a:4:{s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:3:"rss";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:3:"


";s:7:"attribs";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:7:"version";s:3:"2.0";}}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:1:{s:7:"channel";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:61:"
	
	
	
	




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"WPTavern: The Case for a Shared CSS Toolkit in WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130404";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://wptavern.com/the-case-for-a-shared-css-toolkit-in-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6777:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Earlier today, Mark Root-Wiley published an in-depth <a href="https://mrwweb.com/standardized-design-tokens-css-wordpress-future/">proposal around standardized design tokens and CSS</a> for WordPress. The goal is to create a consistent, customizable, and interoperable system around the design tools in core. Essentially, he is proposing a standardized design framework or, as he refers to it, a &#8220;shared CSS toolkit&#8221; that WordPress, themes, and plugins can rely on.</p>



<p>The blog post clocks in at nearly 4,000 words. He also added a shorter version of the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38998">proposal via a Gutenberg GitHub ticket</a>. However, the post expands on the idea, linking to resources that span a few years.</p>



<p>I responded to Root-Wiley via email. This was a subject near and dear to me. It has also been a source of frustration from other theme authors I have had the privilege of talking to over the last few years. These are themers who have been 100% behind the block system since Day 1, not the random guy in the back shouting, &#8220;Gutenberg sucks!&#8221;</p>



<p>The primary thought I shared was that there has been a bit of fatigue on the topic. There is a push to bring standard presets to core every so often. But, it always feels like the wheels are spinning in the mud until everyone gets out of the car when they realize its not moving.</p>



<p>Root-Wiley pointed to my 2019 post, <a href="https://wptavern.com/themes-of-the-future-a-design-framework-and-a-master-theme">Themes of the Future: A Design Framework and a Master Theme</a>, as a common ancestor to his deep dive into the bowels of this issue. But, others and I have been talking about it even before the launch of the block editor in WordPress 5.0.</p>



<p>In part, this is because we were excited about the potential of more standardization. WordPress could finally correct some of its longstanding issues and usher in a utopian era of theme creation based on well-designed conventions.</p>



<p>WordPress 5.0 rolled out theme-support flags for custom font sizes and a color palette. The features in and of themselves were a welcome first step, but they did not go far enough. WordPress should have leaped ahead and set standards from the outset.</p>



<p>Instead, we got a mish-mash of default font size and color names with no guidelines on what they meant. <em>How huge is the &#8220;huge&#8221; font size? What if I need to follow that naming scheme and need something larger? What should I name it?</em> (For a potentially educational tangent on size names, see my <a href="https://wptavern.com/feed#a-never-before-published-list-of-sizes">notes at the end of this post</a>.)</p>



<p>I still cringe every time I see classes like <code>.has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color</code>.</p>



<p>However, I will not continue bashing the mistakes of the platform&#8217;s past. It is time to look forward. Root-Wiley notes in his post:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>I would like to propose a path toward standardizing how CSS for WordPress designs and layouts are created so they are more transparent, efficient, and customizable. Not only can this approach simplify core styles, it would address a number of long-term WordPress pain points that predate even the block editor&#8217;s release in WordPress 5.0.</p></blockquote>



<p>I want to see presets for everything users can select via the block design tools. For example, instead of setting absolute units for margins, they can choose predefined sizes from WordPress and/or their theme. However, there should be standards for naming these presets.</p>



<p><em>Why is this so important?</em> Imagine setting a top margin of <code>20px</code> on a block in some blog post. It looks good and matches your current theme, and you repeat this process dozens or more times on various elements. Then, you change designs down the road. This could be a full theme switch or a change via the global styles system. This new design implements a different vertical spacing system. <code>24px</code> might make more sense than the <code>20px</code> littered throughout the site.</p>



<p>The old setting would be tied to a global value in an ideal world, not the block. This would allow it to match whatever design system is in place.</p>



<p>Margins are just one piece of a much larger puzzle. And, presets for the various design tools do not even cover everything in Root-Wiley&#8217;s proposal. That is why I encourage all theme and plugin authors to review it.</p>



<p>There are a few items I disagree with in the proposal. However, those involve the low-level implementation work, not the concept of creating a standardized system. I had planned to discuss those in detail, but doing so would get into what a former team member I worked with called &#8220;weed discussions.&#8221; They get in the way of the big picture.</p>



<p>If there is one thing Root-Wiley and I agree on, it is that big picture of creating a CSS toolkit to carry WordPress into the future.</p>



<h2 id="a-never-before-published-list-of-sizes">A Never-Before-Published List of Sizes</h2>



<p>This is a bit of a side tangent, but I did do a ton of research on size names following the WordPress font-size model. And, because I will likely never have a reason to publish my findings elsewhere, I might as post them here.</p>



<p>If you were ever wondering what specific sizes are bigger or smaller than others (e.g., Colossal vs. Titanic), I present to you a <em>somewhat-educated-but-may-not-be-100%-correct</em> list:</p>



<ul><li>Diminutive (2XS)</li><li>Tiny (XS)</li><li>Small</li><li>Normal (Medium, Regular, Base)</li><li>Large</li><li>Extra Large (XL)</li><li>Huge (2XL)</li><li>Gargantuan (3XL)</li><li>Colossal (4XL)</li><li>Titanic (5XL)</li><li>Olympic (6XL)</li><li>Planetary (7XL)</li><li>Galactic (8XL)</li><li>Universal (9XL)</li></ul>



<p>That is likely not an exhaustive list, but I spent several weeks looking up and comparing definitions and resources. I added a few alternatives in the mix for reference.</p>



<p>I also wanted to post this to show how naming things can break the user experience. The average user should not have to think about which sizes are the biggest or smallest. A naming system like this is a recipe for confusion. Even if the user experience works, the code-based slugs should not confuse developers.</p>



<p>This same rule applies to colors and all other presets. Naming things is hard, but it is even tougher when you have already made a mess and need to fix it later. It starts at the foundation, especially when everything added today will be a part of the legacy code set for years to come.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Feb 2022 02:01:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:115:"WPTavern: Amazon Drops “Elasticsearch” From Product Names To Settle Trademark Infringement Lawsuit With Elastic";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130400";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:120:"https://wptavern.com/amazon-drops-elasticsearch-from-product-names-to-settle-trademark-infringement-lawsuit-with-elastic";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3117:"<p>Elastic has resolved a trademark infringement lawsuit related to usage of the term &#8220;Elasticsearch.&#8221; Amazon has agreed to drop the term from its product line. </p>



<p>&#8220;We believe this resolution will remove confusion in the marketplace and provide much-needed clarity to our community and customers,&#8221; Elastic CEO Ashutosh Kulkarni said in the <a href="https://www.elastic.co/blog/elastic-and-amazon-reach-agreement-on-trademark-infringement-lawsuit">announcement</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;There is only one Elasticsearch, and it comes from Elastic.&#8221; </p>



<p>In January 2021, <a href="https://wptavern.com/elasticpress-io-service-considers-next-move-after-elasticsearch-abandons-open-source-licensing">Elastic abandoned Elasticsearch&#8217;s open source licensing</a>, claiming that AWS&#8217;s behavior &#8220;forced&#8221; the company to switch from the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0" target="_blank">Apache 2.0-license</a> to be dual-licensed under the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mongodb.com/licensing/server-side-public-license" target="_blank">Server Side Public License (SSPL)</a> and the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/blob/0d8aa7527e242fbda9d84867ab8bc955758eebce/licenses/ELASTIC-LICENSE.txt" target="_blank">Elastic License</a>. Elastic cited examples of what they perceived to be &#8220;ethically challenged behavior.&#8221; </p>



<p>Shortly after, Amazon led a community effort to fork the project in order to maintain its open source license. In September 2021, Amazon <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-elasticsearch-service-is-now-amazon-opensearch-service-and-supports-opensearch-10/">renamed</a> its Amazon Elasticsearch Service to Amazon OpenSearch Service after adopting the fork.</p>



<p>Elastic initiated the trademark infringement lawsuit in 2019 after AWS <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/new-open-distro-for-elasticsearch/">launched an Open Distro for Elasticsearch</a> in partnership with Expedia and Netflix. AWS said the motivation was to keep Elasticsearch open, because some of the more recent additions were proprietary. Amazon said the open distro was created &#8220;to accelerate open source Elasticsearch innovation.&#8221; Elastic claimed that the branding for this open distro violated their trademark.</p>



<p>AWS has agreed to drop all instances of Elasticsearch from its product line. The only Elasticsearch service listed on the AWS Marketplace now is the one from Elastic Cloud. Elastic has eased its prior animosity in communication and is now working towards a more amicable partnership in promoting Elastic Cloud in the AWS marketplace.</p>



<p>&#8220;Looking ahead, we’ll focus on collaborating with Amazon for the benefit of our shared customers who use Elastic on AWS,&#8221; Kulkarni said. &#8220;We are already seeing tremendous momentum in our partnership around our recent areas of investment to streamline data ingestion and simplify onboarding to Elastic Cloud on AWS.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:46:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 47) — Should WordPress Adopt The Block Protocol?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93789";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://poststatus.com/excerpt-47/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4406:"<h2 id="it-is-now-time-for-the-community-to-weigh-in-and-decide-whether-wordpress-should-stop-and-refuel-in-this-new-port-leonardo-losoviz">&#8220;It is now time for the community to weigh in and decide whether WordPress should stop and refuel in this new port.&#8221; —Leonardo Losoviz</h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Leonardo Losoviz about <a href="https://blockprotocol.org/">The Block Protocol</a> and why it might benefit WordPress to adopt it and allow other platforms to share and reuse blocks. Matt Mullenweg <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1486793646045216769">has expressed interest</a> in taking this path.</p>



<p><strong>Why This Is Important:</strong> Gutenberg, according to Matt, is &#8220;bigger than WordPress,&#8221;, especially in the context of the Open Web. The Block Protocol is a way to create and share content across WordPress, half-WordPress, and non-WordPress sites, which supports the project's mission to democratize publishing.</p>







<p class="has-background">Every week <strong><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png" alt="⚡" class="wp-smiley" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h3 id="h-mentioned-in-the-show"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2022/02/implications-wordpress-joining-block-protocol/">Implications Of WordPress Joining The Block Protocol</a></li><li><a href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2022/01/27/making-the-web-better-with-blocks/">Making The Web Better With Blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://blockprotocol.org/">The Block Protocol</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1486793646045216769">Matt Mullenweg on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/losoviz">Leonardo Losoviz</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h3 id="sponsor-gravity-forms"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: Gravity Forms</h3>



<p>Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2 id="h-transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>



<p>Coming Soon</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:00:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:49:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 10.1.0 Maintenance Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=323557";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://buddypress.org/2022/02/buddypress-10-1-0-maintenance-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1865:"<p>Immediately available is&nbsp;<a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.10.1.0.zip">BuddyPress 10.1.0</a>. This maintenance release fixes ten bugs. For details on the changes, please read the&nbsp;<a href="https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/version-10-1-0/">10.1.0 release notes</a>.</p>



<p>Update to BuddyPress 10.1.0 today in your WordPress Dashboard, or by&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/">downloading from the WordPress.org plugin repository</a>.</p>



<h2 id="many-thanks-to-9-2-0-contributors">Many thanks to 10.1.0 contributors&nbsp;<span class="dashicons dashicons-heart"></span></h2>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/muhittinsahilli">muhittinsahilli</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/oztaser">oztaser</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/r-a-y">r-a-y</a>, <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=!closed&reporter=niftythree">niftythree</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/vapvarun">vapvarun</a>, <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=!closed&owner=dcavins">dcavins</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sx1001/">sx1001</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/espellcaste">espellcaste</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32">dd32</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/imath/">imath</a>.</p>



<p>Special mentions to <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=!closed&reporter=niftythree">niftythree</a> who reported 5 bugs <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f60d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> &nbsp;and to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/oztaser">oztaser</a> who contributed with 5 patches to fix 40% of the bugs <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4aa.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" />.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 21:45:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Mathieu Viet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"WordCamp Central: WooCommerce sponsors WordPress community events across the globe";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3146014";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:112:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/22/woocommerce-sponsors-wordpress-community-events-across-the-globe-2/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1876:"<p><span>We’d like to thank </span><strong><span><a href="https://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/">WooCommerce</a></span></strong><span> for their continuing support by participating in the </span><strong><span><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/">WordPress global sponsorship program</a></span></strong><span>! By generously sponsoring at the Gold level across the globe, WooCommerce helps make local community events (like WordPress meetup groups and WordCamps) better for WordPress enthusiasts and easier to organize for our wonderful group of hardworking volunteers.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/02/Copy-of-woocommerce-logo-color-black@2x.png"><img /></a></p>
<p><span>WooCommerce is a customizable, open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress. </span></p>
<p><span>Sell anything online with the flexibility and freedom of the world’s most popular CMS.</span></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><span><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/stats/">4+ million active installations</a></span></strong></li>
<li><span>55+ million downloads</span></li>
<li><span>450+ extensions to add and extend functionality</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span>Whether you’re selling a few handcrafted items to a niche market, taking an existing business online, or going global with an enterprise-level eCommerce business WooCommerce gets you set up and selling fast, scaling securely as you grow.</span></p>
<p><span>Your content is forever yours and customizable down to the button color. Plus you’re joining a supportive, </span><strong><span><a href="https://woocommerce.com/meetups/">global community</a></span></strong><span> of developers and store owners.</span></p>
<p><span>Developed and supported by a distributed team, WooCommerce is powered by Automattic, the creators of Jetpack and WordPress.com.</span></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 16:00:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 5.9.1 Maintenance Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12266";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/wordpress-5-9-1-maintenance-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7742:"<p>WordPress 5.9.1 is now available!</p>



<p>This maintenance release features&nbsp;82 bug fixes in both Core and the block editor.</p>



<p>WordPress 5.9.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. The next major release will be version&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6.0/">6.0</a>.</p>



<p>You can <a href="https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9.1.zip">download WordPress 5.9.1 from WordPress.org</a>, or visit your Dashboard&nbsp;→ Updates and click &#8220;Update Now&#8221;.</p>



<p>If you have sites that support automatic background updates, they’ve already started the update process.</p>



<p>For more information, browse the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-5-9-1-rc-1/">full list of both Trac and GitHub changes in the release candidate post</a>, or check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-9-1/">version 5.9.1 HelpHub documentation page</a>.</p>



<h2 id="thanks-and-props">Thanks and props!</h2>



<p>The 5.9.1 release was led by <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/">Jb Audras</a> and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka/">George Mamadashvili</a>.</p>



<p>Special props to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>sergeybiryukov</a> for running mission control.</p>



<p>Thank you to everyone who helped make WordPress 5.9.1 happen:</p>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aljullu/">Albert Juhé Lluveras</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ajlende/">Alex Lende</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/alexstine/">alexstine</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/oandregal/">André</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/antonvlasenko/">Anton Vlasenko</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aristath/">Ari Stathopoulos</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/madeinua/">ArteMa</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/scruffian/">Ben Dwyer</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/blogaid/">BlogAid</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/poena/">Carolina Nymark</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/critterverse/">Channing Ritter</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chrisvanpatten/">Chris Van Patten</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/costdev/">Colin Stewart</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/talldanwp/">Daniel Richards</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbinda/">David Biňovec</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/get_dave/">David Smith</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32/">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ocean90/">Dominik Schilling</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/eddystile/">Eddy</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ellatrix/">Ella van Durpe</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kebbet/">Erik</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fabiankaegy/">Fabian Kägy</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/azouamauriac/">Flinim Asso</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/gadhiyaravi/">gadhiyaravi</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/revgeorge/">George Hotelling</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka/">George Mamadashvili</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/glendaviesnz/">glendaviesnz</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/gziolo/">Greg Ziółkowski</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ianatkins/">ianatkins</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ianbelanger/">Ian Belanger</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ironprogrammer/">ironprogrammer</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/itsamoreh/">itsamoreh</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/">Jb Audras</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jffng/">Jeff Ong</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeherve/">Jeremy Herve</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson/">Joe Dolson</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joen/">Joen A.</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnbillion/">John Blackbourn</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorgefilipecosta/">Jorge Costa</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jrf/">Juliette Reinders Folmer</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kafleg/">KafleG</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kapilpaul/">Kapil Paul</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kjellr/">Kjell Reigstad</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/linux4me2/">linux4me2</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pyrobd/">Lukman Nakib</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/manfcarlo/">manfcarlo</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/clorith/">Marius L. J.</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mgol/">mgol</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nidhidhandhukiya/">nidhidhandhukiya</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ntsekouras/">Nik Tsekouras</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/alshakero/">Omar Alshaker</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pls78/">Paolo L. Scala</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/swissspidy/">Pascal Birchler</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pbearne/">Paul Bearne</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/malinevskiy/">Pavlo</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/petaryoast/">Petar Ratković</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/walbo/">Petter Walbø Johnsgård</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnstonphilip/">Phil Johnston</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/boniu91/">Piotrek Boniu</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ravipatel/">ravipatel</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/youknowriad/">Riad Benguella</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/noisysocks/">Robert Anderson</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rolfsiebers/">Rolf Siebers</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/stacimc/">stacimc</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sabernhardt/">Stephen Bernhardt</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mahype/">Sven Wagener</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/staatic/">Team Staatic</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tnolte/">Tim Nolte</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/">Tonya Mork</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/">webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/webmandesign/">WebMan Design | Oliver Juhas</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/antonynz/">wpcharged</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpsoul/">wpsoul</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dolphingg/">Yunus Ertuğrul</a>, and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rafiahmedd/">Rafi Ahmed</a>.</p>



<p>Thanks to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/estelaris/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>estelaris</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pbiron/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>pbiron</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ironprogrammer/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>ironprogrammer</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/bph/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>bph</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/abhanonstopnewsuk/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>abhanonstopnewsuk</a> and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/threadi/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>threadi</a> for their help to test the release package.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:49:40 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9:"Jb Audras";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:106:"WPTavern: QuickPost Plugin Allows Users To Create New or Duplicate Posts from the WordPress Content Editor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130353";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://wptavern.com/quickpost-plugin-allows-users-to-create-new-or-duplicate-posts-from-the-wordpress-content-editor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4397:"<p>There is not much I miss about the classic editor. It was dead to me when the block system became the new normal. However, there might be a feature or two that I miss.</p>



<p><em>The biggest of those features?</em> The &#8220;Add New&#8221; button at the top of the post editor.</p>



<img />&#8220;Add New&#8221; button in the classic editor.



<p>So, when Aurooba Ahmed mentioned that she was building a plugin to address this very problem on Twitter, I took note, eagerly awaiting the day of its release. Losing the button for adding a new post was a user experience regression, and her <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/quickpost/">QuickPost plugin</a> rights one of the wrongs with the block editor that has long gone unfixed.</p>



<p>This is particularly true for fullscreen users. They have no quick access to the Add New links available via the toolbar or admin menu. Neither are shown in fullscreen mode.</p>



<p>The plugin works right out of the box. There are no settings to configure. Just install, activate, and look for the Add New button to appear when editing a post.</p>



<img />Block editor with &#8220;Add New&#8221; button.



<p>The button also comes with an extra option for duplicating posts. It is available by clicking the vertical ellipsis icon on the side of the button.</p>



<p>Ahmed argues in her <a href="https://aurooba.com/quickpost/">announcement post</a> that the duplicate-post feature is a fundamental part of content publishing:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-primary-font-family is-style-default has-lg-font-size"><p>This functionality is core to anything that provides a content creation experience (excluding social media). Can you imagine Microsoft Word without the &#8220;Save As..&#8221; feature, that essentially serves as a way to duplicate documents? Or the &#8220;Open a copy&#8221; feature they later introduced?</p></blockquote>



<p>I agree. It has long been needed as a core feature and the active install numbers from <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/duplicate+post/">plugins that offer it</a> back it up.</p>



<p>To copy a post, users need to only click the &#8220;Duplicate Post&#8221; button. The plugin will create the copy and transfer the user over to the editing screen for it:</p>



<img />Duplicated post.



<p>The plugin automatically copies the post data and metadata. It only changes the title of the duplicate post to &#8220;Copy of Post Title.&#8221; Ahmed noted in the announcement that she might add a feature for customizing this in the future.</p>



<p>She also said she is thinking of other features to improve the plugin. The ideas include batch duplication, a new post keyboard shortcut, and more UI improvements.</p>



<p>For my own workflow where I might be working on multiple pieces of content at once, QuickPost feels like it is mere inches away from perfection. One of the downsides of the plugin&#8217;s &#8220;Add New&#8221; button is that it is literally a <code>&lt;button></code> element. This means that users cannot right-click on it and open a new post editor in another browser tab/window. For that functionality, the button would need to be a link (<code>&lt;a></code>) element. This is also the difference between the plugin and the classic editor.</p>



<p>QuickPost is also a quick answer for a more in-depth issue around navigating content. Ahmed recently <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38554">opened a ticket</a> for adding a sidebar while in fullscreen mode, which would house links to Posts, Add New Post, and Duplicate Post. The proposal would create a UI that could look like the following:</p>



<img />Proposed UI (draft) for adding content navigation.



<p>Do not expect this to land in WordPress any time soon. A <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/23328">browse mode</a> for the site editor is on the 6.0 roadmap, but bringing such a navigation element to the content editor will have to wait.</p>



<p>There is a ton of discussion to unpack in Ahmed&#8217;s ticket, and it is probably deserving of its own post here at the Tavern. For now, at least some users have access to much-needed features via the QuickPost plugin.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/quickpost/">QuickPost</a></blockquote>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 00:44:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"WPTavern: How to Build a vCard Website with a Video Background";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130318";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-vcard-website-with-a-video-background";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3027:"<img />



<p>Today we are continuing on with our new <a href="https://wptavern.com/category/building-with-blocks">Building with Blocks</a> series, where we demonstrate some fun things you can create with blocks. </p>



<p>In this tutorial I am going to show you how to build a simple vCard website with a video background in under five minutes. I wanted to build a website like this awhile back and searched for a block theme that would work but didn&#8217;t find anything that would instantly give me what I was looking for. I also searched the <a href="https://wordpress.org/patterns/">WordPress Pattern Directory</a> for a vCard style pattern and could not find one. Fortunately, this type of a site is easy to build in just a few minutes with a handful of blocks. </p>



<p>I selected the free <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/eksell/">Eksell theme</a> for this project, because it includes a <a href="https://andersnoren.se/themes/eksell/blank-canvas/">Blank Canvas Template</a> for pages that removes the menu, header, and footer. The only content that appears are the blocks you add to the page. Eksell is also a full-featured portfolio theme that you can grow into, if you decide to expand beyond a simple vCard website. </p>



<p>The five-minute video below walks you through adding the theme, starting from one of the included patterns, and adding all the necessary blocks for the social icons and the video background.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">

</div>



<p>A few notes about specifics: I found the video examples used in this tutorial on <a href="https://pixabay.com/videos/waves-ocean-sea-beach-byron-bay-70796/">Pixabay</a>, which has a nice selection of short videos that lend themselves well to looping in the background of a website. </p>



<p>If you have some extra white space at the bottom after adding the video to the cover block, you can set the minimum height. Go to your cover block, click Settings, and scroll down to Dimensions where you can adjust the minimum height of the cover.</p>



<p>Here is the CSS for the border around the circular profile image. You can add this to the Additional CSS section of the Customizer:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>.wp-block-image.is-style-rounded img {
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: #FFFFFF;
    border-width: 10px;
	
}</code></pre>



<p>If you plan to keep the website simple in vCard format, you will want to assign the page you created as the Homepage. This can be done in the Customizer under the Homepage Settings panel. </p>



<p>As an alternative to using Eksell, if your site is on WordPress.com, you can achieve a similar result by using Automattic&#8217;s Blank Canvas theme and adding and arranging the blocks individually.</p>



<p>This is a fast way to customize a site after a new domain purchase. Choose any combination of blocks to create a nice placeholder until you decide to add more to the website. If you end up building this, drop a link in the comments so we can check it out. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 21 Feb 2022 18:14:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:89:"WordCamp Central: Weglot joins the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3145890";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/21/weglot-joins-the-wordpress-global-community-sponsorship-program-in-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1805:"<p><span>We couldn’t be happier to welcome </span><strong><span><a href="https://weglot.com/integrations/wordpress-translation-plugin/">Weglot</a></span></strong><span> to the </span><strong><span><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/">WordPress global community sponsorship program</a></span></strong><span> in 2022! They’re sponsoring at the Gold level, supporting official WordPress community events across the globe.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/01/Weglot-CPT-logo.png"><img /></a></p>
<p><strong><span><a href="https://weglot.com/integrations/wordpress-translation-plugin/">Weglot</a></span></strong><span> is a WordPress multilingual plugin to translate and display your website in multiple languages. It provides a fast first layer of automated translation which you can easily edit yourself or by adding teammates, or collaborate with pro-translators through the Weglot dashboard. </span></p>
<p><span>Trusted by more than </span><b>50,000 website</b><span> owners and developers and with a </span><b>5-star rating</b><span> on the WordPress directory (1000+ reviews) &#8211; you can have a multilingual website up and running in minutes. </span></p>
<p><span>Key benefits include: </span></p>
<ul>
<li><span>Simple and quick set-up &#8211; </span><span>Multilingual SEO best practices (translated URLs &amp; metadata)</span></li>
<li><span>Compatibility with any Themes and Plugins (incl. WooCommerce)</span></li>
<li><span>Automatic and human translations</span></li>
<li><span>A unique dashboard with an &#8216;in context editor&#8217;, easily edit translations &amp; invite teammates to collaborate on projects</span></li>
<li><span>Expert support: a fully dedicated technical support team at your disposal</span></li>
</ul>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 21 Feb 2022 13:46:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 25: Five Cents on Five for the Future";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=12288";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/episode-25-five-cents-on-five-for-the-future/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10284:"<p>In this twenty-fifth episode of the WordPress Briefing, Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy discusses future-proofing the WordPress project with the Five for the Future pledge. </p>



<p><em><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to <a href="mailto:wpbriefing@wordpress.org">wpbriefing@wordpress.org</a>, either written or as a voice recording.</strong></em></p>



<h2 id="credits">Credits</h2>



<ul><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/">Dustin Hartzler</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/">Beatriz Fialho</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/">Chloé Bringmann</a> &amp; <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/santanainniss/">Santana Inniss</a></li><li>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</li></ul>



<h2 id="references">References</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://ma.tt/2014/09/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a>, on ma.tt circa 2014</li><li><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/governing-the-commons/A8BB63BC4A1433A50A3FB92EDBBB97D5">Governing the Commons</a>, Elinor Ostrom</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/files/2022/01/WP-Sponsored-Contributor-Team-White-Paper-Google-Docs.pdf">Five for the Future White Paper</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-6-0-planning-roundup/">6.0 Planning Roundup</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/simple-site-design-with-full-site-editing/">Part I: Full Site Editing Course</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-2-personalized-site-design-with-full-site-editing-and-theme-blocks/">Part II: Full Site Editing Course</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-3-advanced-site-design-with-full-site-editing-site-editor-templates-and-template-parts/">Part III: Full Site Eiditing Course</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="transcript">Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-12288"></span>



<p>Episode 25</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:00:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Hello everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing. The podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project. Some insight into the community that supports it and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy &#8211; here we go!</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:00:42]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>I have a non-mailbag mailbag question that I would like to answer for y&#8217;all today. Non-mailbag because no one actually emailed me about it and mailbag because Twitter is basically like a giant mailbag. And I do get a lot of DMS about this particular topic. If you want to send something to my actual WP Briefing mailbag, you can send it to <a href="mailto:wpbriefing@worpress.org">wpbriefing@worpress.org</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:01:06]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>But the question that I frequently get asked in my DMS on Twitter is: what is Five for the Future? It&#8217;s not always that tidy the question, but that still is the question we&#8217;re answering today. So if you take a casual survey of active contributors to the WordPress project, the high-level answer that you&#8217;re likely to get to that question is “a way to remind people to give back to the project.” Or, if you run in more business-y circles, you might hear that it is an initiative that encourages companies to give back 5% of their resources.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:01:40]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And both of those answers are true. So a quick mini-history lesson; the original concept of Five for the Future came from Matt Mullenweg in 2014. There&#8217;s a lovely blog post on it that I will link in the notes below, but it was essentially a call to any companies experiencing success with WordPress to contribute back to the project and make sure that the project was a success.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:02:07]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>The initial program then included outreach recognition, et cetera, proposed in 2017 by <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/users/liljimmi/">Tracy Levesque</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/users/iandunn/">Ian Dunn</a>. Then that was defined and formalized with the help of the WordPress community in 2018. And then, in 2019, we had our first trial run with entire dedicated teams sponsored by companies inside the WordPress ecosystem.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:02:36]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>So that&#8217;s the mini-history lesson chronology of this program. The intentions that informed the work of building the program in 2017 have become a bit lost to the ages. So I&#8217;m here to share it with you. The basic heart and soul of the Five for the Future program is to make sure that there is a way to refresh the commons of the WordPress community and ecosystem.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:03:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And as a result, ensure that the common resources of WordPress are available long after we have stopped being available to care for them. If you are familiar with the concept of the tragedy of the commons, Five for the Future was created to help avoid that tragedy. There were two original goals for formalizing the program.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:03:22]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>The first one was to acknowledge companies that participated in Five for the Future by sponsoring contributors to work on the WordPress project. And the second was to motivate more companies to sponsor more volunteers. Either by hiring them and paying them to contribute or by assigning their existing employees to contribute to the WordPress project.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:03:46]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Of course, it&#8217;s hard to quantify participation and hard to qualify what should be seen as an impactful contribution, which is why when the program was originally created, it was in partnership with team reps and community members who were active at the time. There are many posts around that discuss the next steps for this program.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:04:07]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And as I&#8217;m looking through them, the next steps revolve around some of the hardest and most important questions that we have to answer as a project and as stewards of open source. Those questions are things like:</p>



<ul><li> How do we remain true to these gloriously subversive values of WordPress and open source while also finding a way to thoughtfully secure our organization&#8217;s future?</li><li>Does contributing without the expectation of reciprocity hold up when we are looking at how to acknowledge contributors who sustain us?</li></ul>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:04:40]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And if you&#8217;re familiar with Elinor Ostrom&#8217;s award-winning work, Governing the Commons, you may also be wondering how this particular program aligns with her eight principles designed to sustain organizations like ours.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:04:57]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>As an aside to that last question, this particular program does not have all eight principles accounted for, but among WordPress&#8217;s many programs, we do account for most of them. Although imperfectly, as is the way with human beings, that&#8217;s probably a whole episode unto itself, I did want to quickly answer that particular question.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:05:16]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>So to get back to my non-mailbag, mailbag question, if I had to tell you in the span of an elevator ride what Five for the Future was, this would be my answer. <strong>It is a v1 program with a dual goal of boldly declaring the need to refresh the shared resources of WordPress and offering the ways and means for communities and individuals alike to participate in refreshing those resources</strong>.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:05:45]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>If you want to learn more about the Five for the Future initiative, you can check out wordpress.org/5. Like literally just the number five. Or, if you want to learn more about the program that has grown from the Five for the Future initiative, you can check out the white paper that&#8217;s linked in the notes below.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:06:11]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And that brings us now to our small list of big things. Number one on my small list, the planning post for WordPress 6.0 is out. I&#8217;ve included a link in my massive list of links below. But it includes our best guess at timing, features that we intend to include, and a call for volunteers as well. So if you are looking for ways to give back, that is a clear and immediate option.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:06:38]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>The second thing on the list is if you are a team rep, don&#8217;t forget that we have daylight saving time ending and starting depending on your hemisphere within the month. If you move meetings, if you&#8217;re in a team that moves your meetings, discuss it now so that folks have time to adjust their calendars.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:06:55]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And the third thing on my small list of big things is that there&#8217;s a suite of Full Site Editing courses that are now available on learn.wordpress.org. I will add that to my giant list of links below, but I encourage you to wander on over and see what all the fuss is about. I think the courses are excellent. They&#8217;re great for folks who don&#8217;t quite know what Full Site Editing is yet, but then also they give you a few intermediate tips and tricks as you&#8217;re getting your legs underneath you.</p>



<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:07:27]&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>So, that my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 21 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Chloe Bringmann";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"WPTavern: Unearthing Hidden Treasures in the Wabi WordPress Block Theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130278";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"https://wptavern.com/unearthing-hidden-treasures-in-the-wabi-wordpress-block-theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5436:"<p>After being involved in web design for almost 19 years now, there are grinding days where nothing feels fresh. However, there are also moments where you look at another web developer&#8217;s approach to problems and feel like there is a whole world of possibilities that you have yet to step into. And, it is rarely something complicated. The best developers make it look simple, and <a href="https://richtabor.com/wabi/">Rich Tabor&#8217;s Wabi</a> is dotted with those little tricks that make poring over WordPress block theme code feel exciting again.</p>



<p>Earlier today, the WordPress theme directory hit 50 block themes. However, I was more interested in what was waiting in the review queue. Tabor had <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/113267">submitted his project</a> less than 24 hours before, but I spun it up anyway. I had to see what one of the more prolific <a href="https://richtabor.com/category/themes/">writers on block theme development</a> had built. While he had contributed to GoDaddy&#8217;s Go theme before taking a job with Extendify, this was the first theme submission from his personal account.</p>



<p>I love diving into themes where I can learn something. That is the best way that I can describe Wabi.</p>



<p>It is primarily geared toward bloggers and writers. It features the type of design those who want nothing to overpower their content would appreciate. However, it has enough whimsy thrown in to not be an entirely boring black-and-white affair.</p>



<p>One of Wabi&#8217;s unique features is its per-post accent color selector. The control is located under the &#8220;Status &amp; Visibility&#8221; panel in the post sidebar and allows users to select from the theme&#8217;s color palette. This accent is primarily used for the background behind the header and post title area. However, it is sprinkled around various other elements and blocks.</p>



<img />Selecting a post accent color.



<p>I have yet to see a block theme utilize custom post metadata. This is likely because few developers know how to create the components in the post sidebar after relying on the old meta box system over the years. The theme&#8217;s accent-related JavaScript is structured well enough that other themers can pick it apart and build similar features in their designs. If this has been a holdup in block theme development for anyone, it is well worth doing a deep dive into the mere 117 lines of JavaScript used to make this feature.</p>



<p>A nice touch Tabor added to the global styles&#8217; color palette was a custom background for the accent color. Instead of showing a solid-colored circle, it is a conic gradient of all the available variations.</p>



<img />Accent color wheel in the palette.



<p>This detail might seem insignificant, but it is a visual cue that this particular color is different than the others. Users can still edit it to set the default, but they can also override it on a per-post basis.</p>



<p>In a post on <a href="https://wptavern.com/building-a-scotch-tape-image-block-style">creating a custom block style</a> earlier this week, I said the feature was underutilized when building WordPress themes. Many were not pushing it forward with unique design variations for users. Wabi includes a little over a dozen custom styles, but I have not seen any like those it offers for Image and Video blocks.</p>



<p>The theme registers Bottom Right, Bottom Left, and Center styles. Each changes the position of the image within its <code>&lt;figure&gt;</code> container as shown in the following screenshot:</p>



<img />Image block styles and accent color.



<p>The styles are not particularly complex. They are simple twists to offer some visual <em>oomph</em> that can sometimes lack in text-heavy blog posts. And, they are unique, something you would not be able to build with the core design tools. To top off the feature, the background color behind the media uses the theme&#8217;s accent color.</p>



<p>That is the type of creative thinking around block styles that I expect from theme authors. It is not that I think others are incapable of it, but building projects with blocks sometimes requires approaching design in new ways.</p>



<p>Wabi also supports <a href="https://wptavern.com/global-style-variations-skins-for-themes-have-landed-in-gutenberg">global style variations</a>, an upcoming feature expected to land in WordPress 6.0. To see it in action, users must activate the Gutenberg plugin.</p>



<img />Dark style variation.



<p>The theme packages four style variations, including the default. Each of them offers alternative color palettes, including a dark scheme.</p>



<p>Wabi also includes 15 patterns. Most of them are variations for headers, footers, and post loops, but in the spirit of keeping things unique, there are style-guide patterns too.</p>



<img />Wabi style guide patterns.



