Revisions: Clarify revision comparison and restore states

[Sukhendu2002]

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/61447

This PR clarifies the Revisions screen so users can more easily identify which versions are being compared and which revision can be restored.

It:

• Displays both the From and To revision details by default.
• Replaces the disabled restore button for the current revision with “This is the current version.”
• Hides the empty From row when viewing the earliest revision.
• Renames Previous and Next to Earlier and Later.
• Adds unique author-information IDs for accessible slider labels.
• Correctly maps From and To slider labels in RTL mode.
• Updates the pinned, tooltip, and responsive layouts.
• Updates the Revisions help text.

Testing Instructions

1. Create and publish a post.
2. Update the post at least twice to create multiple revisions.
3. Open the Revisions screen for the latest revision.
4. Confirm both From and To revision details are displayed.
5. Confirm the latest revision says “This is the current version” instead of showing a disabled restore button.
6. Select Earlier and Later and confirm navigation works.
7. Confirm a non-current revision displays an enabled Restore This Revision button.
8. Navigate to the earliest revision and confirm no empty From row appears.
9. Enable Compare any two revisions and confirm both slider handles work.
10. Repeat the comparison using an RTL site language and confirm the handles have the correct From and To accessible labels.
11. Test at desktop and mobile viewport widths.

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): OpenAI Codex
Model(s): GPT-5.6
Used for: Ticket analysis, initial code skeleton, accessibility review.

---

This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

[github-actions]

Test using WordPress Playground

The changes in this pull request can previewed and tested using a WordPress Playground instance.

WordPress Playground is an experimental project that creates a full WordPress instance entirely within the browser.

Some things to be aware of

• All changes will be lost when closing a tab with a Playground instance.
• All changes will be lost when refreshing the page.
• A fresh instance is created each time the link below is clicked.
• Every time this pull request is updated, a new ZIP file containing all changes is created. If changes are not reflected in the Playground instance,
  it's possible that the most recent build failed, or has not completed. Check the list of workflow runs to be sure.

For more details about these limitations and more, check out the Limitations page in the WordPress Playground documentation.

Test this pull request with WordPress Playground.

[github-actions]

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props sukhendu2002, adamsilverstein.

To understand the WordPress project's expectations around crediting contributors, please review the Contributor Attribution page in the Core Handbook.

[adamsilverstein]

why are these styles removed? did you test comparing two revisions against each other? (the comparing-two-revisions class)

[Sukhendu2002]

These styles previously hid the From metadata and the To heading outside “Compare any two revisions” mode. They were removed intentionally because this change displays both sides of the comparison in the standard mode as well.

I tested both the standard mode and “Compare any two revisions” mode. In compare mode, both metadata rows and both slider handles remain visible and functional. I have added before/after screenshots below.

Standard mode

Before: From metadata and To heading are hidden.

After: Both From and To metadata are visible.

Compare any two revisions

Before

After: Both metadata rows and slider handles remain available.

[adamsilverstein]

After: Both From and To metadata are visible.

This is not showing from and to, it is showing what was added and removed in the (single) revision.

you can see in your screenshot from and to are the same.

I think you may have been confused about what the default revisions screen shows, which is the changes (diff) for each safe - what was added and removed in that save.

Lets keep the changes to those that address the original issue in the trac ticket.

[adamsilverstein]

ps. See this comment for what I think the user really wanted: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/61447#comment:3 maybe going immediately to the previous revision or better labeling the "last save" in the UI?

Also, we should consider whether we really need to fix this, since the revisions screen is already being replaced entirely in Gutenberg with a more visual representation that is easier for users to understand.

[adamsilverstein]

@Sukhendu2002 - I left some questions. It would be great top add some screenshots here to show before and after this change so we can see what it does.

[adamsilverstein]

I don't think the revisions screen is loaded when there is only one handle.

[Sukhendu2002]

The standard comparison mode does use one slider handle, while “Compare any two revisions” mode uses two. However, you are right that the length check is unnecessary: with one handle, first() and last() refer to the same element, so the RTL swap is a no-op. I have removed the length condition.