New Slack channel for Learn development discussions

We now have a #meta-learn channel in 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/. for discussions specifically around development topics for learn.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/. Note that non-development discussions should still happen in other channels, such as #training.

+make.wordpress.org/training/

Protecting Children’s Privacy On WordPress (through the lens of COPPA)

Disclaimer:

Nothing in this proposal constitutes professional advice, legal or otherwise.

Although substantial care was taken when compiling this post, no guarantee is made with regards to its accuracy. Please exercise your own judgement.

Common beliefs about WordPress and COPPA:

To start off, let’s examine a couple of common beliefs about WordPress and COPPA:

This is a wider platform issue.”

Yes and no.

WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ has thus far appeared to be a general audience platform – and therefore did not appear to have specific obligations under COPPA.

WordPress.org can become subject to COPPA requirements by:
1. Publishing child-directed content; or
2. Obtaining specific knowledge that children under 13 are using the platform.

Publishing KidsCamp content on Learn WordPress appears to “trigger” COPPA obligations because the content is directed at children.
However, as Learn WordPress makes use of wider WordPress.org infrastructure (and default WordPress installations are not COPPA friendly), becoming COPPA-compliant would require some platform-wide changes.

We are not collecting any personal information.

WordPress offers users the ability to add personal information,
including bios and origin stories, to their profiles.

Personal information is collected when a user registers for a WordPress.org profile.

Here the username itself is personal information, as it functions in the same manner as online contact information (@-mentions).

Visitors to KidsCamp content on Learn WordPress can sign up for a WordPress.org account.

Users can sign up for a WordPress.org account from pages that contain child-directed content.

There is no neutral age verification mechanism when registering for a WordPress.org account, or when accessing other parts of the website.

Learn WordPress offers users the ability to register for discussion groups.

Feedback forms, registration for and participation in discussion groups, notifications and comments all include personal information.

Furthermore, the FTC has specifically indicated that personal information includes information that is associated with any persistent identifier – so that would include usernames, user ids, identifiers in cookies, IP addresses and more.

It also includes any such information that is collected by plugins, or third party services on behalf of WordPress.org, including, but not limited to Jetpack, GravatarGravatar Is an acronym for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is the avatar system managed by WordPress.com, and used within the WordPress software. https://gravatar.com/. and Meetup.com.

So… How can WordPress.org become COPPA-compliant?

A Prominent Privacy Policy

COPPA-compliant privacy policies need to be prominent. As such, the usual privacy link in the footer does not qualify.

Audit Data Practices on WordPress.org

In order to compile a COPPA-compliant privacy policy, it would be highly advisable to do a full code and data audit to create a data flowchart for CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and any plugins that are running on WordPress.org

This includes determining and documenting exactly what information is being collected, where it is stored and any parties with whom the information is shared and for what purpose.

#51092 could provide a solid approach.

Verifiable Parental Consent

Obtaining parental consent that is verifiable can be a significant administrative burden (outside of physical KidsCamps, where volumes are more manageable), as a simple checkbox will not do the trick.

Do Not Collect Data From Child-Directed Content

A Consent APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. (incorporating #51188) can provide a basis to ensure that information is not collected on child-directed content.

Where information is needed to support internal operations, data should be compartmentalized so that it cannot be accessed for other uses.

List of abbreviations:

COPPA: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (United States)

FTC: Federal Trade Commission (United States)

Licensing:

This content is made available under Creative Commons 4.0. BY SA.

Please add your thoughts below:

Please add any concerns, questions and suggestions below.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Block Pattern Directory ideas and discussion

Block Patterns were introduced in WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. in version 5.5 (May 2020) as a way to register predefined blocks in themes and plugins. Once registered on a site, these 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. patterns can easily be inserted into the block editor and then configured by the content creator. Block Patterns help people to add complex block-based layouts to a site in a consistent way.

Question:

Could this feature, the ability to insert community-sourced block patterns into posts from inside the edit screen, help end users unlock the power of the block editor?

A Few Ideas:

  • The Block Pattern Directory could be similar to the Block Directory feature introduced in WordPress 5.5, except that no plugins would need to be installed.
  • Block Patterns could be submitted on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/.
  • Users could search the Block Patterns directory from the Block Inserter.
  • Block Patterns from the directory could be displayed in a visual way.
  • A one-click installation of Block Patterns could be accessed from the block inserter.

Additional Questions:

  • How could the block patterns be represented in the search results?
  • What should the process and UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. for submitting patterns to a directory look like?
  • How could previews of Block Patterns account for the visual effect of themes?
  • How might a Block Pattern Directory accommodate localization?
  • Should the Block Pattern Directory be limited to patterns using only core blocks?

Call for Feedback:

Some contributors have started exploring some early technical ideas in this GitHub repo. Check it out to see what technical considerations have been identified so far.

Feedback will help this idea to be more successful. Would this idea be helpful for end users? Are there any other things that should be considered? How could this feature be implemented in an easy to use but helpful way? Please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.

#pattern-directory #blocks

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Next WordCamp.org ticket scrub on August 6th, 2020

This ticket scrub will happen on 2020-08-06 17:00 UTC in the #meta-wordcamp channel.

The focus is on MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. tickets with the WordCamp Site & Plugins component.

Comment below if there’s a specific ticket or topic you’d like to discuss.

#wordcamp #ticket-scrub

+make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//community

Dev requirements for learn.wordpress.org

As per this post on the Community P2, we are going to be using learn.wordpress.org to host the workshops that will be made available to the community.

The Training team has been working on a new site design, which is on a demo server here: https://learnwp.jco.dev/ with the code available on GitHub. We have tacit confirmation from @chetan200891 to collaborate with the Training team on making this site a hub for WordPress learning – including the excellent lesson plans that they have been working on, and these new workshops along with planning for synchronous discussion groups around the content.

The next step here is to finish the work on the learn site (which already looks fantastic) so that it meets the requirements that we need. This includes:

  • A new CPT and taxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies. for workshops (I don’t think a full-featured LMS is necessary at this stage, but we may want to consider thsat for the future)
  • Frontend layouts for the new and existing CPTs
  • An additional call to action on the home page that directs people to the workshop content
  • A link to an external scheduling platform for discussion groups

Please discuss any further dev requirements in comments on this post.

I’m very excited about this platform and the collaboration between Community and Training on the work here!

/cc +make.wordpress.org/training/ +make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//community/ +make.wordpress.org/design/ (since we’ll need design work done on this too)

Next WordCamp.org ticket scrub on July 23rd, 2020

This ticket scrub will happen on 2020-7-23 17:00 UTC in the #meta-wordcamp channel.

The focus is on MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. tickets with the WordCamp Site & Plugins component.

Comment below if there’s a specific ticket or topic you’d like to discuss.

+make.wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//community

#ticket-scrub, #wordcamp-org

X-post: External Linking Policy – “Commercial blogs”

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