Showing upcoming local events in wp-admin

TL;DR: There’s now a 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 to show upcoming local events in your wp-admin. Test it out and give us feedback!

 

Every few years, someone suggests that it’d be helpful to show upcoming WordCamps and meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. events inside wp-admin, rather than expecting users to find out about those events on their own. Whenever it comes up, almost everyone thinks it’s a great idea, but for one reason or another we’ve just never gotten around to actually doing it.

A few months ago, though, a group of us decided to give it a shot, and we’ve come up with a rough draft. It’s called Nearby WordPress Events, and it’s available in the WordPress.org plugin directory today.

What does it do?

The plugin updates the existing WordPress News dashboard 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. to also include upcoming meetup events and WordCamps near the current user’s location. If you have multiple users on your site, each one will be shown the events that are close to their individual location. The dashboard widget will try to automatically detect their location, but they’ll also be able to enter any city they like.

Screenshot of the widget

The 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. and meetup event data for the plugin is provided by a new api.wordpress.org endpoint [source, documentation].

Why?

The community that has been created around WordPress is one of its best features, and one of the primary reasons for its success, but many users are still unaware that it exists, and aren’t taking advantage of all of the resources that it makes available to them.

Inviting more people to join the community will help to increase its overall health, diversity, and effectiveness, which in turn helps to ensure that WordPress will continue to thrive in the years to come.

We think that wp-admin is the perfect place to display these events, because that’s the place where almost all WordPress users are visiting already. Instead of expecting them to come to us, we can bring the relevant information directly to them.

What’s next?

The plugin and APIAPI 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. endpoint are just rough drafts right now, and haven’t seen any real-world usage yet. We’d love to get your feedback on them, and iterate based on that. We’d especially love to see how well they work for locations outside the United States, languages other than English, and anyone using assistive devices.

Eventually, we’d like to propose merging the dashboard widget into CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., so that every WordPress user in the world will have upcoming local events at their fingertips. 😀

So, what do you think? How well did it work for you? Do you have any suggestions, bug reports, or feature requests?

 

Kudos to everyone who worked to make this a reality: @andreamiddleton, @azaozz, @camikaos, @coreymckrill, @chanthaboune, @courtneypk, @dd32, @iseulde, @mapk, @obenland, @pento, @samuelsidler, @stephdau, @tellyworth

CC +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//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., +make.wordpress.org/hosting

#core, #nearby-wordpress-events, #wp-admin