It’s official! Kinsta will sponsor 10 hours per month for my contributions to WordPress.
Since I prefer working on specific projects, this sponsored time will be dedicated to exploring how AI can support the creation of end-user documentation.
Why this project—and why AI? Because end-user docs need updates (and sometimes entirely new articles) after every major release, and often after minor ones too. Unfortunately, the limited number of technical writers means we rarely meet release-day deadlines.
With AI support, the documentation team can shorten turnaround times and get content published faster.
I don’t always write posts about goals because I like to keep them private. This year, I would love to increase my contribution to the WordPress project to 20 hrs. per week. And these would only be possible if I manage to find sponsorship.
Since the amount of time is short, my focus is going to be in the documentation team with very specific tasks and goals.
The projects
Documentation translation
6.5 release squad – documentation co-lead
Limited involvement in the WordPress.org redesign
Documentation team handbook
Planning for end-user documentation for the Playground and Mobile
Contributor Mentorship Program for WP.org as a mentor for the documentation/polyglots project
Speaking at WordCamps to continue with the documentation translation at the local level
Documentation translation
Documentation translation is the project closest to my heart. Ever since the WP.org/documentation team finished with the recategorization and a redesign of wordpress.org/documentation, I’ve been keen to bring the end-user documentation to as many users as possible and that means translating documentation into as many languages as it is possible.
Right now, we have many tools that can help with the translation itself, but that decision belongs to the WP translation teams. My involvement will focus on guiding the local teams in creating processes that will help them translate as fast and as easy as possible. Although, I would also like to experiment with AI tools to find improvements in the way we translate documentation.
There are many moving parts on this project, since I have been collaborating on the side with most of the teams, I would like to keep regular updates on how features and processes are developing to keep everyone informed.
6.5 Release squad
As documentation co-lead for the 6.5 release, I will focus on wrangling and writing articles for end-user documentation.
WordPress.org redesign
Will continue collaborating in the WordPress.org redesign to improve the developer and documentation sites by bridging the redesign team with the documentation team.
Documentation handbook
The chapter on the team’s handbook related to HelpHub needs updating, including adding the new site map, the categories and the translation process.
End-user documentation for mobile and the Playground
There is a need to create articles for end-users for both mobile and the playground. The intention is to find use cases and then write. The redesign for documentation already has the ability to add these two categories to the landing page.
Contributor mentorship program for WP.org
This is a wonderful opportunity to pass on knowledge to new contributors. I will be working with two mentees to show them around documentation and how they can work with their local community to start translating.
In 2006, I started my first online business as a virtual assistant. The same year, I built my first website ever. Hello Fireworks buttons and clipart!! And the font…. hmmm.
I think the funniest part of this story was my call with GoDaddy support. I bought my first domain with them, built my site and then called them to ask how come my site was not live? All I saw was a “parked page”. Fifteen minutes and two support reps, somebody figured out that my site wasn’t live because I never bought hosting for it.
By 2010, the old site looked outdated and that class on how to build sites with WordPress was really making me lose sleep, so I took the plunge and redesigned my site. I kept the clipart, it may be an assumption, but maybe I didn’t know how to work with digital photography back then. So, it is WordPress and I used the default theme, Classic.
Am glad to have learned some digital etiquette cause that block of text is hurting my eyes. But I had a privacy statement and four pages. There was no blog in this website.
Can’t remember exactly, but it was around September 2022 that I was invited to be lead for the community team at WCEU 2023.
The bad habit of not saying no, I immediately got all excited, jumped up and down and said yes.
I went in like a deer caught in headlights, had no clue what it was all about and all the 9 months I had more questions than answers. My phrase “wait, wait, I still have questions!” was the joke in all our team meetings.
Badge by WCEU Design team. Photo by Estela Rueda
Frustrations
There were plenty in a very normal way. We didn’t agree on one thing or another, people didn’t do what they were asked, etc. Nothing different than what happens in a working team.
Awesomeness
This was too much! We had plenty of serious meetings but we also had times to be silly. The team leads, we got to know each other and learned how to support each team with our work.
