The WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development team builds WordPress! Follow this site for general updates, status reports, and the occasional code debate. There’s lots of ways to contribute:
Found a bugbugA 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.?Create a ticket in our bug tracker.
Every WordPress release has an About page. It is shown to users after they finish updating to the new version and includes what the new features are and who contributed to making them.
This is a great marketing opportunity as lots of people get to see this page. It would be fun to have each major About page customized by one of the designers in the WordPress community (otherwise, we fall back on an existing design).
Know your deadline: Work on the About page starts once the release reaches BetaBetaA 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. 1 and should be complete by RC1.
Create a ticketticketCreated for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. for the About page kick-off, like this: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/46901
Clearly state what steps are:
Coordinate between release leads and either marketing or a copywriter to draft initial page copy
Draft in a google doc so multiple people can write and suggest edits
Check-in with release leads about headline features
Check-in with any feature leads if you’re unclear about details
Go through Beta posts on /news/ to populate features and find copy inspiration
Go through dev notesdev noteEach 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. on make/coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. to populate developer happiness section
Make sure to go through the features of GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ and create a section to call it out with “new editor feature this release.”
Create images — could be illustrations, icons, or screenshots
Finalize copy (after release leadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release. last review)
Finalize design
Get the page made up
Test the page in various browsers, checking for image quality
Release Post (for those leading a release)
Draft new post on wordpress.orgWordPress.orgThe 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//news
Copy content over from the About page
Add images, changing size, alignment, or positioning to fit the blogblog(versus network, site) layout
Pass off to release lead to include credits shortcodeShortcodeA shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site. and release name
Get the musician’s name from the release squad lead.
Audience: WordPress users and practitioners who are not active in contributing. Assume non-technical.
Purpose: To highlight the immediately interesting things and inspire people to experiment and/or learn more. Assume no need to sell WordPress to them.
Property: WordPress software
Assets: Assume that the copy flow will follow the design flow.
Voice: Aim for the positive side of neutral, though you can go all the way to cheerfully American Southern. Not a sales-y voice, since these are people already using WordPress.
The About Page has a set framework and it is not meant to be redesigned from scratch each release.
The layout should be considered a stack of containers, which can be 1-4 columns. The content in the columns can be anything — text, video, images, embeds, etc. These containers can have no background color, a “subtle” background color, or “accent” background color (these change with each About page using colors from the headerHeaderThe 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. feature). Columns can also have one of these background colors. Containers are stacked on top of each other to create the page.
Wondering why the About Page is not done in the blockBlockBlock 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. editor? The biggest blockerblockerA bug which is so severe that it blocks a release. is translations. Every string on the page is wrapped in a translationtranslationThe process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. function, with additional translation notes as needed. We’d need to find a way to do that with Gutenberg as well.
Some items to watch for:
The header has the most freedom. It can have a design element background or text effect. Check that it is accessible.
Images, illustrations, and videos are allowed in the content.
There can be 1, 2, 3, or 4 columns and have a colored background.
For accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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), if the video has voice audio, a text equivalent needs to be provided. If the video shows a flow or action being performed, then the process needs to be described in the text. The key thing is remembering the target audience for the description and that they need to get the same level of information from the description as a sighted audience gets from watching.
What matters is that it’s clear that the video’s description is associated with the video. figure/figcaption would probably suffice there. The figcaption should be connected to the figure using aria-labelledby; this is required to support IE11.
Tech reqs
Videos must be 480 px wide (in general, most users will see this video at 436px wide, large phone sizes might see it up to 488px)
The space for a full-width video is 936px wide, and for a wider 2 column layout is 602px.
Record using Kap (this is different than the recommendation in the post but @joen recommended this instead of Screeny)
Convert .mov files to .mp4 using FFMPEG. Kap does appear to have the ability to export as MP4 and WebM though. Using that is preferable to converting if it works well.
The props (or credits) within a release are collected by the Release Squad, and embedded in the About Page (and Release Announcement Post) via a shortcode. Gutenberg credits are collected via GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/ and added to the Credits APIAPIAn 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. via a MetaMetaMeta 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.TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticket (e.g., 5.7). All non-code contributions are gathered by the Release Squad focus leads and also added to the Credits API. Finally the list of Noteworthy Contributors is assembled by the Release Squad and submitted as a Credits API update (e.g., 5.7).
When working to match GitHub usernames to WordPress.org usernames you can use https://profiles.wordpress.org/github:username where putting the GitHub username at the end of that URLURLA specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org will translate to the respective WordPress.org profile. This will work for any user who has associated their GitHub account with their WordPress.org profile. There is a similar method for converting a SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. username to a WordPress.org username by using https://profiles.wordpress.org/$slack_id where the Slack ID comes from a Slack user’s details (Click and avatarAvatarAn avatar is an image or illustration that specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. It’s usually a square box that appears next to the user’s name. > View full profile > More […] > Copy ID).
