Navigation Component: Include ability to add pages/posts

[annezazu]

What problem does this address?

Currently, if you want to add a new page or post, you have to go back to the wp-admin dashboard and create from there which fully pulls you out of the site editing experience. If you were trying to build out a site quickly, this would be quite cumbersome to switch between. This somewhat relates to this problem where drafts of pages/posts can't be viewed when browsing as you once more have to jump out of the site editor experience to publish the content: #29397

What is your proposed solution?

Include an option to add a new post or page directly when browsing here:

[annezazu]

On a hallway hangout with the FSE Outreach program, this issue came up and, in discussing it, folks felt as though this might still feel too hidden away in the navigation component to get to. If you consider the use case of someone building out their site with the Site Editor and likely needing to create pages/post more than new templates, this will likely be a frustrating experience. Wanted to pass it along when considering how to integrate this in!

[aurooba]

Hallo! Chiming in here adding the original message I had written out when I created the #38554, which has been closed in favour of moving discussion here:

What problem does this address?

One of the things I miss about the Classic Editor was the super easy access to the Add New button – because the main menu was always available and because there was a handy little button right beside the header in the Classic Editor, you could easily create new posts. This was very handy when you were creating multiple posts for testing or if you were in the flow and creating a lot of content at once. Once the Block Editor was merged into core, the only easy access possible was if you turned off Fullscreen mode, however, I enjoy fullscreen mode and more than that, I believe the future of the Block Editor is in fullscreen mode, as the Block Editor paradigm is extended to change the entire WordPress dashboard.

The other missing piece of functionality that has never made into core is the ability to duplicate posts. This is not simply something for power users or developers or agencies. The ability to duplicate posts is a fundamental feature of any content creation or design process. That it has never been provided out of the box is bonkers. I would be remiss if I didn't bring that up.

What is your proposed solution?

I think eventually the sidebar that is in the Site Editor is going to come to the Post Editor and more. But I think it should be added sooner than later. I can see that sidebar being ridiculously useful in various ways (especially if there is a SlotFill in there), but to start with, I envision the sidebar having 3 menu items:

1. Posts – this takes you back to the posts list.
2. Add New – this lets you add a new post without having to leave the Block Editor view
3. Duplicate – this lets you duplicate your current post and be redirected to it immediately.

Here is my little in-browser modification mockup with some Material Icons and the traditional Posts dashicon.

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I think in the end, this is an almost ideal solution because although there is that one extra action of clicking on the WordPress icon to reveal the sidebar, it keeps the main editor experience focussed on the current document/content/post, but still provides a more seamless method to do some basic tasks that should, frankly, be easier to do than they are now, workflow wise.

This may be jumping ahead past the roadmap that may have been planned, I don't really know. What I do know is that this is a serious pain point that not only do I have myself as someone who uses WordPress extensively, but I have watched my clients and other end-users deal with constantly.

For the folks who never used the Classic Editor, this is a longer-than-necessary workflow that they can't imagine being different and something just have to deal with. Those coming from different platforms almost always remark on it.

For folks who did use the Classic Editor, this is a straight up frustration and regression (as far as the ability to quickly add new posts) that has existed for longer than it should have. And I for one, would love to see this addressed sooner than later. I am currently in the process of building a plugin that hacks into the toolbar to offer this functionality:

But frankly, a core solution would be so much better.