[theme-reviewers] Theme Review Feedback at WPTavern Forum

Thu Aug 26 11:19:15 UTC 2010

While I agree that it should be a suggestion for the notices/warnings/deprecated, I also come back to the conclusion that it's not helping the developers either.    On an occasion with my own code I had a notice that made I should have assigned a particular variable an arra array(), it turned more a string instead and when the posts started adding up and user used that particular feature errors were abundant, which would have been caught if I delt with the notice.

Not only as Otto suggested should we help and increase awareness we should also be informing of these situations and guide the developer to using better practices in code developement, those better practices will lead to better projects being made and fork into other areas like the plugins they make and more.

We're making progress of course with the review system and i'm just throwing in my 2 cents here but it will do noone any good to let too many things slide from the reviews.

I would like to point all of you to: http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/841

If Otto has his way and just lets 'everything' slide, that theme would be on the repository right now.

I am completely against the idea.

This crusade he is on makes me believe if someone puts up enough grief people will shove away good things to qualm them.  

Instead of focusing on the requirements we should be focusing on how to educate in the theme review process as well.   I have brought several idea's to the table that need to be discussed which would be more beneficial to everyone that also keeps the review system intact.

Furthermore, Otto needs to review themes with the current theme process, new themes to the repository.  His stance on the subject states that if it can't be done his way then it shouldn't be done at all.  

@Otto Noone likes change champ and I will not sit idly by while your judicially make a good thing corrupted to your point of view.  You do have some valid points with education to the developers and we are discussing things but requiring the theme review team do increase its work flow on an already slow system is asking too much and focusing on the wrong area to educate.   Use the codex, provide documentation to educate; that's what it's there for.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Andrew Nacin 
  To: theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org 
  Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 3:37 AM
  Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Theme Review Feedback at WPTavern Forum

  On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 5:21 AM, Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com> wrote:

    We don't need high quality code or high quality themes.

  On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 8:27 AM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:
    Most are failing for the basics: errors output by WP_DEBUG, invalid HTML/CSS, no wp_head() or wp_footer(), etc.

  Most plugins and themes output errors on WP_DEBUG. Including/especially commercial themes and the top plugins. Even though the use of notices or deprecated functions is NOT indicative of poor quality code, the simple fact is that very few of them do have quality code. A sad few.

  Akismet is quality code, yet it triggers them. So does core, on occasion. (Just visit plugins.php when running multisite, for example. And before 3.0, try using the QuickPress module -- yuck.)

  I love WP_DEBUG. I wrote an entire plugin (that most of you use) to record deprecated calls, I've written blog posts on debugging WordPress, and I cringe like the rest of you when a theme or plugin spits out errors. I've briefly looked through the theme review process. At first I loved that themes were getting a review all the way down to the notices, but I've since had some second thoughts. Rejecting a theme purely for notices or deprecated functions is a bad, bad idea, and is not the intent I had when I wrote a plugin devoted to catching them.

  Realistically, quality and education are our priorities. We cannot fail at education, or quality will suffer if only because quantity will as well. I see no problem with a theme being approved with notices/deprecated calls, if that's the only thing wrong with it.

  I believe Otto is spot on when it comes to the current deficiencies, and I do hope they are addressed.

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