


<p>But I&#8217;ve been trying to pull the strings on the technical side of things on GitHub, and there&#8217;s not much there at the moment. I think from what I&#8217;ve been told, that there&#8217;s action going on in private. They&#8217;re working on it in the background and perhaps on some private repositories. But the only real thing that&#8217;s emerged, at least, someone feel free to correct me on this, is a script called an Isolated Block Editor, which basically takes Gutenberg as a kind of standalone product that I think could be used in Tumblr, or the Day one app, or Drupal or anywhere else. And it&#8217;s kind of building in collaborative editing into that isolated block editor, which is a version of Gutenberg.</p>



<p>So really the technical hints that I&#8217;ve heard about this, are two or three years old. We did a big interview on the PublishPress blog with the YJS team, where they dig into some of the technical challenges around this. But from everything I&#8217;ve been able to read or talk about with people, it&#8217;s a real technical challenge.</p>



<p>The CK Editor team, WordPress uses TinyMCE. CK Editor is kind of an alternative to TinyMCE. They have a really long and detailed blog post about how they tried to build collaborative editing into their, into their editor editor. It took four plus years, and I think ended up with lots of them tearing their hair out and growing prematurely gray. And there&#8217;s a Twitter thread from a guy who tried to do this with Microsoft Office. He basically says the same thing. Just an enormous technical challenge is particularly in retrospect, to try and take existing software and add collaborative editing to it. But, and this is one of the reasons why I wonder if they&#8217;re thinking about some kind of a central server, for example, WordPress.com.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re finally starting to see the possibility of collaborative editing coming soon. Automattic have a product called P2, which is I think used for their internal blogs, their internal networking. And just in the last month or so, they have an update on the P two blog. They&#8217;ve been rolling out collaborative editing to some of their P2 users. I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m on a blacklist or something, but I&#8217;ve been sending several messages to the WordPress.com staff seeing if I can get in on the beta invite list. But no luck so far. So collaborative editing is actually live on WordPress.com for some users at the moment, and I can share the link that you can put in the show notes.</p>



<p>But down in their, in the documentation they have about it, they say that it&#8217;s a work in progress, it&#8217;s a beta. It can become unstable under some circumstances. If you are running a VPN or some kind of a proxy, often if you&#8217;re using Safari, it can become unstable.</p>



<p>It is kind of a long winded answer to your original question. The technical side is a little bit of a mystery still. I suspect that YJS will play a part. I suspect they may be working on some kind of a central server to make it stable to run on those $2 a month hosting companies. And if you go over to the P2 area on WordPress.com, there&#8217;s a little video of it emerging, and collaborative, editing, we may start to see a lot more of it in the next few months suspect.</p>



<p>[00:22:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> There was a lot in there, wasn&#8217;t there? And I&#8217;m just going to go through some of the thoughts that were coming into my head as you were saying it. So the first one is obviously people like Google, they&#8217;ve completely cracked this nut. I cannot remember a time at any point where my Google doc froze, for example. Or I was editing it with somebody else, and they seemed to sort of blip out of existence. Suddenly 20 lines got updated when it looked like they weren&#8217;t even editing the document. In other words, they were always typing. I could see them typing. It was as if they were right next to me in many senses. No problems in other words.</p>



<p>[00:23:04] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Is a beautiful experience when it works well, right?</p>



<p>[00:23:06] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But I&#8217;m guessing that could be the problem, couldn&#8217;t it? You know, if somebody has infrastructure running their WordPress website, and it simply isn&#8217;t up to the task. I don&#8217;t fully understand what that means, but we all know that computers given a certain volume of things to do, tend to grind down and prioritize some things over others, and in some cases just cease to function and collapse. But if you were editing a document, you mentioned a source of truth. You have to know, don&#8217;t you? You really have to be confident that what you are seeing on the screen now, is what the final version is looking like.</p>



<p>You can&#8217;t be in a situation where, I&#8217;ve got you Steve over there. You are editing, I&#8217;m editing this document, and it looks to me like you finished because you are no longer contributing. And it turns out you&#8217;d written another couple of hundred words, which never made it into the document because your system collapsed in the background. And I didn&#8217;t know about that, and that would truly be a calamity.</p>



<p>You can also imagine collisions in terms of things getting overwritten or me saving a document in some way that then removes the possibility of your a hundred words ever making it in there in the first place. So there&#8217;s all these really big problems and as you say, the very fact that we are all using different qualities of hardware, different computers, different versions of Linux, all sorts of different engines going on in the background, powering our websites.</p>



<p>There has to be some way of figuring out what the source of truth is at this moment. And I really do, kind of understand a little bit more now that that really is genuinely a tricky challenge and one that perhaps hasn&#8217;t been faced by another company. Also, your idea of it being a dot com type thing. In other words, this capability is offloaded to, let&#8217;s say, some sort of Automattic property.</p>



<p>[00:24:59] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I would put a caveat in there that that is entirely my guess. I have no, no evidence to that at all. I&#8217;ve just been thinking through possible solutions to the problem.</p>



<p>[00:25:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But I find that to be quite an interesting solution. So again, let&#8217;s assume that this collaborative editing is something that everybody aspires to. But we can also agree that if you have incredibly modest hosting, it may be something that your aspirations aren&#8217;t living up to.</p>



<p>Well, maybe there is a sort of commercial angle for having that capability built on top of affordable hosting, if you know what I mean. In other words, WordPress.com, whichever company it may be, I don&#8217;t know. There&#8217;s some kind of upgrade. You have a WordPress website, but you would like the collaborative editing capability to be added in, simply because you know that your infrastructure can&#8217;t cope with it.</p>



<p>Now, that&#8217;s less than ideal. I think it would be the ideal that any architecture can cope with it. That would be obviously ideal. But it was an interesting thought, and it just sort of prompted me to think, I wonder if even a company as large as Automattic, I wonder if they could saddle the burden of all of that given that there wouldn&#8217;t be any commercial side to paying off that debt, if you know what I mean.</p>



<p>If there&#8217;s 40% of the web, let&#8217;s say 20% of those websites can&#8217;t manage it, and so they&#8217;re doing their collaborative editing on Automattic&#8217;s hardware. Presumably there&#8217;s a bill for that, which would need to be paid.</p>



<p>[00:26:33] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I mean, that&#8217;s part of the problem of being WordPress, right? You&#8217;re trying to solve problems at a scale that no one else has ever solved it. We talked about CK Editor for example, Well, CK Editor has collaborative editing. It took them four years and just about burned out some of the best developers. But there were tiny fraction of the size of WordPress, and what WordPress needs to do. I guess until we, until more of this starts to emerge, perhaps when the full site editing winds down, we&#8217;re not going to know too much.</p>



<p>But I think the two options available are either to build a peer to peer network, using something like YJS or to go through the centralized option of WordPress.com .org or an other service.</p>



<p>[00:27:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I wonder if there&#8217;s other options that could be explored. And forgive me, my technical ignorance here might be screaming loudly at you as I say these words, but I wonder if it might be possible to have a scenario in which you are alerted to the fact that changes have been made, but you have to, I don&#8217;t know, maybe click a button or.</p>



<p>[00:27:42] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> We have lost a connection. There&#8217;d be some kind of mess. I guess the most common point of failure for collaborative editing will probably be, the connection is lost, and each person goes back to editing their own separate version of the document. You just lose the collaboration aspect, and there could be some kind of message saying you have disconnected from the collaborative editing, you have disconnected from the network.</p>



<p>[00:28:03] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yes. And of course that throws up all sorts of enormously difficult problems on its own. Because then, let&#8217;s say there&#8217;s four people editing the document, do they then carry on? And then those four people have to combine their efforts after the fact to figure out, okay, well what did you do? Which bit did you?</p>



<p>Can we just copy and paste that in here now? In other words, it makes more of a mess than the old asynchronous way of doing things, where I edit it, hand it to you, you edit it, hand it to person three, they edit it, and it finally comes back to me. And at least I know that those three edits have been made. And that&#8217;s in the scenario of collapse that we just described, we&#8217;d be back to that basically. And obviously if we&#8217;re offering the promise of collaborative editing, you have to trust it.</p>



<p>Another thought occurred to me is, does it need to be as beautiful, let&#8217;s say as Google Docs? And what I mean by that is, I can literally watch you type letter by letter. I&#8217;ll see each letter coming in one at a time. Does it need to refresh quite as often as that? Is a two second delay, a three second delay, a five second delay. I don&#8217;t know if this adds complexity. I don&#8217;t know if it solves any problems or creates others?</p>



<p>[00:29:13] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Well, there is a video on the P2 site. Just a little five second video showing how this works. And it is just like Google Docs to be honest. It has the avatars of the people editing in the top right corner. Each person gets assigned the color. So, if there&#8217;s a little Nathan avatar on the top right, you might have red around your avatar, and any changes you make are being highlighted in red. I might have purple. Any changes I make are being highlighted in purple. It is, at least in this video, aiming right for the Google Drive, Google Docs experience.</p>



<p>[00:29:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s interesting. In your article, I will link to it, and people can go and find it and there&#8217;s a couple of them in fact, and I&#8217;ll make sure to link to both of those. There was raised, and I can&#8217;t remember whether this was raised and then has now been put to bed, or if it was raised and is still a possibility. In order to try and do this, people are coming up with interesting and clever solutions to sidestep maybe some problems that were becoming obvious.</p>



<p>The idea of being able to only edit the block that you are currently editing by yourself. So in other words, let&#8217;s say for example, if we&#8217;ve got a page and it&#8217;s got 50 paragraphs and a couple of images. I could edit one paragraph, but that paragraph would be locked to you. But all the other 49 paragraphs would be open to anybody. And the first person that gets in there, gets to edit it until they are in effect booted out.</p>



<p>So we&#8217;d have a, an option, very similar to what we have now, on a page basis where I can&#8217;t get into the page if somebody else is editing it. We&#8217;d have that on a block by block basis. And I think in many cases that might satisfy 90%, 95% of the problems. What are the chances that I want to edit an image at the same time as you? What are the chances that I want to edit a paragraph at the same time as you? Maybe there&#8217;s a high chance of collision. I&#8217;m not sure.</p>



<p>[00:31:05] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> No, no, I think that kind of thing makes sense. And certainly, while we&#8217;re talking, I have the, the demo video playing on my screen in front of me. And that seems to be what they&#8217;re doing. That it is a block by block approach. I may be wrong. They may have something else in the background.</p>



<p>But in the video that I&#8217;m watching, one person is editing the header, one person is editing a table, one person is editing a paragraph, and they&#8217;re working on the same document, but on different blocks.</p>



<p>[00:31:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> One of the things that you introduced to me just before we hit the record button, was there&#8217;s a developer called Riad Benguella, and I&#8217;m sorry, Riad if that is in fact not how you say your name, I do apologize, but I&#8217;ll link to a website that you mentioned in a tweet. I&#8217;ll mention the tweet, and I&#8217;ll post the website URL as well. It&#8217;s Gutenberg with collaborative editing built into it. And you and I were editing on it, ala Google Docs. And it all seemed to work. So obviously there are people who are tackling this problem, but I&#8217;m sure the problem that, that we have here is that we don&#8217;t know what the tech stack is behind it that&#8217;s making it possible.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re both looking at asblocks.com, a s b l o c k s .com, and you can go there. I suspect it&#8217;s going to be there for years to come, and share. The first person that logs in can share the link, assign themselves a name, and then presumably that shared link looks the same to you. You have to assign yourself a name and we can both see each other editing and it works as far as I can see perfectly.</p>



<p>[00:32:32] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Yeah, Riad solved this problem two plus years ago with as blocks, and the demo is still live and still working now. It&#8217;s the, the scale out to every WordPress site that is the big stumbling block I presume.</p>



<p>[00:32:47] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, we just simply don&#8217;t know how many people are using this at the same time. And so the collapse of it might not be a problem. Do you have any insight or any kind of spidey sense of when things may start to move in this direction? So obviously we really have to get to the point where full site editing or site editing is more or less complete to the satisfaction of the majority of people, at least anyway. Then we&#8217;ll be working on this thorny problem. Do you have any conception of when the work on this will begin properly?</p>



<p>[00:33:20] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I wish I did. To be honest, I&#8217;m a little geeky about this stuff and, our customers want it, and I really wanted it. It would be a wonderful feature for WordPress. So I&#8217;ve probably been following this as closely as anyone that isn&#8217;t actually involved on the technical side. Every time I Google Gutenberg phase three, I seem to come across something I wrote myself, because there&#8217;s not much written about it.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s been done a little bit, not entirely under a veil of secrecy, but maybe they don&#8217;t want to distract from the focus on full site editing. But it has been hard to find information. And so I was happy to see something emerge on the P2 blog that this is in progress still. If I had to guess, we&#8217;ll start to see more next year. We&#8217;ve had a couple of mentions of it from Matt, I mentioned at different WordCamps, and Matias, who is one of the lead developers of Gutenberg since the beginning, has a blog post from June this year on WordPress.org talking about phase three, but really only tangentially.</p>



<p>It was more about the ending of phase two and full site editing. And so there really has been a lot of radio silence. Quite a lot of the active GitHub repos have gone quiet. I hope next year. But as someone who follows this closely, I&#8217;ve not been able to find that anymore.</p>



<p>[00:34:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Everything that I&#8217;ve heard has stuck rigidly to the four phases of Gutenberg. I haven&#8217;t heard of anybody discounting phase three. So collaborative editing I think is definitely destined to be tackled, and hopefully succeeding in tackling. But you&#8217;re right, it&#8217;s been very, very quiet.</p>



<p>Normally, there&#8217;s a lot of speculation. There might be more proofs of concept or people popping up, giving their insight into it. But as you say, you followed it really, really closely, and it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s almost like a veil of secrecy, as you said. So hopefully that doesn&#8217;t indicate anything negative. It just means that people are concentrating their efforts on other things and trying to get those things tackled.</p>



<p>Steve, I&#8217;ve probably used up more of your time than I intended to. I&#8217;m sorry about that. Just before we go, if people want to talk to you about this whole proposition, collaborative editing, where&#8217;s the best place to reach out?</p>



<p>[00:35:32] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> steve@publishpress.com. And actually one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this topic with you was I hoped I might be able to shake a bit more information out of the tree. Someone hears this and has information about it, wants to talk about it, happy to do a video podcast or share the information.</p>



<p>I would love to see this in WordPress. I&#8217;m happy to help. I&#8217;m sure they have the reasons for keeping it, for keeping it quiet to the moment. But, this would be a killer feature for WordPress, and if anyone has more information, I&#8217;d love to hear it.</p>



<p>[00:36:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I really think you are right. I think the realization of this in Gutenberg and if we had an implementation which worked basically effectively for everybody, the day it was released into WordPress core. I think it will really, would dramatically change the prospects of what people would wish to do with WordPress. At the moment it&#8217;s largely for websites.</p>



<p>It really genuinely could be a tool for all sorts of internal communications and publishing things that just are for your close network, your job, your industry, whatever it might be. There&#8217;s a, there&#8217;s a whole lot that could happen that at the minute is probably left to the likes of Microsoft Teams and Google Docs and all of that kind of stuff, so.</p>



<p>[00:36:43] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Well, it did pop up on P2 initially, which is the kind of WordPress versions of Google Docs, the kind of internal, Automattic, documentation system.</p>



<p>[00:36:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, thank you Steve for chatting to me today. I really appreciate it.</p>



<p>[00:36:55] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Thanks, Nathan.</p>
</div>



<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://steveburge.com/">Steve Burge</a>.</p>



<p>Although Steve is originally from England, he now lives in Sarasota, Florida. He leads the team at <a href="https://publishpress.com/">PublishPress</a>, which is a plugin company focusing on improving the publishing experience for WordPress users. The topic of today&#8217;s podcast is very much in his wheelhouse.</p>



<p>Several years ago, the block editor was brought into WordPress Core. It was a dramatic change from the classic editor. Pages and posts could be created and edited with a growing variety of blocks. Blocks for paragraphs, blocks for images, in fact, blocks for everything.</p>



<p>This ability to edit content with blocks was just one of four phases of the Gutenberg project, the other three phases being, site editing, multi-author collaboration, and multilingual support.</p>



<p>If you’ve been following recent developments, then you’ll know that we’re currently in the site editing phase. When that’s done, it will be time to turn our collective attention to multi-author collaboration. But what is that and what does it mean?</p>



<p>I think that the best way to think about this would be to imagine Google Docs. For years, you’ve been able to open up a document, click a button and share that document with others. Those with the correct permissions can interact with you in real time, and you can see the amendments they’re making as and when they’re making them. It’s utterly brilliant, and how most people would prefer to work with their content. One document. One source of truth.</p>



<p>Compare that to how WordPress currently works. Only one person can edit a piece of content at the same time. If you want to edit a post or a page at the same time as someone else, you can’t.</p>



<p>Phase three of the Gutenberg project aims to bring into WordPress the ability for multiple users to interact with content at the same time.</p>



<p>Steve talks today about why this is an elegant and necessary update to WordPress, but also why it’s a difficult feat of engineering to pull off. WordPress has a history of working with all manner of hosting configurations, and it’s one of the reasons that it’s so successful. Will it be possible to run WordPress on more affordable tech stacks given the burden that multi-author collaboration will require?</p>



<p>We also get into the projects that Steve has found from community members which try to lay some of the foundations of how this might be implemented, as well as talking about how Steve’s finding it hard to discover new information concerning this important topic.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Useful links.</h2>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/google-docs-editing-gutenberg/">Collaborative Editing is a Really Difficult Challenge in WordPress</a></p>



<p><a href="https://p2help.wordpress.com/using-p2/the-editor/collaboration/">P2 Beta launch and video</a></p>



<p><a href="https://asblocks.com/">AsBlocks</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/youknowriad/asblocks">AsBlocks project on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/Automattic/isolated-block-editor">Automattic&#8217;s Isolated Block Editor on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://yjs.dev/#intro">YJS website</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/yjs/yjs">YJS project on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/yjs/">Steve&#8217;s podcast with the Tag1 team about YJS</a></p>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/google-docs-editing-gutenberg/">Steve&#8217;s post about why collaborative editing in Gutenberg is hard</a></p>



<p><a href="https://ckeditor.com/blog/Lessons-learned-from-creating-a-rich-text-editor-with-real-time-collaboration/">CKEditor post about lessons learned from creating a rich-text editor with real-time collaboration</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/06/13/thinking-through-the-wordpress-admin-experience/">Matias Ventura&#8217;s post about thinking through the WordPress admin experience</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-1-to-focus-on-refining-full-site-editing-next-phase-collaboration-and-multilingual-features-anticipated-in-2023-2025">WordPress 6.1 to Focus On Refining Full-Site Editing, Next Phase Collaboration and Multilingual Features Anticipated in 2023-2025</a></p>



<p><a href="https://ostraining.com/">OSTraining</a></p>



<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave">Google Wave</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, 07 Dec 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:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
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<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-headed-to-the-state-of-the-word-nyc-again/">Do the Woo is Headed to the State of the Word, NYC, Again</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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, 07 Dec 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:5:"BobWP";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:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
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<p><a href="https://heropress.com/feed/#svenska">Den här essän finns även på svenska.</a></p>



<p>Back in 2012, I was a media and communications student at Umeå University in northern Sweden. The overall state of the newspaper business had convinced me not to pursue a career in journalism, and I had figured the second best thing would be to work with media relations for a business or organization I’d feel passionate about. That’s about how much thought I put into my choice of education. With each lecture I attended and essay I handed in, I realized that I enjoyed studying media and communications, but I wasn’t overly excited about making it my career.</p>



<p>Fortunately, the lectures and essays left me enough time to pursue other things as well. Girls, friends, parties – things you’re keen on when you’ve moved to a city 500 kilometers from home – but also side projects. Money is always tight when you’re a student. I had started to consider different ways of making money from the web tinkering I’d had as a hobby from an early age.</p>



<p>I was aware that the business for selling premium WordPress themes was growing rapidly, with themes on websites like ThemeForest making immense amounts of money. Could that be a way to help pay the bills?</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_564506-1f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Finding WordPress</h2>



