Widgets: Keep the widget Edit/Add text link visible when JavaScript is available

[irozum]

This is Phase 1 of the phased plan proposed by @sanketparmar in comment:16 and endorsed by @joedolson in comment:17. It does not remove Accessibility Mode itself — that depends on Phases 2 and 3 landing first.

The problem: On the classic Widgets screen (wp-admin/widgets.php), each widget already renders a plain-text "Edit"/"Add" link (.widget-control-edit) pointing at the accessible single-widget edit screen, alongside the JS-only expand/collapse toggle button. That text link was hidden whenever JavaScript is available (via the hide-if-js class), so keyboard and assistive-technology users had no way to reach the accessible single-widget edit screen without first switching into Accessibility Mode.

The fix:

• Removed hide-if-js from the link in wp_widget_control(), so it stays visible alongside the toggle button.
• Removing that class alone caused a layout regression: the link stacked below the toggle button instead of sitting beside it, since both are children of the floated .widget-title-action container and the link's display: block forced a line break. Added a small CSS rule scoping the link to display: inline-block when rendered next to the toggle button.
• Accessibility Mode's existing higher-specificity override (.widgets_access #wpwrap .widget-control-edit { display: block; }) is unaffected, since that mode hides the toggle button entirely.

Verification:

• Manually tested in the browser with the Classic Widgets plugin active, in both standard mode and Accessibility Mode.
• Existing and new PHPUnit coverage added in tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/52399

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): Claude Code
Model(s): Claude Sonnet 5
Used for: Implementation, tests, browser verification, and PR description. Reviewed by Igor Rozum.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Keeps the classic Widgets screen’s plain-text widget “Edit/Add” link visible even when JavaScript is enabled, preserving an always-available path to the accessible single-widget edit screen.

Changes:

• Remove hide-if-js from the .widget-control-edit link markup in wp_widget_control().
• Add a CSS override to keep the link aligned beside the JS toggle (instead of stacking below it).
• Add/refactor PHPUnit coverage for wp_widget_control(), including a regression test for the edit link visibility.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
src/wp-admin/includes/widgets.php	Makes the widget edit/add text link visible when JS is available by removing hide-if-js.
src/wp-admin/css/widgets.css	Ensures .widget-control-edit sits inline next to the toggle inside .widget-title-action.
tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php	Refactors widget-control rendering into a helper and adds regression coverage for the edit link class.

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