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


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




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WPTavern: WooCommerce Calls for Early Testing on Custom Order Table Migrations";s: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=134456";s: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:89:"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-calls-for-early-testing-on-custom-order-table-migrations";s: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:2217:"<p>At the beginning of this year, WooCommerce <a href="https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-aims-to-produce-mvp-of-custom-tables-for-orders-by-q3-2022">announced</a> its plan to produce an MVP of custom order tables by Q3, 2022, a long-awaited improvement that promises significant performance gains for stores. The plugin&#8217;s development team is now <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/16/call-for-early-testing-custom-order-table-migrations/">calling</a> for developers, agencies, and hosting companies to test migration to its first implementation of customer order tables. </p>



<p>The process involves migrating orders from <code>wp_posts</code> and <code>wp_postmeta</code> to four new custom orders tables:</p>



<ol><li>wp_wc_orders</li><li>wp_wc_order_addresses</li><li>wp_wc_order_operational_data</li><li>wp_wc_orders_meta</li></ol>



<p>It requires a staging environment configured with WP-CLI and a staging database pre-loaded with order data.</p>



<p>WooCommerce developer Vedanshu Jain has created a <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/16/call-for-early-testing-custom-order-table-migrations/">migration testing guide</a>, which details the custom code developers will need to add in order to enable the custom order tables. Once enabled, developers will have the option to migrate tables using WP-CLI or via Action Scheduler.</p>



<img />



<p>Jain is <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/16/call-for-early-testing-custom-order-table-migrations/">requesting feedback</a> from anyone who runs the migration process with details about how many orders, server memory size, DB version, and whether or not it timed out or responded better to a different batch size.  </p>



<p>WooCommerce updating to use custom order tables will be a major change that will impact extension developers in different ways. The development team intends to publish an upgrade guide to support adoption of custom order tables after migrations have been ironed out. Later this year, when the update is anticipated to be rolled out to the core plugin, WooCommerce is aiming to make it strictly opt-in at first to allow shop owners time to make their sites compatible.</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, 18 May 2022 21:05:57 +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:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"WordPress Foundation: The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship Returns for WordCamp US 2022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"https://wordpressfoundation.org/?p=262042";s: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:108:"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2022/the-kim-parsell-memorial-scholarship-returns-for-wordcamp-us-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1712:"<p>The wait is over! WordCamp US is once again being held as an in-person, and with that the WordPress Foundation’s Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship returns.</p>



<p>Kim’s commitment and valuable contributions to the WordPress open source project are honored at each in-person WordCamp US by the WordPress Foundation. The Foundation’s goal is to further the efforts of other contributor’s demonstrating Kim’s spirit by helping to ease the burden that travel can bring.</p>



<p><strong>This scholarship is awarded to someone who:</strong></p>



<ul><li>Identifies as a woman.</li><li>Is a WordPress contributor.</li><li>Has never attended WordCamp US before.</li><li>Requires financial assistance to attend.</li></ul>



<p>This scholarship provides financial assistance so that the recipient can attend WordCamp US, including travel from the recipient’s home city, hotel stay for the duration of the event, and a ticket to WordCamp US.</p>



<p>Finally, since the WordPress Foundation was unable to offer the scholarship in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, <strong>this year only there will be three (3) scholarships awarded</strong> for 2022, 2021, and 2020.</p>



<p>If you meet these requirements and would like to be considered, please <strong>apply no later than Sunday, June 26, 2022</strong> at 12 am Pacific. All applicants will be notified by July 5, 2022.</p>



<p>For more details, please visit the WordPress Foundation’s <a href="https://wordpressfoundation.org/projects/kim-parsell-memorial-scholarship/">About the Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship</a> page.</p>



<p><a href="https://wordcampcentral.survey.fm/wcus-kim-2022">Apply for the scholarship today.</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, 18 May 2022 20:42:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Cate DeRosia";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (May 16, 2022)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97849";s: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://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-may-16-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15949:"<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers. <br /><br /><strong>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org?</strong> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/">Start Here ›</a><br /><br /><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WP/Woo news plus significant writing and podcasts. It's also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h2 id="h-news">News</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-2-rc2-now-available-for-testing/"><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-3-rc3-now-available-for-testing/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 3 (RC3) Now Available for Testing</a></a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-31-open-source-accessibility-celebrating-global-accessibility-awareness-day-with-guest-joe-devon/">WP Briefing: Episode 31: Open Source & Accessibility– Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Guest Joe Devon</a></li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_a98156-c2"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



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



<ul><li>Request for feedback on the&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/01/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-1/">WordPress Accessibility Statement</a>.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-central"><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org">Central</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/wordcamp-europe-2022-is-just-around-the-corner/">WordCamp Europe 2022 is just around the corner</a></li><li><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/join-the-european-wordpress-community-in-porto-portugal/">Join the European WordPress Community in Porto, Portugal!</a></li></ul>



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



<p>Reminder: <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/versions-in-wordpress/">Gutenberg 13.0 ships with WordPress 6.0</a>.</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenO7SibDfYYTivz46YGDoeXcY64H_3Ur_x8taze7Hzi9U11g/viewform">WordPress Hosting Image/Storage questions</a> </li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/160">Ensure WebP/Image/Optimization plugins can integrate & use existing WebP images </a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/289">Research: Impact of additional WebP images on upload</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/290">Research: WebP compatibility</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/2722">Prime users in cache in WP_Query </a></li><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NzURb3u-KZTgYYHK9Gx_KPvSCX4N8Ci3oZfLsfVF7Tk/edit">Measurement overview doc</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1elY0vgrLU2373mX3jSUj_vFZeGDyhED1WMPYwzSYiVA/edit">Capturing front-end performance metrics in WordPress doc</a> </li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/pull/330">Module proposal workflow</a></li><li><a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55749">Large-site inefficiency in REST users endpoint used by Gutenberg editor</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/16/a-week-in-core-may-16-2022/">A Week in Core – May 16, 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-2-may-11/">What’s new in Gutenberg 13.2? (May 11)</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-devnotes">DevNotes</h3>



<p>Leading up to releasing WordPress 6.0, DevNotes and release-related information will remain.</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/block-locking-settings-in-wordpress-6-0/">Block Locking Settings in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/04/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-phase/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate Phase</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Block Editor miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/page-creation-patterns-in-wordpress-6-0/">Page creation patterns in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/global-styles-variations-in-wordpress-6-0/">Global Styles variations in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/separator-block-updated-to-use-block-supports-color-settings/">Separator block: Updated to use block supports color settings</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-markup-updates-for-image-quote-list-and-group-blocks/">Block markup updates for image, quote, list, and group blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/support-for-handling-resolution-errors-for-editor-data-module/">Support for handling resolution errors for Editor data module</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/changes-to-do_parse_request-filter-in-wordpress-6-0/">Changes to the do_parse_request filter in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/caching-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Caching improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/new-filter-to-modify-content-images-in-wordpress-6-0/">New filter to modify content images in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/media-storing-file-size-as-part-of-metadata/">Media: storing file size as part of the metadata</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/updates-to-the-wordpress-create-block-templating-system/">Updates to the @wordpress/create-block templating system</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/object-type-specific-registration-hooks-in-6-0/">Object type-specific registration hooks in 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/new-features-for-working-with-patterns-and-themes-in-wordpress-6-0/">New features for working with patterns and themes in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/theme-export-in-wordpress-6-0/">Theme export in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/wp_user_query-now-accepts-fields-options-in-wordpress-6-0/">WP_User_Query now accepts fields options in WordPress 6.0&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/performance-increase-for-sites-with-large-user-counts-now-also-available-on-single-site/">Performance increase for sites with large user counts (now also available on a single site)</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/updates/2022/05/16/documentation-team-update-may-16-2022/">Documentation Team Update – May 16, 2022</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-support-docs"><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/articles">Support Docs:</a></h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/working-with-blocks/">Working with blocks</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-developer-docs">Developer Docs: </h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/data-basics/4-building-a-create-page-form/">Part 4: Building a <em>Create page</em> form</a></li></ul>
</div>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/22/wpdiversity-is-expanding-to-apac/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/05/11/join-the-community-team-for-a-wpdiversity-writing-sprint-may-23-to-may-30/">Join the Community Team for a #WPDiversity Writing Sprint: May 23 to May 30</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/05/13/poll-finding-a-new-meeting-time/">Poll: Finding a new meeting time</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/2022/05/04/get-ready-for-wordpress-6-0/">Get ready for WordPress 6.0</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/04/28/proposal-make-wordpress-team-or-project-updates/">Proposal: Make WordPress Team or Project Updates</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/18/mobile-team-update-may-18th-3/">Mobile Team Update – May 18th</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/17/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-9/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 19.9</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/16/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-9/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 19.9</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/17/plugin-review-team-update-16-may-2022/">Plugin Review Team Update: 16 May 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/05/02/wordpress-6-0-ready-to-be-translated/">WordPress 6.0 ready to be translated</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/29/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-2/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 2</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/01/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-1/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 1</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/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">FSE Program Testing Call #14: Rallying Recipe Reviewers</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/2022/04/28/latest-changes-in-gutenberg-themes-13-0-release/">Latest changes in Gutenberg + Themes: 13.0 release</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/10/themes-team-update-may-10-2022/">Themes team update May 10, 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/04/off-forum-support-requests/">Off forum support requests</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/04/19/migrating-contributor-training-to-learn-wordpress/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/03/may-2022-sprint/">May 2022 Sprint</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/05/the-training-team-faculty-program-is-now-live/">The Training Team Faculty Program is now live</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=open-source-principles-and-wordpress"><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=i-want-a-website-not-a-blog">I want a Website, not a Blog!</a></a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=open-source-principles-and-wordpress"><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=bloggers-own-your-content-and-share-it-everywhere">Bloggers: Own your Content and Share it Everywhere</a></a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=open-source-principles-and-wordpress"><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=hello-blocks-creating-a-custom-block">Hello Blocks! Creating a Custom Block</a></a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=open-source-principles-and-wordpress"><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=design-with-me-create-a-simple-website-for-your-small-business">Design With Me: Create a Simple Website for your Small Business</a></a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>



<h2 id="5ftf"><a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a></h2>



<p>What's happening specific to Five for the Future? Provide your feedback on these posts:</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/194">Default workflow for team membership lifecycle? </a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/192">Add activity when Meetup organizers host events</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/189">Update Usermeta with latest 5ftf contribution.</a></li></ul>



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



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



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



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 18 May 2022 20:15:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:126:"WPTavern: Software Freedom Conservancy Receives Court Ruling Affirming GPL as Both Copyright License and Contractual Agreement";s: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=134452";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:137:"https://wptavern.com/software-freedom-conservancy-receives-court-ruling-affirming-gpl-as-both-copyright-license-and-contractual-agreement";s: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:4584:"<p>The <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/">Software Freedom Conservancy</a> (SFC),  a non-profit that provides infrastructure support for free and open source software projects, has received a favorable ruling in its <a href="https://wptavern.com/software-freedom-conservancy-takes-on-vizio-in-lawsuit-alleging-gpl-violations">right-to-repair lawsuit against Vizio</a>, an American TV manufacturer. The SFC alleges that Vizio has demonstrated “repeated failures to fulfill even the basic requirements of the General Public License (GPL),&#8221; after the company refused to provide the source code for software with copyleft licenses that it bundles with its products.</p>



<p>Vizio had filed a request to “remove” the case from California State Court into U.S. Federal Court. After hearing oral arguments from both sides, the court has granted SFC&#8217;s motion to remand the case back to California State Court. </p>



<p>In the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.837808/gov.uscourts.cacd.837808.30.0.pdf">ruling</a>, US District Court judge Josephine L. Staton stated that the GPL introduces &#8220;an additional contractual promise separate and distinct from any rights provided by the copyright laws:&#8221;</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Court finds Versata’s reasoning persuasive, and it finds here, as the court<br />found there, that the enforcement of “an additional contractual promise separate and distinct from any rights provided by the copyright laws” amounts to an “extra element,” and therefore, SFC’s claims are not preempted. Id. at *5. There is an extra element to SFC’s claims because SFC is asserting, as a third-party beneficiary of the GPL Agreements, that it is entitled to receive source code under the terms of those agreements. There is no right to receive certain works—or source code in particular—under the Copyright Act; indeed, the Act’s primary purpose is to limit who may reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, and display protected works. As SFC points out in its briefing, the right to receive the source code would appear to be “the very opposite” of those exclusive rights. (Reply, Doc. 26, at 17.) The fact that SFC claims status as a third-party beneficiary to the GPL Agreements and not the actual copyright holder—and therefore, has no authority to impose limitations on the reproduction and distribution of the software—only underscores that the contractual right at issue is qualitatively different from the rights under the Copyright Act. Thus, there can be no question that the extra element—that SFC is third-party enforcing its right to receive source code under the terms of a contract—transforms the nature of the action.</p></blockquote>



<p>One of the functions of the SFC is to assist member projects in enforcing the terms of FLOSS licenses, including through litigation. This particular case is unique because the organization is presenting this lawsuit on behalf of individual consumers, as opposed to the traditional path of defending copyright holders of the GPL code in question.</p>



<p>“The ruling is a watershed moment in the history of copyleft licensing,&#8221; SFC executive director Karen Sandler said. &#8220;This ruling shows that the GPL agreements function both as copyright licenses and as contractual agreements.&#8221;</p>



<p>SFC  contends that many electronics products are built for planned premature obsolescence and that companies often do this by violating the GPL. If the product is bundled with copyleft software, a consumer has the right to modify, improve, and repair the software. For this the be possible, the companies producing the products must make the source code available. This also enables consumers to find skilled people to repair their products when a device fails after updates have been disabled so that products do not become nonfunctional. This ruling is not just a major win for the GPL but also for consumers who may not know that companies violating the GPL significantly impact their ability to find repairs for electronic products.</p>



<p>“Software Freedom Conservancy looks forward to our opportunity to prove, in state court, our third-party beneficiary right to the complete, corresponding source code as defined by the GPL and related agreements,” Sandler said. “This claim is central to the right to software repair, as it allows users to exercise the right to copy, share, modify, and reinstall the software on the devices that they receive.”</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, 18 May 2022 18:03:35 +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:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"WPTavern: #27 – Ana Segota and Kelly Choyce-Dwan on How To Use the New Pattern Creator";s: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=134337";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/27-ana-segota-and-kelly-choyce-dwan-on-how-to-use-the-new-pattern-creator";s: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:48510:"<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://twitter.com/ana_segota">Ana Segota</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ryelle">Kelly Choyce-Dwan</a>.</p>



<p>I suspect that you might have heard about block patterns, but if you haven’t, you’re in for a treat. Patterns are collections of blocks which anyone can assemble for easy reuse at a later date. You can make them as simple or as complex as you, style them and save them away. When you’re ready to reuse them, they’re just one click away. It’s a great time saver.</p>



<p>Having said that, not all of us are great at design, or perhaps we’ve just not had the time to explore how block patterns are created. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a source of patterns which we could use in our WordPress websites, safe in the knowledge that they were completely free to use? There is, &nbsp; and it’s called the Pattern Directory. You simply find a pattern you like and copy / paste it into your site.</p>



<p>You could stop there, but you could also use this as a way of learning how blocks are constructed. Open up the pattern to see how it’s laid out. What settings were used to create the styling?</p>



<p>Right now, the Pattern Directory is quite small. There’s a few hundred patterns to explore, but it could certainly do with some more contributions, and that is what this podcast is all about.</p>



<p>The Pattern Creator is the way to create patterns so that they can be submitted, reviewed, and hopefully accepted into the Pattern Directory.</p>



<p>We’ve got two perspectives on the podcast today from people who come at it from different angles.</p>



<p>Ana is a self taught WordPress themer and designer who is making use of patterns at <a href="https://www.anarieldesign.com/">Anariel Design</a>, her website building business, and Kelly is an Automattician who has been working with the team building the Pattern Directory and Creator.</p>



<p>We talk about how the Creator works, how you can submit your patterns and what constraints are there for having your submissions accepted.</p>



<p>So, if you’re curious about how patterns can speed up your website building workflow, this episode is for you.</p>



<h2>Useful links.</h2>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/">https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/patterns/">https://wordpress.org/patterns/</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/patterns/about/">https://wordpress.org/patterns/about/</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/">https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/</a></p>



<p>Ana is <a href="https://twitter.com/ana_segota">@ana_segota</a> on Twitter, and @anasegota on the Make Slack Channel.</p>



<p>Kelly is <a href="https://twitter.com/ryelle">@ryelle</a> on both Twitter and the Make Slack Channel.</p>



Transcript<div>
<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast, which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, learning about the new pattern creator.</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 WP Tavern.com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve got a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, well, I&#8217;m very keen to hear from you, and hopefully get you, or your idea featured on the show. Head over to WP Tavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the contact form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today, we have Ana Segota and Kelly Choyce-Dwan. I suspect that you&#8217;ve heard about block patterns, but if you haven&#8217;t, you&#8217;re in for a treat.</p>



<p>Patterns are collections of blocks which anyone can assemble for easy reuse at a later date. You can make them as simple or as complex as you like. Style them and save them away. When you&#8217;re ready to reuse them, they&#8217;re just one click away. It&#8217;s a great time-saver .</p>



<p>Having said that, not all of us are great at design, or perhaps we&#8217;ve just not had the time to explore how block patterns are created. Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if there was a source of patterns which we could use in our WordPress websites, safe in the knowledge that they were completely free to use? There is, and it&#8217;s called the pattern directory. You simply find a pattern that you like and copy paste it into your site.</p>



<p>You could stop there, but you could also use this as a way of learning how blocks are constructed. Open up the pattern and see how it&#8217;s laid out. What settings we&#8217;ll use to create the styling?</p>



<p>Right now, the pattern directory is quite small. There&#8217;s a few hundred pounds to explore, but it could certainly do with some more contributions. And that is what this podcast is about. The pattern creator is the way to create patterns so that they can be submitted, reviewed, and hopefully accepted into the Pattern Directory. We&#8217;ve got two perspectives on the podcast today from people who come at it from different angles.</p>



<p>Ana is a self-taught WordPress themer, and a designer who is making use of patterns in her website builds. And Kelly is an Automattician who has been working with the team building the Pattern Directory and Creator. We talk about how the creator works, how you can submit your patterns and what constraints are there for having your submissions accepted.</p>



<p>So, if you&#8217;re curious about how patterns can speed up your website building workflow, this episode is for you.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all 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 Ana Segota and Kelly Choyce-Dwan.</p>



<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Ana Segota and Kelly Choyce-Dwan. Hello.</p>



<p>[00:04:01] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Hi.</p>



<p>[00:04:01] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Hello.</p>



<p>[00:04:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Very nice to have you both here. As we always do at the beginning of the podcast, I&#8217;m going to give both of you an opportunity to introduce yourselves, to give us a bit of an orientation.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve listened to the introduction to this podcast, you probably know that we&#8217;re going to be talking about the pattern creator. And so it would be important to know why the two guests today are coming on talking about that. So, we&#8217;ll take it one at a time. We&#8217;ll begin with Ana. Ana, just tell us a little bit about your journey with WordPress and how come it is that you became involved with the pattern creator.</p>



<p>[00:04:33] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> So, hi Nathan, nice to meet you and thank you for inviting me. So I&#8217;m Ana Segota, and I am a themer, and I love creating WordPress themes using block patterns. I always was more as a designer, but I learned to code to be able to create WordPress themes myself, but now having a block patterns is such a relief for me because I can concentrate on design more.</p>



<p>[00:05:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s really nice. Thank you. Yeah. The intention of the tool is to make all of those decisions a little bit easier. So it&#8217;s nice, nice to know that in your case, it&#8217;s working. So, okay that&#8217;s going to be one perspective that we&#8217;ve got in the show today. And another perspective comes from Kelly. So Kelly, just spend a moment, tell us who you are please.</p>



<p>[00:05:21] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Sure. So my name is Kelly Choyce-Dwan, also ryelle online. I work at Automattic and I have for over seven years. I started with WordPress in 2009, and I&#8217;m now working on the Meta team where my focus recently has been on the pattern directory and pattern creator.</p>



<p>[00:05:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Now many people listening to this podcast will be very up-to-date users of WordPress. There&#8217;ll be using the tools that are shipping all of the time, and they may well have discovered patterns and be using them to great effect.</p>



<p>On the other hand, I suspect that there&#8217;ll be a fair amount of people who as yet have not delved into patterns. They may know what they are. They may not. So I&#8217;m wondering if we could really just rewind a little bit, make no assumptions about anybody&#8217;s knowledge about patterns and just lay out what they are. So it&#8217;s a very general question. Either of you feel free to answer it. What are patterns in WordPress and why might you wish to use them?</p>



<p>[00:06:24] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> So for me block patterns, I like predefined and ready to use layout that you can click or drug and create pages. It&#8217;s like a collection of blocks arranged together to help you create different layouts. If you&#8217;ve used sometimes page builders, or Elementor templates, for example, it&#8217;s the same thing. You can use them on your website. You can adjust them, change the layout, change the colors. And I think they&#8217;re very useful.</p>



<p>[00:06:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. So they are basically quick ways to build websites. You&#8217;re using other people&#8217;s predefined layouts. The work, in great measure, has been done for you. You can discover collections of blocks, which are generically called patterns, and you can click on those and import them into your post or page or whatever it might be.</p>



<p>So it speeds things up. I&#8217;m curious, for those of you, who&#8217;ve never used this before again, how do you actually build them? What&#8217;s the process that one might find themselves in, and bear in mind, we might be speaking to users of WordPress who are familiar with page builders, and don&#8217;t really find themselves interacting with the WordPress block editor.</p>



<p>So we may need to have a little bit of a description around there. What are we actually doing? How do we create and build patterns?</p>



<p>[00:07:51] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Okay. so mostly, I&#8217;m building block patterns for the themes. As a background, I first start, with niche, different niche, and what can be useful for that niche. And then I start creating block patterns directly in the editor, where you have all the options of block that you can combine in one block pattern.</p>



<p>So mostly I started with a group block, where I put then columns or cover or images, and start creating different ideas and different layout.</p>



<p>[00:08:34] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Are you able to save those, as WordPress currently stands? Are you able to save those and I&#8217;ll stay with Ana. Are you able to save those Ana so that they can be reused on other websites. In other words, can you save more time by having your own little collection of blocks, which you then can use on this website over here and this other completely different website?</p>



<p>[00:08:58] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Maybe Kelly knows better, the other way, but what I know you can always copy the block you have and paste it on other website. Or you can export it. But not sure if you can save it inside the editor for like a gallery or something. I&#8217;m not sure that you can, or if you can do this, maybe Kelly knows that.</p>



<p>[00:09:22] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Well, I know that you can, if you copy the block code into like a code file, the you can register it that way, but it requires code.</p>



<p>[00:09:33] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> I think, there is no easy way to save it in a gallery for the beginner user, for example.</p>



<p>[00:09:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> At the moment, it feels as though it is the domain of people who are fairly experienced with WordPress. All of the tooling, with things like Elementor that you described, where you, you might have a private cloud of things that you&#8217;ve created in the past, and you can log in, and there&#8217;s a cloud service attached and you can download those to all of the other websites. We&#8217;re not quite at that point yet, although maybe some of the discussion that we&#8217;ll have today will revolve around that.</p>



<p>[00:10:10] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Yeah, I would love that.</p>



<p>[00:10:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that would be a really nice addition.</p>



<p>[00:10:14] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> But I think the, pattern creator is doing some kind of saving those block patterns and one place where you can reuse it. But we will come to it.</p>



<p>[00:10:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s okay. We&#8217;ll come to that in a moment. Just to say, patterns are collections of blocks and you piece them together, akin to a jigsaw and you build up designs, and style those designs, add images, add forms, add whatever it might be, background, color, padding, and so on, until you&#8217;ve got something that you&#8217;d like to look off. And at the moment, it probably lives within one WordPress website. But you can copy and paste that over somewhere else, but there&#8217;s no sort of cloud functionality.</p>



<p>And so, to the main conversation today, which is the pattern creator. Just so that you know, the links will be in the show notes to everything that we talk about today. And the pattern creator may well be something that you want to go and play with because it enables you to do a very large amount more than potentially you can do in your normal WordPress website. So, whoever wishes to take this. What is the pattern creator? Hopefully we&#8217;ll be providing people with the link so they can find that. That&#8217;s all good. But what&#8217;s the purpose of it? Why was it built? Why did the WordPress team decide that a tool like this needed to exist?</p>



<p>[00:11:33] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> So the pattern creator is a place to go and create patterns to share with anyone who uses WordPress, and it was created to make the process of making a sharing patterns easier. It&#8217;s a place that you can go and make a pattern and you know that it can be reused without having to write that code.</p>



<p>[00:11:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So, at the moment it&#8217;s not only is it a place where you can go and create patterns. It&#8217;s a place where you can go and discover other people&#8217;s already created patterns. And if you&#8217;re, if you&#8217;re coming to this podcast from another page builder, think about it as rows. You&#8217;re essentially grabbing rows from websites or component parts of websites. And so it serves that double purpose. Not only can you create your own, but you can also go and freely download other people&#8217;s work. Have I got that right? Have I misstated that?</p>



<p>[00:12:25] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> That&#8217;s correct?</p>



<p>[00:12:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So in terms of how the editor works, we need to go to the website, the pattern creator website. And once we&#8217;re there, my understanding is that you need a, a wordpress.org account.</p>



<p>Once you&#8217;ve got yourself, a wordpress.org account, you can log in and you are presented with something which looks very, very similar to the usual WordPress block editor interface. It&#8217;s a little bit more spartan because the menu on the left kind of basically doesn&#8217;t exist. So all of those options for posts and pages and what have you are gone. Let&#8217;s talk about the design decisions.</p>



<p>So the menu on the left is gone. We&#8217;ve got the option to add blocks. Are we just dealing with a subset of the core blocks or can we add any of the core blocks?</p>



<p>[00:13:15] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> It is a subset currently, because we don&#8217;t have the dynamic content that might be on your website. So we can&#8217;t replicate the full experience of using that block. But almost all of the core blocks are available.</p>



<p>[00:13:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, so you can log in and you can start building out your blocks, or rather, I should say you can start building out your patterns. Then presumably there&#8217;s some kind of save process. And if you&#8217;re happy with things, can you use this if you chose to do it this way, can you use this as a private repository of your own blocks, that you&#8217;re maybe not ready to share with the world? Maybe they have to be kept in a draft state or something like that. Could it be used in that way? I know that&#8217;s not the intention. The intention is to have them shareable, but you were to design something and be not entirely satisfied with it, could you keep it there and come back to it at a later date and tweak it?</p>



<p>[00:14:13] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, totally. You can save things as drafts. Actually, when we were first building it out, one of the ideas was that it could be a private repo for you to put your own patterns in. That isn&#8217;t built yet, but it could be in the future.</p>



<p>[00:14:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So there is a kind of workaround to make it a directory of your own, if you simply save things as draft. But that isn&#8217;t the point. The intention is to make it universally available to everybody. And so on.</p>



<p>Does this require an up to date version of Gutenberg on the backend? So just to be clear, it&#8217;s like a SaaS product. You&#8217;re not installing WordPress anywhere. You are just going to a website and interacting with it. But I&#8217;m just curious to know, as Gutenberg is updated and modified and the blocks change, we&#8217;re several years in, and there&#8217;s been a great deal of change in the way that certain things work.</p>



<p>Do you have confidence that everything that you build today will look the same in, let&#8217;s say a couple of years time. In other words, do you anticipate that some things may break in the future or are you trying as hard as possible to mitigate against that?</p>



<p>[00:15:18] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Well, I hope it won&#8217;t, but the pattern creator is using always the stable version of Gutenberg. So it will always be up-to-date when you&#8217;re creating patterns. Patterns created a few months ago, we&#8217;re created with an older version of Gutenberg, but between backwards compatibility block transformation, Gutenberg is trying not to break your content too. So I&#8217;m fairly confident that things will continue to work. If there are patterns that do brake, we have a reporting mechanism for reporting that.</p>



<p>[00:15:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So it&#8217;s just Core blocks that we need to worry about. And it&#8217;s a subset of the Core blocks. Now, I&#8217;m looking on the interface at the moment. There&#8217;s the option for me to add a title? Obviously that&#8217;s just for the purposes of knowing what the pattern is that I&#8217;m saving somewhere. And then I can, in the normal way, click the little plus icon and I can add blocks as I choose. Put a group in, put some columns in and so on, and fiddle with those blocks just as I would do on my regular WordPress website.</p>



<p>And I&#8217;ve got the list view where I can see the stack of all of the different things that. I&#8217;ve created. And then on the right-hand side, you&#8217;ve got a title and a description. Do both of those serve the purpose of showing to somebody, once it&#8217;s been submitted to the pattern directory, which we&#8217;ll get onto in just a moment. Those titles and descriptions would give the people, browsing the pattern directory, some orientation as to what it was about and what it was designed to achieve.</p>



<p>[00:16:46] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s right. The title is the pattern title, and it&#8217;s the same when you&#8217;re in that little sidebar and the top title, they&#8217;re just two inputs for the same thing. Good title would describe what the pattern is, like one of the pattern contains, what it should be used for.</p>



<p>[00:17:01] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Then in order to presumably aid search on the other end in the pattern directory. Currently we have six categories. There&#8217;s no option to create categories of your own. At the minute we look like we&#8217;ve got buttons, columns, gallery, header, images, text, and then there&#8217;s the option to add in keywords, maximum of 10.</p>



<p>Again, is this all just to help the taxonomy of it, to help assist people on the other side to locate things which you&#8217;ve got buttons in and specifically columns and galleries and so on? Is that the That&#8217;s the sole purpose of that.</p>



<p>[00:17:34] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> That&#8217;s right. And, they&#8217;re also used, those are the same properties that are used in WordPress Core when you&#8217;re registering patterns.</p>



<p>[00:17:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So I could spend hours happily building out my new blocks and constructing them up into patterns and saving them away. And once I&#8217;ve got something that I&#8217;m happy with, there&#8217;s a blue submit button at the top right hand corner in the same way that you would have publish in WordPress typically, but this is submit.</p>



<p>What is the process, what&#8217;s going on there? What is the list of things which happen after that? So I&#8217;m thinking in terms of, I just clicked submit, but presumably at that point, all sorts of other things are set in motion. Maybe it&#8217;s sent to a particular team and people have to authorize things and check that it doesn&#8217;t break any guidelines. And that might be a long list of things that go on in the background there.</p>



<p>[00:18:24] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah. So when you submit a pattern, it asks you a few things more just to make sure you filled out all of your details. there are a few things that we&#8217;ll check for automatically, making sure you&#8217;re using a decent title. We&#8217;ve had a few patterns that are just called my pattern, which isn&#8217;t helpful for other people. So we detect things like that.</p>



<p>So after the automated checks, it does get submitted as pending. So it does not automatically approved yet. And there is a pattern review team that will look through the pending patterns and publish things that are valid. Most things do get published. So you probably would get published within a day or two.</p>



<p>[00:19:02] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> It&#8217;s mostly hours or a day. I submitted here, so top, one day</p>



<p>[00:19:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s really quick. A big gripe about the, let&#8217;s say the theme review team or the plugin review team was that there was quite a long wait, sometimes very long. There&#8217;s a lot more complexity, I guess, within a theme, a lot more code floating about. So at the moment. if you submit something, as of, let&#8217;s say May 2022, you&#8217;re very likely to have a decision fairly quickly.</p>



<p>In terms of that being authorized, what are the guidelines? What are the kinds of things that are allowed and disallowed? In other words, so you mentioned that a good title, a good descriptive title is going to set you on the road to having its, authorized and put on the pattern directory.</p>



<p>Are there any other guidelines that need to be, you need to be mindful of? Not only in terms of getting it submitted, but things that you don&#8217;t want people to submit because it contravenes certain rules or regulations.</p>



<p>[00:20:03] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> I think the most important part is to combine multiple blocks together, so not just to use one block and post it. So multiply blocks together and create some interesting and useful layouts. So maybe front design part and also something that can be creative and useful to the users. Also to highlight the capabilities of the blocks they contain and provide a starting point to customize the content.</p>



<p>Good pattern book needs to be, has a well-defined purpose too. And for don&#8217;ts, maybe to avoid to design patterns for a single theme. So to think about it to be used in different websites. Not to create a pattern that is like a full page. Or just a simple pattern that is using a paragraph. And I think you need to use photos from the gallery there. You can&#8217;t import your photos or from some other website, and that&#8217;s probably it.</p>



<p>[00:21:11] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So the photos are coming in from, Kelly, maybe you can help us out here. Are they coming in from Openverse?</p>



<p>[00:21:18] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> They are yeah. It&#8217;s all CC0 photos from Openverse. So they&#8217;re able to be used by anyone without any, without worry about crediting people.</p>



<p>[00:21:27] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s very helpful.</p>



<p>[00:21:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Another podcast episode altogether isn&#8217;t it? The whole Openverse project&#8217;s fabulous. Yeah. so obviously there&#8217;s constraints in terms of the do&#8217;s, you know, it needs to be usable on multiple websites, and so on, just as Ana said, but there&#8217;s some certain don&#8217;ts as well. We&#8217;ve prevented the ability to upload images by just using Openverse images, which is great.</p>



<p>But also, I guess that would be in terms of the text that you write into paragraph or heading fields, there would be a requirement for it to be, let&#8217;s call it family friendly. You know, we don&#8217;t want anything which might cause anybody any hassle and presumably that&#8217;s a trip wire which the team would immediately reject it on.</p>



<p>So, okay. Let&#8217;s let&#8217;s imagine that we&#8217;ve built this fabulous pattern. It&#8217;s absolutely hit the guidance on the head and it&#8217;s been approved. What then? Where does it go? Where does it live? How can other people find it?</p>



<p>[00:22:24] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> So it&#8217;s in the pattern directory, which is just wordpress.org/patterns. You can use that website to search through patterns. Once you found a pattern that you like, you&#8217;re able to use it in your own website, just by simply copying it. And there is a copy button on each pattern that you can use to copy the code for it.</p>



<p>And if you just paste that straight into your editor, you have that pattern.</p>



<p>[00:22:48] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So, you go to the pattern directory, presumably you would then search and filter against the things which you created when you were submitting your pattern. And then there&#8217;s a simple copy and paste button. You copy it. It&#8217;s in the clipboard of your computer and you just go over to your website and in an empty block, there&#8217;s no sort of container or wrapper that you need to stick it in. You literally just paste it into a brand new empty text block and all will work?</p>



<p>[00:23:18] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yep.</p>



<p>[00:23:19] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Yeah.</p>



<p>[00:23:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Are there any gotchas there? Because that process, whilst it&#8217;s not necessarily quite as optimal as the cloud that we were talking about earlier, where you could actually see it within your WordPress website, which I guess ultimately would be an easier experience?</p>



<p>Does it always work? Are there any situations where copying and pasting that code has unexpected consequences. I don&#8217;t mean things breaking. I just mean that the styling, for example, something that the theme brings to bear might make things look peculiar and not quite how you intended.</p>



<p>[00:23:51] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, I think that&#8217;s possible because it is, I mean it uses the Core blocks. So if your theme styles the core blocks minimally, maybe, you&#8217;ll probably be fine, but if your theme is doing anything really creative with some of the blocks, I suppose you could have some trouble where a quote that you copied from the pattern directory looks totally different on your site.</p>



