Automattic / Automattic/jetpack

Portfolio Activation Settings Must Always be visible

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#10,629 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
[Feature] Custom Content Types [Pri] Low Enhancement
Dominant language
PHP
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Description

#### Steps to reproduce the issue

1. Make sure Portfolio activation settings exist (due to any theme changes), by going to "Settings > Writing > "Your Custom Content Types"
2. If those settings exist, deactivate JetPack
3. Now see if those same Portfolio activation settings are still there
4. The settings should be completely gone, if JetPack is deactivated
5. Reactivate JetPack, make sure it is connected to your WordPress account
6. Check settings for the Portfolio Activation again, now the settings should be visible again.

#### What I expected
To always see the Portfolio activation settings, they should never be removed, despite JetPack disconnection, with an exception, see details below.

#### What happened instead
Portfolio activation settings disappear when JetPack disconnects from our WordPress Account.

=== Details of Requested Changes ===
Today on my site, the portfolio pages were redirected to my home page, so anyone that wanted to view a portfolio page could not. These portfolio pages on my business website were being used to display a "Portfolio" of work done.

Well, potential customers could not access the portfolio pages, so I had to trouble-shoot the problem.

During the trouble-shoot, I did check the Portfolio activation settings under “Settings > Writing > … but it was missing “Your Custom Content Types”. This was where Portfolio would be checked to activate that post type in the left vertical Admin menu.

So where did it go?

I had forgotten that JetPack controls this portion of Writing settings and when Jetpack is disconnected, the settings to activate Portfolio disappears.

Since I forgot about this, I continued with trouble-shooting, which got me back around to JetPack and there I found it disconnected. I suspect it got disconnected during the recent update.

When I reconnected JetPack, these “Portfolio” activation settings reappeared and my portfolio pages were reconnected and accessible again.

== Issue ==
Here is the issue to this.

There are a lot of people that will not know these things about JetPack, let alone, know enough about the workings of the Admin area of WordPress. Then, there are many, like me, who forget about requirements for JetPack and what it controls.

Plus, disappearing Portfolio settings can occur from other causes like other plugins, the theme, site being hacked, etc. This says that it is not always simple to trouble-shoot WordPress issues.

So what am I leading to?

== Suggestion Solution ==
Re-write JetPack to please leave the settings for Portfolio activation visible. Please do not add to our work of trouble-shooting by having those settings disappear just because JetPack is disconnected.

Instead, and here is the difference, if Jetpack gets disconnected – Grey those settings out and insert a text alert that says “Portfolio deactivated - requires JetPack to be active and connected to work”.

Of course, you may need to communicate this change to WordPress developers to change their files also, unless JetPack developers can do this only from their end.

This would really help us trouble-shoot this stuff in the future. I mean, after-all, theme developers do the same idea with their theme options, still make the settings visible but greyed out when the theme is not a Pro version.

This method provides us, including CMS novices, a clear communication of what is wrong and why Portfolio is not working.

Thanks
Mark

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the behavior through Settings > Writing > Your Custom Content Types, then trace how Jetpack disconnection affects the Portfolio activation settings. Done means the settings remain visible while Jetpack is disconnected, are greyed out with the stated explanation, and become usable again after reconnection.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
php
Domain
backend, content
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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