FSE Program: Bring your questions – Round Two

With the Go/No Go Next Steps outlined ahead of WordPress 5.8’s release in July 2021, let’s use this time to dig into any general questions you all might have around Full Site Editing! If possible, please focus questions specifically around WordPress 5.8 as those will be the most high impact to address. You are welcome to submit questions using the form below or to leave them as a comment on this post by May 12th

Keep in mind that because, depending on the questions it’s likely that some answers might take the form of “people are working to figure this out and feedback is welcome here,” rather than a definitive answer. This is especially true for features/milestones that are planned for the 5.9 release.

Where will you share the answers? 

I’ll share a recap post on this blog (Make Test). Questions will be grouped with corresponding answers for easy review. You can see what the outcome will look like based on the first round here. I will track down answers to every question and share my work as I go by creating a collaborative Google doc where people can help find answers or simply see how the work evolves. I very much welcome collaboration here!

While the main result will be a lovely list of answers, this collective effort will also be useful for future documentation updates and potential tutorials. Once the post is published, I will follow up via email with everyone who left their email and a question in the form. For anyone who leaves a question as a comment on this post, I will @ your username in the recap post so you don’t miss out too!

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. To help with planning your involvement, you can see the upcoming/current schedule for the FSE Outreach Program here.

#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #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/ #coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-editor #fse-testing-call

FSE Program Testing Call #4: Building a restaurant themed header

This post is the fourth 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. 

Feature Overview

Creating an intuitive 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. is a key piece to get right when building a site. It helps orient visitors to what your site is about and, ideally, should help them take the actions you want them to. With the Site Editor, there are now brand new opportunities to customize this to your liking! This test will explore doing exactly that by creating a slightly more complex and layered header using various FSE blocks. To better focus this test, we’re going to pretend we’re restaurant owners and try to create an experience that nudges someone to order online while still showing them the information they need. 

Like the last test, if you choose to get super creative, please share a screenshot in your comment so we can celebrate what you’ve made. For inspiration, here’s my example:

Image showing a restaurant themed header with a button to order online, a brief menu, hours of service, and the site title.

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 5.7 (downloadable here).
  • Use the TT1 Blocks 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/ 10.2.1 (latest version)

Testing 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
: Creating a restaurant header

Here’s a basic flow to follow when testing this specific feature. If anything doesn’t make sense, comment below! If you want to take the test further, know that you’re welcome to do so as the instructions are meant to help guide you, not constrain you.

Important Note: 

While this call for testing is focused on testing a specific feature, you’ll likely find other bugs in the process of testing with such a 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. feature! Please know any bugs you find are welcome in your report for testing, even if they aren’t directly applicable to the tested feature. 

Known Issues:

While creating this call for testing, a few issues popped up that you too might experience as you go through this. Rest assured they have been reported. Here’s a non exhaustive list of the most serious items:

Setup Instructions: 

  1. Have a test site using WordPress 5.7. It’s important this is not a production/live site. 
  2. Install the TT1 Blocks theme by going to Appearances > Themes > Add New. Once installed, activate the theme. 
  3. Go to the website’s admin.
  4. 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 10.2.1.
  5. You should now see a navigation item titled “Site Editor (beta).” If you don’t see that in your sidebarSidebar A 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., you aren’t correctly using the Site Editing experiment. 


Testing Instructions:

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

Setting up your columns:

  1. Navigate to the “Site Editor (beta)” view. This will automatically open the site editor to the template powering your homepage. 
  2. Upon opening your homepage, remove the Navigation 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. found inside the Header Template Part. This is to help reset the header to add more to it later on. 
  3. Select the parent Columns Block and, using the Block Settings in the sidebar, change the columns from 2 to 3 columns. 
  4. Return to the Columns Block and using the Block Toolbar settings make sure it’s set to Full Width.
  5. In the first column, customize your Site Title and tagline as you wish! This could mean changing the text, font size, font family, and more. 
  6. In the second column, use a Paragraph Block to add in the hours of operation for your pretend restaurant and edit to your liking once more.
  7. In the third column, add a Navigation Block and select the “Start Empty” option.
  8. From there, use the Link Block to add a few links, even if they are to pages that don’t exist yet. To do this, just start typing a title that doesn’t currently exist on your site. For example, “Menu”. You’ll then see an option to create a draft page. Do this for at least one menu item. Remember to have fun with this and make it restaurant-themed!
  9. At this point, select “Update Design” to save the changes you made. 

Creating a nudge to order online:

  1. Once your three columns have the content in place, add another Columns Block above it and select two columns to show using the 70/30 option. You can do this by selecting the Columns Block using List View and using the three-dot menu to select “Insert Before.”
  2. Using the Block Toolbar, make the columns full width, so it stretches across the entire site. 
  3. In the larger column, add a Paragraph Block with text encouraging users to order online. 
  4. In the smaller column, add a Button Block that says “Order Online”. If you want to, feel free to quickly create a page to link to, but it’s okay for this test not to have a link for the purposes of this test.
  5. At this point, select “Update Design” to save the changes you made. 