<p>Users can look through the theme&#8217;s color palette and typography by inserting them into a post. They may not be needed for use on the front end for most sites, but they offer a quick glance at the theme&#8217;s overall style.</p>



<p>The theme works well enough for blogging. Post content is readable with it, and it makes generous use of white space. It will not get any complaints from me in that department.</p>



<p>I only wonder what other little treasures Wabi holds that I have yet to discover.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 19 Feb 2022 03:15:09 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"WPTavern: UpdraftPlus 1.22.3 Patches Severe Vulnerability Through Forced Security Update from WordPress.org";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130267";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:118:"https://wptavern.com/updraftplus-1-22-3-patches-severe-vulnerability-through-forced-security-update-from-wordpress-org";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2261:"<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/">UpdraftPlus</a>, a plugin that allows users to backup to various cloud providers, has patched a severe security vulnerability that would allow logged-in users to download a site’s latest backups. The patched version (1.22.3)&nbsp;was sent out via a forced auto-update, a measure reserved for severe vulnerabilities that affect a large number of users. UpdraftPlus is active on more than 3 million WordPress sites.</p>



<p>The vulnerability was <a href="https://jetpack.com/2022/02/17/severe-vulnerability-fixed-in-updraftplus-1-22-3/">discovered</a> by Jetpack Scan&nbsp;Security researcher Marc Montpas during an internal audit. UpdraftPlus explained the vulnerability to users in an <a href="https://updraftplus.com/updraftplus-security-release-1-22-3-2-22-3/">advisory</a> after the update went out: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>This defect allows any logged-in user on a WordPress installation with UpdraftPlus active to exercise the privilege of downloading an existing backup, a privilege which should have been restricted to administrative users only. This was possible because of a missing permissions check on code related to checking current backup status. This allowed the obtaining of an internal identifier which was otherwise unknown, and could then be used to pass a check upon permission to download.</p></blockquote>



<p>The issue affects both the paid and free versions of the plugin. A fix was pushed to paid customers within an hour of receiving the report. Every version of the free plugin between 1.16.7 and 1.22.3 is vulnerable. UpdraftPlus claims the majority of sites have been updated. WordPress.org stats show that ~35% of Updraft users have not updated to the latest, which leaves more than a million installations still vulnerable.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>So far there are no confirmed reports of exploits. For more details on the vulnerability, check out Montpas&#8217; <a href="https://jetpack.com/2022/02/17/severe-vulnerability-fixed-in-updraftplus-1-22-3/">report</a> on the Jetpack website. UpdraftPlus users are encouraged to check their websites to ensure the plugin is running on the latest, patched version. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 22:14:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"WPTavern: Piklist Is Shutting Down";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130185";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"https://wptavern.com/piklist-is-shutting-down";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2696:"<p><a href="https://github.com/piklist/piklist">Piklist</a>, a development framework that helped people build things faster with WordPress, is shutting down. Its creators, Steve Bruner and Kevin Miller, launched the framework on June 12, 2012, at WordCampNYC. Over the next nine years it gained a devoted following.</p>



<p>The framework was used by developers to speed up tasks such as creating fields for settings pages, registering custom post types and custom taxonomies, and adding post-to-post relationships. </p>



<p>This week Piklist&#8217;s creators announced  that the plugin will no longer be updated at WordPress.org, and the website, support forum, and documentation have been archived on Github pages. With competing obligations, they were never able to properly monetize the framework:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>We released 92 versions, making it more stable and secure, but we never had time to take it to the next level.</p><p>We&#8217;re partners in Piklist, but we have our own separate WordPress development shops and use Piklist with our clients. Every day, we worked on improving it, but sadly life just got in the way. We both have families, and our client work took precedence over making a business out of Piklist.</p></blockquote>



<p>After WordPress 5.0 introduced Gutenberg, the goal for the next major version of Piklist (2.0) was to allow it to be used with or without Gutenberg or the Classic Editor so that users could move forward without any issues. The team had been <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210414022032/https://piklist.com/2018/12/05/piklist-and-gutenberg/">working on it since 2018</a> but were not able to resolve all the issues. </p>



<p>&#8220;The block editor definitely increased the delays in getting out another major version, but we also saw a lot of opportunity there,&#8221; Bruner told the Tavern. </p>



<p>&#8220;Letting go of the project was tough. Piklist has a dedicated user base that stuck with us all these years. But we just couldn’t get to a 2.0, which wasn’t fair to our users, so we decided to shut it down instead of dragging it out.&#8221;  Bruner emphasized how much his team loved their users and how proud they were of the support they provided over the past nine years.</p>



<p>&#8220;Not only did we educate users on how to use Piklist, we educated them on how WordPress worked,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Though the plugin is no longer available, users’ data is still safely stored in their database. Piklist did things the WordPress way and data was stored normally. Any plugin or library that can pull standard metadata, can be used to access the data Piklist saved.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 19:23:59 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:128:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 12.6 Enhances Transforming Blocks, Adds Read More and Post Author Bio Blocks, and Enables Social Icon Labels";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130153";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:137:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-6-enhances-transforming-blocks-adds-read-more-and-post-author-bio-blocks-and-enables-social-icon-labels";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10200:"<p>Gutenberg 12.6 landed in the WordPress plugin directory yesterday. The update includes several transform-related enhancements and new Read More and Post Author Biography blocks. Users can now also show visible labels via the Social Icons block.</p>



<p>Nothing seems to be broken with this release, which is always welcome. Gutenberg has not fundamentally wrecked something I relied on in a long while. There were a few growing pains, but the software has become more stable in the past year. I just wanted to add a note to commend the people working on it every day.</p>



<p>As usual, I have a few nit-picks, but this looks like yet another solid release overall.</p>



<h2 id="transforming-blocks">Transforming Blocks</h2>



<img />Transforming a Tag Cloud to Categories block.



<p>Developers went <em>all in</em> on block transforms in Gutenberg 12.6. The following blocks now support switching between one another:</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38324">Calendar <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2194.png" alt="↔" class="wp-smiley" /> Archives</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38295">Code <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2194.png" alt="↔" class="wp-smiley" /> Paragraph</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38566">Tag Cloud <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2194.png" alt="↔" class="wp-smiley" /> Categories</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36202">Group <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2194.png" alt="↔" class="wp-smiley" /> Row</a> (via the Variation control)</li></ul>



<p>A new mechanism for <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37596">retaining styles during transforms</a> also landed in this release. It currently supports font size and color options. For example, users can switch between a Heading and Paragraph block, a run-of-the-mill use case, without losing those specific customizations. However, other settings are lost, even when shared across blocks. <em>There is not much I would not give to retain text alignment in this scenario.</em></p>



<p>Anchors on the Heading block are <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38604">omitted when transforming</a> to a Paragraph in this release. The reason for this change was that WordPress auto-generates them. However, manually-added anchors are also removed.</p>



<p>When transforming a Gallery to an Image block, the link destination, link target, and image size settings were previously lost. A new patch <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38642">adds those missing attributes</a>.</p>



<h2 id="social-icon-labels">Social Icon Labels</h2>



<img />Enabling Social Icon text labels.



<p>If there is one thing that I am particularly ecstatic about with the Gutenberg 12.6 release, it is the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38152">option to show text labels</a> via the Social Icons block. Previously, these were only displayed for screen readers. However, users can now toggle them on for everyone.</p>



<p>This addition can open a ton of design variations for the block. Of course, I have already put my own spin on it with a hand-drawn border design, as shown in the above screenshot.</p>



<p>WP Tavern actually played a small role in making this feature happen. When discussing a similar control with Nick Diego in his <a href="https://wptavern.com/nick-diego-forks-core-wordpress-block-creates-social-sharing-plugin">Social Sharing block</a>, I mentioned an open ticket for the core Social Icons block. It was not long before Diego had a patch ready, and now it is in Gutenberg.</p>



<h2 id="color-panel-uses-tools-panel-component">Color Panel Uses Tools Panel Component</h2>



<img />Color, typography, and border options all using the Tools Panel component.



<p>The latest update switches block <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38511">color options to the Tools Panel component</a>. In most scenarios, the text and background colors are shown with the link color available through the &#8220;view options&#8221; dropdown (ellipsis button).</p>



<p>To create a more unified and clean UI, it seems we have now added more clutter for several blocks. As shown in the screenshot above for the Pullquote block, the color, typography, and border panels are all permanently open. The Group block is even heavier with its addition of a dimensions section. Users have no way to hide them or the default controls.</p>



<p>When the Tools Panel component was first introduced, it had a decluttering effect because it meant that some controls were tucked away. However, now that more panels are using it, that minuscule real estate in the block options sidebar has disappeared. Expect to scroll through several form fields to find just the right setting.</p>



<p>Can we make them collapsible again? Or, better yet, can we have a combination of tabs and the Tools Panel component?</p>



<h2 id="post-author-biography-block">Post Author Biography Block</h2>



<img />Post author biography section.



<p>A <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38269">Post Author Biography block</a> landed in Gutenberg 12.6. Its purpose is to display a user&#8217;s &#8220;biographical info,&#8221; which can be set via their user profile page in the admin. It covers most of the base design options but is missing border support.</p>



<p>It is a solid start, but there is still one looming issue. It does not run <code>wpautop()</code> over the output. This means that the content is not wrapped in a <code>&lt;p&gt;</code> tag. Because of this, it also does not respect double-line breaks entered via the user-editing screen. WordPress has never had a standard function for outputting and formatting the user bio, allowing theme authors to handle it. However, some users may expect their custom formatting to work.</p>



<p>We are inching closer to a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/35596">complete set of author-related blocks</a>. WordPress initially shipped a Post Author block that did a little bit of everything. Because of this, it made it next to impossible to consistently use for post bylines or other single-line metadata areas in themes. It also limited the design range of &#8220;about the author&#8221; sections often shown at the end of a post.</p>



<p>We must now wait for the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38265">Post Author Avatar block</a> to round out the set.</p>



<h2 id="read-more-block-added">Read More Block Added</h2>



<img />Read More block added inside a Query Loop / Post Template.



<p>Gutenberg 12.6 adds a dedicated <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37649">Read More block</a> for theme authors to work into their Query Loop designs. It is merely an HTML permalink to the post. This is separate from the link output by the Post Excerpt block. Unfortunately, it has multiple issues and needs more testing before practical use.</p>



<p>Users can add a background color to it but no text color. This makes it easy to create unreadable text. I was able to work around this by putting it in a Group block and changing the link color from there. </p>



<p>It supports most border options, but the style control is missing. It also does not have a block-level HTML wrapper, so there is no way to align it horizontally without wrapping it in another block.</p>



<p>This is an odd case. I am not sure if there are any other inline HTML elements (technically, it is set as a block element via CSS) for any top-level blocks elsewhere in WordPress.</p>



<p>The other issue is the potential for two &#8220;read more&#8221; links. One via its dedicated block and the other through the Post Excerpt block. There is a draft patch to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38662">toggle the link</a> for the latter.</p>



<h2 id="responsive-handling-for-classic-images">Responsive Handling for Classic Images</h2>



<img />Block images vs. classic images.



<p>For posts written in the classic editor with large images, the media would blow outside the content area when using a block theme. Gutenberg <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38399">decoupled its responsive image handling</a> from the core Image block as a fix. This change is marked to be backported to a minor WordPress release, so users should not have to wait for WordPress 6.0.</p>



<p>While this provides a fix for images, it does not address the issue of block themes not handling classic content or styling simple HTML. As an example from our site, I recently added a <code>&lt;table&gt;</code> element because the core Table block lacks some features. Since this was custom HTML, none of the block&#8217;s CSS was loaded, leaving it essentially unstyled. The same issue exists for classic content.</p>



<p>One issue at play here is that WordPress is pushing CSS styles at the block level via <code>theme.json</code>. However, it only allows styling a handful of HTML elements, such as links and headings. This type of component-based design works well when everything is wrapped into a component (i.e., block).</p>



<p>It makes more sense to style the underlying HTML elements than their representative blocks. That way, it is a shared style across any blocks that use the element, including third-party plugins.</p>



<h2 id="large-quote-style-removed">Large Quote Style Removed</h2>



<p>Finally, someone <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37580">removed the &#8220;large&#8221; Quote style</a>. It has been unnecessary since adding a font-size control for the block.</p>



<p>I have made a point, several times at least, that WordPress should avoid shipping custom block styles of its own. In most cases, this is best left in the capable hands of theme authors. At the very least, new block styles should be avoided until the design tools are more well-rounded. Deprecating block styles creates legacy CSS baggage loaded with every WordPress site.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:00:20 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:42:"WPTavern: WordPress News Gets a New Design";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130189";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-news-gets-a-new-design";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2980:"<img />



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/">WordPress.org&#8217;s News</a> section is sporting a new design with a bold color scheme and updated typography. The design was created by Automattic-sponsored contributor, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/">Beatriz Fialho</a>, who unveiled earlier versions of the update in June 2021.</p>



<p>Fialho selected <a href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Inter">Inter</a>, an open source font, for paragraphs and functional text, and <a href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/EB+Garamond?query=eb+g">EB Garamond</a> for headings.</p>



<p>As design trends change on the web, colors come in and out of fashion. WordPress appears to be moving away from its signature dusty blue color, which Fialho has scrapped in favor of a blue that commands your attention. The color reminds me of <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/615971/meet-yinmn-the-first-new-shade-of-blue-in-two-centuries/">YInMn</a>, the first inorganic blue pigment invented in 200 years, which was recently approved for commercial use. The vibrant hue and new typefaces work together to create a modern, opinionated design that is more befitting world-class publishing software.</p>



<p>&#8220;The new design leans on the aesthetics of jazz, intrinsically connected to WordPress and which ultimately translates its uniqueness, historic significance and future potential,&#8221; Automattic-sponsored designer Kelly Hoffman said. </p>



<p>&#8220;Among other improvements, the new design leaves more space for content and includes new typefaces for better readability. It also uses a color palette intended to reflect the evolving Gutenberg language.&#8221;</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>The new design&#8217;s header and footer have been rolled out to the entire WordPress.org site  and Hoffman said the idea is to &#8220;improve the site iteratively.&#8221; (In the meantime, the selected page indicator in the menu and the &#8220;Get WordPress&#8221; button do not match the old blue, in case that was perplexing when visiting the other pages.)</p>



<p>I would not be surprised if the block editor adopts the bolder blue aspect of the new color scheme, as Fialho said it is &#8220;intended to reflect the evolving Gutenberg language.&#8221; It would provide a more consistent visual experience for WordPress across different mediums.</p>



<p>The new design is a fork of <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/themes/tree/trunk/blockbase">Blockbase</a>, Automattic&#8217;s open source &#8220;<a href="https://wptavern.com/block-fse-hybrid-universal-what-do-we-call-these-new-wordpress-themes">Universal</a>&#8221; starter theme. Now that it&#8217;s live, future discussions on the project will happen in the <a href="http://wordpress.slack.com/">#design channel on Slack</a>.  Bugs and suggestions for the design can be <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-news-2021/issues">reported on GitHub</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 01:50:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"Post Status: How Can We Increase Qualified Applicants for WordPress Jobs?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=89123";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://poststatus.com/increasing-qualified-applicants-for-wordpress-jobs/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18826:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Have you heard? There are jobs in the WordPress industry — <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/08/08/who-can-learn-help/">lots of jobs and many different roles</a>. See the job postings on the Post Status<a href="https://poststatus.com/jobs/"> Job Board</a>,<a href="https://jobs.wordpress.net/"> WordPress Jobs</a>, and even<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?f_TPR=r2592000&f_WT=2&keywords=wordpress%20developer"> LinkedIn Jobs</a>.&nbsp; There are a lot of job seekers in the web development world. How are job seekers preparing for the workforce? What are employers doing to find qualified talent? </p>



<p>The future of WordPress is in the training. It’s time we consider wages and connect employers with training providers as we develop software <em>and</em> people.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="h-adequate-compensation-is-a-problem-for-employers-and-employees-alike">Adequate compensation is a problem for employers and employees alike</h2>



<p>The strength of WordPress is its community. Even if you’ve never attended a WordCamp or participated in a Make WordPress team — which I hope you do — WordPress has been a lasting success because the community supports itself by sharing knowledge. As that happens, relationships develop alongside the software.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Despite WordPress occupying such a dominant market share, WordPress businesses struggle to draw on a sufficiently large talent pool of qualified applicants to fill <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/08/08/who-can-learn-help/">important roles</a> on their teams. One reason for the lack of qualified applicants has to do with pay and benefits. The WordPress ecosystem is still catching up to the compensation offered to people filling comparable roles outside of the WordPress ecosystem.&nbsp;</p>



<blockquote><p>We need backward-compatible <em>and</em> forward-thinking solutions in the WordPress workforce.</p></blockquote>



<p>Many companies within the WordPress ecosystem indicate they do not hire entry-level developers. Look at today’s job listings. Compared to senior roles, junior roles are hard to find. Skilled staff often work in advanced customer support roles with all the skills of a junior developer but for much less pay while seeking opportunities to take on development work. Support roles can be pathways to developer roles, but companies also could hire more junior developers. Hiring only experienced staff can save the upfront training for new talent but also lose the opportunity to form habits into the specific skills vital to your organization.</p>



<p>Another complex challenge in a global workforce is providing adequate pay and benefits across vastly different national economies. Workers tread cautiously through scenarios comparing their own pay to others in very different economic climates. Fair and competitive compensation is no small decision for business owners to make. Often, the more complex a global payroll becomes in a distributed company, the more human resources will need to hire additional staff to cope.</p>



<h2 id="h-acquisitions-and-marketplace-needs-are-upping-the-game-for-human-resources-and-job-candidates">Acquisitions and marketplace needs are upping the game for human resources and job candidates</h2>



<p>A surge in corporate acquisitions and mergers in the WordPress space reached a new peak in 2021. This trend is partly driven by big WordPress employers' need to acquire talent as well as products. What are the barriers to growing a deeper and broader talent pool? How can the WordPress community and employers help? What are the risks if they don't?&nbsp;</p>



<p>Acquisitions can serve several purposes for the purchasing company. New technology and a solid user base flow to the new owners, but so does a team of skilled staff. Briefly scan the<a href="https://poststatus.com/acquisitions/"> </a>Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/acquisitions/">acquisition tracker</a>. It will show you the companies that have been &#8220;acquihiring&#8221; or being acquired for their talent.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Has your employer been acquired? Michelle Frechette has helped us consider, from the employee perspective, <a href="https://poststatus.com/your-wordpress-company-has-been-acquired-now-what/">what you need to know and do in an acquisition</a>. Being acquired can be a career-changing event for employees.</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background"><img width="250" height="250" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/RtpKYzps_400x400.png" alt="Get Hired" class="wp-image-85823 size-full" /><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size" id="h-get-ready-for-remote-work"><strong>Get started today!</strong> Build your career in WordPress.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-left has-small-font-size"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job.</strong> Read the <strong>Get Hired</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/get-hired/#%f0%9f%93%a7-subscribe-to-the-get-hired-newsletter">newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2709.png" alt="✉" class="wp-smiley" /> Listen to the <strong>Get Hired</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/get-hired/">podcast</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/gethiredwp">@GetHiredWP</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f426.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<p>Recently we've seen many startup WordPress companies mature along with the growing WordPress marketplace. Once small bootstrapped teams now have grown-up responsibilities like hiring skilled staff and paying competitive wages. Companies that previously could hire people with general WordPress user skills now have a more rigorous hiring process with heightened expectations about specific technical skills and experience. Enterprise-level agencies and larger product companies have staff dedicated to talent acquisitions, recruiters, and staff dedicated to the interview process.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="h-relearning-wordpress-again-and-again">Relearning WordPress — again and again</h2>



<p>The shift to block-based web development in WordPress, thanks to Gutenberg, has really brought forward the need for end-users and developers alike to relearn WordPress. For many, the classic editor experience, page builders, and premium themes have created an understanding of development and website creation that is increasingly obsolete. We now have a very different experience which we can opt-in to using as adoption of the block editor and full site editing increases.</p>



<p>Many long-time WordPress developers began by learning theme development on classic themes like Kubrick, starter frameworks like Underscores, and they could look to Hello Dolly to learn how basic plugins work.&nbsp; As time went on, more options became available for advanced development in both WordPress and its product ecosystem. Blocks require developers to pivot to face a more JavaScript-oriented codebase. Theme template partials and unit tests are increasingly layered into our workflows.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Newcomers to WordPress may not need to relearn some of these new knowledge areas. An entirely new generation of WordPress users will experience WordPress for the first time with the block editor in their posts, pages, paratextual content, navigation, and themes. How we build plugins for a block-based world will look very different than plugins that were created for WordPress in its classic editor days. These users do not need to unlearn older methods, but the barriers to entry may be higher and their learning curve may be steeper. Depending upon their careers, they may need to learn special methods for backward compatibility with older themes, plugins, and programming techniques.&nbsp;</p>



<blockquote><p>Many freelancers, contractors, and small business website creators implement and maintain a small amount of custom code to extend off-the-shelf plugins and themes to fit their clients' needs.</p></blockquote>



<p>Today, any seasoned developers may want to yell “Get off my lawn!” or “Back in my day…” or “we always did it this way.”&nbsp; I hold a deep appreciation for the contributions made and work put into our classic methods. I learned PHP because I wanted to register a sidebar with a widget in the Revolution theme before that functionality existed in WordPress. We don't need things to remain as they always were — or require new learners to struggle the same way we have.</p>



<p>We need backward-compatible <em>and</em> forward-thinking solutions in the WordPress workforce.&nbsp;</p>



<h2>Software updates drive the need for employee upskilling and training upgrades</h2>



<p>In addition to new hires with in-demand skills who are at the beginning of their careers in WordPress, employers need to retrain existing staff to keep up with the ever-evolving methods and tools of the trade. Beyond the languages, frameworks, APIs, and core WordPress codebase itself, there are things like build tools and entirely new ways to host and deploy WordPress sites that emerge periodically. It isn't necessarily harder — but it's definitely not easier — to keep up than it used to be.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="h-small-business-needs-call-for-generalists">Small business needs call for generalists</h2>



<p>Small businesses running on WordPress often don't need people with deep technical skills. There is an entire ecosystem of website builders, integrators, implementors, maintainers, and marketing consultants who deliver, host, and support sites for clients with low or no-code solutions. Many freelancers, contractors, and small business website creators implement and maintain a small amount of custom code to extend off-the-shelf plugins and themes to fit their clients' needs. <a href="https://mattreport.com/growth-of-wordpress/">Liam Dempsey</a> and <a href="https://mattreport.com/growth-of-wordpress/">Matt Medeiros</a><a href="https://hallwaychats.com/episodes/episode-125-matt-medeiros/"> have described this line of work</a> as the domain of the &#8220;digital&#8221; or &#8220;blue-collar&#8221; &#8220;web&#8221; or &#8220;WordPress worker.&#8221;</p>



<p>That's not to say the blue-collar builder, WordPress freelancer, or generalist doesn't need to stay engaged with ongoing learning in their careers. They do. WordPress workers serving small business and agency needs must adapt to Full Site Editing, page builders, block-based themes, plugins, and blocks. They must not only excel in them as tools but learn to market and sell them to clients with their value-added services. The tools they use most commonly keep changing too, and lately the pace feels faster.</p>



<p>In addition to the skills required to host, set up, customize, and develop with WordPress, small WordPress business owners also need business skills! In enterprise-level agencies and product-oriented companies, executive and management roles are far more specialized. Within small businesses, one person may need to cover a wider variety of tasks, from marketing to finance, to some of the technical work.</p>



<h2 id="h-corporate-needs-call-for-specialists-who-are-up-to-date">Corporate needs call for specialists who are up-to-date</h2>



<p>Chris Wiegman recently mapped out the <a href="https://chriswiegman.com/2021/08/the-changing-wordpress-ecosystem/">technologies that developers frequently use</a> today. It's quite a list. Learning WordPress and being proficient at your job aren’t easy things to attain. There are a lot of skills you need, from programmatic languages to build tools — and more.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Adapting to the constant growth of languages and tools isn't a new challenge. Adjusting to Gutenberg and Full-Site Editing isn't even a new need at this point. Beyond WordPress, web development is rapidly adapting to shifts in technology as well.</p>



<blockquote><p>In the sea of resources that exist for learning WordPress and web tech skills, learners are still expected to plot their own course. </p></blockquote>



<p>Ongoing training for specialized areas of technical knowledge, staying current with the work happening in Gutenberg before documentation is available, and implementing what is currently stable are all vying for staff learning time and attention which puts them in competition with the business imperative of delivering quality products and services in a timely manner.</p>



<h2 id="h-wordpress-training-lags-behind-today-s-workforce-needs">WordPress training lags behind today’s workforce needs</h2>



<p>Surveying the landscape of training opportunities adjacent to the WordPress ecosystem is fascinating. Despite having such a vast market share, we have yet to land on a common set of competencies for the many different careers that exist in the WordPress industry.</p>



<p>In the sea of resources that exist for learning WordPress and web tech skills, learners are still expected to plot their own course. But what happens if you are still in the phase <em>where you don't know what you don't know?</em> What if you want a guide? It's really hard to figure out what to learn, in what order, and from what training providers. Training programs may also be struggling to know what you need from them.</p>



<blockquote><p>The future of WordPress is in the training. It’s time we consider wages and connect employers with training providers as we develop software <em>and</em> people.&nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>Where do you turn to learn and relearn WordPress deeply? YouTube is filled with videos about WordPress, many of which are quickly outdated or biased vehicles for affiliate links. There are <a href="https://poststatus.com/professional-wordpress-plugin-development-interview-with-the-authors/">a few great books about WordPress development</a>, but if that isn't your learning style, that too becomes a challenge. Courses exist, but without any standardization or accreditation, it falls to a few individuals to define training goals, standards, and priorities. Generally, these courses are not vetted by the industry itself.</p>



<p>To this point, people have been rather self-sufficient in acquiring the skills needed for jobs. High schools, career technical schools, colleges, and universities have incorporated WordPress instruction into their programs. Often, this reaches as far as installing and configuring themes and plugins while building a website. These programs often stop short of actual development, such as creating plugins, building blocks, or designing themes from scratch.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In the developer bootcamp world, often it is assumed that PHP is dead and WordPress is easy to learn. Yet entire educational organizations exist to help prepare their students for work. Few bootcamps offer a focus on WordPress development, and yet they want their graduates to be adequately trained for roles in WordPress product companies. Often these programs are aimed at<a href="https://generalassemb.ly/education/getting-started-with-wordpress/new-york-city"> content marketers</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Does NO ONE do a web dev bootcamp that includes <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a>? <br /><br />Was just looking at a few popular ones and noticed they don’t even include PHP. It’s literally all about JavaScript, which is also great, but show those students how they can be useful with React in WordPress!</p>&mdash; Daniel <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f389.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" />44 on 2sday 2/22/22 <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f973.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> (@schutzsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/schutzsmith/status/1487799454828843010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>Daniel Schutzsmith notices how little WordPress is represented in developer training programs.



<h2>What's to be done? What questions must we ask — and answer?</h2>



<p>I have to wonder, what would happen if official guidance was available to such organizations? What might the job pipeline look like globally in website development if training providers knew exactly what skills are needed?</p>



<h3 id="h-we-badly-need">We badly need:</h3>



<ol><li><strong>Pathways for Learning</strong> — For the main types of job pathways, a sequential order for learning WordPress should be available. See the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/05/03/high-level-roadmap-to-learning-wordpress-development/"> High-Level Roadmap</a>.</li><li><strong>Learning Styles</strong> — Whether it’s a preference based in personal disposition, accessibility needs, culture, connectivity, or other factors, how people learn varies. Our training should cater to common differences to lower the barriers to entry.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Advisement</strong> — Employers in the industry can attest to the gaps in talent and areas where applicants lack adequate skills. As general standards for various roles become more apparent, training programs and learners have clearer goals.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Certification</strong> — There are many ways to attain the necessary skills for jobs. Some careers require degrees and certification. Many don’t need either. The purpose of certification is to define and verify key skill areas needed in the workforce.&nbsp;</li></ol>



<p class="has-background"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2709.png" alt="✉" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://poststatus.com/get-hired/#subscribe-to-the-get-hired-newsletter">Subscribe</a> to the <strong>Get Hired Newsletter</strong> for <a href="https://poststatus.com/jobs/">the latest WordPress job opportunities</a> from great employers — plus our latest podcast episodes, articles, and career tips. <em>Delivered to you every week!</em></p>



<h2 id="h-help-us-solve-this-puzzle-together">Help us solve this puzzle together!</h2>



<ol><li>Join the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training"> Make WordPress Training team</a>. Contribute or revise content, collaborate on ideas, and develop the Learn WordPress website’s functionality.&nbsp;</li><li>Come to the<a href="https://wpcareersummit.com/"> WP Career Summit</a> as we match employers, employes, and job seekers with training providers.&nbsp;</li></ol>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 17 Feb 2022 20:15:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Courtney Robertson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"WPTavern: Building a “Scotch Tape” Image Block Style";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130151";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://wptavern.com/building-a-scotch-tape-image-block-style";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7542:"<p class="has-drop-cap">In today&#8217;s post, Tavern readers are in for something a little different than our regular stream of news and opinion. Welcome to the <a href="https://wptavern.com/category/building-with-blocks">Building with Blocks</a> series. It is a new type of post we are trying out to show people some of the fun, unique, or creative things they can do with WordPress blocks.</p>



<p>Our team decided to split the series into both developer and user-centric tracks. Posts may cover creating an &#8220;about me&#8221; page, coding custom block styles, piecing together a pattern, or something else entirely.</p>



<p>Since I am kicking off this series, I wanted to answer a question we already received from one of our readers. I had previously shared a custom block style with a &#8220;Scotch tape&#8221; look in my coverage of the <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-program-the-media-experience-and-its-future-in-wordpress">FSE Outreach Program&#8217;s call for media testing</a>:</p>



<img />Original block style.



<p>Devendra Meena <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-program-the-media-experience-and-its-future-in-wordpress#comment-414720">asked in the comments</a>:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Hey man, how to get the &#8220;tape&#8221; custom block image?</p></blockquote>



<p>This felt like a natural starting point with my first post in the series.</p>



<p>The design shows a piece of tape holding a Polaroid-style, framed image. Technically, I also had an alternate style with two pieces of tape at the corners. However, this tutorial will focus on the former. The two-corner design requires overwriting some editor-specific CSS, technically breaking functionality, and is not something I should encourage.</p>



<p>I also wanted to begin with block styles because they are underutilized. Most variations I have seen have been simple changes like adding borders and removing margins. These are often best left to block design tools. Of course, themers are adding these styles because WordPress currently lacks or has previously lacked the UI controls for handling them. It is also one of the reasons so many have asked to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/14598">mix and match multiple block styles</a> &#8212; themes are doing the work that core should be doing. More tools are continually being added, but we still have a long way to go.</p>



<p>When I think of block styles, I want to create designs that are unlikely to be available via the standard design tools. I want to serve something unique to theme users. That is where we are starting today.</p>



<p>As a bonus, custom block styles work in classic and block themes.</p>



<p>Despite having written hundreds of tutorials in my life, this exercise turned out to be a little tougher than I had anticipated. It is easy to forget that everything I code starts with a base of &#8220;fixing&#8221; the things that I find odd about the default block library styles. This makes my life easier. However, many theme authors will lean on core&#8217;s defaults, so I needed to make this general enough to work for them.</p>



<p>Therefore, I opted to start from the default Twenty Twenty-Two theme. In testing, I suggest working with it. The CSS code in the following section may need slight alterations for others.</p>



<h2 id="creating-the-scotch-tape-block-style">Creating the &#8220;Scotch Tape&#8221; Block Style</h2>



<p>The first step is to register a custom block style via the theme. WordPress has both <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/block-api/block-styles/">server-side and JavaScript APIs</a> for this feature. Using PHP is easier to set up if you do not already have an editor script file to drop the code into.</p>



<p>To register the custom block style, add the following code to your theme&#8217;s <code>functions.php</code> file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>// Register block styles on the init hook.
add_action( 'init', 'tavern_register_block_styles' );

// Wrapper function for registering all block styles.
function tavern_register_block_styles() {

        register_block_style( 'core/image', &#91;
        	'name' => 'scotch-tape',
        	'label' => __( 'Scotch Tape', 'tavern' )
        ] );
}</code></pre>



<p>Doing so will register the style in the editor. You can test this by adding an Image block on the post-editing screen. &#8220;Scotch Tape&#8221; should be selectable under the styles tab.</p>



<img />Registered style correctly appears for the Image block.



<p>Registering a style is the easy part. Writing the code is where things can get dicey. WordPress has so many methods of loading CSS styles that you might not know where to start.</p>



<p>The <code>register_block_style()</code> function used earlier allows developers to add a <code>style_handle</code>, a reference to a registered stylesheet. Themers can also add an inline style directly via the <code>inline_style</code> argument. For just a few lines of CSS, this works well.</p>



<p>In my own themes, I <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_enqueue_block_style/">register block-specific stylesheets</a> via the <code>wp_enqueue_block_style()</code> function &#8212; <em>yes, the function names are terribly confusing</em>. This was officially added in WordPress 5.9. It will only output the CSS when a block is used on the page. For example, I add a <code>core-image.css</code> file to house all Image block CSS. This is the method I recommend.</p>



<p>However, for the sake of simplicity, I added the following code to the end of Twenty Twenty-Two&#8217;s <code>style.css</code> file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>/* Design for the &lt;figure> wrapper. */
.wp-block-image.is-style-scotch-tape {
	position:         relative;
	overflow:         visible;
	padding:          1rem;
	background-color: #fff;
	box-shadow:       0 4px 10px 0 rgba( 0, 0, 0, 0.3 ),
	                  0 0 4rem rgba( 255, 255, 235, 0.5 ) inset;
}

/* Design for the "tape". */
.wp-block-image.is-style-scotch-tape::before {
	content:    "";
	display:    block;
	position:   absolute;
	width:      7rem;
	height:     2rem;
	margin:     auto auto auto -3.5rem;
	z-index:    1;
	left:       50%;
	top:        -0.5rem;
	background: rgba( 255, 255, 235, 0.5 );
	box-shadow: 0 4px 10px 0 rgba( 0, 0, 0, 0.3 );
}

/* Remove TT2's image shadow. */
.wp-block-image.is-style-scotch-tape img {
	box-shadow: none;
}

/* Adjustments for the caption. */
.wp-block-image.is-style-scotch-tape figcaption {
	display:     block;
	margin:      1rem 0 0;
	line-height: 1;
	font-size:   1rem;
	font-family: 'Fuzzy Bubbles', sans-serif;
}</code></pre>



<p>With the CSS in place, it is merely a matter of finding an image to test with. I chose <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/9146203d37/">Marcus Burnette&#8217;s whale shark</a> from WordPress Photos.</p>



<img />Adding images in style!



