Destiny Kanno 11:34 pm on May 29, 2024

Proposal: Learn WordPress Content Maintenance Process

In last week’s Training Team (see Slack thread here) meeting we brought up the question of “what content are we obligated to leave on learn and until what version of WordPress do we need to support”.

This question is a critical one as the team is currently working on relaunching Learn WordPress with a fresh new design and streamlined content experience which includes Learning Pathways, Courses, and Lessons. Part of this project includes content deprecation for Tutorials and Lesson Plans, and a push toward presenting content on the site that is new, fresh, and relevant.

Here’s some takeaways from the discussion on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.:

Content that is not relevant to current coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. features of WordPress should be removed (ex. classic editor)
We could view the WordPress version usage stats to decide what content is most relevant and should be the focus for our team.
We can use WordPress and PHPPHP 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. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. usage metrics to guide our content maintenance process
- More than 70% of WordPress installs are using either 6.5 or 6.4.
- Historically the project maintainers have used 5% as the baseline, ie if more than 5% of WordPresses are using that version of PHP, then support it (this currently aligns with the above point).
The team should review content every 6-12 months for relevancy

Proposed path forward

Adopt 5% baseline for content, which equates to supporting the last two versions of WordPress
Create a content maintenance review process that is run twice a year
Triage GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ for content issues which can be closed based on the new baseline

Contribute to this conversation

Here’s some questions to help keep the conversation going:

Do you agree with the proposed 5% baseline for content relevance? Why or why not?
Should there be exceptions to the 5% rule in certain circumstances? If so, what might those exceptions be?
What are your thoughts on the proposed bi-annual (twice a year) content review process?
How can we ensure that the content review process remains thorough and effective?
What strategies could we adopt to effectively communicate content deprecations to our learners?
What other metrics or data sources could be beneficial for informing our content maintenance process?

Please share your thoughts on this topic by June 13th, 2024

Dan Soschin 9:14 pm on June 3, 2024

Do you agree with the proposed 5% baseline for content relevance?
While 5% is not a big number, I’m not sure it is necessary to remove content that is still relevant and factually accurate, even if it is dated. However, I think it could include a note if parts of it are out of date. If there is a minimal cost to hosting the content and it is being used, even by a few people, I think it’s useful.

What are your thoughts on the proposed bi-annual (twice a year) content review process?
I believe it is very important that any content that is available is factually accurate. It will negatively impact perception, satisfaction, and adoption, if people access invalid content. So long as there are resources available to review content, twice a year seems reasonable to me.

How can we ensure that the content review process remains thorough and effective?
Could there be a two-part process? Each piece of content is reviewed independently by two contributors and then if they both agree it should be removed, then so be it. If they disagree, a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. or 3rd person and be the tie-breaker?

What strategies could we adopt to effectively communicate content deprecations to our learners?
I like the idea of sharing the content depreciation process transparently on the Learn page and even making a note on each piece of content when it was last reviewed.
Cynthia Norman 2:50 pm on June 6, 2024

I don’t feel removing content will be necessary. Instead, I propose tagging content with metadata such as which minimum version of WordPress you need for it.

I also like using a deprecation process fits well with my way of thinking as it’s marked “older” but its relevancy could still exist for older sites. I like @dansoschin idea of deprecation transparency and a “last reviewed” note. All of this could be stored as metadata.

I think older content can remain with notes indicating what newer content learners could consider instead if their needs aren’t being met with the older content. Carefully considered metadata can also help with finding the desired content.

I believe the topic of relevancy is subjective as we all have different WordPress environments to work with. For me as a developer, I’m constantly needing help with taking over older sites and searching for content on how that site was built. For example, a site built using a classic theme and CMB2 pluginPlugin 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 https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party used for metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. boxes.
- Destiny Kanno 2:32 am on June 11, 2024
  
  For me as a developer, I’m constantly needing help with taking over older sites and searching for content on how that site was built.
  
  Very interesting point here!
  
