New hires to Post Status and an acquihire for Automattic.

In this episode, David and Cory talk about recent news from all corners of the WordPress community. First, they share how they will miss Andrea Middleton — who is taking a great new opportunity at Reddit after 10 years of full-time work on the WordPress open source project. Next, they talk about why keeping the Classic Editor plugin officially supported makes sense, and how the Frontity acquisition by Automattic can be viewed as an acquihire to advance Gutenberg‘s development.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David welcome Jonathan Wold to the Post Status team.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

• Thanks for a great 10 years, WordPress!
• Jonathan Wold (Twitter)
• An Update on the Classic Editor Plugin
• Frontity to Join Automattic
• Frontity is joining Automattic
• David Bisset (Twitter)
• Cory Miller (Twitter)
• Post Status (Twitter)

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Version 4.1.12 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:

• Fixed a bug that was causing “Use of undefined constant” PHP notices.
• Improved styling of alert notices to better match the current WordPress look and feel.

To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.

I really believe in WordPress’ mission to democratize publishing. And I, for one, will never stop learning about what gives people more access to the software, and what makes the software more usable, and especially how we can combine usability with accessibility in a way that puts form and function on a level playing field.

That was Josepha Haden on the “The Art and Science of Accessibility” episode of the WP Briefing Podcast, talking about accessibility and exploring how it applies to the WordPress open source software. You will find that many of our updates from August 2021 tie in closely with the core principles of access, accessibility, and usability. Read on to find out more!

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Join the 2021 WordPress Translation Day Celebrations in September

Join WordPress contributors around the world on WordPress Translation Day celebrations for the entire month of September! The sixth edition of #WPTranslationDay – which is a cross-team effort led by the Polyglots and Marketing Teams, has a host of fun programs aimed at helping WordPress speak all languages of the world. Want to join the fun? Here’s how.

• Join your local translation event and collaborate on efforts to translate WordPress! Can’t find a local event in your area? Why don’t you organize one on your own?
• Join one of our global events from September 17-30! We have exciting sessions on polyglots tools and open source translation communities, to name a few.
• You can help translate WordPress to your own language, in your own time, this month! Here’s how!
• Share what you are translating using the #WPTranslationDay hashtag on social media, to build excitement around the event! Don’t forget to amplify posts about the event on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn!

 For more information, check out the translation day website and the Polyglots blog.

WordPress Release Updates

The Core Team commenced work on the next major release – WordPress 5.9. The team aims to ship some cool features such as intrinsic web design to blocks, improved block patterns, navigation menus, better design tools, edit flows for block themes, and a new interface for theme.json. Check out the WordPress 5.9 development cycle to know more. This release is set to go out in December 2021. The team is also working on shipping a minor release WordPress 5.8.1 –– its release candidate is already out and the final release will launch on September 8.

Want to contribute to WordPress core? Join the #core channel, follow the Core Team blog, and check out the team handbook. Don’t miss the Core Team chats on Wednesdays at 5 AM and 8 PM UTC. You can also help translate WordPress to your local language – and what better time to do it, than in September, during the translation month celebrations? Another fun way to contribute would be to share about WordPress 5.8 on social media!

Say Hello to Gutenberg Versions 11.2 and 11.3

We launched Gutenberg version 11.2 and version 11.3 this month. Version 11.2 adds customizing/color options to the search block, a flex layout for the group block, and a new button for creating posts as part of the publishing flow. Version 11.3 offers a new dimensions panel (replacing the spacing panel) with more styling options, dimensions control for the feature image block, and significant performance improvements for block inserters.

Want to get involved in building Gutenberg? Follow the Core Team blog, contribute to Gutenberg on GitHub, and join the #core-editor channel in the Make WordPress Slack. The “What’s next in Gutenberg” post offers more details on the latest updates. 

Get Excited about WordCamp US 2021

The biggest WordCamp in North America – WordCamp US 2021- is barely a month away. Get your (free) tickets, if you haven’t already! The organizing team has opened up calls for musicians, contributor stories, and media partners. Check out the event website and follow the event on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to stay updated on all that #WCUS news.

Important Announcements/Updates

• Support for the Classic Editor plugin will be extended for a full year until 2022!
• The Themes Team published a feedback summary on the proposed requirement changes for WordPress theme review, and will soon be updating the handbook and review tools. You will find more context in their meeting notes.
• The Plugins Team corrected inaccurate plugin statistics in the plugin directory.
• Check out the results of the FSE Theme Design (theme.json) survey!

Feedback/Testing Requests from Contributor Teams

• The Testing Team is requesting testing help for a few tickets and patches in WordPress. The team is also looking for volunteers to audit and update Core testing instructions across different Make sites.
• The Community Team shared a proposal on planning online-only recurring global do_action charity hackathons. Share your feedback by September 24.
• The Training Team is also exploring the possibility of adding learner achievements (on learn.wordpress.org) on WP Profiles and is requesting feedback from the community.
• Help the Marketing Team’s outreach research by filling out this 2 question survey on how you search for WordPress release information. If you have any favorite features from the latest release (WordPress 5.8) let the team know by completing this short form.
• Version 18.1 of WordPress for iOS and Android are now available for testing!

WordPress Event Updates

• WordCamp Florianopolis 2021 was held on August 11-12, 2021. The event, which sold 390 tickets, had 11 speakers and 4 sponsors. Catch the event recap on YouTube!
• WordCamp Galicia 2021 is being held from September 30 – October 2, 2021! 
• do_action Karnataka 2021 was held from August 7-15, 2021. Check out the recap!
• The Core Team organized a hallway hangout to compare the ‘experimental’ Gutenberg navigation feature with the built-in core feature. The team decided to wait until feature parity with core nav menus, to move the feature from experiments to the main plugin.
• The Diverse Speakers Training group (#WPDiversity) of the Community Team held their first “Allyship for WordPress Event Organizers” workshop on August 19, 2021. The event had 13 attendees from six countries who reported a 52% increase in preparedness to help create inclusive WordPress events. Stay tuned for their next workshop in November!

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Further Reading

• Don’t miss this blog post on Widgets in WordPress 5.8 and beyond!
• The Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach program wrapped up its ninth challenge –– Handling HigherEd Headers, on September 1. Keep an eye out for test results and future testing call announcements!
• The Test Team is attempting to modernize PHPUnit tests for WordPress.
• The Accessibility Team is testing the navigation block for accessibility feedback.
• The Docs Team launched a new repository for tracking issues with WordPress documentation: https://github.com/WordPress/Documentation-Issue-Tracker
• The Training Team finalized brand guidelines for learn.wordpress.org. The team is also working on setting up Micro courses for Learn.
• The Openverse Team is exploring Multistage docker builds as a solution to better set up waveforms for audio search results in the Openverse tool. 

Have a story that we should include in the next “Month in WordPress” post? Please submit it using this form. 

The following folks contributed to August’s Month in WordPress:  @evarlese @meher @nao @jillbinder @webcommsat

Wordfence has published two vulnerabilities that affect users of the Redux Framework plugin, which has more recently come to be know as the “Gutenberg Template Library & Redux Framework” on WordPress.org. Extendify purchased the plugin from its creator, Dōvy Paukstys, in November 2020, in a deal that was not highly publicized. It is currently active on more than 1 million WordPress sites.

Throughout most of its history, Redux has been known as a popular options framework for themes and plugins. In 2020, Paukstys relaunched the framework with a focus on Gutenberg templates. Users can now browse more than 1,000 templates from inside the block editor.

It is this new template-browsing feature that was found to be vulnerable in Wordfence’s recent security report, due to a lax permissions check on the WP REST API endpoints the plugin uses to process requests in its template library. On August 3, 2021, Wordfence disclosed one high-severity vulnerability described as an “Incorrect Authorization Leading to Arbitrary Plugin Installation and Post Deletion” and a lower-severity “Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Disclosure” vulnerability to the plugin’s owners. The report published this week describes the nature of the threat:

One vulnerability allowed users with lower permissions, such as contributors, to install and activate arbitrary plugins and delete any post or page via the REST API. A second vulnerability allowed unauthenticated attackers to access potentially sensitive information about a site’s configuration.

Extendify responded immediately and shipped a patched version (4.2.13) of the Redux Framework on August 11, 2021. At the time of publishing, more than 71% of sites using the Redux Framework plugin are running on older versions that remain vulnerable. Users are advised to update to the latest version in order to get the security patch, especially now that Wordfence has published an article showing how attackers could potentially exploit these vulnerabilities.

What if WordPress developers lived in a world where we could create PHP-based templates that would output data on the front end and handle editable fields via the block editor? Or, we had a system where we could create blocks without a build step?

While there are many reasons the modern WordPress editor is not the best fit for everyone just yet, one stumbling block has been building custom interface components. The ecosystem has a deep history of creating bespoke solutions for clients using PHP. These have been custom meta boxes and form fields in the classic editor screen for the most part. When WordPress 5.0 launched with its block editor, it turned the world upside down, often leaving agencies and freelancers with no way to move forward without dedicating massive resources to learning React to build blocks or interact with the new editing screen.

The solution? Stick with what you know. It was cheaper and already seemed to do the job well.

As we talk about the support window for the Classic Editor plugin, the WordPress project needs people to provide tools for this segment of the ecosystem if it ever plans on bringing them along for the ride. Solutions such as ACF Pro and Genesis Custom Blocks have bridged some of the technical gaps. However, the user experience can be sub-par when using server-side rendering in the block editor. That method works well for some types of blocks but not all. We need to take this one step more.

Mark Jaquith, a lead WordPress developer, shared a few questions from Helen Hou-Sandí, another lead developer, around this idea and a basic concept about what this might look like:

Hou-Sandí followed this with a detailed post on the concept, but she pointed out that this is merely an exploratory phase.

“The React-based WordPress block editor (sometimes referred to as Gutenberg) is a powerful tool for WYSIWYG editing that continues to prove to be somewhere between a speed bump and a roadblock for long-time WordPress developers who historically have been more PHP-centric,” she wrote in the post.

If you are a WordPress developer, there is a not-so-small chance that you are thinking, Yep, I have hit a few of those speed bumps and crashed into that roadblock a few times. This is unlikely news to you. What might start winning hearts and minds is acknowledging and understanding where much of the problem lies for custom development.

“By leveraging the familiar parts of PHP-based templating and creating a bridge that demonstrates the power of React when combined with the markup and styling already being done for the front-end, we can de-duplicate code, help demystify the critical role of JavaScript in modernizing WordPress, and serve as an on-ramp for PHP-centric developers to create compelling and delightful 1:1 live preview editing experiences,” wrote Hou-Sandí.

This all boils down to the process of, essentially, writing some template code that works on both the front-end and editor without all the complexities of currently setting up and building blocks. That is an exciting prospect, evidenced by the numerous likes, retweets, and replies to Jaquith’s tweet.

Hou-Sandí pointed out that the current thought process is primarily about easing the transition for custom client block solutions and not necessarily for WordPress itself. However, that does not mean that this or a similar solution might not be a part of the core platform’s future.

Gutenberg project lead Matías Ventura replied to Ben Gillbanks in the same Twitter thread that it was definitely something they were considering. “From a core perspective we had to ensure the primitives and interactivity is not compromised, but there’s no reason why that should imply a full JS toolchain for simpler blocks. Lowering barrier of entry is important.”

Like several others, Gillbanks thought that such a system would have made an easier transition for PHP-centric developers from the start. However, the project was not ready for that at the time, according to Ventura.

