The Future
of WordPress
Jane Wells
Automattic
WordCamp Montréal
July 12, 2009

Jane Wells
User Experience
Automattic | WordPress
jane@automattic.com
http://jane.wordpress.com
@janeforshort

“Jane Wells will be explaining new
features of WordPress 2.9 as well as
features to come in future versions
of the popular CMS.”
-Charles Lapointe
ressacmedia.com

Telepathic WordPress
(using XMLRPC protocol)

“The future of WordPress
is not about features.”
-Matt Mullenweg

“The future of WordPress is about people.”
-Matt Mullenweg

Growing a Community
of Contributors

Core Development
QA Testing
Forum Moderation
Documentation (Codex)

(Plugins) Core Development (Themes)
QA Testing
Forum Moderation
Documentation (Codex)
Organize Meetups/WordCamps

(Plugins) Core Development (Themes)
QA Testing
Forum Moderation
Documentation (Codex)
Organize Meetups/WordCamps
Graphic Design
Usability Testing
Information Arcitecture
Interaction Design
Accessibility
Screencasts/Presentations

Ben Dunkle
Design Professor
Designed icons
for WordPress 2.7
Icon contest (dev blog)
v
Icons, core graphics
v
bbPress icons
v
Plugin icons

Gordon Brander
Designer/Developer
Blue admin theme
WordCamp Denver
v
Admin mockups
v
Post graphics/CSS to Trac
v
Committed to core, 2.8

WordPress Handbook Series
• Only what you need to know
• Version-specific (2.7, 2.8...)
• SVN, Trac
• Editorial authority

WordPress Handbook Editions
• End-user (downloaded as help file)
• WordPress as a CMS
• Theme developer
• Plugin developer
• System Administrator

Doug Provencio
Writer
WordPress Handbook,
CMS Edition
WordCamp SF
v
CMS Handbook
v
Outline
v
Editor

Distributed Usability Testing
Argentina | Atlanta | Boise, Idaho | Boston | Chicago
Czech Republic | Dallas | Finland | India | Los Angeles | Mexico
Minneapolis | Netherlands | New York | New Zealand | Norway
Russia | San Francisco | Switzerland | Sydney | Tokyo | Toronto
Turkey | UK | Vancouver, BC | Vermont | Washington, DC

Development
• Contribute core patches
• Test pending patches
• Mentor beginning developers
• #wordpress-dev
• Write plugins

Denis de Bernardy
Developer
Trac Reports
#wordpress-dev IRC chat
v
Too hard to maintain tickets
v
Created new reports
v
Easy to follow tickets

Andy Peatling
Developer
BuddyPress
Client project
v
Plugins
v
BuddyPress community
v
Automattic

Community Building
• Meetups
• WordCamp
• Co-working
• Forums
• WordPress.tv

Jeremy Clarke
Developer
WordCamp Theme
Organizer WordCamp
Montréal
v
Requested theme
v
Fixed code
v
Returned for distribution

What Can You Do?

• Report bugs
• Core patches (including design)
• Test development versions
• Participate in forums
• Write plugins
• Create themes
• Abide by and promote the GPL
• Contribute to related projects like bbPress
• Mentor less experienced users/developers
• Suggest/discuss features on Ideas forum
• Vote in surveys

• Media feature design and development for 2.9
• Contribute to or edit a handbook
• Add community features to WordCamp.org
• Improve WordPress.tv
• Find ways to increase participation by women

• Media feature design and development for 2.9
• Contribute to or edit a handbook
• Add community features to WordCamp.org
• Improve WordPress.tv
• Find ways to increase participation by women
See me after class.

Questions?

Please feel free to contact me
with any questions or suggestions.
Jane Wells
jane@automattic.com
http://jane.wordpress.com
twitter: @janeforshort