<p>I have a very clear memory of the first time I wrote HTML. I was eleven years old, and I was browsing a popular link directory called Annas Länkburkar (”Annas link jars”) on one of the computers at school. The front page consisted of rows of jars, bottles, boxes and tea bags, each labeled with the type of links they contained. Somewhere in the dark blue bottle labeled ”Data”, I found a tutorial for writing simple web pages in HTML. My desktop was soon littered with .html files exploring the basics of coding web pages, all carefully written in Notepad. I learned that the email accounts my parents had at the web portal Spray came with member pages with HTML support, and I quickly planted a flag on my first plot of land on the World Wide Web. If I remember correctly, it had the memorable URL of http://medlem.spray.se followed by a random number sequence.</p>



<p>I kept tinkering with web development over the next few years, learning CSS from a book in the library and trying and failing to wrap my head around JavaScript. I was aware of Content Management Systems, but since I couldn’t afford a host on my weekly allowance, I was limited to what I could accomplish on the free web hosts available at the time. I started to play around with other programming languages as well. I found C++ too complicated and Visual Basic dull, but QBasic struck the right balance for me and I built simple ASCII games with it for a while. As you can tell, I was a very cool kid.</p>



<p>I switched schools when I was 15, and my interest in computers dipped for a while. Instead, I discovered Photoshop. Most of my output consisted of moody illustrations captioned with song lyrics – the main form of expression for 15-year-olds. I was also tricked into working with the school paper, which lit the spark for my interest in journalism and introduced me to InDesign.</p>



<p>When I started high school, back in 2006, the blog phenomenon was just starting to take off in Sweden, and I was eager to jump on the bandwagon. I had gotten it in my head that I was going to develop indie games, and rather than actually spend my time developing games, I decided that the sensible thing to do was to create a blog about indie game development. This would mark the start of a lifelong habit of creating websites about my interests instead of practicing them. A Google search for after free blog services took me to WordPress.com. The service was only a little more than a year old at the time.</p>



<p>I published my first blog post with WordPress on January 14, 2007. I can tell you the date with certainty because I’m looking at the post right now, but no, I won’t share it here. I have already told you about my moody Photoshop illustrations, and there are limits to how much I will embarrass myself in public. Despite the WordPress.com domain name and bad English, I somehow managed to trick a handful of game developers to be interviewed for the blog. Most notably, Doom and Quake co-creator John Romero. My final question was ”Pizza or hamburger?”. Maybe it’s for the best that I didn&#8217;t end up a journalist.</p>



<p>My delusions about indie game development soon faded, but I hadn’t lost my interest in blogging. I had grown used to working with WordPress from my WordPress.com blog, so when it came time to register my own domain name and sign up for a proper host, the choice of CMS was an easy one. I dusted off my old HTML and CSS skills to make some small visual tweaks to the theme I was running, and I started to pick up a little bit of PHP as well. I soon realized that tinkering with the code was as much fun as writing blog posts.</p>



<p>More sites quickly followed. One with news about Nintendo, one with news about Apple, one link directory, one with tutorials about blogging, one about the murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, and so on. The last one is the only one of them <a href="https://palmemordet.se/">online</a> today, although it has received a couple of visual updates since then. I still get emails from conspiracy loonies every month or so. Almost all of the sites were built with WordPress, usually with a tweaked free or premium theme. I kept updating them through my high school graduation, and after high school, a part time job at a small IT company led to me getting paid to write code for the first time. I still didn’t think of it as a possible career path. I had my eyes set on college.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_5ca9f6-a1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">A career built on themes</h2>



<p>Two years later, I was sitting in my student apartment in Umeå, thinking about building premium WordPress themes to help pay the bills. Having nothing to lose and spare time on my hands, I decided to give it a go. My first theme was a simple blog theme called Lasseter, named after former Pixar director John Lasseter, and it was released on Mojo Themes in August 2013 for $49. Realizing I needed some way to market my premium themes, I decided to develop free themes for the WordPress.org theme directory as well. Visitors would come to my site for the free themes, and hopefully decide to pay a couple of bucks for a premium theme instead. That was the plan. Things didn’t work out that way.</p>



<p>I released my first free theme, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/lingonberry-wordpress-theme/">Lingonberry</a>, the same month as Lasseter. The Trac ticket for the theme is still <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558">live</a>, and the list of issues I had to fix before the theme was approved is a mile long. <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/challenge-gladly-accepted/">Carolina Nymark</a> of the WordPress.org Theme Review Team reviewed the theme, and she was very patient with me. I had no idea how little I knew about WordPress theme development before I submitted my first theme to WordPress.org. Seven years later, Carolina and I would be co-leads on the &lt;a href="http://&lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&gt; &lt;p&gt;I released my first free theme, &lt;a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/lingonberry-wordpress-theme/"&gt;Lingonberry&lt;/a&gt;, the same month as Lasseter. The Trac ticket for the theme is still &lt;a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558"&gt;live&lt;/a&gt;, and the list of issues I had to fix before the theme was approved is a mile long. Carolina Nymark of the WordPress.org Theme Review Team reviewed the theme, and she was very patient with me. I had no idea how little I knew about WordPress theme development before I submitted my first theme to WordPress.org. Seven years later, Carolina and I would be co-leads on the [Twenty Twenty](&lt;a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/"&gt;https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/&lt;/a&gt;) default theme in WordPress 5.3. I owe her and the other WordPress.org theme reviewers a lot.&lt;/p&gt; <!-- /wp:paragraph -&gt;"&gt;-->Twenty Twenty</a> default theme in WordPress 5.3. I owe her and the other WordPress.org theme reviewers a lot.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lingonberry-1680x1680-1.jpg"><img /></a>Lingonberry, my first free WordPress theme.



<p>There’s something special about seeing people take something you’ve built and do creative things with it, and when Lingonberry went live, it was exciting in a way I have a hard time putting into words. It made me realize I was a lot more eager to see my themes being used than I was making money from them. My next theme, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/hemingway-wordpress-theme">Hemingway</a>, was free as well. As was my next one, and the one after that, and all the themes that followed. After a year or two, I decided to remove Lasseter from sale. It had sold maybe ten copies at that point.&nbsp;</p>



<p>During that same time, my free themes had been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. I was starting to get requests about making paid adjustments to them, and in some cases, building completely custom themes. When I was a couple of months away from graduating college, I received an offer from Smashing WordPress author <a href="https://tdh.se">Thord D. Hedengren</a> to come to Stockholm for a job interview at Odd Alice, his web agency. After 15 years of building web sites as a hobby, the offer was on the table to turn it into a career. I took it.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_74b792-05 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">The blessing and the curse</h2>



<p>In the years that followed, I worked remotely for two years before I moved to Stockholm, went through a breakup, made friends for life and grew both as a person and as a theme developer, experienced a company merger and the implosion of said company, and became a freelancer in November 2019 just months before the pandemic hit. All the while, I kept on releasing free WordPress themes.</p>



<p>I also felt lost. Anyone who has been allowed to turn their hobby into a career – and there are a lot of us in the WordPress community – know that it is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because you’re allowed to spend your nine to five working on something that you’re truly passionate about. A curse because working on your passion from nine to five will result in that passion wearing out and, in periods, be extinguished altogether. This is when a hobby comes in handy. It’s a shame you’ve turned your hobby into a job, isn’t it?</p>



<p>The pandemic was a turning point for me, as it was for so many others. I had increasingly started to feel like a WordPress website generator with legs, and after months of isolation in my studio apartment in Stockholm, I realized I needed a change. I needed something that could give me a sense of purpose and sense of self that isn’t rendered with pixels on a screen.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_8e86d0-af wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Hike your own hike</h2>



<p>The seed was planted during a family trip to Scotland in August 2019. Me, my parents and my siblings were exploring the country by train, and our first stop after leaving Edinburgh was a little town in the Scottish Highlands called Fort William. Fort William lies at the foot of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It is the end point for the West Highland Way hiking trail to the south and the starting point for the Great Glen Way hiking trail to the north. Early August is peak hiking season, and Fort William was filled with long-distance hikers either finishing their hike or just about to start it. The sight of excited hikers getting ready to head out on the trail stuck with me.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When I got back to Sweden, I saw that I had received an email asking me whether I’d like to take part in designing the Twenty Twenty default theme in WordPress 5.3. It’s the sort of offer you would kick yourself for life for turning down, so I swallowed all of my anxieties and said yes. The next couple of months were intense. In addition to a hectic work schedule and contributing to Twenty Twenty in the evenings and weekends, me and my partner were separating, I was buying an apartment, and I was transitioning from full-time employment to freelance work. I would watch hiking videos on YouTube to decompress. I watched a lot of hiking videos that fall.</p>



<p>The next spring, as the pandemic shutdown began, I put on my hiking backpack for the first time and headed out for my first night in the wild. Despite a heavy backpack, aching muscles and chafing in all the wrong places, it was love at first sight. That August, a year after the Scotland trip, I did my first long-distance hike in the Swedish mountains. Nine days on the Dag Hammarskjöld trail from Abisko to Nikkaluokta. Hiking had me properly hooked.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/anders-noren-dag-hammarskjoldsleden.jpg"><img /></a>One of my tent sites on Dag Hammarskjöldsleden, between the Sälka and Singi cabins.



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_b10867-03 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">The missing puzzle piece</h2>



<p>Balance. That’s what I lost when I turned my hobby into a career. When I was a student, I could turn to side projects and theme development for a creative outlet and a change of pace. When I started to work full-time as a theme developer, I still tried to use my themes as that creative outlet, and it only worked to a point. When I finally reached that point, I came very close to burning out on theme development altogether. I started to question my decisions at every fork in the road that had brought me to that chapter in my life. Maybe I should have been a media relations person after all?</p>



<p>None of us can be all work, all of the time. Finding something that we’re passionate about outside of our day job is key to maintaining balance in our lives. I think that’s especially true for those of us lucky enough to get to turn our hobby into a career. For me, that something turned out to be hiking. Every time I come back from a hike I feel rejuvenated and inspired, with my passion for theme development burning a little bit brighter than when I left. None would have been more surprised than my twelve year old self, with his nose buried in books about C++ and QBasic.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grona-bandet-map.jpg"><img /></a>My planned route on Gröna bandet.</div>


<p>Next summer, I’ll head out on my biggest adventure yet: A two month hike of the entire Swedish mountain chain, from Grövelsjön in the south to the point where the borders of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet in the north. About 1 300 kilometers in all. The hike is called Gröna bandet, and unlike most long-distance trails, you have to chart your own path from the starting point to the end. A fitting metaphor for a career in WordPress. All of it will be documented in excruciating detail on my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andersnoren1/">Instagram</a>, if you’re interested in tagging along.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It is an immense privilege to be able to go on adventures like this one, and I likely wouldn’t have had that opportunity without the strange career path the WordPress community has given me. For that, I’m incredibly grateful.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<h1 id="svenska">Välsignelser och förbannelser med att förvandla sin hobby till en karriär</h1>



<p>År 2012 var jag en medie- och kommunikationsstudent på Umeå universitet. Mediebranschens nedåtgående kurva hade övertygat mig om att inte satsa på en karrär som journalist, och jag intalade mig själv att det näst bästa var att jobba som kommunikatör på en spännande arbetsplats. Det var ungefär så mycket tanke jag hade lagt bakom mitt val av utbildning. För varje föreläsning jag gick på och uppgift jag lämnade in insåg jag att jag tyckte om att studera kommunikation, men jag var inte särskilt pepp på att göra en karriär av det.</p>



<p>Som tur är gav föreläsningarna och uppgifterna mig tillräckligt tid över för att ta mig an andra saker. Att ändra på min civilstatus, träffa nya vänner, gå på fester – saker man prioriterar när man flyttar till en stad 500 kilometer bort – men också sidoprojekt. Det är tufft att få ihop hushållsbudgeten som student. Jag började överväga olika sätt att tjäna pengar på det webbfixandde jag hade haft som hobby sedan jag var liten.</p>



<p>Jag var medveten om att marknaden för premiumteman för WordPress växte snabbt, och att teman på marknadsplatser som ThemeForest drog in enorma summor. Det kunde kanske vara ett sätt att dryga ut hushållsbudgeten.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_a25f3f-c1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Mitt möte med WordPress</h2>



<p>Jag har ett väldigt tydligt minne av när jag skrev HTML för första gången. Jag var elva år gammal, och jag utforskade en länksamling som hette Annas Länkburkar i skolans datorsal. I och med att du läser det här på svenska kanske du minns den själv, beroende på när du gick i skolan. Om inte så bestod startsidan på Annas länkburkar av rader med burkar, flaskor, lådor och tepåsar, märkta med den typ av länkar kategorisidorna innehöll. Någonstans i den mörkblåa flaskan märkt ”Data” hittade jag en guide till att skriva enkla webbsidor i HTML. Mitt skrivbord var snart helt belamrat med .html-filer i vilka jag utforskade grunderna i att koda webbsidor. Jag fick veta att e-postkontot som mina föräldrar hade hos webbportalen Spray kom med medlemssidor med HTML-support, och jag planterade snart flaggan i mitt första lilla utrymme på WWW. Om jag minns rätt hade medlemsidan den minnesvärda webbadressen http://medlem.spray.se, följt av en slumpmässig nummersekvens.</p>



<p>Jag fortsatte att experimentera med webbutveckling under de närmaste åren. En bok på Sandvikens folkbibliotek introducerade mig till CSS, och jag försökte och misslyckades också med att lära mig JavaScript. Jag var medveten om att det fanns innehållshanteringssystem redan då, men i och med att det inte fanns utrymme för en serveravgift i min veckopeng fick jag nöja med med vad jag kunde göra med .tk-domännamn och gratis webbhotell. Jag började experimentera med andra programmeringsspråk också. C++ var för komplicerat och Visual Basic för tråkigt, men QBasic träffade rätt och jag byggde enkla ASCII-spel i QBasic under en tid. Som du märker var jag en väldigt cool och populär kille.</p>



<p>Jag bytte skola när jag var 15 år gammal, och mitt intresse för datorer svalnade under en period. Istället upptäckte jag Photoshop. Mina alster bestod främst av lågmälda illustrationer med utdrag från sångtexter i bildtexten – 15-åringens främsta uttrycksform. Jag blev också lurad att jobba med skoltidningen, vilket väckte mitt intresse för journalistik och introducerade mig till InDesign.</p>



<p>Bloggfenomenet var precis på väg att ta fart i Sverige när jag började gymnasiet år 2006, och jag var ivrig att haka på. Jag hade fått för mig att jag skulle utveckla indiespel, och istället för att ägna min tid åt att lära mig spelutveckling bestämde jag mig för att starta en blogg om indie-spelutveckling. Det utgjorde starten för en livslång vana av att bygga webbplatser om mina intressen istället för att utöva dem. Efter en snabb Google-sökning efter olika bloggtjänster hamnade jag på WordPress.com. Tjänsten vara bara drygt ett år gammal då.</p>



<p>Jag publicerade mitt första blogginlägg med WordPress den 14 januari 2007. Jag kan säga datumet med säkerhet för att jag tittar på blogginlägget i detta ögonblick, men nej, jag kommer inte att publicera länken till det här. Jag har redan berättat om mina lågmälda Photoshop-illustrationer, och det finns gränser för hur mycket jag är villig att göra mig till åtlöje i ett publikt forum. Trots WordPress.com-domännamnet och min knackiga engelska lyckades jag övertala en handfull spelutvecklare att bli intervjuade för bloggen. Den mest kända var John Romero, designer av Wolfenstein 3D, Doom och Quake. Min sista fråga var ”Pizza eller hamburgare?”. Det är nog lika bra att jag inte blev journalist.</p>



<p>Mina dagdrömmar om indie-spelutveckling svalnade snabbt, men jag hade inte förlorat mitt intresse för bloggande. Jag var van vid WordPress efter att använt WordPress.com, så när det blev dags att registrera ett domännamn och bli kund hos ett webbhotell var valet av innehållssystem enkelt. Jag dammade av mina gamla HTML och CSS-kunskaper för att göra mindre justeringar i temat jag använde, och jag började lära mig lite PHP också. Jag insåg snart att det var lika roligt att experimentera med koden som att skriva blogginlägg.</p>



<p>Fler sajter följde snabbt. En med nyheter om Nintendo, en med nyheter om Apple, ett länkarkiv, en med guider till hur man bloggar, en om mordet på Olof Palme, och så vidare. Den sista är den enda av dem som fortfarande <a href="https://palmemordet.se/">ligger uppe</a>, men dess utseende har uppdaterats flera gånger sedan jag först la upp den 2010. Jag får fortfarande e-postmeddelanden från konspirationsteoretiker några gånger per år. Nästan alla av webbplatserna var byggda med WordPress, vanligtvis med ett gratis- eller premiumtema med mindre modifikationer. Jag fortsatte uppdatera dem efter att jag gick ut gymnasiet, och något år efter min examen fick jag ett jobb på ett litet IT-företag där jag fick betalt för att skriva kod för första gången. Jag såg det fortfarande inte som en möjlig karriärväg. Mitt sikte var inställt på universitetet.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_8f7792-b0 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">En karriär byggd på teman</h2>



<p>Två år senare satt jag i min studentlägenhet i Umeå och övervägde att dryga ut hushållsbudgeten genom att bygga premiumteman. Jag hade fritid till övers och inget att förlora, så jag bestämde mig för att ge det ett försök. Mitt första tema var ett enkelt bloggtema vid namn Lasseter, döpt efter den tidigare Pixar-regissören John Lasseter, och jag släppte det på marknadsplatsen Mojo Themes i augusti 2013 för 49 dollar. Jag visste att jag behövde marknadsföra mina premiumteman på något sätt, och jag bestämde mig för att utveckla gratisteman för WordPress.orgs temabibliotek också. Besökare skulle komma till min webbplats för gratisteman och förhoppningsvis bestämma sig för att betala en slant för ett premiumtema istället. Det var planen. Det blev inte riktigt så.</p>



<p>Jag släppte mitt första gratistema, Lingonberry, samma månad som Lasseter. Trac-ticketen för temat är fortfarande <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558">live</a>, och listan på buggar jag behövde åtgärda innan temat godkändes är en kilometer lång. Carolina Nymark från WordPress.orgs Theme Review Team granskade temat, och hon var väldigt tålmodig. Jag hade inte en aning om hur lite jag visste om temautveckling innan jag skickade in mitt första tema till WordPress.org. Sju år senare var jag och Carolina co-leads för <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/">Twenty Twenty</a>-standardtemat i WordPress 5.3. Jag är skyldig henne och de andra temagranskarna på WordPress.org väldigt mycket.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lingonberry-1680x1680-1.jpg"><img /></a>Lingonberry, mitt första gratis WordPress-tema.



