From 447de33ef309c3f3a936bc40af8422be901eca02 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Aaron Robertshaw <60436221+aaronrobertshaw@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2023 20:53:36 +1000
Subject: [PATCH] Draft block selectors API documentation

---
 .../block-api/block-metadata.md               |  15 +++
 .../block-api/block-selectors.md              | 117 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 132 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-selectors.md

diff --git a/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-metadata.md b/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-metadata.md
index d78050d79a9a1e..8cd20a730be1f9 100644
--- a/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-metadata.md
+++ b/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-metadata.md
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ Starting in WordPress 5.8 release, we encourage using the `block.json` metadata
 		"my-plugin/message": "message"
 	},
 	"usesContext": [ "groupId" ],
+	"selectors": {
+		"root": ".wp-block-my-plugin-notice"
+	},
 	"supports": {
 		"align": true
 	},
@@ -379,6 +382,18 @@ See [the block context documentation](/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-con
 }
 ```
 
+### Selectors
+
+-   Type: `object`
+-   Optional
+-   Localized: No
+-   Property: `selectors`
+-   Default: `{}`
+
+Any custom CSS selectors, keyed by `root`, feature, or sub-feature, to be used
+when generating block styles for theme.json (global styles) stylesheets.
+See the [the selectors documentation](/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-selectors.md) for more details.
+
 ### Supports
 
 -   Type: `object`
diff --git a/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-selectors.md b/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-selectors.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3405ee46b0b8b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/reference-guides/block-api/block-selectors.md
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# Selectors
+
+Block Selectors is the API that allows blocks to customize the CSS selector used
+when their styles generated.
+
+A block may customize its CSS selectors at three levels: root, feature, and
+subfeature.
+
+## Root Selector
+
+The block's primary CSS selector.
+
+All blocks require a primary CSS selector for their style declarations to be
+included under. If one is not provided through the Block Selectors API, a
+default is generated in the form of `.wp-block-<name>`.
+
+### Example
+```json
+{
+	...
+	"selectors": {
+		"root": ".my-custom-block-selector"
+	}
+}
+```
+
+## Feature Selectors
+
+Feature selectors relate to styles for a block support e.g. border, color,
+typography etc.
+
+A block may wish to apply the styles for specific features to different
+elements within a block. An example of this might be to apply colors on the
+block's wrapper but apply the typography styles to an inner heading only.
+
+### Example
+```json
+{
+	...
+	"selectors": {
+		"root": ".my-custom-block-selector",
+		"color": ".my-custom-block-selector",
+		"typography": ".my-custom-block-selector > h2"
+	}
+}
+```
+
+## Subfeature Selectors
+
+These selectors relate to individual styles provided by a block support e.g.
+`background-color`
+
+A subfeature can have styles generated under its own unique selector. This is
+especially useful where one block support subfeature can't be applied to the
+same element as the support's other subfeatures.
+
+A great example of this is `text-decoration`. Web browsers render this style
+differently making it difficult to override if applied to a wrapper element. By
+assigning `text-decoration` a custom selector, its style can target only the
+elements to which it should be applied.
+
+### Example
+```json
+{
+	...
+	"selectors": {
+		"root": ".my-custom-block-selector",
+		"color": ".my-custom-block-selector",
+		"typography": {
+			"root": ".my-custom-block-selector > h2",
+			"text-decoration": ".my-custom-block-selector > h2 span"
+		}
+	}
+}
+```
+
+## Shorthand
+
+Rather than specify a CSS selector for every subfeature, you can set a single
+selector as a string value for the relevant feature. This is the approach
+demonstrated for the `color` feature in earlier examples above.
+
+## Fallbacks
+
+If a selector hasn't been configured for a specific feature, it will fallback to
+the block's root selector. Similarly, if a subfeature hasn't had a custom
+selector set, it will fallback to its parent feature's selector, and if not
+available, fallback further to the block's root selector.
+
+Rather than repeating selectors for multiple subfeatures, you can simply set the
+common selector as the parent feature's `root` selector and only define the
+unique selectors for the subfeatures that differ.
+
+### Example
+```json
+{
+	...
+	"selectors": {
+		"root": ".my-custom-block-selector",
+		"color": {
+			"text": ".my-custom-block-selector p"
+		},
+		"typography": {
+			"root": ".my-custom-block-selector > h2",
+			"text-decoration": ".my-custom-block-selector > h2 span"
+		}
+	}
+}
+```
+
+In the above example, the `color.background-color` subfeature isn't explicitly
+set. As the `color` feature also doesn't define a `root` selector,
+`color.background-color` would be included under the block's primary root
+selector; `.my-custom-block-selector`.
+
+For a subfeature such as `typography.font-size`, it would fallback to its parent
+feature's selector given that is present i.e. `.my-custom-block-selector > h2`.
\ No newline at end of file