Last updated June 23, 2021

Extends #24551, preliminary for milestone 7
This is an overview issue that we'll maintain going forward into the 5.8 milestone. It attempts to track discussions and resulting actions about the Widgets Editor.

This overview tries not to track bugs of the Widgets Editor, for that you should filter open issues using the labels [Feature] Widgets Screen and [Type]Bug.

🏷 Important to do before 5.8 RC 1

Blockers for launching the Widgets Editor in WP 5.8

Widgets Screen

• Unable to add widgets after Opting out of the Widgets Block Editor in WordPress 5.8-Beta2 Core-53479
• wp.editor.initialize is not a function notice Core-53437
  This bug prevents legacy widgets such as Text from working which is a blocker. Has a (hacky) patch.
• remove_theme_support doesn’t restore back to classic widgets editor Core-53424
  This bug prevents themes from opting out of the block editor which is a blocker. Has a patch.
• Widget preivew not working if widget registered via a instance Core-53427
  This bug prevents widgets in LegacyWidget block to render properly. Has patch from @spacedmonkey.
• Blocks that use entities are not saved in the widget editors #32756
  This bug prevents FSE blocks from working properly.

Blockers for making the Widgets Editor opt-out in WP 5.8

Backwards compatibility

• Bundled Themes: Minor styling issues with blocks in widget areas Core-53422 Some of our bundled themes don’t play nicely with the default blocks that you see in a new WordPress install. Needs an assignee.

Widget screen

• Latest Posts and Latest Comments blocks don’t look great when editor styles are disabled #32718
  This bug means that two of the default blocks you see in a new WordPress install look broken in the widgets screen and customizer. Needs an assignee.
• Add editor styles to the widgets block editor Core-53344
  This is an alternative to the above. It’s more work and so perhaps not feasible for 5.8 but provides quite a nice UX as it makes widgets more WYSIWYG. @tellthemachines is looking into it.

🏷 Regular priority

Widgets in Customizer

The widgets editor in the Customizer should have a smooth user experience and be enabled by default.

• Implement undo/redo #30400
• Some legacy widgets don't fit in the customizer block editor #31194
• Design exploration. #26900
• Use temporary fix to make blocks appear in the Customizer #29283
  • Make the block editor talk to the Customizer API #29284
  • Implement slide-out inserter #29285
  • Implement block inspector panel #29286 #30271 #30431
• Ensure compatibility with customizer hooks and filters #25417
• Update Customizer to use Legacy Widget block instead of outputting JSON #30265
• Add some basic e2e tests #30269
• Remove temporary __unstable_instance hack #30266

Legacy Widget

• #33462
• Add support for widgets with attributes that can't be serialised into JSON #28902
• Remove deprecated properties #30267
• Some widgets don't load all the scripts they need #22765
• Unable to save edits to existing widgets #27747
• Improved interaction with legacy widgets #26179 #28671 #25960
• Enable conversion and transforms to blocks #25100 #30919
• General stability #26236 #26469 #28672 #28995 #26474

Feature parity with the classic widgets screen

• Provide ability to Clear Inactive Widgets #26232 #28267
• Adding widgets to widget areas
• Customizing widgets
• Move widgets between widget areas #27409 #24328
• Shortcode block not working in Widgets screen #27793
• Provide 'Manage with Live Preview' #26244

Widgets editor

• We need a backward compatibility audit #28673
• Content added in blocks are removed if you deactivate Gutenberg #26217
• General parity #26245 #25945
• Fallbacks and Default widgets #26298
• Problems keyboarding through the areas #25880 #25877 #28267
• Mirror block editing experience #26297 #26230 #26177 #28123 #27564
• Custom block styles are not available #25808
• Improve widget discovery and recognition #25959 #26222
• Render widgets in the editor with the same style as in the theme #26163 #26181
• Allow inserting block patterns #26170
• General stability #25406 #26153 #26072 #26152 #26156 #26261
• Hello Dolly plugin causes screen breakage #26219 🏆

Block support in widget areas

• Previewing blocks and widget areas #26468
• General stability #26073 #26221 #26240 #26465 #25910
• Provide an API to prevent certain blocks being shown in Widget Areas #28517
• Adding blocks to widget areas

REST API

• General stability #26303 #28561 #25982 #26252 #26186
• Test sidebars API based on capabilities, not roles #24902
• Modify __experimentalBatch to respect batch size limit #28709
• Use sidebars REST API endpoint. #24530