<p>If you want to add a bit of flair to your captions, load up <a href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Fuzzy+Bubbles">Fuzzy Bubbles</a> or another handwriting font from Google Fonts.</p>



<p>This style does not necessarily need to be tied to the Image block. There is no reason it could not apply to Paragraphs, Groups, and more with some adjustments.</p>



<p>For now, I hope you all have fun with it. Also, feel free to share in the comments where you would like to see the new &#8220;Building with Blocks&#8221; series head in the future.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 17 Feb 2022 02:48:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"Post Status: When, Not Why, Store Owners Choose an E-Commerce Platform — The Woo Snippet (February 14)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93485";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"https://poststatus.com/when-not-why-store-owners-choose-an-e-commerce-platform-the-woo-snippet-february-14/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2657:"<h2 id="h-woocommerce-6-3-beta-1-ready-for-testing">WooCommerce 6.3 Beta 1 Ready for Testing</h2>



<p>Time for testing with <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/15/woocommerce-6-3-beta-1/">the release</a> of <strong>WooCommerce 6.3 Beta 1</strong> in preparation for next month's release. Both <strong>WooCommerce Blocks</strong> and <strong>Admin</strong> have been updated. And speaking of blocks, <strong>WooCommerce Blocks 7.0.0</strong> <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/16/woocommerce-blocks-7-0-0-release-notes/">has been released</a>. It brings <strong>Global Styles</strong> support to more blocks and improves editor capabilities.</p>



<p>After having been an opt-in feature for some time, the new product filtering mechanism in WooCommerce announced a few months ago is rolling out for the public in <strong>WooCommerce 6.3</strong>. A post is up on the Woo developer blog outlining <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/02/new-product-filtering-by-attributes-rolling-out-in-woocommerce-6-3">what you need to know as a shop administrator</a>.</p>



<h2>Woo versus Ecwid</h2>



<p>In other news, <strong>Forbes</strong> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/woocommerce-vs-ecwid/">published an article</a> comparing WooCommerce to <strong>Ecwid</strong>. The bottom line for the authors: Woo is the choice for WordPress users and Ecwid for all those &#8220;other&#8221; existing websites. I guess it's that simple, huh?</p>



<h2><s>Why</s> When Store Owners Choose an E-Commerce Platform</h2>



<p>At the <strong>Post Status</strong> partners retreat last week, members <strong>David Mainayar</strong> (Co-Founder at <strong>PeachPay</strong>), <strong>Aaron Campbell</strong> (WordPress Ecosystem at <strong>Newfold</strong>), and <strong>Jonathan Wold</strong> (Partnerships at <strong>Post Status</strong>) got into a discussion about eCommerce site ownership. A good insight I took away is that owning your own site and content is not really a selling point, even with WooCommerce, when a business first goes online. Ownership tends to matter at the moment when the shop owner realizes they need it. Being there at the point in time is a challenge for Woo and the whole Woo/WordPress ecosystem.</p>



<h2>WooCommerce Brand Management</h2>



<p>Lately, I've been curious about how WooCommerce manages its own branding. Tune in and listen to Woo team members <strong>Fernando Perez</strong> and <strong>Andrei Slobtsov</strong> share <a href="https://dothewoo.io/woocommerce-branding-design">insights around branding and design, behind the scenes at WooCommerce</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 20:57:29 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Dan Knauss";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 46) — Contributor Recognition and Certification with Lesley Sim";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93398&preview=true&preview_id=93398";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-46-contributor-recognition-and-certification-with-lesley-sim/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25961:"<p class="has-drop-cap">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David <a href="https://poststatus.com/excerpt/45/">continues a conversation</a> with <strong>Lesley Sim</strong> to pick her brain about some ideas she has for rewarding core contributors to WordPress. Last month on Twitter and <a href="https://twitter.com/lesley_pizza/status/1480849910530396166">Post Status Slack</a> Lesley <a href="https://twitter.com/lesley_pizza/status/1480849910530396166">floated the idea of special contributor badges on WordPress.org</a>. These badges would give developers who earned them a boost to their plugin and theme rankings. The goal would be to encourage new contributors to enter the WordPress ecosystem and recognize those in the community who are doing typically unpaid work that carries the project forward.</p>



<p><strong>Why This Is Important:</strong> Improving the contributor onboarding experience will help WordPress gain more core contributors. Some ideas going around the WordPress community involve additional sponsorships, new sources of funding, and public recognition. Some ideas will never make it off the ground but might lead to better ideas that do take off. We should never stop thinking about how to make the human factor in contribution to the project better for everyone. <a href="https://poststatus.com/wordpress-as-a-commons/">Maintaining a commons</a>, like WordPress as an open source project, is a constant challenge for the WordPress community, as Lesley recently wrote for Post Status.</p>







<p class="has-background">Every week <strong><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png" alt="⚡" class="wp-smiley" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h3 id="h-mentioned-in-the-show"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/lesley_pizza">Lesley Sim</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h3><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="http://poststatus.com/godaddy">GoDaddy Pro</a></h3>



<p>Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2 id="h-transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>



<p>Conversation with Lesley part 2</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Just repeat what you just said, because I want my wife to hear this</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> nice haircut</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> because she's the one that gave it to me.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. On your anniversary</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> In another six months, I'll look, I'll look like a normal human being again. How about you? Wow. You have an impressive microphone.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> It's it's new, new wish to see you on</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> that.</p>



<p>Well, you've been doing a lot of podcasts lately, so you need a good microphone. Yeah. I'm still waking up and your probably heading into the night. W uh, well, first of all, let's confirm again, where do you reside?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I live in Singapore. Southeast Asia is UTC plus eight on a Steve. You could spend the entire recording, listening to me, complain about people not using the UTC type standard.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> It might offend some horrible at math. So I had to ask you to translate probably for me two or three times to book this, but so what time is it over there?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> It is 9:30 PM for me.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> There's been a lot of stuff to talk about actually in the WordPress community. I thought January is usually a slow time. And I guess maybe we make up for if at all these acquisitions and our attention has been focused, but when December, January are quiet, we kind of make up our own stuff to talk about. There was lots of been talking about contributions and boy that is just a long string of dominoes. I mean, this talk has always gone on, but from the log four scene to a Joomla, to other things that have been happening, comments and so forth.</p>



<p>And even recently about, I did a podcast about documentation team about how that's underpowered and they need more sponsored contributors and all of that. And then Matt state of the word.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> We have three now, right?</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I think so. Yeah, but that can obviously change at any time. And we, you know, we're throwing out ideas on Post Status slack.</p>



<p>I think that's a really great environment to throw out ideas. And I'm really glad we do because some of these ideas, I think we know will probably never come to pass, at least in the way that we're sharing them. But. They do present interesting things to think about and maybe lead to some, even better ideas.</p>



<p>And you actually brought one of those up in terms of contributor badges. So did you, did you want to kind of like take it from there?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I can't remember what led me to them. It's probably some kind of just being on the Post Status slack a lot, um, talking to people, um, and it's like, you know, just this kind of iterative process, um, which incident incidentally, I think is a really important part of the WordPress community and like how it stays healthy and like, you know, like the disagreements and the sharing of ideas, even if they never actually get made. I think all that stuff like, so that as new people come in without years and years of context and background, like they kind of see the bigger picture as well.</p>



<p>Um, so I'm a fan of all of that. The contributor badges idea. Maybe I should talk about what it is first. So</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Those who think we don't need those badges, yes we do.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Um, so the idea is like, I, I'm a huge fan of nonfinancial incentives. So a lot of people like to talk about, you know, oh, we don't have enough country contributed to is it's because we're not paying them enough.</p>



<p>So like here's. Here's a million bucks at like that's materialized these contributors out of thin air because now we have a million bucks to, to make it happen. Um, and I don't think it works that way. And so, like, I kind of like coming up with ideas that are more status oriented or like more fulfillment oriented and that's where the badges come in.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Ego oriented?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> So my idea for, sorry. Yeah. Ego. Yeah.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I couldn't hold that one in, sorry</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Ego in a good way, I think. So the idea is that you would go through different levels. And so, um, you know, a level one contributor doesn't necessarily even have to. Um, put anything in GitHub or like any of that stuff, or maybe level one, contributor could just be competing something from Learn WP not WordPress.</p>



<p>Right. Um, and that just kind of ensures that they know how to write code in the WordPress way, or they know how to answer support tickets in the WordPress way and things like that. And it goes, you know, up and up from there and you get the badges and the badges then give you, then allow you to rank higher in the WordPress directory.</p>



<p>So for example, you know, if, if Yoast, like let's say Yoast is a huge company they've been contributing for years and , let's say if you have a level 20 badge or something like that, that gives them a boost in the WordPress directory in comparison to me, you know, cause like I came up with a SEO plugin yesterday. I don't know anything about coding on WordPress.</p>



<p>Um, and so like it only makes sense that my slightly dodgy plugin that I only made yesterday doesn't um, get the same level of, uh, authority as someone with a level 20 contributor badge. Um, and I think like that works on many levels. So from a contributor point of view, um, it works because. You know, the badge and the authority and the status and all of that.</p>



<p>Um, it helps their business because if they rank higher than people would download their plugins. And then presumably if they are trying to sell plugins, they, you know, get more sales are, if they're not, then they just kind of like having that status that, that works well as well. Um, it works from the WordPress open source project perspective because now you've got lots of contributors who are incentivized to contribute.</p>



<p>And that kind of gives like the long tail of contributions, which I think is important and it's kind of, what's missing right now as well. Um, and then, sorry, one last one.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> We edit all this out. Anyway, my interruptions,</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> um, it also helps the users, the end user, because the end user who's going on the dark shoes, obviously wanting to use, um, SEO plugin.</p>



<p>They don't want to use the buggy one that I made yesterday. And so by being able to see the contributor badges, it kind of helps them make. Slightly more, um, thoughtful decision. Um, and also, you know, , uh, one of the high contributor badge is ranked higher and then that also kind of helps surface the right plugins at the right level.</p>



<p>Um, and you know, like, as I'm saying is I can kind of already hear what the oppositions to the idea would be that, you know, it's unfair someone, you know, you're just kind of like giving more advantages to. Someone with like lots of resources to even have a contributor level 20 badge in the first place.</p>



<p>And that just like widens the gap and it makes it impossible for someone new to catch up. Um,</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> so what would, what would be your response to that? Because like Yoast would have, like, their people would have all of the badges, right. Or like all of the top badges. So what, what would be your response to that?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> So, so my response would be not the response that most people want to hear my response is firstly, this is something that has to be worked out. So, you know, these ideas don't emerge in the world fully formed. They are kind of, it comes out and then, you know, people argue about it. We iterate on it. Be like lunch, a version of wine.</p>



<p>It falls flat. You know, people say it's awful. They hate it. They're leaving WordPress. They write blog posts to heat it up, right? Yeah, exactly. That's the first thing. Yeah, that's the power.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Why can't I use this for good.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> So that, I mean, that's, that's honestly the first, the first thing and that, you know, that's the reality of how these things go.</p>



<p>Um, but the second is like, you know, the nice thing about contributor, badgers, like, oh, I'm all the things that I'm seeing. These are just kind of ideas of how you can incentivize. But the underlying kind of concept is to do the sort of intrinsic motivation type stuff, or like this like status badges type stuff.</p>



<p>Um, you know, whether, whether it's someone gets me, maybe the badges aren't even seen on the front end. So like as a developer, you can see the badge, but then as a user, you can not see the badge, you just, um, your, your. Um, plugin just gets ranked higher or something and that's the only outcome. So all of this stuff can be tweaked in a million different ways.</p>



<p>And, um, I like thinking about this kind of stuff. So I think that could be pretty cool to figure out. Um, but it's kind of, I guess, similar to how Google and back links work, you know, like that kind of works as an authority thing as well. So like, if you have a backlink from a high authority site, you get ranked higher.</p>



<p>And so this is kind of the same thing. I mean, Google has clearly made it work. Although some people argue that they haven't, but, you know, um,</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> has anybody really, is there anybody really that has, is there anybody really that has nailed this open source or not in, in, in tech as far as your concerned. Has anybody nailed this concept or concept of just awarding badges for things?</p>



<p>Or do you think there's always going to be some problems with this idea?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I mean, so I think that, um, this is, I guess, kind of a philosophical take, but I feel like there's always two sides of things. So like what is problematic to one person is going to be advantageous to the other person. So I don't think.</p>



<p>You know, binary sent, see, has anyone nail this and made it 1000% fair in every single way. And nobody, once</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> you bring the F-word into it, once you bring the F word into it, fair, I don't, you know, it's all out the window from here, but I mean, let's, I mean, there are badges. I mean, wordpress.org has badges.</p>



<p>Right. And I would say they're almost like, um, Oh, I was never a boy scout in the U S and I don't know what the equivalent is outside of the U S but girl Scouts and boy Scouts. They have these patches on the sashes that of once they've accomplished something. And I guess maybe some, some countries militaries, too, they have pins or markers denoting, their rank and their accomplishments or maybe awards that they've been given.</p>



<p>So it's a, it's, it's a fairly well-known concept. And you're looking at the badges in terms of ranking, you know, like a leaderboard type of a thing. I, it sounds like to me, um, yeah, the other is an incentive for continuing to contribute. And because like you said before, if you have a million dollars, that's I think Matt said this before.</p>



<p>It's kind of hard to distribute that evenly and fairly in that I, you know, there I am using the F word again. But I th would you agree that there is also just me be as much about it's op it's about as much of recognition than, than, than anything else, or is at least partly because of recognition, um, respecting people's time and effort, all the blood, sweat, and tears that they put into it.</p>



<p>Not just respect from say automatic or the WordPress community, but respect from. You know, you've worked something for really hard on something and it gets, it gets very harshly criticized, maybe in their opinion. What do you think, do you think badges would solve this? Um, would solve some emotional hole of people that think they're not being recognized for their work?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I think so. Probably, um, again, like the answer is, it depends, um, Honestly, I think that when it comes to recognition, it's not, it's, it's so difficult because people don't actually want to be recognized by, or don't necessarily want to be equally recognized by, you know, 5,000 different people. They want to be recognized by like the one or two people that they really look up to.</p>



<p>And then maybe like, 10 people within their, um, social circle and then maybe like very, very broadly 5,000 people. Right. Um, and so like all of those dynamics come into play as well. So I'm not sure that like just the badges themselves. Yeah would necessarily mean anything. Um, if you had just kind of going go all out or recognition, I think like part of why I'm talking about tying the badges to some kind of incentive is, um, specific to the idea of getting more contributors.</p>



<p>Um, so I think like when it comes to contributors there. There are a couple of now a couple of, um, problems, but they arem't the problems that people think they are. So like, it's definitely not a matter of just like let's throw money at the problem, which is often what the problem people think. Oh, the, what they think is the problem.</p>



<p>So it's often it's not just throw my money at the problem. You don't have enough money.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Um, cause you want to compensate people because just to pause there, you want to compensate people for their time because they're doing this not, we're not talking about the sponsored people. We're talking people that are volunteering their time and they obviously, if they're not being compensated in some way, it's harder.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Getting more of those people on. Um, so, so I think like there's like a long tail of contributions that needs to happen. So, um, I think WordPress now is already getting pretty good at this like whole concept of sponsored contributors. There are a lot of, um, companies that are doing that increasing increasingly, and I think that's really, really awesome.</p>



<p>And like another, the model is kind of there and has been proven out, I think. Very short, like in like one or two years, this will not be a problem anymore. They'll just be lots of sponsored contributors and it'll be fine. So like, I think the problem is actually the long tail of contributors. So, you know, you were talking about the documentation team, right?</p>



<p>There's not enough people there. And I know having three full-time people dedicated to it is great, but then you also need like 500 people to. Do you know, to look at typos, to do the translations, to do the super tiny documents, which are really important, but no one really wants to write because they're kind of boring and blah, blah, blah, blah.</p>



<p>Or you need someone to like go through, you know, documents from 2007 and update screenshots, right? Like that's the long tail of contributions. And I think like having some kind of incentives to allow for that kind of work. Like someone can just come in, spend half an hour, get some screenshots, you know, get bumped up another badge level and you'll go about their day.</p>



<p>Like, I think that kind of thing would be really cool.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> It's like experience points too, if you've ever played the old.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah, exactly.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I don't know. Is it RP? No, it's RPGs. I forgot what they're called. Um, I'll edit in whatever it is the later, but I remember playing old computer games where he had so many experience points in the more experience points you get you level up and you get, I'm not sure though what, what, you know, besides just the bragging rights, what you would get, uh, out of more points, but you definitely would be able to be recognized if, for example, like, let's say post status integrated some sort of little badge thing into your profile or something like that now. No, both you and I have badges already on wordpress.org. Um, repo. Do we, I think we do at least I do. I'm pretty sure you do. I just automatically assume you do because you have a plugin and you've contributed before as well.</p>



<p>Um, so they have a number of badges for like plug-in team and theme team and, you know, translations and all of that. I, for some reason, I think the translation team does a pretty good job of incentivizing people. They seem to get a lot of non-English speakers involved with that. Maybe eventually that's something that we look down, but, but yeah, I, I think, I dunno, we're in, in, in, in our world, there's, there's a.</p>



<p>Incentive for us to keep contributing. But like you said, you want to bring in new contributors in a new contributors would love to be recognized for their initial work. There is also, um, so what, what would be an example just to kind of wrap up this a little bit, uh, and then moving on, what would be an example of a badge that you think would be a good badge to have?</p>



<p>Um, or how would that work? Like, for example, If I'm, if I'm making certain number of contributions, what would that badge look like? Would I have more than one? Would it just be one badge? And I just keep changing it out or what? I collect a series of badges in your, in your, in your idea.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I feel like that's too specific.</p>



<p>I can't answer that.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> No problem. What I was thinking, what I thought was a pretty good badge when I was listening to your idea was like my first commit back. Or a first flight. Uh, and it's usually like, it's usually the easy ones, you know, how we in WordPress tag the easy, um, issues for beginners.</p>



<p>So if they can get that and then get a badge real quick, that would be an instant gratification. And then kind of maybe move on from there.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I think, I think if you call to have, for someone to map out, where are the typical. So I think of contributions, the contributor journey kind of as like a marketing or sales funnel.</p>



<p>Um, and once you do that, um, a lot of the problems you can kind of frame the problems in a more easy to understand or well known kind of way. And then, you know, like a lot of the vague problems, like suddenly like kind of cooking to pace. So if you think about it from a contributor fan or like a contributors journey. Um, and you think about, you know, where the, um, common drop off points in that funnel. Um, you can actually kind of like put badges strategically in those pieces to incentivize people to kind of go over the hump. So for example, um, one of the one, like in my very, very limited experience, um, one of the difficulties is actually kind of wrapping your head around.</p>



<p>Um, contributing to begin with works. Um, there isn't really a good way to, to understand this a site from, um, going on mate, make wordpress.org. Um, and then from there they kind of like direct you to the slack. And then it's like really tricky to even get onto the stack in the first place. And then you get on there and it's just like a whole bunch of texts and you have no context or anything and it's overwhelming.</p>



<p>Um, so like, Again, this is like completely just an idea, but like, given that, you know, this, uh, is like, uh, um, identified common exit point. What can be done around there to both like, make that better, that, you know, um, iron out the, the huddles there, but then also on the users and other contributors and.</p>



<p>Give them a badge. So like that's how you get your level one comtributer a batch, for example, by, uh, I dunno, taking ticketing and a test that proves that you understand it. Are you not taking a test because everyone hates that, but you know what I mean? Right now, would you</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> support some sort of, um, certification process?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah, for sure. So I think that certification should be a part of the badgers. So like, you know, if you pass five tests, you get to level five and you know, that already should bump you up in the directory because they see you've, you've done a bunch of tests proving that, you know how to write a in well, properly security, then you should get like, 1.2 X the ranking versus somebody who hasn't taken any of those tests and maybe writing a really crappy plugin</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> sounds like we need to create like a role-playing adventure.</p>



<p>Just, just make it all, make it all contributor, you know, contributors and experience points and leveling up. And instead of getting a sword, I just get a better editor, but I really appreciate what you do. And we are sharing your opinions, especially in post-data slack. So, uh, look forward to seeing.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah, same.</p>



<p>Thanks, David.</p>



<p>Okay.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 19:48:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:40:"WordPress.org blog: A New WordPress News";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12244";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/a-new-wordpress-news/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2413:"<img width="2560" height="1605" src="https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/02/news_responsive_sizes-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1605&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12279" />



<p>In June 2021, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>beafialho</a> in collaboration with <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pablohoney/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>pablohoney</a> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/06/03/redesign-of-wordpress-org-news/">floated the idea</a> of giving WordPress News a new look. Today, those ideas become a reality—we&#8217;re excited to share that redesign of <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/">WordPress News</a> is live!</p>



<p>The new design leans on the aesthetics of jazz, intrinsically connected to WordPress and which ultimately translates its uniqueness, historic significance and future potential. Among other improvements, the new design leaves more space for content and includes new typefaces for better readability. It also uses a color palette intended to reflect the evolving Gutenberg language.</p>



<img width="2560" height="1605" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/02/news_postpages-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1605&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12260" />



<img width="2560" height="1605" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/02/news_communitypodcast-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1605&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12262" />



<p>The revamp of the WordPress News page includes the header and footer of the page. We also shipped those two global elements to all pages of WordPress.org. However, there’s more work to do within the header to improve the information architecture. This new design is just the first, small step to modernize and improve the site iteratively. Any further discussion on future redesigns will occur in the <a href="http://wordpress.slack.com">#design channel on Slack</a>.</p>



<img width="2560" height="1605" src="https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/02/news_mobile_menu-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1605&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-12263" />



<p>Take a look around and subscribe to WordPress News if you haven’t already. If you see something in the design that doesn’t look right, please submit an issue on <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-news-2021/">GitHub</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 17:56:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Kelly Hoffman";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (February 14, 2022)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93426&preview=true&preview_id=93426";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-february-14-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10969:"<p>Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers.</p>



<h2 id="h-news"><a href="http://wordpress.org/news">News</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/a-new-wordpress-news/">A New WordPress News</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/">A Theory of Technology Adoption in the WordPress&nbsp;Project</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-6-0-planning-roundup/">WordPress 6.0 Planning Roundup</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-5-9-x-release-team-and-5-9-1-schedule/">WordPress 5.9.x release team and 5.9.1 schedule</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/preliminary-roadmap-for-6-0/"></a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/the-month-in-wordpress-january-2022/">The Month in WordPress – January 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">FSE Program Exploration: All Things Media</a></li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<div class="wp-block-columns">
<div class="wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-accessibility"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2022/01/08/accessibility-teams-goals-for-wordpress-6-0-and-beyond/">The Accessibility Team’s Goals for WordPress 6.0 and Beyond</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-community"><a href="http://make.wordpress.org/community">Community</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/15/meetup-organizer-newsletter-february-2022/">Meetup Organizer Newsletter: February 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/15/tuesday-training-topical-resources-for-meetup-organizers/">Tuesday Training: Topical Resources for Meetup Organizers</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/16/proposal-refurbishing-camera-kits/">Proposal: Refurbishing Camera Kits</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/08/discussion-diversity-in-wordpress-events/">Discussion: Diversity in WordPress Events</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/07/2022-wordpress-community-support-financial-update/">2022 WordPress Community Support Financial Update</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/04/upcoming-wpdiversity-events-february-2022/">Upcoming #WPDiversity Events: February 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/03/open-invitation-diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-zoom-call/">Open Invitation: Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Volunteers Zoom Call</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/02/community-team-goals-2022-open-discussion-sessions/">Community Team Goals 2022: Open Discussion Sessions</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/10/proposal-mandatory-safety-measures-for-in-person-wordpress-events-in-2022/"></a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-design"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design">Design</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/02/14/design-share/">Design Share</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-hosting"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting">Hosting</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2022/01/10/wordpress-5-9-and-php-8-0-8-1/">WordPress 5.9 and PHP 8.0-8.1</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-marketing"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing">Marketing</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2021/12/01/help-contribute-to-social-media-materials-for-5-9-release/">Help contribute to social media materials for the 5.9 release</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/01/25/social-media-drafting-update-for-5-9/">Social media drafting update for 5.9</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-meta"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org./meta">Meta</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/02/10/new-wordpress-make-team-the-photo-directory/">New WordPress Make Team: the Photo Directory</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-polyglots"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/">Polyglots</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/02/08/call-for-early-testers-glotpress-feedback-feature/">Call for Early Testers: GlotPress Feedback Feature</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-plugins"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins">Plugins</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/15/plugin-review-team-14-february-2022/">Plugin Review Team: 14 February 2022</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-mobile"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile">Mobile</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/01/24/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-1/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/08/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-2/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 19.2</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/08/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-2/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 19.2</a></li></ul>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-project"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project">Project</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/">A Theory of Technology Adoption in the WordPress&nbsp;Project</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-core"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core">Core</a> </h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-5-9-x-release-team-and-5-9-1-schedule/">WordPress 5.9.x release team and 5.9.1 schedule</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-6-0-planning-roundup/">WordPress 6.0 Planning Roundup</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/core-editor-improvement-curated-experiences-with-locking-apis-theme-json/">Core Editor Improvement: Curated experiences with locking APIs & theme.json</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/cover-block-refactor-dev-note/">Cover Block Refactor Dev Note</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-5-february-2nd/">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.5? (February 2nd)</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/31/ensuring-proper-attribution-for-contributions-to-wordpress-on-github/">Ensuring Proper Attribution for Contributions to WordPress on GitHub</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/07/a-week-in-core-february-7-2022/">A Week in Core – February 7, 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/27/wordpress-5-9-simone-retrospective/">WordPress 5.9 ‘Joséphine’ Retrospective</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/proposed-improvements-to-the-core-editor-chat-agenda-and-format/">Proposed improvements to the Core Editor chat agenda and format</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/01/wp-notify-status-update/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/01/wp-notify-status-update/">WP Notify Status Update</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-test"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test">Test</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">FSE Program Exploration: All Things Media</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-docs"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs">Docs</a></h2>



<h4 id="h-developer">Developer: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/block-themes/converting-customizer-settings-to-block-patterns/">Converting customizer settings to block patterns</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-style-engine/">@wordpress/style-engine&nbsp;</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-training"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training">Training</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/31/faculty-program-structure-proposal/">Faculty Program: Structure Proposal</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-workshops">Workshops: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/templates/">Templates</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-lesson-plans">Lesson Plans: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/templates/">Templates</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-courses">Courses:</h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/simple-site-design-with-full-site-editing/">Part 1: Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-2-personalized-site-design-with-full-site-editing-and-theme-blocks/">Part 2: Personalized Site Design with Full Site Editing and Theme Blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-3-advanced-site-design-with-full-site-editing-site-editor-templates-and-template-parts/">Part 3: Advanced Site Design with Full Site Editing: Site Editor, Templates and Template Parts</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-social-learning-spaces">Social Learning Spaces:</h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/">Calendar</a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background"><a href="https://poststatus.com/"><img src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vertical-post-status-logo-250.png" alt="Post Status" class="wp-image-85823 size-full" /></a><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size" id="h-get-ready-for-remote-work">You — and <a href="https://poststatus.com/business-membership/">your whole team</a> can <a href="https://poststatus.com/post-status-membership-club/">Join Post Status</a> too!</p>



<p class="has-text-align-left has-small-font-size"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire.</strong> Read the <strong>Post Status</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter/">newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2709.png" alt="✉" class="wp-smiley" /> Listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcasts/">podcasts</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/post_status/">@Post_Status</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f426.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 16:41:42 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Courtney Robertson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:89:"WPTavern: #14 – Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen on the New Navigation Block";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=129791";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/14-dave-smith-isabel-brison-and-joen-asmussen-on-the-new-navigation-block";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59576:"<p>On the podcast today we have three guests… Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen.</p>



<p>They’re all employed by Automattic, and whilst, as you will hear, they’ve had a variety of backgrounds, most recently they’ve been working on the new Navigation Block.</p>



<p>Up until now WordPress menus have had their own dedicated area of the admin, but as of the most recent release of WordPress, 5.9, this has changed. If you have a block based theme you now create and edit menus in the block editor with the navigation block.</p>



<p>Perhaps you were very happy with the way that menus have worked until now, but on the podcast today we explore why navigation was given such a large overhaul. It&#8217;s a complete break from the past and may need some getting used to for yourself, or possibly your clients.</p>



<p>So why did this all happen? What was wrong with what we had until now?</p>



<p>These are the topics that we discuss on the podcast today. Along with:</p>



<ul><li>What are the options available in the new UI?</li><li>Does the navigation block have any benefits over a dedicated menu screen?</li><li>Will the classic way of doing things be supported?</li><li>What’s on the roadmap for the future of WordPress navigation?</li></ul>



<h2 id="useful-links">Useful links.</h2>



<p>To get in touch with the guests on the &#8216;Making WordPress&#8217; Slack:</p>



<ul><li>Dave: @getdave</li><li>Isabel: @tellthemachines</li><li>Joen: @joen</li></ul>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gutenberg/">Gutenberg support</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/full-site-editing-outreach-experiment/">Full Site Editing Outreach Program</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38275">Navigation Block Tracking Issue i3&nbsp;#38275</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNHY9rIXHPUru_CiK0GcoA">Dave on WP (YouTube channel)</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">FSE Program Exploration</a> &#8211; call for testing</p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/core-editor-summary/" target="_blank">Core Editor chat summaries</a></p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/the-new-navigation-block/" target="_blank">The new Navigation block entry in the WP 5.9 release notes</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/navigation-block/">Navigation Block</a> &#8211; an article explaining how the navigation block works</p>



Transcript<div>
<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, the new navigation block. Before we begin, I would encourage you to subscribe to the podcast so that you can get all the episodes automatically each and every week.</p>



<p>You can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your favorite podcast player, or by going to WP tavern dot com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy and paste that URL into most podcast players too. I&#8217;d really like to hear from anyone out there who would like to come onto the podcast and talk about whatever it is that you do with WordPress.</p>



<p>It may be that you&#8217;re a developer, a WordCamp organizer, a contributor, a designer. Honestly, if it&#8217;s about WordPress, I&#8217;m really keen to hear from you. And hopefully get you on the show. Head over to WP tavern. dot com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox. And use the contact form there.</p>



<p>So, on the podcast today, we have three guests, Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen. They&#8217;re all employed by Automattic and whilst, as you will hear, they&#8217;ve had a variety of backgrounds, most recently they&#8217;ve been working on the new navigation block.</p>



<p>Up until now, WordPress menus have had their own dedicated area of the admin. But as of the most recent release of WordPress, 5.9, this has all changed. If you have a block-based theme, you can now create an edit menus in the block editor with the navigation block. Perhaps you were very happy with the way that menus have worked until now, but on the podcast today, we explore why navigation was given such a large overhaul.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a complete break from the past and may need some getting used to by yourself, or possibly your clients. So why did all this happen? What was wrong with what we had until now? Well, these are the topics that we&#8217;re going to be discussing today. Along with: what are the options available in the new UI? Does the navigation block have any benefits over a dedicated menu screen? Will the classic way of doing things be supported. And what&#8217;s on the roadmap for the future of WordPress navigation.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links in the show notes. Head over to WP tavern dot com forward slash podcast. And look for episode number 14. And so without further delay, I bring you, Dave Smith, Isabel Brison And Joen Asmussen.</p>



<p>I am joined on the podcast today by three people. I&#8217;m not sure that we&#8217;ve done this too often in the past, but three people we have with us today. We have in no particular order, Isabel Brison, Dave Smith, and Joen Asmussen. We&#8217;ll go through one at a time, perhaps if we start with Isabel and then go to Dave and then Joen toward the end, and just introduce yourselves, tell the listeners who you are, and how come you&#8217;re on the podcast today talking about navigation menus in WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:03:44] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Hi, I&#8217;m Isabel. I am a front-end engineer at Automattic. I&#8217;m dedicated full-time to working on WordPress. That means Gutenberg most of the time. And I&#8217;ve been working on the navigation block for, oh, I don&#8217;t know. It feels like a year probably I&#8217;ve have been mostly dedicated to that. It&#8217;s an extremely complex block. That&#8217;s why it took so long to get it ready.</p>



<p>[00:04:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Well, thank you, and Dave.</p>



<p>[00:04:12] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah. Hi, I&#8217;m Dave Smith. I&#8217;m getdave on core Slack, and get underscore dave on dot org annoyingly. I&#8217;m a software developer and based in the UK. And I also work for Automattic. Been here for about three years now. Before that I worked at various digital agencies using WordPress. So I must&#8217;ve used it for about 10 years now, I guess. But I&#8217;m lucky enough now that I get to contribute full-time to the Gutenberg editor and that&#8217;s part of Automattic&#8217;s five for the future commitment.</p>



<p>And of course I&#8217;m principally focused on all aspects of navigation and particularly the block, which is presumably why I&#8217;m here today. I also run a YouTube channel called Dave on WordPress, where I try to provide my insights as a full-time Gutenberg developer on how to best make use of the block editor.</p>



<p>[00:04:56] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much Dave, I will make sure that the link for your YouTube channel and various other bits and pieces do make it into the show notes, but that&#8217;s very kind of you, and finally Joen.</p>



<p>[00:05:06] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Hello? Yes, I&#8217;m Joen. I&#8217;m a product designer in Denmark for Automattic. I have been working on the block editor project ever since the beginning and the navigation block for more than a year. It has been fun.</p>



<p>[00:05:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much indeed. So obviously we&#8217;ve got the panel. If we were to be talking about WordPress navigation and the future of WordPress navigation, you really are the people to be discussing it with. So just last week, we&#8217;re recording this at the very beginning of February, just last week, The way that menus are handled within WordPress got a bit of a shakeup. You&#8217;ve been thinking about it for a long, long time, but the vast majority of WordPress users probably came across it for the first time this week. I don&#8217;t know who wishes to answer this, it doesn&#8217;t really matter. You could all overtalk each other or interrupt, that&#8217;s completely fine by me. Why do we now have a navigation block and why are we no longer using the tried and trusted appearances menu section. What&#8217;s the point of that?</p>



<p>[00:06:05] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah, absolutely. I&#8217;m happy to give that a go if you would like. So menu system in WordPress has obviously existed for quite some time, and we&#8217;re now calling that the classic menu system. And that&#8217;s where you go into WP admin. You go to the menu screen and you can start building out your menu from there.</p>



<p>But obviously with the advent of Gutenberg, and particularly with the advent of full site editing, we&#8217;re moving towards say a, sort of a more wysiwyg approach or direct editing paradigm. If you will, whereby we want to be able to create things directly in the site editor canvas. So that we have a one-to-one representation between what you see in the editor and what you see on the front of your site.</p>



<p>So the goal of the navigation block is really to facilitate that within the editor. So it&#8217;s part of a new way of building out menus in WordPress, and really, it gives you a lot more control over the style, but it also removes that disconnect that we felt with the menu screen perhaps. As I said, I worked in agency background previously and I worked with a lot of clients and they often struggled to understand, I&#8217;m editing this menu, this navigation in the menu screen. How is that actually going to affect what I see on the front of the site? We&#8217;re hoping that with the new navigation block, it becomes a lot easier to appreciate that, because all you do is you go into the site editor, you look for where your navigation is that you see on the front of your site, within the editor and you start making changes directly there. You hit save, and on the front of your site, you get to see exactly the same. And that&#8217;s really, really powerful. And I think that&#8217;s the principle reason why we, why we started on this project, but, Joen and Isabel might have some other insight as well.</p>



<p>[00:07:42] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, feel free Joen or Isabel to give us your take on that as well please.</p>



<p>[00:07:46] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> I think on top of that, we&#8217;ve tried to create more flexibility regarding the navigation layout. Yes, it&#8217;s the visual experience of being able to edit the navigation in place, but it&#8217;s also that you can now do a lot more with that navigation in terms of positioning the elements and putting in other elements that did not fit into a classic menu, such as your site logo or a search bar, and displaying them as an overlay or not. So there&#8217;s a bunch new things that we can do with the navigation in terms of layout that are a lot more complex than we used to be able to. Or things that possibly could be done by a theme, but then they were fixed in that theme, and you wouldn&#8217;t have the opportunity to customize them.</p>



<p>[00:08:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much, and Joen it sounded like you had something to contribute there.</p>



<p>[00:08:33] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Yeah. So I think those were some great points already made. I would add that one of the aspects of the navigation block is specifically that it is a block. The idea being that with the block editor, everything is a block, widgets embeds, all of it is blocks. And so once you learn the block editor, ideally, the jump to full site editing, in some cases it just means the addition of the header and the footer in the same canvas become available using the same block interface. So ideally, less to learn because you already know how to use the block editor.</p>



<p>[00:09:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> The thing which I, well the takeaways which I have from my brief forays into using the navigation block are, number one to Dave&#8217;s point, the fact that it&#8217;s all happening on the screen is really, it&#8217;s quite interesting. It made me sort of sit up and think, okay, this is where it is now. This is new, this is interesting. I never quite found the difficulty in having a menu section. I think after a certain period of time, it kind of became instinctive. But then again, I was always playing with WordPress pretty much all day, every day. So I think Dave&#8217;s point is a really good one.</p>



<p>Now everything&#8217;s handled in the same place. The UI is the same. It&#8217;s easy to understand. And speaking to Isabel&#8217;s point, the fact that you can surround your navigation with whatever you choose. It&#8217;s no longer just what the theme handles. It can be anything, you know, so you could put a logo right next to it, or a button to the right of it, or anything you like. You can just surround it by other blocks if you so choose. So I can see that promise is really good. Are you happy with the implementation that you&#8217;ve got at the minute? Because obviously, there&#8217;s things which I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ll be telling us later about roadmap features and so on. Do you feel that the jump, which people are going to have to go through on day one, so if they install a block-based theme and they&#8217;re suddenly confronted with navigation being something that&#8217;s done inside the block editor, do you feel that the UI is intuitive at the moment or are there things that you would like to have. Implemented fairly soon?</p>



<p>[00:10:37] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I can take a quick stab I think it&#8217;s important to look at what is available in the block today and you can import an existing menu, you can create a new one from scratch, you can swap menus, you can edit them, move these blocks around. You can collapse it into this little hamburger menu with a toggle in the sidebar, and instantly you see the effect in the canvas. You see it becomes that little menu button. You can create all these sub menus, build them visually. There are a number of styling options available. And in fact, you can accomplish some pretty complex layouts by combining this block, as you just said, with a number of other blocks. And being such a key part of full site editing it is in almost every website. The very header that makes up your primary point of interaction. It was very important to get the block out there, and I think with the experience we are shipping in 5.9, and the features it&#8217;s definitely ready to get some feedback. But I would also say that 5.9 is a great opportunity to find out some of those rough edges and figure out how to prioritize the next steps. There&#8217;s a lot of work to be done still. Some of those changes affect the block editor directly, like selecting the right block, moving it around, the right nesting level. All of these things, when fixed in the block editor itself, improved in the block editor itself, elevate the rest of the block editor UI. For example, the gallery block is also receiving nesting. So whatever we can improve there, will benefit both navigation and other nested blocks as well. So there&#8217;s definitely lots to do still, but it&#8217;s in a good place to use on your website even today, I would say.</p>



<p>[00:12:25] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. Dave or Isabel.</p>



<p>[00:12:27] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> I agree with that assessment. I think it&#8217;s in a good place. And I think Joen said something very interesting here, which is, a lot of the improvements that we can make to it, our general block editor improvements. So things that will make the experience of nested blocks better. We&#8217;ll also as a consequence, make the navigation block, which is a series of nested blocks better.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m looking in particular to few accessibility issues. You mentioned accessibility earlier. I&#8217;d say, yeah, there are points that can be improved at the moment, particularly with keyboard accessibility, but those are overwhelmingly issues that affect the editor as a whole. So the nested blocks are complicated structures that we&#8217;re still working through in terms of usability.</p>



<p>So there are definitely improvements to look out for in the near future with regards to that.</p>



<p>[00:13:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you, Dave.</p>



<p>[00:13:21] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah, absolutely, and all the points that&#8217;ve made so far been really accurate and really great. I think there&#8217;s also two ways of looking at this, because you can have coming to the navigation block from a classic world of WordPress and you&#8217;ve already used WordPress and it&#8217;s something you&#8217;re familiar with and you&#8217;re familiar with the menu screen. Or you can be coming to WordPress as a brand new user, you&#8217;re landed in full site editing and you experience navigation block. And I think there&#8217;s going to be two perspectives then, two different experiences. And as I said previously again, I worked for agencies and I can imagine some of the clients I used to work with. They&#8217;ve got familiar with the menu screen. They&#8217;re very happy with how it works. They&#8217;ve worked around the quirks of it, and then they are being asked to use this completely new interface. And obviously with any change like that, there&#8217;s going to be a bit of friction. There&#8217;s going to be a bit of pushback, and there&#8217;s going to be some overhead for people who&#8217;re having to teach these people how to use the new interface.</p>



<p>But again, the direct editing paradigm really makes things a lot easier because the overhead to learning how to use this new system is much, much lower. It is. Point and click, change things that are there and they&#8217;ll look like that on the front of the site. And that&#8217;s a really big win. And that also carries over really nicely into first-time WordPress users, because they won&#8217;t have that backstory of having used the existing menu screen. They will be probably familiar with other systems where they are more of a wysiwyg system, what you see is what you get, and that&#8217;s the acronym. And they will be familiar with something where they can just point and click and change things. And I think that really helps. So, yes, I definitely definitely agree, there are rough edges around the block. It is a V1, but we&#8217;re looking for feedback from WordPress 5.9, so if people have that feedback, they find these edge cases, all these frustrations, the best thing to do is to let us know. And yeah, we can look to address those in future releases as required.</p>



