The Test Team helps manage testing and triage across the WordPress ecosystem. They focus on user testing of the editing experience and WordPress dashboard, replicating and documenting bug reports, and supporting a culture of review and triage across the project.
If you’d like to help test Full Site Editing, please join the FSE Outreach Program. You can find current calls for testing for this program here and you can join the fun in #fse-outreach-experiment.
This post is part of a wider series that provides answers to questions gathered through the FSE Outreach Program. This round of questions was started on April 28th and is being consolidated into a single post since there were substantially less questions. Thank you to everyone who submitted a question so our knowledge can grow together! Stay tuned for future rounds.
Continue readingThis is the sixth call for testing as part of the Full Site Editing Outreach Program and a very important one leading up to 5.8! If you haven’t been able to participate yet, now is a great time to do so. If you’re excited to help with future efforts, check out the upcoming program schedule.
For more information about this outreach program, please review this FAQ for helpful details. To properly join the fun, please head to #fse-outreach-experiment in Make Slack for future testing announcements, helpful posts, and more will be shared there.
A lot has changed since the first call for testing focused on Template Editing so, if you’re worried about this being a repeat experience, don’t be. As a reminder, Template Editing Mode is the feature of Full Site Editing that unlocks the ability to switch between editing an individual’s post/page content and the template that an individual post/page uses. When this first was released, you were only able to edit a template but you couldn’t create a new one or assign a post/page to use a specific template. At this point though, you can create a new template, edit current ones, and select which template you want to use for pages/posts. Tied to this, the interface has been updated to make it clearer when you’re actually in template editing mode.
To make this a tiny bit more realistic, we’re going to pretend we’re creating a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. site with a custom landing page to attract visitors from another event to join the WordCamp you’re hosting.
While there’s more information below to ensure you get everything set up properly, here are the key aspects to have in place with your testing environment:
Generally speaking, please use the latest versions of each part of the setup and keep in mind that versions might have changed since this post was shared.
Flow is the actual user experience, in many ways. If you like, you can think of flow as a really comprehensive set of user stories. When you think about user flow, you’re thinking about exactly how a user will perform the tasks allowed by your product.Flow and Context
Important Note:
While this call for testing is focused on testing a specific feature, you’ll likely find other bugs in the process of testing with such a 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. feature! Please know any bugs you find are welcome in your report for testing, even if they aren’t directly applicable to the tested feature.
Known issues:
While creating this call for testing, a few issues popped up that you too might experience as you go through this. Rest assured they have been reported. Here’s a non exhaustive list of the most serious items:
Known issues are expected to be found at this stage in development for something that’s so actively being iterated upon!
Setup Instructions:
Creating pages
Creating a new template
Customizing the template
Create a custom footer
Create a new page & assign the new template
Advanced Steps
If you’re more technical and keen to test out future ideas, check out this PR. Keep in mind that you can always download the specific Gutenberg plugin version for this PR here to make it easier to explore. For context, this PR seeks to help better differentiate between when you’re editing post content vs the template by obscuring the ability to edit the post content when in template editing mode. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this PR in the comments below or on the PR directly.
Testing Video
Note that there are chapters added to the video that correspond with the steps above.
What to notice:
Remember to share a screenshot of what you created if you’re up for it!
Please leave feedback in the comments of this post. If you’d prefer, you’re always welcome to create issues in this GitHub repo directly for Gutenberg and in this GitHub repo for TT1 Blocks. If you leave feedback in GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/, please do still comment below with the link. If you see that someone else has already reported a problem, please still note your experience with it below, as it’ll help give those working on this experience more well-rounded insight into what to improve.
X-comment from +make.wordpress.org/core: Comment on Help Test the Widgets Editor for WordPress 5.8
The following is a summary of the bi-weekly Test Team triage meeting that occurred on 2021-05-04 13:00. A full transcript can be found here in the #core-test channel in the Make WordPress Slack. Meeting was moderated by @hellofromtonya.
Triage meetings are held every other Tuesday at 13:00 UTC. Reference to triage meetings announcement.
Team planned to triage each 5.8 ticket marked as needs testing to determine if:
Once the session started, shifted to discuss keywords and workflows for collective understanding.
Started reviewing ticket 37255 which has these testing keywords:
has-patch means it has code to be testedneeds-testing indicates a call for manual testing needs-testing-info means it needs step-by-step instructions of how to test it. Here’s where the comment asking for those instructions.This ticket is not in a testable state. Team decided to discuss the meaning and usage of the keywords as well as how this team will know when it’s ready to be tested.
Discussed needs-testing keyword:
needs-testing keyword should be removed until all the testing details are added. has-testing-info requirement.Discussed workflow to know when a ticket is ready for Test Team action:
ready-to-testhas-patch needs-testing has-testing-info.Team decisions:
@hellofromtonya shared the needs-testing-info script she used during 5.6 @hellofromtonya@hellofromtonya shared the needs-testing-info script she used during 5.6 and 5.7 cycles:
Please provide need more information to help testers manually test the patch (including at Test Scrubs):
– What are the steps to test?
