It’s easy to forget that in WordPress we use a lot of jargon. So the Marketing Team has created this document and a downloadable PDF as a resource for you.
*Note: Changes have been made to this post and not the PDF 10/4/18.
.htaccess
.htaccess is a configuration file for use on web servers running the Apache Web Server software. When a .htaccess file is placed in a directory that is in turn ‘loaded via the Apache Web Server’, then the .htaccess file is detected and executed by the Apache Web Server software.
a11y
Accessibility (https://a11yproject.com/). A11y is an acronym for accessibility. The 11 represents the 11 letters that were removed between the a and y to make accessibility shorter to write particularly on social media.
Apache
Apache is the most widely used web server software. Developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. Apache is an Open Source software available for free.
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.
Atom
Free and Open Source text editor designed for code development- https://atom.io/.
Avatar
An avatar is an image or illustration that specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. It’s usually a square box that appears next to the user’s name.
Back-end developer
A back-end developer modifies database and features of the WordPress core. In other words, it manages everything under the hood.
Backlink
Incoming links to a web page. Search engines view backlinks as a reputation builder. The more quality (as determined by the search engine) incoming backlinks a site has usually helps a site to rank better in search engine results.
Thinking of joining the WordPress community? Please do! Watch these videos that showcase how easy it is to dive right in and contribute. We would love your help!
Did you know there are hundreds of videos that can help you discover new ways of getting involved with the WordPress community around the world? These talks, available on WordPress.tv, can help you spread the word so others can share in the experience and learning found at WordCamps and Meetups. They are also useful tools to encourage working in the ecosystem to give back to this open source community.
In the second post in our series of articles, we are highlighting just a few of the marketing videos that can help you and grow the community.
Becoming Part of the Community
These three videos show just some of the different journeys people have made with WordPress and their reasons for participating in the community.
The first video features web developer Josh Pollock, who talks about how he discovered WordPress, his thoughts about WordCamps, and his own interest in the community. Through trying to fix a bug on his website, Josh learned to code thanks to the support and encouragement of members of the community. In this video, Josh, now with Caldera Labs, shares examples of what can be achieved in web accessibility and how you can make a difference to the development of WordPress through Contributor Days.
WordPress community interview with Josh Pollock
In the second video, Carole Olinger shares how the WordPress community opened up a world of self-discovery. Carole, who is now the WordPress Community Manager at Plesk, asks: “What could be the benefit of being part of the WordPress Community if you don’t even use WordPress?” Watch her talk to find out the answer.
WordPress community talk – Carole Olinger
Our third video highlights that you don’t need coding skills to join in! At WordCamp Rotterdam 2018, another awesome Contributor Day took place. We asked several attendees about their background and how they were contributing that day. From the design team to translating and developing, you immediately see these contributors enjoying themselves and being inspired! Bloggers, developers, project managers, can all join in. What you learn in the WordPress community is invaluable, while having fun meeting new people at the same time!
Contributor Testimonials, WordCamp Rotterdam
Related Posts
Videos to help you contribute to the WordPress community
Thank you to @webcommsat and @siobhanseija for leading the WordPress.tv marketing videos initiative and this blog series. Thanks to @carmemias, @bridgetwillard and all those who have worked on materials.
WordPress runs a third of all websites – and it’s growing fast. WordPress has evolved from its humble beginnings as a blogging platform to becoming the operating system of the Open Web. We believe that WordPress is more important than it’s ever been.
And WordPress is lead by volunteers. Thousands of people around the world contribute their time and effort to make WordPress the product, the community, and ecosystem better. Anyone can contribute to it and that provides opportunity for everyone to benefit.
And WordPress needs contribution. As more and more of the web gets built on WordPress, the importance of the WordPress ecosystem being the best it can be increases. We can do that with your help.
We, the WordPress community, want your company to join us in contributing to WordPress.
But why should you? You’re busy running your business, serving your clients and customers. Sure, you love a good cause. But with so many other causes, why contribute to WordPress?
