A group of us – @akeda @raicem @dd32 @motylanogha @vanyukov @mauteri @carstenbach @jmarx75 @patricia70 et al. – are building an open-source alternative to Meetup.com for WordPress community groups, based on GatherPress. Each group gets its own site where people join and RSVP to events, and organizers run everything from the front end.
This is an early look. First impressions from a lot of people are more useful right now than an exhaustive bug report from a few.
How to test
To help test what we’ve worked on thus far, please first follow these steps:
- Head to https://events.wordpress.org/group/internal-testing-group/
- Log in with your WordPress.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/ account.
What to test
Approach it as if you were actually trying to join a community group in your area, and tell us what you found. The list below is a starting point, not an exhaustive checklist:
- View all events.
- Join a group.
- Change email preferences.
- View sponsors.
- RSVP for an upcoming event and ensure it shows up under “My upcoming events” on the group page
- View all members of a group.
As you do these things, keep track of what you expect to see, what else might be helpful to see, any bugs, and any design feedback. Here are some additional questions to consider:
- Was it obvious how to join and RSVP, without anyone explaining it?
- How did it compare to Meetup.com? Are there any features missing that you’d want to see?
- What’s the one thing that would stop you from using this for a real group?
- Is there anything broken? Tell us your browser and mobile/desktop.
Basically, go wild and try to break stuff 🙂
User types
We have three user types in this beta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.:
- Member: join/leave, RSVP, email preferences.
- Event Organizer: plus create and manage their own events and venues, emails.
- Organizer: plus manage everyone’s events, member roles, group info and design, ownership transfer.
Joining when you’re logged into your WordPress.org profile makes you a Member. That’s automatic, with no approval step. Want to try another role? Visit https://events.wordpress.org/group/internal-testing-group/members/
Feedback
Comment below, or file an issue against the GatherPress migration milestone. For discussions, join us on the #gatherpress-migration Slack channel.
