I am trying to learn magento 2 so i am reading my way through the docs.
On this page it says I can edit block locations using the "Frontend App tool" http://docs.magento.com/m2/ce/user_guide/design/layout-updates.html
But I cannot find any mention anywhere of this tool or where to find it. The subsequent pages of the guide show xml examples but do not mention where this xml goes. I feel like there is information missing here. I started at beginning of docs and have been reading page by page.
Where is the frontend app tool and where do i go to see the block code?
I'm in line with you that this section needs improvement. Read it a couple of times and still not able to do what I want.
For the front end app tool, not confident in what is meant either, but it could be the "Layout update" that is available in all CMS pages.
How to get there: Main menu of Magento: Content > Pages, select Edit, and in section Design there is a field "Layout Update XML".
The resource I found be of some help was this: http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/frontend-dev-guide/layouts/xml-manage.html
Still, I would appreciate any resources on the Layout Update XML that better explains how it works, with examples of common tasks, when it should be used in comparison to widgets, and similar.
I had the official answer from Magento and the one that wrote the Documentation once I sent some feedback on the article.
"For a short time before 2.0 was released, Widgets were renamed to Frontend Apps. (That was a misadventure and throw back to Magento Go.)"
==> Frontend Apps are the Widgets!