The Test Team helps manage testing and triage across the WordPress ecosystem. They focus on user testing of the editing experience and WordPress dashboard, replicating and documenting bug reports, and supporting a culture of review and triage across the project.
If you’d like to help test Full Site Editing, please join the FSE Outreach Program. You can find current calls for testing for this program here and you can join the fun in #fse-outreach-experiment.
The team gathers in #core-test. Please drop by any time with questions or to help out.
Are you interested in hosting a <test-scrub>? The Test Team needs you! Check out Leading Bug Scrubs for details, or inquire in #core-test for more info.
And while general release has been pushed to tomorrow, this post is a good refresher on the process leading up to and including release day: WordPress 6.2 Release Day Process.
@ironprogrammer pointed out that the release process helps ensure that issues like the regression noted above can be identified and resolved prior to general release.
PluginPluginA 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 Dependencies
@afragen requested UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. testing for the Plugin Dependencies feature plugin, noting that @azaozz was looking for “newish” user feedback for the plugin dependency activation workflow. The instructions provided by Andy included two steps: installing the feature pluginFeature PluginA plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins., and then installing a separate plugin with a dependency.
@costdev and @afragen explained that providing only basic instructions might better measure how easy or difficult the workflow is to users in discovering the process organically — i.e. how to successfully install the dependent plugin without outside guidance.
@costdev outlined the feedback desired from testers, and @ironprogrammer asked where the feedback should be provided. Additional discussion along with @afragen lead to the decision to create a new call for testing post. [Editor’s Note: The CFT for the above has been posted to Make/CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress..]
@isabel_brison, a developer who has spent much of the last year diving deep into layout controls, took us through a look at 6.2 related layout changes including:
As part of this, she showed how you can now create layouts where the Site Icon can be next to the Site Title or a three cards can always have the same height with a Button blockBlockBlock 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. at the bottom. This led to a discussion both around how even a few additional controls has a big impact for increasing the design possibilities along with some pain points with the current system. For the latter, as it related to one of the demos, could we do something to make it easier for setting things like width automatically rather than individually for each column?
Thinking about layout from a designer perspective
@saxonafletcher, a designer who has thought deeply about these problems, shared some high level thoughts on how he aims to approach this work:
How can we make layout more accessible to more people regardless of technical knowledge?
We then dug into some of what’s coming up next with the Grid layout type:
Responsive out of the box.
Set min column width and the columns will adapt to the space available.
Can turn responsive off and then set columns (can cause super narrow columns).
@beckej, who works in higher ed and teaches students, commented on how simple this is!
Overview of sticky positioning
At the very end, we talked about sticky positioning for 6.2 and how it’s distinct from yet related to layout. Essentially, layout is about inner blocks whereas positioning is about how that content relates to the rest of the page. This was very nicely demo-ed with a community theme (more about the community theme initiative here) that Saxon worked on that greatly leans on sticky positioning. We ended by talking about some follow up items, including how it can only be applied to root blocks. This is a great time to give feedback as this work evolves.
Ideas for future calls for testing
After digging into sticky positioning, the work around the negative margins PR came up and we briefly chatted about perhaps getting both the negative margins PR and grid layout type PR behind experimental flags for some early testing, alongside the navigation section that was removed for 6.2.
Are you interested in hosting a <test-scrub>? The Test Team needs you! Check out Leading Bug Scrubs for details, or inquire in #core-test for more info.
Announcements 📣
FYI: Navigation section of new Site Editor experienced removed for 6.2 RC 2 — after careful discussion, this feature has been removed from 6.2 in order to give it time to mature in the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/pluginPluginA 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.
WP Briefing: Episode 51: Is Routine a Rut? — Josepha discusses the utility of consistency, how it can highlight notable changes, and allow us to spend more time on the important stuff.
WordPress 6.2 Release Candidate Phase — as a reminder, WordPress 6.2 is in the “release candidateRelease CandidateA beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge.” (RCRelease CandidateA beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge.) phase, and Tonya helps clarify the “dos and don’ts” in this post.
WordPress 6.2 Field Guide — check out the 6.2 Field Guide for important development and extender updates in this release.
@costdev mentioned that improved release testing has been discussed in #core, and asked if anyone had thoughts on how the number of testers might be increased during the Alpha/BetaBetaA 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./RC phases. @ironprogrammer noted that this has been suggested as a 2023 WordPress Community Summit topic, but that short term options are needed.
@costdev asserted that collaboration with MarComms (#marketing) would be key to finding ways to pull in more contributors for testing. He asked where we might extend reach/awareness, and what motivates users to become testers.
