annezazu 1:40 am on April 28, 2022
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FSE Program Testing Call #14: Rallying Recipe Reviewers

This post is the fourteenth call for testing as part of the Full Site Editing Outreach Program. For more information about this experimental program, please review this FAQ for helpful details. To properly join the fun, please head to #fse-outreach-experiment in Make Slack for future testing announcements, helpful posts, and more will be shared there. 

Overview

This call for testing focuses on taking a few blocks for a practical spin to create a fun, interactive recipe focused site that has a customized commenting experience to rally your recipe reviewers. 

New Quote 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.

For your favorite recipe reviewers who leave behind their own tweaks to your recipes, you’ll explore adding in quotes from them using the new quote block. Currently, this is still in the experimental stage so get excited to report some bugs. Specifically, this new quote block supports using nested blocks, meaning you can add headings, lists, and more within a quote. 

New List Block 

Get ready to get detailed – your recipes require lots of ingredients with alternatives in case folks don’t have them. We’ll rely on the new list block to accomplish this since it includes a different UXUX UX 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. to explore. 

Comments Query LoopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. blocks

Pulling from this specific call for testing, there are a ton of blocks for you to explore and build your desired commenting experience, with more to come as more functionality is supported in each block: 

  • Comments Query Loop: An advanced block that displays post comments and allows for various layouts and  configurations.
    • Comment Template: Contains the block elements used to display a comment, such as  the title, date, author, avatarAvatar An avatar is an image or illustration that specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. It’s usually a square box that appears next to the user’s name. and more.
    • Comments Pagination: Displays next/previous links to paginated comments where this has been enabled in the comment settings in the WordPress admin
      • Previous Page: Displays the link to the previous page of comments.
      • Page Numbers: Displays a list of page numbers for comments pagination.
      • Next Page: Displays the link to the next page of comments.

Testing Environment 

While there’s more information below to ensure you get everything set up properly, here are the key aspects to have in place with your testing environment: 

  • Use a test site. Do not use a production/live site. You can follow these instructions to set up a local installLocal Install A local install of WordPress is a way to create a staging environment by installing a LAMP or LEMP stack on your local computer. or use a tool like this to set up a development site. 
  • Use WordPress 5.9.3 (downloadable here).
  • Use the Twenty Twenty-Two theme.
  • Use 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/ 13.1 or the latest version (latest version). 

Testing Instructions

Setup Instructions: 

  1. Have a test site using the latest version of WordPress (5.9+). It’s important this is not a production/live site. 
  2. Install and activate the Twenty Twenty-Two theme by going to Appearances > Themes.
  3. Install and activate the Gutenberg 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 from Plugins > Add New. If you already have it installed, make sure you are using at least Gutenberg 13.1.
  4. By the end of these steps, you should see a navigation item titled “Editor (betaBeta 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.) under Appearance. If you don’t, you aren’t using a block theme and need to switch themes. 

Testing Instructions:

Helpful Hint: As you go through this test, you might find the List View helpful while navigating between content. 

Add a new recipe post

  1. From your dashboard, head to Gutenberg > Experiments and turn on both the Quote and List experiments by checking the checkbox by each and saving (screenshot of what you want to see). 
  2. From your dashboard, head to Posts > Add New. 
  3. Title the post “May Macaroni” and add in a brief sentence for now (“Welcome to my latest monthly recipe where I’ll share the recipe I’m most excited to make in the month ahead”). Publish the post. 
  4. View the post on the front end and quickly add a few comments to the post. They can be brief like: “Great recipe!” & “Can’t wait to make this”. 

Create a custom template for recipes

  1. Return to the Post Editor where you just published your post, open the Post Settings, and, under Templates, select the “New” option.
  2. A name field will appear. Title the template something recipe related, like “Recipe Template”, and hit the create button. This will open up the template editor. 
  3. Customize the template as you’d like to start. For example, you can add in a 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. template part that matches the wider site, change the font size of the post title, and more. You are likely going to want to add in a Header and Footer Template part at this stage using whatever method you like to add blocks. Remember that you can search for “header” and “footer” too! 

Customize commenting functionality 

  1. Where you see fit, add in the Comments Query Loop block. When you do so, various child blocks will be included. This is where using List View can help you get a sense of what’s there. 
  2. Explore the settings available for each block and begin customizing. This includes removing or adding additional blocks mentioned above under “Comments Query Loop blocks”, adding custom colors, changing font size, etc. You could also wrap the Comments Query loop in a Group block in order to add custom borders. Here’s a screenshot for inspiration that shows what you can do if you have time.
  3. As you go, save changes and view your post to see what you’re creating live on your site. As much as you can, try to make the comments area an engaging and welcoming spot for your recipe reviewers.  

Write your recipe with quote and list blocks

  1. When done, save changes to your template and hit “back” to return to your post itself. 
  2. Add a list block and begin listing ingredients (pasta, cheese, pepper, milk, pepper, etc). Here’s a recipe you can pull ingredients from in case you’re like me and need some inspiration. Notice how you can still hit return to add new list items and that you can use the + sibling inserter to add sub items. 
  3. Under a few ingredients, use the + sibling inserter to add in some alternatives. For example, you can list types of cheeses (provolone, cheddar, goat cheese). Aim to create something like this screenshot. 
  4. Add another list block and switch to numbers in the toolbar to list out cooking steps. These can be simple: Boil water, add pasta, cook for 10 min, add cheese, and taste. Try adding some sub items once more. For example, you can list different cook times depending on how folks like their pasta. 
  5. After the ingredients and steps are listed, add a heading block titled “Recipe Insights”. 
  6. Add in a quote block and create a quick quote from the point of view of a reader of the site who might have some tweaks to offer. Be sure to include some different blocks like another List block, Headings, etc. Here’s a screenshot of an example. 
  7. Create a few quotes as you so desire and have time. 
  8. Update the post and make any additional changes you’d like to the post or Recipe Template itself. 

Make yourself some pasta and pat yourself on the back. Thanks for testing and remember to leave a comment below about your experience!

What to notice:

Remember to share a screenshot of what you created if you’re up for it!

  • Did the experience crash at any point?
  • Did the saving experience work properly? 
  • What did you find particularly confusing or frustrating about the experience?
  • What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience? 
  • What would have made this experience easier?
  • Did you find that what you created matched what you saw on your site?
  • Did it work using Keyboard only?
  • Did it work using a screen reader?

Leave Feedback by May 18th, 2022

You are always welcome to join a social learning space to go through this call for testing on May 2nd. All are welcome to join and we hope to see you there!

#fse-outreach-program, #fse-testing-call