Title: deadlines – Make WordPress Core

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#  Tag Archives: deadlines

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/drewapicture/) [Drew Jaynes](https://profiles.wordpress.org/drewapicture/)
12:00 pm _on_ February 22, 2015     
Tags: [4.2 ( 67 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/4-2/),
deadlines, tickets   

# 󠀁[4.2 Enhancements Deadline is March 10th](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/02/22/4-2-enhancements-deadline-is-march-10th/)󠁿

In a typical release cycle, the 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. stages are known as the period where we ramp down and shift focus to
testing and fixing bugs only. The testing stages in the 4.2 release cycle will not
differ on this point. However, unlike in some previous releases, the shift to working
on bugs and testing will be more pronounced in 4.2.

According to the [release schedule](https://make.wordpress.org/core/version-4-2-project-schedule/),
Beta 1 is set to begin on March 11th — just about 2 1/2 weeks from now. This means
that on March 10th, any enhancementenhancement Enhancements are simple improvements
to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to
an existing feature. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development
on the bug tracker. that has one or more commits against it, and/or is owned by 
a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development
Team builds WordPress. committercommitter A developer with commit access. WordPress
has five lead developers and four permanent core developers with commit access. 
Additionally, the project usually has a few guest or component committers - a developer
receiving commit access, generally for a single release cycle (sometimes renewed)
and/or for a specific component. will be converted to a _blessed task_.

**Without exception, all enhancement tickets not converted to tasks on March 10th
will be punted to a future release or closed.**

So, if you’ve got a pet ticket you’d still like work on for 4.2, now is the time
to start if you haven’t already.

If you’re looking for an enhancement to work on, there’s a [whole report](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&status=reviewing&type=enhancement&milestone=4.2&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&col=milestone&order=priority)
to choose from!

### Next Steps:

**Developer Feedback**

If you have a patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by 
identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also
be referred to as a **diff**. A patch can be _applied_ to a codebase for testing.
that needs developer feedback, add the _dev-feedback_ keyword to the ticket and 
leave a comment. I would also encourage you to mention the ticket in the comments
of the Monday jump-start or Wednesday dev chat agenda posts on make/core. You could
also mention the ticket number during the “Open Floor” time at the end of the weekly
core dev chat on Wednesdays.

**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)/
Mobile/UIUI User interface Feedback**

If your ticket has anything to do with administration or UI, jump into the [#accessibility](https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/accessibility/),
[#core-flow](https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-flow/), or [#design](https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/design/)
channels on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/).
The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/)
to get accessibility, mobile, or design feedback.

**Not Ready**

If you feel like you just aren’t going to have time to work on your enhancement 
ticket between now and the March 10th deadline, no problem. Just leave a comment
to that effect on the ticket and somebody will come along and mark it for _Future
Release_.

[#4-2](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/4-2/), [#deadlines](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/deadlines/),
[#tickets](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/tickets/)

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/) [Jen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jenmylo/)
1:53 pm _on_ April 23, 2013     
Tags: [3.6 ( 65 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/3-6/),
deadlines   

# 󠀁[Post Formats, Schedules, and Philosophy](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2013/04/23/post-formats-schedules-and-philosophy/)󠁿

Post Formats UIUI User interface is looking like this right now:
 ⌊Screen shot 2013-
04-23 at 9.05.04 AM⌉

This seems confusing, because it looks like they are icons to insert something (
Image, Gallery, Link, Video, etc), but instead of launching a popup to insert a 
link or an image, the screen changes and the navigation that was just used to choose
disappears completely. (_Note: If Standard had some indication of being the default/
current selection it wouldn’t be as confusing_)

Clicking on one — say Link — makes the UI change, the big icon row go away, and 
a format switcher link drops below the title rather than keeping its visual hierarchy
above the post stuff, and it’s generally disorienting.

![Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.09.35 AM](https://make.wordpress.org/core/files/2013/
03/Screen-shot-2013-04-23-at-9.09.35-AM.png)

If the user thinks, “Whoa, what happened, I better change format again,” and they
click on the “Change format’ link under the title field and next to the “Enter URLURL
A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s
URL www.wordpress.org” instruction, the screens morphs again to this:

![Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.12.41 AM](https://make.wordpress.org/core/files/2013/
03/Screen-shot-2013-04-23-at-9.12.41-AM.png)

Where the icon strip is back, but the link field has disappeared and the icon next
to Add New Post is still a link. This is super confusing. Does it still think it
is a link bc they didn’t actively choose to return to standard, they just chose 
to see the options? If that’s so, why did the url field disappear?

Looking at [the release schedule](https://make.wordpress.org/core/version-3-6-project-schedule/):
⌊
Screen shot 2013-04-23 at 9.40.18 AM⌉ We launched 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. 1 on April 4, and it’s been almost 3 weeks without a follow-
up beta 2. …I am wondering if the post formats ui is really prime time ready, or
if it should be one of the very first thing sto land in a 3.7 branchbranch A directory
in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for 
each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any
minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor
versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch". so
we can get the things that **are** completely ready into the hands of users sooner
rather than later?

Since I’m outside the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress.
The Core Development Team builds WordPress. dev group now, I’ve been on both sides
of the deadline delay dance. I know how hard it is to let go of something that feels
like it is **thisclose** to done. And I know that just about everyone on the core
team will be thinking right about now that I should shut up (and I’m okay with that,
because it used to be my first response to deadline questions to core, too). But
we have this philosophy posted on wordpress.orgWordPress.org The 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/](https://wordpress.org/):

> **Deadlines Are Not Arbitrary**
> Deadlines are not arbitrary, they’re a promise we make to ourselves and our users
> that helps us rein in the endless possibilities of things that could be a part
> of every release. We aspire to release three major versions a year because through
> trial and error we’ve found that to be a good balance between getting cool stuff
> in each release and not so much that we end up breaking more than we add.
> Good deadlines almost always make you trim something from a release. This is not
> a bad thing, it’s what they’re supposed to do.
> The route of delaying a release for that one-more-feature is, literally, a rabbit
> hole. We did that for over a year once, and it wasn’t pleasant for anybody.
> The more frequent and regular releases are, the less important it is for any particular
> feature to be in this release. If it doesn’t make it for this one, it’ll just 
> be a few months before the next one. When releases become unpredictable or few
> and far between, there’s more pressure to try and squeeze in that one more thing
> because it’s going to be so long before the next one. Delay begets delay.

I’m not trying to be a troublemaker or imply that anyone isn’t doing everything 
they can — I know for a fact that people are working themselves into the ground 
on this release. Nor am looking to incite a debate about deadlines or all the explanations
of how we fell behind this time (I’ve been following along, everything is really
pretty normal). But would it be better to not try to squeeze it all in, get out 
what we can ship now (including the awesome 2013 theme that regular people still
don’t have access to), and take a quick breath to relax before diving back in on
a new cycle? Shipping is a feature, too. 😉

[#3-6](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/3-6/), [#deadlines](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/deadlines/)