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Are you getting useless contact form emails in your inbox? Contact form spam is a problem every website owner deals with at some point. Spambots target websites of all sizes, regardless of the amount of traffic you get. 

Sifting through hundreds of messages to separate spam from genuine inquiries is time-consuming and frustrating. Luckily, there are some easy and effective ways to protect your WordPress site from spam and take advantage of the benefits of contact forms. Let’s discuss! 

What is contact form spam? 

Before solving this common issue, you’ll need to understand what contact form spam is and how it affects your website and business. 

Contact form spam is exactly what it sounds like: unwanted messages that are submitted through the contact forms on your site. Since these forms have blank fields, an individual spammer (or bot) can fill these out however they’d like. 

You might just get one or two occasional messages with irrelevant promotional material or even offensive language and links. Or, you’ll sometimes receive hundreds or even thousands of form submissions to your inbox. You’re left sifting through the spam so that you don’t miss real messages from interested followers or potential customers. Worse yet, all of these submissions can hog server resources, resulting in a slower site or errors when you try to make changes. 

Spammers target contact forms in one of two ways:

1. Manual spammers

Manual spammers are humans who navigate to your website, fill out your forms, and submit them personally. They typically use false information, often copying and pasting to spam your site quickly. In most cases, these spammers are trying to promote specific websites. But they can also spread malware and funnel traffic to malicious sites. Manual contact form spam is more difficult to overcome because spammers can get past many anti-spam solutions like CAPTCHAs. 

2. Spambots

Spambots are the most common sender of form spam and often the most dangerous. These programs automatically search the internet for forms and, depending on how spammers program the bots, they leave junk text and phishing links that appear in your inbox. 

Spambots threaten the integrity of your website when programmed to perform more malicious activities like taking personal information, spreading malware, or taking control of your website. These automated programs can leave a larger number of form submissions at once. But they’re easier to stop because they can’t combat specific anti-spam solutions. 

Why do bots and human spammers target contact forms? 

With all the advances in technology and increased security options, it’s hard to think that this type of spam still exists. But bots and human spammers still target contact forms because they can, and it works. 

Here are several reasons spammers look for loopholes and vulnerabilities in your website forms: 

1. They want to send you spam. Most spam includes links to phishing sites or revenue-generating ad sites.
2. They want to exploit your contact form to spam others. Spammers use your contact forms to relay email spam messages to others. When these emails land in people’s inboxes, they typically look like an email you sent. Unaware that it is spam, users open these emails and click links that lead them to another website. This increases website traffic and engagement to that site, rewarding the spammer. 
3. They’re searching for vulnerabilities to access the backend of your website or server. This is typically where malicious intent comes into play. When spammers target your contact forms to look for vulnerabilities in your website, they often want to attack it. Spammers can install malware that leaves your website and visitors at risk. They can also steal personal information, a significant risk for eCommerce sites with sensitive customer data. 

How to identify contact form submission spam

Keeping a close eye on your contact form submissions makes it easy to identify spam. Watch out for the following signs that indicate spammers are targeting your website:

• Phishing links. Spammers use phishing URLs to obtain sensitive information for malicious use. This includes usernames, passwords, or banking details. Phishing links appear to direct to a legitimate site, but it’s really a fake one meant to steal this valuable data. 
• Irrelevant messages. Another typical indication of spam is unsolicited or irrelevant messages. Spammers send these messages out in large numbers for advertising, phishing, or spreading malware. 
• Submissions with no real name. If you get submissions with no real name or a fake name, you’ll want to look into blocking form spam. 
• Grammatical errors or typos. Most spammers don’t take the time to proofread their submissions or check for grammatical errors. Instead, they work hard to send as much spam as possible in the shortest amount of time. Therefore, if you notice messages or comments with a significant amount of typos or grammatical errors, your website is likely under attack. 
• An offer that’s too good to be true. Like everything in life, an offer too good to be true also indicates a problem. Don’t fall for this easy trap. 

Once you notice a spam issue, it’s vital to find a fast and effective solution. While it’s both annoying and potentially dangerous, spam can also damage your brand reputation. Let’s explore some ways to prevent contact form spam on your website. 

How to block contact form spam

1. Install the right WordPress anti-spam plugin

The easiest and fastest way to combat contact form spam is to install the right anti-spam WordPress plugin. Anti-spam plugins work independently from your forms by comparing submissions to blocklists of words, names, IP addresses, and email addresses. They use both global and local learning to identify spam. Some also give you the ability to manually mark items as spam (or not spam), so it learns what you like and don’t like on your site. 

With several options available, it’s critical to pick the right anti-spam plugin. Akismet is an excellent option used by millions of websites to filter out hundreds of millions of spam comments and form submissions. It will check all comments and form submissions for spam and filter out any that look suspicious. You can review all filtered submissions directly in the WordPress dashboard. 

An option like this frees up your time to focus on the more critical parts of your website. It also gives you the peace of mind that your site, visitors, and reputation are safe. While there aren’t many disadvantages to this method, you’ll need to make sure you update the plugin as recommended to avoid any security issues in the future. 

How to set up an anti-spam plugin:

Installing a WordPress plugin is easy. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New. Search for the one you’d like to add, then click Install → Activate. Then, follow any specific instructions for the tool that you chose. For example, Akismet provides a great how to activate tutorial with easy-to-follow instructions and visual cues. 

2. Add a custom CAPTCHA

Custom CAPTCHAs are another way to target and resolve spam problems. You can add a custom, word-based code or random math question to your website that visitors must answer to submit forms successfully. When users attempt to add a comment or submit a form, they’ll need to answer the question or type what they see above the submit button to proceed. You can add several custom word-based questions that users cycle through randomly. 

While CAPTCHAs are a great way to combat spambots, they aren’t effective with human spammers. They can also be frustrating and time-consuming for legitimate site visitors who struggle to answer the questions or answer them incorrectly. If you choose to add a CAPTCHA to combat spam, you’ll also need to think about users with limited sight or other challenges. 

How to implement a CAPTCHA:

To add a CAPTCHA to your website, you’ll need to choose a service provider. Google is the most popular CAPTCHA service, with essential functions offered at no cost to website owners. You can find your options in the Products part of the Google Developers page. Make sure to sign in to your Google account. Next, you’ll read through a short overview before clicking on Sign up for an API key pair. You’ll need to fill in your website information and follow the prompts to complete the process. 

3. Use Google reCAPTCHA

Google’s reCAPTCHA is a more advanced option than custom CAPTCHAs. Initially introduced to overcome the user frustrations of custom CAPTCHAs, reCAPTCHAs require users to answer more straightforward questions to submit forms. reCAPTCHAs also work by detecting user behavior while visitors navigate your site and assigning each user a “spam score” based on what the tool considers suspicious activity. 