“It’s tricky to do something like this from the start until the compile target APIs are robust enough,” he tweeted. “We are getting to a point where many of the interactive properties are clustered into primitives and components, which makes a templating approach more appealing.”

Automattic developer Riad Benguella shared a similar solution in the past week, launching the Blocky project on GitHub. With his approach, developers utilize the block.json file to create the template or view component and run it through a simple build step to generate the block’s code.

While it is not too early to hope and dream, it may just be a bit premature to begin seriously considering whether such tools will land in core WordPress. However, seeing some of the lead WordPress and Gutenberg developers at least openly talking about solutions is something worth paying attention to.

Another two weeks have flown by, and another Gutenberg plugin update is in the books. I always look forward to the latest release, awaiting what goodies our contributor community has produced. Sometimes I jump the gun and install a development version of the plugin to understand an upcoming feature, such as the new “block gap” style setting. Other times, I like to be surprised with enhancements like the new vertical/horizontal padding controls for the Button block.

Of course, there is always a good chance that a plugin update will throw off our theme’s editor styles in a new and exciting way. It feels like it has been a while since Gutenberg caught me off guard. At least it is only the post title this go-round. The WP Tavern theme is aging a bit anyway. It is due for an update (hint, hint).

Aside from block gap and axial padding, Gutenberg 11.4 turns the Gallery block into a container for nested Image blocks and adds duotone filter support to featured images. Other notable enhancements include an option for adding alt text to the Cover block and font-weight support to the Post Date, Post Terms, and Site Tagline blocks.

Axial Padding for Button Block

Adjusting vertical and horizontal Button padding.

The Button block now supports changing the spacing along the X or Y axis when unlinking the padding. Previously, users could define the padding for all sides, but this could be tedious work. In most designs, top and bottom (vertical) padding should match, and left and right (horizontal) should get the same treatment.

This change should speed up padding customization in nearly all cases. However, it does introduce a regression. The consensus in the ticket was that the tradeoff for a less cumbersome experience was worth less flexibility for edge cases.

Overall, this should be a win for most. I am already a happier user.

Gallery Block Uses Nested Images

Adding a link to an Image block within a Gallery.

The Gallery block in Gutenberg 11.4 supports nesting individual Image blocks. It is currently hidden behind an experimental support flag and must be enabled via the Gutenberg > Experiments settings screen.

Effectively, the Gallery block is now a container. Inserting media still works the same way. The difference is that end-users have access to customize each Image block within a Gallery separately.

One use case for this feature is to allow users to add custom links around images. However, they now have access to more of the Image block’s options, such as custom theme styles.

Last week, I covered this feature in-depth because it is expected to land in WordPress 5.9, and theme authors should be ready for the transition. This is a breaking change in terms of HTML. Any themer with custom Gallery block styles should test the front-end and editor output before WordPress merges the changes.

Featured Image Duotone Support

Applying a duotone filter to the Post Featured Image block.

While we are still missing an image size control, I will take any Post Featured Image block improvements I can get at this point. The block felt like a second-class citizen for so long that I am giddy about any enhancements.

Duotone filters, which landed in WordPress 5.8, allow end-users to add a CSS filter over images to control shadow and highlight colors. Themes can register custom ones, or users can modify them. The latest Gutenberg plugin update brings this feature to the Post Featured Image block.

This change allows theme authors to explore adding some visual flair since the Post Featured Image block is meant for templating or site editing. It still has a long way to go before it is ready for more advanced theme design, but the tools are getting us closer.

Global Block “Gap” for Themes

Highlighting a Paragraph block and its preceding “gap” (top margin).

One custom feature that has become commonplace with themes that support the block editor is a “global spacing” style rule, which controls the whitespace between elements. Gutenberg contributors have noticed this trend and are now shipping a standard solution for it. Themes that use a theme.json file will automatically opt into support.

The gap feature adds a top margin to all adjacent sibling elements within block containers. This creates the space between each block using a standard method. Theme authors can control this via the styles.spacing.blockGap key in their theme.json files.

If you are a theme developer, this is one of the most crucial components of block theming from a pure design viewpoint. It is not something to avoid until it lands in WordPress. The time to test and provide feedback is now.

It is also merely a first step. There are pieces left to implement and problems to solve. There is currently an open pull request to bring this to editor block controls. There is also another ticket for zeroing out the margins for the first and last blocks, which would typically not need any. There are still some open questions on how to best deal with exceptions to the default block gap in the original ticket.

Regardless of its unfinished nature, it is an exciting development if you care anything at all about vertical rhythm in design systems.

WordPress Translation Day 2021

WordPress Translation Day kicked off today, and the event has been expanded to run from September 1-30 this year. WordPress Polyglots contributors from all over the world will be hosting mini-events throughout the month where they will be translating themes, plugins, apps, meta, docs, and other important projects. Events will also focus on recruitment, virtual training for new PTEs/GTEs, and general process improvements.

In the past, the event has been a boon for the Polyglots contributor base. In 2020, the teams hosted more than 20 local events, resulting in more than 175,000 strings translated. French, Spanish, and Japanese-language locales logged the most translated strings during the first week last year.

There are currently seven mini-events scheduled for 2021 in different locales throughout the month of September. From Portugal to Tehran to Jakarta, contributors are planning sprints to translate popular plugins and WordPress core. In Bengaluru, one of the largest IT hubs in India, organizers will be onboarding new translators, including high school students who are interested in contributing to WordPress.

WordPress Translation Day will also include some global events during the second half of the month. These events will be hosted in English and contributors of all experience levels are welcome to attend:

• Friday, September 17th (time to be announced): Introduction to WordPress Translation Day
• Sunday, September 19th at 12:00 UTC: Panel on Polyglots Tools
• Tuesday, September 21st at 11:00 UTC: Panel on Open Source Translation Communities
• Thursday, September 30th (time to be announced): Closing Party – Why do you translate?

Attendees will be able to participate live as the events are broadcasted on YouTube. The final session will recap the month’s events, highlight success stories, and will also include some activities and games.

This year translators are extending their volunteer efforts to some newer projects, including working with the Training Team to translate video workshops hosted on learn.wordpress.org, translating Community team resources, translating the Block Patterns project, and translating the Pattern Directory itself.

The global events combined with the local mini-events are essentially like a virtual Polyglots WordCamp held over the span of a month. Attendees will have opportunities to connect with other translators and team leaders and share their experiences contributing to WordPress. If you are new and thinking of joining the Polyglots team, check out the new Polyglots Training course on Learn WordPress.org to find out more about contributing.

Este ensayo también está disponible en español.

I am a very lucky person. I studied software engineering at a private university, I’m white, straight, handsome, and I live in Taco land.

I could have easily joined a multinational but there was always something that stopped me. It was probably that I felt I didn’t fit into the office world.

My friends became engineers looking to create video games. Someone succeeded there, but then the company where he worked was closed. All I knew was that I wanted to do something with computers and graphics. You study the closest thing to what you have in your head but the reality is always different.

I like programming but I am not passionate about it. I’m in love with visuals, so creating web pages with a platform as friendly as WordPress fit perfectly with my profile. Since I like to write and join puzzles, plugins and now Gutenberg blocks have made literally everything fit in my work.

Working for projects instead of for a single company has given me the opportunity to see many worlds.

The word WordPress has given me a lot in life

Like when a client found me on Google searching for a specialist WordPress developer to ensure that a film festival website was always online.

With WordPress magical things can happen, such as getting to know Brazil thanks to this project and since I had continuity, they looked for me again for the next edition to go back in person.

But then you learn some business.

I put the condition that they also pay the plane ticket to my then girlfriend. I threw in such a condition thinking that they would not do it, but it was accepted.

And you think: budgets must be exercised and the peace of mind of having someone in person is worth more than you think.

With WordPress, every time you give it comes back to you

Like when in 2013 I opened the help group on Facebook: WordPress Guadalajara and by sharing bits of my daily knowledge, people began to position me as the person they should turn to.

It is not that you share knowledge for the benefit, but somehow it always multiplies. In the community you meet people who inspire you and who make you reflect on where you stand and thanks to whom.

I want to talk now about my wife, she is also white and privileged. She did not finish university because she has always been rather self-taught, she dropped out when she realized that the level was not what she was looking for, so she found great teachers outside. She sells her drawings and for a long time she made more money than me.

Besides life, money is something we share. I sold her website to her ten years ago and she is the most talented artist I know, you should meet her.

One day an acquaintance dared to ask me what it felt like for her to pay the bills. When you are young it makes you want to argue with everyone. What makes me laugh is that at some point my wife is going to make a lot more money than me again. In the meantime it’s nice to move forward together in Taco Land.

As time goes by, you realize that it is a good idea to choose your battles. And that there are things that you can achieve little by little if you have enough continuity.

For many years they asked me if I continued making web pages, or if that making pages was still profitable…

Making web pages is a fundamental part of my life. Along with the tacos, my dogs and my wife.

It seems that if you offer a good service, making web pages turns out to be more stable than working for any multinational. So it has been for me.

Even in the pandemic I have had more clients than ever, of course, helped by a great team such as my partner and star web designer, Nina, who taught me how specialists who work independently for the common good can join together.

Ser freelancer puede ser lo más estable en el país de los tacos

Soy una persona con mucha suerte. Estudié una ingeniería de software en una universidad privada, soy blanco, heterosexual, guapo y vivo en el país de los tacos.

Fácilmente pude unirme a una multinacional pero siempre hubo algo que me lo impidió. Probablemente fue que sentía que no encajaba en el mundo de las oficinas.

Mis amigos se hicieron ingenieros buscando crear videojuegos. Por ahí uno lo logró pero luego cerraron la empresa donde trabajaba. Yo lo único que sabía era que quería hacer algo gráfico con computadoras. Uno estudia lo más parecido a lo que tiene en su cabeza pero la realidad siempre es otra.

Me gusta la programación pero no me apasiona. A mí me enamoras con lo visual y la creación de páginas web con una plataforma tan amigable como WordPress encajó perfecto con mi perfil. Como me gusta redactar y unir rompecabezas, los plugins y ahora los bloques de Gutenberg han hecho que literalmente todo encaje en mi trabajo.

Trabajar por proyectos en vez de para una sola empresa me ha brindado la oportunidad de conocer muchos mundos.

La palabra WordPress me ha dado mucho en la vida

Como cuando una clienta me encontró en Google buscando a un desarrollador especialista en WordPress para garantizar que el sitio web de un festival de cine estuviera siempre en línea.

Con WordPress pueden pasar cosas mágicas, como conocer Brasil gracias a este proyecto y si tienes continuidad, que te vuelvan a buscar para la siguiente edición y volver a ir presencialmente.

Pero entonces aprendes de negocios.

Puse la condición de que también le pagaran el boleto de avión a mi en ese entonces novia. Yo solté esa condición pensando que no lo harían, pero sí se logró.

Y piensas: los presupuestos se deben de ejercer y la tranquilidad de tener a alguien presencial vale más de lo que uno cree.

Con WordPress cada vez que das se te regresa

Como cuando en 2013 abrí el grupo de ayuda en Facebook WordPress Guadalajara y al compartir pedacitos de mis conocimientos diarios la gente me fue ubicando como la persona a la que debían de acudir.

No es que compartas por el beneficio, pero de alguna manera este se va multiplicando. En la comunidad conoces gente que te inspira y que te hace reflexionar sobre dónde estás parado y gracias a quien.

Quiero hablar ahora de mi esposa, ella también es blanca y privilegiada. No terminó la universidad porque siempre ha sido más bien autodidacta, se salió cuando se dio cuenta de que el nivel no era lo que buscaba, pero tuvo grandes maestros por fuera. Vende sus dibujos y por mucho tiempo hacía más dinero que yo.

