Recap Notes for January 25, 2022

Slack Log (Requires 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/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account.)

The agenda for the meeting can be found here

Introductions and Welcome

In attendance: @azhiyadev @webtechpooja @webcommsat @rkohilakis @arasae @kemmy99 @courane01 @boogah @nalininonstopnewsuk @meher @tantienhime

Welcoming the newcomers joining the team (Slack usernames): @Rahul Harkhani @Pobon Paul @mitchblue

News

Meeting Notetakers

(@Makinde Ruth Oluwakemi) volunteered to take today’s meeting notes.

We are also looking for team members interested in taking notes on the following dates:

  • February 1 – @kemmy99
  • February 8 – @kemmy99
  • February 15 – Notetaker required
  • February 22 – Notetaker required

@kemmy99 requested a change to the dates she’s committed to as she will not be available on the 15th and 22nd.

WordPress 5.9

WordPress 5.9 releases today. Many thanks for those who have participated in content, testing, and more for this release.

Just want to say a big thank you to the whole training team for the great FSE trainings.

@wpfangirl

During this sprint, @webcommsat has supported @azhiyadev and @courane01 to get a list of the contributions and the details to include in the 5.9 list. There is a draft post summarizing the discussion on social posts, especially FSE, waiting to be published today. The link was posted in marketing to a preview earlier today if anyone wants to read it early. There is still an opportunity for people to continue working on the social media items for 5.9.

Information sources
@webcommsat has published the post to try and get it into this meeting, and thanks to @annezazu for reviewing the post. This post gives links at the top to where in training, marketing and for marcomms for the release, we can find the source of information. Anne has written some really excellent support documents. @webcommsat said she was really pleased to suggest we include some of them in the news post for the release too. https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/01/25/social-media-drafting-update-for-5-9/ These documents will really help teams working on 5.9 materials.

Contributor Days

Yoast 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/. February 4

#marketing team will have a virtual table for the Yoast Contributor day. During this time, contributors will work on social media materials promoting content on LearnWP. All are welcome to attend.  We will be there to assist. As this is a hybrid event, it spans largely the EMEA timezone.

@nalininonstopnewsuk asked if it could be billed as a marketing and training joint table as it shows externally how we collaborate. This has been referred to @yvettesonneveld

WCEU 2022 Contributor Day, 2-4 June

We’ve been asked by organizers of WCEU 2022 if we will have any attendees in-person to help staff a training team contributor session. @webcommsat has sent some questions to the organizers on behalf of #marketing, this might help #training as well. These have been referred to @josearcos:

  • Do you have anymore information on what the format will be for WCEU contributor day this year for the teams please? In-person only, one dedicated day, the date?
  • What are the expectations for what help / participation you will need from the Marketing Team?
  • When do you also need to know by?
  • Will there be any pre-record items needed?

If we have team members planning to attend, now, or closer to the date, let us know if you’d like to help organize.

Training Team Goals 2022

A reminder that we’ve got some big goals for the year ahead. Please do make some time to scan through this overview. We’ll begin work on some of the March goals as soon as next week.

Feedback required

Due to the work in 5.9 content, these posts will be considered further next week. We can leave the discussion open and evolving for now.

  1. Social Learning Spaces (SLS) streaming platforms
  2. Learn WordPress version taxonomy

@Hugh Lashbrooke has drafted a new handbook page for the SLS streaming platforms. This may still be open for comments:

  • @nalininonstopnewsuk would like to suggest a reword to the introduction
  • @webcommsat questioned the following, her understanding of this means that slides should not have any footer/ mention of who has created them or presenting them? Is this different from a speaker at a Word Camp who might be presenting their own materials and therefore could be adding their social media link to slide footers?

For the sake of clarity, “logo” here includes company social media handles and even the company name written out in plain text in lieu of a logo.

APAC meeting

This Thursday we ran our first APAC friendly meeting. @webtechpooja provided an update on how it went which was positive. The recap of the meeting has been published. The next meeting will be held on January 27, 11:30 UTC.