<p>[00:24:12] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> But if you are using a full site editing theme, I think you are good with.</p>



<p>[00:24:17] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It should just work. Yeah. Do you know if there&#8217;s any intention to bring any of this kind of functionality into WordPress Core. And what I&#8217;m meaning by that is that I could hook up my let&#8217;s say wordpress.org account to my website. And then I could create patterns inside my website and then authorize them to be submitted to the pattern directory.</p>



<p>I feel like that might be quite a useful workflow at some point in the future, because then you&#8217;re not necessarily having to go out and go to a different website in order to create the patterns and publish them and so on. And equally, I wonder if in the future there are any plans to make it so that I can pull these patterns in, in the same way that we described that page builders like Elementor and so on, have their cloud templates and so on, and so forth.</p>



<p>[00:25:11] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, I think the second is much more likely than the first. So if you were to create a pattern on your own website. Uh, you might be using any number of blocks that are not Core blocks. So I don&#8217;t know that creating a pattern on your website and pushing it up is on the roadmap at least, because there&#8217;s a lot more gotchas. We can&#8217;t control the media that you&#8217;re using. Like we&#8217;re able to use Open verse images on the pattern creator.</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s a lot more, a lot more like gotchas that way. But, having an ability to pull patterns from the pattern directory on wordpress.org into your own site. I do think that that is probably going to happen soon.</p>



<p>Already, you can call out, well already in WordPress 6.0, you&#8217;ll be able to register pattern slugs when you&#8217;re building a theme, and then it will pull down those patterns from the pattern directory. So you can pull patterns like that.</p>



<p>[00:26:06] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. That&#8217;s, that&#8217;s interesting. So imagine that I&#8217;ve submitted one of my patterns. I&#8217;m very happy with it, but a year or two passes and I now for goodness knows what reason, I now don&#8217;t wish that pattern to be part of the directory. I&#8217;m wondering if either of you have any knowledge about whether things can be removed or once I&#8217;ve submitted it, is it up there for life? And I have essentially given it over to the community in perpetuity.</p>



<p>[00:26:36] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> You can revert your pattern to draft, if you want to take it down. You can also trash it. We&#8217;re not tied to always supporting things the way that the theme and plugin directories are because there isn&#8217;t really as much of a tie to your content and this thing on wordpress.org, because once you copy a pattern down, you have it, you don&#8217;t need to sync back up with the parent. So we don&#8217;t need to, we don&#8217;t have the same issues of keeping something around.</p>



<p>[00:27:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, so you can curate that yourself. You can just, if you like return it to a draft status. So there&#8217;s a permanent connection between the wordpress.org repository that I can access with my user login and password, and the pattern being published. In other words, when I clicked submit, it&#8217;s not just taken from my submission and put into some other SaaS, if you like.</p>



<p>So my expectation was that when I submitted it, much in the same way that I was submitting a form on a website, that form can then live somewhere else. You know, the form submission can come to me via email. I can&#8217;t rescind that form being sent. But in the directory the submit button and the draft status button is directly connected to whether it&#8217;s on the pattern directory.</p>



<p>So if I click draft again, it will immediately, without any human supervision, it will suck it out of the directory and mean that it&#8217;s no longer there.</p>



<p>[00:28:03] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, that that&#8217;s correct.</p>



<p>[00:28:05] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I really didn&#8217;t understand that. I just assumed that I was submitting it rather like a form. Somebody would inspect it, check it into another platform. So that&#8217;s kind of good to know.</p>



<p>[00:28:15] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah. It also means that you can edit. So if you make your pattern and then you decide that you actually, you&#8217;ve submitted it, it&#8217;s been a week though. And you don&#8217;t like the color of the button. You can make that change. It&#8217;ll submit it back to pending, and it has to go through that review again. But, once it&#8217;s published, your pattern will have the new change now.</p>



<p>[00:28:34] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay. So we have to go through the process. Do you have any insight into how popular patterns have become over time? I mean, I still feel that the editing experience for proprietary page builders is something that people are keen for Gutenberg to have. You know, in other words, what you see is literally what you get.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s no ifs or buts, it&#8217;s just exactly the same on the backend as it is on the front end. And I feel that a lot of people are not moving over to Gutenberg because that experience is not there yet. So, this one may be for Kelly, it may be for Ana. Ana, you might like to draw on, you know, your experience or maybe your friends and colleagues. Is it as usable yet? Are patterns as useful to you as your page builder that you may have used in the past yet? Or if we still got a way to go, what are your, what are your instincts on that?</p>



<p>[00:29:25] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> From my point of view, I think the block patterns are now really well made and they can be really useful. And I think they are mostly easier to use them. So for the user&#8217;s point of view, but they come more to the problem where we are starting to use templates, for example. Full site editing and templates. Block patterns are I think easiest part from the whole full site editing,.</p>



<p>From my experience, mostly they like block patterns but, I think we are still in early stage because there is not a lot of themes that are full site editing themes. And sometimes we also have older themes that we are updating with block patterns, but it&#8217;s like a mix of old way and new way. So I think when we start doing more full site editing themes, it will get easier and user will get to know znd to accept it more.</p>



<p>But I think block patterns are really useful from the user side, but templates are a bit tricky now, I must say, a bit confusing because we have a two editors now, like site editor and normal editor that they know from past. And they&#8217;re asking why I see now here block pattern, but in the old editor I need to click on the edit template to edit the template. It&#8217;s a bit tricky and confusing at the moment I must confess.</p>



<p>[00:31:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> We&#8217;re on the cusp of WordPress 6.0 being released, and as each different, a new release comes around, there is more being added and the complexity sometimes goes up and hopefully at some point the complexity will go down again and be more straightforward to use.</p>



<p>I guess that one of the biggest wins of using patterns and the pattern directory, which you would submit things to with the creator, is that all of this is just free. It&#8217;s completely freely available. You can use it in any which way you&#8217;d like, there&#8217;s no constraints over how you might use it. And if we rewind the clock about, oh, I don&#8217;t know, let&#8217;s go for about 12 or 13 years.</p>



<p>I imagine that the plug-in directory felt like a similar thing, you know, you would submit your plugin and within a few hours, somebody would say yes. That&#8217;s great, thank you very much. We now know that WordPress has 50,000 plus plugins. The directory whilst being very useful is quite hard, it&#8217;s very difficult to track things down. We&#8217;ve got certain things being recommended because they&#8217;re popular and it may be hard for people to have their bits and pieces discovered.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m just wondering, Kelly I&#8217;ll fire this one at you. I&#8217;m just wondering if in the future there are plans to make it so that as you submit patterns, there&#8217;s maybe more options around curating it, more taxonomy, terms, greater ways of being able to search and discover things. Because at the moment, it&#8217;s easy.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a handful of patterns, well, that&#8217;s not quite true, but you get point. There aren&#8217;t 50,000 of them. But in the future, when this takes off, I could see there being literally hundreds of thousands of patterns. And at that point it&#8217;s going to be extremely difficult to separate the ones that you would like from the ones which are just there in front of you, but you don&#8217;t necessarily feel able to use. So really I&#8217;m just wondering how that may be curated in the future. Any roadmap plans for that?</p>



<p>[00:33:00] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah. you&#8217;re right there are, what did you say, 50,000 plugins?</p>



<p>[00:33:03] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah,</p>



<p>[00:33:04] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, there&#8217;s 400 patterns.</p>



<p>[00:33:06] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, yeah.</p>



<p>[00:33:07] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> So a little different. I don&#8217;t know that there&#8217;s any concrete roadmap for what the future of this directory might look like. There are some discussions about whether there should be different categories, like buttons, columns, taxonomy. There&#8217;s questions about how we should handle patterns that are more for site building versus just content patterns. So I do think that this is all very much still like to be decided, and really if anyone has opinions, I&#8217;m sure we&#8217;d love to hear them.</p>



<p>[00:33:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, we&#8217;ll get onto that actually now because that feels like a good point. So obviously this is being built out in the open. The pair of you have obviously taken a great interest in it, but it may be that people listening to this, this is new to them. And they think that they would like to play with this a little bit, become involved with the team.</p>



<p>So maybe again, I&#8217;ll direct this one at Kelly first off. Are there any ways, better ways where people can get involved in the project of the directory or the creator? Where are the best places to go and hang out?</p>



<p>[00:34:12] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> If you want to have feedback about the future of the pattern directory or if you just want to report that something&#8217;s not working. The project is on GitHub. It&#8217;s at github.com/wordpress/patterndirectory.</p>



<p>[00:34:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So that&#8217;s the best place to go if you wish to find out about becoming involved. Ana, just wondering about your experiences of being involved with this. Have you got any, any insights? Is there a thing that you found the most useful? A, I don&#8217;t know, a Slack channel or a website where people are helping each other out. A group of some kind, maybe a community online somewhere where this is all happening?</p>



<p>[00:34:50] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> I was in contact per Slack, with Anne McCartney also and, mostly Slack and Twitter, but yeah, mostly Slack or Github, yeah.</p>



<p>[00:35:01] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Now, I know that neither of you will be able to answer this question directly, but the theme repository and the plugin repository, they feel like there&#8217;s no way that they are going away. They&#8217;re going to be here for the long-term. You know, I can imagine decades from now, they&#8217;ll still be in existence. Do you both have confidence that this journey that we&#8217;ve taken on where blocks and patterns are becoming the new, the new way of creating quick and easy websites. Do you feel confident that this is the way it&#8217;s going to be done? You know, that we ought to sail our ship in this direction?</p>



<p>Your long-term thoughts really on whether or not this is the way it&#8217;s going to be done in the future.</p>



<p>[00:35:40] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> I hope so. I really hope so. I think this way is, better way of making, for example, I am in theme business, so, it&#8217;s easier to create themes. Especially to offer easier way of using themes to users. So finally theme can be a design for me, and that&#8217;s a really big step in the right direction. So I really hope it will stay. And also be better with the time and more easier to use.</p>



<p>[00:36:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. And Kelly.</p>



<p>[00:36:14] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, I do think that this is the way forward. I think that using blocks and making patterns is really only going to become more, more standard. Easier to use. And so I think that this is going to be the way to make websites</p>



<p>[00:36:28] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. Just one last quick thought. I mentioned something similar earlier and Ana talked about it, I&#8217;m going to direct this one at you, Kelly, if that&#8217;s all right. I don&#8217;t know what your experience is with other website building tools. And we mentioned page builders, such as Elementor and, I just wondered what your thoughts are on where the user interface is and the user experience is at the moment.</p>



<p>Maybe you&#8217;ve got some insight into that. Maybe you don&#8217;t, but I just wondered whether you thought that it was yet at a point of maturity. And that kind of ties into the question I&#8217;ve just asked about whether it would be widely adopted, because it feels like there&#8217;s a big holdout of people the moment who simply cannot make the move because the experience as yet doesn&#8217;t have that, it&#8217;s exactly the same on the front end, as it is on the backend. And Ana, I think you just said, Yeah in the background. You can identify. You&#8217;ve committed, you&#8217;ve jumped over and you&#8217;ve made that journey and put the investment of time into&#8230;</p>



<p>[00:37:24] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Yeah, but it takes a lot of challenges, yeah. Because I get the input from the user side and I also used Elementor before to see how it works. And I must say it&#8217;s still a long way. But, what is most confusing now to the users, what I said before, also, those two editors and two different phase. We now have again templates that you can edit.</p>



<p>And they&#8217;re a bit confused. Like, okay, I go on out to edit the template and I saved it and now it&#8217;s applied to all my pages and now you need to explain it that they need to refresh it and pull it back. And it&#8217;s a bit confusing. So we don&#8217;t have one editor where you can do all the things. For example, you come to one editor and click, for example, to choose a layout and this layout is there and you can edit it and that&#8217;s it. Yeah, it&#8217;s a bit struggle for now.</p>



<p>[00:38:25] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I do wonder if that struggle, and I&#8217;m going to see what Kelly makes on this, I do wonder if that&#8217;s going to be for a little while into the future, if that&#8217;s going to be a limitation in terms of adoption, is the fact that there are difficulties. There&#8217;s a lot of learning which needs to take place to wean you off those tools and, whilst the WordPress Core way of doing blocks and patterns and so on is free, widely available, done in the open, open source and all of that kind of stuff. I wonder if the adoption is going to be stifled because of the constraints that Ana just mentioned. What do you think about that?</p>



<p>[00:39:04] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> I think it depends also on us, on themers a lot. How we will implement this and make it easier for the users. And we also need to educate now the users, how they can use it and make it as easier as possible. And sometimes there&#8217;s not that easy because you need to follow updates and to do the updates all the time and to educate people about it.</p>



<p>But I think it&#8217;s a good step in the right direction. And I think with the time and with the education people will adopted it yeah. Just by creating a pages using just block pattern it&#8217;s a really a big step. And it&#8217;s a great thing. You can really create most everything with block patterns without using templates for example.</p>



<p>[00:39:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I think people just need time, the inspiration to get into it&#8230;</p>



<p>[00:39:59] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> It&#8217;s a new, it&#8217;s a new thing and you always need time to learn something new.</p>



<p>[00:40:03] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s right. We actually interviewed Courtney Robertson from the Learn initiative last week. And there&#8217;s an awful lot of content. And I think that&#8217;s maybe a piece that was missing in the past, the ability to go and find video tutorials, which answer the exact question that you&#8217;re looking for.</p>



<p>Kelly, can I put that one to you? Is it basically the same question? You said that you hadn&#8217;t got a great deal of experience with page builders and so on, but I&#8217;m just wondering if you had any intuitions around there, whether or not the UI and the UX is, is everything that you guys had hoped it would be, or do you feel that there&#8217;s still quite a lot of work going through WordPress six and seven and maybe even, eight.</p>



<p>[00:40:39] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> Yeah, I haven&#8217;t used page filters. I am definitely a pretty vanilla WordPress user. But I have been, you know, working with the site editor and I can see that it is a little confusing still. I do think that it needs to be iterated on, but I think that the future is going to be good.</p>



<p>I think the plans are there and it&#8217;s constantly getting better. So I&#8217;m very positive about it. Yeah.</p>



<p>[00:41:02] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. Okay, just to wrap up, if people have listened to this podcast today and they would like to get in touch with you and make contact and use your expertise. What&#8217;s the best way of getting in touch with you? It could be a Twitter handle could be an email address, or it could be nothing. You might wish to share nothing at all, but I&#8217;ll start with Ana. What&#8217;s the best way to get in touch with you, Ana?</p>



<p>[00:41:24] <strong>Ana Segota:</strong> Twitter, or Slack or email. It&#8217;s all good. Maybe you can add a later?</p>



<p>[00:41:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I will definitely add your Twitter and Slack into the show notes. And same question to you, Kelly. What&#8217;s the best way to get in touch with you?</p>



<p>[00:41:40] <strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan:</strong> You can find me on Twitter, Ryelle, R Y E L L E or on wordpress.org Slack. I can also chat there.</p>



<p>[00:41:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, Ana and Kelly, thank you so much for talking to me on the podcast today, and I appreciate you giving me an hour of your time. Thank you very much, indeed.</p>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 18 May 2022 14:00:00 +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:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:63:"Post Status: WooCommerce 6.5, 6.5.1, and WooCommerce Blocks 7.6";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97704";s: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:72:"https://poststatus.com/woocommerce-6-5-6-5-1-and-woocommerce-blocks-7-6/";s: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:3050:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Well, the week started the release of  <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/10/woocommerce-6-5-released/"><strong>WooCommerce 6.5</strong></a>  and ended with a  <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/13/woocommerce-6-5-1-fix-release/"><strong>6.5.1 bug fix</strong></a> release. Between all of that, <strong><a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/10/woocommerce-blocks-7-6-0-release-notes/">WooCommerce Blocks 7.6</a> </strong>was also released.</p>



<p>Over on <strong>Do the Woo</strong>, we had <a href="https://dothewoo.io/the-woocommerce-roundtable-dives-into-wordpress-6-0/">a conversation about the upcoming release</a> of <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong>. The <strong>Woo Roundtable</strong>, consisting of <strong>Ronald Gijse</strong>l, <strong>Robbie Adair</strong>, <strong>Robert Jacobi</strong>, and <strong>Tammie Lister</strong> dove in to offer some insights about 6.0 and how WooCommerce plays into it. </p>



<p>Then <strong>Ronnie Burt</strong> from <strong>Sensei LMS</strong> and <strong>Automattic</strong> shared his extensive experience in the wider education space and his journey to move into the WordPress ecosystem, and LMS space:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;And so when I think about democratizing education, I think about how do we help [provide] the best content [so the] best learning experiences bubble to the top and be found.&#8221;</p></blockquote>



<p>A little bird told me about <a href="https://poststatus.com/the-state-of-wordpress-market-share/">a drop in the WordPress market share</a>. Or actually, a Tweet from Joost de Valk. As a result I had to add <a href="https://dothewoo.io/woobits-dropping-my-02-about-wordpress-marketshare/">my small take to the influx of reaction we have seen</a>. It's short! </p>



<p>I think we just need to wait and see what shakes out. It's too early to say if this is a new trend.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;&#8230;I am not losing any sleep over that number right now. To be fair, depending on your own stakes, you may feel differently. And trust me, there are some interesting insights that Joost shared in the post, as well as others that are either agreeing with or serving a rebuttal. And if you dare go down that rabbit hole, well, good luck.&#8221;</p></blockquote>



<p>Trust me, I didn’t spend much time on my response for several reasons:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“I have had touchpoints in the technical space for over 3 decades. If I was someone that could predict what came next for any specific technology, or 100% understood a lot of the ups and downs, well, maybe I wouldn't be rich but I would sure have a lot to talk about.”</p></blockquote>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://dothewoo.io/woobits-dropping-my-02-about-wordpress-marketshare/">WooBits: Dropping My .02% About WordPress Marketshare</a></blockquote>
</div>



<h2 id="h-">&nbsp;</h2>";s: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, 17 May 2022 21:00:06 +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:8:"Bob Dunn";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"WPTavern: How To Start Testing Your WordPress Code With the Pest PHP Testing Framework";s: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=134402";s: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/how-to-start-testing-your-wordpress-code-with-the-pest-php-testing-framework";s: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:9024:"<p>We can all agree that WordPress has come a long way since its beginning and that it grew into something a lot more than blogging software.</p>



<p>At its core, it’s still a content management system (CMS), but with over 59,000 plugins in the <a href="http://wordpress.org/">wordpress.org</a> directory, you can customize it to be much more.</p>



<p>The reason for its popularity is its low entry barrier for both content creators and developers. Sometimes this comes with a cost. It’s no secret that WordPress has a bad reputation when it comes to development. It has a lot of legacy baggage and die-hard rules that prevent any backward compatibility breaking change when it comes to PHP code (Gutenberg is another story I won’t get into).</p>



<p>That legacy PHP code is often used by the developers that are starting to enter the world of programming, and the issue with that is they can learn some bad programming patterns. That in turn means they will reuse the poorly written code, increasing the amount of bad code in the world.</p>



<p>This is where WordPress gets its bad reputation in the developer community.</p>



<h3><strong>Breaking the cycle</strong></h3>



<p>So how can we break this cycle of bad code? By teaching new developers how they should write good code. One example of teaching new developers (but also old ones that are still clinging to the ‘WordPress’ way of doing things) is by writing tutorials.</p>



<p>Another way is to encourage them to use tools that can help them write better code.</p>



<p>I’m currently involved in the work which aims to release the new version of the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards/">WordPress Coding Standards</a>, a set of rules used for the <a href="https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer/">PHP_CodeSniffer</a> tool that will let you know if your code has some potential issues (security, best practices, code style).</p>



<p>Another tool that I’ve recently developed is a <a href="https://github.com/dingo-d/wp-pest-integration-test-setup">package</a> that will help developers set up WordPress integration tests that use the <a href="https://pestphp.com">Pest</a> testing framework.</p>



<h3><strong>Ok, so why do we need this new tool?</strong></h3>



<p>The main motivation behind creating this package is to encourage more people to write tests for their code, especially plugin developers.</p>



<p>A lot of developers in the WordPress community go with the mantra: I can see that it works because I’ve tried it out in my browser. That’s OK, but there are issues with that.</p>



<p>First, it’s time-consuming. Every time you make some change, you need to make sure it works, but also that you didn’t break anything.</p>



<p>Second, people make mistakes. We are not foolproof, and code may be misused in ways you never thought possible. You would be amazed at how creative people can be when writing code.</p>



<p>Automated tests are quick and can help you in testing various cases that will happen when you execute your code.</p>



<p>You test for the intended behavior (happy path), and in a quick way, you can add examples of how your code can be used in a way you didn’t intend it to be used (unhappy path).</p>



<p>It also safeguards your code from regressions. A code regression is when you unintentionally break one part of your code by adding new code.</p>



<h3><strong>The problem with tests set up so far</strong></h3>



<p>Testing in WordPress is not a new thing. And it’s not like you couldn’t set up tests for your code before. There are amazing libraries out there that will help you set everything up like <a href="https://wpbrowser.wptestkit.dev/">wp-browser</a>.</p>



<p>But the problem is that the setup procedure is often clunky.</p>



<p>You need to set up a separate database for tests, and you need to run certain scripts, then change files to make it all work.</p>



<p>Let’s face it, it’s not a straightforward thing to do, and developers are by nature lazy creatures (that’s why we write code to do things for us <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f604.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" />).</p>



<p>The aim of the wp-pest integration test setup is to eliminate all that extra work.</p>



<h3><strong>How to set it up</strong></h3>



<p>In order to set it up, your project must use <a href="https://getcomposer.org/">Composer</a>. It’s a de-facto standard way of adding packages to your code.</p>



<p>In your terminal type</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>composer require dingo-d/wp-pest-integration-test-setup --dev</code></pre>



<p>After you’ve downloaded the package and its dependencies you can set up the theme tests by typing</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>vendor/bin/wp-pest setup theme</code></pre>



<p>Or, in the case you want to set up tests for your plugin, you can write</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>vendor/bin/wp-pest setup plugin --plugin-slug=your-plugin-slug</code></pre>



<p>Optionally, you can provide a <code>--wp-version</code> parameter, to specify which WordPress version you&#8217;d like to test your code on.</p>



<p>In the background, a WordPress instance will be downloaded, and an in-memory database will be set up, along with two examples of tests that you can run.</p>



<p>Then, running either</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>vendor/bin/pest --group=unit</code></pre>



<p>or</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>vendor/bin/pest --group=integration</code></pre>



<p>will run the tests.</p>



<p>The beauty of Pest is that its syntax is developer-friendly. It has <a href="https://pestphp.com/docs/installation">amazing documentation</a> and great syntax. Let’s look at a simple example. Say you are registering a custom post type called &#8216;Books&#8217;:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;?php

/**
 * Plugin Name: Test plugin
 * Desctiption: Test plugin
 * Version: 1.0.0
 * License: MIT
 */

function test_plugin_register_books_cpt() {
    $args = array(
        'label'              =&gt; esc_html__( 'Books', 'test-plugin' ),
        'public'             =&gt; true,
        'publicly_queryable' =&gt; true,
        'show_ui'            =&gt; true,
        'show_in_menu'       =&gt; true,
        'query_var'          =&gt; true,
        'rewrite'            =&gt; array( 'slug' =&gt; 'book' ),
        'capability_type'    =&gt; 'post',
        'has_archive'        =&gt; true,
        'hierarchical'       =&gt; false,
        'menu_position'      =&gt; null,
        'supports'           =&gt; array( 'title', 'editor', 'author', 'thumbnail', 'excerpt', 'comments' ),
    );
 
    register_post_type( 'book', $args );
}
 
add_action( 'init', 'test_plugin_register_books_cpt' );
</code></pre>



<p>After running the setup command that adds an example, a test called <code>BooksCptTest.php</code> would look like this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;?php

namespace Tests\Integration;

beforeEach(function () {
	parent::setUp();
});

afterEach(function () {
	parent::tearDown();
});

test('Books custom post type is registered', function () {
	// We can use assertions from PHP_Unit.
	$this-&gt;assertNotFalse(has_action('init', 'test_plugin_register_books_cpt'));

	$registeredPostTypes = \get_post_types();

	// Or we can use expectations API from Pest.
	expect($registeredPostTypes)
		-&gt;toBeArray()
		-&gt;toHaveKey('book');
});
</code></pre>



<p>Running <code>vendor/bin/pest --group=integration</code> gives us the following output:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>Installing...
Running as single site... To run multisite, use -c tests/phpunit/multisite.xml
Not running ajax tests. To execute these, use --group ajax.
Not running ms-files tests. To execute these, use --group ms-files.
Not running external-http tests. To execute these, use --group external-http.

   PASS  Tests\\Integration\\BooksCptTest
  ✓ Books custom post type is registered

  Tests:  1 passed
  Time:   0.14s</code></pre>



<h3><strong>Conclusion</strong></h3>



<p>And just like that, you have the ability to run WordPress integration tests in your theme or plugin. Tests are amazing because not only are they safeguarding us from mistakes, but they also force us to write clean and testable code. This is especially true for plugins that have complicated logic or are communicating with third-party APIs.</p>



<p>Writing tests for such a codebase will force you to think about what your code architecture looks like so you can easily write automated tests &#8211; not to mention the time and money you’ll save from not having to manually test everything.</p>



<p>If you think this is something you might benefit from, feel free to use it, and <a href="https://github.com/dingo-d/wp-pest-integration-test-setup">star the repository</a> on GitHub.</p>



<p>Hopefully, this will encourage more WordPress developers to use tools that will enhance their coding skills.</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, 17 May 2022 18:25:19 +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:13:"Denis Žoljom";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:125:"WPTavern: Online Meetup: WordPress NYC to Host Series on Modern, Privacy-Respecting Analytics and Leveraging First-Party Data";s: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=134464";s: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:134:"https://wptavern.com/online-meetup-wordpress-nyc-to-host-series-on-modern-privacy-respecting-analytics-and-leveraging-first-party-data";s: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:3125:"<p>One of the positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is local meetups are more frequently broadcasting their events online, giving people outside the immediate area the opportunity to attend and learn new skills. <a href="https://www.meetup.com/find/?keywords=wordpress&source=EVENTS&eventType=online&sortField=DATETIME">Searching meetup.com for WordPress</a>, filtered to show Online Events, will show upcoming events that anyone can attend.</p>



<p>WordPress NYC is hosting an interesting new six-part series on analytics beginning this week on Thursday, May 19, at 7PM EDT. Co-organizer Victor Ramirez will kick it off with a workshop titled &#8220;The Product &amp; Marketing Data Landscape.&#8221; Attendees will get an overview of  the current WordPress analytics landscape. Subsequent events will cover how to make a tracking plan, how to migrate to open source tracking options (while respecting privacy), and  how to leverage WordPress data to improve user experiences.</p>



<p>Ramirez is the lead product analytics engineer at <a href="https://www.theknotww.com/">The Knot Worldwide</a> and also runs a WordPress agency on the side. </p>



<p>&#8220;I was inspired because product analytics has been my job for two years,&#8221; Ramirez said. &#8220;It&#8217;s one of the hottest roles in technology everywhere except WordPress.&#8221; </p>



<p>During the workshop he plans to demonstrate the benefits of using <a href="https://www.rudderstack.com/">Rudderstack</a>, an open source customer data pipeline tool, and <a href="https://www.avo.app/">Avo workbench</a>, a data governance platform, comparing those to private enterprise options. The schedule for the series includes weekly presentations through June 23:</p>



<ul><li>May 19: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813151/">The Product &amp; Marketing Data Landscape</a></li><li>May 26: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813159/">Tracking Plans as the Lynchpin for Success</a></li><li>June 2: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813166/">Goodbye Google, Hello 1st Party Data</a></li><li>June 9: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813170/">Privacy, Performance, 3rd Party Integrations</a></li><li>June 16: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813176/">Build Dashboards &amp; Reporting in Minutes not Weeks</a></li><li>June 23: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813178/">Leveraging Data for Enhanced User Experiences</a></li></ul>



<p>The series will introduce attendees to the concept of collecting first-party data (as opposed to third-party data) and learn how to create better, privacy-respecting experiences for consumers, instead of &#8220;targeting&#8221; them with unwanted messages.</p>



<p> If you&#8217;re using WordPress for a product or service, this workshop may give you a new way to think about consumer data collection for your business. The event is free and the link to attend online will be visible for those who <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/285813151/">sign up to attend</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, 17 May 2022 17:34:44 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 3 (RC3) Now Available for Testing";s: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=12866";s: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://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-3-rc3-now-available-for-testing/";s: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:4194:"<p>WordPress 6.0 is scheduled for release next week on May 24, 2022! This RC3 release is the final opportunity for you to test and help contribute to making the 6.0 release great.</p>



<p>You can view changes since the RC2 release via <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/6.0">Gutenberg</a> and <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=closed&changetime=05%2F10%2F2022..05%2F17%2F2022&resolution=fixed&milestone=6.0&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=milestone&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&order=id">Trac</a>.</p>



<h1>Installing RC3</h1>



<p><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. Please do not install, run, and test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it is recommended that you install RC3 on a test server and site.&nbsp;</p>



<p>You can test WordPress 6.0 RC3 in three ways:</p>



<p><strong>Option 1: </strong>Install and activate the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>



<p><strong>Option 2: </strong>Direct download the <a href="https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.0-RC3.zip">release candidate (zip)</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, 3, 4, RC1, or RC2 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command:</p>



<p><code>wp core update --version=6.0-RC3</code></p>



<h1>Plugin and Theme Developers</h1>



<p>All plugin and theme developers are encouraged to complete testing of their respective extensions against WordPress 6.0 RC3 and update the “<em>Tested up to”</em> version in their readme file to 6.0 this week. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post detailed information to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">support forums</a>, so these items can be investigated further prior to the final release date of May 24.</p>



<p>Review the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/"><em>WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</em></a>, for more details on this release.</p>



<p>Review additional information on the full <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/">6.0 release cycle</a>.</p>



<p>Check the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes+6-0/">6.0-related developer notes</a> in the coming weeks which will detail upcoming changes.</p>



<h1>Translate WordPress</h1>



<p>Do you speak a language other than English? <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev">Help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.</a></p>



<h1>How to Help Test WordPress</h1>



<p>Testing for issues is critical for stabilizing a release throughout its development. Testing is also a great way to contribute to WordPress. If you are new to testing, check out this <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/12/help-wanted-test-wordpress-6-0/">detailed guide</a> that will walk you through how to get started.</p>



<p>If you think you have run into an issue, please report it to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">Alpha/Beta area</a> in the support forums. If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket">file one on WordPress Trac</a>. This is also where you can find a list of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major">known bugs</a>.</p>



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



<h2>RC3, An (Almost) Final Haiku</h2>



<p>It’s near time for six<br />The reward is the journey<br />Just one week to go</p>



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



<p>Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>dansoschin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>webcommsat</a>.&nbsp;</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, 17 May 2022 16:39:51 +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:"Dan Soschin";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Europe 2022 with Takis Bouryouris and Taeke Reijenga";s: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=71671";s: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:32:"https://dothewoo.io/episode-223/";s: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:388:"<p>Takis Bouryouris and Taeke Reijenga, part of the organizing team for WordCamp Europe, joins us in a conversation all about WCEU.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/episode-223/">WordCamp Europe 2022 with Takis Bouryouris and Taeke Reijenga</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, 17 May 2022 09:00:00 +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:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: How The Welch News Uses WordPress To Keep Local News Alive in West Virginia";s: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=134197";s: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:96:"https://wptavern.com/how-the-welch-news-uses-wordpress-to-keep-local-news-alive-in-west-virginia";s: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:13172:"<img />The Welch News Team &#8211; photo credit: The Welch News



<p>For 95 years, the people living in the McDowell County coalfields have depended on <a href="https://www.welchnews.com/">The Welch News</a> for local coverage of important events. The county sits at the southernmost point of state, with a declining population of <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/mcdowellcountywestvirginia">18,363</a> and a median household income of $27,682. </p>



<p>In the 1950&#8217;s, at the apex of the mining industry&#8217;s economic influence, McDowell County had close to 100,000 people living there. They mined the coal that built much of the infrastructure for American cities. After the industry became more mechanized and many left to find work elsewhere, the community began to deteriorate, drugs got a foothold, and many local kids are now raised by their grandparents. Property taxes evaporated, as a large number of homes are on homestead exemption, which further lowers property taxes for those who are 65+ or considered disabled.</p>



<p>The Welch News remains in the county as a unifying force that the dwindling populace relies on to stay connected and informed. Publisher Melissa Nester often says she learned how to read by reading the Welch News. Three years ago, she purchased her local newspaper to keep it from shuttering. </p>



<p>&#8220;Our previous owner made the decision to close the newspaper at a point we felt we were going strong,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;Revenue had declined along with the business population we used to support our operation over the years, however we felt it was an asset to community building and wanted to use it as such.&#8221; &nbsp;</p>



<img />The Welch News Publisher Melissa Nestor &#8211; photo credit: The Welch News



<p>Nester purchased the paper, with the promised support of her core team members at the time. Most of them are still working with her today.</p>



<p>“The Welch News had been a staple in all our lives,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;When we announced that we would cease to print, the community was outraged. We cried with customers stopping in to see us one last time, most of them sharing stories of their first job being a paper carrier at the newspaper. One of our carriers at the time told us the story of an elderly woman who said all she had at home was a landline phone and The Welch News. It’s all she had. We were absolutely floored as we heard how much our community wanted us to remain.&#8221;</p>



<h3>The Welch News Launches a Digital Publication on WordPress with the Help of the PaywallProject</h3>



<img />photo credit &#8211; The PaywallProject



<p>After purchasing the paper, Nester held a meeting on May 8, 2018, where she invited everyone she could think of to help her plan a path to move forward. Tyler Channell, creator of the <a href="https://www.paywallproject.com/">PaywallProject</a>, attended this meeting and listened to the team&#8217;s goals and concerns.</p>



<p>&#8220;Building simple WordPress-based sites for various businesses is something I&#8217;ve done dating back to 2008,&#8221; Channell said. &#8220;I really started focusing on local newspaper web development in late 2017 after graduate school (journalism) at West Virginia University.&#8221;</p>



<p>Channell began helping local West Virginian newspapers, after they reached out with specific questions about generating revenue from their publications.</p>



<p>&#8220;Digital ads weren&#8217;t cutting it for them (a similar story I hear from publishers across the country),&#8221; Channell said. &#8220;With Facebook and Google owning virtually the entire digital ad market, newspapers must focus their efforts on generating paid digital subscriptions to remain sustainable. People are willing to pay for local content that they can&#8217;t get anywhere else.&#8221;</p>



<p>After helping his first local newspaper find success with a paywall he implemented, he decided to put together a simple ready-to-go website solution focused on growing paid digital subscribers for local newspapers across West Virginia and beyond. He now has approximately 20 local newspapers signed on to the PaywallProject&#8217;s services. The all-in-one subscription platform for local news costs $199/month and includes website development, a flexible paywall subscription platform with no transaction fees, migration, and built-in ad management.</p>



<p>&#8220;I use a number of different themes/plugin-based solutions combined with custom code, payments via Stripe, and hosting through DigitalOcean to bring it all together,&#8221; Channell said. &#8220;The goal for me is to provide all technical aspects so that local news publishers can focus on publishing content.&#8221;</p>



<p>For many small publishers, this is their very first website. Channell said his clients are quick to acclimate to WordPress.</p>