The most common form of reCAPTCHAs is the picture puzzle you’ve seen on many websites. Instead of typing a word or answering a math question, users answer an image-based question. Visitors must select all the squares in the picture with a specific object like a car or a traffic light. Once all images have been selected, the button switches to allow the user to submit their form response. 

Here are some other types of reCAPTCHAs:

• Checkbox reCAPTCHA v2 is a simple box that users must check to submit a form. It’s the popular option you see on many websites accompanied by the “I am not a robot” text.  
• Invisible reCAPTCHA v2 does not display any visible fields to human users. Instead, it monitors user behavior for suspicious activity to identify potential spammers. Invisible reCAPTCHA also adds an extra field into the code of your form. Since most spambots use code to submit responses, these spammers automatically fill in the fake fields before being flagged. Human users never even notice the spam control as they submit answers directly on the form. 
• reCAPTCHA v3 is an advanced option that uses JavaScript to detect human visitors. It is the most advanced form of reCAPTCHA, so you should only use it if you’re a WordPress expert. 

reCAPTCHAs can still prevent genuine visitors from submitting forms, but they’ve improved from the earlier custom CAPTCHA options. Most come with the ability to add an audio option for those with visual impairments. The visible option they offer is also a solution for the hearing impaired. 

Photo © Google

How to implement Google reCAPTCHAs:

You’ll add reCAPTCHAs to your website following the same steps listed above for CAPTCHAs. Google reCAPTCHA is also a free service for basic functionality, but you can purchase the Enterprise solution for more advanced options. You’ll need to sign up for an API key pair for your site and follow the prompts to proceed.

4. Use an IP access list

If you notice a lot of spambot action on your website coming from specific sources, you can use an IP access list to block spam. With this method, you add IP addresses to a list that restricts access to your website from that location. You’ll do this by adding IPs to the Comment Blacklist section of the Discussion settings page in the WordPress admin. 

Using an IP access list is an excellent option for blocking specific people. But it takes a lot of work to block a more significant number of spammers and requires constant maintenance. You can also accidentally block legitimate form submissions from the IP addresses you list, so make sure you’re confident before using this method. 

How to implement an IP access list: 

If you want to block an IP address, navigate to Settings → Discussion → Comment Moderation in your WordPress dashboard. Then, simply add any IP addresses you want to block and save your settings.

5. Take advantage of the honeypot method

If you’re not a fan of CAPTCHAs, try the honeypot method. Honeypots are little bits of code used to catch spambots. The code creates a hidden field in your form that’s invisible to human visitors but visible to spambots who are usually looking at the code of your form. Spambots automatically fill out the hidden field and submit the forms. The additional information flags these submissions and rejects them, saving you time and effort. 

One advantage of honeypots is that they stay hidden from human visitors. Your visitors don’t need to deal with the inconvenience of CAPTCHAs. Some WordPress form plugins even allow you to add the honeypot method in their settings. 

How to implement honeypot:

Some plugins allow you to quickly check the option to add honeypot to your forms. But if they don’t, you’ll need to add a hidden field to your form manually. Once you add the form to your site, use the CSS style “display: none !important;” to make the field hidden and tabindex=”-1″ autocomplete=”false;” to ensure the field is empty by default. 

Protect your WordPress contact forms

Contact forms are a great tool to connect with your audience and enhance your website’s user experience. But they can also be a problem when spammers attack. Don’t be the target of human spammers and spambots that reduce the effectiveness of your website forms. Use the six steps listed above to successfully stop spam from your WordPress site so you can focus your time and effort on more essential tasks. 

WordCamp Europe organizing team has shared what we are planning for the first in-person WCEU in 3 years.

It’s taking place in Porto, Portugal, on 2-4 June 2022.

With all safety measures, our beautiful spacious venue, Super Bock Arena can hold up to 4000 people, and we can’t wait to welcome you there.

Call For Sponsors and Call For Speakers are already open!

Subscribe to WordCamp Europe Newsletter to get to know about all WordCamp Europe 2022 updates first!

David Pierce wrote a deep profile, over 4,000 words, for Protocol and asks the question in the headline, Can Matt Mullenweg save the internet?

Which brings to mind Betteridge’s law of headlines (née Hinchliffe’s rule), “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

I can’t save the internet. But you know who can? A movement. A community of like-minded individuals, unified by a common philosophy, and working together to create tools of freedom.

It’s a human right to be able to see how that technology works and modify it. It’s as key to freedom as freedom of speech or freedom of religion. So that is what I plan to spend the rest of my life fighting for.

Working together we’ve created something special, unlike anything the internet has seen before, and I’m excited to continue.

Thank you to David Pierce for taking such an in-depth look at the history of WordPress and Automattic and talking to dozens of sources. Thank you to the people quoted in the article: Scott Beale, Om Malik, Toni Schneider, Russell Ivanovic, Deven Parekh, Paul Mayne, and Anil Dash. Thank you to Arturo Olmos for the photos, and Odili Donald Odita for the amazing painting behind me.

Matt Mullenweg’s 2021 State of the Word address was held in New York City nine days ago with a live studio audience. On Sunday, December 19, all in-person attendees were notified by email that they were possibly exposed to COVID-19 after one of the attendees tested positive.

Although proof of vaccination was required at the door, multiple people have reported recent infections after traveling home from the event. Aaron Jorbin tweeted about his case today, and four more have been reported in a private channel on Post Status Slack.

There’s no way to know for certain whether the attendees who contracted COVID-19 caught the virus at the State of the Word, as many of them traveled from far away places and had meetups with other attendees outside of the main event.

Concerns about the lack of masks and no requirement for rapid tests began popping up prior to the event. From the perspective of viewing the livestream, masks were scant and attendees were quite close together in a small space.

The day before the event, the WHO warned that evidence suggested the new Omicron variant could escape prior immunity and would lead to surges with a high transmission rate. Studies were already showing reduced effectiveness of existing vaccines against the variant. On December 13, New York governor Kathy Hochul announced a new temporary indoor mask mandate for public spaces, which could be bypassed by requiring vaccines for entrance.

When asked how the State of the Word’s coordinators decided on the precautions, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy said the event met the local guidelines while allowing attendees to make their own choices for anything beyond the requirements.

“We followed the guidelines as laid out by the city,” Haden Chomphosy said. “Masks and hand sanitizer were liberally available throughout the venue, and we encouraged attendees to make informed decisions about their health.”

It has been well-documented that indoor masking can significantly reduce transmission, so it was curious that the event did not require them at this pivotal time when governments are taking more stringent measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Fortunately all those who were recently infected have reported mild illnesses, but the incident raises an important question for onlookers: Is this an indicator of how in-person WordCamps are going to go in 2022? There are already several on the schedule.

Whether or not attendees’ infections originated at the State of the Word or in outside gatherings is going to be impossible to pinpoint, but the nominal safety protocols sends a message to all those considering attending in-person events in 2022.