Sprint

With the release of 5.9 scheduled for this month, all our efforts have been focused on updating Learn.

 Progress

The following lesson plans have been published:

  1. Difference between Reusable Blocks, Block Pattern, Templates, Template Parts (this will also need a workshop)
  2. How to Create and Register a Block Pattern (already has a workshop)
  3. How to Create Low-Code Block Patterns

This week’s content has been created by@webtechpooja and @courane01

This week’s content has been reviewed by @courane01 @rkohilakis @west7 @azhiyadev @arasae @jeffr0

Unrelated to the Sprint @topher1kenboe has published a workshop
Making a Plugin Inside the Dashboard.

As we work towards merging lesson plans and workshops it is important that we get workshops in parity with lesson plans. We can add those into the priorities for the February sprint, alongside the yearly goals as well.

Yes, they are now Live on Learn.

Instructions on reviewing and producing new content are listed in the  January 2022 Sprint post. If you get stuck, just drop us a message in Slack. If you would like to volunteer to do proofreading, please leave a comment on the January 2022 Sprint or in the #training Slack channel.

We’ve noted that we need to link up the Sprint and 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. further. Please ensure you are using and commenting on both for this time. As we work toward 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/ projects vs Trello, this may resolve itself.

Check-in

  1. What did you commit to last week?
  2. What did you do?
  3. Any blockers?
  4. What will you do next week?

@rkohilakis:

  • 1 and 2 – working on Template Parts lesson plans
  • 3 – other work project & updating FSE course part 1 based on on feedback received
  • 4 – Template parts lesson plans (edited) 

@kemmy99 finished working on lesson plans, waiting for the review

  • @webcommsat will pick this up for review but @azhiyadev noted that there is already a existing lesson plan that would render this one redundant. To be determined if this should be Creating a Static Page Template.

@webtechpooja:

  • 1 – Committed to work upon 2 lesson plan
  • 2 – Published a lesson plan on difference between reusable 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., block patterns, template and template parts
  • 3 – Time is the only blocker
  • 4 – Will work on Dual tone lesson plan this week

@courane01:

  • 1 – More content in lesson plans and workshops for 5.9, close the 2 posts on SLS + TaxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies.
  • 2 – Onboard proofreaders, multiple lesson plans + workshops (with captioning), assist #marketing with release content, report various #meta bugs, log bugs discovered while writing lesson plans, assist with testing said bugs for RC4
  • 3 – Time
  • 4 – Keep working on 5.9 related content, compare Jan sprint with Trello, assist with creating the Feb sprint, get some extra sleep.

@webcommsat:

  • 1 – General support to training and helping with joint working with marketing and the release
  • 2 – Supporting training on gathering and sharing of list of contributors who have contributed to 5.9, answering queries and signposting. Follow-up session for training and marketing and notes
  • 3 – Time. More documentation needed, but we need to be mindful of the time this takes and number of contributors available in the current pandemic
  • 4 – Continue to help with 5.9 materials and other items in the sprint

 @nalininonstopnewsuk:

  • 1 – Supporting proofing of courses as they came through in the sprint.
  • 2 – Added comments to these in the last week.
  • 3 – Unsure of what is available and sometimes in circles with which section of documentation to read. 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) is an ongoing issue though this is for all of the project
  • 4 – More of the proofing and suggestions. It would help to understand when items are ready and if the published ones are complete.

February 2022 Sprint

We’ll draft this in time for next week’s meeting. We will still be spending time on 5.9 content and will cross-check this against our team goals for 2022.

Open Discussions

Join @azhiyadev @bph @jcasabona @schutzsmith and Matt Medeiros on Twitter Spaces for WPMinute on Monday January 31 at 8pm UTC. They will be discussing Learning WordPress. If you want to speak then you will need to use your phone to join in the conversation

If you do swing by #core during the release, please remember a “radio silence” as they work to ship this. After the post is live on wordpress.org/news, you are eagerly welcome to share the news. Generally, once you see it announced in #announcements you can go ahead and publicize it. On the bottom of the About Page in 5.9, a link to Learn will appear. As we come to a close – well-done everyone! This is the first time as a team we’ve worked to get content out alongside a release.

