I thought I’d do a little Monday morning public service blog post. I like all admins see a lot of reviews. As a result some trends occur and I want to start mentioning those and trying to combat things outside of tickets. This post doesn’t come from one single post, it comes from watching things and quite a few.
So, lets start with the big things I see lately that if I was a new reviewer or theme creator I’d be confused over. The big main point, is that we have to be clear about what is in the guidelines, what is opinion. This also goes for the tools we use. To that point there are a few things we need to stick to and will stop the confusion.
Lets get it right out there:
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/about/join-the-team/
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/guidelines/
These are the only tools currently recommended and what you can hold a theme review to along with the guidelines. We all have our own methods and that rocks. Some of us, use extra tools. Some of us, use spreadsheets.. some of us have our own amazing unique way of doing things. But, lets get a few things straight in how we present things on the theme ticket.
- If something is in the guidelines it’s been decided and passed as part of the theme review. This is what you approve or don’t approve based on.
- If something comes up in the mailing list, no matter who says it, this isn’t a rule until it’s in the guidelines. Therefore, you can not mark a theme as not approved as a result of not meeting that. You can however add a note to encourage the theme creator.
- If you use a tool that’s not in the official list, you can’t pass or fail a theme review based on it.
- If you use a tool that’s not in the official list, please don’t link to it in your review. External links from a reviewer that don’t relate to a bug or code fix, should be avoided in any section on trac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/.. People can find out about in other ways.
- If you have a tool that’s not in the official list but you want it to be, start communicating with the admins. Work with us to make this process better for everyone.
- Lets be clear about the language we use. Call all the official tools by their right name. Lets not call any official tools by the name an official tool has – it gets really confusing fast otherwise.
It’s worth noting nobody is saying you can’t have a notes section where you pass on advise to the themer. I love it when people do that and would love people to do that more. Use that section to educate, pass no the amazing knowledge you have.
If we can all keep to these points, we can limit confusion and make sure we’re all on the same page as reviewers. At all times it’s good to think what it’s like for first time reviewers and theme uploaders. If we have them in our mind, we can ensure we make this a good process for anyone.
Mentors, can you also please set a good example by following these and also making sure we keep everyone from the start on the path of less confusion.
Now go do some awesome reviews, I’ve taken up enough of your time!