<p>Det är något speciellt med att se människor ta något som du har skapat och göra något kreativt med det, och när Lingonberry släpptes var det spännande på ett sätt som jag har svårt att sätta ord på. Det fick mig att inse att jag var mycket mer intresserad av att se mina teman bli använda än jag var av att tjäna pengar på dem. Mitt nästa tema, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/hemingway-wordpress-theme">Hemingway</a>, var gratis. Det var temat efter det också, och temat efter, och alla teman som följde. Efter något år bestämde jag mig för att sluta sälja Lasseter. Det hade kanske sålts&nbsp; i tio exemplar vid det laget.</p>



<p>Under samma period hade mina gratisteman laddats ned hundratusentals gånger. Folk började fråga mig om jag kunde göra mindre justeringar av dem mot betalning, och så småningom började jag också få frågor om att bygga nya teman från grunden. När jag hade ett par månader kvar av min utbildning frågade Smashing WordPress-författaren <a href="https://tdh.se">Thord D. Hedengren</a> om jag ville komma ner till Stockholm för en jobbintervju på hans webbyrå: Odd Alice. Efter att ha byggt webbplatser som en hobby i 15 år hade jag nu ett konkret erbjudande om att göra det till min karriär. Jag tog det.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_e569ed-3c wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Välsignelsen och förbannelsen</h2>



<p>Under åren som följde jobbade jag på distans från Umeå i två år innan jag flyttade till Stockholm, separerade från min flickvän, fick vänner för livet och växte både som person och som temautvecklare, fick uppleva en företagssammanslagning och kollapsen av det företaget, och blev frilansare i november 2019 bara månader innan pandemin började. Under hela den tiden fortsatte jag att släppa gratisteman.</p>



<p>Jag kände mig också vilse. Alla som har fått möjlighet att göra en karriär av deras hobby – och det finns många av oss i WordPress-sfären – vet att det är både en välsignelse och en förbannelse. En välsignelse för att du får ägna dina nio till fem åt något som du verkligen är passionerad för. En förbannelse för att om du jobbar på din passion varje dag så kommer det att leda till att din passion falnar och, i perioder, slocknar helt och hållet. Det är då det är bra att ha en hobby. Trist att du har gjort din hobby till ditt födkrok, eller hur?</p>



<p>Pandemin var en vändpunkt för mig, precis som den var för många andra. Jag hade mer och mer börjat känna mig som en WordPress-maskin på två ben, och efter månader av isolering i min etta i Stockholm insåg jag att jag behövde en förändring. Jag behövde något som gav mitt liv en mening som inte renderades med pixlar på en skärm.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_170e02-94 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Vandra din egen vandring</h2>



<p>Fröet såddes i augusti 2019 under en familjesemester i Skottland. Jag, mina föräldrar och mina syskon ägnade två veckor åt att utforska landet med tåg, och vårt första stopp efter Edinburgh var en liten by i de skotska högländerna som heter Fort William. Fort William ligger vid foten av Ben Nevis, Storbritanniens högsta berg, och det är slutpunkten för vandringsleden West Highland Way åt söder och startpunkten för vandringsleden Great Glen Way åt norr. Början av augusti var högsäsong för vandring i området, och Fort William var fyllt av långdistansvandrare som antingen precis hade avslutat sin vandring eller precis skulle påbörja den. Det var något med synen av exalterade vandrare på väg ut i naturen med sina överfulla ryggsäckar som jag inte kunde släppa.</p>



<p>När jag var tillbaka i Sverige såg jag att jag hade blivit tillfrågad om jag ville vara med och designa Twenty Twenty-standardtemat i WordPress 5.3. Jag visste att jag aldrig skulle förlåta mig själv om jag sa nej, så jag svalde alla mina farhågor och sa ja. Månaderna som följde var intensiva. Utöver en hektisk period på jobbet och arbete med Twenty Twenty på kvällar och helger så separerade jag och min flickvän, jag köpte en lägenhet, och jag började övergången från heltidsanställning till livet som frilansare. Jag tittade på vandringsfilmer på YouTube för att slappna av. Jag tittade på mycket vandringsfilmer den hösten.</p>



<p>Nästa vår, när pandemin hade börjat och samhället stängdes ner, tog jag på mig vandringsryggan för första gången och gav mig ut på min första övernattning i naturen. Trots en tung ryggsäck, ömma muskler och skavsår på helt fel ställen var det kärlek vid första ögonkastet. Ett år efter resan till Skottland gjorde jag min första långvandring i de svenska bergen. Nio dagar på Dag Hammarskjöldsleden från Abisko till Nikkaluokta. Jag var fast.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/anders-noren-dag-hammarskjoldsleden.jpg"><img /></a>En av mina tältplatser på Dag Hammarskjöldsleden, mellan Sälka- och Singistugorna.



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_6ae430-01 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Den saknade pusselbiten</h2>



<p>Balans. Det är vad jag förlorade när jag gjorde min hobby till min karriär. När jag var student kunde jag vända mig till sidoprojekt och temautveckling för att få ett kreativt utlopp och en paus från vardagen. När jag började jobba som temautvecklare på heltid försökte jag fortfarande använda mina gratisteman som ett kreativt utlopp, och det fungerade tills det inte fungerade längre. När jag till slut nådde den punkten var jag på gränsen till att bli utbränd och tappa lusten för temautveckling helt och hållet. Jag började ifrågasätta varje vägval jag hade gjort i mitt liv. Jag kanske skulle ha blivit kommunikatör ändå?</p>



<p>Ingen av oss kan vara hundra procent jobb, hundra procent av tiden. Vi behöver alla hitta något annat än våra jobb att vara passionerade för om vi ska kunna leva balanserade liv. Jag tror att det är extra sant för oss som var haft turen att få bygga en karriär på våra fritidsintressen. För mig visade sig vandring vara den saknade pusselbiten. Jag känner mig utvilad och inspirerad varje gång jag kommer tillbaka från en vandring, och jag är redo att ta mig an både kundjobb och gratisteman med förnyad passion. Ingen hade blivit mer överraskad än mitt tolvåriga jag, med näsan begravd i böcker om C++ och QBasic.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grona-bandet-map.jpg"><img /></a>Min planerade rutt på Gröna bandet.</div>


<p>Nästa sommar ska jag ge mig ut på mitt största äventyr hittills: en två månader lång vandring genom hela den svenska fjällkedjan, från Grövelsjön i söder till Treriksröset i norr. Drygt 130 mil totalt. Vandringen heter Gröna bandet, och till skillnad från de flesta vandringsleder måste man välja sin egen väg från starten till slutet. En passande metafor för en karriär i WordPress. Hela vandringen kommer att dokumenteras i olidlig detalj på min <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andersnoren1/">Instagram</a>, om du är nyfiken.</p>



<p>Det är ett enormt privilegium att kunna ge sig ut på såna äventyr, och jag skulle sannolikt inte ha haft den möjligheten utan den underliga karriärväg som WordPress-communityt har gett mig. För det är jag oändligt tacksam.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/blessings-and-curses-of-turning-your-hobby-into-a-career/">Blessings and curses of turning your hobby into a career &#8211; Välsignelser och förbannelser med att förvandla sin hobby till en karriär</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</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, 07 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +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:13:"Anders Norén";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:69:"WPTavern: Google Rolls Out December 2022 “Helpful Content” Update";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=140146";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/google-rolls-out-december-2022-helpful-content-update";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:3164:"<p>Google is in the process of rolling out its <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking">December 2022</a> &#8220;helpful content&#8221; system update, which started on the 5th and is becoming more visible in search results. The company estimates it will take approximately two weeks to fully roll out.</p>



<p>The helpful content system generates a signal that is used by Google&#8217;s <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">automated ranking systems</a> to provide people with what it deems to be more original and helpful content &#8220;written by people, for people&#8221; in search results. This particular update improves the system&#8217;s classifier and works across content in all languages. </p>



<p>The system was designed to reward content where Google determines that visitors have had a satisfying experience and, conversely, where visitors do not find what they are looking for, the content will not perform as well. This is distilled into a site-wide signal where Google&#8217;s systems automatically identify &#8220;content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to those doing searches.&#8221; </p>



<p>If Google finds relatively high amounts of unhelpful content on a site, the rest of the site&#8217;s content is not as likely to perform well in Search. With this application of the system, unhelpful content is like a poison for the rest of the website. Google said removing it could boost the rankings for the rest of the site&#8217;s content. It can take months for Google to reclassify a site&#8217;s content as helpful after unhelpful content has been removed.</p>



<p>Google published more information on how the classifier works and what it means for rankings:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>This classifier process is entirely automated, using a machine-learning model. It works globally across all languages. It is not a&nbsp;<a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175">manual action</a>&nbsp;nor a spam action. Instead, it&#8217;s just one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/">many signals Google evaluates</a>&nbsp;to rank content.</p>



<p>This means that some people-first content on sites classified as having unhelpful content could still rank well, if there are other signals identifying that people-first content as helpful and relevant to a query. The signal is also weighted; sites with lots of unhelpful content may notice a stronger effect.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>This is the first major update to helpful content since August 2022. At that time Google encouraged site owners to focus on creating &#8220;people-first content,&#8221; as opposed to search engine-first content. Site owners are encouraged to reference Google&#8217;s guide to &#8220;<a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content">Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content,</a>&#8221; which includes dozens of questions for evaluating whether content will be deemed helpful or not.</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, 07 Dec 2022 04:04:23 +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:58:"WPTavern: Jetpack 11.6 Adds Block Pattern Support to Forms";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=140131";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/jetpack-11-6-adds-block-pattern-support-to-forms";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:2090:"<p>Jetpack has introduced a major update to its Form block in the latest version <a href="https://jetpack.com/blog/jetpack-11-6-update-to-the-form-block-and-more/">11.6 release</a>. Users can now interact with the various form templates as patterns. </p>



<p>A new quick start placeholder appears anytime users invoke a new form block. It displays a selection of the most commonly used form types as icons. Clicking on any one of the form templates will instantly add it to the block. From there, users can further customize the form fields and labels. It also displays a link to documentation on customizing forms and a link to view and export form responses.</p>



<img />



<p>Version 11.6 also introduces a patterns explorer, similar to the one found in the block inserter. Here users can see all available patterns fully expanded to better inform their decisions during the form creation process.</p>



<img />



<p>After testing, I found the pattern explorer to be a somewhat clunky way to view available form templates. In the default view they appear one at a time and expand to fit the explorer&#8217;s viewport. They are also difficult to scroll. Clicking on the grid style view, the patterns are easier to see but the design could be improved to better differentiate each pattern, as they all seem to run right into the next with faint borders around each.</p>



<p>Although I&#8217;m eager to see Jetpack iterate on the execution of these new ways to build forms, the placeholder and pattern explorer undoubtedly help users get started faster than trying to build a form from scratch in the block editor.</p>



<p>Other notable updates in this release include SEO improvements that allow users to have more granular control over how their content is presented (or not presented) to search engines. In the Jetpack SEO panel, users can now exclude that specific post or page from being indexed, while allowing the content to remain publicly accessible. Users can also now set a custom SEO title for posts and pages that will show in the search snippet and browser tab.</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, 07 Dec 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: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: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:63:"Do The Woo Community: A Product Builders Journey with Eran Shor";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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73747";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:62:"https://dothewoo.io/a-product-builders-journey-with-eran-shor/";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:408:"<p>Eran has a history with both WooCommerce and WordPress and shares his story on building Zorem and his latest product, TrackShip.</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/a-product-builders-journey-with-eran-shor/">A Product Builders Journey with Eran Shor</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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:"Tue, 06 Dec 2022 10:00:00 +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:5:"BobWP";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:73:"WPTavern: ChatGPT Creates a Working WordPress Plugin – On the First Try";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=140097";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://wptavern.com/chatgpt-creates-a-working-wordpress-plugin-on-the-first-try";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:3742:"<p>ChatGPT <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1599668808285028353">passed 1 million users</a> today and Twitter is brimming with a steady stream of creative questions and applications for the AI-powered chatbot. The language model, <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">created by OpenAI</a>, is powered by GPT-3.5, a series of models trained on text and code from before Q4 2021. The model features a dialogue format that gives ChatGPT the ability to &#8220;answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.&#8221;</p>



<p>While some are busy predicting the <a href="https://twitter.com/jdjkelly/status/1598021488795586561">end of search engines</a> and sounding the death knell for human-generated writing, others are fascinated by the potential of AI systems to fundamentally reshape the process of creation. WordPress developer Johnathon Williams brought this close to home when he asked ChatGPT to spin up a WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>Ordinarily, plugin creation is a task that requires a certain level of technical proficiency. Williams demonstrated that, with a little bit of expert guidance, ChatGPT can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to extend WordPress.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ChatGPT wrote a working WordPress plugin for me today on the first try. <br /><br />Custom menu item, custom admin screen, saving a custom options value, validating the field before saving &#8230;<br /><br />Holy hell.</p>&mdash; Johnathon Williams (@johnofhousejohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnofhousejohn/status/1599858839771176960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Williams installed the plugin and found that it worked on the first try. Although he didn&#8217;t save the prompt for this first try, he <a href="https://gist.github.com/oddjar/54bd63399e2e27b15a25d10b6edd4ec2">published a gist on GitHub</a> of the generated code.</p>



<p>On a second attempt of creating a different plugin, he used the following prompt:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>Create a custom WordPress plugin called &#8220;Big Daddy Media&#8221; that deletes images older than one year from the media library. OOP. Custom admin screen. one button delete. log the full URL of all deleted media files.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>He published a screen recording of ChatGPT at work creating the plugin:</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Open AI's ChatGPT can generate an entire WordPress plugin based on a simple description.<br /><br />Watch it work: <a href="https://t.co/LZQbxFq0aP">pic.twitter.com/LZQbxFq0aP</a></p>&mdash; Johnathon Williams (@johnofhousejohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnofhousejohn/status/1599932681076473856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Williams said that although he&#8217;s had mixed results with his prompts, he has gotten the best results from asking ChatGPI to generate entire functions versus specific filters or actions.</p>



<p>Theoretically, with additional training on plugin best practices and common architecture, ChatGPT could be used by people of all skill levels to extend WordPress in creative ways.</p>



<p>&#8220;Very soon, describing the WordPress plugin you need to ChatGPT will generate a new one faster than searching for an existing one in the plugin directory,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;This won&#8217;t be true for all types of plugins, of course. But for relatively simple plugins performing established tricks &#8230; well *very soon* should probably read &#8216;right now.'&#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, 06 Dec 2022 04:14:35 +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: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:125:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg 14.6, Divi builder’s future,Block and Theme development courses and more – Weekend Edition 237";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=22812";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:127:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/gutenberg-14-6-divi-builders-futureblock-and-theme-development-courses-and-more-weekend-edition-237/";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:29783:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>It has been a whirlwind year for me, and now 2022 is coming to an end. Two more Weekend Editions, one more Gutenberg Changelog episode and our vacation around the Holidays and New Year&#8217;s will start. I can hardly wait, to be honest. I have a few personal projects, I finally need to get going on them. </p>



<p>In this week&#8217;s <a href="https://www.therepository.email/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=WzE3NCwiMjAxZTExZjMzOTNjIiw1NTYsIjFqb2g0ZGtiNnZmbzh3NG9vb3dnNG9zODhnazA0czR3Iiw0NzMsMF0">The Repository</a> newsletter (150) I read the community profile of Ryan Sullivan who identified <em>Entropy</em> as the one concept that is worth understanding. He shared a link to a blog post by James Clear (<em>Atomic Habits</em>) &#8220;<a href="https://jamesclear.com/entropy">Entropy: Why Life Always Seems to Get More Complicated</a>&#8220;. I found some solace in the fact that chaos seems to be our natural state of things. </p>



<p>In a GitHub discussion about Custom-CSS coming to the Block editor, I  also learned about Cumming&#8217;s Law: &#8220;Law that affirms that the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer&#8221; Wisdom of the crowd. </p>



<p>Well, WordPress problem-solving is a holistic experience.  It takes the whole person. It&#8217;s not all about bits, bytes, servers, PHP and JavaScript. It&#8217;s about people, too. 🤦‍♀️ 😜</p>



<p>For a more down to Earth developers, you&#8217;ll find below two posts linked that tell use of the journey of backend or PHP developer to learn working with blocks. </p>



<p>I<s>f you haven&#8217;t yet, browse through the <strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/november/schedule/">schedule of WordFest Live</a> </strong>&#8211; a 24-hour virtual conference and celebration of WordPress around Transformation.  It will take place on <strong>December 16, 2022</strong>, </s>  I was sorry to learn, that <em>WordFest Live was cancelled</em>. (12/4 &#8211; Thank you, DJ for letting me know)</p>



<p>The day before, <strong>December 15, 2022</strong> Matt Mullenweg will will give his annual keynote address called <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/"> State of the Word</a></strong>, when he shares reflections on the project’s progress and the future of open source. </p>



<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>






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<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost"><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#5-s">Upcoming WordPress events</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-l">Learn WordPress Online Meetups</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
</div></div>




<h2 id="0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>



<p><strong>Gutenberg 14.6 </strong>was release on November 23rd, 2022. <strong>Fabian Kägy</strong> highlighted in his release post <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/">What’s new in Gutenberg 14.6? (23 November)</a></strong> the following features:</p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#add-a-variation-picker-to-the-group-block-placeholder">Add a Variation Picker to the Group Block Placeholder</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#add-list-based-editing-to-navigation-block">Add List-Based Editing to Navigation Block</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#hide-block-toolbar-when-spacing-visualizer-is-shown">Hide Block Toolbar when Spacing Visualizer is Shown</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#transform-paragraph-into-heading">Transform Paragraph into Heading via Keyboard Shortcut</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#update-the-design-of-the-focal-point-handle">Update the Design of the Focal Point Handle</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#fluid-typography-adjust-font-size-min-and-max-rules">Fluid typography: Adjust font size min and max rules</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#define-a-min-height">Define a Minimum Height</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#generate-new-color-palets-automatically">Generate New Color Pallets Automatically</a></li>
</ul>



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<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on the release as well: <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-14-6-adds-list-view-for-editing-navigation-block-introduces-new-automatic-color-palette-generator">Gutenberg 14.6 Adds List View for Editing Navigation Block, Introduces New Automatic Color Palette Generator</a>. She wrote: &#8220;One of the most creative features introduced in this release is the new&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40988">“Randomize colors” feature</a>&nbsp;that will automatically generate color palettes on the fly. It utilizes hue rotations based on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~dag/CUBEHELIX/">Cubehelix color scheme</a>.&#8221;</p>



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<p>If you are a subscriber to the <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-76-the-new-developer-blogs-public-beta-gutenberg-14-5-and-14-6-and-whats-coming-up-in-6-2/">Gutenberg Changelog podcast</a>, your favorite podcast app probably made the latest episode available to you. To my absolute delight, <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong>, Twitch streamer and developer advocate joined me again for this show. It was great fun! </p>



<img />



<p>Welcher&nbsp;was quoted in the the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.therepository.email/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=WzE3NCwiMjAxZTExZjMzOTNjIiw1NTYsIjFqb2g0ZGtiNnZmbzh3NG9vb3dnNG9zODhnazA0czR3Iiw0NzMsMF0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Repository Newsletter #150</a>&nbsp;&#8220;In the&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-76-the-new-developer-blogs-public-beta-gutenberg-14-5-and-14-6-and-whats-coming-up-in-6-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest episode</a>&nbsp;of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast, Ryan Welcher, a Developer Relations Advocate at Automattic, some &#8220;quality of life&#8221; updates in Gutenberg 14.6 that make using it a more pleasant experience: &#8220;It’s nice there&#8217;s this level of refinement happening to these existing tools,&#8221; he says.&#8221; TY to <a href="https://twitter.com/raemoreywrites">Rae Morey</a>, editor of the newsletter. </p>



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<p><strong>🎙️ </strong> New episode:  <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-77-gutenberg-14-7-whats-new-for-block-themes-an-upcoming-live-qa-in-january/">Gutenberg Changelog #77 – Gutenberg 14.7, what’s new for Block Themes, an upcoming Live Q&amp;A in January</a> with special guest, Daisy Olsen and host Birgit Pauli-Haack. </p>
</div></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>If you’re all about the words, be it blogging for yourself or as a content author for your clients, WordPress 6.1 has a number of writing and editing improvements you’ll want to take advantage of. <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published another post in the series of Core editor improvements. In <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/28/core-editor-improvement-advancing-the-writing-experience/">Advancing the writing experience</a></strong> they wrote: <em>&#8220;The experience of writing your latest post, whether as part of your weekly routine or out of excitement from a recent adventure, just got easier in&nbsp;many&nbsp;different ways. From a new mode that helps you focus on just writing to more keyboard shortcuts for quickly navigating content, there’s something for everyone, no matter how you approach writing your posts.&#8221;</em></p>



<h2 id="0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>



<p>In the last edition, I shared with you the <a href="https://poststatus.com/the-future-of-givewp-and-the-block-editor/">story that GiveWP is revamping their plugin to use Gutenberg as a framework</a> for their Donations plugin and use the interface components, and scripts already built into WordPress to modernize and standardize the plugin page and settings. </p>



<p>Last month,  <strong>Nick Roach</strong>&nbsp;CEO Elegant Themes, the company that built the Divi Builder, announced the start of the Divi 5.0 release process in the post <strong><a href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/general-news/the-future-of-divi">Let’s Talk About Divi 5.0 And The Future Of Divi</a></strong>.  &#8220;In fact, developers familiar with creating blocks for WordPress will find a lot of similarities in the Divi 5.0 module API. WordPress blocks will be more easily adapted to Divi and WordPress developers will be able to jump head first into building things for our community. We are building this new version of Divi to work in harmony with WordPress.&#8221; he wrote. As time of the writing the post has around 190 comments. I haven&#8217;t started to read yet. </p>



<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on it on the WPTavern: <a href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/general-news/the-future-of-divi"><strong>Divi 5.0 Aims to Bring Greater Compatibility with Gutenberg</strong></a>. She talked to developer, Josh Ronk and quoted him: “On the block theme front, as a part of Divi 5.0, we are also transitioning into a Block-Based theme, and since Divi 5.0 is actually internally built using the same ‘packages’ that Gutenberg itself is composed of, Divi 5.0 has a lot of compatibility built in from the core,”.</p>



