You might notice that this P2 has gotten…

You might notice that this P2P2 A free theme for WordPress, known for front-end posting, used by WordPress for development updates and project management. See our main development blog and other workgroup blogs. has gotten a big head. All of the Make P2s have actually, and like the rug in the Big Lebowski we think it really ties the room together.

The Get Involved tab has been added, docs have been moved under support, home has been hidden. This isn’t ideal — we’d eventually like to move to more of a verb-oriented navigation system — but it is better than everything under Make being its own island and not really linked to or from the main WP.org side, or to each other. Hopefully it will also let more folks know about how to get involved (I added a link to the Make CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Handbook to the top sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user..)

I’ll be talking more about some of the improvements to WP.org tomorrow at 11am PST and you can still get streaming tickets if you’d like to tune in: http://2012.sf.wordcamp.org/tickets/

#meta, #wordpress-org

Fun with High-DPI displays

With the release of a lot of high-DPI displays (aka “retina” displays, but also others on both Android and iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads. devices), it’s just a truism that images on these displays have tended to not look their best, all the time. High-DPI displays are having to scale up low-resolution images, and it’s just not great.

There is a simple solution for this, using either CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. or 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/. tricks, but the basic principle behind it is to make an image twice as big on each dimension (four times the area), and then let the browser scale it down into the space it’s supposed to fit into. This lets the high-DPI displays have more information to work with and to make images which scale much better. The problem, of course, is that larger images require more space and bandwidth. With various CSS and JSJS JavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors. techniques, you can target it such that the high-res images are only sent to browsers that really need them, saving on the bandwidth.

Anyway, lately we’ve been making those sorts of changes to 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/ too. If you’re visiting on a high-DPI display, you may notice that the main headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. logo is of a higher quality, or you might have noticed that the Showcase looks particularly good, or that we now have some very high resolution images on the Logos and Graphics page. Little changes to the graphics, here and there. It’s an ongoing project to “retina-all-the-things”.

Back in December, we made some changes to allow pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party authors to put banner images above their plugins in the directory, and the response has been great. So, now they get the high-DPI love too.

Plugin authors already have the ability to make a banner-772x250.jpg or png file in their assets directory and have that be used for the banner image on their plugin listing. As of today, they can add a banner-1544x500.jpg or png file, for use on high-DPI displays only. When the website detects that the viewing browser both has a high-DPI display and the high-res image exists, then that image will be shown instead of the low-res image, but scaled to fit into the proper space. This makes them look particularly sharp on high-DPI displays.

Now, before you go forth and create, please remember that one thing to keep in mind here is filesize. If you’re using photographic material for your banner, then it is highly recommended that you use the JPG file format. If you’re using drawn or generated materials, PNG is the favored format. However, in either case, you will want to apply high compression and try to keep those files as small as possible. Small files transfer to the browser faster. Also consider that a fair number of high-DPI displays will be phones, for example, and perhaps not using high-speed connections. So keeping that high-res file as small as you can would be a good thing. If you wish to use a PNG compression tool before uploading, that might be a good idea as well.

And there you have it. Plugin authors, go forth, and show us your high-resolution banner skills! 🙂

BTW, if you want to see it, I gave my Pluginception plugin a high-res image, for testing. It’s a simple image with some well-defined lines that make the difference easy to spot if you’re looking for it. You’ll need a high-DPI display to see it though. 🙂

#plugin, #retina, #wordpress-org

We’re seeing increased reports in readme txt files…

We’re seeing increased reports in readme.txt files not updating for plugins. Likely related to the migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. to nginxNGINX NGINX is open source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and more. It started out as a web server designed for maximum performance and stability. In addition to its HTTP server capabilities, NGINX can also function as a proxy server for email (IMAP, POP3, and SMTP) and a reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP, TCP, and UDP servers. https://www.nginx.com/. from earlier this week, as in the process a number of configurations were updated (also PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher 5.2 to 5.3), and now signs point to memcached caching algorithms (riveting). @bazza is looking into the problem; @otto42 and I are also looking into some wider issues.

#plugins-directory, #wordpress-org

Thanks to @bazza and @stankea WordPress org has…

Thanks to @bazza and @stankea, 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/ has been fully migrated to nginxNGINX NGINX is open source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and more. It started out as a web server designed for maximum performance and stability. In addition to its HTTP server capabilities, NGINX can also function as a proxy server for email (IMAP, POP3, and SMTP) and a reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP, TCP, and UDP servers. https://www.nginx.com/. from Litespeed and ApacheApache Apache is the most widely used web server software. Developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. Apache is an Open Source software available for free.. Please let me know if you find things wonky with anything on wordpress.org, api.wordpress.org, bbpress.org, buddypress.org, etc. (Beyond the usual wonkiness, of course.)

The only known issue is that query strings were temporarily broken on translate.wordpress.org. The rewrite rule has been fixed.

#systems, #wordpress-org

MT has given the typography on WordPress org…

MT has given the typography 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/ a refresh to bring it more in line with our sans-serif (instead of Lucida) approach in the WP dashboard, and also tightened up the vertical space the sub-heads were taking up on the page. Helvetica / Arial is a bit tougher than Lucida at smaller pixel sizes, so drop a comment here if you notice anything funky on the site.

#wordpress-org

Plugin committers now receive svn notify emails with…

PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party committers now receive svn notify emails with every commit to their plugin. This is something we’ve been planning to do to assist with collaboration, but we added it today without extra things like being able to sign up for other plugins. (Look for that soon, though.)

And not to sound like the PA in a subway or at an airport, but if you see something, say something. Say things to security@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/.

#plugins, #svn, #wordpress-org

Commit access has been restored for plugins If…

Commit access has been restored for plugins. If you get a 403 error, you need to go reset your password. Please, to something new.

#plugins, #svn, #wordpress-org

@otto42 in theme repo on org search results…

@otto42: in theme repo on .org, search results for “Twenty Ten” put Twenty Ten as result #6. Higher results are Freedream2010, 2010 Weaver, Third Style, Clear Style, and Atmosphere 2010. Can you do some magic so exact matches come up first?

#theme-directory, #wordpress-org

Added a new page to WordPress.org: http:…

Added a new page to WordPress.org: https://wordpress.org/extend/mobile/
Also added it to the dropdown menu under extend.

#wordpress-org

It was pointed out to me that I never me…

It was pointed out to me that I never mentioned it anywhere when I made this change last month, but the plugin search engine at https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ has been much improved. So now when you search for things like “buddypress”, you should get what you’re looking for on the first page of results more often.

It was a minor adjustment, so it didn’t occur to me to tell anybody. Sorry about that. 🙂

#extend, #plugins, #wordpress-org