Fonts 2021

[rviscomi]

Part I Chapter 5: Fonts

If you're interested in contributing to the Fonts chapter of the 2021 Web Almanac, please reply to this issue and indicate which role or roles best fit your interest and availability: author, reviewer, analyst, and/or editor.

Content team

Lead	Authors	Reviewers	Analysts	Editors	Coordinator
@jpamental	@jpamental	@rsheeter @davelab6 @svgeesus	@jessthebp @konfirmed	-	@rviscomi

Expand for more information about each role

• The content team lead is the chapter owner and responsible for setting the scope of the chapter and managing contributors' day-to-day progress.
• Authors are subject matter experts and lead the content direction for each chapter. Chapters typically have one or two authors. Authors are responsible for planning the outline of the chapter, analyzing stats and trends, and writing the annual report.
• Reviewers are also subject matter experts and assist authors with technical reviews during the planning, analyzing, and writing phases.
• Analysts are responsible for researching the stats and trends used throughout the Almanac. Analysts work closely with authors and reviewers during the planning phase to give direction on the types of stats that are possible from the dataset, and during the analyzing/writing phases to ensure that the stats are used correctly.
• Editors are technical writers who have a penchant for both technical and non-technical content correctness. Editors have a mastery of the English language and work closely with authors to help wordsmith content and ensure that everything fits together as a cohesive unit.
• The section coordinator is the overall owner for all chapters within a section like "User Experience" or "Page Content" and helps to keep each chapter on schedule.

Note: The time commitment for each role varies by the chapter's scope and complexity as well as the number of contributors.

For an overview of how the roles work together at each phase of the project, see the Chapter Lifecycle doc.

Milestone checklist

0. Form the content team

• May 31: The content team has at least one author, reviewer, and analyst

1. Plan content

• June 15 The content team has completed the chapter outline in the draft doc

2. Gather data

• June 30: Analysts have added all necessary custom metrics and drafted a PR (example) to track query progress

• July 1 - 31: HTTP Archive runs the July crawl

3. Validate results

• September 30: Analysts have queried all metrics and saved the output to the results sheet

4. Draft content

• October 31: The content team has written, reviewed, and edited the chapter in the doc

5. Publication

• November 15: The completed chapter and all required metadata and figures are converted to markdown and submitted to GitHub

• December 1: Target launch date 🚀

Chapter resources

Refer to these 2021 Fonts resources throughout the content creation process:

📄 Google Docs for outlining and drafting content
🔍 SQL files for committing the queries used during analysis
📊 Google Sheets for saving the results of queries
📝 Markdown file for publishing content and managing public metadata

[rsheeter]

Interested, given time constraints probably as reviewer

[davelab6]

Also interested as reviewer

[rviscomi]

Excited to have you both involved again this year @rsheeter @davelab6!

[jpamental]

I'd be happy to author again (I'll be more prompt, I promise!) or reviewer (or editor for that matter0

[rviscomi]

Thanks @jpamental it's great to have you back! I'll tentatively add you as a reviewer per #2165 to leave room for new authors if interested.

[rviscomi]

📟 paging 2019/2020 contributors: @zachleat @logicalphase @AymenLoukil @tjmonsi @raphlinus @malchata @RoelN @svgeesus @AbbyTsai

Would any of you be interested to contribute to the 2021 chapter? I'd especially like to see more 2019/2020 authors become 2021 reviewers to help ease the transition and similarly I think prior reviewers would make great 2021 authors, being familiar with the process already. And prior analysts would make excellent 2021 analysts 😁

Or is there anyone new you'd like to see?

[jessthebp]

Hi! I'd love to contribute to this chapter in whichever way I can.

[rviscomi]

Thanks @jessthebp! Do you have bandwidth to be the analyst for this chapter as well? Those are in short supply.

[jessthebp]

@rviscomi I have that bandwidth!

[malchata]

Hey, @rviscomi. Thanks for checking in, but I won't be able to this year, as I'm releasing a book this year and primarily focusing on getting that done. But I'd love to be a part of either this or any other chapters you think I'd be handy on next year!

[rviscomi]

@malchata Totally understand and congratulations on your book! We'll ping you again next year.

[svgeesus]

Happy to be a reviewer

[rviscomi]

@jpamental thanks for your interest in authoring this chapter! As the content team lead, you'll be responsible for the scope and direction of the chapter and keeping it on schedule. We automatically monitor the staffing and progress of each chapter based on the state of the initial comment so please keep that updated as you add new contributors and meet each milestone.

We've created a Google Doc for this chapter, which you're encouraged to use to collaborate with the content team on the initial outline, metrics, and ultimately the final draft.

Next steps for this chapter are:

• Due May 31: Complete Milestone 0: Form the content team—you can check this off now since you've already got at least one author, reviewer, and analyst ✨
• Due June 15: Get started on Milestone 1: Plan content by brainstorming some content ideas in the doc (you may need to request edit access)

There's not currently a section coordinator for this chapter, so I'll be periodically checking in with you directly to make sure the chapter is staying on schedule. Reach out here in this issue if you have any questions about the process.

More information about the content team lead and author roles and responsibilities are available for reference in the wiki if needed.

To anyone else interested in contributing to this chapter, please comment below to join the team!

[rviscomi]

@jpamental are you able to edit the top comment to check off the 0th milestone?