Your Clients and Customers are Already Using WordPress
With more than 32% of the web running on WordPress, WordPress is the tool of choice for many of your current and future clients.
If many of your customers are using WordPress today, then contributing to WordPress and investing in the WordPress community is a great way to serve them — better. Being an active part of the WordPress ecosystem is also great way to attract new customers.
That’s the positive side and where we believe you should focus. On the negative side, though, if you don’t invest in WordPress, if you don’t provide a good experience to your customers who choose to use WordPress, they’ll choose the companies who do.
Get ahead of the curve! Contribute to making WordPress better for your clients and customers who use it today and position yourself for the clients and customers you’ll have the opportunity to serve with WordPress tomorrow.
WordPress is the Operating System of the Web
WordPress is built on the four freedoms of open source software. These freedoms, combined with the focus on providing a great user experience for non-technical users, have been the key to WordPress’ meteoric rise.
It has grown from being a great platform for a blog or personal site to the operating system for the web with a vast ecosystem of themes, plugins, and the businesses and organizations behind them that serve the WordPress economy.
From sites, to communities, to ecommerce, to products, to platforms, people are choosing to build on WordPress. The tools and resources are there and they’re getting better all the time.
As the web evolves to serve new input and output methods, WordPress is evolving with it. From voice input and creating content in virtual reality to making content accessible to users with disabilities and embracing augmented reality, WordPress is there.
As a company, you have the opportunity to contribute to the operating system of the web. As you help make WordPress better, you’re helping set the stage for new opportunities (like developing new “blocks” for Gutenberg) and opening the doors for new possibilities (serving markets that don’t yet exist).
And why does that matter? Because…
The Open Web Matters
The Open Web has changed the world and we have all enjoyed the benefits. As individuals we’ve learned skills, launched careers, formed friendships, and championed causes. As businesses we’ve reached and served clients and customers through the web that we wouldn’t have otherwise.
WordPress’ mission is to democratize publishing for everyone –, for people of all cultures, languages, capabilities, and means.
What if the Web wasn’t open? What if it was all behind a walled garden that only a privileged few could access?
As the importance of the web increases more and more time and money is being poured into closed ecosystems controlled by a few that can choose to limit who can and can’t participate.
WordPress today represents the future of the Open Web and while we firmly believe that it’s a bright future it’s also a future at risk. As a project lead by volunteers we don’t have the resources that these closed, proprietary platforms have.
We have something better, though. A community and an ecosystem that values the freedom to create and to live and serve as citizens of an Open Web.
You and your company benefit from the Open Web. Please, join us in investing in the Open Web and making it better for all.
Be Part of the WordPress Project
As a company, you have the unique opportunity and privilege to contribute to WordPress. By doing so, you can serve your existing clients and customers better and reach new ones. You can be a part of making the operating system of the web better and in so doing help ensure a future where the Open Web is vibrant and strong.
Did you know there are excellent video resources which can help you contribute to the WordPress Project? We’ve selected some videos from presentations at WordCamps across the world. They can be useful if you are curious about Contributor Days or preparing to lead a table at an event. Of course, they’re also interesting if you’re new to contributing!
In a series of blogs, we are highlighting a selection of videos on WordPress.tv which have been identified by members of the WordPress community as good marketing resources.
In this first blog, we are sharing three videos which help to explain how you can start making WordPress.org or support others in getting started on their volunteer journey.
WordPress.tv Videos on Contributing to WordPress
Have you ever wondered how you could start contributing to WordPress, or wanted tips on sustaining your contributions? Here are some videos that can help.
Contributing to WordPress Panel
First up, discover how a group of individuals got involved in contributing to the community as they share some tips from their experiences.
Join Kathryn Presner, Yannick Lefebvre, Miriam Goldman, and Mel Choyce in their open discussion at WordCamp Montreal 2017. They talk about the different teams that work on WordPress.org and share tips that just might inspire you to start contributing.