Customize your colors & publish any page drafts:

  1. From here, customize your colors and anything else with your design! You can do this by selecting the entire Header Template and adjusting the color settings in the sidebar. As you do this, keep note of anything you wish you could do but can’t. 
  2. When things are satisfactory, select “Update Design” to save the changes you made. 
  3. Finally, open the Navigation Toggle > Dashboard to view your wp-admin dashboard. Head to Page > All Pages and publish any that need to be.
  4. View your site and check to make sure that what you created matches what you see there.  
  5. Share your experience in the comments below or in GitHub directly. You’re welcome to run through the experience multiple times to capture any additional feedback!

Testing Video:

This video doesn’t go into great detail in terms of customizing the colors but does walk through each step to get a sense of the major actions to take. Feel free to take the test further as you see fit!

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? 
  • Did you find any features missing while creating the header?
  • What did you find particularly confusing or frustrating about the experience?
  • What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience? 
  • Did you find that what you created in the Site Editor matched what you saw on your site?
  • Did it work using Keyboard only?
  • Did it work using a screen reader?

Leave Feedback by April 12th, 2021 (previously April 8th)

Please leave feedback in the comments of this post. If you’d prefer, you’re always welcome to create issues in this GitHub repo directly for Gutenberg and in this GitHub repo for TT1 Blocks. If you leave feedback in 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/, please do still comment below with the link. If you see that someone else has already reported a problem, please still note your experience with it below, as it’ll help give those working on this experience more well-rounded insight into what to improve. 

#core-editor, #fse-outreach-program, #fse-testing-call, #usability-testing

FSE Program Build a Homepage Testing Summary

A third call for testing is already underway so join #fse-outreach-experiment in slack and/or subscribe to this Make blog and stay tuned for more. 

This post is a summary of the second call for testing for the experimental FSE outreach program. Thank you to everyone who participated, whether through testing directly or sharing the call for testing with others. It all helps! Special thanks to the following people:

Related feedback is grouped under high-level headings. As you read through it, please remember that feedback is welcome on the format of this post too.

High-level feedback

Here’s what a few folks had to say about the overall experience that’s important to keep in mind as you read the rest of this post:

Everything seemed intuitive for me (long time WordPress dev for whatever it’s worth). I recently did a site for a client in Squarespace, and I appreciated that everything was drag-and-drop and had blocks for all website sections. This full site editor gives that same experience. I think this will be great for empowering non-dev users.

@andystitt829 in this comment.

I did a demo of using FSE in December 2019 at meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. Tokyo. It did “work” then, but felt more of a prototype — kind of alpha or even pre-alpha stage of development. But this latest version is much more smooth, less buggy, and get overall feeling that it has come a long way and shaping up to be a feature.

@toru in this comment.

My main problem with this as a designer is that if we are building structure, don’t try to look like wysiwygWhat You See Is What You Get What You See Is What You Get. Most commonly used in relation to editors, where changes made in edit mode reflect exactly as they will translate to the published page.. If we are building design, then show it exactly. Current GB UIUI UI 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. isn’t an overlay, so it is pushing the layout completely out of shape. So you get a kind of Picasso view of your website. You have to take a big imagination leap to trust that you are designing this website well. –

@paullacey in this comment.

As you can tell, there’s a diverse set of reactions to this call for testing, which shows how far Full Site Editing has come and how much further it needs to go. 

Adjusting column widths

Adjusting column widths was one of the most mentioned issues that came up as people tried to customize their homepage to their liking! This coincided nicely with an important PR that started as a draft at the beginning of this call for testing and has moved into an open PR with numerous iterations since. As @youknowriad mentions in the PR, alignment in Full Site Editing currently works in a way that’s optimized for traditional themes that provide their own alignment styles. Still, this approach needs to be reconsidered moving forward as it doesn’t allow for a true WYSWYG experience. This leads to the problems described below in comments from some of those who tested: 

I inserted a 70/30 pattern for the Columns 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., then changed the alignment to “Wide”. The Columns block didn’t expand proportionally to fill the available space. When viewed on the front-end, the columns did display as expected.

@chthnc in this comment.

We noticed with columns that we had to assign the width of the block in order for the height of the site logo to align with the site title. We want to expand the width of the body content without using a child themeChild theme A Child Theme is a customized theme based upon a Parent Theme. It’s considered best practice to create a child theme if you want to modify the CSS of your theme. https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/. to get closer to edge to edge layouts.

@courane01 in this comment.

I created an image in the SidebarSidebar A 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. that was wider than the column to see if there was any restriction on image width. When I went to view the page, the image had been resized to fit the column width.

@kforbz in this comment.


I really wanted something that was between the theme’s full and wide widths.

@greenshady in this WP Tavern article.

Previewing changes

Like adjusting width, previewing changes came up as a workflow people rely upon and deeply missed in this call for testing. This nicely echoes findings from the first call for testing, where people wanted to preview template changes and expands to previewing the entire site editing experience. Currently, a “Preview Site” option is under discussion here and this post is linked in a comment to ensure feedback makes it to those who explore this further. 

I do not see how to preview the layout on the frontend.

@paaljoachim in this comment.

Yes, but when I am done I don’t find a way to easily go and view my website. I turn off full screen mode and use the more classic view site link in the Dashboard.

@paullacey in this comment.

