Author Archives: Siobhan

Siobhan 4:50 pm on June 13, 2013
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Creating a WordPress Support Hub

At the docs chat today, we discussed the possibility of creating a support/docs hub as the go-to-place for all WordPress support. Essentially this would be a landing page with a links to different types of documentation, and serve to 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. people to the right place.

This would live at https://wordpress.org/support At the minute that URL gets around 400,000 pageviews a month, and codex.wordpress.org gets about 150,000

It would follow the model adopted by Mozilla: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/home Their portal combines support and docs.

At the minute this in very germinal stage, so we’re interested to know what people think of it. If people like the idea of a Support/Docs hub then we can start exploring ways of creating something effective for WordPress users.

#docs, #support

Siobhan 1:29 pm on March 29, 2013  

Docs Team Update 29th March

This week

  • Kim has taken responsibility for the CCH. She’s been doing some great work and I’m sure she’ll do a fantastic job
  • Drew is getting together what we need for a Codex sprint once 3.6 drops
  • the theme developer handbook is chugging along, 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 less so. I’ll need to get together with the editors to see how we can address this.
  • Mel worked on updated designs for the code reference

Next week

  • I’m off to Miami so won’t be around for much. I plan to look at the overall architecture with Jen
  • Work will be continuing on: CCH, theme & plugin dev handbooks, code reference, codex sprint.
  • pass over my role as primary team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. to @DrewAPicture
Siobhan 10:04 pm on March 21, 2013
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Docs Team Update 21st March

Last week

  • we’ve implemented a new reporting system on the theme and 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 dev handbooks to try to get things moving along. This seems to be successful so far, particularly with the theme dev handbook. If anyone misses two reports in a row myself or the editor will get in touch with them.
  • we’ve started discussions around creating docs for backbone.js and underscore.js
  • the code reference is coming along nicely. @rmccue and Paul Gibbs have been doing a lot of work on the parser, and @melchoyce has come up with some designs for us. Paul and Ryan need cli at the minute so they’re going to set up a 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. until they’re done.
  • working on help text
  • @DrewAPicture is continuing with preparing the codex sprint stuff

Next week

  • move all of the coding standards to the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. handbook until we’ve decided where they should live
  • start to work on planning out a information architecture for documentation. We are generating a lot of different docs and we need to think about where they are going to live and how different users are going to navigate through them.
  • the Installing WordPress page is the 7th most visited page on wp.org but it’s in need of some love. We’re going to look at the best way to approach this.
  • continuation of work on the help tabs for 3.6

#docs

Siobhan 8:30 pm on March 8, 2013
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Docs Team Update 8th March

This week:

  • held the first Theme and 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 Developers handbook office hours. Used these as an opportunity to discuss moving things along more quickly. We’ve made major changes to the workflow and now require authors to report weekly on their progress.
  • discussions about the improved code reference. @djpaul and @melchoyce are now on board with the project, and we’ve had a useful discussion about wireframes on the docs P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/..
  • discussed a Codex Sprint for WordPress 3.6. This will be run by @DrewAPicture
  • we discussed the lack of backbone.js documentation specifically for WordPress developers. This is a problem if we want developers to make use of it. I’m going to do some investigation into it.

Next week:

  • I’ll be in Munich so will miss Docs chat – docs chat and update will be taken care of by @DrewAPicture
  • Beginning of regular reporting for Theme & Plugin dev handbooks
  • work with @melchoyce on design for better code reference

#docs

Siobhan 10:16 am on March 1, 2013
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Docs Team Update 1st March

This week

A few things this week:

  • @jhoffm34 did some Codex Gardening and reviewed all of the instances of query_posts in the Codex. He has a few queries which need to be reviewed.
  • Jay came across a number of outdated pages and we’ve decide to mark these as [categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging.:redundant] for review at a later date.
  • Theme and Plugin developer handbooks office hours will be running regularly from Wednesday 6th March.
  • CCH is ongoing. It’s slower than we’d like but @kimparsell is doing some fantastic work.
  • @jenmylo posted about transcribing videos on WordPress.tv and is looking for a volunteer for the lead.

