Stanko Metodiev, project manager for Devrix, shares his experience contributing a patch to WordPress core for the first time. While browsing Trac, Metodiev discovered a bug report with the menu customizer.
Although a patch was already attached to the ticket, it didn’t work, “The change didn’t fix the issue for me, so I submitted a new patch to adjust the size by a few more pixels,” Metodiev said.
The change was merged into core by WordPress lead developer, Helen Hou-Sandí.
It’s a small change but as I learned from my experience contributing to core, every merged patch is important no matter how small it is. Metodiev offers the following advice to new contributors, “Don’t be scared and don’t be shy. The core team is hospitable, especially for first timers and they will give guidance and advice if needed, so feel free to contribute patches!”
Since his experience with WordPress 4.3, Metodiev continues to contribute to core and has seven merged patches in WordPress 4.4. If you’re thinking about contributing patches to core but don’t know where to start, I highly encourage you to read the Core Contributor Handbook. In it you’ll find best practices, testing techniques, and how to submit patches to Trac.
Thanks, Jeff!
Yes, I think it’s really important people to see that contributing back is not that hard. Yes, you need to know a few things, but you can always ask for help if you have a question and if the handbook is not enough :)