Además de la vida, el dinero es algo que compartimos. A ella le vendí su sitio web hace diez años y es la artista más talentosa que conozco, deberías de conocerla.

Una vez un conocido se atrevió a decirme que qué se sentía que ella me mantuviera. Cuando eres joven te dan ganas de discutir con todo mundo. Lo que me da risa es que es muy probable que en algún momento mi esposa vaya a hacer mucho más dinero que yo de nuevo. Pero es bonito avanzar juntos en el país de los tacos.

Conforme pasa el tiempo te das cuenta de que es buena idea elegir tus batallas. Y que hay cosas que puedes lograr poco a poco si tienes la continuidad suficiente.

Por muchos años me preguntaban si seguía haciendo páginas web, o que si eso de hacer páginas era todavía algo que dejara dinero…

Hacer páginas web es una parte fundamental de mi vida. Junto con los tacos, mis perritas y mi mujer.

Pareciera que si ofreces un buen servicio, hacer páginas web resulta ser más estable que trabajar para cualquier multinacional. Así lo ha sido para mí.

Incluso en la pandemia he tenido más clientes que nunca, claro, ayudado de un gran equipo de trabajo como lo es mi socia y diseñadora web estrella, Nina, quien me enseñó sobre cómo pueden unirse especialistas que trabajen de forma independiente por un bien común.

The post Being a freelancer can be the most stable thing in Taco land appeared first on HeroPress.

The block-based Navigation editor screen got a status check last week as part of a Hallway Hangout meeting aimed at identifying what needs to happen to bring the screen out from behind the “experimental” flag. Once the Navigation screen is available by default in the Gutenberg plugin, the team working on the feature will be able to gather more feedback.

“The navigation block and navigation screen projects have been underway for quite some time and are a main target for 5.9,” Gutenberg lead developer Matias Ventura said in a post outlining the main focus items planned for the block editor in WordPress 5.9.

“A large part of the remaining work is to improve the user experience, reduce complexity, and test as much as possible on themes.”

Contributors participating in the meeting agreed that in order to move the Navigation screen out of the experimental stage, it will need to have UI/UX feature parity with what will soon be the classic Navigation screen (nav-menus.php). Participants came prepared with notes comparing features from the existing Navigation screen to the new block-based one. These are listed in a Google doc with a rough priority assignment.

Trudging through the many discrepancies between the two Navigation editing experiences allowed the team to update the project’s tracking issue on GitHub. It is being reorganized to focus on the tasks required to move the block-based Navigation screen out of “experimental” status. Nearly two dozen issues have been designated as high priority and 32 are marked as normal.

Work on the Navigation screen has stalled considerably since it was sidelined from consideration for WordPress 5.5 in July 2020. The previous tracking issue for the project became obsolete in February, forcing the creation of a new one that now aggregates all of the priority items for moving block-based Navigation forward. The recorded Hallway Hangout was a transparent discussion about what the UI is lacking and where it needs to go. It was a necessary, albeit tedious, accounting of issues that will get the project back on track.

The UI is still in a very rough state. Nesting is rudimentary. It’s not possible to assign menu locations. Adding menu items between existing items is very difficult, among a number of other critical issues. At this point, it would require an extraordinary effort to extract the block-based Navigation screen from its quagmiry state in order to have it ready for prime time in WordPress 5.9. The release is expected in December 2021 – just three months away.

David Smith, who facilitated the meeting, tempered expectations for the block-based Navigation screen with a few clarifications for what it will mean to take the feature out from under the “experimental” flag:

• We wouldn’t commit to feature parity of developer focused APIs at this stage.
• Removing “experimental” in the Gutenberg plugin, would not automatically make the feature ready for merging into Core (that won’t happen until WordPress 5.9 at the earliest).

While the block-based Navigation screen landing in 5.9 doesn’t seem likely, contributors’ recent organizational efforts put them well on their way towards getting the project out from under the “experimental” flag. Check out the recorded meeting for a deep dive into the Navigation screen UI and a glimpse of where it’s headed.

I was wondering, where should I go if I want to find a developer to work with on an idea? I have an idea for a product. I know the market well, I’m part of the target audience, and I just need someone else that would be passionate and interested in the idea just as much as myself to have to agree to work on an open-source project. Tinder for project partners?

Derin

If I am being honest, your question reminds me of my cousin. He is what I call an “ideas” guy. Every few weeks or so, he calls me up with several new rough concepts of things that could make some money. Most of these conversations end with him asking if I could build him a website or an app. “We can split the profits 50/50,” he would say. I then tell him that I would rather be paid upfront and show him my rates. He can reap 100% of the profits down the line. He moves on to the next thing.

As I said, he has loads of ideas. His problem is with the follow-through. Anyone can dream up the perfect product or service. The stumbling blocks tend to be all the steps between concept and production.

It will be hard to sell any legitimate developer on a dream alone. Feeding, sheltering, and clothing one’s family comes first. You must have a way to pay for those things in almost all scenarios.

I have built projects on nothing but faith with others. Some have worked out. Most have not. Having cash on hand to pay for those months in development will provide a smidgeon of security for the programmer putting in the time to turn a dream into reality.

One of those projects I completed for my cousin in my younger and less-financially-intelligent days was a hunting and fishing “magazine” website. It actually saw some early success. The accompanying Facebook group grew to about 1,500 members in the first year or so. The audience was there, but there was no business plan. There were no products or services. No advertising deals. No payday coming for Justin.

I know 100s of developers who have been in the same boat at one point or another. Most of them wise up after the first project or two that goes nowhere.

Most dream projects that folks build will be personal itches that they are scratching. If there is no guarantee of a paycheck, it is something they are already passionate about. It sounds like that is the sort of person you want to work with, so you will need to find someone likely already motivated about the same market as you. Without knowing your particular market, it is hard to say where your starting point might be.

Let us assume your idea is the Next Big Thing. If you need someone on the development end, you should be prepared to take on the other roles to make the project successful. Do you have a business plan? What is your marketing approach? Do you have research that shows there is a market for the idea? Mockups of a potential UI? If you want to pitch someone on coming along for your journey, make sure you have done everything possible to show that it is something worthwhile.

Where to find that elusive partner, though? It tends to be easier to find open doors when you are involved in the WordPress development community. It is about making connections. That can be through blogging or joining a business-friendly community like Post Status. The more involved you are, the more people you can meet who may share your passions or be able to point you to others who do.

My usual advice would be to visit your local WordCamp to meet others in person. Of course, during this Covid-era, such conferences are virtual. There are tons of online-only events that can help you connect with people in the community.

Those human-to-human connections are your foundation, even if they are just over the web.

I do like the notion of a “Tinder” for WordPress project partners, or at least some type of networking place for folks. That could be a unique site and service you could build without a developer — just a domain, hosting plan, and a business model. It could even be the launchpad for finding the partner for your dream project.

If all else fails, there is always the DIY route — I am guessing you are not a developer. Many plugin authors have been born from a dream and not a lick of coding knowledge. I started in this industry primarily because I needed my website to have specific functionality. With no money to pay for it, I just started learning. I even enjoyed the art of programming and built a semi-successful business that I ran for over a decade. It is not some magical skill that only a certain few possess. Anyone can pick up the trade with time and effort.

If you do not have a developer in your corner, that may just need to be one of the hats you must wear as you kick-start your project. Once you start turning a profit, you can hire out that position.

I have probably not adequately answered your question. The truth is that anything I have ever done with success has started by connecting with others in the WordPress community. So, I am going to kick this can down to our readers. How would you approach finding the right development partner for a great idea?

Frontity co-founders Pablo Postigo and Luis
Herranz

Automattic has acquired Frontity, the company behind an open source framework for building WordPress themes with React. The acquisition comes more than a year after the company raised €1M in funding in a round led by K Fund, with Automattic covering 22%. Frontity co-founders Pablo Postigo and Luis Herranz and their team will no longer be developing and maintaining the framework. Their new focus will be on contributing to the WordPress open source project and improving the full site editing developer experience.

“After a series of conversations, Automattic offered to sponsor our team to work directly on the WordPress open source project,” Frontity’s founders said in the announcement. “In particular, to contribute our expertise in developer experience, frontend tooling, performance, and UX to the WordPress core itself, instead of doing so only for an external tool.”

In a separate FAQ document, Frontity clarified that this acquisition does not mean the framework will be merged into WordPress, nor does it mean the team plans to bring React into the WordPress PHP or full site editing themes. The founders intend to apply their expertise to the Gutenberg project full time:

Even though Frontity is a React framework, it doesn’t mean that we are going to push React to the WordPress frontend. We will look at the Gutenberg and full site editing space to identify those areas in which our work could have the most significant impact, and work closely with the WordPress community to help improve its developer experience.

WordPress is already the best content platform on the web. We want to help it become the best development platform on the web.

In addition to putting the Frontity team on improving developer experience, Automattic is also investing in other ways that expand its support of the Gutenberg project. The company has recently hired a new head of developer relations who is building out a team tasked with improving the developer experience with Gutenberg and full-site editing. Birgit Pauli-Haack is a new member of that team and Automattic is also sponsoring her curation of the Gutenberg Times publication and the Changelog Podcast.

Frontity Framework Will Transition to a Community-Led Project

As the result of the acquisition and the team’s reassignment to working on Gutenberg, Frontity’s founders are transitioning the framework to be a community-led project. The team has prepared to leave the project in “a stable, bug-free position,” with documentation regarding what features they were working on. The framework is used by many companies and agencies, including high profile sites like the TikTok Creator Portal, popular Catholic news site Aleteia, and Diariomotor, a popular Spanish automotive publication.

“As far as we know, Automattic is not using Frontity Framework in any of its products,” Frontity CEO and co-founder Pablo Postigo said. “But we know there are a lot of Automatticians who have been following our progress closely. 

“We are aware that WordPress VIP does recommend Frontity for decoupled solutions, too. We are sure our experience and knowledge might be of help for this team as well.”

The departure of Frontity’s founders and team introduces some uncertainty into the future of the framework. When asked if it can survive as a community-led project, Postigo was optimistic but not certain.

“We still think that Frontity Framework is the best way to run a decoupled WordPress site with React and that this will be the case for a long time,” Postigo said.

“It is still too early to know what will happen. Frontity has a great community behind it, there are a lot of great projects which are using the framework in production, and there’s also a nice group of really active contributors. We feel really positive about the future of the framework.”

The easiest way to kill your WordPress plugin is to fail to let the world know about it. If you cannot manage a tweet, blog post, or quick note on Facebook, you may as well sign the death certificate then and there.

I get it. I have been there. Not everyone is a marketing guru, so putting out the right messaging might seem like speaking in a foreign language. But no messaging at all? That will not bode well for your young project.

Part of my job is finding plugins and sharing them with the community. Every week, I am on the lookout for that next great idea. Or, at least, a sort-of-good idea. I scour Twitter, regular blogs that I read, and official WordPress directories for plugins and themes. What I like most about writing about our beloved platform is not big business deals or the latest drama. While those pieces can be fun, I am most interested in what people create on top of the software. Whether a large company or an individual builds a new plugin, I am always excited when Monday rolls around. I can begin my search anew.

Often, I will find a new plugin that looks promising, so I dive into it. I install and activate it. At times, I find something so interesting that I have no choice but to share it. However, most of the time, I need a little push. To understand “the why” behind it. I do a quick check to see if they have written a blog post, tweeted about it, or shared it in some way. More often than not, nothing exists about it other than its listing in the plugin directory. And, reaching out to devs via email is often a hit-or-miss affair.