<p>In his video, <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong>, PootlePress, posed the question: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJUCzJYfzNQ"><strong>Is The Divi WordPress Theme Dying?</strong></a></p>



<p><em>Are you a Divi user? How do you feel about this announcement?  Share in the comments, or email me to <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">pauli@gutenbergtimes.com</a></em></p>



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<p><strong>Jean-Baptist Audras</strong>, Whodunit Agency and outgoing team rep of the WordPress Core team <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb/status/1598350878037221382">tweeted</a></strong> that his agency released two new plugins that help with creating accessible content. </p>



<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">&#8220;Lang Attribute for the Block Editor&#8221;</a></strong> provides a way to ensure language changes in the content of a page are properly indicated to assistive technologies, using the <code>lang</code> attribute. See <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/language-of-parts.html"><em>WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 “Language of Parts”</em></a></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">“Abbreviation Button for the Block Editor”</a></strong> helps you to provide definitions for abbreviations, using the &lt;abbr&gt; HTML element. See <em><a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/abbreviations.html">WCAG success criterion 3.1.4 “Abbreviations”</a></em></p>



<p>Audras also wrote: &#8220;Worth noting that indicating language changes in content is mandatory for WCAG compliance, and there is currently no way to do that in the Block Editor (except by editing the code manually). I think this feature should be implemented natively into Gutenberg&#8221;</p>



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<p><strong>Marko Segota</strong> at Anariel Design wrote about <a href="https://www.anarieldesign.com/how-to-create-columns-in-wordpress/"><strong>How to Create Columns in WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg)</strong></a>? He covers the topic from adding columns to the editor canvas, and adding blocks to each column. Then Segota goes over all the various design options and how to add borders. Equipped with the full knowledge of available features, you now can channel your creativity to build enticing layouts and page sections. </p>



<p><em>Share your creation, if you&#8217;d like and send me your screenshots or links. Please don&#8217;t hesitate to also send your questions, and your bug reports, to my email address <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">pauli@gutenbergtimes.com</a></em></p>



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<p>On WPEngine&#8217;s Builders Resouces site, <strong>Nick Diego</strong> wrote a tutorial on <a href="https://wpengine.com/builders/designing-with-column-blocks/"><strong>Designing with Column Blocks in WordPress</strong></a> and explored two block layouts that rely on the Columns block. &#8220;While both are relatively simple, they demonstrate how powerful and versatile this block can be. &#8221; He also included ways to add additional functionality using custom CSS classes.</p>



<h2 id="2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>



<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> and <strong>Damon Cook</strong> facilitated a conversation in a recent <strong>Hallway Hangout</strong> about <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/12/02/hallway-hangout-future-of-css-in-block-themes/"><strong>the future of CSS in block&nbsp;themes</strong></a>. In the more casual chat the group discussed some Block Theme development-related features that are under active development. I was sorry, that I missed it and I have this on my watch list once this newsletter is done 🙂 </p>



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<p>Speaking of WordPressTV: the recording of a recent Learn WordPress Builder Basics event was uploaded, too. <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/12/02/builder-basics-building-with-columns-groups-rows-and-stacks/"><strong>Builder basics: building with columns, groups, rows and&nbsp;stacks</strong></a> with <strong>Nick Diego</strong>, where he &#8220;explored how to design sophisticated layouts using Columns, Group, Row, and Stack blocks. These blocks represent the fundamental building blocks of every WordPress website. You’ll learn the nuances of each block type and how to configure them correctly, with a special focus on new features in WordPress 6.1.&#8221;</p>



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<p>In his post <strong><a href="https://themeshaper.com/2022/11/28/how-to-add-typographic-fonts-to-wordpress-block-themes/">How to add typographic fonts to WordPress block&nbsp;themes</a>, Matias Benedetto</strong> explains how to use the Create Block Theme plugins to bundle fonts to your theme with just a few clicks.</p>



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<p><strong>Ganesh Dahal</strong> published a tutorial on <a href="https://css-tricks.com/using-the-new-constrained-layout-in-wordpress-block-themes/"><strong>how to use the new constrained layout In WordPress block&nbsp;themes</strong></a>. &#8220;Now that we have JSON-ified styles for the margins and padding of layout containers, that opens us up to&nbsp;more flexible and robust ways to define spacing in our theme layouts.&#8221; Dahal wrote. </p>




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							<div class="ngl-article-featured"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" target="_self" rel=""><img src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/keyboard.jpeg?w=652&ssl=1" /></a></div><div class="ngl-article-title"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" target="_self" rel=""><span>A Walk-Through of Layout Classes in WordPress 6.1</span></a></div><div class="ngl-article-excerpt">WordPress 6.1 introduced several necessary changes to its layout framework. Namely, core has now centralized its layout definitions, created semantic class names, and reduced code duplication on container blocks. Originally,&hellip; <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" class="ngl-article-read-more" target="_self">Read more.</a></div>							</div>
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<p><strong>Isabel Brison </strong>published the Dev Note for the WordPress 6.1 release: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/10/updated-editor-layout-support-in-6-1-after-refactor/"><strong>Updated editor layout support in 6.1 after refactor</strong></a>. &#8220;A new layout type, “constrained”, was added to the already available Flow and Flex layouts types. In addition, layout refactor efforts bring new layout styles, new block level spacing, more semantic class name for layouts, root padding and a method to disable all layout styles altogether for themes.&#8221; Brison wrote.</p>






<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><a href="https://twitter.com/briancoords/">Brian Coords</a></strong>,  <em>MasterWP</em>,  talked to <strong>Cory Hughart</strong> and <strong>Phil Hoyt</strong> on their podcast <em>In The Loop</em> about all things block editing, open-source theme frameworks, and creating media in the world of WordPress. To listen to the full podcast episode head on over to In The Loop: <strong><a href="https://anchor.fm/blackbird-digital/episodes/21-Mastering-Theme-Development-with-Brian-Coords-e1qonaa">Mastering Theme Development with Brian Coords</a></strong></p>



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<p>The second part of the new Block Theme building course  on Learn WordPress has gone live. You can now take both courses back to back. </p>



<p><strong><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-1/">Developers Guide to Block Themes (Part 1)</a> </strong>covers the fundamental aspects of developing a block theme, like </p>



<ul>
<li>The minimum requirements of a block theme</li>



<li>The primary elements of a block theme, and how that differs from a classic theme</li>



<li>Turning a design into a block theme</li>



<li>Different methods of creating block theme elements in the Site Editor, and then exporting them to theme files</li>
</ul>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-2/"><strong>Developers Guide to Block Themes (Part 2)</strong></a> dives into more advanced block theme development topics: </p>



<ul>
<li>Adding custom fonts to your block theme</li>



<li>Adding custom functionality through block patterns</li>



<li>Creating Global Styles variations</li>



<li>Making your block theme translation ready</li>



<li>Locking down your theme settings and blocks</li>
</ul>



<p>A less code-heavy course to building a WordPress Theme is also in the works, It&#8217;s called <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/develop-your-first-low-code-block-theme/"><strong>Develop Your First Low-Code Block Theme</strong></a> it&#8217;s in public preview, and not all advanced modules are done, but you get a fabulous introduction into WordPress block theme and how you can create them through the Site Editor. </p>



<h2 id="3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>



<p>Core contributor, <strong>Michael Burridge</strong> published <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/29/a-php-developers-guide-to-getting-started-with-block-development/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>a PHP developer’s guide to getting started with block development</strong></a> on the shiny new WordPress Developer Blog. &#8220;This post is intended to guide you through the murkiness and emerge blinking into the clear light of day. It has been written by someone who has followed the same path. Before learning about block development I was a PHP developer who started by creating custom themes and went on to develop plugins to implement custom functionality on WordPress/WooCommerce sites.&#8221; Burridge wrote from his experience.</p>



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<p><strong>Jonathan Bossenger </strong>held part 4 of his workshop series this week:  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rf0h14cANQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Developing Blocks without React &#8211;  Block Controls</strong></a>.  This series of workshops looks at building a WordPress block, without using React JSX. In the previous part, Bossenger built a WordPress block using plain JavaScript which supports custom styles via a stylesheet, and which uses block attributes and the RichText component to allow the user to edit the block content. In this iteration, he added a block control and an additional attribute to allow the user to edit the block alignment.</p>



<p>Catch up on the earlier workshops of the series <strong>Developing Blocks without React</strong></p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/25/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-part-2-take-2/">Attributes and&nbsp;RichText</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/18/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-all-about-attributes/">All about Attributes</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/11/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-part-1/">Block&nbsp;Basics</a></li>
</ul>




<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master 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?style=for-the-badge" /></p>




<p>On his Twitch Stream, <strong>Ryan Welcher </strong>worked three weeks in a row on Query Block variations of all types. Here is the list of the shows on Twitch. A deep dive into the world of post lists. </p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1655281302"><strong>Working with Query Loop block variations</strong></a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1661574564"><strong>MOAR Query Loop block variations!</strong></a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1667449595"><strong>Building an Advanced Query Loop block variation plugin</strong></a></li>
</ul>



<p>And if you are a bit fuzzy on what the shows are about, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ntsekouras/">Nik Tsekouras</a> wrote the Dev Note on this topic for WordPress 6.1.  <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/10/extending-the-query-loop-block/"><strong>Extending the Query Loop block</strong></a>. He starts out with &#8220;Extenders required a way to present bespoke versions of the Query&nbsp;Loop&nbsp;block, with their presets, additional settings and disabled customization options when irrelevant to their use-case. With WordPress 6.1, the Query Loop block offers mighty ways to create such versions, through&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/block-api/block-variations/">Block Variations</a>.&#8221; </p>



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<p><strong>Tom McFarlin</strong> published part 4 of his series <a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-4/"><strong>A Backend Engineer Learns to Build Block Editor Blocks</strong></a> in which he walks you through how to handle the process to save content from a block and how to control how it is rendered on the front end. If you are keen on learning block development, McFarlin recommends to start reading part one through three first: </p>



<ol>
<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-1/">Required Tools, Plugin Structure, Dependencies, Block Metadata</a></li>



<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-2/">The Backend, The Frontend, Functionality, Styles, a Working Demo</a></li>



<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-3/">Block Attributes, Editable Content, Components, Editor Styles</a></li>
</ol>



<h2 id="5-s">Upcoming WordPress events</h2>



<p>December 15, 2022 &#8211;  1 pm ET  / 18:00 UTC <br /><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word 2022</a></strong> &#8211; Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s annual keynote. </p>



<p>New Date!&nbsp;<strong>December 16, 2022</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/november/">WordFest Live Returns</a></strong>&nbsp;– the 24-hour Festival of WordPress</p>



<p>February 17 – 19, 2023<br /><a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/"><strong>WordCamp Asia 2023</strong></a>&nbsp;– the&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/speakers-announcement-round-1/">first round of speakers was announced</a></p>



<p class="has-light-background-background-color has-background"><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/"><strong>Have a look at the schedule of upcoming WordCamps</strong></a>&nbsp;to find one near you.</p>



<h3 id="1-l">Learn WordPress Online Meetups</h3>



<p><strong>December 5, 2022 &#8211; 2 am ET / 7am UTC </strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289957594/">Using the Navigation Block</a> </strong>with Ben Evans</p>



<p><strong>December 8, 2022 – 3 pm ET / 22:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289521234/">Builder Basics: Demystifying theme.json and Global Styles</a></strong>&nbsp;with Nick Diego</p>



<p>December 12, 2022 &#8211; 3 pm ET / 22:00 UTC  <br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289957641/"><strong>Creating a Call To Action with the Block Editor</strong></a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />




<p>Featured Image: Fantasy CityScape created with the Imajinn AI plugin</p>



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



<p class="has-text-align-left"><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"><br />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 type="submit" 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 has-css-opacity 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, 03 Dec 2022 16:02:00 +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: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:120:"WPTavern: The WP Community Collective Launches Nonprofit to Fund Individual Contributors and Community-Based Initiatives";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=140056";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:131:"https://wptavern.com/the-wp-community-collective-launches-nonprofit-to-fund-individual-contributors-and-community-based-initiatives";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:4917:"<p>The <a href="https://www.thewpcommunitycollective.com/">WP Community Collective</a> (WPCC) officially launched today as a new nonprofit organization dedicated to funding individual WordPress contributors and community-led initiatives. It was founded by Sé Reed, Katie Adams Farrell, and Courtney Robertson.</p>



<p>The organization was created to address some of the challenges of contribution, where larger companies tend to have more resources to sponsor contributors, while individuals and smaller companies may struggle to balance their ability to volunteer with the need to make ends meet.</p>



<p>One of the primary ways the WPCC aims to support contributors is through Fellowships. This is an agreement where individuals receive financial support for their contributions to WordPress with global pay parity. They will also engage in professional development and are encouraged to participate in regional WordCamps as attendees, speakers, and/or organizers with expenses covered by the fellowship.</p>



<p>The fellowships are an interesting concept, designed to incubate high quality contributors who are connected to the community with a well-rounded set of expectations that are not narrowly limited to the code produced. </p>



<p>WPCC aims to identify areas where the community is underrepresented or contribution is needed and fund Fellowships in those areas. The first fellowship they plan to fund is for <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/contribute/accessibility-fellowship-46812">an Accessibility contributor</a>, who will dedicate 5-10 hours a week to work on the Make WordPress Accessibility Team and its existing accessibility initiatives.</p>



<p>&#8220;The Accessibility Fellowship will be a bit of a test, in terms of fundraising and response from the community,&#8221; WPCC co-founder Sé Reed said. &#8220;Accessibility is an easy place to start because the community already knows it is important and we have contributors who are doing crucial work without any monetary support.&#8221;</p>



<p>WPCC is using Open Collective as the fiscal sponsor for its 501(c)3 status, enabling donations to be classified as charitable giving, which is in many cases tax-deductible. All transactions that run through the organization are transparent and publicly documented on the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/transactions">transactions page</a>.</p>



<p>Reed said the tipping point for her team to get organized to make this happen was a tweet from Matt Mullenweg shortly after the 2022 WordCamp US, where he responded to people calling for users of assistive technology to be paid for testing Gutenberg.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm not opposed to paying people for labor or people getting paid for their labor. It's just not something that <a href="https://t.co/0IkxYEeLJd">https://t.co/0IkxYEeLJd</a> or the WordPress Foundation are set up to do, nor will they be in the future. Individuals have sponsored paid user tests before, just directly.</p>&mdash; Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1568789183413776385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>&#8220;His statement in that tweet really made two things clear to me,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;One, that this funding concept would not be in conflict with the work of the WordPress Foundation or the official project, and two, that if we wanted something like this to happen it would have to be done as an independent entity.&#8221;</p>



<p>The WPCC founders joined in on a recent WPwatercooler podcast episode where they shared their contributor stories and why they started the organization. One of their commonalities was a sincere desire to contribute more but not enough time in the day. With very few sponsored contributor positions available, volunteering is not always possible, resulting in the project being led primarily by sponsored contributors.</p>



<p>“We hope that the WP Community Collective can help bridge the gap between the passion people feel for WordPress, and the very real and practical limits of volunteer contribution,” Reed said.</p>



<p>WPCC is starting out with a small governance team that consists of the three co-founders but plans to expand the organizational structure to include more community representation, including an Advisory Board with a permanent seat for the Executive Director of WordPress.&nbsp;</p>



<p>People who want to support the WPCC can join with an <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/contribute/individual-membership-47231">individual membership</a> for free to stay up to date with the organization&#8217;s activities. Check out the podcast episode below to meet the co-founders and learn more about the initiative.</p>



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

</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:"Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:39:18 +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: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:88:"WPTavern: UK Publishers File £13.6 Billion Lawsuit Against Google Alleging Market Abuse";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=140040";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:97:"https://wptavern.com/uk-publishers-file-13-6-billion-lawsuit-against-google-alleging-market-abuse";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:3405:"<p>A group of 130,000 businesses publishing around 1,750,000 websites and applications in the UK have filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company, Alphabet. The claim is being managed by law firms Humphries Kerstetter and Geradin Partners, who allege that &#8220;Google abused its dominant position in the market for online advertising, earning super-profits for itself at the expense of the tens of thousands of publishers of websites and mobile apps in the UK.&#8221;</p>



<p>The firms&#8217; economic analysis of Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior suggests that some companies may have had advertising revenues reduced by 40%. Although Google has been the subject of multiple regulatory investigations in the EU, UK, and USA, resulting in a €220m fine from French competition authorities, this claim aims to compensate publishers and recover losses through a competition class action lawsuit.</p>



<p>A <a href="https://www.humphrieskerstetter.com/category/news/">statement</a> published by Humphries Kerstetter details the focus of their investigations:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>These competition investigations all focus on the same core facts. Google dominates the markets for ad tech services in the UK and across the world controlling up to 90% of the market in certain sectors. This allows Google to dictate terms, control pricing and, in some scenarios, enables it to favour its own platforms in the process by which advertisements are selected to be published.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>The allegations of the competition claim are similar to the complaint brought by the US Department of Justice that alleges <a href="https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives">Google used AMP to impede header bidding and throttle the load time of non-AMP ads</a>. </p>



<p>&#8220;The marketplace for online advertising is sophisticated, technical and highly automated,&#8221; Claudio Pollack, who is heading the UK publishers&#8217; competition claim, said. &#8220;Advertising is sold in a fraction of a second in a process which is designed to match the product being advertised with the profile of an individual visiting a website. Third party platforms operate on both sides of the marketplace matching supply with demand and – in an ideal world – ensuring the market operates efficiently and effectively. Unfortunately, it is now well established that this market has developed in a way that is primarily serving Google.&#8221;</p>



<p>A separate multi-billion Euro claim will be running in parallel in the EU, handled by a Dutch law firm in cooperation with Geradin Partners. They are seeking compensation for the alleged damage to small, local publishers who have struggled to stay afloat amid decreased advertising revenue.</p>



<p>“While the value of the claim we are bringing is substantial, we believe this matter is about much more than money,&#8221; Geradin Partners founding partner Professor Geradin said. &#8220;For years Google has been denying companies in the UK and Europe and beyond, including the local press and the publishers of community focused websites, the chance to earn a proper income by way of advertising. As well as bringing Google to account the parties who have lost out need proper compensation, something a CAT claim can achieve at no cost to those parties.”</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, 02 Dec 2022 22:54:47 +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: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:37:"Post Status: All the Things This Week";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://poststatus.com/?p=145392";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:48:"https://poststatus.com/all-the-things-this-week/";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:4995:"<h2 id="h-state-of-the-word">State of the Word</h2>



<p>For the second year, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> (SOTW) will be a small in-person event at the Tumblr offices in New York City on the afternoon of December 15 (1pm local time). Matt Mullenweg will deliver the annual address to a small in-person crowd, and the event will be live streamed over WordPress’ official social media streams. Meetups and other WordPress groups (businesses, etc.) are encouraged to have watch parties for their groups.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I will be attending in person again this year. If you’ll be there, say hello and let’s get a selfie to post on whatever social media we’re using. I’ll be tweeting using <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SOTW&src=typed_query">#SOTW</a>.</p>



<h2 id="h-wordpress-credentialing">WordPress Credentialing</h2>



<p>CertifyWP, a new organization, will soon launch a WordPress credentialing process. The organization, which is in the process of seeking non-profit/501(c)3 status in the US, will be the first of its kind for WordPress credentials.</p>



<p>“Part of developing a credential for WordPress is establishing a baseline of skills for those entering the WordPress job market, including the US Department of Defense, which requires a credential for entry,” says Talisha Lewallen, CEO of WPConnects, and founder of CertifyWP. “The beauty of a credential like this is that it can benefit any company that is hiring in WordPress. Along with the benefits it will bring for WordPress users and contractors.”</p>



<p>The next step for establishing such a credential is twofold: having a team begin working on a standardized exam for becoming credentialed, and gathering letters of endorsement from those hiring in WordPress and for WordPress roles within the community. To contribute a letter of endorsement, visit <a href="https://certifywp.com/endorse-certifywp/">https://certifywp.com/endorse-certifywp/</a> where you can view a sample letter and upload your completed endorsement.</p>



<p>(Full disclosure, I have joined the board of directors for this endeavor.)</p>



<h2 id="h-annual-wordpress-survey">Annual WordPress Survey</h2>



<p>While there’s always a lot of conversation about WordPress and the future of WordPress, if you have an opinion about the open source project, here’s your annual opportunity to weigh in and have your opinion quantified with others. <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/</a></p>



