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";s: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:"Gutenberg Times: Building with Blocks, Hyping Headers, 52 Themes and more – Weekend Edition 204";s: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=20496";s: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://gutenbergtimes.com/building-with-blocks-hyping-headers-52-themes-and-more-weekend-edition-204/";s: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:28846:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>As many, I look with horror at the tanks and troops marching into the Ukraine. My heart goes out to all the people there, especially WordPress contributors. In Friday&#8217;s issue of <em>The Repository</em>, <a href="https://twitter.com/raemoreywrites"><strong>Rae Morey </strong></a>wrote on <a href="https://www.therepository.email/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=WzEyOSwiZGI3MWYyNzYyZmVkIiwwLDAsMjAyLDFd">Standing by WordPress Folks in Ukraine</a> with more details. We are here for everyone affected. If you need any kind of support, please reach out, and we&#8217;ll do our best to help as much as possible. Please stay safe! </p>



<p>If it feels hard to focus on work and projects, you are not alone. It&#8217;s ok. Take care of yourself.</p>



<p>Yours, 💕 <br />Birgit</p>



<p>PS: If you are a developer, I hope to see you at the <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284178232/">next Gutenberg Developer Hours on March 8th 11:00 ET / 16:00 UTC</a> withe fabulous Tammie Lister, Fabian Kägy, and Grzegorz Ziolkowski as expert panelists. </p>



<a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284178232/"><img /></a>



<p>In the post, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/24/february-8th-gutenberg-developer-hours-session-evaluation/"><strong>February 8th Gutenberg Developer Hours – Session Evaluation</strong></a> I published the results from the participant survey. You can read all the comments and suggestions on the Core Make Blog. </p>



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<div class="wp-container-6219cc487d57b 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/#0-whats-released">WordPress and Gutenberg releases </a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-gutenberg-12-6-release">Gutenberg 12.6 Release</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#wordpress-5-9-1-and-6-0">WordPress 5.9.1 and 6.0</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#updates-for-site-builders-and-content-creators">Updates for Site builders and Content Creators</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#training-and-learning">Training and Learning</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#block-themes">Block themes</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#plugins-for-the-block-editor">Plugins for the Block editor </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#developing-for-gutenberg">Developing for Gutenberg</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#around-themes-and-site-design">Around Themes and Site Design</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#proposal-for-standardized-design-and-css-handling">Proposal for Standardized Design and CSS handling</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#custom-blocks-and-tools">Custom Blocks and Tools</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#upcoming-wordpress-events">Upcoming WordPress Events</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#learn-wordpress-social-learning-spaces">Learn.WordPress Social Learning Spaces</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#wordfest-live-starts-march-4th-2022">WordFest Live starts March 4th, 2022</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
</div></div>




<h2 id="0-whats-released">WordPress and Gutenberg releases </h2>



<h3 id="1-gutenberg-12-6-release">Gutenberg 12.6 Release</h3>



<p>Have a look at the Release notes by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/apeatling">Andy Peatling</a></strong> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.6? (16 February)</a> with the highlights: </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/#new-color-panel-and-updated-default-color-controls">New color panel and updated default color controls</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/#new-post-author-biography-and-read-more-blocks">New Post Author Biography and Read More blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/#keeping-styles-when-transforming-blocks">Keeping styles when transforming blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/#error-boundary-for-plugin-exceptions">Error boundary for plugin exceptions</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/wp-admin/post.php?post=94472&action=edit#iterative-polishing-of-the-loading-states">Iterative polishing of the loading states</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/#accessibility-improvements">Accessibility Improvements</a></li></ul>



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<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> headlined his post <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-6-enhances-transforming-blocks-adds-read-more-and-post-author-bio-blocks-and-enables-social-icon-labels"><strong>Gutenberg 12.6 Enhances Transforming Blocks, Adds Read More and Post Author Bio Blocks, and Enables Social Icon Labels</strong></a></p>



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<p><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-61-universal-blocks/"><strong>Gutenberg Changelog #61 Gutenberg 12.6, Planning for WordPress 6.0 and Universal Blocks</strong></a> <strong>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</strong> and I introduce <strong>Mary Job</strong> as the new co-host and discuss Gutenberg 12.6, Planning for WordPress 6.0 and Universal Blocks.</p>



<img />Hosting the Gutenberg Changelog episode #61: <br />Mary Job, Grzegorz Ziolkowski and yours truly. 



<p>I can&#8217;t tell you how thrilled I am that <strong>Mary Job</strong> joined me as co-host on the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. We first met at the online JavaScript For WordPress conference and I can&#8217;t believe it&#8217;s been four years already. Among other things, Mary Job has been a WordPress community organizer in Nigeria for many years, and works as support engineer with Paid Membership Pro plugin.  </p>



<p><em>Earlier this week, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/releases/tag/v12.7.0-rc.1">Gutenberg 12.7 RC </a>was made available, and you can download it from GitHub</em></p>




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



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




<h3 id="wordpress-5-9-1-and-6-0">WordPress 5.9.1 and 6.0</h3>



<p>Coordinated by <a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb"><strong>Jean-Baptist Audras</strong></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Mamaduka"><strong>George Mamadashvili</strong></a> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/wordpress-5-9-1-maintenance-release/"><strong>WordPress 5.9.1 </strong></a>was released on February 22, 2022, and provide 85 bug fixes over all components: Twenty-Twenty-Two Theme, Global Styles, Navigation block, Media Library, Gallery block, other blocks and theme.json.  <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/EstelaRueda">Estela Rueda</a></strong> provided <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-5-9-1-rc-1/">a list of all the PRs</a> announcing the release candidate.</p>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/CBringmann">Chloe Bringmann</a> </strong>published in her <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-6-0-planning-roundup/">WordPress 6.0 Planning Roundup</a> the preliminary WordPress 6.0 schedule: </p>



<ul><li>Feature freeze March 29th, 2022</li><li>First Beta release on April 12, 2022,&nbsp;</li><li>First Release candidate May 3rd, 2022&nbsp;</li><li>Final release on May 24, 2022</li></ul>



<p>The release squad shows still a few open slots. If you consider joining the release squad, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/wordpress-release-team-and-focus-leads/">read up about responsibilities</a> and leave a comment on the post.</p>



<ul><li><strong>Editor Tech</strong> </li><li><strong>Triage Lead</strong> </li><li><strong>Test Lead</strong></li><li><strong>Design Lead</strong></li><li><strong>Accessibility Lead</strong></li></ul>



<h2 id="updates-for-site-builders-and-content-creators">Updates for Site builders and Content Creators</h2>



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> just published new instructions for testing Full-site editing in their <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/23/fse-program-testing-call-12-hyping-headers/"><strong>FSE Program Testing Call #12: Hyping Headers</strong></a>. The instructions guide you to  customize a&nbsp;header&nbsp;using everything from the&nbsp;navigation block&nbsp;to&nbsp;template part focus mode. Then you will reuse this personalized header in a different template. </p>



<p>You&#8217;ll also explore how patterns are integrated into the experience, new dimension control options, and improved&nbsp;UX&nbsp;for the navigation&nbsp;block.&nbsp; <strong>Deadline for your feedback is March 16, 2022. </strong></p>



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<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/prithuthakuri">Prithu Thakuri </a></strong>explores in her article on WPMayor <a href="https://wpmayor.com/wordpress-full-site-editing-fse-features-and-its-impact/"><strong>WordPress Full Site Editing (FSE): The Features and their Impact on Users and Businesses</strong></a>. She first explains the four components of the full-site editing experience and then for each WordPress user group she summarizes what impact there might be and how best to handle old and new projects regarding adoption. </p>



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<p>In WPTavern&#8217;s new series &#8220;Building with Blocks&#8221;, <strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> shared <a href="https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-vcard-website-with-a-video-background"><strong>How to Build a vCard Website with a Video Background</strong></a>. She estimated you could accomplish the task in under five minutes, using a blank canvas template or theme, a few core blocks and a background video from a service like Pixabay. </p>



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<p>In the <a href="https://href.li/?https://stunningdigitalmarketing.com/episode-197-the-move-to-gutenberg-and-the-roadmap-to-wordpress-6-0/"><strong>SDM Show Episode 197: The Move to Gutenberg and The Roadmap to WordPress 6.0</strong></a>, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/RobCairns">Rob Cairns</a></strong> sat down with <strong>Matias Ventura</strong>, lead architect of Gutenberg at Automattic, and me to discuss Cairn&#8217;s site move to Gutenberg/Blocks from a WordPress Page Builder. We also took a closer look at the roadmap  WordPress 6.0.</p>



<h3 id="training-and-learning">Training and Learning</h3>



<p>The newest <em>Learn.WordPress</em> workshop: <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/building-sidebars-with-the-site-editor/"><strong>&#8220;Building Sidebars With the Site Editor&#8221;</strong></a> with <strong>Sarah Snow</strong> in which you learn how to use the site editor to add a sidebar automatically to any post, page, or template.</p>



<p><strong>Full Site Editing Courses published on Learn.Wordpress.org </strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/simple-site-design-with-full-site-editing/">Part I: Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing</a> (15 Lessons)</li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-2-personalized-site-design-with-full-site-editing-and-theme-blocks/">Part II: Personalized Site Design with Full Site Editing and Theme Blocks</a> (7 Lessons) </li><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/part-3-advanced-site-design-with-full-site-editing-site-editor-templates-and-template-parts/">Part III: Advanced Site Design with Full Site Editing: Site Editor, Templates and Template Parts</a> (7 Lessons)</li></ul>



<p>A total of 29 Lessons will get you up and running  with the new Site Editor, template editor and Styles controls for your website. </p>



<p>Sometimes, intuition is not enough to master a new set of technology tools. Occasionally, you need to read the manual or have someone show you what is possible to figure out what you want to do with it. </p>



<ul><li>Check out <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshops/?topic=7">all other block-editor tutorials</a> available. </li><li>Join the Training team on the <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/">WordPress Social Learning</a> meetup for discussions and demos every week. </li></ul>



<h3 id="block-themes">Block themes</h3>



<p><strong>Fifty-two (52)  block themes</strong>, ready for full-site editing, are now available in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/"><strong>WordPress repository</strong></a>. The latest additions are </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/skatepark/"><strong>Skatepark</strong></a> by Automattic (<a href="https://wptavern.com/skatepark-is-a-bold-and-vibrant-block-theme-for-events-and-organizations"><em>WPTavern review</em></a>)</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/wabi/"><strong>Wabi </strong></a>by Rich Tabor (<a href="https://wptavern.com/unearthing-hidden-treasures-in-the-wabi-wordpress-block-theme"><em>WPTavern review</em></a>)</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/allele/"><strong>Allele</strong></a> by DesignOrbital</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/x-t9/"><strong>X-T9</strong></a> by Hidekazu Ishikawa of Vektor, Inc.</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/x3p0-reflections/"><strong>X3P0 &#8211; Reflections </strong></a>by Justin Tadlock</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/richmond/"><strong>Richmond</strong> </a>by UXL</li></ul>



<p><em>If you used any of them, let me know how they worked out for you! </em></p>



<a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/"><img /></a>



<p>According to <a href="https://twitter.com/Ana_Segota/status/1497258214013952003"><strong>Ana Segota</strong></a>, the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/bricksy/">block theme </a><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/bricksy/">Bricksy</a> </strong>received an update: </p>



<ul><li>handwritten images are replaced with a script font for easier customization</li><li>added Dark Mode, in case the Gutenberg plugin activated.</li></ul>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/richard_tabor">Rich Tabor</a> </strong>blogged about <a href="https://richtabor.com/wabi/"><strong>his Wabi block theme</strong></a>. &#8220;With Wabi, you may pick an accent color for each post and “theme” that content, providing a clever design layer to compliment the theme’s minimal style.&#8221; </p>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/pootlepress"><strong>Jamie Marsland</strong></a> uses the Wabi theme in his latest YouTube Video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9lD8l_D4k"><strong>This Gutenberg Block Theme is the future of WordPress</strong></a></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/ellenbauer">Ellen Bauer,</a></strong> ElmaStudio &#8211; creators of the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/aino/"><strong>Aino Theme</strong></a>, explains briefly in her<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ainoblocks/video/7068144993675922689"> latest Tiktok video the feature set that creates a full-site editing experience. </a></p>



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<h3 id="plugins-for-the-block-editor">Plugins for the Block editor </h3>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/aurooba"><strong>Aurooba Ahmed</strong></a> is on a roll producing new <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aurooba/#content-plugins">plugins for the block editor</a>  almost every week. The newest plugin, <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/quickpost/">Quick Post</a> </strong>brings back the highly used Add New Post button to the top toolbar of the post editor. </p>



<p>Justin Tadlock&#8217;s review is available on WPTavern: <strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/quickpost-plugin-allows-users-to-create-new-or-duplicate-posts-from-the-wordpress-content-editor">QuickPost Plugin Allows Users To Create New or Duplicate Posts from the WordPress Content Editor</a> </strong></p>



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<h2 id="developing-for-gutenberg">Developing for Gutenberg</h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/wpbuilds">Nathan Wrigley</a></strong> produces now weekly podcast episodes for the <em>WPTavern Jukebox</em>. In episode #14 he hosted <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/14-dave-smith-isabel-brison-and-joen-asmussen-on-the-new-navigation-block"><strong>Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen</strong> </a>team members at Automattic and who worked on the new Navigation Block. Learn more about the guests&#8217; various backgrounds, and a look behind the scenes of building one of the most important blocks for a website. </p>



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<p>The <strong><a href="https://href.li/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGkvVvlIWEM">second session of the Gutenberg Developer Hours</a></strong> saw 100 people register and 47 attending. The raw recording is available on YouTube. Huge thank you to our expert panelists and facilitators Joni Halabi, Daisy Olsen, George Mamadashvili and Nick Diego.</p>



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<p>On Make Core block, I published a <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/25/proposal-to-start-a-news-blog-on-developer-wordpress-org/">Proposal to Start a News blog on developer.WordPress.org</a>.</strong> We worked on this in a team of a few people, before it was published. It now needs your comments, ideas, and support. </p>



<h3 id="around-themes-and-site-design">Around Themes and Site Design</h3>



<p>The Theme team published again their roundup of current discussion, new features and updates in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2022/02/18/gutenberg-themes-week-of-february-14th-2022/"><strong>Gutenberg + Themes: Week of February 14th, 2022</strong></a>. For instance: You can now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38323">register patterns from directory with theme.json</a>. (coming to the plugin in 12.7 version) </p>



<p>They also highlight a new page in documentation that provides a high-level intro to how styles work in the block editor: <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/explanations/architecture/styles/"><em>Explanation &gt; Architecture</em> sections for <strong>Styles</strong></a>.</p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2022/02/18/gutenberg-themes-week-of-february-14th-2022/"><em>Have a look at the full post</em></a></p>



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<p>In the Theme team&#8217;s handbook, the page <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/block-themes/converting-customizer-settings-to-block-patterns/"><strong>Converting customizer settings to block patterns</strong></a> has been updated by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/carolinapoena">Carolina Nymark</a></strong> to showcase a conversion assuming a real-world example. </p>



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<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/critterverse">Channing Ritter</a></strong> from the WordPress Design team published her <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/02/14/design-share/">Design Share</a>. Among other topics, she highlights work in progress for </p>



<ul><li>Advanced template creation</li><li>Using featured images in various blocks</li><li>Pattern fills in overlays</li></ul>



<p>Ritter stated that these team updates will be published on a bi-weekly basis. You could subscribe to the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/tag/design-share/feed/">tag feed of #design-share </a>in your feed readers</p>



<p><em><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/02/14/design-share/">Check it out</a> and chime in on various design questions.</em> </p>



<img />Detail from larger mockup



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<p><strong>Justin Tadlock </strong>picked up on a discussion on Twitter about how naming things might be confusing in the FSE WordPress space and clarified a few things in his post  <a href="https://wptavern.com/block-fse-hybrid-universal-what-do-we-call-these-new-wordpress-themes"><strong>Block, FSE, Hybrid, Universal? What Do We Call These New WordPress Themes?</strong></a> </p>



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<p>In her post, <strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-contributors-explore-more-advanced-template-creation">Gutenberg Contributors Explore More Advanced Template Creation</a> Sarah Gooding</strong> followed a discussion started by <strong>James Koster</strong> on GitHub. She shared Koster&#8217;s video, and then quotes from the discussion around template creation for Custom Post Types. It would allow site administrators to eliminate a lot of hard-coded template PHP from their sites and provide a way for users to update their CPT templates themselves. </p>



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<p><strong>Carolina Nymark</strong> announced on <a href="https://twitter.com/carolinapoena/status/1492800102641061890">Twitter</a> that her <strong><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/block-theme-generator/">Block Theme Generator</a></strong> provides now optional theme.json settings, and you can choose colors and content widths. She also updated the Advanced Theme version to include an example for global style variation.</p>



<h3 id="proposal-for-standardized-design-and-css-handling">Proposal for Standardized Design and CSS handling</h3>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/MRWweb">Mark Root-Wiley</a></strong> posted a comprehensive outline of how styles could work with the block editor and full-site-editing. <a href="https://mrwweb.com/standardized-design-tokens-css-wordpress-future/"><strong>Standardized Design Tokens and CSS for a consistent, customizable, and interoperable WordPress future</strong></a>. </p>



<p>The accompanying proposal is discussed on GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38998"><strong>Proposal: Standardized block markup, theme.json design tokens, and CSS classes to improve interoperability</strong></a>. Only a couple of days old, the proposal attracted already thoughtful comments from developers. They also highlight issues previously raised on the repository that would benefit from a standardized architecture. </p>



<p>J<strong>ustin Tadlock</strong> posted his thoughts on the WPTavern in <a href="https://wptavern.com/the-case-for-a-shared-css-toolkit-in-wordpress"><strong>The Case for a Shared CSS Toolkit in WordPress</strong></a>.</p>



<h3 id="custom-blocks-and-tools">Custom Blocks and Tools</h3>



<p>Sometimes, new and experienced developers get tripped up by Block Deprecation and Validation. <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> took a <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWXcQEbVSx8">Look at Block Deprecation Strategies</a> </strong>in last week&#8217;s YouTube/TwitchStream session. He discussed how to deprecate changes in static blocks and showed how you can convert an existing static block to a dynamic one.</p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/losoviz">Leonardo Losoviz</a></strong> outlines in his post <a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2022/02/wordpress-editor-cpts-configure-plugins/"><strong>Using The WordPress Editor And CPTs To Configure Plugins</strong></a> how to use wp-admin to provide additional configuration UI for plugins users and creators. </p>



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



<p>In the developer focused part of WPTavern&#8217;s <em>Building with Blocks</em> series, Justin Tadlock walks you through the steps need to <a href="https://wptavern.com/building-a-scotch-tape-image-block-style"><strong>build a “Scotch Tape” Image Block Style</strong></a>. Block Styles are a great way to extend core blocks with CSS and give site owners more choices for their blocks. </p>



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



<p>With the <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/blog/acf-5-12-released/"><strong>new release of ACF Blocks</strong></a>, the plugin is now compatible with Full Site Editing. Using ACF Blocks is a popular way to create custom blocks without using React. &#8220;With 5.12, ACF Blocks work <em>everywhere</em>&#8221; wrote <a href="https://twitter.com/polevaultweb"><strong>Iain Paulson</strong></a>.</p>



<h2 id="upcoming-wordpress-events">Upcoming WordPress Events</h2>



<h3 id="learn-wordpress-social-learning-spaces">Learn.WordPress Social Learning Spaces</h3>



<ul><li><strong>February 28, 2022, at 12:00 pm ET / 17:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284054980/"><strong>Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Full Site Editing</strong></a> with Sarah Snow </li><li><strong>March 1, 2022, at 5 pm ET / 22:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283842451/"><strong>Intro to Templates and Template Parts</strong></a> with Wes Theron</li><li><strong>March 8, 2022, at 11:00 AM ET / 16:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284178232/">Gutenberg Developer Hours</a></strong> with Fabian Kägy, Tammie Lister and Grzegorz Ziolkowski </li><li><strong>March 10, 2022 at 10:30 am ET / 15:30 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284226712/">Honey, I Broke My Website! What To Do When Site Editing Goes Wrong</a></strong></li></ul>



<h3 id="wordfest-live-starts-march-4th-2022">WordFest Live starts March 4th, 2022</h3>



<p>With 60 Session around the timezones of this planet is had also a session for you! I selected a few to get you curious. </p>



<ul><li>March 3rd, 2022 6pm ET / 12 am UTC (Mar 4) <br /><strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/sessions/git-into-the-groove-moving-from-freelance-to-collaborative-workflow/">Git into the Groove – Moving from Freelance to Collaborative Workflow</a></strong> with AmyJune Hineline</li><li>March 4th, 2022 5 am ET / 10 am UTC <br /><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/sessions/woocommerce-automation-tips-and-tricks-to-save-your-time-and-money/"><strong>WooCommerce Automation – tips and tricks to save your time and money</strong></a> with <strong>Andrija Radojev</strong>, GoDaddy</li><li>March 4th, 2022 at 6 am ET / 12:00 pm <small>UTC</small> <br /><strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/sessions/designing-remote/">Designing Remote</a> with Tammie Lister, XWP</strong></li></ul>



<p><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/sessions/"><em>Have a look at the WordFest Live schedule</em></a>!</p>



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



<p>Featured Image: <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/author/topher1kenobe/">Photo by Topher DeRosia</a> on WordPress Photos Directory. </p>




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



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



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



<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 26 Feb 2022 06:43:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:68:"WPTavern: FSE Outreach Round #12: Building a Site Header With 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=130558";s: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:77:"https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-round-12-building-a-site-header-with-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:7287:"<p class="has-drop-cap">On Wednesday, Anne McCarthy announced <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/23/fse-program-testing-call-12-hyping-headers/">Round #12 of the FSE Outreach Program</a>. As always, everyone is free to join by testing features and providing direct feedback on problem areas with the design tools in WordPress. Anyone interested should respond by March 16.</p>



<p>For this round, volunteers are tasked with testing some oldies but goodies. Early in the program&#8217;s history, anyone who joined did a lot of site header and navigation work. Round #12 asks that users revisit some of these essential tools.</p>



<p>This was an exciting call for testing for me. In early 2021, I had my fair share of frustrations with the FSE experience. There were so many designs I wanted to tackle, but I far too often fell short of creating what I wanted.</p>



<p>Therefore, I hopped back in time and revisited a header design from <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-round-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header-with-gutenbergs-site-editor">Round #4 of testing</a> in March 2021. At the time, the WordPress leads were weeks away from deciding whether some FSE-related components would land in WordPress. My conclusion of the tools at the time was:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>I came to the realization that attempting to do anything remotely advanced with the site editor was simply not going to happen…As someone who prides himself on near-infinite patience, Round #4 sought to crack me.</p></blockquote>



<p>I had wanted to recreate elements from the UK-based <a href="https://www.phocafe.co.uk/">Pho Cafe</a> page header during testing. It was a tall order that could not be filled.</p>



<img />Pho Cafe header.



<p>However, almost a year later now, how much has changed? Is it possible to create an exact replica of the site&#8217;s header from the block editor?</p>



<p>Yes and no. As usual, it depends.</p>



<p>As a developer and designer, I am confident that I could do it with custom code. Considering this would likely be a one-off design for a paying client, I would be comfortable with that.</p>



<p>Creating this as a part of a publicly-released, general-purpose theme would have a ton of roadblocks with that level of customization. However, it would be possible to capture much of the character, the essence, of the design.</p>



<p>As for building it directly from the block editor, there are still some severe limitations. However, that is what I challenged myself to do. I wanted to get a feel for where the site editor was at without writing CSS code.</p>



<p>The following is the result:</p>



<img />Pizza restaurant header.<br />Pizza photo credit: <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/99661f0787/">Jennifer Bourn</a>



<p>Technically, I did write a little code to load the <a href="https://www.dafont.com/kg-happy.font">KG Happy font</a>. Outside of that, I just forked a block theme I had on hand and changed the &#8220;wide&#8221; size. I created everything else 100% from the site editor.</p>



<p>Here is a screenshot of the design from the editor itself:</p>



<img />Custom header template part in the site editor.



