Want to get involved? See the handbook and optionally drop into #design to chat. Most active design work happens in the block editor project, consider dropping into Needs design or Needs design feedback.
There’s a WordPress Component Library in Figma. Duplicate to edit, direct access is reserved for the design team.
January is halfway done and 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/ issues are gaining traction and feedback from a variety of people. Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts, and opinions!
There’s been several concerns about widgets from people in the 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/. feeds, so thought to address it here briefly. While Gutenberg is converting all coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. widgets to blocks, they won’t be going away completely quite yet. 😉 There is a “Classic Widget” block being built to support the widgets that haven’t yet converted to blocks. If you’re looking to get involved, please check out the GitHub project board.
In relation to this, the widgets screen in wp-admin will be changing over to blocks. There’s concern around this for good reason. But ultimately as everything becomes a block, this paradigm shift needs to be communicated in smaller steps to help all users make the transition.
The navigation block and the interface for creating navigation menus is being discussed with some innovative concepts. What if the “Pages” screen was where you built your nav keeping the nav block simple? Or should the nav block be where you create the entire menu? Share ideas in the ticket!
If neither the widgets blocks, nor nav blocks are your thing, there’s a whole list of Gutenberg related issues that need tightening up. As mentioned in the State of the WordState of the Word This is the annual report given by Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress at WordCamp US. It looks at what we’ve done, what we’re doing, and the future of WordPress. https://wordpress.tv/tag/state-of-the-word/., “tightening up” is a focus for Phase 2. There’s a lot that needs work! Come help.
Yep, research is still ongoing. Some themes are beginning to emerge as they work through the data. Help out in the #research channel in slack.
There’s also conversation around how to present the data, and where to store it; a site, a PDF, Google Slides?
Many like to post their thoughts and explorations on their own blogs. Unfortunately this isn’t always highly visible. Well there’s a whole project board dedicated to research with a column specific to “explorations.” Give a shout out in either the #design or #research channels in slack to get your work added there. Every little bit helps inform decisions going forward.
Happy New Year everyone! As mentioned in the Gutenberg Design Flow post earlier, this is Friday’s summary of the week’s work regarding Phase 2 design.
If this was a short distance race, everyone would bust out of the gate at full speed, but it’s a marathon here, so out of the gate, setting a comfortable pace is necessary.
There’s a better understanding of how to move forward with widgets thanks to @melchoyce. Most are ready, but there are a few PRs that need some help to completion.
Progress Post
https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/12/17/status-update-porting-widgets-to-blocks/
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/ 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. Project Board
https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/projects/20
This is in early exploration mode right now, so if you’ve got some thoughts around this, please share! Please drop your ideas and designs in the relating issues themselves.
Explorations from WCUS
https://make.wordpress.org/design/2018/12/18/exploring-a-nav-block-at-wordcamp-us/
Github issue – block
https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/1466
Github issue – wp-admin interface
https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13206
@tinkerbelly and @jarahsames have been leading the efforts here. More can be read in Sarah’s latest post, Sitebuilding research. The synthesis of this research will help influence future 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/ decisions. If you can lend a hand, the research synthesis needs some people power, so please volunteer in the #research channel on 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/..
This Friday’s post is meant to help surface the information. If you see any questions from people, or have any yourself, please share in the comments below. If you’ve got some ideas, or have been designing some thoughts around the Gutenberg projects listed in Matt’s 9 Projects for 2019 post, don’t hesitate to provide some links, or jump into the Github issues and PRs. Looking forward to everyone’s contributions!
Happy new year, everyone! In December, a team of intrepid designers, developers, and WordPress people banded together to learn more about WordPress’ end users. In total, the team chatted with seventeen different people over seven days. Huge thank-yous to everyone who joined in—you’re all 🌟s!
Now it’s time to sift through the data and pull out some insights. This will happen over the next two weeks. Here’s the current plan:
These artefacts will be used to guide the product direction of 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/ Phase 2—and possibly beyond!