<p>&#8220;I think when you remove the technical aspects of digital subscriptions, it reduces the learning curve dramatically,&#8221; he said.</p>



<p>&#8220;Growing digital subscriptions takes a lot of time and effort. But with each new paid subscriber a newspaper brings on board, local journalism becomes that much more sustainable.&#8221;</p>



<p>The Welch News&#8217; WordPress site helped put the publication on a path to sustainability. Within the first ten days of launching their digital edition, they gained 100 new subscribers, and subscriptions keep rolling in from local residents and people all over the country.</p>



<p>“I believe [Channell] was particularly interested when he learned our newsroom was staffed by millennials who cared deeply about the community they live in and hoped to make a positive change,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;He realized our staff could easily transition.</p>



<p>&#8220;As publisher/owner, at 56 years old, I have probably been the person hardest to train on using the site, but even I am very comfortable posting articles without help.&#8221;</p>



<p>Welch News Editor Derek Tyson is the primary person writing and editing articles, approving submissions, and managing ad design and layout for the front page.</p>



<p>“We really enjoy the ease of access WordPress offers,&#8221; Tyson said. &#8220;I think we all were quite surprised how easy it was to put our articles into the digital format to share with the world at large. The transition wasn’t hard. Changing our office routine after over 90 years of only print publishing was by far the hardest part.  PaywallProject made this transition easy for us.  Trainings happened in our own newsroom, and PaywallProject has always available to help with any issues.”</p>



<img />The Welch News Editor Derek Tyson &#8211; photo credit: The Welch News



<p>The entire publication process is still very much a labor of love, as is evident in this video the PaywallProject created featuring The Welch News. The team managing it is far younger than most of the town but fiercely dedicated to keeping this vital community resource going.</p>



<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Growing paid digital subscriptions in rural Appalachia is possible! <a href="https://twitter.com/nestergirl2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nestergirl2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/thatdamntyson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thatdamntyson</a> <a href="https://t.co/rpOE8fUEqM">pic.twitter.com/rpOE8fUEqM</a></p>&mdash; PaywallProject (@paywallproject) <a href="https://twitter.com/paywallproject/status/1523755491683631104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>“Putting ourselves out into the digital world was both exciting and terrifying,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;We were skeptical about our content being capable of generating online subscriptions. But it was the best case of being proven wrong in our lives.</p>



<p>“It does sometimes feel unnerving to move from a local publication that is only read via print media in your community, to a publication with a far greater reach.  Sometimes that brings forth &#8216;internet warriors&#8217; to criticize, as well as &#8216;internet warriors&#8217; to support.  PaywallProject is knowledgeable in the field of journalism, and that makes a great difference.&#8221;</p>



<h3>The Welch News Still Prints and Delivers the Paper Three Days Per Week</h3>



<p>The Welch News is just one of hundreds of publications that have <a href="https://wptavern.com/finding-wordpress-in-the-post-print-news-era">found WordPress in the post-print news era</a>, but unlike many others who transitioned to purely digital publishing, they are committed to keeping their print version going on their 1966 model printing press. They print three days a week and offer home delivery within McDowell County, as well as mail delivery across the nation.</p>




<img />



<img />



<img />




<p>&#8220;We have a high population of elderly residents, and strongly feel that they need the connection with the home delivery drivers three times each week,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;We understand this isn’t the greatest business model, and often hear the advice to move to a weekly publication. Our desire to serve our residents in the best way possible keeps us headstrong about a three-day print publication.&#8221;</p>



<p>Though nearly everyone from his generation has moved away from the area, Tyson&#8217;s commitment to serve The Welch News&#8217; elderly subscribers burns strong.</p>



<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re here to serve a very vulnerable population that I feel like the modern world is pretty quick to sweep under the rug,&#8221; Tyson said in a recent <a href="https://vimeo.com/495924832/492e92a96f">documentary</a> about the county. &#8220;I see elderly people suffer, feeling like they&#8217;re not important and nobody needs them anymore. That&#8217;s just awful. They&#8217;re not as strong, they move a little slow, they&#8217;ll talk your head off but they&#8217;re living human beings that matter, and I&#8217;m going to fight for them.&#8221;</p>



<p>Local news stands as a guardian for small, economically vulnerable counties like McDowell. In an area that is frequently cited among the five poorest counties in the US, the people still have their own voice through The Welch News. This publication finding sustainability is like a flower growing up through the concrete.</p>



<p>As we witness the slow death of the American newspaper, these little newspapers staying alive to keep the public informed offer a ray of hope. Small publications continue to contend with <a href="https://wptavern.com/more-than-200-local-newspaper-publishers-are-suing-google-and-facebook-for-damages">the greed and corruption of the advertising industry</a>, tech giants that have <a href="https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives">willfully eroded publishers&#8217; trust </a>through collusion and manipulation of the digital ad market. With affordable publishing tools like WordPress, The Welch News and its contemporaries can have a fighting chance.</p>



<p>&#8220;This is very much a heart project to serve and better our community, and we aren&#8217;t sure how long we can sustain it,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;I&#8217;m certain we wouldn&#8217;t have survived the income loss from COVID without our website. </p>



<p>&#8220;I often say I quit my job every morning, but go anyway. I quit again by nightfall, and the email comes showing the income from online subscriptions and I decide to try again.&#8221; </p>



<p>Tyson and his small team of journalists believe the best hope for keeping local news alive, when many small outlets have shuttered or consolidated, is maintaing a hyperlocal focus.</p>



<p>“Our strategy has been to shift our content priorities from broad coverage to a hyperlocal focus on issues within McDowell County’s borders,&#8221; he said. &#8220;With so many forms of media coverage available today, we decided to focus on what you couldn’t find anywhere else and in turn, showing that important things happen in small towns that deserve media attention.&#8221;</p>



<p>WordPress and the PaywallProject helped introduce a new stream of revenue for their century-old business. As the subscriptions continued to flow in, Nester said they realized &#8220;hyperlocal content did indeed have true value and would not be found anywhere else.&#8221; It&#8217;s one of the reasons <a href="https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2022/the-pulitzers-still-value-opinion-writing-and-so-do-readers/">many of the 2022 Pulizter prize winners have won for local stories</a> that would never be covered in the larger news market.</p>



<p>“Citizens near and far should understand the need to fund local newsrooms, and the important work they do,&#8221; Nester said. &#8220;Understanding that without supporting local journalists, a large sense of community will be lost with each news desert that comes.  If newsrooms are funded through community support, it is a better representation of that community and a means to bring forward local issues for resolution.&#8221;</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:"Mon, 16 May 2022 15:16:18 +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:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:147:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 31: Open Source &amp; Accessibility– Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Guest Joe Devon";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=12855";s: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:140:"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-31-open-source-accessibility-celebrating-global-accessibility-awareness-day-with-guest-joe-devon/";s: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:33186:"<p>In the thirty-first episode of the WordPress Briefing, GAAD Co-Founder Joe Devon joins WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy to discuss Global Accessibility Awareness Day and the role of open source in accessibility. </p>



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



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



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



<h2>References</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://accessibility.day/about/">About GAAD</a></li><li><a href="https://gaad.foundation/gaadpledge/">GAAD Foundation Pledge</a></li><li><a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/disability#tab=tab_1">World Health Organization on Disability  </a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress">The Dress Phenomenon</a></li><li>The Guardian on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_WvGAhMlQ">Yanny or Laurel  </a></li><li><a href="https://josepha.blog/2019/05/24/empathy-vs-altruism-in-modern-leadership/">Empathy vs. Altruism in Modern Leadership</a>, Josepha Haden Chomphosy </li><li><a href="https://webaim.org/projects/million/">The WebAim Million 2022 Report</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/">WordPress 6.0 Development Cycle </a></li><li><a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/">WordCamp Europe 2022</a></li></ul>



<h2>Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-12855"></span>



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



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



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



<p>Y&#8217;all, we&#8217;ve got an absolutely jam-packed couple of weeks in WordPress. We&#8217;ve got events happening and releases shipping and contributor days being coordinated (I almost said contributor days being contributed). That&#8217;s also what they&#8217;re doing. I&#8217;ll share some of those highlights in today&#8217;s small list of big things, but I did want to specifically call out something that&#8217;s coming up this week on Thursday (May 19, 2022), and that something is Global Accessibility Awareness Day.</p>



<p>The team of contributors over on the Accessibility team has participated in the Global Accessibility Awareness Day in the past. So I thought it would be interesting to hear from one of the co-founders of this particular day of awareness.</p>



<p>[<strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy </strong>00:01:27]&nbsp;</p>



<p>All right. And with that, Joe Devin, would you like to tell us a little bit more about yourself?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:01:34] </strong></p>



<p>Sure. So I am the co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which is a day that goes viral every year on the third Thursday of May. We typically have the Twitter reach on the GAAD hashtag on Twitter of 200 million users, which is, I think, pretty much their active user count. We stopped counting once we hit their daily active user count. </p>



<p>And then, I am Chair of the GAAD Foundation, which we launched last year. And then I have a day job too, where I&#8217;m CEO and co-founder of Diamond, which is an inclusive digital agency that builds software accessibly by default. </p>



<p>[<strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy </strong>00:02:15]&nbsp;</p>



<p>Wonderful. Well, we are so excited to have you today. I said we like it&#8217;s me and the mouse in my pocket—we in the WordPress community that&#8217;s going to listen to this. Super excited to have you today. So you mentioned GAAD, Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Last year was your 10th anniversary, which is very exciting, but like with so many good things, I hear it all started with a blog post and a blog post on WordPress, no less.</p>



<p>So I&#8217;d love to hear about how GAAD evolved from that, with, as I understand it, your co-founder of Jennison (Asuncion). That must be where you met him, I assume.</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:02:51] </strong></p>



<p>Yes. Yes. So what happened was I started a WordPress blog called <em>My SQL Talk</em>. So it&#8217;s a database blog, and I just thought it was a brilliant name. I mean, My SQL Talk, like that, should be super popular.</p>



<p>And it probably had maybe ten people who ever looked. Um, and then my dad was getting older, and my dad was a survivor of the concentration camps, and he was a genius. He spoke ten languages. It, he was one of those people. That, when he walked into a room, he just commanded respect. You knew that there was history. I don&#8217;t know how to explain it really, but it was special when my dad walked into the room. And considering all of this that he suffered in his life, watching him get older and struggle, particularly with his banking, was very painful to see. And the bank wasn&#8217;t accessible, so I wrote this blog post proposing that we create a Global Accessibility Awareness Day.</p>



<p>Sometimes I get these visions, and they never turn into anything. But while I think about it, I&#8217;m like, &#8220;all right, let&#8217;s write this blog post and this can definitely work. Right?&#8221; And then you finish the blog post to hit send, and you&#8217;re like, &#8220;this is not going to work.&#8221;</p>



<p>But I wasn&#8217;t even smart enough to do social media on it. But fortunately, WordPress had an auto-tweet feature, and it tweeted it out, and Jennison Asuncion, my co-founder, happened to be around and not out that Saturday night. And he read the blog post, and he said, &#8220;this is a great idea. Let&#8217;s make it happen.&#8221;</p>



<p>And we had two busy people, but we both had a community. He had the accessibility community, and I was building a tech scene in Los Angeles. And what I discovered is if you combine a great idea with the community, great things can happen. </p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:49]</strong></p>



<p>Oh man, you&#8217;re speaking my language over here, helping people find their communities, knowing that community is the thing that is the lifeblood of society.</p>



<p>That sounded like a tautology. It is not a tautology. You can have a society with an attempt to not have any sort of community around it, but I bet it doesn&#8217;t work very well. Well, that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s very interesting. And so you all just kind of talked through what that would look like, I assume in confidence, or that would have to take place, right? Or was it on Twitter in those days?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:05:24]</strong> </p>



<p>Oh, you could still look in the comments and see the back and forth of Jennison and a bunch of other people that got pretty involved with GAAD that are some legendary folks in there. It&#8217;s kind of mind-blowing because I dunno how, how you feel, but for me, when I used to code, uh, three months later, I&#8217;d look back at old code and be like, &#8220;oh, I suck,&#8221; you know, or write an email even and you look back on it a day later and are like &#8220;what a stupid email, how stupid am I?&#8221; You know?  But I look back on that one after ten years; I was scared to look at it because I&#8217;m like, it must&#8217;ve been really bad. But you know, it kind of held up, and exactly what I wrote in there happened &#8211; to my utter shock.</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:06:06]</strong></p>



<p>But also, it&#8217;s kinda nice, though, to look back and be like, &#8220;oh, I used to be much dumber.&#8221;</p>



<p>Cause then you&#8217;re like, look how far I&#8217;ve come. I&#8217;m no longer that dumb. I&#8217;m a different kind of dumb now; good for me. I always hope to be a different kind of dumb as I go forward. </p>



<p>So then, okay, so that was your ten-year anniversary last year. GAAD, in general, now has been going on for 11 years, and at the time of this recording, in a couple of weeks, but then probably a week when it finally publishes, you have your next, your next round of that going.</p>



<p>I think it seems safe to assume that awareness of the need for accessibility has increased during that time, but we all know that the work of accessibility is ongoing. And so, I&#8217;m just curious to hear from your perspective if the awareness of the need for accessibility has generally started to permeate developer communities.</p>



<p>And are you seeing more developer awareness around the need for accessibility in tech in general?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:07:12]</strong> </p>



<p>Yeah. You know, it&#8217;s not enough. It&#8217;s certainly improved a lot.  I keynoted a conference probably four years after GAAD started, maybe five, and I kind of assumed nobody would have heard of accessibility, and I was taken aback when I asked who had heard of it, and a good chunk of the room had. So even then, there had been a difference, and I&#8217;d say now I see accessibility mentioned a lot more in conferences and stuff. But when it comes to actually building it, there&#8217;s a tremendous amount of ignorance. There, there still needs to be a lot more awareness.</p>



<p>And I think partially people are a little bit scared to dip their toe because they&#8217;re scared that they&#8217;re going to be told that &#8220;no, it&#8217;s not accessible,&#8221; or that they&#8217;re going to say the wrong word or offend somebody. So I&#8217;d say that there&#8217;s some degree of trepidation, but also developers, and it&#8217;s not just developers, designers, and product people. There&#8217;s so much to learn, and it&#8217;s like, &#8220;oh God, there&#8217;s another piece that I have to learn.&#8221; </p>



<p>And I&#8217;m so glad that you invited me on this podcast because it&#8217;s the developers that, you know, I am a developer, not anymore, I haven&#8217;t touched code in years, but that&#8217;s where I came from. Right? This is my peach, right? Particularly WordPress folks, because I had done a fair bit of WordPress before I moved on to some other things. And, I think we have to talk about usability and understand that accessibility is so much more than how we look at disability.</p>



<p>And if you don&#8217;t mind, I&#8217;m going to ask you a question. How do you think the typical WordPress developer or designer would define disability? </p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:09:05] </strong></p>



<p>in the kinds of conversations that I&#8217;ve had over the years, it frequently has to do with visual things. Because it&#8217;s just screens all day, right? And that&#8217;s a primary area where our designers and developers really have made some effort.</p>



<p>But my personal favorite sort of, of example, for like, when you&#8217;re looking at how to make sure that your products are accessible is, what, if you have to use your website, or you have to build your website using only one arm. Because that gives you an opportunity to kind of look at disability from a permanent standpoint.</p>



<p>Like if you have lost permanent use of one arm, but also gives you an opportunity to look at the temporary options for that sort of lack of mobility. Like you&#8217;re a mother with an infant, and so you have to be able to, you know, get your stuff done with one arm. And so I know that we paid a bunch of attention to screen readers and what works in not way back in 2018 and 2019 did a lot of work with. Literally zero screen. And can you still do the thing that you need to do, which was incredibly difficult. And I was really excited to see what our developers came up with around that. But I think that that is quite a bit of that discussion as we&#8217;re going through it from the beginning to the&nbsp;end.</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:10:27] </strong></p>



<p>Yeah. I mean, that&#8217;s a great answer, and you definitely understand some of the nuances way better than I think that the average creator, digital product creator, I&#8217;m including the, you know, the product people, the designers, and the developers.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:10:42] </strong></p>



<p>We&#8217;re very fortunate to have more than just developers in WordPress.</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:10:50]  </strong></p>



<p>The reason I bring this up is that the WHO (World Health Organization) had to; they&#8217;re the ones that did massive research across the globe. And they had to, they had to come up with a definition, and in their definition, they needed to draw a line. Typically, I don&#8217;t remember the exact thing cause it&#8217;s a 350-page report, and I kept looking for where they defined it again.</p>



<p>It was a little hard to find, but essentially it&#8217;s if there&#8217;s a major disability or a disability that impacts some significant portion of your day-to-day activities. And that&#8217;s really great when you&#8217;re trying to do a report on how many disabilities there are out there; what percentage of the population has a disability?</p>



<p>And their figures are something like 15% of the population has a disability, which is a huge number. But at the same time, they also mentioned that 2.2 billion people have a visual impairment. And we also know that over 33% of the population is over 50, and I&#8217;m included in that population. And I can say that when you&#8217;re over 50, you know, I&#8217;ve got clouds in my eyes.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t know where they came from, but they definitely make it harder to see. When I&#8217;m in a restaurant, I can&#8217;t focus on the person across from me the same way. My hearing is not the same, and anybody over 50 is going to have certain impairments and won&#8217;t see as well; color contrast issues are a big deal.</p>



<p>Being able to raise the font is a big deal. And I think that accessibility is connected in most people&#8217;s minds with disability. And they&#8217;ll attach that to something like being blind or being deaf or hard of hearing or having a missing limb or having some other kind of disability. </p>



<p>And, as a result, they&#8217;re like, &#8220;well, I don&#8217;t even know any people in that category possibly,&#8221; and as a result, they&#8217;re like, &#8220;well, how important is this?&#8221; Yes. They might feel guilty. I should do the right thing. This is the right thing to do. But honestly, like how much money should I spend on it? How much, what percentage of my time should I spend on it?</p>



<p>And it&#8217;s because they don&#8217;t realize that everybody has different abilities. And so, I&#8217;m starting to go away from even talking about disabilities and asking people to remember that all of us perceive things differently. </p>



<p>Do you remember the gold dress where they were trying to say, what color is this dress? Is it gold and white or blue and black? And it is blue and black, but to me, all I see is gold and white. And then there was Laurel or Yanny. Do you remember that?. And some people heard it, and typically older people heard it as Laurel, and I&#8217;ve, and I do this in some of my presentations. I play that, that sound. And usually, it&#8217;s Laurel for me, but sometimes it&#8217;s Yanny. Even personally, it changes. </p>



<p>And so, we have a totally different perception. Now think about memory. There&#8217;s a different kind of blindness. If you try and remember, let&#8217;s say a relative or a friend that is no longer. How well do you see that picture?</p>



<p>Because for me, it is very, very vague, but for some people, they say, and I&#8217;ve been asking people, and I&#8217;d love your answer as well. How vivid is it? And some people say, I can read the, I can see the pattern on the shirt. It&#8217;s as vivid as if I see with opening my eyes, seeing, you know, the regular in front of me, and I can even read a name tag in the memory.</p>



<p>And I&#8217;m like, Woah, so maybe I&#8217;m blind in a way. Right? So how do you see it? How do you remember things?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:14:42] </strong></p>



<p>Oh, I&#8217;m a, I&#8217;m a real visual person and a tactile person. And so, like if I interacted with someone, I&#8217;m very likely to be able to picture, like, recreate that mental picture pretty well in my mind. I recently, very recently, met some of my first people in that executive leadership space who were like, yeah, I don&#8217;t, I don&#8217;t visualize things.</p>



<p>And I was like, what are you, how do you do this work? Because like, you have to be able to do that. And they were like, no, I don&#8217;t have mental pictures.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:15:13] </strong></p>



<p>Some people don&#8217;t have an inner dialogue.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:15:17] </strong></p>



<p>I don&#8217;t understand that either,&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:15:19] </strong></p>



<p>Me either. So accessibility studies all of these differences with respect to how you&#8217;re presenting all of this information.</p>



<p>And if you don&#8217;t pay attention to accessibility, you&#8217;re really just missing out. And then there&#8217;s colorblindness. If you&#8217;re creating something like slack that has an online/offline indicator, and you only use red and green for people who are colorblind, they see gray and gray. And so what I&#8217;m trying to teach the community with digital product creators is that no, you cannot ignore it.</p>



<p>You can ignore accessibility, but then you&#8217;re not good at your job. I mean, I don&#8217;t mean to say it in an offensive way, but you&#8217;re not good at your job if you&#8217;re unaware. If you break a rule on purpose, great. But if you don&#8217;t know the rule, it&#8217;s just a lack of craft, and you absolutely should make it a priority.</p>



<p>And you&#8217;re not doing it as a charity. You&#8217;re doing it because you care about your users, and you care about your craft, and you want to build things well, and it&#8217;s a necessity. And I think that this is the kind of message that our community needs to hear.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:16:31]</strong></p>



<p>I want to touch on something that you sort of brought up a bit, um, at the start of the answer there.</p>



<p>So you brought up the concept of usability. And in the last time that I did a podcast about accessibility, I defined accessibility as a subset of usability. Do you think that if we were to consistently draw that line for people so that it&#8217;s not just like accessibility is this thing that you should do outside of usability?</p>



<p>If we were to more consistently draw that line, do you think that that would help people to see and understand better that its shades of existence, usability, and accessibility?  &nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:17:10] </strong></p>



<p>Oh, 100%, a hundred percent. And in my company, we kind of realized that that&#8217;s exactly what we have to do. We have to see this as usability.</p>



<p>And I don&#8217;t, we talk about accessibility a lot, but I don&#8217;t want to. It&#8217;s part of the plumbing for us. We&#8217;ve made it part of the plumbing, and I can tell you it&#8217;s a struggle to take accessibility and make it part of an organization, even when you&#8217;re bringing it top-down, believe it or not. For our teams, particularly the designers, they are blown away by what they&#8217;re learning because they&#8217;re improving their craft.</p>



<p>And design is typically where there&#8217;s a struggle to get accessibility accepted because there seems to be a very strong idea of what a design should look like. And I think it&#8217;s really about the approach because UX and design it&#8217;s all about empathy for people. And when you approach it, not as, even though empathy should mean that, that, you know, do the right thing at the same time, it&#8217;s more about empathy for your user, and your user includes so much more than just people with disabilities that you haven&#8217;t run into somebody that has that disability and therefore you build it better, and it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s completely blown their mind. They love it. They love doing it. And I&#8217;m not hiring people with accessibility coming in. We&#8217;re training them to work accessibly. </p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:18:34] </strong></p>



<p>So I think it&#8217;s interesting that you talk about empathy as part of being able to make sure that you&#8217;re creating something that&#8217;s accessible because I actually feel like empathy is. Like it&#8217;s being considered this gold standard for many, many things right now. And I think it actually is more harmful in the long run than instead making altruistic choices.</p>



<p>And so, I have a blog post that I will link in our show notes that will kind of help everybody see more fully my concept there. But when you rely on empathy, you do kind of have to rely on one, being able to run into all of the issues you were mentioning. You have to know people who have problems in order to know that the problems exist.</p>



<p>And then you also kind of have to assume that once you have willingly put yourself into the discomfort of that kind of disability, whatever, wherever it exists on that spectrum, your experience of that discomfort is the same as someone who lives with it. And I just don&#8217;t think that we can necessarily do that.</p>



<p>I always think that trying to do the altruistic thing, like doing your research and figuring out what it is and trying to make decisions on behalf of other people as best you can, which is a terrible thing. Still, like decisions that take into account the experiences that people are sharing with you and then going to them and saying, &#8220;does this make that experience better or worse?&#8221; is the more sustainable option from my perspective, this is specifically leadership. Still, I think it&#8217;s true for accessibility as well, and probably product design as a whole, but it&#8217;s very difficult. Like people really feel like they understand the concept of empathy right now. And I do think that sometimes that leads us down the wrong path for things.</p>



<p>What&#8217;s your thought on that? I think you kind of agree based on what your answer was&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:20:33]</strong> </p>



<p>Oh, no, absolutely. And you know, we, you, can&#8217;t never about us without us, as the common saying, and we&#8217;ve gathered a group of a hundred people with a wide variety of disabilities for research. Whenever we do any UX and research, and sometimes we&#8217;re asked to just do research projects, we go out and ask the users.</p>



<p>We had some really interesting companies approach us to do innovation and accessibility, and they had strong assumptions. We looked at the assumptions and agreed with it, but we&#8217;re like, all right, they were smart. They said, &#8220;vet this with users for us, please,&#8221; because they didn&#8217;t want to gather their own group.</p>



<p>We vetted with users, and we&#8217;re blown away, always blown away because there are so many things you just don&#8217;t know unless you&#8217;ve lived with a particular disability. You can&#8217;t guess, and you&#8217;ve got to speak to your users and a wide variety of them. &nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:21:30]</strong></p>



<p>Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. What role does open source play in expanding accessibility, either in specifically the digital space or just accessibility in general?</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:21:42] </strong></p>



<p>I guess if the question is, what role does it play? I would say the role it plays is it is, unfortunately, it makes accessibility worse because, for the most part open source is not very accessible. And it&#8217;s a personal passion of mine, so I&#8217;m really glad that you brought that up. </p>



<p>You know, it is so bizarre. You write a blog post and then it goes viral, and it goes viral every year to a degree that you can&#8217;t even believe it, that all these companies that you know are running events. Privately, publicly talking about it. And then you get all these people thanking you for what you&#8217;ve done year after year.</p>



<p>And then one year, you read on Twitter, The Blind Onion; I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;re familiar with The Onion, the satirical clip, there&#8217;s the Blind Onion. And they tweet out, &#8220;Now that Global Accessibility Awareness Day is over, we look forward to 364 days of global accessibility oblivion.&#8221; And that really hurt at the time, but at the same time, and I was told to ignore it, don&#8217;t worry about it, but I&#8217;m like, no, this is coming from a place of pain.</p>



<p>And the point of GAAD was to make a difference. It wasn&#8217;t too to just give everybody an opportunity to say, &#8220;Hey, look at what we&#8217;re doing,&#8221; and then not make a difference. So, as a result of that, I started to think about, well, where are we with this? And, and so I&#8217;ve created a state of accessibility report that through my company, we&#8217;re able to run for a few years, and it&#8217;s not, you know, the state is not great.</p>



<p>And I&#8217;m like, well, what can we do to change things? So, as a result of all of this, I really wanted to figure out, well, what can we do to make sure that GAAD does make a difference? And so, I came up with the idea of the GAAD pledge, which is specifically meant for open source frameworks. </p>



<p>And the idea of the GAAD pledge is that an open source framework, when they are ready, takes the pledge to make accessibility a core value of the framework. Now, terms of what that actually entails are different for every single project because every project is unique. We did create a bit of a framework, which had the idea of saying, okay, you&#8217;re going to, first of all, create an accessibility statement that says that this framework is going to conform to whatever, WCAG, which is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, to whatever WCAG level is decided and is appropriate for the framework. That there&#8217;s going to be documentation for anybody that is downloading this piece of open source project and trying to implement it, that there should be guidelines for them, that all of the examples should be accessible. </p>



<p>It&#8217;s really important because even the frameworks that try to pay attention to accessibility. You&#8217;ll often see that people from the community will provide examples, and they&#8217;re inaccessible. And it&#8217;s really sad when you see that because so many people are just copy-pasting. That&#8217;s typically how it works, and they&#8217;re going to copy-paste something bad. So putting a statement around it, I think, would be really great.</p>



<p>And what we&#8217;re hoping to see is that lots and lots of big open source communities decide to take the pledge. And then it&#8217;ll sort of be table stakes that any new open source projects as well look, all of these frameworks that made it, they took the pledge and therefore we should take the pledge as well.</p>



<p>And so the very first year, we had React Native take the pledge, and they put a lot of effort into their accessibility. The second group to take it was Ember.js, and they always put a lot of effort into their accessibility, and they continued that effort. We&#8217;re about to announce the next one, but we&#8217;re still two weeks away.</p>



<p>So I can&#8217;t say anything yet, but yeah, we&#8217;re, uh, we&#8217;re hoping for a lot more uptake on, on the gap pledge because it, it affects so many people downstream. WordPress&#8217;s what percent of the web right now? 43%? So there you go. That&#8217;s so many people.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:25:57] </strong></p>



<p>So many people. Yeah, fun fact Gutenberg, our current rewriting of the editing experience in WordPress, primarily uses React. And so, I&#8217;m glad to hear that they have taken that pledge as well. </p>



<p>As with any good cooking, it starts with good&nbsp;ingredients.</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:26:12] </strong></p>



<p>You said it. That was great. I wish I was a cook, though.</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:26:23] </strong></p>



<p>I love it. All right. Let&#8217;s what keeps you up at night when it comes to the state of accessibility?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:26:29] </strong></p>



<p>What keeps me up at night is how to move the needle. It is such a big thing to change. And there are so many angles that you can approach this with, but at the end of the day, it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s a monster.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a monster. There are so many legacy sites out there. If you look at WebAIM, they do a yearly report on the state of accessibility as well. They call it the WebAIM Million, and they&#8217;re typically seeing 97% inaccessible, 98%. It goes up and down a little bit every year. And that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s just a huge boat to move.</p>



<p>I think we need to at least get the newer, uh, newer websites and mobile apps to move. And what we&#8217;ve seen in our state of accessibility report is that only the very top companies seem to put in the effort to make their products accessible. There is a big push with the enterprise companies to do it.</p>



<p>The CEOs are starting to talk about it, but what we need is the entire culture of software development to change. Or I should even say digital product development change and to move that boat is massive. And that&#8217;s I put it in my tagline in my email like that&#8217;s my mission in life, and I hope to achieve it before I die.</p>



<p>So that keeps me up at night.</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:27:52] </strong></p>



<p>I think that would keep me up at night as well. I mean, it seems like you are really just personally mission-driven and impact-driven. Do you feel like, in the event that the work that you&#8217;ve accomplished so far is what you accomplish, you feel still like you&#8217;ve had an impact?</p>



<p>I feel like you have had&nbsp;an impact. </p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:28:13] </strong></p>



<p>I&#8217;m not one of those people that tries to have a legacy or like tries to focus on what my impact is and all of that. I just try and do good work. And hopefully, it just shows at the end of the day. I&#8217;m just trying to have the impact without the accolades.</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:28:34]</strong></p>



<p>I get it. Well, Joe, thank you so much for joining us here on this episode of WP Briefing. You have been a delight to chat with.</p>



<p><strong>[Joe Devon 00:28:42]</strong></p>



<p>Likewise, it&#8217;s really been a pleasure to meet you, and uh, and I appreciate the opportunity.</p>



<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:28:54] </strong></p>



<p>And now it&#8217;s time for our smallest of big things. As I mentioned at the start, it is packed. Number one tomorrow, May 17th, RC3. So one of the final RCs that we&#8217;re going to have for the WordPress 6.0 release, unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong, which I don&#8217;t think it will. </p>



<p>And then, two days after that, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, as I mentioned, will be on May 19th. So, this coming Thursday. </p>



<p>And then next week, we have the 6.0 release. We have the WordPress 6.0 release on May 24th. </p>



<p> Three days after that, WordPress turns 19 on May 27th, starting its final teenage year before we turn twenty in 2023. So that was the rapid-fire dance card for the next two weeks.</p>



<p>The stuff that is happening with and around WordPress for everyone to know. As a heads up, also, many people are headed to WordCamp Europe in Porto(, Portugal). The first week of June, I am going to do a live from WordCamp Europe episode. It will not be live. I&#8217;ll just record it live. And so. You know you&#8217;ll get to hear me with my hoarsest voice and maybe singing to my computer. Cause that almost always happens at these things. </p>



<p>And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. And I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 16 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Chloe Bringmann";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"Gutenberg Times: Three Block Theme Generators, Gutenberg 13.2,  Coupons with Blocks and more –  Weekend Edition 215";s: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=21139";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:120:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/three-block-theme-generators-gutenberg-13-2-coupons-with-blocks-and-more-weekend-edition-215/";s: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:16135:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>I can hardly wait to be in the same room with fellow contributors across many teams during Contributor Day at WordCamp Europe, collaborate on the open-source project tasks, and meet new contributors in person!  </p>



<p>Next week, my husband and I will fly to Porto for a two-week work-cation prior to WordCamp Europe. We will explore Portugal&#8217;s second largest city and its wider area during lunch breaks, evening strolls and weekend excursions. It&#8217;s a new way of traveling for us and we are grateful for our remote work so we can stay for a longer period of time in a city. </p>





<p>And now back to the topic at hand: News and community resources around the  block editor, block themes, full-site editing and more.</p>



<p>Enjoy the mixture of articles and post. Have a great weekend! </p>



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




<div class="wp-container-1 wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost"><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-this-weeks-releases">This week&#8217;s releases </a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-word-press-6-0-and-gutenberg-13-2">WordPress 6.0 RC2</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#4-gutenberg-13-2">Gutenberg 13.2</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-block-theme-generators">Three Block Theme Generators</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-full-site-editing">Full Site Editing &amp; Plugins for site builders</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-developing-custom-blocks-and-tools">Developing Custom Blocks and Tools</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#6-upcoming-word-press-social-learning-meetups">Upcoming WordPress Social Learning Meetups</a></li></ul></div>
</div></div>




<h2 id="2-this-weeks-releases">This week&#8217;s releases </h2>



<h3 id="3-word-press-6-0-and-gutenberg-13-2">WordPress 6.0 RC2</h3>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-2-rc2-now-available-for-testing/"><strong>WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) Now Available for Testing</strong></a>. It seems everything is on track for the final release scheduled for May 24, 2022. </p>



<p>Curious what WordPress 6.0 looks like? Watch this great video by <strong>Jamie Marsland </strong> with short succinct demos of the most important features for site builders and he asks <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtNgk6pZBqA">WordPress 6: The Most Exciting Update Ever?</a></strong></p>



<p>Can you believe, Core Contributors already <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/11/early-bug-scrub-schedule-for-6-1/">started Bug Scrubs for 6.1</a>? I guess you can never start too soon. </p>



<h3 id="4-gutenberg-13-2">Gutenberg 13.2</h3>



<p>For the first time, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/revgeorge">George Hotelling</a></strong> led the release for the Gutenberg plugin and posted the release notes: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-2-may-11/"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 13.2? (May 11)</strong></a>. Many PRs were Bug fixes, and not so many new features. Hotelling highlights the new <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/#save-editor-preferences">save method for user&#8217;s editor preferences</a>. Now that the preferences (Welcome buide, Full Screen, Top Toolbar etc) are stored in the user meta table of the site, you can now access the site from any computer and it will remember the choices you made. We waited quite a while for this feature to land. </p>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/justintadlock">Justin Tadlock</a></strong> took the plugin for spin and he has more details in his article: <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-13-2-adds-persistent-user-preferences-and-a-visualizer-for-margin-and-padding-controls">Gutenberg 13.2 Adds Persistent User Preferences and a Visualizer for Margin and Padding Controls</a></p>



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



<p>Earlier this week, I was part of the <a href="https://wpbuilds.com/2022/05/10/this-week-in-wordpress-208/"><strong>This Week in WordPress #208</strong></a> live show and podcast. with&nbsp;Daniel Schutzsmith,&nbsp;Nathan Wrigley, and&nbsp;Michelle Frechette.</p>



