Footer: Revisit footer links and categorize

[jasmussen]

From WordPress/wporg-main-2022#221

There’s a discrepancy between the top nav instances and the footer ones. It’s ok to have more footer but they are also grouped differently wich doesn’t help with a mental map.

The top navigation includes, at the moment, these links:

The footer includes these:

A few things going on:

• There's overlap between many items, especially in the first three columns.
• The last two columns are external links, some of them (WordCamp, WordPress.TV) are also present in the top header, others are not.
• There's a mix of internal and external links — most external in the last two columns, but "Swag" in the first column is also an external link.
• Many of these item are shown in an flat, uncategorized structure, whereas the top level navigation categorizes in Extend, community, About, etc.
• Some links are present in the main navigation (such as Get WordPress) but are not in the footer. See also Navigation: Rephrase a few items, reconsider sorting #360.
• External links are not denoted with a timid symbol (such as ↗).
• Some things are phrased differently, i.e. "Swag" instead of "WordPress Swag Store", "Community" is called "Get Involved".

Keeping in mind that there's a historical context to the addition of some of these links, it would be good to do a pass at the content here, perhaps especially the first three columns as they refer to the main navigation, and decide which to keep, which to omit, or which to add, as well as decide whether the external link indicator is useful here. As part of this pass, it would be good to either surface this categorization in the footer, or at least try to map them closer to the top nav system.

[jasmussen]

CC: @thetinyl and @fcoveram, in case you have input or this affects the sitemap.

[coffee2code]

Prologue

There are four main categories in the top nav: Extend, Learn, Community, About.
The footer is essentially: About, Learn, Extend, Related Projects, External/Misc.

Assuming the footer maintains 5 columns, and that the 5th column (which consists of links unique to the footer) is retained, then everything mostly lines up except that the Related Projects footer column replaces a would-be Community column. Therefore, the Community links get reorganized into the existing columns as appropriate. More details below.

Existing footer

Here's my take on how the footer is currently organized:

• Column 1: Project/site-specific information
• Column 2: Documentation & learning resources (includes learning how to get involved)
• Column 3: Resources that can extend WP/be downloaded (plugins, themes, patterns, and eventually photos). Showcase is admittedly an outlier here and fits better in column 1 (which would make it consistent with its top nav placement.)
• Column 4: Sibling projects, maintained under the umbrella of WordPress.org but fairly standalone and on separate domains
• Column 5: External links. "Privacy" is an outlier here, again more appropriate for column 1 given the existing implied categorization.

As compared to the top nav, there is also the added desire to keep the footer columns relatively equal in height/quantity for aesthetics. The recently added "Swag" link creates 5 items in column 1 versus the 4 items in the other columns, but that addition was required. See #134/#319 for a proposal to even out the columns by adding links that should be present (Mobile, Photos, Openverse, Job Board).

Regarding issues raised by OP

• There's overlap between many items, especially in the first three columns.

I'm unsure of the intent behind this statement. Is this meant to imply that there shouldn't be overlap between links found in the top nav and the footer? Or that there needs to be full overlap?

• The last two columns are external links, some of them (WordCamp, WordPress.TV) are also present in the top header, others are not.

I don't think the omitted links in the 4th column (BuddyPress, bbPress) justify inclusion in the top nav as they would only dilute focus for the more likely needs that the top nav should try to address.

• There's a mix of internal and external links — most external in the last two columns, but "Swag" in the first column is also an external link.

The implied categorization does make it so that columns 4 and 5 are all external links. "Privacy" is the only exception and may be better suited for column 1.

As well, "Swag" could be moved to one of the last two columns. However, in the top nav "WordPress Swag Store" is in the "About" section, equivalent to footer column 1 as it is placed now.

• Some links are present in the main navigation (such as Get WordPress) but are not in the footer. See also Navigation: Rephrase a few items, reconsider sorting #360

I think it's fine that the top nav has more links than the footer. The top nav can accommodate more links. A "Get WordPress" footer link wouldn't be amiss.