When you do not announce your new project to the world, it feels like you are not passionate about it.

I understand that some people simply hash out an idea and decide to drop it in the plugin directory. They are not in it for glory or even recognition. For them, it is just a piece of code they thought might come in hand for others. But, usage is the lifeblood of software. If no one else downloads, installs, and activates your plugin, can we really call it software?

Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, whether it makes a sound is irrelevant if no one is around to hear it.

I have been mulling over whether to finishing writing this post for months, unsure if I was ever going to hit the publish button. I initially scratched down some notes in early April, attempting to understand why so few go through the trouble of doing any marketing of their plugins. I reached out to Bridget Willard to get insight from someone with a rich history in the marketing world. She had just published How To Market Your Plugin the month before, so the timing made sense.

However, I still felt too frustrated with the status quo in the WordPress community. A message from a reader wishing that we would mention alternative choices for plugin-related posts prompted me to revisit this. The truth is simple. So many projects fly under the radar because their authors begin and end their marketing by submitting to WordPress.org.

“Marketing is communication,” said Willard. “At the basic level, you must ‘tell people’ you have a product. The basic minimum is a blog post with social posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It’s scary to market while you build, but that’s what the automobile industry does (along with others). You have to create the desire for the product — more than fixing a problem.”

While she tends to focus on products and services, I asked her what developers should be doing regardless of whether their plugins are commercial or free.

“I advocate with all of my being having a landing page on your main site (not a new site) promoting your plugin — while you’re building it,” paraphrasing from a chapter in her book. “Take signups for beta testers, start email marketing. The blog post is anti-climatic in many ways, and one or two tweets aren’t enough. Even better is to customize the sign-up ‘thank you page’ with something special — a video talking about your goals, for example. It’s not the time to have a tutorial or demo. This is about communicating your vision.

“The sad thing is that many plugin developers don’t see the need to spend money on a ‘free’ plugin. The axiom is true, ‘it takes money to make money.’ If you want sales, you need marketing. The sale for a free plugin is a download, and those are just as important.”

Part of me missed the old Weblog Tools Collection era. Every few days, the site would share a post with the latest plugins (themes too) with short descriptions of each. It was an easy win if you had no marketing skills. Developers could submit their new projects, and the team would share them with the community. When I was a young and upcoming developer, it was one of the only ways I knew how to reach folks in the WordPress community aside from pushing stuff from my own blog.

Today, we have far more avenues for sharing our work via social networking. Of course, the downside is that you have to cut through the noise.

In the long run, I would like to see an overhaul of the WordPress.org directory, focusing on the discoverability of plugins by feature instead of only popularity. Not all developers are known for their marketing skills. Having a little help from the directory they feed into could make it easier for budding developers to jump from hobby to business.

Until then, let the world know about your plugin. Even if it seems like you are shouting into the abyss, you may just hear an answer from someone who noticed your passion. If nothing else, let us know about it here at WP Tavern.

Since Frontity launched their open source framework, they have been making the integration between React and WordPress easier. Their proven drive and experience with clean technological solutions will benefit our efforts as we continue to make the block and theme APIs a joy to use and WordPress the best development platform on the web.

The next step in the growth of this relationship is for Frontity and its team to join Automattic and contribute to core WordPress.org as part of our commitment to Five for the Future.

I believe there’s still a lot that we can learn from decoupled systems and we can incorporate those learnings into WordPress itself as we emphasize performance, flexibility, and ease of development. I look forward to Frontity joining WordPress and channeling their efforts into the WordPress APIs, documentation, and Gutenberg’s full-site editing tools.

Howdy!

Greetings from Germany, where the weather is moody and federal election campaigns heat up. As the American rule to avoid politics and religion at dinner table discussions doesn’t apply, we have lots to talk about with family and friends we haven’t seen for over two years. You can view my photos, mostly landscapes, on Instagram.

As mentioned in the last edition, I have fabulous news.

I am thrilled to announce that on Monday, August 30th, I will start as developer advocate at Automattic. Automattic will also sponsor the Gutenberg Times and the Changelog Podcast. 

To be part of the WordPress developer relations team feels to me like coming home, and I am deeply grateful to Automattic for offering me the position. The best is yet to come for Gutenberg and publishing with blocks. I am elated, to be part of an astonishing team to take the world-wide WordPress community on the next journey.

Via previous surveys, you shared a considerable amount of great ideas on how to improve the Gutenberg Times, Live Q & As or Changelog Podcast. Now I will have the resources (= time) to implement some of them. We can hold more Live Q & As covering the topics suggested in the surveys, or invite guests to the podcast.

Share your ideas or comments via email [email protected] or leave a comment below. I want to read them all!

Now without further ado: There is a heap of links to share with you, after I skipped a week.

Yours, 💕
Birgit

Classic Editor plugin extended for one Year

The WordPress core committers officially extended the support for the Classic Editor plugin all through 2022. This gives everyone another year to migrate to blocks. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy also wrote: “Still, if you’ve been putting off using the block editor, this is an excellent time to give it another shot. Since it first appeared in 2018, hundreds of WordPress contributors have made a lot of updates based on user feedback. You will be pleasantly surprised at how far it’s come!”

On the WordPress Tavern, Justin Tadlock interviewed, core committer, Jonathan Derosiers and has more details on the core team’s approach toward maintaining the plugin beyond 2022.

 “Keeping up with Gutenberg – Index 2021” 
A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly. The index 2020 is here

Gallery Block Refactor landed and needs testing

The Gallery block hasn’t had any significant update since the release in WordPress 5.0. It was clear that a different approach would be needed for the next iteration. Glen Davies spearheaded the Refactor of the Gallery block. The main change was to use the InnerBlock feature to create Galleries as collection of single image blocks.

This empowers content creators to assign different styles and links to individual images of the Gallery. Although the refactor progressed well, it didn’t make it into WordPress 5.8 as backwards compatibility with the earlier version and migration for existing gallery blocks needed more attention.

The code changes made it into the Gutenberg plugin and are available via the Experiments section. You can use the Gutenberg Nightly version, or the 11.4 Release Candidate, or wait until Wednesday (Sept 1) for the stable 11.4 release.

• Glen Davies posted the Gallery Block Refactor Dev Note.
• Justin Tadlock shares his experience: Gallery Block Refactor Expected To Land in WordPress 5.9

Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg’s main (trunk) branch?
Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.
Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.

Gutenberg 11.3 released

Vicente Canales from Chile, wrangled the release of Gutenberg 11.3 and you can read What’s new in Gutenberg 11.3? (18 August) in his release post.

Justin Tadlock tested the new Gutenberg plugin version and has the details: Gutenberg 11.3 Introduces Dimensions Panel, Adds Button Padding Support, and Speeds Up the Inserter

In the new Episode of the Gutenberg Changelog #50, Grzegorz (Greg) Ziolkowski and I discuss the preliminary roadmap to WordPress 5.9, Gutenberg 11.3 release and Navigation Screen and Block.

As mentioned, Gutenberg 11.4 is already in the works. For testing purposes, the release candidate 11.4 RC is available for download. Final release is schedule for Wednesday, September 1st.

Subscribe to the Gutenberg Changelog podcast
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Navigation Blocks and Screen updates

The Gutenberg developers working on the Navigation Blocks and Screen met for a Hallway Hangout to discuss the current issues. (Github Tracking Issue). The goal of the discussion was to identify those that need to be resolved to take the block-based Navigation feature out of the experimental state and get it ready for the merge into WordPress Core, possibly for 5.9 in December. Dave Smith posted links to the recording and relevant issue on the Make/Core blog.

Building Blocks

Rich Tabor updated his tutorial How to add and remove Gutenberg block styles with Javascript. “And while it is relatively simple to add block styles using PHP, removing them is not quite as easy — especially block styles added by WordPress core (or any added client-side). Enter JavaScript… and I promise, it’s not as daunting as you might think.”

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Ryan Welcher explains how to request data with the getEntityRecord selector and expands on some details and use cases. Welcher provides a series of query examples and then walks you through the method on how to create a loading state and update the queries.

Block Editor for site implementors and content creators

Justin Tadlock explored the new plugin Block Attributes, that empowers users to add attributes to blocks via the advanced section in the sidebar. This is handy when you need to add a click event or aria-labels to blocks. Tadlocks tutorial explain the how: Adding Custom HTML Attributes With the Block Attributes Plugin

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Jamie Marsland of PootlePress (WooCommerce Blocks) wrote a tutorial on How to create an Industry News Page with the Gutenberg Block Editor. Marsland walks you through the usage and display options of the RSS block.

Theme development for Gutenberg

Matias Ventura, the ‘spark of Gutenberg’ gave in his post The Theme.json horizon a bird’s-eye view on the broader impact and opportunities the Theme.json file provides for the WordPress ecosystem.

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Tammie Lister shared her fun with group block borders, with instructions on how to control borders via theme.json.

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Frank Wazeter explored a way to use the new theme features of WordPress 5.8 without depending on the Gutenberg plugin to be present. Wazeter wrote: “This code shows how a WordPress theme can support and mimic Gutenberg Plugin’s templating system for the block editor/template editor, while not having a dependency on the Gutenberg Plugin itself. “.

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In December 2020, WordPress launched its new “Learn” platform with free courses, workshops, and lesson plans. Since then, the Training Team has continued adding more material. The latest proposal is an open discussion for the community on adding participatory badges for completing coursework.

“I’d like to nail down what kind of thing we would like to see regarding recognising learner achievements on profiles,” wrote WordPress community manager Hugh Lashbrooke in the announcement earlier this month.

The proposal, which now has a GitHub ticket, includes showing the following on a user’s WordPress.org profile page:

• A course’s completion in the activity stream.
• The user’s average grade from Learn WordPress.
• A new “Learning” tab for displaying completed courses with dates and the possibility of individual completed lessons, relevant grades, and other learning data.
• A new “Learner” badge for anyone who has completed one course.

Currently, there are only two courses available. “That is changing as we develop new content,” wrote Lashbrooke in the post. “So my hope is that we will have these rewards in place now, and as content is created, the rewards will flow naturally.”

One downside to the proposal may be publicly showing a user’s grades. “I’d be against showing the learner’s average grade publicly because it could lead to anxiety, stress, etc., and maybe even stop some people from participating in the courses,” wrote Stephen Cronin in the comments. “Eg: ‘What if I only get a C, will anyone take me seriously? Will it harm my chances of getting a job in the WP space?’ etc. Some people will thrive on that sort of competition, some people … not so much. And I feel like we should be as inclusive as possible.”

Lashbrooke responded that showing grades could be an opt-in feature. However, I would question why it would be necessary to show grades at all. Bragging rights? Maybe. If we could somehow make it shareable via social media, it might be a fun way to get more people to participate.

Several people in the comments were encouraged by the idea of social sharing. Adam Warner even proposed adding the Learn badges to the oEmbed WordPress block, making it easy for users to share their accomplishments on their sites.

However, the first step should be to provide badges for completing a course. It is an easy win and could be automated.

Most user profile badges are for direct contributions to the project, such as writing code or working on a team. However, at least some user-based participatory badges are available already. For example, there is a “Test Contributor” badge for providing feedback on calls for testing.

One side advantage of a Learn achievement system could be for employers who are looking through an applicant’s history. It may help potential employees show off their competency in specific areas of the WordPress platform.

