WordCamp US 2023: How to Get Involved and Contribute to WordPress

Introduction

With WordCamp US 2023 slated to go live between the 24^th and 26^th of August this year at Maryland, US, there lots to be seen, learnt, and even avenues for contributing from your expertise or experience in anything WordPress! WordCamp US 2023 offers a fantastic opportunity for contributing to the WordPress community, whether you’re a seasoned developer, or maybe even starting out fresh in the world of WordPress! WordPress is an open-source platform that thrives on collaboration, and your contributions can have a significant impact on lots of people from around the world! This guide will walk you through various ways you can become a WordPress contributor during the event, catering to different skill levels of WordPress developers, right from beginners to experts, attending the WCUS 2023 event!

Contributor & Contributing Explained

To begin with, let us approach the subject of Contributing, as well as what construes a Contributor. For the WordCamp US 2023 event, anyone can actively participate in WCUS Contributor Day and share anything related to developing, improving, and maintaining any of the several tasks or chores before and during the event. These tasks can be technical or non-technical tasks in nature. Some of the types of tasks are described below:

Technical Tasks

You can take on testing and reporting bugs on the WordPress core software, themes, and plugins. Those with a flair for writing can even jot down, and submit patches for bug fixes or new features to WordPress core or plugins. You can even add newer templates by designing and developing a WordPress theme or plugin, as well as share it on WordPress.org! For those who have extended hands-on experience in developing WordPress mobile apps, they can go ahead with contributing to the code, improve the UX and tests for the handheld platform.

Non-Technical Tasks

Since WordPress.org is a huge platform with many dependent functions falling on the underlying core of PHP code, there is a significant need for tertiary functions such as documentation. There are several topics on which, you can write or improve documentation for WordPress. In fact, you can even help translate WordPress into your choice of language, which you are comfortable or well-versed with. 

There are documents to be edited, and even creating subtitles for videos, which need translation for existing and new developer entrants into the world of WordPress! Other avenues to lend your contributions is by participating in the WordPress support forums, through helping solve other users’ problems. 

From the scores of tutorials and guides available at the WordPress.org, you can even help, in creating or improving the WordPress lesson plans and related materials for instructors around the world, spreading the intricacies of WordPress to budding developers! Furthermore, there are untapped opportunities for spreading the word about WordPress far and wide, which you can tap into, and help promote the use of WordPress for creating beautiful & functional websites! 

Much similarly, there exists Openverse, which is an open-source engine for open-content; specifically developed for WordPress project, that searches Creative Commons licensed and public domains for open-content. It currently indexes over 600 million objects available under this license. You can take pictures for Openverse, and even help curate existing images from the repository!

A Ready Reckoner List of Topics 

From the list as shown below, you will need to choose on which topic or subject would you or your team be contributing upon. 

• Accessibility
• Community
• Core
• Design
• Documentation
• Hosting
• Marketing
• Meta
• Mobile
• Plugins
• Polyglots
• Openverse
• Support
• Sustainability
• Test
• Themes
• Tide
• Training
• TV
• Photos
• WP CLI
• Undecided

The above are the various topics on, which you can elaborate further on the Contributor Day at WordCamp 2023! As per your experience with these topics in WordPress, you can cover various niches about the subject, the nuances faced so far, unique problems and their nouveau solutions, etc.!

Consequently, for being a WordPress contributor at WordCamp, you need to register yourself at the WordCamp US 2023. Head over to the official registration page for contributors over here, and fill in details as necessary. If you are a returning contributor, select it so, else register as a first timer at WordCamp 2023! 

A Summary for Contributing

Today, there are more methods of contributing into hundreds of topics and areas that more hands are always welcome for this task. Right from updating codex and handbooks documentation, participating in beta testing and bug reporting & testing, to coding and enhancing features in themes and plugins, creating UI/UX mockups and improvements in WordPress. 

Moreover, core WordPress development coding, adding to existing coding standards and guidelines, as well as improving accessibility for all users, are also segments where you can go ahead with contributing to the WordPress WordCamp scenario!

On the day of the WordCamp US 2023 event, you can be a part of this remarkable team behind the success of WordPress, making the most of your presence, by engaging with experts and contributors, and even attending workshops and sessions at WordCamp US 2023!

WordCamp US 2023 is a chance to immerse yourself in the vibrant WordPress community and contribute to a platform that powers millions of websites worldwide. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced developer, your efforts can shape the future of WordPress. By following this guide, you’ll be well-prepared to dive into the various contribution avenues available, gain new skills, and build lasting connections.

Remember, WordPress is built on the spirit of collaboration, so your contributions, no matter how big or small, are always valuable and much appreciated.

Lastly, keep an eye on our WordCamp page, as here we will share some great contributor insights from the WCUS contributor day.

Get ready to make a difference at WordCamp US 2023!

Note: Some of the images used in the article are released under a Creative Commons license. The original images are available on the Flickr account of WordCamp Europe.