Update on Matrix Migration: Pausing the Transition

In recent days, we (Matrix contributors @ashfame, @psrpinto, and myself) have been closely evaluating and engaging with testing, feedback, and discussions stemming from this recent post about the transition to Matrix by the end of the year.

First, I would like to acknowledge the great work Matrix and WordPress contributors did this past year. The explorations and progress made have been admirable, and I appreciate all the community collaboration and participation in testing and providing valuable questions and feedback.

As you may have heard during yesterday’s State of the Word Q&A, the migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. from SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. to Matrix is being put on hold after careful consideration. Several factors, as mentioned by Matt, have contributed to this decision:

We, both Matrix contributors and project leadership, have listened and taken into account the concerns shared regarding accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) and usability. While significant progress and efforts have been made to address issues during the past few weeks, especially around accessibility, we understand that the current experience provided by Matrix clients is not yet where the WordPress project and community expect for their communication and collaborative needs.

On the other hand, we are concerned about the recent developments and license changes announced in the Matrix ecosystem. WordPress prioritizes tools and platforms that align with the project’s principles and values, and this includes considerations around licensing implications when it comes to choosing or contributing to software. In this case, the switch to the Affero General Public License (AGPL) and the requirement of signing a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) to contribute.

This decision allows for reassessing the current situation and ensuring that any transition aligns with WordPress’ standards.

Moving forward

As a result, Slack will remain the primary chat platform for the WordPress community, with no changes expected by the end of the year.

We found that the Slack-Matrix bridge and integrations, such as Chatrix, are still valuable for contributors and will keep working. This allows for flexibility and the continued use of the achievements made so far, especially to help onboard new contributors. We encourage Make teams to further explore and take advantage of all the opportunities that Make team chat pages have to offer.

Thank you for your support and understanding while we navigated to this decision. If you have any further thoughts or questions, please share them in the comments.

Overflow Questions from State of the Word 2023 in Madrid, Spain

Will put them in comments. We need something like Tumblr’s Ask feature. We had tens of thousands of streamers across Facebook and Youtube! Here’s the cleaned-up video with chapters:

Embracing Matrix for Enhanced Communication

As WordPress continues to evolve, so do the tools the community uses to connect, collaborate, and contribute. The shift from IRC to Slack in 2014 was an important transition, making SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. one of the primary tools for contributors’ communications and chats. For over a year now, in the spirit of the project’s continuous improvement, we (Matrix and WordPress contributors) have been actively exploring Matrix as a possible replacement for Slack, providing regular updates, and listening to feedback.

The work done so far represents an effort to bring in a new 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. chat system that meets WordPress’ evolving needs and aligns with the project and community’s ethos. We need your help to see this next transition happen.

Progress and achievements thus far

As a first step in getting the community to test and use Matrix earlier this year, a Matrix server went live at community.wordpress.org. We enabled a bridge that allows you to follow chats and participate from either Matrix or Slack, with real-time messages showing up.

Since then, Matrix has been used by several Make WordPress teams for discussions and contributions, including successful meetings with a significant percentage of participants joining via Matrix. During this phase, insights continued to be gathered from contributors, and more enhancements were made.

Here’s what’s been achieved as part of the ongoing explorations.

Better contributor onboarding

A significant amount of time is spent on helping new and casual contributors get onboarded to Slack. At the beginning of the year, we successfully implemented a Single-Sign-On (SSO) flow to streamline the Matrix login process.

This approach provides a straightforward and convenient onboarding for contributors compared to Slack for several reasons. First, it allows them easy access to Matrix chats with their 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/ credentials, eliminating the need for invitations and going through several steps required to join Slack. Second, it reduces the need to remember and manage multiple passwords.

More ways to join Make team chats

Each Make team now has its own Matrix chat page integrated into their respective Make WordPress blogs. For example, make.wordpress.org/test/chat/. This method leverages the SSO login experience to access chats. It facilitates a simpler, direct avenue for contributors to attend meetings, collaborate, or participate in conversations with other community members—directly within the familiar WordPress.org interface.

Moreover, Make teams can create dedicated chat pages with different rooms depending on their needs. This is made possible through Chatrix’s integration, which allows embedding a Matrix chat as a GutenbergGutenberg 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/ blockBlock 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. into any WordPress post or page.

Preserved chat history

All Making WordPress Slack chat history in public channels has been migrated to Matrix, ensuring no past conversations are lost. While the search functionality is not (yet) as powerful as Slack’s, efforts are ongoing to improve this aspect.

