Child Theme for Block Themes - Workshop

[courtneyr-dev]

Workshop is submitted through https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop-presenter-application/

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[azhiya]

@wparasae are you also working on this?

[wparasae]

I am, yes! :)

[wparasae]

I have nine pages of research & potential outline on Child Block themes here.

It's generating some workshop ideas that would be an excellent supplement. Should I talk about those here, or would I need to create a new issue?

[azhiya]

I would talk about it here if it is related to this workshop and tag anyone that you need to chime in on it.

[wparasae]

You got it! So, in writing this, I'm seeing a few things:

1. The very basics - this would make an excellent workshop (~5 minutes)
2. There's overlap between this and theme.json - I experimented and now have a Workshop on Using Schema with Theme.json in the wings

I'm sure I'll have more advanced ones as this progresses.

[wparasae]

Hi friends, an update on this; this is next on my agenda to tackle. I have a rough draft done and recorded. Screencasts need some work, but this is at 80%. I should be able to finish this up for community feedback this week.

[wparasae]

This workshop is paused. It is 90% done; if anyone is interested in finishing this (video editing) and/or creating screencasts for making child themes, feel free to ask me about it in the training channel. I'm happy to send you the files; otherwise, I will work on this as my priorities change.

[wparasae]

98% finished. Aiming to complete this for review today.

[meaganhanes]

Hi @wparasae - thanks for taking a first stab at this! Here's my detailed feedback with timestamps:

Overall the pace is too fast and density of information, particularly during the first minute, is too high. Cuts between screenshots are too quick and overwhelming [especially the PHP error stack]. Audio processing is not consistent from clip to clip (eg, background noise is not consistently removed, tone of voice changes dramatically), making the video a bit jarring (1:10 - 1:16)

0:17 - Italics should be used judiciously to add emphasis, not for entire bullet points
1:00 - Should make reference to a "Installing WP on a local machine" lesson vs try to communicate all that info in this video. The inclusion and instruction of Local isn't required to access the files themselves and makes this tutorial more confusing, especially in conjunction with the use of an IDE.
1:26 - Why are both twentytwentytwo and Remote themes being used here? Sticking with one theme for this tutorial makes it less confusing - especially as Remote isn't used at any point after this section. Example: at 2:05 you already have twentytwentytwo-child as a folder that exists, but at 3:05 Remote and Remote-child no longer exist?
2:35 - Pro Tip is shown only for Mac - why not include instructions for doing this on Windows and Linux as well?
2:58 - More instruction of Local vs opening the file via Finder or the IDE.
3:06 - Remote and Remote-child theme folders are now missing.
3:11 - Scary modal screen which serves no purpose in this tutorial should not be included in the recording.
3:34 - Love the large screen size of the IDE. It's cute to add the line about this file, but since it's not actually code and people will be watching these videos for explicit instructions to follow along with, I would recommend at least commenting it out so it wouldn't break the file, if not removing it. I guarantee you someone will write and save that line :)
From 3:50 on, the flow and instruction is very good.
4:40 - Reiteration of the Parent Theme name is not needed, so long as we harmonize this tutorial down to Twenty Twenty Two.
4:55 - I challenge whether it's truly unneeded to fill in some of this info if it's for a client... I believe we should try to instill good development hygiene at every opportunity, here included.
5:41 - Unsure what value "Cool, right?" brings to someone who is learning this for the first time and who might actually be thinking "This is confusing and very different from how we used to build child themes."
6:05 - (Advice given to me years ago:) Try to avoid claiming anything is a simple process - this does disservice to the user who decidedly does not think this is simple (at this stage of their education).
6:12 - Do not use a random picture in your tutorial. Please take the time to mindfully craft an image so that users see the full potential value of this feature. Please also use a correctly sized image vs the very large one used. [The image creation itself is beyond the scope of your tutorial of course.] I understand a having fun angle, but the tutorial would be more effective if the flow was changed so that there were code changes to show in the screenshot, even if it's a quick cut to a child theme with bright colours and other obvious visual differences.
6:38 - No auditory description of what you are visually doing, can lead to user confusion.
6:53 - A more technically accurate word than "stick" should be used, like "remain", "persist", or "not be overwritten".

Happy to provide feedback on the script itself if you can share that file.

[wparasae]

This is all great feedback! I'll look over it and make some changes when I return in a week or so. I appreciate your time!

[wparasae]

I feel like this tutorial needs a serious update; making a child theme for a block theme feels largely redundant with the way the site editor works, so I need to explore the reasons someone might do so. I'm sure they exist!

I will probably pick this tutorial back up after the 6.2 launch and explore best practices and potential use-cases here.

[courtneyr-dev]

@wparasae largely the child theme is if someone wants only their own color palette choices to display, added functionally, or omitting functionality for clients sites. Without a child theme, any theme update would undo some things.

[wparasae]

That is super helpful! Thank you, Courtney!

[wparasae]

I don't have the bandwidth for this tutorial at the moment, so I am unassigning myself -- if anyone would like to work on this, please don't hesitate to pick it up and ping @wparasae (arasae in Slack) if you have any questions!