<p>It’s a great opportunity to have your experiences count!</p>



<h2 id="h-post-status-membership-deal">Post Status Membership Deal</h2>



<p>In the spirit of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Post Status is offering $100 off any <a href="https://poststatus.com/#choose-membership">annual membership</a> through December 31. Why? Because we love you! Membership gets you into our Slack community, too!</p>



<p>Use discount code <strong>BFCM</strong> for your best Post Status membership deal ever!</p>



<h2 id="h-in-the-spotlight">In the Spotlight</h2>



<p>Post Status member, <a href="https://poststatus.com/member-spotlight-nathan-ingram/">Nathan Ingram</a>. Nathan is the creator of MonsterContracts, battle-tested contracts for WordPress client work.</p>



<h2>Podcast Episodes Worth a Listen</h2>



<ul>
<li>WP Watercooler: <a href="https://wpwatercooler.com/wpwatercooler/ep437-funding-the-dream-with-the-wp-community-collective/">EP437 &#8211; Funding the Dream with the WP Community Collective</a></li>



<li>Kitchen Sink WP: <a class="" href="https://kitchensinkwp.com/podcast-e457-the-2022-holiday-gift-guide/">Podcast E457 – The 2022 Holiday Gift Guide</a></li>



<li>Do the Woo: <a class="" href="https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/">Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes</a></li>



<li>The Kadence Beat: <a href="https://www.kadencewp.com/blog/episode-20-the-kadence-community-and-influence-with-maestro-stevens/">Episode 20: The Kadence Community and Influence with Maestro Stevens</a></li>



<li>Underrepresented in Tech: <a href="https://www.underrepresentedintech.com/how-to-be-inclusive-with-holiday-marketing-messages/">How to Be Inclusive with Holiday Marketing Messages</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-upcoming-events">Upcoming Events:</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> December 15, 2022</li>



<li>Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/huddles/">Member Huddles </a>every week</li>



<li>Calls for Speakers and Sponsors are open at <a href="https://www.wpwealthbuilder.com/">WP Wealthbuilder Summit</a> May 12, 2023</li>



<li>WordCamps are back. <a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/">Check the schedule online</a>!</li>
</ul>



<p></p>
<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</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, 02 Dec 2022 15:53:49 +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:18:"Michelle Frechette";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:40:"WPTavern: Take the 2022 WordPress Survey";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=140025";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:51:"https://wptavern.com/take-the-2022-wordpress-survey";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:1888:"<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">2022 WordPress Survey</a> is now open to anyone using WordPress &#8211; from beginners to professional developers and everyone in between. This annual survey helps project leaders and contributors learn more about how and why the software is being used. </p>



<p>This year&#8217;s survey is available in the seven most frequently installed languages based on the number of WordPress downloads, including <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/fr-2022">French</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/de-2022">German</a>,&nbsp; <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/it-2022">Italian</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/jp-2022">Japanese</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/ru-2022">Russian</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/es-2022">Spanish</a>.</p>



<p>The survey begins with some questions about basic demographics and moves on to a mix of interesting questions that fall more under the topic of market research than previous years. It asks why you use WordPress instead of other tools/platforms, what you think are the most essential three plugins when building sites, and what are the best and most frustrating things about WordPress. The survey also asks whether respondents have used blocks in the new Site Editor and which Site Editor they prefer. It will be interesting to see the data from these questions.</p>



<p>The last eight questions are for contributors, and even with those it takes less than five minutes to complete. Although some information from the 2022 survey may be shared in the annual State of the Word address, the survey will be open through the end of 2022.</p>



<p>The analysis from the 2021 survey results will be shared in early 2023 and WordPress will publish the 2022 results sometime next year.</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, 02 Dec 2022 04:28:48 +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: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:90:"WPTavern: Two New WordPress Plugins Improve Block Editor Accessibility and WCAG Compliance";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=140002";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:101:"https://wptavern.com/two-new-wordpress-plugins-improve-block-editor-accessibility-and-wcag-compliance";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:2988:"<p>WordPress Core Committer Jb Audras, CTO of the France-based <a href="https://www.whodunit.fr/">Whodunit</a> agency, has released two new accessibility plugins in cooperation with Guillaume Turpin, another developer on the Whodunit team. These are small &#8220;micro&#8221; plugins developed to fill gaps in the block editor&#8217;s accessible content creation experience.</p>



<p>The first plugin is called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">Lang Attribute for the Block Editor</a> and is important for content that is written in multiple languages. It allows content creators to indicate language changes using the lang attribute so that those using assistive technologies will get the correct presentation and pronunciation rules for the specified language. This plugin helps WordPress sites meet the requirements of the WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 “Language of Parts.&#8221;</p>



video source: Jb Audras



<p>With the plugin installed, content creators can highlight text and then find the language attribute in the block toolbar to edit it.</p>



<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s worth noting that indicating language changes in content is mandatory for WCAG compliance, and there is currently no way to do that in the Block Editor (except by editing the code manually),&#8221; Audras <a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb/status/1598353367138504704">said</a> when introducing the plugin on Twitter. &#8220;I think this feature should be implemented natively into Gutenberg.&#8221;</p>



<p>The second micro plugin is called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">Abbreviation Button for the Block Editor</a>, which allows content authors to include definitions for abbreviations using the &lt;abbr> HTML element. This enables site visitors to access the expanded form of abbreviations, as outlined by <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/meaning-located.html">WCAG success criterion 3.1.4 “Abbreviations.&#8221;</a> </p>



<p>The WCAG identify a few types of visitors who may be helped by the Abbreviations, including those who have difficulty decoding words, those who rely on screen magnifiers, have a limited memory, and those who have difficulty using context to aid understanding.</p>



video source: Jb Audras



<p>The abbreviation tag can also be found in the block toolbar, so users can highlight any text for which they want to provide the expanded form of the abbreviation.</p>



<p>Both the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">Abbreviation Button</a> and the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">Language Attribute</a> plugins are available for free in the WordPress plugins directory. The plugins&#8217; creators hope that some of this functionality can eventually be added to the block editor, but in the meantime users can install the plugins to create more accessible content that meets accessibility guidelines. </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, 02 Dec 2022 03:12:34 +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:71:"Akismet: Version 5.0.2 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available";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=2439";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:99:"https://blog.akismet.com/2022/12/01/version-5-0-2-of-the-akismet-wordpress-plugin-is-now-available/";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:753:"<p>Version 5.0.2 of <a href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/">the Akismet plugin for WordPress</a> is now available. This update contains the following improvements:</p>



<ul>
<li>Fixed a bug causing incompatibility with themes that hide dropdown menus after a set amount of time.</li>



<li>Moved away from using [api_key].rest.akismet.com subdomains in favor of sending the key in the request body in order to increase the privacy of Akismet API keys.</li>
</ul>



<p>To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in <a href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/">the WordPress plugins directory</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:"Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:20:06 +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:17:"Christopher Finke";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:76:"WordPress.org blog: Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open";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=14062";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:57:"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/";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:4507:"<p>Each year, members of the WordPress community (users, site builders, extenders, and contributors) provide valuable feedback through an annual survey. Key takeaways and trends that emerge from this survey often find their way into the annual <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> address, are shared in the public project blogs, and can influence the direction and strategy for the WordPress project.</p>



<p>Simply put: this survey helps those who build WordPress understand more about how the software is used, and by whom. The survey also helps leaders in the WordPress open source project learn more about our contributors’ experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>To ensure that your WordPress experience is represented in the 2022 survey results, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/en-2022">take the 2022 annual survey now.</a></p>



<div class="wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link wp-element-button" href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/en-2022">Take the 2022 Survey (English)</a></div>
</div>



<p>You may also take the survey in <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/fr-2022">French</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/de-2022">German</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/it-2022">Italian</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/jp-2022">Japanese</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/ru-2022">Russian</a>, or <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/es-2022">Spanish</a>, thanks to the efforts of WordPress polyglot contributors. These are the most frequently installed languages based on the number of WordPress downloads. </p>



<p>The survey will be open through the end of 2022, and then WordPress plans to publish the results sometime in 2023. This year, the survey questions have been refreshed for more effortless survey flow, completion, and analysis. Some questions have been removed, while a few new ones are now present, reflecting the present and future of WordPress. If you’re looking for the analysis of the 2021 survey results, those will also be shared in early 2023.</p>



<h2>Spread the word</h2>



<p>Help spread the word about the survey by sharing it with your network, through Slack, or within your social media accounts. The more people who complete the survey and share their experience with WordPress, the more the project as a whole will benefit in the future.</p>



<h2>Security and privacy</h2>



<p>Data security and privacy are paramount to the WordPress project and community. With this in mind, all data will be anonymized: no email addresses nor IP addresses will be associated with published results. To learn more about WordPress.org’s privacy practices, view the <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/">privacy policy</a>.</p>



<h2>Thank you</h2>



<p>Thank you to the following WordPress contributors for assisting with the annual survey project, including question creation, strategy, survey build-out, and translation:</p>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/">dansoschin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/_dorsvenabili/">_dorsvenabili</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/angelasjin/">angelasjin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/arkangel/">arkangel</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/">audrasjb</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/atachibana/">atachibana</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/">bjmcsherry</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/">chanthaboune</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/">eidolonnight</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fernandot/">fernandot</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fierevere/">fierevere</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fxbenard/">fxbenard</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdy68/">jdy68</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jpantani/">jpantani</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/">laurlittle</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nao/">nao</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nielslange/">nielslange</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/peiraisotta/">peiraisotta</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/piermario/">piermario</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/">rmartinezduque</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/santanainniss/">santanainniss</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:"Thu, 01 Dec 2022 16:00:19 +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: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:41;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:"Do The Woo Community: Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes";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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73766";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:52:"https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/";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:355:"<p>There was no better way to celebrate episode 300 of the podcast than to celebrate our hosts. </p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/">Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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:"Thu, 01 Dec 2022 11:14:00 +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:5:"BobWP";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:42;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:99:"WPTavern: ElasticPress 4.4.0 Adds New Status Report Page and Instant Results Template Customization";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=139973";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:110:"https://wptavern.com/elasticpress-4-4-0-adds-new-status-report-page-and-instant-results-template-customization";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:2708:"<p>10up has released <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/releases/tag/4.4.0">version 4.4.0</a> of <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/elasticpress/">ElasticPress</a>, its enhanced search plugin that speeds up searching while reducing the load on WordPress sites. The plugin is based on Elasticsearch and is used by customers of the ElasticPress.io service (a SaaS solution), as well as those who are hosting their own Elasticsearch instance.</p>



<p>This update adds a new &#8220;Status Report&#8221; page in the dashboard with information that can be helpful for troubleshooting ElasticPress and synced content. The UI uses Gutenberg components for the collapsible sections. Version 4.4.0 introduces a new query logger functionality that stores failed queries (up to 5 in the last 24 hours) and displays an admin notice if failed queries are detected. The failed queries are displayed on the new Status Report page.</p>



<img />



<p>Another highlight of this release is the ability to <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/pull/2959">customize the template for Instant Results</a>. It gives developers a JavaScript hook for replacing the component used to render search results in Instant Results. The Instant Results feature <a href="https://www.elasticpress.io/blog/2022/03/introducing-instant-results-wordpress-fastest-search-ever/">was introduced in March</a> with limited customization capabilities. It added a new search modal over the page content that inherits the site&#8217;s styles. Developers could adjust the appearance and expose facets, but this new update gives them control over the whole template.</p>



<p>Another small but useful update in this release is the ability to <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/pull/3100">exclude a specific post from Search</a>. This helps site owners further customize the search experience to deliver only the intended results. </p>



<p>Developers who are using the plugin should take note of the announcement included in this release regarding the migration of the Users feature to the ElasticPress Labs plugin, which houses more experimental features:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>Note that starting from the ElasticPress 5.0.0 release the <code>Users</code> feature will be moved to the <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPressLabs">ElasticPress Labs</a> plugin. The <code>Terms</code> and <code>Comments</code> features will remain in ElasticPress but will be available only if enabled via code.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>Check out the full list of updates and bug fixes on GitHub in the <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/releases/tag/4.4.0">changelog</a> for 4.4.0. </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, 01 Dec 2022 05:22:10 +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:43;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:"WPTavern: WordPress Versions 3.7-4.0 No Longer Get Security Updates";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=139956";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:78:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-versions-3-7-4-0-no-longer-get-security-updates";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:1338:"<p>In September, WordPress’ Security Team announced it would be <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-to-drop-security-updates-for-versions-3-7-through-4-0-by-december-2022">dropping support for versions 3.7 through 4.0</a> by December 1, 2022. Yesterday the final releases for these versions (3.7.41, 3.8.41, 3.9.40, and 4.0.38) were made available to the very small percentage of users who are running ancient versions of WordPress. </p>



<p>As part of the final releases, the upgrade notification now informs users that they are on a version that is no longer receiving security updates. This affects fewer than 1% of total installs. The vast majority of WordPress sites are running 4.1 or later and will continue receiving security updates. </p>



<p>Wherever possible, WordPress users should be running 6.1.1 on PHP 8 or later. (Although PHP 7.4 is the <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/">minimum version</a> required to use WordPress, <a href="https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php">PHP 7.4 reached end of life two days ago</a> and will no longer be receiving security updates. Version 8.0 will reach EOL in 11 months.)</p>



<p>Now that the Security Team is no longer obligated to backport security updates to very old versions, it frees up their time to better support newer versions of WordPress.</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, 30 Nov 2022 20:53:48 +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:44;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:54:"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Huanyi Chuang";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=13562";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://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/people-of-wordpress-huanyi-chuang/";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:9814:"<p><strong>This month we feature Huanyi (Eric) Chuang, a front end developer from Taiwan, who helps connect local groups to WordPress and the worldwide open source community. He is part of the team helping to make the first WordCamp Asia a success in 2023.</strong></p>



<p><strong>The People of WordPress series shares some of the inspiring stories of how people&#8217;s lives can change for the better through WordPress and its global network of contributors.</strong></p>



<img width="1014" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/09/huanyi-featured-img.jpg?resize=1014%2C627&ssl=1" alt="Huanyi pictured sitting inside a rock formation." class="wp-image-13479" />



<h2><strong>Discovering WordPress and the benefit of child themes </strong></h2>



<p>Huanyi’s first footsteps in WordPress began in 2017 when he worked for a firm that built blogs and developed ad content for clients.</p>



<p>After building a few sites using the platform, he discovered child themes and through them opened up a world of possibilities for his clients. To this day, he uses child themes to deliver truly custom designs and functionality for clients.</p>



<p>Later in his career, Huanyi moved into digital marketing, integrating sites with massive ad platforms like Google and Facebook. This led him to learn to work with tracking code and JavaScript. He also began his learning journey in HTML, CSS, and PHP, to be able to improve his development skills and customize child themes.</p>



<h2><strong>Meetups bring together software users to learn together</strong></h2>



<img width="600" height="800" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/09/huanyi-1.jpg?fit=600%2C800&ssl=1" alt="Huanyi and a koala." class="wp-image-13476" /><em>Huanyi pictured in Australia during one of his travels meeting a koala bear.</em>



<p>When Huanyi had a problem with a client&#8217;s site, he looked to WordPress meetups near where he lived in <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Taipei-WordPress/">Taipei</a> to help find the solutions.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p><strong>“When I encountered an issue with the custom archive pages, a local meetup announcement showed up on my WordPress dashboard</strong>.&#8221;</p>
<cite>Huanyi Chuang</cite></blockquote>



<p>At the meetup, he met more experienced WordPress users and developers there, who answered his questions and helped him learn.</p>



<p>“When I encountered an issue with the custom archive pages, a local meetup announcement showed up on my WordPress dashboard. That was my original connection with the local community,” Huanyi said.</p>



<p>The WordPress community gave Huanyi a chance to connect with people, feed his curiosity about the software, and join a circle of people he could share this interest.</p>



<p>At first, he thought meetups were an opportunity to source new clients, and he took his business cards to every event. However, he soon found that these events offered him the opportunity to make friends and share knowledge.</p>



<p>From then on, Huanyi started focusing more on what he could give to these events and networks, making new friends, and listening to people. This led him to share as a meetup speaker his own commercial website management experience.</p>



<h2><strong>The road to WordCamp</strong></h2>



<p>It was going to his first meetup and then getting involved with WordCamps that changed Huanyi&#8217;s whole relationship with WordPress.</p>



<img width="600" height="800" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/09/huanyi-2.jpg?resize=600%2C800&ssl=1" alt="Huanyi pictured on an outing, stood next to a white car." class="wp-image-13477" />



<p>In 2018, he took the step to help as an organizer, having joined the Taoyuan Meetup in Taiwan. He played several parts across the organizing team, and the welcoming feeling he got in every situation encouraged him to get more involved.</p>



<p>He recalls meeting new friends from different fields and other countries, which gave him a great sense of achievement and strengthened his passion for participating in the community.</p>



<p>When the team started this meetup, numbers were much lower than in the group in the city of Taipei, but they were not disheartened and gradually grew the local WordPress community.</p>



<p>They created a pattern of ‘multiple organizers,’ which spread the workload and grew friendships.&nbsp;</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p><strong>“Being connected to and from meetups is the most valuable part of the community. Having these friends makes me gather more information. We share information and benefit from others’ information, and thus we gain more trust in each other. With such credibility, we share more deeply and build deeper relations.”</strong> </p>
<cite>Huanyi Chuang</cite></blockquote>



<p>Before the pandemic, the meetup met every month and grew to become the second largest meetup in Taiwan. Huanyi also contributed to the WordPress community as an organizer of WordCamp Taipei 2018 in the speaker team and lead organizer of <a href="https://taiwan.wordcamp.org/2021/">WordCamp Taiwan 2021</a>.</p>



<h2><strong>So why should you join the community?</strong></h2>



<p>According to Huanyi, you will always have something to take home with you. It might be new information or experiences. It might be plugins or theme ideas. But most of all, it is the chance to meet fascinating people and make new friends.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>Huanyi’s message to other contributors:<br />&#8220;Keep participating, and you will find more you can achieve than you expect.” </p>
</blockquote>



<p>He added that long-term participation will &#8216;let you feel the humanity behind the project&#8217;.</p>



<h2><strong>Localize: the road ahead for WordPress</strong></h2>



<img width="900" height="675" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/09/huanyi-3.jpg?resize=900%2C675&ssl=1" alt="Huanyi standing on a sandy beach." class="wp-image-13478" />



<p>Huanyi believes WordPress has the power to break down the barriers between designers, project managers, developers, marketers, writers, and publishers. In Taiwan, he said WordPress is &#8216;a common protocol&#8217; that lets people from all of these disciplines work and communicate together more easily than they ever have before.</p>



<p>That is why he works on and encourages others to localize plugins today. He believes localization of the software is the foundation for the extension of the WordPress community as it enables people to ‘Flex their Freedom’ in a language they speak!</p>



<p>He has helped to organize online events around previous <a href="https://wptranslationday.org/">WordPress Translation Day</a> events.</p>



<p>Huanyi said: “I think it&#8217;s important to localize WordPress because its very concept of ‘open source’ means that people can access it freely. In another way, free from the monopoly of knowledge and speech. To achieve it, it&#8217;s important that people can access it with their own language.</p>



<p>“Localization is the foundation of the extension of WordPress community because it helps people using different languages to access the project and lowers the hurdle to understand how things work.”</p>



<h2>Share the stories</h2>



<p>Help share these stories of open source contributors and continue to grow the community. Meet more WordPressers in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/category/newsletter/interviews/">People of WordPress series</a>.</p>



<h2><strong>Contributors</strong></h2>



<p>Thank you to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/no249a002/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>no249a002</a> for sharing his adventures in WordPress.</p>



<p>Thank you to Abha Thakor (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>webcommsat</a>), Mary Baum (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>marybaum</a>), Meher Bala (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>meher</a>), Chloe Bringmann (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>cbringmann</a>), Surendra Thakor (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sthakor/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>sthakor</a>), Adeeb Malik (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/adeebmalik/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>adeebmalik</a>) for research, interviews, and contributing to this feature article.</p>



<p>The <em>People of WordPress</em> series thanks Josepha Haden (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>chanthaboune</a>) and Topher DeRosia (<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>topher1kenobe</a>) for their support.</p>



