What I Would Like to Hear At WordCamp

[Jacob Santos]

The reason I spoke about test cases at WordCamp Dallas 2008, was because I didn't think it was being addressed well enough. Basically, the talk given by two of the core contributors set the groundwork for why you should contribute to WordPress.

My talk was about why people should help with the grassroots effort for writing test cases. I suppose I was optimist on how many would actually help. I actually thought it would be at least two and no more than five, but it turns out to be probably only one guy in a ticket that may or may not have been added to the official Automattic repository.

One of the hardest efforts is to get the community involved in something that isn't sexy. The inline documentation only had a few people start the grassroots and lay the foundation and only a few actually saw it through.

I like to see more talks build off the previous ones. I liked the talk in Canada about plugin development. I would like to see a talk about best practices for plugin and widget development.

I would like to see more talks about development and programmer topics, but that is pretty boring to non-developers. It would probably have to be part of two tracks where there is one for developers and designers and one for normal people.

[hallsofmontezuma]

That's a very interesting post. Would you say that WordCamps are more geared towards users or developers? I'm assuming it's the former, of course, but what would you say is the ratio?
I like your idea for two tracks.

[itsananderson]

I haven't been to a WordCamp yet, but I had assumed that there were sessions for devs and sessions for end users, and what type of user you were determined what sessions you attended. Is that not really the case?

[williamsba]

I agree, developer topics should be a standard at WordCamp. I've never been to a WordCamp yet either so I assumed the same as you Will.

I'm going to help out with WordCamp NYC 2009 so I'll be sure to suggest some sort of developer track.

[hallsofmontezuma]

Can someone here who has been to WordCamp address that? I haven't been able to make one yet. All the ones on the East Coast so far have been during a time when I was otherwise engaged. I have often wondered about the ratio of user:developer topics.

[williamsba]

I went to the WordPress Meetup in NYC last week and I know it's not a WordCamp but out of 30 guests there were 5 developers. I would guess WordCamp is skewed somewhat similar

[hallsofmontezuma]

@Williamsba
Not to get off topic, and maybe we should start another thread so that we don't hijack this one... Since you brought it up, what did you think about the WordPress Meetup you attended?

[Jacob Santos]

The ratio at WordCamp Dallas was like 15:1 for user vs developer talks. You could probably count one or two others for their user/developer mix.

You will find that at any WordCamp, there will be over twice as many user talks as developer talks and from the developer talks, they won't go into all that real depth.

I would guess that most of the people are going to be users, so if you start talking about if branches, and for loops, you are going to lose a lot of the audience.

[Jeffro]

Well, sort of makes sense considering users far outnumber developers. I was at the WordCamp Dallas event that Jacob spoke at and I can't remember what he said because I fell asleep. JUST KIDDING

With that said, I think Jacob has the best course of action for WordCamps. Simply have an end user track and a developer track. The two don't mix very well and they need to be kept separated.

I wouldn't mind participating in a session at a WordCamp which highlights 5 or 10 plugins which push WordPress beyond its boundaries enabling the software to do something it's not usually meant for.

I'd also like to see a session focused on documentation. Not PHP based documentation but stuff like using the Codex, explanation on how to use a function cross reference library or Xref or whatever its called, how to improve documentation etc.

Of course, I'd love to see a panel of premium theme/plugin authors moderated by Matt Mullenweg to discuss GPL :) man would that be something!

[Len]

Of course, I'd love to see a panel of premium theme/plugin authors moderated by Matt Mullenweg to discuss GPL :) man would that be something!

Sounds like an interesting idea for WordPress Weekly.