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Eric Amundson 6:55 pm on December 12, 2013
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Docs Meetup Roundup – Dec 12, 2013

1. Docs Sprint

There’s another Docs Sprint this Saturday, Dec 14th @ 10am Pacific and you can join us on IRC at #wordpress-sfd.

It’s our last scheduled sprint of the year.

2. Admin Screen Updates

WordPress 3.8 includes a makeover of the WordPress Admin, so we need to update the Administration Screen pages in the Codex.

@kimparsell will post a list of pages that need to be reviewed and updated on make.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//docs. Please help by grabbing one (or more) pages and updating.

3. DevHub

Still in active development. @rarst is working on the theme for the code reference and @krogsgard is working on the theme for the Handbooks.

4. Docs Issue Tracker

@Otto42 will be developing the issue tracker for Docs. Yay!

Also, Sarah Gooding posted about the Docs Issue Tracker on WPTavern.

5. Admin Help

The Admin Help project has been re-christened AH-O2.

If you’d like to help with this effort, show up on Mondays at 16:30 17:30 UTC in #wordpress-sfd, or get in touch with Chris Reynolds (@jazzs3quence).

6. Awareness of All Docs Projects

@DrewAPicture voiced a concern that the Docs Sprints have been focused almost solely on the Handbooks, while there are several other docs-related responsibilities beyond the Handbooks, like Admin Help, Codex, Inline Docs, etc.

We’ll work to make sure that all Docs projects get exposure and it’s clear how people can get involved and participate.

Since participation at the Sprints has been usually between four and ten people, often with a few new contributors, we’ll need representation from  other projects to attend meetups and/or provide instructions ahead of time, to help meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. participants get involved in the areas that suit them.

#chat-recap

Eric Amundson 6:32 pm on November 14, 2013
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Docs Meetup Roundup – Nov 14, 2013

1. Docs Issue Tracker Mockups

@sams sent a wrap-up of Docs Issue Tracker feedback to @karmatosed and she’s going to have something by early next week. When that’s ready, he’ll get a developer to work on it and we’ll have an updated timeline.

Thanks to all who gave feedback on the mockups!

2. Docs Sprints

There’s another Docs Sprint this Saturday November 16th, for those who can join in person or via IRC at #wordpress-sfd.

3. Theme Dev HB Opening

@iandstewart gave us permission to use any of the content from the Theme Shaper tutorial in the Theme Developer Handbook.  Thanks Ian!

@sewmyheadon will work on incorporating whatever makes sense into the Handbook.

4. Theme & 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 HB Spreadsheets Revamped

Authors vs. Contributors

In the Handbook reporting spreadsheets, we changed Owner/Author columns to read Contributors because we found that several of the original owners/authors haven’t worked on the docs in months and we don’t want to discourage other folks from contributing.

So, we’re asking contributors to list their name in the Contributors column for future reference.

Noting Individual Document Progress

If you’re working on docs in the Theme or Plugin Dev Handbooks, please note the percentage complete (based on your best guess) in the % column.  This gives us a more realistic overview of each document’s progress.

@siobhan will also add @sewmyheadon to receive emails when updates are made to the Theme Dev Handbook to better monitor progress.

Retiring the Handbook Reporting Threads

We’ve ditched the old Handbook reporting threads on make.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//docs because they weren’t being updated.

Instead, please note progress, questions, problems, etcetera in the corresponding Handbook Spreadsheets instead, or simply post comments in the Handbook page.

5. Working Online

In order to make sure we’re all “on the same page” (pardon the pun), we’re asking folks to post all Handbook content directly to the Handbook, rather than writing offline.  This helps contributors and editors see actual progress, so they can dive in and help without worrying about stepping on toes or duplicating work.

To this end, we’ll be granting editor access to Handbook contributors so they can work online.

If you are working on any Handbook content that is not yet posted to the Handbook, or if you need editor access, please contact @sewmyheadon, @siobhan, or @hanni and we’ll help get it posted right away.

6. Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. Meetings

@siobhan inquired about the status of the Team Rep Meetings that are organized by @jenmylo. While I heard talk of this a few months ago, there haven’t, to my knowledge, been any team meetings.

7. DevHub

@krogsgard has promised us a theme by Sunday or Monday. Getting the DevHub theme finished should spur some actions and more progress.

Thanks folks and have a great weekend!

