This was kind of an idea brought up in #565 and I thought it was worth a separate issue for ideation and discussion.

## Context:

The Page Settings block functions as a user interface to manipulate custom page metadata. This means the data contained by this block is stored outside of the block editor. (This is necessary because these values are read and applied to elements outside of the post/page content.

## Problem:

This is the source of some seemingly unexpected behavior since the page settings block can be removed a number of ways. Either by deleting the block or reverting to a state before the block was added using the revisions system. There are possibly other ways this block could be removed, so trying to identify every edge case and remove the metadata dynamically is not currently feasible.

Because of this, the expected behavior is that the page settings block will retain any modifications made by it regardless of the blocks presence on the page. The block is simply an access panel to change those settings. This leads to several confusing situations for users who are unaware of this quirk, especially since this block does not behave in the same way as other blocks.

## Objective:

Identify potential methods to improve editor experience regarding this issue to help ease confusion and provide guidance on how to recover or properly remove the block's modifications.

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@apieschel please feel free to add more context or correct anything I missed in the description. You're the most knowledgeable about this block and how it works

enhancement

This release will focus on providing the remaining Directory features

WP Theme 3.5.0

Page settings UX improvements around data persistence on block deletion

## Description

Add a page in the Customizer to control settings on the archive pages of the Directory system. This would be the Tag and Category listing pages for example.

Settings should mirror the options available for the Directory Index page.

- Toggles for the Tags and Categories in the sidebar
- Under page view, option for Grid or List, max columns setting
- Under Metadata, toggles for the following:
  - Profile Image
  - Location
  - Website
  - Phone
  - Email
  - Profile Button

## Additional information

A nice feature might be to have an option at the top to inherit settings from the Directory Index template, set to `true` by default. The user could instead select to use different settings for this page and be provided the options outlined above.


Customizer support for Directory Archives

The objective here is to embed a list of contacts from the directory system, based on tag or category. I’m proposing a new block “Directory Feed” that would allow users to select their filtering criteria and it would show a grid of contacts cards.

In the block settings, other than the inputs to control the filter, there should be a “max items” limit that can be set, as well as “max columns”

The individual contact cards may be able to use the block from #578 as the grid items, and use their block options to handle toggling information and layout.

feature

Directory Feed Block

This would be a new block added to the theme that allows the user to include a contact card from a record in the directory. It would be nice if there could be a search box / selector so that the user can select the contact they wish to display.

The markup will use this component from Minerva: https://demo.ua.edu/fw/v3/?path=/story/components-contactcard--example&args=isLandscape:!false

- The heading level should default to 3, but may be adjusted by a dropdown in the block settings sidebar
- Toggles to hide or show the following metadata should be included: tags, email, phone number, email, website, image, and link to profile
- The Contact card should default to portrait mode, but have an option to put it into landscape mode in the block settings sidebar, just like the existing card block.

It would also be cool to allow the user to fill in this information themselves instead of selecting from a directory item. In this case, maybe there could be a “blank” option in the dropdown to select the contact, which would be the default item selected. When this “blank” item is selected, inputs for the name, job title, contact info, image, etc should be displayed.

I’m not married to that implementation though, so if something else would work better, we can talk about it

Contact Card Block

This enhancement will add new customizer settings for toggling the information in the individual directory entries on the Directory archive.

From #513, _"The directory index should also get an entry in the Customizer with toggles for tags, categories, fields in each contact entry, and display options for list view or grid view."_


Add new Customizer settings for displaying Directory entry data

The theme directory system will allow content creators the ability to add robust personnel directories to their website in a centralized and easy to manage location

## The Profile Page

I imagine the best way to handle this will be to create a custom post type, where each custom post is the profile page for a specific person. This page would also hold metadata like tags, categories, profile picture, and contact information. A custom block that stores this structured data is probably needed.

## The List

An index at example.ua.edu/directory should be made available to display a list of all people in the directory system. Categories and Tags should be listed in a sidebar for filtering the list. The directory index should also get an entry in the Customizer with toggles for tags, categories, fields in each contact entry, and display options for list view or grid view.

Another part of this might require an archive template for displaying the filtered results, similar to how normal posts function.

## The Block / The Pattern

A new contact block or pattern is needed to display structured data. It will use the card under the hood but will have additional styling rules. All parts of the contact card should be optional. See minerva for contact card markup and options.

## The Feed

A new block should be created that can display people with a specific tag OR category. This way contact information for individuals can be embedded where it makes sense to in the site’s content. For example, displaying academic advising personnel on a page about academic advising. The feed should populate contact blocks with data from the custom post.

A task related to planning / project management

Roadmap

Milestones

WP Theme 3.5.0