Since receiving the notification of possible exposure, many State of the Word attendees have been monitoring their health with tests. One attendee reported in Post Status Slack that she has had difficulty getting tested and is still waiting for one in the mail. In the meantime, she has opted out of a family gathering for Christmas as a safeguard.

“As someone who wants nothing more than to be able to attend WordCamp Europe or WordCamp US in person next year this doesn’t give me much confidence,” Gravity Forms CEO and co-founder Carl Hancock said. “With such a small event the COVID protocols could and should have been super tight to test things out for larger events. The lack of masks and social distancing at an indoor event without added protocols such as rapid testing for entry was disappointing to see.”

WordCamp organizers will need to consider how they can protect attendees beyond simply meeting the basic, local requirements, which may not fully acknowledge the nature of the current threat. They will also need to be responsive to the rapidly changing pandemic landscape and be ready to implement more safety protocols at the last minute, if necessary. If the State of the Word is any indication, future WordCamp organizers will need to have a plan for sending exposure notifications to attendees, in case the events become the source of an outbreak.

Hello BuddyPress community!

All BuddyPress wants for Christmas is you … to test this new pre-release!

If you haven’t tested our first 10.0.0 beta release, here’s another opportunity to help us put the final touches on our next major release so that we make sure it will fit perfectly into your WordPress-/ BuddyPress-specific configuration.

Beta testing is very important, and we need you all, whether you’re a novice or an advanced user, a theme designer or a plugin author. Please contribute .

What has changed in 10.0.0-beta2?

1. Custom Group Extensions: if you activated one or more plugins adding a new tab to your groups or if you built one or more plugins playing with the Group Extension API. It’s very important you take some time to make sure everything is working as expected in this area.
2. Contribute to WordPress 5.9 beta tests as well! Let’s all check that BuddyPress pages are getting along well with Twenty Twenty-Two, the next WordPress default theme.
3. The Private Messages component just got a new feature: messages thread exit. Users can now remove themselves from a conversation.

How to get 10.0.0-beta2?

• Try the BP Beta Tester plugin.
• Download the beta here (zip file).
• Check out our SVN repository: svn co https://buddypress.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/
• Clone our read-only Git repository: git clone git://buddypress.git.wordpress.org/

The final release is slated for early January and we need your help to get there: please test 10.0.0-beta2. If you find a bug, please report it on our Trac or as a reply to this forum topic.

The BuddyPress core team is wishing you all: Merry Christmas

WordPress 5.9 beta 4 was released this week with fixes for 20 bugs since beta 3. There are a few important changes to note in this release regarding how the WordPress admin will direct users who are exploring block themes.

Prior to a fix in beta 4, it was possible for users to switch to a block theme within the Customizer. This has been changed so that users will see a banner notifying them that the block theme is incompatible, if they try to switch within the Customizer. Here’s the commit message:

Starting in 5.9, block themes are not compatible with (do not support) Customizer; rather, they use the Site Editor. Viewing installed themes in Customizer, this commit adds an overlay message to alert users and give them a way to activate the block theme. Clicking on the “Activate” button activates the block theme and redirects back to the Appearance > Themes interface, where the user can then enter the Site Editor for customization.

Non-block themes are not affected by this change and continue to work in Customizer.

Having themes work only in the site editor or the Customizer, depending on which they support, is likely to be a confusing workflow for users when testing themes. This incompatibility message and redirection is necessary but not ideal for the long term. Streamlining the customization workflow will depend on how quickly the WordPress community is able to produce and adopt block themes.

Some testers also reported that the Site Editor doesn’t allow users to edit or preview non-active block themes. The preview only works with active themes. This isn’t necessarily a bug but rather a feature that needs to be discussed for the future. A ticket is open in the Gutenberg repository, recommending the implementation of a Live Preview for non-active block themes.

Featured patterns from the pattern directory should be displayed under Patterns in the the block inserter, but for some reason this wasn’t included in 5.9. It has been backported in beta 4.

This beta also adds a filter that allows developers to disable the login screen language switcher, which is a new feature coming in 5.9.

The release team has determined that a fifth beta will not be necessary, as of yesterday’s core dev chat. The revised 5.9 release schedule has RC1 shipping on January 4, 2022, and the official release on January 25.

Brian Gardner announced today that WP Engine has acquired his latest project, Frost. In an email sent out to all customers, Gardner said his team had issued refunds to all current customers. The business model is changing, and Frost will be a freely-available project going forward and focus on full site editing.

Frost is a WordPress theme that Gardner released earlier this year as the main product of a new startup business. The original version was shipped as a child theme of Genesis, the StudioPress theme framework he had spent much of his WordPress career working on. WP Engine acquired StudioPress in 2018, and Gardner stepped down from his role in October 2019. It did not take him long to find his way back into the WordPress theme development game, bringing his personal style back to the theming world with Frost. Then, he landed a new job within WP Engine’s ranks in September.

“I am leading the WordPress Developer Relations team at WP Engine,” he said. “We have a simple mission: Accelerate innovation in WordPress and help the community transition to the block editor and Full Site Editing (né Gutenberg). In addition, we want to cultivate an interactive and immersive community resource that serves as a treasure chest of knowledge and operates as a conduit between the WordPress project and its users.”

I asked if there was something concrete he could share, maybe what form that would take, but he did not go into any other details. In general, the more resources the development and design community have around the block system, the faster the ecosystem can evolve. Only time will tell what Gardner’s team within WP Engine creates.

“When I joined WP Engine in late September, it was evident to me [WP Engine] saw the value in building relationships with designers, developers, and creators — within our Atlas product line, as well as with WordPress,” said Gardner. “While there was interest in Frost when I came on board, it wasn’t until my vision for our team became clear did an acquisition enter the picture. I recommended bringing Frost into the company and hiring Nick Diego.”

Diego is the creator of the Block Visibility and Icon Block plugins. He also began working on Frost in late September.

“In alignment with WP Engine’s core value of ‘Committed to Give Back,’ Frost is transitioning from a paid product to a free one,” said Gardner. “Given the change in business model, we issued full refunds to all active customers. By open-sourcing Frost and focusing on Full Site Editing, we hope to encourage a community of builders to experiment with the expanding capabilities of the block editor. We believe in its potential and look forward to helping it grow.”

Frost is open to everyone via the WP Engine themes repository on GitHub.

Leaping into Block Theming

When Gardner sold StudioPress in 2018, several factors played a part in the decision. Among them were the uncertainty around the Gutenberg project and WordPress’s future.

“It took some time for me to put the pieces together, but when I did, I saw just how powerful the block editor has become,” he said. “In particular, I am excited about block patterns, global styles, and building themes that folks can use to create beautiful websites with little effort.”

The result of his newfound enthusiasm around the block system was Frost. I have had the opportunity to tinker around with the theme. It has Gardner’s signature minimalist design style, a focus on readable typography, and ample breathing room for the content.

