2021 Goals/Projects

Continuing the discussion from Is ClassicPress dead?:

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Continue with the Team Updates threads at least once every two months.

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To do list / Wish list / Shopping list / Goals


  1. New ClassicPress theme(s) bundled with the core, ideally with v2.0. Plus more CP compatible themes in general.
  2. Quarterly / twice yearly Directors’ report and/or blog post - “The Directors’ View” - covering roadmap updates, key discussions & opportunities, financial, etc. - a kind of concise “State of the Word” type thing.
  3. i18n
  4. Update website
  5. Documentation
  6. Complete CP donations plugin (custom amounts)
  7. Directory

tbc…

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You mean like a theme skeleton, that is always enabled by default and we basically build “children” theme(s) around it, much like we do with a framework via templates?

If yes, it’s more than welcome from me!

I’d be looking for a modern theme that can be extended by developers but also one that is usable “out of the box” for most users without too much customisation. Something actually useful.

Switch from Slack to something more suited to a community. Bonus points for open source.

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That makes us two mate :wink:

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I’ve had this discussion privately with a number of you but, given the talk about migrating the petitions, it might be time to raise it publicly for discussion.

I think it is time to face reality and rethink the overall direction of ClassicPress. The whole idea of petitions and community-led changes for an amazing version 2 was a nice vision. But to me it is just pie-in-the-sky stuff. And it naturally leads people to think we are not “progressing” (whatever that means), because none of it looks like ever happening.

I would much rather see the community use our (very) limited resources to consolidate what we already have. This means focusing on two areas:

  1. Make sure we have a light, stable and secure CMS core. A framework that can be built on by our users in whatever direction they choose.
  2. Develop as wide and diverse an ecosystem as possible (ie plugins and themes), so that users can have lots of options for extending the core for their individual requirements.

The good news is that we have already achieved (1). We are there… job done!! We just need to keep up with security updates (tracking WP 4.9). Maybe we could look at removing a few things like XML-RPC or gravatars. But, over the past year, I’ve come to realise that (2) is a much more important area, where we really should be focusing our efforts. People won’t give up on CP because we haven’t improved the media library. They will leave because there is no compatible plugin that does what they want.

To that end, my proposals are quite radical. Drop the whole petitions idea. Rethink the roadmap and make it more modest and achievable. Let’s just settle for the fact that CP1 is ClassicPress and work with that.

And, yes, I know the standard response is that we need more developers. We have been saying this for the past 2 years. Every dawn I scan the hilltops but I see no sign of the cavalry coming to save us.

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I think petitions should stay…
But in another form.

We don’t have the numbers yet to create a “voting flow” and “normal users” that aren’t devs won’t even bother with petitions because they are on the tech side and average Joe is not accustomed to have a say.
So it happens that we have TONS of small petitions, and some of them are just one average Joe whim that will stay there with one vote.
So “nothing gets done” because in reality only the ones proposed by devs that had a real thinking moment about what is doable and useful are going to be voted AND acted upon.
That said…
1 is done? Not untill we have core plugins.
Media library improvement? Should be moved to a core plugin. And be a modular media management systems.
Developing ecosystem is a good point and is in progress. But ecosystem is developed by devs using cp. Not by CP itself (as it is with WP).

That said:

IMHO petitions should be a way for devs to have a say and for average Joe to vote on.

And they should stay as a way to build a plan.

I agree that our release cycle is very slow, but it is stable and steady.
And as already mentioned elsewhere, we are working on releasing the framework that will make developing the ecosystem a reality.
Rest assured that when we have this people are going to use it, build it and they will come.

And in regards of this infrastructure… Maybe we need to set rules for it (like “are paid plugins and themes acceptable and how? Will CP monetize it? What criteria must be met to be included? Etc…”) But this is another story and conversation about that has already started.

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I have never understood the need for core plugins. If you want a plugin then install it yourself. That’s another thing I would drop.

Sorry, at this time of year I must sound like Scrooge. :worried:

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Once WP core was VERY minimal. There was no customizer, no media library…

It was just a “bare thing”.

Features were added by the WP devs by making an experimental plugin, that later was included in core once tested.

But they gave no attention nor love to the real core.

Now WP core is a mess of pieces crammed together IMHO.

It is clear that people need an easy way to manage media. Or a way to visually manage the theme? Should these be core features? Nope… Nor emojis, gravatars and the like.

But if we just remove them people at present won’t have these features.

So they are moved out to clean core and will stay as core plugins.

This is going to allow devs to create other plugins for these features so that in time there will be more choice.

It makes CP really modular and extendable not forcing people to use customizer or media library…

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Core plugins make CP light. The idea was and is, instead of adding 3 plugins to disable 3 features we simply not install those 3 features to begin with.

Plugins that disable features are unnecessary bloat.

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I agree with @ozfiddler that the petitions mechanism isn’t working and just makes CP look inactive. It’s full of stuff that will never get voted up because whoever posted it doesn’t understand either the codebase or the philosophy.

But I also agree with @ElisabettaCarrara that core plugins are the perfect way to make core faster and more maintainable without denying people the features that some of them may need.

So that’s my 2c. Ditch petitions, keep core plugins.

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Can someone please explain to me the difference between a standard plugin and a core plugin?

Core plugins are features that are shipped with every install and that majority of sites need (like seo, media, customizer, icons, e-commerce, emojis…). User is supplied with a light core, the option to remove those core plugins entirely and add his own features (so free to custom code all that they need) or keep the core plugins they need, or use a non-core plugin found in the directory that ships same feature of a core one (so core would be Classic SEO but you remove it and use another SEO plugin). Core will be structured to not be bothered which plugin (core or non-core) you use, coding standards for plugins will have to comply with core structure anyway so a core plugin will connect to the core just as simply that a non-core one.
This means no core bloat, but gives us the occasion to build and ship a cms that is a “real modular system” where we can pack several standard features so that a average Joe can start right away (by simply relying on core and core plugins) and a vetted expert can even throw away core plugins and make special ones for the specific site.
(Think of WordPress.com, where they ship jetpack default, seo, media etc… But on WP.com there is no way to disable and use something else).

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Not achieved. Sorry, maybe it is my fault, but I didn’t see any updates after WP updated to the 4.9.16. It forces me (and, maybe, others) to feel insecure.

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Most of the updates to CP have been done precisely to port security updates made to WP. Of course, not all of the latter are applicable because we don’t have Gutenberg.

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The core plugins concept is what I’m most looking forward to enjoying about ClassicPress. I hadn’t even considered moving media out into a core plugin, but actually that would potentially solve so many issues. Because media management in WP/CP is currently a bit of a disaster area, and moving media out of core would enable the building of alternatives which could use the same hooks.

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I say media because it makes sense splitting it and give a bit of love to the specific feature. As is media library is good, but being the elephant that it is and being in core means that it can’t be further developed without risking breaking changes…

From the Roadmap:

Core Plugins

In service of our mission to create a CMS that is streamlined, fast, and secure, Version 2 will introduce the concept of core plugins. These plugins will move some “core” features into plugins that are enabled by default. Developers can then selectively disable and delete these plugins based on the needs of their clients. Some example core plugins could include:

  • XML-RPC
  • Gravatars
  • REST API
  • Emojis

In a nutshell, we extract certain rarely used or unwanted features that are currently in the core and move them to “core” plugins instead - to be installed or not as required.

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