Getting Started at a Contributor Day – Make WordPress Support

Getting Started at a Contributor Day – Make WordPress Support
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Getting Started at a Contributor Day
Handbook
Getting Started With Support
Getting Started at a Contributor Day
Getting Started at a Contributor Day
In this article
Support responsibilities
Common Tasks
Prior Knowledge
Tools
Essential Reading
First Steps
Tasks
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This guide is intended to help you get started contributing to the support team at a
contributor day
Contributor Day
Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of
There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus.
. Below is an outline of what the Support team does, and how to quickly get started contributing to WordPress support. If you need any help, talk to your contributor day organizer, or ask your question in #forums on
Slack
Slack
Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform
. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at
Regular Meeting Time:
Every other Thursday,
17:00 UTC
Chat Room:
#forums
channel on
Slack
Support responsibilities
The responsibilities of the support team are:
Helping in the
WordPress Support Forums
by answering questions
Helping in the
#wordpress IRC channel
Providing guidance and answering questions
related to the forums
in the
#forums channel on Slack
Providing guidance in general – the majority of the users in the WP forums are in over their heads and they need a little guidance
Common Tasks
As a member of the Support team, some common tasks that you’ll carry out are:
Answer questions in the WordPress support forums
Look for topics that you can contribute to, based on your experience level
Keep the conversation positive
Keep replies on topic
Monitor IRC and answer questions as they appear
Usually the questions will be more complex, but some will be easy
Because IRC is live chat, be ready to reply immediately
Note documentation/handbook articles that need to be improved, and update them with relevant information
Many of these articles will be used in both the forums and IRC
Prior Knowledge
Helping in support doesn’t require a lot of
PHP
PHP
PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.
experience, but knowledge that you’ll find helpful for working in support is:
Knowing something about how WordPress works from a user’s perspective. This includes usage of themes, plugins, the site and
block
Block
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.
editors, etc.
Knowing a few basic concepts such as actions and filters
An understanding of the basics of
CSS
CSS
CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site.
An understanding of testing and debugging
A patient attitude: Remember that it’s not easy for people to ask for help
Tools
basic text editor
local development environment
or a self-hosted site you’re willing to test things on, would be handy. A newer alternative is
WP Playground
, which runs entirely in-browser, and provides a WP instance to test things out.
IRC client
– or the easiest way is to access in your browser:
web.libera.chat
Familiarize yourself with
IRC tools
– i.e. type in a code, and it will produce a link to a
plugin
Plugin
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
or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.
or codex article
Essential Reading
Know your way around the
WordPress Documentation
and
Developer documentation
, so you can quickly look things up when necessary
First Steps
To help out on the support forums:
Sign up for a
WordPress.org
WordPress.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.
account
Browse through the support forums to see what you can help out with, especially the
No Replies section
of the forums
To help out in IRC:
Select an
IRC client
Log in to irc.libera.chat, channel #wordpress. More information is available in
this handbook article about IRC
Help someone out with an answer to their question
Tasks
Some easy tasks for a first-time contributor to get started at a contributor day are:
Join the #WordPress IRC channel
and help answer questions
Join the
#forums
channel on
Slack
to communicate with other volunteers.
Head to the
No Replies
link in the forums and start answer threads that haven’t received any attention
First published
February 26, 2014
September 17, 2024
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