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center"><img width="180" height="135" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2020/03/heropress_logo_180.png?resize=180%2C135&ssl=1" alt="HeroPress logo" class="wp-image-8409 size-full" /><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-small-font-size"><em>This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on </em><a href="https://heropress.com/"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. </em>#HeroPress </p>
</div></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, 30 Nov 2022 20:09:00 +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:11:"Abha Thakor";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:45;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:150:"Post Status: Annual Survey • State of the Word 2022 • Meetup Accessibility Overlays • Multi-line Code Comments • WP 3.7 – 4.0 Final Releases";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://poststatus.com/?p=145276";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:127:"https://poststatus.com/state-of-the-word-2022-meetup-accessibility-overlays-multi-line-code-comments-wp-3-7-4-0-final-releases/";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:15646:"<h2 id="h-this-week-at-wordpress-org-november-28-2022">This Week at WordPress.org (November 28, 2022)</h2>


<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">Should code comments switch to <code><strong>//</strong></code> ? Meetup.com stops using an accessibility overlay. Final releases for WordPress 3.7 &#8211; 4.0 are now available. Tune in soon for State of the Word 2023, happening December 15 via livestream from New York City.   </p></div>


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



<div id="kt-info-box_68609b-a8" class="wp-block-kadence-infobox"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap kt-blocks-info-box-media-align-left kt-info-halign-left"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-media-container"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-media kt-info-media-animate-none"><div class="kadence-info-box-icon-container kt-info-icon-animate-none"><div class="kadence-info-box-icon-inner-container"><span class="kt-info-svg-icon kt-info-svg-icon-fas_microphone-alt"></span></div></div></div></div><div class="kt-infobox-textcontent"><h2 class="kt-blocks-info-box-title">EOL WP 3.7 &#8211; 4.0, Multi-line Code Comments, Meetup Accessibility, SotW</h2><p class="kt-blocks-info-box-text"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png" alt="📝" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="🎙" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word 2022</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/267f.png" alt="♿" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/23/meetup-com-accessibility-overlay-update/">Meetup.com Accessibility Overlay Update</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1faa6.png" alt="🪦" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/30/now-available-wordpress-3-7-4-0-final-releases/">Now Available: WordPress 3.7-4.0 Final Releases</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4ac.png" alt="💬" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/24/proposal-amend-the-inline-documentation-standards-for-multi-line-comments/">Proposal: Amend the Inline Documentation Standards for multi-line comments</a><br /><br /></p></div></div></div>



<h2 id="h-news">News<a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/10/wordpress-6-1-release-candidate-3/"></a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/episode-44-minors-majors-and-why-we-have-so-many-releases/">WP Briefing: Episode 44: Minors, Majors, and Why We Have So Many Releases</a></li>
</ul>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_121b9e-cb"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



<div class="is-layout-flex wp-container-47 wp-block-columns">
<div class="is-layout-flow 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/2022/11/30/accessibility-team-meeting-agenda-december-2-2022/">Accessibility Team Meeting Agenda: December 2, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-community">Community</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/30/community-team-meeting-agenda-1-dec-2022/">Community Team Meeting Agenda 1 Dec 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/30/vote-for-community-team-rep-2023/">Vote for Community Team Rep 2023</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/28/plan-your-state-of-the-word-watch-party-today/">Plan Your State of the Word Watch Party Today!</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/28/wordpress-community-team-training-5-active-listening/">WordPress Community Team Training #5: Active Listening</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/24/recap-of-the-diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-amer-emea-on-november-23-2022/">Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) AMER/EMEA on November 23, 2022</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/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/">What’s new in Gutenberg 14.6? (23 November)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/29/a-week-in-core-november-28-2022/">A Week in Core – November 28, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/30/devchat-agenda-november-30-2022/">Devchat agenda, November 30, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/24/dev-chat-summary-wednesday-november-23-2022/">Dev Chat summary: Wednesday, November 23, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/28/editor-chat-agenda-november-30-2022/">Editor Chat Agenda: November 30, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/editor-chat-summary-november-23-2022/">Editor chat summary: 23 November 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-dev-blog"><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/">Dev Blog</a></h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/29/a-php-developers-guide-to-getting-started-with-block-development/">A PHP developer’s guide to getting started with block development</a></li>



<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/18/how-to-extend-wordpress-via-the-slotfill-system/">How to extend WordPress via the SlotFill system</a></li>



<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/17/demystifying-home-and-posts-templates-in-wordpress-theme-development/">Demystifying Home and Posts Templates in WordPress theme development</a></li>



<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/17/welcome-to-the-wordpress-developer-blog/">Welcome to the WordPress Developer Blog</a></li>



<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/17/creating-themes-from-a-pattern-first-mindset/">Creating Themes from a Pattern-first mindset</a></li>
</ul>



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



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2022/11/30/summary-for-docs-team-meeting-november-29-2022/">Summary for Docs Team Meeting November 29, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2022/11/28/agenda-for-docs-team-bi-weekly-november-29-2022/">Agenda for Docs Team Bi-Weekly November 29, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/29/documentation-team-update-november-29-2022/">Documentation Team Update – November 29, 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/2022/11/23/server-environment-for-wordpress-6-1/">Server Environment for WordPress 6.1</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2022/11/09/nominations-for-hosting-team-reps-2023/">Nominations for Hosting Team Reps 2023</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/2022/11/29/agenda-global-wordpress-marketing-team-meeting-november-30-2022/">Agenda: global WordPress marketing team meeting, November 30, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/11/29/notes-global-marketing-team-meeting-november-23-2022/">Notes: Global Marketing Team meeting, November 23, 2022</a></li>
</ul>
</div>



<div class="is-layout-flow wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-mobile"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile">Mobile</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/11/29/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-21-3/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 21.3</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/30/mobile-team-update-november-30th-2/">Mobile Team Update – November 30th</a></li>
</ul>



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



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/29/performance-team-meeting-summary-29-november-2022/">Performance Chat Summary: 29 November 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/30/core-performance-team-update-november-30-2022/">Core Performance Team Update – November 30, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-polyglots">Polyglots</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/11/29/agenda-weekly-polyglots-chat-nov-30-2022-0700-utc/">Agenda: Weekly Polyglots Chat – Nov. 30, 2022 (07:00 UTC)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/11/08/call-for-polyglots-team-representatives-2/">Call for Polyglots Team Representatives</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/2022/11/13/fse-program-exploration-site-editor-sneak-peek/">FSE Program Exploration: Site Editor Sneak Peek</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/29/test-team-update-28-november-2022/">Test Team Update: 28 November 2022</a></li>
</ul>



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



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2022/11/16/nominations-call-for-the-themes-team-representatives-2023-edition/">Nominations Call for the themes team representatives: 2023 Edition</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/29/themes-team-update-november-29-2022/">Themes team update November 29, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



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



<ul>
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/individual-learner-survey/">How did you learn WordPress?</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/11/28/meeting-agenda-for-november-29-2022/">Meeting Agenda for November 29, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/11/26/project-thread-training-team-onboarding-paths/">Project Thread: Training Team Onboarding Paths</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-online-workshops">Online Workshops</h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=https-www-meetup-com-learn-wordpress-online-workshops-events-290051844">State of the Word Watch Party (Live Online)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=how-to-join-core-release-party">How to Join Core Release Party</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-part-3">Let’s code: Developing Blocks without React! – Part 3</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=wordpress-development-live-stream-developing-blocks-without-react-part-3">WordPress development live stream: Developing Blocks without React – Part 3</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=what-is-seo-search-engine-optimization">What is SEO? (Search Engine Optimization)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=creating-a-call-to-action-with-the-block-editor-apac-time-zone">Creating a Call To Action with the Block Editor (APAC Time Zone)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=creating-a-call-to-action-with-the-block-editor">Creating a Call To Action with the Block Editor</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=image-seo-best-practices-to-make-your-content-discoverable-2">Image SEO Best Practices to Make Your Content Discoverable</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=navigation-block">Navigation Block</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-wptv">WPTV</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/category/year/2022/">Latest WordPress TV videos</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<h2 id="h-related-news">Related News:</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.php.net/archive/2022.php#2022-11-26-1">PHP 8.0.26 Released!</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.php.net/archive/2022.php#2022-11-24-2">PHP 8.2.0 RC7 available for testing</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.php.net/archive/2022.php#2022-11-24-1">PHP 8.1.13 Released!</a></li>



<li><a href="https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v19.2.0/">Node v19.2.0 (Current)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://tc39.es/#proposals">ECMAScript Proposals</a></li>
</ul>



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<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</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, 30 Nov 2022 19:15:38 +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: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:46;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: #53 – Matt Medeiros on the State of the WordPress Landscape";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=139905";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:85:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/53-matt-medeiros-on-the-state-of-the-wordpress-landscape";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:55662:"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 thoughts on the past present and future of WordPress.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast, player of choice, or by going to wptavern.com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players. If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, I&#8217;m keen to hear from you, and hopefully get you, or your idea featured on the show. Head to wptavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today, we have Matt Medeiros. Matt is the driving force behind many WordPress initiatives. That could be the creation of plugins, WordPress news, media, as well as podcasts about all manner of WordPress specific subjects. He likes to juggle multiple projects at once.</p>



<p>Currently he&#8217;s the director of podcaster to success at Castos, which is a podcast hosting company with a WordPress plugin. He&#8217;s on the podcast today to give us his take on the past, present and future of WordPress.</p>



<p>Many millions of people like to work with the WordPress software, they create websites, plugins, and themes, and extend what the CMS can do. Others, such as Matt like to ponder the broader purpose and direction of the software and the community around it. The Matt Report and The WP Minute have enabled us to hear about what the community is doing, what it wants and where its points of friction are. He&#8217;s talked to hundreds of people about what WordPress was, is, and might be. And so he&#8217;s in a unique position to pontificate about what WordPress, beyond the software, is.</p>



<p>We start with mats backstory. How he found WordPress and why he started to use it. We talk about how he&#8217;s dipped in and out of the community over the years. More excited at times, less so at others.</p>



<p>The conversation moves on to some of the trends that Matt has noticed. He identifies how the software and the wider community have altered over time. We talk about how The WP Minute got started, and how he&#8217;s building up a community of like-minded people to consume as well as to create the content that they&#8217;re putting out.</p>



<p>Towards the end, we get into the governance of WordPress and the future of the project more generally. There are certainly things that Matt likes, but there are some wrinkles which get aired as well.</p>



<p>We finish up by talking about podcasts and Matt&#8217;s work with Castos and how they are trying to make it easier to get your voice out there, especially with their WordPress integration.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a lovely chat with a thoughtful and far sighted member of the community.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more. You can find all of the links in the show notes by heading over to WP tavern.com forward slash podcast. Where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>



<p>And so without further delay, I bring you Matt Medeiros.</p>



<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Matt Medeiros. Hello, Matt.</p>



<p>[00:04:10] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Nathan, thanks for having me.</p>



<p>[00:04:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You are so welcome. If you&#8217;ve been in the WordPress space for, I&#8217;m going to say a decade or more, it&#8217;s very likely that you&#8217;ve heard about Matt Medeiros, but just in case you haven&#8217;t, I&#8217;m going to let Matt do a little bit of an intro to give us his backstory about WordPress, the WordPress space, the projects he&#8217;s been involved in. So, Matt, off you go.</p>



<p>[00:04:33] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Well, my newsletter list says otherwise. So, there&#8217;s still plenty of people who need to know me. So Matt Medeiros. I&#8217;ve been doing WordPress stuff, 10, 15 years. I don&#8217;t know how long it&#8217;s been. Started a podcast called Matt Report back when I started a digital agency. That&#8217;s how I built the digital agency. Ran Matt Report for many, many, many, many years still out there, and now have pivoted this focus on thewpminute.com, which is five minutes of WordPress news every week.</p>



<p>So I&#8217;ve been in the WordPress space, agency stuff, plugin stuff, theme stuff, podcasting stuff, YouTube stuff. And now I am the director of podcaster success at castos.com, which is a podcast hosting company, which also has a WordPress plugin. And also the parent company of wordpress.com, Automattic, has invested in Castos a little over a year ago at this point. So it&#8217;s podcasting and WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:05:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> We&#8217;ll definitely get into that. I confess I had forgotten that fact. Cast your mind back. Let&#8217;s say it&#8217;s 12 years ago, something like that. What was the thing that made it WordPress as opposed to something else all those years ago? Could have been Drupal, could have been Joomla, could have been Expression Engine. Why WordPress?</p>



<p>[00:05:40] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> In fact, it was Drupal, to begin with. That was my first foray into really taking an open source CMS seriously, besides PHP-Nuke, which I had played with, before Drupal. But Drupal came into my professional career as I was head of web services for an ISP, internet service provider.</p>



<p>We used to do things like dial up, ISDN, if you can remember those. T1 lines. And we purchased another ISP that had a web development arm and it was a Drupal shop. And this is around Drupal four and five, around those versions. And the head of design or the head designer at the time, he was like, hey Matt, because we were taking over and other people were leaving and I was going to steer the ship.</p>



<p>He&#8217;s like, I want to get away from Drupal. It is so hard to design on top of. Now you got to remember this is, I don&#8217;t know, 15 years ago, something like that. And he said, there&#8217;s this thing called WordPress. I can really design on top of that. I can do really well with it. I want to try it out. And that was the first theme we bought was the theme called Standard, which was a collaboration way back in the day between John Saddington, Tom McFarlin, and Eric Dye, I believe was his last name.</p>



<p>That was the first theme I ever purchased, in a professional setting. We use that to build themes and do that with our customers. And, and that was the entrance into WordPress. And once I broke off from that company, I just took all that knowledge and started my digital agency with that. And it was domino effect, ever since in the WordPress space.</p>



<p>[00:07:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You&#8217;ve really had a, like a broad, rich, encounter with WordPress though, because for me at least, anyway, it was WordPress websites and then more recently got into podcasting and those are basically the two things that I&#8217;ve done. But, as we&#8217;ll probably find out during the course of the show, you&#8217;ve really dotted around.</p>



<p>One of the things that I want to raise right at the beginning, and I don&#8217;t know what your thoughts on this are. It&#8217;s a bit of an abstract thought. If we were to rewind the clock, say 20 years ago. Both of us have obviously decided at some point, I think the internet is quite an interesting and fun thing. But I genuinely had no idea, it could have been a flash in the pan. Maybe it would&#8217;ve represented a tiny sliver of what people were doing. Shops, brick and mortar shops would still be thriving. Websites would&#8217;ve been really tangential, hardly anybody might have visited them.</p>



<p>There was no conception that the phone would become a conduit. That you would carry something around in your back pocket. That computers would be basically portable. None of that was a thought, and yet both of us staked more or less everything on it, which with a bit of hindsight was probably the best decision we ever made.</p>



<p>Now, you can talk to computers that sit in a tiny box in your kitchen and it will give you coherent answers to everything. Do you feel like you&#8217;re a very privileged person to have stepped into the broader internet and all that that offers?</p>



<p>[00:08:28] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> My genesis around getting into this space, if you want to go even deeper into the rabbit hole of who Matt Medeiros is, is my family ran a string of car dealerships for about 45 years in my local, my local area. We weren&#8217;t like this big massive conglomerate auto dealership. We just had two, family owned and operated.</p>



<p>It was the technology that was moving, fast paced in that world. Consumer internet being born, websites, you know, this all sounds pretty trivial, but back then it was like, oh wow, we can post a car on the internet and somebody can look at it and email us, or most likely call us back then and buy it? Speaking of the privilege that, like being in that space, having a family that ran this dealership, but because I was the youngest one and I was into it. I was the one that put all the technology together, from General Motors, right?</p>



<p>They were literally talking to an 17, 18 year old at the time, as the head of the internet department. Because I was the only one who got it, who understood it. My dad did, but you know, I sort of led the charge on that. And, I remember being in college and, you know, when you look at WordPress and open source, one of my, uh, capstone courses was to build something with, I forget what the terms were, but they said build it with multiple packages. And back then I was learning like Linux and Novell and, and Windows NT.</p>



<p>And I remember building PHP-Nuke with a bulletin board with, a blog roll. And I was building a car site, and I was like, wouldn&#8217;t it be awesome if somebody could go to this website and book an oil change for their car by filling out this form. And then if you had questions about repairing your car, you could come to this thing called a bulletin board, and have like this little community.</p>



<p>What I was doing back then was doing everything that social, that we all take for granted these days with the advancement of technology. And I was like wiring it together with little open source packages. So yeah, roundabout way of getting to, yeah, I feel pretty lucky to fall into that space at an early age.</p>



<p>[00:10:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I feel that you and I hit a time when you could flip from just having any kind of job into working on the internet, because the barrier to entry in terms of knowledge was so low. You basically had to learn HTML and then along came CSS, it was straightforward.</p>



<p>I think the promise now is much more difficult. I can&#8217;t really imagine what it must be like for somebody at the age of 17 or 18. The things that they must need to learn in order to become employable. Speaking of the internet, you mentioned social media and what have you. I wonder what your thoughts are on that.</p>



<p>I know that we&#8217;re straying away a little bit from WordPress, but it does touch on GPL and it does touch on the broader purpose of the internet. What are your feelings about how the internet has evolved over the last, let&#8217;s say seven, eight years? Things like Facebook, social media, and the associated benefits and harms that go with it.</p>



<p>[00:11:25] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> I don&#8217;t think humans were ready to be wired up emotionally, to the level that we&#8217;re at these days. Spanning across many, many contexts, right? From your everyday life of sharing pictures of what you&#8217;re eating, what your kids are doing, to more serious things like health, wellness, mental health.</p>



<p>Couple weeks ago suddenly lost my father-in-law and like the grieving factor of online. And you really start to sit back and say like, what, what is this? Like why? Is this value, all of us connected like this? Are we really together in this? Or is it just this digital connection that sort of literally just disappears as the feed refreshes?</p>



<p>And it really starts to have you question all of these things. Now there&#8217;s definitely many, many benefits. I mean, friends, that I&#8217;ve made through social, the businesses that I&#8217;ve built, and continue to build. There&#8217;s definitely a plus factor, but there&#8217;s a huge negative and, and things that I don&#8217;t think human beings are really ready for.</p>



<p>And I look at it in two different ways. One, I have three very young sons, three boys, under the ages of six. And I&#8217;m just like mentally preparing on how to onboard them to the internet, how I will do that. But I also see things from the broader perspective, is you and I are content creators. We&#8217;re just playing in the WordPress world mostly and softwares and stuff like that.</p>



<p>But I see people who are whatever, they&#8217;re into fashion, they&#8217;re into tech, they&#8217;re into video games, and there&#8217;s a burnout factor. There&#8217;s a, I must continue to create all of this content to please these people who really don&#8217;t care about me, factor. And then there&#8217;s those who really become hits, they do really well. And they&#8217;re not ready for that fame and that spotlight, because they&#8217;re one person with a million YouTube subscribers in their home office.</p>



<p>And they&#8217;re not ready for what that&#8217;s like, to have all of these humans watching them and asking them for things. And it&#8217;s just, it&#8217;s not a mindset that I think we&#8217;re all really ready for, without some education. But we&#8217;re so early that, 50 years from now, it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s probably not going to be a thing, because we&#8217;re, we&#8217;re still cresting the analog to the digital. Like you said, the young folks, how are they going to get jobs?</p>



<p>I think the, the issue is, is they lose the fundamentals of building technology. When I was learning how to build a website, I was learning how to build a computer. So I knew that there was a CPU and memory and a hard disc, and these things were storing this content and yada, all that fun stuff. Now, with the introduction of whatever, let&#8217;s say, easy web website builders and you just talk to AI and it codes a website for you. There are going to be this swath of people who just don&#8217;t know where all of this stuff lives and how it&#8217;s all connected. So, that was a deep rabbit hole that I just went down, and I hope we tumbled around it.</p>



<p>[00:14:14] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, really interesting. You mentioned your three children and I think that&#8217;s really fascinating for me. I have children as well, and one of the things that I struggle with. On the one hand, I&#8217;m really a proponent of technology. I love it. There&#8217;s almost nothing about it that I don&#8217;t love.</p>



<p>And yet at the same time, I&#8217;ve noticed that my children have been born into an era in which technology could be literally welded to your hand and, you know, there&#8217;s no escape from it. And so the notifications can come in at all times of day, and night. Stress there on night, so it disrupts things. Like it disrupts the normal cycle of interpersonal relations in a room because, there&#8217;s a bing bong on a phone and suddenly you&#8217;re distracted.</p>



