Adjust the block terminology in Layout Builder to align with block and block_content changes

This issue is only really postponed on 1 issue: 📌 Rename Custom Block terminology in the admin UI Fixed .

That is the issue where we will be changing the block terminology, so once that's done we'll have a clear view on what this issue needs to change.

Updating the title to better clarify what this issue is doing.

Usability review

We discussed this issue at 📌 Drupal Usability Meeting 2024-01-19 Needs work . That issue will have a link to a recording of the meeting.

For the record, the attendees at the usability meeting were @benjifisher, @rkoller, @simohell, @shaal, and @worldlinemine.

If you want more feedback from the usability team, a good way to reach out is in the #ux channel in Slack.

We’ve discussed the four open points listed in #6 → - this comment will refer to those points. It has to be noted that none of the following is considered a strong recommendation.

#6.1
There was sort of a consensus that the mental model for the Layout Builder page shouldn’t be changed at this point and the terms Section and Block should be kept. In consequence + Add block should be kept as well.
It has to be noted that the suggestion to go with the suggestion of something like + Add component raised in #6 → was based on the observation that the user has to pick from a list of content blocks and fields in the offscreen tray and fields are actually no blocks. But I’ve learned that technically, under the hood, fields are wrapped in blocks in the context of Layout Builder. Therefore changing + Add block to something more generic like Component would be sort of counter productive and potentially confusing to the user. The same applies to the title of the offscreen tray and Choose a block could be kept.

But on the other hand the label + Create content block in the offscreen tray is semantically wrong. Content block implies that you have a “reusable” block but the user actually creates a none-reusable inline block here. Problem is this button is the only touch point of a user with the concept of a none reusable inline block. We went through the help topics and neither on the help pages for blocks /admin/help/topic/block.overview, /admin/help/block_content nor on the help pages for layout builder admin/help/layout_builder was any word or explanation about the concept of re-usuable content blocks vs none reusable inline blocks, only content blocks are mentioned.
One option might be to make additions to those help pages. Aside making additions to the help pages another option might be to add more touch points with those concepts in the admin ui, as proposed in #3325029: Improve the overview of the list of available blocks → :

• Show re-usuable AND none re-usable blocks on /admin/content/block
• Add a reports page similar to Backdrop providing an overview of all created blocks

About the actual label for the + Create content block button, the group came up with the following suggestions:

Create block for this pageor New block for this page
On the plus side that label makes it clear that the block is only created for this page but on the other hand the label is lengthy and what type of block is actually being created is not communicated with this label.

Add inline block
On the plus side inline block is the most accurate and one of the shortest labels but as mentioned before due to the fact that this offscreen tray is currently the only touchpoint with this concept inline block would also be one of the most confusing choices at this point.

Create block
On the plus side, in contrast to the other too specific and potential confusing suggestions, Add block is very simple and brief and through experience users will learn what this means. But on the downside going with just “block” might be too generic and again the underlaying concept of reusable and none reusable blocks isn’t touched with that variant.

Add exclusive block
The last suggestion that was brought up during ideation was Add exclusive block. But the consensus was that there are too many potential meanings of the word "exclusive" and it is unclear what it acutally means and refers to .

It was also noted to keep in mind that an option to convert an inline block to a reusable content block is on the horizon as well which will complicate things even further: ✨ Add reusable option to inline block creation Needs review

#6.2
Appending the term Block would add a redundancy, but it would be an acceptable downside since the details of interest are front loaded. But that way it would help to clarify the point of confusion why fields are listed under the overall headline Choose a block

#6.3
There was sort of an agreement that based on the number of blocks it might make sense to distinguish between singular and plural form for the appended term block in the category title.

But on the other hand the label + Create content block in the offscreen tray is semantically wrong. Content block implies that you have a “reusable” block but the user actually creates a none-reusable inline block here.

"Create content block" is technically correct, as the user is creating a content block, and the user may have the option to make the block reusable. Using "content block" also avoids confusion with the list of types, after the user clicks "Create content block" if there is more than one content block type, the user will be shown a list of block types and asked to choose one to create from. In the exact same way that if they use the Add Block button on the Content Block list. So keeping the reference to "content block" ensures the user is aware that the types they are choosing from are the content block types configured under Structure.

Yes "Create content block" is "technically" correct but imprecise.

At the moment if you click the "Create content block" button and create a block, that block shows up in the chosen section in the main content area, but at the same time you have the "Content block" section in the sidebar, the second section underneath the "Create content block" button. But the content block you've just created isn't showing up there as well. Identical labels but completely different behavior. With the current micro copy a certain knowledge about the technical backgrounds is taken for granted. And as I've noted before this sidebar is the sole direct touch point for the user with the concept of none reusable blocks in the ui.

I'm not sure if the following is being tracked, but it seems related.

When editing a block with layout builder enabled, you no longer edit the layout builder in the front end theme. You now use the admin theme.

Ex. /admin/content/block/1/layout - now uses admin theme whereas in the past it was frontend theme.

on the contrary, managing the layout display for all blocks of a type:
/admin/structure/block-content/manage/{block_name}/display/full/layout still uses the frontend theme.

I think the preferred method is to always use the frontend theme, unless you are using a module like: https://www.drupal.org/project/layout_builder_admin_theme →

is this an issue anywhere? i can't find it. thanks!