<p>On the whole, this went surprisingly well. In a year, the site editor has become far more powerful.</p>



<p>As I said, it still has its limitations. Anyone who has worked with block themes will likely tell you the issue with the layout in the above screenshot. The problem area is the Columns block used for the Site Logo, Navigation, and Buttons across the top. You might as well hang up any hope of that working well on smaller screen sizes.</p>



<img />Mobile view of header.



<p><em>Is it entirely unusable?</em> No, but it is not anywhere near close to ideal.</p>



<p>Without responsive controls on layout-type containers like the Columns block, designing anything complex with the site editor can sometimes feel like one giant hack. At this point, this is not a revelation of any sort.</p>



<p>There are tons of improvements with block design tools in comparison to last year. The core block gap, margin, and padding controls are a godsend for adjusting vertical and horizontal spacing. Back then, even the thought of having any control over this was a headache-inducing affair. Except for a few blocks still missing these options, it is now [mostly] stress-free.</p>



<p>I hit no spacing-related problems in this experiment. That feels gratifying to say after over a year of testing FSE features.</p>



<p>However, I did hit some other roadblocks. The Navigation block may be my least favorite thing about the site editor. I have yet to see how it will offer a universal system that plays well with the 1,000s of design variations that theme authors will want to employ. Classic nav menus are still vastly superior for custom design.</p>



<p>I ran into two primary issues with this experiment. One of the problems I had a year ago with FSE Outreach #4 was creating a menu that had button-like links. This basic design is still impossible with the Navigation block, at least with the core design tools:</p>



<img />Button-like navigation items.



<p>Users can add a background to the entire Navigation block but not to the individual menu items. <em>How did I do it?</em> I used a Buttons block instead.</p>



<p>The more I think about it now, the more I like the Buttons block alternative. However, there is no way to wrap this in a <code>&lt;nav&gt;</code> tag to define it as a navigation element.</p>



<p>One missing piece of the header I was attempting to replicate was a mobile menu at the far right of the layout. WordPress&#8217;s mobile Navigation menu icon provides no customization options. Users can customize the overall background and text color but not target the button directly. I faked it a little by narrowing down the column:</p>



<img />Mobile Navigation menu icon next to Buttons.



<p>There was no way to make the mobile icon larger or give it any padding to align its size with the Button blocks next to it.</p>



<p>The Navigation block, despite its progress, is still one of the weakest links in FSE. It only covers a handful of simple use cases out of the box. Anything beyond that requires a deep level of customization and the hope that an end-user does not break the delicate balance struck to make it work.</p>



<p>Twice during testing, my Navigation block disappeared on the front end. I suspect it had something to do with me trying to adjust the outer Column block&#8217;s width. However, I was unable to replicate the issue at will.</p>



<p>Testing is all about finding problems to solve. I did not run into any crashes or the types of bugs that I would have seen long ago. The experience of designing from within the site and template editors feels pretty smooth these days. The holdups are more about missing capabilities than anything. Making the leap from an impossible header layout to an almost possible one in 11 months is significant.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/23/fse-program-testing-call-12-hyping-headers/">FSE Program Testing Call #12: Hyping Headers</a></blockquote>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 26 Feb 2022 02:33:51 +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: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: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:91:"WPTavern: The Kyiv Independent Seeks Donations to Continue Critical Ukrainian News Coverage";s: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=130552";s: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/the-kyiv-independent-seeks-donations-to-continue-critical-ukrainian-news-coverage";s: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:4633:"<img />photo credit: The Kyiv Independent



<p><a href="https://kyivindependent.com/">The Kyiv Independent</a>, a new English-language media outlet powered by WordPress, is seeking donations to continue their reporting at this critical time in Ukraine&#8217;s struggle against Russian invasion. </p>



<p>The fledgling publication is just three months running and its staff is already plunged into what may be some of the most important reporting of their lifetimes. </p>



<img />



<p>The Kyiv Independent was created by 30 journalists who were previously employed at the Kyiv Post but fired for what they say was retaliation for exercising their editorial independence. The publication, led by Olga Rudenko, its new editor-in-chief, tells the story of its <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/about/">values and origins</a> on the website: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s global voice, went silent on Nov. 8, 2021, days after celebrating the 26th year of its uninterrupted run.</p><p>The publication was shut down by the owner in his attempt to take full control of the newsroom that has always followed the principle of editorial independence. </p><p>Yet, the editorial team of the independent Kyiv Post refused to be silenced. If we couldn’t save the Kyiv Post brand, we could save its values.</p></blockquote>



<p>At the moment the publication reports they are &#8220;dealing with increased volumes of traffic, attacks, and an unpredictable situation on the ground.&#8221; Rudenko gave a brief update from Kyiv via video yesterday:</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Please follow us at <a href="https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KyivIndependent</a>, most of us are on the ground in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kyiv?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kyiv</a> working to provide you with the latest news. It’s extremely stressful. No one knows where it is safe to be, or whether there will be more strikes and where, and Russian troops are moving from the north. <a href="https://t.co/6gXgeSEM1V">pic.twitter.com/6gXgeSEM1V</a></p>&mdash; Olga Rudenko (@olya_rudenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/olya_rudenko/status/1496818179947044873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>The Kyiv Independent is running a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/kyivindependent-launch">gofundme campaign</a> to raise funds for their new publication and continued reporting efforts during this critical time. The campaign was set up by Kyiv Independent&#8217;s London-based CFO Jakub Parusinski. Their cause is resonating with free press supporters from around the world and so far they have raised £233,494. The publication also has <a href="https://www.patreon.com/kyivindependent">a Patreon account</a> which is bringing in $24,173/month from more than 2,000 patrons.</p>



<p>&#8220;It is crucial to bring credible news from Ukraine to the world,&#8221; Parusinski said. &#8220;Especially when Russian forces are working hard to distort the perception of Ukraine abroad.</p>



<p>&#8220;We are asking you to stand up to it together with us. We are not backed by a rich owner or an oligarch. We will rely first and foremost on fundraising from our readers and donors, and later on commercial activities.&#8221;</p>



<p><a href="https://patchstack.com/">Patchstack</a> is one of the first companies to reach out to The Kyiv Independent with an offer to help.</p>



<p>&#8220;Patchstack not only wants to offer them our WordPress security services free but  we are actively looking to help Ukrainian organizations at this time,&#8221;  Patchstack Security Advocate Robert Rowley said. He also signed up to support the organization through the fundraiser. </p>



<p>&#8220;I personally like to support independent journalists and their background tells the story of the type of journalism I want to support,&#8221; Rowley said.</p>



<p>Patchstack is in the process of setting up a site called <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://uacyberhelp.com/" target="_blank">UA Cyber Help</a>, an effort led by their CEO Oliver Sild and four employees with an average of 15+ years in security. They are volunteering their time to bring resources to organizations like The Kyiv Independent and others affected by the war in Ukraine.</p>



<p>I have reached out to The Kyiv Independent&#8217;s news team to inquire about their needs and how the WordPress business and hosting community can help. We will publish a followup when we hear more from their team.</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, 25 Feb 2022 19:53:11 +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: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:72:"WordCamp Central: Bluehost supports WordPress community events worldwide";s: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=3146030";s: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://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/25/bluehost-supports-wordpress-community-events-worldwide-2/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1071:"<p><span>We can’t thank </span><strong><span><a href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a></span></strong><span> enough for their continued support as a sponsor for the </span><strong><span><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/">global WordPress community</a></span></strong><span>! Their support of WordPress community events around the globe at our Gold level!</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2019/02/Bluehost-Transparent_HighRes.png"><img /></a></p>
<p><strong><span><a href="https://www.bluehost.com/">Bluehost</a></span></strong><span> has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry. Join millions of other site owners and see what Bluehost can do for you and your online presence.</span></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 25 Feb 2022 16:00:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:69:"Akismet: The WordPress Comment System Explained: All You Need to Know";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=2279";s: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://blog.akismet.com/2022/02/25/wordpress-comment-system/";s: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:19242:"<p>Comments are the lifeblood of many websites. They help you build a community around your brand, encourage discussion and engagement, provide valuable feedback, and even improve your search engine rankings. Whether you have a blog, service-based business, eCommerce store, or any other type of website, comments can be invaluable.</p>



<p>So let’s take a step back and explore the WordPress comment system and look at how to manage comments on your WordPress site.</p>



<span id="more-2279"></span>



<h2 id="what-are-wordpress-comments">What are WordPress comments?</h2>



<p>WordPress started as a blogging platform and, though it can now be used to build absolutely any type or size of website, content is at its heart. And because of that, WordPress provides everything you need to accept comments on your site. You won’t need any additional plugins to enable, manage, and respond to comments.</p>



<p>For your site visitors, the comment system is very easy to use. While the exact design of your comment form will vary based on the theme you’re using, it will look something like this:</p>



<img />



<p>It has a comment text box, along with fields for name, email, and website. Visitors click the <strong>Post Comment</strong> button to submit their comment on your WordPress website. Published comments will appear in a list beneath the post and, depending on your discussion settings, responses will nest underneath the comments they correspond to.</p>



<img />



<p>Each comment will show the commenter’s name, along with the date and time they responded. Don’t worry —&nbsp;their email address won’t appear on the front-end of your site. Comments can be enabled for posts, pages, products, and other post types depending on your website and settings.</p>



<h2 id="how-to-access-your-comments-in-the-wordpress-dashboard">How to access your comments in the WordPress dashboard</h2>



<p>Of course, you’ll want to view your comments, respond to them, and delete any that may be spam. While we’ll dive further into this in a moment, let’s look at how to find your comments.</p>



<p>By default, you’ll receive a notification each time someone leaves a comment on your site. If you want to view that specific comment, you can click on the link in the email. But if you want to view all comments, simply log in to your WordPress dashboard and click <strong>Comments </strong>in the left-hand menu.</p>



<h2 id="how-to-manage-wordpress-comments">How to manage WordPress comments</h2>



<p>While comments can be extremely beneficial, they do also involve a bit of work on your end. You’ll want to respond to legitimate comments and answer questions quickly and thoroughly. It’s also important that you learn to <a href="https://blog.akismet.com/2022/01/12/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/">identify comment spam</a> and remove any offending comments.</p>



<p>Once you navigate to the <strong>Comments</strong> section of your website, you’ll see a full list of comments. Those that are approved will be gray or white in color, while those that are pending will have a light yellow background.&nbsp;</p>



<img />



<p>At the top, you’ll see several tabs that help you manage comments:</p>



<ul><li><strong>All:</strong> Shows all the comments you have on your site, pending and approved</li><li><strong>Pending:</strong> Displays just comments that are waiting on your approval and response</li><li><strong>Approved:</strong> Shows just the comments you’ve approved and published</li><li><strong>Spam:</strong> Displays comments that you (<a href="https://akismet.com/">or a spam plugin</a>) have marked as spam</li><li><strong>Trash:</strong> Shows comments that you’ve moved to the trash and allows you to permanently delete them</li></ul>



<p>You can use these tabs to filter your comments as needed. For example, if you want to sit down and respond to comments, you may want to click the <strong>Pending</strong> tab so you just view the ones that are waiting on a response. Or if you want to periodically get spam comments out of the way, you can click the <strong>Spam </strong>tab and move them into the trash.</p>



<p>Each individual comment shows the respondent’s name, their number of approved comments, their email and IP address, and their <a href="https://gravatar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gravatar</a> if they have one set for their email. You’ll also see what the comment says, the post it was on, and the date and time it was submitted.&nbsp;</p>



<img />



<p>When you hover over a comment, a list of actions will appear, side-by-side. Here are the actions you can take for each comment:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Approve/Unapprove</strong>: Approving a comment publishes it on your site so it can be viewed by anyone online. Unapproving it removes it from public display.</li><li><strong>Reply</strong>: Respond to the comment and answer any questions. This will be published on your site with your name and, depending on your settings, will nest under the comment it’s in response to.</li><li><strong>Quick edit: </strong>Make quick changes to the comment. Edit the name, email, website, and response. You could, for example, remove a link to a third-party site if you don’t allow cross promotions.</li><li><strong>Edit: </strong>This opens a new screen where you can make changes to a comment and view its history on your site.</li><li><strong>History: </strong>See the history of the comment, like when it was published, approved, and more.</li><li><strong>Spam: </strong>This moves a comment into your Spam folder and keeps it from appearing on the front-end of your site.</li><li><strong>Trash: </strong>This moves a comment to your Trash folder. If you accidentally put a comment in the trash, you can still restore it if needed.</li></ul>



<p>Let’s take a closer look at a few more components of managing comments.</p>



<h3 id="how-to-edit-comments-in-bulk">How to edit comments in bulk</h3>



<p>Manually managing comments can be time-consuming and tedious. But it’s a necessary aspect of engaging with visitors and protecting them from potentially dangerous spam. Thankfully, there are some actions you can take to manage comments in bulk.</p>



<p>In the comment dashboard, you’ll see a checkbox to the left of each column, as well as at the top left, next to the <strong>Author</strong> column. You can use these to check specific comments you want to edit or to select all of the comments on that page. Once you’ve checked them, click the <strong>Bulk Actions </strong>dropdown and choose to approve or unapprove the comments, or mark them as spam or trash.</p>



<img />



<p>By default, this screen will show 20 comments per page. Want to edit more than that? Expand the <strong>Screen Options</strong> tab at the top right of the page, type in the number you want to show in the box beside <strong>Number of items per page</strong>, and click <strong>Apply.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<img />



<h3 id="how-to-restore-comments-from-the-spam-or-trash-folders">How to restore comments from the spam or trash folders</h3>



<p>But what if you accidentally mark a comment as spam or add it to the trash? Don’t worry —&nbsp;you can restore it back to where it belongs.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If you marked the comment as spam, simply click on the <strong>Spam</strong> folder, hover over the comment, and click <strong>Not Spam. </strong>If you put it in the trash, click on the <strong>Trash </strong>folder, hover over it, and click <strong>Restore.</strong></p>



<img />



<h3 id="how-to-permanently-delete-wordpress-comments">How to permanently delete WordPress comments</h3>



<p>By default, trashed comments are still saved in your database — they’re just tucked away so they won’t show up on your website. But, from time to time, you may want to permanently delete these so as not to clog up your database.</p>



<p>To do this, navigate to the <strong>Trash </strong>folder. Then, click the button that says <strong>Empty Trash. </strong>Note that this will permanently delete all the comments in this folder and you won’t be able to bring them back.</p>



<img />



<h2 id="an-overview-of-wordpress-discussion-settings">An overview of WordPress discussion settings&nbsp;</h2>



<p>WordPress offers a variety of settings that help you tailor your comment section to your specific site, audience, and needs. You can find these by going to <strong>Settings → Discussion </strong>in your WordPress dashboard. There are several comment sections with individual options inside of each one. Let’s break these down.</p>



<img />



<h3 id="default-post-settings">Default post settings</h3>



<p>This section controls how your site interacts with comments. Here are the options:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the post</strong>: If you link to someone else’s WordPress blog post, this setting will enable WordPress to send a notification or “ping” letting them know.</li><li><strong>Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new posts</strong>: Pingbacks and trackbacks appear in your comment section when someone links to your blog posts. They can be a great display of trust from other sites, but can also quickly overwhelm your comments, so consider this carefully.</li><li><strong>Allow people to submit comments on new posts</strong>: This enables comments across your entire website.</li></ul>



<img />



<h3 id="other-comment-settings">Other comment settings</h3>



<p>These are miscellaneous settings that apply to your comments and are as follows:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Comment author must fill out a name and email</strong>. This requires each respondent to leave their name and email when they leave a comment and can be helpful for preventing spam.</li><li><strong>Users must be registered and logged in to comment</strong>. This requires commenters to have an account. While this goes a long way towards spam prevention, it can also discourage many people from commenting. You may want to reserve this setting for situations like membership sites or forums.</li><li><strong>Automatically close comments on posts older than 14 days</strong>. This turns off comments on blog posts after a certain number of days — the default is 14 if this setting is enabled. This prevents you from having to moderate comments on posts from months or years ago and is especially helpful if your posts are time-sensitive.</li><li><strong>Show comments cookies opt-in checkbox, allowing comment author cookies to be set</strong>. This adds a checkbox to your comment form that says, “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” This helps you stay compliant with privacy laws <a href="https://wordpress.com/support/your-site-and-the-gdpr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">like the GDPR</a>.</li><li><strong>Enable threaded (nested) comments 5 levels deep</strong>. This allows comment responses to nest (tuck) underneath the comment they’re in response to. By default, they will nest five levels deep, but you can change this to whatever you’d like or turn it off altogether.</li><li><strong>Break comments into pages with 50 top level comments per page and the last page displayed by default</strong>. This divides the comments on the front-end of your site into pages, defines the number of comments per page (the default is 50), and lets you choose whether or not to display the first or last page by default.</li><li><strong>Comments should be displayed with the older comments at the top of each page</strong>. This sets the order in which your comments should display. Choose between “older” and “newer.”</li></ul>



<img />



<h3 id="email-me-whenever">Email me whenever…</h3>



<p>This section controls the email notifications you receive in regards to comments on your site. You can receive a notification when:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Anyone posts a comment</strong></li><li><strong>A comment is held for moderation</strong></li></ul>



<img />



<h3 id="before-a-comment-appears">Before a comment appears…</h3>



<p>Choose what must occur before a comment appears on the front-end of your website:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Comment must be manually approved</strong>. When this is turned on, you’ll need to manually approve each comment for publication. Turning this on gives you full control over what is published, though this process can be time-consuming.</li><li><strong>Comment author must have a previously approved comment</strong>. This automatically publishes comments from people who have written a comment that you’ve already approved. This is a great way to save valuable time but still reduce spam.</li></ul>



<img />



<h3 id="comment-moderation">Comment moderation</h3>



<p>This section allows you to hold comments in the moderation queue (rather than publish them automatically) if they meet certain criteria.</p>



<p>Links are a very common indication of spam —&nbsp;bots and malicious actors often try to send your website visitors to harmful third-party sites of their own. The first setting in this section allows you to hold a comment based on the number of links it contains. The default is two, but we recommend setting this to one, as there’s rarely a viable reason to include a link in a comment.</p>



<p>Below this option, you’ll see a text field that allows you to hold comments that meet the characteristics you define. So, if you’re getting a large number of spam comments that contain certain words or phrases, are from the same email or IP address, or push the same URL over and over, you can list those here.</p>



<img />



<h3 id="disallowed-comment-keys">Disallowed comment keys</h3>



<p>This section is very similar to the previous one, but it sends comments that meet certain criteria straight to the trash. Here, you can list words, author names, URLs, email addresses, IP addresses, or browser user agent strings.</p>



<img />



<h3 id="avatars">Avatars</h3>



<p>An avatar is the picture that shows up next to a respondent’s name. This is typically set by the person using <a href="https://gravatar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gravatar</a> and is based on the email address they use to submit comments. Here are the options you can choose from:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Avatar display</strong>: Choose whether or not to show avatars on your site</li><li><strong>Maximum rating: </strong>Block any images that fall above a certain maturity rating</li><li><strong>Default avatar: </strong>Set a default image to display if a respondent doesn’t have an avatar</li></ul>



<h2 id="comment-settings-for-individual-posts-and-pages">Comment settings for individual posts and pages&nbsp;</h2>



<p>The settings above apply to all posts and pages across your site. However, there are a few things you can choose on an individual basis.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Start by going to the page or post you want to edit and clicking the gear icon in the top right. There, you’ll see a list of settings. Scroll down to the <strong>Discussion </strong>section.&nbsp;</p>



<img />



<p>There are two options for comments here:</p>



<ol><li><strong>Allow comments.</strong> Check this box to enable comments for this specific page or post. Uncheck it to turn off comments.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Allow pingbacks &amp; trackbacks</strong>. Decide whether or not to enable pingbacks and trackbacks on an individual page basis. These are ways to let other blogs know that you’ve linked to them within your content.</li></ol>



<p>Once you’ve edited the settings, click the blue <strong>Update </strong>button at the top right of the page.</p>



<p>But there may be times that you want to edit specific posts in bulk. For example, you might want to close comments on all posts around a certain topic. Or may you want to enable comments just for pages about your services.</p>



<p>To do this, navigate to <strong>Pages</strong> or <strong>Posts</strong> in the WordPress dashboard, depending on which you’d like to edit. To the left of each page or post, you’ll see a checkbox. Check that next to each post or page you want to make changes to, or select the checkbox beside the word <strong>Title</strong> to select all the ones on that page.</p>



<img />



<p>Then, in the <strong>Bulk actions</strong> dropbox, select <strong>Edit </strong>and click <strong>Apply. </strong>A new section will appear with various settings. Find the <strong>Comments</strong> dropdown, choose to either turn comments on or off, then click <strong>Update</strong>. That change will be made to all the posts you selected.</p>



<h2 id="how-to-allow-individual-users-to-moderate-comments">How to allow individual users to moderate comments</h2>



<p>If you get a lot of comments, moderation can become time-consuming and overwhelming. After all, you have plenty of other things that need your attention! One great solution is to assign the task of comment moderation to specific people. Not only does this mean you won’t have to handle this process, it also means that commenters get responses faster.</p>



<p>So how do you do this without giving moderators full access to your site? While there are a few methods, we’re going to show you how with the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/comment-moderation-role/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Comment Moderation Role</a> plugin.</p>



<ol><li>In your dashboard, go to <strong>Plugins → Add New.&nbsp;</strong></li><li>Search for “Comment Moderation Role by WPBeginner” and click <strong>Install now → Activate.</strong></li><li>Then, navigate to <strong>Users → All Users </strong>and select the account you’d like to modify.</li><li>In the <strong>Role</strong> box, select <strong>WPB Comment Moderator</strong>.</li><li>Click the blue <strong>Update User </strong>button at the bottom of the page.</li></ol>



<img />



<p>Now, that user will be able to access the comment moderation screen in your dashboard, but nothing else. This allows them to do their job without compromising the security of the rest of your site.</p>



<h2 id="a-good-comment-experience-is-spam-free">A good comment experience is spam-free</h2>



<p>Now that you know all about the WordPress comment system, you can enable comments across your website and create a community around your brand! But if your comment section is full of unhelpful, unrelated, and potentially dangerous spam, then your brand, search engine rankings, and engagement can actually suffer.</p>



<p>Thankfully, you don’t need to add spam filtering to your list of moderation tasks; <a href="https://akismet.com/">Akismet</a> can take care of this for you! Simply activate the plugin —&nbsp;its powerful tools have stopped more than 500,000,000,000 spam comments —&nbsp;and the worst spam will be automatically deleted for you. You never even have to see it.</p>



<p>Learn more about <a href="https://blog.akismet.com/2022/01/12/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/">how to stop comment spam in WordPress</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, 25 Feb 2022 10:53:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Simon Keating";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:35:"Post Status: Post Status Notes #487";s: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=93811";s: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:49:"https://cdn.poststatus.com/post-status-notes-487/";s: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:14691:"<p class="has-medium-font-size">WordPress 5.9.1 released. REST or AJAX? Plugin dependency feature plugin. Testing, security, new themes and CSS standards. PHP benchmarks and more.</p>



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



<p>A <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/wordpress-5-9-1-maintenance-release/">WordPress 5.9.1 Maintenance Release</a> is out, so make sure your sites are updated. There are quite <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-5-9-1-rc-1/">a lot of bug fixes</a> in this release — over 80!</p>



<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">For a digest of everything happening in core this week, see <a href="https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-february-21-2022/">This Week at WordPess.org</a> for February 21.</p>


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<h2 id="h-dev-notes">Dev Notes</h2>



<p><strong>Matt Shaw</strong> tackles the question of whether you should be using the <strong>WordPress REST API</strong> instead of <strong>AJAX</strong>. He compares <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/comparing-wordpress-rest-api-performance-admin-ajax-php/">the pros and cons of each possible approach</a>, including benchmarks that examine speed and responsiveness. </p>



