Problem/Motivation

"Local tasks" is jargon. The local tasks menu is exposed to a wide variety of users with varying levels of technical knowledge. It would be better to use a term which would be more easily recognized by users at all levels of knowledge.

While challenges for user use of the current term can be remediated through training, it adds to cognitive load for editors as they have to confront this unfamiliar term each time they want to do something with content or their user record.

I will disclose that I was totally mystified by this label when the administrator added this module to our website (and hid the on-page view/edit/delete/revisions menu items). I consider myself technically knowledgeable. However, I tend not to be the sort of person who clicks things that appear meaningless to me just to find out what they do.

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to https://simplytest.me
2. In the entry field, type admin_toolbar
3. Choose Admin Toolbar
4. Click Launch Sandbox to create the site
5. Login as admin
6. From the top menu, click Extend
7. In the search field, type toolbar
8. Check Admin tool bar extra tools
9. Click Install
10. From the top menu, choose Configuration, then User interface, then Admin Toolbar Tools
11. Check Enable/Disable local tasks display
12. Click Save configuration
13. From the top menu, choose Admin, then View

Expected result: The newly added menu containing View, Shortcuts, and Edit has a label that would be meaningful to a non-technical person

Actual result: The newly added menu containing View, Shortcuts, and Edit has a label "Local tasks"

14. From the top menu, choose Manage, then Content, then Add content, then Basic page.
15. Type title "Test content"
16. Click Save

Expected result: The newly added menu containing View, Edit, Delete and Revisions has a label that would be meaningful to a non-technical person

Actual result: The newly added menu containing View, Edit, Delete and Revisions has a label "Local tasks"

Proposed resolution

Replace "Local tasks" with something less technical, perhaps:

For user entity, "This User"
For content entity, "This Content"

This would carry through to whatever type of entities are supported by this module. I did not use the word "entity" in the proposed resolution because that too is jargon.

If it has to be a single term, I would recommend "This Content" since it is all some kind of content, just not necessarily published website content.

Remaining tasks

User interface changes

See Proposed resolution

API changes

Data model changes

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#21 User Screenshot 2025-07-15 at 12.08.26 PM.png71.62 KBcharles belov
#21 Content Screenshot 2025-07-15 at 12.12.06 PM.png67.75 KBcharles belov
#16 3436899-16-admin_toolbar-improve-local-tasks-menu-label2a.jpg13.3 KBdydave
#16 3436899-16-admin_toolbar-improve-local-tasks-menu-label1a.jpg13.76 KBdydave

Issue fork admin_toolbar-3436899

Command icon Show commands

Start within a Git clone of the project using the version control instructions.

Or, if you do not have SSH keys set up on git.drupalcode.org:

About issue forks

Comments

Charles Belov created an issue. See original summary.

charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented
Issue summary: View changes
charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented
Issue summary: View changes
charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented
Issue summary: View changes
charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented
Issue summary: View changes
yannickoo’s picture

yannickoo
Location Berlin
commented

FYI I just created another issue to adjust Local tasks to allow editors faster editing of content – #3495223: Link "Local Tasks" button directly to entity edit form if available to improve UX

vasantha deepika made their first commit to this issue’s fork.

vasantha deepika opened merge request !108

vasantha deepika’s picture

vasantha deepika commented
Status: Active » Needs review

Replace "Local Tasks" with "Quick Links" to make navigation more intuitive and user-friendly for non-technical users as well. Raised an MR #108

charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented

Thank you for that suggestion. However, as with "Local Tasks," "Quick Links" does not imply it relates to the currently-displayed node.

What about "This Node"?

Although "node" is also jargony.

"This Page" if it's content?
"This User" if it's a user page?

arijit acharya’s picture

arijit acharya commented
Assigned: Unassigned » arijit acharya
arijit acharya’s picture

arijit acharya commented
Assigned: arijit acharya » Unassigned

Hi @charles belov, I have thought to rename the display of 'Local tasks' to 'Contextual Tools', raised the MR as well for it.
The reason for selecting this name is that it clearly conveys that the menu provides tools specifically related to the current context.
Please review and share your opinion on it.

charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented

@arijit acharya Thank you for your suggestion. Again, "Contextual" strikes me a jargony and not meaningful to the average content editor. The simpler, yet meaningful, language the better. I don't think of pages as being a "context", I think of it as being the current page. I don't think of users as being a context, I think of it as being a user.

