Chip Bennett 7:38 pm on January 10, 2011
Tags: 3.1 ( 3 ), Guidelines ( 34 ), Post Formats ( 2 )

Based on current feedback, a slight revi…

Based on current feedback, a slight revision has been made to the upcoming WordPress 3.1 release-related changes to the Theme Review Guidelines.

In short: in order to ensure 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. consistency and full Theme-to-Theme portability of Post Format types for users switching among Themes in the repository, repository-hosted Themes will be required to add support for Post Formats, and to support all Post Format types.

Note that support does not mean the same thing as implement. Basically, repository-hosted Themes will need to add one line to the functions.php file, and that’s it. This one line will provide users with the Post Format UI (the metaboxMetabox A post metabox is a draggable box shown on the post editing screen. Its purpose is to allow the user to select or enter information in addition to the main post content. This information should be related to the post in some way. on the Edit Post screen). Any front-end Post Format-related changes to Themes remain entirely optional.

#3-1, #guidelines, #post-formats

Otto 7:54 pm on January 10, 2011

Not sure I agree with “and to support all Post Format types”. Adding a type selection that doesn’t actually change the display of the post in any way just adds user confusion. No reason to give the user a useless choice.
- Chip Bennett 8:08 pm on January 10, 2011
  
  Regardless of what Themes do with the information, Post Formats are simply metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information used to describe Post content. Whether or not a Theme displays differently based on that meta-information, the meta-information itself remains useful. If the purpose of feature is to ensure portability of user-selected Post Format types, then this is the right approach to take. A Theme doesn’t have to display anything differently based on the user-selected Post Format type, but the user will know that his selection is preserved from Theme to Theme. The user will know that the selection is preserved, because the 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. will be displayed, indicating that selection.
  
  The risk isn’t in switching from a PF-supporting Theme to a non-PF-supporting Theme. In that use case, no UI will be exposed, and the selection remains untouched. However, if a user switches from a Theme that supports one subset of Post Format types to another Theme that supports a different subset of Post Format types, the potential exists to change the Post Format selection in a manner undesired by the end user.
  
  So, the best solution is to ensure that both Themes in this situation display the UI for all Post Format types, whether or not the Theme does anything differently based on the selection.
  - Otto 8:40 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    If that was desired, then the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. itself would simply have it all-on by default and no enabling option would be necessary at all.
    
    And switching from one subset of formats to another subset doesn’t change anything. The old formats are still there and still assigned to the old posts. All the user has to do is to select a different format for them, if he wants them to be displayed differently.
Ian Stewart 8:13 pm on January 10, 2011

Adding 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. for unsupported features doesn’t seem to be the best way to handle this. I’m inclined to vote against this.
- Chip Bennett 8:26 pm on January 10, 2011
  
  But it’s not “unsupported features”. Post Format type is, at its coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., simply additional Post metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information.
  - Otto 8:36 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    But there is a reason for the optional formats and for allowing themes to pick and choose what they support. If a theme doesn’t do anything special with a format, then there’s no reason to give that format to the user as a choice.
    
    Now, if the user modifies the theme to use that format, then adding it is simple. And if a 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 wants to add special handling for a format, then adding it is relatively simple for the plugin too. Both of these cases argue against forcing format support, or against forcing *all* format support at the very least.
    
    Yeah, I can’t back this idea. Themes should be allowed to support or not support formats, as per their own choice. It’s fine to require them to not try to add to it or modify it, but considering that this adds 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., it doesn’t make any sense to require themes to add unnecessary and useless UI. Formats are optional for a reason.
    - Chip Bennett 8:57 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      “If a theme doesn’t do anything special with a format, then there’s no reason to give that format to the user as a choice.”
      
      Not true at all. That metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information still has meaning and value to the end user, regardless of what the Theme does with that information.
      - Otto 9:11 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        Sorry, didn’t mean to reply to you twice there. Damn threading!
Michael Fields 8:26 pm on January 10, 2011

Post formats can not only be used to change the appearance of posts, they can also be used to provide navigation to different archive views for each format. If a user is using a widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. or custom menu item to display a link to the format archive, I think it would be a shame if a user could no longer add “image” posts to the image archive.