<p>Whichever you choose, Matt cautions that &#8220;the REST API and <code>admin-ajax.php</code> still depend on the quality and integrity of the active plugins or themes.&#8221;</p>


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<p><strong>Andy Fragen</strong> details <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/24/feature-project-plugin-dependencies/">a feature plugin project</a> he is proposing for managing plugin dependencies in the WordPress updater. This idea goes back to a <strong>TRAC</strong> ticket opened nine years ago by the late <strong>Alex Mills</strong>. It already has some comments and discussion going.<br /><br />Andy outlines two approaches to managing plugins that require plugins. Each has subtle differences which he calls &#8220;starting points.&#8221; At the moment I would embrace either one! A core solution to plugin dependencies would help set and keep standards. </p>



<p>We're looking forward to how this project progresses.</p>


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<p><strong>Jason Bahl</strong> has written <a href="https://www.wpgraphql.com/2022/02/17/adding-end-2-end-tests-to-wordpress-plugins-using-wp-env-and-wp-scripts/">a tutorial on end-to-end tests</a> for your WordPress plugins. It uses <strong>Puppeteer</strong>, <strong>Jest</strong>, and <strong>Github Actions</strong>. Jason's tutorial also shows how to set up a GitHub Workflow (AKA <strong>GitHub Action</strong>) that will run the tests when a Pull Request is opened.</p>



<p>Jason also published a video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBBwWSk3kxg&t=1s">walking through the setup for end-to-</a>end tests for <strong>WPGraphQL</strong>.</p>


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<p><strong>David C. Zentgraf</strong> has a detailed post on what every programmer &#8220;absolutely, positively needs to know&#8221; about <a href="https://kunststube.net/encoding/">encodings and character sets</a> to work with text.</p>


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<p><strong>Tom McFarlin</strong> shares <a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/programmatically-authenticate-a-user/">how you can programmatically authenticate a user</a> in WordPress — as long as you have a verified user ID for them.</p>


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<h2 id="security">Security</h2>



<p><strong>Jetpack Scan</strong> security researcher <strong>Marc Montpas</strong> discovered <a href="https://jetpack.com/2022/02/17/severe-vulnerability-fixed-in-updraftplus-1-22-3/">a severe vulnerability</a> in <strong>UpdraftPlus</strong> that could grant attackers access to privileged information in the database. As <strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reports, the patch was pushed out <a href="https://wptavern.com/updraftplus-1-22-3-patches-severe-vulnerability-through-forced-security-update-from-wordpress-org">via a forced auto-update</a>.</p>



<p>It's rare, but not extremely rare, to see a security-related update pushed out via a forced auto-update. Likely this time around it was the extent of the problem plus the install base of the plugin — more than a million sites — that hadn't updated to the latest version. </p>



<p>It would be nice to see some guidelines in writing to explain when and how the decision for a forced update is made. It might be a &#8220;you know it when you see it&#8221; scenario, but when it comes to security, standards and expectations should be clear.</p>


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<h2 id="themes">Themes</h2>



<p><strong>Mark Root-Wiley</strong> envisions a path toward <a href="https://mrwweb.com/standardized-design-tokens-css-wordpress-future/">standardizing CSS for WordPress designs and layouts</a>. He notes that &#8220;now is a critical moment to find a path that meets the needs of WordPress core development without sacrificing the needs of 3rd-party themes and plugins.&#8221;</p>



<p>Mark proposes a four-point plan: Consistent CSS classes, stateful CSS classes, design tokens, and CSS utility classes:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;With a streamlined and transparent approach to design, core development will have a self-documenting, easy-to-understand set of tools for implementing future designs.&#8221;</p></blockquote>


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<p><strong>Rich Tabor</strong> has <a href="https://richtabor.com/wabi/">released a new WordPress block theme</a> called <strong>Wabi</strong> for writers and publishers. Each post can have one of six different accent color. All of them can be modified within the new <strong>Global Styles</strong> interface. </p>



<p><a href="https://richtabor.com/wabi/">Rich's blog</a> is currently running Wabi.</p>


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<p><strong>Skatepark</strong> is a <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/skatepark/">new WordPress theme</a> &#8220;designed for modern events and organizations&#8221; by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/melchoyce/status/1496152779928350723">Mel Choyce-Dwan</a></strong>.</p>


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<h2 id="php-performance">PHP Performance</h2>



<p><strong>Salman Ravoof</strong> delivers <a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/php-benchmarks/">some benchmarks</a> for <strong>PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, and 8.1</strong> on the <strong>Kinsta</strong> blog. These five different PHP versions were tested across 14 unique PHP platforms and configurations for WordPress, <strong>Drupal</strong>, <strong>Joomla</strong>, and <strong>Laravel</strong>.</p>



<p>Kinsta finds that only 50.6% of WordPress sites are running on supported PHP versions. Salman believes lack of education, compatibility issues, and reluctant WordPress hosting providers are the main causes for this.</p>



<p>In terms of overall speed on WordPress installs, <strong>PHP 8.0</strong> and <strong>8.1 have proven to be faster than</strong> previous versions. PHP 8.1 is the fastest in all benchmarks. Another reason to upgrade sooner than later: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;With support for PHP 7.4 ending soon in late 2022, you should plan to move your sites to PHP 8.0 and above as soon as possible.&#8221;</p></blockquote>


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<h2 id="plugin-updates">Plugin Updates</h2>



<p><strong>Advanced Custom Fields</strong> <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/blog/acf-5-12-released/">version 5.12 is available</a> with <strong>ACF Blocks</strong> compatibility for <strong>WordPress 5.9</strong> and <strong>WordPress 5.8</strong>.</p>


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<p><strong>Aurooba Ahmed</strong> has <a href="https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/aurooba.com/quickpost/"><a href="https://aurooba.com/quickpost/">released</a></a> <strong>QuickPost</strong>, &#8220;a little button that lets you create and duplicate posts right from the WordPress Block Editor.&#8221;</p>


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<p><strong>TrustedLogin</strong> <a href="https://www.trustedlogin.com/2022/02/21/remove-dashboard-access-support-me/">has adopted</a> the <strong>Remove Dashboard Access</strong> and <strong>Support Me plugins</strong> created by <strong>Drew Jaynes</strong>. These plugins are installed on over 50,000 sites.</p>


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<p><strong>Strattic</strong> <a href="https://www.strattic.com/wp2static-joins-strattic/">has acquired</a> <strong>WP2Static</strong>, which was developed by <strong>Leon Stafford</strong>. Leon is joining <strong>Strattic</strong> and will continue to maintain the plugin, which makes WordPress generate a static file-based site.</p>



<p><strong>Strattic</strong> will “support keeping WP2Static and its add-ons open source.”</p>


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<h2 id="questions-asked-and-lessons-learned">Questions Asked and Lessons Learned</h2>



<p><strong>Brian Casel</strong> shares <a href="https://twitter.com/CasJam/status/1494330124048556039">some things he learned from the sale</a> of his <strong>Productize</strong> course business, a 7-year side-business. </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;I still believe [productized services are] the path of least resistance for anyone looking to level up from being a freelancer to a business that can scale. It helped me bootstrap and grow into SaaS. It powers amazing service businesses for many others.&#8221;</p></blockquote>


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<p><strong>Eric Karkovack</strong> wonders if many of the features WordPress is gaining are for non-designers and <a href="https://thewpminute.com/is-wordpress-pushing-freelancers-away/">will push freelancers away</a>. Eric believes freelancers are vital to growth:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;Without the right balance, there is a potential to squeeze out those of us in the mid-range of the market… we’re not at that point just yet. However, the decisions that are made within the next few years could have a huge impact on freelancers.&#8221;</p></blockquote>


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<p><strong>Nyasha Green</strong> shares her response to those who ask, &#8220;<a href="https://masterwp.com/are-wordpress-developers-real-developers/">Are WordPress developers real developers?</a>&#8221; It depends how you define &#8220;developer.&#8221; There's plenty of space in the WordPress community for a variety of different &#8220;developers.&#8221;</p>


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<p><strong>Allie Nimmons</strong> asks how to be <a href="https://masterwp.com/journey-to-better-wordpress-diversity/">an effective advocate for diversity</a> in WordPress. She recounts the good, bad, and unintended consequences of calling out WCEU for an apparent lack of diversity in its organizers. Allie now has some suggestions such as this one: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&#8220;Communicat[e] &#8230; intentions first. [&#8230;] Bring to the forefront what you hope to accomplish with your advocacy before bringing up tough questions.&#8221;</p></blockquote>";s: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, 25 Feb 2022 04:38:29 +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: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: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:74:"WPTavern: WooCommerce 6.3 to Introduce New Product Filtering by Attributes";s: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=130511";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-6-3-to-introduce-new-product-filtering-by-attributes";s: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:2959:"<p>The WooCommerce development team released the first <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/22/woocommerce-6-3-rc/">RC for version 6.3</a> this week.  The upcoming major release is expected on March 8, 2022, and is set to introduce an exciting, long-awaited feature: a new lookup table that will offer the ability the accurately <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/02/new-product-filtering-by-attributes-rolling-out-in-woocommerce-6-3/">filter products by attributes</a>.</p>



<p>Shop owners who sell variable items have been frustrated for years by WooCommerce&#8217;s broken filtering of variable products. Automattic developer Néstor Soriano explained the problem when the new lookup table <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2021/08/12/brace-yourselves-new-product-filtering-by-attributes-is-coming/">went into testing</a> last year:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The problem appears when there are variable products where some variations have stock and others don’t, and the “hide out of stock products from the catalog” option is set. What happens is that when an attribute is selected for filtering, all variable products having a variation that corresponds to that attribute will be displayed, even those not having stock for that variation (as long as at least one variation has stock).</p></blockquote>



<p>Merchants who have experienced this have become frustrated because customers end up having to search through all the items to see if their selected variation is available. Sometimes they abandon the process after the first few items don&#8217;t have the one they are looking for.</p>



<p>The new lookup table in WooCommerce 6.3 solves this problem in a way that should improve performance &#8211; by creating a table row for each combination of product and attribute, including individual variations and stock status. This will be immensely helpful for any store owner who sells variable products, such as clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc.</p>



<p>This update will require a database migration. It will also introduce a new “Advanced” section under the Product Settings tab with options for the new product attributes lookup table.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img />New Advanced settings:  WooCommerce – Settings – Products – Advanced</div>



<p>WooCommerce 6.3 has updated to the <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/02/woocommerce-blocks-6-9-0-release-notes/">6.9.0</a> version of the WooCommerce Blocks feature plugin and version 3.2.0-rc of WooCommerce Admin.</p>



<p>Shop owners who have variable products may want to give the update a test run during the next 12 days before the release lands. It is available for <a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/woocommerce.6.3.0-rc.1.zip">download from WordPress.org</a> or via the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-beta-tester/">WooCommerce Beta Tester plugin</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, 25 Feb 2022 04:22:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"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: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:81:"WPTavern: Recreating Onia: Building Brushstroke Backgrounds 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=130503";s: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/recreating-onia-building-brushstroke-backgrounds-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:8376:"<p class="has-drop-cap">As I was looking over the latest releases from the WordPress theme directory this week, I came across one that caught my eye. <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/onia/">Onia</a> was clean and minimal while reserving its flourishes to bring attention to just a few elements across the page.</p>



<p><em>Could this be one of those diamonds in the rough I am always looking for in the free theme directory?</em></p>



<p>It had the potential, but it fell short. As I explored the theme, it felt like the author had spent 90% of their time designing an eye-catching front page. Diving into inner pages showed no attention to typography as the character count per line was pushing 150 and beyond, more than twice what it should be for comfortable reading.</p>



<p>That is the sort of thing that is easy to address. I was more disappointed that Onia was not a block theme. All the elements were there. It did not do anything particularly complex, and there was no evident reason for it to be a classic theme.</p>



<p>Yesterday evening, I sat down and recreated Onia as a block theme. Technically, I built its homepage directly from the editor on top of a base theme project I already had on hand. There were a couple of challenges, but I did the bulk of the work in roughly an hour. The other pieces took a little longer as I ran through possible solutions.</p>



<p>The following is a comparison of the two front pages (Onia is first, followed by my recreation):</p>




<img />



<img />




<p>I obviously took a few liberties with spacing, sizing, and coloring. I was not attempting an exact replica. Instead, it was a bit of a reboot with a few spins on the original.</p>



<h2 id="some-quick-notes">Some Quick Notes</h2>



<p>One of the things that often frustrates me with themes is that they show off these beautiful logos in the demo but offer no way for the user to work with the same font. I was unsure of what the original font family was used in the logo, but I added <a href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sacramento">Sacramento</a> as a cursive handwriting option:</p>



<img />Pretty font that users can customize.



<p>These features can make a difference for the average user. Not everyone can load up Photoshop and create their own specialized logo. However, they can type their site&#8217;s name and select a font option for the plain text version.</p>



<p>Technically, there are two features currently in Gutenberg but not in WordPress 5.9 that I used. The first is the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37649">Read More block</a>. Onia had this in its post grid. As a theme author, I would have simply waited for this feature if it was a holdup. Considering that both the featured image and post title link to the single post page, it was not a make-or-break element.</p>



<p>The second missing feature is the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38152">&#8220;show labels&#8221; option</a> for the Social Icons block. A workaround for the original design would have been to use a Navigation block instead since the links were just plain text. Another option would have been a custom block style for Social Icons. Either way, this was not a blocker for this theme being released as a block theme.</p>



<p>Every other design element of the theme is possible through the block system.</p>



<h2 id="brushstroke-block-style">Brushstroke Block Style</h2>



<p>I said there were challenges, but I use that term to mean &#8220;the fun stuff.&#8221; These are the pieces where designers and developers can dive into a problem and attempt to innovate, and they are the solutions that I want to share.</p>



<p>One of my favorite design elements of the theme was its use of an SVG to create a brushstroke behind the intro heading:</p>



<img />Onia homepage intro.



<p>The theme used an old-school method of wrapping a <code>&lt;span></code> element inside an <code>&lt;h1></code>. This applies the brush background to the last few words of the text. However, that implementation is problematic with smaller devices, not keeping up with the natural flow of text-breaks as the screen changes. There was also no way for users to control the color of the brushstroke or text.</p>



<p>I wanted to know if there was a better way of doing this while offering ultimate flexibility to users.</p>



<p>Fortunately, <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-news-gets-a-new-design">WordPress News recently relaunched</a> with a brand-new design that leaned heavily on brushstrokes. Plus, the theme is <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-news-2021/blob/trunk/source/wp-content/themes/wporg-news-2021/sass/style.scss#L11-L21">licensed under the GPL</a>, so its assets are freely available.</p>



<p>Honestly, I wish I had looked at its source code before reading over various CSS help and support sites. Our community&#8217;s designers had already solved the problems I was hitting. All I had to do was adjust their solutions to fit my needs.</p>



<p>After a bit of wrangling, I managed to create a customizable brushstroke background for Headings:</p>




<img />



<img />
Brushstroke works with any color.



<p>Users can adjust the text color as always. However, modifying the background color changes the brushstroke color. The stroke always aligns with the last line of text, so it will work regardless of the screen size. That may not always be desirable. However, other solutions exist for use cases like highlighting specific text.</p>



<p>The following screenshot is an editor view as I change the color:</p>



<img />Customizing the brushstroke background color.



<p>To create the brushstroke background for Heading blocks, I added the following code to my theme&#8217;s <code>functions.php</code> file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>add_action( 'init', 'tavern_register_block_styles' );

function tavern_register_block_styles() {
        register_block_style( 'core/heading', &#91;
            'name' =&gt; 'brush',
            'label' =&gt; __( 'Brush', 'tavern' )
        ] );
}</code></pre>



<p>Then, I downloaded the <code>brush-stroke-big.svg</code> file from the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-news-2021/blob/trunk/source/wp-content/themes/wporg-news-2021/images/brush-stroke-big.svg">WordPress News repo</a> and added it to an <code>/assets/svg</code> folder in my theme.</p>



<p>The final step was adding custom CSS to my theme&#8217;s stylesheet. I <a href="https://wptavern.com/building-a-scotch-tape-image-block-style#creating-the-scotch-tape-block-style">covered adding styles</a> in more depth in my previous Building with Blocks tutorial for those who need a refresher.</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>/* Cancel out WP's padding on headings with backgrounds. */
:is( h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 ).is-style-brush.has-background {
    padding: 0;
}

/* Add default background to headings. Clip it to the text. */
:where( h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 ).is-style-brush {
    position: relative;
    z-index: 1;
    background-color: #b5b5b5;
    background-clip: text !important;
    -webkit-background-clip: text !important;
}

/* Adds the brushstroke to ::before. Using ::after can conflict with editor. */
:where( h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 ).is-style-brush::before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    z-index: -1;
    bottom: -1rem;
    left: -1rem;
    height: calc( 1.25em + 1rem );
    width: 100%;
    background-color: inherit;
    -webkit-mask-image: url('assets/svg/brush-stroke-big.svg');
    mask-image: url('assets/svg/brush-stroke-big.svg');
    -webkit-mask-position: left bottom;
    mask-position: left bottom;
    -webkit-mask-repeat: no-repeat;
    mask-repeat: no-repeat;
    -webkit-mask-size: 100% 100%;
    mask-size: 100% 100%;
}</code></pre>



<p>Most of those rules can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis. Some may need a bit of fudging, depending on the theme.</p>



<p>This solution could work for other blocks. I encourage theme authors to experiment and use other SVGs to see what they come up with.</p>



<p><strong>Note:</strong> the Onia theme links to a CDN for its SVG background image, which is not supposed to be allowed on WordPress.org. I also could not find any licensing info on it. Being unsure if it was compatible with the GPL, I did not use the asset from the theme.</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, 25 Feb 2022 02:50:24 +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: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: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:60:"Post Status: WooCommerce Function Of The Week: wc_get_logger";s: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=93787";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://poststatus.com/woocommerce-function-of-the-week-wc_get_logger/";s: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:13016:"<p class="has-drop-cap">If you are or aim to be an advanced WooCommerce developer, this week's WooCommerce function will help you immensely. </p>



<p>And — spoiler alert — that's not because of this function's syntax (which is beyond my own understanding), but due to the world of possibility it opens when it's called from inside a plugin or code snippet.</p>



<p><em>Logging</em> in software development means <em>keeping a file log of events</em> for troubleshooting and health tracking purposes. Go to WordPress Dashboard &gt; WooCommerce &gt; Status &gt; Logs and take a look at the dropdown: you'll see dozens if not hundreds of log entries generated by either WooCommerce itself or some of your active WooCommerce extensions.</p>



<p>You can do that too, with <code>wc_get_logger</code>. The <code>wc_get_logger</code> function lets you create your own event log. You might want one for troubleshooting something under development or to give your clients a handy report of what a plugin or code snippet did on any given day.</p>



<p>Not sure why and how you should use <code>wc_get_logger</code>? Here's more context, some case studies, and a code example. Enjoy!</p>



<span id="more-93787"></span>



<h2 id="h-function-source-code-and-description">Function source code and description</h2>



<p>File <code>woocommerce\includes\wc-core-functions.php</code>, line 1952 (as of WooCommerce 6.0.0) is where <code>wc_get_logger</code> resides. Let's take a look at the code:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>/**
 * Get a shared logger instance.
 *
 * Use the woocommerce_logging_class filter to change the logging class. You may provide one of the following:
 *     - a class name which will be instantiated as `new $class` with no arguments
 *     - an instance which will be used directly as the logger
 * In either case, the class or instance *must* implement WC_Logger_Interface.
 *
 * @see WC_Logger_Interface
 *
 * @return WC_Logger
 */
function wc_get_logger() {
	static $logger = null;

	$class = apply_filters( 'woocommerce_logging_class', 'WC_Logger' );

	if ( null !== $logger && is_string( $class ) && is_a( $logger, $class ) ) {
		return $logger;
	}

	$implements = class_implements( $class );

	if ( is_array( $implements ) && in_array( 'WC_Logger_Interface', $implements, true ) ) {
		$logger = is_object( $class ) ? $class : new $class();
	} else {
		wc_doing_it_wrong(
			__FUNCTION__,
			sprintf(
				/* translators: 1: class name 2: woocommerce_logging_class 3: WC_Logger_Interface */
				__( 'The class %1$s provided by %2$s filter must implement %3$s.', 'woocommerce' ),
				'&lt;code&gt;' . esc_html( is_object( $class ) ? get_class( $class ) : $class ) . '&lt;/code&gt;',
				'&lt;code&gt;woocommerce_logging_class&lt;/code&gt;',
				'&lt;code&gt;WC_Logger_Interface&lt;/code&gt;'
			),
			'3.0'
		);

		$logger = is_a( $logger, 'WC_Logger' ) ? $logger : new WC_Logger();
	}

	return $logger;
}</code></pre>



<p>Now, as I already mentioned, and unlike <a href="https://poststatus.com/woocommerce-function-of-the-week-wc_get_customer_total_spent/">last week where we studied <code>wc_get_customer_total_spent</code> syntax</a> line by line, this time we're not going to worry about the way the function is written — instead we'll focus on how it's used.</p>



<p>So, let's do a quick file search for <code>wc_get_logger</code> and see if we can find something interesting. Take a look at <code>woocommerce\includes\class-woocommerce.php</code> line 237:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>/**
 * Ensures fatal errors are logged so they can be picked up in the status report.
 *
 * @since 3.2.0
 */
public function log_errors() {
	$error = error_get_last();
	if ( $error && in_array( $error&#91;'type'], array( E_ERROR, E_PARSE, E_COMPILE_ERROR, E_USER_ERROR, E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR ), true ) ) {
		$logger = wc_get_logger();
		$logger-&gt;critical(
			/* translators: 1: error message 2: file name and path 3: line number */
			sprintf( __( '%1$s in %2$s on line %3$s', 'woocommerce' ), $error&#91;'message'], $error&#91;'file'], $error&#91;'line'] ) . PHP_EOL,
			array(
				'source' =&gt; 'fatal-errors',
			)
		);
		do_action( 'woocommerce_shutdown_error', $error );
	}
}</code></pre>



<p>You can see <code>wc_get_logger</code> &#8220;gives access&#8221; to the WooCommerce logging system, which is then written in case there is a Fatal Error (error 5xx) in WordPress. This log is super helpful if you want to keep an eye on your WordPress website without enabling <code>WP_DEBUG</code> or logging in to your FTP looking for an error log file. (The errors are also very well described. They include the functions that triggered them, hooks involved, references, and lots of information that a normal debugger won't give you.)</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="752" height="408" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image-752x408.png" alt="" class="wp-image-93788" />Here's a fatal error log. It comes with a date and time, the error description, the plugin/function that triggered it, and the line number where the code broke. It's always good to know when and where things go wrong!</div>



<p>So this is what we're looking at today: creating our own custom log within the WooCommerce Status admin dashboard.</p>



<h2 id="case-studies">Case studies</h2>



<p>Why on earth should you &#8220;log stuff&#8221; in the first place?</p>



<p>Well, let's say you're developing a new WooCommerce extension or coding a PHP snippet. Maybe you want to know &#8220;what's inside a PHP variable&#8221; because a calculation you're doing with it isn't coming out as expected.</p>



<p>No problem! Invoke <code>wc_get_logger</code>, and then print the variable content inside the log. Why not use <code>WP_DEBUG</code> instead? Well, to be honest, they are equivalent —  so pick whatever suits you better.</p>



<p>Another scenario: you've connected your WooCommerce products with an external API, which returns daily prices and stock quantities.</p>



<p>As you can see, <code>wc_get_logger</code> is a nice way to invoke the logging system to print previous and new prices or stock inventory every time the API is called. You never know, something could have gone wrong.</p>



<p>Finally, the store manager may want to be kept up to date with manual operations (e.g. a product title update) or customer events such as failed orders, products added to their cart, products purchased together (so they can build better product recommendations), and so on. </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Anything is loggable!</p><cite>Rodolfo Melogli</cite></blockquote>