– Are there any testing dependencies, such as a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party or script?
– What is the expected behavior after applying the patch?
Team briefly discussed. Ran out of time.
Meeting went past the planned hour. @hellofromtonya wrapped up by encouraging further async discussion and Q&A.
Thanks to everyone who attended!
This post is a summary of the fifth call for testing for the experimental FSE outreach program. Thank you to everyone who participated, whether through testing directly or sharing the call for testing with others. It all helps! Special thanks to the following people:
A few reminders:
What’s next for the Query 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.?
For anyone interested in the future of this powerful block, check out this overview issue tracking future improvements planned for 5.8.
How far can one go?
Since this was a more open ended call for testing with options to go further in the Query Quest if one chose to do so, it’s neat to see the directions people went. In particular, the following from @webmandesign shows a lovely take on the call for testing both in terms of the design and because @webmandesign went beyond the initial scope of the instructions:
High-Level Feedback
Here’s what a few folks had to say about the overall experience that’s helpful to keep in mind. In general, there was both a sense of wonder in what the Query Block is capable of combined with a sense of being overwhelmed for the same reason:
It is kind of stressful customizing the Query block layout. It makes me wonder if the placeholder when starting up should contain checkboxes suggesting additional blocks that should by default be added when a user begins to customize the design. I also find it difficult to move up and down the hierarchy of blocks. I have to look at the breadcrumbs to see where I am, and then guess which block I have to select to make specific changes.
@paaljoachim in this comment.
Loved the whole query block concept and I want more query controls for other data!
@suhayse in this comment.
I was blown away that I could change the date on posts within the editor, change featured imageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts., and make new posts. Wow!
@kristengunther in this comment.
This was my first time using the Query block and it is very cool to be able to build a list of posts and customise them without having to write WP_Query. What a revelation! Thank you to everyone who has put so much work into this block.
@getdave in this comment.
I really like this block! This will give users lots of options in customizing their post layouts!
@synorae in this comment.
What I constantly find confusing and frustrating, especially if I put myself in the shoes of new users or somebody finally switching from the Classic editor to 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/ is the lack of visual references in the layout. Having to hover on elements to figure out what’s what, where things are nested, or simply try to insert a new block is still confusing when dealing with layouts. I’ve been recommending Gutenberg as default editor for blog posts to all my customers, and some are eventually getting used to it, but when it comes to creating more complex layouts things can get complicated very quickly.
@piermario in this comment.
Repeated Feedback: Control over spacing & placeholder confusion
This test, in particular, led to two main repeated points of feedback that touch on the wider themes from prior calls for testing around specific placeholders being confusing to interact with and the desire for more control over spacing/alignment of blocks. For this call for testing, the feedback centered around both how confusing the “read more” placeholder text was in the Post Excerpt Block and on desire for more control over spacing with the Columns Block.
We need margins UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. controls! So that we ourselves can control the visible gaps, and not have default gaps here and there that the theme happens to have inserted.
@paaljoachim in this comment.
I missed the ability to style the columns individually – increase the gap between the columns, but that’s not part of the current coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. column block.
@suhayse in this comment.
Content widths are very confusing. I’d expect default to be inherited from theme. For example, adding Columns block directly into “index” area content will render the block fullwidth. To control the width then, I need to wrap it in Group block, which is set to custom width while I’d prefer it to default to “Inherit default layout”.
@webmandesign in this comment.
Editing the read more text definitely works. I didn’t even know you could change it. I probably assumed you couldn’t because the cursor is a pointer when hovering/clicking it. It’s definitely not clear that it’s a placeholder. For consistency with traditional more-links, I would make “Read more…” the default text and not just a placeholder. Users could still delete it if they didn’t want it to appear.
@greenshady in this comment.
Spacing is very off and inconsistent. But this is actually very common issue with block editor and very difficult to tackle 100% in themes, probably even impossible due to different HTMLHTML HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a markup language that is used in the development of web pages and websites. in editor and website front-end. Margins (+ padding) control for every block would be very beneficial.
@webmandesign in this comment.
Configuration Improvements
The Query Block is a complex, powerful block that makes the configuration step both tricky and crucial. In the long run, the plan is still for this to be more of a theme author tool rather than something an end user will interact with. Regardless, the current setup is worth evolving even if only to benefit theme authors and, later, end users when more block variations are explored!
Of the items in this section, the most prominent and recurring piece of feedback was the desire to make it easier to switch the initial pattern since, if you want to switch the pattern you’re using mid way through, you essentially have to start over completely. Addressing this is currently under discussion and should improve with updates like this coming to 10.6 that make the initial setup exploration more intuitive.
I wanted to go back and change the size selection to the query loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop.. I think there was large, medium, small. Is there a way to change that layout after you’ve customized that query block? Seems like it should be part of “Display Settings” in the block controls.
@suhayse in this comment.
Is there a way to change the layout of the query after you choose it? For example, if I chose one and then customized some things – can I can change layouts later on or do I have re-make the whole query block? I couldn’t figure this out.
@kristengunther in this comment.