Room joining

Questions about re-joining or looking for your existing channels (called “rooms” in Matrix) have been resolved. When joining Matrix, you will automatically be in all the rooms you were part of in the Making WordPress Slack.

Additional opportunities

The open (source) advantage

Matrix provides a secure, decentralized, and real-time communication platform, encouraging a better collaboration and communication system for WordPress contributors without relying on a proprietary platform.

As an open source protocol, it aligns closely with the principles of the WordPress project and supports community-driven development, allowing anyone to contribute and fostering innovation and improvement. Consequently, this can lead to the development of new features and enhancements around Matrix and WordPress that benefit the entire user community and ecosystem.

While the WordPress project provides a homeserver for its community members, Matrix’s decentralized nature allows individuals to use the homeserver of their choice, empowering them with control over their communication environment and identity.

Bringing local communities into a unified platform

Currently, there are different Slack workspaces for local WordPress communities. Matrix has the potential to bridge this gap and allow these communities to coexist within a unified platform for better collaboration. By integrating them into Matrix at the community.wordpress.org server, the project encourages broader participation and a more connected WordPress community.

Interoperability and client flexibility

Matrix clients are applications or software that allow you to interact with the Matrix communication protocol. We have streamlined joining Matrix through the browser or chat pages, lowering the entry barrier by using pre-configured clients. This means that many contributors won’t need to start a dedicated client.

However, for those who prefer to join from a desktop/mobile app or upgrade their experience, Matrix supports a diverse variety of clients to choose from, catering to the different preferences and needs of contributors. These include feature-rich clients like Element (recommended), FluffyChat (similar to Telegram), and Hydrogen (a minimal Matrix chat client).

Known challenges

During the testing and exploration phase, we encountered and heard about a few challenges that may affect your experience. For transparency, the following are some known concerns the team is working on or has already reported to the Element client community:

  • AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility): The Accessibility team tried Matrix and identified some barriers to usability in the Element client, as detailed in this post. While we’ve tracked down and flagged these areas for improvement with Element, not all have been addressed yet. Further community explorations, testing, and feedback about alternative clients will be helpful in identifying opportunities to ensure an inclusive and positive experience for all.
  • Direct Messages (DMs): Exporting data from a proprietary platform like Slack is difficult because of the lock-in. And, unfortunately, Making WordPress Slack private messages cannot be directly transferred to the Matrix chat. As a workaround to save your DMs, you can use a browser extension to export them, as explained in this guide.
  • Slack-Matrix feature parity: Common Slack features and integrations are available in Matrix, such as channels, direct messages, file sharing, and search. However, others don’t have a direct counterpart or work differently, such as notification handling or group pings. Matrix presents an opportunity to work on a collaborative roadmap and contribute to enhancements that help meet the community’s needs. So, if there are specific features from Slack that you find essential and would like to add, please share them.

What’s next?

Progress so far has been communicated and shared with project leaders Matt and Josepha, who encourage the community to actively switch to Matrix in replacement of the Making WordPress Slack by the end of this year.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean Slack will go away overnight. The Slack-Matrix bridge will remain active until the community has migrated to help ease the transition and minimize disruption. All Making WordPress Slack public channels and content are accessible through Matrix, where you can follow and participate in existing conversations. Toward the end of December, posting to Slack will become more limited, though the history and chats will still be readable.

We will evaluate progress over the next month and expect to complete the migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. early next year.

How you can help

The best way to prepare for the transition is to start using the Matrix chat and get acquainted with it and its features.

We recommend using the pre-configured instance of the Element Web client by visiting matrix.wordpress.net from your browser. However, as mentioned above, there are more ways to get started. Please visit this page to learn more and choose your preferred method.

If you’re familiar with Matrix, help support fellow community members in switching. Another great way to collaborate, especially if you are a Make 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., is to spread the word about the transition within your teams and invite them to start running the contributor meetings from Matrix.

Your input matters

As you or your teams explore Matrix, please share your feedback, questions, and suggestions in the #matrixhelp room (available from Matrix and Slack) or on this Matrix GitHub repo.

Your input and engagement are instrumental in shaping the Matrix experience to meet WordPress’ collaborative needs. Together, we can contribute to making a powerful communication platform for WordPress and the open source community.


We know this move means changing how we chat and collaborate, so it’s natural to feel a mix of emotions, from excitement to concerns about stepping away from a familiar tool. Recognizing these feelings, we want to ensure we’re here to support and guide each other through this transition.

Thank you for your collaboration and continued support as WordPress embraces the opportunities Matrix brings to the project! Stay tuned for updates as we continue to work on the migration.