There were so many inconsistencies between the site editor and the front end that there is little point in listing them all. Spacing was grossly off. I generally see that as a theme issue. I spent much of my time in trial-and-error mode, making an adjustment in the editor and refreshing to see the front-end result. Rinse. Repeat.

@greenshady in this WP Tavern article.

Saving Process: auto drafts, keyboard shortcuts, and more

In line with the last call for testing, the saving process came up as an area people were keen to see iterated. Whether it was mentioning desired features, finding bugs, or confusion around how to accomplish a task, this proved to be a robust area of feedback: 

When editing, I expect CMD/CTRL + S to save my work. This works in a post/page editing experience. On OS X + Chrome, this prompts me to save the webpage.

@courane01 in this comment.

I can understand why there is a 2-step process here, but every time I clicked “Update Design” it intuitively felt like I shouldn’t have to then click a “Save” button as well.

@chthnc in this comment.

What if I want to save the template as a new template, Template Part as a new template part and not overwrite the existing templates? What if I decide not to save a template part? Can I revert changes by clicking an revert/undo changes checkbox?

@paaljoachim in this comment.

I didn’t experience any auto-saves. When my site crashed, it did not have any autosaves.

@courane01 in this comment.

General Usability Problems

Because this call for testing was more open-ended, this resulted in a wide range of general usability feedback that relate to the overall experience of building a homepage rather than a specific part of the experience. While these items can’t be easily organized and some were reported previously, they are extremely important to keep in mind: 

I see that blocks for FSE are under “design” categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. in the inserter, but I think it’s better to put them in their own category to avoid confusion with non FSE blocks.

@overclokk in this GitHub feedback issue.

I tried to insert a Post Tags block using the ‘/’ command but it didn’t appear as an option. I had to search and find the block via the block inserter panel. –

@chthnc in this comment.

Without the screen shot, I would have not been able to find where or guess which is the Navigation Toggle.

@toru in this comment.

The problem with switching to this mode is that my toolbar-choice was not saved. Each time I returned to the site editor, I had to enable it once again.

@greenshady in this WP Tavern article.

I wish I could put a background image (also in the body of the page), but I haven’t found a way to do it, nor have I been able to set the 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. color different from the rest of the body.

@ejca in this comment.

Individual Site Editing Block Feedback

Since this test relied on exploring Site Editing blocks, great feedback was given about the experience of specific individual blocks. To make it easier to go through, these issues are gathered in this section:

I was trying to size the logo I added using the what appeared to be resize handles. but it did nothing I expected. Eventually I found that the block had settings in the right panel, but I had to look quite hard for this.

@paullacey in this comment.

I inserted a Query block after choosing a pattern. I then changed my mind about the pattern and attempted to undo. Nothing happened.

@chthnc in this comment.

“It wasn’t obvious to me that the Social Icons block then needed to have individual social media blocks added. I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t showing up and looked in the settings and in my user profile to figure out where to add my social media links. I saw social icons in the footer and then clicked on the blocks and saw that the individual icon blocks needed to be added.”

@andystitt829 in this comment.

To me, I feel strange to be told to upload a featured image for each post here. I assume if each featured image are set, then this uploader won’t be shown. Still, I think it feels confusing.

@toru in this comment.

There is no way to set the size of the image output by the Post Featured Image block. The only way to get a uniform size at the moment is to pre-crop the images before uploading them to WordPress.

@greenshady in this WP Tavern article.

#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #gutenberg #core-editor #fse-testing-summary

FSE Program Testing Call #3: Create a fun & custom 404 page

This is the third 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. 

Feature Overview

Have you ever experienced a particularly delightful 404 page? Maybe it made you laugh or it was built in a way that made it super easy to find your way back to where you needed to be on the site. Currently, this is a part of one’s site that can only be altered with code and provided by the theme causing many of us to be unable to add some extra joy into the universe with helpful, fun 404 pages. 

With Full Site Editing though, this is now within our grasps to make our own. This test explores doing exactly that with the option to build a simple 404 page through template editing or to really dive in to make something unique. If you choose to get super creative, please share a screenshot in your comment so we can all marvel at what you’ve made. For inspiration, here’s an example I made:

Image showing a silly 404 page that says, "Oh no! 404. Where'd you go? I miss you so" with some additional emojis and a search field.

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 5.7 (downloadable here).
  • Use the TT1 Blocks Theme. If you followed the first call for testing, you’ll need to double-check to make sure you’re using this 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/ 10.1.1 (latest version). 

Testing 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

Here’s a basic flow to follow when testing this specific feature. If anything doesn’t make sense, just comment below!

Important Note: 

While this call for testing is focused on testing a specific feature, you’ll likely find other bugs in the process of testing with such a 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. feature! Please know any bugs you find are welcome in your report for testing, even if they aren’t directly applicable to the tested feature. 

Setup Instructions: 

  1. Have a test site using WordPress 5.7. It’s important this is not a production/live site. 
  2. Install the TT1 Blocks theme by going to Appearances > Themes > Add New. Once installed, activate the theme. 
  3. Go to the website’s admin.
  4. 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 10.1.1.
  5. You should now see a navigation item titled “Site Editor (beta).” If you don’t see that in your sidebarSidebar A 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., you aren’t correctly using the Site Editing experiment. 