[jpamental]

Apparently I can! Done :)

…

On May 13, 2021, at 3:05 PM, Rick Viscomi ***@***.***> wrote: @jpamental <https://github.com/jpamental> are you able to edit the top comment <#2143 (comment)> to check off the 0th milestone? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2143 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAEDGRPCAMSNFOZ5XHKUIT3TNQPJPANCNFSM43UFMKVQ>.

[rviscomi]

Great thanks! I'll defer to you to keep that metadata in sync with any completed milestones or contributor changes. It's helpful for us to see chapter progress at a glance in #2179.

[RoelN]

I'm interested in helping out as well, as reviewer or general helper-outer.

[rviscomi]

👋 Great to have you back @RoelN! I'll defer to @jpamental to get you onboarded.

[tunetheweb]

Having just published an article on it, I'd be interested in use of the new font-face descriptors (aka f-mods).

[rviscomi]

⚠️ @jpamental is there anything we can do to help get this chapter back on track and complete the outline? The outline determines what metrics are needed, and any new custom runtime metrics would need to be implemented now to be in before the July crawl starts.

[svgeesus]

@rviscomi in the absence of any update I suggest running the same metrics as last year which will at minimum allow commenting on any changes.

[rviscomi]

⛔ Milestones 1 and 2 are still unchecked so I'm very worried that this chapter has fallen too far behind to be able to launch on time. All other chapters are currently on Milestone 3 (analyzing the data) but this chapter has been blocked on the outline.

@svgeesus's suggestion to rerun 2020 queries is better than having no data, but we need to be sure that @jpamental still has the interest/availability to commit to authoring the chapter. I completely understand that other things come up and commitments change, we just need to know if that's the case ASAP so we can adapt as needed.

I see three possible paths:

1. @jpamental finalizes the outline (M1) this week. @jessthebp is unblocked to draft the metrics PR (M2) next week. @jessthebp is then able to write/run the queries (M3), which is due September 30.
2. If @jpamental is unable to commit to authoring, and another contributor is willing/able to take the author role, we reassign ownership of the chapter and proceed according to (1) above.
3. If no one is able to commit to authoring, or M1/M2 are incomplete by September 1, we have no other choice but to close the chapter.

Does that sound fair? And @jessthebp are you still able to get the analysis done on a shortened timeline? Open to any other ideas to get the chapter back on track.

[jpamental]

Hi there - I'm so sorry. I thought I had finalized the outline a while ago, but just went back to make a couple of tweaks and have checked it off above. I am definitely willing and able to continue as author.

@jessthebp if you have any questions about the outline please let me know and I'll get back to you right away.

Here's a link to the doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18bIMkKA48CWGTIrQAhoFGFdbTf2iQgQRkhNwOJlENpM/edit

[konfirmed]

Hi, I'll like to help here if needed

[rviscomi]

👋 Hi @jpamental @jessthebp, just checking in on the chapter progress. How is the analysis coming along?

@jpamental could you also help onboard @konfirmed?

[jpamental]

I've been waiting to hear from @jessthebp on the analysis, but if I missed stuff becoming available I'll dive in!

@konfirmed let me know what you'd be interested in doing! I think at this point we're waiting on data analysis before I can jump in and start writing. Help in any area would be welcome!

[konfirmed]

@jpamental I am interested in reviewing but can help with data analysis if that's the current hold up.

[jessthebp]

Hi, @jpamental + @konfirmed -- I'm working on the analysis this week. I'll keep you updated, let me know what else I can do.

[rviscomi]

Hi @jpamental, do you have all of the data you need to start writing the chapter? Any blockers?

[rviscomi]

@jpamental @jessthebp @konfirmed I see that #2338 is merged, so the queries are implemented, but the results don't appear to be in the team spreadsheet.

@jessthebp or @konfirmed could one of you take care of that? We should unblock @jpamental ASAP since the final draft is due in 2 weeks.

[rviscomi]

⚠️ Hey @jpamental the work for Milestone 3 is coming up on the deadline for Milestone 4, which puts this chapter at high risk of being unable to publish on time. Are you able to coordinate with your team to get the chapter back on track ASAP?

[rviscomi]

⛔ @jpamental this chapter desperately needs your attention in order to publish on time. If you're unable to make progress on the draft in the next few days we may need to consider closing this chapter :(

[rviscomi]

Apologies to everyone looking forward to the Fonts chapter this year but unfortunately it doesn't seem feasible to publish it at this point. Thank you to everyone who signed up to contribute and put effort into it, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to carry some of that enthusiasm over into next year's chapter.

[svgeesus]

Oh, @rviscomi sad, but understandable given the lack of any content.

Thanks to the Analysts @jessthebp @konfirmed for their work, and hopefully this year's result sheet is helpful as a point of comparison for next year.

Probably best to recruit a couple of interested and motivated 2022 editors from the typographic community, sooner rather than later.

I'm interested in at least reviewing next year, and maybe co-editing if I am confident of being able to commit the time.

[rviscomi]

+1 thank you for that @svgeesus.

I'd encourage anyone interested in participating in the 2022 Web Almanac to fill out this form so that we can notify you when we kick off the planning stage next year. Leave a note about your interest in fonts (or any other chapter) and we'll tag you in the relevant issues.

[jpamental]

I'm really sorry this didn't happen. Without any of the data I felt like I couldn't really do much—but am always willing to revisit if the analysis is ever completed. I just didn't know what else to do.

[tunetheweb]

Wasn't aware you were waiting on that. All the queries were written but see now they weren't run. They have been now and available in the chapter sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LtahQmT53kj_Z2lMKAr5kSWzskwIe9SbbmIPCH0j_n4/