#matrix

X-post: Create Tours for Make P2s

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Request for Feedback: Make/Team Dashboards

Dashboards are more than just a collection of numbers and graphs; they are the pulse of a project. In the WordPress ecosystem, where collaboration and open-source principles guide us, dashboards can be a powerful team tool. Here’s why:

  • Improved visibility and communication: Dashboards can provide a centralized place for team members to view key metrics and data, such as the number of open and closed issues, the number of commits made, and the number of tests passed. This can help improve visibility and communication across the team and ensure everyone is aware of the progress. Additionally, this can show progress to those seeking opportunities to contribute where help is most needed.
  • Better decision-making: Dashboards can help teams make better decisions by giving them data-driven insights. This information can help them identify areas where they are doing well and where additional help is requested. 
  • Increased transparency: Dashboards can help increase transparency within the team by clarifying what is being worked on and what progress is being made. This can help to build trust and collaboration.

Which teams will be involved?

While feedback from all teams is needed, Sustainability and 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. teams are vital to this success.

Open-source sustainability is a multifaceted concept beyond just keeping a project alive. It’s about creating an ecosystem where the software, the community that builds it, and the organizations that rely on it can thrive long-term. 

The Sustainability Team can foster gathering information, identifying metrics, and partnering with the Meta Team on proposed tools to help us reach these goals.

Recap of progress thus far

Building stats dashboards is not a new idea; various contributor teams have considered the idea or have created proposals for the same in the past. Here’s a non-exhaustive summary of the work done so far. 

Feedback requests: Your Voice Matters

Examples of how other various open-source projects measure the health of their organizations can be found at https://chaoss.community/kbtopic/all-metrics/

  • Active contributors to WordPress:
    • What metrics would you like to see on a team dashboard? 
    • How would you use a team dashboard?
    • How do we help ourselves (and future contributors) determine the right metrics?
  • WordPress Team Reps:
    • What metrics would be most helpful for you to track to represent your team effectively?
    • What would help you make data-informed decisions or help you focus on your top priorities?
  • WordPress Project Leadership 
    • What metrics would you like to see on a team dashboard to help you make informed decisions about your project?
    • How would you use this data?
  • Hosts, Plugins, Themes, SaaS, and Extender Ecosystem: 
    • What metrics and statistics would you like to see from teams throughout the WordPress Project?
    • What data would help you support your customers? 
    • How would data help your organization contribute to WordPress?
    • What data do you want to know regarding how your organization contributes?
  • Agencies from solo entrepreneurs through enterprise agencies (& their customers):
    • What metrics would be most helpful for you to track to manage your team’s workload and deliver high-quality results to your clients?
    • What metrics might your customers want to know?
    • What data do you want to know or have visible regarding how you or your organization contributes?

Conclusion: The Community’s Role in Dashboard Success

Your feedback is not just welcomed; it’s essential. 

Dashboards can be a cornerstone in the success of open-source projects like WordPress. They can help us be more transparent, make better decisions, and ultimately, create a more robust and inclusive community.

We invite you to leave your thoughts, suggestions, and insights in the comments below. Your voice can help shape the future of dashboards within the WordPress community.

Please share your feedback by: Wednesday October 11, 2023

The following people contributed to this post: @harishanker

X-post: Community Summit 2023: Your Role in What’s Next

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WordCamp US 2023 Q&A

WordCamp US 2023 convened from August 24 to 26 in Washington, D.C. Nearly 2,000 attendees gathered for two days of engaging sessions, learning, and community-building. Saturday’s agenda concluded with back-to-back keynotes by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy and a subsequent Q&A session. Read more about the event and watch recordings of the keynotes.

Watch the recording of the Q&A session from the WCUS keynotes by Matt & Josepha

As with past events, this post collects questions from in-person and online WCUS attendees that could not be addressed live—with answers from Josepha Haden Chomphosy and Matt Mullenweg. The community submitted some wonderful questions about all things WordPress and beyond. Due to the large volume of inquiries submitted, please note that a compilation of the list’s seven most representative and highly voted questions has been made. Tune in to the WordPress Briefing Podcast’s future episodes for answers to additional questions and discussion on related topics.

Let’s dig in!

Q. How do we ensure web accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) remains at the forefront of design innovation?

One of the things we learned in the Accessibility conversation during the Community Summit is that checklists and blocking requirements (while a great starting point) can only do so much. Accessibility requirements are more nuanced than that and require a fair amount of collective judgment. It was noted that there needs to be awareness and training of foundational concepts, like defining DOM order before visual order, defining desired functions before scoping projects, and generally being more intentional about testing things with users. This all, of course, has to happen in concert with contributors throughout the product development timeline so that what starts with our designers carries on through the development process as well.