The Community Team
I must say, being a team lead is not an easy task. First I had to choose my own team. This petrified me, I had to choose between 10-12 souls that I have never met, well, except one. I went with my gut, I started by reading that last question about why they wanted to be an organizer and what their skills were, then I checked on their names, only because I wanted to do my best to get a good male/female ratio and a good country representation. My team was lucky enough to have more than 2 genders represented but this is a difficult task as the GDPR doesn’t allow us to ask people for their gender.
At the end of the day, we had the best group of humans I have ever worked with. People that were strangers at the beginning, are now great and amazing friends and colleagues. And lovely people I really hope to run into in the future.
Photo by the WCEU 2023 Photography Team
WordCamp Europe 2023
In general, I had the best time ever but I always manage to have a great time at every Wordcamp I attend.
I talked to as many sponsors as I could, few of the speakers and many of the attendees. The community team was busy at the booth and we gave away as many postcards as we could as well as information regarding the WordPress community.
As for the talks, the only one I attended was the Q&A with Matt, Josepha & Mathias by choice. It works best for me to watch the talks on video to rewind it and take notes. Just a matter of personal style.
The best day was Contributor Day. All the teams accomplished so much and it feels me with pride for the small part I played in making that happen.
Photo by the WCEU 2023 Photography team
My takeaway is that it is a lot of work. There is a huge responsibility to the WordPress community to provide them with a good place to learn, to network and to enjoy themselves.
WordCamp Europe 2024
Since I am posting after the summer, I might as well answer this appropriately. I was so high on adrenaline after we closed Athens that I immediately signed to be an organizer again. I even took the time to write a content proposal from all the feedback I gather during our time in Athens.
Many things happened between June and September. And it is time I focus my WordPress contribution efforts to one project, the translation and internationalization of the WordPress documentation.
Sadly, I said no to leading the community team again. I love WordCamps in all their iterations, as an organizer, volunteer, speaker (my least favorite) and as an attendee. The opportunities are different but the teams work hard to make them as enjoyable as possible.
Although, I will not be part of the organizing team for WCEU 2024, I wish the team the best and will support them from afar. I’ll apply as a speaker or maybe a volunteer. Or perhaps I’ll be an attendee, but I will definitely see you all in Torino!!
The most important reason why I attended WordCamp Barcelona is to continue with the WordPress.org documentation translation project.
As expressed before, we are working with the Spanish community for our trial. The reasons are plenty, they do have a lot of documentation translated, they are near by me – thus cutting down traveling costs, and I speak the language.
Contributor Day
During Contributor Day we worked with members of the translation, documentation and marketing teams. The goal was to translate HelpHub sitemap into Spanish and there was a group of Catalan speakers who decided to translate it into Catalan also.
During our short workshop, we spoke about the meaning of each term and discussed words that can carry SEO weight. It was amazing that at end of the day, we had both the Spanish and the Catalan version of the sitemap.
Honestly, I only attended one talk about leadership, which was very interesting and the only one in English. Most of the talks were in Catalan and few talks in Spanish.
I applaud the effort on highlighting the language of the community but there should be a better balance between Spanish and Catalan to secure more attendees and also more speakers. It also helps break language barriers. I won’t say anything about English because speaking and understanding English at a high level should never be a barrier to work with WordPress.
The language was not a barrier to the topics, there were many to choose from.
Small interview
Podcast from WordCamp Barcelona 2023
Thank you to Yoast
For the last WordCamps, Torrelodones and Barcelona, Yoast has supported my traveling from the Yoast Diversity Fund. If you haven’t heard about it and want to do something awesome for the community, like give a talk on a WordCamp, make sure that funding is not the reason why you don’t apply.
As with everything there are rules, read all about it
There is something about the WordPress Spanish community that makes everything more fun and exciting. As I made my way to WordCamp Torrelodones, another participant was looking to share a Cabify (Spain’s version of Uber.) We shared a chat group with lots of jokes about the weather and luggage. Probably what surprised me most was the warm welcome I received from everyone I talked to – lots of hugs and kisses all around. The Spanish people are truly a friendly and welcoming bunch.
After arriving at the hotel, I walked to the venue and helped with the setup. Even though, that was the intention, there were so many volunteers that the set up lasted no more than 2 hours.