Beginners Guide to Contributions
If you are new to adding to open source projects or unsure of where to start in contributing to WordPress, this video is ideal to watch. Featuring a talk by Josepha Haden, this video shows some of the ways you can get involved with the WordPress Project. Additionally, she encourages long-time contributors to support and encourage first-time contributions.
Josepha’s beginner’s guide to contributions were recorded at WordCamp US 2017. It’s a great talk that helps you, or anyone you’re supporting in this, find their place as a WordPress contributor.
Techniques for Contributing to WordPress Core
Felix Arntz presented a useful guide to contributing to WordPress core and techniques for successful long-term contributions. His talk explores how you can make your volunteer time more efficient, how to find access to developer groups, and how you can make your ideas heard.
This is a very inspiring talk by core contributor Felix, recorded at WordCamp US 2017. Follow him through his life story up to now, and what WordPress has done for him. It is interesting for non-developers as well!
Contribute by Subtitling Videos
WordPress.tv hosts thousands of valuable and fun videos like the three highlighted in this post. At the moment, most of them lack subtitles.
Did you know submitting subtitles is a great way to contribute? It helps improve the accessibility of the videos, and by that their reach. There are tools that make this process easy, so why not try? Subtitles are important and we’d love for you to help out by adding subtitles.
Thank you to the speakers featured, everyone who has contributed to and continues to identify and review videos for marketing WordPress and the community. Thanks to @webcommsat and @siobhanseija for leading this initiative and developing the series.
You’ve heard of WordPress, but you may be confused by WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Dot com is hosting and dot org is the CMS. Let’s chat more.
People hear WordPress and think of websites — which is perfect. WordPress powers quite a lot of the world’s top sites. But you may be confused by two versions: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. What’s the difference?
What is WordPress?
Before we talk about the difference between the domain names, let’s talk about what WordPress is. WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that began in 2003. This CMS is powered mostly by PHP and is highly extensible. This gives you the ability to publish content (blog) on your website and develop the powerful solutions enterprise sites require.
As part of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, WordPress is created and maintained by a network of volunteers all over the world who freely contribute their time and expertise.
The software is free to download on WordPress.org for you to host at the website hosting company of your choosing — even on your own server. WordPress.com is a hosting company which has easy onboarding for anyone from the beginner blogger to enterprise solutions with their WordPress VIP product.
The short version is that WordPress.org is where the software can be downloaded (often referred to as “self hosted” or “dot org”) and WordPress.com is a hosted solution fo this software that is free to start.
Let’s parse it out a bit more.
What are the different hosting options?
You can either choose to “self-host” WordPress by purchasing third-party hosting and installing WordPress yourself. Some hosts also offer to set up WordPress for you and handle some of the maintenance, security, and backups. This is referred to as managed hosting. With both of these options you can fully control and customize your WordPress site.
Hosting is typically the main expense to a website and is available in all sizes, from tiny personal sites to the largest enterprise sites in the world. These will range in price from a couple of dollars per month to tens of thousands. Hosting can include extras such as the domain name you’ll also need.
When we refer to WordPress.org, we refer to the open source WordPress software in use on either of the above self-hosted or managed hosting options.
What is WordPress.com?
WordPress.com is a commercially managed WordPress service run by Automattic, the company which has the exclusive commercial usage of the WordPress trademark. This means any sites with WordPress in the domain are maintained by Automattic – so you know they are authentic.
How is WordPress maintained and developed?
As Open Source Software, WordPress is developed and maintained by a community of volunteers called contributors. These professionals come from around the world and connect both online and at conferences to work on the software and to grow the community.
For every new release of the WordPress software, a select group of developers and designers manage the scope and the schedule. Under the leadership of Release Leads, they integrate bug fixes and improvements submitted by contributors from the community. These individuals are called Core Contributors because their work is used in the core WordPress software (often referred to as Core) used by millions of websites.