Testing Instructions:

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

Exploring the 404 template

  1. Navigate to the “Site Editor (beta)” view. This will automatically open the site editor to the template powering your homepage. 
  2. Open the Navigation Toggle and head to Templates > 404. This will take you to your site’s 404 page template.
  3. Using the List View, select the 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 and, using the three-dot toolbar menu, select “Remove 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.” to delete this.  
  4. From there, select the default Header Block that says “Nothing Here” and, using the three-dot toolbar menu, use the “Insert Before” option to add a block above. 
  5. Using your preferred method to insert a block, insert a Template Part Block and select the “New Template Part” option.
  6. Open the Block Settings for the new Template Part block and, under Advanced > “Title”, add in a custom title. For example, “404 Header”.
  7. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Update Design” and go through the saving flow to save all changes. This should cause the new Template Part to reflect the title you chose.

Adding navigation and getting creative

  1. From there, make sure your focus is still within the new Template Part and add in a Navigation Block. You can choose whether to create a new menu or re-use a previous one.
  2. Add a few links including a link to a page that doesn’t currently exist. To do this, just start typing a title that doesn’t currently exist on your site. For example, “Help”. You’ll then see an option to create a draft page. Do this for at least one menu item. Remember to have fun with this! 
  3. Outside of the Navigation Block, add any additional blocks you’d like to in this new Template Part. For example, you can use the Social Icons Block, Search Block, Site Title, and more. Try to add anything that would help orient someone who got lost on your site.
  4. From there, edit the “Nothing Found” Header Block and Search Block to whatever you’d like. You can then add in anything you’d like including images, GIFs, etc. 
  5. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Update Design” and go through the saving flow to save all changes.
  6. View your 404 page on your site by going to yoursiteurl.com/404 (replace yoursiteurl.com with your test site URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org). Notice that any items you added to the Navigation Block that are page drafts appear but are broken links. You should be able to still view the drafts since you are logged in as an admin. Note: this has been logged as a bug
  7. Return to the Site Editor and open the Navigation Toggle > Dashboard to view your wp-admin dashboard. Note: there’s a current bug that makes it so you can’t view Page Drafts meaning in the future this will be easier. 

Publish, review, and share

  1. Head to Page > All Pages and publish any that need to be. 
  2. Once more, View your 404 page on your site by going to yoursiteurl.com/404 and confirm any prior draft Pages now show up properly with correct permalinks.
  3. Share your experience in the comments below or in GitHub directly. You’re welcome to run through the experience multiple times to capture any additional feedback!

If you want to take this further, here are some extra items to explore:

  • Try adding in columns to your content! Columns are a powerful tool and it would be helpful to get feedback on the experience of using them in a real life scenario with site building.
  • Create a custom footer template part to replicate the process of creating a custom header template part.
  • Deeply customize the appearance of the page with custom colors, font sizes, and more. Here’s a quick video demonstrating some of what you can try.

Testing Video:

This video shows the testing flow after the initial testing setup is in place. Of note, this video purposefully does not go into depth in building out a 404 page in order to keep it concise. Don’t let this stop you from getting creative though when you’re testing!

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? 
  • Did the saving experience make sense when making changes to the Template Part vs the general content? 
  • What did you find particularly confusing or frustrating about the experience?
  • What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience? 
  • Did you find that what you created in the Site Editor matched what you saw when you viewed your 404 page? 
  • Did it work using Keyboard only?
  • Did it work using a screen reader?

Leave Feedback by March 23rd, 2021

Please leave feedback in the comments of this post. If you’d prefer, you’re always welcome to create issues in this GitHub repo directly for Gutenberg and in this GitHub repo for TT1 Blocks. If you leave feedback in 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/, please do still comment below with the link. If you see that someone else has already reported a problem, please still note your experience with it below, as it’ll help give those working on this experience more well-rounded insight into what to improve. 

#core-editor, #fse-outreach-program, #fse-testing-call, #full-site-editing, #gutenberg, #usability-testing

FSE Program: Answers about the FSE project

This post is part of a series that provides answers to questions gathered in early February. Thank you to everyone who submitted a question so our knowledge can grow together! Each post will help provide foundational knowledge for future documentation efforts, and future calls for questions in the coming months. 

All posts in this series:

The focus of this post: 

This post focuses on questions related to the overall project, including the role of 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. based widgets & navigation screens, the why of FSE, and how easy it will be to use for a beginner.

Continue reading

#core-editor, #docs, #fse-answers, #fse-outreach-program

FSE Program Testing Call #2: Build a Homepage with Site Editing Blocks

This is the second 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. 

Feature Overview

Before diving into the testing details, let’s pause to talk about the focus of this call for testing. With Full Site Editing unlocking the ability to edit all parts of your site, there comes a need for new blocks to help facilitate the experience. You might have seen some of these blocks already! For example, there’s a Site Title 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. that you can embed anywhere and update automatically any time you change your Site Title.

For this specific test, we’re going to explore using a few of these blocks to build a basic homepage with a sidebarSidebar A 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.:

  • Site Title Block
  • Site Logo Block
  • Post Lists Block
  • Post Tags Block
  • Navigation Block
  • Template Part Block

Think of this as a chance to both explore what’s possible currently to build something simple and as a chance to get more familiar with these new blocks. Eventually, these blocks will specifically be categorized in the Inserter as defined for Site Editing. 

