Themes Team Meeting Notes – October 10, 2023

Howdy Mates! 

The meeting notes are from the themes review team discussion.

Attendees:

:one:Weekly updates


In the past 7 days
,

  • 625 tickets were opened
  • 637 tickets were closed
    • 626 tickets were made live.
      • 32 new Themes were made live.
      • 594 Theme updates were made live.
      • 3 more were approved but are waiting to be made live.
    • 11 tickets were not-approved.
    • 0 tickets were closed-newer-version-uploaded.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

For now, 12 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 are currently being reviewed. In the last 7 days, 9 block themes are live.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

The themes team published weekly updates about tickets and HelpScout emails. Here is the theme statistic for the past 7 days. The most current stats can be found here.

Thank you @acosmin@fahimmurshed@vowelweb for reviewing themes this week.

:two:Handle the themes settings page requirement

During the meeting, we talked about various things about this. You can read the entire conversation here. During the meeting, @shivashankerbhatta said, “We could greatly simplify the process of using WordPress by assisting users in selecting and configuring themes for their websites. :slightly_smiling_face:

@greenshady is interested in helping theme reviewers to review the JS part of the theme setting/onboarding page if necessary. Also, he is interested in running mentorship for theme reviewers.

@kafleg was worried on, “All of us saying that theme settings page will add value to the theme users. How we can track that? It is really adding user experience of just adding extra workload for reviewing themes?”

@poena added, “I will repeat that it is not up to a theme developer 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 developer to solve the onboarding issues. CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. issues should be fixed in core.”

Before deciding to allow or disallow the theme setting page, @greenshady will write a blog post to get feedback from everyone and the themes team will decide after checking the input.

:three:Evaluate requirements of themes

@poena said, “It has been two years. I think the team should evaluate them regularly.” So, during the meeting we all agreed that, we need to evaluate the theme requirements.

Once we get into the #2 agenda final, at that time, we need to work on this #3 as well. Some requirements are really outdated or some need to be added.

:four: Create a skills inventory for reviewers

During the meeting, there were questions:

  • How to create a skill inventory of reviewers’ skills and find and address areas of improvement?
  • How to do it in a way that reviewers are comfortable with it and don’t feel bad if they are not experts on everything?

@greenshady is interested to work alongside folks and help build any training system we might need. He would like to see a Make Themes post to discuss what such a system might look like.

@kafleg added, “We can also divide the work based on the reviewer expertise. Like we are doing for code review and 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) review.”. Also, he added, And we can also run mentorship sessions for reviewers?

We’ll discuss about this idea in next meeting as well.

:five:Open Floor

A few events happening over the next month that will be related to theming:

  • Hallway Hangout on block themes on October 12.
  • Hallway Hangout on WP 6.4 features October 12. Sign up here.
  • Developer Hours on November 2 will cover the Twenty Twenty-Four theme

#meeting-notes, #themes-team

Themes Team Meeting Notes – September 26, 2023

Howdy Mates! 

The meeting notes are from the themes review team discussion.

Attendees:

:one: Weekly updates

In the past 7 days,

  • 734 tickets were opened
  • 739 tickets were closed
    • 733 tickets were made live.
      • 36 new Themes were made live.
      • 697 Theme updates were made live.
      • 3 more were approved but are waiting to be made live.
    • 6 tickets were not-approved.
    • 0 tickets were closed-newer-version-uploaded.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

For now, 22 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 are currently being reviewed. In the last 7 days, 10 block themes are live.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

The themes team published weekly updates about tickets and HelpScout emails. Here is the theme statistic for the past 7 days. The most current stats can be found here.

Thank you @acosmin, @fahimmurshed, @vowelweb, @shrestharaaz, and @bijayyadav for reviewing themes this week.

:two: Theme Handbook Overhaul: Phase 3

@greenshady is working on this Theme Handbook Overhaul.

During the meeting, Justin was asking for the next steps I need to take to publish the chapters that are completed. @kafleg mentioned that, as the draft has already been reviewed once and can also reviewed in the developer handbook draft, he asked to draft it. So, Justin will start drafting those content and @kafleg will help if necessary.

:three: Retire the theme snifferTheme Sniffer Theme Sniffer is a plugin utilizing custom sniffs for PHP_CodeSniffer that statically analyzes your theme and ensures that it adheres to WordPress coding conventions, as well as checking your code against PHP version compatibility. The plugin is available from GitHub. Themes are not required to pass the Theme Sniffer scan without warnings or errors to be included in the theme directory.

During the meeting, we all agreed to retire (archiving it in the 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/ repo) the Theme Sniffer 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. The plugin is now archived.

:four: Open Floor

During the open floor, Marcio Zebedeu and Aslam Naik were looking for a guide on how to start contributing to reviewing themes. @kafleg give them some links and ideas to get started.

#meeting-notes, #themes-team

Themes Team Meeting Notes – September 12, 2023

Howdy Mates! 

The meeting notes are from the themes review team discussion.

