Site Editor: improve flow for creating a new template part

[annezazu]

What problem does this address?

Currently, when you head to the Site Editor > Template Parts > Add New, you are dropped into an empty experience without even a + button to orient you. This feels like a fairly jarring and underwhelming UX:

no.+.buttons.mov

What is your proposed solution?

• Consider prioritizing patterns in the quick inserter when creating new template parts. This would build on previous efforts to prioritize patterns in the quick inserter: Block Quick Inserter: Prioritize showing patterns instead of blocks. #38709
• Ensure there's a clear + button experience when creating a new template part, similar to what you would see when creating a new post when you land in the new template part. This might be a bug:

[annezazu]

cc @jameskoster since you have other explorations on creating new template parts and @jorgefilipecosta since you've worked on the quick inserter piece of this and might have thoughts.

[jameskoster]

We can prioritise patterns for semantic template parts, but I'm not sure about general ones. The scope is vast which makes it difficult to provide helpful suggestions.

In general I agree that we can re-use elements of the existing empty header / empty footer block experience. It may need some adjustments though – perhaps pattern selection can occur in the initial modal when you input the template part name and select the area.

[carolinan]

I feel that short term we should re-enable the inserter

[carolinan]

Also see #37524

[jameskoster]

Agreed, if users elect to create a general template part they will see a blank canvas, and even if they select header / footer they can still 'start blank'.

[jameskoster]

I think we can combine:

• The latest designs for creating regular templates.
• The freshly implemented option to pick a pattern on page creation.

new.template.part.mp4

You'll notice the "choose a name" step is omitted. If the user selects a pattern we can probably go ahead and use the pattern name for the template part. If they don't, placeholders like "Untitled Template Part" are probably fine because requiring a name up front adds a lot of unnecessary friction.

[annezazu]

Whew that feels LOADS better, @jameskoster. Thank you. The lack of inserter is present in 6.0 RC2 and it feels pretty important to fix. I'll comment on the PR from @carolinan to see if we can get that in.

[jameskoster]

#41024 Partially resolves this. #41060 will handle the suggestion of patterns on creation. I'll create a new issue to align the "New template" menu with regular templates.