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 5.6.1 and above (downloadable here).
  • Use the TT1 Blocks Theme. If you followed the last call for testing, you’ll need to double-check to make sure you’re using this 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/ 10.0 (latest version). 

Testing 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

Here’s a basic flow to follow when testing this specific feature. If anything doesn’t make sense, just comment below!

Important Note: 

While this call for testing is focused on testing a specific feature, you’ll likely find other bugs in the process of testing with such a 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. feature! Please know any bugs you find are welcome in your report for testing, even if they aren’t directly applicable to the tested feature. 

Setup Instructions: 

  1. Have a test site using WordPress 5.6.1. It’s important this is not a production/live site. 
  2. Install the TT1 Blocks theme by going to Appearances > Themes > Add New. Once installed, activate the theme. 
  3. Create either three fake posts with a few tags OR use the demo Gutenberg content found here. Here’s a short video explaining how to set up this content. 
  4. Go to the website’s admin.
  5. 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 10.0.
  6. You should now see a navigation item titled “Site Editor (beta).” If you don’t see that in your sidebar, you aren’t correctly using the Site Editing experiment. 


Testing Instructions:

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

  1. Navigate to the “Site Editor (beta)” view. This will automatically open the site editor to the template powering your homepage. 
  2. Using the List View, see if the Query Block is present. If so, select and delete it. This is just a housekeeping step to keep things contained :). 

Make changes to your 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.:

  1. You’ll likely see a Header created for you that you can edit directly. Update the text in the Site Title block. Have fun with it! Some ideas to get you started: Pick a new heading size, change the content, or alter the block settings directly. 
  2. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Update Design” and go through the saving flow to save all changes.
  3. Open the Navigation Toggle and head to Template Parts > Select “Header.” This will show you an isolated view of just the Header portion of your site. While in this view, add a Site Logo Block and configure it to your liking. 
  4. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Update Design” and go through the saving flow to save all changes.
  5. Open the Navigation Toggle again and head to Template > Index to return to your homepage. 
  6. Once there, head to the Navigation Block that’s powering the menu in the Header (this is where you might find the List View helpful!). Explore the Navigation Block by making changes directly to the menu items or in the Block Settings to change the font, color, etc. 
  7. Using the List View, select the Header Template Part and, using the three-dot toolbar menu, use the “Insert After” option to add a block outside of the Header. 

Add your content:

  1. Add either a 70/30 or 30/70 column block. In the larger column, use the Heading Block to write “My Content.” In the smaller column, use the Heading Block to write “My Sidebar.” 
  2. In the larger column, add a Posts Lists Block and select the configuration you would like (Title & Date, Title & ExcerptExcerpt An excerpt is the description of the blog post or page that will by default show on the blog archive page, in search results (SERPs), and on social media. With an SEO plugin, the excerpt may also be in that plugin’s metabox., etc.). 
  3. From there, add a Post Tags Block to one of the posts displayed in the Posts Lists Block. Notice how if you add it to one post, it adds it to all of them!
  4. Repeat the previous step with the Post Author Block before deciding whether you’d like to keep or remove either additional block.  

Create a sidebar:

  1. In the smaller column, build out your sidebar how you’d like! For inspiration, try out the Social Icons Block, Latest Posts Block, or a simple Image block.
  2. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Update Design” and go through the saving flow to save all changes.
  3. Share your experience in the comments below or in GitHub directly. You’re welcome to run through the experience multiple times to capture any additional feedback!

Testing Walkthrough Video:

This video shows the testing flow after the initial testing setup is in place and is using Gutenberg demo content found here. Make the flow you’re on though with your own unique changes and adjustments!

What to notice:

  • Did the experience crash at any point?
  • Did the saving experience work properly? 
  • Did you ever want to do something with a specific block that wasn’t possible? 
  • What did you find particularly confusing or frustrating about the experience?
  • What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience? 
  • Did you find that what you created in the Site Editor matched what you see when you view your homepage? 
  • Did it work using Keyboard only?
  • Did it work using a screen reader?

Leave Feedback by March 5th, 2021

Please leave feedback in the comments of this post. If you’d prefer, you’re always welcome to create issues in this GitHub repo directly for Gutenberg and in this GitHub repo for TT1 Blocks. If you leave feedback in 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/, please do still comment below with the link. If you see that someone else has already reported a problem, please still note your experience with it below, as it’ll help give those working on this experience more well-rounded insight into what to improve.

#core-editor, #fse-outreach-program, #fse-testing-call, #full-site-editing, #gutenberg, #usability-testing

FSE Program: Bring your questions

Currently, there are a few areas lined up for testing in the future for the FSE Outreach Program, but none are quite ready to be launched for a round of testing. Let’s use this time to dig into any general questions you all might have around Full Site Editing! 

You are welcome to submit questions using the form below or to leave them as a comment on this post by February 15th

Keep in mind that because this work is still heavily in progress, it’s likely that some answers might take the form of “people are working to figure this out and feedback is welcome here,” rather than a definitive answer. 

