I don't agree with this PR, the select gives you a direct access to up/down ordering while the table heads need one or two clicks. It is also better when you have movement disorders to use the select.

I understand your concern but don't agree:

• Using the columnheader to order the results takes 1 or 2 clicks: 1 click to choose the column, and maybe another click to change the direction if you want to have it reversed.
• Using the Ordering dropdown box to order the results takes 3 actions: 1 click to open the dropdown box, scrolling the mousewheel, and another click to select.

Some other concern about the current Ordering boxes:

• Some views have two boxes: one to choose the column and another to choose the direction. See #7714 Users > Manage > User Groups
• Some views have combined column + direction in one Ordering dropdown box, however, because of all the combination it's twice as long (the number of columns x the 2 directions) See #7714 Users > Manage > Users

I think that for people with movement disorders selection boxes are more difficult to operate then hyperlinks like the column header.

Using the Ordering dropdown box to order the results takes 3 actions: 1 click to open the dropdown box, scrolling the mousewheel, and another click to select.

Right, but you don't need to wait for a page reload between.
The box also has the advantage that you can have 'order by'-options which aren't present in the table.
This isn't used in the menuitems case, but it is used in other views. And it makes sense to have the UI consistent across the various extensions.

• Some views have two boxes: one to choose the column and another to choose the direction. See #7714 Users > Manage > User Groups
• Some views have combined column + direction in one Ordering dropdown box, however, because of all the combination it's twice as long (the number of columns x the 2 directions) See #7714 Users > Manage > Users

I never understood why it was done in one box. Personally I would have done it the two box way because it's a much shorter (half!) list of options and also simpler for translation.

Removing the select makes it also impossible to use the keyboard to reorder the results.

Actually I rarely use the Ordering dropdown box myself, I always click the column headers.
I like the don't-make-me-think principle of getting better UX by reducing choices.
Therefore I created these PRs to get rid of the extra options.

I now understand that in some places, like the Article Manager (See #7712), the Ordering dropdown box is valuable because it contains ordering options (like Category) for which you cannot use the column headers.
IMHO we should keep it in the Article Manager, but remove at most other places.

Good point about accessibility @rdeutz. I had not taken that into account. However, I just checked my J3.4.4dev site and I am able to navigate to, and click on, the column using my keyboard only.
btw: it takes a lot of clicking on TAB key to reach both the Ordering dropdown (30x) as well as the column headers (from 32x for 1st "Ordering" column to 41x for the last "ID" column).

I agree with @Bakual that at places where we keep the Ordering dropdown box that we should separate the Ordering Column box & Ordering Direction box. Because it reduces options in the dropdown, and because it makes translation easier.

IMHO we should keep it in the Article Manager, but remove at most other places.

IMHO, we should keep the UI consistent across extensions
Also some people may struggle to find out that they can order by clicking on the table header. It's not the most obvious feature we have. But once you know it, you will use that most of the time.

Personally I would leave the box there but change it to two separate boxes.

@test after applying the patch the order box on top right side is gone, and you can order the items by click on their columns headers

@test The redundancy of clicking on the headers and using the dropdown menu is gone

Works great, looks great.

@test
The dropdown disappears after applying this patch. Looks more intuitive to sort the list only via column heading.

You should keep it consistent on all pages. I do like how Spotify has a little arrow next to the column to tell the user which way it is ordered and by which column. It looks good to me the way it is now. However, you should test it on users.

Moving to Needs Review so the CMS Maintainer can take the decision. Thanks.

We discussed it within the PLT and decided not to merge this and the related PR, thanks for all testers and @pe7er for your work on this but we think it is better to have the option to change the sorting also with the select box.

So we can close here @rdeutz ?

@zero-24 and PR #7712 + #7713 + #7714 as well.

Closing as per comment by @rdeutz here: #7719 (comment)

Why does PLT think it is better to have the dropdown option?

I understand that in the Article Manager (See #7712) the ordering option has extra ordering options, and there I see the added value.

In other cases, having a duplicate option adds unnecessary choices to the interface, which is IMHO not good from usability point of view...

I can only speak for myself and my personal preference. I don't think that the select box is a unnecessary choice, I think there is a value in both options.

Thanks, but I already knew your opinion & that we have a different opinion on this issue :-)
You wrote that the PR has been discussed within the PLT, so I am interested in the opinion of the PLT on this.

Something else regarding the ordering dropdown box: did PLT discuss about having one ordering box (like now) vs having two (one for "column" & a second one for "ordering direction")?
I agree with @Bakual (see #7719 (comment)) that 2 boxes is better than one....

We voted in PLT about those PRs (together with a few others). There was no need to explain the vote.
I also already my reasons in the PRs itself. My main point is that the UI should be consistent across extensions. Since in com_content the dropdown box has added sorting options and needs to stay, it makes sense to have the dropdown in other places as well.

About the two box vs one box. It was discussed explicitely but there sure would be more support for such a change

Thanks!