Q. How can we better reach users/audiences unaware of WordPress or who looked at it five years ago but not recently?

The tactical answer here is that we need a couple of different brand campaigns: conquest and re-introduction. But since WordPress has overwhelmingly always relied on word of mouth marketing, it can be hard to coordinate that sort of effort. What we would have to do in order to accomplish this would be a grassroots drive for testimonials and such, then hope that we can generate a viral pattern in social media platforms. 

Q. How can we encourage developers to learn WordPress?

There are a few tactical answers that are always worth pursuing. We should find a way to partner with schools (especially at earlier ages) to introduce what WordPress can do. We should collaborate with organizations that already work directly with the groups of learners and developers we feel would benefit most from WordPress. And finally, we should invest in our self-serve learning platforms and event series. 

It also might be worth thinking through a shift in our mindset. It’s hard to predict the future, but we do know that there are skills and values that are useful for anyone early in their career. Advanced 21st century skills (esp critical thinking, cross-cultural communication, and time management) are going to be vital as more companies and opportunities are distributed, as well as an enterprising spirit to see and adapt to challenges as they arise; all of which you can learn in the WordPress project.

Q. As AI gets better with written/spoken language translation, how might that affect the direction of Multilingual WordPress support?

For starters, I want to be clear that I think applications of AI should always be guided by the question “how can we streamline or reduce menial tasks for people” and never by the question “how can we replace this person”. That being said, I think that any value of AI to multilingual activity in WordPress will primarily be on the Polyglot team side. I don’t think we can overstate the importance of having both a well-translated CMS and the opportunity for that CMS to natively host well-translated content as our world gets more connected. I do hope that we are able to take full advantage of the potential for shortened workflows in the work of translating elements inside the WordPress project. Between Translate Live and the opportunity to have human moderation of AI suggested translations, I hope to make WordPress more available across the world, but especially for locales that represent at-risk languages and therefore have no GTEs.

Q. How do you envision WordPress integrating with the Fediverse in the Future?

I love the idea of a bespoke, hyper-local social network that can take the place of group texts or any number of “friends only” implementations in current social media platforms—just you and your book club friends bloomscrolling through your latest gardening experiments!

I also think we have a handful of plugins and solo projects in the ecosystem that, with a little collaboration, could offer that to WordPress out of the box through a canonical/community 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.

Q. 1,000 plugins in the queue; is the Plugin Review team still growing?

It is! And if you want to learn more about contributing to the WordPress project in that way, you can apply to join us!

Q. What is the biggest opportunity for WordPress in the next decade?

I think the popular answer here is “Artificial Intelligence,” and of course, that is certainly an opportunity. But I think if we look at “opportunity” in the sense of “where we can grow the most” I will always say connecting to the communities we currently have the least connection to. More connections mean more knowledge shared, more skills honed, and more economic opportunities for this world (and web) that we hope to make into a better place.

Do you have a question? Comment below, and join one of the many teams making WordPress for answers.

#qa, #wcus2023

Proposal: Documentation translation / localization

¡Hola! WordPress features an extensive array of documentation, but it’s primarily available in English and distributed across multiple platforms. This poses a significant challenge, as over half of WordPress installations globally are in languages other than English. Consequently, many users cannot easily access documentation in their native tongue. So, how can we address this issue?

Current Status

The bulk of WordPress documentation resides on two primary websites: 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//documentation and developer.wordpress.org. While there are additional resources like manuals, tutorials, and forums, these two websites serve as the cornerstone for end-users, advanced users, and developers alike.

While some sections have been translated into other languages, the vast majority of this valuable content remains English-exclusive.

Final Objective

Given that over half of all WordPress installations are in languages other than English, our goal is to translate and sustainably maintain all the documentation in the world’s primary languages, with room for future expansion.

In the initial phase, we will focus on translating documentation tailored for end-users, advanced users, and developers. Subsequent stages will include additional resources such as Learn WordPress, Team Handbooks, and other related materials.

Previous discussions on the topic

Implementation Strategy

The method of achieving this monumental task is the proverbial million-dollar question. It has undergone extensive consideration, collaboration, and refinement across all involved teams. While it may not be the perfect plan, it is the most viable one we have arrived at after four iterative cycles of improvement.

Acknowledging that there are ongoing developments within the WordPress ecosystem, such as GutenbergGutenberg 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/ Phase 3 and Phase 4. Although we’ve considered these, incorporating them at this stage is not feasible.