Where will you share the answers? 

I’ll share a recap post on this blog (Make Test). Questions will be grouped with corresponding answers for easy review. I will track down answers to every question and share my work as I go by creating a collaborative Google doc where people can help find answers or simply see how the work evolves. 

While the main result will be a lovely list of answers, this collective effort will also be useful for future documentation updates and potential tutorials. Once the post is published, I will follow up via email with everyone who left their email and a question in the form. For anyone who leaves a question as a comment on this post, I will @ your username in the recap post so you don’t miss out too!

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. 

#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #gutenberg #core-editor #fse-testing-call

FSE Program Template Editing Testing Summary

More calls for testing are on their way so join #fse-outreach-experiment in slack and/or subscribe to this Make blog to stay tuned. 

This post is a summary of the first call for testing for the experimental FSE outreach program. Thank you to everyone who participated, whether through testing directly or sharing the call for testing with others. It all helps! While this call for testing is over, feedback is always needed and welcomed in GitHub.

Related feedback is grouped under high-level headings. As you read through it, please remember that feedback is welcome on the format of this post too as the program is still in the early stages of determining what works best. 

Distinction between editing modes (template vs page/post)

The need for the distinction between modes appeared in a number of responses.  Thankfully, this was already identified as an area to improve before this call for testing in open issues like this one that reveal just how similar the two modes currently, and the resulting confusion.

Have a clear defined area for post editing and well defined area for Full Site Editing. Do not mix Publish and saving. As they are very different things. One is for post editing and one for FSE editing.

– @paaljoachim in this comment.

I believe it was not clear enough how those changes could impact the site. If you don’t already know how templates, template parts, and global blocks like Site Title work, you might not understand how your editing will affect the rest of the site. 

– @priethor in this comment.

The fact that I had to spend a considerable amount of time to understand the differences for a few arbitrary terms and what they mean in a UIUI UI 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. is going to be a significant barrier to migrating existing clients to FSE and training them to understand. It simply won’t be worth it.

– @pointydrip in this comment.

Switching between editing modes (template vs page/post)

The actual act of switching back and forth between modes brought up a few different issues. What does the cancel button do? Why does applying changes for a template take me from template editing back into post editing? Some of this overlaps with the previous section as well. Thanks to the feedback shared, multiple issues were opened related to this particular part of the experience: 

Most feedback indicated that by increasing clarity in the interface (ie: a clearer, stickier notice) and making the switching process more predictable, the experience can be greatly improved from the current iteration. 

Switching to Template Editing – Editing the template from the post, while logically I knew what that meant, felt surprising – the switch was kind of a jolt because a bunch of things changed on the screen yet the overall layout stayed the same – so it felt like “Whoa, what just happened?”. Felt disorienting.

– @brentjettgmailcom in this comment.

I found it confusing that clicking Save brought me out of the FSE template mode. I saved. I did not ask to go out of the FSE mode.

– @paaljoachim in this comment.

It took me a while to find how to get back to the original post. I eventually found the Cancel button.

– @bobbingwide in this comment.

Saving Process

Generally speaking, the saving experience was reliable technically and, at the highest level, intuitive enough. The main sticking points came when trying to dismiss changes, save changes as a draft, and understanding what each “sub” item to save meant. The following issues were created to address each piece of feedback: 

I found this part to be kind of difficult. I think the labels on the different things being saved confused me. I didn’t really understand right away what was being saved for each checkmark…If I wanted to not save the template and left it unselected, but wanted to save the post, it would want to keep publishing the post.

– @geheren in this comment.

The saving process is intuitive, and it’s very helpful to clearly list what elements are going to be updated when saving. However, as said before, it might not be clear enough how each edited element will impact the rest of the site. It could be helpful to add a tooltip to the different elements that are going to be saved (post/site/template/template part) to provide users a quick, last-minute reference.

– @priethor in this comment.

Create a new template

While this call for testing didn’t focus on creating a new template, it feels like a natural extension to wonder how a new template could be created after making changes to a current one. While there isn’t currently a mapped-out plan for this experience, it is under discussion in this issue as there are quite a few scenarios to consider.  

What if I want to Save As? To create a new single template. As I might want the original single template and just want to create a new template that modifies the original template. Kind of like a default template and a modified template.

– @paaljoachim in this comment.

How would I go about creating a new template for a selected post/page?

– @bobbingwide in this comment.

Preview changes

Previewing changes is a workflow people rely upon, and this showed up in testing. While explicitly including ways to preview content hasn’t yet been discussed, there is an open issue to explore how best to view the template while editing a post that touches on this experience. In response, a new issue was opened around offering the option to preview the template in the same way one can with the Site Editor. 

My trust is always in the published page, and I’m looking everywhere in FSE for a preview page link while I’m editing to basically see if it worked. I feel like just being able to open the page in a new tab would give me confidence in what i’m doing in FSE. The other issue is that since you don’t see the 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 footer in the post editing context, as soon as you do apply changes to a template and you land back on the post, you immediately think “Did it work?”.

– @brentjettgmailcom in this comment.

I found it confusing that clicking Save brought me out of the FSE template mode. I saved I did not ask to go out of the FSE mode. I want to see what it looks like on the frontend. Meaning clicking Save and then previewing the template on the frontend.

