Improving Editable Widgets UI

[PeterKnight]

I've bumped into a few limitations while making my widget plugin as compatible with FEE as I can.

Right now when editing a widget, the widget disappears as FEE grabs the settings, clicking save then removes the settings window and refreshes the content. Why not make it like a live preview and have the settings appear in a popup floating next to the widget?

Another reason to implement a better popup for widget settings is to avoid style conflicts. A theme's css can screw with the layout of the settings and if a widget is relying on admin styles, they won't be loaded.

When there are multiple editable fields in close proximity, it's harder for the user to reliably hover to pull up the right edit button. (example #1: A widget that displays a post excerpt, example #2 a views query generated by wp-views that shows multiple posts inside a post).

A possible solution I would propose is to make the edit text dynamic, so, for instance, instead of it saying 'Edit' it will say 'Edit widget settings', or 'Edit Title'. If there are multiple fields in close proximity, maybe it could show multiple edit buttons, so a user doesn't have to get the mouse over the exact spot.

This particular issue can be solved by using manual button placements, but I couldn't get those to work for widgets (and the Wiki mentions using them for posts with no mention of widgets, so I figured it's not supported).

The UI is definitely a tricky thing. I wonder if an ON/OFF mode as toggled by a button in the admin bar might offer an alternative. With the mode on, it could be possible to add more highlighting of editable elements, or enabling single-click/touch event editing (when the mode is OFF, clicking on the page would behave like normal and highlighting would be deactivated). Food for thought!