Attendees:

1. Weekly Updates

In the past 7 days,

  • 712 tickets were opened
  • 709 tickets were closed
    • 696 tickets were made live.
      • 22 new Themes were made live.
      • 674 Theme updates were made live.
      • 4 more were approved but are waiting to be made live.
    • 13 tickets were not-approved.
    • 0 tickets were closed-newer-version-uploaded.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

For now, 23 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 are currently being reviewed. In the last 7 days, 5 block themes are live.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

The themes team published weekly updates about tickets and HelpScout emails. Here is the theme statistic for the past 7 days. The most current stats can be found here.

Number of reviewers: 7 (@kafleg@acosmin@ShresthaRaaz@fahimmurshed@vowelweb@bijayyadav@greenshady)

2. Community Summit Discussion – Building trust in WordPress CMS security

For the community summit discussion, we have a dedicated blog site now. Check it out here. There are so many post that is useful to read and participate in the discussion as well.

One of the topics from the community summit was building security trust in WordPress. And themes team is always concerned about it.

You all know that,

  1. We review the theme code line by line and if there is a security issue, we ask the theme author to fix them. (This is how themes teamwork from many years)
  2. Sometimes, the themes team checks popular themes if they did anything wrong in the updates. (But very often)
  3. We check the themes team email regularly and if there is any email from these users about the theme security, we immediately check that theme and take action.

To make things simpler, we also wrote the Theme Security Issues page. If you have any feedback or suggestions regarding the above-published page, please let me(@kafleg) know or contact other theme team reps.

@greenshady wanted to add new pages to the handbook overhaul outline so new things don’t get lost or out of sync. He added a note already.

I said during the meeting “We always look forward to the help on how to make themes more secure. As a themes team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts., I always look forward to the active participation of the theme authors in this type of conversation.” I also shared a blog post about WordPress CMS security as a recommended reading.

3. WordPress Default theme Twenty Twenty-Four contribution

WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. bundled theme Twenty Twenty-Four is currently under development. This theme will be bundled with WordPress 6.4, the last major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. of 2023.

You can also contribute and learn how core themes are developed. This theme is a complete Block theme(FSEFSE Short for Full Site Editing, a project for the Gutenberg plugin and the editor where a full page layout is created using only blocks. theme) and if you want to explore a block theme, I highly recommend checking this.

More than 45 contributors already contributed this theme and you can be the next one. If you need any support, guidance, or ideas, join the #core-themes channel. Also, we’ve core themes meeting weekly.

4. Open Floor

i) Theme SnifferTheme Sniffer Theme Sniffer is a plugin utilizing custom sniffs for PHP_CodeSniffer that statically analyzes your theme and ensures that it adheres to WordPress coding conventions, as well as checking your code against PHP version compatibility. The plugin is available from GitHub. Themes are not required to pass the Theme Sniffer scan without warnings or errors to be included in the theme directory.

The open floor discussion was started from the comments in the meeting agenda post. @poena purposed to retire the Theme Sniffer 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 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/. She said to retire this plugin since the team has no means to maintain and support it.

@greenshady is also in favor of archiving it. Active contributors of Theme Sniffer @dingo_d and @rabmalin also agree to archive it.

Please comment in the below comment section if you are in favor of archiving it.

ii) New Handbook

Justin also shared, Chapter 3: Global Settings and Styles (theme.jsonJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML.) of the new handbook should be fully drafted in the next week.

Once this is fully reviewed and edited, I’d like us to move on to “phase 3” of this project and begin publishing new content to the handbook. Then, publish the next two chapters, Templates and Features, as they are written and reviewed.

We won’t be able to publish the earlier chapters until more of the handbook is ready (because of broken links), but these newer chapters are self-contained and can go live whenever we’re ready.

I’m happy to write up a P2P2 P2 or O2 is the term people use to refer to the Make WordPress blog. It can be found at https://make.wordpress.org/. on the next phase and have the handbook reps review this and offer feedback. I wanted to bring this up in case there were thoughts/objections to moving forward.

So you can check the draft and suggest if you find anything. He wanted feedback from non-native English speakers, especially to make sure the language is readable for them as well.

iii) Recommend to Check

Here is one theme in the tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. and it is currently under review. https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/149883

I would like you all to check this theme once. For me, this theme will add value and show the possibility of block themes. I would like to see such themes in the themes repository. I want to see your views on this.

Justin added, “In particular, on the theme, any thoughts on the onboarding/settings screen is welcome. I too think it adds value.”

#meeting-notes, #themes-team

Themes Team Meeting Notes – August 08, 2023

Howdy Mates! :wave:

The meeting notes are from the themes review team discussion.

Attendees:

1. Weekly updates

In the past 7 days,

  • 767 tickets were opened
  • 752 tickets were closed
    • 744 tickets were made live.
      • 23 new Themes were made live.
      • 721 Theme updates were made live.
      • 3 more were approved but are waiting to be made live.
    • 8 tickets were not-approved.
    • 0 tickets were closed-newer-version-uploaded.

For now, 17 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 are currently reviewing. In the last 7 days, 5 blocks themes are live.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

The themes team published weekly updates about tickets and HelpScout emails. Here is the theme statistic for the past 7 days. The most current stats can be found here.