<h2 id="let-s-build-our-custom-event-log"> Let's build our custom event log</h2>



<p>Alright, time to write some code. On top of <code>wc_get_logger</code>, you also need to know about the different types of log entry levels:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">emergency|alert|critical|error|warning|notice|info|debug</pre>



<p>Right after you invoke <code>wc_get_logger</code> by assigning it to a variable, you can then add an entry to your custom log by defining one of those levels. In the example above we saw this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$logger = wc_get_logger();
$logger-&gt;critical(...);

/* Example:

2022-02-16T00:53:34+00:00 CRITICAL syntax error, unexpected 'limit' (T_STRING), expecting ']' in .../wp-content/plugins/code-snippets/php/admin-menus/class-edit-menu.php(221) : eval()'d code on line 15

*/</code></pre>



<p>So basically it defines that &#8220;CRITICAL&#8221; string at the beginning of the log entry. (It's not much, but it could be useful if you want to classify log entries based on their severity level.)</p>



<p>Together with that, we also need to study the rest of the syntax for writing a log entry e.g.:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$logger-&gt;info( wc_print_r( $order, true ), array( 'source' =&gt; 'failed-orders' ) );</code></pre>



<p>We already covered the &#8220;-&gt;info&#8221; part a second ago — inside the parentheses you also find the log entry content and the log name. Here's a quicker way to describe the log writing function:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$logger-&gt;LOG_ENTRY_LEVEL( LOG_ENTRY_CONTENT, array( 'source' =&gt; LOG_NAME ) );</code></pre>



<p>All you have to define are:</p>



<ul><li><code>LOG_ENTRY_LEVEL</code> (<code>emergency</code>|<code>alert</code>|<code>critical</code>|<code>error</code>|<code>warning</code>|<code>notice</code>|<code>info</code>|<code>debug</code>)</li><li><code>LOG_ENTRY_CONTENT</code> (a string to describe the event)</li><li><code>LOG_NAME</code> (the log name slug e.g. &#8216;fatal-errors'; you can make this up, and actually I tend to use slugs that begin with the letter &#8216;a', such as &#8216;aaa-my-custom-log' so they show first in the dropdown as it's sorted alphabetically)</li></ul>



<p>That's it!</p>



<p>We can now code a specific case scenario: let's create a log called &#8220;aaa-product-url-changes&#8221; and create a <strong>log entry each time someone or something changes a WooCommerce product slug</strong> (URL).</p>



<p>First of all, we need to identify the &#8220;product has changed&#8221; WordPress hook so that we can fire the <code>wc_get_logged</code> function. That would be the <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/post_updated/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><code>post_updated</code></a> action.</p>



<p>Second, let's see if there were slug changes <code>("$post-&gt;post_name")</code>.</p>



<p>And third, let's write the log entry.</p>



<p>Here's the full snippet:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>/**
 * @snippet       Log Product URL changes
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */
  
add_action( 'post_updated', 'bbloomer_log_product_slug_changes_wc_status', 10, 3 );
 
function bbloomer_log_product_slug_changes_wc_status( $post_ID, $post_after, $post_before ) {
 
	// BAIL IF NOT A PRODUCT
	if ( 'product' !== $post_before-&gt;post_type ) return;
	
	// BAIL IF SLUG DIDNT CHANGE
	if ( $post_after-&gt;post_name == $post_before-&gt;post_name ) return;

	// LOAD THE WC LOGGER
	$logger = wc_get_logger();

	// LOG SLUGS TO CUSTOM LOG
	$logger-&gt;info( 'Product ID ' . $post_ID . ' slug changed from "' . $post_before-&gt;post_name . '" to "' . $post_after-&gt;post_name . '"', array( 'source' =&gt; 'aaa-product-url-changes' ) );
 
}</code></pre>



<p>Here's a screenshot of the original post — important if I change a product permalink from <code><em>sprite-foam-yoga-brick</em></code>  to <code><em>sprite-foam-yoga-brick-2022</em></code>:</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="752" height="408" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image-2-752x408.png" alt="" class="wp-image-93792" /></div>



<p>Cool, ha?</p>



<p>On Business Bloomer, I coded two more WooCommerce case studies in case you're interested: <a href="https://www.businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-create-custom-logs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a failed order log and a product price update log</a>. Enjoy!</p>



<h2 id="further-questions">Further Questions</h2>



<p>How long is the log kept for? Is there a log entry limit? How can you disallow certain user roles from viewing a given log?</p>



<p>Lots of possible questions there — let's chat via the comments and <a href="https://poststatus.slack.com/archives/C02GALGDLLA"><code>#woocommerce</code> in Post Status Slack</a>!</p>



<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:"Thu, 24 Feb 2022 23:45:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Rodolfo Melogli";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:37:"Post Status: New Ways to Win Together";s: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=93887";s: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/new-ways-to-win-together/";s: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:3211:"<h2 id="fresh-woocommerce-6-3-release-candidate-and-6-2-1-security-release">Fresh WooCommerce 6.3 Release Candidate and 6.2.1 Security Release </h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap"><strong>WooCommerce 6.3 RC</strong> has been <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/22/woocommerce-6-3-rc/">released with updates</a> to the Admin and a couple of fixes to the product attributes table since the release of the beta. So get your testing on! This release candidate was followed up with a <strong>WooCommerce 6.2.1</strong> <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/02/22/woocommerce-6-2-1-security-fix/">Security Fix</a>  for permission check in reviews and path traversal in importers.</p>



<h2 id="object-cache-pro-partners-with-convesio-plugin-authors-take-note">Object Cache Pro Partners with Convesio — Plugin Authors Take Note</h2>



<p>In other news, hot on the heels of securing $5 Million in new investment capital, <strong>Convesio</strong> has <a href="https://convesio.com/object-cache-pro-convesio-partnership/">partnered with</a> <strong>Object Cache Pro</strong> to increase performance for both their Business and Enterprise WooCommerce/WordPress customers. </p>



<p>Object Cache Pro is the work of Till Krüss who partnered with Cloudways in a similar fashion in late 2021. Till's work with hosting partners is an innovative and exciting business model that seems to align the interests of devs, hosts, and their customer bases for mutual benefit. It's an idea other plugin developers might want to consider when a SaaS version of their product isn't an option or the best way to grow. </p>



<h2 id="h-jordan-gal-offers-insights-into-the-woo-and-wordpress-space">Jordan Gal Offers Insights into the Woo and WordPress Space</h2>



<p>And lastly, <strong>Jordan Gal</strong>, founder of <strong>Rally</strong>, shares <a href="https://dothewoo.io/web-3-0-pricing-woocommerce-ecosystem/">his experiences around entering both the WooCommerce and WordPress space</a>. Jordan has some truly visionary insights into checkout, product pricing, and the overall ecosystem.</p>



<div class="wp-container-6219667f1495b wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
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<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background"><a href="https://dothewoo.io/post-status-members/"><img width="400" height="400" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/hg1C04vb_400x400.jpg" alt="Do the Woo" class="wp-image-93517 size-full" /></a><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-text-align-left" id="h-get-ready-for-remote-work"><strong><strong>Do the Wo</strong>o!</strong> <a href="https://dothewoo.io/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Get the Podcast</a>. <a href="https://dothewoo.io/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to the Newsletter</a>.</p>



<p>Learn from others. Grow your business. Connect with a community of like-minded developers and builders who freelance, run agencies, and build really cool products and sites in the <strong>WooCommerce</strong> ecosystem.</p>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
</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:"Thu, 24 Feb 2022 22:43:07 +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: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: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:77:"WordCamp Central: Thanks to Jetpack for sponsoring community events worldwide";s: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=3146028";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/24/thanks-to-jetpack-for-sponsoring-community-events-worldwide-2/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1666:"<p><span>What would we do without our sponsors? We’re so grateful to </span><strong><span><a href="http://jetpack.me/">Jetpack</a></span></strong><span> for </span><strong><span><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/global-community-sponsors/">sponsoring WordPress community events all around the globe</a></span></strong><span> at the Gold level in 2022! Jetpack’s support helps make local community events (like WordPress meetup groups and WordCamps) better for WordPress enthusiasts and easier to organize for our wonderful group of hardworking volunteers.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2019/03/jetpack-logo-horizontal-color.png"><img /></a></p>
<p>Transform how you work with your WordPress sites: Jetpack connects your site to the global services, community, and support provided by WordPress.com. Focus on the substance of your site, not the software.</p>
<p>Jetpack security tools automatically shield your site from spammers, hackers, and malware, while real-time syncing and backup means never worrying about data loss. Traffic-building tools like easy social sharing help you attract readers and search engines, and pages delivered from a high-speed, global content delivery network mean those readers never bounce because of a slow-loading site.</p>
<p>Jetpack’s Affiliate program gives you 20% every time you sell Jetpack to a customer or client — with unlimited referrals, the sky’s the limit!</p>
<p>Whether you’re one person with a website or an agency with a dozen clients, Jetpack helps you grow. Make your site work for you at <a href="https://jetpack.com/"><strong><span>Jetpack.com</span></strong></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, 24 Feb 2022 16:00:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:59:"BuddyPress: 4 to 6 months to improve our documentation site";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=323608";s: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://buddypress.org/2022/02/4-to-6-months-to-improve-our-documentation-site/";s: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:2892:"<p>Hi the BuddyPress community,</p>



<p>We haven&#8217;t updated the <a href="https://codex.buddypress.org/">BuddyPress Codex</a> for a while and it really needs a big refresh! The BuddyPress development team decided at the end of their <a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2022/02/21/bp-dev-chat-summary-february-16-2022/">last week meeting</a> to spend the next 4 to 6 months on this very important task: make our documentation <strong>up to date</strong>, better organized, more accurate and more useful to all BuddyPress user &#8220;levels&#8221;.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>No major releases, all energy on docs!</p><cite><a class="bp-suggestions-mention" href="https://buddypress.org/members/imath/" rel="nofollow">@imath</a></cite></blockquote>



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



<h2>This task is huge and we really need your help to make it a success</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2022/02/boone-jjj-bp.jpg"><img width="1024" height="681" src="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2022/02/boone-jjj-bp-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-323612" /></a>Photo Credits :&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahockley/15731274722" target="_blank">WordCamp San Francisco by Aaron Hockley, on Flickr</a>.</div>



<p>That&#8217;s why we kindly invite you all to join this effort and why not become members of a new BuddyPress Docs team!</p>



<p>We&#8217;ll meet every other Wednesday for an hour to talk about docs during a new &#8220;documentation contributor hour&#8221;. Our kick off meeting is scheduled <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20220302T2000">next week (March 2) at 20:00 UTC</a>. It will happen into the <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/buddypress">#BuddyPress</a> channel of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">WordPress.org slack</a>.</p>



<ol><li>If you haven&#8217;t registered a WordPress.org account, you&#8217;ll need to do so: create your account on&nbsp;<a href="https://login.wordpress.org/register/">WordPress.org</a>&nbsp;</li><li>If you haven&#8217;t joined the&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">WordPress.org Slack</a>&nbsp;(the tool WordPress contributors are using to communicate with), you&#8217;ll need to do it, once you did the 1st step, from this place: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">https://make.wordpress.org/chat/</a>.</li><li>If you have questions, don&#8217;t hesitate to comment this post <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f44c.png" alt="👌" class="wp-smiley" /></li></ol>



<div><span class="dashicons dashicons-buddicons-buddypress-logo"></span></div>



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



<p class="has-text-align-center"><strong>Let&#8217;s all contribute to BuddyPress documentation.</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:"Thu, 24 Feb 2022 10:56:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Mathieu Viet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:82:"WPTavern: Skatepark Is a Bold and Vibrant Block Theme for Events and Organizations";s: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=130376";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/skatepark-is-a-bold-and-vibrant-block-theme-for-events-and-organizations";s: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:5736:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Automattic&#8217;s <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/skatepark/">Skatepark</a> landed in the WordPress.org theme directory on Monday. It was designed for modern events and organizations, but it should work well for many sites with a small amount of customization.</p>



<p>For those keeping count, it is number 52 on the long path <a href="https://wptavern.com/what-arent-more-wordpress-theme-authors-creating-block-themes">toward the 3,000 themes</a> project lead Matt Mullenweg hopes for before the Collaboration phase of the Gutenberg project. The pace has picked up in the past few months, but the lower-cited number of 300 seems more realistic.</p>



<p>One thing seems inevitable. The Automattic Theme Team will continue pushing new block themes out. Skatepark is now its 10th contribution, nearly a full 1/5 of the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/">total available on WordPress.org</a>.</p>



<p>With the <a href="https://wptavern.com/the-automattic-theme-team-announces-blockbase-its-new-block-parent-theme">release of the Blockbase theme last year</a>, I expected that most of Automattic&#8217;s theme releases would just become child themes of it. They would be slight variations on that same design, never really pushing the envelope. After all, that is how most of their block themes seemed to be rolling out. However, the Theme Team&#8217;s last three releases have been standalone. Skatepark graduated from child theme status <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/themes/pull/5523">a mere eight days ago</a>.</p>



<p>I like seeing this approach. Child theming can have its limits, often tucking designers into unnecessary boxes. The team&#8217;s latest theme needed to be let loose to do its own thing.</p>



<p>If there was ever a theme design that marched to the beat of its own drum, it would be Skatepark.</p>



<p>The color scheme is&#8230;<em>how do I describe this?</em> THERE. IS. SO. MUCH. GREEN. <em>Blindingly so.</em></p>



<img />Default Skatepark theme homepage.



<p>I love the experimentation. We need more of that in the WordPress community. As much as I dislike the default color scheme, it is likely perfect for someone else.</p>



<p>I would have instantly deactivated and deleted the theme in the classic era.  But, the site editor and global styles system let users modify colors with relative ease these days.</p>



<p>The first order of business was changing things so that I could explore this theme properly:</p>



<img />Changing the theme&#8217;s background color.



<p>Once my eyes readjusted, I enjoyed tinkering with this Skatepark. There is a lot to like about it from just a general-usage standpoint. The bold typography choices and generous use of whitespace give users the freedom to experiment.</p>



<p>However, the theme provides a helping hand for those who need it. Skatepark includes 10 block patterns out of the box.</p>



<p>My favorite is also the simplest. The &#8220;Columns in container&#8221; pattern is a Group block that wraps a few other elements:</p>



<img />Simple-but-handy layout pattern.



<p>It does not seem to be trying too hard, merely creating a functional and handy layout. Often, that is just what users need.</p>



<p>One of its unique patterns is &#8220;Full width image with aside caption.&#8221; It places an Image block in the content, followed by a Columns block. The &#8220;caption&#8221; in this case is not a caption at all. Instead, it is a Separator and Paragraph.</p>



<img />Columns block to create an aside caption.



<p>I love this concept, but I question the implementation. The design itself could have been accomplished with a custom block style on the Image block and a few lines of CSS targeting the caption element. Perhaps the team wanted to provide users more customizability.</p>



<p>Captions are not currently self-contained blocks. However, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/31823">there is an open ticket </a>to separate them from their parent containers. The change would give theme authors and users more design freedom.</p>



<p>I am generally not a fan of the offset-column patterns that seem to be a signature of the Automattic&#8217;s themes these days. There is definitely a bit of that mixed in. However, the &#8220;Paragraph with quote&#8221; pattern fits well with the overall design, the primary column aligning with the text above it.</p>



<img />Columns create a quote that sits to the right of the content.



<p>Technically, this is a three-column design. The left column is empty, and the other two columns hold the content. It gives the illusion that the Quote block is the only thing moved outside the container.</p>



<p>I have seen this technique employed to align blocks in the past.  At best, it works as a quick hack, but it has a shaky foundation that crumbles at various screen sizes. It also shows that the block system still lacks a robust set of layout tools. In 2022, there are so many ways to accomplish this design with CSS instead of column hacks. However, theme authors use the tools they have on hand. Until the core design tools mature, they will continue experimenting and innovating in their own way.</p>



<p>I welcome the experimentation in the Skatepark theme. The default green may never be my <em>cup of tea</em>, but that is OK. I want to see theme authors pushing boundaries and trying new things. Plus, underneath it all, the theme includes one thing that Automattic almost always gets right: legible typography.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/skatepark/">Skatepark</a></blockquote>
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 24 Feb 2022 05:00:57 +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: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: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:80:"WPTavern: WordFest Live to Host Free 24-Hour Festival of WordPress March 4, 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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130438";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"https://wptavern.com/wordfest-live-to-host-free-24-hour-festival-of-wordpress-march-4-2022";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:3114:"<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>The third edition of <a href="https://www.wordfest.live/">WordFest Live</a> is coming up on March 4, 2022. The online event will feature more than 60 sessions over the course of 24 hours, as well as workshops, socials, and celebrations. </p>



<p>Sessions will be focused on WordPress, remote working, and mental wellbeing. Topics include leadership, freelancing, website performance, podcasting, WooCommerce, dealing with mental disorders in tech, work/life balance, stress and anxiety, and more.</p>



<p>Although WordFest was created by experienced WordCamp organizers, it is not an event that falls under the official WordCamp Central umbrella. The event remains independent because it was created to raise awareness and funds for <a href="https://www.bigorangeheart.org/">Big Orange Heart</a>, a non-profit that supports and promotes positive wellbeing and mental health within remote working communities. Big Orange Heart&#8217;s first event was held in January 2021.</p>



<p>&#8220;The event has morphed a bit over the course of 2021 to what it will be next week,&#8221; WordFest speaker lead Michelle Frechette said. &#8220;We’ve perfected the platform, which incorporates live emcees with both live and pre-recorded speaker sessions, live and recorded community interviews, wellness talks as well as tech and business talks, an online photo booth, sponsor rooms, and networking rooms &#8211; all of which contribute to the reduction of those feelings of isolation that come from working in a remote community &#8211; especially after 2+ years of pandemic.&#8221;</p>



<p>More than 1,300 people have already signed up for WordFest. Frechette said the organizing team anticipates 2,500-3,000 registrations, as many online events usually get the bulk of their signups the week before.</p>



<p>The schedule for the event is designed to reach WordPress enthusiasts in every timezone across the globe, so everyone has the opportunity to catch some of the events live.</p>



<p>&#8220;So many times online events are targeted to Europe and North America, so people working in other regions in the world either have to forego sleep or consume the event only through recorded video after the fact,&#8221; Frechette said.</p>



<p>Although Wordfest happens over the span of 24 hours, it&#8217;s not the type of event where attendees are encouraged to pound caffeinated beverages and power through to the end. </p>



<p>&#8220;Because we are an organization that promotes positive mental well-being, we don’t want anyone to be up for a full 24 hours &#8211; so those times that someone is not able to be online for the event will be captured and saved for viewing at later times,&#8221; Frechette said.</p>



<p>WordFest <a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/register/">registration</a> is free and attendees can add an optional $10 donation. 100% of the funds raised for the event go directly to Big Orange Heart and will be invested in growing the organization&#8217;s free mental health support efforts for the remote working community.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Feb 2022 21:52:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:59:"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (February 21, 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=93823";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-february-21-2022/";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:7847:"<p>Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don't want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we've got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers.</p>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/wordpress-5-9-1-maintenance-release/">5.9.1 Maintenance Release</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/episode-25-five-cents-on-five-for-the-future/">Episode 25: Five Cents on Five for the Future</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/photos/2022/02/17/welcome-to-make-photos/">Welcome to Make Photos</a> (new team)</li></ul>



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



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



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



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/15/meetup-organizer-newsletter-february-2022/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/21/2022-global-sponsors-announcement/">2022 Global Sponsors: Announcement</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/02/16/proposal-refurbishing-camera-kits/">Proposal: Refurbishing Camera Kits</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/10/proposal-mandatory-safety-measures-for-in-person-wordpress-events-in-2022/"></a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/25/proposal-to-start-a-news-blog-on-developer-wordpress-org/">Proposal to Start a News blog on developer.WordPress.org</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.6? (16 February)</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/24/feature-project-plugin-dependencies/">Feature Project: Plugin Dependencies</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/02/15/show-and-tell-february-2022/">Show and Tell — February 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2022/02/20/the-hashtag-and-its-future-in-documentation-articles/">The hashtag and its future in documentation articles</a></li></ul>



<h4 id="h-developer"><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org">Developer</a>: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/components/navigator-button/">NavigatorButton</a></li><li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/components/navigator-back-button/">NavigatorBackButton</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>



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



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



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2021/12/01/help-contribute-to-social-media-materials-for-5-9-release/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/02/17/retiring-team-reps-2022/">Retiring Team Reps 2022</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/02/17/welcoming-new-marketing-team-reps-for-2022/">Welcoming new Marketing Team reps for 2022</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="h-photos">Photos</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/photos/2022/02/23/photo-directory-team-rep-nominations-for-2022/">Photo Directory Team Rep Nominations for 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/2022/02/22/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-february-2022/">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter: February 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/22/plugin-review-team-21-february-2022/">Plugin Review Team: 21 February 2022</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/08/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-2/"></a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/22/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-3/">Call for Testing: WordPress for iOS 19.3</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/02/22/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-19-3/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 19.3</a></li></ul>



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



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/23/fse-program-testing-call-12-hyping-headers/">FSE Program Testing Call #12: Hyping Headers</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/25/fse-program-all-things-media-summary/">FSE Program All Things Media Summary</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/02/fse-program-exploration-all-things-media/"></a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/02/16/hallway-hangout-all-things-media/">Hallway Hangout: All Things Media</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/updates/2022/02/22/themes-team-update-february-22-2022/">Themes team update February 22, 2022</a></li></ul>



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



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



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



<ul><li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/">Calendar</a></li></ul>
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<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">
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<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, 23 Feb 2022 18:30:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Courtney Robertson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:108:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #61 – Gutenberg 12.6, Planning for WordPress 6.0 and Universal 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:53:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=20488";s: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:75:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-61-universal-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:61961:"<p>Grzegorz Ziolkowski and Birgit Pauli-Haack introduce Mary Job as the new co-host  and discuss Gutenberg 12.6, Planning for WordPress 6.0 and Universal Blocks.</p>



<ul><li>Music:&nbsp;<a href="https://soundcloud.com/xirclebox">Homer Gaines</a></li><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/">Sandy Reed</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href="https://markuraine.com/">Mark Uraine</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href="https://icodeforapurpose.com">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li></ul>



<span id="more-20488"></span>



<p><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-61-universal-blocks#shownotes">Show Notes </a>/ <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-61-universal-blocks#transcript">Transcript</a></p>



<p><strong>Subscribe to the&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/">Gutenberg Changelog</a>&nbsp;podcast via your favorite podcast apps!</strong><br />🎙️&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/620NwVKQJGdTupy36zYxvg?mc_cid=4b6c9f88fe">Spotify</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ndXRlbmJlcmd0aW1lcy5jb20vZmVlZC9wb2RjYXN0">Google</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gutenberg-changelog/id1469294475">iTunes</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://pca.st/podcast/f8445ec0-7508-0137-f267-1d245fc5f9cf">PocketCasts</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/gutenberg-changelog">Stitcher</a>&nbsp;|<br />🎙️&nbsp;<a href="https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/chi7j-9904a/Gutenberg-Changelog-Podcast">Pod Bean</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://castbox.fm/channel/Gutenberg-Changelog-id2173375">CastBox</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/gutenberg-changelog-878239/">Podchaser</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/podcast">RSS Feed</a>&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-large-font-size" id="shownotes"><strong>Show Notes </strong></p>



<h2 id="new-co-host-mary-job">New co-host: Mary Job</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://heropress.com/contributors/mary-job/">Mary Job&#8217;s Profile on HeroPress</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/maryojob">Follow Mary Job on Twitter</a></li><li><a href="https://maryjob.com/">Mary Job&#8217;s personal website</a></li></ul>



