Change "Publish" to "Publish Date"

[deborah86]

What problem does this address?

The word "Publish" is not descriptive as to what the option modifies. It should give the user a clear indication of what will be changed or modified.

What is your proposed solution?

My solution is to change the option from "Publish" to "Publish Date".

[kristastevens]

Hi @deborah86, it's super helpful to have screenshots and any additional context / insight that can help clearly convey the scope of the problem. In this case, we'd need some definitive data from users that verifies that "Publish" on its own is unclear to feel confident in making this change.

[deborah86]

I am a user and I am telling you it is unclear. Someone brand new to WordPress is not going to know that it is an option because there is no clear indication that it is an option that can be changed. Also, it is unclear if the option refers to the publish date. When a singular word is usually used on a button it indicates an action.

Publish on its own means when you interact with the option you are going to Publish the piece of content. It is a verb and action expression.

If it read Publish Date it is clear to the user, they are modifying the Publish Date. Publish Date means the user is taking action on the Publish Date.

The text doesn't have to be changed to Publish Date but it should be changed to something that indicates to the user they are changing an option rather than performing an action.

For example, when you look at the UI for this GitHub page all the actions a user can take are verbs not nouns.

[deborah86]

I also wanted to add the term Publish is already used for when the user wants to Publish the document. Having used twice for two different settings is confusing to the user.

[afercia]

As I mentioned on the associated PR #68437 I have the impression we're all trying to cure the symptom rather than the real cause. The post summary panel two columns layout isn't ideal for long labels in the first place. Instead of trying to shorten the content and make it 'fit' in the design, we should acknowledge the design doesn't solve a functional problem in the first place.

The 'publish date and time' setting is, in a way, special as it needs to communicate as clearly as possible complex concepts like 'publish now', or publish to a past date, or schedule etc.

Personally, I also think this setting should pe more prominent and separated from the other post properties. After the post summary redesign that moved the featured image UI at the top, there have been reports from users that they would liek to have the publish date and status settings at the top instead. Not sure I can find the references to these reports now, maybe @annezazu may remember more.

For context and history, I would like to remind that on Classic WordPress this string is dynamic and changes depending on the date and tatus of the post. Se ein the screenshot below:

• Publish
• Schedule for:
• Scheduled for:
• Publish on:
• Published on:

Instead, the string in Gutenberg only optimizes for the default case 'Immediately'. I'm not saying the classic dynamic label is the best option though. To me, the discussion on this issue and the PR #68437 proves this setting would need some special treatment and it's different from all the other settings in the post summary panel. I would like to see new design to explore a new UI for this settings, in a more prominent position before the featured image and with enough room to allow for clear, meaningful labels.

Cc @WordPress/gutenberg-design