<p>And the reason for being in the room with other people is somewhat shattered. And then, you hear about people who leave their phones by their bedsides and the phone goes off in the middle of the night and it disrupts their sleep, and all of these impacts. And whilst I am boldly a proponent of the internet, there are aspects of it which trouble me. And I think your wise point there, right at the end was that we&#8217;re young to this. We&#8217;re 20 years in, maybe a little bit more, but let&#8217;s say roughly 20 years in. And so we don&#8217;t really know where this is going.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s kind of like steering a ship. I&#8217;m imagining somebody in 1492, Christopher Columbus or somebody on a ship, you know, they&#8217;ve set sail. They know they&#8217;ve got a destination, but they don&#8217;t know how long it&#8217;s going to be or when they&#8217;re going to get there. This feels to me like the internet. And I do wonder if some of these things that we may regard as bad habits at the moment will get washed away and replaced, hopefully with more beneficial things. I&#8217;m optimistic about that.</p>



<p>[00:15:52] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, I agree.</p>



<p>[00:15:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Let&#8217;s just turn to the WordPress space, generally speaking. So you&#8217;ve been in it for a long time. Certainly much longer than I have. And you&#8217;ve been somebody that&#8217;s been observing the WordPress space. Not just using the software, but considering it, considering the impact of it, considering the business that can be made around it, and looking at the plugins and the themes and all of that, and having a critical eye on it.</p>



<p>This is a very broad question, but I&#8217;m going to ask it anyway. What have you noticed as the main changes over time? Young people to the community, you&#8217;ve been in the community using WordPress for a couple of years. They won&#8217;t know that there&#8217;s been any changes. The software&#8217;s just the software, but there&#8217;s been a lot. What do you think the main things have been for you?</p>



<p>[00:16:29] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, I&#8217;m, I&#8217;m going to try to summarize this as quickly as possible that we can break off into different paths that I think are, are relevant. But there was certainly a long span of the same folks doing the same WordCamp talks, I&#8217;m not saying this in a bad way, but there was, I don&#8217;t know, a 10 year cohort of WordPress that I felt, we were all jiving and doing the same thing, showing up to the WordCamps, and everyone knew each other.</p>



<p>The real pivotal milestone, for better or worse, was the introduction of Gutenberg, and the software and how it was introduced and all that stuff. Those pages in the history books have already been written. I think it was at that point where a certain segment of the community was one, they were like, I don&#8217;t want this in WordPress, so I&#8217;m done. There was another segment where, we don&#8217;t know how to code around this, and I don&#8217;t want this coding overhead. And then there was a third, in my view, where a lot of people used it.</p>



<p>Excuse might be the wrong word, but it was certainly a time where, man, you&#8217;re 10 or whatever it was, 10 or 12 years into software. That&#8217;s a lifetime of using the same shiny tool. And there&#8217;s just this natural thing, I think, of all of us who are like technologists or like 10, 12 years in, ah, I just got to try something else. And that was a moment, two thirds of these people are leaving because of these reasons. I guess I&#8217;ll leave too, and go find another shiny object.</p>



<p>And that&#8217;s where I guess the no code market really stepped in. Not saying because of WordPress, but it was certainly a right time, right place, kind of thing where those tools were getting shinier and better, and it was a great moment for them to somebody else to be like, ah, Webflow, ah, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Coda, Notion, all these things that we&#8217;re just like piecing together like we did with WordPress 10 years ago. Now we can do this again here with these shiny, faster free tools.</p>



<p>So that&#8217;s the way that I see it. That change in the community over the milestone of Gutenberg, and up until now there&#8217;s a lot of fresh faces in here, which is great. But there&#8217;s less of this, I don&#8217;t know, warm blanket around all of us these days, that used to be there, for a good 10 year cohort.</p>



<p>One of the reasons why I started The Matt Report at the time was, one, it&#8217;s because I wasn&#8217;t a developer and I didn&#8217;t know anyone. I didn&#8217;t know how to talk to developers, so I said, well, I&#8217;ll just interview them and, and promote them so that they can get jobs and maybe I&#8217;ll learn more people.</p>



<p>But two, when I was at one of my first WordCamps, perfect example, there was, you know, one of the core contributors of WordPress and he would walk by and people like, Oh, I really want to talk to him. I&#8217;m afraid to talk to him. So there was like this celebrity status kind of thing.</p>



<p>And that&#8217;s when it hit me like, oh, people really care about these other people in the community. Let me go and find them and interview them, and prop them up so other people can meet them instead of being, you know, shy or worried to talk about them at a WordCamp. So I think the biggest change, for me anyway, has been the community in the involvement of everyone.</p>



<p>[00:19:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Did I get a sense, I could be wrong. Forgive me if I got this sense and my spidey sense was tingling in the wrong direction. But, I kind of got a feeling about three or four years ago that you, you kinda fell out of love a little bit with WordPress and were seeking paths new. But then you&#8217;ve drifted back in, drift is the wrong word, you&#8217;ve come back in with great aplomb, you know, you&#8217;re back in making all the content and what have you. Is that true? Did you find yourself in that miasma, thinking I don&#8217;t really know whether I belong anymore?</p>



<p>[00:19:55] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Picture us in the, in my therapist office, and you&#8217;re sitting across from me with your pen and notepad. There&#8217;s a lot of things that go into that feeling. You&#8217;re not totally wrong. But, as you know as a content creator, you continue to create all the content. And quite literally, I burned out on the YouTube stuff because it was just a hard slog on the Plugin Tut channel. But then it was, how do I really grow this? How do I grow this podcast and, bring in other, other voices? Because the same thing I just mentioned about this 10 year cohort, all the same people.</p>



<p>I could feel those effects on the content that I was doing. That&#8217;s when I started to introduce the no code, maybe the more business aspect, SaaS developers, stuff like that, and bringing that into the fold. It certainly, my love for WordPress, it actually goes much deeper than the software. I think that WordPress itself is, speaking of like jobs and education. This is a tool that can empower individuals, local organizations, states, towns, to put people into a workforce.</p>



<p>And WordPress is, I think, a great learning tool. A great building tool to do all that stuff, aside from the fun web stuff that we can do with it. So you&#8217;re not too far off, but there was sort of a reshaping of how do I introduce new voices? Because I could feel probably just like you, the social media, the engagement of everyone sort of just getting burned out from the same old thing in WordPress, and that was probably me shifting the way I do content at the time.</p>



<p>[00:21:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So shifting more recently, your content creation, it&#8217;s not entirely this, but you&#8217;ve moved to a new moniker. You&#8217;ve got The WP Minute. Just give us a bit of an insight into what the intention was there and how it&#8217;s going.</p>



<p>[00:21:46] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> We can thank our mutual friend Davinder Singh Kainth for getting me into this, uh, yet another content rabbit hole. But I also thank him very much for pushing me in this direction. I had an idea that I pitched to him one day and I was like, hey, probably just like your spidey sense went off. I&#8217;ve gotten really busy with the Castos day job, three young boys. It&#8217;s like, how the heck can I even do long form content anymore?</p>



<p>So I wanted to do short form content and I approached Davinder and I said, hey, what I&#8217;d really like to do is a spoken version of your, of your newsletter. Fast forward, to make a long story short, he just said, how about you just start your own and I&#8217;ll just support you and I said, I don&#8217;t really want to do my own, I just want to, just want to piggyback off of somebody else. And that&#8217;s how we, we got into The WP Minute. So it&#8217;s your favorite five minutes of WordPress news, every Wednesday. But it&#8217;s really grown, to, uh, a small but mighty community. Just introduced Erik Karkovack, who is a top WP Tavern commenter, as the head editor or the editor of The WP Minute.</p>



<p>So he&#8217;s working for me, air quotes, full time as the editor of putting together all the news, curating the news. And then I read the news, every Wednesday, and it&#8217;s just a short five minutes, so you&#8217;re busy, you&#8217;re a busy WordPress professional, you don&#8217;t have the time. We get all the top headlines for you and summarize it for you. And we have a fun community. So if you&#8217;re into the news, I, I certainly recommend The WP Minute.</p>



<p>[00:23:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> How do you decide what stays in and what&#8217;s goes out? I face this problem. I have to decide which podcast episode I&#8217;m going to make, but it&#8217;s much more straightforward because the stuff that I&#8217;m producing content on, probably won&#8217;t matter whether it&#8217;s next week or the week after, it&#8217;s less critical. But for you, you&#8217;ve really got one shot and you&#8217;ve got to presumably try and get all the good bits in in five minutes. That&#8217;s hard, because in the WordPress community, as you know, I can talk about it for at least an hour and a half every week. How do you decide what stays in and what gets cut onto the floor?</p>



<p>[00:23:41] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, so I look at the WP Minute as probably the best thing that I&#8217;m ever going to create for WordPress, right? So Matt Report, all the plugins, themes, services, consultations I&#8217;ve done, I feel like the WP Minute is the best thing that I&#8217;m going to contribute to this community. As far as I can see, and I look at it as community driven journalism without, self-promotion on this point.</p>



<p>The idea is if you really want to have a hand in the news, you could join the membership and be part of this, and you join the membership to support it, because it costs money. And I try to be as transparent as possible of, there&#8217;s hosting, there&#8217;s podcast hosting, there&#8217;s paying Eric, there&#8217;s paying Raquel, there&#8217;s paying Pat to run this team.</p>



<p>And the idea is if you want to get the stories out, you join us for short money to support the whole cause. And what I call the members, they call them producers. So you, the community member, can help produce the show. And as you know, Nathan, you get people knocking on your door to promote their product, promote their thing, and it&#8217;s like, hey, great, put your money where your mouth is and if you want your news to be heard, submit it to, what we call the link squad at The WP Minute. It&#8217;s a member curation. So you have the editorial team, myself, Eric, Pat, Raquel, and then you have the members who contribute the news. We all watch the news.</p>



<p>You know, I got some Slack bots wired up. We get all the hot topics pumped right into the Slack channel so we can all collaborate on it. But then everyone sort of gets to have a vote. So people who put in their links, if their link makes it to the news, then they all get a credit thank you, both in the newsletter and the podcast. Now the idea is it&#8217;s supposed to be a five minute show. So if there&#8217;s a ton of news and somebody has voted for their top 10 slider plugins for October, chances are that one&#8217;s not going to make it. But we&#8217;ve had some times where we&#8217;ll cut a story from make.wordpress.org.</p>



<p>Hey, we&#8217;ve got WordPress 6.1 release candidate one is ready. Please test it. Those are things that we always include to raise awareness, but if there&#8217;s acquisition news, community news, Tumblr News, like things that are really big and impactful, those things might drop because those things happen a lot more. So that&#8217;s not the most educated answer of how we select the news, but it is a community effort, and then within the confines of, hey look, this is also short form, so we try to keep it to five to seven minutes every week. People have said to me, why isn&#8217;t it called The WP Minutes?</p>



<p>[00:26:07] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You&#8217;ve been doing this like you said, for such a long time, and so you&#8217;ve been inspecting the community and what have you. You&#8217;ve got this media channel now, WP Minute, I know you&#8217;re doing a bunch of other stuff, and we&#8217;ll get onto that.</p>



<p>Have you noticed over the last 10, 12, 8, whatever number of years. Have you noticed that the audience has changed? The desire of the content for the audience has changed? Because, when I started listening to WordPress content, really the only stuff I could find was how tos. It was, here I am, I know stuff about code. I&#8217;m going to tell you about code. Whereas now, if you look around, I feel that you can get news on almost everything.</p>



<p>You know, you&#8217;ve got news about accessibility. You&#8217;ve got news about governance. You&#8217;ve got news about the plugins. You&#8217;ve got news about the themes, full site editing. The list could go on and on. And it seems almost like we&#8217;ve really properly got a little ecosystem where you don&#8217;t need to code, you could just be a community member talking about the community. So any thoughts on that?</p>



<p>[00:27:05] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on that. I talk about this topic a lot, I really just put all my cards out on the table and I could be totally wrong and it wouldn&#8217;t, certainly wouldn&#8217;t be the first time. But I think that the audience size, and again, this goes back to your spidey sense from before. I think that the audience size for the type of content that you and I put out is maximum, if you had the whole globe of human beings in front of you, the whole earth is probably about 8,000 people, out of whatever, 8, 9 billion people.</p>



<p>I think that&#8217;s our cap for WordPress news, the inside baseball or how, how the community is put together, the ins and outs of the project, right. I think that the cap is 8,000 people. Now, the cap for how to put together a WooCommerce store, vastly different, right? those are the ones that, I mean, that&#8217;s hundreds of thousands, if not, uh, I don&#8217;t know, millions of people, who would want that kind of content? So I think yes, it has changed. I think the one constant is content that is still developer centric, is still the king of WordPress content, because there&#8217;s just far more WordPress developers who care about how to put sites together, than it is about the business side of WordPress and, maybe the community side, right?</p>



<p>So I think that it has certainly shifted, although maybe even has gotten even tighter into the development space with the introduction of Gutenberg, full sight editing and just the general changes of WordPress.</p>



<p>So, I know that if you told me 10 years ago, could you have made a business out of, whatever I, Matt Report and The WP Minute, I probably would&#8217;ve said no, I&#8217;m just trying to like grow brand awareness, which I was. I think I&#8217;ve successfully turned it, air quote, successfully turned it, into a media business, but it&#8217;s still very, very small. Very appreciative to like the sponsors over the years, and I have done really well compared to the larger podcasting industry, But, the audience I think for the stuff that, at least that I do, not trying to put you in the same bucket as me, is pretty small. It&#8217;s just people going in and out, all the time.</p>



<p>[00:29:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Given that we&#8217;ve both hitched our cart to the WordPress space, what are your thoughts about the future? Because I personally feel at least anyway, that the future is quite bright. I&#8217;m fairly optimistic about the progress around full sight editing and the block editor. I can well understand why people have become dissuaded with the desire to use WordPress into the future, I can understand that. But I feel that there&#8217;s light at the end of that tunnel, albeit, I don&#8217;t know how many days, weeks, months, or years it&#8217;s going to be before the train finally emerges out of the tunnel. But for me, it&#8217;s important because I do podcasting. I do content in the WordPress space. I would like to think that WordPress has a bright and glowing future. Maybe you share that optimism or maybe not.</p>



<p>[00:30:02] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, I feel like I&#8217;m a realist in the fact that Automattic will take over wordpress.org, and it&#8217;ll just be more of a prominent upsell to either Jetpack or wordpress.com. And there is nothing wrong with that in my eyes, okay. So let&#8217;s just set that aside for a moment. I&#8217;ve recently, so hold that thought.</p>



<p>I&#8217;ve recently been using Ghost, another open source CMS and, I&#8217;m using their paid version because like the folks who would make that decision to not have to maintain WordPress, get a hosting account, do plugins and themes. I said, hey, for this little side, side, side project that I&#8217;m working on, I&#8217;m just going to pay ghosts 30 bucks a month.</p>



<p>And I want to be carefree like everyone else who picks these no code tools. This is what they&#8217;re all saying. This is why they&#8217;re all moving there. And I&#8217;ll tell you, yes, Ghost is good in the lane that Ghost runs in. But just the other day I was like, ah, I need to add a landing page, or I need to edit the footer.</p>



<p>And I go to the help docs and it&#8217;s like, install your code editor. Set up a local repo., like run docker containers, and I&#8217;m like, I don&#8217;t want this. Where&#8217;s my full sight editing? Where&#8217;s my Beaver Builder? Where&#8217;s my Elementor? I just want to edit this one thing. Why can&#8217;t I do it? There is a luxury in WordPress that I think a lot of, a user interface luxury. Uh, a no code luxury. Call it what you want, that when I just want to click something and edit, for all the faults that you hear people complain about speed and performance. Man, put this up against the Ghosts, the Webflows, the Wix&#8217;s.</p>



<p>I was looking at card.co, the other, I think it&#8217;s card.co. It&#8217;s like a super simplified like page building, five page portfolio site and I wanted to upload multiple photos. This was for again, the passing of my father-in-law and I wanted to put a little memorial site up, and I had hundreds of photos that I wanted to upload and I had to upload one at a time. And I said, no, I just want you drag a bunch of photos like I do in WordPress into a media gallery and display it. And these other tools just, they just don&#8217;t do it as easy as WordPress.</p>



<p>So, like you, I&#8217;m, I&#8217;m an optimist on using WordPress. It&#8217;s the learning curve and the maintenance. But I think that&#8217;s a world we&#8217;re all slowly moving to where, that will all continue to get simplified by Automattic, by web hosts. Full sight editing. Oh boy. I&#8217;m really struggling with that big time. Gutenberg, yes, there are still some things I really struggle with, but there are some other great tools as alternatives that I use. And that&#8217;s the patchwork that I&#8217;m doing now.</p>



<p>[00:32:38] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> The grass is always greener. There&#8217;s always that, I&#8217;m going to try that other CMS and see how it goes. And I&#8217;ve done the same, I&#8217;ve always ended up back with WordPress. It always seems like a, a comfortable pair of shoes. Terrible analogy, but there you go.</p>



<p>[00:32:52] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> WordPress, a comfortable pair of shoes.</p>



<p>[00:32:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Let&#8217;s get into the awkward business of Automattic and your thoughts around that. And you mentioned a moment ago that you thought that wordpress.org was moving inexorably towards being dominated by Automattic. What makes you say that, and does it trouble you? You went to great pains to say that it didn&#8217;t trouble you, but maybe on some level it does?.</p>



<p>[00:33:14] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> I think that the biggest factor here is communication, right? It&#8217;s communication from WordPress leadership. It&#8217;s communication from Jetpack and Automattic. These are signs that are quite obvious. So, I forget six months ago or something like that, I interviewed the uh, president or CEO of wordpress.com, talking about their new price points because they had done new price points.</p>



<p>And the obvious gorilla in the room to me is, what are we doing with WooCommerce? We collectively as Automattic, like, when are you really going to compete with Shopify? And you know, he is, oh, you can compete with Shopify right now. You can just sign up for a WordPress.com. Yeah, but it&#8217;s nothing, it&#8217;s nothing like going to Shopify to start an e-commerce store. Nothing is guiding you as a merchant, as a store seller, as an entrepreneur.</p>



<p>So these are obvious things that I can see, that everyone can see are the obvious paths to monetization to Automattic. And I think, one, we all step back and say, What would WordPress look like without Automattic? What would that world look like? Who would it be? Would it be Salesforce? Would it be Oracle? Would it be Microsoft? Do you want them in the lead of this software?</p>



<p>I think that the best steward for all of this stuff, .org included, is Automattic. The challenge is, communication, direction. And do we all really get a seat at the table, question mark? And I fight for that seat at the table from my point of view, which is the website builder, the entrepreneur, the user, not a developer, certainly not a developer. But from my perspective, these are the things that I fight for. And I fight for WordPress to be open source because I think it is, in a world where we all go closed source, like I said before, this is things that could impact local economies.</p>



<p>This is a tool that could get somebody who&#8217;s really struggling in life, to get a job in technology because you know how to make a WordPress post. These are the building blocks of the fundamentals of the internet, in my eyes. So, to me it&#8217;s, hey, go Automattic. Tax us, air quotes, tax us. I know this is interesting, me being in New England and you being in England to me, for me to say tax us. But that&#8217;s fine with me. I used to say the same thing when I used to sell themes. Why is this process so difficult? Why don&#8217;t we have the data? Why isn&#8217;t dot org just a marketplace?</p>



<p>I am fine getting a 30% tax. If I can sell my goods in a place that&#8217;s trusted, secure, that we&#8217;re true partners with. And it just hasn&#8217;t happened because I feel that all roads lead to, we&#8217;ll monetize WordPress, this is Automattic speaking. We&#8217;ll monetize WordPress through Jetpack, wordpress.org, and then we&#8217;ll eventually upsell, hey, if you don&#8217;t want to host it yourself, come to .com, or Pressable. And I don&#8217;t see anything wrong with that. It&#8217;s just everyone, I think needs to sort of just face the fact and build their business, their plugin business around that.</p>



<p>What I don&#8217;t like is overstepping and, and the hidden paths to upsell without anyone saying anything, ala Jetpack. I still think Jetpack is good for the right user. In fact, I used it on that memorial site because it&#8217;s a fantastic tool for quick and easy. But I think it&#8217;s also going to dominate other SEO plug-ins, other contact form plugins, the blue collar digital workforce that I try to advocate for a lot in the content that I put out.</p>



