Dev Chat Summary, July 15th, 2020

@whyisjake hosted this agenda and @audrasjb edited.

Highlighted Blogblog (versus network, site) Posts

  • The wp-notify Next Steps project is looking for feedback on initial requirements and wanting to kick-off the project
  • 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/ team published “What’s new in Gutenberg” last week

Dev Notesdev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase.

These were not discussed but referenced for people to review at their own time:

Upcoming Releases

  • WordPress 5.5 is slated for release August 11th, 2020
    • @marybaum added that the “About” page has a draft layout on Figma two weeks before RC1. Might change but it is now there. The best way to provide feedback on the “About” page copy is to enter it in the comments section on the ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #50416
    • @abhanonstopnewsuk said they are also working on FAQs and would appreciate input on these (they have been messaging them).
  • 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. 2 was released yesterday
    • Since Beta 1, over 40 tickets plus Gutenberg have been closed, however there are still a bunch to go through.
  • Gutenberg 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 for Beta releases
    • @nrqsnchz said #core-accessibility would like some clarification around how Gutenberg bug fixes that need to make it through to betas should be handled and the process around it.
    • @whyisjake said when changes are needed in Gutenberg there is a “Back to WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.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.) that is applied. These are bundled into a release like this: #23905 Backport more fixes to WordPress 5.5 beta2. Additional docs are also available: docs/contributor/release docs
    • @youknowriad confirmed that when an issue is created, they triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. issues and if it’s considered as an issue that needs to be fixed in the next Beta/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)., it gets added to the “WordPress 5.5 Must Have” project. “They” being anyone with triage permissions on the repository.
    • @afercia is not sure opening issues on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ has the same effect of ensuring the highest visibility. He is uncomfortable with the process and doesn’t think it is equivalent to the way it works on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress..
    • @desrosj challenged this:
      • In Trac, anyone with bug gardener capabilities is trusted to appropriately milestone issues using good judgement.
      • On GitHub, anyone with triage permissions is trusted to milestone and tag issues appropriately using good judgement.
      • The only difference is that GitHub issues and PRs are not filtered through 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 there is an additional step of importing changes made on GitHub into trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision.. Release and project leads always have the final say if there are unreasonable disagreements about what should/should not be fixed (or should/should not make it into beta)
    • @afercia highlighted that its the composition of the triage teams with deep disagreements between the AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) team and the Editor team.
    • @desrosj asked if deeper discussions were needed about specific issues as nothing has been escalated and it is each team’s responsibility to communicate with each other.
    • in the interest of moving the agenda forward, it was agreed that this discussion would continue after the dev-chat.
  • Beta 3 is coming next Tuesday July 21st, 2020. Bug Scrub #6 is tomorrow July 16th, 2020.

Component check-in and status updates

  • @azaozz mentioned Updating jQuery version shipped with WordPress. There is a Trac ticket #50668: jquery-migrate.js in latest beta version 5.5 gone? asking the same questions.
  • @marybaum gave a shoutout to @estelaris @abhanonstopnewsuk @yvettesonneveld and @ryelle for the work they’ve done with great guidance from @melchoyce
  • @audrasjb #core-auto-updates team is going to publish the first dev notedev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase. for this feature.
    • It introduces the new functions and hooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. and can be used to control auto-updates-UIUI User interface.
    • There will be another one to handle Site Health and email notifications.
    • They are also going to start work on the HelpHub Docs page (end user documentation)

Open Floor

  • @pbiron has a potential proposal related to dev-notes. Dev notes are rightly targeted at developers however there are often changes in the WP adminadmin (and super admin) that users need to be made aware of. Would it be more appropriate to have a new user-note where a “heads-up” about these changes can be made?
    • @joyously thought it should go in the Field GuideField guide The field guide is a type of blogpost published on Make/Core during the release candidate phase of the WordPress release cycle. The field guide generally lists all the dev notes published during the beta cycle. This guide is linked in the about page of the corresponding version of WordPress, in the release post and in the HelpHub version page.. @azaozz said seconded it. Make WordPress Core it seems to slowly shift towards a wider audience now, not just developers
    • @desrosj said the Field Guide is a collection of dev notes. It is still developer focused and he think it should be in HelpHub. @audrasjb seconded the use of HelpHub for end user documentation but suggested that maybe we publish a recap of all new HelpHub pages on w.org/news. @desrosj said the HelpHub could also be. more work needed
    • @sergeybiryukov mentioned that there is also a pointers APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. in the admin for new features but he doesn’t think its been used in recent releases.
    • @audrasjb seconded the use of HelpHub for end user documentation but has no blog to follow the news. He suggested that maybe we publish a recap of all new HelpHub pages on w.org/news. @desrosj said the HelpHub could also be linked to in the release post (provided it is published and ready on release day). @pbiron questioned whether it was appropriate to publish things in HelpHub before a release (like dev notes are).
    • @azaozz suggested maybe having a new/separate place for user targeted “what’s up and coming”
    • @pbiron will source some examples where user-focused things were coered in dev notes and present a proposal at the next weeklly dev-chat
    • @marybaum @yvettesonneveld @abhanonstopnewsuk think using wp.org/news is a good way to drum up excitement about new releases and aligns with the goal to use /news to connect with a wider audience and meetups.
  • @collinsmbaka is working on the embed blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. documentation and would like someone to look at the following issues:
  • @whyisjake asked him to share it in #core-editor and cc @youknowriad and @ella