#chat-recap

Kim Parsell 12:28 pm on October 18, 2013
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Docs Chat: 17 October 2013

@sewmyheadon is away at a conference, and asked me to lead the chat today in his absence.

Thank you to everyone who came. For anyone unable to attend, you can read the logs here.

The following is a summary of the topics discussed.

1. Internationalizing Codex/Docs Code Examples

Prompted by a discussion on Twitter, @siobhan asked on Make/Polyglots whether all code examples in the Codex and other official WordPress documentation should be internationalized. There was already quite a bit discussion in the post’s comments prior to the meeting.

@nacin said the two primary issues with internationalizing code examples are: (1) increasing the barrier to entry for new developers; and (2) use of the internationalization function doesn’t actually internationalize the code. (see his full comment here)

@xibe proposed that we provide a link to the i18n Codex page at the bottom of every code example with translatable strings saying, more or less, “Code is simplified for readability reasons. Production code should have all the strings internationalized.”.

That seems to be the best option for now. We’ll be putting out a call for someone to review the code examples, and add text to ones with translatable strings, say that they are examples, and should be internationalized when used in production code, plugins, or themes.

2. EPub Docs

@siobhan had an email from someone who has offered to publish the WordPress docs in epub format. Mike (mac2net) joined us in IRC to discuss the offer, and how it would work. Unfortunately, it currently involves the software running on an external server. @sams and @siobhan both stated that we can’t (a) use an external service, or (b) use non-open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. code. @sams and mac2net will be continuing the discussion over email to see if the obstacles can be worked out so that everything runs on the 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/ servers, and report back on the progress during next week’s chat.

3. Inline Docs

Discussed at this week’s devhub meeting are changes that need to be made in the PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/preface.php. Docs Standard to incorporate markdown into the doc blocks to fix formatting issues when they are run through the parser. I’ll talk with @rarst to verify the requirements, then we’ll get the standard updated. We noted at yesterday’s Inline Docs chat that we’ll also review the already-submitted patches for any changes that may need to be made. Current status: 72 files completed, 184 files total (39.1%).

4. WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Sofia Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.

@nofearinc asked on Twitter today if there’s anything in particular that they can help with during the WordCamp Sofia Contributor Day, scheduled for 10/27/2013. I’ll work on a list of Inline Docs tasks. @hanni and @sewmyheadon will put together a list of tasks for the 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/theme developer handbooks.

5. WordPress 3.7

@siobhan asked about Codex/Docs tasks that need to be completed before 3.7 is released. @drewapicture has already volunteered to write the 3.7 page in the Codex. A new page needs to be written about the automatic updates, with a section for users (explaining how they work) and a section for developers (under the hood goodies). Depending on the length/complexity, it may be best to split it out into two pages.

6. devhub

@siobhan said that all is going well with the devhub project. @toscho and @krogsgard have joined the team. @toscho and @rarst are doing the code reference development. @krogsgard will be building the new theme for developer.wordpress.org.

7. Handbooks

@hanni reported that she gained two new contributors for the plugin developer handbook at WordCamp Europe. Progress was made on the handbook during their contributor day, and she is currently reviewing the contributions.

And that wraps up this week’s chat summary. @sewmyheadon will be back for next week’s chat on Thursday at 16:00 UTC.

#chat-recap

Siobhan 5:26 pm on September 24, 2013
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devhub meeting 24th September.

Had the devhub meeting today. We discussed the following:

  • Moving handbooks to devhub: having the handbooks on make/docs is confusing for new contributors. We need to get them moved to devhub asap. @saracannon can we get an estimate on when the theme will be finished?
  • @hanni has got some people to help out with the 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 dev handbook
  • @rarst is set up with his local environment, will get in touch if there are any more issues.

Next week I’m going to be flying at 4pm and then at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe so let’s postpone the meeting to 8th October.

#devhub

Eric Amundson 6:59 pm on September 19, 2013
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Docs Meetup Roundup – Sept 19, 2013

Here’s a summary of today’s Docs chat:

1. Handbooks

@hanni has adopted the 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 Developer Handbook and will be acting editor to drive progress.

@sewmyheadon is editing the Theme Developer Handbook.

2. Monthly Meetups

WP Seattle’s Monthly Docs Improvement Meetup is this Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. If you can’t make it in-person, you can still help by logging into the IRC channel and working remotely.

@sewmyheadon will also be organizing a second monthly Docs Improvement MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area., which will be virtual only.  Dates coming soon.

