Streamline WP(.com) settings screens

[manospsyx]

The current WP(.com) Settings structure is rather confusing and exposing many irrelevant features, especially after defaulting new Woo Express stores to the Classic admin view under Settings > Hosting Configuration:

General

• Under (WP) Settings > General, the Privacy / Launch settings are missing: Launching is a necessary Woo Express onboarding step and existing links in the "Launch your store" task currently point to the Calypso version of the General settings page.
• The Site Icon is missing. This is unnecessary when using a block theme, as the Site Icon (and favicon) can be set from the Header Template Part > Site Logo block.
• The Footer Credit cannot be changed in the WP Admin version of Settings > General.
• "Accept a gift subscription" and "Site Tools" are also missing -- neither are essential features for Woo Express users though, and could be omitted.

Next Steps:

• Re-implement the Privacy / Launch features in the WP Admin version of General settings.
• Remove/hide the "You are currently using the Classic view, which doesn't offer the same set of features as the Default view" notice and hide the View switcher.

Writing

This area exposes many settings that are classic-theme only and/or irrelevant for merchants. We openly admit so -- how thoughtful:

Next Steps:

• Drop the following features and Jetpack modules from Woo Express plans -- ensure they can't be activated under the Jetpack Modules screen:
  • Beautiful Math
  • Custom content types
  • Markdown
  • Shortcode Embeds
  • Custom content types
  • Infinite Scroll
  • Extra Sidebar Widgets
  • Widget Visibility
  • Post by email

Once these features are dropped, we can remove the "You are currently using the Classic view, which doesn't offer the same set of features as the Default view" notice as well and hide the View switcher.

Security

This entire area is a duplicate of Jetpack > Settings > Security. We can go ahead and drop the menu item completely, effectively presenting this as a Jetpack feature to Woo Express merchants -- which it is.

Reading

The only settings group missing from the Classic version of this screen is "Related Posts". This is no longer needed here as it's covered by Jetpack Blocks. Additionally, "Related Posts" could be considered a Business feature as it's of little interest to merchants.

Next steps:

• Remove the Related posts module and hide it.
• Remove the "You are currently using the Classic view, which doesn't offer the same set of features as the Default view" notice here as well and hide the View switcher.

Discussion

The WP Admin version of this area is missing two settings groups:

• Comments
• Subscriptions
• Fediverse

Jetpack's Comments and Comment Likes modules add lots of value to the default WP comments system. Newsletter functionality, though, is duplicated for Woo Express merchants as it's provided by MailPoet on Woo Express plans. Fediverse is a cool concept that's unlikely to make any difference to Woo Express users -- but for those who want it, there's a dedicated plugin -- merchant's won't miss the Fediverse nudge/promo.

Next steps:

• Reimplement the "Comments" area and the "Enable Comment Likes" option in the classic version of Discussion settings.
• Deactivate and hide the Newsletter Jetpack module.
• Remove the "You are currently using the Classic view, which doesn't offer the same set of features as the Default view" notice here as well and hide the View switcher.

Sharing

Sharing is a WP.com only area exposing settings from the following Jetpack modules:

• Jetpack Social
• Sharing
• Likes

The entire Sharing settings area is a duplicate of Jetpack > Settings > Sharing and can be removed completely.

Moreover,

• Jetpack's social sharing features lack support for popular platforms like X/Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok. These features are publishing/business-oriented, and merchants are unlikely to promote their products by x-posting WordPress posts to social media platforms. Merchants who blog or want to post News / Announcement will love WordPress for that, but will rarely share their posts verbatim on social media. As their store grows, they will use a service like Buffer to post announcements/news.
• Sharing and Like buttons on posts/pages/products are nice to have but more suitable for long-form content. This is not how merchants promote their products!

Next steps:

• Deactivate and remove the following Jetpack modules from Woo Express sites:
  • Jetpack Social
  • Sharing
  • Likes
• Hide the Sharing settings menu item.

(2)

There is a lot of duplication between Settings areas and Jetpack settings. The following settings screens are duplicated:

• Security
• Performance