About page for 3.6

As we approach 3.6 final, we need to start thinking about the About page for the release. What should go on it? Shout out your ideas.

#3-6

Hey Remember that WordPress 3.6 release we were…

Hey! Remember that WordPress 3.6 release we were working on? Yeah… we’re still at it. But there’s hope! Post Formats UIUI User interface has been extracted, and RevisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. has gotten an intense refactoring that makes it scale up to hundreds of revisions without killing your server or your browser. A backlog of many hundreds of tickets has been whittled down. As of this writing, we’re below 40 tickets for 3.6, and they’re actively being committed and punted as appropriate.

The plan is to keep on those tickets and get to RCrelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). by Friday. Help is appreciated! A bunch of people have been “pinged” regarding tickets on report/6, so please scan through those and log on to IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. to check for messages.

#3-6

We’re getting very close This week focusing on…

We’re getting very close.

This week focusing on RTL again, especially concerning :before and :after and Genericon placement, see #24287. Turns out we’ll need flipped versions of lots of the glyphs—which Joen is now working on. After Joen completes the Genericons font updates are ready we’ll sync them into Twenty Thirteen.

Next is another quick pass at editor styles, including RTL support there.

#3-6, #bundled-theme, #theme, #twentythirteen

Twenty Thirteen project update, April 23, 2013

The focus for Twenty Thirteen right now test, test, and test. Polish, polish, and polish. The IEs, RTL, testing with lots of popular plugins. Getting things working smoothly with the new coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. post formats functionality.

Priorities

  • Launch on WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/: currently blocked by the pending final version of the post formats UIUI User interface.
  • With core team: make a decision on how “structured-post-formats” should be used and declared (if at all) by the theme.
  • With core team: make a decision on fixed navbar—”stay or go.”
  • With Joen, making Quote style improvements.

#3-6, #bundled-theme, #theme, #twentythirteen

Post Formats, Schedules, and Philosophy

Post Formats UIUI User interface is looking like this right now:
Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.05.04 AM

This seems confusing, because it looks like they are icons to insert something (Image, Gallery, Link, Video, etc), but instead of launching a popup to insert a link or an image, the screen changes and the navigation that was just used to choose disappears completely. (Note: If Standard had some indication of being the default/current selection it wouldn’t be as confusing)

Clicking on one — say Link — makes the UI change, the big icon row go away, and a format switcher link drops below the title rather than keeping its visual hierarchy above the post stuff, and it’s generally disorienting.

Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.09.35 AM

If the user thinks, “Whoa, what happened, I better change format again,” and they click on the “Change format’ link under the title field and next to the “Enter URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org” instruction, the screens morphs again to this:

Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.12.41 AM

Where the icon strip is back, but the link field has disappeared and the icon next to Add New Post is still a link. This is super confusing. Does it still think it is a link bc they didn’t actively choose to return to standard, they just chose to see the options? If that’s so, why did the url field disappear?

Looking at the release schedule:
Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.40.18 AM
We launched BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 1 on April 4, and it’s been almost 3 weeks without a follow-up beta 2.
…I am wondering if the post formats ui is really prime time ready, or if it should be one of the very first thing sto land in a 3.7 branchbranch A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch". so we can get the things that are completely ready into the hands of users sooner rather than later?

Since I’m outside the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. dev group now, I’ve been on both sides of the deadline delay dance. I know how hard it is to let go of something that feels like it is thisclose to done. And I know that just about everyone on the core team will be thinking right about now that I should shut up (and I’m okay with that, because it used to be my first response to deadline questions to core, too). But we have this philosophy posted on wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/:

Deadlines Are Not Arbitrary

Deadlines are not arbitrary, they’re a promise we make to ourselves and our users that helps us rein in the endless possibilities of things that could be a part of every release. We aspire to release three major versions a year because through trial and error we’ve found that to be a good balance between getting cool stuff in each release and not so much that we end up breaking more than we add.

Good deadlines almost always make you trim something from a release. This is not a bad thing, it’s what they’re supposed to do.

The route of delaying a release for that one-more-feature is, literally, a rabbit hole. We did that for over a year once, and it wasn’t pleasant for anybody.

The more frequent and regular releases are, the less important it is for any particular feature to be in this release. If it doesn’t make it for this one, it’ll just be a few months before the next one. When releases become unpredictable or few and far between, there’s more pressure to try and squeeze in that one more thing because it’s going to be so long before the next one. Delay begets delay.

I’m not trying to be a troublemaker or imply that anyone isn’t doing everything they can — I know for a fact that people are working themselves into the ground on this release. Nor am looking to incite a debate about deadlines or all the explanations of how we fell behind this time (I’ve been following along, everything is really pretty normal). But would it be better to not try to squeeze it all in, get out what we can ship now (including the awesome 2013 theme that regular people still don’t have access to), and take a quick breath to relax before diving back in on a new cycle? Shipping is a feature, too. 😉

#3-6, #deadlines

Please join me in congratulating Dominik Schilling @ocean90…

Please join me in congratulating Dominik Schilling (@ocean90 and on Twitter), who has been given guest commit access for the rest of the 3.6 development cycle.

He started contributing more than three years ago, and his contributions, which number well into the hundreds, are always top-notch. If you’ve had a chance to work with him, you probably noticed at least two things: calm judgment and biting sarcasm. I’ve found that the betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. period is his bread-and-butter — he goes around polishing and fixing everything he can get his hands on. He’s also taken one for the team more than once on things like fixing RTL, getting IE to behave, and synchronizing color schemes.