Courtney Engle Robertson, Web Design and Developer Advocate at GoDaddy, questioned Matt Mullenweg during 2020’s State of the Word Q&A session on the role of the Learn platform as it pertains to the job market.

Mullenweg said the first step is organizing the platform and making high-quality educational material available. However, he seemed open to the idea of having a self or administered certification down the line. It would allow people to show that they have completed or tested out of a course.

“It wouldn’t be a perfect system, but it could be a nice way for people to learn more about WordPress,” he said. “And, hopefully, as they go through, since WordPress is open-source, improve the materials as we go through it, both from the point of view of making it more intuitive or easier to understand and also translating, as well. Because there is a huge demand for WordPress really all over the world now.”

View the clip below from the State of the Word Q&A:

“As someone who hires WordPress professionals, I would love to have a request in the job application to link up their WP profile so we can see competency through that learning platform,” commented Chris Badgett, the founder and CEO of LifterLMS, on the proposal.

He also agreed with Mullenweg that people should be able to test out of a course. It would not make sense for those who have already acquired specific skills or knowledge to go through the motions of completing coursework they are already proficient in.

“Creating quizzes or ‘post tests’ in the LMS with a standard minimum passing requirement to earn the achievement badge would help fulfill this,” he said.

For now, some simple gamification via profile badges could boost participation and, perhaps, get more people involved in contributing to the Learn platform. This could also be the first step toward a WordPress certification system.

We Can Be Organized In How We Multitask.

In this episode, David and Cory have a conversation about another way to prevent Developer Overload: organization. Cory shares how he benefited from a mentor, while David feels that documentation, commenting code, and following some best practices can help reduce anxiety overall — if you can convince yourself to adopt new habits. This show is worth a listen just for Cory's “going on a hike” metaphor.

Also covered in this episode: Cory encourages David to take the Kolbe A Index test.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

• David Bisset (Twitter)
• Cory Miller (Twitter)
• Post Status (Twitter)
• kolbe.com
• strengthsfinder.com
• Get Hired

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) has released version 5.10, the first major release since the plugin was acquired by Delicious Brains. It introduces several new features that were previously experimental, closing out tickets that were started by previous owner Elliot Condon.

The release enables HTML escaping by default, which helps prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. It runs content rendered by ACF through the WordPress wp_kses() function. There was a little confusion about how this works and the release post has been updated to clarify:

“It’s important to note that this only affects content rendered by ACF in your WordPress dashboard or any front-end forms rendered through acf_form(),” Iain Poulson said. “This will not affect field values loaded through API functions such as get_field() and the_field(). We don’t make any assumptions about where you are using your field values within your theme and do not escape to them as a result.”

Version 5.10 also introduces support for the WordPress Blocks API v2 for ACF blocks. WordPress 5.6 came with a new Block API that makes it easier for theme and plugin developers to style the block content with more consistent results matching the front end. The ACF team has created a Block API v2 help doc with examples that help developers update their blocks and make use of the new block filters included in the update.

Other features introduced in this release include block preloading turned on by default, a new full-height setting for blocks, opacity support for the color-picker, and many bug fixes. Next up on the roadmap for the plugin is adding WordPress REST API support to ACF field groups.

“As API-powered JavaScript front-ends become more and more popular in the WordPress space, it’s clear that many of our customers want this functionality included in ACF core,” Poulson said.

“We also plan to improve the performance of the plugin and work on other quality of life features. Now that our development team has a solid handle on the codebase and the release process, we can start working on these more complicated but long-requested features.”

Shortly after the acquisition, Delicious Brains representatives published a pinned thread in the forum, clarifying expectations for free support and response times. The official support forum for both free and PRO users can be found at support.advancedcustomfields.com, which is more active than the WordPress.org forums. Since the plugin is more developer-focused, the team is taking a looser approach to support by giving the community a place to help each other:

We rarely provide support in either forum. The exception is after a major release, when we keep an eye on both forums to spot any problems caused by the release.

The primary purpose of both forums is for people in the WordPress community who are having trouble with Advanced Custom Fields to help each other. Response times can range from a few days to a few weeks and will likely be from a non-developer. We jump in now and then when the description sounds suspiciously like a bug. 

The release of version 5.10 is a good sign that ACF will continue to make progress under its new ownership and a reassuring milestone for the small minority of users who were unsure about the plugin’s future.

WordPress Community members in the state of Karnataka, India organized a do_action charity hackathon from 07 to 15 August 2021. The event, which was supported by 12 volunteers, helped create websites for 3 non-profits. do_action Karnataka was held completely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it concluded symbolically on August 15th 2021 — the 75th Independence Day of India. This is the second do_action Hackathon in Karnataka — the first one being do_action Bengaluru, which was held in 2019.

Efforts behind do_action Karnataka kicked off three months prior, in April 2021. N Suresha, Prem Tiwari, UC Riyaz, Sagar Vora, SR Venkatesh, and Yogesh Londhe (myself) from the WordPress Community of Karnataka, joined hands to support local non-profits by helping them build websites. The following non-profits signed up for our hackathon: 

• Luv Kush Foster Home: A foster home that aims to care for animals in need
• Vridhi Foundation: which aims to support the education of underprivileged children
• Peacespark Foundation: Welfare of women and children

12 volunteers immediately signed up to build websites for these non-profits. Not everyone could participate due to personal challenges related to COVID-19, but the teams worked hard to complete the work within the stipulated time. As a result of all that hard work, two non-profit sites were launched, and one is in the pipeline!

Peacespark Foundation: https://www.peacespark.org/

A screenshot of the Peacespark Foundation website created by the do_action Karnataka 2021 team.

The website of Peacespark Foundation was built by SR Venkatesh (project manager) and Hari Shanker (content writer). Venkatesh collected all the content and the photos from the non-profit, and he was also in constant communication with the team. He also single-handedly designed and developed the website for the team! Since the content manager volunteer could not join on time, Hari stepped in to prepare the content for the site. As a result, the site was ready well within the deadline, and the non-profit was happy and grateful!

Vridhi Foundation: https://vridhifoundation.org/: 

A screenshot of the Vridhi Foundation website created by the do_action Karnataka 2021 team.

N Suresha (project manager), along with Hussna Hussain (content writer) and UC Riyaz (designer) built the website for Vridhi Foundation. Makarand Mane helped with the multilingual translation plugin, the theme, and the required templates. Prem Tiwari set up the site and provided technical support during the development, as well. Together, the team worked in synergy to burn the midnight oil and deliver the site for the non-profit, which formally launched the same in a function at their premises, on August 15th! 

Representatives of the Vridhi Foundation at their website launch event on August 15, 2021

Since representatives of Luv Kush foster home were out of the country during the hackathon,  they couldn’t collaborate to give the content and the photos for the website. Most of the technical groundwork for their website is done, and it will formally be launched once the non-profit provides content for the teams. 

The hackathon would not be possible without the support of our kind sponsors who provided hosting, domain names, WordPress plugins/themes, and post hackathon support guarantees for all the non-profits. A big thanks to all of them! Our sponsors include:

• Give WP – Who kindly sponsored a premium license for their flagship donation plugin
• Yoast – Who kindly sponsored a premium license for their SEO plugin
• Themeisle – Who provided premium licenses for their theme
• WP Job Openings – Who provided a license for their job board plugin
• WPGenius – Who provided a translation plugin, templates, and themes
• Prem Tiwari – Who has offered post-hackathon tech support for non-profits
• Bluehost India – Who provided hosting and domain names for all three non-profits

In addition to our sponsors, I wish to thank all stakeholders who helped make our event a grand success — especially our team of passionate volunteers and organizers who battled several personal challenges and a global pandemic to build an ever-lasting online presence for non-profits. Special thanks to the WordPress Foundation for supporting these do_action charity hackathons which empower non-profits across the globe, especially in these tough times.

As we were wrapping up the event on the final day of the hackathon, I asked our team of organizers and volunteers one question: “Despite all the challenges, would you do this again?” They all answered in one resounding voice: “YES!”  

On behalf of the do_action Karnataka 2021 Organizing team,
Yogesh Londhe

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Feeling inspired, already? You can use WordPress for social good, by organing a do_action charity hackathon in your own city! Check out our handbook for more information. It just takes five minutes to fill out the application form. So why wait? Apply now!

Earlier this week, websevendev released its fourth WordPress plugin to the official directory named Block Attributes. The extension allows end-users to add any HTML attribute to nearly any block.

One of the problems with the WordPress editor is that it can be a bit fussy about customizing HTML. Blocks are built on a set of standards, and the markup is supposed to meet those expectations. If something does not fit, users see an invalid markup warning.

However, there are times when users need to drop in a custom HTML attribute for various reasons. For example, I sometimes need to add a custom data- attribute for working with a bit of JavaScript. Since I know my way around code well enough, I typically write out the HTML in those situations via the Custom HTML block. But, that does not make sense when minor attribute additions are called for.

WordPress currently allows users to add classes and IDs (called an “HTML anchor” in the admin) to almost every block. It does not allow for direct input of the dozens of other possible attributes that HTML supports. The use cases for the average user are few and far between.

For those scenarios where some users could use the extra feature, the Block Attributes plugin is handy.

The plugin is straightforward to use. It adds a new field named “Additional attributes” under the Advanced tab of every block. Users can add the attribute name and click the “Add” button. From there, it creates a new field for adding the attribute value.

Adding an onclick attribute to a Button block.

The plugin also supports multiple attributes. Once you add one, you simply use the same input field to create more.

For my first test drive, I added a simple onclick attribute with a value of myFunction(). Then, I hopped over to my theme and created that function via JavaScript to output a simple message in the console. Everything looked good under the hood, and it worked.

HTML view and console with custom JS for a Button block.

Most of the use cases I have in mind are for integrating with JavaScript, and this was a simple example of what is possible. There are far more complex things a developer could do with such a feature. That is reason enough to keep this plugin in the toolbox — sometimes you need a wrench instead of a hammer.

I could also see Block Attributes being used for adding ARIA attributes in other situations where it might aid accessibility.

Users could add custom styles to a specific block via a style attribute with the plugin. However, unless this is a simple one-off, I would recommend against it. For more advanced use cases, Blocks CSS is a far more suitable plugin. It has a built-in syntax highlighter. Plus, a textarea is friendlier than a one-line text input box.

The only downside to Block Attributes I have seen is upon deactivation. You will see the dreaded “this block contains unexpected or invalid content” message in the editor if you have added any custom attributes. The editor has managed to resolve any issues I have run into with the core blocks.

Resolving block warning after deactivating plugin.

Deactivating the plugin should not affect the front-end output. Because the custom attributes are a part of the HTML markup, they will still be there. The error message should only show in the editor.

Last week, I reached out to several members of the core WordPress committers to see if we could get an official word on whether Classic Editor support would continue beyond the mere months it seemingly had left to live. I received a semi-official answer but was asked to hold off on publishing for a more detailed and nuanced response.

Earlier today, WordPress executive director Josepha Haden Chomposy announced the official decision. It was just as expected. The WordPress project would continue supporting the Classic Editor plugin for a while longer.

“At the time, we promised to support the plugin through 2021 and adjust if needed as the deadline got closer,” she wrote. “After discussing this with Matt [Mullenweg], it’s clear that continuing to support the plugin through 2022 is the right call for the project as well as the community.”

As of now, classic users have a one-year extension.

However, the plugin will not suddenly stop working on December 31, 2022. That is merely the current deadline for the “full support” phase. It should continue working well beyond whatever date is set for that support window to close.

