The topic of what process should be used for copyediting lesson plans and what tools could be used came up during the October 11 Make WordPress Training Meeting. During the Slack discussion, questions arose about how team members should handle copyediting concerns.
- Is there a definitive process for new copy editors to follow?
- What basic guidelines should be followed?
- How are editing changes handled?
- Make style edits on the fly?
- Revisions track changes
- How to handle major edits?
- Use strikethrough to flag deletions?
- Use highlighting to flag additions?
- Create a new document when rewriting?
- Need review before committing?
- By original writer or another editor?
- Make style edits on the fly?
- What is the difference between copyediting and rewriting?
- Does the copy editor need to contact the original writer?
- How should comments be relayed between writers and editors?
- Can we add a plugin to provide built-in features for extensive editing?
The Make WordPress Training Getting Started page indicates the various roles of contributors on the Training Team:
- Writing – Create lesson plans.
- Copyediting – Check lesson plans for grammar, spelling and punctuation and make sure it aligns with our style guide.
- Testing – Help run tests of beta lessons at Meetups or workshops and let us know how it went.
- Auditing – Check content for accuracy with the current version of WordPress
- Connecting – Group lesson plans that together would coordinate for a workshop
- Reviewing – Screenshots to compare with current appearances
The workflow for Training Lesson Plans is tracked on a Google Apps Sheet: WP Community Training Lesson Plan Progress as in the Getting Started section. The general workflow for lessons is tracked in a Status field:
- In Progress
- Ready for copyediting
- In Copyediting
- Ready for testing
- Complete
In addition there is tracking of lesson assignments with the following fields:
- Current Owner
- Username
- Previous Owners
- Progress
- Started
- Date to Complete
- Team Review
- Copy Editor
- Status
- Final Review
- Testing Stage
- Testing Results
- Ongoing Review
There is a Key tab in the Progress Sheet, but that appears to be out of date:
- correct
- needs copyeditor recheck
- abandoned
- possibly abandoned
- Ready to Test
Make WordPress Training includes two guides for writing and editing lesson plans:
There is a set of guides and tracking documents already in place; it seems they could be reviewed for updates and documentation to clarify the copyediting process.
Plugin features would be helpful for copyediting tasks and workflow for published lesson plans. However, with editorial tracking already in place with the Progress sheet, the plugin does not need to recreate nor constrain that part of the process.
Some potential solutions:
- Revisions to backtrack editorial changes
- Apply strikethrough & color coding to text during editing for review
- Google G Suite Docs
- Revisions History
- Suggestions
- Comments
- Tag user
- Bookmarks
- Footnotes
- Research Tool
- Dictionary
- Offline mode
- Editflow plugin:
- Calendar – A convenient month-by-month look at your content.
- Custom Statuses – Define the key stages to your workflow.
- Editorial Comments – Threaded commenting in the admin for private discussion between writers and editors.
- Editorial Metadata – Keep track of the important details.
- Notifications – Receive timely updates on the content you’re following.
- Story Budget – View your upcoming content budget.
- User Groups – Keep your users organized by department or function.
- JetPack plugin—After the Deadline:
- Contextual Spell Checking
- Advanced Style Checking
- Intelligent Grammar Checking
Are there other copyediting concerns or potential solutions?