The default configuration for the majority of WordPress sites is to display the latest posts on the homepage. However, the current edit flow for this setup is awkward and confusing for most users.

Identifying the Problem

The initial challenge in the edit flow is simply finding the page. Since the homepage displaying the latest posts is not technically a page, it does not appear in the page management interface (pages data view). This discrepancy means that users are directed to an area that does not support the editing task.

There are two primary pathways to edit the homepage in this scenario, neither of which is ideal:

1. Site Editor Root Frame: Users can click the frame at the root of the Site Editor. This method is not clear to new users, only becoming so through experience.
2. Templates Section: Users must identify the correct template to edit from options like Front Page, Blog Home, or Index. This process is complex and often beyond the grasp of those without technical expertise.

Once users navigate to one of these pathways, they encounter a template editing context filled with confusing titles such as "Blog Home" or "Index" and technical descriptions like, "Displays the latest posts as either the site homepage or as the 'Posts page' as defined under reading settings. If it exists, the Front Page template overrides this template when posts are shown on the homepage." This environment might be clear to seasoned theme developers, but it can overwhelm average users.

Proposed Improvements

To improve the user experience, I suggest the following changes:

• Force show_on_front to always be page (or maybe deprecate this option altogether)
• Automatically register a page object on fresh installs
  • Set this page as both: page_on_front, page_for_posts
• Simplify reading settings UI

Original issue

### The problem

In WordPress 6.5 the "Pages" panel in the site editor includes links to edit special 'pages' that resolve to display templates, specifically:

• Posts page (when homepage is set to display latest posts in reading settings)
• 404
• Search results

For WordPress 6.6, this sidebar is being replaced with the "List" layout in data views:

A consequence of this replacement is the loss of those aforementioned links.

Continuing to provide shortcuts to the 404 and search results templates seems useful, but it's probably most important to provide access to edit the homepage when set to display latest posts.

A solution

A 'Utility' view accessed from the footer of the Pages sidebar could include any templates users often consider to be pages, IE:

• Blog Home / Front Page (when homepage is set to display latest posts)
• 404
• Search results

In the future this could be expanded to include general archive templates like category, tag, author, etc. and any taxonomy-term-specific templates e.g. category-recipes, author-admin.