<img />



<p>We talked about FSE Testing Call 14 using the refactored List and Quote Blocks, the new feature to assign patterns to the page creation process, the Artist in Residence program by DigitalCube, introduced by Rachel Winchester and so much more. It was lovely to connect with my friends again. We had great fun. Listen in! </p>



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



<h2 id="0-block-theme-generators">Three Block Theme Generators</h2>



<p>Ever we started seeing Full-site editing evolving, community members pushed the envelop and created tools for creating themes. Today, I put three of them in one space. </p>



<p><a href="https://www.themegen.app/"><strong>ThemeGen.App</strong></a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/dgwyer"><strong>David Gwyer</strong></a> was very early and the site provides you an easy way to make all the color and settings choices via a nice web interface and then create a theme.json file. </p>



<p><strong>Carolina Nymark</strong>&#8216;s <a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/block-theme-generator/"><strong>Block Theme Generator</strong></a> makes a few decisions for you. She offers visitors to download a basic block theme, and empty theme and an advanced block theme. The latter is the best teaching tool, as it includes not only a bare bones theme, but also example templates, block patterns and block styles. With help of a bare bones form, you also can select your color palette and some default settings. </p>



<p>While both mentioned Block Theme Generators are aimed at the Theme developers working with code, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/pootlepress">Jamie Marsland</a> of PootlePress</strong> just built a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHdSbUFVbnlGNUMtaUNwV010UnlORFN4WXJKQXxBQ3Jtc0trOUozOWRsMWZ2Ym91c25RcVB2bHJVZGlIWmFVaHhjR2lsMncxckIxQnppZlFsQnBmbkJ3aXd2QmtqN2tEbF8wLWJia192cjFSQzBydTBuUGhXTXBWcmFlSnlJbjlxbDVZVEt2OS11SEZ5eUREUS1iSQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pootlepress.com%2Fwordpress-theme-builder%2F&v=mtINY03lycY"><strong>Block Theme Generator</strong></a> that&#8217;s aimed at the #nocode site builder. It&#8217;s fairly new and used out of the box tools and the WordPress site editor to design every aspect of a theme that you then can export. Marsland explains <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtINY03lycY">in this video on YouTube</a>, how he built it, why Theme Export is such a big deal, and how you can also build a theme generator for you team.</p>



<h2 id="1-full-site-editing">Full Site Editing &amp; Plugins for site builders</h2>



<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-0-to-ship-new-block-locking-feature"><strong>WordPress 6.0 To Ship New Block Locking Feature</strong></a> &#8211; <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> gives you a sneak preview on the new feature. </p>



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



<p>Full-site editing experience is not for everyone yet. <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/RuthRaventos">Ruth Raventós</a></strong>, CEO of Nelio, after explaining what FSE entails, walk you through the decision-making process on <a href="https://neliosoftware.com/blog/how-do-i-change-my-website-to-full-site-editing-fse/"><strong>if your site, your online business, is suited to adopt aspects of FSE.</strong></a> It&#8217;s not a technical evaluation, rather than a strategic approach. &#8220;The first task you should do is to understand all the functionalities you want your “new” website to have and see which of them can be provided by FSE. Then, for those that are provided by plugins, evaluate if they are compatible with FSE or what alternatives you have.&#8221; Ruth Raventós wrote. </p>



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



<p class="has-drop-cap">4 (<strong>four)</strong> more days, until May 18th, 2022, to heed the <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">FSE Program Testing Call #14: Rallying Recipe Reviewers</a>.</strong> It&#8217;s also available in <em>Italian.</em> <em>(<a href="https://it.wordpress.org/team/2022/05/11/chiamata-per-il-test-del-programma-fse-14-raduniamo-i-recensori-di-ricette/">Raduniamo i recensori di ricette</a>)</em>, thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/succoallapera"><strong>Piermario Orecchioni</strong></a></p>



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>, <strong>Courtney Robertson</strong> and <strong>Sarah Snow</strong> tested all the features mentioned in the call for testing together in a zoom video meeting. If you don&#8217;t have time to do the testing yourself, but want to know what&#8217;s in the pipeline you can watch this on WordPress.TV: <strong><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/05/02/testing-wordpress-together-new-interactivity-features-for-recipe-websites/">Testing WordPress Together: New Interactivity Features for Recipe&nbsp;Websites </a></strong></p>



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



<p><strong>Vikas Singhal</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/vikasprogrammer/status/1524633033764184066">announced</a> that <a href="http://Gutena.io">their block theme <strong>Gutena</strong></a> already supports Webfonts API that allows you to host fonts locally, with a single line in theme.json. </p>



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



<p>In his latest Building with Blocks post, <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> walks you through the process of <a href="https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-coupon-cards-with-wordpress-blocks"><strong>How To Build Coupon Cards With WordPress Blocks</strong></a>. Get ready for the 2022 eCommerce season for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the fall. Or for any other eCommerce sale you might have in mind. </p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/2ndKauBoy">Bernhard Kau</a></strong>, who is not only co-organizer of this year&#8217;s WordCamp Europe but also a plugin developer, just released a new plugin: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/campaign-archive-block-for-mailchimp/"><strong>Campaign Archive Block for Mailchimp</strong></a></p>



<p>After adding an API key in the settings, the block displays the latest newsletters from your Mailchimp account. Kau has added some display settings and a control for the numbers of campaigns to be listed. This way, you keep your visitors for one more page on your site before they head off to read you latest campaigns. A plugin that does one thing and only one thing. The best kind of block. </p>



<img />



<p>It&#8217;s a solid first version and if you are interesting in a short twitter exchange between Kau and myself,  on possible improvements, <a href="https://twitter.com/2ndKauBoy/status/1525545215326658561">you can follow along here</a>. </p>



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



<p><strong>Munir Kamal</strong>, developer of the EditorPlus plugin, demonstrates in this video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v52gIxyDXzg">How to Create Animated Search Box in Gutenberg</a>. All through the plugin and a short CSS snippet added to the backend for rendering the animation. Pretty nifty! </p>



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



<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> reviewed one of the newest block themes: <a href="https://wptavern.com/catch-fse-is-a-bold-business-friendly-wordpress-block-theme"><strong>Catch FSE Is a Bold, Business-Friendly WordPress Block Theme</strong></a></p>



<h2 id="3-developing-custom-blocks-and-tools">Developing Custom Blocks and Tools</h2>



<p>Core contributor and Gutenberg developer <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/get_dave">Dave Smith</a></strong>, gave a presentation recently on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqj2J1QYYoI"><strong>Gutenberg Now, Next and How to Use it Better Today</strong></a>. </p>



<p>He spoke to developers at the WordPress agency <a href="https://twitter.com/cornershop">CornerShop Creative</a> who are building sites for nonprofits, small and large. The video description has time stamps so you can jump to the relevant topics. Smith also points out that the second half of the presentation was Live Q &amp; A and he provided answers to questions, you might have too. <a href="https://aheadcreative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Cornershop-Creative-Presentation-2022.pdf">The slidedeck is available online.</a></p>



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



<p><strong>Liam Giddy </strong>ventured into <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/blog/build-business-listing-acf-blocks-query-loop-block-theme/">building a business listing using ACF Blocks and the Query Loop Block with a block theme</a> and created this tutorial. It&#8217;s great step  on the journey to switch to block theme development.</p>



<h2 id="6-upcoming-word-press-social-learning-meetups">Upcoming WordPress Social Learning Meetups</h2>



<p><strong>May 18, 2022 &#8211; 6 pm EDT / 22:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518331/">Sticky Styling: Getting Colors, Fonts, and Sizes to Stick</a></strong> w/ Sarah Snow</p>



<p><strong>May 19, 2022 5pm EDT / 21:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285412812/"><strong>Using the Navigation Block</strong></a>&nbsp;w/ Wes Theron</p>



<p><strong>May 19, 2022 &#8211; 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518331/">Builder Basics: Working with Templates in Full Site Editing (Part 3</a></strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518274/"><strong>)</strong></a> w/ Nick Diego</p>



<p><strong>May 23, 2022 1pm EDT / 17:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285798142/">Hello Blocks! Coding a custom block</a></strong> w/ Ryan Welcher</p>



<p><strong>May 25, 2022 &#8211; 7pm EDT / 23:00 UTC </strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285577455/">Design With Me: Create a Simple Website for your Small Business</a></strong> w/ Sarah Snow</p>




<p><em>Featured Image: Skyline of Chicago by Birgit Pauli-Haack (Nov 2021)</em></p>





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<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, 14 May 2022 19:47:22 +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:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"WPTavern: WordSesh 2022 Kicks Off Monday, May 16, Featuring a World-Class Speaker Lineup and Hands-On Workshops";s: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=134352";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:120:"https://wptavern.com/wordsesh-2022-kicks-off-monday-may-16-featuring-a-world-class-speaker-lineup-and-hands-on-workshops";s: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:4797:"<p><a href="https://wordsesh.com/">WordSesh 2022</a>, the live, virtual conference for WordPress professionals, is right around the corner. The event runs from May 16–20, 2022. While previous WordSesh events have always been high quality, this particular edition is jam-packed with a diverse selection of industry experts &#8211; many who have been building high impact projects with WordPress for years.</p>



<img />A sampling of the speakers for WordSesh 2022



<p>This year&#8217;s WordSesh will feature 20 sessions, 3 keynotes, and two in-depth workshops. On May 19, at 8PM EDT, frontend developer Ellen Bauer from Elma Studio will guide users in a workshop on how to &#8220;Convert a Classic Theme to a Block Theme.&#8221; If you are a theme developer who hasn&#8217;t taken the leap into block themes, this workshop will get you started:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Together, we will set up the header and footer in a block theme, learn to work with Templates and Template Parts, set up page contents, and dive into how Styles work.</p><p>Throughout the workshop we&#8217;ll discuss which website projects can benefit from the new FSE features the most, what limitations we are still facing, and how the future of WordPress themes will most likely look.</p></blockquote>



<p>The second workshop will be given by Tiffany Bridge, Product Manager at Nexcess, on May 20. She will give attendees an overview of how to prepare their web properties for a high traffic event.</p>



<p>One of the most exciting sessions on the schedule is the keynote on May 19. The team that rebuilt <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/">WhiteHouse.gov</a> on WordPress in just six months will join the event to talk about the project. Other topics on the schedule include custom block development, headless WordPress, hacking, client services, performance, accessibility, and user experience.</p>



<p>In 2021, Brian Richards, founder of <a href="https://wpsessions.com/">WPSessions.com</a> and organizer of WordSesh, has transitioned the event to be more inclusive of timezones around the world. This year&#8217;s event will happen over the course of four days, with time offsets that accommodate a global audience. The first block of sessions is optimally timed for attendees across Asia and the Pacific. Day 2 is designed for attendees across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and day 3 will cater to attendees in the Americas, Iceland, and Greenland.</p>



<p>&#8220;In 2019 and 2020 I ran entirely separate events for each region, but in 2021 I brought them back together as a single event,&#8221; Richards said. &#8220;I found it was a lot easier to get people excited about and paying attention to one big WordSesh event.</p>



<p>&#8220;It feels more inclusive this way, even though the separate events were also open to attendees from around the world. I think that’s primarily because there is <em>something</em> that is conveniently scheduled for someone no matter where they live. And with a single event, watching the recordings feels more akin to catching up on the pieces you missed rather than trying to watch talks for an event that was designed for somebody else.&#8221;</p>



<p>The scheduling modifications seem to be working, as the last event in 2021 hosted 3,600 attendees, making WordSesh the second largest WordPress community event behind WCEU 2020. </p>



<p>Richards continues to curate a high-quality speaker lineup year after year, through the help of attendee surveys, which reveal where people are spending their time, attention, and money. WordSesh pays its speakers and Richards also invests time for personal outreach. Through this combination, he said the schedule fills up fast.</p>



<p>&#8220;I think paying the speakers certainly helps with recruiting such incredible presenters, but I imagine that’s more icing on the cake for most speakers,&#8221; Richards said. &#8220;Probably the biggest draw is the history WordSesh now has (this is the 9th year and 12th event, officially), helped by the ever-increasing reach of my own personal network.&#8221;</p>



<p>Until 2021, Richards had been running the events entirely by himself. Last year he hired a part-time assistant and also started contracting out the video editing, which has helped him keep the event running more efficiently. It is quite a feat to have hosted WordSesh so many years running when many comparable virtual WordCamps of this caliber often rely on a large team of volunteers and organizers. </p>



<p><a href="https://wordsesh.com/register/">Registration for WordSesh</a> is still open and it&#8217;s <strong>free</strong> for anyone to attend. The event will be live captioned by real people and all sessions will be recorded for purchase later on WPSessions.</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, 13 May 2022 19:35:27 +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:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:68:"Post Status: WordPress Podcast and Video Picks for the Week of May 8";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97445";s: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:79:"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-may-8/";s: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:2661:"<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-7-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">Jane Genova on overcoming ageism. Courtney Robertson on Learn #WordPress. 10 lesser-known browser APIs. PHP encryption. Free FSE theme. </p></div>


<h2 id="h-my-podcast-picks">My Podcast Picks <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></h2>



<ul><li><strong>Freelancing After 50</strong>: <strong>Jane Genova</strong> <a href="https://anchor.fm/freelancingafter50/episodes/Episode-3-Interview-with-Jane-Genova--Veteran-Freelancer--One-of-the-Smartest-People-I-Know-e1id3lk">on dealing with marketplace age bias</a> and her &#8220;reset&#8221; — shifting her services and mindset to fit prevailing marketing forces.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>WP Tavern Jukebox:</strong> <strong>Courtney Robertson</strong> <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/26-courtney-robertson-on-how-the-learn-project-is-educating-people-about-wordpress">discusses</a> how the <strong>Learn Project</strong> educates people about WordPress.</li><li><strong>Syntax.fm</strong>: <a href="https://syntax.fm/show/456/10-nifty-browser-apis">10 browser APIs</a> you might not be familiar with.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-my-video-picks">My Video Picks <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4fa.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></h2>



<ul><li><strong>Best Ways To Encrypt Passwords, Keys, and More With PHP</strong>: <strong>Thomas McGee</strong> from <strong>Delicious Brains</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekesz19MhOQ">covers hashing, secret key encryption, and envelope encryption</a>.</li><li><strong>Bricksy</strong>: A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_VScu1KaI0">video tour</a> of a recently released (and free) full site editor theme.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-1 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" />  </p>



<p>And don't miss <strong>the latest updates from the people making WordPress</strong>. We've got you covered with <a href="https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/">This Week at WordPress.org</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2699.png" alt="⚙" class="wp-smiley" /></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:"Fri, 13 May 2022 19:12:24 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"Post Status: Post Status Comments (No. 9) — The State of WordPress Market Share";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97556";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"https://poststatus.com/the-state-of-wordpress-market-share/";s: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:5862:"<h2 id="h-in-order-for-wordpress-to-win-the-rest-of-the-competition-doesn-t-have-to-lose-david-bisset">“In order for WordPress to win, the rest of the competition doesn’t have to lose.” — David Bisset</h2>



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



<p class="has-drop-cap">How should the WordPress community react to <a href="https://poststatus.com/does-market-share-matter/">the first recorded dip in market share</a>? Is a small decline something to be concerned about or more of an opportunity to examine what defines WordPress as a successful platform? Are the Gutenberg project, Full Site Editing, other core features, or competitor innovations important factors? Should some organizations in the WordPress space be playing a bigger role as contributors? </p>



<p>Special guests <strong>Joost de Valk</strong>, <strong>Alex Denning</strong>, and <strong>Jessica Frick</strong> discuss these subjects with host <strong>David Bisset</strong> — and near the end <strong>Ben Gabler</strong> joins in.</p>







<p class="has-background"><strong>Post Status Comments</strong> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4ac.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.<br /><br /><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/comments/">Browse past episodes</a> and subscribe to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcasts/">our podcasts</a> on&nbsp; <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or get them by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://joost.blog/wordpress-market-share-shrinking/">WordPress’ market share is shrinking</a></li><li><a href="https://wpreview.io/wordpress-discontinued-ipod/ https://wpreview.io/wordpress-discontinued-ipod/">What WordPress has to do with the Discontinued iPod</a></li><li><a href="https://getellipsis.com/blog/105m-searched-wordpress-terms/https:/getellipsis.com/blog/105m-searched-wordpress-terms/">A 0.4% drop in WordPress CMS market share doesn’t really matter</a> (Article)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/AlexDenning/status/1524743992524427265">Alex Denning WordPress' Market Share Twitter Thread</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/AlexDenning/status/1524743999390593026">Continuation of Alex Denning WordPress' Market Share Twitter Thread</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/richard_tabor/status/1524731039112962050">Rich Tabor reply on Full Site Editing on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/nickmdiego/status/1525066224828354560">Nick Diego </a><a href="https://twitter.com/richard_tabor/status/1524731039112962050">reply on Full Site Editing</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nickmdiego/status/1525066224828354560">on Twitter</a> Part 1</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/nickmdiego/status/1525074482976772096">Nick Diego reply on Full Site Editing on Twitter</a> Part 2</li><li><a href="https://getellipsis.com/blog/105m-searched-wordpress-terms/">105,495,450 searches for WordPress terms in the last 12 months, up 7.5% year-on-year</a><a href="https://wptavern.com/clarity-ad-blocker-for-wordpress-announced-receives-mixed-reactions"></a></li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-columns has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background" id="WP-Engine">
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<h3 id="sponsor-bluehost"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/">WP Engine</a></h3>



<p><strong>WP Engine</strong> is <a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/">the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster</a>. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.</p>
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<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center">
<div id="WP-Engine" class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/"><img width="112" height="151" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/WPE-LOGO-S-Default.svg" alt="WP Engine" class="wp-image-95924" title="WP Engine" /></a></div>
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<h3 id="follow-our-panelists-and-post-status-on-twitter-a4ffc805-90f1-41dc-9135-61b3ff20cb40">Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/jdevalk">Joost de Valk</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/AlexDenning">Alex Denning</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/renewabelle">Jessica Frick</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/ben_gabler">Ben Gabler</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status">Post Status </a>(Twitter)<a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a></li></ul>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 13 May 2022 18:30:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"Post Status: Post Status Upgrade — Zen and the Art of Lockpicking";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97528";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-upgrade-zen-and-the-art-of-lockpicking/";s: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:2550:"<p class="has-background">Learn new skills and build your knowledge to enhance your career in WordPress! <strong>Post Status Upgrade</strong> is an ongoing series of live workshops centered around a particular skill or learning activity.</p>



<p class="has-drop-cap">Watch Robert Rowley explain the basics of lock picking in this live, hands-on workshop for Post Status members that took place on May 5th, 2022. Watch as Robert teaches participants how to open locks, as well as their minds. He shares stories about emotional intelligence and the life cycle of skill practice from the beginner's mind to the expert's. You'll laugh at some entertaining mishaps Robert has had with lock picks!</p>



<div class="wp-container-9 wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="132" height="150" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/robert-snow-1-132x150.png" alt="Robert Rowley" class="wp-image-95165" />Robert Rowley</div>



<p><strong>Robert Rowley</strong> is <strong>Patchstack</strong>&#8216;s Security Advocate and has been picking locks since 2004. Between 2016 and 2019 Robert ran a retreat for his information security friends and colleagues called <strong>Disconnect Camp</strong>. This is where he first combined skills like lock picking with reflection on mental health, wellness, skill development and more.</p>
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<div class="wp-block-columns has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">
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<div id="StellarWP" class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><a href="https://poststat.us/stellarwp"><img width="300" height="300" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/stellarwp-black-1-300x300.png" alt="StellarWP" class="wp-image-93207" title="StellarWP" /></a></div>
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<div class="wp-block-column">
<p class="has-small-font-size"><strong>StellarWP</strong> is a collective of WordPress innovators empowering business owners and creators with plugins and tools to help them thrive. We build great plugins, but we don’t stop there; we continually challenge ourselves to keep innovating and improving. Our solutions include <a href="https://poststat.us/stellarwp"><strong>the most trusted names in WordPress</strong></a>, with more than 2.5 Million installs. Since 2021, we’ve grown to encompass seven brands and dozens of plugins. StellarWP is part of the Liquid Web family of brands. <br /></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:"Fri, 13 May 2022 18:15:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"Post Status: Post Status Notes #498";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97447";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-notes-498/";s: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:12021:"<div class="wp-container-3 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container"><div class="wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">Are we up or down? What should happen when a license expires? Is the block protocol worth it? Driesnote 2022. WP Engine expands. Becoming a better writer. Best backup solutions. Define your role. Reaktiv wins a spot in Inc's Best Workplaces. Open Source JobHub. Our passwordless future. </p></div></div></div>



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<p><strong>Joost de Valk</strong>&#8216;s latest <a href="https://twitter.com/jdevalk/status/1524354975089967105">WordPress market share analysis</a> has led to a lot of good questions that are hard to answer without better data and ways to assess it. Are we going up or down? <strong>David Bisset</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/does-market-share-matter/">offered his take</a> and hosted a community conversation on the <a href="https://poststatus.com/the-state-of-wordpress-market-share/">State of WordPress Market Share</a>.</p>



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<p><strong>Munir Kamal</strong> explains <a href="https://gutenberghub.com/create-scrollable-image-gallery-block/">how to create a scrollable image gallery block</a> in the editor with an already scaffolded Gutenberg block and some basic <strong>React</strong> knowledge.</p>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_d1e0d5-c8"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



<p><strong>Apple</strong>, <strong>Google</strong>, and <strong>Microsoft</strong> have taken <a href="https://fidoalliance.org/apple-google-and-microsoft-commit-to-expanded-support-for-fido-standard-to-accelerate-availability-of-passwordless-sign-ins/">another step towards a possible passwordless future</a>. This applies to both apps and websites, so I'm looking forward to logging into a WordPress site without entering a password.</p>



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<p><strong>Aleksandar Vucenovic</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.slack.com/archives/C02GALGDLLA/p1651854889972039">announced</a> in <strong>Post Status Slack</strong> <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pixel-manager-pro-for-woocommerce/">the launch</a> of <strong>Pixel Manag</strong>er for <strong>WooCommerce</strong>, an extension that tracks store visitors with tracking pixels in the standard way but with &#8220;more functional layers that increase measurement accuracy.&#8221; </p>



<p>Pixel Manager also finds and automatically fixes or gives you guidance about &#8220;problems in your shop setup that might lower or prevent accurate tracking.&#8221;</p>



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<p><strong>Linux</strong> <strong>New Media</strong> has launched <strong><a href="https://opensourcejobhub.com/">Open Source JobHub</a></strong>, a <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-new-job-site-just-for-open-source-jobs-opens-its-doors/">job site just for open source jobs</a>.</p>



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<p><strong>Patchstack</strong> has <a href="https://patchstack.com/articles/winners-of-wordpress-bug-hunt-2021/">announced the winners</a> of their 2021 <strong>WP Bug Hunt</strong>, which resulted in &#8220;more than 1000 security reports and paid out $17,450 USD as cash&#8221; in bounties.</p>



<p>In<strong> Post Status Slack</strong>, Oliver <a href="https://poststatus.slack.com/archives/CHNM7Q7T8/p1652276299830169">noted</a> they've <a href="https://patchstack.com/alliance/">launched a new</a> <strong>Patchstack Alliance</strong> site where you can learn about &#8220;some new special bounties&#8221; and how to get into the hunt yourself! Get in touch with Patchstack to be part of the next WP Bug Hunt challenge.</p>



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<p>Congrats to <strong>Reakitv</strong>, a <strong>WordPress VIP</strong> Partner, for becoming one of <strong>Inc</strong>&#8216;s <a href="https://www.inc.com/profile/reaktiv">Best Workplaces honorees</a> for 2022.</p>



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<p><strong>Neil Thanedar</strong> thinks <a href="https://neilthanedar.com/we-need-a-middle-class-for-startups/">we need a &#8220;middle class&#8221; for startups</a> — those with $10M to $1B USD in annual revenue. </p>



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<p><strong>Eric Karkovack</strong> added to <a href="https://speckyboy.com/wordpress-theme-plugin-license-expires/">the conversation about WordPress theme and plugin license expirations</a>. Eric believes there's a middle ground between supporting non-paying customers for free and making the user experience worse if a plugin isn't renewed:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;Software developers should be able to convey the importance of license renewals. But they should also make their intentions crystal clear&#8230; Users should know a developer’s policy <em>before</em> they make a purchase.&#8221;</p></blockquote>



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<p><strong>Hugh Lashbrooke</strong> — who is <strong>Head of Community Education</strong> at <strong>Automattic</strong> — shared <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6929625424058609664/">how he wrote his job description and invented the title for his role</a>. Hugh advises, &#8220;If you want to change your career path, figure out what that looks like for you in your context and push for it — advocate for yourself and make it happen.&#8221;</p>



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<p><strong>Leonardo Losoviz</strong> wraps up his investigation of the possible benefits and costs to WordPress if it adopts the <strong>Block Protocol</strong>. While he feels the attempt at a standard is a &#8220;wonderful idea,&#8221; Leonardo has come to the conclusion <a href="https://masterwp.com/would-wordpress-be-better-off-by-joining-the-block-protocol/">it might not be worth it</a>.</p>



<p>Check out Leonardo's conversation with <strong>David Bisset</strong> on <strong>Post Status Excerpt</strong> to get some background on the Block Protocol along with Leonardo's first thoughts about it.</p>



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<p>If you are looking for a backup plugin, then <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/best-wordpress-backup-plugin/">this recent product comparison</a> from <strong>Mike Davey</strong> is worth a read. </p>



<p>My preference is for <a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/1524103981160714240">server-side backups</a>, but Mike raises a good point about how we can't assume any backup is 100% reliable if we haven't tested them. The bottom line is, the more important the site, the more backup plans you should have in place.</p>



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<p><strong>DrupalCon</strong> was held in <strong>Portland</strong> at the end of April. I've always enjoyed watching <strong>Drupal</strong> founder <strong>Dries Buytaert</strong>&#8216;s &#8220;Driesnotes,&#8221; which are his keynote speeches at DrupalCons —similar to Matt's &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig676RzJbLo&list=PLpeDXSh4nHjRye9v5rA62RG2Gg6AgwAds&index=2&t=4s">State of the Word</a>&#8221; talks. They're full of interesting things to learn about this sister CMS project. </p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig676RzJbLo">2022 Driesnote</a> is available on <strong>YouTube</strong> right now.</p>



<p>Big Drupal news for 2022: <strong>Drupal 10</strong> is coming out later this year, and it <a href="https://www.drupal.org/about/core/blog/drupal-10-will-require-php-81">will require PHP 8.1</a>.</p>



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<p><strong>WP Engine</strong> continues to expand! They've added <a href="https://martechseries.com/technology/wp-engine-unveils-new-omaha-office/">a new office</a> in <strong>Omaha</strong> where <strong>Flywheel</strong> is based. Flywheel <a href="https://cloud.google.com/customers/flywheel">moved onto</a> <strong>Google Cloud</strong> a few years ago around the time Google's <strong>Council Bluffs</strong> <a href="https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/council-bluffs/">datacenter</a> came online across the river in Iowa. </p>



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<p><strong>Heinrich Hartmann</strong> has <a href="https://www.heinrichhartmann.com/posts/writing/">some excellent suggestions</a> for engineers and really everyone who wants to become a better and more productive writer. Some tips include knowing your audience, making your text skimmable, and leveraging small writing tasks as exercise. </p>



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<p>Get <a href="https://poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-may-8/">David's picks for the week</a> from WordPress and web tech podcasts and videos.</p>



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<div class="wp-container-4 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<h2 id="h-do-you-enjoy-our-weekly-notes"><strong>Do you enjoy our weekly notes? </strong></h2>



<p>Get them and more in Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a>. We gather WordPress and WooCommerce news along with significant writing, videos, and podcast episodes from the WordPress community and beyond. Don't miss the latest updates from the people making WordPress in our <a href="https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/">This Week at WordPress.org</a> summaries. It's all in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></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:"Fri, 13 May 2022 17:25:36 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:38:"Post Status: Does Market Share Matter?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97600";s: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/does-market-share-matter/";s: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:6856:"<div class="wp-container-7 wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p class="has-small-font-size">By <a href="https://poststatus.com/author/david-bisset/">David Bisset</a> and <a href="https://poststatus.com/author/dan-knauss/">Dan Knauss</a> • May 13, 2022 <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f5d3.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
</div></div>


<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">Is the WordPress market share beginning to shrink? How do we assess market share? What metrics matter? It's time we asked these questions. </p></div>


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<p class="has-drop-cap">This week brought some attention to WordPress's market share, at least as it gets reported by <strong>W3techs</strong>. For the first time, the WordPress market share <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all">appears to have declined</a> — by 0.4% since February this year. David noticed this as soon as the first numbers were published and <a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/1518633952906461185">tweeted about it on April 25th</a>. This week, <strong>Joost de Valk</strong> <a href="https://joost.blog/wordpress-market-share-shrinking/">broke down the numbers</a> and gave his take on the causes of the decline.</p>



<p>You should read the whole thing, but in Joost's opinion, the main cause of this multi-month trend is &#8220;out innovation&#8221; from <strong>Wix</strong> and <strong>Squarespace</strong>, even though both have had almost flat growth recently. Joost feels these centralized platforms can update customer sites with enhancements and best practices faster than WordPress can.</p>



<h2 id="h-is-pointing-fingers-at-full-site-editing-fair">Is Pointing Fingers at Full Site Editing Fair?</h2>



<p>Unsurprisingly, Full Site Editing (as distinct from Gutenberg / the block editor) has come in for a lot of renewed criticism, with Joost leading the pack:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;The Full Site Editing project is simply taking far too long. That’s causing the rest of the platform to lag behind current web trends.&#8221;</p></blockquote>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/jdevalk/status/1524354975089967105">Others have suggested one or more primary causes</a>: the whole Gutenberg project, COVID, loss of in-person events, emphasis on PHP, emphasis on React/JavaScript, a decline in volunteering, and not enough core contributors. Sure, these are all possible influences in any downward trend. But it's an avalanche of anecdotes, speculation, axes to grind — and not a few potentially useful insights.</p>



<p>A popular and reasonable opinion is that competing publishing platforms can handle some (typically simpler) use cases faster or easier than WordPress. If you don't care about the tool you use (or owning your own content, the GPL, open source, etc.) then WordPress isn't the first choice quite as clearly as it used to be for some use cases, like blogging or simple websites.</p>



<h2>In Context, an Overreaction?</h2>



<p>The global economic context right now is one of alarm over recession and &#8220;stagflation&#8221; indicators — flat or negative growth plus inflation. Many other CMS platforms are trending down or flattening in growth too. Under these conditions, a tiny 0.4% decline shouldn't ring any alarm bells.</p>



<p>But as you can imagine (<a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/1524405251733921793">and as David predicted</a>), many people are quick to offer dramatic opinions, but for others, it's an opportunity for the WordPress community to do some self-examination. </p>



<h2>Is WordPress the iPod or the iPhone?</h2>



<p><strong>Joe Casabona</strong> compares WordPress to <a href="https://wpreview.io/wordpress-discontinued-ipod/">the discontinued iPod</a> — an innovative breakthrough in its day that eventually became obsolete. </p>



<p>We believe WordPress <a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/1435675442200162313">might be closer to the iPhone</a>, however. Growth stops at some point for a dominant player that is still winning. The WordPress community should stop obsessing over growth and using it as our only measure of health and success. </p>



<p><strong>Brian Coords</strong> takes a similar view and suggests <a href="https://masterwp.com/wordpress-needs-to-start-thinking-like-a-platform-again/">WordPress should start thinking like a platform again</a>.</p>



<h2>What do we know anyway?</h2>



<p>That's not to say a reported 0.4% drop over 2-3 months is clearly a decline at all. Will it prove a lasting trend? </p>



<p>As <strong>Alex Denning</strong> <a href="https://getellipsis.com/blog/wordpress-shrinking-maybe/">observes</a>, year over year <strong>W3Techs</strong> shows the overall WordPress market share is <em>up</em> 1.7%. Moreover, W3techs has been our only measure of CMS market share. Their primary data comes from <strong>Alexa</strong> rankings, <a href="https://www.coywolf.news/seo/amazon-alexa-rank-end-of-life/">a defunct service</a> as of this month. Alex lays his finger on our biggest challenge:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>&#8220;We had no idea why the market share was growing, and we accordingly have no idea why it’s shrinking.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>



<h2>We need to know! How can we find out?</h2>



<p>There are many other things alongside market share that we ought to be researching, like indicators of the project and the community's health — the whole ecosystem and specific parts of it.</p>



<p><strong>Jordi Cabot</strong> asked earlier this year, <a href="https://poststatus.com/can-five-for-the-future-fund-wordpress-research/">What if Five for the Future funded WordPress research</a>? He also put out this call for proposals: <a href="https://poststatus.com/can-five-for-the-future-fund-wordpress-research#h-call-for-proposals-what-are-the-most-important-questions-to-ask">What are the most important questions to ask</a>? </p>



<h2>Tired of wandering in the dark?</h2>



<p>We'd love to hear your ideas about the questions we should be asking, the metrics we need, and how we can get them. Send them to us or bring them into <strong>Post Status Slack.</strong></p>



<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background"><strong>Post Status</strong> hosted and recorded a community conversation about the <a href="https://poststatus.com/the-state-of-wordpress-market-share/">State of the WordPress Market Share</a> as a <strong>Comments</strong> episode on <strong>Twitter Spaces</strong> on May 13th with <strong>Joost</strong>, <strong>Alex</strong>, and <strong>Jessica Frick</strong> as invited guests.</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, 13 May 2022 17:06:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"Do The Woo Community: WooBits: Dropping My .02% About WordPress Marketshare";s: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=71652";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"https://dothewoo.io/woobits-dropping-my-02-about-wordpress-marketshare/";s: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:430:"<p>In light of the recent article and discussion of the drop in the WordPress marketshare, well, I felt it my duty to weigh in, ever so small.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/woobits-dropping-my-02-about-wordpress-marketshare/">WooBits: Dropping My .02% About WordPress Marketshare</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:"Fri, 13 May 2022 09:54:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:40:"WPTavern: A Farewell from Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=134249";s: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/a-farewell-from-justin-tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8067:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Around three years ago, I was at a crossroads. I had spent nearly my entire adult life and most of my professional career within the WordPress space. However, the responsibilities of being a solo theme/plugin shop owner were like a boulder upon my shoulders that I could no longer hold up. After 11 years in the business, I was ready to throw in the towel.</p>



<p>My work was my life, and my life was my work. I was not sure if I even knew how to do anything else. I briefly considered returning to South Korea for another year-long stint teaching English as a second language. But, I had already spent years rebuilding my life and relationships back in my home state of Alabama. <em>Plus, I was not prepared to say goodbye to my cats for that long.</em></p>



<p>The only other practical experience I had was gardening and farming work. I have spent many summers working watermelon fields and hauling hay under the heat of the Alabama sun, and I have piddled around in my own garden over the years. However, I was not in a financially stable position to start my own farm. It was too risky a proposition at that stage in my life.</p>



<p>I was also not quite ready to let go of WordPress. There was more that I wanted to accomplish, but I still faced the reality of needing to move on from the place I was at or find some way to get more joy out of the work I was doing.</p>



<p>It was not until a few months later that the writing position for WP Tavern opened. I was hesitant about it at first. I figured I had the credentials and experience to do the job, but daily writing, editing, and publishing would be unlike anything I had taken on before. Sarah Gooding, who has been the best colleague anyone could ask for, convinced me that I should pursue this job.</p>



<p>It turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to me.</p>



<p>As I got into the swing of things and began to find my voice, I was once again genuinely happy to be involved with the WordPress project. Since I have been here, I have rekindled the flame I once had with our beloved platform.</p>



<p>I have made wonderful friends along the way. It has been a blessing to have the Tavern and its readers in my life.</p>



<p>Today, I am ready for a new challenge. I am stepping down from my role as a writer at WP Tavern.</p>



<p>No, I am not ready to start that farm just yet. Y&#8217;all cannot get rid of me that easily. I will stick around the WordPress community for a while, but today is not about my new role. It is a celebration of the Tavern.</p>



<p>I have published 647 stories and written 857 comments as of this post. I can only hope that, somewhere along the way, I have made an impact in some of your lives or work.</p>



<p>As I leave, I have one request: be kind to one another.</p>



<p>I believe we all want WordPress to be successful. We might have different opinions about how to make that happen. Sometimes, those ideas clash, but if we all treat one another with respect and have constructive discussions, things will work themselves out.</p>



<p>To our readers, thank you for going on this journey with me.</p>



<p>There are two remaining questions I want to answer before closing this chapter in my part of that journey. Feel free to continue reading. Otherwise, thank you for making it this far.</p>



<h2>Writing About WordPress</h2>



<img /><a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/632620a981/">Photo</a> by <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/author/turtlepod/">David Chandra Purnama</a>.



