CUNY Academic Commons

Boone,

Just logged in and I totally agree. This is quite a large change! At the very least we should run announcements (with links to a codex page maybe?), to get people ready for this upgrade. Perhaps a mass email to reach as many users as possible?

Not sure if it's a design decision or an error, but the icons and text appear to be "off" or out of alignment on the toolbar. I'm still clicking around but that seems to be the only real issue I see. The shock is what's going to get most users.

Thanks, Dom. Looks like the sprites must have changed. Can you open a ticket please?

Boone,

I think it might be helpful/useful to add large updates like this to our idea of the "handbook." Also, there are many large sites and organizations that do not officially upgrade until the first point release. This might help us a lot. When a major update is released for WP, like 3.8, we can take time to see how it works on CDEV and then hold off upgrading until 3.8.x is released. It would also give our dev partners a chance to test their sites with the major update before we push them over a cliff.

I think it might be helpful/useful to add large updates like this to our idea of the "handbook."

Yes, it'd be good to cover them there. I don't see the particular need to have any different policies about the "large" updates, though - do you?

Also, there are many large sites and organizations that do not officially upgrade until the first point release.

I don't feel strongly about this. We already have the 16-day waiting period as warning for new users. This won't always guarantee that there'll be a .1 release ready for our update on the 21st, but it usually will.

I don't see the particular need to have any different policies about the "large" updates, though - do you?

Nope, just wanted to mention that it's another piece of info that should be covered in the handbook.

This won't always guarantee that there'll be a .1 release ready for our update on the 21st, but it usually will.

My feeling on this is that waiting for the point release (until it falls into our release cycle) gives the WP community (not just ours) time to identify bugs and new features that NEED to be addressed in the first point release. This is why larger organizations wait. It's like buying a new car. You shouldn't buy a car or truck that has just changed body styles. If the mustang has a complete redesign in 2015, wait and buy the 2016 if you MUST have a new car. This gives ford a year to address negative feedback and experience from the early adopters and fix those problems in the 2016 model.

By adopting a WP major upgrade strategy that waits for the first point release we may save a tremendous amount of headaches and unnecessary work - and it also gives plugin devs a chance to get their code in line with any changes to core (also saving us work and support requests).

Thanks for the thoughts.

we may save a tremendous amount of headaches and unnecessary work

Realistically, the very fastest we could get a major WP release is 17 days: they release on the 4th, we announce on the 5th, and release on the 21st. Looking back on the release history of the WordPress project over the last few years, whenever there have been critical issues in a major release, the followup has come well within 17 days, in which case we'd get it by the 21st. And this is the fastest conceivable turnaround - it's likely that we'd have more time than this.

The fact that members of our team are closely involved in and watching WP development suggests that we can probably take this on a case-by-case basis. I usually know from the buzz in the community within a few days of a release whether serious issues have been reported in various setups.

I was not aware that WP always released on the 4th, that's good to know. Sounds like we'll always be working off the first point release no matter what, so case-by-case probably makes the most sense. Like you said on the Monday call: it ain't broke so lets fix the stuff that is. :)

I was not aware that WP always released on the 4th

They don't. I was just illustrating the "worst case" scenario. If they release on the 30th, then we announce on the 5th and release on the 21st - 22 days. If they release on the 15th, we announce on the 5th and release on the 21st - 37 days. Etc :)

Ah, I get it. OK, case-by-case works for me.

Dom, do we have another ticket open for the handbook so that we can collect ideas and also set a targeted release? If not, can you please create one? Thanks.

Issue #2131