Go, Dominik!

#3-6, #commit

We love testers We’d love more people to…

We love testers

We’d love more people to install Twenty Thirteen, with special emphasis on trying out all the new Post Format features.

Also, if you have access to Windows with various versions of Internet Explorer we especially need help testing out some IE8 and IE10 issues (see TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. list link below).

Priorities

  • Address open tickets in Trac, fix bugs and make improvements
  • More browser, device, RTL, and i18ni18n Internationalization, or the act of writing and preparing code to be fully translatable into other languages. Also see localization. Often written with a lowercase i so it is not confused with a lowercase L or the numeral 1. Often an acquired skill. testing
  • Post formats testing. For example, looking at the output from post_formats_compat(), making suggestions like Image should use wp_get_attachment_image() there for filters and correct coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. class attribute values in the resulting HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers..
  • Review and possibly refactor the js/functions.js JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. file, going to all procedural/functional or moving to a new architecture—the key is to be consistent with it within the file. We can also look at namespacing the events.
  • Ask Joen to do another design audit, checking versus his design vision for things like spacing, colors, and post formats.

Office hours

We’ll get back to office hours in #wordpress-dev IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. over the next few weeks, Tue and Thu at 17 UTC.

#3-6, #bundled-theme, #theme, #twentythirteen

Twenty Thirteen project update, March 26, 2013

Our focus right now is on post formats integration, both structured (formats with post metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.) and “normal” output for the other formats.

Priorities

  1. Work with Post Formats team to get the_video(), the_audio(), and the_image() functions into coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., so we can avoid a ton of extra logic in Twenty Thirteen’s functions.php file to grab the first asset for a format. Making it easier for *any* theme to get the same data back and keep their template files simpler. Themes should not have to parse shortcodes or try to make something run through oEmded before display.
  2. Work with Post Formats team on post_formats_compat() functionality, improving Quote markup and filling in the gaps for other formats. Obenland is going to work on a patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing. for this.
  3. Image: we need clarification from 3.6 leads and Post Formats team on whether it is going to be structured or not (post meta) and it needs more work for the post-media functions (see 1 and 2 priorities above)
  4. Finalize each post format in Twenty Thirteen: what template HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. or PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher it needs, what it needs from core functionality to work correctly

By post format

Here’s a breakdown per format, per today’s discussion (IRC log).

  • Standard: good to go
  • Aside: we remove the title from the PHP template, added styling; non-structured
  • Chat: IHNIWIGOWTPF (see IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. log, hehe); non-structured
  • Gallery: we use a bit of PHP to remove default gallery styles, and we use a filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. to change the image size to large on index view, then add a bit of CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. fanciness to change the first image to “bigger” size, 300×300 (single view is not changed other than to align the columns); non-structured
  • Link: structured, we use get_the_url() wrapped in our own fallback to output permalink if no URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org is found
  • Image: right now it works OK without any changes, but the design calls for the image to be above the title, which means we need a way to pull out the first image, and have the_content() be output without that image; also filter content_width to 724 for this format (small issue with that reported in #23863). Seems like the best approach here is to use a custom image size to grab an exact 724 px wide image (unless it’s smaller that 724, in which case we grab the largest available). Ideal: a user uploads an image, adds it to the post content at exactly 724 from the Media editor, then the_image() outputs the exact HTML img tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) + attributes.
  • Quote: structured; currently we rely on people using blockquote correctly in the editor, and style it with CSS; after Obenland’s patch to Quote markup (noted above in priority 2) we’ll add CSS support for the structured HTML markup, and leave in the basic styles in case someone uses post content anyway
  • Status: similar to Aside
  • Video: structured; we filter content_width to 724 to allow the video to be wider than the rest of the content area; needs the_video() to return the HTML output of first video and remove the same from the post content
  • Audio: structured, we’re leaning towards using the post format compat output instead of a custom structure in the theme; needs more testing but seems to be working OK as-is right now

#3-6, #bundled-theme, #theme, #twentythirteen

Twenty Thirteen project update, March 19, 2013

We’re in great shape to get to betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.. Here is what we’re working on right now.

Blocking older installs

Tracked in #23819 — since Twenty Thirteen is 3.6+ only, older installs could see errors. We’d like to come up with a graceful way to not allow older versions of WordPress to install and run Twenty Thirteen.

Maybe a nag function in the theme that puts up a warning? Forcing a change the previously activated theme upon activation? What are your thoughts?

Relates to #13780 also.

Post formats integration

See #23619, #23620, and #23621 — we are waiting on the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. functionality to be committed before we can change the theme code (images, videos, galleries, links).

Recently completed

  • HTML5 improvements to comment list, comment form, and search form (yay!) #22005, #23702, and #23701
  • Solidify footer positioning when no JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. or no Masonry script available: #23771
  • More gallery visual fixes: #23773 and #23769

Open issues

Here is a link to open tickets.

#3-6, #bundled-theme, #theme, #twentythirteen

Post Formats UI Update, 3/14

As noted in The Road to 3.6 Beta 1, we’ve got quite a bit going on for post formats. Many of the tickets are in need of testing (including unit tests) and then a commit. As always, there are a few different fronts: UIUI User interface/administration, data, and parsing. Here’s where we are with each, and what needs to get done. There’s a large variety of tasks here, and we are seeking contributors to help 🙂

Continue reading

#3-6, #post-formats