WordPress.com is developed by Automattic and its employees. This uses the WordPress software as a base, but customizes it to offer a different look, feel, and set of features. This is why WordPress the software and WordPress.com do not look the same.
What are the practical differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
WordPress.org and WordPress.com use the same software but have practical differences. This section will talk you through some of these to help you make a decision between the two platforms.
Code Editing
Self-hosted and managed hosting sites typically have access to code editing, offering full developer control and customizability, whereas WordPress.com typically offers no access to code editing other than CSS.
In practice, WordPress.org sites can be changed in any way and integrate with any third-party tools such as Google Analytics or Facebook’s Pixel. WordPress.com sites are limited in this respect.
Support
Self-hosted and managed hosting typically come with a range of support. That said, it’s ultimately the responsibility of the user to manage their site and it is possible for the user to break the site. WordPress.com, however, comes with support that will solve any issue with the website. The benefit of this model is that it does not allow the user to break their own website.
Plans and Pricing
You need hosting and a domain name to use self-hosted or managed WordPress. These can be inexpensive, but you need to pay for them. WordPress.com, however, offers a free plan which allows you to create a website with the domain yourexamplename.wordpress.com. This has limited features, but it is free! WordPress.com also offers paid plans which introduce extra features at various tiered levels.
Security
WordPress is a secure software with a dedicated security team. A website is, however, public and can be a target for hackers. Self-hosted WordPress typically leaves responsibility for security with the user; whereas managed hosting and managed WordPress (including WordPress.com) can take care of security for the user.
Backups
Similar to security, self-hosted WordPress typically leaves responsibility for backups with the user; whereas managed hosting and managed WordPress (including WordPress.com) typically takes care of backups for user.
Should you choose WordPress.org or WordPress.com?
The choice is up to you! Whether you’re using WordPress.org or WordPress.com, you’re still using WordPress. It’s a fantastic Content Management System to make blogs, websites, and apps.
We’ve discussed the key differences between the two options, including what’s involved with hosting, the cost differences, and practical differences between the software. You should consider these carefully and make the choice which best suits your needs now and in the future.
This Case Study is published by the Make WordPress Marketing Team. Provided by Manifesto, a multi-award winning agency of creatives and technologists in London, UK.
The Project
Market research had revealed that Unicef UK, while well known for its work on the ground in the countries where it delivers aid, needed to improve their brand awareness. Unicef UK embarked upon a bold repositioning initiative to address this lack of brand recognition. Part of this repositioning required a redesign of their website with an focus on improving fundraising. Another important aspect of the project was to increase the impact of campaigns and advocacy by creating emotionally engaging user experiences. The hope was to drive users towards taking action.
Importantly, Unicef UK recognized that its website was no longer a technical fit for their purposes, having last been refreshed over six years ago. The site contained a multitude of out-of-date content spanning over 4,000 pages. The site was not mobile responsive, as they maintained separate mobile and blog websites, causing a confusing user experience. Working together with Unicef, Manifesto began the process to launch their new website. Continue reading →
Is having an online presence important or useful for your organization? Then creating a business website is one of the first steps you will take. It is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to find clients both locally and around the world.
So how do you actually create a website? We will take you through the ten key steps.
First, let us look at why you should build your business website using WordPress.org.
Why you should create your business website with WordPress
WordPress is one of the most trusted and used Content Management Systems (CMS) and platforms in the world. Reasons for choosing WordPress include:
31% of all websites run on WordPress. With nearly two billion websites in the world, that is a lot of users putting their confidence in WordPress.
Websites small and large use WordPress. From personal blogs to large newsgathering sites like CNN, WordPress can handle all types of sites.
Get the look you want. You can create a unique style for your website by utilizing thousands of free and paid themes available for WordPress.
Huge community available to support you. WordPress users can access help and support from one of the largest Open Source communities consisting of developers, writers, editors, and designers. You will find no end to the amount of assistance available in the community’s support forum.
