Improve the string for the default About page

[nacin]

The comma splice may be fixed [15670], but the rest of the string is still all over the map:

This is an example of a WordPress page. You could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.

if we're just going to fix grammar and poor parallelism, here's an attempt:

This is an example of a WordPress page. You could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.

A bit more modifications:

This is an example of a WordPress page. You could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know who you are. You can manage your content inside of WordPress by creating as many pages as you'd like.

[westi]

[2645] - It's taken 5 years for you to notice #blamenacin.

[filosofo]

Replying to nacin:

You can manage your content inside of WordPress by creating as many pages as you'd like.

I suggest dropping the managing content part. For one thing, I don't exhaust the content-managing means by creating pages; for another, it either is trivially obvious or doesn't really say anything (what does it mean by doing something inside WordPress)?

Create as many pages as you'd like.

[jane]

I wouldn't mind turning this into more of an example page instead of directions. Maybe do something fun with an example about page. Also, maybe we could link it to the admin for that page editor since we know it's always post=2 by default? Maybe stick a default image in as well?

[nacin]

If we do that, it will significantly minimize the really annoying /about-2/ proliferation that Trash caused.

[jane]

Proposed new About text:

This is an example page. It's different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this:

Hi there! I'm a bike messenger by day, aspiring actor by night, and this is my blog. I live in Los Angeles, have a great dog named Jack, and I like piano coladas. (And gettin' caught in the rain.)

…or something like this:

The XYZ Doohickey Company was founded in 1971, and has been providing quality doohickies to the public ever since. Located in Gotham City, XYZ employs over 2,000 people and does all kinds of awesome things for the Gotham community.

As a new WordPress user, you should go to <a href=" page list ">your dashboard</a> to delete this page and create new pages for your content. Have fun!

Also, let's change the slug from about to example-about-page. That will get rid of the about-2 once and for all, and will make it even more clear that users should delete the page.

[filosofo]

♬ With half a brain making blog posts at midnight, sippin' Starbucks café. ♪

[jane]

s/piano/pi&#241;a

[studionashvegas]

Patch created to include Jane's requested edits was attached above.

First time creating a patch - hope it's done correctly.

You can see the results of the new page here:
​http://dev.studionashvegas.com/new/example-about-page/

Ran a clean install with the patch and had 0 problems.

[studionashvegas]

UPDATED Patch with correct word for pi&#241;a :)

[nacin]

(In [16835]) Example About Page. props jane, studionashvegas. fixes #14973.

[nacin]

Made a few edits to the patch. Paragraph tags get handled by wpautop(), and smart quotes and elipses by wptexturize(), so we just want line breaks and such in the DB. Also, removed the translation context from the slug as that is no longer needed, added in a missing paragraph, and included a dashboard link.

[demetris]

A few general remarks:

First, brevity is the soul of wit, and also of good interfaces.

Second, as makers of WordPress we write for others to read, not for us to write. This should dictate how we write if we want our message to be easily and clearly understood.

Third, before we set out to improve copy we must have a target: What do we want to say? If we don’t, the result can be an improvement only by accident.

You must have gathered by now that I am not happy with the new text. :-D

Can we please revert the change and leave this task for 3.2?

(I would go into specifics and also provide alternative ideas, but I think we have more pressing matters at this stage of the cycle.)

[filosofo]

The comma should be removed from the line

Company was founded in 1971, and has been providing

A comma and conjunction should not separate a double predicate like that (as opposed to marking a series of items or splitting two independent clauses).

Also, it might be confusing to suggest that a salient feature of posts is that they do not "stay in one place."

If you're going to paint the bikeshed, may as well be thorough.

[nacin]

(In [16959]) s/example-about-page/sample-page/. see #14973.

[ryan]

3.1 is in hard string freeze.

[jane]

Closing due to lack of any comments here in the past year. Imagine at some point we'll do a review of all the default strings and the like and this will come up again.