Dashboard Plugin Update

Progress is slow but steady in dashboard 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 land. Here’s a recap of our activity for the past week:

IRC chat notes

We held our first IRC chat on Tuesday in #wordpress-ui.

  • Rather than remove both RSS widgets from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., we decided to combine them into one.
  • Transform “QuickPress” into “QuickDraft”, putting the focus on drafting new ideas quickly seemed to be a hit.
  • We are going to play with the idea of merging QuickDraft and the “Recent Drafts” widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user..
  • Removing the “columns” screen option is likely something we just need to play with. If we can get the implementation right, it could be a nice win I think.
  • We dropped the “QuickLinks” widget idea. This can stay in plugin territory for now.
  • We all liked the idea of rethinking the “Right Now” widget. @Joen is going to lead the work on this one.
  • If we get everything else nailed down in time, we may dig into the design for an “Admin activity” widget focussing specifically on collaboration.

I updated the planning spreadsheet to account for these changes.

Accomplished this week

I started work on a patch to combine “Other WordPress News” and “WordPress Blog” over on #19239. Code reviews/thoughts are welcome and much appreciated.

@joen shared an initial mockup in the IRC chat on Tuesday:

And has since worked on a couple more based on feedback:

Which would work something like this:

Up next

  • We need your help. Especially developers interested in working on this stuff. The QuickDraft widget work looks to be a fun one to work on. Please pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me on IRC if you’re interested.
  • We’ll hold another IRC chat this coming Tuesday at Tuesday, September 3rd, 2:00pm UTC in #wordpress-ui.
  • We’ll be starting up a persistent Skype chat group to discuss all things “dashboard plugin”, ping me if you want in, even if just to lurk. All are welcome.

#dash