Add Ghost Text Placeholder When Section Name is Cleared

[ashikmotion]

Directorist version

latest

Environment

latest

Description

I initially reported that when completely deleting a section name in the Builder, the old name persists. The Directorist team (Ibrahim Riaz) clarified this is intentional behavior — the previous name is retained until a new one is provided, preventing confusion when section names are accidentally deleted.

The Problem:
This raised a follow-up question: "If a user actually wants to delete the section name, how can they confirm that it's deleted?"

Currently, there's no visual distinction between:

• A section name that's actively being edited
• A section name that has been cleared and is waiting for new input

Steps to reproduce

Proposed Enhancement
Display the previous section name as ghost text (reduced opacity or muted color) when the field is cleared during rename. This maintains the current intentional behavior while adding visual clarity.

Image

Why This Enhances the Existing Behavior
The current retention logic is solid. This suggestion simply adds a visual layer to communicate that state to users:

• Ghost text (e.g., 40-50% opacity or muted gold/gray color)
• Clearly indicates: "Previous name preserved, type to replace"
• Optional: "Press Escape to cancel" tooltip

References

• Similar UX patterns: Notion, Figma, VS Code rename functionality
• Loom video from original report: https://www.loom.com/share/90b38ca8bd244afcb341ca279c31316d

Isolating the problem

• I have reproduced this bug in localhost.
• This bug happens with a default WordPress theme active (eg. 2021, 2022 etc).