<p>Someone messaged me a week or so into my employment at WP Tavern about writing for WordPress. They wanted to know how they could become a writer on WordPress-related topics and one day work in the field. At the time, I did not have a great answer to the question. Maybe I still do not, but I will take a crack at it.</p>



<p>We might as well start with the advice of one of the most prolific writers in modern history, Stephen King. At the end of <em>The Stand</em>, one of my favorites from him, he answered this same question, and it has always resonated with me.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>When asked, &#8220;How do you write?&#8221; I invariably answer, &#8220;One word at a time,&#8221; and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That&#8217;s all. One stone at a time. But I&#8217;ve read you can see that mother&#8212; from space without a telescope.</p></blockquote>



<p>I think he may be wrong about seeing the Great Wall from space (<em>Where&#8217;s a fact-checker when you need one?</em>), but it is still generally sound advice.</p>



<p>I have been writing about WordPress for 17 years. Sometimes on my personal blog. At other times, I have taken one-off jobs. And, of course, I have written 100s of posts here at the Tavern. What has always helped me is sticking to topics I am passionate about. There are days when the job can be a grind (especially during slow news weeks), so you must love what you are doing to sustain any sort of career in writing.</p>



<p>I have a B.A. in English with a secondary concentration in journalism. However, my education merely provided a solid foundation. It is not a prerequisite for doing the job.</p>



<p>No one can teach you how to build those habits necessary for a sustainable career. They are too personal, and you can only figure out what works by practicing.</p>



<p>No one can give you your voice. That is a discovery that only you can make, and writing is a discovery in and of itself.</p>



<p>My advice to would-be writers is to give <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a> a shot this November. It is a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I have won twice and hope to do it again this year. I guarantee that you will figure out everything you need to know about yourself as a writer if you push yourself through the challenge. It is OK to fail. Just dust yourself off and try again if you have your heart set on it.</p>



<p>To the person who asked this question: I am sorry for not remembering your name. It has been over two years, and my memory is not what it once was. But, I hope you are reading now.</p>



<h2>Spilling the Beans</h2>



<img />Coffee Beans. <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/12961feeb9/">Photo</a> by <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/author/cagrimmett/">Chuck Grimmett</a>



<p>There is a question I get asked. <em>A lot.</em> Some of you probably already know what it is and have, perhaps, asked it or some variation of it yourself.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Does Matt dictate or control the content that we cover?</p></blockquote>



<p>Since it is my last day on the job, I might as well let readers peek behind the curtain. And the answer is no.</p>



<p><em>Sorry to let down our conspiracy-theory-loving readers, but the truth is just not that juicy.</em></p>



<p>I always joke that I have only talked with &#8220;the boss&#8221; a handful of times while working here. That is pretty close to the truth (I have not actually kept count).</p>



<p>From the day I arrived until today, I have had complete independence to thrive or fail by the result of my work. It felt like our small team had been left on an island to fend for ourselves at times. We must go through the same channels as other publications for information and have never been given special treatment.</p>



<p>This level of autonomy is vital for journalistic integrity.</p>



<p>The WordPress community will always need a publication where its writers have the independence to do their work without conflicts of interest. The Tavern has always been that place, and I do not expect it to change going forward.</p>



<p>I appreciate that our readers have trusted our team to perform this job. It is a responsibility that has not been taken lightly. I am proud to have contributed in at least in some small way.</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, 12 May 2022 22:47:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 58) — Understanding Your Outsourcing Needs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97290";s: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:60:"https://poststatus.com/understanding-your-outsourcing-needs/";s: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:4506:"<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Matching is key. &#8230;the right skills, the right availability, and the right temperament to join an agency's team to help them meet their goals.”</p><cite>— Morayo Orija</cite></blockquote>



<p class="has-drop-cap">Have you ever considered outsourcing some aspect of your business? Have you hired a virtual assistant — for yourself or for your agency? David chats with <strong>Michael Short</strong> and <strong>Morayo Orija</strong> from <strong>GoWP</strong> about the value of outsourcing certain business operations. Learn what to look for, and why you might need to &#8220;let it go&#8221; and trust other people as you outsource parts of your business you can't handle.</p>



<p><strong>Why This Matters:</strong> Most businesses and freelancers can't do it all — or they shouldn't. Whether it's accounting, content creation, or development — we sometimes have to acknowledge our limitations and weaknesses. Why not turn to trusted sources in the industry and WordPress community for help? If you've thought about outsourcing as a possible solution for your business, you'll benefit from listening to Michael and Morayo.</p>







<p class="has-background">Every week <strong><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://michaelshort.pro/"><strong>Michael Short</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/morija"><strong>Morayo Orija</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://givewp.com/"><strong>GiveWP</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-columns has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background" id="WP-Engine">
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<h3 id="sponsor-bluehost"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/">WP Engine</a></h3>



<p><strong>WP Engine</strong> is <a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/">the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster</a>. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.</p>
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<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center">
<div id="WP-Engine" class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/"><img width="112" height="151" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/WPE-LOGO-S-Default.svg" alt="WP Engine" class="wp-image-95924" title="WP Engine" /></a></div>
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</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:"Thu, 12 May 2022 20:00:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"Do The Woo Community: Education, the LMS Ecosystem and WooCommerce with Ronnie Burt";s: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=71635";s: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:64:"https://dothewoo.io/education-the-lms-ecosystem-and-woocommerce/";s: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:418:"<p>Ronnie Burt from Sensei LMS shares insights and thoughts from his years of experience in education, WordPress, and WooCommerce</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/education-the-lms-ecosystem-and-woocommerce/">Education, the LMS Ecosystem and WooCommerce with Ronnie Burt</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, 12 May 2022 14:00:01 +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:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:150:"WPTavern: WordPress Community Attributes Declining Market Share to Performance Issues, Increased Complexity, and the Lagging Full-Site Editing Project";s: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=134243";s: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:159:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-attributes-declining-market-share-to-performance-issues-increased-complexity-and-the-lagging-full-site-editing-project";s: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:11917:"<p>For the first time in WordPress&#8217; nearly 19-year history, the software&#8217;s usage stats are showing signs of declining market share. Its remarkable ascension to 43.3% market share took a turn in March 2022 and usage has slowly declined since then, according to a new WordPress market share report from Joost de Valk that references <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all">stats from W3Techs</a>. </p>



<img />CMS usage stats since January 2011 &#8211; source: W3Techs



<p>In a post titled &#8220;<a href="https://joost.blog/wordpress-market-share-shrinking/">WordPress&#8217; Market Share Is Shrinking,</a>&#8221; de Valk highlighted the numbers from the last few months, which now conclusively demonstrate a decline:</p>



<img />source: <a href="https://joost.blog/wordpress-market-share-shrinking/">Joost de Valk</a>



<p>de Valk&#8217;s analysis elaborates on how WordPress&#8217; market share, and that of its open source contemporaries, is being eroded by competitors like Wix and Squarespace. He attributes this change to two major factors: WordPress&#8217; lack of focus on performance, and the complexity of the unfinished full-site editing project:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>If you look at&nbsp;<a href="http://cwvtech.report/">cwvtech.report</a>&nbsp;you’ll see that in the last year, sites on Wix and Squarespace on average have improved their site speed more than WordPress sites. WordPress has a performance team now, and it has made some progress. But the reality is that it hasn’t really made big strides yet, and in my opinion, really should. Project leadership still seems unwilling to focus on performance though, which has to do with the next point:</p><p>WordPress’ full site editing project is not done yet. Anecdotally, more and more people are having a hard time deciding how to build their site on WordPress. Wix and Squarespace are simply way simpler tools to build a site. As they improve their SEO tooling, there’s less and less reason to switch over to WordPress.</p></blockquote>



<p>The post inspired rampant speculation in the community, and the discussion has splintered off into different pockets across the web &#8211; various <a href="https://twitter.com/jdevalk/status/1524354975089967105">Twitter threads</a>, Post Status Slack, and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5335192453209592/">post in the Advanced WP</a> group on Facebook that has already received more than 100 comments. </p>



<p>It&#8217;s not realistic to expect any CMS to make gains every month, even if it has grown steadily in the past. WordPress is still far and away the market leader, but many see the new decline in market share as a symptom of a deeper problem.  No one can definitively say why WordPress is losing market share but the community has a few prevailing theories. </p>



<p>Performance is one of the contributing factors that is easier to measure than many others. According to <a href="https://t.co/UXrPUetsXH">data from HTTP Archive</a>, WordPress trails its closest competitors when it comes to percentage of sites with good Core Web Vitals scores.</p>



<img />



<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not excited to see the percentage drop, but it confirms even more that something needs to change,&#8221; Google-sponsored contributor Felix Arntz <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5335192453209592/?comment_id=5335463033182534&__cft__[0]=AZXHiAZGjTdaMvv69aWrE4uqcclxVqhyYOPyNLpAN6rFHg9aXVJM5D_cSXcFPU5STYxj6mrkzp7e909jEvJgUKrPSAoI1AlPn2app0822R8UjgvsZpLbxfepE6ci8tTiWC62JubpIYAVNcgp3lYcNVzZ&__tn__=R]-R">said</a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s also worth adding that the growth rate of other CMSs like Wix or Shopify has already long surpassed WordPress even before this. My session at WordCamp Europe is precisely going to focus on this topic.</p>



<p>&#8220;All this is why we started the WordPress performance team a couple months back, we need to make more solid performance decisions out of the box for WordPress. Let&#8217;s work together so that we can turn this around over the next few years.&#8221;</p>



<p>Many saw the news of WordPress&#8217; declining market share as an opportunity to weigh in on their pet grievances about WordPress and the Gutenberg project in general, but there are some legitimate concerns about the condition of the software when it&#8217;s rolled out to millions of users.</p>



<p>&#8220;Full site editing and its deployment into core before it has really been ready isn’t doing us any favors for newcomers to WordPress,&#8221; WordPress developer Daniel Schutzsmith <a href="https://twitter.com/schutzsmith/status/1524420452021682181">said</a>. &#8220;It throws them off and scares them because it feels broken in many aspects.&#8221;</p>



<p>WordPress&#8217; increasing complexity is another strong factor many participants cited as a possible influence, particularly those who build websites for clients. The software has become more sophisticated, enabling users to do more things than ever before, but it&#8217;s not getting easier to use.  </p>



<p>&#8220;I don’t do much WP dev anymore, but after needing multiple articles and a YouTube tutorial for me to understand the new Navigation block, I knew WP was in serious trouble,&#8221; developer Alexis Rae <a href="https://twitter.com/TransCinderella/status/1524363595903025152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1524363595903025152%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwptavern.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D134243action%3Dedit">said</a>. &#8220;That 5.9 pushed out full site editing as the only option (that I can tell) while it’s a beta is insane.&#8221;</p>



<p>Multiple participants in the discussions on Facebook and Twitter said they have recently been building some of their clients&#8217; sites with other technologies to make it easier for their clients to manage their websites.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&#8230; for the last few years, this hasn't been our experience and eyes are wondering towards other solutions. We've already delivered sites on Webflow, and even a couple on Squarespace. That would have been unthinkable two years ago.</p>&mdash; Nick Wilmot (@nickwilmot) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickwilmot/status/1524416730805776384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>&#8220;From working with clients I notice that the quality of the admin interface is really becoming an issue that turns people off from WordPress,&#8221; Florian Fermin <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/168889943173228/user/1498532059/?__cft__[0]=AZXHiAZGjTdaMvv69aWrE4uqcclxVqhyYOPyNLpAN6rFHg9aXVJM5D_cSXcFPU5STYxj6mrkzp7e909jEvJgUKrPSAoI1AlPn2app0822R8UjgvsZpLbxfepE6ci8tTiWC62JubpIYAVNcgp3lYcNVzZ&__tn__=R]-R">said</a>. &#8220;On the lower end, this drives people to go to Squarespace and Wix instead. On the high end, I have now migrated multiple sites away from WordPress to CraftCMS and clients have been delighted with the clean interface it provides, and they&#8217;re confident to make small changes themselves, allowing me to put my energy in more exciting stuff.&#8221;</p>



<p>WordPress gained popularity early on by being the best free software available for blogging, and then later for its flexibility as a CMS. The transition into a nocode style site builder has been difficult with extensive periods of growing pains. As most of the energy and resources put into core seem to go towards Gutenberg, other older aspects of the software have gone neglected. </p>



<p>&#8220;WordPress has really developed into jack of all trades and master of none,&#8221; Fermin said. &#8220;In my experience, this has meant in the last years that when I have to recommend a CMS for the use case of a client, more and more often the answer has been something else and not WordPress.&#8221;</p>



<p>WordPress used to be one of the strongest solutions on the market for building small, simple sites but competitors are making it faster and easier to launch these kinds of sites. Meanwhile, WordPress themes are going through a rocky transition towards better accommodating full-site editing features. </p>



<p>&#8220;For my clients (mostly government), FSE is not the way to go,&#8221; WordPress developer Roy Tanck <a href="https://twitter.com/roytanck/status/1524394782176514049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1524394782176514049%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwptavern.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D134243action%3Dedit">said</a>. &#8220;I spend a lot of my time disabling new features now. If WP continues to become a &#8216;site builder,&#8217; traditional CMS clients will likely start to look elsewhere.&#8221;</p>



<p>In his conclusion, Joost de Valk contends that the full-site editing project is taking far too long. </p>



<p>&#8220;That’s causing the rest of the platform to lag behind current web trends,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Without a drastic change in this approach I think WordPress will continue to lose market share for the next few years.&#8221;</p>



<p>Although some may agree that the project is taking a long time to reach a polished state, much of the feedback on social media indicates that developers do not find FSE user friendly enough for their clients. </p>



<p>&#8220;WordPress is just too complicated for the majority to use effectively,&#8221; development agency owner Jon Brown <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/posts/5335192453209592/?comment_id=5335256633203174&__cft__[0]=AZXHiAZGjTdaMvv69aWrE4uqcclxVqhyYOPyNLpAN6rFHg9aXVJM5D_cSXcFPU5STYxj6mrkzp7e909jEvJgUKrPSAoI1AlPn2app0822R8UjgvsZpLbxfepE6ci8tTiWC62JubpIYAVNcgp3lYcNVzZ&__tn__=R]-R">said</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;WordPress ought to be way more opinionated on accessibility and performance such that users should not even have to think about them. The problem with the current WP philosophy it is &#8216;let’s do as little as possible to leave options for the user or make the user rely on plugins&#8217;… No! Stop that. Do more by default and then give the user the option to override that if/when necessary.&#8221;</p>



<p>Brown said this applies to core WordPress but is most evident in WooCommerce, where, after ten years, &#8220;you still need 25 add-ons just to get a basic store up and running.&#8221;</p>



<p>&#8220;This is why Shopify is devouring e-commerce market share,&#8221; he said.</p>



<p>&#8220;And simple personal sites, way easier to setup a five-page site on Squarespace or Wix for laypeople than it is to navigate WordPress.</p>



<p>&#8220;How to regain market share? Simplify.&#8221;</p>



<p>Is WordPress losing touch with every day users? After two years of drastically reduced WordCamps and meetups, this is a genuine possibility. Many months before WordPress&#8217; market share growth started leveling off, the strangely feverish push to return to in-person events during a pandemic seemed to betray an insecurity about what might happen to the community if required to continue on in isolation. WordPress usage numbers could be impacted by missing out on some of the grassroots growth and momentum that in-person events often generate. </p>



<p>WordPress&#8217; relationship with the common user seems strained at the moment. It is no longer considered one of the easiest ways to get a website off the ground. Those who are eager to see WordPress succeed and grow can likely agree at almost any point in time that WordPress is not yet easy enough to use. A veritable army of Gutenberg contributors are working day and night to make full-site editing possible, but the project cannot afford to shelve usability concerns for too much longer, or it risks becoming software that is only used by an elite, knowledgeable few.</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, 12 May 2022 04:57:30 +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:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:106:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 13.2 Adds Persistent User Preferences and a Visualizer for Margin and Padding Controls";s: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=134247";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-13-2-adds-persistent-user-preferences-and-a-visualizer-for-margin-and-padding-controls";s: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:4891:"<p>Gutenberg 13.2 was released earlier today. While much of the developer community is gearing up for the WordPress 6.0 release in two weeks, work continues steadily on the plugin, driving future updates. The latest release is not as hefty on enhancements as previous updates but includes around four dozen bug fixes.</p>



<p>Despite a heavy focus on squashing bugs, there are several welcome improvements in the plugin update. Persistent user preferences will make for fewer surprises when opening the editor. New visual updates for block spacing and the Post Comments Form block make it easier to design layouts.</p>



<p>Developers should look at the early work on a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40547">new <code>settings</code> hook</a>. This represents one step toward creating the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/40318">concept of &#8220;sections&#8221;</a> that can house settings and styles for block instances and descendants. Patterns are a prime example of the necessity of sections. Matias Ventura <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/39281">covered the various uses</a> in a separate open ticket.</p>



<p>The latest release also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40652">removes spotlight mode</a> for template parts, and I say, <em>good riddance</em>. The editor already has such a mode for all blocks, and users who prefer it can enable it.</p>



<h2>Persistent Editor Preferences</h2>



<img />Welcome to the editor popup.



<p>Have you ever visited the WordPress editor and noticed the &#8220;welcome&#8221; popup, despite dismissing it ages ago? Or, logged in with a new browser only to reconfigure settings, such as enabling top toolbar support and turning off fullscreen mode? <em>Annoying, right?</em></p>



<p>This has been a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/15105">long-standing issue</a> caused by WordPress storing user preferences in the browser. In Gutenberg 13.2, these preferences are now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39795">saved as user metadata</a> in the database and should no longer pose an issue.</p>



<p>Sarah Gooding took a deeper dive into this problem and solution in an <a href="https://wptavern.com/coming-in-gutenberg-13-1-users-editor-preferences-will-be-stored-in-the-database-improving-persistence-across-sessions">earlier post on the Tavern</a>.</p>



<h2>Padding and Margin Visualizers</h2>



<img />Adding margin to the Group block.



<p>Landing in the pretty-neat-and-nice-to-have category is a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40505">new &#8220;visualizer&#8221; feature</a> for block margin and padding. Essentially, it displays a colored box, representing the space when one of the two options is adjusted. It quickly fades out and returns the canvas to its default look.</p>



<p>I am a fan of this change. It draws the eyes back to the canvas and allows users to visualize how the block spacing is applied.</p>



<h2>Comments Form in the Editor</h2>



<img />Comments Form Block in the site editor.



<p>The Post Comments Form block was simply a placeholder in the editor in past releases. This did not allow end-users to see how it would look on the front end of their sites.</p>



<p>Gutenberg 13.2 updates this to show something <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40368">closer to what it will look like </a>on the front end, at least for logged-in users. This also lets the user see how color and typography customizations will be displayed.</p>



<p>This is a two-part change. The Comments Query Loop block now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40256">outputs the form within its default template</a>. This way, users and creators will not need to build out each part of the overall comments area.</p>



<p>There is still much work to do for the Post Comments Form block in the long term. It needs a broader selection of design tools for starters. However, it could also use a revamp that provides fine-grain control over the various elements shown for logged-in and logged-out users. That may even mean splitting the form into multiple blocks. For now, the additional visualization will have to suffice.</p>



<h2>Margin Support for Separators</h2>



<img />Adding top and bottom margin to a Separator block.



<p>The Separator block now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40551">supports top and bottom margins</a>. Users can adjust it from the spacing tools in the sidebar.</p>



<p>It is a small change but a welcome one. Users could previously increase the space between a Separator and sibling block through other means, such as setting the margin on the sibling or using a Spacer. However, those were often unintuitive solutions. And decreasing the space sometimes seemed an impossible task.</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, 12 May 2022 04:30:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"Post Status: Getting to ‘Yes’ on Plugin “License Hell”";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97406";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/getting-to-yes-on-plugin-license-hell/";s: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:7620:"<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">Is there a win-win solution for plugin owners fighting churn and their professional WordPress customers, like agencies and freelancers? </p></div>


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



<p class="has-drop-cap">I appreciate&nbsp;<a href="https://poststatus.com/wordpress-plugin-license-renewals-and-the-challenge-of-churn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rob Howard's response</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/post_status/status/1518994407864684545" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the insightful discussion</a>&nbsp;that emerged on Twitter over MemberPress's new subscription renewal interface in the WordPress dashboard. I learned a lot, and I was reminded this controversy goes back a long way. In 2015 we wrote about unhappy customer reactions when&nbsp;<a href="https://poststatus.com/notes/jetbrains-refines-new-phpstorm-subscriptions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JetBrains adopted an Adobe CS payment model for PHPstorm</a>. Beyond the WordPress bubble, this sort of thing is old news.</p>



<blockquote><p>Even if they hand off this responsibility to the site owner or cover it with ongoing maintenance and support services, managing license keys&nbsp;will still be hell for someone.</p></blockquote>



<h2 id="h-maybe-there-s-a-win-here-for-everyone">Maybe there's a win here for everyone</h2>



<p>There are separate questions about design and business ethics. Is completely locking out users when there's not a valid support key out of step with a community ethic, i.e. &#8220;The WordPress Way?&#8221; That's a big and important topic, but there's some low-hanging fruit in the far less contentious problems Rob helpfully focused on. Maybe there is a potential win-win solution. His ideas might satisfy the two most legitimately frustrated (but seemingly opposed) perspectives in this controversy:</p>



<ol><li>Plugin owners fighting subscriber churn so they can sustain their businesses.</li><li>Their customers and colleagues in the WordPress ecosystem, especially WordPress agencies and freelancers. They're also trying to run their businesses and don't want the extra work and potential embarrassments license management can create.</li></ol>



<p>As Rob points out, aggressive upsells and lockouts are aimed at the mass market of common WordPress users. They're for people who don't understand what they've installed or why they might pay for it. The target is not highly WordPress-literate people — especially those who are building sites professionally.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, we all get the same annoyances in our WordPress dashboards anyhow.</p>



<h2 id="h-small-agencies-and-site-builders-are-your-friends">Small agencies and site builders are your friends</h2>



<p>Site builders, small web dev teams, and WordPress agencies don't want their clients confused or hassled with upsells. Worse, they don't want a license to expire and break functionality on a client's site. Even if they hand off this responsibility to the site owner or cover it with ongoing maintenance and support services — something&nbsp;<a href="https://poststatus.com/notes/you-might-not-want-to-use-your-developer-licenses-for-your-clients-plugins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Syed Balkhi recommended in 2015</a>&nbsp;— managing license keys&nbsp;<a href="https://poststatus.com/notes/crate-wants-help-escape-license-key-hell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">will still be hell</a> for someone.</p>



<p>I haven't thought about <a href="https://cratewp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crate</a> in a long time, but it has been around for quite some time. It's a way to get out of &#8220;license hell&#8221; — and deal with other challenges that won't apply and can't be afforded by a lot of small to mid-sized WordPress businesses. Rob's <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-wallet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WP Wallet</a> is aimed at that broader market. It sounds like a worthwhile project, along with <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/wp-notify/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WP Notify</a> and <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/clarity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clarity</a>. For those who work with WordPress on a daily basis, getting control of notifications and aggressive advertising in the WordPress back-end is universally wanted.</p>



<blockquote><p> It would be fantastic if more plugin shops catered to the needs and concerns of agencies and freelancers who don't want their clients to ever see an upgrade notice or an upsell pretending to be one.</p></blockquote>



<h2 id="h-is-license-hell-necessary">Is license hell necessary?</h2>



<p>It's not hard to see that people who want to pay for plugins (and essentially resell them to their customers) are the people you want to keep happy and maintain a good relationship with, as a plugin owner. It would be fantastic if more plugin shops catered to the needs and concerns of agencies and freelancers who don't want their clients to ever see an upgrade notice or an upsell pretending to be one. (Or to be locked out of anything.)</p>



<blockquote><p>Educating newcomers to WordPress and shaping their expectations about your product is good for everyone.</p></blockquote>



<h2 id="h-whiny-free-riders-are-people-and-potential-customers-too">Whiny free-riders are people (and potential customers) too</h2>



<p>I'd also like to stick up for the frustrations of people who just don't understand what a support license subscription is and why they should happily pay for continuous upgrades. Yes, they often look like and act like free riders. We can't expect different if we don't market and communicate effectively to them.</p>



<p>Educating newcomers to WordPress and shaping their expectations about your product is good for everyone. If customers or potential customers are upset because they're being pressed to repeatedly pay for something they don't understand (it’s not a buy-once, own-forever product!) that's on the seller. Rob has some good ideas for how to better communicate the proper expectations to customers. Giving options to people who want to pay one time or less frequently than an annual cycle is one solution that ought to appeal to professional WordPressers too.</p>



<h2 id="h-product-or-service-what-am-i-paying-for-what-do-i-own">Product or service? What am I paying for? What do I own?</h2>



<p>A decade ago (and even before that) I used to keep local copies of WordPress plugins (and add-ons for other CMSes) even though I knew it was pointless because they'd be obsolete quickly. I was treating plugins like my music collection in the early days of iTunes. I knew it was crazy, but the drive to &#8220;own&#8221; something is strong. Many of us are now paying to access music we previously owned on CDs, tapes, etc.</p>



<p>This is still a new and evolving digital media culture. There are good reasons many people resist the SaaSification of everything. It's a model that makes sense for a lot of commercial plugins: mimic Netflix's marketing and sell a plugin as a service . But <a href="https://speckyboy.com/wordpress-theme-plugin-license-expires/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">I agree with Eric Karkovack</a> that more needs to be done to help potential customers understand the value of continuously paying for software updates. Why can't that involve a good user experience too?</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 11 May 2022 21:40:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Dan Knauss";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (May 9, 2022)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97396";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-may-9-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15710:"<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers. <br /><br /><strong>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org?</strong> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/">Start Here ›</a><br /><br /><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WP/Woo news plus significant writing and podcasts. It's also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h2 id="h-news">News</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/wordpress-6-0-beta-3/"></a><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-2-rc2-now-available-for-testing/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) Now Available for Testing</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/the-month-in-wordpress-april-2022/">The Month in WordPress – April 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li>New <a href="https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#5ftf">Five for the Future</a> section below! </li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_a98156-c2"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



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



<ul><li>Request for feedback on the&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/01/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-1/">WordPress Accessibility Statement</a>.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-central"><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org">Central</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/wordcamp-europe-2022-is-just-around-the-corner/">WordCamp Europe 2022 is just around the corner</a></li><li><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/join-the-european-wordpress-community-in-porto-portugal/">Join the European WordPress Community in Porto, Portugal!</a></li></ul>



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



<p>Reminder: <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/versions-in-wordpress/">Gutenberg 13.0 ships with WordPress 6.0</a>.</p>



<ul><li>&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/220">Add Site Health test for full page caching (advanced cache)</a></li><li>Proposal: <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/140">API to facilitate more accurate sizes #140</a></li><li>Proposal:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/24">Regenerate existing image</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/289">Research: Impact of additional WebP images on upload</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/290">Research: WebP compatibility</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NzURb3u-KZTgYYHK9Gx_KPvSCX4N8Ci3oZfLsfVF7Tk/edit">Measurement overview doc</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1elY0vgrLU2373mX3jSUj_vFZeGDyhED1WMPYwzSYiVA/edit">Capturing front-end performance metrics in WordPress doc</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/a-week-in-core-may-2-2022/">A Week in Core – May 2, 2022</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-devnotes">DevNotes</h3>



<p>Leading up to releasing WordPress 6.0, DevNotes and release-related information will remain.</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/block-locking-settings-in-wordpress-6-0/">Block Locking Settings in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/04/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-phase/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate Phase</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Block Editor miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/page-creation-patterns-in-wordpress-6-0/">Page creation patterns in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/global-styles-variations-in-wordpress-6-0/">Global Styles variations in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/separator-block-updated-to-use-block-supports-color-settings/">Separator block: Updated to use block supports color settings</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-markup-updates-for-image-quote-list-and-group-blocks/">Block markup updates for image, quote, list, and group blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/support-for-handling-resolution-errors-for-editor-data-module/">Support for handling resolution errors for Editor data module</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/changes-to-do_parse_request-filter-in-wordpress-6-0/">Changes to the do_parse_request filter in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/caching-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Caching improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/new-filter-to-modify-content-images-in-wordpress-6-0/">New filter to modify content images in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/media-storing-file-size-as-part-of-metadata/">Media: storing file size as part of the metadata</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/updates-to-the-wordpress-create-block-templating-system/">Updates to the @wordpress/create-block templating system</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/object-type-specific-registration-hooks-in-6-0/">Object type-specific registration hooks in 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/new-features-for-working-with-patterns-and-themes-in-wordpress-6-0/">New features for working with patterns and themes in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/theme-export-in-wordpress-6-0/">Theme export in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/wp_user_query-now-accepts-fields-options-in-wordpress-6-0/">WP_User_Query now accepts fields options in WordPress 6.0&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/performance-increase-for-sites-with-large-user-counts-now-also-available-on-single-site/">Performance increase for sites with large user counts (now also available on a single site)</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/03/30/milana-cap-birgit-pauli-haack-courtney-engle-robertson-femy-praseeth-akira-tachibana-wordpress-release-6-0-trac-ticket-triage-for-docs/">WordPress release 6.0 Trac ticket triage for docs</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/04/25/documentation-team-update-april-25-2022/">Documentation Team Update – April 25, 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/09/documentation-team-update-may-9-2022/">Documentation Team Update – May 9, 2022</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-support-docs"><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/articles">Support Docs:</a></h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/css/">CSS</a></li></ul>
</div>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/22/wpdiversity-is-expanding-to-apac/"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/05/11/join-the-community-team-for-a-wpdiversity-writing-sprint-may-23-to-may-30/">Join the Community Team for a #WPDiversity Writing Sprint: May 23 to May 30</a></a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/22/wpdiversity-is-expanding-to-apac/"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/05/06/report-allyship-and-diverse-speaker-workshops-april-2022/">Report: Allyship and Diverse Speaker Workshops April 2022</a></a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/05/09/design-share-apr-25-may-6/">Design Share:&nbsp;Apr 25–May 6</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/2022/05/04/get-ready-for-wordpress-6-0/">Get ready for WordPress 6.0</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/04/28/proposal-make-wordpress-team-or-project-updates/">Proposal: Make WordPress Team or Project Updates</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/02/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-8/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 19.8</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/02/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-8/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 19.8</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/10/plugin-review-team-status-9-may-22/">Plugin Review Team Status: 9 May ’22</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/05/02/wordpress-6-0-ready-to-be-translated/">WordPress 6.0 ready to be translated</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/29/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-2/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 2</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/01/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-1/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 1</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/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">FSE Program Testing Call #14: Rallying Recipe Reviewers</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/2022/04/28/latest-changes-in-gutenberg-themes-13-0-release/">Latest changes in Gutenberg + Themes: 13.0 release</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/05/10/themes-team-update-may-10-2022/">Themes team update May 10, 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/04/off-forum-support-requests/">Off forum support requests</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-support-articles">Support Articles:</h3>



<ul><li></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/04/19/migrating-contributor-training-to-learn-wordpress/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/03/may-2022-sprint/">May 2022 Sprint</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/05/the-training-team-faculty-program-is-now-live/">The Training Team Faculty Program is now live</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/understanding-the-page-editor-vs-site-editor/">Understanding the Page Editor vs. Site Editor</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=open-source-principles-and-wordpress">Open Source Principles and WordPress</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=wordpress-5-9-lookback-6-0-look-ahead">WordPress 5.9 Lookback & 6.0 Look ahead</a></li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=showcasing-content-with-query-loops-2">Showcasing Content with Query Loops</a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>



<h2 id="5ftf"><a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a></h2>



<p>What's happening specific to Five for the Future? Provide your feedback on these posts:</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/190">Consider launching end-to-end solution for a specific team</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/182">Tracking contributions: receiving special access</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/180">Tracking contributions: meeting attendance</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/177">Tracking Contributions: HelpScout</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/five-for-the-future/issues/176">Tracking Contributions: Contributors share their contributions periodically.&nbsp;</a></li></ul>



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



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



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



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 11 May 2022 14:58:41 +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:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"WPTavern: #26 – Courtney Robertson on How the Learn Project Is Educating People About WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=133875";s: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:111:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/26-courtney-robertson-on-how-the-learn-project-is-educating-people-about-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:49272:"<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://twitter.com/courtneyr_dev">Courtney Robertson</a>.</p>



<p>Courtney is a Developer Advocate at GoDaddy Pro who has a passion for teaching and learning, specifically about how to use WordPress.</p>



<p>Her work for GoDaddy Pro involves outreach to developers but it also includes time to help contribute to WordPress as well. Courtney uses this time to assist with the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/">WordPress Training Team</a> as well as <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/">Learn WordPress</a>.</p>



<p>If you’re new to WordPress, or have been using it for years, there’s always something new to learn. WordPress never stands still. In the recent past the adoption of blocks and Full Site Editing has meant that the way of interacting with WordPress has changed entirely. You could of course figure out how everything in WordPress works all by yourself, but it would be great if there were freely available materials which you could use to accelerate your knowledge. That’s what Courtney is involved in and what this podcast is all about.</p>



<p>We talk about the history of the project and how it was started as a way to assist people in putting on WordCamps and Meetups. Since then the scope of WordPress training has grown enormously.</p>



<p>We discuss what areas of WordPress are covered by the learning materials, what constraints there are on the type of content that is made, and what formats they take.</p>



<p>Who creates the content and how do they ensure that it’s up to date and of a high enough standard? Can people become certified if they complete different learning paths?</p>



<p>We round off by talking about how you can become involved with the team if you’re keen to help others learn more about WordPress.</p>