<h2 id="announcements">Announcements</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/02/wordpress-5-9-1-maintenance-release/">WordPress 5.9.1 Maintenance Release</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/wordpress-6-0-planning-roundup/">WordPress 6.0 Planning Roundup</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/preliminary-roadmap-for-6-0/">Preliminary Roadmap for 6.0 (Gutenberg Phase 2)</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-60-restricting-customization-in-a-full-site-editing-world/">Gutenberg Changelog #60 – Restricting Customization in a Full-Site Editing World, Gutenberg 12.5 and Roadmap for WordPress 6.0</a>&nbsp;with co-hosts Grzegorz Ziolkowski and Birgit Pauli-Haack. Special guest: Matias Ventura</li></ul>



<h2 id="community-contributions">Community Contributions</h2>



<p><strong>Wicked Block Builder</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wicked-block-builder/">Plugin in WP repository </a></li><li><a href="https://wptavern.com/wicked-plugins-launches-ui-based-wordpress-block-builder">Wicked Plugins Launches UI-Based WordPress Block Builder (WPTavern) </a></li><li><a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/11-vinny-mckee-on-his-block-builder-plugin">Vinny McKee on His Block Builder Plugin</a> (Interview by Nathan Wrigley on WPTavern Jukebox</li></ul>



<p>WPTavern Jukebox #14 <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/14-dave-smith-isabel-brison-and-joen-asmussen-on-the-new-navigation-block">Dave Smith, Isabel Brison and Joen Asmussen on the New Navigation Block</a></p>



<p id="todo-block-by-david-towoju"><strong>Todo Block by David Towoju</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/todo-block/">WordPress Plugin Repo</a></li><li><a href="https://wptavern.com/create-todo-and-checklists-in-the-wordpress-editor-with-new-plugin">Create Todo and Checklists in the WordPress Editor With New Plugin</a> (WPTavern)</li></ul>



<p id="social-sharing-block"><strong>Social Sharing Block</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-sharing-block/">WordPress Plugin Repo</a> </li><li><a href="https://wptavern.com/nick-diego-forks-core-wordpress-block-creates-social-sharing-plugin">Nick Diego Forks Core WordPress Block, Creates Social Sharing Plugin </a>(WPTavern)</li></ul>



<h2 id="gutenberg-12-6-release">Gutenberg 12.6 Release</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/02/16/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-6-16-february/">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.6? (16 February)</a></li><li><a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-6-enhances-transforming-blocks-adds-read-more-and-post-author-bio-blocks-and-enables-social-icon-labels">Gutenberg 12.6 Enhances Transforming Blocks, Adds Read More and Post Author Bio Blocks, and Enables Social Icon Labels</a><ul><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38511">Block Support: Update color panel default controls</a></li><li><strong>Remove APIs deprecated on WordPress 5.4</strong>. (<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38564">38564</a>)</li></ul></li></ul>



<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/RyanWelcherCodes">Ryan Welcher&#8217;s YouTube Channel: </a>How to build blocks, Theme building, How to use Create-Block script, Locking down editor features and choices</p>



<p><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/ryanwelchercodes">Twitch Stream</a></p>



<h2 id="discussion-and-work-in-progress">Discussion and Work in Progress</h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/38224">Universal blocks and block hydration</a></strong></p>



<p><strong>New Style Engine</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/37495">Discussion</a>  </li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/38167">Tracking issue</a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37978">First PR</a></li></ul>



<p>The next <strong>Gutenberg Developer Hours</strong> will take place <a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284178232/">March 8th, 2022 at 11:00 ET / 16:00 UTC</a></p>



<p class="has-large-font-size" id="transcript">Transcript</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Hello, and welcome to our 61st episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. In today&#8217;s episode will talk about, and with our new co-host Mary Job, about Gutenberg&#8217;s 12.6 release and planning for WordPress 6.0 and universal blocks. I&#8217;m Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and WordPress developer advocate at Automatic. And I&#8217;m here with my co-host Grzegorz Ziolkowski, JavaScript developer at Automattic and WordPress core contributor. Hey there Grzegorz, how are you today?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Hello, Birgit. Hello, Mary. I&#8217;m great. The weather is terrible outside. We have storms going through Poland, so I might lose the connection at any time because we already had a blackout for two hours today.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh, my God.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: So, it&#8217;s fun, but let&#8217;s hope everything&#8217;s going well.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, yeah. So this is the last episode that you and I are hosting together, Grzegorz. I&#8217;m sure we will have your back as a guest in the future and we will stay in touch. So it has been a great honor and privilege to host this podcast with you for the last year almost. I cherish the regular chats with you on and off the air.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, that was great. I mean, it&#8217;s like every two weeks having so nice and deep discussion about everything Gutenberg, definitely a highlight for me. But it&#8217;s also a lot of work and I&#8217;m primarily a developer. So I guess it&#8217;s a good setup that I will be able to join as a panelist from time to time, and we have more people from the community running this excellent podcast.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, thank you. So we have with us the new co-host, what is it? The king is dead. The queen lives. Hail to the queen. So the new co-host of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast, Mary Job. A WordPress advocate support engineer at Paid Membership Pro and a community organizer for Nigeria. Mary, I&#8217;m thrilled that you agreed to go on this new adventure with me. Thank you so much and welcome.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Thank you so much, Birgit. Actually I am also very thrilled to be starting this adventure with you. I wish Grzegorz was staying with us longer, but going to try and do my best and hopefully we talk to him soon as a guest on this podcast.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful. So I&#8217;m glad that we can do a handover. So you see how this all works and also chime in and so it&#8217;s going to be great. We always have very informal conversations here and we jump right into it. Okay. Grzegorz, you want to start with the announcements?</p>



<h3 id="announcements-1"><strong>Announcements</strong></h3>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. So we are today. We should expect a WordPress 5.9.1, minor RC version of the release, so the first testing version. And I think if everything goes on track, we should have the regularities next week on February 22nd. And JB Audras is the release lead, and he&#8217;s deputy and helper for the editor part is George Mamadashvili. And yeah, I was helping George today to do his first NPM publishing to bring all the code from the block editor to the core and it was like a lot of changes there. All of them are bug fixes, so you should expect next week a lot of improvements in the editing experience. And as we already discussed two weeks ago, the cycles for WordPress 6.0 is in full motion, and we already have a plan in round up and there is a schedule proposed to how that should go and maybe Birgit you can just share more details on that.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Sure. Feature freeze is kind of suggested to be about six weeks from now on March 29, 2022, which brings then two weeks to the first beta release, April 12th. The first release candidate will be May 3rd and also when dev notes are due and it&#8217;s not a string freeze yet, but it&#8217;s almost there. And then the final release is proposed to be scheduled for May 24th in line with proposed schedule that Josepha Haden Chomphosy published two weeks ago to have only two more releases in 2022. So the first one is 6.0, and then end of May, May 24th. And then the next one will be mid October 2022, and we won&#8217;t have, that&#8217;s the 6.1 release. Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Does it mean that we should expect another release in January or something like that? So that would be very similar to what we had, like we started this year.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: That&#8217;s right. Yeah, that&#8217;s right.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: I think it works great for many agencies and companies because they have a lot of time at the beginning of the year to catch up and it&#8217;s much better. At least people complain a lot about December and every day during that timelines, so maybe that&#8217;s for the best.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And the move, the postponement of two weeks kind of resulted because of the holidays into the January release and kind of out of a two weeks postponement, we almost had five weeks delay on the release, and it was good for everybody to kind of have the holiday and then year round changes off the release stress day as well. So do you want to talk about the release quarter Grzegorz?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yes.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Just because I&#8217;m in it.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Okay. Sure. So the release squad is not yet complete. What we know already is that as usual, Matt Mullenweg will be the release lead. Hector Prieto will be coordinating the release. For the core part, Peter Wilson will be the lead and we still don&#8217;t have for Gutenberg, for the leader, we still don&#8217;t have the lead picked. So you can still volunteer our listeners. We are waiting for you. And for the documentation, we have great news because Birgit will be the lead there. And how does it feel Birgit?</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, that&#8217;s right. And because it&#8217;s my first release on the squad, being on the squad I&#8217;m kind of the rookie on it, but I will be joined by the brilliant Milana Cap and the amazing Abha Thakor and both have experience in the release squad. So I will definitely cherish their import and also their work on it. It&#8217;s going to be an interesting time for me between March and May when the thing comes out. So I&#8217;m glad, I volunteered for it. So I probably don&#8217;t know what I got myself into, but I will tell you afterwards.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. But fortunately you have a lot of experienced people around and like for 5.9, Marc did an excellent job leading the documentation effort. So you have a lot of work that was done before to look at, and I&#8217;m sure you would do as excellent as they did.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, thank you. Thank you. I&#8217;m definitely going to be standing on the shoulders of giants. So we&#8217;ll see. So two weeks ago, Matias Ventura talked to us about the preliminary roadmap for the Gutenberg phase two in WordPress 6.0, and it&#8217;s an episode 60, WordPress 6.0 episode 60. I really like that coincidence, and he brought us great insight. So Grzegorz and Mary, do you have any particular feature that you are excited about for the next release?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, sure. I definitely have some peaks. I was very inspired by the discussion we had with Matias and from the features he covered, I think two stand out for me. So first of them is start variation for teams. And this is because it gives a lot of power to users. So when you have a team, you would be able to have some sort of presence and you would be able to change how the team looks with a one click, which is like for me, someone who doesn&#8217;t like changing all those aspects, like colors, fonts, margins, spacing, it&#8217;s like, it&#8217;s too much. It just, it&#8217;s like an excellent thing to have. And the other thing is taking patterns to the next level and bringing some semantic meaning, like more semantic meaning to them, what Matias covered.</p>



<p>Like when you go for instance, on the category page and then could be something that is there for a given category, like for instance, someone could register a pattern for a category, let&#8217;s say music, and you would have something specific to that. Or you go to a page, you create a contact page and you have pattern that is dedicated to this use case or the gallery sub page, and this sort of thinking. Because as of today, the biggest struggle when you start a new site is that you need to fill in all the content and even having all those patterns in the directory and not having a way to easily filter them is a big bottleneck. So yeah, that my picks.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Mary, did you get through it?</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes, personally, I think I&#8217;m more interested in the long term, precisely with the implementation of most member sites. I think that would be interesting. I&#8217;m more interested in that future and also a collaboration, the idea that two people can, or two or more people can. I think it&#8217;ll be great for the future of bloggers, right? It has this, you know how Google docs function, where multiple people, I can be very interesting. I can&#8217;t wait to see that app like that, because essentially you&#8217;d be able to have a perfectly built internet site on WordPress because then you can have different things on one document. Essentially means you can do all your work on WordPress, you don&#8217;t having to pick some of it out somewhere else.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. We are all waiting for that. That collaboration part is a good book phase three. So I think that&#8217;s phase 3, 23 kind of, yeah. It will be, I&#8217;m playing with the numbers again, but I&#8217;m looking forward to just have the featured image be dynamic and be able to put it in my cover block for my single post. So yeah, they are all different kind of, but I&#8217;m also excited about the pattern stuff, especially that themes will be able to link to the block pattern directory patterns and make them available in their theme without having to add it to the whole theme to it as code. So I think that will definitely speed up loading and developing of themes. So there are quite a few things in there. So we will in the show notes again, put in the preliminary roadmap, post that Matias Ventura had published. And yeah, we also put the link to episode 60 in there, of course. All right. So Grzegorz, you had discovered some amazing plugins you want to share with our listener a bit?</p>



<h3 id="community-contributions-1"><strong>Community Contributions</strong></h3>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, sure. So one of them is wicked block builder. So I think I read about that on WP Tavern when it was covered for the first time, or maybe on Twitter, like you know, I never know what&#8217;s first. But the idea is really interesting because we discussed before about other ways of creating blocks, like ACF blocking that allows you to build those blocks, but using more custom post fields, like it&#8217;s more in the admin when you need to do a lot of manual work to select some attributes for the block, and then you need to provide PHP template. This solution takes it to the next level because, so you just pre-fill all the regular attributes or settings that the block has, like title, description, category, and all its attributes. And then you go to the screen when you are able to visually, using the drag and drop, inject some, it&#8217;s hard to describe even on the podcast that I listened afterwards, it was really hard to describe.</p>



<p>So I&#8217;m terrible as well in that doing this job because it&#8217;s like bringing mostly HTML tags to the canvas and just like nesting them and using drag and drop to create your HTML code. But you can also mix that with some interactive elements, like rich text or input field, which allows you to modify some data once that&#8217;s embedded in the block editor. So it&#8217;s like an editor that is outside of the block editor, like a separate page in the WP admin, but then once it&#8217;s finished and you are able to fill some of those fields yourself. So it&#8217;s a really interesting idea and I know that some people are really excited about the possibilities it creates.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. It sounds really amazing. I also know about lazy blocks where you also have to then provide a template for your content in code and some of us are a little bit shy on it. And so Vinny McKee was also a guest on the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast and had a conversation with Nathan Wrigley, the host, about not only his plugin, but also how to approach Gutenberg and all that. So it&#8217;s definitely a great listen to, and I just want to take this as a little opportunity to give a big shout out to Nathan Wrigley, because he has, from a monthly podcast, he&#8217;s now doing weekly Jukebox additions or episodes.</p>



<p>So every week there will be new people be on the podcast and he interviews them. And he&#8217;s a marvelous interviewer and asks the right questions. And this week just published was the episode 14 where they talked about the navigation block and with the builders of it, like Johan Assmussen, Dave Smith and Isabel Brison, who all worked on it and also what it means to be working for Automattic. Because there are still some open positions there. All right, what was the other plugin?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, so that was the plugin. The other things I wanted to cover are blocks. So first there is a, now a Todo block, by David, I don&#8217;t know how to pronounce the surname. Towoju.</p>



<p>And it was all covered on WP Tavern, and if you don&#8217;t follow this one, like Gutenberg Times is number one, obviously, and thanks to Birgit. But my second pick for following is WP Tavern. It has a lot of information that covers the Gutenberg plugin and the development and all the things that are built around that. And in particular, there&#8217;s a lot of insight after testing those plugins from Justin Tadlock he&#8217;s doing amazing job, big shout out for him as well. And in here, one I wanted to show is, Todo this is very popular, if someone is into programming is like, if you want to compare libraries, you either do Hacker News app or Todo app just to show the differences between different libraries, frameworks, and so on.</p>



<p>But this one integrates into the block editor, and before we cover like a few episode backs, we also covered a similar block from each table. But the difference was that the one that Rich created is mostly like a list of things you should to do, but it&#8217;s private for the author that creates the post or the page. Whereas this one, we will be also displayed on the front end and when you will click, like the items was created, like completed, then we will show a different style. So if you want to have sort of distinct edge, definitely something you should check out. And the other plugin is social sharing block. And this block, there is a similar block inside the WordPress core, the difference is that the one in core, it&#8217;s more like a list of links with icons.</p>



<p>You can style them and they just link to the social services. Like if you want to provide, for instance, in your footer a link to Facebook, GitHub, Twitter, whatever. And this one is more a feature like when you want to share on a given social media, and this one was created by Nick Diego. He just missed those functionality inside the core and I saw that he would be who would love to see whether it&#8217;s fit also for the core. So that needs to be definitely checked, although I&#8217;m not sure it&#8217;s like the target is exactly the same and whether the merging that together into one block would be a great user experience. But that one was also covered on WP Tavern with more details. So check the plugin and the review there.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Nick Diego also has an interesting plugin in the report, that&#8217;s the block visibility, and that gives you a lot of choices. How to conditionally change when a block is visible to a visitor could be either, it needs to be, somebody needs to be logged in to see the block or somebody needs to, or a certain date needs to happen that you can condition on that. So you don&#8217;t have to go back to the post when the date happens and the content shows, or it could also be, if you have, you could actually hook in some user agents. So it could say, okay, if you&#8217;re on Google Chrome, you get this block and if you&#8217;re on there, you get that block. So it&#8217;s quite interesting to have. And the social sharing is a little bit different because the sharing is, you share something, did your visitor shares, use that button and share something on another social network?</p>



<p>Like share on Twitter kind of thing. And then you help them give all the title and the link all into a tweet. The social links in core are the profile links from your own profile. So yeah, just to make this clear. All right. Yeah. I used both of them. I know that Nick Diego had a post out on Twitter and say, can anybody point me to a social sharing block? I haven&#8217;t found one yet that I wanted to use. And I showed him the one from Kevin, and obviously he wanted to have a more modern experience because the one that was very, wasn&#8217;t updated for a year or so. All right, Mary, do you have favorite block? I&#8217;m sorry, I&#8217;m putting you on the spot. You can kind of cut it out if it not.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: No, that is so very fine. Actually, this is the first time I&#8217;m seeing the Todo block. And what I did previously was I created a list and then I would use the structure to structure when I&#8217;m done with that item on this list, but this is a bit perfect. So I&#8217;m definitely exploring this afterwards.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Good. Yeah. Yeah. I&#8217;m going to explore the Wicked Block Builder. Yeah, that definitely interests me.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So well, Gutenberg 12.6 was released this week. But before we head into the Changelog, I need to issue a correction from the last episode. Big shout to Dave Smith, who set me straight there, the PR with the title allow for HTML and get the underscore title was just a fix for a feature that was new in 12.5 and won&#8217;t be back ported to 5.9.1 because the original feature is not back ported to 5.9.1. The issue I was thinking about was a different one and which I tested. And there was an occasion when you reload an existing post in the editor, it seems to be removing the HTML tags. But then I found out when you put them in again, it saves it again and shows it up on the front end.</p>



<p>And that bug is still in the works, but it&#8217;s not, it&#8217;s kind of, you have a workaround for it. So it&#8217;s not, yeah. Anyway, so it&#8217;s not a hindrance on your work. It&#8217;s just a little bit tedious to put those tags in when you edit that post, but once you have them in and you&#8217;re not touching it, you&#8217;re fine. All right.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 id="what-s-released-gutenberg-12-6"><strong>What’s Released &#8211; Gutenberg 12.6</strong></h3>



<p>So what&#8217;s new in Gutenberg 5.6.? Andy Peatlng handled the release and now there are few enhancements in there that we are going to discuss and some bug fixes and some excellent new features there, not necessarily for the front end, but for the documentation as well.</p>



<h3 id="enhancements"><strong>Enhancements</strong></h3>



<p>So there are new blocks in there. One is the post author biography block. So that&#8217;s the block that when you fill out the user profile with the description, that will post it there. And then there is also a new read more block for the post link. So when you have a post with excerpt in your post template or query loop, you can now separate out the post link and make it a button or style it differently, or position it differently in its own block. It&#8217;s a simple way to link to a single page or post with a query block.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. I&#8217;m just checking whether the post author biography allows editing, because that would be great. You wouldn&#8217;t have to go to the set profile setting page, but it&#8217;s probably not yet there. So yeah, definitely a good and for that farther enhancement. And that&#8217;s my favorite one, because I always struggled with this use case. So I wanted, when I saw that on many block posts under the post there would be author with, usually it&#8217;s only a name, a link and something like that. And having an option to provide the avatar that was added previously, and now the biographic that just compliments each other and you can put this nice footer that&#8217;s always displayed on the post page. That&#8217;s just amazing and I&#8217;m happy to see that.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, me too. Me too. So the next thing are the transforms as an enhancement, it&#8217;s where you can change a block immediately into another kind of block. So for instance, there is a transform now. So there was a transform from the beginning from paragraph to list, you have six paragraphs and now you have a six bullet point list and in one step. And that feature is now expanded, and you can now transform a block from tag cloud to categories. So you don&#8217;t have to highlight it, delete it, grab the other block and put it in again, you just use the transform button on the left, on the farthest left on your block toolbar. And you can also change between a calendar block and the archive block, and you can also transform to row variations in the group block. And then also the heading you could always transform to a paragraph, but one enhancement bug fix is that it now, when you transform it into a paragraph, it omits the anchor that was on that.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, I think that is an excellent direction. And I hope to see more of that, especially with the patterns I mentioned earlier, that just gives more capabilities and some contextual changes. So you can do whatever you want faster with less work and with more options. That&#8217;s so empowering for users.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And one particular thing that I like is that it actually keeps the styles as much as possible. So if you had a background color that kind of comes with it or the type font or these kind of things, so you don&#8217;t have to restyle or remake those settings again, so it keeps all that. Oh, and I like that there&#8217;s also now a transformation from paragraph to code, which I could have used in a different post a long time ago. All right.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So the next one of the enhancements is that the social icons, we talked about them before in the core, now have the ability that you can show and hide labels. Up until now it was only the icons from the social networks, when we all know a Twitter icon or Facebook icon, but not everybody knows how a GitHub icon looks or a Reddit icon looks, so you can add the labels to those icons and people are better informed where they&#8217;re heading out now.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: It&#8217;s always also great for accessibility to have those labels included. So I know that we had a lot of other changes in the past where we would complement the icon with the text to bring those improvements for people who have trouble with memorizing all the different icons, which is basically everyone, I guess, as the number of icons grows in the application.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yeah. I think it&#8217;s has, as Grzegorz said, it&#8217;s a good idea to be able to show an item label now because it&#8217;s true, not everybody knows what those icons look like. So it&#8217;s a great addition to the block, that we able to show an item label. Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Are there any social networks in Nigeria specifically, or in Africa, that are not kind of in the big realm of US?</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: There might be, there might be, but none that are particular familiar with. I&#8217;m pretty sure there are quite a number of social networking sites that have sprung up in the past few years, but maybe not as popular as the giants, the Facebook, but I think people are getting back because there was this discussion on LinkedIn that I saw earlier today, where it says that Facebook and Instagram trying to say they would pull out of the EU, is it? Yeah. And then the discussion was when are we getting to have home grown continental sites that we can depend upon because right now most our businesses have Facebook pages, Instagram pages, I think this is great. Things like this inspire people to come up with other solutions and if China was able to do it and I believe we should also be able to do it soon.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That&#8217;s kind of interesting what happens in the EU right now, because Facebook says they&#8217;re going to, if that particular legislation comes in, they threatened to pull out and two ministers in Germany said, &#8220;Well, okay, go ahead.&#8221;</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Right?</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So yeah, it&#8217;s sometimes interesting when you say ultimatums and then all of a sudden, somebody said, &#8220;Yeah, go ahead.&#8221; It&#8217;s not the threat that you think it is, but we digress a bit.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s one component update that I really like, just because it&#8217;s such a subtle change and that&#8217;s the update of the spinner design. Now you get a blue line that&#8217;s rotating and it&#8217;s just those small little visual clues are very important when you wonder what&#8217;s happening. Yeah. And it&#8217;s like, okay, so it&#8217;s loading. Of course, it&#8217;s not good when it&#8217;s not stopping loading, but that&#8217;s a different story.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Hopefully you won&#8217;t have to see that one. And just happens so fast that it never pops up.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. But I think with some dynamic blocks coming in, sometimes you have a little delay there.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Oh, there is also for the design tools, there is quite a change for the colors panel. So this one has grown because for some block you can change colors for the link, for the text, for the background, for the border, the list is sometimes quite long. And the change was to use the pattern that&#8217;s called tools panel. So this is the same concept that we previously had for spacing for phones and so on. And this allows you to narrow down what you see on the first load. So for instance, if you are not, if you don&#8217;t care about most of them, you can just remove them from the view and leave only those that you care about, but you always can unfold that and change other settings.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And this PR specifically by Aaron, he also shows actually a table of the core blocks and their default settings for the colors. So you can see in one view, check, okay, columns have a default setting for text color, and background color, but you need to enable the link color setting for them or for the comment author name block, you get all three of them already in the color panel, because those are the defaults. Which makes sense because the author also has an author page, so you definitely want to have the link to it and you want to maybe change the color for it. So I really like that overview where you have in one view, can look at the settings and see what are the defaults that come with a core block editor.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. It&#8217;s sometimes gets tricky, especially when you see the table like that, because for instance, comment author avatar, which is only in an image, it obviously doesn&#8217;t have a text included. So this is why it doesn&#8217;t have styling for that.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Makes sense. Makes sense. But it has styling, default styling for the background. So yeah. Image doesn&#8217;t have any styling as default. So, all right. But it&#8217;s good to see the list and because there are some things you never remember and you need a place to look it up, unless you try it out and that saves you a lot of time. Okay. So the next enhancement is about the duo tone and it now allows users to specify custom filters. And there are a few examples in the PR by Ben Dwyer, handle and he shows, however, is from a theme that uses the customizer and has some presets there. But then this is pulled in into the duo tone filter in the background. So it&#8217;s definitely, and it seems to be coming to a WordPress install near you with 5.9. It&#8217;s one of the ones that I find out that it will come over. So in two weeks we probably can also go over the changes that came with 5.9 in two weeks. All right. What else?</p>