IMHO post formats do not just offer style/formatting they add context which does not even really *need* special 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. or css for them to work. Most of the post formats are handled pretty well by a “normal” WordPress 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..

I think that this requirement is a good idea.
- Otto 8:38 pm on January 10, 2011
  
  “If a user is using a widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. or custom menu item to display a link to the format archive” then the widget or 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 or even the user himself could enable the specific formats in question. Nobody said plugins can’t turn on formats too.
  
  They don’t have to support it by “display”, but it should still be optional as to whether a theme wants to display 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. that may or may not do anything.
  - Chip Bennett 8:54 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    Having to install a 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 to make use of standard, intended-to-be-portable metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information is both unintuitive and stupid.
    
    The 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 only about what the Theme wants to do with that meta-information, but also (and far more importantly) what the end user wants to do with that meta-information.
    - Otto 9:07 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      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. selection that does *nothing whatsoever* confuses and annoys the end-user.
      
      If the end-user is doing something with that metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. information, then yes, obviously he needs to be able to select it. But giving him a selection when he’s not doing anything with it is pointless.
      
      What exactly do you think the end-user is doing here? Making a selection that *does nothing*? What is the point?
      
      Obviously, for the selection to be meaningful, then something has to change based on what is selected. Now, that might be a display change in the theme, or it might be a sorting selection (like I’m doing on ma.tt with the gallery Page), but regardless, there needs to be something that is affected by the selection.
      
      And whatever is doing the effect based on the selection can quite easily enable the selection itself. No, the user doesn’t need to use a 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 to make use of the standard formats, but the user will probably need to have some kind of support in the theme or in a plugin in order to make that selection have any meaning whatsoever. And whatever code is giving that selection meaning can very easily enable the format that it is giving meaning to.
      
      Giving me the choice to pick “aside” is meaningless if I don’t take some kind of action somewhere based on the format == “aside”.
  - Michael Fields 9:07 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    I completely understand that it might not make sense from the perspective of a theme author to add the formats, but it makes perfect sense from the perspective of an end user who already has published formatted posts. If a user switches from a theme supporting an image format to a theme that does not, they loose the ability to add posts of this format. While I agree that it is possible to create 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/. or a 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 that suppliants this it’s probably out of the reach of most users.
    
    After reading a few more of the response above, I’m kind of leaning in the other direction though. Since post formats are an optional feature and theme authors are not required to specify all post formats to activate the feature, it seems like a requirement might be too strong. Perhaps a suggestion?
    - Otto 9:08 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      If a user switches from a theme supporting an image format to a theme that does not, they loose the ability to add posts of this format.
      
      If you choose a format in a forest and nothing of consequence happens, was it really a choice?
      - Chip Bennett 9:21 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        Remember: the stated, intended purpose of the feature is Theme-to-Theme portability. And the Post-Format metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information has inherent value (e.g. adding meta-information that the content of a Post is an image, or a quote, or a gallery, etc.). Being able to add that meta-information to posts, regardless of what the current Theme may or may not do with that information, is still helpful should the user, in the future, activate a Theme that *does* do something with that information.
      - Otto 9:23 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        I disagree that it has inherent value or meaning. It’s just a label. Unless you do something with that assigned label, it’s pointless.
        
        Would you argue that this shouldn’t be up to the theme/plugins at all? That it should just be enabled in the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., for all sites, for all types, period?
      - Chip Bennett 9:32 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        My personal opinion?
        
        Yes, this feature should be in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., and not left up to Themes to support or not to support.
  - Ian Stewart 9:07 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    @chip I think the intent was to use that metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. information to alter the presentation. Not to support the existence of the meta information as-is.
Frumph 9:29 pm on January 10, 2011

While I still disagree with the non-extensibility of post-formats while unfortunately it’s up each individual theme author’s discretion to provide a look individually for their theme since this whole thing is a practice in standards compliance that is in vain. You simply cannot have a standard when the standard itself is based on unique themes output. What Otto and Nacin and the other devs are saying; that’s precisely the point, the output isn’t the question of the standard its the designations that are. Which makes this feature only particular useful to the theme designer that utilizes it amongst their own set of themes.