<p>[00:15:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Dave, could I ask at this point, given that that&#8217;s the case and you are looking for feedback actively, what is the best way that people could provide that feedback?</p>



<p>[00:15:19] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah, absolutely. There are a number of ways, different people might find different channels helpful. I think perhaps one of the first ones might be the Gutenberg plugin forums, which you can reach at wordpress dot org, we&#8217;ll put a link to those, and there are plenty of contributors who go into those forums and regularly check them for people who are providing feedback.</p>



<p>Also there&#8217;s the full site editing outreach program, which is run by Anne McCarthy. Who&#8217;s a colleague of ours at Automattic. And she often has these series of sessions where we&#8217;ll go out saying we&#8217;re going to focus down on one particular aspect. And so there might be opportunity to provide feedback. There&#8217;s also make blog posts that came out, around these topics, which you can follow up with and leave your comments there. And there&#8217;s obviously also Github as well, where you can raise issues about your frustrations. Or if you&#8217;re really, really keen, you could join us in WordPress core Slack, everyone&#8217;s a friendly bunch and, you can just drop into the channels and say, hey, I&#8217;ve got this frustration, I&#8217;ve got this feedback. And someone will pick up that, and put you in the right direction and help you to get an answer and resolve those things. Joen and Isabel, have you got any other suggestions? You probably know some more, other interesting places.</p>



<p>[00:16:28] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I thought that was very exhaustive. I would only echo that we are very appreciative of all these thoughts. One of the opportunities we have with listening to that feedback and the plugin model where we can land features in the plugin. Already now, if you install the plugin, you&#8217;ll see some changes based on what we&#8217;ve learned already with the first set up state for the navigation block, it&#8217;s already being tweaked in the plugin. So we can react relatively quickly, and you can see those changes in the plugin and then eventually they&#8217;ll land in the next version. So definitely don&#8217;t hold back on the feedback.</p>



<p>[00:17:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Just for the benefit of users, when you, I think it&#8217;s probably clear to all of us what you&#8217;re describing there, when you say the plugin, just explain for the listeners who perhaps don&#8217;t know what that step involves and what it means.</p>



<p>[00:17:16] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Thank you, and I do apologize. So the Gutenberg plugin was the plugin project to create the block editor, way back for WordPress five point zero. And it has since become the testing ground for development. So what happens is we work in Github on the Gutenberg project to create these new features, fix these bugs. And then every, I think it&#8217;s every two weeks we land these new features in the Gutenberg plugin, so you can test them out. It&#8217;s fairly stable and we definitely push patches to make sure it&#8217;s pretty stable. It&#8217;s not going to be quite as stable as the full WordPress releases 5.9, 6.0 and so on. But it is a way to preview what&#8217;s coming next. You can activate the plugin, just search for Gutenberg in the plugins page. You can activate it, see these new things. You can deactivate it again if you like.</p>



<p>[00:18:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That clarifies it beautifully. So the intention there is that if you want to live on the bleeding edge and be involved with seeing what&#8217;s coming with Gutenberg, and in this case the navigation block, then that is the process that you would go through and you&#8217;ll be using something which may not be mission critical ready, but we&#8217;ll certainly be a lot of fun to play with, that&#8217;s for sure.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t know who wants to take this one, but working on the basis that some of the listeners by now simply will never have touched WordPress 5.9. Would one of you take on the onerous task of trying to describe the differences in the UI? So I&#8217;m meaning things like the fact that we&#8217;ve now got edits site as a menu option. The fact that the traditional area where you would go and customize things, the customizer has been removed, if you use a block based theme. And then moving on to, how do you actually get a navigation area onto the website and, what&#8217;s the process that you go through basically? I know there&#8217;s an awful lot to unpack there, but it just occurs to me that there&#8217;ll be quite a lot of people who haven&#8217;t yet tried 5.9. Maybe they have, but they&#8217;ve stuck with their old theme and they don&#8217;t wish to dabble. So we&#8217;re trying to persuade them I think that it&#8217;s not as difficult as it sounds.</p>



<p>[00:19:23] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I could take a quick stab because I think it could be worth it to clarify one thing right upfront. That existing WordPress themes should work just as they already do, with the existing navigation screen and all that stuff. The new navigation block would be available for the block editor, but the site editor is primarily available when you activate a block theme. For example, Twenty Twenty-Two, which is just the most beautiful theme. If you haven&#8217;t seen it yet, I definitely recommend, just take a look, try it out. It is the most wonderful thing I&#8217;ve seen in a decade. And notably, if you are a WordPress developer, do download that theme, unpack the zip, take a look at the structure and see how it&#8217;s built. It is something else, makes me very excited about the future of theme development.</p>



<p>You can also mix and match between block themes and let&#8217;s call it classic themes, towards these hybrid themes. So you can, sort of, gradually opt to these new paradigms. But assuming you activate Twenty Twenty-Two today on a fresh install and you want to see all the new stuff, you go into appearance, you have this edit site button which lets you see the whole of Twenty Twenty-Two. Header and footer and the loop in the middle. With everything being blocks, you can click everything and edit it right there. It should be pre-populated because it comes with these templates, it already includes a header. It already includes a place for your navigation. So ideally the experience is that you activate this theme, you click the navigation block and then you, you start the flow, either create a new menu from scratch or import an existing</p>



<p>[00:21:07] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Great points that Joen&#8217;s made that. One of the key things, if you&#8217;re more of a developer mindset as well, is that we&#8217;ve moved away from a lot of the theme chrome as you might say. So that things like the header, the footer, the sidebar, instead of those being controlled via PHP templates in the theme, they&#8217;re now controlled via the site editor, with this again, direct manipulation paradigm, which I keep going on about, but it&#8217;s so critical to how full site editing editing works.</p>



<p>And so you can just go in and previously you&#8217;d have to, as a user, if you want to change, I don&#8217;t know, let&#8217;s say something like, you&#8217;ve got a list of posts and you&#8217;ve got an avatar picture of yourself, next to each one of those posts. You say, oh, actually, do you know what? I want to move my avatar over to the right hand side.</p>



<p>Now in classic WordPress, the only way you could do that is either you&#8217;d have to dig into the template files and understand a bit of PHP and HTML and move that and possibly, change some CSS styling as well. But with full site editing, what you can do is just go straight into the loop, like Joen&#8217;s mentioned, click on the avatar, the author, avatar and manipulate it however you&#8217;d like with the controls that the editor provides you. Now, of course you may not have all the controls you want from the get go, especially with 5.9. But the goal is that you can just do that directly and you don&#8217;t have to go then to your developer or your technical person to get that done.</p>



<p>And I think it&#8217;s like really democratizing design. We talk about this a lot of time in WordPress, democratizing publishing, but this is like democratizing the design of themes and of your site and giving users power. I hear a lot of, this is a scary thing to a lot of people, and I get that. I come, as I said, from an agency background and I&#8217;d be thinking, goodness, me, I don&#8217;t want to give my clients too much control, lest they do something to their site that would be less than desirable. But, I think we give the controls to be able to lock a lot of these features down and those will only improve.</p>



<p>But the key thing is that if you&#8217;re someone who just wants to start a website and you don&#8217;t have the technical expertise, you can do so much more now with full site editing, than you could ever do with classic themes without having to have that technical knowledge. And I think that&#8217;s a key thing.</p>



<p>[00:23:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s a nice answer. Isabel, anything to add there?</p>



<p>[00:23:21] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Yeah, to add specifically to the issue of it being scary that people have all these power. That won&#8217;t necessarily happen. It depends also on how the theme is structured. So you can implement controls in the theme to limit the amount of editability of the various site areas.</p>



<p>So that&#8217;s something that would potentially also be very convenient for agencies to use. It makes it a little bit less scary.</p>



<p>[00:23:47] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. Good point. The way that you would interact with it then is you have a block. The best way to describe it really would be to go and install Twenty Twenty-Two and as Joen said, click on the navigation block, perhaps open up the list view. In fact, I would say, open up the list view first and you&#8217;ll be able to see the stack of things that may or may not be contained within the navigation. So for example there may be sub-pages that you&#8217;ve listed depending on how the menu is structured. And so let&#8217;s get into what the sort of features are that you can have inside of the navigation block.</p>



<p>If we click on the navigation block itself, we&#8217;re presented with some features in the menu on the right, some styling options and so on. So tell us what&#8217;s there at the moment. What can we configure? What can we change? Whoever wishes to take that.</p>



<p>[00:24:34] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> One thing I think it&#8217;s very important to keep in mind when we start working with the navigation block is, we create the block and let&#8217;s say we add a bunch of pages to it, links maybe a few social icons, whatever we want inside it. And then the block is saved and the contents of that block are going to be reusable in others. So I can have exactly the same navigation in two different templates. I can have it on my header and then again on my footer, and the changes that I make to the content of the navigation are going to be reflected in all the places that it&#8217;s used. But in terms of the presentation, that will be specific to the place where the navigation is.</p>



<p>So we have this difference between what the content is, so the links that make up the navigation, and then the presentational aspects that will be specific to wherever. So in the navigation being used in the header, it might have a background color. It might be set to be a hamburger menu on desktop and mobile.</p>



<p>And then the very same navigation being reused in the footer might have no background color. It might be set to always show all the links, and not turn into a hamburger at any point. So there&#8217;s this distinction that&#8217;s important to make between the presentation.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a lot you can change, well you can change the colors. You can change the layout, you can move it to align on left on the right or the center. If you have sub menus, you can configure those sub menus to open on hover or on click. As I mentioned, Joen also mentioned the hamburger menu. You can make it display as a hamburger menu on mobile or all the time or never. There are topography settings, padding settings. That&#8217;s probably the lot. I&#8217;m not sure if I&#8217;m forgetting something here.</p>



<p>[00:26:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think that&#8217;s right, certainly from what I&#8217;m looking at at the moment that it appears that you&#8217;ve covered everything, unless one of the other two of you have got something that we&#8217;ve missed.</p>



<p>[00:26:36] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> It is difficult to describe the UI, isn&#8217;t it? I think there&#8217;s a pretty good developer, not developer doc, a user facing doc for the block as well. And that was put together by Anne McCarthy. Again, that goes over a lot of these options. If people want to read that afterwards as well, and that&#8217;s kind of helpful.</p>



<p>[00:26:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Joen?</p>



<p>[00:26:50] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Yeah, I would just add that it&#8217;s worth noting that these are the user-facing controls where you can configure and tweak and adjust in that way. There are some additional controls that aren&#8217;t yet surfaced to the user. We have this system called global styles, which ultimately is this reflection of properties in the theme dot json file.</p>



<p>And you can target specific sub blocks and add padding to those, and change these right in the code. The idea being that these properties would be reflected in the UI as well, at least as a rule of thumb. Some of those are on the to-do list. Some of them are already there, like Isabel mentioned fonts, colors, and line height, all that stuff.</p>



<p>And of course, ultimately we&#8217;re making markup here, and you could style things in CSS if that is your preference, provide some defaults in that way.</p>



<p>[00:27:45] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It might be a good idea to draw some comparisons with current themes. It seems like a lot of theme developers have really made things like menus and navigation and headers and footers make them a real feature of their work, and I can think of some, dot org themes as well as commercially available themes where the menus, the customization options that are there, are truly remarkable, you know, within the customizer, you can change more or less everything. You could have a logo that center aligned and you could have different fonts and hover effects and all of that kind of stuff. And it&#8217;s all available there in a sort of point click interface. I&#8217;m just wondering if there are things that, well any comparisons to be made? Are there any things that you are hoping to achieve in the near future that might bring some parity to those edge cases? Or is it very much going to be that WordPress is sticking with, here it is, it&#8217;s a menu, you can figure out how to do the styling yourself. You can learn a bit of CSS and what have you. I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s all going to be point click or if there&#8217;s going to be some sort of technical requirement to make them super individual</p>



<p>[00:28:47] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I can take a stab. I think the key feature of the navigation block. I apologize if I&#8217;m repeating myself, is that it is a block, which means you can insert it in patterns as well. A block pattern is a configuration, an already made configuration of a bunch of blocks. You click the blue plus button at the top left corner. You click patterns and you can insert this shortcut to a layout. Twenty Twenty-Two comes with a number of these header patterns pre-made, and they&#8217;re all completely beautiful. So you can browse those and you can insert this header that has maybe a circular logo and a tagline than the navigation below. Or you could find one that has the logo on the left, and the navigation collapsed into the hamburger on the right. And you can just insert one of those. And the entire layout is pre-made and pre inserted, wherever you like. And I think that is one of the key benefits of it being a block, that every single benefit, every single feature we add to the block itself will benefit the navigation block as well in the future. Any global style changes, any new features to fonts, font weights, or paddings, margin, spacing, gap colors, nested changes. All of those will benefit across all of blocks, rather than just for this one piece of software called the navigation block.</p>



<p>[00:30:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I think you made a really good point at the start and maybe it&#8217;s something that we haven&#8217;t really dwelled on enough, is that it is a block, so it can go anywhere. So, you know, should you wish to have a page full of navigation menus, you could do that. I don&#8217;t know why you would wish to do that, but you could. Whereas in the past that would be probably out of bounds, for the expertise level of most people. They would just be happy with what came along with the theme.</p>



<p>And there it is right at the top usually, and probably something in the footer. But you could create, I don&#8217;t know, a layout where there were menus in sidebars of different types and menus all over the place. And that&#8217;s the point. It can be surrounded. You can put things in front of it, behind it, above it, below it, whatever you want. And maybe we haven&#8217;t made that point strongly enough.</p>



<p>[00:31:00] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> It&#8217;s a really, really good point? And it also comes back to, you know, getting back to your question it&#8217;s like, what can you achieve with a block versus what could you achieve with a classic menus system? And I think if we compare sort of a classic theme experience with a block theme experience. With the classic theme, if you want to style your navigation, your menu, all the control is really requires quite a lot of technical expertise, whether that be CSS styling, or changing the layout in terms of the ordering of things or where the actual navigation is placed. I mean, you might not want it in the header, you might want it below the logo or et cetera. And for that, you would need a developer. Contrast that to block themes, and as Joen says, it&#8217;s a block. So you can put your navigation wherever you like. It&#8217;s really opened up that power. And again, with styling, you&#8217;ve got all the power that the block provides, and that is actually quite a lot.</p>



<p>And I think that the barrier to entry for customizing your navigation has gone down considerably. Obviously with classic WordPress and all WordPress, you can install plugins and there will always be extenders that create these amazing systems that allow you to modify your menus. But I think there&#8217;s also opportunities for that with the block editor, and I&#8217;m sure that we&#8217;re going to see the extender community building on top of the block and creating really exciting, really, really powerful things. Perhaps sort of mega menu builders and things like this will come.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m excited to see what happens and what comes down the line. Also if we&#8217;re talking about some limitations of the block at the moment, specifically things that I&#8217;m aware of are the ability to style interaction states. And by that, what I mean is, imagine when you&#8217;re hovering over your navigation. Sometimes you see the style of the item you&#8217;re hovering over change, when you roll over it with your mouse or when you select it, focus it with your keyboard. And that&#8217;s not something you can do currently. You can&#8217;t change the style of that within the editor. So that&#8217;s one thing, and also like spacing and padding control for the menu items themselves. I don&#8217;t believe we can do that at this current time, but they&#8217;re all things that are on the roadmap and they&#8217;re looking to be addressed in future releases of WordPress.</p>



<p>And of course, there are always going to be certain advanced customization things that are always going to require CSS, and you can still do that. So if you need something really specific, really custom, you can still ask your technical person or you can jump in to learn CSS yourself, and that&#8217;s a great way to do it.</p>



<p>[00:33:13] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. Isabel?</p>



<p>[00:33:15] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Yeah. Well in terms of limitations or things that we have on our roadmap, rather like add-ons, I guess. A very interesting challenge will be mega menus, creating more complex drop downs, and that will be a challenge partly for semantic reasons because we had a lot of work in trying to keep a semantic structure for the navigation, with all the different types of blocks that can fit in there.</p>



<p>And mega menus will present the furthest step in that challenge. Which will be great to work on. And the other thing that I think would be good to see is the ability for extenders to add child locks to the nav. So say someone has, I don&#8217;t know, an e-commerce plugin, there&#8217;s sort of a products block that currently the nav only takes a very limited set of blocks that are hard-coded. And so one of the things that we will work on in the future is to make it possible for other blocks to be added. If a plugin has specific blocks that might suit the nav.</p>



<p>[00:34:15] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Turning attention towards accessibility. Probably reasonably briefly, but nevertheless an important part of any menu structure, the ability for people with different capabilities or different ways that they&#8217;re interacting with the internet. Has a lot of thought gone into that? Was that a particular challenge? Have you endeavored to make this as easy to use for everybody as possible?</p>



<p>[00:34:37] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Yes. A lot of thought went into them. Well, yeah. a lot of thought went into the front end and that was why I mentioned the semantics earlier. We had to get it right for the structure of the navigation to make sense. When you&#8217;re navigating the page with various assistive technology, In terms of the interface itself for those who are editing a navigation block. Yes, but there&#8217;s always things that we can improve. So we&#8217;ve done a fair bit of work in that sense, but not specific as I think I mentioned earlier, there are not a lot of challenges that are specific to the navigation block in that area. There might be one or another issue, I think there might be a couple of issues, small things such as a button that&#8217;s specific to the block toolbar that&#8217;s not putting focus in the right place when it closes whatever. I mean 99% of accessibility issues that we have flagged for the navigation block that we have opened on our repo are issues that are transversal to other blocks.</p>



<p>[00:35:38] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I was putting together the new tracking issue for the navigation block, post 5.9. And if anyone is interested that&#8217;s 3 8 2 7 5 in Github. As part of that, one of the things that we want to focus on, was the accessibility and just put that of front and center from the start. A high priority item as we move forward with future releases, just keeping that like right there. So we&#8217;re not losing sight of that, and it&#8217;s really, really important and we continue to work with the WordPress accessibility to community on it.</p>



<p>[00:36:07] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Joen?</p>



<p>[00:36:08] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Yes, I would add also that one of the best features of the navigation block, yet another reason why it took a while to get right. Isabel mentions the semantics, but the thing is when you use the navigation block, what is output all the front end, whether it is sub menus or even just the basic menu, or even the overlay is all fully accessible and you don&#8217;t have to worry about that aspect on its own. For example, by default the menu, you tab through it and menu items open on hover and sort of the classic menu default way for WordPress. But you can change that so that sub menus open on click instead. There&#8217;s even some details around how that little triangle dropdown for sub menus has a separate focus item. So you could focus the parent menu item, go to that or focus the sub menu toggle to open the sub menu. There&#8217;s a great deal of nuance to how you navigate through a menu. And the hamburger opens a proper modal that you have to close with escape and it traps the tab inside until you&#8217;re done.</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s a great deal of energy already put into making sure that your website will be accessible when you use the navigation block. There&#8217;s always going to be additional work to do. Work is never over, but, there&#8217;s quite a lot of stuff already there which simply will improve and be there for any block theme that uses this block without the theme developer having to implement this accessibility themselves.</p>



<p>[00:37:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> The three of you, we never really established this at the beginning, is the navigation block, is this your primary focus of your time when you punch the card at the beginning of the day and then knock off at the end of the day? Is navigation where you mostly spend your time?</p>



<p>[00:38:05] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Well, it has been for me for most of a year, on and off, there were a couple of other projects that I worked on for little bit, but I&#8217;ve been mostly, I can say mostly working on navigation to the best parts of the year.</p>



<p>[00:38:19] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Yeah, same here. I mean I&#8217;m every day, the first thing I&#8217;m doing is catching up with the navigation block. Earlier on in the year, prior to 5.9, I was quite heavily focused on the navigation editor project to which you might come to later. But, certainly all this run up to 5.9 has been very much navigation, navigation, navigation block.</p>



<p>[00:38:37] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> Yeah, same here. I would add also that, as we mentioned, there are a lot of block editor specific issues that are surfaced due to the navigation block. Issues we encounter, but which need to be fixed for the block interface as a whole. Nathan, you appreciated the persistent list view.</p>



<p>One of the reasons for that to become this tool, this left sidebar that lets you drag and drop, move, delete blocks right there. That came also from the realization that the nested structure of menus, especially with multiple sub menus, was easier to get an overview of in that interface.</p>



<p>[00:39:13] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It was actually quite a realization to me when I saw it in the list view. I made it so that the pages were listed out and it was quite fascinating to see the list of pages in the menus, in the list view. I confess I hadn&#8217;t expected that. There it was, it was real easy for me to see what my menu structure looked like without having to dig into a further interface. It was really nice.</p>



<p>[00:39:34] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> And you can modify it as well, in place, within this list view up and down drag and drop. A lot of work went into</p>



<p>[00:39:40] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay. A couple of things just before we round out. Yeah, you mentioned Dave, the navigation editor project, which my understanding is it&#8217;s now stalled. Do you want to just describe a little bit around that? What was that endeavor and why has it been mothballed?</p>



<p>[00:39:53] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> I think the first thing to say is that, I definitely don&#8217;t think the project is mothballed, and stalled might even be a step too far. It&#8217;s definitely on a moment of reflection and pause at the moment. it&#8217;s a topic of conversation within the contributor community around navigation.</p>



<p>One of the other things to say is that the navigation editor is not in 5.9 and there&#8217;s been some confusion around that, but it is not the menu screen remains for classic themes. And the navigation editor is not there. The original project was actually basically to a replace the classic menu screen in WordPress.</p>



<p>That scope of that project was very ambitious. It&#8217;s easy to say that with hindsight, but it never really managed to make it out of the experimental state, even in the Gutenberg plugin. I think part of the reason for that is that the scope called for the ability to edit both classic and block-based menus within the same interface and save them back to their original format so that you could switch back to a classic theme and still have your menu in place, even though you&#8217;ve edited it in a different interface.</p>



<p>And that is a big, big challenge. And the main reason for that, even though it was achieved and testament to the people who worked on it, but before me, it was pretty much there when I started working on that. it was very, very difficult for backwards compatibility reasons, and it quickly became clear that the scope was very, very large of what we had to achieve.</p>



<p>And then they&#8217;d run up to 5.9, there were some, a realignment of the direction on the nav block and specifically the creation of this ability to reuse menus, which required the creation of a custom post type, where the items or the menu were saved too. And that was a big impact on the editor. And basically it was determined that we need to sort of reprioritize the available contributor resources towards the block.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m glad we did so, because I think it allowed us to really focus down on the block rather than perhaps managed to not land either. But, going forward, I think we need to look really, really carefully at the use cases and the requirements and the scope of this project. The first thing is, is there a use case for a standalone editor for editing menus and WordPress?</p>



<p>Now the anecdotal feedback I&#8217;ve got so far from 5.9 is that, that seems to be a case for that. Specifically around block-based menus and the system we&#8217;ve just been talking about. There was no way to edit your menu outside of a navigation block itself. And that might sound good because, you know, I said direct editing is good, right? But, the problem is we have no safe space to create and explore and edit our navigations outside of the canvas of the post or the site editor. A good example of why that might be necessary is if you had a e-commerce site, you had your primary navigation, and then on black Friday month, your client comes to you and says, I need to use a different navigation for black Friday. Can you get it ready for me? And at that point, you&#8217;re in a really difficult use case where you can&#8217;t really change your things in your site editor and change your nav because then it would go live immediately. The workflows become pretty, pretty hacky. So there&#8217;s a good case there for an isolated editor to be able to edit these block based menus.</p>



<p>I will say this is my opinion, this is just a caveat that, but I think it&#8217;s unlikely that we&#8217;ll see the nav editor revived in nt current form and current scope because I&#8217;m not convinced there is a case to save back to the classic menu format at this point. I think we need to be really careful about taking it really slowly. Looking for actual user use cases and doing things in phases, perhaps starting with this focused navigation editor mode. And in fact, that&#8217;s something that Matias Ventura, the lead architect of the Gutenberg project outlined in his sort of what&#8217;s next for the 6.0 release post and this focusing editor mode for navigation would be the first step, and then in the future, perhaps we introduce the ability to import your classic menus, manage them there. But, that needs to be based on actual feedback. I think we should listen to the community about it.</p>



<p>[00:43:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Do you know, that&#8217;s really interesting, and it hadn&#8217;t occurred to me that your example of a, let&#8217;s say, black Friday menu, that the fact that it&#8217;s not done in the same interface could potentially cause problems. That&#8217;s really fascinating. Do you think there&#8217;ll be a time where theme developers are only able to use the block. I know that&#8217;s a bit of blue sky thinking and, at some point WordPress has to marshal its resources in, in one way or another. You can&#8217;t support everything forever. Much like we would like to. Is there any discussions around that? Whether the development will sort of stop on the pre 5.9 way of doing menus, or is it always going to be updated in perpetuity?</p>



<p>[00:44:09] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> Well, I don&#8217;t know if Joen or Isabel have got any insights into that, but my gut instinct to that would be, I can&#8217;t really imagine a situation where we&#8217;re going to cut off support for the previous menu screen, just because of the backwards compatibility contract that WordPress has with its users.</p>



<p>But that&#8217;s not to say, will there be continuing level of effort put into that screen as there was previously? Perhaps not because perhaps, you know, the world of WordPress moves forward with blocks, perhaps it doesn&#8217;t. But if it does then, you know, we&#8217;re probably going to see less and less features added to the classic menu screen and more effort put into extending the abilities of the block and any future isolated editor mode.</p>



<p>I&#8217;d be interested to hear what Joen and Isabel think.</p>



<p>[00:44:46] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I can only mainly echo your excellent insights already shared. I think one of the benefits of WordPress and open source also sometimes to its detriment is that it has this giant legacy that it&#8217;s supporting. It&#8217;s worth noting that this existing navigation screen, it still exists. You activate your classic theme and the navigation is there. I imagine so long as there are users that do that, it will be possible in some form or other. That&#8217;s just my personal thoughts based on how WordPress has always worked. I imagine it will be there for a long time.</p>



<p>[00:45:23] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Isabel?</p>



<p>[00:45:24] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> That&#8217;s it really, I mean, things in WordPress tend to linger for a long time because we&#8217;re big on backwards compatibility. And while there are classic themes, the menus interface will continue to exist, because that&#8217;s what classic themes use. There probably won&#8217;t be a lot of new features developed for it. It&#8217;ll just be low key maintained in the background as it were. So I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s going anywhere anytime soon.</p>



<p>[00:45:50] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> For the novice learner of WordPress, I can imagine that fork in the road is going to be, it&#8217;s going to be interesting, shall we say, because there&#8217;s probably a million YouTube demonstrations of how to make menus work in WordPress, and they&#8217;ll be now millions more about how to do it in an alternative way. And so a quick Google search of how do I structure my WordPress menus could well lead people down a very frustrating path I imagine it doesn&#8217;t even look like that. I don&#8217;t understand.</p>



<p>[00:46:18] <strong>Joen Asmussen:</strong> I think WordPress 5.9 is really an opportunity to try full site editing as it exists and then provide a great deal of feedback. And then WordPress 6.0, could be an interesting evolution and reaction to that feedback. So I would just echo that whatever feedback you have, it&#8217;s something we can act on and learn from.</p>



<p>[00:46:42] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> I had a bit of a point about the theme switching process. I&#8217;m not sure we touched on that much, but, there&#8217;ll be I&#8217;d imagine sizeable majority of your users who are on currently on the classic theme, they&#8217;ve probably got a menu in that theme, and they&#8217;re going to be thinking of, so what&#8217;s the process when I come to switch to this block theme, what happens? And as I think Isabel mentioned earlier that, you know, the menus are reusable so they are saved. So the good thing about it is that when you switched to your block theme for 2022, and you go to the editor page and you click on your navigation block, the initial experience is probably going to see a lot of pages there, but what you can do is switch and select a different menu, and you can actually select your classic menu from your classic theme, and use that immediately within the block theme. So there&#8217;s none of this, oh I have to recreate my menu from scratch.</p>



<p>You know, all of that overhead. All you have to do is just select that menu from under the classic menus section and it will immediately appear. I think that&#8217;s a really powerful thing. And again, if you switch from a block theme to another block theme, the same process. You can select the menu created in theme A and use that in theme B, even though there&#8217;s completely different styling and that&#8217;s really, really powerful,</p>



<p>Should also mention that if you do import a classic menu then it is a import. It is a copy. And your original classic menus is retained as was. This is perfect if you want to just experiment with full site editing, because what you can do is, you know, spin up a local copy of your site or a staging site. You can switch on to Twenty Twenty-Two, import your classic menu. Have a play around with that, see what you can achieve and then when you&#8217;re finished or if you don&#8217;t like it, you can switch back to your old theme and your classic menu will be still there as was, no changes at all. So that&#8217;s really confidence inspiring, I think these sort of flows allow people to just dip their toe in the water, so to speak.</p>



<p>[00:48:23] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s a really good point because every interaction that I&#8217;ve had with 5.9 so far has been basically on a vanilla site. I hadn&#8217;t really thought about the consequences of going to a block-based theme on a site which was already in existence with potentially lots and lots of complexity inside the menu. So well made. Thank you. And Isabel.</p>



<p>[00:48:42] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> I&#8217;d just add to what Dave was saying. If you are using a classic theme and you&#8217;re really curious about the navigation block and how it works, you can always make an experiment of adding a navigation block to a regular post because it&#8217;ll work in the post editor and just play around with it and see what you think. And by all means, do please give us feedback.</p>



<p>[00:49:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I will make sure that all of the things that we mentioned at the top of the podcast, ways to get in touch are listed as show notes. So please, if you are curious about this, go and have a play WordPress 5.9. See what you think. Play with the navigation block. These good folk will be very, very keen to hear whatever feedback you have, and go and check out the show notes on the podcast episode, and you can get in touch with them and let them know your thoughts. So thank you for joining us today. Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen. Thank you very much for joining me today.</p>



<p>[00:49:33] <strong>Isabel Brison:</strong> Thank you for hosting us.</p>



<p>[00:49:35] <strong>Dave Smith:</strong> It&#8217;s great to be here.</p>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Nathan Wrigley";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"WPTavern: Yet Another Plugin Dependencies Discussion, Two Proposals This Time";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129830";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"https://wptavern.com/yet-another-plugin-dependencies-discussion-two-proposals-this-time";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6291:"<p class="has-drop-cap">It has been over nine years since the late Alex Mills opened a ticket on WordPress Trac titled <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/22316">Plugin Dependencies (Yet Another Plugin Dependencies Ticket)</a>. It is not the oldest of similar feature requests, but it is still open. Most predecessors were closed with the &#8220;wontfix&#8221; label, which is usually the final nail in the coffin of good and bad ideas alike.</p>



<p>The goal of the ticket is to create a system that allows one plugin to require one or more others to operate. Dependencies are nothing new in the programming world. Composer, the standard PHP package manager, is two weeks shy of turning 10 years old. On the JavaScript end, npm has been around for 12 years, and WordPress has heavily embraced it for core code.</p>



<p>However, those are developer tools. WordPress was built for users, and resolving plugin dependencies would need to happen from within the user interface.</p>



<p>Mills wrote in the ticket:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>It&#8217;s been a few years since we looked at plugin dependencies, and this still seems to be a feature people really, really want, especially for shared functionality that isn&#8217;t a plugin in itself. For example, a PHP library that isn&#8217;t popular enough to be in core but is popular enough to be bundled in multiple plugins.</p></blockquote>



<p>That statement is perhaps even more relevant today. In the past decade, many plugins have grown their own ecosystems of add-on plugins. The responsibility of making sure dependencies are installed has often fallen on the shoulders of end-users. Developers have come up with in-house solutions to ease that burden, and the <a href="https://github.com/TGMPA/TGM-Plugin-Activation">TGM Plugin Activation</a> script has become the <em>de facto</em> standard.</p>



<p>Relying on dependencies is almost a given in any plugin project, at least playing a part in the average build tools setup. It is probably safe to say that more WordPress plugin developers are comfortable coding in an environment that requires third-party code today than they would have been in WordPress&#8217;s formative years.</p>



<p>For a platform that has been working hard to modernize itself, resolving plugin dependencies is like traveling in a rocket ship to the Wild West.</p>



<p>The idea is not without precedent in the WordPress world. While it is a less complex case, WordPress automatically downloads and installs the parent when installing a child theme from the directory.</p>



<p>Many arguments for a plugin dependency system fall under the add-on scenario. The most obvious use case is WooCommerce and the dozens upon dozens of extensions written for it.</p>



<p>However, the other scenario that can reach deeper into how developers build on top of WordPress is the inclusion of frameworks and libraries. Right now, plugin authors must bundle third-party code within their projects and make sure it does not get loaded if already bundled within an entirely separate plugin.</p>



<p>Code reuse is one of the cornerstones of programming. The <a href="https://wptavern.com/the-wordpress-plugin-directory-will-no-longer-accept-frameworks">WordPress plugin directory disallows new frameworks</a> and similar libraries.  However, we could revisit this decision with a dependency system in place.  It could open the possibility of making libraries available as standalone extensions that any other plugin could use.</p>



<p>For transparency, I have at least a dozen projects that fit under this category, packages sitting around that others could use. So, I at least have <em>some</em> skin in the game, and I am sure many others are in the same boat.</p>



<p>There are two pull requests on the WordPress GitHub repository for a plugin dependency system. There is also a Google Docs file that <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y5URlKW9GE89u7R3-z5o-0i5-9OVZd9HFaILhUE7mLA/edit">outlines both proposals in detail</a>.</p>



<p>Each asks developers to define dependencies via a plugin header. The following is an example that would require WooCommerce and Gutenberg:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: Sample
 * Requires Plugins: woocommerce, gutenberg
 */</code></pre>



<p>Both of the approaches are similar. From the user viewpoint, they would:</p>



<ul><li>Show an admin notice that there are dependencies to install.</li><li>Disallow deletion or deactivation of plugins without deleting or deactivating their required plugins.</li><li>Output a message in the plugin card on the manage plugins screen.</li></ul>



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/1547">The first implementation</a> is by Ari Stathopoulos. It creates an &#8220;activation queue&#8221; that would only activate a plugin once users have activated the required plugins. It also allows users to cancel activation requests.</p>



<img />Notices to activate dependencies.



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/1724">Andy Fragen&#8217;s solution</a> creates a new &#8220;Dependencies&#8221; tab on the plugin management screen. This approach would automatically deactivate any plugin with unmet dependencies and inform the user via an admin notice.</p>



<p>He has also released the <a href="https://github.com/afragen/plugin-dependencies-tab">Plugin Dependencies Tab</a> project separately on GitHub.</p>



<img />Plugin dependencies tab.