Many hands make for light work, and many brains make for more insights and less bias. You don’t need to be a designer, and no prior research experience is necessary. Pop into the #research channel 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/., 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.” @tinkerbelly or @jarahsames, or comment here if you’d like to join in on any of the stages.
As phase one has wrapped up it’s a great time to look at iterating how designers can contribute and get involved in the ongoing work for phase two and beyond.
The Gutenberg plugin itself is on GitHub and this is the cornerstone of the project. All designs being worked on will have a corresponding issue within GitHub. During phase one projects began to be used and this will continue. Here are the projects to follow for design:
Note: like widgets other specific boards may be created to focus on the 2019 projects mentioned here.
Everything starts with research. There have been a lot of insights from usability testing and feedback during phase one. Phase two is starting with a dive into research and interviews are underway. For more details on this you can join #research in Slack and follow the #research tag on this site for posts.
Once the areas to be designed are identified into tasks (listed in GitHub projects), then exploring happens. There are a few tools to use for sketches, mocks and prototypes:
If you are looking to find something to work on? You can follow the ’needs design’ label in GitHub for issues already discussed that need a designer, or any of the projects mentioned.
Designs grow through feedback. Sharing early and sharing often is the mantra to follow when working together. There are a number of channels within 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/. you can drop in to get feedback async:
Before development starts any design should be made into an issue or attached to one that already exists in GitHub, this is where most of the feedback will happen. There are a number of useful labels to get even the earliest feedback on an issue:
Whilst it will be up to each person, a flow using the tools available could be:
There is a lot going on in quite a few places and following along isn’t always as easy as it could be. With the new phase of 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/ this is something to iterate on. There are a number of changes being made to ease this:
In this post, existing planned ideas have been covered, what if you have a great idea for something? The same feedback channels mentioned of #design in Slack, #core-editor and the GitHub repo are great places. You can also add to the ‘Phase 2 Research’ board ‘explorations’ column. Creating a blog post and sharing in those channels is also a great way to share a vision. If it’s just an idea without a sketch you can also discuss in Slack or make an issue.
Designers should never go alone. Collaborating together is important but collaborating across teams is how the best product is made. As the next phase approaches it would be great to hear people’s ideas for how more collaboration can happen. Please add them in the comments.
As phase 2 begins, now is a great time to start getting involved. Expect to see posts and announcements calling for specific involvement outside the ways mentioned above. There are going to be opportunities for all different types of designers to contribute along the way.
It would be great to hear any ideas people have for other things to iterate on. All of these iterations came from feedback so keep that flowing! All of this information will also be added to the handbook to ensure it’s easy to discover.
With user interviews for the sitebuilding study kicking off soon, lots of preparation is underway. (As a reminder, you can view the research plan here.) Here’s an update on where things stand right now, and how you can help.
Sessions are being scheduled with approximately twenty users during between 12 December and 21 December. The interviews will be conducted remotely via Zoom. They will be an hour long and will follow this script (subject to change as we iterate on it).
Each session will be lead by a moderator, who’ll be responsible for guiding the interview and asking the questions. A notetaker will be responsible for taking notes and recording their impressions. There may also be some observers on the call, who’ll just be listening in. Once the interview is finished, the moderator, notetaker, and any observers will convene (either on Zoom or 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/.) for a brief debrief session to discuss insights and things learnt.
User research is an art, not a science, so it’s great to have lots of different people represented in these sessions and analysing the results. This means we can get more insights. If you’re new to user research and would like to participate, @jarahsames and I would like to help you!
First of all, we’ve put together some guides for each of the roles:
Feel free to leave comments if you’ve any questions on these documents, or ask in the #research channel in Slack!
On top of this, @jarahsames and I will be hosting a dry run of the interview script as well as answering all your burning questions so that you can see how everything will work on Tuesday, December 11 at 17:00 UTC. If you’re interesting in joining in with the research efforts next week, we’d love to see you there! If you can’t make it, you can leave any questions you may have here, or pop them in Slack #research. We’ll also record the session and post it here.
