Eric Amundson 8:16 pm on October 25, 2013
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Handbook Tasks – WordCamp Sofia Contributor Day 2013

Howdy WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Sofia Contributors!

Thanks a bunch for helping with WordPress documentation – we all really appreciate your help!

We’ve been focusing a lot on the Theme Developer Handbook and Plugin Developer Handbook, which both need a good deal of work.

For most people, the toughest roadblock to contributing is just getting started, so hopefully this will help.

Where to Go

The jumping off point for all docs-related efforts is: make.wordpress.org/docs/ – In the 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., you’ll see links to the Handbooks along with the Spreadsheets we use to track their progress.

  1. The Theme Developer Handbook is at: http://bit.ly/WPThemeHB
    • . . . and the spreadsheet that we use to track Theme Developer Handbook progress is at: http://bit.ly/WPThemeHB_Content
  2. The 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 Developer Handbook is at: http://bit.ly/WPPluginHB
    • . . . and the spreadsheet that we use to track Plugin Developer Handbook progress is at: http://bit.ly/WPPluginHB_Content
  3. The IRC channel we use is at #wordpress-sfd on Freenode.
    • This is a great place to ask questions, post links to docs for review, and cheer each-other on.

Getting Started

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to:

  1. Read the Handbook Style Guide
  2. Review the Handbook Tutorial Template
  3. Find a topic in the Theme or Plugin developer spreadsheet that interests you
  4. Check the Needs column of the spreadsheet to see if there are specific things that are needed in this document
  5. Add your name to the Responsible column in the spreadsheet
  6. Write or edit in HTMLHTML HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a markup language that is used in the development of web pages and websites. or Markdown and give it to Mario Peshev or email it over to me at eric [at] ivycat.com and we’ll post for you.

What if I’m not a Writer?

If you’re not comfortable writing or editing, you can also help by:

  • Creating code snippets for examples
  • Taking relevant screenshots
  • Reading existing documentation and making comments regarding improvements

If you’re completely overwhelmed and not sure where to start, you might start by reading through the Handbook and, when you’ve got questions, find missing content, or see improvements, please feel free to work on the document, or make comments in that document’s comment section.

I’m here to help in any way I can, so feel free to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me (@sewmyheadon) or Mario (@no_fear_inc), or post to the #wordpress-sfd IRC channel if you have any questions.

Thanks again and have a great WordCamp!

#contributor-day, #docs, #wcsofia