<p>There are still some practical concerns with both. Namely, what happens when there is a conflict between supported versions? The current proposals leave it up to the plugins to not break anything on the user&#8217;s end.</p>



<p>That may be the least confidence-inspiring piece of all of this. However, it is likely the most practical route. Plus, WordPress does not solve version conflicts in its current Wild West system.</p>



<p>A dependency solution could also be an opportunity for more code modernization. Seeing more developers embracing features like interfaces (contracts) would be welcome. Coding with dependents in mind means thinking through architectural problems differently than when any given project was a standalone plugin.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Feb 2022 02:13:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"WPTavern: BP Rewrites Feature Plugin Now in Beta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130046";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"https://wptavern.com/bp-rewrites-feature-plugin-now-in-beta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3554:"<p>The ball is moving on a nine-year-old effort to migrate BuddyPress&#8217; custom URI parser to use WordPress&#8217; Rewrite API.  </p>



<p>BuddyPress currently requires sites to use <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/using-permalinks/#mod_rewrite-pretty-permalinks">pretty permalinks</a> in order to be compatible with its URL parser. The plugin analyzes the URL for whatever component you are viewing and performs internal checks to decide what to display there and determine the proper template file. This custom parser has been working well for years but has some drawbacks compared to WordPress&#8217; newer Rewrite API.</p>



<p>BuddyPress lead developer Boone Gorges summarized the problem in the original <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4954">ticket</a>:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>BP&#8217;s custom URI parser (living mostly in&nbsp;<code>bp_core_set_uri_globals()</code>) is slow, error-prone, non-extensible, non-testable, and out of step with WP best practices.</p></blockquote>



<p>In August of 2021, BuddyPress contributors moved this effort into the <a href="https://github.com/buddypress/bp-rewrites">BP Rewrites</a> feature plugin with the eventual goal of getting it merged into BP Core after wider testing. The first beta was <a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/bp-rewrites-1-0-0-beta1/">released</a> this week with a call for testing before it gets moved to the WordPress plugin directory.</p>



<p>BP Rewrites isn&#8217;t just an under-the-hood architectural improvement for BuddyPress, it also has several user-facing benefits: </p>



<ul><li>BuddyPress URLs customization improved and easier</li><li>Compatibility with plain permalinks</li><li>Improved Compliance with WordPress Standards</li><li>Improved User/Advanded user/Plugin developer/Theme designer BuddyPress experience</li></ul>



<p>Users who test the plugin will find a URLs customization screen (replacing the BP Pages screen) under the BuddyPress settings where page slugs can be easily changed. This is much more user-friendly than editing the wp-config.php file.</p>



<img />



<p>&#8220;When you deactivate the plugin, <code>buddypress</code> post type’s items are switched back to regular pages and you get them back into the corresponding WordPress Administation edit screen,&#8221; BuddyPress core developer Mathieu Viet said. &#8220;Post metas are still there in case you want to activate BP Rewrites back (this can happen when you’re testing another BuddyPress plugin). If you absolutely want to get rid of these post metas, you can delete the BuddyPress pages, create new ones and redo the page mapping from the BuddyPress Pages settings screen.&#8221;</p>



<p>This isn&#8217;t something you want to test on a production site, as it&#8217;s still uncertain how BP Rewrites will interact with different plugins. Testers can <a href="https://github.com/buddypress/bp-rewrites/issues">report bugs as issues</a> on the plugin&#8217;s GitHub repository.</p>



<p>&#8220;There’s no secret: the only way to have enough confidence into this backward compatibility mechanism to start thinking of merging BP Rewrites into BuddyPress Core is to test, test, and test again,&#8221; Viet said.</p>



<p>When discussing BP Rewrites&#8217; progress earlier this year, Viet advised the feature plugin stay as an add-on for at least two major BuddyPress releases. This will give developers the chance to ensure there are fewer plugin conflicts before merging into BuddyPress core.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Feb 2022 22:48:14 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Matt: Junk Your Jabra";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=55546";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:38:"https://ma.tt/2022/02/junk-your-jabra/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1105:"<p>I usually wouldn&#8217;t do a post about this, but I was so surprised I had to share. I picked up a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WK5CZYY/">Jabra Evolve2 30 UC wired headset, with USB-C</a>, because my friend Hugo loves the wireless Jabra and I&#8217;ve been using an older USB-A headset and thought it would be nice to not need an adapter. I also thought for $89 it must be good. The reviews were also really solid (4.3 on Amazon right now).</p>



<p><strong>Do not</strong> buy this headset. There was a constant buzz/hum in the speaker, people sounded lower quality, and the mic also was lower quality. On the plus side, it was a nice build quality and comfort.</p>



<p>For <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P76F99F/?tag=photomatt08-20">$29 cheaper ($60) the Sennheiser SC 135 USB-C</a> had better speaker, way better mic quality, very nice build and comfort. Get that one instead.</p>



<p>So <a href="https://ma.tt/2020/03/dont-mute-get-a-better-headset/">don&#8217;t mute, get a better headset</a>. <a href="https://krisp.ai/">Krisp.ai</a> is still great, too.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Feb 2022 03:54:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"WPTavern: Gutenberg Contributors Explore More Advanced Template Creation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129991";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-contributors-explore-more-advanced-template-creation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4519:"<p>Gutenberg design contributors are <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/37407">exploring</a> how the template creation UI can be updated to expand the types of templates that user can create using the Site Editor. In WordPress 5.9 users can edit any template that a theme includes, but template creation is limited to a few basics: </p>



<ul><li>Front page</li><li>Single</li><li>Page</li><li>Archive</li><li>Search</li><li>404</li><li>Index</li></ul>



<p>Many of these basic templates are already in use by FSE themes. Users will only see the option to create templates (from this limited list) that their theme hasn&#8217;t already introduced. Opening up template creation to the wider world of WordPress theme templates would enable so much more customization.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Contributors are exploring adding the ability to create category, author, tag, attachment, taxonomy, date, CPT (custom post types), templates for a specific post or page, and &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/36860">general</a>&#8221; templates.</p>



<p>Automattic designer James Koster shared a short video demonstration of what he imagined the flow for this might look like. </p>



<p>&#8220;What I felt worked well was separating templates by their specificity,&#8221; Koster said. &#8220;That is to say: templates that serve a static purpose (<code>404</code>, <code>front-page</code>, <code>*-$slug</code> etc) are grouped together, and templates with a dynamic purpose appear beneath.</p>



Video Credit: <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/37407#issuecomment-1032512081">James Koster</a>



<p>&#8220;This arrangement elevates the prominence of creating templates for a specific context – which I think is likely to be quite a popular flow – while still making it very simple to add common templates like <code>page</code>.&#8221;</p>



<p>He suggested that the &#8220;Advanced&#8221; section at the bottom of the menu could house templates that are less likely to be used, such as taxonomy or date.</p>



<p>This is isn&#8217;t guaranteed to be the UI that lands for advanced template creation but it&#8217;s one exploration of how it could work.</p>



<p>WordPress developer Steve Graboski commented on how CPT template creation through the Site Editor would give users more freedom to change the site, while reducing the number of theme files developers need to maintain:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Like several other web developers, I help manage a WP Multisite implementation. If the Site Editor allowed devs like us to make CPT templates, it would make for a profound improvement to our experience with WordPress.</p><p>For starters, we could remove several child themes that exist only to provide our departments with CPT layouts, archives, and search pages. The only files we would need are the plugins that define the CPTs. Who wouldn&#8217;t love a less complicated repo?</p><p>The advantages stretch past the dev team. In theory, we could offer our editors the ability to edit these CPT templates, no coding required. This would enable our non-programming co-workers to change template layouts without relying on our assistance. The editors get more power over their sites, and the developers gain more hours of productivity.</p></blockquote>



<p>The idea of putting CPT template creation inside the Site Editor prompted participants in the discussion to consider making the creation of the CPTs themselves more user friendly.</p>



<p>&#8220;I enjoy the idea that core might provide a UI for CPT creation, sometimes I want a CPT, but don&#8217;t want to have to pull out the code editor to do it, especially if it&#8217;s going to have pretty much the same capabilities as a post,&#8221; WordPress developer Aurooba Ahmed said.</p>



<p>&#8220;Creating templates for <em>existing</em> CPTs feels like table stakes, but also a fairly developer oriented solution because it requires the CPT to be registered in the first place,&#8221; Koster said.</p>



<p>&#8220;Thinking further along the road&#8230; I wonder if there&#8217;s a world where the Site Editor could enable users to add modules like &#8216;Portfolio&#8217; or &#8216;Testimonials.&#8217; These modules could register the CPT and create all the necessary templates in a single flow. With block patterns and other tools available to us we could potentially make this quite a compelling experience.&#8221; </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Feb 2022 02:20:39 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WPTavern: Clarity Ad Blocker for WordPress Announced, Receives Mixed Reactions";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129980";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"https://wptavern.com/clarity-ad-blocker-for-wordpress-announced-receives-mixed-reactions";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8007:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Stanislav Khromov announced <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/clarity-ad-blocker/">Clarity</a>, a plugin for hiding obtrusive banners, via <a href="https://twitter.com/khromov/status/1493151526306693122">Twitter</a> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5094252490636924">Advanced WordPress</a> (AWP) Facebook group today. It was first pushed to WordPress.org around a year ago, but the developer seems to be just now publicizing it.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://wp-clarity.dev/">Clarity website</a> describes its mission as: &#8220;Ads, upsells, and analytics banners have been running rampant in our WordPress dashboards for too long. It&#8217;s time to make them go away, once and for all.&#8221;</p>



<p>Clarity does not come with a settings screen. Once users active it, it attempts to hide banners and other notifications falling outside of its &#8220;acceptable ads policy,&#8221; which is <a href="https://github.com/khromov/clarity/blob/master/acceptable-ads-policy.md">currently a draft</a> that Khromov has encouraged feedback on. This policy covers plugins that ask for reviews, inform users of discounts, or prompt them to upgrade to a commercial version.</p>



<p>The plugin&#8217;s goal is to hide those notices unless they are:</p>



<ul><li>Shown only on an options page that belongs to the plugin or theme and nowhere else.</li><li>Shown only to Administrator role users.</li><li>Not intrusive or distracting.</li><li>Not displayed in the main column, but rather in an &#8220;aside.&#8221;</li></ul>



<p>The plugin does include a link on the plugins management screen to report unwanted banners. It leads to a <a href="https://github.com/khromov/clarity/issues/new?assignees=khromov&labels=filter-request&template=1-report-notification.md&title=Plugin%2FTheme+name%3A+">pre-filled issued template</a> on Clarity&#8217;s GitHub repository.</p>



<img />Report unwanted banner link.



<p>The announcement was well-received by many on AWP, judging by the likes from members. However, several vocalized their opposition to the idea. Some called it &#8220;unethical&#8221; and &#8220;damaging&#8221; to the ecosystem.</p>



<p>Ads are a fact of life. They generate the necessary revenue for companies to continue maintaining their current products and building new ones. The WordPress industry is no different in that regard. However, these are often small companies where the wrong placement in the admin can mean the difference between creating new jobs and barely scraping by.</p>



<p>Freemium products are one of the ways that shops provide free features to end-users while also making a commercially-viable solution that keeps their business running. Banners for ads and user ratings are often the most effective methods of making a sale or generating more interest in the project.</p>



<p>&#8220;By creating an ad blocker &#8211; your selfish disregard to the commercial realities of [open-source] damages a delicate ecosystem,&#8221; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5094252490636924/?comment_id=5095139490548224&__cft__[0]=AZXnbECB2CcPnlx-pb3V8SA5Po9FYTj8FmUjpTEGWVIkHlskFHD4WV_wSpxMIBK95oHETSrZVtwTVwdAGx4316M6APCJ4ezP7CtaXvl4GFY2VcVWfx8c_QZIVbOh-_yCHxWDKsmMecIInvI1MIeQuqoh&__tn__=R]-R">wrote one developer</a><a href="https://wptavern.com/feed#footnotes-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> in the AWP thread. &#8220;If you use a free product &#8211; pay for it by tolerating a few nags.&#8221;</p>



<p>&#8220;The idea of taking someone&#8217;s work product, but bypassing their ads, is at a minimum unethical,&#8221; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5094252490636924/?comment_id=5095382177190622&__cft__[0]=AZXnbECB2CcPnlx-pb3V8SA5Po9FYTj8FmUjpTEGWVIkHlskFHD4WV_wSpxMIBK95oHETSrZVtwTVwdAGx4316M6APCJ4ezP7CtaXvl4GFY2VcVWfx8c_QZIVbOh-_yCHxWDKsmMecIInvI1MIeQuqoh&__tn__=R]-R">wrote another developer</a>. &#8220;Nobody is forced to capitalize on the fruit of anyone else&#8217;s labor.&#8221;</p>



<p>Free software means giving users the freedom to change all that. If another developer comes along and blocks the behavior that those users want, it is fair game. Playing in the free-software sandbox means accepting that others can and will change the code you write every now and again. WordPress makes it even easier to do so via its hooks system.</p>



<p>Clarity is merely one tiny fish swimming in a vast ocean of plugins. If it had over a million active installs, maybe it would be realistically put a dent in some commercial shops&#8217; profits. However, that is not the case. Any claim that it is damaging to the ecosystem is tip-toeing into hyperbole.</p>



<p>If it did have that many active installs, perhaps it would be a wake-up call for developers, a warning that users want to see change.</p>



<p>The question is: <em>Do most users need such a plugin?</em></p>



<p>Maybe not, but it depends. The directory guidelines require that any admin notices &#8212; where most of the &#8220;offending&#8221; ads are located &#8212; <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/detailed-plugin-guidelines/#11-plugins-should-not-hijack-the-admin-dashboard">must be dismissible</a>. However, the standard is relatively loose in definition. Some plugins show the ad to every user logged into the admin, requiring each to dismiss it. Others refresh themselves on plugin updates, requiring additional action by the user. If a plugin is updated multiple times per week and adds a new admin-wide banner each time, it almost feels like it is skirting the rules, <em>just a little bit</em>.</p>



<p>Advertisements and other notices can also be problematic on client builds. Freelancers and agencies sometimes get that frantic call when a plugin update displays a new pro upsell message to clients who thought they had already paid what was required for their site. There are some ways to mitigate this, but they are not all 100% fool-proof in every scenario. Clarity would just be another wrench in the ol&#8217; toolbox for tightening up those client sites, creating some extra peace of mind.</p>



<p>The plugin itself is not &#8220;intelligent.&#8221; It does not learn and grow on its own, evolving as more plugins are created. It requires a manual process of creating a curated list of selectors to target via CSS. The plugin hides banners according to this custom set of definitions.</p>



<p>As long as third-party developers do not create an <em>ad-block blocker</em> method within their own plugins, Clarity should keep some of the notices at bay. It is unlikely most even knew about this project until its announcement. With it now in the public sphere, I have few doubts that some will override it. It may depend on individual stances on user choice in advertising.</p>



<p>Clarity provides a method for plugin and theme authors to opt into the blocking of their own advertisements. They only need to check for a PHP constant to do so:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>if ( defined( 'CLARITY_AD_BLOCKER_ENABLED' ) &amp;&amp; CLARITY_AD_BLOCKER_ENABLED ) {
        // You should not serve ads or upsells to this user.
}</code></pre>



<p>I doubt most would willingly buy into this system. However, I like the idea. The users who go through the trouble of installing and activating an ad-blocking plugin are unlikely the target audience anyway.</p>



<p>Clarity is a decent option for users who want to find a little calm amidst the noise, but it has its limits.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/clarity-ad-blocker/">Clarity &#8211; Ad blocker for WordPress</a></blockquote>
</div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-tavern-separator" />



<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes:</h2>



<p id="footnotes-1">1. Advanced WordPress is a private Facebook group.  Therefore, I did not include the names of the quoted sources in this article.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Feb 2022 01:26:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matt: Thirty Eight";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=55514";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://ma.tt/2022/01/thirty-eight/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4642:"<p>This is an unusually late birthday post (still backdated to January 11). I woke up on my actual birthday and was not feeling it. I was locked down even more strictly than January 2021 because I was trying to be extra cautious prior to a surgery my Mom had later in the month. I was also on a fairly strict diet and exercise regime after slipping into a weight range I wasn&#8217;t comfortable with.</p>



<p>So I was feeling extra isolated, had a strange pain in my lower back, and I just felt old all over. I thought of the <a href="https://genius.com/12523">Drake line</a>, &#8220;I&#8217;m really too young to be feeling this old.&#8221; (Maybe <a href="https://genius.com/Garth-brooks-much-too-young-to-feel-this-damn-old-lyrics">originally from Garth Brooks</a>?)</p>



<p>I meditated with a <a href="https://www.calm.com/">Daily Calm</a> from <a href="https://jeffwarren.org/">Jeff Warren</a> called &#8220;The Boggle,&#8221; which unfortunately I can&#8217;t hotlink but here&#8217;s how it starts: <em>Sometimes we&#8217;re in the boggle, life is throwing everything at us: complicated situations, complicated relationships, we have all these feelings, all these impulses pulling us in different directions, and we have no idea what to do. No idea how to resolve it all. Even no idea what self-care strategy to implement right now. So what&#8217;s interesting about the boggle is that there&#8217;s the challenge of the situation itself, or situations, and there&#8217;s the added challenge of the confusion of it, the scrambling to make sense of everything. So we&#8217;re going to try something different, we&#8217;re going to stop scrambling and accept, even forgive, the boggle. We&#8217;re going to let ourselves be right here, inside any confusion, and take a break from trying to fix any of it. That&#8217;s the itinerary, let&#8217;s go.</em> It hit close to home, and I&#8217;ve ended up returning to that meditation several times since.</p>



<p>The day really shaped up, though! Friends surprised me with a trip to <a href="https://www.teamlab.art/">a Teamlab exhibit</a> at a museum that was closed on Tuesdays but they got opened up just for us. The museum was magical, but the best part was seeing friends I wasn&#8217;t expecting to, even if masked and relatively distanced. I wore a new <a href="https://ma.tt/files/2022/02/IMG_7081-scaled.jpeg">comfy matching tie die outfit too</a>, because, why not? Ended the day with a small dinner with Mom and three friends.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t have any particular wisdom from this birthday except no matter how you feel, take some Advil and keep going.</p>



<p>This year on the personal side I&#8217;d like to take more silent retreats, get settled at home and out of liminal states, particularly construction projects, and listen to more operas. On the work side I&#8217;d like to set up alternative ecosystems for people tired of the traditional options for social with <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>, listening with <a href="https://www.pocketcasts.com/">Pocket Casts</a>, and writing <a href="https://dayoneapp.com/">with Day One</a>. (Update: A few weeks after my birthday <a href="https://photomatt.tumblr.com/post/675023779369566208/how-the-snowflakes-won">I announced I&#8217;m working on Tumblr full-time</a>.) Finally, I&#8217;d like to do my birthday post on time next year, but I&#8217;m forgiving myself for prioritizing friends and family that day. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f604.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<p>All birthday posts: <a href="https://ma.tt/2003/01/bday/">19</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2004/01/so-im-20/">20</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2005/01/hot-barely-legal-matt/">21</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2006/01/matt-22/">22</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2007/01/twenty-three/">23</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2008/01/twenty-four/">24</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2009/01/twenty-five/">25</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2010/01/twenty-six/">26</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2011/01/twenty-seven/">27</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2012/01/twenty-eight/">28</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2013/01/twenty-nine/">29</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2014/01/matt-3-0/">30</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2015/01/thirty-one/">31</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2016/01/thirty-two/">32</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/01/thirty-three/">33</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2018/01/thirty-four/">34</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2019/01/thirty-five/">35</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2020/01/thirty-six/">36</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2021/01/thirty-seven/">37</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2022/01/thirty-eight/">38</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Feb 2022 08:45:02 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Developer Hours, from Zero to Hero Series and Adoption paths — Weekend Edition 203";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=20426";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/gutenberg-developer-hours-from-zero-to-hero-series-and-adoption-paths-weekend-edition-203/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24084:"<p>Howdy, </p>





<p><br />Among other links, today&#8217;s edition links to three posts about technology adoption, feature adoption, FSE adoption. Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Tammie Lister and Anne McCarthy shine their light on different paths you can take on your journey to explore and conquer the new features,  for contributors, theme developers, site owners or site builders. </p>



<p>The most approachable parts of designers are <strong>Block Patterns</strong>. For inspiration, visit Tammie Lister&#8217;s, <a href="http://patternspiration.com/">Patternspiration</a> site, the <a href="https://wordpress.org/patterns/">WordPress Pattern Directory</a> or install the free <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/extendify/">Extendify plugin</a>. </p>



<p>In any case, don&#8217;t go it alone. Every week, you can join other WordPress practitioners on various levels on the <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/"><em>Social Learning Spaces</em></a> or in Hallway Hangouts. You find a list of the upcoming events below. </p>



<p>As always, there is more in this edition from generous people that accompany all of us along our journey. </p>



<p>Grab your favorite hot or cold beverages and enjoy this Weekend&#8217;s Edition. As always, let me know what you think, or what you need on your block editor journey. </p>



<p>Yours, ?<br />Birgit</p>



<p>PS: &#8220;If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.&#8221; African Proverb</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />




<div class="wp-container-6215730891220 wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Table of contents</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost"><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#highlights">Highlights</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#building-blocks-and-plugins-for-the-editor">Building blocks and plugins for the editor</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#building-themes-adopting-to-fse">Building themes, adopting to FSE</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#content-creators-and-site-owners-tools">Content Creators and Site Owners Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#wordpress-events">Hallway Hangouts, Webinars, and WordPress Social Learning events.</a></li></ul></div>
</div></div>




<h2 id="highlights">Highlights</h2>



<p>Join us again <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283720638/">February 22, 2022 on 11 am ET / 16:00 UTC</a> for another Gutenberg Developer Hours. </p>



<a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283720638/"><img /></a>




<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>




<p><strong>Josepha Haden</strong> <strong>Chomphosy</strong>, Executive Director of the WordPress open-source Project, published <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/"><strong>A Theory of Technology Adoption in the WordPress&nbsp;Project</strong></a>. </p>



<p>In the introduction, Chomphosy quoted Calestous Juma <em>&#8220;Many of the dominant technologies that we take for granted have weathered moments of social tension and threats of succession.&#8221; </em></p>



<p>&#8220;As we head into the iterative part of Gutenberg’s phase 2, there are a few things that we should be aware of that will motivate or inspire our community of users to take a fresh look at the WordPress editor.&nbsp;In my observation, that breaks down into three parts.&#8221; She wrote. </p>



<ul><li>Apparent usefulness (to the extender) – aka, what does this do for me?</li><li>Apparent ease of use (to the extender and user) – aka, is the difficulty ≤ the current technology?</li><li>Apparent trustworthiness (social proof/social sentiment)&nbsp;–&nbsp;aka, do my trusted friends trust this thing? </li></ul>



<p>Intrigued? <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/">Deeper insights in the post.</a>  </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>At WCUS 2021,  <strong>Helen Hou-Sandí</strong> talked about  <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/23/helen-hou-sandi-a-voice-for-the-new-white-house-administration-with-the-block-editor/">custom blocks development for the new website of White House</a>. You can watch the recording now on WordPress.tv.</p>




<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">

</div>Video: <strong>Helen Hou-Sandí</strong> WordCamp US 2021 




<p><strong>10up</strong> recently published more details of the project on the company blog. <strong>&#8220;<a href="https://10up.com/our-work/white-house/">A Voice For A New White House Administration</a>. </strong> Videos enrich the various aspects of the work. Quite a few interesting aspects of the design and build process are noted. For instance:  &#8220;To simplify the content creation experience, 10up removed sidebar options in favor of new blocks for the featured image, category, and date that are displayed in the editor in the same position that they appear on the page.&#8221; </p>



<p>Take your time to digest the learned lessons and experience reported by one of the leading WordPress agencies. There are quite a few takeaways that might help you navigated the block universe of WordPress. <br /><em>Thank you to <a href="https://mailchi.mp/poststatus/485">Post_Status</a> for surfacing this blog post.</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Matias Ventura</strong>, principal architect of Gutenberg was our guest on the <strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-60-restricting-customization-in-a-full-site-editing-world/">60th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog</a></strong>. Grzegorz (Greg) Ziolkowski and I  discussed with him way to restrict customization in a full-site editing world, the Gutenberg 12.5 release and some changes coming with WordPress 6.0</p>




<div class="wp-container-621573089190d wp-block-group is-style-default has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Subscribe to the&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/">Gutenberg Changelog</a>&nbsp;podcast </strong><br />?️&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/620NwVKQJGdTupy36zYxvg?mc_cid=4b6c9f88fe">Spotify</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ndXRlbmJlcmd0aW1lcy5jb20vZmVlZC9wb2RjYXN0">Google</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gutenberg-changelog/id1469294475">iTunes</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://pca.st/podcast/f8445ec0-7508-0137-f267-1d245fc5f9cf">PocketCasts</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/gutenberg-changelog">Stitcher</a>&nbsp;|<br />?️&nbsp;<a href="https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/chi7j-9904a/Gutenberg-Changelog-Podcast">Pod Bean</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/Gutenberg-Changelog-id2173375">CastBox</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/gutenberg-changelog-878239/">Podchaser</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/podcast">RSS Feed</a>&nbsp;</p>



<img />
</div></div>




<p>✨ ✨ <strong>Friendly Reminder: </strong><br /><strong>Eleven days left to respond to </strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/"><strong>All Things Media</strong> <strong>Call for Testing</strong></a> </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">English version</a> by Anne McCarthy</li><li><a href="https://ja.wordpress.org/team/2022/02/04/2637/">Japanese version</a> by Mimi and Akira Tachibana</li><li><a href="https://it.wordpress.org/team/2022/02/07/esplorazione-per-il-programma-fse-tutto-quello-che-fa-media/">Italian version</a> by Piermario Orecchioni </li></ul>



<p>It&#8217;s a great way to collaborate on ideas on how to integrate the rapidly growing WordPress <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/">Photo Directory</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/openverse/">Openverse</a> into the block editor. </p>



<h2 id="building-blocks-and-plugins-for-the-editor">Building blocks and plugins for the editor</h2>



<p>One change in 5.9 to the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/cover-block-refactor-dev-note/"><strong>Cover block</strong> is now documented in this DevNote</a> by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/glendaviesnz">Glen Davis</a></strong>. He explains the changes made during refactoring of the Cover block. He also notes that theme and plugin developer were surprised by these changes, as there was no documentation published until now. The most considerable changes was that opacity styling for background color was moved. It broke some sites. </p>



<p>This has already been fixed, and is scheduled to deploy as part of the WordPress 5.9.1 release. Until then, you can use Davis&#8217; suggested work around or rollback your WordPress 5.9 upgrade with this powerful nifty little plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/core-rollback/"><strong>&#8220;Core Rollback&#8221; by Andy Fragen.</strong></a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jonihalabi">Joni Halabi</a></strong> found a way to <a href="https://jhalabi.com/blog/core-dynamic-render-override"><strong>Overriding WP core: Dynamic blocks edition</strong></a>. She shares how she replace the <code>render_callback</code> function for the Core RSS block to render a customized HTML on the front end. </p>



<p><em>If you have similar needs, you can override a single argument to avoid unregistering a block via <code><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/register_block_type_args/3:45">register_block_type_args</a></code> or modify the content generated for the block with <code><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/render_block_this-name/">render_block_this-name</a></code></em></p>




<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s main (trunk) branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total" /></p>




<h2 id="building-themes-adopting-to-fse">Building themes, adopting to FSE</h2>



<p>Next week Friday, <strong>Daisy Olsen</strong> and <strong>Sarah Snow</strong> will offer the fifth session in their five-part series: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283927573/"><strong>Zero to Block Theme Series #5: From Site Editor to Theme</strong></a>. The recordings of the first four parts are available on YouTube: </p>



<ul><li>Session 1:&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/ntT1GT6Yr3w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Foundations</a></li><li>Session 2:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjSZOJZspe0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Theme.json</a></li><li>Session 3:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxIjfkc9O0Q" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Theme.json continued &#8211; Styles</a></li><li>Session 4:&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/APsu8Jc570A" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Templates and Template Parts</a></li></ul>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published in the series of Core Editor Improvement &#8220;Core Editor Improvement: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/core-editor-improvement-curated-experiences-with-locking-apis-theme-json/"><strong>Curated experiences with locking APIs &amp; theme.json</strong></a>. She explores <em>&#8220;some practical ways you can perhaps apply these locking options to your individual projects to both provide some guardrails and still allow users to make things their own.&#8221;</em> If you are working on creating an editor experience following the strong standards for publishing and brand design, this post is for you. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Ryan Welcher </strong>posted a short video on <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hNXRdfYx7g">Locking down theme.json</a></strong> and discusses how to control the effect of adding a theme.json file to your classic theme.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jameskoster">James Koster</a></strong> showed in his post <strong><a href="https://jameskoster.design/2022/02/04/expanding-template-creation-options-in-the-site-editor/">Expanding template creation options in the Site Editor</a></strong> and embedded videos early concepts on creating full page prototypes. You can follow along <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/37407">the PR on GitHub</a>. And if you have an idea or opinion, add it there. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>One of the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/">47 Block Themes</a> built for full site editing in the WordPress repository is <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/miniblock-ooak/">Miniblock OOAK</a> </strong>by <strong>Carolina Nymark</strong>. She describes it as &#8220;One page, all the blocks. If all you need is one fully customizable page, it does not get simpler than this.&#8221; <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> took it for a spin and posted his review on the WPTavern:  <a href="https://wptavern.com/miniblock-ooak-and-outside-the-box-ideas-in-the-theme-directory"><strong>Miniblock OOAK and Outside-the-Box Ideas in the Theme Directory</strong></a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>In her article, <a href="https://extendify.com/gutenberg-full-site-editing-does-not-have-to-be-full/"><strong>Gutenberg Full Site Editing does not have to be full</strong></a>, <strong>Tammie Lister </strong>lays out a path for gradual adoption of the various tools  coming with WordPress 5.9., that starts with stopping to use the term Full-Site Editing. That term hides the fact that it&#8217;s a conglomerate of many pieces for each could stand alone and be integrated separately with existing sites. <em>&#8220;My best advice to anyone looking to start on this journey right now is to start with patterns, move to theme.json, and from there, gradually move through whatever makes sense for you.&#8221;</em> Lister wrote. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> suggested a similar path in her post from last fall, that&#8217;s still immensely relevant <a href="https://nomad.blog/2021/09/29/sharing-approaches-for-fse-feature-adoption/"><strong>Sharing Approaches for FSE Feature&nbsp;Adoption</strong></a>. As always, Anne is ahead of us all, so I bring the article back to everyone&#8217;s attention. McCarthy divided her advice for different kind of users, some are for site owners and site builders, others for theme developers. Then she defined four level and explained each one with the matching tools and features, that collectively make out Full-Site Editing. </p>



<p>If you are struggling to see the forest for the trees, let Lister and McCarthy guide you on the first steps of your journey. Or join us for <strong>Gutenberg Developer Hours</strong> on <strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283720638/">February 22, 2022, at 11 am ET / 16:00 UTC</a></strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<h2 id="content-creators-and-site-owners-tools">Content Creators and Site Owners Tools</h2>



<p>Let&#8217;s celebrate with <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong> the latest updates of WooCommerce Blocks and Storefront block, both premium plugins. They now leverage the new full-site-editing features of WordPress 5.9 and allow  for editing your store&#8217;s templates through the site editor. In this video Marsland demos, how to edit a Single Product page as well as a product category page. </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on an addition to the Kadence Blocks collection: <a href="https://wptavern.com/kadence-blocks-2-2-4-adds-lottie-animations-block"><strong>Kadence Blocks 2.2.4&nbsp;Adds Lottie Animations Block</strong></a>.&#8221;Kadence Block’s implementation is in the free version of the plugin and includes block controls for further customizing the animations. Users can adjust playback settings, like autoplay, toggle controls on/off, and change the playback speed and loop settings. The animation’s size, padding, and margins, can all be customized.&#8221; Animations can be a fun tool to add a little whimsy to a site, usually, I find them overdone and quite distracting. So use at your own risk ? </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong> host of the <em>WordPress Jukebox </em>podcast had  <strong>Chris Lubkert</strong> and <strong>Rich Tabor </strong>on his show and discussed with them <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/13-chris-lubkert-and-rich-tabor-on-building-sites-with-extendify"><strong>Building Sites With Extendify</strong></a>. You can learn more about their vision for a future of page layouts and block patterns in WordPress.  Interestingly enough, Extendify&#8217;s 1400 block patterns and page layouts are all based only on core blocks, coupled with their unique utility design system. </p>



<p>Rich Tabor also is a contributor on the Gutenberg repository and has been exchanging ideas and solutions with the Gutenberg team since the early days of the block editor in 2017. </p>



<p><em>Nathan Wrigley has increased the frequency of publishing: After three years without it <a href="https://wptavern.com/feed/podcast">WordPress Jukebox </a>is now a weekly show again! You can subscribe to it on your favorite podcaster and you never miss another show. </em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>In his latest video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OME2hZcUvUE"><strong>Future of WordPress Page Builders is Gutenberg</strong></a>, <strong>Matt Medeiros </strong>monologues about page builders in the era of Full-site Editing in Core. What do you think? </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>



<h2 id="wordpress-events">Hallway Hangouts, Webinars, and WordPress Social Learning events.</h2>



<p>As shared last week, Anne McCarthy has a new FSE Outreach Program Exploration for you. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/"> All Things Media</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordPress Photo directory</a> She invites you to the upcoming Hallway Hangout on <strong>February 16th, 12:30 pm ET / 17:30 pm UTC</strong> to with her and a designer from the Openverse project to chat about the call for testing. The link will be shared in the WPSlack channel <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C015GUFFC00">#fse-outreach-experiment.</a> </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>If you can&#8217;t make it, <strong>Courtney Robertson</strong> invites you to the GoDaddy Event &#8220;<a href="https://events.godaddy.com/events/details/godaddy-events-godaddy-pro-online-presents-call-for-testing-wordpress-media/"><strong>Call For Testing WordPress Media&#8221;</strong></a> on February 18th, 2022 at 11 am ET / 16:00 UTC.  </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p>On <strong>Feb 23rd 11 am ET / 16:00 UTC</strong> <strong>Hallway Hangout: Navigation Block. </strong>Designers and developers working on the feature will join Anne McCarthy to chat about the new feature. Join the WPSlack <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C015GUFFC00">#fse-outreach-experiments</a> channel for details and zoom links. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>February 14, 2022 – 4 pm ET / 21:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283237147/"><strong>Exploring Theme Blocks</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Wes Theron</p>



<p><strong>February 15, 2022 &#8211; 4:30 pm ET / 21:30 UTC </strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283844528/"><strong>Adding Custom CSS to Your Site</strong></a> with Hugh Lashbrooke </p>



<p><strong>February 16, 2022 1 pm ET / 18:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283827100/"><strong>Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Full Site Editing</strong></a> with Sarah Snow via WordPress Social Learning</p>



<p><strong>February 18, 2022 1 pm ET / 18:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283927573/"><strong>Zero to Block Theme Series #5: From Site Editor to Theme</strong></a> with Daisy Olsen and Sarah Snow </p>



<p><strong>February 21, 2022 &#8211; 12 pm (noon) ET / 17:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283644263/"><strong>Hello Blocks! Coding a custom block</strong></a> with Wes Theron and Ryan Welcher. </p>



<p><strong>February 22, 2022 &#8211; 11 am ET / 16:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283720638/">Gutenberg Developer Hours</a></strong> with Birgit Pauli-Haack and expert panel </p>



<p><strong>March 1, 2022 5 pm ET / 22:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283842451/"><strong>Intro to Templates and Template Parts</strong></a> with Wes Theron </p>



<p><em>Featured Image: <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/97061fef69/">Jennifer Bourn &#8220;Pile of blue glass chunks in the sun&#8221;</a> found in the WordPress Photo Directory</em></p>




<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />



<p class="has-text-align-center"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>



<form class="wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait" action="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/" method="post"><div class="ngl-form-container"><div class="ngl-form-field"><label class="ngl-form-label" for="ngl_email">Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class="ngl-form-input"><input type="email" class="ngl-form-input-text" name="ngl_email" id="ngl_email" /></div></div><button class="ngl-form-button">Subscribe</button><p class="ngl-form-text">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay"><div class="ngl-message-svg-wrap"></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay-text">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type="hidden" name="ngl_list_id" id="ngl_list_id" value="26f81bd8ae" /><input type="hidden" name="ngl_double_optin" id="ngl_double_optin" value="yes" /></form>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Feb 2022 03:09:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"WPTavern: WordPress Photo Directory Gets Its Own Make Team";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129821";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-photo-directory-gets-its-own-make-team";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4799:"<img />



<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/">WordPress Photo Directory</a> is taking off, growing to more than 1,400 approved free photos in under two months. After a successful call for testers and volunteer photo moderators, the directory has an enthusiastic team of contributors ready to move the project forward. </p>



<p>Angela Jin&#8217;s <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/01/13/wordpress-photo-directory-call-for-volunteers/">pitch for photo moderators</a> resonated with a lot of people for a couple reasons &#8211; it outlined an approachable time commitment (1-2 hrs/wk) and didn&#8217;t require any special skills beyond appreciation of photography:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Photo Directory Moderators can expect to spend 1-2 hours in coming weeks learning about the Photo Directory and current moderation tools, and discussing future best practices. To keep the Photo Directory a thriving resource, Moderators are needed for the foreseeable future, perhaps dedicating up to an hour of their time each week.&nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>Nearly two dozen people responded to this call. It was a good strategy for building a wide base of contributors instead of depending on a smaller team that would be required to devote more hours.</p>



<p>This week Jin formalized the new contributor group, announcing the Photo Directory as <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/02/10/new-wordpress-make-team-the-photo-directory/">a new WordPress Make team</a>. Collaboration is now happening at the new #photos channel in WordPress Slack and the team will begin publishing  at <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/photos">make.wordpress.org/photos</a>. They will be working on two handbooks &#8211; a public one and a private one that will outline processes for moderators handling topics like curation and inappropriate content.</p>



<p>There has been some confusion about the difference between the WordPress Photo Directory and the Openverse project, which indexes 600 million Creative Commons licensed and public domain image and audio files. Openverse pulls from many different sources, and the WordPress Photo Directory is a new source that will be included with all images licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a> license. </p>



<p>Automattic-sponsored Openverse contributor Zack Krida explained the difference between the WordPress Photo Directory and Openverse:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/"><strong>WordPress Photo Directory</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>is both a new curated source of free, high-quality photographs and a new submission tool for Openverse, powered by the WordPress community. Without it, you’d need to use Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, or other sources to submit your work to Openverse.</p></blockquote>



<p>Another way to contribute to the Photo Directory is by <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/submit/">submitting photos</a>.  I am quite fond of making steel-cut oats for breakfast, so I decided to test out the submission process with a photograph of my oatmeal. The process is simple and takes less than a minute once you have already selected the image you want submit. Pending photographs are listed in a table after you submit, and the moderation queue for each account is limited to five at this time.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>I was surprised by one of the agreements before sending my photograph: &#8220;Photo must not contain any human faces.&#8221; The guidelines state that submissions cannot contain faces of people at this time for legal reasons. Hopefully, this limitation is being worked out before launch, because the directory needs faces to have the best chance at becoming a world class resource for free images.</p>



<p>No attribution is required for CC0 photos, but it would be nice to have an easy way to copy attribution info and credit the photographer with a link back to the individual photo listing. This would also be helpful for furthering adoption of the photo directory, with links back coming from around the web. I filed a meta trac <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6097">ticket</a> requesting the feature, as it looks like this is the best way to request an addition to the directory&#8217;s roadmap.</p>



<p>The Photo Directory has so much momentum right now and offers a  good opportunity to contribute back to the WordPress world without having to know how to code. Meetings have not yet started for the project, but contributors can jump in on the new Slack channel and subscribe to the new <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/photos/">Photo Directory blog</a> on the Make network once it launches.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Feb 2022 02:14:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: Block, FSE, Hybrid, Universal? What Do We Call These New WordPress Themes?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129860";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"https://wptavern.com/block-fse-hybrid-universal-what-do-we-call-these-new-wordpress-themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7006:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Ellen Bauer, developer and co-owner of ElmaStudio, posed the question on Twitter last week that many have been asking. What do we call these new types of WordPress themes made from blocks? She was not the first to ask. The question also came up via the <a href="https://poststatus.com/">Post Status</a> Slack chat earlier this week.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Naming is still so confusing <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f914.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Is it block themes, FSE themes, block-based themes or better FSE block themes? I see all of them being used for the same thing, let’s change that asap!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Community?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Community</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FullSiteEditing?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FullSiteEditing</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FSE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FSE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gutenberg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gutenberg</a></p>&mdash; Ellen Bauer (@ellenbauer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ellenbauer/status/1490123705972031489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>The short answer is that these new themes are &#8220;block themes.&#8221;</p>



<p>The WordPress Themes Team decided to use this terminology in December 2021. The <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/12/15/themes-team-meeting-notes-december-14-2021/">consensus during their meeting</a> was to clarify the difference between block and classic themes.</p>



<p>The terminology has also grown organically as the new theming system has emerged. Block themes are themes that are literally made from blocks. The long-term goal should be to simply call them &#8220;themes,&#8221; but the &#8220;block&#8221; prefix will stick with us for a while.</p>



<p>The long answer is more nuanced. As Anne McCarthy noted in the Post Status discussion, there are four types of themes now:</p>



<ul><li>Block</li><li>Classic</li><li>Hybrid</li><li>Universal</li></ul>



<p>Technically, developers can create an entirely custom theming system. That is just how flexible WordPress is, but we will stick to the somewhat more official definitions. There are enough terms for our own little mini dictionary of theming as it is.</p>



<h2 id="block-themes">Block Themes</h2>



<img />Editing a block theme via the site editor.