That evening the schedule called for the speakers, volunteers and sponsors dinner. At first glance, I was struck by the genuine warmth of the community. I received more hugs and kisses, ate lots of delicious food (maybe too much for my own good), and enjoyed drinks with fellow attendees. We shared or stories, our love for WordPress, and discussed new projects we’d like to implement in the community.
The WordCamp
On Saturday morning, Ana Cirujano led the inauguration with her amazing team of organizers and volunteers. I was thrilled to see that we had a 93.8% attendance rate. Although I attended several talks, I focused on everything SEO related, like “El E.E.A.T. me come toda la marca” (which roughly translates to “Google’s E.E.A.T. is eating all my brand”), presented by Lucia y el SEO. Her talk was both informative and hilarious, and she presented it with exceptional style and clarity. Wajari Velazques’ “Pesadilla en la cocina – Mejora tus guisos y el SEO con Search Console” y “Tu cerebro te traiciona – los sesgos explotados por el marketing” con Pablo Moratinos. I found many of the other talks to be equally enlightening, educational, and energizing.
On Sunday, my own talk was approaching, and my anxiety was building. To be honest, I hadn’t put much thought into it when Ana asked me to speak. But then the new website for wordpress.org/documentation launched and it was the last day of the call for speakers at WordCamp Torrelodones, and I knew I had to apply. I submitted my talk summary in English and promised to present it in Spanish. The language was my stress trigger. After this weekend, not being able to speak better Spanish is an excuse I can no longer give; I just need to work on overcoming my nerves.
I signed up to talk at WordCamp Torrelodones but I also wanted to see my friend Ana and meet two wonderful people in person, Ohia and Wajari, we have been planning WCEU 2023 together since September last year. And made many new friends.
Contributor Day
Sunday’s Contributor Day was also intense, with contributors hard at work and fully invested. I took the opportunity to discuss internationalization options for documentation with a team of like-minded individuals. They worked so hard that by the end of the day, my talk was already up (in Spanish).
Introduction to the new site for wordpress.org/documentation
I am not one to toot my own horn but I was so proud of myself when I got the acceptance email for my talk. And on Sunday, people had nice things to say about me on Twitter, I think I blushed all day.
Attending WordCamp Torrelodones was an incredible and enjoyable experience that left me feeling humbled. The flawless organization and exceptional organizing team were truly remarkable. I departed with a promising start to the second phase of the internationalization of documentation project, made new friends, and returned home with both a heart full of joy and a brain full of ideas. The WordPress Spanish community is truly something special, they make everything more fun and exciting.
In the past couple of weeks there has been much talk about WordPress.org’s Five for the Future program. The discussion is long and has many ramifications and you can read this post from The WP Minute if you want to learn more.
Among the Twitter conversations and Post Status’ Slack I read about people only being able to contribute 1 to 2 hrs per week and that does not equal to the 5% of much. Let’s get back to what Josepha Haden Chomphosy said in WP’s podcast: Five for the Future’s True Intentions.
The 5% in Five for the Future is aspirational… not a requirement.
Let’s put things in perspective
Of course it is aspirational. And those 1 to 2 hours per week are needed in the WordPress project more than you think. That amount of time will have great impact in the work we do.
WordPress.org is not only core and it is not all about the code. There are many other things we do to maintain the project alive. So perhaps we have failed at letting new contributors know what they can do with their minimal time.
See, we are so happy when new contributors join us that we welcome them with open arms and give them all the freedom to contribute as they wish. But the WordPress project in itself is huge and it can be a daunting rabbit hole when you have no guidance.
I think, it is time we cut their wings a bit and start pointing some fingers, not at people but at tasks.
I have gathered a list of tasks anyone can contribute in less than 3 hours per week to the WordPress Project. One caveat, I do not contribute to every WordPress team, so I am only mentioning the ones that I am aware of. These are smaller tasks but in any way less important.
Documentation
The docs team meets weekly, twice a month there is a meeting to update or discuss specific projects/collaborations. The other two weeks is issue triage for documentation. The team meets on Tuesdays at 14:00 UTC. For more information checkout this post about Onboarding to the Documentation team.
Review old and broken links in documentation
Review code in documentation
Add new screenshots to articles (some features change after WordPress version is updated)
Write an article for either end user or developers documentation
Take notes during meetings
Learn
The training team is creating lessons and tutorials for WordPress. No need to be certified trainer to help out as there also tasks that would support the team. The team meets on specific dates and times for Americas/EMEA and APAC teams. Attending a team meeting and reading the handbook are the best ways to get started.
