[theme-reviewers] Becoming a theme reviewer

[Fränk Klein]

In terms of requirements for being a reviewer, being passionate about WordPress and willing to learn are the only two indispensable things in my opinion. A lot of themes unfortunately fail the most basic checks (theme/author URI, screenshot, licensing,…), so technical skills aren't even needed in those cases. Besides, you can pick up the necessary knowledge quite easily in parallel to doing reviews. 

I started reviewing themes after watching a video of Matt where he mentioned that joining the WPTRT is the best way to become better at developing themes. And he was absolutely right, I learned A LOT.

Besides this, I agree that giving back to the community is probably the biggest motivation. Considering the number of outright crappy or simply sloppily coded themes out there, it is important to keep standards high on WordPress.org.

[shameless plug] I wrote a guest post about a similar subject, maybe this can be of interest to you: http://www.wpkube.com/join-the-wordpress-theme-review-team/ [/shameless plug]

> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 03:44:02 -0700
> From: Jose Castaneda <jomcastaneda at gmail.com>
> To: theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] Becoming a theme reviewer
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAMEGQRcXY0NR0bC+EsiVu8cnJJ0c1LgCVX18U9exvbt_0LFGWg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> It's funny, Peter, I don't know why I didn't even think about having an
> understanding of WordPress as one. I do agree that giving back to WordPress
> may be one of the bigger reasons for wanting to be a part as well.
> 
> I'd love to hear what the admin have to say as well if/when they get a
> chance.
> 
> For me it is currently something I do on the side. The reason for wanting
> to be part of the team is because I wanted to learn more about WordPress.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 10:55 PM, Peter Kakoma <kakomap at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> A good theme reviewer needs a solid understanding of the way WordPress
>> works; Knowing PHP,HTML, CSS, JS is one thing, knowing how they gel
>> together in the WordPress world is something slightly different. Hooks,
>> filters, template files, plugins, etc
>> 
>> Steps towards attaining that solid understanding come with , at the lowest
>> level of the pyramid, creating a theme, submitting it for approval and
>> getting it approved. It is one thing to read through all the rules; it is
>> another reading through them knowing that the theme you submit is going to
>> be judged by them. You'll comprehend them better and they'll become
>> second-nature
>> 
>> I wanted to review themes because I had a theme to give away; I read the
>> rules to the dot, created the theme and hit submit. It was rejected; I
>> realized I hadn't internalized the rules. Re-read the rules over and over
>> and cleaned-up after myself. Became a reviewer to create better
>> themes....and to give back to WordPress
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 5:09 AM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> Actually, I'd be grateful if people *did* reply here on the mail-list.
>>> I'd love to hear what people have to say. Such honest feedback loops are
>>> usually the most valuable means of improvement.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 8:50 PM, Jose Castaneda <jomcastaneda at gmail.com>wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hey ladies and gentlemen,
>>>> 
>>>> I am in the middle or writing a post on what it takes to become part of
>>>> the WPTRT and would love to get your feedback. Of course the basic
>>>> knowledge of PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript are some but would love to hear
>>>> about not only experiences but what you feel makes a for a good theme
>>>> reviewer and what made you decide you wanted to review themes.
>>>> 
>>>> If this is in the wrong place, my apologies, but please don't hesitate
>>>> to email directly so as not to flood the list with all the replies.
>>>> 
>>>> Thank in advance,
>>>> Jose.
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> www.urbanlegendkampala.com
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>> 
>> 
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/attachments/20130607/2a85e659/attachment.html>
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Subject: Digest Footer
> 
> _______________________________________________
> theme-reviewers mailing list
> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of theme-reviewers Digest, Vol 37, Issue 15
> ***********************************************

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/attachments/20130607/1681cea3/attachment.html>