When performing a search on the Codex, you’re presented with a slew of search results. However, not all of those results are within the Codex. The search portion of the Codex is powered by a Google custom search box which not only presents results from within the Codex, but from across WordPress.org as well, mainly the support forum.
While performing a search for Conditional Statements, the first result was the one I was looking for. However, if you want the results to strictly be within the Codex, I came across this link shared by Otto on the Documentation mailing list. While giving this method of searching the Codex a try, I found it difficult to find the Conditional Statements page I was looking for that was easily displayed by the Google Custom Search box. Even by checking each box, I failed at finding the page using both Conditional Statements and Conditional as my search terms.
My advice, stick to using the Search box that exists on the Codex page.
John James Jacoby of BuddyPress.org has announced that the BuddyPress Codex has received a much needed refresh. Here is the kicker, the BuddyPress Codex is powered by a WordPress installation where all registered users are an editor. Users can share information as in a traditional wiki but everything is housed on individual pages. Interestingly enough, this very idea was proposed a couple of times during the past few years for the WordPress Codex but it never gained much traction.
Head on over to the NEW BuddyPress Codex and check it out. It will be interesting to see how this approach scales.
In a recent discussion amongst those on the WordPress Documentation mailing list, Scribu brought up the question on whether or not links to commercial solutions were allowed within the Codex. Lorelle VanFossen summed things up pretty nicely in the following quote:
A fantastic article that helps spell out the details of the Codex article on a site that isn’t selling “commercial content” other than hosting advertising and such (normal stuff) more than producing free, “open source,” shared content is allowed as it is considered external reference material. These are set usually in the “More Resources” section not within the Codex article.
Seems like a good compromise to me as it should prevent commercial entities from being able to use the Codex for link juice. Although that should be a lot more difficult considering new user registration for the Codex was disabled a few months ago to try and thwart spam attacks.
During the past few days, I’ve been participating in an interesting discussion revolving around the state of documentation for WordPress, namely the Codex. The discussion centered around the fact that although the Wiki approach was good in the beginning, it simply doesn’t make sense today. Quality has gone way down, there is a ton of trash in the way of the good stuff, and in some ways, it’s difficult. At the end of the day, all involved in this conversation agreed that the Codex would not be the future for WordPress documentation. I leave it up to you now to place your vote and your opinion in the comments.
Do You Think The Codex Is The Future Of Documentation For WordPress?
A new site making the rounds throughout the WordPress community called WPLookup.com makes finding information for specific WordPress functions a breeze. Simply type in the function you’re looking for into the search box which contains a huge font size for some reason and click the look it up button.
I tested the search engine using the wp_list_pages function and it took me right to the Codex page outlining all of the information I needed.
For now, this is a quick and easy way to navigate through the Codex as it relates to WordPress functions. Even if the search functionality is improved on the Codex itself, because WPLookup supports OpenSearch, you can add the search engine directly to your browser meaning I’ll probably be using WPLookup versus the Codex for some time to come.
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