If you are a small business operating on a tight budget, using WordPress helps you build an online presence more easily. The WordPress Open Source CMS is free to download and use. You need to pay for your domain, hosting, and maintenance (if you choose to hire a developer).
You also have the option to join an amazing network of people by contributing to one of the WordPress groups. These groups are organized at https://make.wordpress.org/
Now that you have chosen WordPress to help run the website for your organization, we will explore what you will need to build it.
A domain name is the website ‘name’ or the web address where users can visit your site, like www.yourcompany.com. There are a variety of top-level domains available. These can be country-specific and have a suffix like .com, .uk, .ie or represent the type of organization for example .biz, .org
Many domains will have an option for you to choose an email address which uses your website address, for instance, hello@yourcompany.com
An email address where prospective clients or customers can contact you is a vital part of having an online presence. It may not look as professional if you use a personal email address.
You can purchase a domain name through a domain name registrar. There are a number of registrars available. Each one is equipped with its own set of features and comes with a number of advantages and disadvantages. Once you have identified the one that fits your organization, you can pay to register your domain name for a set period, from a year to a maximum available from that particular registrar.
Many of the domain name registrars will also offer email addresses for your business at an additional cost. While you are viewing the benefits of each registrar it is a good idea to see which email package fits what you require based on the number of accounts you can create and amount of storage you might need.
Now that you have your name and contact details set up, it is time to think about exactly what you want from your website.
What does Your Website Offer?
It can be beneficial for an organization to have an online presence. But do you know what you want it to achieve?
A starting point is to consider what makes your offering unique. In other words, why will people want to buy your products or services? One of the best ways to do this is to write one clear sentence outlining your company’s value proposition.
The next step is to plan what your website will include. This can include text, images, selling or sign-up options. Make a list of the features and functionality you will need. Do you need an FAQ page to answer complex questions? What about a blog? Do you need an eCommerce option to make online sales? Do you need a contact form?
At the top of this list should be what you will include on your homepage. It can’t have everything so you will need to choose what elements are the most important to your organization. This can be by considering what will maximize customer conversions – whether that is for sales, leads, subscribers or anything else
This screenshot shows how you can add pages to your website using WordPress.
What is your branding?
A strong brand is important for businesses of all sizes. It improves recognition of your organization and fosters confidence in it which, in turn, can generate more repeat customers.
The first step is to design your logo which is consistent with your existing brand or helps you define one for your company. If you do not have an offline logo you can adapt for the web, you can either design one yourself using a graphic editors or hire a design agency or freelancer. The style and wording that form part of a logo are aimed at reflecting your business and its offerings. You will want your logo to reflect your company in a meaningful way and this can be discussed and developed as you explore what you want through the design process.
Another factor to take into account is your logo’s color — something you will also need to think about for the website as a whole. Different colors create different emotions for customers. Are you creating a youthful brand or one that is a bit more mature? Your color palette can help you develop and market your brand.
Web colors are different than the ones you work with offline. There are a number of online palette tools which can help you choose web-friendly and accessible colors, find schemes which are close to your printed publication ones, and better understand how different audiences may react to your choices.
How will you build your site?
There are two general approaches to building your business website — either doing it yourself or hiring a developer to help with part or the entire project.
If your knowledge of coding is mainly basic HTML and CSS, you can build your business website using WordPress or using a drag and drop WordPress page builder. Page builders allow you to customize much of your website without having to write complex coding yourself. However, while page builders are much more powerful nowadays, they still come with some limitations.
The new WordPress Editor named Gutenberg has features aimed at supporting you in developing your website pages and posts through the use of blocks.
Gutenberg and WordPress
If you have limited time and would like to work alongside a web specialist, you can hire a developer, web designer, or a web content builder familiar with using the WordPress CMS. When hiring a developer, make sure they have have a track record of building reliable, fast websites, is aware of mobile-design and has an understanding of search engine optimization (SEO).
Who will host your website?
You will need a hosting space for your website. This is where the website will live.