This proposal offers a realistic pathway to making WordPress documentation accessible to a global audience.

Centralizing Documentation Creation

The initial step in our strategy is to consolidate all documentation into a single, easily accessible location. Currently, the creation and discussion of documentation are scattered across various platforms such as Google Docs, GitHubGitHub 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/, and WordPress itself.

To simplify maintenance and access, we have decided to host the foundational documentation on GitHub. Each segment of documentation will have its own dedicated repository, enabling individual teams to work in a more organized and efficient manner. This structure will also facilitate separate issue tracking and discussions for each repository, while allowing cross-repository conversation through project links.

Language-Specific Organization

To accommodate translations, each repository will feature folders named after the ISO codes of the languages into which the documentation will be translated. Initially, these folders will include “en” for English, and subsequently extend to other languages like “de” for German, “es” for Spanish, “fr” for French, and “it” for Italian.

Teams and Notifications

To stay abreast of changes in documentation, we’ll establish three tiers of teams that mirror the existing structure of the Polyglots community.

1. Repository Maintainers: These individuals will be responsible for the overall functionality of each repository. They will manage other teams and ensure that any updates are correctly implemented.

2. General Translation Editors (GTEGeneral Translation Editor General Translation Editor – One of the polyglots team leads in a geographic region https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. Further information at https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#general-translation-editor.): GTEs will oversee each language-specific documentation group. Their role involves validating translations and ensuring their accuracy. There will be as many GTEs as there are languages to translate.

3. Translators: These contributors will carry out the actual translation work from one language to another.

When a change is made to any piece of documentation, the translators will receive notifications to update their translations accordingly. Should any language have pending translations, the respective managers will be alerted for validation and approval.

Those charged with high-level maintenance of the documentation will also keep track of the synchronization configurations between GitHub and WordPress, ensuring a seamless workflow and timely updates.

Translation Strategy

GlotPress, the WordPress built-in translation system, will not be used in this initiative to allow greater flexibility to adapt translations. The use of Machine Translation or Translation Memory will be at the discretion of the translators.

Given our scalability objectives, we’re focusing initially on translating into “general” language variants rather than “localized” ones. For example, we won’t distinguish between “Spanish from Spain” and “Spanish from Mexico,” or between “French from France” and “French from Canada.” Instead, our target is to cover the main languages spoken across all WordPress installations, with approximate percentage distributions as follows:

  • DE – German (6%)
  • EN – English (48%)
  • ES – Spanish (7%)
  • FR – French (5%)
  • IT – Italian (4%)
  • JA – Japanese (6%)
  • PT – Portuguese (5%)
  • RU – Russian (3%)

This coverage would extend to over 80% of existing WordPress installations.

Management for each translation team will occur through dedicated channels in the Global SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. workspace (e.g., #docs-de). These channels will allow contributors worldwide to collaborate effectively. We’ll also establish translation guidelines for each language to ensure the text aligns with cultural norms and linguistic nuances, whether formal or informal.

Content Structure and Format

All documents will be stored in Markdown format, compatible with GitHub’s native editing capabilities. This ensures a user-friendly interface accessible via a web browser, although more advanced GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. https://git-scm.com/. users are free to use the tools they prefer for translation work.

Each document will feature an initial H1 headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. (or “#” in Markdown) that designates the document title, followed by a final H2 header (or “##” in Markdown) labeled “Changelog” to log major updates transparently.

The information architecture will mirror the URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org structure: language-specific folders will be followed by root files, which will contain an `index.md` and any additional folders or subfolders needed for organizing the content. This approach enables the use of localized URLs for each language, further enhancing accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility).

Publication Process

The final decision to publish documentation will rest with the maintainers of each respective project. Maintainers will have access to a configuration file, often referred to as a “manifest,” where they can list the Markdown files hosted on GitHub along with corresponding WordPress slugs, content architecture, and priority ranking for menu arrangement.

Furthermore, the manifest will specify the unique slugs, URLs, or identifiers for different languages. This enables a seamless transition between language versions, allowing users to switch easily from one to another. Once content is integrated into this manifest, it will automatically be converted from Markdown to HTMLHTML HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a markup language that is used in the development of web pages and websites. or the relevant blockBlock 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. format.

The power of the global community

One of the revolutionary aspects of this system is its capacity to enable content creation directly in languages other than English. While this introduces a layer of complexity requiring coordination, it opens up new avenues for content generation. A contributor who may not be proficient in English but is fluent in French, Spanish, or Italian can now create original content.

