Navigation: Clicking to add top level page but deciding not to leaves "Add link..." in place

[paaljoachim]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Let's say that I decide to add a new top level page. But change my mind. That I do not need another top level nav item.

I see the "Add link..." placeholder still in the menu even when clicking away from it.

It remains when I click into it.

Describe the solution you'd like
When clicking away from creating a submenu. #21448
Or creating a top level menu item. The "Add link..." should also be removed.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Clicking into the "Add link..." I had to either remove the block through the toolbar or add some text and then select the container and click the delete key on the keyboard.

William as you worked on the Permalink PR. #12009
When not saving and clicking outside of the box the Permalink would automatically close. I am thinking the same method can be used on this issue and the related submenu issue I made.
#21448
@earnjam

[kirilzh]

I'm not convinced it should be automatically removed. Have you considered the scenario where you insert multiple empty links?

To me the current implementation seems intuitive, if you add a block you also have to take care to remove it.

[paaljoachim]

Good point Kiril!

It needs to be easier to select the border around a link either it is empty with a "Add link..." or has text content in it. Then it also becomes easier to remove the empty nav items.

[kirilzh]

Clicking on "Add link..." opens the toolbar menu which has a "Remove Block" option hidden in the three dots menu.

Proposed solution: adding it to the primary toolbar options

[paaljoachim]

Hey Kiril.
Why would a person insert multiple empty links?
I am thinking that one would atleast write something into the empty areas.

As I still see an empty link as really no content. If one wanted to have a placeholder link that one can just type some letters into it. Or do a copy and paste of the name link for instance having that repeated in all the areas one just wants a placeholder.

[talldan]

@paaljoachim Automatically deleting empty blocks isn't a pattern employed elsewhere in the block editor, so I don't think the behaviour should be any different in the navigation block.

I think @kirilzh's point makes sense. If I know I'll have a menu with 5 items, I might add 5 empty blocks before typing in the content. In that situation having the blocks deleted automatically would be frustrating.

I'm going to close the issue, as I don't believe this is something that should be addressed for one block alone.

I think there's probably a case for a separate issue that would look into making it easier to delete empty links. Maybe pressing backspace/delete should remove one. That seems like it would be the opposite of what this issue proposes:
#18208

[paaljoachim]

Hey @talldan
The bottom line for me is that it just needs to be easier to delete links with or without content.

[talldan]

@paaljoachim Right, I see. I made a separate issue so that this is tracked #21743