Simpler designs almost feel par for the course with any block theme these days, regardless of the theme author. What is likely to set Frost apart is its block patterns. It currently ships with 38 of them. The layouts should allow users to quickly set up their sites, along with the theme’s custom block styles.

“I am a huge fan of block patterns and see their potential when paired with the growing support of design/style elements within theme.json,” said Gardner of the things he is excited about. “Additionally, the site editor is something I feel, once mature, will be a game-changer for WordPress and those who build for it.”

The Block Pattern Explorer plugin was initially a part of the Frost library plugin, but Gardner and Diego pulled it out and make it available to everyone. They also wanted to serve the Frost patterns through it. The hope is that the enhancements already in place via the plugin find their way into core WordPress.

Frost theme patterns via Block Patterns Explorer

The design is a bit more polished than core. It includes category types, a feature the theme uses to separate its own pattern categories from others. The experimental explorer plugin allows users to preview patterns via desktop, tablet, and mobile views. And, it has a clear “Add Pattern” button for inserting a block pattern into the post.

Eventually, they plan to sunset the plugin once its features make their way into WordPress.

WordPress theming has come a long way since Gardner first dove in over a decade ago. Back then, users had to open template files to customize bits and pieces of their homepage. As we move toward WordPress 5.9, users will have that same power. However, they will modify Frost via the WordPress site editor instead of PHP files.

“Yes, I feel we are circling back to some degree,” he said. It was in response to a question of his early days designing themes for WordPress in comparison to now.

“While WordPress will never be solely a blogging platform ever again, it seems like the software is shedding its skin. The irony here is that we see WordPress used in sophisticated ways that — to be honest — I never thought would be possible. As for me, I believe in the power of simplicity. That has become my north star for everything I create and has allowed me to navigate the ebbs and flows of an ever-changing software and industry.”

If you’ve used the internet anytime in the last decade, chances are you’ve had to pass a CAPTCHA or reCAPTCHA test. You may have done so many of these little quizzes that you groan just seeing one on a form.

There are quite a few different versions, but they all can help protect your WordPress website from spambots and make your life simpler.

In this post, we’ll cover the evolution of CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA. We’ll also go over the different versions and the pros and cons of each one. Then, we’ll show you how to enable reCAPTCHA on WordPress and explore additional security measures you should implement.

What are CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA?

CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA serve the same purpose: protecting your website against bots and other security threats. They’re typically found on contact, comment, login, and password reset forms. But there are some key differences between the two safety checks. Let’s take a look at each one in detail. 

What is CAPTCHA?

The acronym CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart. It’s a mouthful, but the name says it all — it can decipher the difference between a human and a computer operator. Still, the specifics are important.

In the early 2000s, when it was created, CAPTCHA used a distorted text (letters and numbers) test to prevent bots from compromising websites.

When faced with a CAPTCHA, users needed to decipher broken text correctly to prove that they were, in fact, human. If they couldn’t identify the letters and numbers, the test wouldn’t submit their requests. 

This was revolutionary because most humans could pass it easily, but computers couldn’t solve it themselves. 

What is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA follows a similar principle, but instead of just utilizing meaningless text to see if the user is a real human, it was designed to help computers digitize old books and newspapers. The test was essentially split into two parts shown side-by-side — one traditional CAPTCHA to determine the humanity of the user, and a second image of letters from a piece of text the computer was trying to digitize. If the human could pass the first part, it would accept the user’s input for the second part as an accurate translation. 

Photo from http://www.captcha.net/

The point is that reCAPTCHA added a second part to the test to put millions of human users to work — a few seconds at a time — to digitize historical text for ongoing record keeping. Now sites were protected from bots and users weren’t totally wasting their time. 

Google purchased the technology in 2009 and improved upon it over the years. You see, artificial intelligence (AI) eventually became sophisticated enough to read and decipher even the most challenging text with 99.8 percent accuracy. By doing so, they could pass the test and trick it into thinking bots were humans. 

To deal with this new issue, reCAPTCHA made things even more challenging, introducing new options like the famous “I’m not a robot” check box. 

Today, reCAPTCHA is a widely-used security measure that protects websites from various spambots and cybercriminals by helping to ensure that comments on blog posts or in forums, and submissions on forms come from real people. 

What are the different versions of reCAPTCHA?

There are technically four different types of active reCAPTCHAs. Instead of text, some tests may use images, audio, or even math equations. They also utilize some variation of  “No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA”, which determines whether a user is suspicious simply based on their behavior on a site.

If you’re setting up WordPress website security, you may have the option to choose between different reCAPTCHA types. For example, you can select a checkbox or background verification:

Here are the different types of reCAPTCHA:

• ReCAPTCHA v2 (“I’m not a robot” checkbox): This is the simplest and easiest test to add with limited coding knowledge. Sometimes it passes or approves users right away and prompts them to check a box. Other times, it asks them to verify that they’re human with a puzzle challenge.
• ReCAPTCHA v2 (Invisible reCAPTCHA badge): For this version, there’s usually no checkbox. It simply uses an existing button on your site or a JavaScript API call for verification. You’ll see a badge that says Protected by reCAPTCHA. Essentially, verification happens in the background. Only the strangest behavior will prompt a test.
• ReCAPTCHA v2 (Android): This version utilizes a reCAPTCHA Android library that’s part of Google Play’s SafetyNet APIs. This validates requests from within an Android app, so it’s not the right choice to use for a WordPress site. 
• ReCAPTCHA v3: This is the most advanced and discreet of all the versions. Visitors won’t even know it’s happening. It uses a JavaScript API and automatically assigns a score to each user to approve or deny them. This version also gives more advanced developers extended flexibility for integrations with other security measures to dictate the level of site security. 
• ReCAPTCHA Enterprise: Like v3, this runs in the background. It gives each site visitor a score based on their behavior. If a visitor is deemed suspicious, it may require them to verify their identity through custom options determined by each site — two-factor authentication or email verification. As its name implies, this is typically for enterprise-level sites and requires advanced customization.

What should I consider when choosing a reCAPTCHA version?

Since reCAPTCHA Enterprise is reserved for larger companies, it’s safe to say that most websites will need either reCAPTCHA v2 or reCAPTCHA v3. Still, it’s important to know what you’re getting into with each one. 

What are the pros and cons of reCAPTCHA v2? 

The most significant advantage of reCAPTCHA v2 is that, whether you choose to include the “I’m not a robot” checkbox or leave it discreetly running in the background, it protects you from spam while offering humans the opportunity to prove that they’re real. 

With the invisible version, if it detects suspicious behavior, it will require a test. If it doesn’t, the user can proceed none the wiser. 

However, any reCAPTCHA v2 test can seriously hurt the user experience for site visitors. To combat increasingly smart AI technology, tests have become so tricky that many real humans have trouble passing.

The test’s difficulty may leave users frustrated, wondering why they fail when they are actual humans. In fact, the situation has become so bad that popular tech magazines give people tips on passing these tests.