<p>Block themes have been officially supported since WordPress 5.9&#8217;s release last month. They provide users access to new tools such as the site editor and global styles interfaces. These features have replaced many past settings pages, such as the customizer and widgets screens.</p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentytwo/">Twenty Twenty-Two</a> is the first default to support this new set of tools. There is also a small but growing number of other block themes.</p>



<p><em>Why do we not call them FSE themes?</em> Full Site Editing is a collection of components and not a single thing. WordPress has released several of these components before version 5.9, such as the template editor, block-based widgets, and <code>theme.json</code> support. In a sense, a classic theme with any level of feature support is also an FSE theme.</p>



<p>The thing that makes block themes different from classic themes is that they are built from HTML templates made entirely of blocks. This automatically enables the site editor, template editor, global styles interface, and more.</p>



<h2 id="classic-and-hybrid-themes">Classic and Hybrid Themes</h2>



<img />Customizing Twenty Twenty, a classic theme.



<p>I have grouped classic and hybrid themes together because there is no need to differentiate the two.</p>



<p>Classic WordPress themes are those that we have known and loved all of these years. They feature PHP-based templates in most cases. There are some, like <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/foxhound/">Foxhound</a>, that are primarily made of JavaScript. However, none have the necessary block HTML templates to qualify as a block theme.</p>



<p>Hybrid themes are classic themes that have adopted one or more FSE components, such as the template editor or <code>theme.json</code>.</p>



<p>I do not separate the two theme types because we have never done so before when themes adopt new features. For example, when the nav menus system was first introduced, there was no need to call themes something different based on whether they supported the new menu system. The same can be said for most other features in the past.</p>



<p>If anything, the official theme directory may need to expand its tags to include additional features as they arise. Filters allow users to search for the things they want from a theme.</p>



<h2 id="universal-themes">Universal Themes</h2>



<p>Universal themes work in both a classic and site editor context. Ben Dwyer offered a <a href="https://themeshaper.com/2021/10/06/universal-themes/">more thorough explanation</a> via the Theme Shaper blog last year:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Universal themes are an attempt to bridge the gap between the classic themes and block themes, by adding some layers to a block theme to make it work.</p><p>A Universal theme is a block theme that can use the Full Site Editor but can also be configured in a more classic way. That means that you can use classic WordPress tools, like the Customizer, Menus and Widgets dashboards as well as the Site Editor.</p></blockquote>



<p>I have not seen much appetite from developers for creating universal themes. I am not sure if any exist, at least not in the official directory.</p>



<p>It is too early to tell if they will eventually catch on with theme authors. Supporting both classic and modern WordPress tools likely only makes sense for the most popular themes. Their authors may need to rework their codebase, opting into more FSE features and transitioning from a classic/hybrid state to universal support. If the demand is there, some will undoubtedly meet it.</p>



<p>The support and maintenance burden would be unappealing for most. A clean break from classic is probably the best route for developers building with the latest WordPress features.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-tavern-separator" />



<p>Naming things is hard, but it is crucial to have equal footing among participants in discussions. The distinction between classic and block themes will likely be the most useful.</p>



<p>I doubt the terms matter much for the average WordPress user. They need to know whether a theme supports Feature X or Feature Y. It has been a while since theme tags (filters) were overhauled, and many are outdated.  They might be worth revisiting to ensure that we are meeting user needs today.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Feb 2022 01:49:53 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:60:"WPTavern: Kadence Blocks 2.2.4 Adds Lottie Animations Block";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129801";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wptavern.com/kadence-blocks-2-2-4-adds-lottie-animations-block";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3549:"<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">

</div>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/kadence-blocks/">Kadence Blocks</a>, a popular block collection plugin, added <a href="https://www.kadencewp.com/blog/introducing-the-kadence-lottie-block/">a new Lottie Animations block</a> today in version 2.2.4. Most of the blocks in the plugin offer commonly used page building features like rows, buttons, galleries, and testimonials. The Lottie Animations block introduces something a little more fun and whimsical.</p>



<p>Developed by the design team at <a href="https://airbnb.design/lottie/">Airbnb</a>, Lottie is a lightweight, open source animation file format that is popular with both developers and designers. It&#8217;s lighter than older motion graphics formats and faster to manipulate. The vector-based format allows animations to be scaled up or down without losing quality. The<a href="https://lottiefiles.com/"> LottieFiles</a> platform is a community where designers and developers share their creations for others to use.</p>



<p>Kadence Blocks&#8217; new Lottie block makes it easy for WordPress users to use and customize Lottie animations. It&#8217;s not the first plugin to offer them. Lottie animations are available to Elementor Pro users, and are included in a few other collections, like the Gutenberg Blocks and Template Library by Otter and Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg, as well as the Lottie Player plugin.</p>



<p>Lottie animations can be added to WordPress content by pasting the oembed link into the editor or using the embed block, as you see on this page. The disadvantage to using them this way is that you won&#8217;t get any controls for editing their appearance and motion. </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">

</div>



<p>Kadence Block&#8217;s implementation is in the free version of the plugin and includes block controls for further customizing the animations. Users can adjust playback settings, like autoplay, toggle controls on/off, and change the playback speed and loop settings. The animation&#8217;s size, padding, and margins, can all be customized.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>When first using the block it displays an animated WordPress logo placeholder by default but you can replace the URL in the block settings with one from LottieFiles if you find one you want to use.</p>



<p>The animations can be referenced in the block using a remote URL (probably the most common), or by using a local file. The feature also has its own admin screen where you can manage all your animations. </p>



<p>The controls demonstrate how scalable the animations are &#8211; whether they are set to full width or reduced down to a small icon. They respond well to block alignment controls and can be used in any content where blocks are allowed or even within templates.</p>



<p>The block requires the Lottie Player JS to load and parse the JSON-based animations but Kadence WP representative Kathy Zant said the performance hit is modest compared to previous animation technologies.</p>



<p>LottieFiles animations can be edited on the website to change the background color or edit the animation layer colors. Users can export the updated file as Lottie JSON to import into blocks. As an alternative to creating your own Lottie animations from scratch, this might be one way to re-color existing animations to match your brand. These files can be downloaded and imported into the Kadence Lottie block to add engaging animations that will work on any device.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 11 Feb 2022 05:46:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:119:"WPTavern: Newsletter Glue Version 2 Rebuilds Settings Interface With Block Components, Sets Foundation for New Features";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129832";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:129:"https://wptavern.com/newsletter-glue-version-2-rebuilds-settings-interface-with-block-components-sets-foundation-for-new-features";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4631:"<p class="has-drop-cap">I &#8220;officially&#8221; dubbed <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/newsletter-glue/">Newsletter Glue</a> my favorite plugin in the <a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-taverns-2021-year-in-review">2021 yearly recap post</a>. WordPress&#8217;s block system makes such projects more feasible than before, or at least more easily built and extended. Since I first took note of it, I have kept a watchful eye on its progress. Late last month, the plugin&#8217;s development team <a href="https://newsletterglue.com/blog/product-updates/newsletter-glue-v2/">released an overhauled version 2.0</a>.</p>



<p>Last September, I put <a href="https://wptavern.com/newsletter-glue-pro-my-first-foray-into-journalism-and-new-ideas">Newsletter Glue through the ropes</a>. It was a well-rounded plugin that was easy to set up and connect to my preferred email software. The onboarding process was top-notch. Creating and sending newsletters was as easy as publishing a blog post.</p>



<p>There were some pieces of the user experience that I did not like. Not being able to permanently disable fullscreen mode was one of them, and that seems to have been fixed since then. I would also welcome more integration with the active theme&#8217;s color palette in the Newsletter Theme Designer and the meta box moved to the sidebar panel.</p>



<p>With version 2.0 out, I headed back to my initial idea for this plugin. I blew the dust off my fictional family newsletter and began tapping out <em>Issue #2</em>.</p>



<img />Writing my fictional family newsletter.



<p>I am still motivated to turn this into a real-world newsletter if I ever find the time. <em>If only there were about 30 hours in a day.</em></p>



<p>Usability has remained the same in version 2.0 with the publishing process. The plugin still balances its bells and whistles against the simplicity of sending an email.</p>



<p>Version 2.0 introduces a new admin settings UI built as a React app using components from the block system. Newsletter Glue co-founder Lesley Sim said it was inspired by the WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce interfaces.</p>



<p>&#8220;We built it to lay a faster, easier to navigate foundation for all the new features we have planned,&#8221; she wrote in the announcement. She did not spoil the surprise of what those new features will be. Like other Newsletter Glue fans, I eagerly await what the team has in store later this year.</p>



<p>Navigating the settings screen tabs was snappier. I now wish all plugins with multiple options pages had the same polish.</p>



<p>The most obvious change was the new Connections tab. It merges the old Connect and Email pages into a single unit. The change makes much more sense now.</p>



<img />Unified connections panel.



<p>Sim said in the announcement that the move conceptualizes connections to be more like profiles and provides a stronger foundation for upcoming features. I have been picking my brain, trying to figure out what those could be. Right now, the plugin allows a single connection. Perhaps she was hinting at allowing multiple connections or tying different user-based email addresses (<em>profiles?</em>) to newsletters.</p>



<p>The Newsletter Theme Designer feature now exists as a separate tab under the Templates &amp; Styles section in the admin. The default screen showcases the built-in patterns and pattern creator.</p>



<p>One of my favorite features is the Newsletter Blocks settings section, which allows users to enable or disable specific blocks:</p>



<img />Demos for every block.



<p>Instead of only having toggle switches for the blocks, the team also has a video tutorial on what each one does. Clicking the &#8220;watch demo&#8221; button for a block pops up a YouTube video with a walkthrough. Take note if you are a developer: this is how you educate and empower end-users to use the tools you are offering.</p>



<p>Version 2.0 is much more of a foundational release than a splattering of new features, but shoring up the inner workings of a project is sometimes the best use of an update.</p>



<p>Sim listed the general areas the team is working on in future releases. The list included integrations with more email service providers and plugins, more newsletter blocks, and &#8220;A***ma***&#8221; newsletters. <em>Any Wordle superstars want to take a crack at that last one?</em></p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/newsletter-glue/">Newsletter Glue &#8211; Best WordPress email newsletter plugin</a></blockquote>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 11 Feb 2022 03:18:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:100:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 45) — Block Protocol, Tumblr, and Complexity with Lesley Sim";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93292&preview=true&preview_id=93292";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-45-block-protocol-tumblr-complexity-lesley-sim/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32271:"<p class="has-drop-cap">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with <strong>Lesley Sim</strong> about <strong>Joel Spolsky</strong> on <a href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2022/01/27/making-the-web-better-with-blocks/">the Block Protocol</a>, <strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong> for <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1488631655350763524">taking over for the exiting CEO of Tumblr</a>, and a blog post by Dan Devine entitled &#8220;<a href="https://coderjerk.com/the-complicated-futility-of-wordpress/">The Complicated Futility of WordPress</a>.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>Why This Is Important:</strong> It's good to examine the views of influencers inside and outside the WordPress community about managing content (especially with blocks) and how complex content management systems (like WordPress) have become. <strong>Tumblr</strong> is a potential wildcard — social network, gateway to more advanced publishing, both, or neither?</p>







<p class="has-background">Every week <strong><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png" alt="⚡" class="wp-smiley" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h3 id="h-mentioned-in-the-show"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2022/01/27/making-the-web-better-with-blocks/">Making the Web Better With Blocks</a></li><li>Twitter announcement: <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1488631655350763524">Matt &#8220;running Tumblr personally for a while&#8221;</a></li><li><a href="https://coderjerk.com/the-complicated-futility-of-wordpress/">The Complicated Futility of WordPress</a></li><li>Twitter conversation: <a href="https://twitter.com/coderjerk/status/1488809827618983936">Coderjerk / Matt & Others</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/lesley_pizza">Lesley Sim</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h3><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="http://poststatus.com/wordfence">Wordfence</a></h3>



<p>Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2 id="h-transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>



<p>Conversation with Lesley</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Let's start with Joel. Spolsky's a post he did on January 27th. Um, link in shownotes by the way. But Joel is basically using WordPress already. He's seen, he knows the concept of blocks and inserting blocks and all of that. If you're not as old as me, you may not know who Joel Spolsky is and you can read up on them.</p>



<p>He. I wrote something called fog bugs, like a long time ago, which was like a, the, probably the initially like one of the first bug trackers, big popular bug trackers. I don't know where that is today. We've kind of moved on from there, but it was a really popular, it was kind of like the, um, the GitHub of it's day or the git of its day, but he was proposing a, something called a block protocol.</p>



<p>That was a protocol. And basically he wanted to standardise blocks across WordPress or Medium or Notion or something along those lines, you read this and what were your thoughts about this?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Oh , wait, so I need to preface this by saying that I'm not a developer. I'm not a developer, and so by that means is I feel like I am missing kind of one huge chunk of perspective when you know, like, so my opinions are- it's as though I'm a color blind person trying to describe, uh, a bunch of flowers and I'm like missing, missing something important. Um, I'm sorry, I wanted to kind of mention that before I said anything else. Um, but the cool thing to me about the block protocol is that I feel like it's the right level of abstraction.</p>



<p>And what I mean by that is, um, if you go to the Twitter thread, with Joel and Matt. Matt also talks about, you know, the, um, Gutenberg block editor and how the idea for the block editor is to be what Joel is trying to do. Um, you know, interoperable, you can use it yes on WordPress, but also, you know, on Tumbler, um, on Medium and, um, everywhere else.</p>



<p>I think that's kind of what Matt, um, was saying in hope Gutenberg will be. Um, but my problem with that is I feel like that's not the right level of abstraction. I feel like that's too, too far down, like it's too opinionated already. It's too built out already. Um, and if, what. What Matt really wants is to kind of be plug and play across a web.</p>



<p>Like I think he has to go take a step back and</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> be more actualize</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> talking about yeah, be more abstract. Um, in order to be more interoperable because you know, somebody coming up with their own indie CMS, isn't one, uh, isn't it we'll, we'll never basically never want to plug and play the entire Gutenberg block editor.</p>



<p>In my mind, like I know a bunch of people who are building their own indie CMSs. I know that, like, that would be the worst nightmare for them. Right? Like the reason why they built it is because they don't want the heaviness of WordPress. The idea of having like plug and play blocks because you're seeing it increasingly as well.</p>



<p>Right. Like notion is using blocks and notion itself like spawned, you know, dozens, if not hundreds of copycats who use this like concept of blocks as well. So like this whole like block concept is becoming increasingly popular and widespread. If there was a way for startups or software to quickly spin up blocks to use in their software.</p>



<p>That editor just sounds really cool to me. Um, and the idea of being able to take things with you, like that would be really cool as well. So I've built, you know, something. This like kind of more abstract level. I can now build like, you know, a set of blocks that can work on both Shopify and WordPress and you make more money that way.</p>



<p>That would be really cool, right?</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. Because when, once you start getting into, you can export your content in WordPress with still with blocks, the blocks don't come with it. Right. It's just kind of like. Content or semi raw or slightly cooked, whatever phrase you want to use, but you're not going to be able to take the content from WordPress and move it over to another CMS and still have that perfect layout that you had in over in WordPress and probably vice and probably vice versa.</p>



<p>I mean, you'll have the texts, you'll have the content, but so much more now of WordPress is paging, especially with the blocks are like repeating blocks and, and your, your posts. But it's and correct me if I'm wrong. Cause I haven't actually done this very much lately with the new blocks, but you're basically getting just the raw HTML or you're you or you or the content, the blog posts themselves.</p>



<p>But you're not really getting much of the layout in that process. So what he's talking about or what the protocol is talking about is. You can have anyone develop a block once and have it work in any blog platform or content management system or note taking app. Right. And it's of course it's free and it's open source.</p>



<p>And then you'd be able to like create a paragraph or a table over here and be able to use that same block over, um, someone else who's supporting the same protocol. Does that sound about right?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah. I mean, I don't, the siding would carry over. Also, I think it would</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> The structure maybe?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> It something, yeah, the structure like the schema.</p>



<p>Right? So like if you call it something, a podcast here, it's going to also show up as a podcast there. Or you call it something, a graph here. It's also going to show up as a graph that it doesn't just break. So I think that would be really cool. Um, yeah. The other thing that would be really cool, it's kind of like.</p>



<p>Um, from an end-user perspective, you know, if, if there was some kind of, um, standard diarization on how blocks work immediately makes a lot of software, understandable to people because they're just like, oh, when I click this better, this is what's going to happen. I understand how blocks work in general.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. So if a block works generally in one application will work generally in the other. Matt's always said Gutenberg was more important than WordPress. So obviously this kind of fits into a kind of a larger picture. And that's why I think when this was published, If the protocol has been started. So it has been published. It's not just a conceptual blog post, but it's in the very, very, very, very early stages.</p>



<p>Yeah. When I read this, I was pretty much thinking along the same thing. Like what if you could take very abstract Gutenberg plugin, and automatically use it in someplace else. Um, Drupal is adopting Gutenberg to a certain extent as well, but this is, I think, agreeing with you. I think it needs to be a little bit more abstract, less opinionated if you expect it to work.</p>



<p>Um, probably a little bit of a broader scope or at least the scope that Joel is shooting for here in this. Post, uh, over time it will mean that anyone can easily publish complex typed datasets on the web that are automatically machine-readable without extra work. Yeah, this was, this was really cool.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> One thing I am interested in is also the, the, in the thread, there were a bunch of people talking about, you know, how does this compare to web components?</p>



<p>Because that's the whole thing. Why, why not just kind of try to build off of that. Um, and also some people was saying, uh, why&#8230; Like web components or the concept of it never really took off or never, maybe like, um, fully fulfilled its potential. And. I guess like kind of knowing why that didn't take off would be helpful in knowing some of the potential obstacles that this new protocol might face as well.</p>



<p>Yeah.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I, I don't know enough about web components on why that hasn't taken off on paper. It sounds great.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah right. I have no idea either. I'm sure there's angry people who know all about that. And that he's super curious if you don't post on it.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I encourage somebody who's checking it out and we'll put a link to not just the article, but also the conversation that was there with Matt.</p>



<p>I thought there was some pretty interesting comments there as well, or Marvel cinematic universe. And now I'm trying to come up with a better acronym, but so far it's I have the, the Mo woo and it's Matt's open web universe. And we reason why we were trying to come up with this awful awful name was because of tumbler.</p>



<p>Um, recently, you know, you saw the same, you saw the same thing as me where, um, and apparently I did not know this, but, um, until I read it yesterday, but apparently tumbler's CEO quietly kind of departed, uh, Tumblr, no reason given. And, and then Matt said he's personally taking over. Don't know yet how that affects the WordPress releases moving forward if that affects his role as leader, anything like that. But Tumblr out of just came out of nowhere again. And what you said you were a tumbler user. I use tumbler a little bit back in the day when it was just starting out, but it just happened to be like using WordPress at the same time.</p>



<p>Tumbler was becoming popular. I kind of had to pick one thing or the other, and I decided to go with WordPress amount of blogging, but instead of, you know, posting it on Tumblr, what were your experiences with tumbler when you started, when did you start using tumbler? Are you still using it now? I</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> am not still using it now.</p>



<p>I'm trying to think back when I did start, probably definitely more than 10 years ago, maybe. Yeah, maybe 15, 15 years ago. Something like that. Maybe more, I don't know. Let's not age myself, um, I have nothing but good nostalgic memories of tumbler. And I guess like what I, when I think, think about tumbler, when I think about is super lightweight, um, posts that were like very template fight, like it's like heavily templated, um, very structured. So you can't deviate that much, or if you, if you did, you had to put in a lot of work to do that. Um, and it, simplicity is what made it really stand out. And that's why I used it. Not having to worry about the technical complexities, um, is nice. And also you were kind of writing, it felt like you were writing directly.</p>



<p>On your page. Um, so in comparison, in WordPress, you kind of write in the editor and it's, it looks separate from the website itself, which, you know, full-site editing is changing. Um, but with tumbler, from the start, it would be, this is your, your site and you write a new post and it would just. I have all the colors and like, you'd be writing.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> It'd be like, would it be like a live preview?</p>



<p>Yeah, I</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> guess so. Yeah. I mean directly on, no, it was like super life, but like, it was, it didn't feel like it was a preview. It felt like you were writing directly on top of your previous posts. You're writing it there and then you just like post it and it's done. Um, yeah, and that, that was really nice.</p>



<p>Um, and there was always kind of this thing. Tight knit community in tumbler and everything. Everyone was kind of niche focused. So you, you know, if you were into, I dunno, knitting than that, you'd have a thousand friends who are all knitting buddies. And you share your knitting, um, beanies and stuff like that.</p>



<p>Um, or if you are into pizza, then that would be your thing.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> That's your fond memory of it. Now that you heard him? Must've been interesting when you heard this, it was it back maybe a year or two ago when automatic purchased it from Verizon, I think, it must've been interesting for you to see that name pop up again.</p>



<p>Where do you see, um, uh, mats. Kind of hinted the fact that, um, we're, it's being rewritten, rewritten in WordPress. What's your guests in terms of how tumblers will be playing out in the open web space. Cause we have that, that, um, Matt's open web universe. How do you think tumbler, but where, where would, where do you think Tumblr would like let's let's if it gets it's WordPress, um, um, integration, where do you think that would fit in the open web?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> So I kind of hope people argue about this on Twitter. I think tumbler, I see tumbler as guardians of the galaxy.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> How do you think Tumblr is going to fit into the open web after WordPress gets integrated? Do you think it's going to take an a, like a new role will be refreshed?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I don't, I don't have any specific well-defined hopes.</p>



<p>I think it'd be really nice if a new generation of emo younglings, um, use tumbler. Uh, okay,</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> well, let's talk about that then. I think you said like new generation. So do you think Tumblr is the key of introducing new, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but is it possible that it could be a new way of introducing Gutenberg to a new generation?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> That would be really interesting. I don't think WordPress is seen as very cool at all amongst young people. Um, so having a different way to introduce blogging and gutenberg to the younger crowd, I think is super cool. And I'm all for that. Um, yeah, so that would be really cool, actually.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> So if it wasn't, if you never knew WordPress existed, what would you use today to host a very simple blog?</p>



<p>Just your own personal blog?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Uh, me right now, I probably go on product hunt and sign up for every single in DCMS on there and see your genetics. I think that's what I would do.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> So there isn't a clear second place right now for you and I didn't hear tumbler in that response either. So you probably right now, as of right now, like a tumbler as it exists right now, wouldn't be of a viable option.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Probably.</p>



<p>I don't think the draw of tumbler is. There are some software which are tools and there are some software which are platforms and I think tumblers are platform. And so the draw of tumblers is in its community, not in like how great its software is. So like, if you're asking me now, um, have no affinity to the Tonga community.</p>



<p>So there's no job for me there. And like my goal with coming out with now and blow would just be like, cause I went to ramble on. Life and stuff.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Right. It's not a social thing. It's a publishing thing, but it, it seems like to me though, um, I think you read the same article. I did think it came out in December where they profiled Matt Mullenweg and they kind of figured out like, kind of laid out a little bit of all these acquisitions that automatic has been doing for the past year or two.</p>



<p>Actually I think it may have started with tumbler is cause I can't, well, maybe it's possible. There could been a few before that. There has been acquisitions regarding note taking apps. There's been acquisitions regarding podcasts, um, players, I believe podcast players. Yes. Pocket cast and all of that. And we we've, we've seen.</p>



<p>The we've seen it. Um, hinted at that Matt is collecting like one of every type of thing it seems like. And his, and with his, um, very, very honest and straightforward and true, um, vision of things remaining open sourced. I kind of viewed tumbler as kind of like as, as two things. One is a gateway maybe to WordPress and publishing.</p>



<p>But also as kind of like the social network of his Avenger open web team. Right. Um, you know, this is, you know, of the mats open web universe, uh, type of, type of thing, the Millwall or however we want to describe it. Because it's the closest, because he has a note taking app or I, I shouldn't say he automatic acquired, so that's probably the proper way to, to phrase all this, but there automatics acquired a note taking app it's acquired a podcast, um, player and system that goes along with that, and Tumblr is a publishing system, but like you just said, there's, there's a larger social community involved with that, but it's just interesting that how Matt personally stepped up into.</p>



<p>And we'll probably find out more later.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Uh, I love that view. Like that's, that's super cool. So when you said it, um, it sounds to be totally on board. I want, I want to see how tumblr becomes the social network of the of Matt's cinematic universe.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Well, he's the collector, right? Or maybe, or he, or automatic is the collector.</p>



<p>There seems to be one of everything. Cause I don't see acquiring a great note. Like I said, there was note taking, there was podcasts there's this and there's one or two other examples too, that I'm not figuring, um, right now, buddy. So yeah, that's how I kind of viewed it. W it would be wonderful to, to see if Tumblr was that also that gateway into Gutenberg.</p>



<p>And that's why I think this block, the block discussion. Outside of WordPress brings on heavier meaning.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Um, yeah, I guess, I guess tumbler in that sense would be like a live experiment on just how interoperable is the block editor. Right? Cause it's. Fine and easy to say. Yeah. We built it with the intention of being plug and play everywhere. But then like the moment someone actually does it, they're like, no, this is way too opinionated. There are all these weird WordPress artifacts we just can't use it. Um, and so, you know, all of us being able to sit, sit on the, on the sidelines and watch as Matt tries to plug and play, um, the block editor into tumblr, that's, that's going to be interesting. Right. And you'll probably lead them to a lot of, to like realizing a lot of the things that they thought were abstract enough were not abstract enough and all of the things. So that's going to be interesting.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> And I don't want to think of what a Thanos would be doing in this analogy either one last one last thing. And, um, this week, From Dan Daveen goes by coder jerk. That's his word, not mine. And I'll put the link in here. And it was, it was, um, it was a little newsworthy. Um, it got a little tension on hacker news, complicated futility of WordPress, and he had an interesting conversation with Matt on Twitter as well.</p>



<p>Matt's been pretty much very conversational Twitter, and we'll also include that link as well as WordPress continues to grow with blocks with the full site editing. You think WordPress is trying to be too much to too many people, uh, which is what the article was, was kind of leaning towards, or is it leaving anybody behind from your perspective?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I guess the answer is yes, the answer is yes. But in the sense that, so for sure. In any healthy living, thriving community organization, group of people, there are always going to be people coming in and leaving for a million different reasons. And you know, the very reason that has caused someone to leave is probably going to be the same reason why someone decided to come in and say, oh, amazing.</p>



<p>You know, I was going to use Squarespace, but now. Um, what press has finally caught up and has this like whole drag and drop thing. Now we can use WordPress instead. Um, you know, and that could be the exact reason why someone leaves, right? Like, I don't want to ever do drag and drop. Um, the editing in the block editor, all I want to do is type text.</p>



<p>Um, so I think like just saying is good and button leaving anybody behind, um, like the answer is always going to be yes. And the answer is always going to be but. Um, and so I think it's important to take kind of a broader approach with those a broader kind of view on those things. Um, so that's like the very politically correct answer.</p>



<p>Yes. But I think it, it bears saying, because you know, it's annoying when people just approach it from one</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> perspective. Do you think newsletter glue could be possible without bots?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Uh, it would be very different. Um, it would be. It has to be more simple, I guess. Um, right now you can draw, you can do pretty much any, any template that, um, you can do it.</p>



<p>And email service provider, um, you can do with us. So, you know, that wouldn't be possible if there were no box, you wouldn't have to hardcode everything.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> So you could say the blocks kind of allowed your, that particular plugin to be as a good experience at, as, as it would be in WordPress, which is a good thing.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah, I think so. What is the thing that I find kind of interesting about what he said. How he like resents having to, he seems to want kind of like the simpler times or something like that. Right. Would you, would you agree with</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> that? I commented on this on Twitter and I said, you know, I, you know, I don't agree with every, with some of the things that he said, but I kind of get where a lot of people, especially in the last year, I think, I think it started last year when there was, uh, there was, there was discussion a lot around like developers having to learn all these new things in order to build, you know, WordPress themes and all of that. And I think it's just, we've been in this industry so long and WordPress has existed for so long that we start to start to have those good old day feelings, you know, like things were so simpler 10 years ago and it's not just WordPress either.</p>



<p>There's like the industry in general. Back in the day, you could write something, push a button, and maybe you had to wait a little while, but you would have a nice static website with movable type, you know, and the, you know, in Gatsby and all those other things are trying to bring those things, you know, trying to bring that back, but it's just, you cannot get away with now just.</p>



<p>Or very rarely get away with something that's HTML and CSS anymore. There has to be all this other stuff that you need to have. It, it's very difficult as a, as a plugin, as a single person to create a successful website or a plug-in anymore, because there's so much added complexity and you have to interface with this API and so forth.</p>



<p>And I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to WordPress, it's like, you know, you're making this more complicated than it needs to be, but at the same time, people want WordPress to be more competitive and more attractive. Yeah, like that attracts more complexity. I mean,</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> yeah. I mean, you can't have it both ways, right?</p>



<p>If, if an end user wants to use WooCommerce and wants to have 50 different plugins to optimize their a hundred million dollar e-commerce site, I think it would be hard to say, no, let's go back to the simpler times. Right. Because you know, often these things that. The tools kind of followed the money and they follow the trends.</p>



<p>And if the trends are headed towards complex e-commerce sites are complex membership sites or whatever the case, you know, um, complex LMSs then, um, learning management systems. Um, then that's. Gets built and that's where things go. And, um, yeah, I think like it's one of the nice and not so nice things about working in technology are kind of always at the forefront of things you're always having to, as a result, learn constantly.</p>



<p>Um, you know, if you don't want to do that, then go be a librarian, be a sushi chef.</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Um, I think there's always going to be a challenge for any freelancer to have this kind of, um, you know, um, you know, having to put things together, like. Learning curve type of thing. I think WordPress has gotten more complex.</p>



<p>Definitely. If I was to do just a blog, like I asked you before, if I was just, if I, if I wasn't going to use WordPress because it's familiar and I, we just wanted to do a blog, maybe I would choose something else. Something else that would be a lot easier. Like one of these smaller CMS is that, or one of those things that run on Google, um, GitHub pages.</p>



<p>Because, you know, I mean, in, in putting aside that it's not, I'm not owning it, technically it's on GitHub, but I mean, I was like, yeah, if it's just a blog and I put it up there and I can get stuff off of it, like I won't have to pay any hosting. And it's so simple, I press a button. So, but yeah, that's, that's what I would do.</p>



<p>Uh, I don't think, um, if I was just running a very simple blog with no design, I don't, I think WordPress is probably those days are far behind it. Um, and I would use WordPress just for familiarity, but that's not what is going to make WordPress. Continue to grow and mature. And I think some people want to look back on those days and go, I really wish I can just make a simple, this, this simple thing.</p>



<p>And I can't do it a WordPress anymore. And that's fine. I use whatever tools that you, that you want to use. Right. Um, but yeah, but WordPress was never going to be something you'd be able to use far much in the future of that. If it just stayed like that, that's. Two sentences. Yeah. But I always like to share people's opinions.</p>



<p>Like Dan's here about, um, you know, the complications of WordPress and, you know, you're building a website for people and not necessarily a WordPress website, you know? And there was a conversation Post Status Slack this morning about, you know, should you be giving the keys to a client, um, to mess up their own website because you can block blocks now in Gutenberg or something.</p>



<p>But anyway, but I want to thank you very much for sitting down and talking with me this your, your night and my morning.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Yeah. Thanks David. Thanks for having me. Uh, I am on Twitter way too much,</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> lady. Have you seen what I do?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> I have wished wish that I could meme as well as you. I just like don't have that spark in me.</p>



<p>I see a bit dead. I just think picture not</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> stop taking your medication for a few days and it'll just come right to you. What is your Twitter handle by the way?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> My Twitter handle is @lesley_pizza, L E S L E Y and .</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> And w if somebody wanted to check out your plugin or check out something about you, where would they go?</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Uh, they can go to newsletterglue.com. So newsletterglue.com and they can have a look at what we do and just you, right? Yeah. Re we that you write news that does in the block editor. I</p>



<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> really appreciate what you do and where you're sharing your opinions, especially in Post Status slack. So, uh, look forward to seeing you there.</p>



<p>Yeah.</p>



<p><strong>Lesley Sim:</strong> Okay.</p>



<p></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:14:58 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"WPTavern: Miniblock OOAK and Outside-the-Box Ideas in the Theme Directory";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=128728";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"https://wptavern.com/miniblock-ooak-and-outside-the-box-ideas-in-the-theme-directory";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4759:"<p class="has-drop-cap">I have been fascinated by the concept of Carolina Nymark&#8217;s <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/miniblock-ooak/">Miniblock OOAK</a> theme for a couple of weeks now. It has served as <a href="https://wptavern.com/if-this-is-modern-wordpress-theme-development-sign-me-up">inspiration for a design idea</a> I have been working on, and I am happy to see Nymark pushing boundaries in a space where few pioneers are left. Her design style always dares to take the road less traveled, a quality of which I am envious.</p>



<p>Despite loving the idea of the theme, I had yet to do a deep exploration of it until this week. It is geared toward small home businesses and hobbyists, allowing them to set up a simple landing page.</p>



<img />Header and intro sections.



<p>With a customized heading font and an on-brand color scheme, it seemed perfect for a family member who wants an online presence for an upcoming business. She is not ready to launch yet, but Miniblock OOAK would be an easy-to-use landing page to point people to her Etsy profile while having a point of contact for clients.</p>



<p>I often went with outside solutions for single-page websites in the classic era. WordPress always seemed like overkill for such projects. The software&#8217;s upkeep could be more resource-intensive than updating content. However, I have started coming around as of late. First, the prevalence of reasonably-priced managed hosting means there is less of a need to be a webmaster than even a decade ago. This has played a not-insignificant role in democratizing publishing for more and more people.</p>



<p>The second reason is WordPress 5.9&#8217;s introduction of the site editor and global styles. Small business owners can set up a single-page website without much fuss with the ideal block theme. Sure, there are still some kinks to smooth out in the user-experience department. Those are being actively worked on, and improvements have continued during the WordPress 6.0 development cycle.</p>



<p>We need more themes to create starting points for users to build their own homes on the web in this new system. Miniblock OOAK fits that mold for its niche. It is the first one-page block theme in the directory but will not be the last. With enough fellow pioneers clearing their own paths and redefining what themes are, the years to come could be a worthwhile adventure.</p>



<p>The theme is small enough that you can explore the entirety of its default design in about 10 seconds with a quick scroll down the page. It is set up for a fictional plush creator who is open for commissions and selling their wares via Etsy. It includes a quick-links menu for navigating to a bio, work showcase, and contact section.</p>



<img />Bio section.



<p>As I said, there is not much to explore with the default setup.</p>



<p>The more pieces in the design, the more of those kinks in the user experience I mentioned earlier pop up in the site editor. However, editing Miniblock OOAK feels natural. I could move around, select blocks, and customize without issue.</p>



<img />Customizing the footer area and global styles.



<p>The theme is not just a single template. Nymark has also included eight block patterns. Users can mix and match them to get the look they are after.</p>



<p>The theme uses the featured category to highlight patterns, something I have yet to see another do. I questioned the tactic at first, wondering if that was the ideal experience for users. This category pulls featured patterns from WordPress.org by default. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the decision for this specific theme. Because it is a one-page design, it makes sense that users would primarily rely on the patterns that are first provided to them.</p>



<img />Theme block patterns.



