Andy Skelton has taken up arms against the WordPress Codex saying it is less than helpful when looking for answers:

Does anybody else around here feel like the WordPress Codex is suffering from bloat? All of the answers are in there–often more than once. I just can’t seem to find the ones I want. Findability needs work, too.

I had not really noticed this problem until lately. When you search the WordPress Codex you’ll sometimes get tons of “user” stuff.

When searching for details on is_home, I got tons of results that were less than helpful:

User:Matt/photomatt.net/index.php
User:Yami McMoots/My Header
User:Jefte/functions.php

I was still able to find what I was looking for though in the first result, and so I have not really come up against a wall, but I know how to search such systems thanks to years of using Google. I can see how it can be intimidating to first time users though.

On the first page of the codex, you are overwhelmed with the number of choices and directions you can go. Sadly, this is after an update that made the front page much easier to use and better organized.

The main issue is that the Codex was designed by people that know WordPress well. They look at the directions they have written and think “well, that’s easy enough.”

Then a completely new WordPress user comes and says “Where do I put that?” or “Can I just copy and paste it?”. This creates questions on the forum later on, complaining about code they found in the codex that does not work because it was for WordPress 1.5, but they are running 2.0.

A new system needs to be created, and much like Themes.WordPress.net is way better than any theme list in the Codex, someone could easily come up with a better WordPress User Guide if they had the time and inclination.

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