Plus, it’s also important to consider the accessibility of reCAPTCHAs. A graphical puzzle, for example, would be inaccessible for people who have vision impairments. So, if you do decide to use reCAPTCHA v2, it’s important to present other options, like audio or text-based tests.

What are the pros and cons of reCAPTCHA v3?

reCAPTCHA v3 was specifically designed to improve the user experience. With no verification tests to complete, it’s seamless. Website visitors are happily unaware of the entire process. 

It also gives administrators much more control. With reCAPTCHA v3, you have advanced options to customize your interaction with Google’s API to adjust scoring thresholds and define what is considered suspicious behavior. 

Some may consider this added control a good thing, while others may find it a weighty and cumbersome responsibility. Additionally, some critics believe that reCAPTCHA v3 may pose a privacy risk because it provides Google with too much data. 

In addition, reCAPTCHA v3 can deter good bots from doing important work. People tend to remember the villains like spambots, but forget about their positive counterparts. Good bots deal with things like SEO and performance monitoring. If you get in their way, your overall website success could suffer. 

A final downside is that, since spam scoring happens in the background, there’s no alternative test provided to suspicious users (like with the invisible reCAPTCHA v2 badge). Visitors who are wrongly flagged as bots don’t have an opportunity to prove their legitimacy. This means that you could turn away real customers, clients, and followers.

Can bots bypass reCAPTCHA?

This is the big question. Unfortunately, the answer may not be straightforward or definitive.

The many versions of reCAPTCHA are evidence that malicious spambots evolve quickly.

They’re constantly adapting to outsmart reCAPTCHA. When the original CAPTCHA was introduced, it was revolutionary in its ability to decipher between real users and bots. But it didn’t take long before the bots caught on. People have even started using human labor to get past tests manually. 

Computer scientists are regularly working to increase the effectiveness of reCAPTCHA, however. Some have proposed new challenges, like puzzles that require a user to maneuver pieces or nursery rhyme completion games based on the location of site visitors.

That’s one major reason tests have become so frustrating for real users — difficulty has had to increase to stay ahead of computer learning. Unfortunately, it seems we’re at a point where to continue to outsmart computers, we have to make tests that are sometimes too difficult for real users to solve — a major problem. 

It’s gotten so bad that Amazon now owns a patent for a new kind of CAPTCHA-esque test that is so difficult to solve that only a computer can do it. Meaning… if you pass, you’ve actually failed because you’ve proven that you can’t possibly be human. 

So can reCAPTCHA stop bots? 

Yes, it can stop many of them. But it can’t stop them all. And the percentage of bots that make it through is increasing by the day. This means you can’t simply rely on reCAPTCHA to prevent spam submissions. You’d be signing up for a highly imperfect, temporary system that’s only going to get less effective. 

So what should you do? 

Other security measures to protect your website from spambots

1. Lock down your comment forms

The best place to start is by configuring your WordPress comments in a way that protects your site against bots. Navigate to Settings → Discussion in your site dashboard and and consider requiring:

• Comment authors to submit a name and email
• Users to be registered and logged in to comment
• Comments to be manually approved before publication
• Authors to have a previously approved comment to submit a new one

In the Comment Moderation box, you can also flag a comment that contains a certain number of links — lots of links is a common indication of spam. Or, if you’re getting a lot of spam that contains certain words, email addresses, IP addresses, and other characteristics, you can ban them entirely.

2. Protect your login forms

To lock down your login forms without using a CAPTCHA, you can implement two-factor authentication. This requires a user to have both login details and a physical device to access your site. When someone logs in, they’ll have to enter a username and password as well as a one-time code that’s sent to the mobile device on file. This is virtually impossible for bots to get past.

3. Use honeypot

Honeypots are an option for protecting contact forms. Think of them as a mouse trap for bots. They essentially create a hidden field in your forms that isn’t visible to site visitors but that can be seen by spambots. If the field is filled out, the bot is stopped in its tracks.

Many contact form plugins allow you to implement this feature in their default settings.

4. Protect your comment and contact forms with Akismet

Akismet is hands-down the best way to eliminate the headaches of bots (or even real humans) spamming your comments or sending unwanted messages through forms on your site. 

With millions of users, Akismet has blocked over 500,000,000,000 spam submissions at the time of writing this article. With each one, it learns a bit more. So while bots might have AI to get past reCAPTCHAs, Akismet’s AI is working to protect your site in an entirely different way. 

Akismet can accurately identify spammy behavior and keeps a blocklist of words, IP addresses, names, and emails to prevent pests. Plus, it gives you control to provide feedback about any spam it misses or real comments that it accidentally flagged. Then, it customizes its spam-fighting solution just for your site. Amazing. 

You can get a free version of Akismet for your personal blog. In addition, there are three paid plans for commercial sites starting at just $10 per month. 

Win the fight against spam bots

Spam bots and less-than-ethical cyber actors are always trying to take advantage of visitors and the sites they love (like yours!). They can cause annoyance or even do real-world damage.

CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA have evolved many times over the years and continue to be one trusted way to prevent bots from flooding sites. But these solutions aren’t perfect, and sites need other measures to prevent spam from causing trouble. Consider protecting login forms with two-factor authentication, deploying WordPress best-practices, and using Akismet to filter comment and contact form submissions automatically. 

“I believe our community can make significant contributions to Gutenberg and the Block Editor.” —Cory Miller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory shares his experience among the 30+ individuals who attended the State of the Word in New York in person. David and Cory talk about how Matt presented himself, his views on the necessary ratio of community contributions to open source projects, Five for the Future, the next generation of leaders, and what it means to give back to the community and WordPress core.

Also: Cory hints at what Post Status will be doing in 2022 when it comes to giving back — along with how Post Status will encourage and assist people in contributing to the WordPress community.

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.

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS.

Mentioned in the show:

• YouTube: State Of The Word 2021
• GoDaddy Review And Timeline of State of the Word 2021
• The WP Minute (Audio + Transcript)
• David Bisset (Twitter)
• Cory Miller (Twitter)
• Post Status (Twitter)

Sponsor: Yoast SEO

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Transcript

David Bisset: [00:00:00] Since I wasn't there because as I was telling somebody earlier, I couldn't, hurt my Twitter game by being there. I had to be in front of my computer with with my keyboards and making a bingo games and hashtag 

Cory Miller: that's my fondest memories of you, David is like going to these events and somebody live tweeting.

It's like, here's this dimension media person. And it's like, holy crap. 

David Bisset: Yeah. They used to call me dementia media. So. 

Cory Miller: Signature though is still in the lodge waiting. And I remember when Twitter kind of first came out and it was a thing to live tweet a lot. And but I always like yours because you always summarize what.

The takeaway is like you're starring the cool quotes along the way. And that's part of what we're trying to do at post status is give you the too long, didn't read content, the inside analysis commentary for the stuff that matters to you. So that's your claim to fame or friend? 