In this way, the system empowers the community to produce content in a non-English language first, which can then be translated into English. This democratizes the content creation process and harnesses the talents of over half of WordPress users worldwide who are non-English speakers.

Challenges Ahead

While this proposal paints an optimistic picture, the implementation is far from simple. Numerous elements, including content management, translation coordination, technology interfaces, and overall project management, contribute to the intricacy of this initiative.

However, many of these challenges have already been anticipated, and others will undoubtedly emerge as the project progresses. One promising aspect is that once we successfully translate one repository, the subsequent translations should unfold more smoothly, given that the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. process remains consistent across all elements.

In essence, this initiative is an ambitious undertaking, but its scalability and adaptability make it a worthy challenge, promising significant benefits for the global WordPress community.

Just the Beginning: A Unified Vision for WordPress Documentation

As initially mentioned, WordPress documentation exists in a myriad of locations and formats. This project serves as a foundational step toward standardizing tools and practices. It aims to create a centralized repository where everyone knows where to find information, can trace the history of changes, and receives due credit for their contributions in both creating and translating content.

But the initiative goes beyond mere standardization. WordPress has a rich ecosystem that includes an expansive Lean WordPress site, replete with numerous manuals, tutorials, and community-driven projects. Each Make Team within the community has its body of documentation, offering insights into how our community operates. This is invaluable information that could benefit a wider audience, particularly those who may be deterred from participating because they lack proficiency in English.

As our community continues to grow, open and inclusive communication becomes increasingly vital. This initiative not only promotes that growth but also democratizes access to information. In doing so, it makes it possible for a more diverse range of individuals to engage with the community in meaningful ways, even in teams where language has previously been a barrier.

Thanks to @estelaris, @nullbyte, @milana_cap, @otto, @clorith, @kenshino, @coachbirgit, @femkreations for the review, proofreading and hours spent on this proposal.

#docs, #documentation, #i18n, #l10n

The Inaugural Cohort of the WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program has Concluded

I am thrilled to announce the successful conclusion of the Initial Cohort of the Experimental WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program, which commenced on July 12th and concluded on August 9th, 2023. Organized by the Contributor Working Group of the WordPress Community Team, this four-week pilot initiative marked an impressive milestone in fostering the growth and involvement of contributors within the WordPress project.

The inaugural cohort had a group of 13 contributors who were selected as mentees from a pool of around 50 applicants. Out of this group, 11 contributors completed all the required courses, interacted with their mentors to learn about the program, got onboarded to Make/WordPress teams of their choice, and made their initial contributions to the WordPress project. Please join me in congratulating all our mentees who have graduated from the program!

Vanja Vukadinovic

Vanja Vukadinovic
@wanjlica

Priyanka Adhikari

Priyanka Adhikari
@prikari

Sheila Bravo

Sheila Bravo
@sheilabravo

Lisa Risager

Lisa Risager
@risager

Benedikt Ledl

Benedikt Ledl
@benniledl

Josep Maria Fernández Morán

Josep Maria Fernández Morán
@josepmoran

Lisa Risager

Rita Best
@rbest

Subash Chandra Poudel

Subash Chandra Poudel
@subashpoudel

Cynthia Norman

Cynthia Norman
@cnormandigital

Néstor Brito Medina
@necobm

Jonnathan Santos

Jonnathan Santos
@jonnps

The Mentorship Process

Our mentors, mentees, and facilitators joined forces in a dedicated SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel in the Make/WordPress Slack. For the first two weeks of the program (July 12th through July 25th), our mentees learned about the project, by taking certain courses and through support from their mentors. For the next two weeks (July 26th through August 9th), they attended onboarding sessions of different Make/Teams and made some initial contributions to the WordPress project. In between, mentees also got to see a bird’s eye view of how a WordPress release works, through our dedicated shadowing and onboarding sessions supported by our facilitators and Make/Team representatives. More details can be found in our launch post.

Achievements from Our Program

Our mentees did a fantastic job as part of the mentorship program! Overall, they were quite active, going the extra mile to complete their required courses, and attending onboarding sessions, with many folks even shadowing the WordPress 6.3 release and attending team chats! Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of achievements from our cohort members.