<p>I could see theme authors getting carried away with this, placing dozens of patterns into the featured category. However, it can also make finding those that the developer wants to highlight easier. Carefully curating the patterns that land there could create a welcome user experience.</p>



<p>Andrew Starr employs an alternative method of <a href="https://wptavern.com/alara-block-theme-promises-a-new-pattern-or-design-variation-every-week-for-the-next-year">showcasing patterns in his Alara theme</a>. He has an &#8220;Alara – New&#8221; category that highlights the latest designs.</p>



<p>I like the exploration with Miniblock OOAK. I especially like that the WordPress Themes Team has unlocked the shackles holding authors back, now allowing outside-the-box ideas. It was tough to break from tradition in the classic era for both themers and reviewers, but maybe this theme is the start of something new.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 10 Feb 2022 02:41:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (February 7, 2022)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/?p=93304&preview=true&preview_id=93304";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-february-7-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10994:"<p>Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers.</p>



<h2 id="h-news"><a href="http://wordpress.org/news">News</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/">A Theory of Technology Adoption in the WordPress Project</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/preliminary-roadmap-for-6-0/"></a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/the-month-in-wordpress-january-2022/">The Month in WordPress – January 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/episode-24-three-goals-in-2022/">WP Briefing Episode 24: Three Goals in 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">FSE Program Exploration: All Things Media</a></li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator logo is-style-default" />



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<div class="wp-block-columns">
<div class="wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-accessibility"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2022/01/08/accessibility-teams-goals-for-wordpress-6-0-and-beyond/">The Accessibility Team’s Goals for WordPress 6.0 and Beyond</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-community"><a href="http://make.wordpress.org/community">Community</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/08/discussion-diversity-in-wordpress-events/">Discussion: Diversity in WordPress Events</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/07/2022-wordpress-community-support-financial-update/">2022 WordPress Community Support Financial Update</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/04/upcoming-wpdiversity-events-february-2022/">Upcoming #WPDiversity Events: February 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/03/open-invitation-diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-zoom-call/">Open Invitation: Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) Volunteers Zoom Call</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/02/community-team-goals-2022-open-discussion-sessions/">Community Team Goals 2022: Open Discussion Sessions</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/10/proposal-mandatory-safety-measures-for-in-person-wordpress-events-in-2022/"></a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-hosting"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting">Hosting</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2022/01/10/wordpress-5-9-and-php-8-0-8-1/">WordPress 5.9 and PHP 8.0-8.1</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-marketing"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing">Marketing</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2021/12/01/help-contribute-to-social-media-materials-for-5-9-release/">Help contribute to social media materials for the 5.9 release</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/01/25/social-media-drafting-update-for-5-9/">Social media drafting update for 5.9</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-meta"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org./meta">Meta</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/02/10/new-wordpress-make-team-the-photo-directory/">New WordPress Make Team: the Photo Directory</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-polyglots"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/">Polyglots</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/02/08/call-for-early-testers-glotpress-feedback-feature/">Call for Early Testers: GlotPress Feedback Feature</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-plugins"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins">Plugins</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/08/plugin-review-team-7-february-2022/">Plugin Review Team: 7 February 2022</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-project"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project">Project</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/02/11/a-theory-of-technology-adoption-in-the-wordpress-project/">A Theory of Technology Adoption in the WordPress Project</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-mobile"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile">Mobile</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/01/24/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-1/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/08/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-2/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 19.2</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/08/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-2/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 19.2</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-test"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test">Test</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/">FSE Program Exploration: All Things Media</a></li></ul>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-core"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core">Core</a> </h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/core-editor-improvement-curated-experiences-with-locking-apis-theme-json/">Core Editor Improvement: Curated experiences with locking APIs & theme.json</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/cover-block-refactor-dev-note/">Cover Block Refactor Dev Note</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-5-february-2nd/">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.5? (February 2nd)</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/31/ensuring-proper-attribution-for-contributions-to-wordpress-on-github/">Ensuring Proper Attribution for Contributions to WordPress on GitHub</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/07/a-week-in-core-february-7-2022/">A Week in Core – February 7, 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/27/wordpress-5-9-simone-retrospective/">WordPress 5.9 ‘Joséphine’ Retrospective</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/proposed-improvements-to-the-core-editor-chat-agenda-and-format/">Proposed improvements to the Core Editor chat agenda and format</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/01/wp-notify-status-update/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/01/wp-notify-status-update/">WP Notify Status Update</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-cli"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli">CLI</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/2022/01/26/wp-cli-v2-6-0-release-notes/">WP-CLI v2.6.0 Release Notes</a> </li></ul>



<h2 id="h-docs"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs">Docs</a></h2>



<h4 id="h-developer">Developer: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/explanations/user-interface/design-resources/">Block Editor User Interface Resources</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/code/backward-compatibility/">Block Editor Backward Compatibility</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/explanations/user-interface/animation/">Block Editor Animation</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/code/deprecations/">Block Editor Deprications</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/explanations/user-interface/block-design/">Block Editor User Interface Design</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/pop3/last/">Pop3::last()</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/pop3/reset/">Pop3::reset()</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/data-basics/">Create your first app with Gutenberg</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-training"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training">Training</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/31/faculty-program-structure-proposal/">Faculty Program: Structure Proposal</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/17/training-team-goals-for-2022">Training Team Goals 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/02/02/february-2022-team-sprint/">February 2022 Team Sprint</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/07/social-learning-spaces-streaming-platforms/">Social Learning Spaces Streaming Platforms</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/07/learn-wordpress-version-taxonomy/">Learn WordPress Version Taxonomy</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-workshops">Workshops:</h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/template-parts/">Template Parts</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/templates/">Templates</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/making-dashboard-widgets/">Making Dashboard Widgets</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-lesson-plans">Lesson Plans:</h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/use-duotone-filters-to-change-color-effects/">Duotone Images</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/template-parts/">Template Parts</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/introduction-to-common-plugins/">Introduction to Common Plugins</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-social-learning-spaces">Social Learning Spaces:</h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/">Calendar</a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background"><a href="https://poststatus.com/"><img src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vertical-post-status-logo-250.png" alt="Post Status" class="wp-image-85823 size-full" /></a><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size" id="h-get-ready-for-remote-work">You — and <a href="https://poststatus.com/business-membership/">your whole team</a> can <a href="https://poststatus.com/post-status-membership-club/">Join Post Status</a> too!</p>



<p class="has-text-align-left has-small-font-size"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire.</strong> Read the <strong>Post Status</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter/">newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2709.png" alt="✉" class="wp-smiley" /> Listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcasts/">podcasts</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/post_status/">@Post_Status</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f426.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:56:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Courtney Robertson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"Akismet: The Best WordPress Comment Plugins Compared (2022 Review)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=2264";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"https://blog.akismet.com/2022/02/09/best-wordpress-comment-plugins-compared/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:26903:"<p>Comments can be incredibly valuable, no matter what type of WordPress site you own. They’re an opportunity to build community, answer questions, receive feedback, and even <a href="https://www.webfx.com/seo/learn/blog-comments-seo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">increase your search engine rankings</a>.</p>



<p>WordPress provides a default comment system that, in many cases, has all the features you need to accept and respond to comments. However, there may be times you want to customize the design or functionality to increase engagement or serve a specific purpose. You can do this thanks to a variety of free or premium plugins.</p>



<p>Let’s take a look at why you might want to use a plugin, how plugins compare to the default WordPress comment system, and how the most popular WordPress comment plugins stack up.</p>



<span id="more-2264"></span>



<h2 id="what-s-the-difference-between-wordpress-default-comments-and-comment-plugins">What’s the difference between WordPress default comments and comment plugins?</h2>



<p>The default WordPress comment system is simple, but functional. Readers can leave their name, email address, and website alongside their comment. Administrators can view all submitted comments and publish them or choose to send them to a spam or trash folder. People can also respond to comments to continue discussion, which are nested underneath one another.</p>



<img />



<p>The appearance of published comments vary based on your theme and any other customizations you have in place.</p>



<img />



<p>Third-party comment plugins either expand upon this base setup or replace the WordPress comment system entirely. They provide extra functionality like:</p>



<ul><li>Social login, so commenters can save a step by logging in with existing social media accounts</li><li>Extra interactions like upvotes, downvotes, and favorites</li><li>The ability for commenters to include rich media like images and videos</li><li>Incentives like badges to reward helpful comments and contributors</li><li>Social sharing buttons</li><li>Advanced moderation features to make it easier to identify and get rid of spam</li></ul>



<p>As you can see, these features can enhance your comment section and provide a more seamless, interactive experience for both site visitors and website moderators.</p>



<h2 id="pros-of-using-wordpress-default-comments-instead-of-comment-plugins">Pros of using WordPress default comments instead of comment plugins</h2>



<p>There are, of course, pros and cons to everything. Here are some benefits of using the default WordPress comment system:</p>



<h3 id="1-there-s-little-to-no-setup-required">1. There’s little to no setup required</h3>



<p>You can launch your WordPress site, post an article, and allow visitors to leave comments with absolutely no additional setup on your end. But, if you want, you can only enable comments on specific pages and posts, decide whether or not to require manual comment approval, and choose between a few other options. Either way, getting started is simple and straightforward.</p>



<h3 id="2-you-reduce-the-chances-of-theme-and-plugin-conflicts">2. You reduce the chances of theme and plugin conflicts</h3>



<p>Because the comment system is built into WordPress itself, it works with the vast majority of themes and plugins. You don’t have to worry that an update will break your comment system or cause other functionality issues.</p>



<h3 id="3-you-can-integrate-with-valuable-tools-like-akismet">3. You can integrate with valuable tools like Akismet</h3>



<p>Akismet is a leading <a href="https://akismet.com/">spam prevention plugin</a> that has blocked more than 525,000,000,000 spam comments to date. It works with the default WordPress comment system to seamlessly identify spam and automatically gets rid of the worst offenders without you ever having to deal with them.</p>



<h3 id="4-it-s-completely-free">4. It’s completely free</h3>



<p>Again, the comment system is built directly into WordPress. And since WordPress is free, it is too. That’s just one less bill you have to worry about paying each month.</p>



<h3 id="5-you-don-t-need-to-worry-about-ads">5. You don’t need to worry about ads</h3>



<p>Some third–party comment plugins place ads on websites or charge to disable those ads. These can be distracting, discourage visitors from commenting, and even direct them to competing websites.</p>



<h3 id="6-it-s-simple-and-straightforward">6. It’s simple and straightforward</h3>



<p>The design of the WordPress comment system is, well, easy. It’s super clean and straightforward. There aren’t any frills, and that can be a good thing. Visitors know exactly what steps they need to take without having to spend a lot of time figuring things out. And because it’s simple, it doesn’t weigh down or slow down your site like third-party plugins can.</p>



<h2 id="cons-of-using-wordpress-default-comments-instead-of-comment-plugins">Cons of using WordPress default comments instead of comment plugins</h2>



<p>While there are lots of benefits, there are a few cons to using the default WordPress comment system:</p>



<h3 id="1-you-may-miss-out-on-additional-features">1. You may miss out on additional features</h3>



<p>There are plenty of features included with third-party tools that may benefit your site. For example, if you have a fashion blog, it might be important for visitors to include photos of the outfits they create with your tips. If you have a news site, you might really value the ability for people to upvote or downvote comments.</p>



<h3 id="2-you-may-spend-too-much-time-managing-comments">2. You may spend too much time managing comments</h3>



<p>Without any additional <a href="https://akismet.com/">spam plugins</a>, you have to manually decide which comments to publish and which ones are spam. This can be a time-consuming and tedious process, especially since <a href="https://blog.akismet.com/2022/01/12/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/">stopping comment spam</a> is an important part of website maintenance.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<h3 id="3-you-may-lose-engagement-opportunities-especially-for-highly-interactive-sites">3. You may lose engagement opportunities, especially for highly-interactive sites</h3>



<p>While the WordPress comment system is simple and straightforward, it’s not always the best option for engagement. This is especially true if you want to really build a community around your brand with lots of interaction. Extra features like upvoting, downvoting, and favoriting comments, along with social share capabilities, can really enhance engagement.</p>



<h3 id="4-you-may-lose-commenters-if-you-require-an-account">4. You may lose commenters if you require an account</h3>



<p>You may want to require someone to create an account in order to leave a comment in order to minimize spam. However, this can also be discouraging —&nbsp;not everyone will want to create an account due to privacy concerns or time considerations. Depending on the comment plugin you choose, you can set up social login capabilities so visitors can leave a comment using an account they already have.</p>



<h3 id="5-you-don-t-have-the-ability-to-notify-people-of-responses">5. You don’t have the ability to notify people of responses</h3>



<p>By default, there isn’t a way to notify users of responses to their own comments on your WordPress site. So if you answer their question or if someone engages them in spirited debate, they’ll have no way of knowing without checking back on your site over and over. But many comment plugins include this functionality in their list of features.</p>



<h2 id="the-best-wordpress-comment-plugins">The best WordPress comment plugins</h2>



<h3 id="1-jetpack-comments">1. <a href="https://jetpack.com/features/discussion/comments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jetpack Comments</a></h3>



<p>Jetpack Comments replaces the default WordPress comment system with a simple, but enhanced, form of their own. The primary focus is on improving the user experience — it enables people to quickly log in using their social media accounts, get email notifications if someone responds to their comments, and like comments that they agree with.</p>



<p>And, since it’s part of the Jetpack plugin, you can also benefit from blogging features like post share buttons, social media publishing tools, media slideshows, and more at no cost.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of Jetpack Comments:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Social media login options via WordPress.com, Twitter, Google, and Facebook</li><li>The ability to notify people via email if someone responds to their comment</li><li>The option for respondents to like other people’s comments</li><li>Seamless integration with Akismet for comment spam moderation&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>Jetpack Comments is an excellent option for everyone, from the newest WordPress user to the most experienced site owner. Setup is as simple as installing the plugin and clicking a few buttons.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Pricing</strong>:</p>



<p>Jetpack Comments is free for all users.</p>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>The blogger who doesn’t need anything fancy but wants to make their comments a little more engaging and interactive.</p>



<h3 id="2-disqus">2. <a href="https://disqus.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Disqus</a></h3>



<p>Disqus is a popular, full-scale commenting system that provides solutions for design, engagement, and moderation. You can choose between a variety of plans to pick the features and pricing that are right for your WordPress site. And since it automatically adapts to fit your site design, you don’t have to worry about making it work with your brand.&nbsp;</p>



<p>However, it’s important to note that the free plan is relatively limited and includes third-party ads that can be distracting and lead your site visitors elsewhere.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of Disqus:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Engagement options like upvotes, downvotes, threaded replies, and favorites</li><li>Video and image support</li><li>Automated spam comment moderation based on user reputation</li><li>Star ratings for product reviews and recipes</li><li>Email subscriptions</li><li>Social login support</li><li>Asynchronous loading so as not to affect your website speed</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>The Disqus WordPress plugin has a one-click installation to replace your comment system without editing a line of code. This makes it simple for beginners to use.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<ul><li>The <strong>Basic</strong> plan is free and includes core features like discussion interaction and rich media. It also, however, will display ads on your site.</li><li>The <strong>Plus </strong>plan is $11 per month, is ad-free, and supports up to 50,000 daily pageviews.</li><li>The <strong>Pro </strong>plan is $105 per month, is ad-free, and supports up to 150,000 daily pageviews. It also includes additional features like star ratings, custom reactions, and commenter badges.</li></ul>



<p>There are also advanced <strong>Business </strong>plans available with custom pricing for enterprise-level sites and agencies.</p>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>Websites that prioritize engagement and community interaction that are either willing to show ads on their site or pay for their comment system.</p>



<h3 id="3-wpdiscuz">3. <a href="https://wpdiscuz.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wpDiscuz</a></h3>



<p>wpDiscuz is a top-rated, free comment plugin that offers paid add-ons with additional features. The basics provide everything you need to enhance your comments, from likes and star ratings to social logins and rich media. Plus, it comes with lightning fast speed and stores all comment submissions directly in your own database, rather than with a third-party tool.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And if you want even more power, choose from extensions that allow for video uploads, private comment threads, comment search, and more.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of wpDiscuz:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Inline commenting and feedback so authors can ask questions for readers directly inside blog post content</li><li>Multiple ready-to-use comment system layouts</li><li>Star ratings</li><li>Social logins</li><li>A rich editor that allows for media</li><li>reCAPTCHAs to prevent comment spam</li><li>Integration with anti-spam tool, Akismet</li><li>Comment subscriptions, so people know when someone replies to them</li><li>Likes and a comment voting system</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>wpDiscuz is relatively easy to get started with and configure. However, since there are <em>so </em>many available features, all the options could become a bit overwhelming for beginners.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<p>wpDiscuz is a free plugin that you can download from the WordPress.org library. However, there are premium add-ons ranging from $9.00 to $49.00.</p>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>Sites looking for a reliable, free comment plugin with all the bells and whistles.</p>



<h3 id="4-graphcomment">4. <a href="https://graphcomment.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GraphComment</a></h3>



<p>GraphComment is a system that really prioritizes creating a community rather than just a comment section. It offers advanced features that let readers interact with one another in real time and makes moderation easy for site owners. It also has, as its name suggests, a graphical user interface that provides a super-organized, clean look that’s perfect for large volumes of comments.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of GraphComment:</strong></p>



<ul><li>The ability for readers to like, react, and reply to individual comments</li><li>The ability for people to chat back and forth in real time</li><li>Social login</li><li>Community profiles</li><li>A notification center that alerts users to responses in real time</li><li>Embedded images, GIFs, and videos</li><li>Badges and awards for top commenters</li><li>Discussion sharing</li><li>Smart moderation tools that automatically approve comments from trusted people</li><li>Restricted comments for members</li><li>Built-in structured data markup to improve SEO rankings</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>GraphComment has straightforward implementation and setup and is a good option for users of all skill levels.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<ul><li>The <strong>Basic </strong>plan is free and includes the majority of features available.</li><li>The <strong>Starter </strong>plan is $7.00 per month and adds the ability to pin top discussions, real-time chat capabilities, comment restriction for members, and several other features. It does cap websites to 1,500,000 data loads per month.</li><li>The <strong>Pro </strong>plan is $74.00 per month, adding priority support and including up to 5,000,000 data loads per month.</li></ul>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>Membership sites and websites that want to really create a social discussion group.</p>



<h3 id="5-thrive-comments">5. <a href="https://thrivethemes.com/comments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thrive Comments</a>&nbsp;</h3>



<p>This comment plugin comes from Thrive Themes, the maker of a variety of WordPress plugins and themes. Its entire purpose is incentivising comments through upvotes, likes, badges, and more.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And since Thrive Themes focuses on marketing across many of their tools, there are lots of unique features built into their comment plugin specifically designed for conversion. For example, you can display messages to commenters after they click “submit” to show related posts, ask for social shares, and more. Or reward first-time commenters by offering them a special reward like a welcome message or coupon code.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of Thrive Comments:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Upvotes, likes, and featured comments</li><li>Badges for top commenters&nbsp;</li><li>Notifications for comment responses</li><li>Social sharing</li><li>Social login</li><li>Custom post-comment messages designed to drive engagement</li><li>Streamlined moderation tools with advanced filtering</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>Thrive Comments is easy to set up. After plugin installation, all settings are controlled using toggles and checkboxes, making things just about as simple as they can be.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<p>Thrive Comments is only available as the entire Thrive Suite package, which includes additional features that allow you to build landing pages, collect leads, create automations, and more. This suite is $19.00 per month paid annually or $30 per month paid quarterly.</p>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>Websites who also want the additional features included with the entire Thrive Suite package.</p>



<h3 id="6-social-comments-by-wpdevart">6. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/comments-from-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Social Comments by WpDevArt</a></h3>



<p>This freemium comments plugin serves a very specific purpose: integrating your WordPress site with Facebook comments. Website visitors can respond to your blog posts either directly on your site or on Facebook, which is a great way to drive Facebook followers to your website and vice versa. However, the biggest downside is that all comments are stored on Facebook rather than in your database.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of Social Comments by WpDevArt:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Social login through Facebook</li><li>The ability to customize basic design attributes like font color and size</li><li>The capabilities that come with Facebook, including likes and media support</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>Setup is relatively simple, but those inexperienced with Facebook Business may find it difficult to set up the app ID required for integration.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<ul><li>The <strong>Free </strong>version has no cost and includes all major functionality.</li><li>The <strong>Pro </strong>version is $10 for one site and includes premium support, additional design options, and animation effects.</li></ul>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>A website that specifically wants to integrate Facebook comments, such as a blogger with a thriving Facebook following</p>



<h3 id="7-replybox">7. <a href="https://getreplybox.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ReplyBox</a></h3>



<p>ReplyBox is a comment system that was built for ultimate privacy. So you won’t have to worry about ads, affiliate links, or tracking, which is a privacy win for both you and your site visitors.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But it’s also more than that. It’s super lightweight in code and design, so it’ll look simple and beautiful on your site without slowing things down. At the same time, it provides features like response notifications, social login, and emoji responses.</p>



<img />



<p><strong>Key features of ReplyBox:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Super lightweight, agile code for a speedy site</li><li>A minimalist, mobile-friendly design</li><li>Akismet integration to prevent spam</li><li>Markdown formatting that allows for links, lists, quotes, emojis, and code</li><li>Comment response notifications</li><li>Social login</li></ul>



<p><strong>Ease of use:</strong></p>



<p>Once the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/replybox" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ReplyBox WordPress plugin</a> is installed, it automatically replaces the default comment system so nothing else is required on your end.</p>



<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>



<ul><li>The <strong>20,000 </strong>plan is $6.00 a month and includes support for up to 20,000 monthly pageviews.</li><li>The <strong>100,000 </strong>plan is $16.00 a month and includes support for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews.</li><li>The <strong>250,000 </strong>plan is $26.00 a month and includes support for up to 250,000 monthly pageviews.</li></ul>



<p><strong>Great for:</strong></p>



<p>Sites who want a super lightweight, beautiful comment system that focuses on privacy.</p>



<h2 id="comments-are-the-gateway-to-community">Comments are the gateway to community</h2>



<p>It’s no surprise that comments can be an incredibly effective way to build community for the right brand. And while the default WordPress comment system is simple and straightforward —&nbsp;the perfect option for many websites —&nbsp;there are cases in which you may want to expand upon it.</p>



<p>That’s where WordPress comment plugins come in. They provide the opportunity to add features that encourage interaction — upvotes and downvotes, likes, badges, social login, etc. —&nbsp;and make moderation easier.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The best WordPress comment system is the one that meets your specific needs. But if you’re looking for a few small enhancements, we recommend going with Jetpack Comments. If you want to build a membership site or an advanced social commenting system, give GraphComment a go. And if you specifically want to integrate with Facebook, Social Comments by WpDevArt is going to be your best bet.</p>



<p>No matter which plugin you choose, have fun with it! Get involved, respond to comments quickly and professionally, and keep things safe with <a href="https://akismet.com/">WordPress spam prevention</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 id="wordpress-comment-faqs">WordPress comment FAQs</h2>



<h3 id="should-i-enable-comments-on-my-wordpress-site">Should I enable comments on my WordPress site?</h3>



<p>There are both pros and cons to enabling WordPress comments and the decision will be unique to each individual site. The benefits include:</p>



<ul><li>Building a dedicated and engaged community</li><li>Receiving valuable feedback</li><li>Increasing views and conversions</li><li>Improving search engine rankings</li></ul>



<p>However, the downsides include:</p>



<ul><li>Spending a lot of time moderating comments&nbsp;</li><li>Attracting unwanted spam</li><li>Negatively affecting your brand (in the case of negative comments)</li></ul>



<h3 id="how-can-i-customize-the-default-wordpress-comment-system">How can I customize the default WordPress comment system?</h3>



<p>By going to <strong>Settings → Discussion </strong>in your WordPress dashboard, you can implement options like:</p>



<ul><li>Requiring comment authors to include their name and email address</li><li>Requiring people to log in to comment</li><li>Automatically closing comments after a certain period of time</li><li>Enabling nested comments, which tucks replies underneath the comment they’re related to</li><li>Changing the order in which comments are displayed</li></ul>



<p>There, you can also set options for moderation, including admin emails and blocked comments.</p>



<p>If you’re a developer or have experience with code, you can also use CSS to change elements like font size and submit button color. For more advanced functionality changes —<a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/adding-custom-fields-in-wordpress-comment-form/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;like adding and removing fields</a> — you can modify your child theme’s <em>functions.php </em>file.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Or, you can use the free <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-comment-fields/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WP Comment Fields</a> plugin to drag and drop text boxes, radio buttons, and select inputs to your comment form.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 id="how-can-i-make-comments-more-engaging">How can I make comments more engaging?</h3>



<p>There are a number of ways you can make your WordPress comment section more engaging, including introducing the idea of gamification — adding fun rewards into the process. For a comment section, this could look like including downvotes, upvotes, and likes. You could also get a little more advanced with badges, featured comments, and prizes for the most-liked commenters.</p>



<p>Another way to make comments more engaging is to make them easier to interact with. Nest comment responses, turn on reply notifications, and let visitors easily log in using social media accounts they already have.</p>



<h3 id="how-can-i-prevent-wordpress-comment-spam">How can I prevent WordPress comment spam?</h3>



<p><a href="https://blog.akismet.com/2022/01/12/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/">Preventing comment spam</a> is an important part of running a community or blog. It protects your reputation, keeps your site safe, and helps your visitors not fall prey to the scams of malicious actors. Here are just a few ways you can prevent spam:</p>



<ul><li>Harden your WordPress discussion settings, like automatically blocking comments that include a link.</li><li>Use a <a href="https://akismet.com/">WordPress anti-spam plugin</a> to automatically filter out spam comments. This is your best defense against spammers.</li><li>Require user registration before people can comment. Of course, this can also be a deterrent depending on your specific audience.</li><li><a href="https://blog.akismet.com/2021/12/23/do-captcha-and-recaptcha-protect-wordpress-sites-from-bots/">Add a CAPTCHA</a> to your comment section to prevent spam from bots.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h3 id="do-third-party-comment-tools-store-my-comments-in-their-database-or-mine">Do third-party comment tools store my comments in their database or mine?</h3>



<p>It depends on the tool you choose. Some keep your comments on their own platform, which can make things difficult if you ever want to use another plugin or revert back to the WordPress default comment system. Others store comments in your WordPress database, which you can back up and save yourself.</p>



<h3 id="what-should-i-look-for-in-a-wordpress-comment-plugin">What should I look for in a WordPress comment plugin?</h3>



<p>Aside from considering your budget and functionality needs, look for:</p>



<ul><li>Good reviews. These are often the best way to judge quality.</li><li>Regular updates for security and functionality.</li><li>Popularity. Are there a good number of people using the plugin?</li><li>Great support. Are there forums available? If it’s a premium plugin, is there a ticket system or live chat option?</li><li>Integration with plugins you’re already using. If you have an eCommerce store, for example, does it work with WooCommerce? If you run forums, does it work with your forum tool?</li></ul>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:36:20 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Simon Keating";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"WPTavern: #13 – Chris Lubkert and Rich Tabor on Building Sites With Extendify";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=129635";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/13-chris-lubkert-and-rich-tabor-on-building-sites-with-extendify";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43267:"<h2 id="about-this-episode">About this episode.</h2>



<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://twitter.com/chrislubkert">Chris Lubkert</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/richard_tabor">Rich Tabor</a>, from <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/extendify/">Extendify</a>. Extendify is a library of block patterns and full page layouts which you can use inside of the Block Editor.</p>



<p>Chris and Rich, as you will hear, decided a few years ago that they were going to dedicate themselves to working with blocks. They each had their own projects, but Rich recently joined the team because his vision aligned well with Chris’.</p>



<p>That vision is to provide designs which you can import directly into WordPress with just a few clicks. From there you can edit them in your own way.</p>



<p>Although it’s become more common to use blocks, a few years ago, the future of blocks, and whether or not they would be widely adopted, was still in doubt. So it was a brave move at the time to focus entirely on blocks.</p>



<p>Whilst the promise of easy website creation is broadly the goal of blocks, they’re not always easy to create and style. And that’s where Extendify comes in with their library of designs which all work with core WordPress blocks. You pick a design, and it’s immediately pulled into your site and is editable.</p>



<p>And that’s the thrust of the podcast today. What is Extendify? How does it work? What can you achieve with it? What do they plan to build in the future?</p>



<p>If you’d like to find out more you can read Sarah Gooding’s article entitled &#8211;  <a href="https://wptavern.com/extendify-launches-new-pattern-library-plugin">Extendify Launches New Pattern Library Plugin</a>.</p>



Transcript<div>
<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the themes, and in this case, the blocks and patterns. I would encourage you to subscribe to the podcast so you can get all the episodes automatically each and every week.</p>



<p>You can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or go to WP tavern dot com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. You can also copy and paste that URL into most podcast players. I&#8217;d really like to hear from anyone out there who would like to come on the podcast and talk about whatever it is that you do within WordPress.</p>



<p>It might be that you&#8217;re a developer, a WordPress organizer, a contributor, a designer. If it&#8217;s about WordPress, I&#8217;m keen to hear from you, and hopefully get you on the show. Head over to WP tavern dot com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the contact form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today, we have Chris Lubkert and Rich Tabor from Extendify. Extendify is a library of block patterns and full page layouts, which you can use inside of the block editor. Chris and Rich, as you will hear, decided a few years ago that they were going to dedicate themselves to working with blocks. They each had their own projects, but Rich recently joined the team because his vision aligned well with Chris&#8217;s. That vision is to provide designs, which you can import directly into WordPress with just a few clicks. And from there you can edit them in your own way.</p>



<p>Although it&#8217;s become more common to use blocks, a few years ago, the future of blocks and whether or not they would be widely adopted was still in doubt. So it was a brave move at the time to focus entirely on blocks. Whilst the promise of easy website creation is broadly the goal of blocks, they&#8217;re not always easy to create and style. And that&#8217;s where Extendify comes in with their library of designs, which all work with the core WordPress blocks. You can pick a design and it&#8217;s immediately pulled into your site and is editable.</p>



<p>And that&#8217;s the thrust of the podcast today. What is Extendify? How does it work? What can you achieve with it? And what do they plan to do in the future?</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links in the show notes. Head over to WP tavern dot com forward slash podcast. And look for episode number 13.</p>



<p>And so without further delay, I bring you, Chris Lubkert and Rich Tabor.</p>



<p>[00:03:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I am joined on the podcast today by Chris Lubkert and Rich Tabor. Hiya guys.</p>



<p>[00:03:26] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Hey.</p>



<p>[00:03:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Very nice to connect with you. We&#8217;re here today to talk about blocks. Chris and Rich have an interesting product, which I&#8217;m sure many of you will have come across. If you haven&#8217;t, probably the best thing to do is to pause the podcast and head over to Extendify dot com E X T E N D I F Y dot com. Familiarize yourself with that and then return here, and you will then know what we&#8217;re talking about. Guys, who&#8217;s behind this, which of you two gets the credit?</p>



<p>[00:03:57] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Rich gets all the credit for all the goodness that&#8217;s out there. Rich joined us several months ago and it&#8217;s been a huge benefit to our company and the product.</p>



<p>[00:04:06] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> I don&#8217;t know, Chris, I give you guys a lot of credit getting it rolling. I just came in and fine tuned a few things at the end there. But yeah, we&#8217;ve got an awesome team behind us, that&#8217;s really helping drive this thing through.</p>



<p>[00:04:16] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, right at the start of the podcast think is quite a nice idea if we familiarize ourselves with whoever&#8217;s on the show. So I&#8217;m going to ask you in turn, perhaps if we start with Chris and then we go to Rich, do you want to just give us a little bit of a background story, who you are, where you&#8217;ve come from, what your relationship is with WordPress, how you&#8217;ve ended up being involved with blocks at all.</p>



<p>[00:04:41] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Sure. Yeah. I started my, most of my career and experience has been from outside of the WordPress ecosystem. So my first deep dive into WordPress was joining Automattic and working on acquisitions and investments there, in addition to like internal projects to help the different divisions of the business grow. And that&#8217;s where, along with my co-founder Arthur Grabowski, we saw a huge opportunity in the space. WordPress is growing dramatically, as we all know, continues to grow, accelerate in many ways in it&#8217;s growth. But the experience for many users is still hard. And so with Gutenberg and full site editing on the horizon, we saw an opportunity to create an experience layer on top of that, that we were excited to go out and go pursue.</p>



<p>[00:05:25] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> So I&#8217;m Rich Tabor. My career in WordPress started with designing landing pages for a local marketing firm. And I quickly wanted to learn how to better design for them by understanding the limitations of the code of the engineering behind the scenes in WordPress. So that&#8217;s how I leaned into WordPress themes.</p>



<p>I ran a shop called Theme Beans for a number of years. Did a lot of minimal type themes for portfolios for photographers, more creative type themes. It was a great time. I soon found the whisper of Gutenberg at one of the WordCamps, and, at first I dismissed it like everyone else.</p>



<p>But I went home and did some research and I&#8217;m like I need to try building some of these block things. And I tried building a gallery block. I remember the very first block I tried building. And it was a miserable failure. I didn&#8217;t know. I didn&#8217;t know anything. Yeah, it was bad. It was so frustrating. I didn&#8217;t understand any of the concepts that I was trying to roll with. But you know, over time I was very curious and I knew that I was pretty confident that this would be the future of WordPress. So much was being invested by the community that I saw the future. I saw that this type of editing is needed in WordPress and it really is needed to empower folks to publish online and in an open source fashion, I knew it was the right direction. So I leaned in, I built some blocks. I released a few here and there eventually landed on Co Blocks and ran that up with Jeffrey Caradang, and that was a lot of fun. We learned a lot and got to experience that road together. Sold that to GoDaddy, and we grew to over 500,000 active installs I think as of a couple days ago, at least. It&#8217;s been a wildride. I learned so much at GoDaddy, leading products there on the WordPress experience team and just knew from the inside out, the struggles that folks were seeing with Gutenberg that they&#8217;re experiencing and in blocks or we&#8217;re solving a big need and they&#8217;re definitely necessary for this next evolution of WordPress. But experience-wise, there&#8217;s just so much more that we could do. And that&#8217;s one of the main reasons I came over to Extendify, like they were on the forefront of patterns and layouts and this experience layer on top of Gutenberg. And I knew I would fit right in and it&#8217;s working out well. It&#8217;s amazing and we&#8217;re rocking online and doing some really incredible things.</p>



<p>[00:07:38] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s a curious moment, like a fork in the road, almost to some extent, because as you&#8217;ve described, you have a rich history of designing things on top of WordPress to make them look nice. And yet it was incredibly difficult and frustrating. And so I feel that tools like Extendify are perfectly positioned really in a way, because this new paradigm of creating things, but we&#8217;ve also got a technical debt of it being really difficult to create these things all on your own.</p>



<p>Who is part of the team? I mean, I&#8217;ve seen names being announced, and I don&#8217;t know if you&#8217;ve had much in terms of churn or growth. Who&#8217;s currently, as we&#8217;re speaking early February, 2022, who&#8217;s part of the Extendify team?</p>



<p>[00:08:20] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> I started Extendify with my co-founder Arthur Grabowski. The two of us we met at Automattic and saw the opportunity and decided to go start a business around it and to support the WordPress experience for SMBs specifically, and Rich joined us leading product. So Rich is really the brains and the power behind a lot of the quality experiences that people see. And our team is six people total right now, but we also work with a few freelancers to help support us in various ways as well.</p>



<p>[00:08:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So Extendify is a suite of blocks. I&#8217;m going to say, but you&#8217;ll probably have more to add than that. What&#8217;s the promise that you&#8217;re bringing? What is it that makes you different, because I&#8217;m sure in many ways, some of the things that you&#8217;re bringing to the table could be achieved by mere mortals like me with enough time. But I guess the idea is that you&#8217;re short circuiting the amount of time it takes to make websites beautiful. Is that essentially what you&#8217;re trying to do, make it easy for people to create nice, effective, beautiful websites</p>



<p>[00:09:25] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah, WordPress is hard. WordPress is challenging, even for a seasoned pro to go in and create, even within Gutenberg, it takes a lot of time and energy, and you really have to understand what&#8217;s going on, especially around the group block and the columns block and how those interact with rows and all the new stuff that WordPress is adding every single year.</p>



<p>So what we&#8217;re doing is building a suite of patterns and full-page layouts to start, that help you get to, like you said, a beautiful website fast. And it&#8217;s not just beautiful, but also very resourceful, like there&#8217;s jobs to be done that you need help getting done, and we&#8217;re here to fill that gap. That&#8217;s where we&#8217;re targeting right now.</p>



<p>[00:10:00] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> I&#8217;d say we want it to be beautiful and effective for whatever someone&#8217;s looking to accomplish. Gutenberg, full site editing. It brings a lot of powerful tools to the WordPress experience that didn&#8217;t exist years ago. And our purpose is to bring an experience layer on top of that, that makes it easy for, whether it&#8217;s a DIY user building a site for themselves, or a builder freelancer building sites for clients. It makes it easier for them leverage the power of these new tools to create both beautiful and effective sites.</p>



<p>[00:10:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> One of things which we&#8217;ve seen in the block space, there&#8217;s lots of different companies out there who are offering different ways of achieving the same kind of goal. In some cases, they are sticking with Core blocks and allowing you to modify your designs simply with code blocks. In other cases, they&#8217;re bringing along there own proprietary blocks, which you need in order to manage those pages and the layouts that they create. My understanding is that you&#8217;re all in on your designs with Core blocks, if that&#8217;s not true, do correct me. But if that&#8217;s true, why did you go with that as opposed to building out your own blocks to achieve possibly different things.</p>



<p>[00:11:10] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah. You know, there&#8217;s a few key reasons. I would say number one is sustainability. So when we&#8217;re creating these patterns and you add them to your site you don&#8217;t have any other extraneous resources that you have to maintain or update or even install right off the bat. Like you get, one-click, instant, something beautiful and resourceful added to your page, instead of having to follow through a bunch of different steps.</p>



