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Working towards great version control for WordPress

Floor Drees
October 06, 2013

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!

Floor Drees

October 06, 2013
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Transcript

  1. Working towards great
    version control for
    content creators

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  2. Hi.

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  7. My problem challenge with
    WordPress and version control

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  8. I use private repo’s on GitHub to
    store my WP-files. I wish I could do
    the same for my posts.

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  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

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  10. I don’t want to build a GitHub
    ‘for everyone else’.
    I’m lazy.

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  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

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  12. The limitations of GitHub for writers

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  13. GitHub for teachers

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  14. I want a GitHub of science

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  15. From Collaborative Coding to
    Wedding Invitations:
    GitHub Is Going Mainstream
    THE Wired article

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  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

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  17. GitHub wants to change the way
    people work (together).
    GitHub cofounder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner

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  18. But GitHub’s tech terms are certainly
    not ‘for everyone’ just yet.

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  19. WordPress 3.6 “Oscar”

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  20. Revisions, Post Locking
    & Augmented Autosave

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  23. Version Control the way I like it

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  25. Forking / cloning

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  26. Branches & pull requests

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  27. Commenting on changes

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  28. Committing (naming changes)

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  29. Task lists (issues) with
    assigning possibilities

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  30. All in the termina-NATIVE app

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  31. Notifications?

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  32. markdown support

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  33. So... What’s out there?

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  34. WP Document Revisions

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  35. Requires: 3.2 or higher
    Compatible up to: 3.6
    Last Updated: 2013-7-3
    Downloads: 47,064
    *****
    ... for 39 users

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  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.

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  38. DMS
    collaboration tool
    hosting solution

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  39. But mainly for ‘documents’

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  40. Post Forking

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  41. Requires: 3.5 or higher
    Compatible up to: 3.6.1
    Last Updated: 2013-9-26
    Downloads: 1,288
    *****
    ... for 13 users

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  42. (...) allows users to “fork” or create
    an alternate version of content to
    foster a more collaborative
    approach to WordPress.

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  43. edit and submit changes as a non-user
    collaborative editing
    Saving draft changes of published content
    Scheduling pending changes

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  48. editor is presented with diff
    schedule changes to posts
    integrates with notifications plugins
    commit messages

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  49. Edit Flow

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  50. Requires: 3.4 or higher
    Compatible up to: 3.5.2
    Last Updated: 2013-1-31
    Downloads: 61,388
    *****
    ... for 72 users

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  51. (...) empowers you to collaborate with
    your editorial team inside WordPress.

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  52. Calendar
    Custom Statuses
    Editorial Comments
    Editorial Metadata
    Notifications
    Story Budget
    User Groups

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  54. Revisionary

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  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

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  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.

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  57. pending revisions
    scheduled revisions
    enchanced revision management form
    front-end preview display
    new WordPress role: revisor

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  59. Duplicate Post

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  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

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  61. (...) allows to clone a post or page, or
    edit it as a new draft.

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  63. Monday is hackathon day, right?
    @floordrees

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  64. Thank you.

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