David Bisset: Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's how I took notes and I really didn't care who listened. I that's how I just took [00:01:00] notes. It kind of knocked off a couple of killed a couple birds with one stone, but enough about me. Let's. Let's talk about you being there in person. And can you tell me where this place w what was this place like?

Was it in like a tall building or like, I hear it was tumblers all the offices or something. 

Cory Miller: So my understanding was it's the automatics new event space in New York city. And of course, some of their investors in New York city and things like that. And it was incredible space. I would try to guess how big of a space it was.

David Bisset: I couldn't tell, the camera angles were just, they did the camera angles just right. So you never got a true dimension of the room on the live stream

 yeah, that's 

Cory Miller: what I just said. I do more tell me I bet you it's about 15,000 to 20,000 square feet in there that I saw really great space. And it's a whole floor of a billion is my understanding, but it was gorgeous.

And then there's the sunset of New York city out the window rep for state of the word. And it was really good, but I. I, you know, I got to see [00:02:00] Matt about a month ago and San Francisco, we got to talk and he mentioned inviting you David, to stay the word. And also he'd love to have Post Status there. So I was like, yes, we're going to make that happen.

I know you had things that come up, you couldn't be there. But you know, I want to guess there's about 25 30 people there in person. And it was a really nice night. I mean, automatic. Rolled out the carpet for all of us, which is super nice. Matt as always is a charming, elegant presenter and host and did a fantastic job.

I thought it was normal. You know, I want to give him kudos, but like, he's really good on stage. 

David Bisset: Well he was different this time and I realized I wasn't in the room, but I almost had, I have a 30 inch monitor. So I saw a lot of him and I saw a lot of his facial expressions pretty clearly. There was there was something different about them in a good way.

And I can't, I think he, you know, not just not to put emotions on a person, I'm pretty sure he was nervous in some regard. I think anybody is nervous to some extent of public speaking, but he definitely had some sort of [00:03:00] energy that he was releasing. And you know, me, I record animated gifs all the time.

I decided not to post, I don't know what I decided to post, but in the very beginning before he was kind of. He was almost dancing a jig right before way before the state of the word started up on stage. So he was really excited and really, you know, anxious maybe, but you could just see the energy even before he spoke anything.

You could just see the pent up energy that he had, which was reflected later, by the way. 

Cory Miller: And not trying to speak for him, but if for me, I go, I haven't done this in two years. There's some cool people here that I have invited to be here and I'm talking about the thing that I want to spend all of my life doing.

And so. Yeah, totally. I spoke a couple of weeks ago at our three recurring revenue retreat. And I remember getting feeling nervous cause I'm like I was rusty, you know? And there was this quote and I'm trying to remember what it was, but it's basically turning fear, the anxiety into [00:04:00] energy and excitement.

And that's what I tried to do is like channel that's now Matt doesn't need my public speaking tips, but those are my thoughts. What I. As long as I've known him. And it goes back to 2008, where camp DFW in Frisco, Texas. There's one thing that's always standard with Matt and that is his passion for the WordPress open source project.

Yeah. So, you know, and it just has never wavered. And I think he mentioned on state of the word that he wants to spend the rest of his life. He's 38 rest of this. On WordPress project. And I totally believe this. This is his contribution to humidity, you know, and at Post Status makers of the open web WordPress, this 42% of this big number that he shared out there, I think we should all take a moment, take a big deep breath and go.

The web is still in its infancy. I don't know, life-stage wise where it would be comparatively to like a human, but it's still early, like in history of all that's going to happen in this world. In the future, the web is [00:05:00] still kind of an infant. And if you think about it, our place is WordPress makers.

People that build on WordPress, extend WordPress, teach WordPress, all that stuff people have. Post-test the business to WordPress is this is historic and what we've been doing. I started with WordPress, my first blog in 2006. That was just me using this amazing platform called WordPress, but, you know, history historically sake and going through.

42%, that number, it just keeps getting bigger. And that's exciting for us, those of us that make our living with on for WordPress. 

David Bisset: Yeah, he did. I got a couple of quotes out of them and it was, you know, livestream is a little bit easier. Cause you can pause and rewind a little bit just to make sure, because you want to get it as close as possible. Regarding the The WordPress space.

He did say the court word press belongs. Just, you know, just to anybody it's not just you or me it's regardless of economic or political situations. And he said something about WordPress can't be [00:06:00] created by just one company and people adding a line of code is like giving that, give a penny, take a penny and I feel like there's quite a number of people that thanks to five for the future that are giving that he was, he actually said he actually gave a quote or something about, I don't know if you caught it. He was studying other CMSs. And he said for every dollar that has made $20 has made in the ecosystem.

And that's ratio is how they came up with the five for the future. Did you know that. I did not. 

Cory Miller: You know, I don't know how long, far, because the future has been out, but there's two things I wanted to highlight. Part of State of the Word you've just put a square in this one, which is contributing back to core five for the future.

I don't know how long that's been going, but, you know, I know our Post Status members. I mentioned this to Matt. They, you know, like me and I themes, we had, let's say at her height, I want to say 27, 28 people or something like that. And you go, okay, how do we, excuse me, our team or company contribute to core.

We don't have the profit bandwidth, all that stuff to take a full-time dev for instance 

David Bisset: right

Cory Miller: [00:07:00] off. And I mentioned this because I know there's so many giving hearts in WordPress and founders and entrepreneurs and people that lead companies. That benefit from WordPress that want to do five for the future.

It's tough. I get it from your standpoint of how do we meaningfully contributed, even though we believe we are contributing to the ecosystem or what we're doing. And I grant that a hundred percent, what we want to do at Post Status though I did tag on the contributions that push to continue to contribute to core. 

I think that's the reflective I dunno, KPI for the ecosystem too, by the way. But, and I know there's companies that do it, even if it doesn't fall under the strict banner of farm from feature or whatever it is that like, they're doing it just like, we felt like we were contributing to WordPress for years.

What I want to do is translate that help that better for our Post Status crowd to, to actually meaningfully contribute. So Courtney Robertson on our team, who is also great, awesome person at Go Daddy pro is really [00:08:00] taking the banner for the contributor days for post status. So next year, we're going to be talking about enrolling out contributor days, but that's one thing to say, we're going to do a contributor day, right?

That's nothing new. This is where Courtney's idea was. Let's go to the team leads and ask for their wishlist. Things they would love for people of post status to contribute. And from that gives us something that we can go. Let's say we take that day eight hours. And we're going to show up for contributor today. at Post Status, were gonna, make it a contribute and then pick something off the board.

So we're already trying to help you do a little thinking in the stuff that's going to be most valuable to the core team, core teams that are doing things, and then say pick one off the list and try to get as far as you can. You know, and I'm excited about that. I know it's very meaningfully and for good reason to Matt, both as CEO of automatic, but also the leader of the WordPress open source project.

