Content review for Finding WP Help article

[estelaris]

Issue Description

Outdated content and links to Codex and some to external sites

URL of the Page with the Issue

Finding WordPress help

Section of Page with the issue

Full article

Why is this a problem?

Outdated information

Suggested Fix

• Review and update content
• Update or remove outdated links

[github-actions]

Heads up @zzap - the "external links" label was applied to this issue.

[github-actions]

Heads up @femkreations @atachibana - the "user documentation" label was applied to this issue.

[zzap]

Related #742

[shabnam611]

Hi @jennimckinnon
I would like to take this one for today's contributor's day.

[shabnam611]

Hi
In this doc, I found mostly all the links are updated and working.
Here we have this one:
WordPress Codex – WordPress Online Manual
shall we link to this: https://developer.wordpress.org/?

[shabnam611]

Also for these two:
IRC Libera WordPress Support on channel #wordpress
WordPress IRC Live Help
Do we need to change the codex links? I didn’t find any alternative..so not sure if I shall keep this same?

[zzap]

Hi In this doc, I found mostly all the links are updated and working. Here we have this one: WordPress Codex – WordPress Online Manual shall we link to this: https://developer.wordpress.org/?

That link can stay but that whole section needs more links before that one. As you already mentioned, https://developer.wordpress.org/, and https://wordpress.org/documentation/.

[zzap]

Also for these two: IRC Libera WordPress Support on channel #wordpress WordPress IRC Live Help Do we need to change the codex links? I didn’t find any alternative..so not sure if I shall keep this same?

The first link should be replaced with https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/appendix/other-support-locations/introduction-to-irc/

The other is ok.

[simonwheatley]

I'd like to take this for today, please, @zzap 🙏

[simonwheatley]

I'm working in this Google Doc, which has open edit permissions 😬

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_8FBuLmG6quQRxy59vn20Yk7fTAIb8L0E6v8FELsB8o/edit#

[simonwheatley]

First set of suggested changes

Retain blue notice at the top ("Important: Please note… etc").

Edit the first three paragraphs, removing most text so it reads like this:

There are many sites dedicated to helping WordPress users. This document will help you find the best resources for the problem you are trying to solve.

---

Move "WordPress Sources for Help" right up the page to just under the paragraph above, and reword so it reads:

Sources on WordPress.org

The best way to find accurate and concise WordPress information is to get it directly from WordPress.org sites. Some key WordPress.org links for help and support are:

• Documentation – WordPress overviews, technical guides, and support guides
• Developer Resources – code references, coding standards, APIs, themes, plugins, advanced administration, and more
• Tutorials – learn new skills as a user, developer, designer, or contributor
• Codex – the WordPress Online Manual

---

Right at the bottom, reword the "Other helpful resources"…

Other helpful resources

• The WordPress support forums are a great place to learn, share, and troubleshoot. If your issue relates to a WordPress.com issue, please use the WordPress.com support forum. The support welcome information will help you be successful in asking and answering questions on the forum.
• Learn more about PHP (the open source scripting language that WordPress is built upon).
• Learn how to join real-time chat in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to ask and answer questions.
• It is possible your problem is caused by a bug. You can search Trac (the bug tracker used by the WordPress project) to see if your problem has already been reported. If, after searching Trac, you believe your problem is not covered by an existing ticket you can report a new bug.

---

Notes:

• Simplify the introduction, so we can get to the content quicker
• Pull up the WordPress.org resources to near the top, so users go there first
• Remove links from WordPress.org self-help sources that require human effort to answer queries (e.g. forums, IRC, etc), I sense that the previous author was focussed on reducing support forum load (e.g. the quote "This is usually the quickest way to get the information you need, and helps take some of the pressure off our volunteers in the support forums.") so I did not include a link to forums and IRC here
• Codex link dropped to the bottom of the link list, there's still useful information there but it is in the process of being superceded by the Documentation, etc
• I didn't use the word "WordPress" in the links, e.g. "Documentation" not "WordPress Documentation" because it seemed less repetitive
• Where I've changed a heading I've moved to the title case, per the style guide, but it may be better to do all the headings in one rather than two now and the rest at some time later

@zzap feedback, please 🙏

[simonwheatley]

I'm back with suggested changes to the rest of the page:

I am assuming the changes above take place 😀 Replace all text from under the section "Sources on WordPress.org" up to, but not including, the heading "Other helpful resources" with the following text:

Searching the web for WordPress help

Outside of WordPress.org, a great place to find WordPress help is your favorite search engine. Searching the web can be the quickest way to get the answers you need, and relieves some of the pressure on our volunteers in the support forums.

When searching for WordPress help, choosing the right search terms can be hard but using effective search terms will help you find relevant search results a lot faster. Without this, you may spend a long time sorting through search results to find an answer to your problem. The following section will show you how to choose effective search terms, how to use those terms effectively, and how to limit your search to specific sites to get the most relevant results.