Number of theme reviewers: 7 (@kafleg@acosmin@shrestharaaz@fahimmurshed@bijayyadav, @travel_girl, @rajinsharwar).

In the part of the documentation,

  • Updated contributor day page.
  • Updated 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. button to WordPress Community Themes in the make themes blog page.

You can see the entire week’s updates here.

2.  AI Images in themes

There was a question in the #themereview channel asking it is allowed to use AI-generated images in the themes. In the meeting, we discussed the possibility of using AI images.

@greenshady said, “I think it just depends on the license like any other images. That may depend on the service itself and who owns the image. Just a note that what’s required is GPLGPL GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing https://wordpress.org/about/license/. The GPL is a ‘copyleft’ license https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. or compatible rather than something being CC0”.

@poena added Midjourney has terms that say that media created by non-pro users are Creative Commons Noncommercial 4.0 Attribution International License. So they can’t be used with GPL. What’s worse is:

  • Pro user has no image license at all.
  • Midjourney can’t really set that license until whatever Court in their country has decided

And even if a court in their country says one thing that might not be OK in another. It is not a matter of hosting the images.

For the AI images, you should provide proof that your image is GPL-compatible, otherwise, it is not allowed.

3. WordPress 6.3 release day

On the meeting day, we also had a release day of WordPress 6.3. In my question to, “Which is your favorite feature or improvement that you like in 6.3?” We got the below response.

  • @shivashankerbhatta – The Styles Tab in the main Editor Panel and theme preview feature.
  • @greenshady –  Block spacing/gap support for Query LoopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop./Post Template.
  • @kafleg – Navigating through templates is super easy in 6.3. Also, creating patterns(sync and non-sync).
  • @aslamnaik – Support for loading scripts with defer or async.

4. Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. at different WordCamps

If you are attending any WordCamps soon, try to join the themes team. We are looking for your contribution to make themes even better.

5. Community Themes

Blue Note from the WordPress community is currently under development. You can also join and contribute to the community themes. (While writing this note, the Blue Note is already submitted on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and is currently under review.)

If you are wondering what to contribute, you can create patterns, test the theme, or fix the code as well. You can also create designs for new themes and contribute to the community themes.

6. Open floor

During the open floor, @kafleg shared a link to a casual conversation about how you can create custom design tools for blocks from a theming perspective. It is going to be run by @greenshady and @ndiego Thursday, August 17, 2023, at 1:00 PM CST (18:00 UTC). Read more here.

Keep contributing!

#meeting-notes, #themes-team

Themes Team Meeting Notes – July 25, 2023

Howdy Mates! :wave:

The meeting notes are from the themes review team discussion.

Attendees:

1. Weekly updates

In the past 7 days,

  • 414 tickets were opened
  • 419 tickets were closed
    • 408 tickets were made live.
      • 20 new Themes were made live.
      • 388 Theme updates were made live.
      • 7 more were approved but are waiting to be made live.
    • 11 tickets were not-approved.
    • 0 tickets were closed-newer-version-uploaded.

For now, 11  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 are currently reviewing. In the last 7 days, 6 blocks themes are live.

Note: These stats include both the new theme tickets and updated theme tickets as well.

The themes team published weekly updates about tickets and HelpScout emails. Here is the theme statistic for the past 7 days. The most current stats can be found here.

Number of theme reviewers: 4 (@kafleg@acosmin@shrestharaaz@fahimmurshed, @bijayyadav)

2. Getting Started at a Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. page update

As per the @poena message here in this channel, this page needs an update. These days, the way contributors day for the themes team is quite different these days. If you have feedback for this page, please create an issue here and also provide your feedback for this page.

3. Testing themes on WordPress 6.3 RCRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge.

During the meeting, @kafleg reminded the authors that WordPress 6.3 RC1 is available for testing. The site editor feature is particularly exciting. A video about the upcoming version can be found here.

While writing this meeting notes, WordPress 6.2 RC2 is already released. So, you can test it.

4. Open Floor

During the open floor, @greenshady shared updates on the Theme Handbook Overhaul project, with new document drafts related to CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Concepts > Templates and Core Concepts > Custom Functionality. He added, as always, we could use volunteers to pick up new docs listed here (I’m happy to work with anyone who needs help getting started).

@kafleg appreciated @greenshady for the valuable contribution and mentioned the need to check for complex words and sentences while reviewing the Theme Handbook Overhaul.

@Travel_girl received thanks for helping review 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)-ready themes and is planning to work on a guide for checking accessibility themes. Maja Benke is working on how we can effectively change the process of reviewing accessibility-ready themes. She discovered that, during the testing of a few themes in the last weeks, she noticed, that the current docs are not mentioning, that some points we need to check on all template pages. Also, she tries to find a way, to onboard new testers, but also to make sure, the test result is valid, as accessibility has to be tested manually.

Maja is looking for your feedback on this. Check the 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. ticket here.

Justin requested Maja to help with drafting a11yAccessibility 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) chapters of the theme handbook and she is ready to do that.

#meeting-notes, #themes-team