<h3 id="new-apis"><strong>New APIs</strong></h3>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: New APIs.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Hey.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: So custom scripts was also introduced. Customs scripts allow templates to define additional scripts in package.json. This allows you to create block from livestream suggestion, that is a suggestion.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So I think that was a suggestion that came in through a live stream from Ryan Welcher. He does Twitch live streams and uses the create block script quite a bit. He also has actually added two templates, if I&#8217;m not mistaken, to the script. But Grzegorz, what are the custom scripts about? What does it allow us to do?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: I was following this Twitch stream and I saw how Ryan was trying to use the creative block and creating a custom template so he could share the way he works with plugin. The one he was trying to build was a template for dynamic blocks. So dynamic, which means that it has PHP file, which allows you to provide the implementation that use some dynamic data that&#8217;s pulled from PHP and displayed on the front end. And this is not covered by the create block tool by default, so he wanted to like fill the gap. Which is amazing and he ran into the issue because he likes to experiment with things. And he wanted also to use a package called WordPress-env, which is an environment, like development environment that allows you to spin up quickly a version of WordPress that&#8217;s based on the bleeding edge, which is for WordPress develop.</p>



<p>And you have the latest WordPress plus you can build on top of that. And he noticed that you cannot, like don&#8217;t have this comment for running this WPN. So he wanted to add that, but it wasn&#8217;t possible. Now thanks to this new feature that you can provide into the template config, you could add any comment you would like, like included some examples, other examples included is like, if you would like to run end to end script, you could just provide a comment for that using this thing. And in general, like Ryan, he&#8217;s doing so amazing job covering. Like a large variety of topics during his live stream. I&#8217;m a big fan. Whenever I have an occasion, I try to follow along and I think he will also have a session in the learning space on Meetup. And I don&#8217;t know, ability to remember the details about that. It&#8217;s planned. Let me check the calendar.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. He has a show. Hello Blocks! Coding a custom block. I think that&#8217;s the one that you&#8217;re referring to. It&#8217;s coming up actually on Monday.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yes. Exactly.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So it&#8217;s a beginners kind of thing. And he also shared a documentation link. So you can go through it before you watch it or join it. It&#8217;s more like a social learning space. So there will be some demonstrations and some scripted things, but it mostly lives from the Q and A of the participants. And yeah, you&#8217;re right. Every week, Ryan is on Twitch at Thursdays, 10:30 Eastern, that&#8217;s 3:30 UTC. And he has a series on creating a pole block and also another series on creating a meme block. So he has some great problem that he solves there right in front of you. So sometimes he also, you find him detouring and that&#8217;s actually, you learn quite a lot about it. And because you then see what components are better for UI for that particular problem and why it&#8217;s not working.</p>



<p>So he does a great job there, pulling it all together, and Twitch only saves them for two weeks, but he also has a YouTube channel where he uploads the final show there as well. And we will put this all in the show notes, of course, if you want to kind of follow him along. He also had a series with Diane Olsen on creating a block theme. And I think there were three sessions on Twitch and YouTube. So that&#8217;s also something for, if you&#8217;re not interested in building blocks, but you want to build a theme. There&#8217;s a lot for everyone on Ryan Welcher&#8217;s YouTube stream. That&#8217;s just a little detour here.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s a long one. But I must admit that every time I see Ryan covering some code base that I worked on, it just triggers a lot of discussion between two of us. And we just sent a massive amount of pull requests that improve what he struggled with and really inspiring to see where people have some blocks and how to make that process more seamless. So that&#8217;s really nice.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: I better jump on that beginner&#8217;s class.</p>



<h3 id="bug-fixes"><strong>Bug Fixes</strong></h3>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, yeah, we all start from different areas. Okay. So next on our Changelog are bug fixes, and there were quite a lot and I haven&#8217;t even counted them, which is, normally I count the bug fixes but this time. So there were, the cover block had a bug that it was missing styles and they are now back. And then the gallery block, when you transform it to images, so single images instead of all in a gallery, the images would lose some of their settings, if not all of them. So that was kind of a bummer and that is fixed too, and some other gallery quirks there.</p>



<p>Yeah. I think those are the ones that I wanted to point out. There were some fixes for accessibility, especially for the list view that was a bug fixed in two parts and the part two is now in. And then one of them was also the contrast checker because that was not tied into changing the link color and now it is.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And the block manager is now announcing the search results. So that&#8217;s definitely for those who are traveling on a screen reader, an improvement, and the search results is for the block manager, when you go into the preference modal and then click on blocks, and then you can switch search for the blocks that you want to turn off. And the search results are now announced. That&#8217;s a big improvement on that modal. All right.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. I personally had some sort of HackaMol game with Windows operating system. So for the development tools and specifically for the build in WordPress script, there was something that didn&#8217;t work in a specific case and it was fixed twice because I fixed that. Then I did some other improvement and it was broken again. So big shout out for contributors, Tisuaki Hamano was one of them that fixed it for the first time and someone else helped this week. And especially Windows users, if you have any troubles with WordPress scripts, you can contact me directly on Twitter, on WordPress or GitHub, and I&#8217;m happy to solve all those issues between those. Because those platforms I develop on Mac OS, those platforms differ too much and it&#8217;s sometimes tricky to cover everything.</p>



<h3 id="documentation"><strong>Documentation</strong></h3>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: All right. Well, thank you for fixing the Windows bugs there. As I said before, there were quite a few new documentation things that are in this release, and one is the block support chapter was added to the block creation tool, and also for the dynamic blocks chapter for the great block tutorial. So that is kind of in the line of the changes that were done on that script scaffolding tool to create blocks. You can read up about it. And then Adam Selinsky has as a new data tutorial in the block editor handbook. It&#8217;s started, it&#8217;s not yet finished, but he started it, and it kind of how to use the block editor components and the data scripts or data handling functions in a WordPress admin screen. And he has a great tutorial and walks us through all the code for it, also with quite some theory attached to it. So it also helps you learning more about the concept of the block editor.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s really interesting because before we had an excellent tutorial on how to build your own version of the block editor that was contributed by Dave Smith. And this one allows you to bring more interactivity by handling data, which is like doing REST API calls and stuff like that, and created your own stores to keep some in memory data, which is like, if you are into creating a separate screen in the WordPress admin, that&#8217;s something you should check yourself and see how that things can be done. It&#8217;s very complex, I must admit. But we know stories where people started with a simple block and now they&#8217;re creating new editors.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And so it&#8217;s called create your first app with Gutenberg data, if you want to search for it. Of course, we have a link in the show notes for this one, because it&#8217;s a whole new tutorial about that.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And I think related to that, there is also on GitHub, under WordPress, there is Gutenberg-examples repository, and it should also have the same tutorial ready, code that is ready. Like you can just install that as a plugin and play with that.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I think that it&#8217;s also the first step of movement that I really would be looking forward, that to standardize UIs in WordPress from WordPress plugins and third party plugins, also on the admin. So users will recognize all the components and don&#8217;t have to relearn an interface with every plugin that they put in. And then there are, because it&#8217;s a moving target, there were also updates to the theme support documentation, for those who were still a little and it will be, so the docs clarify how to override the default presets in the changes introduced in WordPress 5.9. So there were in a dev note, but now this is also in the documentation.</p>



<h3 id="code-quality"><strong>Code Quality</strong></h3>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And let&#8217;s move to the code quality section. And there are two important things that I wanted to highlight. First, if you are using WordPress 5.7, then the Gutenberg plugin won&#8217;t get any more updates because the minimum supportive version is now WordPress 5.8 and you should be on the latest and the greatest anyway. So if you didn&#8217;t, you should do it now. We will wait.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Upgrade to at least 5.8. Yeah. 5.8.3, it was a very stable version.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, I expect that it won&#8217;t be an issue for anyone who tries to be up to date with the Gutenberg plugin. And the other thing is some APIs, JavaScript APIs that were introducing WordPress 5.4 and were replaced with other APIs later, were marked as duplicated. And I&#8217;m looking at the name and it&#8217;s better to check the PR that does that. There will be a dev note for sure, because it&#8217;s something that will impact WordPress 6.0. So for now, if you are using plugin, you will only see a notice when you open a browser console that this and that feature is deprecated and planted for removal in the far future.</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s not nothing to worry about, but if you are a plugin developer, you should check whether your plugin uses those APIs. So I can just share something like get a reference by distinct edits, sounds like something that isn&#8217;t very popular, and that&#8217;s the idea behind that. If you know that those APIs aren&#8217;t used by plugins, that we want to remove them in the future so the bundles are smaller, so users don&#8217;t have to download so big amount of code in the browser.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, thank you. That&#8217;s a good shout out. And I already went to my notes that I already have on WordPress 6.0 to make a point that that definitely needs a dev note. And it&#8217;s already labeled as such in the GitHub repository, but I also want to check out how many plugins actually use those function calls and to make sure, so we can actually target some emails about that as well, or do some plugin.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. It&#8217;s difficult to tell because JavaScript code is often minimized when sent to the plugin directory. But with some things like the name I shared before, the long one, it&#8217;s something that needs to be preserved. So you can search for that for sure.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Right. Right. Yeah. Okay, yeah. And that seems to be all we have from the 12.6 release. Shout out to the first time contributors, Jeff Matson from Pagely and Angel Studio, that&#8217;s Marco and Lucio Janata who have merged PRs for this release. Thanks for contributing and being part of the WordPress community of contributors. All right.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: And the good news is that for the future releases, we also have a list of all contributors included in the release notes.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. Also thank you to Dave Smith, who has been working on that for a while and I saw the latest version and that looks good. This is also a longer process to streamline the contributors for a WordPress version. When you have hundreds of names that need to come in and need to be handled to make that a little bit more streamlined and not have so many manual jobs in getting the list ready. Which when you have humans involved, what you have is that people all missed out and that&#8217;s the worst scenario of all, then people contribute and then they&#8217;re left out of a release just because you don&#8217;t see it and you don&#8217;t know about it.</p>



<h3 id="what-s-in-active-development-or-discussed"><strong>What’s in Active Development or Discussed</strong></h3>



<p>All right. We come to the section, what&#8217;s an active development and discussed, and I wanted to discuss on my list. I know that the Gutenberg team with quite a few people from the community are working on a style engine. That&#8217;s an overall architectural idea to streamline styling for themes and blocks and custom blocks and custom themes and all that. Do you have any more insight Grzegorz?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yes. So on that front, I think there are a few issues with the global style. So one of them that we have the same logic on PHP side and on JavaScript side. And this is the effort to unify that and provide one way for dealing with everything. There are a few challenges as well that were surfaced by the feedback chart from the community. So one of the examples with global styles was that there is now a dynamic class name included for containers. I think it&#8217;s for the group one. I don&#8217;t remember exactly, but the challenge here is that team authors often use class names generated for blocks when they have a certain aspect enabled. Like if you have a custom font size used with the block, this class that is generated for that use case allows people to provide some sort of customization through the CSS code.</p>



<p>And when you have dynamic classes, it makes it harder. But the other way around, the in-line studs used with blocks that allows you to customize like font size or use a custom color, that makes it harder to override that if a team has some strong opinions. I&#8217;m not a designer, so not the best to explain, but people want to have better control over these things. And the current implementation has some drawbacks in that regard. Of course, like global styles, source tone of other issues for people, and in first in the first place allows so fine grained customizations that it&#8217;s great, but we need to find a good middle ground so all parties involved are happy about the solution that&#8217;s going to be improved. So I&#8217;m really looking forward for how this project evolves. And we definitely expect to hear more from the community and let&#8217;s see how that evolves.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And I noticed from the feedback also that there are three things that are still not optimally working with the block themes. And one of them is that there is no style or a customization. You could always do it in CSS, of course, but for hover, focus and active styling. So if you hover over a button that&#8217;s the color change and all that, or if you have a menu item, can we show which menu item is the active page? That&#8217;s one thing. And there is a big push also for 6.0 to make blocks much, much more responsive. But if you don&#8217;t have an overall style engine, it&#8217;s going to be hard. So I think that needs to be in place.</p>



<p>And then the theme also, the theme developers also surfaced one issue, was that you couldn&#8217;t have a full width, you needed to handle differently a block that had a line with full width from the blocks that needed orders around it are pushed in from the sides. So it&#8217;s kind of, if you have that, you couldn&#8217;t have a wide one and if you have a wide one, you couldn&#8217;t, the text would kind of go directly to the left corner or right corner, depending how you read it, of the browser window. So there are certain things that are still not working and there are the teams and community, they are trying to figure out what&#8217;s the best approach for that. And we will share in the show notes the original discussion post by Riad Benguella then also Andrew put a tracking issue together on what needs to happen to have this every little edge case as well, and as a tracking issue. And then the last one that I have is the first PR that Andrew put in. So you can also test things out.&nbsp;</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. It should already be in the development branch. So expect that to see in the next Gutenberg plugin 12.7.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And then you also had pointed out a GitHub discussion to me to continue the discussion that we started on Gutenberg clients, but it actually started much earlier about the duplication of code if you wanted to do a JavaScript edit, and then have a PHP rendering, or also create blocks that can be accessed through PHP or JavaScript, but you don&#8217;t have to duplicate them for either environment. So what&#8217;s the discussion here?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: So yeah, that discussion started on Twitter, by Mark Jaquith, and if you are interested in how the block could be developed in the future, you definitely should check the Q and A that Birgit had on Gutenberg Times, which covers that in depth. However, this proposal is this discussion is started by Mihou Chapniski, and he also adds another bit to that, which is, it&#8217;s a very techy name, block hydration, but the idea is that it&#8217;s not only the part that you render on the front end, but also how does a block become interactive. So for instance, if you let&#8217;s say, if you have a post list and you have pagination, so how you could make those block behave, that you click page two, and instead of refreshing the whole page, you could just replace the part inside and just bring another page, it&#8217;s sort of like in many teams, the infinite scrolling works.</p>



<p>Like you have this load more, like when you scroll it loads more posts and more. Like this kind of behavior just to have back into the blocks. And that&#8217;s just really insightful, so Mihou he collected all the discussions, all the links, all the prototype that has been done before, also he included his own ideas and his own prototype, which is JavaScript based. The first one from Mark Jaquith was PHP based. So it&#8217;s really interesting to see how different community members approach the same problem and how they are trying to improve the experience. And it&#8217;s something that definitely the Gutenberg core team is actively looking into and we are collecting feedback. So if you have some thoughts on this topic, now this place is the best way to share your feedback, we will call like that. And maybe in a few months we will have something that could be tested in the plugin. Maybe it requires more time, but it&#8217;s very interesting that we continue the discussion.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. Yeah. And I didn&#8217;t get a chance yet to read it, but it&#8217;s very well structured and the post by Michael and also has many, many links in there to previous discussions. So it&#8217;s a really well rounded post on the GitHub Gutenberg repository in under discussion. And of course we even also that, we will show in the show notes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So, wow. That brings us to the end of our Gutenberg Changelog episode 61. How is everyone, how are you doing Mary?</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: I&#8217;m doing very good. I&#8217;m doing very good. I think this is going to be an interesting journey for me because, so let me tell you small story about the first time I came across a Changelog. You know when there&#8217;s a new release where you plug in the team, there&#8217;s usually a Changelog. The first time I was looking at it and I was like, okay, so what am I looking at? It took me a while to figure, oh, this is an enhancement feature, new features. So this feels like this is, I&#8217;m feeling I&#8217;m experiencing that same feeling all over again. I mean, now when I see it change I know exactly what I&#8217;m reading and I know what it all contains, so this is exciting.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yes.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: I&#8217;m looking forward to this job.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Me, too. Me, too. Yeah. So Grzegorz, you said that you have your time and you changed teams and on Automattic. So what are you concentrating on now that keeps you away from us?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Oh, so actually I was on the rotation with the front TT team, which is like the team that was created after acquisition of the front TT company, which was focused on the frontend experience and they build their own framework. And now they&#8217;re trying to bring some aspect of that directly to WordPress core, which is super exciting. And now I&#8217;m back with my old team, the one that was involved in Gutenberg 5.0, which created so much distraction in the community. And yeah, so these days we focus on bringing features for WordPress 6.0 from the roadmap that Matias shared in the previous episode, and as usual helping with dev tools and improving the developer experience of everyone in the project. It&#8217;s like I wear different hats, it depends on the day.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, we&#8217;re so happy that you were on the podcast for so long and enriched our technical understanding for things so well, and I&#8217;m looking forward to have the next episode, episode 62 with Mary Job. And this comes to an end now. Grzegorz, how can people reach you when you&#8217;re not on Gutenberg times anymore?</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Oh, so I can be reached always on WordPress, Slack and on GitHub and on Twitter under G-Z-I-O-L-O handle that&#8217;s the best way.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. And Mary, when you are not on the Changelog, how can people reach you?</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: On Twitter too, Maryojob.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Okay. Maryojob. All right. So as always, no, I have one thing before we end this, we have the new Gutenberg developer hours. And first one was on February 8th and was a great success, I think almost 90% thought it was excellent. The questions that we had, though there were two things that were not so good. One is we didn&#8217;t have a recording, that was by designed, but people changed my mind and we will have all the other ones will be recorded. And the second one was my Zoom account didn&#8217;t have live captions enabled, so it was a little hard for people harder hearing to follow along. So those two things are rectified and we have the next event is on February 22nd. That&#8217;s coming Tuesday. If you listen to that over the weekend, you can register, for those who listen to this later, we have another event on March 8th and on March 22nd.</p>



<p>And there will be announced on the WordPress social learning, Meetup space and of course, link in the show notes. And if you join that, you will actually be notified not only about the developer hours specifically, but also about the other social learning events, like the Hello Block ones or about zero to hero events on building a theme or any of the others discussions. So the social learning space is really very, very active in having additional events there.&nbsp;</p>



<p>All right, as always, the show notes will be published on Gutenbergtimes.com/podcast. This is episode 61. And if you have questions or suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. That&#8217;s an email address, yes. <a href="mailto:Changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">Changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. And thank you so much, Greg, for all the time that we had together here. Thank you Mary, for being here today and for the next adventure together on the Gutenberg Changelog. And thank you all for listening and I wish you all goodbye.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Thank you, Birgit, and thank you all listeners for all the exciting episodes we survived together. It was a great pleasure.</p>



<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Thank you, Birgit. I look forward to spending more time in this podcast.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Okay. Excellent. So let&#8217;s get out of here. Bye-bye.</p>



<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Bye.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Feb 2022 16:49:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19:"Gutenberg Changelog";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:96:"WordCamp Central: WordPress.com joins the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3146025";s: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:124:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/23/wordpress-com-joins-the-wordpress-global-community-sponsorship-program-in-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2066:"<p><span>We couldn’t be happier to welcome </span><strong><span><a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a></span></strong><span> to the </span><strong><span><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/">WordPress global community sponsorship program</a></span></strong><span> in 2022! They’re sponsoring at the Gold level supporting official WordPress community events across the globe.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2022/02/WordCamp-Logo-1-1-1.png"><img /></a></p>
<p><span><strong><span><a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a></span></strong> offers managed hosting – a service that is 100% dedicated to hosting WordPress open source software for optimized performance. Managed hosting is a great option for people who don&#8217;t want to deal with the backend technical operations of running a website. You get all the power of WordPress, professionally managed and hassle-free, including: </span></p>
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<li><span>Speed: WordPress.com earned Top Tier status in the WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks review with perfect 100% uptime on both monitors, zero errors across both load tests, and the fastest WP bench of any company in any price tier this year.</span></li>
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<li><span>Ironclad security: Our systems and security teams are vigilant about protecting your site and personal data. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re trusted by some of the most high-profile sites on the web.</span></li>
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<li><span>Peace of mind: We make it easy to get started and maintain your site with automatic version updates and real-time silent backups, so you&#8217;ll never worry about losing your site content. </span></li>
</ul>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Feb 2022 16:00:43 +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:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:75:"WPTavern: #15 – Morten Rand-Hendriksen on Governing Open Source Projects";s: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=130069";s: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/podcast/15-morten-rand-hendriksen-on-governing-open-source-projects";s: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:65807:"<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://twitter.com/mor10">Morten Rand-Hendriksen</a>.</p>



<p>Morten has a long history of working with WordPress, but that’s not the main focus of the podcast today. Today we talk about the way that open source as a whole is governed and managed, and his thoughts on the changes he thinks are needed.</p>



<p>When open source software came into the world, the landscape was very different. Back then, there was no real clarity about whether the proprietary or open source software model would dominate. There was no indication that the internet would become such a crucial part of how we communicate, interact and shop.</p>



<p>People gave their time because they enjoyed what they were doing and had high hopes about the world that they could build with their software.</p>



<p>Fast forward to today and many open source projects are critical to the functioning of the internet. A small collection of people, sometimes an individual, might be in charge of a component which, were it to fail, would bring the web to a halt.</p>



<p><a href="https://openssf.org/blog/2022/01/13/the-openssf-and-the-linux-foundation-address-software-supply-chain-security-challenges-at-white-house-summit/">Recent episodes</a> have shown us that given this reliance on the contributions of open source community members, it’s important that we can turn to them for patches and updates when they’re needed. But that might not be the case. The contributors might be busy with other projects, or otherwise unable to fix problems that arise.</p>



<p>Morten thinks that there’s a need to revisit the governance model for open source given that we now live in a world where important parts of the internet rely on the work of such volunteers. He wants there to be systems by which contributors are remunerated for their contributions.</p>



<p>He also wants to shine a light on who is able to contribute to open source projects, and so we discuss his thoughts on who in reality has the time, interest and resources to contribute. His opinion is that open source might not be as open to everyone as it would seem.</p>



<p>It’s a fascinating conversation and will no doubt stir up some discussion.</p>



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



<p><a href="https://mor10.com/open-source-considered-harmful/">Open Source Considered Harmful</a></p>



<p><a href="https://mor10.com/a-fatal-flaw-in-the-bazaars-foundations/">A Fatal Flaw in the Bazaar’s Foundations</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 blocks, the themes, and in this case, the nature of open source. Before we begin, I would encourage you to subscribe to the podcast so you can get all the episodes automatically each and every week. You can do that by searching for WP Tavern in the podcast player of your choice. Or by going to WP Tavern dot com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy and paste that URL into most podcast players.</p>



<p>I&#8217;d really like to hear from anyone out there who would like to come onto the podcast and talk about whatever it is that you do with WordPress. It might be that you&#8217;re a designer, a WordCamp organizer, contributor, honestly if it&#8217;s about WordPress I would love to hear from you. And hopefully get you onto the show. To do that. I head over to WP Tavern dot com forward slash contact forward slash jutebox, and use the contact form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today, we have Morten Rand-Hendriksen. Morton has a long history of working with WordPress, but that&#8217;s not the main focus of the podcast today. Today, we talk about the way that open source, as a whole, is governed and managed, and his thoughts on the changes that he thinks are needed.</p>



<p>When open source software came into the world, the landscape was very different. Back then there was no real clarity about whether the proprietary or open source software model would dominate. There was no indication that the internet would become such a crucial part of how we communicate, interact and shop.</p>



<p>People gave their time because they enjoyed what they were doing and had high hopes about the world that they could build with their software. Fast forward to today, and many open source projects are critical to the functioning of the internet.</p>