I'd really like to see something simple and straightforward like:

This page
This user

I also don't think of the various actions available as "tools".

dydave made their first commit to this issue’s fork.

dydave opened merge request !127

dydave’s picture

dydave commented
Version: 3.4.2 » 3.x-dev
Category: Bug report » Feature request
StatusFileSize
new 3436899-16-admin_toolbar-improve-local-tasks-menu-label1a.jpg13.76 KB
new 3436899-16-admin_toolbar-improve-local-tasks-menu-label2a.jpg13.3 KB

Thanks a lot everyone for all the contributions!

Created a new merge request at #15 as an attempt to implement the changes suggested in the issue summary and the previous exchanges.

See resulting screenshots:
Node page: /node/NID

 

User page: /user/UID

I personally think this is a very good idea and should definitely make things clearer for less tech-savvy users.
Therefore, I wouldn't be opposed to getting something like this included in the module, if this issue could get enough interest.

Any comments, testing feedback or questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

dydave’s picture

dydave commented
Title: "Local tasks" is hard to understand » Improve 'Local Tasks' menu label
yannickoo’s picture

yannickoo
Location Berlin
commented

Thanks for your effort @dydave! I had to think about this for a longer while and also asked other people what they could easily understand to navigate around easily.

New suggestions that I really like and never saw in Drupal before:

  • Page Tools
  • Page Actions
  • Quick Actions
  • Actions
charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented

I like Page Actions, as that most closely describes what the menu contains and will allow editors to accomplish. It says that the menu pertains to the current page and will allow you to do things with that page.

Page Tools would be my second choice.

"Quick Actions" and "Actions" don't work for me because it is not clear that they apply to the current page.

divyansh.gupta’s picture

divyansh.gupta commented
Status: Needs review » Reviewed & tested by the community

Tested the patch and it works well. The label updates appropriately based on the type of page you're viewing and falls back to "Local Tasks" when needed. This is a nice improvement for usability and should make things clearer for non-technical users. Marking this RTBC.

charles belov’s picture

charles belov
he/him
Primary language English
Location San Francisco, CA, US
commented
Status: Reviewed & tested by the community » Needs work
StatusFileSize
new Content Screenshot 2025-07-15 at 12.12.06 PM.png67.75 KB
new User Screenshot 2025-07-15 at 12.08.26 PM.png71.62 KB

Tested the patch on simplytest.me, and I'm not seeing the local tasks menu, either with the old or new wording.

Steps:
1. Go to https://simplytest.me/
2. In the project name Field type admin
3. Choose admin_toolbar from the auto suggest
4. In the version drop down, choose 3.x–Dev (I also tried 3.6.1, with the same result.)
5. Click advanced options
6. Leave Drupal core at 11.2.1
7. In the patch field, paste https://git.drupalcode.org/project/admin_toolbar/-/merge_requests/127.patch
8. Click Launch Sandbox
9. Copy log before it redirects to the site
10. Locate 127.patch in the log

Expected and actual results:

6876a2366cd631d7cc96a161# /bin/sh -c cd stm && composer patch-add drupal/admin_toolbar "STM patch 127.patch" "https://git.drupalcode.org/project/admin_toolbar/-/merge_requests/127.patch" --no-update
Gathering patches from patch file.
The patch was successfully added.

11. Log into the site as admin

Expected result: I am on the admin user page /user/1. I see the following menus, not necessarily in this sequence:

  • Manage
  • This User
  • Shortcuts
  • admin
  • Announcements

Actual result: I am on the admin user page /user/1. I see the following menus:

  • Manage
  • Shortcuts
  • admin
  • Announcements
  • Edit

Menus on user page as listed in actual results

12. Go to /admin/config/user-interface/admin-toolbar

Expected and actual result: I see the default options for the admin toolbar module, indicating to me that the admin toolbar module is active.

13. Create a new basic page (Content, Add content, Basic page, type "test" in title field, Save)

Expected result: /node/1 has the following menu items:

  • Manage
  • This Content
  • Shortcuts
  • admin
  • Announcements

Actual result: /node/1 has the following menu items:

  • Manage
  • Shortcuts
  • admin
  • Announcements
  • Edit

Menus on content page as listed in actual results