[wp-hackers] Making it better

[Podz]

John Sinteur wrote:

> The more I read the discussion, the more I feel it's simply a 
> "growth-pain" moment for WordPress. Matt, don't change anything, keep 
> doing what we're doing.
> 

I have to disagree here.
The CSS - I asked when 1.3 was still young if we would have a fully 
commented guide to the CSS like Craig did for the original. I was told 
yes, not to worry, not to bother. It does not exist. It NEEDS to exist.

There is no basic guide for the new default template anywhere - it is 
needed.

The CSS / templates in the default need pulling to bits and redoing - 
have you looked at it in the editing window ? Mess City. Unfriendly. 
That is how Joe User will see them.

Put the links for help IN the css or in a commented piece somewhere that 
Joe User will actually see them. Stupidly easy for people to remove if 
they want.

Question: Do we actually WANT to make life easier for Joe User ? Some 
comments would hint that this is not the case. And if we do, then we ask 
JU what he wants, and we supply it. We don't run it past a board of 
enquiry, we don't compare it to what some guru says, we don't have 
conversations about the why / where / how - it's just done.

All you guys who can do php once wrote something along the lines of your 
first bit of code that went "Hello World". There are people wanting / 
trying / sweating to use WP who are not even there yet and if you want 
WP to be the complete success, you are going to have to help them. Codex 
isn't and cannot be that panacea.

Why no Help tab in WP ?

Forums: Another problem there is use of links. We ought to declare war 
on use of links. I'm as guilty as the next person for just dropping a 
link in, or saying Search, but increasingly it gives the wrong answer. 
Follow some links sometimes and they will lead to more links which then 
lead to dead threads. Asking people to search for some things does not 
give them the answer - and if I can't find it using Google and using the 
poster's names, then how in hell can Joe User ?

This is NOT growing pains - that post which Matt highlighted points at 
faults, faults which either need correcting OR ignoring, but until a 
decision is made as to what WP is trying to be, no-one will have a clue 
as to what to do and this fudge will recur.

A clear roadmap is essential, absolutely essential. The time has come 
for such a thing to be written. What /is/ WordPress ?
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