  • 12 participants completed the required Learn WordPress courses – 89% completion rate
  • Two members gained CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Contribution badges (@prikari and @josepmoran). @benniledl submitted his first core patch as well! 
  • Suggested 400 translations in Danish and got involved in 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. Denmark (@risager)
  • Actively participated in forums with 51 replies (@benniledl)
  • Suggested over 1200 translations in Catalan, and multiple bug reports on Learn WordPress (@josepmoran)
  • Suggested translations to WP 6.3 in Brazilian Portuguese (@jonnps)
  • Reported a Photo Directory bug and suggested 200+ translations (@necobm)
  • Contributed to the Documentation Team by updating a screenshot for WordPress 6.3 (@prikari)
  • Four contributors submitted photos to the Photo Directory (@risager @benniledl @subashpoudel and @necobm)
  • Several contributors contributed to the Make/Training Team – @cnormandigital provided validation for two Content Feedback submissions and submitted their work too.

One of our big wins from the program was how we tried to broadcast the same towards a broader audience in the #contributor-mentorship channel of the Make/WordPress Slack, where several contributors followed-along the progress of the events and participated asynchronously in the mentorship program. The channel will continue to remain active, and we plan to use it to facilitate more public mentorship opportunities for contributors! 

Another milestone for our group is about how local communities are attempting to adapt this program for their own locales. For instance, @javiercasares is already working on translating key materials of this program to Spanish with a plan of potentially hosting a future cohort for Spanish speaking folks. There has also been significant interest from the German community thanks to outreach efforts from @coachbirgit who has also kick-started efforts to bolster contributor onboarding at the upcoming WordCamp Germany 2023!

Learning Materials from the Mentorship Program are now available!

Thank you!

This program was a true group effort, with members of the WordPress Contributor Working Group working hand-in-hand to make this pilot program a reality. We faced a lot of challenges, but we all worked together to ensure a smooth contributor experience for our mentees. 

Big thanks to everyone involved in making this program a huge success! 

What next?

We will be asking our mentees and mentors to fill out a survey to learn about their experience participating in the program. The working group is currently working with our mentors to help mentees optionally create a contribution plan to sustain the momentum they have gained from the program to keep making ongoing contributions to the project. The working group also aims to check in with mentees later this year to see how they are doing with their contributor journeys. 

Our work is far from over. The contributor working group will continue its monthly chats, and will continue its work on improving the contributor pipeline for WordPress. Going by the success of this cohort, we also aim to start working on the next iteration of our program. Stay tuned for more updates!

The following people contributed to this post; @harishanker @nao @oglekler @javiercasares

#5ftf #five-for-the-future #contributor-working-group #wpcontributors, #mentorship-program #mentorship-cohort-july-2023

Proposal for Establishing a Make Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (“DEIB”) Team within the WordPress Community

TL;DR: This proposal suggests establishing a Make Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (“DEIB”) team within the WordPress community to enhance and support the existing DEIB initiatives. Building upon the tireless work of fellow community members, this new team would provide a more structured and coordinated approach towards ensuring that all community members feel valued, included, and able to contribute to their full potential within the safety of our code of conduct.

This team aims to be a shared resource to all other Make WordPress teams. The team’s roles and responsibilities include broadening representation, cultivating an inclusive culture, promoting equitable opportunities, facilitating collaboration, and continuous assessment and improvement. The team will work towards clear objectives and tangible outcomes, such as increased representation, improved inclusivity, and increased access to opportunities.

Update

As we work towards establishing an official DEIB team, a new channel on Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. serves as a collaborative space for all members of the working group.

Whether you’re here to contribute to the ongoing efforts or simply to observe and learn, we’re glad to have you with us.

Please join #deib-working-group and collaborate on GitHubGitHub 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/ DEIB Project Tracker


The Why

As an active contributing member of the WordPress community for over a decade, I have witnessed the need for a more structured approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) within our community. Although my background doesn’t include formal academic training in DEIB, my extensive firsthand experiences and keen observations have shaped my deep understanding in this area. I have faced setbacks, and seen fellow community members experience discrimination and ignorance. These experiences have motivated me to develop this proposal.

While several teams within the community promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), there is a need for a more structured and coordinated approach to these efforts in support of the whole project. A formal DEIB team would provide this structure, enhancing the existing initiatives and filling gaps where needed.

This formal proposal has evolved from an initial public idea exploration, which can be found in this blog post on my personal site. For a more in-depth exploration of this rationale, please refer to our whitepaper, “Proposal for Establishing a Formal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Team“.

Acknowledgements:
Before delving into the proposal, it is important to acknowledge and thank all the community members who have dedicated their time and skills to raise awareness and educate about DEIB. Their tireless work has laid a strong foundation for the generations and iterations to come within the WordPress community. Thank you!