Next week (and ongoing)

  • draw up a plan for better code reference
  • we discussed creating some sort of tracking system for docs (this was raised while I was at WP London last week). This needs further investigation into how it would work as well as implementation
  • more writing on CCH and Theme & 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 dev handbooks

For the next two weeks I’m unavailable on Thursday evenings, so I may reschedule the docs chat.

#docs

Siobhan 5:31 pm on February 15, 2013
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Docs Team Update 15th February

Last Week:

Next Week:

  • Review instances of query_posts in the Codex with a view to replacing them
  • Following the model for coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., establish regular office hours for the handbooks
  • Draw up purpose and scope of new code reference, identify contributors
  • mockups for code reference
  • Publish documentation survey
  • Complete creating and submitting a patch workflow for CCH

#docs

Siobhan 8:47 am on February 8, 2013
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Docs Team Update 8th February 2013

Last Week

  • work on the handbooks continues. There’s a discussion going on amongst 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 dev guys about whether they should write in GDocs or on make/docs. I’m happy for them to go with whatever they prefer.
  • 2 new pages have been added to the CCH, and another is ready to go.
  • the handbooks style guide is complete.
  • @JerrySarcastic has posted a mockup that for the handbooks layout. It’s currently being discussed. If anyone with design experience (or who’s just interested) wants to get involved with the discussion feel free to chime in.

This Week

  • there has been discussion about creating an Admin UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. style guide for the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., plugin and theme dev manuals. The next stage is to get in touch with representatives from various teams to discuss the best way to approach this.
  • check with @rmccue & @duck_ to see where things are with the parser
  • continue with handbooks
  • Tuesday meeting with Polyglots to see how we can move their handbook forward
  • create a spreadsheet to track Codex redirects

#docs

Siobhan 10:00 am on February 1, 2013
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Docs Team Update 1st February 2013

Current Week

This week has see the follow things take place:

  • We had a meeting about the Core Contributor Handbook. There are about 5 people actively working on it.
  • Rachel and Tom are moving things forward with 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 and Theme Developer Handbooks
  • @nacin has set up redirects so that we can redirect codex pages to the handbook pages when they’re finished
  • We’ve been discussing creating better code references than we currently have in MediaWiki. @rmccue is working on a parser as the first step.

Next Week

Next week the following items are scheduled to happen:

  • @DrewAPicture is working of a review of the Help Text and should have something to show next week.
  • I’m going to complete the style guide
  • Work on the handbooks to continue

#docs

Siobhan 7:03 pm on January 15, 2013
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Docs Team Update for 15th January

This week the following work has been continuing:

Handbooks

We’ve started work on the handbooks. A review has been carried out of the current CCH handbook and we’ve started to identify things that we need to add to it. I’m also really pleased that Rachel Baker has agreed to be the editor for the Theme Developer Handbook, and Tom McFarlin for 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. They both have a lot of great expertise to bring to the project and I’m excited to be working with them.

Help Text

@DrewAPicture has started a review of the Network Admin help text and has submitted #23163.

The following item will also be discussed at the Support/Docs chat this week:

Docs on Communication

Concerns were raised on Twitter about there not being a clear way to communicate with the different areas of WordPress, be they coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., or other team reps. Discussion was moved to the Docs blog and we’ll discuss in chat this week how we can come up with a solution.

@jane Would it be possible to do these reports on either Thursday or Friday? Soon after our chat would make sense.

#docs

Siobhan 12:48 pm on January 9, 2013
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Docs Team Update for 8th January

After a break over Christmas, we had our first chat last night. Here’s the status of our current projects:

  • Handbooks – work on the handbooks has started. We’re in the process of creating the tables of contents. The deadline for completion of this is 21st January. Handbooks post
  • Help Tabs – @DrewAPicture is going to revise the Network Admin Help Tabs for WordPress 3.6. We think that a complete review of the Help Tabs is a larger project, and work spent reconceiving and rewriting the content is only worthwhile if the UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. for the Help Tabs is itself usable. We will put some thought into how different users might use the Tabs and how we can make them more useful for them.
  • Docs Sprint – I plan to run a docs sprint at 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. Norway, which I’ll be attending in a few weeks. In February, we’ll look at how we can package together mini doc projects that WordCamp organisers can run at hack days.

#docs