Hopefully, by having two Meetups per month, we’ll be able to make real progress on the Handbooks.

3. devhub

Siobhan posted notes on this week’s developer.wordpress.org meeting.

4. Codex Spam

@kimparsell posted about a rise of spam in the Codex.

We need to still be vigilant about taking care of anything spammy found in the Codex. mrmist and the other folks do a great job, but can always use an extra set of eyes to spot things.

5. Inline Docs

The Inline Docs weekly meeting yesterday addressed some workflow issues. All resolved, things should be much smoother moving forward.

DrewAPicture has been given guest commit priviledges for the Inline Docs.

That’s all for this week – have a great weekend!

#chat-recap

Eric Amundson 3:55 pm on September 18, 2013
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Roll Your Own Docs Improvement Meetup

The Seattle WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. is holding monthly WordPress Docs Improvement Meetups at a local coffee shop. So far, around 6 – 8 people attend each meetup, and the group has worked on docs in the Codex, Handbooks, and Function Reference.

The Docs Team would love to see other WordPress Meetups and local WordPress groups hold their own Documentation Meetups. Of course, Docs can use all the help it can get.

Things to keep in mind when organizing a Docs Meetup

  1. Your location needs good internet access and power outlets. Duh, right?  Great coffee also helps.
  2. Figure out what to work on in advance. The hardest thing about contributing to these meetups is simply figuring out what to work on. So, as an organizer, prepare in advance by finding a handful of specific things that the group can work on. Keep it small and manageable.  You can touch base with one of the Handbook editors, Docs Team Members, @hanni or @siobhan or @sewmyheadon to help make your list. There’s always plenty to do, but some things need quicker attention.
  3. Publicize it. Ask people to contribute and encourage participation of all user levels. You don’t have to be a developer or designer to contribute. There are plenty of things you can do to help including:
    • Screenshots – we need folks to take, and edit, screenshots to augment written documentation
    • Examples & Code Snippets – need formatted code snippets and examples
    • Editing / Proofreading / QA
    • Transcribing video to text
    • Developer support – non-devs need coders to help clarify functions, hooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. & filters.
  4. Post pre-meetup instructions. Before your meetup date, make sure to post some pre-meetup instructions so new contributors can be prepared when they come.  Here’s an example of a Docs Improvement post from the Seattle WP Meetup site. At minimum, you’ll want to make sure people have reviewed the
  5. Prepare to be a helper. Organizers should expect to spend about 30 to 50% of their time at the Meetups just helping others get situated, reviewing other’s docs, answering questions, etc.
  6. Be okay with slow progress. Writing docs isn’t always a quick task, in fact, it’s usually the opposite. It’s a win if you can complete one or two documents in one 4 – 6 hour Meetup.
  7. Join the #wordpress-sfd IRC chat room. During Docs Meetups, we  encourage folks to login to IRC so they can ask questions, post progress, request docs reviews, and generally help out.
  8. Be encouraging. Face it, writing docs can be relatively thankless and sometimes tedious work, so make sure to be positive, thank people for their participation, and be encouraging.  The sooner someone feels like they’re contributing and their work is appreciated, the more likely they are to continue helping.
  9. Have fun.

Join Us

If you’d like to participate in any of the already-scheduled Docs Improvement Meetups in-person in Seattle or virtually via IRC, here’s when we’re meeting:

  • Saturday, September 21 (10am – 4pm PDT / 5pm – 11pm UTC)
  • Sunday, October 20 (10am – 4pm PDT / 5pm – 11pm UTC)
  • Saturday, November 16 (10am – 4pm PST / 6pm – 12pm UTC)
  • Saturday, December 14 (10am – 4pm PST /  6pm – 12pm UTC)

Hope to see you there!

#docs

Siobhan 4:32 pm on September 17, 2013
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devhub Meeting and Actions

Had our first devhub meeting. The following actions were agreed:

  • @samuelsidler to talk to @saracannon about getting some designs for the homepage.
  • @hanni and @sewmyheadon to come up with theme developer handbook completion grand plan with deadline.
  • @hanni to corral people for 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 developer handbook
  • @samuelsidler to follow up with @Otto42 about progress on code reference homepage.
  • @siobhan to get in touch with Greg Brown re: search.
  • @Rarst to get set up locally, review tickets, and choose one or two to tackle.

See you next week at 16:00 UTC on Tuesday!