@webcommsat and @marybaum have done an amazing job on all things MarComms.  We’ll have a few more resources to help you share about the release over the next week.

And finally – any holidays or special occasions coming up you’d like to share? India celebrates Republic Day on January 26.


Upcoming Meetings

You are welcome to join the team at any time! If you are new to the Training Team, please introduce yourself in the #training channel before the meeting (or anytime!) and feel free to join us in the meeting and participate as you are able.


Training Team Mission

The WordPress training team helps people learn to use, extend, and contribute to WordPress through synchronous and asynchronous learning as well as downloadable lesson plans for instructors to use in live environments, via learn.wordpress.org.

Getting Involved

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in, comment on posts, and participate in meetings and on projects.

  1. Learn.WordPress.org
    1. Lesson Plans
    2. Tutorials
    3. Courses
    4. Online Workshops
    5. Pathways to Learn WordPress
  2. Getting Involved
    1. GitHub Website Development
    2. GitHub Content Development
    3. What We Are Currently Working On This Month
  3. About The Team
  4. Our Team Blog

#5-9, #learn-wordpress

Recap of the Training Team meeting, January 4, 2022

Agenda

Ways to get involved

Slack Log (Requires 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/. login to view. Set one up if you don’t have a Slack account.)

Live meeting attendees: @courane01 @azhiyadev @rkohilakis @webcommsat @elblakeo31 @nalininonstopnewsuk @ndiego @arasae @boogah
Async: @tantienhime @webtechpooja @meher

Meeting Notetakers

Volunteers needed:

  • team members interested in managing account access to Learn/Training team sites, answering any questions for new people eg helping new team members draft meeting recaps, pointing them to specific content in the handbook, and more
  • notetakers
  • to take part in the January 2022 focusing on the WordPress 5.9 release

Goal setting for the Training Team for 2022

Team Goal Setting document.

In December 2021, started part 2 of Team goal setting. To recap, in part 1, defined the Training Team’s

  • vision
  • values
  • stakeholders
  • ideas that will help us reach the vision and what will help us operate as a team

In part 2, the team: 

  • grouped the ideas into in-scope and out of scope. Out of scope was anything that was not within our remit (that is it relied on external parties to deliver), required additional development resources, or had too many dependencies that need to be in place before we could even consider working on it
  • broke this down into order of priority and grouped this into themes 
  • worked and can continue to collaborate async and update following frames on the Miro board.
    • Methods – what are the actions and steps that we need to take to get the job done? Please rank this in order of priority.
    • Obstacles – what obstacles do we face in accomplishing all this and how can we overcome them?
    • Metrics – how can we measure what we’ve done to identify if it is successful or not?
    • Link to the Miro board. This has been switched to view mode and if you would like edit access, please contact the team reps. On the board, P1 and 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/. represent Priority 1 and Priority 2.

APAC friendly meeting

With @webtechpooja joining the team reps for 2022, there have been discussions on running an APAC-friendly meeting. 

Actions/ requests:

  • Share this with those that may want to contribute.
  • Please complete the Doodle poll to help us identify the best time to run this meeting. Results of the poll will be announced at the next team meeting

LearnWP calendar

https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/

Training has received enquiries about potentially using the Social Learning Spaces (SLS) calendar in a few new ways. This calendar is part of the Upcoming Events 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. in all WP Admin Dashboard views.

Useful reading material and how to apply to be involved with the Social Learning Spaces (formerly known as Discussion Groups for Learn WordPress):

There is no post on this, but please refer to this Learn WP GitHub issue to integrate it into the meetings calendar 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

Examples of SLS applications:

  • Proposal for a Gutenberg Developer Hour Series of events (@bph)
  • Creating a Block-based theme from scratch@daisyo and @welcher are conducting multiple sessions through a Twitch series on building from scratch a 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. theme.