  Is this something you exclusively look for video content on (and does that currently exist on Learn?), or do the Codex, Documentation and Developer Handbook sites have this info?
  - Cynthia Norman 11:06 am on June 13, 2024
    
    I prefer to learn from video so I’m on YouTube a lot or I wind up on a forum such as stack overflow. With video, I like to know when it was created and try to match that up with when the site was built.
Courtney Robertson 7:09 pm on June 6, 2024

+make.wordpress.org/docs/
+make.wordpress.orgWordPress.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. https://wordpress.org//support/
Courtney Robertson 7:13 pm on June 6, 2024

+make.wordpress.org/support/
+make.wordpress.org/polyglots/
Estela Rueda 7:21 pm on June 6, 2024

Removing outdated content from the site is not necessarily a good idea. There are lots of sites that use the classic editor and still need access to that information, for instance.
In docs, we add (deprecated) to the title or add a banner at the beginning of the article with a legend saying “This feature works with version x.x” or something similar and, give a link for the article with the feature replacement, if it exists.
A content review process should be in place, to update the lessons or any relevant information on the topic, but unless there is a way to know that a lesson/course is not being used, these should not be deleted.
Courtney Robertson 8:03 pm on June 6, 2024
I appreciate the effort put into rethinking the Learn WordPress content maintenance process, but I have some concerns.

🚩 Impact on SEO and Link Integrity
Removing content, even if outdated, can negatively impact SEO and create broken links for sites that reference our resources. This could harm the support and documentation teams significantly. For instance, older content pages like “/lesson/how-to-log-in-with-wp-admin/” received 11,400 views with a 37.82% engagement rate, indicating their continued relevance.

💡 Alternative Approaches
- Deprecation Notices: Instead of removing content, we could add a banner or note indicating the content is outdated but still available for those who need it. This approach aligns with how we handle deprecated features in documentation.
- Metadata Tagging: TagTag Tag is one of the pre-defined taxonomies in WordPress. Users can add tags to their WordPress posts along with categories. However, while a category may cover a broad range of topics, tags are smaller in scope and focused to specific topics. Think of them as keywords used for topics discussed in a particular post. content with the WordPress version it applies to, helping users understand its relevance without removing it. High engagement rates for content like “/tutorials/” (86.79%) and “/lesson-plans/” (90.4%) show that users still find value in older content.
🔄 Content Review Frequency
A bi-annual review process is great, but let’s ensure it’s thorough. Perhaps a two-part review process where content is independently reviewed by two contributors and escalated to a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. if there’s a disagreement. Engagement data, such as the 82.09% rate for “/tutorial/exploring-wordpress-6-5/”, supports the need for regular reviews to maintain high engagement.

📣 Communication Strategy
Transparency is key. We should clearly communicate any content deprecation on the Learn page and mark each piece of content with its last review date and relevant version tags. Courses like “/course/getting-started-with-wordpress-get-setup/” with a high engagement rate (69.86%) suggest that users respond well to clear communication.

🌐 Diverse Use Cases
Many users work with older versions of WordPress for various reasons. Removing content could leave them without crucial information. Keeping content with appropriate notes ensures we cater to a wider audience. The high engagement across different content types, such as “/lesson/introduction-to-wordpress-2/” with a 90.52% engagement rate, indicates varied user needs.

🤖 AI and Content AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)
With the increasing use of AI for support and troubleshooting, it’s important to recognize that AI systems are likely to reference content from Learn.WordPress.orgWordPress.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. https://wordpress.org/ directly to end users who may not even visit the site. These users might seek help from their host, theme, pluginPlugin 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 https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party, etc., and the AI will use the available content to provide solutions. Ensuring that this content is accurate and comprehensive, even if marked as deprecated, will maintain its utility in various support contexts.

📜 WordPress CodexWordPress Codex Living online manual to WordPress.org https://codex.wordpress.org/ and HelpHub References
It’s worth noting that the WordPress Codex, while outdated, is still live and serves as a valuable resource for many users. Additionally, the kickoff of support docs “HelpHub” (reference) shows that maintaining older content with proper context can still be beneficial. The future plans for HelpHub include ideas around footer changelogs similar to the Appearance Widgets Screen. Conversations between Docs and Training teams have also been held previously to link our content closer at a per-blockBlock 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. level. Docs is waiting for Training’s redesign to complete to start linking to our video content especially, ensuring the page links are well situated.

Thanks for considering these points. Looking forward to the ongoing conversation.
- Destiny Kanno 2:40 am on June 11, 2024
  
  The high engagement across different content types, such as “/lesson/introduction-to-wordpress-2/” with a 90.52% engagement rate, indicates varied user needs.
  
  This is part of the Beginner WordPress User learning pathway, so it would not be part of this deprecation conversation.
  
