Notes iteration for WordPress 6.9

@annezazu

The initial PR: #60622

Next tasks

Summary: based on the new designs, we need two separate sidebars:

One sidebar is coloured so it feels as an extension of the canvas. This "sidebar" should show whenever no other sidebar is open, such as inspector, global styles, second comment sidebar, etc. The comments should appear at the same height as the blocks. Only the top-level comment should be shown. Nested replies unfold when the top level comment is selected.
A second sidebar that is a normal plugin sidebar: has toggle, white background. This sidebar should show all comments (resolved or unresolved) in reverse chronological order. Nested replies still appear under the top level comment, and unfold when you select the top level comment.

Next on design

We should also make progress on the design for inline comments.

First off, adding comments:

Add on the block level, show an overlay marker, show those bubbles. As noted for other mockups, vertically aligning comments to text is meaningful, and in fact despite our conversation above about a "looking like the background" sidebar, there was an express desire to actually have those bubbles appear in context of the block. I recognize this comment notes it to be hard to impossible, so this is a topic worth digging into, a little bit.

In a way, I could think of these being positioned near the block same as how the block toolbar is positioned near the block, just hugging the right side of the screen. Let's brainstorm and see what's reasonable.

Here are some additional screens in the same category, allowing you to add multiple block level comments:

Note in all of these, the sidebar is toggled off, because—after all—these comments are shown directly in the document, in context of the block.

The sidebar, and its purpose

That brings us to the sidebar, which can serve the purpose of showing all comments added, in chronological order:

When the sidebar is opened, like in this mockup, all the comments in the canvas disappear. This sidebar is also where you might search comments, or see comments already resolved.

I'll leave this open for others to add items. Cc @annezazu @jasmussen @mtias

@ellatrix

Hi @ellatrix, I had created a quick PR for the issue 1, to use TextareaControl instead of TextControl component - #66391

Thank You,

@ellatrix

@ellatrix disregard my original comment. Edited to just have this as a sub-issue of the main overview issue and with a new title to make it clearer this is around what's next. Thanks for pulling this together!

Working on some mockups at the moment.

In the main header toolbar button (that toggles the sidebar), could we maybe show a comment count so users know that comments have been made?

Not sure about this. It might eventually have value, but until it does, I'd tread carefully. Notably I would not want to add a notification number to the public sidebar API until we have a clearer vision for the future of this API. So I'd suggest this one being in the lower priority bucket.

@jasmussen

@jasmussen It's not possible to show block comment in the canvas, since that's for content only. However, it should be possible to enlarge the canvas and position the comment UI over it (as popovers), much like the block toolbar. But this would require us to somehow "reserve" an area inside the canvas so no content can be below the comments. Perhaps a margin on the html element. Zoom-out mode has some similar margins. Although a margin on the html element would remove the canvas colour from the area. A margin on body could be tried to, but that starts to be more dangerous as it can clash with theme styles. It's tricky!

An alternative idea would be to detect the colour of the canvas and fill the sidebar with it.

In both cases, comments still must be rendered in the side area and be repositioned to horizontally align with the blocks.

@adamsilverstein

In reviewing the list of remaining bugs with @adamsilverstein @poojabhimani12 @desrosj @roseg43 we have the following updates/thoughts on the following:

Ensure notes feature scales to many notes #71668: will move to 7.0 and sub-issue back to 6.9
exclude_block_comments_from_admin filter affects subsquent queries. #71711: will remove from 6.9 tracking as no longer related to WP core (relates just to Gutenberg) and ping @Mamaduka as reminder for review on related PR
New notes (unnested) are not properly attached to a block when post is not saved #72717: don’t technically need to save content when note added, meta could be saved; alternatively save content when a note is added (perhaps optimal handling)
Notes position misaligned after switching from "Edit as HTML" to Visual mode #72836: PR awaiting review, will ping @Mamaduka again (@adamsilverstein to also try to give a review)
Focus state for individual notes or a note's block is not removed as expected #72858: @t-hamano and @Mamaduka looking to merge, @desrosj to try and get to testing yesterday (edit: this is now merged/done)
Colors around user avatars could incorrectly be percieved as "status" indicators #73144: will leave open and await strong user feedback before determining an alternate path forward

@poojabhimani12

In reviewing the list of remaining bugs with @poojabhimani12 @desrosj @roseg43 we have the following updates/thoughts on the following

Ensure notes feature scales to many notes #71668: JP to ping into Performance channel for assistance on testing here, potentially leveraging any tooling folks have available on that team; Pooja/Multidots tested scale into hundreds of notes, only getting first 100 notes back and may need to amend API to allow for alternate approach; had previously discussed requesting 100 first top level/parent notes and from there requesting additional child notes; perhaps iFramed editor may be able to help in some way here
New notes (unnested) are not properly attached to a block when post is not saved #72717: @westonruter’s latest comment a good insight on Notes in a read-only context (see Allow Notes to appear on post previews with a custom capability (aka "Reviewer-friendly workflow") #73418 as example of a read-only usage), but storing blockId or similar to a note has been rejected as an option during the early stages of the 6.9 cycle; uncertain why an auto save on the “add note” flow is not entertained; unlikely to be able to identify difference between “original block deleted” versus "unknown block”, best is perhaps a more generic phrase that covers both
Notes position misaligned after switching from "Edit as HTML" to Visual mode #72836: Adam confirmed Ophelia’s similar concern, otherwise PR appears to be best option for now, will ping @t-hamano and @Mamaduka for consideration of landing in 6.9
Colors around user avatars could incorrectly be percieved as "status" indicators #73144: will punt to 7.0 and await community feedback on whether /how we iterate
Notes: Expand/Collapse state does not sync between floating Notes and Notes sidebar panel (archive view) #73412: probably more ideal, polished UX to maintain the expand/collapse state, but not such that its critical for 6.9 so punting to 7.0 to allow for community feedback on this and whether/how we iterate; Ophelia to check on picking this up this week
Drafted notes are lost when focus is removed from block #73473: perhaps throwing an AYS if they navigate away from the note form would help, otherwise maintaining the note message when they navigate back would be most ideal; Ophelia to check on picking this up this week
Pooja/Multidots started in on 7.0 enhancements, some need design feedback, may look into scaling issue (Ensure notes feature scales to many notes #71668)
Discussion on sharing feedback on how the cross-company collaboration on Notes when during WP 6.9 and making public appeals for others to contribute similarly on additional features looking for feature collaboration in 2026

Should we close this in favor of the WP 7.0 tracking issue?

exclude_block_comments_from_admin filter affects subsquent queries. #71711

Notes: Backports from core #73141

I have moved the above outstanding tasks to the 7.0 tracking issue.

6.9 release highlight grid (visual asset) #71818

This final remaining task should be able to be closed in time for the 6.9 release.

Tip

Quick link to the 7.0 tracking issue: #73260

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

Notes iteration for WordPress 6.9 #66377

Next tasks

Next on design

214 remaining items

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Notes iteration for WordPress 6.9 #66377

Description

Next tasks

Next on design

Activity

hbhalodia commented on Oct 24, 2024

annezazu commented on Oct 24, 2024

jasmussen commented on Oct 30, 2024

jasmussen commented on Oct 30, 2024

jasmussen commented on Oct 31, 2024

ellatrix commented on Oct 31, 2024

jasmussen commented on Oct 31, 2024

214 remaining items

jeffpaul commented on Nov 18, 2025

jeffpaul commented on Nov 25, 2025

Mamaduka commented on Dec 2, 2025

t-hamano commented on Dec 2, 2025

hanneslsm commented on Dec 2, 2025

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions