The WordPress ecosystem as we see and love it today is a result of contributions in one way or the other towards making it better. Since WordPress was released in 2003 a lot of changes has happened and it keeps getting better and adding more features and functionality with each major release.
You can also remember how I shared my story about my personal journey with WordPress here.
No matter your skills set whether you are a designer, developer, or just someone who uses WordPress you can give back to WordPress.
Below are some ways you can give back to WordPress in 2013:
1. Design and Release a Theme
WordPress themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress website or installation without altering the information content or structure. WordPress theme allows you to use WordPress for different things ranging from a magazine website, a blog and other different things.
Designing and releasing a theme goes a long way towards helping other who need it. And, you may even have the genesis of a new small business, if you ever wanted to take it that direction. Even creating a theme with a financial motive is still creating value for a ton of people.
There are tons of resources available on how to get started – here’s just one of them.
2. Create a Plugin
Plugins are tools that provides or extends functionality to WordPress. Even though there are over 23,000 plugins in the WordPress plugins directory. There is no harm in creating a plugins for that functions that you love and you know people will need.
One lovely thing about WordPress is that there is a plugin for that functions that you need. And this is thanks to those people who have dedicated their precious time towards releasing a plugin for that functions.
So nothing stops you from releasing a plugin. And just like for themes, there are tons of resources available to you to get started – here’s one.
3. Answers Questions in WordPress Support Forums, StackExchange, Reddit
Everybody that started using WordPress started as a newbie. It is the time that you dedicated towards knowing it more and better is what changes you from a newbie to a WordPress Professional.
There are a lot of people that are just using WordPress for the first time and ask questions on how to do things with WordPress, how to use WordPress and how to solve issues that arises using WordPress. Giving answers to this kind of people goes a long way towards.
All you need to do is visit either of WordPress Support Forum, WordPress Answers on StackExchange and WordPress on Reddit and answer any question.
One recent example was this sad question on Reddit.
4. Contribute to Core
The WordPress Core is the “heartbeat” of WordPress. This is the collection of all files and functions that makes WordPress does the beautiful things it does. WordPress as we see it today is the result of the precious time spent by people dedicated to making it better, secure and safe for use.
There are different ways to contribute to Core but not limited to reporting a bug and submitting a patch. So if you notice a bug that arises when you uses WordPress kindly report it. If you have solutions to a submitted bug. You can submit a patch to fix the bug.
Here’s one way to get started.
5. Start/Join a Local Meetup
One of the things that keeps WordPress going strong is the community. Starting a local meetup or joining one close to you is also a good way of giving back to WordPress.
A WordPress Meetup is a gathering of WordPress users where different things related to WordPress are discussed. From basic guides on using WordPress to advanced guides on designing and developing for WordPress is all covered.
In a WordPress Meetup you will shares your ideas with others just getting to know about WordPress for the first time at the same time you will also be learning new things as well.
So what are you waiting for. Join a local Meetup or start one. And you will be glad you did.
6. Contribute on WordPress Related Blogs
There are a lot of WordPress related blogs around. Sharing your knowledge on using WordPress, designing and developing for WordPress, troubleshooting issues that arises using WordPress goes a long way towards helping out others.
[Editors Note: Like you creating this post! Thanks!**]
7. Contribute to Make WordPress.org
Some people haven’t heard of Make WordPress.org.
Make WordPress.org is the official resources to help people develop for WordPress.
There are different sections you can help contribute to on Make WordPress.org from core, plugins, themes, support, ui, polyglots, accessibility, mobile, meta, docs, community and events.
To find out how you can contribute to Make WordPress.org. Just head to Make WordPress.org, there you will get different information on different sections you can contribute to.
8. Contribute to the Codex
If you have more ways or suggestions of giving back to WordPress, kindly drop it in the comments.
The WordPress Codex is the online manual for WordPress users. It takes you through everything you want to know about how to use WordPress. From installation to customization, it’s all there.
The WordPress Codex is a result of contributions from different individuals who add new content to the Codex, edit existing pages and also translate it to different languages.
If you can do any of the above mentioned task, kindly head to the Codex:Contributing page to know how you can contribute to the Codex!