  It’s worth noting that the WordPress CodexWordPress Codex Living online manual to WordPress.org https://codex.wordpress.org/
  
  I’m glad you brought this up. It looks like both the Codex and Documentation sites are hubs for information for older versions of WordPress that our users can access– also, we link to them on Learn.
Jenni McKinnon 8:58 pm on June 6, 2024

Thanks for the proposal. I agree with everything that has been said in the comments so far. Here are some more thoughts that I have on this that may be worth considering:

Do you agree with the proposed 5% baseline for content relevance? Why or why not? Should there be exceptions to the 5% rule in certain circumstances? If so, what might those exceptions be? What strategies could we adopt to effectively communicate content deprecations to our learners?

I think this is great. Backwards compatibility has been a consistent process that’s still important and keeping content that’s still used is in line with that. I don’t think that we need to delete old content from previous releases. Not only could it still be important for some users, but I think having historical context is crucial for future contributors even decades from now. If WordPress survives all of us, it would be even more critical for future contributors to have something to draw from, especially if there are less and less people who have the historical context for past features as time marches onward.

There are release notes and changelogs, but they don’t explain things as in depth as Learn content and it could very much help future contributors make informed decisions.

I don’t think we should delete content, but instead have a process for noting which releases (in a range) so people know when the feature rolled out and when it was deprecated. Tags, links to updates and the other suggestions commented are all great options. Re-categorizing could also help.

What are your thoughts on the proposed bi-annual (twice a year) content review process? How can we ensure that the content review process remains thorough and effective?

I think content reviews could benefit from a similar process that the Docs Team has: We have release project boards in GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ where we track updates on an ongoing basis.

A bi-annual content reviews will require an exorbitant amount of work to organize and finish in a timely manner. Given that documentation articles and updates don’t ever get finished in time for a release, I don’t know how practical it would be to organize a sprint for what could potentially be mountains of work.

I also think the Docs and Training Teams should work very closely for content as well as updates since they’re so heavily related. As such, I think we should aim for these teams to be heavily interconnected.

What other metrics or data sources could be beneficial for informing our content maintenance process?

Taking another look at other open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. projects who have regularly updated and maintained documentation or similar could be helpful. Maybe even looking at the process that some companies use like LinkedIn Learning may also be useful.

I’ll have to think about this question some more.
- Courtney Robertson 9:03 pm on June 6, 2024
  
  I would love to see the Training team resume the work that fell off last release, ensuring that all is logged the way Docs does. I am quite happy to mentor contributors to assist with this. Training and Docs have long worked together on how we approach releases, but it seems to need a refresh.
Jono Alderson 1:25 pm on June 9, 2024

Worth noting that there’s a middle ground before we reach “delete”, where we could tactically (or automatically) noindex pages that don’t meet a relevancy or currentness threshold.

That’ll prevent them from showing up in Google etc, and should also prevent them from showing up in on-site search mechanisms.

Then they’re addressable via direct links, but not otherwise discoverable.

That’ll also mean that we don’t need to consider the (considerable) overhead of configuring and managing 301 redirects for deleted content (without having, say, a handy SEO pluginPlugin 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 https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party in place to manage this), as well as updating all of the content that links to those pages…
Benjamin Evans 9:31 am on June 10, 2024
As another point to consider, I calculated how much content Learn currently hosts. As of this comment, Learn has around 166 hours of content. (See details below.) To put into perspective, if 10 contributors dedicated 3 hours a week to review published content, it would take them 6 weeks just to consume all content without considering any time to consider feedback or apply updates.

The amount of content Learn produces will only continue to grow, so a comprehensive review process that looks at all content at certain intervals is not realistic. The team will need to identify what the most impactful content is and build a maintenance process around that limited subset of content.

For reference, below is how I calculated the total amount of content.
- There are 157 Tutorials on YouTube. The total watch time is 32 hours and 43 minutes.
- There are 102 Tutorials that are not on YouTube. If the average length was the same as those on YouTube, the total watch time would be 21 hours and 15 minutes.
- There are 122 Learning Pathway videos on YouTube. The total watch time is 13 hours and 10 minutes.
- There are 151 published Lessons Plans. Based on a random sampling of 3 lesson plans, the total time to read through this would be 38 hours and 30 minutes.
- There are 570 lessons on Learn. Based on a random sampling of 3 lessons, the total time to read through this would be 60 hours and 9 minutes.
Destiny Kanno 3:10 am on June 11, 2024
Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on this so far! I’m taking a stab at summarizing most of the feedback gathered so far in this conversation and proposing some potential next steps based on what has been shared to help further this discussion.

