[wp-hackers] Developer portal

[Otto]

> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Nathan Rice <ncrice at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com> wrote:
>> > No, "ownership" eliminates "collaboration".
>> >
>> > -Otto
>> >
>> I think that about sums up my opposition to the central repository of
>> documentation/tutorials. Brilliantly stated, Otto.

Hmm... I'd use the same argument to argue *for* a central repository.

Having a centralized place where people can post tuts *and* edit
existing ones as well (think Wiki, not WP Revisions), would encourage
collaboration.

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 12:32 PM, Pete Mall <pete at jointforcestech.com> wrote:
> People don't want to contribute without recognition.

Nonsense. Wikipedia has no attributions. WordPress has no
attributions. Many people are willing to edit things without
recognition. Much of my material have been yanked and stuck into the
codex in one form or another. Doesn't bother me any.

> People can't be help accountable without ownership.

Accountability is a matter of tracking changes, not necessarily a
matter of owning the material.

> Any suggestions?

Personally, I like the idea of a wiki. I dislike the codex in
particular, but wikis = good.


On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 12:38 PM, Matt Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com> wrote:
> My original question wasn't "how do we get people to contribute to a
> documentation resource" which honestly I'm not worried about, it was "What
> do you wish you had when you first started developing for WordPress?"
>
> Anyone else have any wishlist items that haven't been mentioned yet?

- Tutorials for specific sections of obscure (and not-so-obscure) stuff.

- A much better way to search for plugins. Half the time I'd start
writing something only to find a plugin later to do that exact thing.

- Tips on building a development environment. I see lots of questions
in the forums that even a new PHP developer could find the answer to
simply by doing a recursive search of the WordPress source.

- Specifically for theme authors: A comprehensive list of
best-practices and must-haves for making their theme that is kept
up-to-date. Too often I see people saying that their theme isn't
widgets compatible, or not understanding how to do threaded comments.
A lot of WP features are dependent on theme support. Themers need to
know how to not only do this stuff, but to know that it's mostly
mandatory.

-Otto
Sent from Memphis, TN, United States