And that was one thing that for sure came out, you know, to me in that call.

David Bisset: Yeah. There, [00:09:00] there was quite a bit talk about, there was talk about the contributors earlier in the live stream. And then afterwards it was how to get new and especially young people involved and you know, young people, they have so many distractions these days, but they have more time and they more energy.

Then we do cause we were running, families were running businesses and so forth like that. And I liked the question that Allie posed about. How can these people learn WordPress? But contributing I, you know, I, I lost my thought there for a second, but I really wanted to. I was hoping that the five for the future was going to spark some more ideas.

And I think it will, because if you have people that are, if companies are being sponsored or sponsoring people to work on contributing and there should be. Like an on-ramp in there somewhere for people who want to get into it too, because you know, like many people have pointed out. You have to, unless you're a young person within, [00:10:00] with an inordinate amount of time, you don't have the time to do that.

So even for a couple of hours, and I think part of five for the future, and some people have brought this, you know, written about it after state of the word. And about that five for the future, maybe someday five for the future can be expanded a bit to help some people not only contribute, but also kind of help them find people are willing to cover them so they can contribute whether that's financially or some other means.

Or maybe it's just some sort of internship if somebody is brand new and needs to be exposed to anything in WordPress. So I think five for the future is a great thing now, and I think it has got room to grow, but you know, it needs that it needs. Momentum of support right now and whether that's the repost status and all these other methods, I think we're still seeing the early stages of a comprehensive program for contributing.

Cory Miller: And I understand the apprehensions from companies and founders and leaders. You know, you have to make a [00:11:00] profit for sure. And you're like, okay, I want to give back, but I, can't just, I'm not a nonprofit, I'm a profit in enterprise and everything, and I want to help with them and contribute to these.

But something you mentioned just a second ago was pinged for my second thought. And when you said next generation, the no, our intern Here and has helping to post that by the way. But I also know your passion, heart for next generation with WordPress too. And it, that just brings up, well, one Sandy Edwards work with kids camp.

Talk to her about that a couple of weeks ago at our three, how post-test wants to contribute to that. But the other thing, the second theme is Gutenberg. You know, you can't probably talk to Matt about WordPress without hearing Gutenberg and for good reason, here's the thing. I was not a vocal advocate at all of ruling out Gutenberg in the way we did 

David Bisset: I like how politically, that was so eloquently put, but yes. 

Cory Miller: Yeah, I thought it was way early and everything, and it took me a year or two to finally [00:12:00] okay. You know, use Gutenberg and but it here's the reality situation, no matter what, the way we feel about the past, it is here and it's not going away.

So you hear this over and over from Matt and for good reasons, there's some cool stuff coming. That he talked about the styles, some of the typical libraries. I see that as a very similar innovation and direction, that themes as a whole went when I started, I think back in 2008, There's so much innovation to do.

So first and foremost, it's here. We've got to accept it and move on. And I think what his plea here was too, and again, probably my nuance. It's not, I'm not going to play, but I'm just saying my nuances. It's not going away. We should accept it and embrace it. And then the question becomes, how do we improve that?

And I think our community can make considerable contribution. To the conversation and the actual implementation of Gutenberg, the block editor for WordPress. I'll tell ya, I'm looking, I'm going to redo my [00:13:00] personal site cause I want to start blogging every day. And I say blogging, it's going to be just sharing my thoughts.

Not just on Twitter, but you know, my site and I'm probably going to pig blank canvas. I'm still up in the air and I want to use. And I want to really like embrace using it and see what I, what my takeaways are. And I did that back in August with the click publish. I want to use Gutenberg because I've criss cross the threshold.

And for me, I'll tell you the big benefit David was used to because no one even believes I'm ever been a developer. I'm not, but I was like 

David Bisset: Don't be ashamed. I'm a programmer. I do websites. I do plug-ins. I do all of that. And what does Matt say to everybody that I am during state of the word?

I tweet a lot. So that's my claim to fame. That'll be on my tombstone where the developer, but you're not a developer, but 

Cory Miller: I was looking for, I wanted to do a buy now button or something. You know, I just wanted to button and I can't, I can [00:14:00] figure it out. I mean, I don't want to figure out how to write a button coordination, or, CSS or whatever.

So I, what I normally would have done is went look for a plugin. I can't remember. I want to say max plugins or something was that max buttons was out there as a plug in. Well, and I can't remember what might've been AGA again. But it was like, that's a block that was a game changer for me to go.

You don't have to get something extra to do things you want to do in the post. That was pretty cool turning point for me. It's not there. It's getting better, this awesome people working on it. And I think we should. We can and should contribute to the conversation and the implementation once it gets going, because it's not going away.

And back to your point about next generation Syed Balkhi that if you WP Beginner and awesome motive, I remember asking him a couple of years about Gutenberg. I was like I kind of expect he's going to get on the bandwagon. Let me it's like, we don't like it. It shouldn't be out there. And Syed was like, I love it.

I was like why? And he goes, because the next generation look at how people are [00:15:00] publishing today and it's changed from what you and I learned now. He's like, he's over 10 years, 15 years younger than me. But like even young kids like Olivia and like the platforms have changed in the way to express yourself change.

And that always stuck with me what Syed said. And so I really have high hopes for Gutenberg. Yeah, again, now that I am in strong, like of it. 

David Bisset: So another thing Matt talked about which I'm actually a little bit surprised he did bring it up. I'm wondering who, by the way, Tuesday was when WordPress 5.9 was supposed to be out before they pushed it to January. So I talked to Anne McCarthy today. And first of all, I mentioned to her, like you mentioned, like 5.0 release when Gutenberg first came up, was rough around the edges. And she has assured me that the full site editor coming out in January with 5.9 is it may not have the entire kitchen sink, but it is very stable and doable. So I can't wait to share that [00:16:00] interview with everybody, but Matt did call out acquisitions and I like, and I thought is this one of the things that if 5.9 was out, would he gone over more quickly? I don't know, but they got on one slide. He started with 42 logos. And I thought there were more acquisitions than that.

I'll have to go back to our Post Status tracker. But he had 42 logos up there and then he proceeded with, and I'm not a finance person. I'm just going to take his word for it. , his charts were taken from other people's analysis. He gave proper credit to them, but he says the number of the deals that are happening in the tech space, he says there were 10,000 transactions in the first nine months of 2021 alone.

Which is up 24% over the last year. And then he brought out another chart that was called inflows to stocks. And I couldn't even, I don't even know what that was. I was, but all I know is there was a big bar at the end with the, with our year in it though. And I guess what he was trying to prove is that [00:17:00] don't panic.

The acquisition space is not unique to the WordPress space right now. This is all going, you know, bonkers. And it's not just WordPress. So I, you know, with you being a business person, how did you feel, do you feel that was properly delivered or delivered? Well, do you think he got the message.