Before selecting a host, carry out some research on what might best fit your organization’s needs. There are generally three main factors to consider when picking a host: ● speed ● customer support ● uptime
You can start by reviewing the hosts recommended by WordPress.org.
Think about the look and feel you want to have for your website look and and how it is going to fit in or change your existing organization’s branding.
On WordPress you can browse through thousands of themes to select one which will help your website content stand out. In the Theme Directory, you can find out more about each theme, whether it is compatible with your version of WordPress and the experience of other users. Here are some factors to consider when picking your theme and theme provider:
● is it being regularly maintained? ● are other users of the theme satisfied with what it offers? ● does it support your chosen plugins? ● will it help make your website easier to find by search engines (more on this later)?
Good content is what brings people to your website, stay there, and eventually make a purchase or build their relationship with your organization. This is why you will need to plan the information and how it is structured. Here are some things to think about:
What information do you want your customers to find on your homepage? In WordPress you have lots of options from a static homepage with a welcome message to a series of blog posts and sections showcasing your products or services
What will appear on the landing pages (the webpage visitors reach when they follow an external link to your website)?
What is the strategy for the type and style of your regular articles? These may be in the form of a blog or updates to your news pages
When creating content, think about how people will find your information when they are searching the internet (more on search engine optimization below).
How will your website be found?
How do you get people to find your site in the first place so that you can engage with them and encourage them to spend time on the content you are providing?
Developing a solid search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is vital. There are lots of good templates available which can be adapted for an organization’s needs and incorporate useful tips from members of the WordPress community. By following a SEO strategy, you will be helping potential customers find your website through their online searches, which in turn can improve your sales conversions and increase brand awareness.
There are two avenues you can go down to increase search traffic: paid or organic.
Paid search involves an advertising budget to increase a search engine result when someone types in a word or phrase.
Organic search is based on publishing content using good SEO practices.
An effective way to organically optimize your results is by researching “long tail keywords.” To illustrate, a shoe company may want to rank first for “shoes” as may thousands of other firms. Given the popularity of the keyword “shoes,” you would need to spend a lot of money to rank well for that specific term.
A better option would be to target long tail keywords, for example, “women’s white air force 1s.” The keyword “shoes” will have more searches, but the consumers typing in “women’s white air force 1s” are much more likely to make a purchase. If your search engine strategy involves paying for Google Ads, it can be cheaper to pay for long tail keywords than a keyword like “shoes.”
Once you have planned your keywords, you can also plan how they link with each other. A URL map (also known as keyword mapping) can help:
your visitors in their journey around your site
encourage visitors to explore material you have linked together
help search engines in mapping the usefulness of your information, pages and posts
assist you in developing new content and promotion opportunities as the maps can help identify what other pages should link to each other and the keywords you are using on different pages.
Can your website scale?
Now that you have your SEO strategy planned, you will need to ensure that your website is capable to support your needs in delivering it.
WordPress plugins are like apps which you can use to add new features and functionality to your website. Plugins need regular updates to gain new functionality and to help keep your website secure.
Your first step could be to install an SEO plugin to assist you in maintaining your website SEO by:
optimizing your content
giving you more control of your breadcrumbs (navigation paths which appear at the top of your page and help search engines understand your website’s structure
allowing you to set SEO meta-info for pages and archives
and through a number of other functions.
The screenshot above shows examples of the plugins you can use on WordPress to boost your SEO.
Once you have set up your website, you can build and submit your sitemap to Google, Bing, Yahoo (via Bing) and other search engines to make it easier for them to find your site’s pages.
All that hard work of attracting customers to your website can be diminished if it performs poorly. Users are often only willing to give you seconds of their time before leaving a web page.
Here are just some of the checks you can make to help your website run smoothly.
check your images are web-friendly in size and number to avoid users having to wait a long time for the page to load
put in security protection to mitigate against hacks and malware which could slow down your site
ask if your host can add an SSL licence to your site to help protect your users if you are using forms and collecting personal data
identify WordPress plugins tested for monitoring or improving website performance
avoid lots of plugins that you don’t need which will have an adverse effect on loading times
find out how visitors with accessibility needs use your website and make it easier for them.