@afragen suggested that managed hosting providers, such as WordPress.comWordPress.comAn online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/, might facilitate RC testing by working with opt-in site owners. @costdev agreed that this would help environment testing, but that there is a lack of feature-specific testing and reporting. He asked what tools might be offered to make this easier.
@afragen offered the WordPress Beta Tester plugin as a place to experiment with the “Report an issue” concept. [Editor’s note: This plugin currently reflects 3000+ active installs.]
Admin bar link: “Report an issue”.
On plugin activation/update, add a tooltip to the admin bar link: “Found an issue? Report it here”, to promote awareness.
The link leads to a new tab in Beta Tester, which displays basic — but important — environment information consistent with what is suggested for test reports, some of which has been written/tested by @costdev in a separate plugin. The information would be formatted for inclusion in a TracTracTrac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. or GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/ ticket.
Provided this initial scope, users would be able to copy this information for use in a new issue or reproduction report.
@afragen also noted updates may be needed for Apple Silicon support.
We started with some quick introductions to get a sense of who was on the call, how we’re connected to the WordPress project, and what drew folks to help with testing replay.io:
Oliver: Sponsored by replay, been in WordPress community since 2017, used to work for Google where he worked on their first WordPress pluginPluginA 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 (site kit).
Paul: from Germany, self employed web developer, passion for automation and previously led a QA team.
Jason: used to be the tech lead for firefox devtools, worked on etsy with a big focus on their PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. work, big fan of WordPress and PHP.
Paal: from Norway, helps a ton with testing and design, used to be a teacher and enjoys being a regular user, looking for sponsorship.
Anne: sponsored by Automattic for CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. & Test teams, runs the FSE Outreach Program.
Replay,io is a “time travel debugger”. It’s just like a video where you can pause, fast forward, rewind but the entire browser session is recorded. Replay is free for open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. communities so we’re trying to see if it’ll make a difference in how the community reports bugs and maintainers solve them. Oliver and Jason shared some additional details including a case study from Pantheon.
Examples
We briefly went through some examples with TechCrunch as an initial overview followed by an example from @paaljoachim.
Feedback on Replay.io
At a high level, there have been various notes around the Site Editor loading slowly in the Replay browser from folks using the tool. Since the Replay browser isn’t something to aim to get widespread compatibility with, the Replay team is going to dig in to see what might be causing the problem and how we can resolve that in order for a better experience in testing. This will be a huge help since the Site Editor is an obvious thing we want to be testing regularly. @franz00 kindly provided some examples of this (replay recording 1, replay recording 2) while trying to replicate a current issue.
From there, @paaljoachim gave some UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. feedback around using replay and setting up bookmarks. After the call, he recorded the following video and passed along the following notes:
Adding a preview button/icon. To view the video before deciding to save or discard.
Adding all the icons for Viewer and DevTools at the same time in the left sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. Using a separator between these. Reasoning is that the left sidebar icons are easier to notice compared to clicking the Viewer and DevTools buttons top right.
Editing/cutting in the video timeline.
Oliver and Jason shared a link to Replay’s discord and GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/ repo for folks to continue to share feedback.
Test automation
We briefly covered test automation where you can write your playwright tests and debug with Replay. There’s an effort in the WordPress project to switch to Playwright so it would be neat to explore more once the Replay Playwright integration is in a better spot.
Next steps
Replay to look into slow performing replays.
Replay to reproduce the GitHub issue we discussed on the call.
This post is a summary of the Find Your Style call for testing for the FSE outreach program, the twentieth effort. As always, I want to highlight those who helped to bring others along with them in this latest effort:
InstaWP for allowing the outreach program to use their tooling for free, enabling more folks to jump into this call for testing and for more creativity in what we are able to test.
Replay.IO for trialing their software for the WordPress project and the various folks helping use it for this last call for testing.
@jordesign for gathering and summarizing feedback from a crew of folks from Automattic.
Shout out to @arasae for being the sole first time contributor for this call for testing. Expect a badge on your WordPress profiles for your contribution! Here’s a poem from ChatGPT to commemorate:
Oh, here's a badge for you, my friend,
For contributing to testing's end.
In the WordPress project you did your part,
Finding bugs and fixing them with all your heart.
You clicked and typed with skill and glee,
Making sure that WordPress works perfectly.
Your efforts are what makes this site so grand,
So here's a badge, take it with a smile, hold it in your hand.
It may be silly, it may be fun,
But the hard work you've done can't be undone.
So wear this badge with pride and might,
For you are a champion of the testing site!
High-level summary
Feedback around the various style features was positive across the board, from the smaller features like applying styles globally or exploring the Stylebook. The value add and experience is clear with limited confusion around what each feature was doing. What remained for style items centered on feature requests, like the ability to have revisionsRevisionsThe WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. or for the randomizer to impact more color items, and usability feedback around things like the Settings icon changing.