As for the other links from the top nav not included in the footer:

• "Mobile" : In Footer: Add links to Mobile, Photos, Openverse, and Job Board #319, this is proposed to be added to column 2. Could maybe go in column 1 or 5 if other links are also added.
• "Photo Directory": In Footer: Add links to Mobile, Photos, Openverse, and Job Board #319, this is proposed to be added to column 3.
• "Openverse": In Footer: Add links to Mobile, Photos, Openverse, and Job Board #319, this is proposed to be added to column 4. Could go in column 3 if other links are also added, despite being on a separate domain.
• "Job Board": In Footer: Add links to Mobile, Photos, Openverse, and Job Board #319, this is proposed to added to column 5. Could go in column 4 if other links are also added.
• "Forums": Maybe column 2?
• "Five for the Future": Would represent the longest entry and be the one most likely to wrap depending on viewport width. Maybe column 2?
• "Gutenberg": Maybe column 3?
• "Enterprise": This would likely be a column 1 entry, if it warrants adding.

• External links are not denoted with a timid symbol (such as ↗).

Adding the indicator seems reasonable, but what is considered external? And should the same be done for the top nav links?

Just to be clear, these are all technically external sites (not having wordpress.org in their domain): Openverse, WordPress.tv, WordCamp, Meetups, Job Board.

Sites that are subdomains of wordpress.org are: Swag Store, Learn, and Developer (though the Swag Store is much more external than the other two, separate in just about all but domain). If Swag Store is considered external (as OP does), are the other two as well?

Unless we intend for external to mean "not managed by WordPress.org". In which case, only these footer links would apply: WordPress.com, Matt, Public Code, and Meetups (if added).

• Some things are phrased differently, i.e. "Swag" instead of "WordPress Swag Store", "Community" is called "Get Involved".

For consistency, we should probably use "Swag Store" -- it's still short, clarifies it links to a store, omits the implied "WordPress", and is less likely than the full three word phrase to wrap.

And I think it's more accurate to say "Get Involved" is called "Make WordPress" in the top nav, which won't mean much for those who aren't already familiar. "Make WordPress" should be renamed "Get Involved". "Community" seems appropriate as a top-level menu option for community-related links, but changing that to "Get Involved" as well would be reasonable. Changing the footer link text to either "Community" (too imprecise for the singular location it is referring to) or "Make WordPress" (too vague for the uninitiated) wouldn't be for the better.

Epilogue

I'm going to cross-post some thoughts to #360, since which overlaps with some of what I said above.

[coffee2code]

• External links are not denoted with a timid symbol (such as ↗).

Adding the indicator seems reasonable, but what is considered external? And should the same be done for the top nav links?

See #359 for denoting external links in the top navigation menu, which should be mirrored in the footer.

The current proposal there is for external to mean sites that do not make use of the global WP.org header, which is a reasonable way to go about it.

[jasmussen]

I'm unsure of the intent behind this statement. Is this meant to imply that there shouldn't be overlap between links found in the top nav and the footer? Or that there needs to be full overlap?

Opening that for discussion and input, moreso than dictating. I'm personally assuming there's a great deal of context for the existing links, that I don't want to accidentally regress with uninformed suggestions. But the disconnect at the moment does feel like it could be improved.

Adding the indicator seems reasonable, but what is considered external? And should the same be done for the top nav links?

I created a lot of issues yesterday as I was focusing on this, and I should've included here a link to #359, but I see that you found it. Sorry for the omission here.

I realize that isn't a truly clear delineation, and it can quickly get a little semantic — does a subdomain count as internal? Would anything hosted on wordpress.net count as internal? What if it had the same global header as wp.org?

So to expand a bit on the main motivation, it's easiest to discuss this submenu:

As is, the 1st, 4th, and 6th link maintain the global wp.org header, all the others do not, and when those links are grouped together in a single dropdown, navigating those items in sequence becomes a jarring experience.

Whether we actually need this same visual denomination of "external" links in the footer, I've no strong opinion — maybe it's enough that external links are categorized in a single column together (with Privacy, to your point, being worth then moving perhaps).