#devhub

Eric Amundson 12:40 am on September 7, 2013
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Meetup Roundup – Sept 5

Add Media in the Codex

@DrewAPicture created a draft of the Codex article we discussed last week for Inserting Media into Posts and Pages. He said he’s still got a bit to do, but it’s looking terrific.  Thanks Drew!

Inline Docs

Lots of focus is on documenting hooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same.. @kimparsell and @DrewAPicture will be leading the charge on improving/adding missing functional docs.

Expected @nacin‘s recommended changes into the new php documentation this week.

Inline Docs Standards

@DrewAPicture reported that he and @kimparsell also finalized(ish) the PHP inline documentation standards.  Also, they’re on fire!

Help with Admin Help Videos

@jazzs3quence, fearless leader of the Admin Help Makers, and @siobhan would love some feedback on the Admin Help videos.

Want to join the Admin Helpers?  Connect with them in #wordpress-sfd on Mondays at 16:30 UTC.

Handbooks

Not much has happened with Handbooks in the past week.  @sewmyheadon will inventory the Theme Dev Handbook and make sure the spreadsheet is updated.  I’ll also look at the Plugin Dev Handbook, but it may take a bit longer.

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 Dev Handbook Needs Help

If someone wishes to volunteer to organize/edit the Plugin Developer Handbook, get in touch with @siobhan or @hanni.

Monthly Docs Improvement Meetups

The Seattle WordPress Meetup is organizing monthly Docs Improvement Meetups where folks get together at a coffee shop in Seattle, get caffeinated, and spend quality time improving WordPress documentation.

I’d love it if other Meetups did the same*, but in the meantime please join the SEA WP MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. remotely on IRC at #wordpress-sfd from 10am – 4pm Pacific Time (17:00 UTC) during any of the upcoming Meetups:

  • Sept 21
  • Oct 20
  • Nov 16
  • Dec 14

*I’ll post here soon on make.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//docs about organizing, and encouraging others to participate in, your own local Docs Sprints or Meetups.

For me, having a monthly occasion where writing docs is my sole focus really helps me get something done and focuses my docs efforts.  It’s also great to write with other people close at hand to volley questions, answers, and ideas.

Cheers and have a great weekend!

#chat-recap

Eric Amundson 9:45 pm on August 30, 2013
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Meetup Roundup – Aug 29

New Rep

Howdy folks, this is my first week as the new rep for the Docs Team and I’m grateful for the opportunity. Holler if there’s anything I can help with. 🙂

Add Media in the Codex

Since there isn’t any official documentation for adding new media in WP 3.6, the ever-helpful @DrewAPicture has graciously volunteered to work on a new Codex doc (Inserting Media into Posts and Pages) that will build upon the existing Inserting Images into Posts and Pages Codex article to now include audio and video as well.

Once this page is complete, we’ll copy the appropriate content into Handbooks, if needed.

Handbooks

We’re still working on both 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 and Theme dev Handbooks and could use all the help we can get.

@hanni is heading up production of both Handbooks and will be checking in with those involved to get updates and provide direction and will have more to report next week.

developer.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/

The talented @saracannon is reviewing the Balsamiq mockups for the Handbook design and plans on diving into design this weekend and should have more info next meeting.

#chat-recap

Siobhan 4:44 pm on August 28, 2013
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Admin Help Update

A million apologies for missing the meeting on Monday. It was a bank holiday in the UK and it completely slipped my mind. Monday meeting hasn’t quite embedded in my brain yet.

So far:

  • @jazzs3quence has put together a list of admin help and documentation plugins
  • @trishasalas has put together questions for user testing. I’ll need to edit these down to five questions, and will probably make it more focused.

In progress:

  • I realised that I no longer have a test domain so I’m waiting for the DNSDNS DNS is an acronym for Domain Name System - how you assign a human readable address to a website’s exact numeric coded location (ie. wordpress.org uses the actual IP address 198.143.164.252). to propagate. Once that’s ready I’ll set up the user tests (wanted to get that done today but no luck 🙁 )
  • set up user tests and post results for Friday

Anything else?
Can you please comment if you’re interested in being involved in this project and what you want to work on (UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing., development, 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., content, testing, etc). At the minute I know of @jazz3quence, @trishasalas, and @hanni but it would be good to gauge who else is around.

Chat will happen as usual on Monday 16:30 UTC . If lots of people can’t make it we can consider changing it.

#admin-help