The WordPress Theme Review Process

WordCamp Los AngelesSeptember 15, 2012

Konstantin Obenland

WordPress Core ContributorWordPress Theme Review Team Member

@obenlanden.wp.obenland.it

The WordPress.org Theme Repository

The WordPress.org Theme Repository 1,600 Themes and counting

“The goal of the theme directory is not to list every theme in the world, it's to list the best ones. We want a reasonable number of themes we can point to that embody the best and brightest of WordPress development, and that users can choose without compromise.”– Matt Mullenweg

Why Host At The Repository

Enduser

• Convenience

• Quality

• Reliability

• Freedom

Source: Bennett, 2011

Developer

• Automatic updates

• Exposure

• Support Forum

• Great way to give back!

The WordPress Theme Review Team

Purpose

• Review and approve Theme tickets as quickly and as completely as possible

• Provide an educational resource for the WordPress Theme Developer community

• Encourage and establish community standards for Theme quality and best practices

Source: Bennett, 2011

The WordPress Theme Review Team

• Four Administrators

• > 50 Reviewers with various levels of

• expertise

• involvement

• activity

How The Theme Review Team Works

We communicate through...

• The Theme Reviewer mailing listhttp://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers

• The Make WordPress Themes bloghttp://make.wordpress.org/themes/

• Themes Trachttps://themes.trac.wordpress.org/

• IRC#wordpress-themes

Organization of Theme Trac

• Four priority queues:

• Currently approved Themes

• Tickets older than 2 weeks

• Previously reviewed, but not approved Themes

• New Themes, never reviewed

Theme Review

• Tickets are assigned by priority

• Reviewers assign Tickets to themselves

• Issues are noted in a comment

• Tickets are closed as approved/not-approved

• Previously approved tickets, mostly diff-review only

Before looking at the code...

• Theme Name

• Author/Theme URI

• License

• Footer Credit Links

• Screenshot

Guidelines

Guidelines

• Codex:

• Theme Review

• Theme Unit Test

• Theme Development

• Make Themes

• Chip Bennett’s Guide to Reviewing Themes

Guidelines cover...

• Doctype Declaration

• Theme Namespacing

• Language, Favicons

• WordPress Core Fetaures

• Template Tags and Hooks

• Including Files, Scripts, Styles

• Site Information

• WordPress-generated CSS Classes

• Theme Template Files

• Theme Settings and Data Security

• Privacy, Licensing, Up-Selling

• Bundled Resources

• Theme Name, Credit Links

• and more...

Tools

Tools

• Data: Theme Unit Test

• Plugins:

• Theme Check

• Debogger

• Log Deprecated Notices

• Monster Widget

How To Become A Reviewer

How To Become A Reviewer

• Setup a WordPress test environment

• Setup Theme-Trac access

• Join the Theme Reviewers mail list

• Go to the Trac Ticket Request Queue Page, and leave a comment asking to be assigned a Theme

• Perform some test reviews

• Once you have done enough Theme reviews, you will be added to the “Reviewers” group

Source: http://make.wordpress.org/themes/about/howmake.wordpress.org-to-join-wptrt/

Thanks!

Questions?

References

• Bennett, C. (June 2011). WordCamp KC: The WordPress Theme Repository. http://www.slideshare.net/chipbennett/wordcamp-kc-the-wordpress-theme-repository