What does it take?

Some PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS knowledge and a little bit of time to spare. At least that is what it takes to get the ball rolling.

Yeah, very simple. Doesn’t take much really.

The basics

There are some things that you really have to know in order to becoming a WordPress Theme Reviewer. Here is a quick list I feel makes for a good theme reviewer.

  • Knowledge
  • WordPress prowess
  • Personality
  • Time
  • Communication

Now, that is what makes for a reviewer but how to get your foot in the door?

Those steps are a little bit easier. One of three ways to get started really. The first one is by requesting a ticket to review from the review queue. [note: it is as of this writing]

The second way is by emailing the theme reviewers mail list and asking if any new theme is available for a review. Keep in mind that you will have to subscribe to that list as well in order to keep in contact with all theme reviewers and admins. You can also follow a good few through twitter, personal blogs or however you’d like.

The third way, but is less frequently checked, would be through the IRC channel #wordpress-themes. They will also link you to the review queue I mentioned earlier so these last two would be just pushing it if you did all three. Just saying.

What next?

The next step would be to setup your testing environment. Getting all the needed information, the settings and finally testing the theme. How you set that up is entirely up to you but there are some things that must remain the same across all the testing platforms. Can you guess what that is? It’s a simple setting that will help solve some of your headaches.

It is setting WP_DEBUG to true in your configuration file. Yeah, a very simple thing, right? Keep in mind that there are other ways to keep track of errors as well.

As far as plugins go, there are plenty to pick and choose from. The widely accepted one is the developer plugin by the Automattic team. It is a great plugin to get you started in creating a theme or plugin.

Testing

Yeah buddy! Finally we can discuss testing the theme. In order to test a theme you need data. Enter the theme unit test file. There are a few places that have some sample posts and images that you can download. Just a simple XML file that you import. Thankfully there is one that is widely used by many theme reviewers. The file stays up to date and is looked over every once in a while for errors.

An alternative is to use your own posts if you have enough. I may one day try creating my own little set of posts but for now I use the theme unit tests provided. It’s convenient if you are just starting out.

Unit Testing

Simple. Follow the steps provided in the theme unit test page and then report any major errors in the theme’s ticket.

Go through each scenario and make sure you write any, and all errors that you encounter. Keep in mind that is only part of a review. There is one part that I feel is extremely important. Communication.

Let’s talk about it

Yes. Talking is the single biggest thing when you are reviewing a theme. Without talking to the theme developer neither one of you is learning or even progressing. I mean it. Keeping in touch is the key to becoming a good theme reviewer as well as a developer.

A great example of this would be a ticket I reviewed nearly four months ago. I assigned myself the ticket, looked over the code, tested to see if anything would break and took note of it all. I posted the required things that needed to be addressed in order for the theme to be approved.

I didn’t hear any response from the developer in three days. I posted a question asking if they needed more time. Still no response. Nearly a week later I told that person I had to close the ticket and not approve the theme. About a week ago I was on the support forums and saw that somebody had a question about the theme and if there would be an update, if any. Made me sad to see that.

Personality?

Yes. It does take a certain personality to be a good theme reviewer. At least I think so. The reason I say this is because as a theme reviewer you are helping somebody. You are helping them share something with the world. I know it does sound a little cheesy but it is true. Think back to when you were in school and you had to create something for a class project. Odds are there was at least one person in that classroom that got all the recognition and all the praise for going above and beyond what the project asked for.

Now put yourself in their shoes ( if you weren’t already that person ) and think about how it feels. It feels good. It makes me happy approving a theme. At least one that I feel is worthy of approval but that’s another topic.

Think you can?

So, you ready to become a theme reviewer? If so, then head over to the Make Theme blog, give some input, ask for a ticket and give back to the community!