Getting a theme approved for the WordPress directory can sometimes take months, depending on the number of corrections required and reviewers available to handle the queue. As part of a larger plan to make things more efficient, the WordPress Theme Review Team is making progress towards automating many of the time-consuming checks involved in reviewing…
The WordPress.org Theme Review Team has just wrapped up a busy year of adding new themes, approving updates, and overhauling procedures. In 2015, the team reviewed and approved 910 new themes with the help of 236 reviewers, according to TRT member Ulrich Pogson. Despite their best efforts, the team cannot keep up with the massive…
Within the last few weeks, we’ve received emails from readers wanting to know why it’s taking so long for new themes to be reviewed on WordPress.org. Some theme authors are having to wait two months or more for their first review. Ashley Evans submitted her theme in June and she’s yet to complete the review…
One of the main features in WordPress 4.3 are Site Icons. A Site Icon is an image that represents a website across multiple platforms and replaces Favicons. With Site Icons in WordPress core, the WordPress Theme Review team is phasing out the feature in existing themes hosted in the theme directory. Justin Tadlock, a theme…
The Theme Review Team has spent the last two months collecting data from surveys to discover common pain points people experience using the theme directory and going through the theme review process. The results of those surveys were used to create a roadmap of areas to focus on. In yesterday’s meeting, the Theme Review Team…
The WordPress Theme Review Team (TRT) is currently seeking feedback via three separate surveys on the review process, themes, and the directory. After weathering several months of increasingly negative community feedback, the team is now looking to users and theme authors to help shape its roadmap for the future. The team’s controversial decision to require…
For the last three years, the WordPress Theme Review Team has tried to encourage theme authors to adopt the Theme Customizer. In April, the decision was made by the TRT to no longer encourage, but require all theme options to be in the customizer. Although the decision was three years in the making, the community…
The new design of the WordPress Theme Directory is a welcome change on WordPress.org. Faster browsing and filtering means users can more easily sort through the thousands of available options. While the directory includes many beautiful, high quality themes, it often requires sifting through hundreds to find that diamond in the rough. One of the…
Masonry is a new free WordPress theme with an elegant 1-column design. You’d be hard-pressed to find a theme that is easier to set up. It offers just a handful of options built into the native customizer, including the ability to customize the header colors and header background image. The theme is mobile-friendly, with a…
The contributor day following WordCamp Europe was a tremendous success, bringing approximately 180 people to the SiteGround offices in Sofia. A healthy mixture of veteran contributors were in attendance, as well as many folks who were brand new to contributing. At the beginning of the day, contributors split off into smaller groups to focus on…
The WordPress.org Theme Review Team put out a call for mentors this week. The team will be launching a mentoring program that will pair new reviewers with those who have experience. “We are looking for currently active reviewers who want to give back to the community, of course, and to teach the next generation of…