<p>[00:36:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> What do you think about the governance of the project? So at the moment, we have the model, which is often called the benevolent dictator for life, and it kind of trickles down from there. Would you like there to be forays into altering that model? Are you happy with the fact that there is one person governing for life, or would you like to see little bits of that chipped away, chunks of the project, which are governed by the community more?</p>



<p>[00:37:00] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> I really appreciate the three conversations that Matt and I have had on my podcast. I think it&#8217;s been three. I don&#8217;t think that there is, when I have a problem with my MacBook, I don&#8217;t call up Tim Cook, and say hey man, come on my podcast, let&#8217;s talk about this Apple ecosystem you&#8217;ve got here, speaking of a 30% tax. It&#8217;s great for us as a community to have a single person that is semi approachable to have conversations with you. To be at WordCamps and have this, literally armed lengths away, to have a conversation with. Having said all of that, yes, I would like change. As I&#8217;ve told Matt, he does an insane amount of stuff.</p>



<p>Automattic, wordpress.org, Tumblr, and Automattic is like 25 different products. One of them my favorite, which is Simple Note App, Jetpack, and all the other stuff that he does in life. How can he do it all? And I think that is a real issue. We look at the last couple of weeks ish, he&#8217;s actually talked more openly about where he wants to go with Tumblr than I feel he has with WordPress dot org, and how can you balance that?</p>



<p>I think it&#8217;s a super challenge. I think, he thinks he can do it and he is doing it, but I think there should be some level of change. And Josepha again gracious to have her on the podcast once. How much can she possibly load on her back to do all of the work that she does? So, yes, I mean, I don&#8217;t have the answer for it.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s easy. I think a lot of people think that it&#8217;s easier said than done. But there should be something, some kind of governance model change, which I know people have pushed for in the past. I just don&#8217;t see how, how Matt can steer so many ships at once.</p>



<p>[00:38:46] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Speaking of steering a lot of ships. You&#8217;ve not only got The WP Minute and various other bits and pieces. You&#8217;ve also got a real interest in how podcasts are made, not just because you&#8217;re making podcasts and you go through that whole editing process and interviewing guests, much like we&#8217;re doing right now. But you&#8217;ve also taken a great interest in the technology behind how podcasts work. Actually just occurs to me, many people might not even know that there is a whole industry behind podcasting, but there is, and Castos is one of them. How long have you been now with Castos and what do you do over there?</p>



<p>[00:39:19] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, so two and a half years, something like that. Director of Podcaster success. I try to make podcasters coming in to Castos successful with their podcast, however they might define success, Again, joining Caso because one, I&#8217;m a podcaster, two, they have a fantastic WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a commitment to open source, on the WordPress side, there&#8217;s a commitment to open RSS. These are two worlds that collide greatly with me, and I&#8217;m a huge proponent, of course on open source and open distribution. You know, the perfect example is what&#8217;s the difference? Well, the, difference is a Spotify where you have to have the Spotify app to listen to a particular show, and open RSS means you can subscribe and distribute anywhere that accepts RSS.</p>



<p>The world of podcasting, it&#8217;s funny, it continues to grow and there continues to be this excitement around it, but it continues to be more in more corporate interest. There is a tiny, tiny, tiny open source team that&#8217;s sort of leading the charge for, I&#8217;ll dumb it down, but RSS standards.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s called Podcasting 2.0, and you can go to the podcastindex.org, and they run their own index, which is different than Apple, right? So Apple has their index, but you have to, you know, register and do all this stuff with Apple. Podcastindex.org is an open, so think of it as almost like wordpress.org, if you will.</p>



<p>And they&#8217;re really leading the charge of enhancing the RSS feed. Doing things, more things in the RSS feed, like micro payment support, transcripts, chapters, live feed item tags, chat, cross platform chat. So they&#8217;re introducing a lot of this data and information that can help podcasters, and their challenges, similar to WordPress. They have to get other podcast hosts and other podcast apps to support these name spaces so that it&#8217;s for the greater good of the whole podcast economy or, or industry, right?</p>



<p>So, you know, I&#8217;m a huge proponent of that. Again, to talk about like the approach of Matt, Matt Mullenweg to pull it back. I know, well, Matt&#8217;s from Texas, one of the head guys at Podcast Index is from Texas, Adam Curry, and I sent an email to Matt and Adam and I said, hey, you guys should talk to each other. You both know each other, you&#8217;re both into open source, open distribution. You all should have a conversation.</p>



<p>And they, and they had a conversation and that Matt tied together the Pocket Cast team to them, and they had some great conversations. So, yeah, open source, open collaboration, it&#8217;s a great thing and I hope to keep waving that flag for podcasting.</p>



<p>[00:41:52] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s really interesting. I wonder if we are on the cusp of something akin to RSS with things like Mastodon, based upon Activity Hub, which is very like RSS. So essentially it&#8217;s an open platform where you can attach your social media stuff. I don&#8217;t know if you&#8217;ve come across this exodus from Twitter over the last couple of weeks.</p>



<p>But there seemed to be a lot of people who, over the last few weeks have made up their mind that they would like something a bit more open. They would like to be able to get the content and post the content that they wish without the constraints of being logged in to some proprietary system. And in many of the comments that I&#8217;ve seen in people&#8217;s flight from Twitter, they keep talking about podcasts and how podcasting, 20 years ago, I believe it was Dave Winer who came up with the spec for RSS for podcasts, I could be wrong about that.</p>



<p>But just how, with the benefit of hindsight, the whole RSS open nature of podcasts, so take Spotify and all those other things out of the equation. The fact that my podcast, your podcast, is available completely for free. You don&#8217;t need any sort of system, particularly, you just need to subscribe to a podcast feed, which is held on the website. Just how breathtakingly clever that was with a bit of hindsight.</p>



<p>[00:43:03] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Yeah, yeah. Adam Curry as well helped, lead that charge. And he&#8217;s, he&#8217;s the one that&#8217;s sort of leading up the podcast index stuff, and podcasting 2.0 stuff. Yeah, it is great. A lot of the technology is, it&#8217;s very easy to implement, right? It&#8217;s all part of the RSS feed.</p>



<p>And, you know, the challenge is, is sharing that data. So, it&#8217;s a, I don&#8217;t know if platform war is the right phrase for it, but you know, if you have your podcast on Spotify, Spotify can give you more analytics. They can do things in app that are for the better of the, of the listener. But don&#8217;t forget that it will be for the better of Spotify first, because they&#8217;re going to be the ones that run the ads and take a larger chunk of the profits or what have you.</p>



<p>Whereas open RSS, we&#8217;re all fending for ourself, and as the more collaboration and the more people who support the innovations, the better we&#8217;ll all be. But that&#8217;s the challenge. To get everyone on the, on the same page. It&#8217;s, it&#8217;s actually no, a lot of similarities to WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:44:01] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You mentioned a moment ago that you feel that podcasting is still growing? I, I honestly have no insight into that whatsoever, but it does feel much more of a mainstream thing this year than it was last year and the year before that and so on. Is that in fact the case? Is there still a case to be made, is there data to back up that, yeah, podcasts really are still growing, and if your business or your interest, your hobby is something that you want to plunge into a podcast, it&#8217;s probably worth your time and effort.</p>



<p>[00:44:27] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> You have to kind of look at it, obviously I&#8217;ll call myself an insider to the podcasting space, but there is a lot more money and a lot more interest coming in from what I&#8217;ll call the corporate level. And the corporate level translates into Wondery&#8217;s, Amazon. Amazon owns Wondery, which is probably the premier podcast production company creating fiction, true crime, entertainment podcasts. And that&#8217;s all backed by advertisement. That can be openly distributed, but because Amazon owns it, if you listen to it on Amazon&#8217;s music app, then you get it without the ads. But if you listen to it on Apple Podcasts, you get it with the ads, right?</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s this big interest in advertising, and celebrities and movies and movie industry and all that stuff. Then there&#8217;s the flip side, there&#8217;s you and me. The guys that make probably a few thousand dollars a year, instead of a few million dollars a year, like the big boys.</p>



<p>If you go to podcastindex.org, I&#8217;m looking at it right now. There&#8217;s 4 million podcasts in the index. I think Apple says around two and a half million. But there is a stat right below that, that within the last three days there&#8217;s been 109,000 updates to podcasts. And in the last 90 days, 483,000 have been updated.</p>



<p>So of the 4 million, yes, there&#8217;s a bunch that have probably either just ended, you know, it&#8217;s just a series of content that people have done. Pod faded where they have given up. The true earmark to that is 483,000 in the last 90 days. So people get scared of the 4 million mark. Like, oh my God. How is my podcast going to live within 4 million? But when you look at the data of 500,000 active within the last 90 days, you still have a shot, and yes, the answer is it&#8217;s still growing for the hobbyists, like you and I.</p>



<p>[00:46:14] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s really amazing. I feel so privileged in a way that I made the decision to get into it a little bit early when things were probably less competitive than they are now. That I&#8217;ve just kept banging on with it week week after week. It&#8217;s, yeah, it&#8217;s pretty amazing. Uh, I realize that we&#8217;ve used up a lot more of your time than I should have done, I apologize. So I&#8217;m just going to round off with one very simple question. You&#8217;ve been in the community many, many years. Let&#8217;s imagine five years, 10 years into the future. Do you reckon you&#8217;ll still be</p>



<p>[00:46:40] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> here?</p>



<p>Yeah, a hundred percent. I&#8217;ll be using WordPress, as far as I can see, again. One, because I love it as a publishing tool. Two because I believe in it as a tool for somebody to learn and educate themselves and, and find a new opportunity, whether that&#8217;s coding, designing or writing. This is a tool that can impact economies. Three, I love, I just love the idea of, of open source on the web and really believe in that wholeheartedly. So yeah, I see myself sticking around.</p>



<p>[00:47:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Matt Medeiros, thank you for joining us on the podcast today.</p>



<p>[00:47:12] <strong>Matt Medeiros:</strong> Thanks, Nathan.</p>
</div>



<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://craftedbymatt.com/about-matt/">Matt Medeiros</a>.</p>



<p>Matt is the driving force behind many WordPress initiatives. That could be the creation of plugins, WordPress news media, as well as podcasts about all manner of WordPress specific subjects. He likes to juggle multiple projects at once.</p>



<p>Currently he’s the Director of Podcaster Success at <a href="https://castos.com/">Castos</a>, which is a podcast hosting company with a WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>He’s on the podcast today to give his take on the past, present and future of WordPress.</p>



<p>Many millions of people like to work with the WordPress software. They create websites, plugins and themes which extend what the CMS can do. Others, such as Matt, like to ponder the broader purpose and direction of the software and the community around it.</p>



<p><a href="https://mattreport.com/">The Matt Report</a> and <a href="https://thewpminute.com/">The WP Minute</a> have enabled us to hear about what the community is doing, what it wants and where its points of friction are. He’s talked to hundreds of people about what WordPress was, is, and might be, and so is in a unique position to pontificate about what WordPress, beyond the software, is.</p>



<p>We start with Matt’s backstory. How he found WordPress and why he started to use it. We talk about how he’s dipped in and out of the community over the years; more excited at times, less so at others.</p>



<p>The conversation moves on to some of the trends that Matt has noticed. He identifies how the software and the wider community have altered over time.</p>



<p>We talk about how The WP Minute got started and how he’s building up a community of like-minded people to consume as well as to create the content that they’re putting out.</p>



<p>Towards the end, we get into the governance of WordPress and the future of the project more generally. There are certainly things that Matt likes, but there are some wrinkles which get aired as well.</p>



<p>We finish up talking about podcasts and Matt’s work with Castos and how they are trying to make it easier to get your voice out there, especially with their WordPress integration.</p>



<p>It’s a lovely chat with a thoughtful and far sighted member of the community.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Useful links.</h2>



<p><a href="https://mattreport.com/">Matt Report</a></p>



<p><a href="https://thewpminute.com/">The WP Minute</a></p>



<p><a href="https://castos.com/">Castos</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, 30 Nov 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:47;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:118:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 14.6 Adds List View for Editing Navigation Block, Introduces New Automatic Color Palette Generator";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=139909";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:128:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-14-6-adds-list-view-for-editing-navigation-block-introduces-new-automatic-color-palette-generator";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:4827:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/">Gutenberg 14.6</a> was released last week with a long list of small but impactful refinements to core blocks and the full-site editing experience. One of the most practical enhancements included in this update is the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/45546">new list view for editing the Navigation block</a>.</p>



<p>Gutenberg contributor Fabian Kägy published a quick video that helps to visualize the changes: </p>







<p>The list view makes it easy for users to reorder navigation items using a drag-and-drop UI. The Navigation block in the content area instantly previews items that are moved in the block inspector.</p>



<p>As part of a larger effort to make it easier to edit Navigation Links off the canvas, this release also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/45751">adds a new URL field to the Navigation Link inspector</a> controls. Now user can edit the URL from the inspector controls as well as from the main link control.</p>



<img />image credit: PR <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/45751">45751</a>



<p>Version 14.6 also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/43496">adds a variation picker to the Group block placeholder</a>. When users insert a new Group block, it will now allow them to select from among different variations to set the layout for the block. This makes it significantly easier for users to get started when using a Group block, instead of having to fiddle around to manually assign the desired layout.</p>



<img />



<p>One of the most creative features introduced in this release is the new <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40988">“Randomize colors” feature</a> that will automatically generate color palettes on the fly. It utilizes hue rotations based on the <a href="https://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~dag/CUBEHELIX/">Cubehelix color scheme</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;Hue rotation consists in rotating the hue wheel — such as the one you<br />might see in a color picker — by a determined amount of degrees, each turn<br />generating a new color,&#8221; Gutenberg contributor Vicente Canales said in the PR for the feature. He also noted that this new feature surfaces &#8220;the need for themes to explicitly support style randomization, as well as the need to incorporate a way to define a color&#8217;s role within a palette as a way of avoiding getting, for example, palettes where background and foreground don&#8217;t contrast, rendering text illegible.&#8221;</p>







<p>While randomizing color palettes is a fun feature for users, some theme and plugin developers do not see the need for it to land in core Gutenberg and eventually WordPress.</p>



<p>&#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s fun, but from a theme designer&#8217;s perspective I don&#8217;t see an urgent use since the theme designer can provide numerous style variations,&#8221; block and theme developer Ellen Bauer <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40988#issuecomment-1316048575">commented</a> on the PR. &#8220;For the user this provides the same kind of &#8216;fun feel&#8217;, but theme designers would provide an experience that actually works.</p>



<p>&#8220;There is so much potential in styles, but not much is published yet. So as a theme builder I feel style export/imports, the option to separate font styles from color styles are much more basic features I would love to have first.&#8221;</p>



<p>Newsletter Glue co-founder Lesley Sim agreed that it&#8217;s a fun idea but that anyone using a theme will probably rely on the theme&#8217;s style variations.</p>



<p>&#8220;And that will probably feel like a randomizer to them already,&#8221; Sim said. &#8220;At least, that&#8217;s how I personally view style variations.</p>



<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d much rather focus on basic features first too, rather than fun ones. Let plugin and theme developers build the fun.&#8221;</p>



<p>Other notable features in Gutenberg 14.6 include the following:</p>



<ul>
<li>Block Toolbar is now hidden when Spacing Visualizer is displayed</li>



<li>New keyboard shortcut for transforming Paragraph block into Heading block</li>



<li>Focal Point handle updated to be more representative of the broader selection area</li>



<li>New “Minimum Height” dimension control is now available for the Group and Post Content block</li>
</ul>



<p>This update&#8217;s performance benchmarks for the site editor and post editor are significantly improved for three out of four metrics over the last release. Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/">release post</a> for a more detailed look at every PR included 14.6. </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:"Wed, 30 Nov 2022 03:12:10 +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:48;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:"Do The Woo Community: Cooking Up Some Code with Kim Coleman";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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73751";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:58:"https://dothewoo.io/cooking-up-some-code-with-kim-coleman/";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:408:"<p>Kim talks about looking at code as words, learning PHP, her journey as a WordPress developer, and choosing her lifestyle and her career.</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/cooking-up-some-code-with-kim-coleman/">Cooking Up Some Code with Kim Coleman</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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:"Tue, 29 Nov 2022 11:25:00 +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:5:"BobWP";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:49;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:98:"WPTavern: Meetup.com Removes Accessibility Overlay In Response to WordPress Community’s Concerns";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=139886";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:106:"https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-removes-accessibility-overlay-in-response-to-wordpress-communitys-concerns";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:4753:"<p>Meetup.com has <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/23/meetup-com-accessibility-overlay-update/">removed its accessibility overlay</a>, a recent addition to the company&#8217;s website that <a href="https://wptavern.com/meetup-com-raises-concerns-with-new-accessibility-overlay">raised concerns with the WordPress community</a> and the broader community of accessibility professionals. The overly was powered by <a href="https://www.equalweb.com/html5/?_id=8591&did=1116&_gid=202027&trace=equalweb_menu_en_">EqualWeb</a>, a product which claims to provide automated compliance with accessibility standards but doesn&#8217;t address inaccessibility at the root of the problem.</p>



<p>WordPress Community Team leaders requested a meeting with the company and were able to persuade them to take the overlay down and focus on direct improvements to the Meetup.com platform. WordPress community organizer Angela Jin reported that their director of engineering and other team members were &#8220;very receptive to our feedback.&#8221;</p>



<p>&#8220;EqualWeb’s widget does scan for accessibility issues, and the original plan was for EqualWeb’s team (real people!) to provide progressive fixes to the overlay,&#8221; Jin said. &#8220;Meetup’s hope was to provide, over time, a fully accessible overlay.&#8221; </p>



<p>During the meeting, WordPress&#8217; Community Team representatives contended that overlays create a poor user experience for people who use assistive technology while also ignoring key WCAG issues. This is why there are growing legal and privacy concerns associated with the overlays, which do not deliver on the promise of providing equal and open access to platforms.</p>



<p>After reporting on the issue earlier this month, one reader asked if the overlays  actually work to address the issues and, if so, what is motivating the complaint.</p>



<p>&#8220;They don’t work,&#8221; WordPress accessibility contributor Joe Dolson said. &#8220;To the degree that they do work, they mostly offer functionality that is already duplicated by the user’s own technology.&#8221;</p>



<p>Dolson examined Meetup.com&#8217;s overlay and highlighted a few of its major shortcomings:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>This particular overlay also commits the cardinal sin of labeling tools by disability, rather than according to what they do. For example, if you turn on the “Visually Impaired” mode, that’s actually a high contrast mode; which is only relevant if your visual impairment benefits from high contrast. This kind of presumptive labeling is ineffective at best (because it makes it difficult to find what tool might actually help you, should you need it), and offensive at worst.</p>



<p>But the reality is that overlay tools are a misdirection of resources: if a user needs high contrast, large fonts, or other tools, they need those on <em>all</em> websites, and they need a solution that’s their tool, in their control, with their settings – and the majority of users already have that in their assistive technology.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>



<p>As part of revising its accessibility roadmap, Meetup.com is requesting feedback from WordPress community members with experience using its platforms across devices with accessibility features enabled. Those who have 50 minutes in the coming weeks can request to speak with Meetup representatives regarding which features should be prioritized. People can also leave feedback in the comments.</p>



<p>Meetup.com&#8217;s decision to remove the overlay was well-received by accessibility advocates who hope to see more changes to the platform&#8217;s source code based on community feedback in the next few weeks. Beyond these changes, some community members are also recommending Meetup.com add people with disabilities to their team to get more first-hand information without having to publicly walk back an implementation like this.</p>



<p>&#8220;Although I applaud Meetup for removing the Overlay, they are going at this backwards,&#8221; WordPress user @bryan202 said in the comments. &#8220;They should have an independent company who employs persons with disabilities to audit their platform and inform them of the issues. If Meetup wants feedback on the specific issues this choice of overlay caused, then they should be willing to pay for that market feedback. </p>



<p>&#8220;As a disabled person we are constantly called upon to give feedback for free. We deserve to be respected for our time, efforts and feedback. Meetup needs to expand their technical team to include persons with disabilities so they have an inside look since their current team is missing this essential component.&#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, 29 Nov 2022 03:18:35 +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:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:07:26 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:00:35 GMT";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:16:"content-encoding";s:2:"br";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 1";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20211221000300";}