The team did a second revision of the first recommended site map because we still found articles that should be moved to the developers documentation. The reason is that we want to keep the end-user documentation as clean as possible of developer jargon and make sure it only provides advice on how to use WordPress not how to alter it with code.
The main goal of article reclassification is to improve search and allow new articles to be added into the existing categories without creating a ‘miscellaneous’ category.
The first site map included 4 main categories and subcategories under each. The new recommendation maintains the 4 main categories, some subcategories have been renamed to better work in the future.
The revision
As mentioned before, the review focused on removing all articles that were developer-focused. Some articles only require content review and move some of the too-technical parts. These parts were not discarded as they are still valuable information and will be moved to DevHub.
Categories and subcategories
The categories for end-user documentation were created to improve search, making it easier for the user to find the information. A secondary goal is to allow a continued learning path.
WordPress overview
WordPress Overview is the first category with 3 subcategories:
- Where to start
- FAQs
- About WordPress
The intention of these subcategories is to provide a starting point for the new user and a quick access to resources to more seasoned users in the form of FAQs. About WordPress provides background information on how to become a contributor, WordPress’ history, etc.
Technical guides
Technical guides is the second category which includes 3 subcategories:
- Installation
- Security
- Maintenance
Although the technical guides include topics that could be seen as developer-focused, there is some basic information that the end-user needs to learn about installing WordPress and working with their hosting companies, as well as maintaining a healthy and secured site.
Support guides
Support guides is the third category, also includes 3 subcategories:
- The dashboard
- Publishing
- Media
These guides are all about the software, getting to know the moving parts of the front end, how to manage and publish content and media. The guides include articles for Classic Editor as well as the Block Editor.
Customization
This is the fourth category and as the titles says, it is all about giving the site or blog the look and feel that the user wants. The number of subcategories increased to 9 and this will help with categorization as the FSE features and new blocks are developed.
- Appearance
- Default themes
- Block Editor
- Media blocks
- Text blocks
- Design blocks
- Embed blocks
- Theme blocks
- Widget blocks
Related tickets
Because there are many moving parts on the site map, everything has been documented in tickets in the documentation issue tracker repository in GH
| 190 | Merge articles |
| 192 | Change article title |
| 373 | Delete articles from HH |
| 388 | Move from HH to DH |
| 425 | Content review duplicated article? Dimension Controls Overview |
| 426 | FAQ’s content review |
| 427 | Content review Finding WP Help |
| 429 | Content review How WP processes post content |
| 430 | Content review Creating a Search page |
| 442 | Content review New to WordPress – Where to Start |
| 443 | Content review Introduction to Blogging |
| 458 | Content review Comments in WP |
| 469 | Content review Video shortcode |
| 470 | Content review Weblog client |
| 471 | Content review WP feeds |
| 473 | Content review duplicate: WP.org vs WP. com |
| Tech parts | Inventory of Technical Parts From End User Docs |
Next steps
The #docs team will collaborate with other teams to find the best way to make all the changes. So far, the hosting team is collaborating in moving articles to DevHub.
- Create new categories and subcategories
- Change title names to articles and create 301s for older URLs (with the meta team’s direction)
- Merge pages and create 301’s
- Delete pages and redirect to similar content pages/articles.
Other articles written as part of the redesign of HelpHub
- Findings in the reclassification of WordPress.org documentation
- Exploration of a new classification for user documentation
- Requirements for a new design for the article pages in user documentation
- Update on the revision of documentation
- The hashtag and its future in documentation articles
- First review on the new site map for HelpHub
Contributions
If you are interested in making any content review on any of the tickets above, reach out to @estelaris on Slack or leave a comment in the GH ticket.
Props to @femkreations for reviewing the many opened tickets. @milana_cap and @kenshino for reviewing the content. @jonoaldersonwp for providing SEO recommendations.