The 2010 Google Summer Of Code program for WordPress is just about ready for prime time. The Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects. It was created in 2005 and continues to this day. Thanks to some willing students in 2009, we saw the creation of a new search API, and a theme framework in Elastic. When comparing the projects list from 2010 to 2009, they haven’t changed much although bbPress has been added to the list this year.
One of the project ideas that caught my eye was Template Versioning.
WordPress saves post revisions, but changes to theme files are not recorded, though the presentation layer is sometimes just as important. Build a versioning system for template files within the theme editor.
I wonder if any willing student will snatch up this project. This project idea also confirms that the built in theme editor isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
For any students who want to participate in the WordPress GSoC project, you’re encouraged to review the application template from 2008 as well as the ideas from last year. However, the best way to increase your chances of being selected is to start learning the WordPress code base right now and submit a few patches so the mentors can get a basic idea of your abilities.
Good luck to any student who pursues one of the listed project ideas.
b2++ had template versioning back when it used Smarty templates. It would store the last 5 revisions I think it was. I was quite proud of that :)
It wasn’t needed of course when it became WPMU because theme editing went away. Even using Smarty wasn’t really secure enough because users could still inject Javascript into their pages.