And as a reminder, you can sign up to register your interest in participating in these sessions by filling in this form, or pinging in the #research channel.
As phase 2 of 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/ begins to gear up, it’s time to do some exploratory research in order to better understand the 30% of the web who may not be active in the WordPress community. This foundational research is intended to get a better understanding of how people use site- and page-builders currently, what their mental models of a website look like, and what pain points exist in the experience. Results will be used to inform the boundaries of the overall product direction.
Working with @karmatosed and @alexislloyd, @jarahsames and myself have been working on a research plan to explore attitudes toward sitebuilding. In short, we’ll be talking to people about their experience building websites, and we’d love for everyone in the community who’s interested to join us!
Absolutely anyone can be involved—you don’t need to be a researcher, or a designer, or a UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. person. You don’t need to have any experience talking to people, all you need is the willingness to listen and learn! Participating in user research is a great way of gaining empathy for your end users and evolving a more user-centric way of approaching product decisions.
There are lots of different ways to participate: you can help us with the planning and writing of the script. You can sit in on a session as a silent observer. You can take notes. You can run a session yourself. Or you can help analyse the results once it’s all over. Sarah and Sarah will provide you with guides for each task and will be there to help you throughout the process if you have any questions.
The interview sessions will be run the week of 10 December. These sessions will be shared in the #research 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/. channel for anyone who’d like to participate.
A report of the results will be published here by 9 January, and updates on progress will be posted here weekly so you can follow along. Updates will also be shared every week during the regular design meeting every Wednesday at 19:00 UTC.
Interested in joining in? Register your interest here!
The full transcript of this meeting can be found in our #design Slack channel. All linked headings in this post jump to where this topic was discussed on 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/..
First topic today is some housekeeping.
Because of WCUS and holidays, some meetings coming up will be paused
Please note the Slack #design channel is always open for design reviews, an ear to listen – feel free to use the channel outside of meetings too.
Figma have donated a license for use contributing to WordPress. It’s worth noting, use of the software isn’t for personal or client work. You can read more about it on the WordPress design blog.
Sarah James is moving the SketchPress library over to Figma and 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/ fase 2 will be the main project the design team can work on Figma.
@boemedia notices that it’s hard to learn software when the use is restricted. So there should be some tangible WordPress projects connected to it. @Kjellr says that Figma is actually free for up to 3 personal projects, so it’s easy to set up a personal account.
If anyone has problems signing up for Figma, please ping one of the team reps in the Slack design channel. We’ll help you get things sorted.
The WordPress Slack workspace is extended with a new channel: #research. If you’re interested in helping out, or know people around you (not only designers but also developers or other roles) who are interested in getting involved this way, please join the channel. You can read more about user testing for Gutenberg phase 2 on the design blog.
Currently, tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. tickets that need design eyes have three labels:
@karmatosed suggests going back from three to two labels, to make them align more and reduce brain pain:
These labels will be used around the three areas that have tickets: coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. trac, core 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. and 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/ for Gutenberg. @karmatosed will write a blog post to propose and take this to core/meta.
@estelaris asks if design is currently focussing on the next phase for Gutenberg, or can people help out on other projects?
A few running projects are mentioned and it would be nice of designers could be involved in more things and work on projects without waiting for a meeting to see what’s happening.
A short brainstorm follows about ownership of smaller design projects, to keep track of them and don’t get forgotten. Another thing is, we definitely need more designers, but without mentioning the projects that need work, people joining the channel may drop out again if they think there’s no work to do.
If people have ideas on how to make the work (because there’s plenty of work to do!) more visible, tangible and attractive for new design contributors to work on, please feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments.
Planning is now under way for user research efforts to complement and drive the next iteration of 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/. These efforts will iterate throughout the development of Phase 2, ensuring that product decisions are informed by an understanding of user needs.
Currently two different efforts are underway:
Interested in joining in? Have some questions? Just want to see what’s happening? Pop into the brand new #research channel 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 say hello!
If you’re curious about design for 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/, I just posted extensive UX research survey results about WordPress.org network of sites on the meta p2 😉
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