Test Chat Summary: 14 March 2023

On 14 March 2023 at 16:00 UTC , <test-chat> started on #core-test.

There was no agenda preceding the chat.

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 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/ 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.
• What’s new in Gutenberg 15.3? (13 March) — see what’s in store for the plugin!
• 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 Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge.” (RCRelease Candidate A 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.

Open Floor 💬

@afragen called for awareness of the Rollback Update Failure and Plugin Dependencies plugins, so that they might land in 6.3-alpha. @ironprogrammer noted that both features could improve the user experience in WordPress.

@afragen also asked for testing of #53323: Place Hello Dolly in containing folder, so that this plugin follows documented best practices.

Improved Release Testing

@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/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./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.com An 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.

“Report an Issue” Link

@costdev’s question spawned a long thread discussing ideas to simplify issue reporting for pre-release builds, the outcome of which is described below.

• @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 TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. or 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/ 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.

Next Meeting 🗓

The next scheduled meeting is on 21 March 2023 at 16:00 UTC for <test-triage> in #core-test.

Thank you props to @costdev for review of this post.

#meeting-notes