Designer Mark Root-Wiley reached out to WP Tavern via Twitter last week, but others had been asking the same question for a while. For some, they needed to know if they could continue supporting specific client needs. For others, it was a bludgeon to use in conversations for all editor-related things. Whatever the reason, before today, the last word had been from a Make Core post in November 2018.

“The Classic Editor plugin will be officially supported until December 31, 2021,” wrote core contributor Gary Pendergast in that three-year-old announcement. It was a shock for many at the time, uncertain whether the new block system would meet their needs.

While three years may have seemed like plenty of time to ditch the classic in favor of the modern WordPress editor, the current stats show that the project still has a few miles yet to go.

Currently, there are over 5 million active installations of the Classic Editor plugin. I am still waiting for a more specific tally, but no one has provided an answer yet. At best, we think the counter turns over at 10+ million, so we can speculate on the floor and ceiling for possible usage.

Active installs are not the entire picture either. For example, we have the plugin installed here at the Tavern for legacy reasons but do not use it in our day-to-day work. We can likely disable it altogether. WordPress has no telemetry system for tracking the usage of such features. While the install total will not always make the picture clear, the current number supports the push for continued maintenance.

“I think it’s important to note that the plugin is not going anywhere,” said core committer Jonathan Desrosiers. “It will continue to be listed on the .ORG repository for the foreseeable future.”

He pointed out that understanding the next phase of the Classic Editor plugin meant looking into the level of effort required to support it since 2018. The overwhelming majority of the changes in that nearly three-year timeframe have come down to keeping up with:

• Text changes.
• Adjustments to prevent warnings/errors and promote consistency across supported PHP versions.
• Changes to deprecated action/filter hook calls.

“It’s been almost three whole years, and the plugin has largely required very little maintenance to continue functioning, and the bulk of maintenance has been to limit warnings and notices in debug logs,” he said.

The goal of the Classic Editor plugin was to help ease the transition to the block editor. Thus far, there have been eight major WordPress releases since the switch in version 5.0.

“There’s a theory called the diffusion of innovations that looks to explain how, why, and at what rate new technology spreads,” said Desrosiers. “It separates adopters into several groups based on when they are willing to take the jump: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. I truly think that we have seen a good portion of the late majority beginning to move towards using the block editor. This can also be confirmed by the plugin’s install growth, which has been slowing and plateauing this year.”

He had expected the previous deadline to mark the next stage of the Classic Editor plugin, called the “sunset” phase. It would be a time when the WordPress project moved from full support to encouraging late adopters to transition to the current editor to get the plugin’s numbers down.

“The context I gave previously shows that, until now, that the level of effort needed to keep the plugin working on newer versions of WP has been pretty minimal,” said Desrosiers of the potential sunset phase. “I expect that pattern to continue thanks to backward compatibility. If any security issues or major problems are encountered, they’ll, of course, be fixed. Any incompatibilities with the plugin and newer versions of WP will be considered on a case by case basis, but little to no time will be put towards bug fixes.”

However, this sunset phase will have to wait. We will not see it until at least the current support window closes on December 31, 2022. WordPress project leaders will need to reevaluate the plugin’s lifespan at that point.

The other looming question would be whether core WordPress would move specific pieces of its system to the Classic Editor plugin, such as allowing custom post types to support the old editor or the meta box API.

“There are no plans at this time to move any of the underlying ‘classic’ parts from core to the plugin,” said Desrosiers. “I’m sure that removing these parts will be evaluated at some point in the future, but when that will be is not clear.”

Even when official Classic Editor support reaches a hard deadline, it does not mean such a traditional editing experience will cease to exist. Plugins like Disable Gutenberg have promised longer lifespans than the initial support window, and other editor projects will undoubtedly arise if there is wide enough demand.

“The block editor has come a long way, and I encourage everyone that has not yet given it a second chance (late adopters) to do so,” said Desrosiers. “You may be pleasantly surprised.”

Before the release of WordPress 5.0 in 2018, the Classic Editor plugin was published to help ease the transition to the new block editor. At the time, we promised to support the plugin through 2021 and adjust if needed as the deadline got closer. After discussing this with Matt, it’s clear that continuing to support the plugin through 2022 is the right call for the project as well as the community.

Still, if you’ve been putting off using the block editor, this is an excellent time to give it another shot. Since it first appeared in 2018, hundreds of WordPress contributors have made a lot of updates based on user feedback. You will be pleasantly surprised at how far it’s come!

Big thanks to everyone who has been working on WordPress, Gutenberg, and the Classic Editor plugin. And thank you to every WordPress user and tester who has provided the feedback we need to make the software even better.

~ Josepha

Returning to the block editor for the first time in a long time? You can give feedback early in the process by joining the outreach program! Looking at it for the first time ever? Get your bearings with some workshops or check out this demo!

Die opstel is ook beskikbaar in Afrikaans.

For years and years, I always wanted to do websites. I dabbled in coding with HTML and CSS had one website go live within 3 months, but everybody who has done coding, also know, that it is very time consuming, something as a mom, I don’t have much of. I made the decision to not pursue my dream of website designing. But I never gave up on that dream.

Right now, I am a 41 mom of two teenagers, ages 17 and 12, I was pretty set in my ways in terms of my career for a very long time. But when getting closer to my 40’s, I knew I wanted more. I knew I had the capabilities for WordPress, but never had to opportunity or given the chance to dabble in it.

How It All Began

My journey in Graphic Design started way back in 2003 with Photoshop Version 6 and Coreldraw X3. I loved it right from the start, but knew there was more to graphic design, then just that. Websites was a pretty new thing to me, but always felt intrigued by it.

Fast-forward to the beginning of 2020, 17 years later with loads of experience in Graphic Design, it was time for a change. There was always this gap, that just couldn’t get filled in terms of my career. Yet, I still remembered my dream. On 3 February 2020, I started a new job, but still in graphics and just before Covid hit our shores. Needless to say, that job turned into a freelance work from home job.

It was a really rocky period financially, as in freelancing, you get paid for what you do, and it just wasn’t happening.

In August of the same year, I received a text from someone, wanting to know if I am still available for work, knowing that I don’t know anything about Website/WordPress design. I had a background in HTML and CSS, but not enough. I still got the job, it’s not a high paying salary, but I get to work from home.

Everything After

WordPress changed my life in a big way, I don’t know other WordPress designers as I am self-taught. Fortunately, with Google and Youtube, as well as some connections made with the new job, my journey in WordPress started.

I have designed 4 websites that I maintain, with another one that is under construction as well as one or two more in the pipeline.

I asked a lot of questions when all this happened, like why did this happen?

Why did it have to be me? A year later, I know the answer. I had to go through some struggles to really learn the value of what we have, it’s not how much you have, but what you have. At the moment, I work from home and absolutely love what I do.

If there is one lesson to be learnt from my story, don’t give up on your dreams, you are never too old to achieve that dream and be really good at it.

Moet nooit jou drome laat vaar nie

Vir jare en jare wou ek altyd webwerwe doen. Ek het begin om met HTML en CSS te kodeer, het een webwerf binne 3 maande gehad, maar almal wat kodering doen weet dat dit baie tydrowend is, iets wat ek as ‘n ma, nie veel van het nie. Ek het die besluit geneem om nie my droom van webwerf-ontwerp na te streef nie. Maar ek het nooit die droom opgegee nie.

Huidiglik, is ek is ‘n 41 jarige ma van twee tieners, hulle is 17 en 12 jaar oud. Ek was baie lank gevestig in my loopbaan. Maar hoe nader ek aan my veertigerjare gekom het, het ek geweet, ek wou ek meer hê. Ek het geweet dat ek die vermoëns vir WordPress gehad het, maar ek het nooit die geleentheid gehad of was nooit geoffer om dit te gebruik nie.

Hoe dit alles begin het

My reis in grafiese ontwerp het al in 2003 begin met Photoshop weergawe 6 en Coreldraw X3. Ek was van die begin af mal daaroor, maar ek het geweet dat daar meer aan grafiese ontwerp was, dan net dit. Webwerwe was vir my ‘n redelike nuwe ding, maar ek was altyd daarin gefassineer.

Spoed vorentoe na die begin van 2020, 17 jaar later en met baie ervaring in grafiese ontwerp, dit tyd vir ‘n verandering. Daar was altyd hierdie leemte wat in my loopbaan net nie gevul kon word nie. Tog onthou ek nog my droom. Op 3 Februarie 2020 het ek ‘n nuwe werk begin, maar nog steeds in grafies en net voor covid ons oewers getref het. Nodeloos om te sê, die werk het verander na ‘n vryskutwerk wat van die huis af gedoen was.

Dit was finansieel ‘n baie rotsagtige periode, met vryskut werk, word jy betaal vir wat jy doen, ek het gesien, dit gaan nie werk nie.

In Augustus van dieselfde jaar het ek ‘n whatsapp van iemand ontvang wat wil weet of ek nog beskikbaar is vir werk. In die wete dat ek niks weet van webwerf of WordPress – ontwerp nie. Ek het ‘n agtergrond in html en css gehad, maar dit was nie genoeg nie. Ek het nog steeds die pos gekry, dit is nie ‘n hoë salaris nie, maar ek werk van die huis af.

Alles Daarna

WordPress het my lewe grootliks verander, ek ken nie ander WordPress ontwerpers nie, aangesien ek myself geleer het. Gelukkig, met Google en Youtube, asook ‘n paar verbintenisse met die nuwe werk, het my reis in WordPress begin.

Ek het vier webwerwe ontwerp wat ek onderhou, met nog een wat gebou word, asook nog een of twee wat in die pyplyn is.

Ek het baie vrae gevra toe dit alles gebeur het, soos hoekom het dit gebeur?

Waarom moes dit ek wees? ‘n Jaar later weet ek die antwoord. Ek moes bietjie sukkel om werklik die waarde van wat ons het te leer, dit is nie hoeveel jy het nie, maar wat jy het. Op die oomblik werk ek tuis en hou absoluut van wat ek doen.

As daar een les uit my verhaal is om te leer is, moenie moed opgee om jou drome te volg nie; jy is nooit te oud om die droom te verwesenlik nie.

The post Never give up on your dreams – Moet nooit jou drome laat vaar nie appeared first on HeroPress.

Google announced today that it has completed its rollout of the link spam update, which was started a month ago. In an effort to combat sites using spammy links to manipulate rankings, the search engine has developed more effective ways to identify and nullify link spam across multiple languages. The update took a couple weeks longer than anticipated but the algorithmic changes that re-assess the ranking of improperly qualified links has now been fully rolled out.

Commercial linking can be differentiated from link spam by specifying the appropriate rel attribute. For example, affiliate links must be identified to the search engine by  rel=”sponsored” in order to not trigger any negative effects from the most recent update. Website owners and content creators should be aware of the search engine’s requirements when publishing affiliate links or sponsored/guest posts. While it is appropriate and ethical to disclose commercial links in the content of the post, this is no longer sufficient for Google.

A post on the Google Search Central blog warns that this update carries a more strict response for sites that do not properly qualify commercial links:

When we detect sites engaging in either publishing or acquiring links with excessive sponsored and guest posting without proper link tags, algorithmic and manual actions may be applied, similar to affiliate links.

WordPress users who rely on plugins to manage sponsored and affiliate links will want to check to ensure they support the proper tagging for commercial links. Pretty Links, a link management and tracking plugin used by more than 300,000 WordPress sites, added support for the sponsored rel tag in version 3.1.0, along with sponsored toggle support in the block and TinyMCE editors. ThirstyAffiliates, another popular plugin active on more than 40,00 installs, has a global setting for adding rel attribute tags to links, which can also be adjusted on a per-link basis.

