Hallway Hangout: All Things Media

This is a summary of a Hallway Hangout that was wrangled in the #fse-outreach-experiment channel as part of the FSE Outreach Program. All were welcome! The intent was to chat about whatever was on folks’ minds as 5.9 is around the corner. Thank you to all who joined.

Attendance: @fcoveram, @annezazu, @bobbingwide @pdclark, @beckej, @paulbigai, @ndiego, @piermario, @paaljoachim, @courane01

Video Recording:

Topics Covered:

• We kicked off the call talking about a few specific issues and use cases, like copying/pasting an image into an image 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. and being prompted to name an image upon pasting. I couldn’t replicate an issue here after the call but am following up via DM.
• We dug into rethinking the role of a featured imageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. in a full site editing world, including looking at a few designs.
• We chatted about the overall pain pointPain point Pain points are “places where you know from research or analytics that users are currently getting hung up and have to ask questions, or are likely to abandon the site or app.” — Design for Real Life and desire for better media management (folders, rename files, etc). With FSE, things that used to be locked away are increasingly getting easier to work with to the point that there’s a feeling of wanting to be able to do everything.
• We chatted briefly about how Openverse could integrate with the pattern directory and how the media library might be able to integrate with media related patterns. Overall, it feels really high impact to have your own images or an image you’re looking to use baked into a pattern you want to use as well.
• We talked about how switching themes causes featured image changes in terms of sizing/cropping, which can be a bit annoying to have to refine and an extra step when switching themes.
• The topic of uploading an image to the photo directory from one’s media library came up as it involves a few steps from how to connect to a 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/ profile to a potential way to see all your content in Openverse to how to connect multiple sites to the same profile and more.
• @beckej was kind enough to share his screen to show off how he uses the Pressbooks 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, which includes attributions in the media library. Since this is already a WordPress solution, it’s great to see how it’s being built and what it might look like. We talked about how perhaps it’s up to the author to choose from a few different style options depending on how they are using an image. Ideally, attributions can also match the theme style so that, upon adding an image, it immediately fits in.
• We dove into what other tools do well (or poorly) that should be considered as part of WordPress’ media feature. This led to discussing how other services have paid connections (like squarespace) so don’t  have to worry about things like attributions, which inherently makes the job WordPress has a bit harder.
• The topic of attributions led to talking about how can we make attributions “cool”/the norm? Similar trends have come up with offering captions on videos on social media, an increasing number of folks sharing “props to @xyz profile”, and more folks paying attention to alt text.
• @paaljoachim shared a previous Google doc of a few screenshots from other services.
• As the photo directory grows, the question of how we can improve adding alt text to images came up as right now the description field doesn’t nudge things along too much.
• We discussed how we can do things like show how an image is displayed elsewhere as a way to recognize content creators. Some folks might also not want to use a heavily used image and might purposefully seek out less used ones to have more individuality on their site.
• We talked through how important that very first moment of using Openverse will be in terms of ease of use and how the attribution flowFlow Flow is the path of screens and interactions taken to accomplish a task. It’s an experience vector. Flow is also a feeling. It’s being unselfconscious and in the zone. Flow is what happens when difficulties are removed and you are freed to pursue an activity without forming intentions. You just do it.

  Flow is the actual user experience, in many ways. If you like, you can think of flow as a really comprehensive set of user stories. When you think about user flow, you’re thinking about exactly how a user will perform the tasks allowed by your product.Flow and Context

  works. If it’s magical and does things like matching the theme styles, it could really help with adoption.
• We ended the call agreeing that the ability to disable Openverse integration will also be important. This has come up with the pattern directory too and feels standard at this point to have this kind of opt in optionality.
• At some point during the call, Ed also shared a great example of attributions on a site where, at the bottom, there’s a drawer that expands and shows all attributions there. It’s great to see specific examples and how they are being solved as this might influence how something like a gallery might work.

I love the idea of pulling the first image as the featured image if there is no featured image. My role is I work in SUNY, working with students, and that’s something they always forget to do.

@beckej in the comments of the call.

#fse-hallway-hangout, #fse-outreach-program