Update logs from plugins

[adrianwackernah]

Well I am a long time user of WordPress and I read all update logs from plugin devs before I install updates. Few times I am a bit lost in coding words about what is fixed. Well, for me that is OK. But I support few sites for clients and I know how their skills about coding are. If they read such text they are lost at all.

Isn't there a way to create a separate update log with words that not coding experts understand?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Hi @adrianwackernah, welcome to WordPress Trac! Thanks for the ticket.

Per ​Plugin Developer FAQ:

What should be in my changelog?

A changelog is a log or record of all or all notable changes made to your plugin, including records of changes such as bug fixes, new features, etc.

It's up to the plugin developer to make the changelog more user-friendly or more technical, I don't think introducing a separate changelog would help much.

[adrianwackernah]

Hi Sergey, thanks for reply. Well maybe a general recommandation how a update log should be – for novices understandable and not for devs only – would be fine. Thanks.

[SergeyBiryukov]

@ipstenu @otto42 Could we update the FAQ section above to include a recommendation to make changelogs more understandable and less technical?

[Ipstenu]

I don't think that kind of recommendation is blanket usable. I'm sure many developers would say it IS understandable, even while being technical. I also don't want to be in the position of micromanaging what 'understandable' means :/

[SergeyBiryukov]

Closing due to lack of traction, it does not look like there are any actionable items here for WordPress core at this time.

As noted above, defining "understandable" can be subjective, and it's up to plugin developers to use the language they find appropriate in the changelogs.