[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #7452: Plugins: Find a better way to surface plugin features.

[Making WordPress.org]

#7452: Plugins: Find a better way to surface plugin features.
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 Reporter:  dufresnesteven    |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)      |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal            |  Milestone:
Component:  Plugin Directory  |   Keywords:
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 **High-level Problem**:
 User feedback suggests that the plugin directory doesn't provide a robust
 enough experience for users searching for plugins.

 So, we probably have to do two things to improve this:
 1. Provide better search results and filtering in the directory (enabling
 this feature for API consumers as well).
 2. Better highlight plugin features and reliability indicators.

 **Purpose**:

 Users have identified that they choose plugins based on the following
 criteria:
 - Does the plugin have the features they are looking for?
 - Is the plugin reliable?

 While we definitely need to address all the things mentioned above, the
 purpose of this ticket is to explore ways to help users identify which
 features a plugin supports.

 **What currently exists?**
 Users currently have to read the plugin readme to identify the features.
 There aren't any guidelines on including features in the readme but
 seasoned plugin authors in general know how to craft user & search
 friendly readme's and they typically provide an easy to identify list of
 features.

 The way the search algorithm works, it promotes the use of this feature
 list indirectly by matching it to user keyword searches but it's as simple
 as that. It doesn't know that it's a feature of the plugin. So if a user
 searches for the word "map", it would return plugins that use that word in
 a totally different context, like mapping authors to posts. I'll admit
 that example also unpacks a lot of different shortcomings, like bloated
 readmes, keyword stuffed plugin titles and lack of categorization but I
 think we can talk about this feature without talking about all those
 things.

 **Discussion?**
 What can we do to highlight features for plugins that we could use to
 provide better results and display them more prominently to users?

 **What about plugin previews?**

 Plugin previews are being worked on in
 https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7251.
 These previews will provide a way to "test" plugin features and see them
 in action, but that would be used to support ideas we come up with here.
 (At least in how we are currently thinking about previews).

 Resources:
 - Plugin Readme: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org
 /how-your-readme-txt-works/

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7452>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
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