Category Archives: Idea

Cami Kaos 11:04 pm on January 27, 2021
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Learn WordPress Working Group – Call for Handbook Volunteers

Whether you’re a first-time blogger or a seasoned developer, there’s always more to learn.

That’s how start the Learn WordPress site which encourages visitors to take a workshop and learn, or use a lesson plan to share WordPress with others. The one huge thing we’re missing on the Learn siteLearn site The Training Team publishes its completed lesson plans at https://learn.wordpress.org/ which is often referred to as the "Learn" site. is the documentation to help people who want to share WordPress with others create the very video workshops we’re sharing. It’s time to fix that with a brand new handbook!

Some documentation was written up as we built the workshop portion of Learn but it’s incomplete and unpublished. I’d like to change that by the end of February 2021 by publishing a handbook for contributing to Learn by creating workshops, leading discussion groups, and vetting workshop applications. 

Since this is a relatively new way to contribute we’ve been making it up as we go along, but now it’s time to get these processes out of our minds and onto the screen.

I’ve put together an outline for the handbook and with the help of @evarlese and Hari Shanker we’ve fleshed out quite a bit of content. But there is still more to add and there is the whole thing to review. 

If you’d like an advance look at the existing documentation, you can view the read only document here. Edit access will be given to contributors next week.

This coming Monday, February 1 at 9:00am PST I’ll host a discussion in the #training channel of WordPress 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/. to discuss next steps and answer questions for volunteers. If you’re interested in contributing by helping to build this handbook please join me then. If you’re not available at that time feel free to comment here to show interest or ask questions or pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me in slack where my username is camikaos. 

+make.wordpress.org/community/

#learn-wordpress

Cami Kaos 10:38 pm on November 19, 2020
Tags:   

Updating Sprint ahead of Learn launch

Howdy folx! In order to get some momentum in updating the lesson plans on Learn WordPress prior to the upcoming launch we’re hosting two updating sprints!

What?

  • Updating and checking images in the lesson plans on Learn WordPress to ensure that the images are: all images are stored in the Learn Media Library, missing images are replaced, and all images contain alt text. (Instructions are here.)
  • Reviewing code snippets in lesson plans. (Instructions are here.)
  • Completing lessons that are “Almost ready, but already live on Learn” as listed in the Training team TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing..
  • Linking slides from GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/ into Learn Lesson Plans. (Instructions to come soon.)

You can find more details on our priorities post.

When?

There will be two work sprints on Tuesday, December 1, 2020:

Where?

We’ll be congregating in #training on community 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/..

Questions?

If you have any questions or need guidance during the sprints, Slack will be the best place to go. If you have questions in advance, or need access to the Learn siteLearn site The Training Team publishes its completed lesson plans at https://learn.wordpress.org/ which is often referred to as the "Learn" site. to help with updates, please comment here.

If neither of these times work for you and you’d like to host a sprint at another time, please let me know!

#learn-wordpress
Julie Kuehl 8:54 pm on May 25, 2019  

A Small Shift in Focus

For some time now, the Training Team has been concerned with writing and publishing lesson plans. We currently have approximately 90 of them in GitHub repos (see https://github.com/wptrainingteam). However, the topics are rather random and in various states of completion and accuracy, and we’re not doing a good job of prioritizing our efforts.

What if we shifted our focus from creating individual lesson plans to committing to providing resources and focus for a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. set of workshops. We have always had the idea of combining lesson plans into “recipes” for workshops. This shift in focus would have us identifying 6-10 “core” workshops (maybe we need a different word than “core”?) and the lesson plans that make them up. We could then work on sprints to create and update one workshop at a time. These workshops/lesson plans would also be reviewed regularly to maintaining their accuracy as time goes on.

The goal of this shift is to help us manage our lesson plans better, complete the ones needed most, and then keep them up-to-date.

To be clear, we would continue to welcome all ideas for lesson plans. Some of those ideas might come and go over time (e.g., post formats, 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/, etc.). But those would be in addition to the “core” workshops and perhaps be more perishable.

We are in the process of identifying the “core” workshops that we would support. Initial suggestions were:

  1. Introduction to WordPress
  2. Introduction to Theming
  3. Build Your First 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
  4. 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)
  5. Best Practices for Content Creators
  6. Set up e-Commerce
  7. Marketing Your Site (SEO)
  8. Contributing to WordPress

We would very much like to hear your ideas on these “core” workshops. You can help us by answering any or all the following questions:

  1. What might be a better term than “core” workshops?
  2. Which of these suggested workshops might not be needed?
  3. Do you have an idea for a workshop that isn’t represented here?
  4. What do you think should be covered within any of those suggested workshops? What should people be able to do when they’ve completed them?

We’d love to hear your ideas!

Julie Kuehl 12:39 pm on April 25, 2019  

Proposal to change the weekly meeting time

The makeup of the majority of team contributors has shifted to the Eastern Hemisphere and our current meeting time does not accommodate those timezones very well. Therefore it is proposed to change the weekly meeting time to 13:00 UTC.

We will discuss this at the meeting on 25 April which will still be at 19:30 UTC and if there are no objections, it will take effect on 2 May.