The are many other affiliate link management, tracking, and cloaking plugins out there that may not have been updated with settings for easily designating relattributes in links. Those who do not want to have negative effects from the link spam update may need the ability to bulk update their links to comply. If you rely on a link management plugin, it’s a good idea to check the plugin’s settings, and alternatively the plugin’s changelog, to see what features are supported.

If there was a question that ever made me start feeling old, it might be this one. Last week, Marcel Bootsman asked via Twitter, “Why did you start to use WordPress?”

WordPress community members chimed in with all sorts of reasons for hopping aboard, and Jeff Chandler of WP Mainline shared his journey on his site. These are the sort of discussions of nostalgia that I live for. What follows is my story.

I began blogging in 2003. A friend had introduced me to a now-defunct service called Expage. We mostly used it similarly to the early Myspace craze, adding things such as shout-outs to friends, random GIFs, scrolling marquee text, and midi files that blared as soon as a visitor landed on the page. But, I soon began learning how to link together multiple “Expages” (you only got one page), eventually building something of a journal.

After realizing the limitations of creating multiple accounts and passwords for different pages, I found Yahoo! GeoCities. After a short-lived stint with the service and being stifled by its roadblocks, I soon upgraded to a web hosting plan offered by Yahoo! with full PHP support. That meant I could do dynamic things like having multiple text files to store my blog post entries.

Thus, began my journey into building my own blogging system. Over the next couple of years, I kept my online journal open to the world with what felt like duct tape and old-fashioned grit. I tried WordPress at some point along the way and took a dive into PHP-Nuke and a couple of others. I then jumped back to my own system. I knew just enough PHP to be a flashing beacon for hacker-bots to push those little blue pills if they had ever bothered looking in my direction. Of course, my blog was so obscure that its glaring security holes did not register on any radar.

It was a week after I turned 21. On May 8, 2005, I had decided to get serious — yet again — about fixing my digital playground of a website. I would ditch any efforts of moving everything over to WordPress or another CMS. I was a lone wolf and was going to trek into the world wild web with nothing but my existing knowledge and instincts.

It was a fun era on the web for me. I was also a college student with an ever-changing list of interests, often varying by the day. Building a custom blogging system has never been an easy feat, and managing it all through plain text files had become a burden.

A mere five days later, I caved on my dream of managing a custom platform, but I needed to do so for my own sanity.

I simply began using WordPress because it made it easy to manage blog posts.

There were no special features like the editor, custom post types, or anything else that has brought so many others to the project. It was simply having a nicely organized posts management screen and the output of those posts on the front end. Relative to other systems at the time, it was also easy to install.

At the time, I probably did not think much of it. It was just another project in a line of others that I had tested, but I am happy I took the leap. WordPress has given me a career and, often, a purpose in life. It allowed me to grow as a developer, designer, and writer.

It may be blasphemy to say such things in WordPress circles, but my personal blog no longer runs on our beloved platform. After all these years, I have come full circle. My original goal was to build a flat-file blogging system, even though I did not know there was a name for such a thing back in the early-to-mid 2000s. I also did not have the requisite knowledge to build it at the time. However, in 2018, I coded my own system from scratch, and I loved every minute of that initial build. In part, I had a new project to tinker with, but it also carried a bit of the nostalgic factor of re-pioneering my early foray into the web.

While a custom blogging platform works for my own purposes, it makes me appreciate WordPress even more. It is hard to understand how much work goes into something as seemingly simple as the front-end architecture until you build it from the ground up. And, let us just skip over any talk of creating a secure and accessible admin interface that is user-friendly.

For any serious endeavor, WordPress is still my go-to solution — my personal site is a playground where I can afford to break things, after all. After our 16-year relationship, I do not see that changing at any point soon. As always, something exciting is around the corner. The platform keeps me on my toes, and I cannot imagine a world without it.

How or why did you begin using WordPress?

Last week, a GitHub pull request I had been watching since October 2020 on the Gutenberg repository was finally merged into the codebase. It changes the structure of the WordPress Gallery block to be a container for nested Image blocks. The new format is expected to land in WordPress 5.9.

For those who want to begin testing it early, it should ship with Gutenberg 11.4 next week. However, you can grab the nightly test version from Gutenberg Times to see it in action now. To use the new Gallery format, you must enable it from the Gutenberg > Experiments admin screen.

“If you have ever added a custom link to an image block and then tried to do the same on a Gallery image, you will understand the frustration and confusion of not having consistency between different types of image blocks,” wrote Glenn Davies in the refactor announcement post. “This inconsistency is because the core Gallery block stores the details of the included images as nested <img> elements within the block content. Therefore, the images within a gallery look and behave different from images within an individual image block.”

At the surface level, the Gallery block refactor does not change much for many users. They will still add images to galleries as they have for years. However, for more advanced usage, it opens a world of possibilities.

One oft-requested feature is the ability to add links to individual images in galleries. In the past, users could only link to attachment pages or the media file itself. Both options applied to all images. With the most recent change, users can modify each Image block, including customizing its link.

Adding a link to an Image block within a Gallery.

While this allows for handling something as simple as links, there is so much more that users could do.

In a theme that I have been building, I have a custom Gallery block style that allows users to create a group of images with a Polaroid-style frame around them. It is something fun for folks who do not want the all-business-all-the-time look. Sometimes, I like to throw in a bit of whimsy.

Polaroid-style frame for galleries.

The problem with that block style is that it does not go far enough. For example, I also have Tilted Right and Tilted Left styles for individual Image blocks. However, users are unable to apply those within a Gallery. It would be easy to make those available to the entire set or randomize different “tilt” styles. However, the ideal method would be to control the design at the Image level.

The same is true for other options. Users could do something fun like add block styles and mix in custom colors, borders, and more.

Colored Polaroid-style frames with different “tilts.”

There are other fun things users might be able to do, such as alternating square and rounded styles:

Alternating square and circle images.

The new structure may not be without some issues early on. WordPress will likely continue supporting the old format for a while for backward compatibility. All new Gallery blocks will be in the new. However, core should eventually automatically transform the old markup over.

Theme authors who have added custom CSS will be those with the most potential work ahead. Attempting to support both the new and old markup could be an exercise in frustration. The new Gallery block has broken output with my custom theme — margins and widths are off.

All styles for the new format begin with, at least, .wp-block-gallery.blocks-gallery-grid.has-nested-images. This will likely overrule custom theme styles. I have yet to figure out the obsession with chaining selectors in the core code. It creates a ton of code bloat and forces theme authors into a specificity battle. I am hoping this gets dialed back a bit. Either way, theme authors have plenty of time to test and implement any fixes if needed.

In the long term, I am excited about the potential of breaking away from the idea of just adding images to galleries. For example, I would love to see a grid option for something like the following:

Gallery with quote.

Nesting a quote in the middle of my image gallery could be a fun block pattern idea that does not rely on a mishmash of stacked Column blocks. We will see what the future holds.

For now, turning Gallery blocks into containers is a welcome step.

Ever wonder what it’s like behind the scenes of WP Briefing? Listen in on this episode for a little levity and Josepha’s bloopers.

Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to [email protected], either written or as a voice recording.

Credits

• Editor: Dustin Hartzler
• Logo: Beatriz Fialho
• Production: Chloé Bringmann
• Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod

Transcript

[contemporary intro music]

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  00:10

Hello, everyone, and welcome to a bonus briefing. Normally I talk to you about WordPress and stuff, but I figured that we all need a little levity in our lives right now. So today’s episode is actually just a series of bloopers and mistakes that I’ve made while recording. When I was preparing for this podcast, no one mentioned the deep weirdness of standing alone in your closet talking to yourself, nor did they realize just how lost I can get in the surpassingly, lovely lyricism of a lilting line, and then just have no idea what I’m supposed to be reading in the script that I wrote for myself. So, my dear friends, I hope these bring you a little laugh. And if we’ve got any luck at all, you may also hear me singing to myself, my computer, or about how terrible my talking just was. Here we go!

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  01:12

Hello, everyone, and welcome to a bonus briefing. I know I wasn’t going to sit boop, boop. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  01:21

I messed up the thing where I’m talking about how I mess up, of course. I’m going to do it one more time, and you can choose whatever is a reasonable thing there. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  01:33

Because we had such a lengthy WP Briefing, WordPress, I’m going to just start that over again. Sorry, everyone.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  01:42

My friends. Oh, no. I don’t know how I end my own show. How do I end my own show? There we go. Sorry. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  01:52

That was a weird way to say that. I’m going to start over again from the transition. And then we’re just going to go straight through to the end. Maybe.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:03

The names that… I sound weird. I sound like I don’t know what my words are. And I said I wrote the words. I said I was all going to go in one go, and I’m a liar today. Okay, here we go. For realsies!

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:16

Final first last take. Here we go. Sorry, I made myself laugh. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:22

Matt Mullenweg. And, and I, I’m also in that group. I don’t know why I said that like it was a surprise. I have me too. I’m also in there. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:33

Ugh, I ran out of air. For reasons, it was a short sentence. I don’t know why I ran out of air. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:43

Coming out on April 14. That’s not true. It’s April 13. Right?

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:50

On the form below to share the. Pfft – what are the things! 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  02:58

This is WP Briefing episode seven, no title because I don’t know what to call it because I gave it a title already. I gave it two titles, and then couldn’t remember why I gave it those titles. So I’ll come up with a title before we publish it. But I also have no idea what it is. I’m going to ask for help. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  03:17

Testing project since I have too many commas, and I really believed in my comma when I said it. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  03:24

Prior to Gutenberg… pfft. Open source software like WordPress. I was going to smash that sentence into half a sentence. I was going to say when you know what you’re workussing on you have a solution which is not my friends of thing. So, I am just going to say the sentence again. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  03:47

I was sitting over here wringing my hands for some reason during that entire list. And so if you can hear me wringing my hands, which would be a whole new height of anxiety for anyone, you let me know, and I will rerecord that also.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:00

Get a concept of. Nope, this is a lie. Get a concept of where to get your tickets is the silliest thing. I’m starting over from the small list of big things. Also, because I got too excited about how big my list is. I am going to get that excited again. But I will try not to shout about it. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:17

“Humming intro song” Dun dun dun dun dun. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:23

Sorry, I had to scroll up, and I try not to scroll up when I’m talking in case maybe my whole computer turns into a microphone. Sorry, I’m just going to keep going because this has been a fine take so far. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:34

Mercy! I have words that I can say with my mouth. They aren’t these words today. It seems.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:45

Build up to… Oh my goodness. My stomach grumbled, and this microphone, I know,  picked it up. And so I’m going to redo bullet two so that we don’t just have a small monster under the bed in the middle of the podcast. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  05:03

Also, like DEI, I feel s—Eh – maybe I should say, DEI, somewhere in there, so it’s clear for people cause I’m talking to people and not actually a screen. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  05:17

Before I joined the WordPress project, the majority of my work with accessibility was in the context of the digital divide. Now, when talking about the digital divide, there are three concepts around quote-unquote, getting things to people. And those concepts are… I guess I could say the thing, hold on one second, I can do it. I feel like I’m chopping up my words like I’m not really breathing very well. So I apologize. But here we go again.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  05:58

Don’t include that one. Sorry, I’m so nervous about this episode that, like, my mouth is getting dry, and I worry that you can hear it, and it drives me nuts every time I hear podcasters with a dry mouth, and you can just like hear it clicking and always stresses me out. I’m like, someone should give that poor thing a drink of water. And I just know I’m going to feel that way about myself later. And so I’m trying to stay hydrated, but it also means that I have to stop every two paragraphs and take a drink of water. I apologize for that interlude. I am about to start again, at my next section, which is like, halfway through.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  06:39

Also, I learned that you can hear me swallowing my water with this microphone because it is a spectacular microphone. And so, I apologize for that as well. All right. Here I go. I’m going to do it all in one take. Watch me. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  06:56

But I also have questions, especially about how to move everything forward. Mm-hmm. Whoops. I put especially in the wrong spot. But I also thought…

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  07:10

 Ta da, we did it. Gosh, that’s a short one. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  07:16

I did it. Where’s my where’s my turning offing button. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  07:22

Tada! And scene and done.

