This post is a proposal for how the themes team can continue reducing the theme directory requirements.

The problem: Blocked theme uploads

When a theme is uploaded to the directory, the files are checked by the Theme Check 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. If a theme fails some checks, the upload process is halted.
The checks in the plugin were created for classic themes, and some checks prevent 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 from being submitted to the theme directory without help from an admin.

Parts of full site editing are planned to be included in WordPress 5.8, and to make sure that end-users can test different full site editing themes, it needs to be easier to submit these themes to the theme directory.

Goals

This process has two short term goals:

• Allow submission of themes that has support full site editing
• Remove low impact requirements for all theme formats

Proposed solution

The first step is removing or reducing the severity level of some checks in the Theme Check plugin.

Examples:

• CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. classes (Already in progress)
• Tags and categories
• Post navigation, pagination
• Comments

Secondly, a flag needs to be created in the plugin to allow other checks to run selectively depending on the theme format. To do this, the plugin needs to be able to determine if the theme is a full site editing theme or not.
Related issues:
https://github.com/WordPress/theme-check/issues/297
https://github.com/WordPress/theme-check/pull/280

Once the plugin is updated, related pages 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/ also needs to be updated to match this:
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/review/required/theme-check-plugin/
https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/review/required/

The changes to the uploader also need to be combined with a call for full site editing themes, encouraging designers and theme authors to submit their themes.

If we need to discuss specific requirements in more detail, this can be done on 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/ or during team meetings.

Proposed deadline

The planned release date of WordPress 5.8 is July 20, 2021. Considering the current review time, at the latest, the date for allowing full site editing themes in the directory would be June 20, 2021.

How to get involved

Initially, work will happen in the Theme Check GitHub repository and anyone is welcome to contribute. If you would like to hold a scrub and work on issues with other contributors, you are welcome to schedule one and host it in the #themereview 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/. channel.

Feedback

If you have any feedback on the proposed solution and deadline or other suggestions for how the team can work to remove the blocker, please comment below.

Thank you @kafleg and @aristath for reviewing this post.

#full-site-editing, #theme-check