<p>A small collection of people, sometimes an individual, might be in charge of a component which, were it to fail, would bring the internet to a halt. Recent episodes have shown us that given this reliance on the contributions of open source community members, it&#8217;s important that we can turn to them for patches and updates when they&#8217;re needed. But that might not be the case. The contributors might be busy with other projects, or otherwise unable to fix problems which arise.</p>



<p>Morton thinks that there&#8217;s a need to revisit the governance model for open source, given that we now live in a world where important parts of the internet rely on the work of such volunteers. He wants there to be a system by which contributors are remunerated for their contributions. He also wants to shine a light on who is able to contribute to open source projects.</p>



<p>And so we discuss his thoughts on who, in reality, has the time, interest and resources to contribute. His opinion is that open source might not be as open to everyone as it would seem. It&#8217;s a fascinating conversation and will no doubt stir up some discussion.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links in the show notes over at wp tavern dot com forward slash podcast, and look for episode 15. And so, without further delay, I bring you Morten Rand-Hendrickson. I am joined on the podcast today by Morten&nbsp;Rand-Hendriksen. Hello Morten.</p>



<p>[00:03:57] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> Hello.</p>



<p>[00:03:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> We are today going to have a fairly interesting in-depth conversation, despite the fact that we are on the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast, today, we are probably going to stay well away from WordPress itself because we&#8217;re going to have a conversation about the open source model in general, obviously that could imply WordPress, but equally it could imply lots and lots of other things out on the internet because Morten has recently produced a couple of pieces.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m going to link to them in the show notes. It may well be useful to go and read them to provide context for this episode. The first one is at Morten&#8217;s website. It&#8217;s mor10. So. that&#8217;s Mor and then the digits one zero dot com. That&#8217;s a brilliant URL by the way.</p>



<p>[00:04:42] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> I wish I came up with it.</p>



<p>[00:04:45] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s really good. Open source considered harmful is the title of the first one, and then there&#8217;s a sort of followup piece, a fatal flaw in the bazaar&#8217;s foundation. So it might be worth going to provide some context there. Do you want to just drop in what it was that you were vaguely trying to sum up, and then I will steer the conversation a little bit later. You&#8217;ve got some issues the way that certain things are handled on the internet, particularly open source software and the way that they&#8217;re managed, and so on. just sum up what your concerns are.</p>



<p>[00:05:15] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> Yeah, I can explain the two articles in hopefully a short amount of time. So the first one, this one that&#8217;s called open source is considered harmful. There&#8217;s this trope in tech writing, the considered harmful trope, that you say at something you don&#8217;t like is considered harmful. In this case, it&#8217;s actually open source is literally considered harmful by people.</p>



<p>It was in relation to these major security issues that occurred right before Christmas. Log4j that was anything that runs any kind of Apache server had this major security flaw in it.</p>



<p>And when the security flaw was discovered, it was also discovered that because it&#8217;s an open source project and there is no, there are maintainers, but the maintainers are volunteers who&#8217;ve worked for other corporations. There&#8217;s no immediate path for the people who discover these flaws to go and say, hey, get this fixed right now, this is mission critical. In the case of Log4j it exposed government state operatives, government institutions, hospitals, very critical infrastructure, as well as companies all over the world. And it exposed this underlying issue with open source, which is that. If something goes wrong, you rely on the open source community to fix it. And that&#8217;s fine, except if something goes wrong and you can&#8217;t talk about it and you need to be able to go to a person and say, you go fix it right now, or a company or an organization to go, you go fix it right now before we tell anyone. It&#8217;s not that easy.</p>



<p>So in response to that, the Biden administration or the White House as the president is referred to reached out to the community to call them in and say, come have a meeting with us and let&#8217;s figure out how to deal with this moving forward so that we can patch all the security holes in open source software.</p>



<p>They reached out to industry executives in large companies. And those companies are companies that are invested in open source, and asked them what to do. And you wonder when you hear that, they published a list of people who were invited to the meeting, and yes, the Apache foundation was invited, but there was also a glaring lack of other open source projects that have similar problems. And you wonder, why is it that when the White House goes out and says, we&#8217;re going to talk to the open source leaders, they don&#8217;t talk to the open source leaders. And the simple answer is no one speaks for open source. Because open source as a whole, doesn&#8217;t have a special interest organization. Doesn&#8217;t have any policies, doesn&#8217;t have any representation anywhere, and there is no place you can go and say, hey, I want to speak to open source. Or even something smaller. Hey, I want to speak to web based open source. Because the open source community as a whole has no governance structure, has no meaningful way of appointing someone to do so. Even if there was a person appointed to speak on behalf of open source, there is no policy or any kind of framework to speak from.</p>



<p>So you wouldn&#8217;t be speaking on behalf of open source who would be speaking either on behalf of yourself, or you&#8217;d be speaking on behalf of your employer. Or the interests of your particular project as you&#8217;ve defined them. Because again, these projects don&#8217;t have any policies. And that was even acknowledged in this meeting, both in the invite to the meeting, and afterwards, that one of the big problems with open source, as seen from like a leadership perspective, a corporate perspective, a government perspective, is there&#8217;s no policies in place because there&#8217;s no one held responsible for anything. Because there&#8217;s no cohesive leadership, there also no accountability within the system. And that is untenable when the software in play is mission-critical to, let&#8217;s say a country, the operation of a country. So when I say open source considered harmful, I mean, people are starting to look at open source and saying, this is actually dangerous because when something goes wrong, we have no guarantees that it can be fixed. And we have no clear path to go to someone and say, even though you think this is okay, it&#8217;s actually not okay. And here are the reasons why you need to patch it or patch it in a specific way. And when you hear me talk about this, you&#8217;ll also notice that a lot of these things I&#8217;m saying, they sound like the opposite of what we want in open source. Like this idea that a government can come to you and say, you need to fix this in a certain way, sounds like something that open source would be against. And it is something that a lot of open source people would be against. However, open source operates in the real world and in the real world, sometimes that is a necessary thing.</p>



<p>And in those circumstances, if the open source community itself can&#8217;t deal with it, the government or whatever entity needs to get something fixed will go through a corporate interest that is embedded enough of an open source community and has enough power in that community to just strong hand their way in and get it fixed in a way that works for them, which runs against the nature of open source again.</p>



<p>So it just begs the question, if we won the war, which we did against proprietary software, shouldn&#8217;t we now have to hold ourselves to the same standard that we hold proprietary software to? You can&#8217;t play this game of, ah, we&#8217;re just playing around if you control the internet. And that&#8217;s what&#8217;s happening right now.</p>



<p>So that was like the first article. The second article is just about how, the reason for this is that of open source, the GNU manifesto, or the GNU manifesto or whatever you want to call it, and The Cathedral and the Bazaar, are both these utopian fever dreams of how the world would be if we had open source and open source won the battle.</p>



<p>what we know for a fact now is that those fever dreams did not come to pass. In many ways, what we ended up with is completely opposite of what they envisioned yet. Our ideology as open source people, still rests on these fever dreams and that just doesn&#8217;t fly anymore.</p>



<p>[00:10:52] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So we&#8217;ve broadly outlined the articles and therefore we&#8217;ve outlined hopefully the course of the discussion over the next few minutes. I&#8217;m interested though to hear more about you personally, just for a couple of minutes, interested to let the audience know it is that you&#8217;re interested in this. Your history. How it is that you&#8217;ve this that, it&#8217;s obviously very important to you. Why are you concerned about these things? What in your background has led you to put this at critical importance?</p>



<p>[00:11:19] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> I&#8217;ve been an open source contributor for 15, 16 years. I fell into open source, like most people did in the beginning of the modern web, which was, I was building solutions, web solutions for people, for companies, for clients. And I needed to find functional solutions for them, where they could do what they needed to do without either tying themselves to onerous licensing agreements with companies, or use applications that put them at risk of breaking things.</p>



<p>And what I discovered was the open source community was building tools for users. Whereas big corporations were building tools primarily for developers. Or they were building tools primarily to lock users into specific platforms. And it&#8217;s something that appeals to me. I&#8217;m a socialist. I think this idea of people having self determination and self control of their assets and that there&#8217;s fairness in the system., that power is distributed. I believe in all those things. And it looked to me like open source was embracing those ideals. And open source is embracing those ideals to a degree, which we&#8217;ll, I&#8217;m sure we&#8217;ll talk about later. So I started using open source software. Quickly realized that if you use open source software and you can contribute to open source software, you really should contribute to open source software.</p>



<p>I started contributing, with code fixes and templates, and just things to support the community and answering questions. Being a productive community member, right. And helping other people onboard into it.</p>



<p>After awhile, I realized there were challenges within the community that needed to be dealt with. And I tried to help with that. In some cases, those challenges were on a structural basis in terms of how do you manage a project? How do you manage volunteers and direct volunteers towards specific things to get done? How do you solve a very difficult problem, which is there&#8217;s this shiny new thing that people want to work on, but then there&#8217;s this maintenance thing that was just really boring, that&#8217;s very important that gets fixed, when no one is in control over who does what. And when I started looking at that, I quickly realized that there&#8217;s this glaring problem in open source thinking, which is that, if there&#8217;s a problem someone will always find it interesting enough to fix. That turned out to not be the case, that you would see. There might be like one or two people that were interested in fixing a big problem, but for the most case, the big problems were just shoved to the side and then new things were invented. And then eventually those problems became legacy features. And it started really bothering me. Because what I would see is, occasionally open source projects would either omit something, or do something in an incorrect way based on a standard, like they would implement a standard incorrectly. Or they would make an omission in the application, that would then years later, either influence how people outside the open source community were using it, or implement things, or even make a standard that was incorrect, or alter the standard. Or they would introduce a problem that would later become a problem for some users. Let&#8217;s say an accessibility, a lack of accessibility features would bubble to the surface later as the software became more popular.</p>



<p>And we&#8217;re not going to talk specifically about WordPress here, but, you could look at WordPress as an example of an open source project, and you could say for example, the async and defer feature in JavaScript has been around for, nine years, ten years, eleven years, something like that in browsers. WordPress still has no support for it. And when you look at the ticket for it, the first ticket was filed eight or nine or ten years ago, and it&#8217;s still under debate.</p>



<p>And the debate around the ticket is still around this, how is this going to be used? And it&#8217;s very weird, the web as a whole has implemented this as a standard. So there&#8217;s no question about how to use it. You&#8217;re talking about implementation internally in the application. That is a problem to be solved separately from whether or not you included in the application as a whole, but because it&#8217;s not being included, the developers who build a WordPress application can&#8217;t use these web standard features that have been around for almost a decade because the application itself isn&#8217;t able to make a decision around this issue, and separate adding a feature or supporting a feature from how would that feature be used internally in the application itself.</p>



<p>And that&#8217;s harmful to the web, because when WordPress takes 40% of the web or 45% or whatever it is now, and 45% of the web is not implementing a web standards feature in a proper way, it means that the majority of the sites on the web are not using this feature.</p>



<p>And you can see this in other open source projects too, that you get these sticking points, where lack of decision-making power leads to things not being done properly. And then eventually it becomes a standard within the community to do things the old way, or an incorrect way. And then that standard starts leaching out into the wider community, and disturbs how the web evolves, and stands in the way of certain things taking place, and prevents the platform from moving forward.</p>



<p>And then, you get this very interesting situation where a corporation with a vested interest in moving the web in a specific direction, say for example, Google sees, hey, we can inject developers into this project, and then get them to implement certain features in a certain way. And then we can help move the web forward in the direction we prefer via the software.</p>



<p>And that happened with responsive images. So when responsive images was first implemented on the web, there were actually two separate standards. You had the RICG standard, which is what we have now, and then you had like a slightly different version of it that approached responsive images in a slightly different way.</p>



<p>And then some people who are very pro one side, started to embed themselves in various open source projects to get the open source projects to implement responsive images in that way. And one of those projects was WordPress, and then suddenly, all of WordPress sites were shipping responsive images in a specific implementation. And then that just became the standard.</p>



<p>And Google has done the same thing. They&#8217;ve said there are certain features that we want on the web, the best way to move that forward is to implement them into CMS&#8217;s. Because CMS&#8217;s then automatically distribute this feature in a specific way across all of their implementations. And that just bumps up the frequency of use. And unless the people in the project are super conscious of what the politics are around those features, and understand what is going on, like, understand whether this feature implementation that&#8217;s being proposed by corporation is actually what is going to be proposed by the standards body, or if this is the corporation&#8217;s interpretation of it. There&#8217;s a lot of politics involved in this. Without acute awareness of this, to the point of almost being in the room, it&#8217;s very hard for a project to make those decisions. And in reality, what happens more often, is that the corporation will come in and say, hey, we have a solution for you to a problem. And then they will implement it and be like, oh yeah, by the way, that also included this thing that we had just decided that we were going to, like, the direction we were going to steer the web in.</p>



<p>So looking at this, it became very clear to me that there are some very serious problems in terms of how open source projects are governed. And also how open source projects see themselves when it comes to their role on the wider web. Which is, if you win the war of of what type of software runs on the web, which open source did in that said open source is better than proprietary software, we should have open standards. of which are great things. But if you do that you take over control effectively of how the web operates, then you also have to take the responsibility that comes along with that. And that means about your decision-making, not just in terms of how it impacts your particular application, or how it impacts your particular users, but how it impacts the web as a whole.</p>



<p>also take on the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the web and establishing standards for what we want the web to look like, how we want it to function, or even something as basic as saying, what are the necessary conditions for this way of thinking to persist, in relation to regulations and policies and international politics. None of which is being done because open source developers, by and large, still consider themselves just volunteers who are playing around with software that they have value from. So there&#8217;s a disconnect there, and that&#8217;s how I got involved in this whole nebulous problem of open source governance as a whole.</p>



<p>[00:19:46] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Let&#8217;s rewind, because I think maybe there&#8217;s people who are listening to this podcast who don&#8217;t have any They&#8217;ve not bothered to look into how the open source movement began. And were at pains in your piece to spell that out, or at least in part. You wanted to illustrate how dream of being able to contribute, having software which was freely available, free to modify, and so on. The underpinnings of what is now open source, which as you say, has taken on the role of the dominant software on the internet. But, I think it&#8217;s important to go back and without judging, because when it was happening, obviously there were different constraints and different thoughts.</p>



<p>And perhaps there was no intention that the web would be sitting in everybody&#8217;s back pocket and everybody would be consuming it twenty-four seven. And, at the time it was just something which would sit on a handful of computers and there was no thought. So we&#8217;re not, trying to rewrite history. We&#8217;re just trying to look back and see what happened. Do you want to just describe those underpinnings of how open source began back in the, I&#8217;m going to say eighties?</p>



<p>[00:20:47] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> The open source way of thinking, as far as I understand it, actually predates open source software. The anecdotal piece that I&#8217;ve seen is that it started with an engineer who wanted to repair a copy machine, and realized that although he knew what part to fix, there was a screw, disassemble it, replace a screw with a new screw.</p>



<p>And he discovered that there was no way for him to do that without breaking the warranty on the machine. So effectively saying, if I do this, I am in breach of the use agreement of the thing that I own. Which makes no sense, like why on earth should I not be allowed to repair my own things, when I paid for them.</p>



<p>And anyone who has a cell phone knows this, right? If you open the phone and you&#8217;ll see their stickers inside that say, if you breach this sticker, you&#8217;ve breached a warranty. Which is a bizarre thing. If you think about it, but this is mine. Why on earth would working on my own thing somehow invalidate the value of the thing, right? It&#8217;s very strange.</p>



<p>So there was the thinking around this open standards thing where people should be allowed to understand how their own things work and be able to repair their own things. It comes from that. But if you make it that broad, you&#8217;re gonna think that that&#8217;s not something that was invented in the eighties. That was probably something that was invented around year minus 3000. The second people started making things, they would also start thinking, this is mine, this rock that I made that has a chink in it. This is mine. And I should be able to modify this to make it work the way I want it to.</p>



<p>And it&#8217;s only in this modern capitalist world where we have this idea that, oh no, the thing you own is also governed by a corporation who made it and you can&#8217;t make a copy of it and you can&#8217;t. So there&#8217;s a whole thing around there. So in this environment where everything was made by corporations and everything was heavily controlled in terms of what you can do with it, how you can modify it, whether or not you can repair it, who can repair it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.</p>



<p>There was a pushback to people saying, actually, no. I want to be able to make things and then give it to other people and then allow them to do whatever they want with it. And from there came this notion of a new license for software development that explicitly gives the user control over the thing that they pick up.</p>



<p>So when you develop something, you give it to a person and then you say to that person, okay, you can do whatever you want with this. You can use it as this. You can modify it if you want to. You can redistribute it, give it to your friends. You can redistribute your modifications of it. And you can allow your friends to make modifications and redistribute them.</p>



<p>And the only requirement I have is that you extend this license to anyone you give the software to. And this is the root of what we call copy left licenses. So instead of copy right, you have copy left. You pass the license onto the next person. And this was manifested in the GNU manifesto, The GNU, GNU, new manifesto that was written by Richard Stallman. It&#8217;s a screed, it&#8217;s a political manifesto in a very real sense. And I encourage anyone who works in open source to read it, maybe many times, and discuss it with each other. Because it is truly a remarkable piece of fictional writing. Embedded within it are all of these ideas, including everything I described. So the four freedoms or the five freedoms of open source.</p>



<p>The rationale for why we should have free open source software. And why there can still be an economy, even though you have free open source software. You&#8217;re giving away something for free, how do you make money? Why that is a good thing. All of that is described in the document. And it also introduces interesting things like, here are a bunch of different ways you can earn money from it. You can teach or maintain. You can run groups and have people pay dues for those groups. You can introduce a software tax where corporations who use your software have to pay a tax in, and then the money is then paid back into the community. All of those things are contained within the GNU manifesto. Along with very utopian ideas about how, in the future, where open source software will rule the world, no one will need to work because software will do everything for us. So basically you just spend all your time doing whatever you want. And because software developers love writing software, they will continue maintaining it just because it&#8217;s interesting to them. And no one will need to get paid because payment will be automatic. There&#8217;s a picture of a future that will never exist, that is underpinning this whole ideology. So there&#8217;s this document, the GNU manifesto, which is the origin of the GNU, GPL license, which is what most free open source software is published under.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s also a book called The Cathedral and the Bazaar that was written by Eric S Raymond which is seen as the Bible of open source, or one of the canonical texts of open source that defines the economics of open source. And again, this was written around the same time or a little bit later, it was like 10 years later from the GNU manifesto. In The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond outlines his own project and how he took something that was proprietary and turned it into, or an idea that only was covered by it, proprietary software made an open source type of software that did the same thing, and all the reasons why this is a good thing. And it really outlines this whole idea that if you make something other people will contribute to it because they see value in it.</p>



<p>And then over time, developers from different spaces will gravitate towards it. So by the time you need security developers, a security developer will find interest in the project, contribute to the project to help you with security. When you need a designer, a designer will gravitate towards the project, and it will build on its own.</p>



<p>And when you look at open source project in general, you can see that successful open source projects do follow this model, where someone says, hey, I want to build this thing. And then they distributed on the web. And then other people say that&#8217;s cool, but it&#8217;s lacking X. And then they say, hey, I can contribute X. And then someone else says, oh, I can contribute Y, and then over time you grow a community of like-minded people who want to see the things succeed because it&#8217;s useful to them. It keeps growing and attracting more and more people. So that&#8217;s the source of this whole thinking, that if we put something into the world that is valuable to the people, other people will come in and start using it.</p>



<p>And we&#8217;ll also contribute back to it. Which is very much in honesty, a socialist way of thinking, right? From each according to his ability to each according to his needs. It&#8217;s core sociology. This idea that, you make a thing that&#8217;s valuable, you put it into the world. Other people use it, and if they can, they will contribute to it.</p>



<p>But contribution should not be requirement for using it. And that part of open source is what has made open source what it is today. But when we talk about socialism, then a bunch of people are going to be like well, you know, that&#8217;s been proven to not work. See Soviet Russia, China, whatever.</p>



<p>And I always have to point out there is the fundamental difference between the socialist idea of everyone using a thing in a way that&#8217;s meaningful to them, and then contributing back what they can. To the communist Soviet way of thinking, which is from each according to his ability to each according to his work, or labor investment. You see that change at the end there? From needs to work? what you get back from the system is contingent on what you provide.</p>



<p>And what we&#8217;ve seen over time in source is a gradual shift power from the needs to the work part. That the people who make decisions within open source projects are the people who do the work. The classic term is decisions are made by the people who show up. Which is the same as saying, if you have the benefit of being able to contribute, automatically also get within the community.</p>



<p>And if you look at who is able to contribute freely, without pay, their own time and expertise, you will notice it&#8217;s a subset of the population is very privileged in some way. Mainly the ability to have time, and the ability to their knowledge without having to take money for it.</p>



<p>And then you get this power problem, which was never accounted before by Stallman or Raymond, because both of them believe this future in which this is irrelevant. And you can see when you read these articles that they wrote, that they have this underpinning idea that the best developers will automatically bubble to the top, simply because they are the best. Which is meritocracy, which is nonsense.</p>



<p>Meritocracy is a dystopian idea that doesn&#8217;t comply with how the world works at all, because it assumes that everyone is playing on an even field. That no one has privileges, and that everyone has the capability of partaking in the same way, but that&#8217;s not the case. So there are these underpinning ideological stances that sit on the bottom as the foundational stones of open source ideology that are deeply problematic.</p>



<p>And then the stuff that&#8217;s built on top, sounds fine until you start investigating, but what happens if this actually becomes the standard? Because due to these ideological underpinnings, there&#8217;s a lack of consideration for things like diversity, things like inclusion, things like imbalances of power, or things like equity.</p>



<p>They&#8217;re just not there because of these assumptions about equal access and skills being a determinant of whether or not you should be able to contribute.</p>



<p>[00:30:15] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s really interesting because it feels to me as if the problem isn&#8217;t one of open source. It&#8217;s one of growth. And what I mean by that is open source has just grown to the point where, not only is it critical some sense, literally of society will fail if certain portions of the open source community are not updated regularly and what have you. But also, it kind of got away from us, this idea that everybody could contribute, sounds lovely, it feels as if it works very well on a small scale, and all those years ago, when you were talking about the manifesto and so on, imagine that even though it was described in terms of open source will take over the world.</p>



<p>There probably wasn&#8217;t any conception of what that would actually mean. And yet, here we are. The open source software literally has taken over the world, and tens of thousands, maybe millions of people, are usefully employed in using it, it feels like, maybe what you&#8217;re describing is that it&#8217;s grown in a way that has had really time to inspect. Nobody&#8217;s had eyeballs inspecting this as it&#8217;s grown. On the corporate side, there are people who are paid to govern how things grow, are people whose job it is to make sure that things are made fair and equal. And I&#8217;m guessing that may be, part of the problem you&#8217;re highlighting. Is that there&#8217;s nobody looking down from the top saying, look, we really need to address this thing over here because, it&#8217;s getting out of hand.</p>



<p>[00:31:45] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> It&#8217;s not a problem with scale. It&#8217;s that the governance model, or lack thereof, isn&#8217;t scalable. There is no governance model on the bottom because there&#8217;s an assumption that this will never be large, in terms of who contributes.</p>



<p>It&#8217;ll always be a small group of people who are building software for everyone. It will not be communities of tens of thousands of contributors. But this scale problem, and the legacy debt problem isn&#8217;t unique to open source. I think the best example I can give you is Internet Explorer.</p>



<p>When I say this, I have to do the whole disclosure. I work for LinkedIn learning. LinkedIn learning is part of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Saying that, I have no interfacing with Microsoft nor have I ever worked for the Internet Explorer or the edge team or anything else. So I&#8217;m saying this as an outside observer, and these are my opinions about the history of a browser, not a statement from the company I&#8217;ve worked for nor anything. Okay?</p>



<p>The people wondered for a very long time why Microsoft didn&#8217;t sunset Internet Explorer, right? Internet Explorer was like the curse on web development, that you had all these browsers that were moving forward very fast. And then you had Internet Explorer that wasn&#8217;t. And what people fail to recognize is it&#8217;s because of how Internet Explorer was originally built.</p>



