecessary.

Lastly, cc @WordPress/gutenberg-design how do we feel about this change?

tyxla · 2026-06-26T14:37:32Z

 					</select>
-					<a href="#post_status" class="save-post-status hide-if-no-js button"><?php _e( 'OK' ); ?></a>
-					<a href="#post_status" class="cancel-post-status hide-if-no-js button-cancel"><?php _e( 'Cancel' ); ?></a>
+					<p class="post-status-actions">


Can we achieve the margin effect without changing the markup?

Yes, agreed. I removed the additional wrapper and kept the original OK/Cancel markup in place. The spacing is now handled with CSS only by making #post-status-select select display as block with bottom margin.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T14:37:47Z

+/**
+ * @group admin
+ */
+class Tests_Admin_IncludesMetaBoxes extends WP_UnitTestCase {


The tests are irrelevant and can be deleted

Agreed. I removed the test file since this PR is now limited to a CSS layout adjustment and no longer changes the rendered status control contract.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T14:53:45Z

+#post-status-select select {
+	max-width: 100%;
+	width: 100%;
+}


I agree with this change since that way the buttons don't really shift depending on the width of the selected value. This is even more relevant on languages where those strings are longer.

But it seems like max-width is not necessary?

Suggested change

#post-status-select select {

max-width: 100%;

width: 100%;

}

#post-status-select select {

width: 100%;

}

Good point. I removed max-width. I kept display: block and margin-bottom so the OK/Cancel controls sit below the full-width select without requiring a markup wrapper.

poligilad-auto · 2026-06-29T07:20:21Z

Thanks for the review @tyxla!

I updated the PR to keep this as a smaller compatibility-preserving layout change:

removed the added OK/Cancel wrapper markup,
deleted the markup regression test,
simplified the CSS by removing max-width,
kept the existing select#post_status contract intact.

The remaining change is CSS-only for the Status dropdown layout: the select is full width, and the OK/Cancel controls sit below it.

tyxla

Thanks for working on it @poligilad-auto.

I agree with the proposed change - making the status dropdown full-width makes the buttons more predictable and less prone to changes, which is especially valid on some languages with longer translations of those statuses.

However, there are still a few rough edges here, it seems. Worth testing thoroughly on all device sizes too.

tyxla · 2026-06-30T11:14:57Z

+#post-status-select select {
+	display: block;
+	margin-bottom: 0.7em;
+	width: 100%;
+}


Now that the dropdown is full-width, the "Cancel" button doesn't seem vertically aligned with the "OK" button:

Adjusted. The Status OK/Cancel controls now get a scoped vertical-align: middle rule so the two actions align without changing the existing markup.

tyxla · 2026-06-30T11:16:29Z

 	margin-top: 3px;
 }

+#post-status-select select {


Also it seems like on mobile we have a media query that adds left margin to the OK button, that seems off:

Adjusted. The existing mobile rule for .save-post-status.button was adding an asymmetric offset that made sense for the previous inline layout, but looked off once the select became full-width. Status now shares the same mobile spacing as Visibility/Timestamp for the OK action, while clearing the old left offset.

tyxla · 2026-06-30T11:18:20Z


+#post-status-select select {
+	display: block;
+	margin-bottom: 0.7em;


How did we pick the 0.7em value? Doesn't seem consistent with anything else.

Good point. I replaced 0.7em with 8px so this is no longer an arbitrary visual value.

tyxla · 2026-06-30T11:18:25Z

 	font-weight: 600;
 }

+#post-status-select,


Why is that necessary?

It wasn’t necessary. I removed #post-status-select from that shared selector and kept the change limited to the select and action controls that need it.

poligilad-auto · 2026-06-30T12:55:21Z

Thanks again for the review @tyxla!

I pushed a small CSS-only follow-up that keeps the markup unchanged while tightening the responsive spacing.
I also checked the layout at 480px and 720px; Status and Visibility now have matching OK/Cancel spacing.

fcoveram · 2026-06-30T14:14:11Z

I don't see any concern. Although the layout is complex, the change is consistent with the radio list in Visibility field.

github-actions · 2026-06-30T22:04:14Z

A commit was made that fixes the Trac ticket referenced in the description of this pull request.

SVN changeset: 62606
GitHub commit: 7d0ff79

This PR will be closed, but please confirm the accuracy of this and reopen if there is more work to be done.

Editor: Use radio buttons for Classic Editor status

0b6e1b7

Editor: Preserve Classic Editor status select

177b308

poligilad-auto changed the title ~~Editor: Use radio buttons for Classic Editor status~~ Editor: Improve Classic Editor status dropdown layout Jun 25, 2026

tyxla reviewed Jun 26, 2026

View reviewed changes

Editor: Simplify status dropdown layout changes

d896c43

tyxla requested changes Jun 30, 2026

View reviewed changes

tyxla requested a review from joedolson June 30, 2026 11:21

Editor: Refine status dropdown action spacing

669c2a6

Merge branch 'trunk' into pr/12304

39f2704

joedolson approved these changes Jun 30, 2026

View reviewed changes

github-actions Bot closed this Jun 30, 2026

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Test using WordPress Playground

Some things to be aware of

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 25, 2026

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 29, 2026

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 30, 2026

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 24, 2026 •

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