ROADMAP.md for WordPress developers
On the WPwatercooler podcast this week — while talking about what's coming in 2020 — I proposed that WordPress plugin developers might want to consider adding ROADMAP.md files to their GitHub repos.
Much like CHANGELOG.md shows you where a project has been, ROADMAP.md would show you where a project is headed.
- Planning on fixing a long-standing issue? Put it in
ROADMAP.md. - Working on a new feature? Put it in
ROADMAP.md. - Getting ready to roll out indexes for common database queries? Put it in
ROADMAP.md
Standard changelog rules apply. Group things by version number, with simple, digestible bullet points. Add context where necessary. Avoid putting dates on things so you're not on a deadline.
Unlike changelogs, which are kept in reverse-chronological order, roadmaps should be kept in chronological order. What's coming up in the next release should be the first thing people read. You don't want to make your users dig around for what's next, do you?
Should anyone decide to do this, I'd love to know about it. At me on Mastodon or Twitter and send me a link to your repo!
tags: wordpress, roadmap, changelog
Why not WordPress?
As someone who has had a 14 year career working with WordPress, it might be surprising that I'm not using the same old hammer that I always have.
But, in order for me to feel more comfortable with writing on the regular, I decided to try using something without any baggage. And what's more baggage free than a bash script that converts Markdown files into blog posts?
No plugins. No themes. No block editor. Just words. Glorious words.