Administration: Add box reordering toggle to Screen Options. by poligilad-auto · Pull Request #12180 · WordPress/wordpress-develop

poligilad-auto · 2026-06-15T12:13:09Z

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50699

Summary

Adds a Screen Options setting for enabling or disabling box reordering.
Stores the setting as one global per-user preference, while keeping box reordering enabled by default for discoverability and backwards compatibility.
Disables drag-and-drop sorting and hides move controls/drop zones when reordering is disabled.
Updates the Screen Options copy so “Screen elements” focuses on showing, hiding, expanding, and collapsing boxes.
Places the new “Enable box reordering” checkbox under “Additional settings” so the UI stays compact across Dashboard, Classic Editor, and plugin screens using meta boxes.

Context

This follows the later direction discussed in #50699: adding a Screen Options control that can enable/disable meta box moving globally, while keeping reordering enabled by default.

A related ticket, #65463, was closed so the discussion can continue on #50699.

The dashboard meta box visual refinements have been split into a separate PR: #12339

Testing

npm run test:php -- --filter Tests_Admin_IncludesScreen
npm run test:php -- --group ajax --filter Tests_Ajax_wpAjaxMetaBoxReordering
node --check src/js/_enqueues/admin/postbox.js && node --check src/js/_enqueues/admin/common.js
git diff --check

github-actions · 2026-06-15T12:13:21Z

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github-actions · 2026-06-15T12:13:27Z

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, tyxla.

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github-actions · 2026-06-15T12:17:40Z

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tyxla

Thanks for the work here @poligilad-auto!

I believe this can be simplified a bit in a few places:

The filters seem unnecessary for a first pass
The per-user + per-screen granularity of the new toggle seems like too much and more likely to add more work to users to toggle it everywhere; I'd rather be fine with one global one per user to start with.
There are some unrelated CSS changes that can be proposed and landed separately.

Also I have a few concistency concerns:

We mix positive with negative logic and it makes things difficult to read and reason about
We use different naming schemes of the same concept, would make sense to use a single one to make it clearer that the different pieces are from the same feature

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:37:07Z

 				postboxWithinSortablesIndex = postboxesWithinSortables.index( postbox ),
 				firstOrLastPositionMessage;

+			if ( false === postboxes.reorderingEnabled ) {


I see in some places the logic is positive (reordering enabled) in some it's negative (reordering disabled). Would make sense to be consistent there.

Standardized this around a positive metaBoxReorderingEnabled state in JS and meta_box_reordering for the stored option. The disabled body class remains as the UI/CSS hook.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:38:26Z

+	if ( null === $screen ) {
+		$screen = get_current_screen();
+	} elseif ( is_string( $screen ) ) {
+		$screen = convert_to_screen( $screen );
+	}
+
+	if ( ! $screen instanceof WP_Screen ) {
+		return true;
+	}


This function seems to be doing too much. Why does it care about the screen if this is stored in a user option?

Simplified this. The helper now reads the global per-user meta_box_reordering option and no longer accepts or inspects the screen.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:41:14Z

+	 * @param bool      $enabled Whether meta box reordering is enabled.
+	 * @param WP_Screen $screen  WP_Screen object of the current screen.
+	 */
+	return (bool) apply_filters( 'meta_box_reordering_enabled', $enabled, $screen );


I believe the filter is unnecessary for a first pass. If someone really needs to filter this, they could use the get_user_option_metaboxreorder_{$screen->id} filter

Removed this filter. With the setting now stored as meta_box_reordering, the existing get_user_option_meta_box_reordering path can cover filtering if that is needed later.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:43:49Z

+		return true;
+	}
+
+	$setting = get_user_option( "metaboxreorder_{$screen->id}" );


One thing about our "per-user and per-screen" approach here: it could be tedious and might not serve all use cases. A user who wants reordering off must toggle it separately on the dashboard, every post-type edit screen, nav-menus, etc. There's no site-wide or "everywhere" option.