When adding a dark background color I tried to set the text color to a light color and was surprised when changing it had no effect. Only after thinking this through did I realise I needed to alter the Link Color in order to have the text color change.
@getdave in this comment.
I expected the Query Block to have the ability to make all the featured images within the block the same size, but that didn’t happen.
@synorae in this comment.
Settings Improvements
Outside of the initial configuration steps of the Query Block, the options are endless for deeper customizations. This section of feedback seeks to focus on that experience, whether that’s altering the Query settings or the problems that came up around adding various blocks into the loop itself.
At a high level, a major point of feedback centered around general confusion for why certain settings existed in one place and not another. In many ways, the various settings one might interact with to create what you want with the Query B,lock felt split across too many places in an unpredictable and counterintuitive way. For example, you might want the block to display a certain categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. but only 3 posts from that category. To do that, you have to interact with the block sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. settings first to set the category before using the block toolbar to select the number of visible posts. While people were ultimately able to find what they needed, it leaves lots of room for improvement in streamlining the creation workflow.
When selecting the category of the Query block, it would be nice to be able to select from a list of existing categories instead of suggestions from input. Because I do not remember all the categories.
From a member of the Japanese WordPress community.
Having some query controls in the block toolbar and others in the block’s sidebar seemed confusing. Colocating them would seem more logical. I appreciate we’ve probably placed the “most common” controls in the toolbar for convenience but having to jump between locations when customising the query didn’t make for a smooth experience. Perhaps duplicate the toolbar controls into the sidebar?
@get_dave in this comment.
Can I make the date italics? I didn’t see many text styling options for the post date.
@kristengunther in this comment.
Collection of Miscellaneous Bugs & Enhancements
As in the past, there are sometimes bugs that don’t fit nicely into a specific category, but that are still worth mentioning. To make it easier for those working on full site editing to get a sense of bugs at a glance, they have all been shared here:
When I added a “Login/out” block, I was able to click on it, and the outer part of the admin panel were displayed twice.
From a member of the Japanese WordPress community.
Some of the patterns don’t respond well as the screen gets smaller.
@getdave in this comment.
I wanted to try using keyboard and tried to look for shortcuts from the “Keyboard Shortcuts” menu in the toolbar, but it showed nothing. I’m still looking for a cheat sheet or something to try editing with keyboard only, but I still haven’t found it, and it doesn’t feel like something quite discoverable yet.
@piermario in this comment.
Last week, the Test Team agreed to do bi-weekly test triage sessions. These meetings will happen every other Tuesday at 13:00 UTC (starting this week).
Next test triage meeting will be held on 2021-05-04 13:00 in the #core-test on 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/.. Come join to triage with the team.
The meetings are now in the calendar.
In context of bug repositories such as TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. or GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/, triage means sorting, labeling, and closing duplicate incoming issues and testing means manually testing bug reports, questions, and feature requests.
Triage & Testing Issues in Test Team’s handbook
The goals are:
There are multiple “testable” states in a ticket’s lifecycle including these (keyword shown in parentheses):
has-testing-info)has-patch)needs-testing)has-testing-info)has-patch)needs-unit-tests)has-testing-info)Props to @francina for peer review.
This is a summary of a Hallway Hangout that was wrangled in the #fse-outreach-experiment channel as part of the FSE Outreach Program. Thank you to everyone who joined in! If you’re keen to join an effort like this in the future, please join the 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/. channel.
Attendance: @mkaz @annezazu @sabrinazeidan
Video Recording:
Topics Covered:
Next Steps:
@annezazu found a small bug with the navigation block where changing global styles typography changes the typography of the placeholder text and will report it!
With the Go/No Go Next Steps outlined ahead of WordPress 5.8’s release in July 2021, let’s use this time to dig into any general questions you all might have around Full Site Editing! If possible, please focus questions specifically around WordPress 5.8 as those will be the most high impact to address. You are welcome to submit questions using the form below or to leave them as a comment on this post by May 12th:
Keep in mind that because, depending on the questions it’s likely that some answers might take the form of “people are working to figure this out and feedback is welcome here,” rather than a definitive answer. This is especially true for features/milestones that are planned for the 5.9 release.
Where will you share the answers?
I’ll share a recap post on this blog (Make Test). Questions will be grouped with corresponding answers for easy review. You can see what the outcome will look like based on the first round here. I will track down answers to every question and share my work as I go by creating a collaborative Google doc where people can help find answers or simply see how the work evolves. I very much welcome collaboration here!
While the main result will be a lovely list of answers, this collective effort will also be useful for future documentation updates and potential tutorials. Once the post is published, I will follow up via email with everyone who left their email and a question in the form. For anyone who leaves a question as a comment on this post, I will @ your username in the recap post so you don’t miss out too!
For more information about this experimental program, please review this FAQ for helpful details. To properly join the fun, please head to #fse-outreach-experiment in Make Slack for future testing announcements, helpful posts, and more will be shared there. To help with planning your involvement, you can see the upcoming/current schedule for the FSE Outreach Program here.
#fse-outreach-program #full-site-editing #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/ #coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-editor #fse-testing-call