Weston Ruter

This is a feature plugin intended to implement <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28536" rel="nofollow ugc">#28536</a>: Add browser history and deep linking for navigation in Customizer preview
This plugin keeps the Customizer URL in the browser updated with current previewed URL as the <code>url</code> query param and current expanded panel/section/control as <code>autofocus</code> params. This allows for bookmarking and also the ability to reload and return go the same view (which is great for developers), including which device you are previewing (desktop, tablet, or mobile). Not only will the URL be kept in sync with the current customizer UI, but new browser history entries will be added as you navigate around the site in the preview (via <code>history.pushState()</code>), allowing you to use the back/forward buttons as you would normally when browsing the site outside the customizer. The scroll position for each previewed URL is tracked as well, so that when you navigate back/forward the scroll position will be restored, just as happens when browsing the site outside the customizer preview. Restoring the scroll position also works when reloading the customizer, as the position is persisted in a <code>scroll</code> query parameter: again, this is extremely useful during development.
This plugin complements well the <a href="https://github.com/xwp/wp-customize-snapshots" rel="nofollow ugc">Customize Snapshots</a> plugin which allows you to save your Customizer state in a shapshot/changeset with an associated UUID that also gets added to the browser URL in the Customizer.
For example, if you load the Customizer and then click the “Site Identity” section, the URL will be replaced to add <code>autofocus[section]=title_tagline</code>.
If you navigate into the nav menus panel, open a menu section, and then expand a nav menu item control, then the URL will have these <code>autofocus</code> params added:
<pre>
autofocus[panel]=nav_menus&autofocus[section]=nav_menu[87]&autofocus[control]=nav_menu_item[5123]
</pre>
And while these changes to the <code>autofocus</code> params are being made in the browser’s URL as the Customizer UI is interacted with, if you navigate to another page in the preview the <code>url</code> parameter will also be replaced to reflect the new preview URL.
Note that the <code>url</code> param will be URL-encoded. So a typical Customizer URL would get updated to look like:
<pre>
http://example.com/wp-admin/customize.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsample-page%2F&autofocus[panel]=widgets&autofocus[section]=sidebar-widgets-sidebar-1&autofocus[control]=widget_text[10]&device=mobile&scroll=200
</pre>
The plugin will also persist the scroll position from the frontend to preview frame in the Customizer after clicking the “Customize” link in the frontend admin bar. This ensures you can quickly start editing whatever you were looking at the moment you clicked Customize, and it makes the Customizer load from the frontend in a more seamless way.
Additionally, as you navigate around the Customizer preview, the close link in the Customizer controls pane will keep updating to point to the same URL that you are previewing, along with persisting the scroll position. In this way, whenever you close the Customizer via this link the user experience is that the Customizer sidebar is just removed, similar to as if they clicked the “Hide Controls” link at the bottom of the sidebar. This behavior is only active if the user had clicked the Customize link from the frontend. If they clicked Customize from the admin, then the Close link will remain linking back to the admin page they came from. Note that for responsive themes like Twenty Seventeen, the synced scroll position between the frontend and backend won’t always appear seamless since the Customizer controls panel being expanded causes the element dimensions in the preview to change.
Development of this plugin is done <a href="https://github.com/xwp/wp-customizer-browser-history" rel="nofollow ugc">on GitHub</a>. Pull requests welcome. Please see <a href="https://github.com/xwp/wp-customizer-browser-history/issues" rel="nofollow ugc">issues</a> reported there before going to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/customizer-browser-history" rel="ugc">plugin forum</a>.

Customizer Browser History

This is a true time saver after Customizer reloads that really adds up....I've only used it for a day but I'm already so used to it I'm not sure I can do without it. Great job!



Resumable Customizer sessions are a big time saver

I was about to create a similar plugin myself, but I'm lucky to find this plugin. Now I'm happy to say that it saved me some time.

When refreshing the customizer browser frequently this plugin is really handy.

Thank you.

I was about to create a similar plugin myself, but...

Sync browser URL in Customizer with current preview URL and focused panels, sections, and controls.

amielucha

Customizer Plugin is a tool built for WordPress Theme Developers and Plugin Developers. It extends Customizer panel introduced in WP 3.4.
With Customizer Plugin you can:
<ul>
<li>quickly add your theme’s or plugin’s options to the Customizer Panel without leaving the frontent preview</li>
<li>take advantage of both serialized and non-serialized Theme Options</li>
<li>add dropdowns, colour pickers, image uploaders, radio options and more</li>
<li>extend your current theme to enable front-end customizations</li>
</ul>
Check this <a href="http://wp-customizer.com/user-guide/" title="How to configure Customizer" rel="nofollow ugc">quick user guide</a> for examples of how to configure WordPress Customizer.
Download the alpha version now and discuss the functionality or report a bug. Your feedback is appreciated.
<h4>Upcoming Features</h4>
The plugin is currently being developed to support even wider range of features and increase developers’ productivity. The final release will include:
Import / Export
Once you add your Theme Options to the Customizer’s panel you can save them to a .csv file and import into another project.
White-label mode
Future release will allow you to add controls to the front-end Customizer Panel, export them to a csv file and seamlessly integrate with your product (Theme or Plugin).
More Option Types
If the default text, image, color, radio, select and checkbox arent enough.

Customizer

Add theme's or plugin's options to the WordPress Customizer. Build theme and plugin options accessible from WordPress front-end.

Customizer Browser History vs Customizer