If you are not experienced in web development, you can talk with a professional web developer to help optimize your website’s performance.
Conclusion
Following these introductory 10 steps will help you highlight your business to new audiences and customers. By using WordPress, once you have your basic site you can add more features and content to expand your online presence.
Get started today by downloading WordPress.org and enjoy building your new site.
The Gutenberg page on /gutenberg/ talks exclusively about what we’ve started calling the block editor elsewhere. When you read that page you:
Could be lead to believe it’s the end result of the Gutenberg project;
Could mistakenly believe that what we now call the block editor is still called Gutenberg;
Have no clue about the next phases of the project, even though those are well defined.
Initial thoughts about a solution
After some initial discussions in #core-editor today I’m leaning towards a solution in the following form:
Move and modify the current page to be a page about the block editor that lives either under /about/features/ or as a subpage of /gutenberg/. I think the former is a better long term solution. The modification most needed is calling the thing block editor instead of Gutenberg.
On /gutenberg/ we should explain the goals of the Gutenberg project. We should link to that new block editor page but also explain Phase 2 and 3 and what we’re currently doing in Phase 2. We could then link this page from /about/roadmap/ too. This could be as simple as linking to https://make.wordpress.org/design/tag/gutenberg-weekly/ initially or more if we have people with time and inspiration to build that.
I’d love feedback on all of the above in the comments 🙂
Are you planning a contribution day or event for WordPress? Then learn from the best! We’ve rounded up some great videos from WordCamps around the world. In these videos, you will find tips for what you need to consider and how to market your day or sessions to both new and established contributors.
WordPress.tv Videos on Organizing a Contribution Event
We have selected three videos that cover important aspects of organizing a contribution event. If you feel inspired by this selection, head over to WordPress.tv. There are more videos available on the subject there!
Standalone contributor days
In Italy, standalone contributor days have been used to build up interest and understanding of what it means to be part of the international open source project WordPress.org. Francesca Marano explores how other groups can use similar techniques to develop a following and encourage MeetUps and WordCamps in their locality. This inspirational talk also covers how to create a WordPress.org login and a Slack account, two of the tools people will need to join and communicate with WordPress’s team of contributors.
Francesca Marano discusses standalone contributor days
The benefits of holding a contribution event
If you are unsure of the benefits of holding a contribution event or the range of ways you can get involved, this video is for you. In this interview with Rocio Valdivia about the 500-strong WordCamp Europe contributor day in 2017, you’ll find great quotes about shared learning and experience. Also: how working together and attending an event can expand your network. It’s not just the project but the people, who benefit from contributing!
Interview on summary of contributor day at WordCamp Europe 2017 – Rocio Valdivia
Guide to organizing a contributor event
For further inspiration on designing a contributor event, watch Sonja Leix’s talk. It provides a step-by-step guide to organizing contributor days, contributor nights and special MeetUp events focused on individual Make WordPress teams. It also has ideas for how to support people who want to get started with developing WordPress.
Sonja Leix on designing for the community
Join this blog series team!
If you would like to contribute to WordPress at an event, or from work or home, helping out with this blog series can be an easy way to join the community or try something new.
You can add to a shared spreadsheet of video links from WordPress.TV, videos that you think highlight the community. You can review a recording on the list for sound quality and key learning points, or subtitle one of the short films to help make the library on WPtv more inclusive.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this post and everyone that continues to help us identify and review videos. Also to @webcommsat and @siobhanseija for leading the WordPress.tv marketing videos initiative and its blog series.
Thousands of useful and fascinating videos can be found at WordPress.tv from the range of talks held at WordCamps and other WordPress-related events. Think of meetups, interviews, testimonials, WordPress Translation Days, and so on. Did you know that there are close to 10,000 videos on WordPress.tv? That’s a serious archive right there. Started in January 2009, we’ve come a long way.
