An online tool has been created by WordCamp Europe Organisers to help new contributors take part in building the WordPress platform. #WCEU

By answering a series of questions, the Contributor Orientation Tool helps you learn about the different teams you can join to contribute to WordPress.

The tool only takes a few minutes to use and is available on the WCEU website for those attending Contributor Day on 20 June 2019. It can also be used by anyone to help decide on teams to join at other WordCamps.

Community Team at WCEU

Milana Cap, from the Community Team at WCEU, said: “As a Content Management System (CMS), WordPress is built in a way which everyone can use. As a project, WordPress greatly benefits from the help of all who are interested, regardless of the level of technical knowledge and previous CMS experience. We want to show everyone that their skills and interests are valuable to WordPress. Through this tool, we can achieve this goal.”

TEAMS AT WORDCAMP EUROPE 2019

The Make WordPress teams at Contributor Day will be:

• Accessibility
• Accessibility – WP Theme Auditor
• Community
• Core – Javascript
• Core – PHP
• Core – Privacy
• Core – Triage
• Design
• Documentation
• Core – Documentation
• Gutenberg Documentation
• Glotpress
• Meta – i18n
• Hosting
• Marketing
• Meta
• Mobile
• Polyglots
• Support
• Theme Review
• Tide
• Training
• Triage Editor (Core: Editor)
• TV
• WordPress Coding Standards
• WP CLI

Use the Contributor Orientation Tool to help you choose your team or read more about each of the Make WordPress Teams.

Find more info on WCEU 2019 Contributor Day including the schedule and frequently asked questions.

How the tool could be used more widely

The Contributor Orientation Tool could support other WordCamps and the Make WordPress teams in how they encourage new contributors and introduce them to the project.

THE CHALLENGES

Feedback from previous Contributor Days shows that new contributors can find it difficult to decide which team to join and feel unsure of what is expected of them. 

For people who are new to the project, choosing a team from a long list or by reading through the team handbooks can become a barrier to getting involved. We hope to make the process simpler and more personal.

WHY WCEU CREATED THIS TOOL

WordCamp Europe’s Community Team wanted to devise a way to help new contributors easily understand how their professional skills, experience and personal preferences transfer to areas of work at a Contributor Day. The answers from the tool help generate suggestions for a team or number of teams where their skills would be useful.  

HOW THE TOOL WORKS

The new Contributor Orientation Tool is a great way to help WordCamp Europe attendees discover the Make WordPress teams that might interest them and where their skills could be of most use.

It has been developed as a WordPress plugin (HTML form) to help new contributors decide which Make WordPress team/s to contribute to or join at Contributor Day in less than a minute.

The tool is logic-based and guides users through a number of options to help identify potential teams. Attendees can select multiple choices from the questions presented, and the tool uses their selections to generate the next section of questions. This in turn further narrows the final recommendations they will receive. Visit the WordCamp Europe 2019 official website to read more…