Discussion on the potential widening and use of Social Learning Spaces calendar

The below is a summary of the discussion in the meeting. Please add further suggestions and thoughts in the comments at the end of this post.

  • @arasae: I would love to see this calendar filled up with a variety of events from contributors from everywhere. It sounds like the questions that need to be answered are: “What can go on the calendar, and how do I get on that calendar?”
  • @courane01
    • we also have brand guidelines
    • this makes sense, especially the 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/ Dev Hours
    • what considerations do we have for others to also host various events both on SLS calendar AND livestream wherever else? Team is working on processes. There’s already vetting in process. To facilitate, one must apply. This will go through a group similar to Community Deputies for consideration.
    • as a team, what documentation do we want for guidelines and who will do the work of vetting all that? We are launching something similar to Community Deputies, and this likely would go there. But are we accounting for the increased workload if we really open this up to anyone wishing? 
  • @bph: As for the Developer Hours, it would all have wp.org branding only the zoom link and the promotion would run through Gutenberg Times. I was just trying to figure out if a meetup.com event would get more people interested in the events. Requested access as an organizer to the meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. space to be able to update the calendar for this.
  • @courane01: Elevating it would be important and definitely wanted to see it there.
  • @nalininonstopnewsuk:
    • In terms of thinking about branding and marketing. Does the idea of opening up the events mean they would not necessarily be Learn WP events, but could be run, hosted, marketed by others in the ecosystem?
    • There are also marketing and data aspects to that question Courtney in terms of who can host and promotion. Would the normal review process occur in the same way as someone wanting to submit a workshop?
    • Another consideration, is whether the events would be recorded, how that recording would be used, and where it would appear in the future.
    • Consideration for how questions are encouraged to be raised during the event, and how they might be shared if it the recording appears on other platforms.
  • @courane01: I don’t have a lot of guidelines yet, but am in the phase of forming questions to consider. If we cross-promote, do we mention that “you can go to my profile to get more”? Do we care if folks need to sign up on multiple platforms
  • @nalininonstopnewsuk: The data issue is one we should consider. Consider guidelines on what mailing lists people may end up signing up to in order to be able to attend a session.
  • @courane01: If folks sign up on something to get access, it can put them onto email lists for promotions.
  • @arasae: so basically, someone who applies to run an event on Learn also does events outside of Learn. We need guidelines on if they can mention their other things while they run their Learn event? @courane01: yes. @arasae: can see how that could be an issue. The multiple platforms one is tricky, for sure! I would prefer one centralized place, but I’m not sure how to make that happen or if that’s even the best way about it.
  • @azhiyadev: I think the brand guidelines would come into play for workshops, SLS and lesson plans. I think for the Developer Hours, this can come onto Learn, there is a post on it for .org and @bph has already been vetted.
  • @arasae: So, guidelines for social learning calendar options would be on:
    • self-promotion outside of Learn WP
    • which things appear on the calendar and which are outside the scope of the calender (so basically, the answer to the question ‘what makes something an SLS?’)
    • others to be determined
    • with considerations on what people are signing up for (I know I get annoyed with the # of meetup emails I get) when they attend SLSs.
  • @boogah: I’m fine doing what I do for Learn (running SLSs) being explicitly for Learn and that’s it. However, I realize that, as someone whose time is sponsored by a corporate entity, my being fine with not getting them involved on any SLSs might be a minority opinion. So long as day job can say “Our very own Jason is running this SLS in n days” on Twitter and promote the event, I think that’s all they need out of the deal
  • @courane01: My own take, the content of what I’d consider also putting in would adhere very much to WP.org ethos and be impartial, but to view livestreams, it’d be signing up to my employer’s instance of Bevy, or even joining a Zoom that has our branding on that browser page that loads. I want to handle things delicately and consider all concerns. I could also just go with Zoom and SLS as is for topics that are appropriate. @boogah: Makes perfect sense.
  • @arasae: Product placement: is it okay if your employer/twitch ID/etc. exists in the background or not. Got it. Thank you for clarifying, Courtney!
  • @courane01: email sign ups or promoting our personal accounts though is a concern not addressed in brand guidelines.
  • @nalininonstopnewsuk:
    • also if corporate zoom accounts are being used, checks on whether they are being automatically recorded
  • @webcommsat:
    • the guidelines to use need to be simple to follow to not be a barrier if the aim is to encourage others to do partnership/ joint events in this space, and also to minimize inadvertent breaches from over complex information