<h2>Useful links.</h2>



<p><a href="https://courtneyr.dev/">Courtney&#8217;s website</a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/">Learn WordPress</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/">WordPress Training Team</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/getting-started/">What does the WordPress Training team do?</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/guidelines/brand-usage-guidelines/">Brand Usage Guidelines</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/guidelines/promotional-guidelines/">Promotional Guidelines</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/18/training-team-goals-for-2022/">Training Team Goals for 2022</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/03/may-2022-sprint/">May 2022 Sprint</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/Learn/projects/2?card_filter_query=label%3A%22%5Bpriority%5D+high%22#column-17929295">Learn WordPress Github repo</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/Learn/issues/new?assignees=&labels=Awaiting+Triage%2C+%5BContent+Type%5D+Lesson+Plan&template=lesson-plan-template.md&title=Topic+-+Lesson+Plan">Lesson Plan template</a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plans">Lesson Plans</a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshops/">Workshops</a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/courses/">Courses</a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/">Social Learning Spaces </a></p>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/pathways-to-learn-wordpress/">Pathways to Learn WordPress</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/05/03/high-level-roadmap-to-learning-wordpress-development/">High-Level Roadmap to Learning WordPress Development</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/08/08/who-can-learn-help/">Who can Learn WordPress help?</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meetings/#training">Upcoming WordPress Meetings</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/09/27/proposal-ensuring-high-quality-video-contributions-to-learn-wordpress/">Ensuring high-quality video contributions to Learn WordPress</a></p>



Transcript<div>
<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress, the people, the events, the plugins, the themes, the blocks, and in this case, learning about how WordPress works. 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.</p>



<p>And you can copy that URL into most podcasts 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 over to wptavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox and use the contact form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today we have Courtney Robertson. Courtney is a developer advocate at GoDaddy Pro who has a passion for teaching and learning, specifically about how to use WordPress. Her work for GoDaddy Pro involves outreach to developers, but it also includes time to help contribute to WordPress as well. Courtney uses this time to assist with the WordPress training team, as well as Learn WordPress.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re new to WordPress or have been using it for years, there&#8217;s always something new to learn. WordPress never stands still. In the recent past, the adoption of blocks and full site editing has meant that the way of interacting with WordPress has changed entirely.</p>



<p>You could of course, figure out how everything in WordPress works all by yourself, but it would be great if there were freely available materials, which you could use to accelerate your knowledge. That&#8217;s what Courtney is involved in and what this podcast is all about.</p>



<p>We talk about the history of the project and how it was started as a way to assist people in putting on WordCamps and meetups. Since then, the scope of WordPress training has grown enormously.</p>



<p>We discuss what areas of WordPress are covered by the learning materials, what constraints there are on the types of content that is made, and what formats they take. Who creates the content and how do they ensure that it&#8217;s up to date and have a high enough standard? Can people become certified if they complete different learning paths? We round off by talking about how you can become involved with the team if you&#8217;re keen to help others learn more about WordPress.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links in the show notes by heading over to wptavern.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 Courtney Robertson.</p>



<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Courtney Robertson. Hello Courtney.</p>



<p>[00:03:29] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Hello Nathan, how are you today?</p>



<p>[00:03:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;m really good. Thanks for joining us on the podcast today?</p>



<p>We are going to talk about learning all about WordPress, how you might learn about the things that are going on in WordPress and potentially how you may contribute to that learning process for other people.</p>



<p>But before we get into that, Courtney, I always ask a fairly generic question at the start. I want some orientation really, so that people who are listening know who you are. Would you mind just telling us a little bit about yourself and your relationship with WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:03:59] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Sure. So I first found WordPress because I was teaching in a classroom in 2006. Needed both an LMS and a blog. And at that time, LMS was not an option inside of WordPress yet. WordPress was really just getting started. So I remember, I think around WordPress version two, installing it and figuring out what was going on.</p>



<p>I have spent some time building sites for clients. And then I found myself back to teaching again with high school students. Teaching WordPress development this time. And it would have been around 2015 in a career technical school. Later I went on to work at a few plug-in companies. I got a lot of experience in The Events Calendar. Writing technical documents, knowledge-base articles, making sure front of sight was updated along with all of our releases.</p>



<p>And then later found myself teaching WordPress development at a front end dev bootcamp. So I had both high school students and adults that were laid off due to Covid, going through a program free of charge to them. And in fact, our high school students were paid to do this. My students got to speak for WordCamp Philly, so that was really exciting.</p>



<p>And then I found that I really wanted to go a level up, and make the training material that any institution could use. I found the material needed to teach WordPress development successfully, to get folks actually employed in the WordPress industry. And so an opportunity opened up at GoDaddy Pro for me as a developer advocate, and that affords me some time to continue contributing to the training team.</p>



<p>[00:05:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Would you be able to just elucidate a little bit more about the GoDaddy Pro angle? How does that work? Are you essentially employed by GoDaddy Pro and they allow you to have a proportion of your time over at the learn project that we&#8217;re going to be talking about later?</p>



<p>[00:05:52] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yes, that would be correct. So I am a developer advocate, which means that my internal work involves our outreach and our community efforts, specifically oriented for developers. But also this role is one that involves contributing to WordPress itself. And the avenue that I take with that is to contribute on learn.wordpress.org or the WordPress training team.</p>



<p>So in companies that have folks contributing to the project. Some are full-time sponsored. Some get a certain number of hours per week, or per month, or however the company chooses to allocate that to contribute towards WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:06:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Now I&#8217;m guessing, and we&#8217;ll come to that a little bit later. I&#8217;m guessing that there&#8217;ll be an opportunity in this podcast to talk about how other people may become involved. Before we get to that, let&#8217;s just deal with what the whole learn project is. And again, it&#8217;s a fairly generic question.</p>



<p>Would you just give us some, some understanding of what we might find, what the history of learn is over the last few years? Basically, what is the learn project all about?</p>



<p>[00:06:57] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah. So the team behind the learn project is the training team. And we&#8217;ve been around since 2013, and have been working on creating content that would be published eventually on learn. learn.Wordpress.org launched in 2020, during the height of Covid. So we already had a stockpile of content ready to go, and we&#8217;re able to load that up.</p>



<p>Learn has several different purposes or formats. Different audiences can come to learn. So the training team began with a mission of creating material for meetup organizers. If you&#8217;re hosting a meetup and you&#8217;re doing the work of preparing the meetup, but then you also need to figure out what&#8217;s my topic and who&#8217;s presenting and all of these things.</p>



<p>Well, the training team has been making lesson plans available, so that a meetup organizer already has topics at the ready. With research done, and all of the resources available. Indicating, cover this topic, here&#8217;s how to present the information. But also those same lesson plans have been used in a few different week long type of workshops.</p>



<p>So we have quite a good bit of material in that regard. We also have workshops. Workshops are videos. They&#8217;re on demand, and their audience is direct learners. So somebody that wants to find out how to do the thing, at any time of day can come and watch the video. The videos could also be played, I have heard that several meetup groups have done this during a meetup or string, a series of them together.</p>



<p>And then we have courses. And courses are sort of a roll-up of both of those pieces. So if you think of your years in school. You had a specific subject that you were studying. That was an entire course. And each day your instructor or presenter would have a smaller segment for just that day to cover.</p>



<p>So a course would bring in some of the content from lesson plans and some of the content from workshops. And it would be self-paced, on demand. And those courses, when you complete them, do show a completion notification, I would say, on your wordpress.org profile. So if you&#8217;re looking at your wordpress.org profile and you look at the activity, you would see if somebody has completed a course.</p>



<p>We have a proposal out to move those to its own designated tab. Going to give the heads up ahead of time, we&#8217;ll never call them batches because teams use badges to indicate contributors to teams in WordPress. But learn.wordpress.org is a great resource for somebody that wants to come and learn all kinds of things.</p>



<p>Whether you are teaching others, or on demand learning, and you just need that one specific piece or want to go through an entire course. And at this time, I believe we&#8217;ve got five courses on getting started with WordPress, all the way up through using FSE, full site editing, to build out a site. And we have a few contributor courses that have moved over that the community team had housed previously, to help folks get onboarded with contributing.</p>



<p>And then finally we have social learning spaces. And you may see those in your WordPress dashboard on the upcoming events area, but you also can find them on learn.wordpress.org. It is technically a meetup group under the hood and uses Zoom. These are sessions that happen and there are several throughout the week. Every week, there are several going on that you could swing by for about an hour. Sometimes an hour and a half or so, and learn whatever the topic is that&#8217;s being presented that day. Great folks like Daisy Olsen have been running a lot of those along with Sarah Snow. I&#8217;ve got one coming up soon with Anne and Sarah. Anne, a lot of us know, Anne McCarthy. We&#8217;ll be doing a call for testing using one of those social learning spaces.</p>



<p>[00:10:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s fabulous. I genuinely didn&#8217;t know that prime mover of the whole learn project was to assist people putting on meetups. Was the intention there just to facilitate people who were potentially, maybe trying it out for the first time. We were all in lockdown, as you said, and, and it&#8217;s quite daunting, isn&#8217;t it to</p>



<p>[00:10:49] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah.</p>



<p>[00:10:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> to begin something like that, and just the process of setting one up might be daunting enough, but then to actually find material that you can talk about, was that the intention there? Just to bootstrap and kickstart more and more meetups?</p>



<p>[00:11:00] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> That was the intention in 2013. It has grown significantly, as you can imagine in that time. As has WordPress and the WordPress community. So in 2013, meetups were really just a new thing. And we were looking at ways to support meetup groups. And as things have evolved, we now want to help the job pipelines. We would like to provide some official guidance as to what should be covered for what skillsets.</p>



<p>[00:11:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s a really exciting time in WordPress. There&#8217;s so much happening. A lot of that centered around the new editor and full site editing and so on. So there&#8217;s definitely lots and lots of opportunities for things to be taught. I&#8217;m just wondering, in terms of the types of content that you will be putting or potentially that you will have put. Do you have any sort of constraints on the remit of the project?</p>



<p>So for example, is it always going to be focused on the core of WordPress? Things that you can do inside of Core? What I&#8217;m really asking there, I suppose, in a backhanded way is do you stray into other areas, for example, things like third party plugins and things like that?</p>



<p>[00:12:07] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Good question. We began our delve into third party plugins at WordCamp US in 2015. Those that have been around a while may know this. If you wanted to add some custom CSS to a site, before the customizer had it available, we needed Jetpack to do that. So as a team, we essentially indicated we want to make use of third party plugins.</p>



<p>The parameters need to be that it&#8217;s in the wordpress.org repo. As things have launched, our main focus has started really with how to use WordPress to put a basic site together. However our audience for who can learn help is really vast. So we&#8217;ve formed some guidelines around third party plugins, and also for those that are hosting some social learning spaces. If somebody volunteers to host one, and many folks do volunteer to host those, we can&#8217;t be overly self-promotional, and if we are mentioning in any of our training materials, any type of plugin or something to that effect, that it be available, plugins, themes, be available through wordpress.org.</p>



<p>We try to draw on the theme unit test data for our dummy content. We use the photos repo for our media. We use the showcase for showing off what WordPress is capable of doing. So we reference our own material as absolutely much as possible in that process, and have some just general guidelines for how we can cover the material safely for everybody.</p>



<p>[00:13:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I feel that you&#8217;ve answered that really comprehensively. It feels very much like the same kind of constraints that we might have if we were, for example, putting on a WordCamp or something. The nature of the conversation that we could have as a presenter would feel like it&#8217;s falling under the same kind of boundaries.</p>



<p>Yeah, that&#8217;s really cleared it up, thank you. Now, the project itself, the WordPress project, as I just alluded to a minute ago, it is really changed over the last few years. If you roll back the clock five or six years, the way WordPress behaved, the way that you created content is now completely different.</p>



<p>And we&#8217;ve got all sorts of things which are coming down the pipe and they&#8217;re coming thick and fast. Things like full site editing and all of that kind of stuff. I&#8217;m just wondering what your priority list is? It feels to me like this question is basically asking what&#8217;s the roadmap? What kind of things that you&#8217;re prioritizing? Because there must be a limited amount of hours in everybody&#8217;s day that&#8217;s connected to the team and you&#8217;ve got to decide, okay, this feels like it matters more right now. Can you give us some idea about what are you thinking for the learn platform in the near future?</p>



<p>[00:14:40] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s a great question. So our team is comprised of both sponsored and self-sponsored or volunteers in all capacities. So that looks like there are a few folks that are sponsored by Automattic led by Hugh Lashbrooke, to be part of our team, as well as delightful project manager, Hauwa Abashir, and a plugin co-founder Pooja Derashri.</p>



<p>And so that&#8217;s the core of our team. However, we have a lot of contributors and I say this first, because in open source, we can have some high-level type of priorities, but as you know, when it comes to people volunteering to do something, they&#8217;ll volunteer to what they want to do, and they&#8217;re not going to volunteer for what doesn&#8217;t interest them all the time.</p>



<p>So with our priorities, we have a few ways of looking at priorities. The content priority is lately focused on doing as much as we can that is geared towards a release as close to release as possible. We have some great ways of trying to work a little bit into the future. So that right now we&#8217;re already preparing material that will come out with the next release.</p>



<p>That would be 6.0 at the time of today&#8217;s recording. But we also have some other priorities as well, as you can imagine. We&#8217;re managing a website, a large website that is on a massive multi-site install. And so some of those other priorities look like, we just moved the team from Trello over to GitHub to help track all of the activity of what we&#8217;re creating and what our roadmap actually looks like and what our priorities are. That also helps surface our activity and contribution to the project, because that too then will help track with our .org profiles.</p>



<p>We have some needs, some really big needs coming up. There is ideas around merging lesson plans and workshops. So that would be the instructional materials as well as the video that coincides with it, that would need to develop a resourcing. We would like to do a little bit more with the UX. We had a UX audit come back and we would like to do some more with the front of site. But again, that too would need some developer lift.</p>



<p>And at this time our theme is not block-based and in our case, that could be helpful for us to help lay out that content in a way that would be more beneficial for learners as they come in. To find our roadmap, there will be lots of show notes available. To find our roadmaps, we have a few places, and I know that seems a little tricky. Go to make.wordpress.org/training, and from there, you&#8217;ll find a big blue box that talks about the training team&#8217;s goals for 2022. One of the next goals aside from content is a needs analysis. So that means actually talking to the WordPress community and saying, everything from a hobbyist, a small business owner to a large scale enterprise level agency.</p>



<p>What do you need for training your staff? How can we help you reach those goals? What do you think the highest priority of content should be? And in what order should that happen? Get the feedback of what actually matters. And what&#8217;s going to be most beneficial. Who&#8217;s using this and how can we make it better?</p>



<p>We also have sprints, and those sprints are, what are we working on just this month that is both content or the other annual goal type of projects? And so each month we&#8217;ll publish at the beginning of the month, what we&#8217;re doing this month, and at the end of the month, we&#8217;ll post a recap. How did it go? What did we get done? And we have our issues in GitHub and there&#8217;ll be some links available for those too. So if you want to see what&#8217;s the highest priority thing that I can contribute to, you could go right to our GitHub repo that shows you exactly that issue.</p>



<p>[00:18:23] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I have to say Courtney, you&#8217;ve done a fabulous job of giving me links. Virtually everything that Courtney is mentioning is going to be referenced in the show notes. So firstly Bravo, thank you for making my life easier and doing that. That&#8217;s brilliant. But just to say if you are curious about any of these bits, you&#8217;ll be able to find a portion in the show notes, which relates to each of the questions that we&#8217;re asking and in most cases there&#8217;s several links to follow through there.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m just going to ask a question related to what we&#8217;ve just talked about, and that is, I&#8217;m going to use an example, and the example I&#8217;m using is the BBC, which is the British Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC is funded by tax payers essentially. We all have to contribute if we have a television set, and because of the fact that we&#8217;re all contributing there&#8217;s a thing called the BBC charter, and the BBC charter, now it may be imperfect, but it&#8217;s what they got. The charter compels the BBC to make programming for everybody.</p>



<p>So it may be that there&#8217;s a giant audience for this type of program, and there&#8217;s a considerably smaller audience for this type of programming, but the charter, in theory, compels the BBC to make programming despite the fact that the audience may be smaller. You can see where I&#8217;m going with this probably. I&#8217;m just wondering if you have any of those kinds of things. Does it always come down to the numbers? In other words, if you can see that there&#8217;s a giant need for this, because everybody&#8217;s clamoring for this kind of tutorial or whatever, well, that&#8217;s obviously important, but there may be something over here, a bit of an edge case, really truly crucial to the people who need it, though their numbers may be small. I&#8217;m just wondering if there&#8217;s any those, kind of, bits that fit into the bigger jigsaw.</p>



<p>[00:20:02] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> They do. Those are areas that we would often allow the individual that has such an idea for that topic to help develop. Because again, open source, we allow the contributors that would like to do something. If they say this is the one thing that I am willing to do, then, okay then, we&#8217;ll work with that.</p>



<p>That said we do have some priorities as you indicated, but some things will work across multiple pathways. And so by a learning pathway, what I mean is, if you think about who can learn help, and there&#8217;s actually a post that is cross-referenced to something that Josepha had helped create. I want to say it was about two years ago.</p>



<p>When you think about all the edge cases of who can WordPress help, how is WordPress used? Josepha and Mark Uraine wrote a piece on make WordPress updates awhile ago about care and influence, a theory about the WordPress community. And it&#8217;s this broken down idea that we have, Core, central folks contributing. Then we have contributors on the project. We have extenders that are using WordPress. That will be what we&#8217;re doing right now. That&#8217;d be like a podcast about WordPress. Users of sites and also visitors of sites. And so when you break that down into actual kinds of careers or professions, or even just hobbyists, right?</p>



<p>That is a lot of things. In the extenders category you have podcasters and you have newsletters, and you&#8217;ve got people that use WordPress for marketing purposes. Some are developers, some are in quality assurance. Some are support staff at companies. So who can learn help? Well, there&#8217;s a lot of varying needs like that.</p>



<p>And I could see a lot of those edge cases that you mention, still applying to a lot of people. So learns really important. I think that learn is a great tool to help folks into not just the community in terms of events, but the community in terms of understanding what can I do with WordPress? And if WordPress is related to my profession, what do I need to know, and how can I best leverage, what learn has to offer to help me get there.</p>



<p>[00:22:11] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, thank you. Okay, let&#8217;s move on to the people who may be asking those questions of you. If I was to come to you and I had a particular topic in mind, and there was something that was really troubling me, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Are there any ways that I can ask, I don&#8217;t know, beg, plead maybe the right words for certain content to be created?</p>



<p>[00:22:31] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yes. So one of the ways is that if you need a little bit of extra help in doing that, if you are able to get to the make WordPress Slack and the training team inside of that, and you can find the link again from the training team site at make.wordpress.org/training. We are glad to give a little extra hand holding through that process.</p>



<p>The other thing that we welcome folks to do is, go to our GitHub repo and submit a topic as a lesson plan idea. That does not mean that you need to create the lesson plan. If you would like to help create that or create a workshop, you may absolutely do that. But if it&#8217;s just, I have this one idea, this one thing, or I have got a vision for a course, and I could tell you every step along the way of what needs to go into the course, we are happy to work with you in that process.</p>



<p>So we would begin with starting an issue in our GitHub repo and to be clear, if you&#8217;re not accustomed to GitHub, it&#8217;s about on par with submitting a form or a comment on a site. So our way of submitting an issue will look similar to that. You&#8217;ll get some preloaded template that asks you to fill in a little bit more information for us. And then we&#8217;ve got that idea of ready to go.</p>



<p>[00:23:44] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, GetHub can be very intimidating to look at can&#8217;t it, if you&#8217;re there for the time, but like you say, it&#8217;s merely a, a set of comments, so, oh, that&#8217;s really helpful, thank you. In terms of who is making the content, how the content is made, what does that look like? I&#8217;m going to sort of cross two questions here, and we&#8217;ll get onto learning paths and things like that, but just wondering, who&#8217;s actually putting the content together.</p>



<p>Do you have particular panel, do you give certain members of the team the job of going away and create a video for that particular thing based upon these guidelines? Is it always the same people or can other people contribute their content? In other words, could I contribute my content? And if that was the case, are there any guidelines that would be helpful to know about?</p>



<p>I mean, there&#8217;s obviously going to be things which are out of the remit, boundaries that I shouldn&#8217;t cross and probably ways that you would prefer me to curate that content.</p>



<p>[00:24:35] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah, absolutely. I would love to have you create a video. I love listening to your voice. Anyone is most welcome to help create that content. In fact, when learn launched, because we had this stockpile of lesson plans over the years, I counted nearly 200 contributors, at the launch of learn that had contributed over the years to the training team. That&#8217;s a staggering number for the work that we did.</p>



<p>And I think back at all of those WordCamps when we had contributor days and all the folks that we met. It was great. So we have lots of people help create the content. But as you can imagine, during Covid, a lot of activity came to an absolute halt. I myself just resurfaced within contributing during that time, and none of the folks were around or available then. Literally no meetings had happened for several months and I had a hard time finding folks. We&#8217;ve grown since then, a lot. And the folks that are contributing these days, as I mentioned, there is a contingent of folks by Automattic that are contributing.</p>



<p>I am there a good bit as well by making content, but we have a lot of people that are not sponsored. And I had spent about seven years in that category myself. And so I want to be very thoughtful. We&#8217;ve got a lot of folks that are absolutely delightful to work with. Speaking highly of my team reps as well.</p>



<p>They do contribute so much in the way of content and proofreading. We open up opportunities to help folks proofread the material that goes out or create some feedback for others that are creating that content. So anybody is welcome to help come and make this stuff too.</p>



<p>[00:26:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In terms of the guidelines though, what would cut muster for inclusion? Presumably there&#8217;s barriers in terms of, okay, that&#8217;s too short. That&#8217;s far too long. The quality of the audio there is too poor. I think we probably could have covered the topic in half the time or whatever it may be. There are probably guidelines for keeping the quality high.</p>



<p>[00:26:31] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> That is true. We are working on improving that quality, and we do have a post that I did not provide a link to it ahead of time, and I will dig that back out for you. But it is basically the idea when we first launched, we&#8217;re new, in terms of creating videos. We&#8217;re new in terms of creating courses and let&#8217;s get going and learn as we go, what we&#8217;re doing.</p>



<p>Our earliest videos, we learned a lot about needing to keep content current with revisions. That&#8217;s a really big struggle. When WordPress ships a big update, we have to come back and revise things. Also we have learned a good bit about, if we need the person&#8217;s video, their face on screen or not, about how to create these videos.</p>



<p>The kind of quality that we&#8217;re looking for. We are flexible still within those parameters. In fact, one of our highest videos, I think was done during a contributor session for WordCamp India. And there was a bit of background it. So we&#8217;re learning. As we make learn, we&#8217;re learning and we would love to have lots of global representation. We would love to have a high quality production to it, but we&#8217;ll help each other get through that process.</p>



<p>[00:27:43] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I love the meta there. We&#8217;re learning to learn. That&#8217;s brilliant. The different formats that you do, actually no, I&#8217;ll come back to that in a moment. I&#8217;m going to ask about the way that your team meets, because we&#8217;re currently talking about people contributing their time, and you mentioned that you can go and do things like contribute in GitHub with comments and so on.</p>



<p>But I&#8217;m just wondering if you became much more involved in the team and you were there regularly, not just committing a piece of content once in a while, but really digging into the team and trying to help out on a regular basis. It would be quite helpful to know what that might look like. Where do you hang out? Where do you do the work?</p>



<p>[00:28:17] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Sure. So, forgive my American mindset about time, but on Tuesdays at noon Eastern time. On Thursdays at 7:30 AM Eastern or, oh, I forget exactly what time it is for Pooja, but she runs an APAC specific time zone meeting. And so it&#8217;s the same time and option available for both of these meetings. Those happen by the way, all in Slack, those are entirely Slack based chat messages, as you would find across the 20 now different WordPress teams. We conduct our meetings through Slack. We have coffee hours as a get to know folks session. Those are delightful to stop by and see. We&#8217;re running those Fridays at 9:00 AM Eastern. However, we are open to exploring alternative times for that.</p>



<p>We&#8217;ve got some folks that are traveling that are our normals that help conduct these. So we&#8217;ll give it a few more weeks before we start looking into different time zones. We do those through Zoom. We find that that generally meets the most accessible needs and we have the accessibility team rep often join us too. So that&#8217;s delightful. And then you can find us, hopefully in the near future at a WordCamp close to you at a contributor day.</p>



<p>[00:29:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That would be nice.</p>



<p>[00:29:32] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yes.</p>



<p>[00:29:33] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Let&#8217;s hope that&#8217;s true. Now my understanding is that broadly speaking people fall into different types of learners. You may be kinesthetic, or you may be auditory or visual or what have you. That is going to inevitably lead to people, desiring different types of content. And you mentioned a moment ago, you called it learning paths, I think you said. What different formats have you got? I mean it may be that that is still to be explored. Maybe you&#8217;re going to invest time and effort into different things in the future, but whether you&#8217;ve got it live at the moment or whether it&#8217;s just a, an aspiration, tell us the thinking behind that.</p>



<p>[00:30:06] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah. Our content types, are lesson plans, workshops, courses, and social learning spaces. Our audience is quite vast, but then if you break it down into an individual, an individual may learn in different methods. So some folks really like videos. Some people really like to read, like it&#8217;s a book. And so our courses approach different learning styles.</p>



<p>And the more that we can do that, the better. Our courses do suggest projects to extend upon what you&#8217;ve already learned. So often that would look like doing the work along with the course, and that would be delivered both in text and video form. And then having a suggested, now here&#8217;s a challenge to try on your own. To give you that hands-on experience without being guided. The more ways that we can continue to help cater to individual learning styles, the better.</p>



<p>Also along those lines my teaching hat background comes in here. It really matters to me that we are available in the global space. And so that also looks like translation opportunities, because one of the things about learning styles is that, if you think about folks in, you and I both speak English. English second language individuals, that would be a student in a school whose first language was not English often needs a little extra support when they&#8217;re just beginning to be immersed English.</p>



<p>And so, I don&#8217;t find it to be particularly reasonable or fair that somebody that is not primarily English is only presented training materials in English. We need a lot of support around getting the content available in as many languages as we possibly can. We also need then to help work on the initiatives that WordPress has to be multi-lingual.</p>



<p>So at this time that&#8217;s on the roadmap, but it&#8217;s not until I think phase four in the Gutenberg project to be fully multilingual. So that presents a challenge then on Learn, because how do we make our courses available in different languages? We need some help.</p>



<p>[00:32:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Well, let&#8217;s hope that somebody listening to this is, uh, is going to step in and assist you with that. Just a thing, I may be jumping the gun here, and it may be something that you&#8217;re unable to talk about. You mentioned in our exchanges prior to recording that there was potentially in the future, some path towards certification. So I&#8217;m guessing, you know, you put the time in, and as a result, you are handed something in exchange to prove that you pass the test, if you like. You achieved what it was and you got through it all. Just tell us the thinking on that, even if none of it&#8217;s particularly concrete right now.</p>



<p>[00:32:42] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah. So this is a podcast for WP Tavern. If you&#8217;re interested in the history of WordPress entertaining the idea of certification, you may search the archives here. I will say that certification as we see it. I also had some questions about several years ago, I would say, but what changed my mind first and foremost was that when I was teaching in the bootcamp and I presented to my leaders, here&#8217;s what individuals need to be job ready, and here&#8217;s the timeframe that that could be delivered in and what would be adequate for the amount of each programming language, plus then how WordPress pulls that together. It wasn&#8217;t provided, it was a challenge then to get individuals placed for jobs.</p>



<p>The resourcing for such material wasn&#8217;t readily available. So having a definitive here is what it would take to being basically job ready as a common industry accepted standard suddenly became a high priority in my mind. I realized, oh, if that was in place, it would be really easy to point to and say, here&#8217;s what folks need to be able to do. And here&#8217;s a pathway for how to learn that.</p>



<p>So at this time we are not ready to begin starting a certification initiative. We are looking in quarter four of this year. So the last three months of 2022, of beginning, a discovery session. A discovery session means to, again, talk to folks about what they need, what their concerns are. Also look at other open source projects and see what worked and what didn&#8217;t work.</p>



<p>I&#8217;ve been checking in with the folks that help form the certification over at Joomla. And I&#8217;m learning a bit about what has and has not worked for them. I&#8217;m keeping loose eyes on what Drupal is doing, but I think there&#8217;s something to learn from other open source initiatives that are not even about a content management system.</p>



<p>So look at how do they do this? What have they learned? How would that potentially work for us? Would that work for us? What other concerns does the community have? So, disclaimer, folks. Yes, this is a hot topic. Yes, it&#8217;s had a history. We&#8217;re interested. We want to talk. That&#8217;s where we&#8217;re at at this time. We want to talk about it and the conversations happening starting around October of 2022.</p>



<p>[00:34:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Oh, a perfect time for us to release this then. You&#8217;ve got the people thinking about that in time for October. That&#8217;s fabulous. You mentioned earlier about resources for the learn project. And again, I don&#8217;t know if you&#8217;ve got an insight to deliver here. I&#8217;m just wondering how it is, how it is all funded essentially. Now you mentioned that your seconded from GoDaddy, forgive me the word wasn&#8217;t seconded it was whatever it was. GoDaddy provide you with the financial support so that you can lend your time to the project. What other resources are brought to bear. You mentioned that other people were seconded, there were volunteers and so on, but</p>



<p>[00:35:37] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah.</p>



<p>[00:35:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Is there anything else? Are there pots of money, which you can dip into provided by, I don&#8217;t know, sponsorship or different organizations who contribute to the project.</p>



<p>[00:35:47] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Wouldn&#8217;t that be delightful if I just had unlimited money to use on this. Oh, where could we go? So our team does have some resources provided for our team. In addition to, there are contributors across multiple other organizations, I will say as well, that do periodically pop by for some contribution to the project as well.</p>



<p>But we do have some resources. So a lot of teams in WordPress use Helpscout. Even Slack itself is a paid Slack instance, and I could be mistaken, but I believe that a lot of that financial work overhead is through Automattic. I would love to be corrected if so. We are using Sensei Pro, which is a learning management system. It is a plugin. The pro version just recently released, but that is owned by Automattic. Sensei has been an Automattic product for about 10 years. We do have an access through VideoPress. Should we need it? And VideoPress for WordPress TV is also how we embed our videos. So again, those two are provided through Automattic with Jetpack.</p>



<p>Meetups that would run through WordCamp central. We recently received both WP Sandbox and Insta WP as options that we can use. So when somebody is going through a course, when we&#8217;re new to learning WordPress, the hardest challenge is to get a WordPress environment set up. And with both of these tools, we are able to, whether it is social learning spaces or courses or something to that effect. We&#8217;re able to very quickly get folks a single link that takes them to WordPress install. That&#8217;s got today&#8217;s theme, plugin and some demo content ready to go so they can get to work on doing the activity, not be stumped by how to set WordPress up. So those are fantastic resources that we do have available at this time.</p>



<p>[00:37:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much. Is there anything else that I failed to ask you? Obviously, you know, you&#8217;ve really deeply embedded in this project and I&#8217;ve asked the questions that I wish to ask, but quite happy for you to tell us about something that I missed.</p>



<p>[00:37:43] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Sure, I mentioned that we focused in early on, on just getting started using WordPress, but we make space for all of these other types of things that folks might want to learn how to do with WordPress. There&#8217;s really almost no limit, other than if we&#8217;re mentioning a plugin or a theme, keep it within WordPress dot org, so other people can access it and use it.</p>



<p>But we do have some beginning workings of a developer content roadmap. I began forming this when I was planning what I needed to do at the front end dev bootcamp. I looked at it like at what point along the journey from installing WordPress and activating Hello Dolly to I&#8217;m going to build a multi-site WordPress instance, that power s thousands of sub-sites or something like that.</p>



<p>How do you learn how to do all of these things? How do you begin learning? At what point do you learn APIs? What about build tools like Webpack. Those that are high into development with no, oh yeah, at some point I learned this and that, and what logically would happen with that?</p>



<p>So we do have a higher level, how to learn everything from just getting started all the way through, I want you to do the most complex possible things available there. And I&#8217;m really excited that we will soon be joined by Jonathan Bossenger, as a developer educator. He is coming in again, sponsored by Automattic.</p>



<p>And will be contributing developer oriented content. So that, that roadmap that I began laying down while at the bootcamp will hopefully come into play with creating more dev oriented content. If you&#8217;re interested in seeing what is everything in a logical order, again, challenge, we, we need dev resourcing to help develop the site as well here.</p>



<p>So we have a pathway that is everything that we have made available. And it&#8217;s in a logical order, but it&#8217;s just a table at this time until we can get some more development on the site. So there&#8217;s a learn pathway link that I can provide. And then finally, again, the call-out is there, contribute, contribute.</p>



<p>We love to partner with folks along the way. I know this is a lot. I&#8217;m coming in as a former second generation computer teacher. So I have a bit of a runway and I&#8217;ve been working with the project since 2013. We&#8217;ve talked about a lot today. It seems a lot of a lot. We&#8217;re happy to help slow it down and connect you with exactly where you need to go. Because again, our team is made up of a lot of folks that think like teachers.</p>



<p>[00:40:16] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In the course of this podcast, we&#8217;ve mentioned so much as you described, just to reiterate, if you&#8217;ve been listening to this podcast and you, you know, you&#8217;re maybe listening to it on your headphones whilst you&#8217;re driving the car or something like that. Don&#8217;t forget that the show notes will have all the links that Courtney&#8217;s provided and hopefully you&#8217;ll be able to get to the exact thing that piqued your interest. However Courtney, there&#8217;s one thing missing off those show notes, and that would be how we might contact you. If somebody has a need to speak to you on the back of this podcast, what&#8217;s the preferred way or ways of getting in touch?</p>



<p>[00:40:51] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Yeah, so to help lighten the load, if it is specific to the training team or learn, please swing through the channel inside of make.wordpress.org/training. You&#8217;ll find our link to get to our Slack channel there. That helps the right folks get connected with you, so if it&#8217;s a general team question. If you would like to find me specifically courtneyr_dev on Twitter, Courtney Robertson on LinkedIn, courtneyr.dev is my website. You can find everywhere I am there.</p>



<p>[00:41:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Courtney Robertson thank you for joining us on the podcast today. I&#8217;ve really enjoyed it.</p>



<p>[00:41:24] <strong>Courtney Robertson:</strong> Delightful, thanks for having me.</p>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 11 May 2022 14:00:00 +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:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:64:"WordCamp Central: WordCamp Europe 2022 is just around the corner";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3147947";s: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:89:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/wordcamp-europe-2022-is-just-around-the-corner/";s: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:2817:"<p>Only a few weeks left to join the European WordPress Communities and celebrate the 10th anniversary of WCEU.</p>



<p>Nearing WordCamp Europe 2022 &#8211; the first in-person flagship WordCamp since the pandemic, things are getting exciting backstage. </p>



<p>Celebrating the 10th anniversary of WordCamp Europe makes WCEU 2022 the best way to welcome back in-person events. So, what are the things you can expect from WordCamp Europe 2022? We’re listing all the updates, so keep reading!</p>



<h2>The Speakers are already announced</h2>



<a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/05/a80d3e34-d1b9-acb5-517b-679649bce52f.jpg"><img /></a>



<p>An amazing lineup of speakers covering topics such as Business, Design, Gutenberg, Development, Accessibility, Headless, and more have been announced. For details, find out more <a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/news/">here</a>.</p>



<h2>The Schedule is posted on the WCEU 2022 website</h2>



<a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/05/82037f4d-c46a-d54f-1a64-b0941c532787.jpg"><img /></a>



<p>After announcing a wide range of great speakers in the past few weeks, the full schedule of WCEU 2022 is now revealed. There will be 40+ exciting sessions &amp; workshops along with a fun and amazing After Party. Click <a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/schedule/">here</a> if you can’t wait and want to check out the complete event schedule.</p>



<h2>And the Contributor day is on!</h2>



<a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/05/96a88be8-1253-323b-2481-46de89879ef4.jpg"><img /></a>



<p>Contributor Day will take place, as usual, one day before the main WordCamp Europe event, on Thursday 2nd June 2022, at the same venue as the rest of the camp – the Super Bock Arena in Porto. It is a full day of contributing and networking with other passionate WordPressers! In order to participate at Contributor Day, please complete this <a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/contributor-day/">registration form</a>.</p>



<h2>HOORAY!</h2>



<p>So only a few weeks to go before WordCamp Europe 2022.</p>



<p>The organizing team behind the scenes of WordCamp Europe 2022 can&#8217;t wait to meet you! Everyone is giving their best efforts to make sure you will enjoy an amazing event.</p>



<p><em><strong>WordCamp Europe 2022 takes place 2- 4 June in Porto, Portugal.</strong></em><br />For more information, check the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022" target="_blank">WCEU website</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Fired up and ready to be a part of the WordCamp Europe family?</strong></p>



<div class="wp-container-1 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/tickets/">Grab your ticket</a></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, 11 May 2022 08:13:29 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Timi Wahalahti";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:70:"WPTavern: Catch FSE Is a Bold, Business-Friendly WordPress Block Theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=134226";s: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/catch-fse-is-a-bold-business-friendly-wordpress-block-theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7710:"<p>And another theme shop hops on the block bandwagon. Catch Themes&#8217; first block-based theme, <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/catch-fse/">Catch FSE</a>, landed on WordPress.org over the weekend.</p>



<p>The company is one of the most prolific authors in the official WordPress theme directory, touting a <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/author/catchthemes/">total of 109 themes</a>. There are only a few others with such an impressive body of work, at least in sheer numbers. Averaging over 10 new releases each year for the last decade is no small feat, and that just accounts for the company&#8217;s free themes.</p>



<p>At a time when WordPress is still in a transitioning phase between classic, PHP-based themes and those built entirely from blocks, the community needs leaders in the space pushing the project forward.</p>



<p>With WordPress 6.0&#8217;s slew of features, I expect we will see more and more authors join the ride.</p>



<p>When reviewing new themes, I typically install them a few days ahead of time and test them off and on. Then, I decide if they are worth sharing with the Tavern audience. However, in this case, I am going in blind. Well, not <em>entirely</em> blind. I am familiar enough with some of Catch Themes&#8217; past work to know the company has produced some well-designed projects. Plus, I had quickly peeked at the demo.</p>



<p>My immediate reaction after installing and activating Catch FSE was disappointment. The homepage did not look like the theme&#8217;s screenshot or what was <a href="https://fse.catchthemes.com/catch-fse/">shown in the demo</a>. Instead of the business-friendly layout I expected, I gazed upon a standard blog post listing.</p>



<img />Default homepage blog posts.