Julie Kuehl 12:13 am on April 20, 2019
Tags: badges, ,   

Training Team Profile Badges – Final Proposal

The Training Team proposes the following criteria for their profile badges:

  • Team On-boarding (Required): You have joined the #training channel in 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/., been added to the TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. board and the GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/ organization. You have read through the Getting Started information (https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/getting-started/) and are familiar with the lesson plan template, the team’s workflow, and the teams tools (GitHub, ZenHub, and Trello). You understand the various channels of communication and know when and how they should be used.
  • Training Contributor:
    • Writing – You have developed an approved lesson plan from scratch or completely rewritten one that was out of date. Your efforts have moved a lesson plan from the “Drafts in Progress” stage to the “Instructional Review” stage in Trello.
    • Copyediting/Reviewing – You have contributed five (5) pull requests in GitHub. Or you have successfully moved a lesson plan from the “Copyediting in Progress” stage to the “Style Guide Review” stage OR from the “Style Guide Review” stage to the “Ready for Final Review” stage in Trello.
    • Testing – You have completed a testing feedback form after using a lesson plan in an event and have created GitHub issues for any suggested changes.
    • Auditing – You have audited three (3) lesson plans or surveyed the team’s GitHub reposrepos The Training Team uses GitHub for working copies of lesson plans. You can find them at https://github.com/wptrainingteam. and created GitHub issues for any needed changes.
    • Connecting – You have made three (3) workshop recommendations by combining existing lesson plans and submitting your ideas through the https://learn.wordpress.org/ site (when ready).
    • Other – the team may choose to award the badge for other contributions at the team’s discretion.
  • Training Team: You have admin rights on GitHub, Trello, ZenHub, and/or the https://make.wordpress.org/training/ site. You assist with final reviews of lesson plans. You regularly contribute to meetings or the maintenance and management of the team. You have been involved within the past twelve months.

Awarding of profile badges: There will be a monthly review of contributions, and badges will be awarded at that time. A list of the new profile badges awarded will then be posted on the https://make.wordpress.org/training/ site. If you feel that you have earned the badge but were not listed, please leave a comment on that month’s blog post and include your GitHub username and your WordPress.org username.

#badges, #procedures

Julie Kuehl 3:16 pm on March 28, 2019  

Training Team Profile Badges

There has been a recent flurry of pull requests from people new to the Training Team. Most of these pull requests are fixing small issues with the lesson plans – and we have many of those! However, these contributors have not introduced themselves to the team in 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/. or participated in the team’s meetings. Their efforts are seemingly to procure the Training Team badge on their 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/ profile. That raises the issue of what the requirements are to secure those badges.

The Training Team would like to be more transparent and consistent and define the criteria for giving profile badges to people who contribute to our team.

Other WordPress.org Teams

Looking at how a few other non-code-focused teams handle their badges…

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. Team

“On your profile, badges are added based on your contributions to the WordPress project. There are two kinds of badges: contributor and team. The contributor badges are generally assigned to anyone who has contributed to a particular team. Meanwhile, the team badges are given to those who are active on their team. Each team can set its own criteria for who should get each badge. When possible, the meta team will automate badge assignment.”

(https://make.wordpress.org/meta/handbook/documentation/profile-badges/)

The Polyglots TeamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/.

The Polyglots Team requires ten string translations to earn their Contributor badge. The also have an “Editor” badge which is given when a person has Editor status on a [locale].wordpress.org site.

The Support Team

“We have official badges for Support Contributors and Support team members. For the moment being, these badges are awarded manually to active contributors. In the future, we hope to be able to automate that process, and then use the following criteria:

  • Support Contributor: You have contributed over 400 support replies.
  • Support Team: You have been promoted to Moderator.”

(https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/contributing-to-the-wordpress-forums/volunteering-in-the-forums/)

The Documentation Team

The documentation team is probably the team that is the closest to the Training Team in their responsibilities. They do not yet have criteria for their badges but are also working on this.

Recommendation for Discussion

One-time contributions are very welcome, but perhaps not the purpose of the badges. As a starting point for discussion, let’s consider the following:

  • Training Contributor:
    • Writing – You have developed an approved lesson plan from scratch or completely rewritten one that was out of date.
    • Copyediting / Reviewing – You have contributed 10 pull requests over a period of more than 30 days.
    • Testing – You have completed 3 testing feedback forms after using a lesson plan in an event.
    • Auditing – Review 3 lesson plans and create GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/ issues for any needed changes.
    • Connecting – Make 3 workshop recommendations by combining existing lesson plans.
  • Training Team: You have admin rights on GitHub and/or the make.wordpress.org/training site.

Too easy? Too difficult? Does it deter people or encourage them? Is the “over 30 days” part a good idea? Thoughts? These criteria are up for discussion!

Courtney Engle Robertson 12:58 pm on January 17, 2019  

Handbook Update

Work is well under way on the handbook overhaul. Unfortunately, I will not be as fully present in today’s meeting as I had hoped due to impending weather.