– @paaljoachim in this comment.

Undo/Revert Template Changes

This was originally brought up in this issue and is currently being worked on in this PR.

There’s no place that I have found within FSE to revert a template/part back to the theme’s default setup.

– @brentjettgmailcom in this comment.

Bug with template parts

As part of this testing, a few people (myself included) ran into a strange bug related to themes located in a sub-directory not properly loading template parts. This was reported and should help ensure future 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. themes work with this experience. 


Where is template editing work headed?

While this post goes deep into the pain points of the current experience of switching between template and post editing, it’s important to show where this work is headed. Currently, the best place to follow along is in this organizational issue focused on the remaining interface and infrastructure issues. This includes everything from issues on how to better distinguish the editing experiences to a welcome guide to introduce people to template mode! Follow along there as the work continues. 

#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #gutenberg #core-editor #fse-testing-summary

FSE Program Testing Call #1: Template Editing

This is the first 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. 

Feature Overview

To help frame what we’re going to be testing (and ideally build some excitement!), I wanted to give a brief context on the feature at the center of this call for testing. With Full Site Editing, people are able to edit both an individual post’s content and, with the release of Gutenberg 9.6, the template that an individual post uses. This call for testing is designed to explore the interaction between the two editing experiences (post vs. template editing) to make sure it’s clear when you’re editing each, granular saving works properly, etc. Ultimately, being able to edit templates like index, single, or archive directly is a huge leap forward compared to what’s been possible in the past! Unlocking this level of customization gives you far more control to build the site you want and this call for testing is to help ensure it’s as intuitive as possible. 

You can read more about the terms templates, template parts, and more here

Testing Environment 

While there’s more information below to ensure you get everything setup 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 you can use a tool like this to set up a development site
  • Use WordPress 5.6 (downloadable here).
  • Use the TT1 Blocks Theme (formerly called Twenty Twenty-One 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. Based Theme) by following these instructions.
  • 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/ 9.6 (latest version). 

Testing 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

Here’s a basic flow to follow when testing this specific feature. If anything doesn’t make sense, just comment below!

Important Note: 

While this call for testing is focused on testing a specific feature, it’s extremely likely you’ll find other bugs in the process of testing with such a 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. feature! Please know any bugs you find are welcome in your report for testing, even if they aren’t directly applicable to the tested feature. 

Setup Instructions: 

  1. Have a test site using WordPress 5.6. It’s important this is not a production/live site. 
  2. Install the TT1 Blocks Theme (formerly called Twenty Twenty-One Block Based Theme) by following these instructions and activate it under Appearances > Themes. 
  3. Go to the website’s admin.
  4. 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 9.6.
  5. You should now see a navigation item titled “Site Editor (beta)”. If you don’t see that in your sidebarSidebar A 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., you aren’t properly using the Site Editing experiment. 


Testing Instructions:

  1. Create a new post by going to Posts > Add New.
  2. Add in a post title and brief content before hitting “Save Draft” or “Publish”. Either way, saving of some sort needs to happen.
  3. While in the editor for the post, navigate to the Post Tab of the Settings Sidebar (previously called Document). Under “Status & visibility,” you should see “Template” with the template name and the option to edit. 
  4. Click on “edit” to move into template editing mode. You should see a notice indicating you’ve switched to editing the template. 
  5. Make a few changes to the template wherever you like. For example, you can try out the “Site Title,” “Site Logo,” Site Tagline,” and “Navigation” blocks or changing font sizes and color settings for different blocks. Here’s a screenshot of a simple 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. for inspiration. 
  6. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Apply” and go through the saving flow by selecting “Save”. This will return you to editing the post itself. 
  7. Once saved, try editing the post once more before following steps 7 & 8 to edit the template specifically. 
  8. Make changes to the template. This might mean making minor editorial changes to the content or adding in new blocks.
  9. When you’re done making the changes you want, select “Apply” and go through the saving flow this time opting to not save the template changes. This is a way to test the saving functionality. 
  10. Share your experience in the comments below or in GitHub directly. You’re welcome to run through the experience multiple times to capture any additional feedback!

What to notice:

  • Did it crash at any point?
  • Was it clear that when you were editing blocks in the Template that it would impact every page/post using that same Template? 
  • Was it intuitive for you to switch between editing a Template for all posts vs. an individual post?
  • Was the saving process intuitive? Meaning, did you easily know what each option was saving? 
  • Did the right content save when you selected saving the template part vs. when you left it unselected?
  • Did you get stuck at any point in the testing process?
  • What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience? 
  • Did it work using Keyboard only?
  • Did it work using a screen reader?

Leave Feedback by January 13th, 2021

Please leave feedback in the comments of this post. If you’d prefer, you’re always welcome to create issues in this GitHub repo directly for Gutenberg and in this GitHub repo for TT1 Blocks Theme (formerly called Twenty Twenty-One Block Based Theme). If you leave feedback in 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/, please do still comment below with the link. If you see that someone else has already reported a problem, please still note your experience with it below, as it’ll help give those working on this experience more well-rounded insight into what to improve. 

