What is contributing?

FAQs

Some questions and answers to help you find out more about becoming a contributor to the WordPress.org global project.

Question 1

“Do I need to be a developer to contribute?”

Answer 1

Not at all. Everyone is welcome to participate. There are many different ways to contribute to the project.

You might own and manage websites built on WordPress, or use WordPress to create content, run a business or design websites in general. You may be involved in online marketing or search engine optimisation. Really, if your interests have anything to do with WordPress, we are sure you will find people with similar skills involved in contributing to this open source project.

WordCamp Europe built an online tool called the Contributing Orientation Tool which, based on your personal preferences, can help you learn which teams work on areas that interest you.

Question 2

“How does someone with little programming skills begin to contribute to the Make WordPress teams, and what resources are available to help guide?”

Answer 2

The most important thing to do when you are ready to start contributing is to join the Slack channel corresponding to the team you wish to join. Slack is a communication tool, mainly chat, used for easier collaboration among teams.

It can be difficult to decide which team to choose, and you can explore more than one. There are a lot of teams, which may be overwhelming at first glance, but don’t be put off.

Set up a WordPress.org and Slack account for the Make WordPress Channel.

If you can’t find a video in your own language, come and help make one! Translation is one of the ways you can contribute to WordPress and make a difference for many people.

The teams that make WordPress include:

You can visit each team’s relevant web page to find out more about how to get started with contributing, find their Slack channels, and get information about their meeting schedules.

Some WordPress teams have a higher specialist skill level for entry point, for example, as they require solid knowledge of a programming language and/or a good understanding of the WordPress ecosystem.

Some teams require no programming or coding experience for many tasks. You can go through the team’s Handbook and read meeting updates to get an idea of their focus. You can attend team meetings to discover more.

Browse the schedule of team meetings.

Slack meetings are a great way to introduce yourself to the team and ask for guidance on contributing, if you still have questions after reading the Handbook. Teams encourage new people to ask questions and are happy to help you get started.

Most WordPress development happens in Track (SVN). To contribute code, you need to get familiar with SVN, Track and Git. The Marketing, Community, Design and Training Teams use Google Docs and Trello, and have some specialist tools they use too.

Development teams usually have something called a ‘Good first bug’. This is an issue in code for which the ticket is raised. The issue is considered suitable for new contributors to solve. If you find these issues too complicated or advanced, do not worry, you can still contribute. The best thing about contributing to open source software is your skills will develop much faster.

To start, you might consider joining the Support or Documentation team, as they need contributors with all development skill levels.

Question 3

“Can a person totally new to WordPress be invited to contribute?”

Answer 3

Absolutely! Contributor Days and contributing opportunities are not invitation-only. In fact, you don’t need an invitation at all. You don’t need to have attended a previous contributor event to get started..

Anyone new to WordPress or contributing events has a unique perspective on the platform, and sharing this provides valuable feedback to others coming fresh to it and to more experienced contributors too.

Everyone is welcome to attend contributor events as long as they are registered on the relevant WordCamp website. For WordCamp Europe 2021, you will not need to register for a separate Contributor Day ticket as a Contributing Experience opportunities will be spread through the three days of the WordCamp, from 7 to 10 June. We hope this will make it easier for those new to WordPress or contributing, to find out more.

Question 4

“What kind of skills are required to attend the Contributor Experience sessions?”

Answer 4

Our Contributor Experience is all about contributing to the global WordPress project, not just its software. This covers a lot of different areas including Marketing, Community, Training, Development, Design, Documentation, Support, Accessibility, Polyglots, Video editing and captioning, and much more. More at: Full list of Make WordPress teams.

In practice, this means that the minimum skills you need is to speak English to follow the events and onboarding resources at WordCamp Europe.

Question 5

“Do I get a badge for the team from attending Contributor experience at WCEU?”

Answer 5

There are no badges available for this, just the benefit of taking part in WordCamp Europe and discovering the live and on-demand resources to help you get started or find new ways to contribute. Each of the Teams that make WordPress have their own badge system, which you can get by meeting their requirements. Some teams assign contributing badges manually. Some teams have a system that creates them automatically.

You can find all the requirements for each badge on the Profile Badges page at WordPress.org.

Question 6

“Can I be involved in more than one team?”

Answer 6

Yes, you can explore multiple teams in the on-demand material at WCEU this year. This is the same for getting involved in the project too. You can spend time in the teams that interest you and find the tasks you want and have time to contribute to. Some teams or tasks require specialist knowledge so it is best to find out what they are working on, attend new contributor sessions where they run, and follow along some meetings to help you get started.

Question 7

“Will information on getting set up available in advance of WCEU?”

Answer 7

Yes as part of our promotion of the Make WordPress Contributor teams, we will be sharing information on how to set up the two main accounts you will need: WordPress.org and the Make WordPress Slack.

You can also go directly to those materials now, which have been produced by WCEU, the Make WordPress Marketing Team and others.

Videos to help you set up a WordPress.org and Make WordPress Slack account. These are available in a number of languages. If you are an existing polyglot contributor and can help make a video voiceover in your language, contact us.

Question 8

“I can’t code and am not used to the block editor, does this mean I can no longer contribute?”

Answer 8

You can still contribute to WordPress. There are teams that do not require knowledge or use of the new editor. There are materials on the new Learn WordPress.org resource which can help you with the block editor and other aspects of using WordPress.