My personal organization for the handbook work is found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gA807bKaaFBOBcgBm2gqQGFkEj1JDCBaBdETILmMvnk/edit?usp=sharing.

The About page will be revised after other child-pages are completed to determine what is unique to this page and what can be linked to for more thorough details.

On the Who We Are page, the team leadership area needs a description. Please review https://make.wordpress.org/updates/team-reps/ regarding team organization. What “roles” do we want to share here beyond the 2 team reps?

Action item: who can write a paragraph or so about our team organization?

For the Contribute/Get Involved area, what is our preferred top-level page named? I like that the Docs team uses “Get Involved” https://make.wordpress.org/docs/handbook/get-involved/.

Also, some of the information here likely will duplicate About > What We Do https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/about/what-we-do/. How much text should duplicate vs linking to the other page?

Action item: What do we name this page?

On the Contributor Day page, a review for what information is still applicable/current would be appreciated.

In particular, the page states “Choose a card from the “Lesson Plan Backlog” list on the TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. board”. It looks like that has been reworked in Trello. Can that be updated and linked to specifically?

Action item: one person to revise the page with any more recent details. Change term of Backlog to appropriate linked Trello column.

The Guidelines page/section is awaiting @juliekuehl to revisit & revise.

Action item: Julie will revise or offer the task for another team member to complete.

Areas not yet worked on:

  1. What We’re Working On Now
  2. Learn WordPress site – top level page that describes that our work is presented on the Learn siteLearn site The Training Team publishes its completed lesson plans at https://learn.wordpress.org/ which is often referred to as the "Learn" site. with a link to it.
  3. Resources
  4. FAQ
  5. Old lessons (until Learn launches)
Julie Kuehl 6:28 pm on December 16, 2018
Tags: , ,   

Time to Set Team Goals for 2019

It’s that time of year when we need to evaluate how we did against our goals for this year and make new goals for the upcoming year.

In 2018 our goals were to:

1. Create handbook
2. Move lesson plans to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/
3. Restructure make.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//training
4. Fix broken images
5. Update lesson plans for 4.8-4.9/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/
6. Make workshop recommendations
7. 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) workshop

In fact, 2018 was a year where the team underwent a major restructuring of its tool and processes and we accomplished goals we hadn’t imagined when the year started. So our accomplishments for the year can be summed up as:

1. Create handbook (expected by the end of the year)
2. Move lesson plans to GitHub
3. Restructure make.wordpress.org/training
4. Fix broken images (perhaps not all are fixed, but moving to GitHub addressed the problem)
5. Make workshop recommendations
plus
6. Onboarding improvements including a PDF and videos
7. Team management on TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. and in Waffle.io
8. Creation of the https://wptrainingteam.github.io/ page
9. Work towards the relaunch of the learn.wordpress.org site including collaboration with the #design, #marketing, and #meta teams.

Goals that we didn’t quite accomplish include:

1. Update lesson plans for Gutenberg
2. Accessibility workshop

So, for 2019 what should our new goals be? I’d propose a couple to begin with:

1. Launch learn.wordpress.org
2. Create several lesson plans to combine into an accessibility workshop (the ARIA session from WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US has caught my eye…)
3. Use resources from WordPress.tv more often as a basis for lesson plans
4. Collaborate with other efforts such as the diversity speaker training and Kids Camp to get their material available from the learn.wordpress.org site
5. Increase the number of regular contributors to the team

These all seem very do-able. What else should the team be working towards? What should we have for stretch goals? All comments and ideas welcome!

We’ll also be discussing this during our meeting this week. Everyone is invited to join in the discussion!!!

Courtney Engle Robertson 9:23 pm on November 8, 2018  

Proposed Handbook Outline

 

  1. About
    1. What we do
    2. Origin story https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/handbook/about/whats-our-origin-story/
    3. Vision
    4. Tasks
    5. Team leadership
  2. Get Involved
    1. First steps
    2. 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/.
      1. Organize
      2. Participate
    3. Areas to contribute
      1. Present a lesson & Feedback
      2. Write a lesson
      3. Review lesson plans
      4. Other
  3. Communication
    1. Meetings
      1. agenda/notes etc 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/.
      2. 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/.
    2. TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing.
    3. GithubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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/
    4. Creating meeting notes
  4. General Guides
    1. Style Guide
      1. Tools (screenshots)
      2. Lesson plan
        1. Template
        2. Example
      3. Slides
        1. Template
        2. Example
    2. Presenting
      1. Single plans
      2. Workshop
  5. Roadmap
  6. Learn WordPress site
  7. Resources
  8. FAQ
  9. Old lessons (until Learn launches)
Beth Soderberg 2:33 am on November 1, 2016  

WordCamp US 2016 Contributor Day Planning

WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US is approaching and will be in Philadelphia in early December, with 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/. on the 4th. Since this will be an opportunity for many contributors of the training team to meet in person we want to make sure we’re gathering a list of all of the items we’d like to address as a team beforehand to make the most efficient use of our time together.

We’ll chat about this subject over the next few weeks in team meetings and will use this post as a place to store our thoughts and asynchronously share our ideas.

Please add your ideas in the comments!