Dev Chat Summary: August 22, 2018 (4.9.9 weeks 1 & 2)

This post summarizes the weekly dev chat meetings held Wednesday, August 15 and 22, 2018 (August 15 agenda | August 22 agendaAugust 15 “tidechat” Slack archive |August 22 Slack archive).

It’s a two-for-one chat notes bonus! Lucky you, Internet.

4.9.8 Feedback

  • People are trying GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/, thanks to the “Try Gutenberg” callout. 
  • Peep the stats here.

Most importantly, we are grateful that we’re receiving so much feedback, and genuinely empathize with the inevitable frustration that accompanies developing and using new features.

Unfortunately, we have to address some of the unproductive communication contained in some feedback submissions, even going as far as to personally attack Gutenberg contributors. It’s easy to submit negative feedback when you don’t have to look someone in the eye, but there are IRL humans with IRL feelings who receive and address those tasks. 

If you are providing feedback please follow the WordPress Etiquette and Support Forum Guidelines. Utilizing respectful, productive phrasing is also a fantastic way to ensure your submissions are taken seriously and acted on swiftly.

4.9.9 Planning & Lead Nominations

  • We don’t have a hard timeline yet for 5.0, so once we select leads for 4.9.9 it’s looking like a regular 6-8 week maintenance cycle.
  • This is likely the last week for 4.9.9 lead nominations. Non-engineers can be leads, too! Nominate your pals or nominate yourself – by leaving a comment here or DMing @jeffpaul

Focus Lead & Component Maintainer Updates

Gutenberg

So many enhancements and Guten-bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.* fixes over the last few weeks:

Also, pay special attention to this issue overview on introducing and/or extending PHP APIs.

*You’re welcome.

REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/.

  • The REST API team met earlier this month to discuss 5.0 planning, 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. handling and authentication. 
  • If you’re interested and available, the REST API team is looking for a lead contribution for the authentication plugins. Hit up @kadamwhite directly or mosey on over to the #core-restapi channel.

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/.

More chats!

  • August 14, 2018Highlights: Optimizing WordPress package distribution using NPM
  • August 21, 2018 | Highlights: Use of globals, lodash import, polyfills for built-ins, a proposal for managing packages, and including vendor scripts in plugins.

PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher

Tide

Tide 1.0.0-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. has come ashore!* What is Tide? 

Tide is a series of automated tests run against every 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 in the directory and then displays PHP compatibility and test errors/warnings in the directory.

– I copied/pasted this from here

The Tide team can be found at #tide in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., and welcomes input for release candidaterelease 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). inclusions for an eventual 1.0.0 release. 

*I’m sorry.

General Announcements

It’s been awhile since we evaluated the weekly <dev chat> schedule, so here we are. Some options discussed included:

  • Alternating time zones every other week
  • Having two chats in one day at different times
  • Moving everyone to NYC and @joemcgill will pay all expenses

This is a call for a lovely person or two to help us coordinate a second/alternate <dev chat> time. 

Comment on this post or message @jeffpaul and/or me in Slack.

The next <dev chat> will take place on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 20:00 UTC in the #core Slack channel. Please drop in with any updates or questions. If you have items to discuss, drop a comment on next week’s agenda post, so we can take them into account. 

#summary