With the release of WordPress 5.0 and the new Gutenberg 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/ block 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. editor, there are many changes in WordPress for users and developers alike.
For developers in particular, the changes are dramatic. As such, we also have a lot of new documentation to create: and we need your help!
If you’re a developer and have spent time working with Gutenberg, this is your time to shine. We’re looking for contributions in a few specific areas.
Examples
Most of the requests we get are “how do I do X?”, so we are looking for code examples and “micro-tutorials” that can help developers solve these questions and integrate with Gutenberg.
Contributions here are ideally in the form of a single markdown file, with at least a few hundred words that describe the problem and walk users through the solution, with complete code examples. They should link out to the relevant API 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. documentation (where it exists) or to other areas of the handbook that offer further context.
A few ideas for contributions include…
How to register a sidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. plugin 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- How you might use InnerBlocks
- How you could port a custom metabox A post metabox is a draggable box shown on the post editing screen. Its purpose is to allow the user to select or enter information in addition to the main post content. This information should be related to the post in some way. to a custom sidebar plugin
- How to trigger a modal
How to write block attributes to post_meta- How to use the color HOCs and components in your blocks
- How to filter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. specific areas of the editor (especially panels in the document settings sidebar)
- How to filter the available blocks in the editor
- How to use the data module to retrieve post data within a custom component
Package documentation
Gutenberg is built with a collection of npm packages. Some of these packages have great documentation in their READMEs, but others don’t. This is another great way to contribute: choose a package, and improve the README in a pull request on the GitHub 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/ repo.
Each README should include:
- Installation instructions (most have this already!)
- General/basic usage instructions
- Function documentation, if applicable
- Links to other documentation that might be relevant/helpful
Component documentation
The new editor also leverages Components to build the user interface. These are provided inside the @wordpress/components package. Each component should have its own README that contains:
- Basic usage example
- “Dos and Don’ts” of how to use the component correctly (from a UX 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. perspective)
- Attribute documentation
This GitHub gist is a template that you can use as the basis for your own component documentation.
Other options
Although these are our highest priority items, they are by no means the only ways you can contribute. The “Documentation” label on GitHub offers many more ideas. Picking a ticket and writing the documentation to solve the issue is a great way to contribute.
We’re all committed to making Gutenberg documentation the best on the web. Thanks so much for your interest, and we hope you’ll also consider joining our weekly meeting in #docs in Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. at 18:00 UTC!