Version 4.1.11 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:

• Added support for Akismet API usage notifications on Akismet settings and edit-comments admin pages.
• Added support for the deleted_comment action when bulk-deleting comments from Spam.

To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.

I am a writer. That gives me a license — not to be overused — to steer into hyperbole once in a while. I get to be critical, sometimes overly, because I can come back the next day and shower the WordPress project with praise. Perhaps, at times, I forget to be as fair or kind as I should be. Maybe I miss the mark when pointing out faults once in a while. I am sometimes simply wrong (as one reader recently pointed out, that was the case with 90% of what I wrote). And, for those times that I do step out of bounds, I am sorry.

However, it always comes from a genuine love of our community and loyalty to the WordPress mission.

I had planned on writing about an upcoming feature change for WordPress today, but something more pressing came up. As I was working through that article, a new comment landed in my inbox for approval. It was on the borderline, that gray area where I had to determine whether it added enough value to the discussion. I felt like it needed a thoughtful reply and not the knee-jerk reaction I had initially written. It was gnawing at me because I knew few things could be further from the truth:

When Matias and Justin respond to comments and ask the commenters to supply more details about the problems they mentioned, I doubt many will do that, since many of us already know that the WordPress developers don’t listen to us. They maybe pretend to listen, but the evidence shows that they do not. As one other commenter mentioned, we are suffering the tyranny of the minority.

Christian Nelson

It is disheartening when I see comments that state that the core contributors do not listen to users. However, I do understand where some of that sentiment may come from. There have been many pet features I have been passionate about that have never gotten the green light. Tickets that seemingly die out from lack of interest. Unresolved disagreements. It can become easy to think that you are shouting into the void.

However, it is not because developers are not listening. That is not a fair statement to make.

In my line of work, I follow nearly every aspect of the WordPress project. From Trac tickets to GitHub pull requests, from business acquisitions to theme development, I tend to dabble in a bit of it all.

More often than not, I see others who care as deeply about the project as I do. I watch the core/inner developers — the folks who do the bulk of the work — gather and act upon as much feedback as possible. I see the same from people who are less in the public spotlight but just as vital to the community. Everything I see stands as overwhelming evidence that they listen. There is so much engagement on GitHub, Slack, and the Make blogs that I cannot keep up with it all.

Matías Ventura, the Gutenberg project lead, has always been approachable and seems to care deeply about the project’s success. I cannot recall ever reaching out to anyone working on WordPress who did not respond, even when I approached them outside of my role as a writer for WP Tavern.

I am amazed at how much time and energy Anne McCarthy puts into the FSE Outreach Program. Mostly, it is because I do not think I could do that job. For every complaint, criticism, or issue I have mentioned, she has dug up an existing ticket or filed a new one. She routinely does this for everyone who provides feedback on FSE.

I could list name after name after name of others who do the same, going above and beyond their typical roles.

Today, I was reminded that we all — including myself — sometimes need to step back and evaluate how we view this project and the people who are working on it.

Thousands of people contribute code, documentation, design mockups, translations, and much more. There are plugin authors who see a problem they want to solve. Developers who figure out how to do something and write a tutorial. This, still, is barely scratching the surface.

Contributing directly to the core project or being involved with the Make WordPress teams is often a thankless job. But, I am happy that so many are willing to bear the brunt of the criticism and continue working.

Not everything we want will be implemented how or when we want it. Developers must balance each new feature or change against different, often conflicting, feedback. They do not always make the “right” call, but the best thing about software is that you can iterate upon it, bettering the platform from feedback on the earlier implementation.

Sometimes, WordPress simply needs more folks contributing to create a new feature or implement a change. Developers are only human.

We are all riding this ship together. We should strive to be kind and fair, avoiding blanket statements of the people who pour their hearts and souls into the project.

If nothing else, let’s take folks at their word when they ask for more details about a problem. That could very well be the first step in actually finding a solution.

Before stepping off my soapbox, I want to simply say one thing to those who contribute in any capacity to the WordPress project: thank you.

WordCamp US 2021 will be held online this year on October 1. The free, one-day event will be packed with speaker sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities for attendees.

Organizers opened the call for speaker nominees earlier this month to speak on topics within the scope identified for this year: Connection, Contribution, and Inspiration:

We want to hear about unsung heroes doing great things with the latest WordPress releases, about successful businesses that could only have happened with WordPress, educators who are using WordPress with their students, and inspirational stories of community and connection. We also want to hear about innovative technology implementations and cutting edge design methods that can inspire site owners to do even more with WordPress. 

The themes seem to be centered around the kinds of the stories one might hear at an in-person WordCamp around a meal, all of the organic connection that WordPress enthusiasts around the world have craved for the past 18 months. It’s impossible to recreate online but the event’s organizers are committed to spotlighting stories that will “help WordPress users find success with WordPress no matter how they use it.”

The deadline to nominate speakers has passed, but those who were nominated can find a list of recommended topics on the talk submission page. Recommendations include block development, making and using block patterns, FSE (full site editing), why companies should prioritize open source contribution, inspiring WordPress stories, entrepreneurship, marketing, e-commerce, SEO, and more.

Organizers seem set on bolstering the community during this difficult year of mostly online-only events. The talk submission page encourages speakers to find topics that will help users be successful on their journeys with WordPress:

As our goals with programming this year aim towards creating content that will help WordPress users become more successful with the platform, your first submission could ideally be focused on teaching users something they didn’t know when they signed on for WordCamp US 2021. We want to ensure that the content covered at this year’s WCUS is memorable and shared, ensuring that, no matter if online, in-person or hybrid, all future WCUS events are seen as those not to be missed.

The deadline to submit talk ideas is August 22 and prospective speakers are limited to three ideas. Organizers receive hundreds of submissions every year (more than 500 in both 2018 and 2019) and speakers are encouraged to send only their best ideas. Selected speakers will be contacted by August 27 and announced August 31. All sessions will be recorded prior to the event and recorded talks are due September 23.

Tickets for WordCamp US went on sale this week. They are free but you must sign up on the registration page for your entrance pass.

Jeremy Keith, a web developer and contributor to the web standards movement, has resigned from the AMP Advisory Committee. Keith was selected for the committee last year, despite his well-documented criticisms of the AMP project. In his resignation email, he cites Google’s control of the project and its small percentage of open source parts as reasons for his growing resentment:

I can’t in good faith continue to advise on the AMP project for the OpenJS Foundation when it has become clear to me that AMP remains a Google product, with only a subset of pieces that could even be considered open source.

If I were to remain on the advisory committee, my feelings of resentment about this situation would inevitably affect my behaviour. So it’s best for everyone if I step away now instead of descending into outright sabotage. It’s not you, it’s me.

During his time with the committee, Keith worked on defining what AMP is and pushing for clarification on whether the project encompasses more than just a collection of web components. The Google-controlled AMP cache and validation aspects of the project were the most concerning in evaluating his continued participation. Although the AMP Validator is open source, the rules for validation are controlled by Google:

I was hoping it was a marketing problem. We spent a lot of time on the advisory committee trying to figure out ways of making it clearer what AMP actually is. But it was a losing battle. The phrase “the AMP project” is used to cover up the deeply interwingled nature of its constituent parts. Bits of it are open source, but most of it is proprietary. The OpenJS Foundation doesn’t seem like a good home for a mostly-proprietary project.

When AMP joined the OpenJS Foundation in 2019, skeptics hailed the transfer as “mostly meaningless window-dressing.” What Keith witnessed during his time with the advisory committee lends credit to these early doubts about AMP being able to gain independence from Google:

Whenever a representative from Google showed up at an advisory committee meeting, it was clear that they viewed AMP as a Google product. I never got the impression that they planned to hand over control of the project to the OpenJS Foundation. Instead, they wanted to hear what people thought of their project. I’m not comfortable doing that kind of unpaid labour for a large profitable organisation.

Even worse, Google representatives reminded us that AMP was being used as a foundational technology for other Google products: stories, email, ads, and even some weird payment thing in native Android apps. That’s extremely worrying.

Keith’s experience echoes some of the claims in the ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Google, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other state attorneys general. The complaint states that the transfer of the AMP project to the OpenJS Foundation was superficial:

Although Google claims that AMP was developed as an open-source collaboration, AMP is actually a Google-controlled initiative. Google originally registered and still owns AMP’s domain, ampproject.org. In addition, until the end of 2018, Google controlled all AMP decisionmaking. AMP relied on a governance model called “Benevolent Dictator For Life” that vested ultimate decision-making authority in a single Google engineer. Since then, Google has transferred control of AMP to a foundation, but the transfer was superficial. Google controls the foundation’s board and debates internally [REDACTED].

Keith was originally inspired by fellow dissenter Terence Eden to join the committee in hopes of making a difference. Eden eventually resigned from the committee in December 2020, after concluding that Google has limited interest in making AMP a better web citizen:

“I do not think AMP, in its current implementation, helps make the web better,” Eden said. “I remain convinced that AMP is poorly implemented, hostile to the interests of both users and publishers, and a proprietary and unnecessary incursion into the open web.”

Three days after Keith’s resignation, the foundation published a post titled, “An update on how AMP is served at the OpenJS Foundation.” The post seems to address Keith’s impression that Google does not intend to hand over control of the project.

“When the AMP project moved to the OpenJS Foundation in 2019, our technical governance leaders shared a plan to separate the AMP runtime from the Google AMP Cache, and host the AMP runtime infrastructure at the vendor-neutral OpenJS Foundation,” OpenJS Foundation Executive Director Robin Ginn said. “OpenJS is happy to report that this complex task of re-architecting the AMP infrastructure is making tremendous progress thanks to input and guidance from the AMP Technical Steering Committee (TSC) and AMP Advisory Committee, as well as thanks to the AMP Project and OpenJS teams for coming together despite the work and life challenges that were sometimes faced during the pandemic.”

The statement reiterated AMP’s status as an open source project multiple times. Ginn did not elaborate on the “tremendous progress” but did announce a new development – the decision to be more hands-on in hosting AMP infrastructure.

“What’s new is that after disentangling the AMP runtime from the Google AMP Cache, the OpenJS Foundation will manage the servers that deliver the AMP runtime files (the download server and the CDN),” Ginn said. “As planned, the OpenJS Foundation has been involved in the implementation of hosting the CDN and has been spending additional time to fully understand the technical requirements.”

The OpenJS blog had not communicated any updates on the AMP project for nearly a year. While this post seems like a reaction to the news of Keith’s resignation, it publicly confirms that the teams are still working on the infrastructure transfer. In the end, this may not be enough to convince critics that AMP is not simply a Google product with a fancy affiliation designed to make it more appealing to detractors. So far, the project’s new home at the OpenJS Foundation has done little to bolster public opinion in the face of allegations that identify AMP as having an important role in Google’s anti-competitive practices.