Are you a non-English speaker? help translate a lesson.
Core
Core is broken into smaller teams. There is no best place to start, I suggest find what interests you and go from there. Attending a dev chat is also a great way to familiarize yourself with how the team works.
Participate in bug scrubs for WP versions or components.
Checkout the Good First Bugs report and create or test patches and comment on Trac tickets.
Take notes during Dev chat. Meetings are every Wednesday at 20:00 UTC
Test
Test team is busy now with Full Site Editor and have been working on feature and block testing. We recently had a usability testing session that lasted about 20 minutes. The team doesn’t meet regularly but you can drop in the Slack channel with questions or feedback anytime.
Participate in an FSE testing call.
Test blocks or FSE features and report results, issues and bugs in the teams Slack channel.
Although not all 21 make teams in WordPress.org are looking for contributors with short amount of time available, there will always be a team or two who will mostly appreciate your contribution. And as I say before, it is not an exhaustive list and I would love to add more items to the list in the future.
For the past 2 years I have been busy reading and reviewing the end-user documentation in WordPress.org. The goal was to create a new design for the articles as they look outdated. The hidden problem was the problematic search, which is far more important than the way a page looks. This project is written into two parts.
The discovery phase
While reviewing the documentation, I found discrepancies in the navigation. Discovered that several articles were included in more than one category, the article listing changed when going back in the browser and there was no clear navigation.
The revision included the 15 requirements that the documentation team had gathered during the migration of the documentation from the Codex (the previous documentation repository for the WordPress Project.)
The most urgent issues to solve were the navigation to improve search and the user experience and, identifying the users.
Methodology
I didn’t follow any specific methodology. After researching documentation sites for several software companies, open-source and privately-owned, I understood the path to follow.
The path guided to find the four pillars to create the sitemap. When thinking of how to structure end-user documentation it is difficult to think about new, intermediate or advanced users because one cannot really identify who is whom or what level is each user. Instead, it is best to follow a “step-by-step” build; what do I need to know before building a site, what are the requirements, any technical hiccups (maintenance), etc.
What is WordPress? What is its story? Is WordPress the best CMS for the user’s project?
What does the user need to create and maintain a WordPress blog or site? First steps, requirements, maintenance, troubleshooting
WordPress dashboard – daunting for new users, get to know your new software, how to add content, how to manage media.
Customization – themes, blocks, FSE, plugins, colors, etc.
Identifying the end-users
Creating personas for a software that is used by millions of people is absolutely useless. As soon as one persona is created, you leave out 99% of the users. Instead, I identified users by roles.
The non-developer users that search WordPress end-user documentation falls into any of these roles:
Bloggers – new or not, anyone who writes a blog and wants to customize it without the help of a developer.
New users looking for a CMS to build a website.
Content creators that are looking for content to create tutorials or references for their own products.
WordPress consultants that provide service to clients.
Support teams from companies that look for content to support their own products/services or, that provides tech support for their clients.
Translation teams/contributors that are translating documentation into their own languages.
The result: a new site map for WordPress.org Helphub
There were 170 articles written when we started the reclassification. The new WordPress features including the Block Editor, Full Site Editing and new blocks, increased the number of articles to about 250 and there are plans to write more. The reclassification needs to take into account the growing needs of WordPress.
The site map now includes 4 main categories with subcategories under each to allow growth. Below is an image of the recommended sitemap. The developers column is under review.
All I can say is Yoast is awesome! As contributor the encouragement received from Yoast, besides the financial contribution, is a great feeling and I am really grateful for their support.
This contribution helped me invest more time into the reclassification of the articles inside HelpHub. HelpHub is the documentation for end-users within the WordPress project.
This was a an amazing surprise. It may be hard to believe but I am not used to receive recognitions for any. of my volunteer work cause that’s not the reason I do it. I had a volunteered a lot throughout my life, “always give back”, one of my grandmas used to say and it is a principle I live by.
My contributions to the WordPress project are important to me, thus this token of recognition is humbling and very appreciated.
Thank you to Yoast for supporting contributors to the WordPress project.