<p>This should not be happening in the block themes era.</p>



<p>Theme authors are not entirely at fault for this problem. Those who have submitted their designs to WordPress.org have been conditioned over the years to do this. This was a necessity in the classic theme era because users did not have the same control as they do now over their homepages. The site editor gives them that freedom, and it also breaks the shackles that have been holding theme authors back for years.</p>



<p>Now is the time to be bold. Now is the time for theme authors to put their signature on their work, showcasing their design skills with those custom homepages they have always wanted to provide out of the box. Now is the time to break free of those draconian guidelines from an era that block-based themes are leaving behind.</p>



<p>Catch Themes, if you are reading this, I want to see a <code>front-page.html</code> template in version 2.0 that outputs the following:</p>



<img />Homepage design from the Catch FSE demo.



<p>Give users an immediate solution instead of forcing them to create a new page, select a template, and move into the template editor to customize it.</p>



<p>A blog post listing is a perfectly acceptable default for a theme, and Catch FSE&#8217;s works well enough&#8212;<em>those gradient &#8220;read more&#8221; buttons are also sweet</em>. However, if the screenshot and demo showcase a custom homepage, that is what I expect to see upon activation. And, based on my somewhat educated guess, it is also what the average user will expect.</p>



<p>After tinkering around with the theme for a while longer, I realized how well-designed it was. The typography made for an enjoyable reading experience. Each template was well laid out. The footer &#8220;widgets&#8221; even felt right. Catch FSE was suddenly making a beeline toward the top of my favorite themes list this year.</p>



<p>And, I must take another moment to appreciate the gradient used for buttons in the theme, as shown in this screenshot of the About Us pattern:</p>



<img />&#8220;About Us&#8221; block pattern.



<p>Those who have followed me long enough know that I often dislike dark designs. Automattic&#8217;s Livro made me <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattics-livro-is-a-minimal-block-theme-for-writers">rethink my position</a> earlier this year. With Catch FSE, I am moving beyond merely tolerating such designs to enjoying them. <em>Well, some of them. Let&#8217;s not get crazy.</em></p>



<p>What Catch FSE does as well as any theme is offer a well-designed set of block patterns. In total, it ships 15 that users can pick and choose from.</p>



<img />Inserting a call-to-action pattern in the page editor.



<p>From a development perspective, other theme authors should take notes. Following the DRY principle, Catch FSE routinely reuses its own patterns in its templates and parts.</p>



<p>The theme registers 10 block styles, but it is impossible to know what most of them do without trying them out first. The user-facing label simply reads &#8220;Theme Style&#8221; for eight of them. <em>What does that even mean? If it is <strong>the</strong> theme style, should it not be the default?</em></p>



<p>Most are generally design variations for the various blocks they are attached to. They might alter the typography, colors, or other styles, as shown in the following screenshot of the Blockquote block with the &#8220;Theme Style&#8221; assigned to it:</p>



<img />Assigning a custom style to the Blockquote block.



<p>That is actually a well-designed Blockquote style, but I would have never known it was something I would want to use if I had not been digging. Custom block styles suffer from a bit of a discoverability problem by default, and cryptic names for them are doing users no favors.</p>



<p>Most of the issues I had with the theme were around the comments list design. However, it is not yet using the new Comments Query Loop block shipping with WordPress 6.0. In a future release, I would like to see the author put more time into bringing it up to par with the rest of the theme&#8217;s design. At the moment, it feels like a feature that was tacked on as an afterthought.</p>



<p>Catch FSE is a freemium theme with a commercial <a href="https://catchthemes.com/fse-pro-plugin/">add-on plugin</a> that offers three custom blocks and 10 patterns. I like seeing the upsells focused purely on value-adds.</p>



<p>I have often said that the next generation of freemium themes cannot be like the last. Developers will need to focus on enticing users with solutions to their problems instead of nickel-and-diming customers, locking necessary features behind a paywall. The block system is changing the game, and when most users can flesh out their site designs via the built-in WordPress site editor, the old-school upsells will not cut it.</p>



<p>Turnkey, plug-n-play solutions are needed. I may be so far off-base that I am not even in the ballpark, but I foresee block patterns being a central part of that. Once commercial theme authors figure out how to market and build with these new tools, we will see an explosion of growth in the block-based themes space.</p>



<p>Catch Themes&#8217; 10 commercial patterns represent a start, but I imagine the company will need to continue pushing limits to see a worthwhile return on its premium upsell. Now is the time for experimentation while the field is wide open.</p>



<p><em>My biggest nit-pick?</em> The name.</p>



<p><strong>Attention all developers:</strong> Can we stop naming themes &#8220;Something FSE&#8221; and &#8220;Guten Something&#8221;? It is confusing and makes it tough to remember which project is which. Take some time to come up with something that stands out in the crowd.</p>



<p>Catch FSE is a bold and beautiful business-ready theme, but it needed a name to match its personality. I only hope folks remember it.</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, 11 May 2022 03:27:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:78:"WPTavern: WPSiteSync Shuts Down, Commercial Extensions Now Available on GitHub";s: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=134205";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"https://wptavern.com/wpsitesync-shuts-down-commercial-extensions-now-available-on-github";s: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:4898:"<p><a href="https://wpsitesync.com/">WPSiteSync</a>, a content syncing plugin from the team behind DesktopServer, has discontinued support for its free, core plugin and commercial extensions. The plugin lets users sync specific content, such as posts, pages, featured images, and taxonomies, without having to migrate the entire database. Commercial <a href="https://wpsitesync.com/downloads/">extensions</a> allowed users to sync things like WooCommerce products, Gutenberg blocks, EDD product information, custom post types, Beaver Builder projects, and more.</p>



<p>It has been nine months since the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpsitesynccontent/">WPSiteSync plugin</a> was updated and more than a year since a major release. After six years, the ServerPress team has published a statement explaining their reasons for shutting down:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>After a lot of consideration and discussion, we have concluded that we will no longer be updating WPSiteSync and its Premium Extensions. This was a difficult decision for us to make as we know that many of you rely on it in order to enhance your WordPress Workflow. The decision was made due to the fact that with each extension being dependent on the code of the plugin that it supports, we could not keep up with their changes as we enhanced our library, and frankly, there was not as much demand for it as we had hoped. Additionally, we found that our time supporting WPSiteSync took away from our ability to move our flagship product, DesktopServer, forward.</p></blockquote>



<p>The ServerPress team plans to integrate some of WPSiteSync&#8217;s functionality into its DestopServer product and is making the current iteration of the plugin and all of its commercial extensions <a href="https://github.com/ServerPress">available for free on GitHub</a>. </p>



<p>PublishPress founder Steve Burge, whose business followed a similar monetization path, commented that WPSiteSync chose &#8220;an honorable and honest way to end the commercial life of a WordPress plugin.&#8221; He said his company considered a similar set of features &#8220;but it seemed as daunting as they describe.&#8221; </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is an honorable and honest way to end the commercial life of a WordPress plugin: <a href="https://t.co/DQ1dKnjvMC">https://t.co/DQ1dKnjvMC</a><br /><br />(We'd considered a similar set of features for PublishPress, but it seemed as daunting as they describe)</p>&mdash; Steve Burge (@SteveJBurge) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveJBurge/status/1523748197943848962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>The free core with commercial extensions business model can work well, but it can also stretch a development team thin if they are also responsible for a flagship product on top of maintaining such a diverse set of extensions. Keeping up with changes in Gutenberg, WooCommerce, Beaver Builder, EDD, and many other fast-moving plugins is an ambitious endeavor. It&#8217;s easy to see how the support and maintenance of these extensions could become untenable.</p>



<p>&#8220;Just as an example, the Advanced Custom Fields extension might take X number of hours to code and then they might make one small change in how it writes to the database and then our extension would lose its functionality,&#8221; ServerPress Operations Director Marc Benzakein told the Tavern. &#8220;This often meant that instead of continually sticking with a production schedule, we would have to change our focus to support the ACF plugin. The more plugins WPSiteSync supported, the more untenable it became and the more man-hours it took to support it.&#8221; </p>



<p>Benzakein also said another reason ServerPress decided not to sell is because they are exploring the idea of approaching it from a more manageable direction, to have WPSiteSync features available as an integration into their other workflow tool. </p>



<p>WPSiteSync has hovered at approximately 3,000 active installs for the past two years. Putting the plugin and extensions on GitHub gives WPSiteSync and its extensions the opportunity to be forked and supported by a new team with more incentive and resources. Shutting down may be disappointing for current users and customers, but, after so long without updates, it&#8217;s better that the software is officially released to the public for a chance at new life.</p>



<p>Customers who purchased WPSiteSync&#8217;s &#8220;Premium Bundle&#8221; within the last 30 days can request a refund. </p>



<p>&#8220;We will support our current customers as far as we can,&#8221; Benzakein said. &#8220;By and large the plugin and its extensions still work and the core plugin, which is available on the repo, will likely continue to work for some time as well.&#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, 10 May 2022 22:15:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:39:"Post Status: Celebrate Small Businesses";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97393";s: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:50:"https://poststatus.com/celebrate-small-businesses/";s: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:1128:"<p class="has-drop-cap">There are 455,000,000+ websites running WordPress. There are a <em>lot</em> of small businesses supporting those sites! Our Post Status community represents a number of those companies and my guess is that most of you receiving our newsletter own or work with small businesses as well.<br /><br />In May we <a href="https://www.sba.gov/national-small-business-week">celebrate small businesses</a> in the United States to honor everyone who is stepping out on that ledge. We can honor them by choosing to shop differently this month, by sending notes of thanks to those who support us, or by sharing our small business story with others. Would you like to share your small business story with us? We would love to add it to our blog this month! (Just comment here, <a href="https://poststatus.com/contact">use our contact form</a>, or reach out on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/LindseyMillerWP">@LindseyMillerWP</a>.)<br /><br />I hope you take some time to recognize and celebrate others who are on this path with us.</p>



<p class="has-text-align-right"><strong>– Lindsey Miller</strong></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, 10 May 2022 19:45:07 +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:"Lindsey Miller";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:85:"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) Now Available for Testing";s: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=12840";s: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://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-2-rc2-now-available-for-testing/";s: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:4786:"<p>The next release candidate for WordPress 6.0 is now available!&nbsp;</p>



<p>WordPress 6.0 is scheduled for release on May 24th, 2022 &#8211; just two weeks from today.</p>



<p>“Release Candidate” means that this version of WordPress is ready for release! Since the WordPress ecosystem includes thousands of plugins and themes, it is important that everyone within the WordPress community check to see if anything was missed along the way. That means the project would love your help.</p>



<p>Thank you to everyone who has contributed towards testing and logging issues to help make WordPress 6.0 stable (and awesome). WordPress still needs your help testing, especially theme and plugin developers.</p>



<p>Since the RC1 release on May 3rd, 2022, there have been approximately 40 issues resolved in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/6.0">Gutenberg</a> and <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=closed&changetime=05%2F03%2F2022..05%2F10%2F2022&resolution=fixed&milestone=6.0&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=milestone&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&order=id">Trac</a>.</p>



<h1>Installing RC2</h1>



<p><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. Please do not install, run, and test this version of WordPress on a production or mission-critical website. Instead, it is recommended that you RC2 on a test server and site.&nbsp;</p>



<p>You can test WordPress 6.0 RC2 in three ways:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Option 1: </strong>Install and activate the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</li></ul>



<ul><li><strong>Option 2: </strong>Direct download the <a href="https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.0-RC2.zip">release candidate version here (zip)</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, 3, 4, or RC1 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command:<br /><code>wp core update --version=6.0-RC2</code></li></ul>



<p>Additional information on the full <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/">6.0 release cycle is available here</a>.</p>



<p>Check the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes+6-0/">6.0-related developer notes</a> in the coming weeks, which will detail all upcoming changes.</p>



<h1>Plugin and Theme Developers</h1>



<p>All plugin and theme developers should test their respective extensions against WordPress 6.0 RC2 and update the “<em>Tested up to”</em> version in their readme file to 6.0. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post detailed information to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">support forums</a> so that these items can be investigated further prior to the final release date of May 24th.</p>



<p>Review the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/"><em>WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</em></a> for more details on this release.</p>



<h1>Translate WordPress</h1>



<p>Do you speak a language other than English? <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev">Help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages</a>.</p>



<h1>How to Help Test WordPress</h1>



<p>Testing for issues is critical for stabilizing a release throughout its development. Testing is also a great way to contribute to WordPress. If you are new to testing, check out this <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/12/help-wanted-test-wordpress-6-0/">detailed guide</a> that will walk you through how to get started.</p>



<p>If you think you have run into an issue, please report it to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">Alpha/Beta area</a> in the support forums. If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket">file one on WordPress Trac</a>. This is also where you can find a list of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major">known bugs</a>.</p>



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



<h2>An RC2 Haiku for You</h2>



<p>Anticipation<br />Sprinting toward G/A now<br />Please — test, translate — thanks!</p>



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



<p>Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>dansoschin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/priethor/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>priethor</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</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, 10 May 2022 18:06:09 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"Dan Soschin";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:73:"Do The Woo Community: The WooCommerce Roundtable Dives Into WordPress 6.0";s: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=71617";s: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:72:"https://dothewoo.io/the-woocommerce-roundtable-dives-into-wordpress-6-0/";s: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:420:"<p>The WooCommerce panel talks about WordPress 6.0 with insights around the features, hosting, education, blocks and web development.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/the-woocommerce-roundtable-dives-into-wordpress-6-0/">The WooCommerce Roundtable Dives Into WordPress 6.0</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, 10 May 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: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:57:"WPTavern: WordPress 6.0 To Ship New Block Locking Feature";s: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=134165";s: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:68:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-0-to-ship-new-block-locking-feature";s: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:4458:"<p>WordPress 6.0 has several new features that should make any extender happy about building on top of the platform. However, one of the more advanced tools is the ability to lock blocks, which can be used to prevent specific blocks from being moved or removed.</p>



<p>The upcoming release includes a new &#8220;Lock&#8221; setting in the block toolbar&#8217;s options dropdown, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>



<img />Selecting the Lock option from the block toolbar.



<p>Once clicking the lock option, a modal appears that allows the user to disable movement of the block or prevent its removal:</p>



<img />Block locking options.



<p>Thus far, the best use case I have found for locking blocks via the UI is to stop accidental edits. Because users have access to the UI settings by default, they can disable the lock later if I need to move something around the layout or delete it.</p>



<p>On the surface, this may not seem like a particularly robust feature. However, the real power of block locking is on the development end. Theme authors can use the new <code>lock</code> key to prevent end-users from moving or removing specific blocks in their templates.</p>



<p>The following code is an example of a Group block that prevents both:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;!-- wp:group {"lock":{"move":true,"remove":true}} -->

&lt;!-- /wp:group --></code></pre>



<p>This can be especially handy for more complex layouts, such as a header and navigation area. Theme authors can now exert more control over the user experience in places where the design might easily be broken.</p>



<p>Note that locking does not trickle down to nested blocks. Therefore, if an outer Group block is locked, users can still add, remove, or move anything inside it. Themers must also add a lock to any nested items they want to keep in place. There is an open ticket and some early design work around <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/40069">locking nested blocks</a>, but it will not land in WordPress 6.0.</p>



<p>While this new feature offers more control for theme authors, it does not grant absolute power. Users can still unlock blocks by clicking the lock icon in the toolbar. However, as is the common saying in WordPress development circles, &#8220;There is a hook for that.&#8221;</p>



<p>George Mamadashvili <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/block-locking-settings-in-wordpress-6-0/">covered using the <code>block_editor_settings_all</code> filter hook</a> to customize access. He provided a few examples of enabling or disabling the UI based on capabilities, user email, and context, such as the post type. There is no limit on how developers can use this hook. In general, capability checks are typically the best option when dealing with permissions.</p>



<p>A developer could disable any user&#8217;s ability to move or remove blocks. In real-world cases, this should help agencies and freelancers create tightly-controlled experiences for their clients, especially when handing over access to the site editor.</p>



<p>For developers who are building themes for release on WordPress.org, the Themes Team currently disallows using this hook. It falls under the &#8220;plugin territory&#8221; guideline. Last month, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2022/04/26/themes-team-meeting-notes-april-26-2022/">the team announced</a> that themes could lock blocks but not disable the user&#8217;s ability to unlock them.</p>



<p>Block locking is not limited to block-based templates. It is also possible to lock things down within posts or pages. With a custom permissions setup, developers could extend it to give administrators and editors free rein while preventing authors and contributors from overriding locks, for example.</p>



<p>By default, all blocks support locking. For plugin developers who want to opt-out of this feature, they can set the <code>supports.lock</code> key to <code>false</code> in their <code>block.json</code> file.</p>



<p>I am eager to see new WordPress plugins built on this system. There is plenty of room to explore from site customization and editing flow angles.</p>



<p>For further reading, check out Anne McCarthy&#8217;s post on creating <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/09/core-editor-improvement-curated-experiences-with-locking-apis-theme-json/">curated experiences with locking APIs and theme.json</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, 10 May 2022 04:52:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"WPTavern: Ulysses App Updates WordPress Publishing to Use WP REST API";s: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=134148";s: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/ulysses-app-updates-wordpress-publishing-to-use-wp-rest-api";s: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:2701:"<img />



<p><a href="https://ulysses.app/">Ulysses</a>, a writing app for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, has <a href="https://ulysses.app/releases/">released</a> version 26. This is an important update for those who use the app to write and publish to WordPress. It adds support for more blogs and has simplified the process of setting them up using the WordPress REST API.</p>



<p>Under the File > Publishing Preview menu, users with connected WordPress sites can see how their posts would look with the Twenty Twenty-One default theme. Here you can also manage external publishing accounts and add multiple WordPress blogs by authenticating for each one and authorizing the Ulysses app. (Accounts were previously available under a separate menu but are now found under the Publishing Previews screen.)</p>



<img />



<p>Ulysses has been around since 2003 &#8211; as long as WordPress, and has gained a loyal customer base over the past 19 years. It is run by a small team based in Leipzig, Germany. The app&#8217;s users are often attracted by its sophisticated support for writing projects, distraction-free writing interface, and clean design, which won an Apple Design Award in 2016. </p>



<p>The app has supported publishing directly to WordPress since version 2.6, released in August 2016. Prior to this release, users had been exporting their posts as HTML or Markdown and pasting them into the WordPress editor. <a href="https://wptavern.com/ulysses-22-adds-wordpress-post-updating">Version 22</a>, released in 2021, introduced Micro.blog publishing and WordPress post updating.</p>



<p>In addition to the more modernized WordPress publishing integration, the latest update changes the publishing flow UI to feature dedicated buttons for quick access to publishing and the publishing preview. It also introduces a new counter on MacOS in the editor that shows the word count and pops out a little table of other stats on click, including characters, sentences, paragraphs, pages, and more.</p>



<img />



<p>Version 26 also fixes some sluggishness in the editor and eliminates a gaggle of annoying crash scenarios that users have been experiencing:</p>



<ul id="block-4f7f6d69-01bc-4de2-961d-d09011b67cb4"><li>Fixed a crash when sharing a sheet from Ulysses</li><li>Fixed a potential delay when typing in the editor</li><li>Fixed a rare crash on app launch</li><li>Fixed a crash when dragging a sheet from Mac to iPad using Universal Control</li></ul>



<p>Ulysses users who want to find out what&#8217;s coming in upcoming releases can test new features before they come available by joining the app&#8217;s <a href="https://ulysses.app/beta/">beta program</a> for iOS or macOS.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 09 May 2022 22:44:22 +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:89:"Gutenberg Times: WordPress 6.0 Devnotes, Sneak Peeks and articles – Weekend edition 214";s: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=21086";s: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:95:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-0-devnotes-sneak-peeks-and-articles-weekend-edition-214/";s: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:11117:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>Today&#8217;s Weekend Edition is full of WordPress 6.0 developer notes  and articles. The  <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-1/">Release Candidate 1 was released this week</a>. Now is a good time to test the new version with your themes, plugins and hosting. And <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">report bugs and quirks</a>!  </p>



<p>It&#8217;s already quite late, let&#8217;s get this on the road! </p>



<p>Be well, and have a great next week! </p>



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





<div class="wp-container-6 wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>?️ </strong> New episode: <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-65-gallery-block/">Gutenberg Changelog #66 – Gutenberg 13.1, New Zealand, InnerBlocks</a> with co-hosts Birgit Pauli-Haack and Mary Job. Special Guest: Glen Davies</p>
</div></div>



<h2>Developer Notes for Block Themes and the Editor in WordPress 6.0</h2>



<p>The <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a> is published for your perusal. Grab&#8217; your favorite beverage and start reading. ? </p>



<p>Here, as always, I collected the Dev Notes specifically related to the Block editor:</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/separator-block-updated-to-use-block-supports-color-settings/">Separator block: Updated to use block supports color settings</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/support-for-handling-resolution-errors-for-editor-data-module/">Support for handling resolution errors for Editor data module</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/updates-to-the-wordpress-create-block-templating-system/">Updates to the @wordpress/create-block templating system</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/block-locking-settings-in-wordpress-6-0/">Block Locking Settings in WordPress 6.0</a> </li></ul>



<p><strong>Building Themes</strong> </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/page-creation-patterns-in-wordpress-6-0/">Page creation patterns in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/global-styles-variations-in-wordpress-6-0/">Global Styles variations in WordPress 6.0</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/new-features-for-working-with-patterns-and-themes-in-wordpress-6-0/">New features for working with patterns and themes in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/theme-export-in-wordpress-6-0/">Theme export in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-markup-updates-for-image-quote-list-and-group-blocks/">Block markup updates for image, quote, list and group blocks</a><br /></li></ul>



<p>There is also the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Block Editor miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a> with the following short notes: </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#bottom-margin">Removed bottom margin on LineHeightControl component</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#block-preservation">Unrecognized block preservation</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#blocks-in-themes">Registration of Blocks from within Themes</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#enable-post-comments">Enable legacy Post Comments block</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#gallery-block">Gallery block – Ability to adjust gap between images added</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#ancestor">New&nbsp;<code>ancestor</code>&nbsp;property in&nbsp;<code>block.json</code></a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#media-entity">Changes to media object returned from the WordPress data module</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/#removed-apis">Removed Deprecated APIs</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p>There are a ton of details to digest. Take you time. ? </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>




<h2>Block editor for content creators, site owners and site builders. </h2>



<p>In the <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-30-a-sneak-peek-at-wordpress-6-0/">thirtieth episode of the WordPress Briefing,</a></strong> Executive Director <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/JosephaHaden">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a></strong> and special guest <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/critterverse">Channing Ritter</a></strong> give listeners a sneak peek into the WordPress 6.0 release ahead of the Release Candidate 1 (RC1).</p>



<p>Learn more about Style Switcher and the Style variations coming with the Twenty-Twenty-Two theme updates. Chomphosy and Ritter also touch on the Block locking UI features for site builders. Ritter is the design release lead for WordPress 6.0 and she talks about the experience. It&#8217;s particular interesting because, the position wasn&#8217;t assigned for a few release cycles. I also learned about the new feature tying the Slack #props channel to the WordPress profile. Listen in and have fun. </p>



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



<p>In<a href="https://stunningdigitalmarketing.com/episode-225-block-museum-and-wordpress-6-0/"> his podcast&#8217;s 225th<strong>,</strong></a> <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/RobCairns">Rob Cairns</a></strong> sits down with <strong>Anne McCarthy </strong>of Automattic to talk about her <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/introducing-the-museum-of-block-art-moba/">Block Museum project</a> and the road to WordPress 6.0. </p>



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



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/carlodaniele"><strong>Carlo Daniele</strong></a> did a deep dive into all the features coming to WordPress 6.0 for Kinsta Blog: <strong><a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-6-0/">What’s New in WordPress 6.0: New Blocks, Style Switching, Template Editing, Webfonts API, and Much More</a></strong>.</p>



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



<p>For a less technical overview and more visual details, head on over to WPBeginner&#8217;s post: <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/news/whats-coming-in-wordpress-6-0-features-and-screenshots/"><strong>What’s Coming in WordPress 6.0 (Features and Screenshots)</strong></a></p>



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



<h2>Upcoming WordPress Social Learning Meetups</h2>



<p><strong>May 9, 2022 3am EDT/ 7am UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285413699/"><strong>Showcasing Content with Query Loops</strong></a>&nbsp;w/ Wes Theron</p>



<p><strong>May 12, 2022 &#8211; 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518274/"><strong>Builder Basics: Working with Templates in Full Site Editing (Part 2)</strong></a> w/ Nick Diego</p>



<p><strong>May 18, 2022 &#8211; 6 pm EDT / 22:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518331/">Sticky Styling: Getting Colors, Fonts, and Sizes to Stick</a></strong> w/ Sarah Snow</p>



<p><strong>May 19, 2022 5pm EDT / 21:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285412812/"><strong>Using the Navigation Block</strong></a>&nbsp;w/ Wes Theron</p>



<p><strong>May 19, 2022 &#8211; 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518331/">Builder Basics: Working with Templates in Full Site Editing (Part 3</a></strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285518274/"><strong>)</strong></a> w/ Nick Diego</p>



<p><strong>May 25, 2022 &#8211; 7pm EDT / 23:00 UTC </strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/285577455/">Design With Me: Create a Simple Website for your Small Business</a></strong> w/ Sarah Snow</p>




<p>Featured Image: &#8220;<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9322302@N03/1886898013" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brick</a>&#8221;&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/9322302@N03" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marv1nalon3</a>&nbsp;is marked with&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0</a>. found on <a href="https://wordpress.org/openverse/">Openverse</a></p>





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<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 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, 07 May 2022 23:49:41 +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: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:57:"WPTavern: How To Build Coupon Cards With WordPress Blocks";s: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=134129";s: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:68:"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-coupon-cards-with-wordpress-blocks";s: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:5378:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Last year, I designed several patterns for showcasing coupon codes on a site. They were part of a larger theme project that I never finished. However, I had a ton of fun playing around with variations. Disliking them withering away on my laptop&#8217;s hard drive, I thought I would share them with the Tavern audience.</p>



<p>The base coupon card looks like the following:</p>



<img />



<p>When I designed it and the others, I had Christmas on my mind (if that was not obvious from the screenshot). Of course, I am always thinking about the holiday, usually starting my shopping by at least July each year.</p>



<p>Other than the image, I intentionally left most of the design generic so that it easily applies to other holidays and events.</p>



<p>This tutorial in the <a href="https://wptavern.com/category/building-with-blocks">Building with Blocks</a> series will walk you through each step of creating custom coupon cards from the editor. I will also share a couple of ideas for variations at the end.</p>



<h2>Step 1: Adding a Group Block</h2>



<img />Adding a Group block with custom background and border.



<p>As with most patterns, you should start with a container-type block. For the coupon card, begin by inserting a Group. You are free to personalize this however you want. However, to use the same layout in the tutorial, you should at least set the block&#8217;s padding to <code>0px</code> and block spacing option to <code>0px</code>. Those need to be zeroed out for the rest of the design to work.</p>



<p>I adjusted my Group block to have a light gray background color. Then, I added a <code>4px</code> dashed border and an <code>8px</code> border-radius. Each of these design tools is available in the block inspector in the sidebar panel. Have a little fun with colors and other settings until you find something you like.</p>



<h2>Step 2: Add an Image</h2>



<img />Inserting an Image block into the Group.



<p>This step is straightforward. Insert an Image block inside of the Group from step #1. There are no particular settings required.</p>



<p>Of course, you should link it to something via the insert-link button in the toolbar. <em>You are presumably selling a product and want folks to click on it.</em></p>



<h2>Step 3: Add Content Group</h2>



<img />Adding a nested Group block.



<p>This should be another simple step. Below the Image block from step #2, add a new Group. This will house the &#8220;content&#8221; you will add in step #4.</p>



<p>The most crucial setting for this block is to add padding via the block design tools in the sidebar panel. I opted for <code>2rem</code> to match my theme. Remember that you zeroed out the padding in the outer Group in step #1. Now, you need to add some to keep the content from butting against the side of the container.</p>



<h2>Step 4: Add Content</h2>



<img />Adding the sales pitch.



<p>With the Group block in place from step #3, you have a new freeform area to throw in your sales pitch to potential customers. This can be as simple as a Heading followed by a Paragraph or something much more complex. It is probably best to keep it short and on point.</p>



<h2>Step 5: Coupon Code Row</h2>



<img />Inserting a Row block for coupon code section.



<p>To highlight the coupon code, add a new Row block below the Group block added in step #3. This allows you to add a section for the code and expiration date in the next step.</p>



<p>Select the &#8220;space between items&#8221; option for the justification control. This setting pushes each nested block away from the other.</p>



<p>Then, select a custom background color. This should automatically give padding to the Row block. If you opt out of setting a color, you should manually set the padding to match the Group block above it.</p>



<h2>Step 6: Add Code and Expiration</h2>



<img />Custom coupon code and expiration date.



<p>The final step is to add two Paragraph blocks into the Row container. The first should read something like &#8220;Coupon: XMAS2022,&#8221; and the second should be &#8220;Expires: December 31.&#8221;</p>



<p>Of course, it is your card, so have fun customizing it.</p>



<h2>Variations</h2>



<p>The wonderful thing about the WordPress block editor is there are so many ways that users can modify the output of a set of blocks like the above. Something as simple as changing the colors can give you an entirely different look. And, by rearranging a block or two, you can craft something uniquely your own.</p>



<p>One of the easiest ways of customizing the coupon code above is by throwing in a few emoji, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>



<img />Emoji variation.



<p>OK. I was having a bit of fun with that. On a more serious note, there are many ways to tinker with the formula and create something new.</p>



<p>It took me only a few moments to merge steps #2 and #4 (skipping step #3) from earlier to create the following:</p>



<img />Media &amp; Text variation.



