Add setting to expand typography controls in the block inspector

[bph]

Summary

Adds an opt-in Editor preferences panel in the Create Block Theme sidebar with a single toggle that expands every typography control in the block inspector by default, instead of hiding them behind the ToolsPanel ellipsis menu. Intended for theme authors iterating on typography.

Fixes #823.

Why

Adjusting typography in the Site Editor takes two steps per control today: open the ellipsis menu, enable the control, then set the value. For theme authors iterating across many blocks and elements, this adds up. The issue has more context (#823), including the related upstream discussions in gutenberg#41376 and gutenberg#41544.

The narrow scope here — plugin-only, reversible by toggling off or deactivating CBT.

New files

• src/editor-enhancements/expand-typography-controls.js — mapping table, pure expandTypographyDefaults(), and a blocks.registerBlockType filter that populates __experimentalDefaultControls based on the typography supports the block already declares.
• src/editor-sidebar/editor-preferences-panel.js — new panel with a single CheckboxControl. Toggle writes the preference, fires createInfoNotice('Applying…'), and reloads the editor.
• src/test/expand-typography-controls.test.js — 13 unit tests for the pure mapping function (null/undefined, each support key, fontAppearance merge, falsy filtering, full shape, key preservation) plus one mapping-table sanity check.

Modified

• src/plugin-sidebar.js — side-effect import of the filter at the top (so it registers before block registration), cog icon, menu item under /editor-preferences, new NavigatorScreen.
• readme.txt — one bullet under Description.

Design decisions

• Typography only for v1. Defer spacing / border / dimensions to a follow-up based on feedback.
• Reload on toggle. blocks.registerBlockType only fires at registration time. Auto-reload matches the pattern already used.
• CBT sidebar, not the core Preferences modal. The preference scope is create-block-theme, same store as existing save-panel preferences. It really is only helpful while authoring a theme.
• Site Editor only. CBT's sidebar bundle is gated to $pagenow === 'site-editor.php' in includes/class-create-block-theme-editor-tools.php:19, so the filter doesn't load in the post editor. The help text notes this. Broader coverage (splitting the filter into its own unconditionally-enqueued script) is a plausible v2.

Mapping source

Verified against gutenberg/packages/block-editor/src/components/global-styles/typography-panel.js on trunk. fontWeight and fontStyle collapse into a single fontAppearance control. If the __experimental* keys rename in core, only expand-typography-controls.js needs to change.

Open questions for reviewers

From issue #823:

1. Typography-only v1, or broader? (spacing, dimensions, border)
2. Reload vs live apply. We chose reload for the reasons above; open to reconsidering if reviewers feel strongly.
3. Visible in-editor indicator that expansion is active — helpful, or noise?
4. Site Editor only. Should this also work in the post editor? Would require splitting the filter module out of the `site-editor.php`-gated sidebar bundle.

Test plan

• Site Editor manual: toggle OFF baseline for Paragraph, Heading, Group, Cover, Quote
• Site Editor manual: toggle ON → reload → all declared typography controls visible on the above
• Third-party block: Jetpack Contact Form's Label block — all typography controls expanded, no crash, no invented controls
• Toggle OFF → reload → controls revert
• Deactivate CBT → default Gutenberg behavior returns
• Preference persists across browser reloads and sessions

A Claude-assisted PR.

Here are a few visusal:

Video:

Screen.Recording.2026-04-24.at.11.19.26.mov

[bph]

Switched the panel's outer wrapper from to + — the same pattern used by save-panel.js and
create-panel.js. This gives the checkbox the proper horizontal padding so it lines up with the "Editor preferences" header instead of sitting flush against the left edge.

Before

After

[bph]

Also updated the handling of the reload to use prior method of alert box display on the top.

[bph]

Note on the "Fit text" gap: only the Heading and Paragraph blocks declare typography.fitText support, and FitTextControl is registered as its own ToolsPanelItem outside TypographyPanel — it does not read __experimentalDefaultControls, so the existing mapping table cannot reach it. To keep the copy accurate I narrowed the label/help to refer to the typography panel rather than promising "all" controls (commit 7140ed3). Reaching Fit text would require a separate editor.BlockEdit filter that wraps Heading/Paragraph to inject isShownByDefault, which felt out of proportion for two blocks and one toggle — happy to add it as a follow-up if reviewers prefer.

[mikachan]

This looks good to me! Code changes look good. I think we can bring this in so we can test it out 🙌