WordPress includes a well-defined workflow for running a blog with multiple contributors in various roles. It works great; But what if you are using WordPress to run a 1,000 page hierarchical site? Well… the workflows available are a bit limited without getting under the hood. For example, WordPress does not define fine-grained capabilities for controlling who can edit published content. As a result, users have to be granted full editing permissions, which increases the chance that a less-experienced user will make an ill-advised change. Drawing from our experience running large Multisite installations, Boston University has developed a couple of plugins to address some of the limitations. And for the first time, we are planning to release our plugins to the broader WordPress community under the GPL. This talk will include an overview of the role/capability system presented from both a user and developer perspective as well as overviews of the BU Versions and BU Section Editing plugins. Along the way, various insights will be shared that provide a window into how BU has built an effective content management system on top of WordPress.

2. WordPress
Workflows
+ Expanded

3. 700 sites
581 sites
342 sites
141 sites
136 sites
0 sites
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

4. Total:
+ 255 In-progress
+ 2,596 Blogs
= 3,551 Sites
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

5. A range of offerings:
1. Fully custom
2. Quick setup
3. DIY tools

19. How many plugins does it take?
Main Main Integrated
Third-Party BU-specific w/ BU apps
Gravity Forms BU Navigation BU Calendar
WP SuperCache Access Control List BU Maps
(w/ Single Sign-on)
Akismet Google Search
User Management Appliance
Networks for (w/ Single Sign-on)
WordPress Course Feeds
Content Banner
Yet Another Related Training Manager
Posts Plugin Post Details
Emergency Alert
Advanced Tiny MCE
Site Manager
....

20. What makes large sites so difficult?
Lack of vision Search
Lack of Performance &
consistency Scaling
Lack of clear Complex
accountability workflows
Team dynamics Politics
and skill

21. What makes large sites so difficult?
Lack of vision Search
Lack of Performance &
consistency Scaling
Lack of clear Complex
accountability workflows
Team dynamics Politics
and skill

22. BU Versions
+ BU Section
Editing

23. Design Goals»
+ Blend naturally into the existing WordPress
admin UI
+ Simple to use
+ Manage permissions with a full view of all post
content
+ Perform well on sites with more than 2,000
pages
+ Support custom post types

24. BU Versions!

27. Jane Doe,
Contributor

30. John Smith,
administrator

33. The history of a page
t ed e d
ea d lo
n te es
cr e c na rit
e ge lish e er rw al
p ag pa ub pag lt e n
a v i
p o rig
o
te
a d
rn ite
te ed
al

34. Roadmap»
+ Compare changes with original
+ Support cloning of meta data and the meta boxes
used to manage the data
+ Simple notifications
+ Support custom statuses
+ Preview all alternate versions as once (tricky)

35. BU Section
Editing!

36. John Smith,
administrator

42. Jane Doe,
Contributor

45. Now accepting pull requests...
+ BU Versions
https://github.com/bu-ist/bu-versions
+ BU Section Editing
https://github.com/bu-ist/bu-section-editing

46. Contributors:
+ Mike Burns, developer
+ Sam Roach, UX designer
+ Scott Dasse, designer
+ Mike Waecker, project manager
+ Alex Haas, quality assurance analyst

47. Related Plugins:
+ Members
+ Edit Flow (Automattic)
+ ICE (NYTimes)

48. Roles +
Capabilities

49. Default Roles»
+ Administrator - Somebody who has access to all
the administration features
+ Editor - Somebody who can publish and manage
posts and pages as well as manage other users'
posts, etc.
+ Author - Somebody who can publish and manage
their own posts
+ Contributor - Somebody who can write and
manage their posts but not publish them
+ Subscriber - Somebody who can only manage
their profile

50. WordPress Permissions:
1. Primitive
Capabilities
2. Meta
Capabilities
Roles +
Capabilities

51. unfiltered_html delete_users
Administrator create_users
Primitive edit_theme_options
delete_themes
edit_users
list_users
Capabilities switch_themes
edit_themes
remove_users
add_users
read update_themes promote_users
edit_posts install_themes
edit_others_posts
edit_published_posts activate_plugins
edit_private_posts edit_plugins
delete_posts update_plugins
delete_others_posts delete_plugins
delete_published_posts install_plugins
delete_private_posts
read_private_posts edit_dashboard
publish_posts manage_options
moderate_comments
edit_pages manage_categories
edit_others_pages manage_links
edit_published_pages
publish_pages edit_files
delete_pages upload_files
delete_others_pages unfiltered_upload
delete_published_pages import
delete_private_pages export
edit_private_pages update_core
read_private_pages Roles +
Capabilities

52. unfiltered_html delete_users
Administrator create_users
Primitive edit_theme_options
delete_themes
edit_users
list_users
Capabilities switch_themes
edit_themes
remove_users
add_users
read update_themes promote_users
edit_posts install_themes
edit_others_posts
edit_published_posts activate_plugins
edit_private_posts edit_plugins
delete_posts update_plugins
delete_others_posts delete_plugins
delete_published_posts install_plugins
delete_private_posts
read_private_posts edit_dashboard
publish_posts manage_options
moderate_comments
edit_pages manage_categories
edit_others_pages manage_links
edit_published_pages
publish_pages edit_files
delete_pages upload_files
delete_others_pages unfiltered_upload
delete_published_pages import
delete_private_pages export
edit_private_pages update_core
read_private_pages Roles +
Capabilities

53. current_user_can('edit_post',
10)
map_meta_cap()
has_cap('edit_published_posts')
Roles +
Capabilities

54. current_user_can('edit_post',
10)
BU Section Editing
map_meta_cap() filter
map_meta_cap()
has_cap('edit_published_in_section')
Roles +
Capabilities

55. current_user_can('publish_posts')
map_meta_cap()
has_cap('published_posts')
Roles +
Capabilities

56. Uh, Oh!
No 'publish_post'
Meta Capability
Roles +
Capabilities

57. hack...
hack...
find
a
work-­‐around...
submit
WordPress
core
trac
ticket...
write
unit
tests...
submit
a
patch...
Roles +
Capabilities

58. Limitations»
+ Capabilities are not stored separate from roles
+ Capabilities do not have labels or descriptions
Roles +
Capabilities

59. Roles +
Capabilities

60. Limitations»
+ Capabilities are not stored separate from roles
+ Capabilities do not have labels or descriptions
+ No API exists for setting a capability to false;
remove_cap() deletes the capabilities making it
difficult to determine whether a capability was
removed or just was never added
Roles +
Capabilities

61. The value of open source
core
developer community
developer

62. "The foundation of open source projects is
rough consensus and working code"
—Jacob Kaplan-Moss

63. Resources»
+ http://make.wordpress.org
+ http://core.trac.wordpress.org
+ freenode.net #wordpress-dev
+ wp-hackers@lists.automattic.com

64. Up next» + infrastructure
revamp
+ responsive
+ open source

65. (by)
Gregory Cornelius
@gcorne
design by Scott Dasse