Outside of styling related feedback, this test also focused on importing items from a classic theme to a blockBlockBlock 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. theme. The current experience of importing widgets, while functional, leaves a lot to be desired both in terms of additional optionality, like being able to import menus, and intuitiveness, particularly around how importing overwrites the current template part that was added. Much of the more critical feedback centered around this new pathway.
While not the main focus of the experience, it’s clear that the reimagined Site Editor experience with the introduction of Browse Mode is allowing folks to better navigate between pieces of one’s site and add good friction to the editing process.
For deeper context of someone going through the experience, here’s a video from @paaljoachim who has completed every single call for testing:
First, I am in love with the new Site Editor UXUXUX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it.. It’s exactly how I hoped it would be — so easy to get around with fewer clicks. Creating the new footer template part and importing the widgets was easy peasy.
Making a change to a headerHeaderThe 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 footer or some other template part being used in all templates and then applying it globally was really helpful!
Once I found the Style Book, I liked the range of items I could edit. If I can edit the style of the menu, I would like to edit the mobile menu. Or make edits that only apply to the mobile version of the site. The lack of edit options for the mobile view reflects a question I am often asked by users, at least twice a week, “how do I edit my menu on mobile?
“Push changes to Global Styles” worked really well…I was used to just starting to edit the Template, but the Edit button keeps me from messing something up before I’m actually ready to edit. I really appreciate that Edit button!
Honestly, I found creating a menu like classic themes more user-friendly. Maybe as an alternative a (new) block named “Classic Navigation Block” or something like that could be developed, which offers the options of a classic menu creation, but additionally the properties of the navigation block (color, fonts, typography, spacing, etc.) if possible.
When I first opened the Site Editor, at first the Header Navigation menuNavigation MenuA theme feature introduced with Version 3.0. WordPress includes an easy to use mechanism for giving various control options to get users to click from one place to another on a site. was not the menu that I had created before changing themes. The menu that showed was the All Pages menu, even though I didn’t have an All Pages menu before changing themes.When I left the Editor and came back, then my previously created “Main” menu appeared correctly.
It appears that some styles are universal instead of individual categories, which I thought would be the case from how “Style Book” is named. For example, I would think that users would change the borders setting to individual Images only, but the editor applied the same changes to Gallery as well.
Items related to Browse Mode nicely matched what’s already being designed and built as the 6.2 cycle continues. What remains below matches what’s been raised previously and touches on some of what needs to be considered for phase 3, particularly around wanting better access to revisions.
Adding a yellow as background color I noticed that the Header template part is not all the way in the top of the page. I am curious why the Header is not nudged up against the top admin/canvas tool bar. I see the same on the frontend. Header is not all the way in the top of the page. It would be helpful to have the header in the top with no space above it. To where I need to explore how to remove the margin from somewhere in the header to get the header in the top of the page.
With all the various changes I’ve done, I couldn’t help but notice the need of “what if” and wanted to use a previous style, but because I refreshed the editor, I couldn’t use a previous setup so I really felt the need of a revision system.
Simplifying the importing widgetWidgetA 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. process, confusion around the new Settings icon, and desire for clarity in returning to one’s dashboard with Browse Mode dominated the critical usability feedback. This last piece of feedback has already been addressed in time for the WordPress 6.2 release. Positive feedback balanced out the discussion when it came to using the Styling features, having one’s custom menu automatically imported, and using Browse Mode. The base experience of improved out of the box defaults, customization tools, and moving between pieces of one’s site continues to ease and is reflected in the responses.
I created a new footer template part named “My New Footer” but when I imported the widgets into it, it created an entirely new template part named “Widget area: footer” and deleted “My New Footer” (though it still existed in Template Parts).
After importing the footer widget contents, it looked really messy and it wasn’t immediately clear in the list view as to how everything was ‘stacked’ or laid out. It took adding a new column block to the footer and dragging/dropping the footer groups into each column, to have it appear in a neater and more coherent way.
A Noticing: There was no padding or margin added around the new Widgets Footer at all when they were first moved over from classic theme to block theme; I wonder if there is a way to match the padding or margins of this new Widget area to match the existing look and feel of the site?
It took me a moment to find and get used to the Block Settings icon — I kept looking for the gear. But it makes sense to use a different icon, since the gear icon is now used to differentiate from styles in those settings. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
It is not clear that one needs to click the W to return to the Dashboard. Cursor changes to a finger but it is not obvious where it would go. Here it would be helpful with some kind of some sort. Perhaps a tooltip over the W which says something like “Return to Dashboard” ?
Inside “Style Books,” it’s hard to scroll through the different “Style Books” without a mouse, and it does not appear to work with the arrow keys on your keyboard.