Improve plugin approval email to focus on deploying first version and following best practices.

[StevenDufresne]

In creating #362, I realized that there is a lot of missed opportunity in the plugin approval email to encourage users to use best practices from day one. Many of these best practices are important because failing to follow them makes it harder for these users to adopt important security features like Release Confirmations.

This is a proposal to update the approval email more holistically and provide an easy to read almost step by step guide for users to follow.

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Congratulations! Your plugin, {plugin}, has been approved and is now live on the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Here's What You Need to Do Next:

Access Your SVN Repository

Your account ({username}) will be granted commit access to your Subversion (SVN) repository within the next hour.

• SVN URL: https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/{plugin}
• Public URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/{plugin}

Upload Your Code

Once access is active, upload your code to /trunk using SVN.

• Username: {username} (case sensitive, don't use your email address)
• Password: Generate one in your WordPress.org profile

If you're new to SVN, or need a refresher, check out How to Use Subversion with the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Deploy your code

Use the /tags folder to deploy your code. Follow these steps:

• Commit your code to the trunk directory, which is where the development version of your plugin lives.
• Update the Stable Tag field in your readme.txt to match the new version (e.g., Stable Tag: 1.0).
• Copy your code to the /tags/ directory using the command svn copy trunk tags/{version} to create versioned releases (e.g., svn copy trunk tags/1.0).
• Done, you code is live!

Prepare Your Plugin Assets

Make sure your plugin makes a great first impression in the directory.

• Add information about your plugin in your readme.txt .
• Upload your plugin assets (headers, images).
• Provide a blueprint that allows users to test drive your plugin.

Note: It may take up to 72 hours for your plugin to fully appear in search results.

You’re All Set!

Ensure your plugin stays compliant with the latest guidelines and if reach out if you need additional support!

• Follow our guidelines: - Read the Plugin Directory guidelines
• Keep your plugin safe: Run the plugin check often.
• Have any other questions?: - Read the Plugin Directory FAQs

[frantorres]

Thanks for the proposal, I'm going to rephrase some parts having in mind the typical doubts the review team see from plugin authors.

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Congratulations! Your plugin, {plugin}, has been approved and is now ready to be live on the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Here's what you need to do next:

Your SVN repository for this plugin

Your account ({username}) will be granted commit access to your Subversion (SVN) repository within the next hour.

• SVN URL: https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/{plugin}
• Public URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/{plugin}

Your SVN credentials

If this is the first time you use SVN or don't have your credentials at hand, you can set up your SVN credentials in the “Account & Security” section of your WordPress.org profile.

Remember:

• Your username is case sensitive. Don't use your email address as username.
• Your password is autogenerated, you cannot create a custom password for SVN access.
• These same credentials will give you access to any other SVN repository on WordPress.org that your username has been granted access to.

Upload and Deploy your code

You must use SVN to upload and update your code -- we are unable to do that for you.

If you're new to SVN, or need a refresher, check out How to Use Subversion with the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Once access is active, in general terms, this is what you would need to do to upload or update your plugin:

• Make sure you have set the Stable Tag field in your Readme file.
• Make sure you have set the Version field in your plugin headers.
• Make sure the version declared in the Stable Tag and Version fields are exactly the same.
• Upload your code to /trunk using SVN.
• Copy your code to the /tags/{version} directory to create the release for that version. You can do that using the command svn copy trunk tags/{version}. Change {version} with exactly the same version you have set up in your Stable Tag and Version fields.

For example:

• Stable tag: 1.0 at readme.txt
• Version: 1.0 at your plugin headers.
• 1.0 is exactly the same to 1.0
• Uploaded code to /trunk directory at SVN
• Copied the code to the /tags/1.0 directory at SVN. This can be done using the command svn copy trunk tags/1.0

After doing this, wait for a few minutes and done, you code is live!

If your code is not visible after this, please check again that you are setting up exactly the same version in the Stable Tag and Version fields and as {version} in the /tags/{version} directory. If there was a mistake there, an easy way to fix it is to change the version to a higher one and redo the process.

Directory options

Configure its appearance in the directory

Make sure your plugin makes a great first impression in the directory.

• Add information about your plugin in your readme file. In case you need it, you can check it using the Readme validator.
• Upload your plugin assets (headers, images).
• You can provide a blueprint to allow users to test drive your plugin at Playground.
• You can add your plugin to the Block Directory in case it complies with the requisites.

Note: It may take up to 72 hours for your plugin to fully appear in search results.

Admin tools

After it is published, you can go to the "Advanced" section of your plugin page to:

• Add "Committers" or "Support Reps" to your plugin.
• Activate release confirmations.
• Toggle Live Preview of your plugin.
• Transfer or close your plugin.

You’re All Set!

Make sure your plugin complies with the latest guidelines and is secure while it's hosted in the directory.

• Follow our guidelines: - Read the Plugin Directory guidelines
• Keep your plugin safe: Run the plugin check often.
• Have any other questions?: - Read the Plugin Directory FAQs

If you have issues or questions, please reply to this email and let us know.

Enjoy!