January 2022 sprint – focus on WordPress 5.9 Release

Update from @azhiyadev

January 2022 sprint document – please read and add updates. This is an area to note the lesson plan and courses that need to be updated as well as the courses, lesson plans or workshops that need to be created too.

With the release of 5.9 scheduled for this month, all our efforts will be focused on updating Learn. Courtney and Hauwa have gone through all the content on Learn WP, updating the taxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies. (WP version and included content). With the release of 5.9, WordPress will now consist of four different types of themes:

  • Block theme: a theme made for FSE using 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. templates and 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., allowing one to manage all parts of their site with blocks.
  • Universal theme: a theme that works with both the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. and the Site Editor.
  • Hybrid theme: a classic theme that adopts a feature(s) of FSE, like theme.json or the template editor.
  • Classic theme: a theme built the way we’ve been used to with PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. templates, functions.php, and more.

We will need to keep this in mind when creating content for Learn. We’ve broken the content down into revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. and new content needed for 5.9. Each topic identifies the lesson plan that needs to be updated and if there is also a corresponding workshop that needs to be updated.
@courane01: There is a lot of content that needs to be updated (see 5.9 Revisions Needed)

As well as new content (see New Content Needed)

Volunteers needed:

  • Action: if you are interested in helping then please make a comment on the Sprint post saying what you can help with
  • @rkohilakis & @bph volunteered during the meeting. @nalininonstopnewsuk will confirm next as also involved with the release
  • @courane01: This will be the biggest push on updating content across Training team materials/Learn that the team has conducted in cadence with a WP release yet. Amongst the things we are also assessing is how to include Training contributors that revise and create content in a similar manner to how Docs does for release props
  • @ndiego : question: to tackle, for example, How to use WordPress Block Patterns”, how do I start that process?
    • @courane01: Team reps can get contributors access to Learn WP. Then they can share a link to the posts for review. The team has a great revisions updater plugin.
    • Would you like to claim the lesson plan and workshop videos of this topic? For video, I will check with the forming vetting team regarding how to handle this for updating. This is a first time around for this.
  • @nalininonstopnewsuk with @webcommsat reviewed two of the courses on FSE on Learn WP this last week, and identified some UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. issues for courses in general. @azhiyadev to add the update to the January sprint
  • The January sprint will focus on the release. If you need help creating content, there are some great workshop videos ready for you to learn how training does this:

@arasae summarized the process:

  1. Pick a topic. Is there anything else we should do?
  2. Get access if you don’t have it already to learn.wordpress.org
  3. Watch the video ‘how to use the revisions extended plugin
  4. Make the revisions on the website using the video as a guide.
  5. Get it reviewed (do we ask here in this chat?)
  6. Revisions made
  7. Changes published and

@courane01: comment either in team channel or on sprint post so we can keep track of who is doing what.

This summary has been appended as a comment on the January 2022 Sprint post.

Social media collaboration on WordPress 5.9

@webcommsat: We will be continuing this in the marketing slack Wed 5 and 12 January 2022, from 14:00 UTC. As usual, fellow training team members are very welcome. Another example of how the two teams are collaborating well together.

Open Floor

@nalininonstopnewsuk: for the new people to this team, there is a box at the top of the Training homepage which has some key links. For example, the sprints document. It is a good place to find the latest things. Most teams have a similar box. https://make.wordpress.org/training/

APAC-friendly meetings: @azhiyadev: The idea is to have two identical meetings, the second one might be a recap of the first. Contributors are not expected to attend both, but can if they would like to.

Props to @webcommsat for notetaking, @courane01 and @azhiyadev for leading the meeting.

#5-9, #marketing, #training-team