Working towards great version control for WordPress

slides for my WordCamp Europe 2013 talk, in Leiden.

As someone who incidentally writes about stuff with other people, I often encounter the same problem. You either email tiny changes to your article to the one who’s ultimately responsible for the website, which is bound to go wrong. Or you log into your CMS, make some changes to your piece and save it, while one of the other editors does the exact same thing, just using another shiny laptop. Changes get lost. Stuff gets added twice and you end up frustrated because the preview doesn’t reflect your work. Now this is annoying as it is, but if you program a bit on the side (like I do) and you use version control, you know that there is a solution for that. I'd love walk you through what I think would make a great version control tool for WordPress and test existing plugins by these requirements.

I use private repo's on GitHub to store my wp-files (not individual posts) and thus use version control for the sites I built with WordPress. And I always have a backup in 'the cloud'. I wish I could do the same for my posts.

Instead of building a GitHub 'for everyone/everything else', I wanted to see what's already out there that connects with WordPress, that I/we can help improve on.

So here we go!

Transcript

1. Working towards great version control for content creators
2. Hi.
7. My problem challenge with WordPress and version control
8. I use private repo’s on GitHub to store my WP-files. I wish I could do the same for my posts.
9. ... despite how crucial GitHub is to the developer toolbox, I’m constantly wondering why the platform is limited to just code. Loren Burton on how he’s building GitHub for Writers
10. I don’t want to build a GitHub ‘for everyone else’. I’m lazy.
11. ... there can be multiple pull requests and multiple versions of the code floating around simultaneously, but everything eventually ends up in single place (master branch). Loren Burton on how he’s building GitHub for Writers
12. The limitations of GitHub for writers
13. GitHub for teachers
14. I want a GitHub of science
15. From Collaborative Coding to Wedding Invitations: GitHub Is Going Mainstream THE Wired article
16. The open, collaborative workflow we have created for software develop- ment is so appealing that it’s gaining traction for non-software projects that require significant collaboration. GitHub cofounder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner
17. GitHub wants to change the way people work (together). GitHub cofounder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner
18. But GitHub’s tech terms are certainly not ‘for everyone’ just yet.
19. WordPress 3.6 “Oscar”
20. Revisions, Post Locking & Augmented Autosave
23. Version Control the way I like it
25. Forking / cloning
26. Branches & pull requests
27. Commenting on changes
28. Committing (naming changes)
29. Task lists (issues) with assigning possibilities
30. All in the termina-NATIVE app
31. Notifications?
32. markdown support
33. So... What’s out there?
34. WP Document Revisions
35. Requires: 3.2 or higher Compatible up to: 3.6 Last Updated: 2013-7-3 Downloads: 47,064 ***** ... for 39 users
36. Teams can collaboratively edit files of any format all the while, seamlessly tracking the document’s progress as it moves through your organization’s existing workflow.
38. DMS collaboration tool hosting solution
39. But mainly for ‘documents’
40. Post Forking
41. Requires: 3.5 or higher Compatible up to: 3.6.1 Last Updated: 2013-9-26 Downloads: 1,288 ***** ... for 13 users
42. (...) allows users to “fork” or create an alternate version of content to foster a more collaborative approach to WordPress.
43. edit and submit changes as a non-user collaborative editing Saving draft changes of published content Scheduling pending changes
48. editor is presented with diff schedule changes to posts integrates with notifications plugins commit messages
49. Edit Flow
50. Requires: 3.4 or higher Compatible up to: 3.5.2 Last Updated: 2013-1-31 Downloads: 61,388 ***** ... for 72 users
51. (...) empowers you to collaborate with your editorial team inside WordPress.
52. Calendar Custom Statuses Editorial Comments Editorial Metadata Notifications Story Budget User Groups
54. Revisionary
55. Requires: 3.0 or higher Compatible up to: 3.6.1 Last Updated: 2013-8-19 Downloads: 18,741 ***** 4.7 out of 5 stars for 18 users
56. (...) enables qualified users to submit changes to currently published posts or pages. Contributors also gain the ability to submit revisions to their own published content.
57. pending revisions scheduled revisions enchanced revision management form front-end preview display new WordPress role: revisor
59. Duplicate Post
60. Requires: 3.0 or higher Compatible up to: 3.3.2 Last Updated: 2012-5-4 Downloads: 386,875 ***** 4.8 out of 5 stars for 154 users
61. (...) allows to clone a post or page, or edit it as a new draft.
63. Monday is hackathon day, right? @floordrees
64. Thank you.