That being said as a basis of my opinion, IF a theme utilizes and registers a post format, that post format *must* be a distinct visual representation other then the normal post view. Not that there’s a standard from theme to theme but just a differential on the current theme in question.

If there is nothing to differ the view and it’s registered then it’s not really utilizing the component.

Which is basically what this topic is about whether or not requiring the themes to support post formats, my answer would be “no” they should not be required or even recommended to support something so confining in it’s usage.

It’s along the same lines as code that creates a different visual post view based on categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., if it’s written to be as such then it should be distinct otherwise it’s wasted code.

My vote:

1. no require and no recommend
2. if implemented it must be distinct visually from a standard post
- Otto 9:30 pm on January 10, 2011
  
  I agree except for the “visually” part. I have no problem with themes activating a format specifically to use it as a basis for selection. A custom “gallery” page template, for example.
  - Frumph 9:32 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    Which could be done with post types; I believe – now correct me if I’m wrong is that the whole point of post-formats is visual representation of said post.
    - Chip Bennett 9:35 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      And for Theme Developers who want people to be able to use their Theme and maintain their ability to manage the Post Format metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.-information, regardless of how the Theme uses that meta-information.
      - Otto 9:43 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        If you want to force-enable all the types regardless of the theme you’re using, then it’s a relatively simple four-line 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 for that. Then you can manage them however you like. I’ll write the plugin for you if you want.
        
        However, I don’t think that forcing everybody to have meaningless choices to make is a particularly good idea. Goes back to the whole decisions-not-options principle.
    - Otto 9:36 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      Not exactly. Custom post types makes them “not Posts”. Formats are for Posts specifically. The idea is visual in nature, but it’s really just a way to label Big-P Posts in a standard manner.
      
      However, the label has to be meaningful. Some effect must happen from choosing it. Offering the user a radio box that effectively does nothing is a poor user experience.
    - Otto 9:39 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      Example of a non-visual meaningful use: I could modify my Twitter 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 to make it search for the first link in a link-format post, then Publish that original link to twitter instead of a link-back to my own post. (Matt actually requested this specific use.)
      - Frumph 9:40 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        In my regards explanation of ‘distinct’ is that it behaves distinct from a regular post. Which inherent is visually how or what is viewed on the output.
        
        Or ‘behaves’ distinctly, that sounds good. Yeah lets go with behaves.
      - Frumph 9:43 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        So yeah, let’s go with
        
        1. Not recommended, Not Required
        2. If Implemented – must have a distinct behavior visually or programmatically then a regular post.
      - Frumph 9:53 pm on January 10, 2011
        
        Coincidently i’m having an issue with setting post formats with that sort of behavior because it’s limiting the same-said post. You can have it do that *or* have say a media but not both.
        
        Which in essence should be done via an post admin metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. checkmark box instead really, so that there’s no limiting.
        
        I think that’s what I really don’t like, is the limiting, either via the standards of the singularity of it.
  - Chip Bennett 9:36 pm on January 10, 2011
    
    And we can’t really require much – if anything – in the way of visual display based on Post Format type, considering the dearth of explanation/standardization on the expected content and ideal presentation of each of the Post Format types.
    - Ian Stewart 9:53 pm on January 10, 2011
      
      That’s OK. There are some good guidelines on the codex for Post Format implementation. Why not leave it at that and worry about egregiously bad implementations of features on a case-by-case basis?
Edward Caissie 1:10 am on January 11, 2011

I’m just waiting for the 14 page “aside” that will be posted, and you know someone will do it … or the more expected image post without title consisting of 140 characters or less.

The post-formats are simply labels, nothing more when implemented without extensibility. Their allowable content is not written in stone and any definition would be unacceptable to at least some portion of the general community, if not debated ad nauseum in places. The visual differences could in most cases be just as easily accomplished by some decent CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. and as few key categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. and/or tag references … the rest through custom-taxonomies.