Feature Request: "Start From Scratch" hub area highlighting different options

[liviopv]

What

We should have a "hub" area highlighting options for customers looking to "start over/again/from scratch", containing:

• Built By WordPress.com offer
• Options to reset/import theme default content/settings - relevant discussion: p1681394535814429-slack-C0160HSMDQV
• [Atomic] Reset site
• [Atomic] Staging sites
• [Simple] Empty site
• Contact support

Why

It's not uncommon to have customers contacting support when they want to "start again/over/from scratch". These requests often mean different things for different users: some might want to delete all their content, some might want to reset the theme to the default setup or import the demo content, and some might be looking for someone to do all that for them.

Currently, all those options are gated through support, generating a significant number of support requests (HC tags site_empty, atomic_reset), and it would be empowering to have a single place where a user can visualize all the options they have if they want to start over but remain on WordPress.com.

How

Ideally, this would be an area in Calypso like "My Home" that would be surfaced contextually in other flows.

Alternatively, it could be a landing page or support document linking to each option.

[cuemarie]

📌 ACTIONS

• Feature request kept

[autumnfjeld]

@liviopv We hope to partially address "start from scratch" within the context of theme switch in upcoming Marvel & Lego projects. Likely in June/July. This is only an idea right now but I'd love to have some sort of option right in the theme switch flow that checks if the user wants to start from scratch. We'd love your input on best ways to approach this. You can ping in #dotcom-marvel with ideas. And I'll loop you in when we start design on this particular aspect of the theme switch improvements.

In current work: We are implementing a very specific use case of this for the Blank Canvas Pattern Assembler flow: [PT: Pattern Assembler in the Logged-in Theme Showcase]( pbxlJb-3RH-p2

[liviopv]

Looping in @retnonindya who will be taking over this from the Product Ambassador's side.

[retnonindya]

@autumnfjeld I initially wanted to share/chat on the #dotcom-marvel Slack channel, but it might already too busy, so here we are 😆

This is only an idea right now but I'd love to have some sort of option right in the theme switch flow that checks if the user wants to start from scratch

This is anecdotal. When they want to "reset" a theme, some customers usually switch the theme on the site to another theme, then switch back -- to a varying degree of success.

For example, here it is me with my free test site.

The test site is using theme Twenty Twenty Three, and I made a change to the template Home (homepage.) I added a green Cover Block on the top:

Then, I switched to another theme, this time, theme Storia:

(Slightly OOT, I noticed theme Storia does not have that "option", the modal where the user can choose whether to use the theme's homepage or their existing homepage? 🤔 )

The website changed the themes! Great! I can see theme Storia content too!

Then, I switched back to theme Twenty Twenty Three, with hope that I will see the theme Twenty Twenty Three is "reset" and I can go back using the theme demo homepage. I see this, and I got optimistic that, "yesss, I can use the theme demo's content!":

I clicked "Replace my homepage content with the Twenty Twenty-Three homepage", clicked "Activate Twenty Twenty Three, and... It's using the same template that I edited before.

I'm curious how that happened 🤔 Perhaps the template is being saved? So no matter which option I choose prior to activating the theme, it will always be using the template that I have edited? I actually can understand why there is such flow. Customers might switch themes and decide to switch back with the hope that they still have the customization that they did on the previous theme.

Perhaps... OK, this will align really closely with Site Editor (hi, Livio! 👋 ) we can ask the customer when they switch themes:

"Previously, you customized this theme to look like this:
SCREENSHOT

Do you want to keep using the customized template, or do you want to start from scratch?"

Then, if they opt for starting from scratch, the template with the customization got reset.

What do you think? 🤔

Update: I just found out the flow I had above has been reported here:
#75659

[autumnfjeld]

Sorry about the delay in responding @retnonindya .

These are all concerns we want to address with Theme Switch: knowing/asking what the user wants from theme switch should somehow be integrated into the UX.