<p>That is a Media &amp; Text block in the mix. I will leave you with the challenge of recreating this variation without a complete walkthrough. If you get stuck, check out my <a href="https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-book-and-book-review-cards-with-wordpress-blocks">previous tutorial</a>, which covers Media &amp; Text extensively.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 07 May 2022 02:39:14 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:56:"Post Status: BobWP’s Woo Snippet for the Week of May 1";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97145";s: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:64:"https://poststatus.com/bobwps-woo-snippet-for-the-week-of-may-1/";s: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:3683:"<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">WooCommerce RC1 and RC2 • GetEllipsis search volume trends report shows growth for Woo • Negative security perceptions • Remkus de Vries on burnout and making life changes.  </p></div>


<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_215fb5-9b"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



<p class="has-drop-cap">Over at <strong>WooCommerce</strong> Core, <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/05/04/woocommerce-6-5-rc-2/">both the RC1 and RC2 for 6.5 came out this week</a> in preparation for the May 10th final release. </p>



<p><strong>Alex Denning</strong> published <a href="https://getellipsis.com/blog/105m-searched-wordpress-terms/">his latest analysis on WordPress and WooCommerce search volumes</a> for <strong>Get Ellipsis</strong>. WordPress search dipped a bit in Q1 of 2022, but WooCommerce searches took a leap upwards. Get Ellipsis looked at 10K searches for WooCommerce terms and found monthly searches were up 12.0% year-on-year, which they note is double growth. </p>



<p>Take a look at <a href="https://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/third-party-risk-could-cost-e-commerce-sites-millions-176618.html">Third-Party Risks Could Cost E-Commerce Sites Millions</a> from <strong>Ecommerce Times</strong>. Their assessment is aimed at the broader ecommerce space, but the topic is applicable to anyone with a site using third-party services with security and liability concerns. Buried in the post they also mention Woo — oddly placing it in the context of open source and linking both with &#8220;small websites&#8221; especially susceptible to unaddressed security vulnerabilities. In several respects, it's <a href="https://poststatus.com/finding-the-upside-in-wordpress-security/">a highly inaccurate view that needs to be changed</a>.</p>



<p>And over at <strong>Do the Woo</strong> we have <a href="https://dothewoo.io/listening-to-yourself-when-agency-life-calls-you-back/">a great conversation</a> with <strong>Remkus de Vries</strong> around his recent decision to reboot his agency and go back to being at the helm of his own ship. We learned more about his earlier transition resulting from burnout after running his own business <em>and</em> deciding to join the team at <strong>Yoast</strong> and <strong>Boltserve</strong>. But listening to himself more over the last several months has pointed him back to agency life. Don't forget to listen to yourself for your own needs — you can pay a little now or pay a lot more later!</p>



<div class="wp-container-11 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Get the Woo Snippet and more in our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong>: Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WordPress and WooCommerce news plus significant writing and podcast episodes from the WordPress community and beyond. It's all in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<p>And don't miss <strong>the latest updates from the people making WordPress</strong>. We've got you covered with <a href="https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/">This Week at WordPress.org</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2699.png" alt="⚙" class="wp-smiley" /> Now with a new Five for the Future section!</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:"Fri, 06 May 2022 16:31:35 +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:8:"Bob Dunn";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:35:"Post Status: Post Status Notes #497";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=96899";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-notes-497/";s: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:13916:"<div class="wp-container-9 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container"><div class="wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">WordPress is 19! • WP 6.0 news and Beta 4 release. • JetPack 10.9 • BuddyPress Rewrites 1.1.0 • Simple Local Avatars 2.3.0 • InMotion funds WCUS scholarships • RSS and Blogging FTW • Wishlist Member acquired • New leadership team at Yoast • and the rest of your weekly WP news roundup! </p></div></div></div>



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<h2 id="h-wordpress-6-0-news">WordPress 6.0 News</h2>



<p><strong>WordPress 6.0 Beta </strong>4 is <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-beta-4/">available for testing</a> with the final release still planned for May 24, 2022.</p>



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<p>With the release of <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong> fast approaching, developers should bookmark and examine <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">the newly released WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a> — a summary of the enhancements and additions coming to core. The 6.0 release includes&nbsp;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&type=defect+(bug)&milestone=6.0&group=component&col=id&col=summary&col=type&col=owner&col=priority&col=component&col=version&order=priority">131</a>&nbsp;bug fixes and&nbsp;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&type=enhancement&type=feature+request&milestone=6.0&max=500&col=id&col=summary&col=type&col=status&col=milestone&col=owner&col=priority&order=priority">97</a>&nbsp;enhancements or feature requests. Two items of note:</p>



<ul><li>WordPress is now <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/media-storing-file-size-as-part-of-metadata/">storing file size as part of the metadata</a>.  </li><li>A new filter that <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">can modify or replace the description of a plugin</a> on the <strong>Plugins &gt; Add New</strong> screen. </li></ul>



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<p class="has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background">The <a href="https://thephp.foundation/blog/2022/05/02/the-php-foundation-update-april-2022/">April 2022 PHP Foundation Update</a> is available now. It always has lots of PHP news important to WordPress but outside the community's often too-narrow &#8220;bubble&#8221; of concern. If you'd like to get up to speed, <strong>Tonya Mork</strong> and <strong>Carl Alexander</strong> recently sat down with <strong>David Bisset</strong> to cover <a href="https://poststatus.com/post-status-comments-no-6-getting-up-to-speed-on-php-news/">the major PHP news you need to know</a>.</p>



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<h2>Giving Back Big!</h2>



<p>Kudos to <strong>InMotion Hosting</strong> for <a href="https://www.inmotionhosting.com/blog/wordcamp-us-2022-diversity-speaker/">committing to five travel scholarships</a> of $1500 for WordCamp US. Two are reserved for the diversity speaker program, and three are for people who have never attended a WordCamp. </p>



<p>InMotion mentions they are following <a href="https://masterwp.com/wordcamp-us-2022-sponsorship/">MasterWP's example</a> — that company is funding travel for up to six speakers, organizers, or volunteers. You can <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/contribute-to-masterwps-wordcamp-sponsorships">add to the fund as an individual</a>.</p>



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<p class="has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><strong>Olivia Bisset</strong> (with <strong>David Bisset</strong>) has launched <a href="https://wp19.day">wp19day</a> — a celebration the 19th anniversary of WordPress which is happening on <strong>May 27th</strong>. <strong>Post Status</strong> is helping out — and you can too by submitting your <a href="https://wp19.day">words, short videos, or photos</a> to be displayed on the site and tweeted by <a href="http://twitter.com/wp19day">@wp19day</a>. The site will also monitor Twitter for activity as the date gets closer. Use the hashtags <code>#wp19</code> and <code>#wp19day</code>.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you to <a href="https://twitter.com/JJJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JJJ</a> for sharing your thoughts on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wp19day?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wp19day</a>. <br /><br />Anyone can enter a submission quote or short video at <a href="https://t.co/rx1iUaxbFH">https://t.co/rx1iUaxbFH</a> <a href="https://t.co/Cty5BLFVJ5">pic.twitter.com/Cty5BLFVJ5</a></p>&mdash; wp19day (@wp19day) <a href="https://twitter.com/wp19day/status/1522213776077979648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



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<h2>Notable Plugin Updates</h2>



<p>This week saw <a href="https://memberium.com/wishlist-announcement/">another WordPress acquisition</a>. The <strong>Wishlist Member</strong> plugin and its team are being acquired by&nbsp;<strong>Micah Mitchell</strong> and brought under the <strong>Membershipper</strong> brand. Also recently <strong>James Kemp</strong>, founder of <a href="https://iconicwp.com/">Iconic</a>, acquired <a href="https://getreplybox.com/">ReplyBox</a> which a privacy-focused comment system that has a WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>The latest version of <strong>JetPack</strong> (10.9) will allow you to <a href="https://jetpack.com/blog/jetpack-10-9-share-videos-directly-with-your-site-members/">share private videos with your site members</a>.</p>



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<p>The first maintenance release of <strong>BP Rewrites</strong> (1.1.0) — the <strong>BuddyPress</strong> add-on that gives you the power to control every BuddyPress<strong>&#8211;</strong>generated URL — <a href="https://buddypress.org/2022/05/bp-rewrites-1-1-0-maintenance-release/">is now ready for download</a>.</p>



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<p>Here's the 2.3.0 release for <a href="https://github.com/10up/simple-local-avatars"><strong>Simple Local Avatars</strong></a> from <strong>10up</strong> that adds an avatar upload field to user profiles. It's new to <strong>Github</strong> but has been available <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-local-avatars/">in the .org repo</a> for over a decade as one of 10up's very useful, very small, very free plugins originally created by <strong>Jake Goldman</strong>. </p>



<p>The latest release adds <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-local-avatars/#developers">a lot of nice fixes and enhancements</a> contributed by Faisal Alvi and many othe 10up team members.</p>



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<p class="has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><strong>Yoast</strong> has <a href="https://yoast.com/meet-yoasts-new-leadership-team/">a new leadership team</a>: <strong>Thijs de Valk</strong> (CEO), <strong>Chaya Oosterbroek</strong> (COO), <strong>Marieke van de Rakt</strong> (Head of Strategy), <strong>Inge Ariëns </strong>(Head of Marketing), <strong>Taco Verdonschot</strong> (Head of Relations), <strong>Irene Strikkers</strong> (Head of Research & Development) and <strong>Herre Groen</strong> (Head of Technology).</p>



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<h2>Worthy Projects, Maintainers Needed </h2>



<p>Here's <a href="https://twitter.com/wprigio/status/1522335333597147136">a nice reminder</a> from <strong>WP Rig</strong> that they are still on the lookout for more maintainers to join the team. The WP Rig project is a progressive theme development rig for WordPress that was started nearly two years ago. <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen</strong> has more details <a href="https://github.com/wprig/wprig/issues/618">on this Github ticket</a>. </p>



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<p><strong>Tom Critchlow</strong> has some good thoughts on how we can increase the &#8220;surface area&#8221; of blogging <a href="https://tomcritchlow.com/2022/04/21/new-rss/">from OPML and RSS to personal feeds</a>. <strong>Chris Coyier</strong> also <a href="https://chriscoyier.net/2022/04/29/rss-3/">shared his thoughts on RSS</a> and how we can support a &#8220;slow social network&#8221; with personal sites.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>How is all this social? It’s just slow social. If you want to respond to me, publish something linking to what I said. If I want to respond to you, I publish something linking to what you wrote. Old school. Good school. It’s high-effort, but I think the required effort is a positive thing for a social network. Forces you to think more. I do kinda like the low-effort-ness of just a quick “like”, but hey, RSS readers support that in the form of stars, and mine are even <a href="https://feedbin.com/starred/56d6b0fe68e5efd3d447fd5bf328a57e.xml">also syndicated</a>.</p></blockquote>



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<h2 id="h-good-things-shared">Good Things Shared</h2>



<p class="has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background">We're loving this <a href="https://developers.googleblog.com/2022/04/what-is-black-and-white-and-read-all.html">new black and white <strong>Noto emoji font</strong></a> from <strong>Google</strong>.</p>



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<p><strong>Alex Denning</strong> notes <a href="https://getellipsis.com/blog/105m-searched-wordpress-terms/">that searches for WordPress keywords</a> are up 7.4% year on year, and <strong>WooCommerce</strong> searches are up 12.0%. 2021 Q4 &#8220;rallied significantly&#8221; and brought &#8220;the largest volume of search traffic for WordPress we’ve seen yet.&#8221;  Interest &#8220;in themes has found its middle ground.&#8221;</p>



<p>Going by search traffic alone isn't a perfect metric —like market share numbers from <strong>W3C Techs</strong> — but it's another indicator to keep an eye on.</p>



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<p><strong>WPCampus</strong> now has a <strong>Learning Library</strong> — <a href="https://www.wpcampus.org/learning/library/">a growing collection of slides, videos, and discussions</a> of <strong>WPCampus</strong> conference sessions. Thanks to the members of the <strong>WPCampus</strong> community for sharing this valuable resource!</p>



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<div class="wp-container-10 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p>David's got the <a href="https://poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-may-1/">WordPress Podcast and Video Picks for the Week of May 1</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<p>And don't miss <strong>the latest updates from the people making WordPress</strong>. We've got you covered with <a href="https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/">This Week at WordPress.org</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2699.png" alt="⚙" class="wp-smiley" /> Now with a new Five for the Future section! </p>



<p><strong>Get all this and more in our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WordPress and WooCommerce news plus significant writing and podcast episodes from the WordPress community and beyond. It's all in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></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:"Fri, 06 May 2022 15:38:03 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:68:"Post Status: WordPress Podcast and Video Picks for the Week of May 1";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=96901";s: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:79:"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-may-1/";s: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:3810:"<div class="wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">It's <strong>David Bisset</strong>&#8216;s weekly WordPress podcast and video roundup! This week we have <strong>Ines van Dijk</strong> on <strong>Women in WP</strong>, <strong>An Event Apart</strong> on <strong>The ShopTalk Show</strong>, <strong>Heather Brunner</strong> on <strong>Content is for Closers</strong>, UX and design on <strong>WP Builds</strong>, <strong>Joe Casabona</strong> on the Tavern's <strong>Jukebox</strong>, <strong>Josepha Chomphosy and Channing Ritter</strong> the <strong>WordPress Briefing</strong>, <strong>Syed Balkhi</strong> on <strong>The Gamechangers</strong>, and <strong>Dave Smith</strong> on key block editor features coming to <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong>. </p></div>


<h2 id="h-my-podcast-picks">My Podcast Picks <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></h2>



<ul><li><strong>Women in WP</strong>: Advice from <strong>Ines van Dijk</strong> <a href="https://womeninwp.com/podcast/082-ines-van-dijk-providing-quality-support-to-end-users/">on providing quality support</a> to end users.</li><li><strong>ShopTalk Show:</strong> Chris and Dave <a href="https://shoptalkshow.com/513/">answer questions about CSS and more</a> live from <strong>An Event Apart</strong>.</li><li><strong>Content is for Closers:</strong> <strong>Heather Brunner</strong>, the CEO of <strong>WP Engine</strong>, <a href="https://www.contentisforclosers.com/podcast/platforming-different-voices/">shares how she has learned to lean into her unique abilities</a>, in addition to the tactical ideas that WP Engine uses to practically promote diversity.</li><li><strong>WP Builds:</strong> Nathan and David <a href="https://wpbuilds.com/2022/05/05/277-user-experience-and-user-interface/">talk about user experience</a> in the design process.</li><li><strong>WP Tavern Jukebox:</strong> <strong>Joe Casabona</strong> explains why WordPress <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/25-joe-casabona-on-why-wordpress-is-a-great-choice-for-your-podcast">is a good choice for hosting your podcast</a>.</li><li><strong>WordPress Briefing</strong>: <strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy</strong> and <strong>Channing Ritter</strong> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-30-a-sneak-peek-at-wordpress-6-0/">offer a sneak peek</a> into <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong>.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-my-video-pick">My Video Pick <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4fa.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></h2>



<ul><li><strong>WordPress 6.0 Features in Four Minutes: Dave Smith</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09affdqg0-E">highlights some of the key block editor features</a> coming in <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong>.</li><li><strong>The Gamechangers</strong>: <strong>Syed Balkhi</strong> talks about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0bdxdgByRA">how he got into the WordPress acquisitions game</a>.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-13 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" />  </p>



<p>And don't miss <strong>the latest updates from the people making WordPress</strong>. We've got you covered with <a href="https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/">This Week at WordPress.org</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2699.png" alt="⚙" class="wp-smiley" /></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:"Fri, 06 May 2022 14:40:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:90:"Do The Woo Community: WooBits: Web3 Integration, Woo in Search and More Random WooCommerce";s: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=71604";s: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:63:"https://dothewoo.io/web3-integration-and-woocommerce-in-search/";s: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:415:"<p>This week I chat about the flux of crypto plugins for WooCommerce, how Woo is rating in search and third-party risks.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/web3-integration-and-woocommerce-in-search/">WooBits: Web3 Integration, Woo in Search and More Random WooCommerce</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:"Fri, 06 May 2022 10:03:00 +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:71:"WPTavern: FSE Outreach #14: Building Recipe Posts With Lists and Quotes";s: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=134115";s: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/fse-outreach-14-building-recipe-posts-with-lists-and-quotes";s: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:4926:"<p>Round #14 of the FSE Outreach program is <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">now open to the public</a>. Anne McCarthy, who oversees the program, calls for testers to build a recipe post using existing tools like the template editor and some new and experimental blocks.</p>



<p>Those who want to leave feedback can do so until May 18. The program always needs testers from across the spectrum of user experiences. This is an easy way to contribute back to the WordPress project.</p>



<p>The latest round calls on users to test some new blocks in the Gutenberg plugin. Some of these are related to comments. I opted out of this part of the test because I had already covered everything I had to say in <a href="https://wptavern.com/new-comment-related-blocks-arriving-with-wordpress-6-0">an article in early April</a>. That post, along with feedback from the community, helped drive some of the changes that should land in WordPress 6.0.</p>



<p>My focus was on the List and Quote block updates for this round. &#8220;Version 2&#8221; of these are available via Gutenberg 13.1 and must be enabled via the Gutenberg > Experiments admin screen.</p>



<p>The new List is no longer a single block. Instead, each item within it is a separate block of its own. Likewise, for each sub-list.</p>



<p>The overhaul of the Quote block allows end-users to nest other blocks within it. By default, this is a Paragraph, and there seems to be no limit to what can be placed inside.</p>



<p>I had fun with this testing round. <em>Recipes are my jam</em>, so I had to pick the perfect one to share. Ultimately, I built a custom &#8220;recipe template&#8221; and a <em>faux</em> recipe post, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>



<img />



<p>For this experiment, I relied on the ever-reliable <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo/">Archeo theme</a> by Automattic. It has been my go-to for several weeks now, and I will likely continue using it until I find something new that sparks my interest. It is definitely a solid solution for these types of tests.</p>



<h2>Testing the New List and Quote Blocks</h2>



<p>The call for testing asks volunteers to create a custom template for recipe posts. The only change I made to the theme&#8217;s default single template was to wrap the site header, post title, and post excerpt in a Cover block tied to the post&#8217;s featured image.</p>



<img />Custom single recipe template.



<p>I described <a href="https://wptavern.com/featured-cover-blocks-and-the-future-of-binding-data-to-generic-wordpress-blocks">how to do this in a post in April</a>. Once that was in place, I moved forward with building out a recipe post.</p>



<p>Ultimately, I added a short intro for the recipe. Then, used the Columns block to section off the <a href="https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-recipe-card-via-the-wordpress-block-editor">recipe card</a> and some tips from readers. This is where I was able to dive into the experimental List and Quote blocks.</p>



<p>The List block proved to be the most problematic. It seemed impossible to add a new item to the top level after an inserted sub-list. Clicking the first item and hitting <code>Enter</code> deleted everything nested below it. No amount of clicking or keyboard input seemed to get me back to the top level to continue adding more items.</p>



<p>Eventually, I wised up and navigated to the top level via the breadcrumbs in the editor. Then, I clicked the &#8220;+&#8221; icon (this could also be done from the editor&#8217;s list view). As someone who primarily works from the keyboard, this felt unintuitive.</p>



<img />Troubleshooting a List block.



<p>It also seems impossible to escape the List and into a new Paragraph block. In the past, this could be accomplished by hitting the <code>Enter</code> key twice while on the final list item. That action now creates a nested list.</p>



<p>Markdown-based lists are also not transformed into a List block when pasted into the editor. The formatting is lost, and each item gets absorbed into a Paragraph block.</p>



<p>The new Quote block worked well. It is now possible to add nested blocks inside it, one of the features I have long needed as a writer here at the Tavern when quoting from third-party resources.</p>



<p>One enhancement I would like to see for Quote v2 is the <code>&lt;cite></code> element separated into a standalone block. This would allow end-users to customize its design separately from the wrapping <code>&lt;blockquote></code> on the block and global levels. Currently, only theme authors can modify its style, which must be handled via custom CSS.</p>



<p>Overall, I am eager to see the finalized versions of these blocks. They will bring back some of the missing functionality from the classic editor and give users the flexibility to do even more.</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, 06 May 2022 03:04:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:57:"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress – April 2022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12816";s: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/2022/05/the-month-in-wordpress-april-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10554:"<p>This past month saw a lot of preparation work for WordPress 6.0, due to release on 24 May 2022. This major release brings exciting improvements – read on to find out more about the latest happenings in the WordPress project.</p>



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



<h2>WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 1</h2>



<p><strong>The first release candidate (RC1) for WordPress 6.0 is now available for download</strong>. Help improve the project by testing and translating this version to non-English languages. Check out the RC1 <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-1/">release post</a> to learn what’s new and how to contribute. For a more in-depth look at the upcoming changes, you can refer to the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a>.</p>



<p>WordPress 6.0 is packed with all kinds of improvements for everyone. It brings new blocks, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/20/wordpress-6-0-accessibility-improvements/">accessibility enhancements</a>, refined design tools, the ability to switch theme styles easily, multi-block partial text selection, and a new block locking interface, to name a few of its highlights.</p>



<div class="wp-container-1 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-30-a-sneak-peek-at-wordpress-6-0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><strong>Listen to the latest </strong><strong>WP Briefing episode</strong><strong> for a sneak peek into the exciting features included in WordPress 6.0.</strong></strong></a></div>
</div>



<h2>Gutenberg releases: Versions 13.0 and 13.1 are here</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-0-14-april/">Gutenberg 13.0</a> shipped on April 14, 2022, and introduced the final updates that will be part of WordPress 6.0. These include an improved editor experience (with the ability to select text across blocks), better responsive blocks, and prominently exposed block patterns.</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-1-27-april/">Gutenberg 13.1</a> landed on April 27, 2022. This version adds border support to the Columns block and accessibility and Comment block improvements.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-2 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><strong>Follow the </strong><strong>#gutenberg-new</strong><strong> posts for more details on the latest updates.</strong></strong></a></div>
</div>



<h2>Team updates: Updated guidelines for in-person events, redesign of the Gutenberg page, and more</h2>



<ul><li>The Community team announced <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/21/announcement-updated-covid-19-guidelines-for-official-wordpress-events/">updated Covid-19 guidelines</a> for official WordPress events.</li><li>The <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/04/12/gutenberg-landing-page-kick-off/">redesign of the Gutenberg landing page</a> on WordPress.org is nearing completion.</li><li>#WPDiversity announced new meeting times for Asia-Pacific (APAC) areas. You can express your interest <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/22/wpdiversity-is-expanding-to-apac/">in this post</a>.</li><li>The Training team plans to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/04/19/migrating-contributor-training-to-learn-wordpress/">migrate the Contributor Training materials</a> to Learn WordPress. This move will help consolidate all the community-based training content in one place.</li><li>All learners on Learn WordPress can now enjoy using <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/04/07/demo-sites-for-learn-wordpress-users/">a live WordPress demo site</a> as they go through courses on the site.</li><li>The first stable <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/18/version-1-0-0-of-the-performance-lab-plugin-published/" target="_blank">version 1.0.0</a> of the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/performance-lab/">Performance Lab</a> plugin was released.</li><li>Read the latest edition of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/21/meetup-organizer-newsletter-april-2022/">Meetup Organizer Newsletter</a>.</li><li>Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join the new <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/photos/">Photo Directory team</a> meetings. They are held on the first Friday of every month at 14:00 UTC in the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/photos" target="_blank">#photos</a> channel of the Make WordPress Slack.</li><li>The Performance team published a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/12/follow-up-on-webp-by-default-proposal/">follow-up post</a> with the next steps on the WebP proposal.</li><li>Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/04/25/design-share-apr-11-22/">projects</a> the Design team contributed to over the past couple of weeks.</li><li>Official Featured and Beta plugins now limit <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2022/04/15/featured-beta-plugins-now-limit-changes/">ownership and committer changes</a>.</li><li>The April 2022 edition of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/04/22/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-april-2022/">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter</a> was published.</li><li>The latest edition of People of WordPress features <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/people-of-wordpress-meher-bala/">Meher Bala</a>, a frontend web developer and community builder from India.</li><li>The <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C0FRG66LR" target="_blank">#props</a> channel of the Make WordPress Slack is now connected to the WordPress.org profile activity! This way when you give props, it will be included on your WordPress.org profile and the profile of those you mention. This change is part of a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/03/16/proposal-to-remove-spam-dormant-five-for-the-future-pledges/">larger project</a> that will help credit more non-code contributions.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-3 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/11/return-to-in-person-events-share-your-challenges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>How do you feel about in-person WordPress gatherings? The Community team wants to hear about the challenges in returning to these events.</strong></a></div>
</div>



<h2>Open feedback/testing calls</h2>



<ul><li>Following this <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/03/16/proposal-a-wordpress-project-contributor-handbook/">proposal</a> for a WordPress Project Contributor Handbook, Executive Director Josepha Haden opened a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/29/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-2/">round of discussions</a> to share feedback on the various handbook sections.</li><li>Version 19.8 of WordPress for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/02/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-8/">Android</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/05/02/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-8/">iOS</a> is available for testing.</li><li>Join the 14th testing call of the Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach program – “<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">Rallying Recipe Reviewers</a>.” This call focuses on testing blocks that help recipe authors make their recipe blogs more interactive. Leave your feedback by May 18, 2022.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-4 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/04/12/help-wanted-test-wordpress-6-0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><strong>Are you interested in helping test out new WordPress 6.0 features but don’t know where to start? This </strong><strong>detailed guide</strong><strong> will walk you through how to get started.</strong></strong></a></div>
</div>



<h2>Get ready for WordCamp Europe in Porto</h2>



<ul><li>We are four weeks away from <a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/join-the-european-wordpress-community-in-porto-portugal/">WordCamp Europe</a>. After being postponed twice due to the pandemic, the WordPress event is taking place in Porto, Portugal, on 2-4 June 2022. Check out the <a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/schedule/">schedule</a> and get your <a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/tickets/">tickets</a> if you haven’t yet!</li><li>WordCamp US <a href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/support-underrepresented-speakers-at-wordcamp-us/">announced</a> a new program to support underrepresented speakers.</li><li><a href="https://irun.wordcamp.org/2022/">WordCamp Irun</a> (Spain) is happening this month on May 21 and 22, 2022.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-5 wp-block-buttons">
<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/our-call-for-volunteers-is-now-open/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><strong><strong>The </strong><strong>Call for Volunteers</strong><strong> for WordCamp US in San Diego, California, is now open. Newcomers to WordPress are always welcomed. Apply today!</strong></strong></strong></a></div>
</div>



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



<p><strong><em><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Let us know by filling out </em></strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><strong><em>this form</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></em></strong></p>



<p><em>The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>rmartinezduque</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>cbringmann</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>dansoschin</a>.</em></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, 05 May 2022 15:01:33 +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:"rmartinezduque";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:93:"Do The Woo Community: Listen to Yourself When Agency Life Calls You Back with Remkus de Vries";s: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=71595";s: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://dothewoo.io/listening-to-yourself-when-agency-life-calls-you-back/";s: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:438:"<p>Remkus de Vries has decided to reboot his agency and bring himself back into setting at the helm of his life and his business.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/listening-to-yourself-when-agency-life-calls-you-back/">Listen to Yourself When Agency Life Calls You Back with Remkus de Vries</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, 05 May 2022 10:01:00 +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: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:82:"WPTavern: WordPress Should Support Featured Images for Categories, Users, and More";s: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=133652";s: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:91:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-should-support-featured-images-for-categories-users-and-more";s: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:4227:"<p>One of the features that I have long wanted for WordPress has been on my mind lately. It is not a new idea, and it has been implemented in some form or fashion by plugin and theme authors in the past. However, it has never been standardized. WordPress needs featured images for more than just posts. It should support them for taxonomy terms (e.g., categories, tags) and users.</p>



<p>One month ago today, I participated in <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-13-building-an-author-template-from-the-wordpress-site-editor">Round #13 of the FSE Outreach Program</a>. It was the first time that the Gutenberg plugin allowed adding a new author template via the site editor (this is coming in WordPress 6.0). Author templates have always been supported if added via the theme, but users now have that power. The program called for volunteers to test this feature and some new author-related blocks.</p>



<p>As I always do when participating in the FSE Outreach testing calls, I tried to push the design limits of the editor. Much of the program focuses on the user experience, but I want to go beyond that and find those design-related pain points.</p>



<p>Ultimately, I settled on a design for my <em>faux</em> author template:</p>



<img />Custom author template.



<p>I added a Cover block as the backdrop for the author profile section at the top of the page. I liked the look of the mountains mixed in with the active theme design. The problem was that there was no way to personalize that for each user account. Sure, every user gets to select their own avatar and write their own bio, but there is no easy way to let them have their own featured image.</p>



<p>Technically, it is possible to do this by creating custom <code>author-{$id}.html</code> or <code>author-{$username}.html</code> templates and manually and uploading them to the theme&#8217;s <code>/templates</code> folder. For controlled environments, such as client builds with a set number of users/authors, it is a possibility. Even in those scenarios, it is a bit of a management headache. And it does not account for every other WordPress user who might want to do something similar.</p>



<p>In the classic era, the same issue existed. However, it was relatively simple to code for the front end in a PHP-based templating system. For block themes, most would need to create a custom block. The image upload form would be the same in both scenarios (handled on user profile and taxonomy term admin screens).</p>



<p>The trouble with custom blocks is they do not tap into the core blocks&#8217; built-in features. For example, WordPress 6.0 will allow setting a Cover block&#8217;s background using the post featured image. In the long term, core will likely support this for other image-related blocks like Media &amp; Text. Porting these same features over to third-party plugins does not make sense.</p>



<p>It also does not empower users who want to build such designs with WordPress. Nor does it provide theme authors with the tools to ship templates and patterns with unique layouts to the public.</p>



<p>While I have primarily focused on author templates, the same arguments stand for taxonomy term templates, such as categories and tags. For example, I built out a quick category template using a similar design as shown earlier:</p>



<img />



<p>The image works well for my example Nature category but not so much for others.  We need a way to dynamically display per-category images.</p>



<p>There is at least a solid plugin for taxonomy terms: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-term-images/">WP Term Images</a>. Perhaps I can convince John James Jacoby, the plugin&#8217;s author, to extend it to the block system.</p>



<p>After stewing on this for a month, I still did not know whether I could make a convincing argument for the feature other than <em>I think this would be cool</em>. I am unsure if there is enough demand for it. However, it is OK to dream about new things from time to time and share those ideas with others. So, this is me, dreaming out loud, hoping that one of the items from my wish list will land in WordPress one day.</p>



<p>What are some of the things you want to see?</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, 05 May 2022 01:50:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:89:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 57) — WordPress Development With Docker and Lando";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=96903";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-development-with-docker-and-lando/";s: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:4462:"<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Back in the early days of WordPress development&#8230; I could only have one system on my local computer.”</p><cite>— Cal Evans</cite></blockquote>



<p class="has-drop-cap">In this developer-oriented conversation for <strong>Post Status Excerpt</strong>, David talks about WordPress development with <strong>Cal Evans</strong>. Cal explains the basics of <strong>Docker</strong> and <strong>Lando</strong> — as well as the advantages of using them. <strong>Docker</strong> is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It can work with <strong>Lando</strong> to automate your development workflow.</p>



<p><strong>Why This Matters:</strong> Developers — both individually and in teams — are building more complex applications with (and for) WordPress, so the software stack is getting more complex. How you setup your environment (local, cloud, or both) is becoming more important, and developers should educate themselves on the available options — especially with popular choices being explored by PHP developers.</p>







<p class="has-background">Every week <strong><a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d">Castro</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts">Player.fm</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/05rR">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href="https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P">RSS</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://docs.docker.com/get-started/overview/">Docker Get Started</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.calevans.com/2022/03/29/lando-wordpress-and-ngrok-oh-my/">Lando, WordPress, and ngrok&#8230;oh my</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.calevans.com/2021/03/12/lando-db-helper/">Lando DB Helper</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/CalEvans/status/1287901011252842500">Lando and WordPress Development</a></li><li><a href="https://lando.dev/">Lando Website</a></li><li><a href="https://calevans.com/">Cal Evan's Personal Website</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/CalEvans">Cal Evans</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="https://twitter.com/post_status" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>



<div class="wp-container-11 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<h3 id="sponsor-bluehost"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="https://poststat.us/wpengine/">WP Engine</a></h3>



<p>WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster, and they do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.</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, 04 May 2022 17:15:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:53:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (May 1, 2022)";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=97003";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-may-1-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15720:"<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers. <br /><br /><strong>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org?</strong> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/">Start Here ›</a><br /><br /><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WP/Woo news plus significant writing and podcasts. It's also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h2 id="h-news">News</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/wordpress-6-0-beta-3/"></a><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-1/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate 1</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/wordpress-6-0-beta-3/"></a><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/wordpress-6-0-beta-4/">WordPress 6.0 Beta 4</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/wordpress-6-0-beta-3/"></a><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/05/episode-30-a-sneak-peek-at-wordpress-6-0/">WP Briefing: Episode 30: A Sneak Peek at WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/people-of-wordpress-meher-bala/">People of WordPress: Meher Bala</a></li><li>New <a href="https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#5ftf">Five for the Future</a> section below! </li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_a98156-c2"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/20/wordpress-6-0-accessibility-improvements/">WordPress 6.0 Accessibility Improvements</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-central"><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org">Central</a></h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/05/join-the-european-wordpress-community-in-porto-portugal/">Join the European WordPress Community in Porto, Portugal!</a></li></ul>



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



<p>Reminder: <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/versions-in-wordpress/">Gutenberg 13.0 ships with WordPress 6.0</a>.</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/a-week-in-core-may-2-2022/">A Week in Core – May 2, 2022</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-devnotes">DevNotes</h3>



<p>Leading up to releasing WordPress 6.0, DevNotes and release-related information will remain.</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/">WordPress 6.0 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/block-locking-settings-in-wordpress-6-0/">Block Locking Settings in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/04/wordpress-6-0-release-candidate-phase/">WordPress 6.0 Release Candidate Phase</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-editor-miscellaneous-dev-notes-for-wordpress-6-0/">Block Editor miscellaneous Dev Notes for WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/page-creation-patterns-in-wordpress-6-0/">Page creation patterns in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/global-styles-variations-in-wordpress-6-0/">Global Styles variations in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/separator-block-updated-to-use-block-supports-color-settings/">Separator block: Updated to use block supports color settings</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/block-markup-updates-for-image-quote-list-and-group-blocks/">Block markup updates for image, quote, list, and group blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/support-for-handling-resolution-errors-for-editor-data-module/">Support for handling resolution errors for Editor data module</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/changes-to-do_parse_request-filter-in-wordpress-6-0/">Changes to the do_parse_request filter in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/caching-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Caching improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/27/new-filter-to-modify-content-images-in-wordpress-6-0/">New filter to modify content images in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/media-storing-file-size-as-part-of-metadata/">Media: storing file size as part of the metadata</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/05/updates-to-the-wordpress-create-block-templating-system/">Updates to the @wordpress/create-block templating system</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/object-type-specific-registration-hooks-in-6-0/">Object type-specific registration hooks in 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/28/taxonomy-performance-improvements-in-wordpress-6-0/">Taxonomy performance improvements in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/new-features-for-working-with-patterns-and-themes-in-wordpress-6-0/">New features for working with patterns and themes in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/theme-export-in-wordpress-6-0/">Theme export in WordPress 6.0</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/29/wp_user_query-now-accepts-fields-options-in-wordpress-6-0/">WP_User_Query now accepts fields options in WordPress 6.0&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/02/performance-increase-for-sites-with-large-user-counts-now-also-available-on-single-site/">Performance increase for sites with large user counts (now also available on a single site)</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/03/30/milana-cap-birgit-pauli-haack-courtney-engle-robertson-femy-praseeth-akira-tachibana-wordpress-release-6-0-trac-ticket-triage-for-docs/">WordPress release 6.0 Trac ticket triage for docs</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/04/25/documentation-team-update-april-25-2022/">Documentation Team Update – April 25, 2022</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-developer-docs"><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org">Developer Docs:</a></h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-preferences-persistence/">@wordpress/preferences-persistence</a></li></ul>



<h3 id="h-support-docs"><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/articles">Support Docs:</a></h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/wolfram-embed/">Wolfram Embed</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/site-tagline-block/">Site Tagline Block</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/post-content-block/">Post Content Block</a></li></ul>
</div>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/21/announcement-updated-covid-19-guidelines-for-official-wordpress-events/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/22/wpdiversity-is-expanding-to-apac/">WPDiversity is Expanding to APAC!</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/04/21/announcement-updated-covid-19-guidelines-for-official-wordpress-events/">Announcement: Updated COVID-19 guidelines for official WordPress events</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/04/25/design-share-apr-11-22/">Design Share: Apr&nbsp;11–22</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/2022/05/04/get-ready-for-wordpress-6-0/">Get ready for WordPress 6.0</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/2022/04/01/grow-your-story-on-wordpress/">Grow Your Story on WordPress</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/04/28/proposal-make-wordpress-team-or-project-updates/">Proposal: Make WordPress Team or Project Updates</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2022/04/12/gutenberg-landing-page-kick-off/">Gutenberg Landing Page: Kick-Off</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2022/04/15/featured-beta-plugins-now-limit-changes/">Featured/Beta Plugins Now Limit Changes</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/05/02/wordpress-6-0-ready-to-be-translated/">WordPress 6.0 ready to be translated</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/29/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-2/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 2</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/04/01/discussion-contrib-handbook-part-1/">Discussion: Contrib Handbook, Part 1</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/2022/04/28/fse-program-testing-call-14-rallying-recipe-reviewers/">FSE Program Testing Call #14: Rallying Recipe Reviewers</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/2022/04/28/latest-changes-in-gutenberg-themes-13-0-release/">Latest changes in Gutenberg + Themes: 13.0 release</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/04/off-forum-support-requests/">Off forum support requests</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/04/19/migrating-contributor-training-to-learn-wordpress/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/05/03/may-2022-sprint/">May 2022 Sprint</a></li></ul>