The How: Proposed Role and Responsibilities

The Make DEIB team could become a shared resource to other Make teams, and could include the following roles and responsibilities:

  1. Broaden Representation: The DEIB team would work to ensure that all members of the WordPress community, regardless of their background, have a voice and feel included. This could involve outreach to underrepresented groups, efforts to make the community more welcoming and inclusive, and initiatives to promote diversity in leadership roles.
  2. Cultivate an Inclusive Culture: The DEIB team would work to create a culture where everyone feels valued and included. This could involve training and education on DEIB issues, efforts to promote respectful and inclusive communication, and initiatives to celebrate the diversity of the WordPress community.
  3. Promote Equitable Opportunities: The DEIB team would work to ensure that opportunities within the WordPress community are accessible to all. This could involve efforts to make training and education opportunities more inclusive, initiatives to promote equitable access to resources, and work to ensure that all community members have the opportunity to contribute and participate.
  4. Facilitate Collaboration: The DEIB team would work closely with other teams within the WordPress community to coordinate DEIB efforts. This could involve sharing resources, collaborating on initiatives, and promoting DEIB across the community.
  5. Continuous Assessment and Improvement: The DEIB team would implement regular assessments of DEIB initiatives and make necessary improvements. This could involve collecting and analyzing data on DEIB efforts, seeking feedback from the community, and making changes based on this feedback.

For a more detailed discussion of these roles and responsibilities, please check out the white paper for the proposed Make Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (“DEIB”) Team by clicking the button below:


Enhancing and Supporting Existing DEIB Initiatives

The DEIB team would work closely with other Make WordPress teams, working groups, and initiatives that touch on DEIB topics, and leverage existing work to support the WordPress 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. project.

Objectives and Tangible Outcomes:

The DEIB team would have clear objectives and tangible outcomes, particularly regarding the identified gaps and overlaps. These could include:

  1. Increased Representation: Measurable increase in the representation of underrepresented groups within the WordPress community, particularly in leadership roles.
  2. Improved Inclusivity: Measurable improvements in the inclusivity of the WordPress community, as indicated by community surveys or other feedback.
  3. Increased Access to Opportunities: Measurable increase in the accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) of opportunities within the WordPress community, such as training and education opportunities.
  4. Effective Collaboration: Evidence of effective collaboration with other teams within the WordPress community, such as shared initiatives or resources.
  5. Continuous Improvement: Regular assessments of DEIB initiatives and evidence of improvements based on these assessments.

Mid-Term Strategy for the DEIB Team:

Over the next 3-5 years, the DEIB team will focus on several key strategic initiatives to achieve its mission and vision:

  1. Develop DEIB Guidelines: We will develop comprehensive DEIB guidelines for the WordPress community. These guidelines will provide clear expectations and best practices for promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the community.
  2. Implement DEIB Training: We will implement and enhance existing DEIB training for all members of the WordPress community. This training will educate community members about the importance of DEIB and provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to promote these principles in their work and interactions.
  3. Establish DEIB Metrics: We will establish clear metrics for measuring the success of our DEIB efforts. These metrics will help us track our progress, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that we are effectively promote DEIB within the community.
  4. Promote Diverse Leadership: We will launch initiatives to promote diverse leadership within the WordPress community. This could include mentorship programs, leadership training for underrepresented groups, and efforts to ensure diverse representation in decision-making processes.
  5. Enhance Community Engagement: We will enhance community engagement by creating opportunities for all community members to contribute to DEIB efforts. This could include community forums, DEIB working groups, and opportunities for feedback and input on DEIB initiatives.
  6. Collaborate with Existing Teams: We will work closely with existing teams within the WordPress project to coordinate and enhance DEIB efforts. This will help to ensure that DEIB is integrated into all aspects and that our efforts are aligned and complementary.

By focusing on these initiatives, the DEIB team can help to ensure that the WordPress community is a place where everyone feels valued, included, and able to contribute to their full potential.

Please refer to the whitepaper for a more comprehensive understanding of these objectives and tangible outcomes.


Your turn: share your thoughts!

By establishing a formal DEIB team, the WordPress community can enhance its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, ensuring that all community members feel valued, included, and able to contribute to their full potential within the safety of our community code of conduct.

I invite all community members to provide feedback, thoughts, and suggestions on this proposal. Your input is invaluable as we work together towards a more inclusive and diverse WordPress community. Together, we can achieve more. Please leave your thoughts and feedback as a comment on the proposal below. 

Proposal from: Birgit Olzem (@coachbirgit

Reviewed and supported by (in no particular order): @martatorre, @jillbinder @courane01, @angelasjin @harishanker @bph @francina @annebovelett @kau-boy @devinmaeztri @evelina87

#5ftf, #deib, #wpdiversity