[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40721: 4.8 About Page

WordPress Trac noreply at wordpress.org
Mon May 29 11:33:09 UTC 2017


#40721: 4.8 About Page
----------------------------+------------------------
 Reporter:  melchoyce       |       Owner:  melchoyce
     Type:  task (blessed)  |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  4.8
Component:  Help/About      |     Version:
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by johnbillion):

 I have some concerns about the overall tone used on the About page for
 4.8.

 I'm aware that this feedback is late in the cycle, and that the text has
 gone through several revisions by the marketing team, but that doesn't
 negate the fact I think some of this text does not befit WordPress.

 I find its tone to be childish and full of meaningless fluff. It's
 actually borderline condescending. WordPress is used by millions of people
 in hundreds of languages around the world, yet meaningless filler such as
 "This feature deserves a ticker-tape parade down Main Street" are being
 introduced onto the About page.

 WordPress has lots of language in it that reflects well the personality
 and history of the project ("Howdy!"). If that's the approach to take with
 the About page, then that's great, but the current tone of the About page
 doesn't reflect this. It does nothing to help convey its intended message.

 I hope the marketing team realise that this is not a complaint, this is
 constructive feedback. We ought to do better than this.

 These phrases should be re-thought or removed completely:

 > Though some updates are tiny (TinyMCE, that is — see what we did there?)

 The opening paragraph on the page expects an end user to know what
 "TinyMCE" is.

 > Get ready for new features you’ll welcome like an old friend

 How about "Get ready for new features we hope you’ll find useful".

 > Adding an image to a widget is now a simple task that is achievable for
 any WordPress user without hiring a developer. (Don’t tell them we told
 you that.)

 This sentence is jarring because it uses the third person, unlike the rest
 of the page. The reference to not hiring a developer is unnecessary and
 doesn't help to convey the functionality that's being introduced.

 > A welcome video is a great way to humanize the branding of your website.
 It creates trust and empathy in your visitors. You can now add any video
 from your Media Library to a sidebar on your site with the new Video
 Widget. So, you, too, can be liked and trusted instantly.

 On the other end of the scale, this paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb
 that was copied and pasted from "Marketing Fluff 101". Three out of the
 four sentences in this paragraph are literally meaningless.

 How about: "You can now add any video from your Media Library to a sidebar
 on your site with the new Video Widget. You can use this to show a welcome
 video to help introduce visitors to your site, or promote your latest
 content."

 > This feature deserves a ticker-tape parade down Main Street.

 Let's not forget that we're talking about an update to a sidebar widget in
 a piece of publishing software. This sentence should be removed.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40721#comment:45>
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