<p>And we found that that was a very important for the end user, but also for our team. Like we know creating blocks is getting easier every couple of weeks or so with the new create block package and whatnot, but still maintaining those and adding the new features that Core is adding on top of its own blocks is something that&#8217;s an overhead that we don&#8217;t necessarily want to take hold of ourselves.</p>



<p>And so, you know, it&#8217;s a, win-win, the end users get the latest, that Core has to offer and their blocks that they added to their page last month, still inherent all the new stuff whenever they updated their website. It&#8217;s just practice that we found to be very, very resourceful on our end, and we really are 100% in on this front.</p>



<p>[00:12:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In terms of the feature set that Core brings. Have there been any limitations? Have there been moments where you had wished that you could do something with Core blocks, but it turned out that, as yet, that was not possible and you would need to go elsewhere and maybe download some sort of other block pack because, I have found certain things difficult to create and third-party solutions have made it trivially easy to create in terms of putting things over here and things onto here and grids and layouts and all of that stuff. Has there been any limitations, are there designs that you wished you could achieve that you simply can&#8217;t at the moment or have you found a way around that.</p>



<p>[00:12:52] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> So Nathan, I think you are correct that in the short term, it would be easier for us to have just created our own suite of blocks and only use those and built any functionality we needed. And had that requirement for users that they had our blocks, our own block collection installed. But we think that&#8217;s to the detriment of the user. The world doesn&#8217;t need 28 different image blocks out there. There&#8217;s a lot of benefit to sticking with Core native blocks, as much as possible. Someone doesn&#8217;t accidentally uninstall some block collection and their whole site looks broken. Or something isn&#8217;t supported anymore, and they need to find a new solution and recreate a lot of pages that they&#8217;ve created before, because XYZ block collection, an abandoned project that&#8217;s not maintained, not secure, whatever. So, in many ways it would be easier for us to create our own blocks, but we took the hard challenge of how do we create beautiful, adaptive designs and layouts using the Core blocks whenever possible.</p>



<p>[00:13:51] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah, and, you know, on top of that, when we do come up with some different feature sets or ideas that we&#8217;re trying to flex and in some of our patterns and layouts. We take those to Core. We put an issue on Github. As a company we do a five for the future contribution every month, and we make sure that we contribute on the points that, a kind of tick the boxes that we think are important for Gutenberg users as a whole, but also, there&#8217;s things that we know would be fun to add, different type of features to extend the image block, additional color picker options. Like, there&#8217;s different things that we kind of hone in on as a company that we want to focus on and we contribute those back to Core. And I think that&#8217;s probably the most effective way to push change so that we can really not just make, the folks that are using Extendify have a better experience, but folks using WordPress have a better experience with Gutenberg.</p>



<p>[00:14:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. Rich, I&#8217;m going to quote you at yourself. This is coming from Sarah Gooding&#8217;s article. She produced a piece over on the Tavern called Extendify launches new pattern library plugin. And in that piece you said all of our partners and layouts are built completely with Core blocks, infused with a clever utility design system.</p>



<p>So I can more or less guarantee, you know what the next question is? What is the clever utility design system? What&#8217;s going on under the hood there that you&#8217;ve cleverly designed.</p>



<p>[00:15:07] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah. So our utility styles are, I would say they&#8217;re essentially the glue between where we want Gutenberg to be extended to that once Core adapts and grows whenever new WordPress releases come out to where we are today. So, we&#8217;re adding some utilities that are class-based kind of like tailwind CSS. Where we can quickly add CSS grid support or Flexbox support and do some offset grids or make something very unique. While still maintaining a layer of the Core blocks, with our utility styles on top of that. So essentially you&#8217;re getting the best of both worlds. I think eventually we won&#8217;t need the utility styles. I think for now it is our glue till we get to where Core is going to be, maybe a year or two down the road, I think we&#8217;ll be at a very cool place in WordPress where we can really extend the Core experience and in a fashion that makes us do all these unique things that we&#8217;re doing within our library, but within Core. But for now they&#8217;re necessary to ensure the structure of these patterns and come up with some really creative looks.</p>



<p>[00:16:05] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;m just going to put Extendify over on one side for a moment, and I&#8217;m just going to talk about blocks and the WordPress block landscape at the moment. If we rewind a few years, nobody had used the block at all. They didn&#8217;t exist, and suddenly they came WordPress 5.0, we had the promise of Gutenberg. It was pretty basic at the time, but as things have matured, more and more people have started to use it. And I just wanted to have a little bit of a conversation about how you feel this ecosystem is growing. From somebody that obsesses about WordPress, like I imagined the three of us do. We&#8217;re immersed in this all the time, and so we see people talking about it and it&#8217;s all very relevant, but I am not working for a company that are trying to push the boundaries with blocks. So my question to both of you is do you see the sea change happening? Is there a general industry move in WordPress towards blocks? Is this slow? Is it steady or is it at breakneck speed? What&#8217;s really happening? And I guess you&#8217;re positioned perfectly because you&#8217;ve got a company, and you can see the numbers going through your checkout each day. So that&#8217;s my question really. How is this environment, the block environment, how is it all maturing?</p>



<p>[00:17:21] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> What&#8217;s interesting Nathan is blocks are relatively new to WordPress, right? It&#8217;s been a few years and they&#8217;ve been gaining adoption, but it&#8217;s not a new paradigm when it comes to site creation or creating layouts and pages and things. So a block-based editing experience. I think it&#8217;s obvious to most of us in terms of what the experience should be, and it&#8217;s taken several different iterations to get there and to continue to make them progress, and we&#8217;re still not there yet, there&#8217;s still a lot of exciting features and functionality on the horizon. But that&#8217;s kinda how I think about blocks. And even early on, this is the question of, would they be adopted? It was obvious that they would, because this is a paradigm that&#8217;s used in many different situations and is clearly better than the alternative that we had at the time, so. There&#8217;s a transition period as functionality catches up. People will become more comfortable with it and build solutions on top of it. Like we have with Extendify, that extend the Core functionality, pun intended there. But yeah, it&#8217;s a natural evolution and one that&#8217;s exciting to be a part of and we&#8217;re excited to have it continue progressing.</p>



<p>[00:18:23] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> What about you Rich, are you bullish about the future? Are there things on the horizon which you can see and think, wow, we&#8217;re just scratching the surface here. Because I imagine a lot of the listeners are content to use blocks. Maybe they&#8217;re not, maybe they&#8217;re really dead set against it, but, I know what I can do with them right now, but I&#8217;m pretty sure that in, two years time I&#8217;ll be able to do a lot more, and somebody like you probably knows a lot more about that than I do.</p>



<p>[00:18:47] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> I mean it&#8217;s no secret. I&#8217;m pretty bullish about Gutenberg and blocks and full site editing and WordPress in general. Blocks are interesting. You know, they started a couple years ago, very small. Like my first block, I think was probably a block that you could just highlight text with. It was just text with a background color.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s been a couple of years now, blocks are getting more interesting. We&#8217;re seeing some new chart type blocks where you can create graphical representations of data in such, I think, blocks that are more oriented towards actual jobs that are being done. It&#8217;s something that Chris and I, and the team talk about a lot is, getting the jobs to be done. And then, and those kinds of blocks are going to be more interesting and more prevalent, I think in the near future. But at the end of the day, a block is just one component of your site. It&#8217;s not the whole experience, you know. Extendify we&#8217;re really leaning in on this holistic site building experience, we&#8217;re leaning in on full site editing. Even WordPress is leaning more in that direction. And it&#8217;s the full site editing is coming to fruition, and block themes are coming around.</p>



<p>So I think we really are just scratching the surface of what WordPress is going to look and feel like in, you know, three years, four years even, I think there&#8217;s a lot of change and a lot of progress, and I&#8217;m super stoked about the direction WordPress is going and just this time to be in the midst of it all. I think we&#8217;re just incredibly blessed to be in the midst of this revolution of Gutenberg and WordPress, and I&#8217;m just thrilled.</p>



<p>[00:20:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it really is very exciting times. I&#8217;m kind of imagining a future where we have app like functionality in blocks and they can achieve incredibly complex things. All you have to do is click a button and drag in a block, and it will do those incredibly complicated things. And it seems very exciting to me.</p>



<p>The next question really is all about Extendify solution and how we might interact with that within a WordPress install. So forgive me for asking a set of very basic questions because we&#8217;re on the outside and you obviously work in this every day. It&#8217;s pretty trivial what I&#8217;m going to ask, but how do we get Extendify how does that become part of our WordPress website? What&#8217;s the process</p>



<p>[00:20:45] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Yeah, so we launched a standalone plugin just recently. That&#8217;s the easiest way for users to get access to the full Extendify library of patterns and full page layouts, search for Extendify in the plugin directory. You&#8217;ll find it there and can get access to it. Free users, everyone can get 10 imports of patterns or layouts, the base patterns or layouts each month. So they can continue using it, and testing it out and seeing how it fits within their workflow. And we have a paid subscription that gives users access to pro patterns, which is a premium set of patterns that we have, and unlimited usage of the entire library as well. That&#8217;s how people can check out Extendify.</p>



<p>[00:21:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You have a very simplified pricing structure. Sign up for the pro and you&#8217;re good to go. Was there a sort of deliberate attempt to keep it more or less free of tears? You&#8217;ve got one site license, which is called pro and then you&#8217;ve got pro on limited where it&#8217;s everything.</p>



<p>I was really curious about that because we often see a table of pricing and there&#8217;s maybe seven or eight different rows, potentially. You&#8217;ve just gone for free, pro unlimited. And the pro unlimited is limitless. And the pro is just one site, unlimited, but for that one site. That&#8217;s curious pricing. Just fascinating. Who came down on that?</p>



<p>[00:22:04] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> We want to become an indispensable tool for anyone building sites on WordPress, whether it&#8217;s someone doing it for themselves, creating a site that they want to create for themselves or building sites on behalf of clients and putting both beautiful and effective and well-built products out there. So we did want to keep it simple, especially at the start we wanted people using the product. Want people using it for free and sharing their feedback with us. And we want people using it on multiple sites and sharing that feedback with us and getting that constant loop of information. That&#8217;s how we improve. So we consider ourselves early, still, you know, we&#8217;ve been at it for a little while, but there&#8217;s a long road ahead of us and a lot of exciting stuff we wanted to do. And that really relies on people using the product and us getting that information back from them. We really prioritize that element of it, having people use the product and us learning from it so that we can continue building something better and better meeting the needs of our users.</p>



<p>[00:22:57] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So returning then to how we actually interact with it. We install the plugin. My understanding is you just drop in an API key or something like that. It&#8217;s basically setting less there&#8217;s not a lot to configure. You install it, show it your license key, and everything&#8217;s just right there without you having to think. Am I right in that?</p>



<p>[00:23:15] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> You don&#8217;t even need a license key if you&#8217;re just using the free version so everyone can use it, without registering and try it out. We want people to try it out and see how it works. And again, going back to the feedback, share what they&#8217;ve found with us and share what they&#8217;d love to see more of with us. We always love to get that feedback. But yeah, once you had your license key, if you&#8217;re a paid subscriber, then that unlocks the unlimited access to the library and you&#8217;re good to go. So, in a lot of ways, it is very simple in terms of how the user interacts with it.</p>



<p>I think one thing that&#8217;s cool and I would encourage people to try is switching their theme, and switching their styles of their site and see how the library, the patterns, the layouts, all adapt to that. That&#8217;s where we don&#8217;t have settings in the library. You don&#8217;t need to pick a primary color and set up your preferred font, et cetera, everything adapts to whichever theme you&#8217;re using.</p>



<p>And we try to make it so that it should just work for people. And it&#8217;s, easier said than done but we work hard to make sure it works well across a variety of different setups and installs.</p>



<p>[00:24:14] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think the promise of these kinds of tools is so remarkable. The actuality, and I can speak from deep personal experience. I have the design skills of a potato. I&#8217;m prodigiously bad at making things look good. And so the idea of being able to click something, import a design really straightforwardly is brilliant. My problems begin from that moment on. In that I wish to modify things and to change things and make it suit the branding of the website. I might want to just move this left a little bit or put some rounded corners on there.</p>



<p>Can we get into that a little bit, talk about how easy it is to customize, and I do want you to be as brutally honest with yourselves as you can be here, you know, is it a easy system to work with? And of course, and I mean, Gutenberg your blocks and patterns just come in and you are left with the design system that Gutenberg has got at the moment. Does it have limitations or are you happy to say yep, try this out, you&#8217;ll be able to achieve everything.</p>



<p>[00:25:13] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah, I&#8217;ll take this one. We mentioned earlier about our utility style system. So that coupled with, some creative pattern building, lets our library adapt to your themes styles, pretty well, like Chris hinted at it&#8217;s a lot of work. It was a very huge challenge to tackle and something we&#8217;re still working at to improve, but for the most part, when you open up the library and added a full page layout, for example, it should adapt to your site. My goal when building this out was if you want to add a landing page to your site, you can go through this library, pick your favorite one, add it, and there just adapt it to your site. You don&#8217;t have to go in and remove all the wild colors that some of these other solutions out there will hard-code into their styles. And it kind of adapts and looks great right out of the bat. The one thing, going in on Core blocks, that can get challenging is we are relying a little bit more on what Gutenberg provides. 5.9 has added whole lot of different functionality, especially around, doing border radiuses or borders around group blocks and different types of topography settings. And I think Cora will continue to move down that direction. But for the meantime, some of those things are a little janky right now, but like I mentioned earlier, when we find those things, we tackle it, we go into Core, we write the issues and if we can, we put up the PR to try to help resolve that.</p>



<p>[00:26:30] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Yeah we don&#8217;t lock anything down, but our goal is that you Nathan, if you add a pattern to an existing site that you have, that you&#8217;re happy with the style and the branding, you don&#8217;t have to do those modifications. You don&#8217;t have to figure out what size the font should be. And, if it should be a rounded corner or not, or what color the button should be, you shouldn&#8217;t have to do those tasks every time.</p>



<p>You&#8217;re more than welcome to. You can certainly use, Extendify and create a terribly ugly site if you try hard enough. We don&#8217;t stop anything there but the idea is that you shouldn&#8217;t have to.</p>



<p>[00:27:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> With the library as it is at the moment. What&#8217;s the taxonomy going on there? How are we sort of navigating because I can see that currently this number, I&#8217;m sure is subject to change probably in an upward direction. Currently there are 1,400 plus site patterns. 70 plus full page layouts. That&#8217;s a lot, that&#8217;s a lot to, for me to consume. How do you make it easy for me to discover and browse the patterns and libraries and all of the things that you&#8217;ve got in there?</p>



<p>[00:27:31] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> As of right now, so we&#8217;ve got two different key mechanisms to filter down. So the first is your site type. Basically selecting the type of site you&#8217;re building, the industry that you&#8217;re building in. And this is unique to what we&#8217;re building, but essentially you can say yeah, I&#8217;m building a gym website or a restaurant website and right out of the gate, you&#8217;ll have all the patterns filtered to support those industries the best. You&#8217;ll have copy, a preset for those industries and you&#8217;ll have images that are also preset. So we&#8217;re also attacking the speed of getting to your, getting your site published even faster by doing that, so you&#8217;re not just having place a loader imagery, if you don&#8217;t want it. Which is pretty cool, and also very challenging thing that we accomplished. And the second piece is we do have the typical content type categories. So you can add hero areas or headlines, texts, different galleries. We have those kind of filters in place. We&#8217;re experimenting with a few other mechanisms to help filter. And as we add more patterns, I&#8217;m sure we&#8217;ll figure out a few other clever solutions as well.</p>



<p>[00:28:33] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So you were just saying there, forgive me if I&#8217;ve misunderstood, but you were saying that, I think that the images that you bring in as placeholders for want of a better word, not placeholders, but something which is already in situ, they can remain on the site. We&#8217;re allowed to publish those to the web? We have the license for that?</p>



<p>[00:28:51] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah. So we&#8217;ve actually curated a few collections of different site industries behind the scenes that are pulled from Unsplash. So those are all available open for anyone to use. Yeah.</p>



<p>[00:29:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In terms of the growth of the product, you clearly, your invested in this, you&#8217;re enjoying the experience, early days. The company is obviously growing. You&#8217;ve talked about the staff and whatnot. The roadmap for the future will be something I&#8217;d like to talk about.</p>



<p>But just before that, I don&#8217;t want you to feel that you need to throw numbers at me here, but is Extendify turning out to be a successful business? And the reason I&#8217;m asking that is not so that you can bare your soul simply that people, if they&#8217;re going to throw their weight behind this and build 10, 15, 20, a hundred client sites, they want to know you&#8217;re going to be around.</p>



<p>[00:29:40] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Yeah one thing we have not talked about. When we started out building Extendify, we raised some outside funding and outside capital from investors, both in and outside of the WordPress space to support what we were building. We wanted to make sure that we were able to build a real business behind this and not have it be a side project that was at risk of not continuing.</p>



<p>So we have funding to do that. We have a world-class team that we&#8217;re hiring for actually. So if anyone is interested in, in what we&#8217;re doing and passionate about the future of Gutenberg and WordPress, we&#8217;d love to, to talk to you. But Extendify is growing really well. If anything, we&#8217;re trying to increase our focus and continue to hire and build a team that can take us forward to where we wanna be.</p>



<p>[00:30:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay. In terms of the roadmap for the feature set, and what have you, do you have any blue sky thinking? Is there anything that you would like to achieve in the near term? And again, it comes back to customers. If they become customers, it&#8217;s nice to think that the product is going to mature over time. So I just wondered if you had anything to add there.</p>



<p>[00:30:47] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah, definitely. To start, we really honed in and focused on our pattern collection. And right now those are pretty solid. We&#8217;ve got some really unique, beautiful patterns out there. Next we&#8217;re going to start combining those and coming out with improved page layouts. So full page layouts so you can add think landing pages, whole pages for restaurant menus. We want to make sure we can help you get that job done. And after that, we&#8217;re extending even further up the chain. So we&#8217;ve got patterns, layouts now, full site designs. We want to help you get a complete site done quickly, and we&#8217;re coming up with some experiments behind the scenes that we&#8217;re working through that really are very promising and very exciting. And thinking through some guided experience, for getting these sites set up. Particularly around folks who aren&#8217;t very familiar with WordPress, I think that&#8217;s the area that we will lean into. And then throughout that process, we&#8217;ll be integrating with additional functionality for these jobs to be done with appointments or with events, thinking through the type of patterns that were really help folks be successful online.</p>



<p>[00:31:48] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In terms of that roadmap, are you still at a point where helpful suggestions are welcome? Or have you solidified that? I&#8217;m just curious to know if any customer in the recent past has said, I wish you would do this, and you&#8217;ve thought actually, we must do that because that&#8217;s a brilliant idea. Or are you firmly focused on what your own plans are that you&#8217;ve already decided?</p>



<p>[00:32:09] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Oh no, we&#8217;re definitely always listening.</p>



<p>[00:32:10] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> We&#8217;ve had customers, both free users and paid subscribers reach out let us know that, hey, XYZ would be helpful. This type of pattern. Sometimes people even send us a screenshot of what they&#8217;re trying to do. And that is really energizing to us. We love it. It&#8217;s awesome when someone asks for something, you build it, and then it gets used right away and it solves their pressing need for them. We have a long backlog of different patterns, layouts, designs, et cetera to add and continue to make the library fuller and better, but that feedback is awesome to get. Yeah, definitely eager to hear anyone&#8217;s experience with Extendify and what we could to do make their site editing Gutenberg experience better.</p>



<p>[00:32:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Obviously you&#8217;ve got this suite of really beautifully designed patterns and what have you. I was just curious whether you had any options to save things that you&#8217;ve already done or sync things back up? Is it purely, is what we&#8217;ve got, this is Extendify . Take what you&#8217;ve got and download it onto your site and modify if you choose. Or is there any way outside of WordPress normal way of doing things? Any way of syncing things, having a design library which is just for you or potentially your clients, any of those kinds of things?</p>



<p>[00:33:26] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> That&#8217;s on the horizon, Nathan. So today that is not functionality that exists within Extendify, but the the idea of saving presets or a collection of patterns or layouts that you use often. Curating a selection of patterns or layouts and making those available to clients so that they can continue to leverage the tool and get the benefit of it, but do so in a more controlled way that you&#8217;ve curated for them. That&#8217;s all on the horizon. Those are things that we&#8217;re excited to do. So that&#8217;s a good idea.</p>



<p>[00:33:55] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, there we go. I think I&#8217;ve asked all the questions that I wish to ask today. If people have been interested by what it is that you&#8217;ve said today, if they&#8217;re curious to check out Extendify, where&#8217;s the best place for them to find you guys? Let&#8217;s go Rich first and then Chris.</p>



<p>[00:34:12] <strong>Rich Tabor:</strong> Yeah. So I&#8217;m online. My personal account on Twitter is Richard underscore Tabor. I share a lot of Gutenberg, and a lot of interesting blocks I find in and a lot of the stuff we&#8217;re working on behind the scenes at Extendify. We&#8217;ve got Extendify on Twitter as well @extendifyinc. We do a lot of interesting pieces there, we share a lot of patterns that we&#8217;re building stuff we just released and that&#8217;s where you could follow it to keep up with the latest product updates.</p>



<p>[00:34:36] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I will put those in the show notes and Chris.</p>



<p>[00:34:40] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> Yeah. So on Twitter, I&#8217;m @chrislubkert. And. for Extentify, the best way to do it is just check out the plugin. Search for Extendify, add it to your site, play around, see what it&#8217;s like, and definitely share any feedback with us that you have. You can always reach us at, hey at extendify dot com or Rich or I individually at Rich at Extendify or Chris at Extendify, we love to hear from folks. So please check it out and let us know what you think.</p>



<p>[00:35:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much, both of you indeed. I appreciate you coming on the podcast, but also I appreciate the fact that you&#8217;re trying to do the difficult work of making WordPress a better solution in the future, even though we don&#8217;t quite know what that looks like perfectly yet, you&#8217;re giving it your best, and I really appreciate it. Thanks for coming on the show today.</p>



<p>[00:35:20] <strong>Chris Lubkert:</strong> It&#8217;s fun to be a part of. Yeah. Thanks Nathan.</p>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Nathan Wrigley";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:122:"WPTavern: WordPress Community Support Program Recommends Cautious Spending Until In-Person Events Can Renew Revenue Stream";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129694";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:133:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-support-program-recommends-cautious-spending-until-in-person-events-can-renew-revenue-stream";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3476:"<p>WordPress Community Support (WPCS), the subsidiary of the WordPress Foundation that handles financial and legal support for official WordPress events, has <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/07/2022-wordpress-community-support-financial-update/#respond">published</a> an overview of the program&#8217;s current finances and a summary of 2020.</p>



<p>Harmony Romo, a financial wrangler at Automattic, reported that WPCS ended the year with approximately $1.2M of cash on hand. $293,000 of the total represents unused Global Sponsorship funds that were rolled over from 2020. Current estimated operating expenses are $276,000. The total cash also includes $216,374 in prepaid expenses that were allocated in 2020 for WordCamps Asia, Atlanta, and US. </p>



<p>Newly published WordPress Foundation financials for 2020 show the WPCS program ended with a net loss, which has qualified for a refund of $50,708.</p>



<p>The WordPress Foundation itself has a lean operating budget, with 2020 expenses totaling $3,438 and donations totaling $10,787. As the subsidiary handling events, WPCS &#8216;s primary expenses are Meetup.com fees, which total $55,000 per quarter or $220,000 per year. The program will be carefully auditing Meetup groups later in the year to remove those that are inactive, as WPCS is billed for each group.</p>



<p>The main takeaway from the recently published financials is that WPCS&#8217; finances are heavily dependent on corporate sponsorships. With the exception of a handful of in-person WordCamps and meetups, WordPress events have largely been on ice since March 2020. Sponsorship revenue dries up when most events are held virtually, as these types of events tend to offer a less meaningful return for companies and WPCS cannot justify the same sponsorship tiers offered in previous years. </p>



<p>The <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-global-sponsorship-program-will-not-include-wordcamps-for-2022">proposal</a> for the 2022 Global Community Sponsorship program did not include funding for WordCamps again this year, due to the unpredictability of hosting in-person events. The program was also significantly pared back from multiple tiers (ranging from $40,000 – $160,000) to a single package billed at $10,000 USD per quarter, due to lower volunteer engagement among those who administrate sponsorships.</p>



<p>&#8220;WPCS does have an adequate amount of cash on hand to meet the current needs of the program, so as we proceed, we should do so cautiously until there is a solid return to in-person events and thus a reliable revenue stream,&#8221; Romo said. &#8220;Responsible expense decisions have allowed the program to endure and stay flexible as in-person events slowly return from hiatus.&#8221;</p>



<p>There are six upcoming in-person WordCamps are on the schedule for 2022 so far. In the absence of Global Sponsorship Program funding for WordCamps, organizers have been told they need to be prepared to raise 100% of the funds for their events. While I don&#8217;t think lack of finances is fueling the controversial drive to restart in-person events while pandemic deaths are still high in many areas of the world, getting camps on the books for 2022 is undoubtedly critical to recapturing corporate sponsorship funds. The Global Sponsorship Program changes that were proposed in November 2021 are currently being finalized and the 2022 version of the program should be published soon.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Feb 2022 05:57:59 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:63:"WPTavern: Block Editor Sidebar Panels Are the New Admin Notices";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=129698";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://wptavern.com/block-editor-sidebar-panels-are-the-new-admin-notices";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3794:"<p class="has-drop-cap">There is a problem. Well, it is not an <em>OMGBBQ</em> problem, but it has the potential to become one. Maybe by calling attention to it, I will set off a landslide of copycats who will see this as another trick of the marketing trade, implementing it in their own projects. I am torn, but it would be a disservice to our community to not provide a place for them to share their thoughts.</p>



<p>I am always looking for exciting new plugins or even those old ones that I have missed. In particular, I love to see what others are building on top of the block editor.</p>



<p>Several months ago, I activated my first plugin that used an editor sidebar panel to advertise its pro upgrade. There were no usable options. It was simply an ad, so the decision to deactivate and delete it was a no-brainer. I did not need anything taking up valuable real estate on the post-editing screen. I do not remember its name; it was on the site and off again in moments. A few months later, I saw another plugin with a similar panel.</p>



<p>I have simply ignored those extensions. They were somebody else&#8217;s issues. But, when the problem comes knocking at your own door, it is tough to not know it is there.</p>



<p>I hate to be the bad guy who calls out WordPress businesses for trying to make a buck. I have been there and tried to walk the tightrope between putting food on the table and creating a positive user experience with my products &#8212; <em>said the guy who is now employed as a writer</em>.</p>



<p>However, can we not do this?</p>



<img />Sidebar panel with disabled options and a pro upgrade ad.



<p>This panel seemed to appear suddenly on the Tavern&#8217;s post editor not long ago, and it has been an annoyance ever since. I dug around to find that this was a <a href="https://www.exactmetrics.com/introducing-exactmetrics-7-3-1-exclude-any-page-from-tracking">new pro option</a> added to the ExactMetrics plugin last month. Users of the &#8220;lite&#8221; version just get the panel &#8212; <em>free of charge</em>.</p>



<p>There are a few choices when faced with such a situation. Learn to live with it, deactivate the plugin, or disable the panel via the preferences menu.</p>



<img />Preference menu overlay.



<p>At least the editor has some built-in noise control. I am not sure how many users are even aware that it is possible because it is almost hidden. It takes three clicks to get there (Options &gt; Preferences &gt; Panels) and another click to switch a panel off.</p>



<p>The JavaScript for the panel still runs on every load of the editor. And, clearing local browser storage means it will reappear &#8212; <em>I will blame that one on WordPress for not storing preferences via user meta</em>. But, at least panels can be hidden.</p>



<p>WordPress users have enough noise with plugins shouting at them at every turn. It is easy for them to become desensitized to the barrage of admin notices, a part of their daily existence. I do not even click the dismiss button for some at first glance. I let them sit, untouched, wondering if they will simply disappear into the ether without my direct interaction. Other times, I <a href="https://wptavern.com/toolbelt-tidies-wordpress-plugin-and-theme-admin-notifications">install Toolbelt</a> and let it tuck them away.</p>



<p><em>But, this new thing?</em> The post editor was a place of solace, an escape from the commotion allowed through the admin notices hook elsewhere. It was a quiet room for focusing on content.</p>



<p>At the very least, this form of advertising has given me the necessary kick in the pants to perform a full audit of the Tavern&#8217;s plugins. We are in the process of cleaning house, and I have already tossed the first into the trash heap.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Feb 2022 01:58:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"HeroPress: From Assistant Language Teacher To A Life With WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=4364";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:186:"https://heropress.com/essays/from-assistant-language-teacher-to-a-life-with-wordpress/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-assistant-language-teacher-to-a-life-with-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37394:"<img width="1024" height="512" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/020822-min.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: I have so much to be grateful for, and a lot of what I owe goes to WordPress." /><p>I arrived in Japan a little over a decade ago to experience the country, its culture, and all it had to offer in all its glory.</p>
<p>This was a singular goal for me since primary school, and I pursued it without putting much thought as to how I’d live there if I ever made it to Japan.</p>
<p>I just knew I needed to experience living in Japan one way or another, and the ticket to do it was through teaching English as an “assistant language teacher”, ALT for short. So that’s what I did.</p>
<p>A very cliche story for many of us foreigners who happen to find their way here.</p>
<p>I put in the work to get a proper TESL/TESOL certification, passed an interview with one of the big ALT dispatch companies, and before I knew it I had a one-way ticket to Japan!</p>
<blockquote><p>I was going to live the “dream” as an assistant language teacher teaching English to kids in junior high schools in Japan.</p></blockquote>
<p>The city I was placed in was Sapporo, Japan’s 5th largest city, located in northern Japan on the island of Hokkaido. Sapporo is a bustling urban area with a population of approximately 1.9 million people.</p>
<p>I couldn’t have been luckier since I was secretly crossing my fingers hoping not to get placed in the countryside.</p>
<p>But after arriving, I would soon come to realize that the hefty price tag this path would lead me on was not toward the dreamy and adventure-filled Japan lifestyle I originally envisioned.</p>
<p>So let’s take a hard right and switch gears a bit to talk about money, a juicy topic that never fails to get everyone’s ears to perk up.</p>
<p>I’ll give it to you straight.</p>
<p>At the height of my ALT career, I earned ¥2,812,043 JPY ($24,443.20 USD). This was before taxes.</p>
<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image5.jpg"><img /></a>For ALTs in Japan, these numbers shouldn&#8217;t come as a surprise since salaries are pretty much more or less within this range.
<p>After taxes, this came out to be ¥1,788,400 JPY/yr ($15,545.36 USD). That’s ¥149,033 JPY/mo, so approximately $1295.41 USD/mo.</p>
<p>Rent was about $400 USD. I also had monthly student loan payments I needed to pay. Tack off another minimum payment amount of $200 USD, which doesn’t include costly transfer fees and money lost through the exchange rate.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget about utilities, transportation, food, health insurance, and the good old Japanese pension plan foreigners are obligated to participate in.</p>
<p>The amount my monthly salary dwindled to after basic expenses and taxes ranged between $200-$400 USD.</p>
<p>I eventually “graduated” from an ALT to being directly hired as a solo native English teacher at a private high school, but the raise (if you can even call it that) in pay was minimal.</p>
<p>Let’s just say that the first half decade of my time here in Japan was filled with many dark days, angst, and anxiety.</p>
<p>That was until I discovered WordPress.</p>
<h2>Growing Up</h2>
<p>I grew up in a low income family and am the eldest of four brothers.</p>
<p>My father’s highest level of education was a high school diploma. My mother was an immigrant from the Philippines with only some college education.</p>
<p>Although she never finished her college education, my mom had stable employment at a respectable job serving as the breadwinner of the household.</p>
<p>My father, on the other hand, frequently jumped from one gig to another.</p>
<p>He was the type of person who would rather spend his time doing something absolutely useless rather than figure out a way to help feed four mouths and put food on the table.</p>
<p>My mom would often bring up the discussions of money with my dad, and those would inevitably end up in some sort of argument. Arguments which I would often overhear.</p>
<p>At such an early age, I was massively aware of our financial situation and what that implied in terms of living. I knew that the things we’d be able to buy and do would be limited if we didn’t have money.</p>
<blockquote><p>I knew that my mom worked hard, always putting her children first. I couldn’t say the same for my father.</p></blockquote>
<p>In fact, he was too stubborn for his own good. He was always so full of himself and wanted his own way in whatever job he did, so there were many times he’d find himself unemployed.</p>
<p>I often found myself angry at my father mainly for not getting his priorities straight. He never took accountability for anything.</p>
<p>Money can always somehow be earned. You can always work for it, and you’ll have it. But time is something that can never be recouped, and he wasted so much of it doing trivial things.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget the time when I realized how embarrassed and ashamed I was of him.</p>
<p>In high school, I was accepted to attend this big conference called NYLC (National Young Leaders Conference) and I was able to fly across the US to experience democracy in action and meet members of Congress in Washington DC.</p>
<p>In one of our meet-and-greet sessions, I was with two friends, and we were able to meet with a senator. The experience was exciting and at one point the topic of our fathers’ occupations came up.</p>
<p>One friend said his dad was a cop. My other friend mentioned his dad was a retired navy veteran.</p>
<p>When it came around to me, I didn’t immediately answer. I actually scratched my head and let out a sort of nervous laugh.</p>
<p>“Oh, my dad? Hahah. He uhh.. He…”</p>
<p>The friend beside me turned to me and laughed, “You don’t know what your dad does?! Hahah”</p>
<p>I reactively laughed along, “Hahaha, yeah… um..”</p>
<p>Mind you, I was a sophomore in high school and for the first time in my life I was having a discussion with a member of congress, someone who in my mind was this grand figure. Someone important. This is what I thought and to be in front of this person and say that my dad didn’t have a job, that he didn’t do anything for a living — that was embarrassing.</p>
<p>My hands were sweating profusely as trying to come up with something to say was so nerve wracking. I didn’t want to make something up, but at the same time, I didn’t want to say my dad was unemployed either.</p>
<p>I did eventually manage to come up with an answer. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty but it was all I had.</p>
<p>“My dad works with computers.”</p>
<p>This was true. Kind of.</p>
<p>“Oh, really?” the senator said. “And what sort of things does he do with computers?”</p>
<p>I started sweating again as I didn’t anticipate the followup question. I somehow was able to soldier on though.</p>
<p>“Well, he’s an assistant in a computer lab, and he maintains the computers there…”</p>
<p>“Ah, I see. Interesting.” the senator replied.</p>
<p>And that was that. The discussion finally moved on. And while that interaction was probably only a few minutes, it felt like an eternity.</p>
<p>Here’s the story behind the full truth.</p>
<p>At the time, my dad was a volunteer at my younger brothers’ elementary school to watch over the school library during after school hours, and it would be for an hour or two.</p>
<p>He figured that since he didn’t have a job, he’d try to be “useful” by volunteering to be the after school library parent and at the same time be in a position to easily pick us all up.</p>
<p>What he really did during his volunteer time, since the library was almost always empty, was he installed KaZaA (a peer-to-peer file sharing application) on all the school computers and illegally downloaded music. It’s all he ever did during his time there.</p>
<p>Looking back on this, I find it to be unbelievable, hysterical even, that this is what he did. He could’ve used the web to do something more productive like search for a new job, or learn something useful.</p>
<p>But, no. Instead he chose to download music on all the school computers all the time. He was always so busy going from one computer to the next to check on the download status of the mp3s that were downloading.</p>
<p>He’d then go to each computer to burn the mp3s on CDS using a software called Nero Burning Rom.</p>
<p>Oh how so busy my father was…</p>
<blockquote><p>This was the image that was running through my mind when I was asked what my father did for a living.</p></blockquote>
<p>This was only one of the hundreds of instances of how my father behaved and was the root of many arguments in the house. There was always shouting. Crying. Slamming of doors. Periods of not saying anything to each other for days. This was a pattern that went on for years. It was so mentally taxing for everyone.</p>
<p>My brothers and I couldn’t stand these arguments to the point we couldn’t wait to move out.</p>
<p>When a recurring toxic behavior continues for so long, trust erodes, and eventually breaks. And that’s exactly what happened.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how my mom put up with him for so long (we’re talking 25+ years long), but they eventually divorced. It was for the best actually. My father lost his wife. And lost his sons as well.</p>
<p>After that meet-and-greet experience, I knew for a fact that I never wanted to be like my father. Never. If there was one good thing my father bestowed upon me and my brothers it was that he served as the perfect role model of what not to be in life. It sounds harsh, but this was our reality.</p>
<p>I made a promise to myself that if I ever had a family, I would do everything within my human capacity to provide the best possible life, that I would be a father and husband they could say they’re proud of, and that I would always do whatever it takes to live the life we want.</p>
<p>You could say this little micro-moment is representative of the cause for my drive to continually work hard and remember what my real priorities in life are, and why I do the things I do.</p>
<p>It was like my mind was instantly re-wired to think and act differently after that moment.</p>
<p>From that point, everything I did was done with precise intent. I always made sure that my time was spent moving toward a goal. No matter what I was working on, I made my time count.</p>
<h2>University life</h2>
<p>I was never a straight A student in my life, but I wasn’t below average in my studies either. I always felt I had to work two or three times harder than everyone else to reach the baseline of anything.</p>
<p>I worked my butt off to get accepted into UC Irvine, the university of my choice. I got in by a hair, but under probationary conditions. My writing level wasn’t up to the UC standards so I needed to sit out on my first year of courses for my major, which was Japanese. Instead, I had to take and pass this intro writing class for the first semester.</p>