<p>So Internet Explorer still is, until it was sunsetted it, Internet Explorer was a variant of the file Explorer inside Windows. Meaning you could open files from your computer into Internet Explorer, just like you could open a webpage. In fact, if you go an open an old version of Windows, and go into the file explorer and type in a URL, you can open a website inside the file explorer, because it&#8217;s the same application. It&#8217;s just a different skin on it. So changing Internet Explorer, meant changing how file explorer works inside Windows. I think the reason that is, is because when Internet Explorer was introduced, way back before the internet was a thing or the web was a thing, people were really using in a meaningful way. It was considered a file repository. The internet was a file repository. You would go on the internet and find files and then open them. And it was natural to take the file explorer and just say, okay, we&#8217;re going to extend it so you can pull files from elsewhere. And then people publishing these HTML documents will be like, add an HTML parser to it. And then eventually a CSS parser. We should probably pull that out and make it a different application, but it&#8217;s actually the same. And then, oh my God, the web is the only thing people are using my computer for, but our Internet Explorer is still tied to our file server, our file Explorer. So how do we solve this? You have this problem of everything is moving so fast, and scaling so rapidly, you can&#8217;t stop everything and be like, stop, we&#8217;re going to spend a year redeveloping this from the ground up to be completely different. Because the whole operating system is wired to this. And this is also why for a while, on Windows you had both Internet Explorer and Edge at the same time. Because Internet Explorer&#8217;s functionality is wired into applications. And that functionality as in Internet Explorer has access to files on your computer, as well as the web at the same time is wired into a lot of applications, which is why you often see these very advanced tools that people are using in say a bank or a doctor&#8217;s office that can only use Internet Explorer, because it&#8217;s also the file explorer, So there&#8217;s decisions made early on in a rapidly evolving space, lead to enormous legacy debt that is almost impossible to get out of. in the open source world, that legacy debt is the lack of governance protocols for how decisions are made. And what you see in the open source world is that ad hoc governance models are introduced, like a very poorly defined consensus model. Because of a lack of existing models. But then due to how the community has over time, and the freedom given to contributors, it&#8217;s very hard to go and say, now that we are successful, we&#8217;re going to start imposing rules onto the way we work. Because then all the people who came in when there was free to do whatever you want, will be like, hey, why are you suddenly restricting my freedoms?</p>



<p>Why are you standing in the way of me doing things the way I want to? this is what you see anytime you try to bring these issues up that people are saying, you&#8217;re standing in the way of what I&#8217;m doing. again, this becomes a scale problem because, from the individual contributors perspective, when you are working in open source, you&#8217;re really solving your own problems.</p>



<p>You&#8217;re saying, I want this feature, and I believe that this feature is something someone else would have so I&#8217;m going to make it and put it into the project. But if you&#8217;re doing that on a project that influences or impacts tens of thousands of businesses, for example. Say you&#8217;re making an e-commerce platform, every change you make will have mission critical impact on all the people who use it.</p>



<p>So you&#8217;re not making a decision for yourself. You&#8217;re making a decision for all the other people who are using the thing. And, when I spoke, I speak at an open source conferences, I always start by saying the people in this room are the 1% of open source. Because by being at an open source conference, you are identifying yourself as not being a standard open source user. The normal open source user, never interfaces with the community at all.</p>



<p>They download the software and use it as is. That&#8217;s it. That&#8217;s their interface with the community. By being an active part of the community, you are identifying yourself as a privileged person within the community. You have more knowledge of the software than anyone else. You have more influence over the project than anyone else.</p>



<p>And you do not use the software the way your users use it. So you are not developing the software for you. You&#8217;re developing the software for someone you don&#8217;t fully understand because you&#8217;re not that person anymore. And that&#8217;s a scale thing. Understanding that is very difficult.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a skill that you have to constantly train yourself to maintain and understanding that a trivial decision has an impact on a thousand or ten thousand or a hundred thousand or a million people, is very difficult, because it makes it challenging to even do anything, unless you then go, actually, no, it&#8217;s just from me. And I have the power to do it because it&#8217;s open source.</p>



<p>[00:37:48] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> One of the things which comes out of your piece is a desire people, going to use the word remunerated, not strike a balance of what it is that you actually want to say, but I&#8217;ll use it anyway, are remunerated for the work that they do. In the sense that, volunteering is laudable. It&#8217;s an altruistic thing. I don&#8217;t think in any walk of life, anybody is going to say that volunteering is not something to be commended, but presumably there is some line in the sand, I don&#8217;t know where that line lives exactly, there&#8217;s a line at which perhaps you feel that remuneration ought to take place.</p>



<p>And I don&#8217;t know what the criteria for that is/ maybe it&#8217;s the legacy of things that you&#8217;ve done in the past. Maybe it&#8217;s the of the thing that you&#8217;re about to commit. I don&#8217;t know. But I&#8217;d be curious if you could develop that a little bit. Talk about how it is that you feel people desiring remuneration.</p>



<p>And in the case of some recent events, how perhaps they felt challenged and perhaps bullied is the right word by larger entities who almost imagined that they were employees of theirs. In the case of Log 4 j, being contacted via email by people who just assumed that their software was something that they could force them to update, after sending them a snotty email. So let&#8217;s develop that a little bit.</p>



<p>[00:39:09] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> I&#8217;m going to say two very contradictory things. I don&#8217;t think anyone should be paid for open source development. I also think that all open source developers should be paid for open source development. The reason is, in an ideal world, open source should be completely free, and we should all have the capability to contribute what we can, and build software that has no strings attached. That is the ideal. That is the dream of open source. That open source software exists independent of capitalism. That we can say, you build software, people use it, no one ever attaches any strings to any of that. If you can contribute, you contribute. If you have something meaningful to contribute, you can. It&#8217;ll get included. You can fork it. Everything will be fine.</p>



<p>However, and this was the dream of the GNU manifesto, that this would be the future we would be building. Where it would no longer be necessary to get paid because dynamically people would just get paid through other means somehow, I don&#8217;t know. It&#8217;s very unclear how that&#8217;s going to happen, but that was the dream. However, we live in a real world and the real world is a capitalist world, where your contributions have value, whether you are paid for them or not. And this has become exceptionally clear in the open source space because in the open source spaces, there are corporations that have billion dollar valuations, that are built either on the open source software or basically represent the open source software itself. Who for every contribution that&#8217;s made by a volunteer, an unpaid volunteer contributor, the corporation is able to pull significant monetary value from the project. At that point, you get this enormous power imbalance between the volunteer, unpaid contributor, and the corporations who earn billions of dollars off the application, and are able to spend some of that money putting contributors into the project. When you have that kind of power imbalance, the only responsible thing to do is to put a monetary value on contribution and say, we are going to redistribute the wealth. And the insane part about this is this was actually addressed by the new manifesto. I have it open here.</p>



<p>All sorts of development can be funded with a software tax. I&#8217;m just reading verbatim, right? By the way. Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay X percent of the price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency like the NSF, that&#8217;s the organization that he was running at the time, to spend on software development. But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development itself, he can take a credit against the tax.</p>



<p>He can donate to the project of his own choosing, often chosen because he hopes to use the results when it&#8217;s done. He can take a credit for any amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the tax weighted against the amounts they will be taxed on.</p>



<p>And the consequences for that would be the computer using community support, software development. The community decides what level of support is needed, and users who care, which project their share is spent on can choose this for themselves.</p>



<p>So, in this, which partly makes sense, and partly is just a utopian fever dream, he lays out in very clear language. There should be a software tax. If you talk to open source leaders, they will aggressively fight this idea. And I think part of the reason for that, and this is purely my opinion and observation, is the second we start paying people for contribution, the power balance shifts dramatically within the open source communities, because there is a large portion of people in the world who do not have the privilege of contribution right now, who just can&#8217;t. Either their jobs preclude them from doing it to begin with. Not because the company&#8217;s saying you can&#8217;t contribute, but because their jobs are too overwhelming to spend time contributing to open source. Their lives may be in the way. They may not have time in their lives to do open source contribution. They may not be in a position where they can volunteer their time because their monetary value they derive from their time in a work is more important to them than being able to contribute.</p>



<p>And people find themselves in a myriad of circumstances where just volunteerism of any kind is not possible. In addition to that, you have all the socioeconomic factors and the social factors that impact how we interact with other people. All the things that impact our interactions with people impact open source contribution. Including gender representation, sex representation, race, culture, creed, religion, physical location, ethnicity, how you present yourself to the world, neurodivergence, disability, all of these things come into play, right? So the assumption that open source has the best contributors, because the best contributors bubble to the top, assumes everyone is the same. In reality, everyone is not the same. There is a small handful of people who fall into that category of, just being able to contribute their time freely.</p>



<p>The majority of us can&#8217;t do that. The majority of us are dependent on money to pay for housing, to pay for food, to pay for our kids, to pay for being able to function in the world. And all of those people are more or less excluded from contribution. So therefore you get a subset of the population during the contribution. In that scenario, when you at the same time, have corporations deriving billions of dollars out of the source project, you cannot argue that, no, we should continue to not pay contributors.</p>



<p>And then you get to that whole question that you brought up with, like, how do you do this? How do you pay contributors? Because how do you measure. Let&#8217;s say someone who goes and rewrites all the PHP in the project from someone who runs one of the support groups on a Slack channel, right?</p>



<p>Both of those things are valid contributions to the project. One of them is easily measurable. The other one is very difficult to measure. Which one of them have the most impact on the project? I would say if you want to follow like the open source ideology of like in the future, everything will be free no one will have to be paid for anything. would say the measure should be time. It should not be what you do. It should be time. And then you have to qualify the time and say like, if you spend eight hours doing something that should have taken you two minutes, probably shouldn&#8217;t be paid eight hours of work. But if you are spending eight hours on something that someone who is more skilled than you would do in hours, you should probably be paid for the eight hours of work because it&#8217;s a learning process. But then if you go down that route, you then ask, who pays and the simple answer is the people who earn money from this should pay a part of that money back into the community. And it should not be 5%, because their entire financial basis is built on the platform of the open source software.</p>



<p>The wealth of these companies that are built on top of open source is entirely contingent on the free labor of the volunteers, which is insane and would never fly in any other context, right? If you want to use Marxian terms, it&#8217;s exploitation of labor, right? And you&#8217;re taking the free labor of someone else and turning it into money and not giving money back to them. And no amount of oh, but my corporation volunteers its people back into the community, will account for that because that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening. If you have a corporation that&#8217;s financially dependent on the success of the open source project, and you put some of your people back into the project, you are not volunteering anything. Those people are now paid to direct the project in directions that are fruitful to your company so that you can derive more money from it. And if that&#8217;s the model you want to run, that&#8217;s fine. Then that has to be explicitly stated, that this open source project is actually a money machine for me, and I&#8217;m going to put my people into it, and they are being paid to direct the project in directions that are fruitful to me. And if you contribute that as on you. Gatsby actually does this, right. Gatsby used to have two websites. They used to have the dot org version of Gatsby, the open source project. And then they had gatsby.com, which was Gatsby cloud and their commercial offering. They combined them and they said we&#8217;re not going to pretend what&#8217;s happening here. There&#8217;s a commercial project called Gatsby that has an open source component to it. So you can use Gatsby any way you want, but we&#8217;re going to be crystal clear about this being a commercial venture. And when you contribute to Godspeed, you are putting money in our pockets. And it&#8217;s a very open way of dealing with this problem.</p>



<p>So as long as you have interests within the community that are deriving value from the open source community, they should be paying back into the community. And the way that practically this should be done would probably be something like having a foundation of some kind, or an organization within the community that collects money that anyone can pay to. If you&#8217;re a user and you go, I want to, I can&#8217;t contribute in terms of writing software or being in the community, but I can give some money. Or if you&#8217;re a company that relies on the software, you can pay into this organization, and then that organization determines how to distribute that money, not through what is of interest to the corporate interest, but just like looking at the project, where should we funnel money right now to get things done?</p>



<p>This is what the open JS foundation does. So they have foundation where you can pay in money and then they will distribute the money according to need, both for the project and for the people who contribute to it so that you can actually get work done. There is no reason why open source projects can&#8217;t have this. Other than that it&#8217;s resisted by the leadership, because it shifts, power. That&#8217;s the way it is. It&#8217;s a power thing. When you give people money for work, you&#8217;re changing the structure of how things are done. And that&#8217;s not something people who are driving massive amounts of money from a project want because then the power shifts.</p>



<p>[00:49:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> What would you say to somebody, I suspect this imaginary person wouldn&#8217;t be tremendously difficult to find, but what would you say to somebody who said, am totally happy with the way it is now? am really content with volunteering. Some time literally volunteering it with no expectation of anything. Just to be a good citizen, to be a part of the community and to see the project that I&#8217;m involved with over time. Don&#8217;t want to see financial reward or whatever it may be, I just want to contribute and see it grow for growth&#8217;s sake.</p>



<p>[00:49:41] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> Congratulations on being a white man living in north America or Western Europe, is what I would to say to that. That is basically the person you&#8217;re describing. That is a person with enormous privilege. Doesn&#8217;t have to be the person I just described, but it&#8217;s very likely to be that person I described. A person who has the privilege, not only of contributing their free time to a project like this without any expectation of renumeration, and who has the worldview that this is something everyone can do, and therefore it&#8217;s okay, is a person with enormous privilege. This is basic deontology, right. Duty ethics. If you do something, you are saying that this is the model you want everyone else to follow. It also implies that if you think that this is okay, you are saying, this is okay for everyone.</p>



<p>This is part of the problem that we have. The ideology that underpins this assumes equity in the system. When we know the system is not equitable. When we know that there are people with enormous power within all these open source projects, who earn millions of dollars off the open source project, where there are other people, with great ideas who earned zero dollars off the project who have no power because they don&#8217;t get paid for it, and they don&#8217;t have the ability to contribute. And that&#8217;s when you get this whole like, decisions are made by the people who show up and the people who show up are the people with privilege. So that means decisions are made by the people with privilege. And that&#8217;s how you get things like open source projects that disregard accessibility, because people with accessibility issues have a much higher threshold to walk across to get into the project and be able to contribute. And they are facing challenges in their lives that make it more difficult for them to be able to contribute without getting paid. As a result, the voices that would argue for more accessibility are effectively excluded from the conversation because they are not contributing as much as everyone else and thereby their views of the world are not embedded into the project because they&#8217;re never heard.</p>



<p>So it&#8217;s about privilege, and it&#8217;s a very privileged position to say, I&#8217;m fine with not getting paid. I&#8217;m one of those people, who, when I was contributing to open source projects, when I still contribute to open source project, I do that while I&#8217;m being paid by my company to do that.</p>



<p>Part of my job is to be embedded in open source projects to see what&#8217;s going on. And I use part of that time to help open source projects. But that means I am not the normal contributor. And that also means I have freedoms that other people don&#8217;t have to do things that other people can&#8217;t do. And I have to keep that in mind because that means I need to then bring those voices that can&#8217;t be at the table to the table, or represent the ideas of those voices at the table, ensure that those voices are heard in some way. part of that is me having conversations like this and saying, the fact that you don&#8217;t have equity in your system that the system is inequitable, and that the system will remain inequitable until you actively do something about it.</p>



<p>And the clearest path to doing that is by paying people. then you could extend that and say, people can choose. If you work for a company that&#8217;s paying for a contribution, then you don&#8217;t get paid. you don&#8217;t work for a company that&#8217;s paying for your contributions and you&#8217;re doing it on your own, then you can go apply to get paid.</p>



<p>[00:52:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> As with all of these things, the broad brush strokes of the idea are easy to crystallize. It&#8217;s straightforward conceive of these things. My guess is that some parts of the internet where you live, these ideas are crystallizing and they&#8217;re up for discussion, and this debate is ongoing. Where do you go to discover these ideas? What communities are you in, where these kinds of things are up for debate and so on.</p>



<p>[00:53:24] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> Open source projects are grassroots political organizations pretending to be software development communities. If you go look at grassroots political organizations, you very quickly see that it&#8217;s the same thing. ad hoc communities that grow over time, power. There&#8217;s power struggles within those communities. And eventually someone realizes, hey, doesn&#8217;t work, so they start implementing governance rules and they turn into either functioning organizations or they collapse, or they fracture, or fork into multiple different versions of themselves. Acknowledgement of this fact a long way to understanding how to move forward. Because the notion that, if you talk to individual open source contributors, especially powerful open source contributors who have significant sway on projects, they will always talk about the project as if it&#8217;s still some sort of hobby thing that they and their friends are doing on their spare time for fun. And in that frame that anyone who comes in and says, hey, we should do things differently are infringing on their freedom to do whatever they want in their spare time, as a hobby, Someone is coming to me and telling me I can&#8217;t drive my RC boats in the local lake. how it&#8217;s approached in reality. not what it is at all. It&#8217;s more like, you started with your little RC boat in a lake, now you&#8217;re running the main transportation hub for people who are moving from one island to another, but you&#8217;re still acting as if it&#8217;s just some hobby project. It&#8217;s not. There&#8217;s a disconnect between the reality of the impact people have how they treat it. And a grassroots political organization, the impact of the work you do become immediately apparent to you because you interface with the people you&#8217;re working with all the time, and you can see the real world impact .</p>



<p>In software development you never interface with the people you impact, or you only interface with the people, a small handful of them in very specific circumstances. you don&#8217;t really have a full understanding of what you are doing to the people you are building software for. I very intentionally say what you are doing to the people, because when you do any kind of design or development work, you&#8217;re really using people a vehicle to bring forth a view of the world or your vision of what the future should be like. It&#8217;s instrumentalism, you&#8217;re, quite literally building tools for people to use, and when they use those tools, they build the future that you devised for them. And that future is to your design. Software development gives you enormous power, but it also removes you from seeing the consequences of what you&#8217;re doing. And it gives you this cushion that you can sit on where you say, no, it&#8217;s just me mucking around with some software, it&#8217;s not a big deal. Meanwhile, it is a huge deal for a lot of people. So it&#8217;s a very sticky problem because it has to do with changing the way people think about open source software contribution, not as something you&#8217;re doing because you like it, but it&#8217;s something you&#8217;re doing that is changing the world.</p>



<p>And it&#8217;s funny because the open source contributors will very, very happily talk about the enormous impacts open source software has on the world until you ask them, how are you held accountable for this, at which point they are very quick to tell you, oh no one is allowed to restrict my creativity and freedom in doing any kind of development. How dare you bring this up, right?</p>



<p>[00:56:43] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I feel like we&#8217;ve just scratched the surface. We&#8217;re the best part of an hour in, and I know that you&#8217;re constrained by time, but I&#8217;m sure that for those people who have been intrigued, they&#8217;ll be keen to make contact with you and discover about your thoughts. you have a place, some places on the internet where you can be best discovered?</p>



<p>[00:57:06] <strong>Morten Rand-Hendriksen:</strong> Yeah. I&#8217;m on Twitter @mor10, mor 10, cause that&#8217;s my name. You can also find me on LinkedIn. I&#8217;m Morten Rand-Hendriksen on LinkedIn. I should be fairly easy to find. And I have a website, Mor10.com, one zero dot com. I&#8217;m I cross post everything. I post elsewhere onto my website too, so that I have control over my own content.</p>



<p>And I&#8217;m on TikTok now, at mor 10 web, so mor one zero web, because there&#8217;s someone else by the moniker Morten who&#8217;s not using their account, so you can find me there as well. Reach out to me from any platform. You&#8217;ll find me.</p>



<p>[00:57:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Absolutely fascinating discussion. I hope that you get some reaching out to you and continuing the discussion and the debate and thank you so much for joining us.</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, 23 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Nathan Wrigley";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:90:"WordCamp Central: Nexcess joins the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3146022";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:118:"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/02/23/nexcess-joins-the-wordpress-global-community-sponsorship-program-in-2022/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1270:"<p><span>We couldn’t be happier to welcome </span><strong><span><a href="https://www.nexcess.net/">Nexcess</a></span></strong><span> to the <a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/">WordPress global community sponsorship program</a></span><span> in 2022! They’re sponsoring at the Gold level, supporting official WordPress community events around the globe.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2019/02/Nexcess-Logo-Horiz.png"><img /></a></p>
<p><span>Nexcess provides a fully managed, high-performance, and best-in-class cloud solution built to optimize WordPress and WooCommerce sites and stores. For over 20 years</span><span>, our holistic, hands-on approach to managed products and solutions has provided users with tools that help them create better websites and e-commerce stores along with expert, on-demand support. By removing the stress of managing the day-to-day operations of their site or store, we afford our customers the ability to </span>PRESS<span> forward and focus more on what inspires them.</span></p>
<p><span>Whether you&#8217;re a small business owner, designer, developer, or a small to medium-sized agency, Nexcess has a solution </span><span>to help you and your business succeed.</span></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Feb 2022 14:00:33 +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:6:"Isotta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:56:"WPTavern: The Case for a Shared CSS Toolkit in WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=130404";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://wptavern.com/the-case-for-a-shared-css-toolkit-in-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6789:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Earlier today, Mark Root-Wiley published an in-depth <a href="https://mrwweb.com/standardized-design-tokens-css-wordpress-future/">proposal around standardized design tokens and CSS</a> for WordPress. The goal is to create a consistent, customizable, and interoperable system around the design tools in core. Essentially, he is proposing a standardized design framework or, as he refers to it, a &#8220;shared CSS toolkit&#8221; that WordPress, themes, and plugins can rely on.</p>



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



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



<p>The primary thought I shared was that there has been a bit of fatigue on the topic. There is a push to bring standard presets to core every so often. But, it always feels like the wheels are spinning in the mud until everyone gets out of the car when they realize it&#8217;s not moving.</p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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







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



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



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



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



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



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



<p>Coming Soon</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:00:07 +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:49:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 10.1.0 Maintenance Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=323557";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://buddypress.org/2022/02/buddypress-10-1-0-maintenance-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1865:"<p>Immediately available is&nbsp;<a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.10.1.0.zip">BuddyPress 10.1.0</a>. This maintenance release fixes ten bugs. For details on the changes, please read the&nbsp;<a href="https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/version-10-1-0/">10.1.0 release notes</a>.</p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Duplicated post.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

</div>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<p>Episode 25</p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Selecting a post accent color.



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



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



<img />Accent color wheel in the palette.



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



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



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



<img />Image block styles and accent color.



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



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



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



<img />Dark style variation.



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



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



<img />Wabi style guide patterns.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Enabling Social Icon text labels.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Post author biography section.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Block images vs. classic images.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<p>The new design is a fork of <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/themes/tree/trunk/blockbase">Blockbase</a>, Automattic&#8217;s open source &#8220;<a href="https://wptavern.com/block-fse-hybrid-universal-what-do-we-call-these-new-wordpress-themes">Universal</a>&#8221; starter theme. Now that it&#8217;s live, future discussions on the project will happen in the <a href="http://wordpress.slack.com/">#design channel on Slack</a>.  Bugs and suggestions for the design can be <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-news-2021/issues">reported on GitHub</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 01:50:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"Post Status: How Can We Increase Qualified Applicants for WordPress Jobs?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=89123";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://poststatus.com/increasing-qualified-applicants-for-wordpress-jobs/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18826:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Have you heard? There are jobs in the WordPress industry — <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/08/08/who-can-learn-help/">lots of jobs and many different roles</a>. See the job postings on the Post Status<a href="https://poststatus.com/jobs/"> Job Board</a>,<a href="https://jobs.wordpress.net/"> WordPress Jobs</a>, and even<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?f_TPR=r2592000&f_WT=2&keywords=wordpress%20developer"> LinkedIn Jobs</a>.&nbsp; There are a lot of job seekers in the web development world. How are job seekers preparing for the workforce? What are employers doing to find qualified talent? </p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<img />Original block style.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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

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

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



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



<img />Adding images in style!



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



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



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



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



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



<h2>Woo versus Ecwid</h2>



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



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



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



<h2>WooCommerce Brand Management</h2>



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



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







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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<p>Thanks, David.</p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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