Changed this to one global per-user option. Disabling reordering now applies consistently across screens that use meta boxes.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:44:25Z

+		 * @param bool      $show_reorder_option Whether to show the option.
+		 * @param WP_Screen $screen              WP_Screen object.
+		 */
+		return (bool) apply_filters( 'screen_options_show_meta_box_reorder', $show_reorder_option, $this );


Why do we need this filter?

Removed this filter as well. The control is now shown when the current screen has meta boxes.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:45:31Z

 	}
 }

+.js.metabox-reordering-disabled #dashboard-widgets .postbox-container .empty-container {


This PR introduces every spelling of the concept at once: meta key metaboxreorder_, body classes metabox-reordering-*, action/input meta-box-reorder, class meta-box-reorder-tog, function wp_is_meta_box_reordering_enabled, JS prop reorderingEnabled. It's hard to grep and read. We might want to standardize.

Standardized naming across PHP, JS, CSS, AJAX, and tests around meta_box_reordering / meta-box-reordering.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:48:06Z

 }

 #dashboard-widgets .postbox-container .empty-container {
-	outline: 2px dashed rgb(0, 0, 0, 0.15);


Why is that needed? Seems unrelated

Removed from this PR. The dashboard visual refinements are now proposed separately in #12339.

tyxla · 2026-06-26T13:48:23Z

+.postbox .handle-order-lower:focus {
+	box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 var(--wp-admin-border-width-focus, 1.5px) var(--wp-admin-theme-color);
+	border-radius: 4px;
+	/* Only visible in Windows High Contrast mode */
+	outline: 2px solid transparent;
+}


Seems unrelated as well

Removed from this PR. The remaining CSS is limited to the Additional settings section introduced by this patch.

poligilad-auto · 2026-06-27T19:21:49Z

@tyxla Thanks so much for the review!

I’ve updated the PR based on the feedback:

Removed the custom filters from the first pass.
Changed the setting from per-user/per-screen to one global per-user preference: meta_box_reordering.
Simplified the helper so it no longer receives or checks the current screen.
Standardized naming across PHP, JS, CSS, AJAX, and tests around meta_box_reordering / meta-box-reordering.
Cleaned up the positive/negative state handling so the JS uses a positive enabled state, with the disabled body class only used for the UI/CSS state.
Removed the unrelated dashboard/control visual changes from this PR.

I also opened a separate PR for the dashboard meta box visual refinements here:
#12339

One additional copy/layout change: the new checkbox now appears under “Additional settings” as “Enable box reordering,” instead of adding a separate “Reordering” section. This keeps the Screen Options UI more compact and also works better on screens like the Classic Editor and WooCommerce product editor, where other additional settings may already appear.

Latest local checks:

php -l src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-screen.php
php -l tests/phpunit/tests/admin/includesScreen.php
php vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=phpcs.xml.dist src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-screen.php tests/phpunit/tests/admin/includesScreen.php
php vendor/bin/phpunit --filter Tests_Admin_IncludesScreen tests/phpunit/tests/admin/includesScreen.php
git diff --check

poligilad-auto force-pushed the poligilad-auto/metabox-reordering-toggle branch from 058d66e to 58411d2 Compare June 15, 2026 18:48

poligilad-auto force-pushed the poligilad-auto/metabox-reordering-toggle branch from 58411d2 to 9db7284 Compare June 24, 2026 06:55

tyxla reviewed Jun 26, 2026

View reviewed changes

poligilad-auto force-pushed the poligilad-auto/metabox-reordering-toggle branch from 9db7284 to dc1d55f Compare June 27, 2026 14:54

poligilad-auto mentioned this pull request Jun 27, 2026

Administration: Improve dashboard meta box control visuals #12339

Open

poligilad-auto force-pushed the poligilad-auto/metabox-reordering-toggle branch from dc1d55f to 6cf7d60 Compare June 27, 2026 15:03

Administration: Add box reordering toggle to Screen Options.

170cc4a

poligilad-auto force-pushed the poligilad-auto/metabox-reordering-toggle branch from 6cf7d60 to 170cc4a Compare June 27, 2026 19:20

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Summary

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Test using WordPress Playground

Some things to be aware of

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 27, 2026

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poligilad-auto commented Jun 15, 2026 •

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