Ideas proposed

Utilize metadata tagging and a “last reviewed” note

Two independent content reviews, with a third to break any ties

Share our content deprecation process Transparently on Learn WordPress

Docs and the Training Team could work more closely around content review

The team will need to identify what the most impactful content is and build a maintenance process around that limited subset of content.

Considerations

Content review and maintenance for out of date content (as defined by out threshold) is time consuming for contributors and takes away from more relevant and up to date content creation.

The overhead of configuring and managing 301 redirects for deleted content (without having, say, a handy SEO pluginPlugin 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 https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party in place to manage this), as well as updating all of the content that links to those pages.

Any content that is available should be factually accurate; otherwise it will negatively impact perception, satisfaction, and adoption, if people access invalid content.

The WordPress Codex, Documentation, and Developer handbook sites offer information on older versions of WordPress

There’s a middle ground before we reach “delete”, where we could tactically (or automatically) noindex pages that don’t meet a relevancy or currentness threshold. This will prevent them from showing up in Google etc, and should also prevent them from showing up in on-site search mechanisms.

Learn WordPress currently has around 166 hours of content, and this will only continue to grow. It’s neither feasible nor sustainable to give our ever-growing out of date content the same weight as more up to date and relevant content.

Potential next steps

This conversation is still ongoing, but I’d like to share some potential next steps now based on everyone’s feedback so far, and invite others to give their input on what I’ve gathered below:
Develop the deprecation/out of date evaluation framework
Create a data-driven framework and review checklist for content deprecation inclusive of:
— Reviewing the view stats of video content marked for deprecation (Ex. If we are seeing low viewership for certain out of date content, then we deem it safe to deprecate)
— Reviewing the view stats of Lesson Plans
— Have a two review process, with a third review to “tie break” as needed
— Research what other modern learning websites (even for certain products) leave deprecated/out of date content up on their Learning sites and how do they maintain that content?
- Set up bi-annual review cycle
Ensure the Training Team (and other Make teams) has a shared understanding of what Learn WordPress’s content commitments are
— For example, we have the WordPress Codex, Documentation, and Developer handbook sites which contain plenty of out of date content for those not on the most recent versions of WordPress. Do we really feel it’s necessary to duplicate this content further on Learn WordPress?
— Is Learn WordPress the site where folks come to about the most relevant and up to date content on WordPress? Is it the place where we encourage and guide folks to be at the forefront of the software?
Adam Wood 9:24 pm on June 11, 2024

Worth noting that all our post types (Lesson Plans, Courses, Lessons and Tutorials) have the WP Version metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. field, so we can already tag this content.

Re the new design/build:
1. The new designs don’t display this WP Version information at the moment.
2. I don’t think there is a need to delete content. For the deprecated post types we’re ensuring that there are functioning archive and single templates for these, so even though tutorials and lesson plans won’t be available via the navigation they will still be reachable, and it sounds like this is good from an SEO stand point. Please let us know if we need to noindex them as well.
- Destiny Kanno 5:49 am on June 28, 2024
  
  Please let us know if we need to noindex them as well.
  
  @adamwood Let’s move forward to noindex them.
Milana Cap 8:10 am on June 18, 2024

If there’s a tutorial/lesson/course/etc. relevant for a specific WordPress version, then it can not be outdated, as long as that WordPress version is available for download. At Docs, we WANT to have documentation for different versions but technically it is not possible at the moment. Unless that WordPress version is significantly changed, all the content that addresses it is NOT deprecated but rather relevant. And you do not need to update/maintain it, unless there’s a significant change in that version (which will not happen).

Please, do not remove that content completely. Maybe in the future we’ll have a proper place and architecture to let that content coexist with contemporary one, which should be a goal for such important CMS. Until then, hide it somewhere if it’s making confusion, but please, don’t delete it. Thank you :heart:
Destiny Kanno 5:53 am on June 28, 2024

Thank you for your feedback everyone! I have created Project Thread: Content Maintenance Process Update Phase 1 where we can continue shaping this process together.

Welcome

Meetings (Calendar)

Proposal: Learn WordPress Content Maintenance Process

Proposed path forward

Contribute to this conversation

Considerations

Potential next steps

Welcome

Meetings (Calendar)

Proposed path forward

Contribute to this conversation

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