Fix mobile list tables 65743

[joedolson]

Work in progress

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65743

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[github-actions]

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[joedolson]

I'm confident there are still things missing here, but it's functional, and ready for review.

This switches the responsive layout to use flex. It will need some polish on padding; I'm somewhat of the opinion that losing the space to the left, under the checkbox, is actually a good thing, as it gives a bit more width for the additional text.

[afragen]

Reviewed in Playground. All issues seem resolved. I'm still getting used to the collapse of space under the checkbox, but I'm OK with it.

[sabernhardt]

Suggested change

	@media screen and ( width < 782px ) {
	@media screen and (max-width: 782px) {

These styles probably belong within the existing max-width media query later in the file, but the query should include 782.

[nazmulasif]

Patch Test Report

Patch - https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12737.diff

I tested this issue on trunk using WordPress Playground across narrow/mobile viewports.

Testing Results

• Environment: WordPress Trunk (via WordPress Playground)
• Page: Plugins

Observations

• Status: Confirmed reproducible on trunk.
• Issue: On narrow screens/mobile viewports, the plugin list table column layout breaks down:
  • The plugin description text compresses into an extremely narrow right-hand column and overflows horizontally off-screen.
  • The text gets clipped and unreadable instead of stacking vertically or wrapping properly.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (5)

src/wp-admin/css/list-tables.css:1999

• This selector now applies the data-colname pseudo-label to the primary column as well, but the primary cell does not get the matching left padding (only sibling cells after the primary do). That can cause the label to overlap the primary cell’s content. Excluding .column-primary restores the intended behavior (label only for secondary cells).

	.wp-list-table tr:not(.inline-edit-row):not(.no-items) td:not(.check-column)::before {

src/wp-admin/css/list-tables.css:1338

• This media query uses the Media Queries Level 4 range syntax (width < 782px), which is inconsistent with the rest of wp-admin CSS (e.g. @media screen and (max-width: 782px) later in this file) and also excludes the exact 782px breakpoint. Using max-width: 782px keeps the established breakpoint and avoids support/consistency issues.

@media screen and ( width < 782px ) {

src/wp-admin/css/list-tables.css:1963

• align-content has no effect here because .wp-list-table thead th is a flex item (the tr is the flex container), not a flex container. If the intent is vertical centering within the flex row, align-self is the applicable property.

	.wp-list-table thead th {
		align-content: center;
	}

src/wp-admin/css/list-tables.css:1363

• Inside this mobile breakpoint, the existing left accent on active plugins is cleared on the check-column cells and moved to tr.active / .plugin-update-tr.active. Borders on tr are not reliably rendered for HTML tables, so the accent can disappear. Keeping the border on the check-column cells matches the existing pattern used elsewhere in this file (e.g. tr.paused ... .check-column).

This issue also appears on line 1999 of the same file.

	.plugins .active th.check-column,
	.plugins .active td.check-column,
	.plugin-update-tr.active td {
		border-left: 4px solid transparent;
	}

src/wp-admin/css/list-tables.css:1978

• This nth-child(n+3) rule assumes every list table row has a checkbox column + primary column. Core list tables can omit the checkbox column (e.g. WP_Comments_List_Table when $this->checkbox is false), which would prevent the first non-primary details column from stacking full-width when expanded. Targeting non-primary/non-checkbox cells by class is more robust.

	.wp-list-table tr td:nth-child(n+3) {
		flex: 0 1 100%;
	}

[afercia]

Besides @sabernhardt's suggestion, I noticed only a few minor things that I'd consider optional to fix. This PR solves the main issue and looks good. Personally, I'm OK with the removal of the space under the checkbox.

1
The plugin title font size looks slightly bigger on trunk (left) compared to 7.0 (right):

2
In the post panel, the spacing between the row actions links is slightly different:

3

The checkbox of the active plugins is no longer horizontally aligned with the other checkboxes:

4

Pre-existing issue, can be reproduced on 7.0 too: in the Plugins table, the padding of the cell for the checkbox in the table header is different compared to the one for the Posts table. This impacts the alignment of the checkbox with the th text 'Plugin':

Maybe only 3), the horizontal alignment of the active plugins checkbox, is worth fixing.