#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #gutenberg #core-editor #fse-testing-call, #usability-testing

Call for Testing: Gutenberg 4.2 Pre-release

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/ is currently the main focus for the testing group and it is the new editing experience in WordPress. The goal of Gutenberg is to simplify the creation of rich pages and posts in WordPress by replacing old custom 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., CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site., and shortcodes with native Blocks.

To help test, please download gutenberg.zip from the releases page or use the button above, install/activate the 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, and try testing any of the items listed below (or anything listed in the 4.2 release notes). Testing even just a few items is helpful. All testing is welcome!

  1. In 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. toolbars, check that all writing formatters (e.g. bold, italic, link, strikethrough) work as expected. Try both clicking and keyboard shortcuts. Try from different browsers. (10209)
  2. Add several blocks and use the sibling inserter to add new blocks between them. Try from different browsers. (11018, 11243)
  3. Add new categories to a post. Save draft. Refresh. Are categories added as expected? (10089)
  4. Type some text into a paragraph block and check that pressing Escape makes the block toolbar appear (note: Unified Toolbar mode should be off for this test). (10906)
  5. Type /img into a new block and check that the image block appears as an option. (10955)
  6. Add the Latest Posts block, toggle “Display post date” on, publish or preview the post and check that the has-dates class appears in the source code both in the editor and on the front end. (10727)
  7. Using a small screen (mobile), check that you can open and close the Options panel from More menu (three dots, very top right) > Options (near the bottom). (10894)
  8. Add an image, add a link for the image (sidebarSidebar A 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. near the bottom), toggle “Open in New Window” on, publish the post and check that a new window opens when you click on the image. (9520)
  9. Add a button block and change the background and text color. Do the color changes work as you expected? (10658)
  10. Add a file block, attache a file, publish the post, and check that the “Download” button works normally. Try different types of files. (10976)
  11. Turn on Unified Toolbar mode. Add a Media & Text block and check that you can resize media. (10913)
  12. Add a classic block and include some inline images, links, bold text, italic text and try modifying each of those after making edits throughout.  (10723)
  13. Using a small screen (mobile), log in as a contributor, submit a post, and make sure the “Submit for Review” button appears. (10941)
  14. General: performance improvements were made to toolbars, inserters, and the classic block. Did you notice the changes? (ref)
  15. General: some descriptions of blocks and options in block settings have changed. If you spot one that doesn’t make sense to you, leave a note in the comments here or ask about it in #core-editor on 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/..
  16. General 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): in the WP Admin main menu on the left, go to Gutenberg > Demo and try to navigate to the pullquote block using the keyboard. Did keyboard navigation work as expected for you? Why or why not? Add notes for this one to the comments here and I will pull details and compile them for a succinct issue if needed. 🙂
  17. There is more to test! See What’s new in Gutenberg? (30th Oct) .

Accessibility Related

I wanted to call out accessibility-related testing steps this time in order to highlight some of the important accessibility updates coming through right now and because it may make sense to group them together while testing. Anyone can help test these!

  1. Type some text into a paragraph block and check that the toolbar shows when you press Escape. (10906)
  2. Add a Media & Text block with an image and change the alt text for the image. (11073)
  3. Open the sidebar, click “Document”, press Tab, press Spacebar, check that the “Block” tab is still focused. (10917)
  4. Using a screen reader (if you have a Mac you can use VoiceOver and Safari), open the block inserter, search for a block, and check that you hear an audible response for the number of search results or “no results”. (10755)
  5. Using a screen reader (if you have a Mac you can use VoiceOver and Safari): add, edit, and then remove a link and check that those actions are announced audibly. (10795)

Bonus Round

I’m also adding a separate section as an optional bonus round for testing. You should test these if you know of (or can find) custom plugins that use some of the updated capabilities (such as registering new toolbar buttons in blocks) or if you would like to help test Gutenberg with popular plugins. If you think of a plugin you’d like to see added, please comment to note it!

  1. Add a WordPress embed and check that there is not a big empty space after the block. (10985)
  2. Find a plugin that adds buttons to any block toolbar and check that the added buttons are working as expected. (11196)
  3. i18n: using a small screen (mobile) and with the site language set to something other than English, log in as a contributor, submit a post, and make sure the “Submit for Review” button appears. (10941)
  4. i18n: change your site language to something other than English and check that taxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies. panels display localized strings. (8449)
  5. i18n: install a plugin which contains a block name made in a non-Latin script (e.g. Список for the List block in Russian) and check that the block appears when you type /сп into a new block. Note that searching for names with diacrytics should also work. (10961, 10770)
  6. Plugin developers can now disable post publishing (lock the post) if certain conditions aren’t met such as a required a minimum title length, requiring 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., disallowing certain types of content, etc. If you have a plugin which has a pre-publish lock or checklist, can you note it in the comments with testing steps? 🙂 (10649)
  7. Test with Advanced Custom Forms (ACF).
  8. Test with Yoast SEO.

If you find a new bug, please file it in gutenberg on GitHub. Thank you!

Block developers: note that there are several deprecations in 4.2 to keep an eye on. It is also noteworthy that you can now write a format that is usable across all blocks that use RichText (10209).

Please join us in #core-test on WordPress Slack any time if you have questions about testing!

#4-2, #call-for-testing, #editor, #gutenberg