WordPress 4.4 to Possibly Rearrange Fields to the Comment Form

WordPress plugin and theme developers need to take note of an important change in WordPress 4.4 that rearranges the comment form. In WordPress 4.4, the comment form is arranged so that the text area is displayed first followed by the name, email, and website fields.

Comment Text Area is First

According to Aaron Jorbin, WordPress core developer, the change improves navigation when using the keyboard to toggle through fields. It also makes it easier for users to leave comments.

Since the change requires filters and actions to run in a different order, the HTML output by comment_form will be different. Jorbin explains that if developers use any of the hooks inside comment_form, especially comment_form_field_comment and comment_form_after_fields, developers should test their themes and plugins using WordPress 4.4 nightlies.

If you run into any problems or inconsistencies, please report them to ticket #29974. What do you think of the change? Do you think readers want to write their comment first instead of filling out the other three fields?