Choosing your search terms

Adding “WordPress” to the beginning of your search terms will start narrowing down the search results to those most relevant to WordPress.

If you have an error message, you can use it to generate the search terms needed. Here is an example error message:

Warning: main(/home/atlantis/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/stargateatlantis/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 67

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required '/home/atlantis/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/stargateatlantis/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 67

The search terms you need to help solve the problem are within the error message text. In particular, the error specifically references the files that are causing the issue: functions.php and wp-settings.php. The names of these files will make up part of your search.

Both errors reference functions.php but both errors occurred inside the wp-settings.php file. The problem is usually in the file the error occurred in, in this case wp-settings.php rather than functions.php.

The specific errors are failed to open stream and failed opening required. The words “failed” and “open” in both errors is another clue.

From this information you can assemble a search query like this for your favorite search engine:

wordpress failed open wp-settings.php

The search results should get you started on narrowing down the problem.

Not all search terms can be found so easily. If the problem is a CSS or HTML issue, you can include the specific tag or selector related to the problem. It is still advisable to include descriptive words in your search term, for example if your issue relates to borders, mention border, include the name of the theme, and so on. For example:

wordpress my-theme border not visible

You may need to analyze the problem for a while, to find the right terms. For example, if you have a layout error, identify the part of the layout that is affected. Is it the sidebar, header, post content, or comments? Likewise, if the header image is not showing up or is not displaying correctly, begin by searching for WordPress header image and then add specifics such as WordPress header image missing to narrow things down. For example:

wordpress header image when logged in

…or more specific:

wordpress header image missing when logged in

Brainstorming search terms

Brainstorming is a useful technique to use if you are struggling to find suitable keywords. To start, write down the problem you are experiencing, trying to be as descriptive as possible, or explain the problem out loud to an empty room. For example:

“I’m having trouble with the nested list in the sidebar of my layout. It isn’t lining up the items under the titles right. It is keeping things on the left margin when I want them to be indented.”

Your description can be a good source of potential keywords. The explanation above contains the following key words:

• sidebar
• layout
• nested list
• left margin
• indented

All of these terms could be used as search keywords.

Alternatively, explain your problem to a non-WordPress user. Stating the issue in simple terms is an excellent way to get to the heart of a problem and find the right keywords to summarize the issue.

Refining search results

Once you have selected your keywords, it’s time to put them to work. As you sort through the search results, you may end up replacing your initial keywords with more specific ones, in order to narrow down the results. For example, while searching for “wordpress sidebar layout nested links”, you may discover that the problem lies within the specific theme you are using. Add the name of the theme to your keywords in order to narrow down your search.

Another way to improve the quality of your search results is to search a specific site, rather than the entire internet. Most search engines allow you to run a search across one specific web address, helping you to avoid irrelevant results.

Searching specific sites on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo

Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo all support use of the “site:” function while searching. To search a specific domain via one of these search engines, type your keywords and specify the site you want to search using the format “site:[domain]”. For example:

keyword1 keyword2 site:wordpress.org

This instructs the search engine to search all wordpress.org sites, such as wordpress.org/documentation/, wordpress.org/support, and make.wordpress.org.

To narrow your search down to a specific site, such as wordpress.org/documentation/, enter:

keyword1 keyword2 site:wordpress.org/documentation

This instructs the search engine to search only the wordpress.org/documentation/ site, which won’t include results from the Support Forums.

Other search engines provide different ways to narrow down searches. Check to see if there is an advanced search option for your favorite search engine, and take your search from there.

Use quotes to group search terms

You can narrow your search by grouping different search terms together. For example, instead of looking for:

sidebar layout nested list left margin indented

…you can group key phrases together with quote marks:

sidebar layout "nested list" "left margin" indented

This would limit your search to anything with the words sidebar, layout, and indented, and the phrases “nested list” and “left margin”.

Some search engines also allow you to use Boolean references such as AND, OR and NOT to group keywords together. For example, searching for:

"left margin" OR "nested list"

This will return a list of pages containing either the phrase “left margin” or “nested list”, as well as pages containing both of those terms.

---

Notes

• Attempted to simplify and clarify phrasing
• Used title case for headings
• Searching "the web" not "the net"
• Retained link in "…you can include the specific tag or selector…" as there's no equivalent in new documentation, and it still seems useful
• "search terms" rather than "keywords"
• Theme link to codex replaced with link to new docs
• Replaced Yahoo with DuckDuckGo

@zzap yet more feedback, please 🙏

[pekkakortelainen]

Notes after review:

• Replace the document root in the example PHP error / warning message with something more generic e.g. /my-website-root/wp-includes/
• Encouraging in using one's favorite search engine and suggesting multiple options is very good practice 👍
• Suggestion: Under the section Other helpful resources add a link to https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/hosting-wordpress/ as many WordPress specific hosting providers have support for WP related questions. E.g. "Ask your WordPress hosting provider for help. See Hosting WordPress for further reading."
• In general the article is super useful for beginners, even if they don't use WP!

Awesome work @simonwheatley!