[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #4669: Generate theme screenshot from the demo preview

[Making WordPress.org]

#4669: Generate theme screenshot from the demo preview
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 Reporter:  dingo_d      |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  high         |  Milestone:
Component:  Theme        |   Keywords:  needs-patch dev-feedback needs-
  Directory              |  testing
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 We currently have a requirement for a theme
 [https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/review/required/#screenshot
 screenshot] which is often causing problems for the theme authors - what
 content can be shown, the content should be reproducible for the user,
 size must be reasonably small, no children and nudity etc.

 All of this is causing a strain on the theme authors, as they are known to
 include content created by a recommended plugin etc. which is not easy to
 reproduce (even if they provide a `demo.xml` on their site or github) -
 which ultimately causes a strain on the end user - they want what they saw
 on the screenshot but don't know how. And it causes a strain on the
 reviewer who has to check this, see if the screenshot can be reproduced,
 if not notify the author, which ultimately lengthens the review time of a
 theme.

 This ticket is a proposal to remove the usage of author created screenshot
 for the display on wordpress.org preview (https://wordpress.org/themes/).
 This will solve all these issues, as the default would be shown for all
 the themes.

 The idea is to use the screenshot from the preview button as a default.
 Currently, all the preview is pulled from (https://wp-themes.com/). We
 already have a ticket that is working on creating a better demo content on
 that site (https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/30), some demo content
 is already made, we were waiting on design team input for this.

 Once a better demo is added (which can be done really soon by someone who
 has access to that site), we could set up a way, when theme is approved,
 that the screenshot of the front page is taken - maybe with tool like
 https://www.npmjs.com/package/url-to-screenshot (which is cool because you
 can define size and all), store it somewhere on the server from where it
 can be fetched on the theme preview page (for instance
 https://wordpress.org/themes/twentynineteen/).

 Possible updates for later on would include:

 Loading different screenshot based on the specific theme tag (e.g. `shop`,
 `gallery`, `blog` etc.) which would load different default demo preview,
 and based on that, a different demo screenshot would be loaded.

 Since this would be done automatically on approval, when user updates a
 theme, and changes a tag, they can control which screenshot will be used.

 === Actions needed for this to be worked on

 1. Implement the default demo on the preview side
 2. Find somebody that will work on this, either from the meta side or from
 the TRT side (that can spend time on this with the support from somebody
 from the meta team)


 We've discussed something about this on the WCEU in Berlin, but the input
 about this from others is welcomed.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4669>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org