You can choose from an online collection of interesting presentations and interviews filmed across the world. Through these free to access videos, you can share in the experience of WordCamps and other WordPress-related events. By subtitling some of the videos, you can contribute. Help us extend the reach of this amazing library of resources on WordPress.tv. The talks are well worth it!”
People from across the WordPress community donate their time and skills to present these talks. From developers and designers to content creators and community representatives. These professionals and enthusiasts share their experiences and knowledge freely with others. That’s open source! The volunteer WordPress.tv team support WordCamps and the community on making these videos available and managing the resource.
These videos also need subtitling. And that’s where you could join in! Subtitling is important and you can contribute without needing any coding skills.
Why do WordPress.tv videos need subtitles?
There are so many wonderful and informative videos published on WordPress.tv. Unfortunately, only a very small number of them offer subtitles. Why does that matter?
1) Foremostly, a subtitled video is more accessible. Subtitles assist people with hearing difficulties to share the experience of the talk and access the information within it.
“Being deaf/hard of hearing means there is certain information I struggle to access… accurate subtitles/captions and good quality audio is essential for me in order to be able to consume video/audio-based content. Too many times I have had to cancel listening to a podcast or watching a video on the web within seconds after starting because of the audio or lack of captions or transcripts. The learning experience can be a hugely frustrating one if what I want to learn is not accessible to me.”
Ahmed Khalifa, WordCamp Organizer
2) The text can enable people to watch a video without needing sound. This can be, for instance, when accessing it at work or on the train.
3) Subtitles could also be translations. They help people that don’t fully understand the talk in its original language. For instance, an English talk could also have French subtitles.
4) Subtitles can reinforce professional development opportunities and with deciphering unfamiliar jargon or terms. WordPress.tv video segments are used by some WordPress Meetups. Subtitles can help with access for their audiences, general learning, and aid participation.
5) The subtitled text can also be used on other channels if the video or part of it is featured as part of a WordCamp promotion on other video platforms, such as Vimeo or YouTube.
Creating Subtitles is Easy
You don’t need specific skills or experience to contribute subtitles. It’s easy as this:
Choose a Video
Create the Caption File
Submit File to WordPress.tv team for Review
As the WordPress Marketing team, we will be featuring useful videos of WordCamp talks during the next months. We hope that doing so will, among other things, inspire more people to join in and subtitle videos on WordPress.tv. Let’s make these videos more accessible so they reach a wider audience!
Great subtitling tools are available at no cost, like Amara.org. Amara offers an easy interface in which you can enter subtitles and set the correct timings while watching the video. It’s also easy to use when creating subtitles in a different language than the video is in.
Quite easy right? Amara lets you save your progress so you can get back to it at any time. That way, even if you only have a few minutes to spare, you can add another few lines of subtitles.
At the moment, the WordPress.tv team is uploading videos to YouTube as well. YouTube adds automatically generated subtitles, which can be edited afterward. This could make things a lot easier! Check out the WordPress YouTube channel.
Subtitles or translations?
For subtitling, all you need to do is watch the video and write the lines that you hear, in the language they’re spoken. If you are so inspired by the video talk, you can add a translation too! A lot of videos on WordPress.tv are English spoken. Adding other language transcripts increases accessibility and usability for these wonderful resources.
Getting started
Subtitling is a flexible way of contributing. You can work on specific subtitles when and where you want to. You could work on them for a couple of hours or for ten minutes at a time. The length of videos also differs: short and long are videos available for subtitling. Take your pick!
Visit WordPress.tv, find a video that you enjoy and get started. Of course, it’s a good idea to check if the video has already been subtitled. Most of them aren’t, which is why it would be great to have you helping out.
Thanks to @siobhanseija and @webcommsat for this blog series and leading the project. Thanks to @casiepa and @drbe4t for their input. Thank you to all those who are subtitling the WordPress.tv videos.
