WordPress is currently in Feature freeze/Bug Fixes period of 5.8 release cycle, with BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 1 coming up on Tuesday, 8th June. In previous releases Documentation team wasn’t much involved, if at all, into release cycles which resulted in some parts of documentation being out of date or even missing. 

This has to change and in this release we want to bring release changes to the Documentation team and help keep all parts of WordPress documentation as much up to date as possible.

Each release introduces a number of changes that should be documented for both end user and developer documentation. This means that we will have to update HelpHub and DevHub respectively. 

All 5.8 tickets that are marked for some sort of documentation can be found in this document, in All marked for docs sheet. 

HelpHub updates

Tickets that hold user facing changes can be found in Docs for HelpHub sheet. These changes do not include 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. editor changes as block editor end user documentation is managed separately. 

DevHub changes

Most of the changes will affect the Plugin Developer Handbook and can be found in Docs for DevHub sheet.

Block editor end user changes

Block editor end user documentation is listed in this document while the progress is managed in Trello board. Please note that NOT all changes from WordPress 5.6 and 5.7 are published yet.

Block editor developer changes

Changes for block editor developer documentation are monitored by @mkaz and listed in the Dev Block Editor sheet.

All these changes should be documented and ready for updating existing documentation on the day of the release, 20th July 2021.

What about Dev Notes?

All tickets that should end up in dev notes are listed in the Dev Notes sheet. We are starting to work on them when Beta 1 begins, on Tuesday 8th June. All of them, together with Field Guide should be published by 29th June, with Release candidateRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. 1.

Is that all?

No. I need your help. As part of this experiment to involve the Documentation team into WordPress release, my hope is to bring everyone halfway. I need help with following tasks:

• Volunteers to prepare existing and/or new HelpHub pages for 5.8 changes – this involves finding the HelpHub article that should be updated, preparing screenshots (if needed) and content to be added and/or removed. Person in charge of HelpHub content is @atachibana.  
• Volunteers to prepare existing and/or new DevHub pages for 5.8 changes – this involves finding the DevHub page that should be updated, preparing code examples (if needed) and content to be added and/or removed. There are several people in charge of different parts of DevHub.
• Volunteers to take over managing block editor end user documentation (as our wonderful @bph had to step down) – this involves monitoring 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/ releases for end user changes, monitoring 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. board tickets and managing and onboarding contributors. This doesn’t have to be a one person role. The more the merrier.  
• Volunteers to prepare existing and/or new articles in block editor end user documentation for 5.8 changes – this involves finding the HelpHub article that should be updated, preparing screenshots (if needed) and content to be added and/or removed. At the moment we don’t have a person in charge so I’ll jump in until someone volunteers.
• Volunteers to prepare existing and/or new pages in block editor developer documentation for 5.8 changes – this involves finding the page that should be updated, preparing code examples (if needed) and content to be added and/or removed. Person in charge of block editor developer documentation is @justinahinon and person monitoring changes in 5.8 release is @mkaz.

Site Health documentation

Site Health is not a new feature in 5.8 release but we don’t have any kind of documentation for it. We need volunteers for both end user and developer documentation.

If you are interested in helping out do not hesitate to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me (username: zzap) or any other mentioned project rep at 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/.. You can also express your interest in the comments below. 

We hope to start a new workflow with 5.8 release which will bring CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and Documentation teams to work more closely, especially during release cycles.