Cory Miller: But the question I think about that is what prompted him to even do the slides, you know, and that's the bigger question we always want to be thinking about here, you know, for our people is what is the founder co-founder of WordPress, the movement of open source project. Fill the need to say that. And we have some sense of the people that are like change sucks.

Nobody likes change, you know, and the fact of the matter, if you bullet down these acquisitions, why would anybody even care? It's because it could potentially change something that I'm used to doing. And I'm not saying it's good, right? Bad, wrong indifferent. I'm just saying, you know, I think change is [00:18:00] tough and I've heard some sentiment from the WordPress community about, I don't even recognize it anymore and all this stuff.

And then I just go down, like, here's my comparison for it is when I left.iThemes and started this new journey and Post Status . It was over a year before I became a partner and it was probably nine months before Brian and I even started talking about me becoming a partner. There was a big gap there and I was like, I didn't know what I was going to do next and trying to figure that out.

But I did one simple thing, which was, I'm never going to say publicly privately, I'm leaving WordPress. I joked all the time. I'm going to be a WordPress user a blogger, which I was still am. But the important thing is I didn't want to lose or even think all the amazing friendships I've made over 15 years being in the space.

To say, I'm saying goodbye to you. That's not it. You heard Pippin Williamson when he left Sandhill dev that he was like, I'm not saying about a difference, but I need to step away from the project. [00:19:00] And I just go that sentiment to me comes back to this acquisition. Like things are changing, all that stuff.

I, I totally get that. I'm not trying to change your emotion. My way of thinking about it though, is the people are still here and that's what matters. I've known you David for God. Has it been 10 years since 

I've known you for 10 years? 

David Bisset: Since the first conference in Arizona whose name is escaping my. I think that's where we may have known.

We may have known each other prior to that. That's the first time we met in person, I think officially, 

Cory Miller: but you know, the premise of all, this is like, the people are still here, for the most part. Now you're always going to get people leaving the ecosystem, leaving it, you know, and coming in new people, coming in, who I met, one of our post-test members was when Stina and I'd love to hear her story.

She was there. Got invited to State of the Word we got to talk Post Status member and That's a new person, I didn't know, a year ago or two years ago, you [00:20:00] know? And so some may leave and you're always going to have that in some, and cause there was even a picture. I think one of those slides, David of Kim. Oh, you know, and you think about people who have left and for instance, this world Kim back in the day but I saw her picture on one of those slides, you know, and it made me smile, but all that to say, WordPress is not about code it's about the people.

And that is what I hang on. I'm not trying to change your heart, your feelings, but I'm just saying, if you think about it, go it's about the people. No matter if it's a team, if it's outside of WordPress, whatever it is, it's like, what matters are the people there? And are we growing together and all that?

So that's the way I think about that, but that the merger is that it's I it's right for people to go and question what's what the heck's going on here. Things are changing on that space, but I still go the Michelle Frechette. Actually as a team member of people, some of my best friends and my former team and I themes now, is that interesting?

Well, I've known Michelle for a long time and now she's a part of the scene. That's cool. You know, that, that change happened where gives, [00:21:00] got by. And cellar rolled out and she moved over roles and now we get to work with her Post Status too. And again, I just call back to, if you're worried about that, just go back to the people now there's other worries, but I just, the heart of it is about people.

David Bisset: Yeah. And 

I also, I have also have a motto too, in terms of you don't let the people that are leaving a community, distract you from who is coming into the community or who they should, or who should be invited into the community and vice versa. But don't let one side distract you from who's coming in versus who's going out and that sort of thing.

And I think we're doing a pretty good job with that. What happened after state of the word after it ended what happened. 

Cory Miller: Well, so there was about, I can't remember how many, but at least 20 of us, I could probably adapt touch straight back to Post Status and we all kind of stayed at the same hotel and had a little, two day fun before the event and all that stuff.

And so a bunch of us went back to our hotel and we're at the restaurant, the hotel restaurant bar, [00:22:00] and just kinda talking, you know, and I got to meet great people. I've just met in like Robert. Who runs OSTP training there? I got to see again for the third time, Robert Jacoby of cloud waves. The hero press couple Kate, and Tofor, I'm trying to think of othersAC Morse was there? Gravity forms. 

David Bisset: Aaron Campbell was there. 

Cory Miller: The Aaron and I laughed. He lives in Oklahoma. Like me, he's literally an hour away. I bet it'd take me 45 minutes to be on his doorstep and vice versa. And we're like, we had to laugh. So we're sitting in New York city Soho, somewhere in the coffee shop. We're like, isn't it funny how we have to either go out of the country or to go across the states to see each other when we live like that close to each other.

And I love Aaron. He has such a great. For WordPress, all things WordPress and I love what he's doing. 

David Bisset: Bob was there too. Of course, he traveled by train. He traveled by training the width of the Wu train clan. And it was, I think one of the best moments of the night was when he got up to ask the question and he had the simplest of questions, which was like, he [00:23:00] like, what's up for WooCommerce or in the next year I traveled 2000 miles to ask this question.

And how did Matt respond 

Cory Miller: that's all the bingo card and slack Post Status slack light up because Bob asked it, you know, finally he got the invoke. Woo. Yeah. I love Bob. Bob does and has been around for a long time too. And what I said about him personally at the vent was the one thing I admire about him is he has just consistently showed up.

And get work in this space and has mad respect from everybody because of it. So we sponsored his train trip out because we wanted to I mean, Bob is such a vital member of the WordPress community and then specifically WooCommerse. So Bob did all of that kind of community logistic, wrangling there, in addition to being like, and he was trying to record, he set up a studio in his room and I got to be with Robbie and Robert and Bob and

do the woo podcasts there. So, it was a great time for that on the note of getting people together. And Post Status [00:24:00] specifically we're right now getting our in person. Camps together for Post Status Brian and intended to do it last year. And you know what, two years ago, and you know what happened, right.

But this year we're putting some plans in place to get together in a small way to talk shop, to do life together as a community. I would love for everybody to be there next. December 22nd for, it's going to 

David Bisset: say, as we wrap up here, what is the schedule look like for our post status members?

What do they, pay attention to?

Cory Miller: So we're doing a year in, remember huddle. We're going to be doing these next year, by the way, in which I'll be talking about, but our member huddle you're in next Wednesday, December 22nd, 11:00 AM central time. There'll be zoom links in slack and all that.

And so. We're going to do our, that member huddle. How-to it's going to be one part like reflective review last year, thinking about next year. So look back, look forward, and then we're going to do some fun stuff. I want you to meet the Post Status team. All the people that are doing all this crazy awesome [00:25:00] stuff behind the scenes that you don't all see.

And then talk about some of the things we got in store for our Post Status community. A couple of times I've heard people say energy with post status and it is, and it ain't just me, by the way, it's people like David who had been here faithfully for years, Michelle Frechette, Courtney Robertson, Taleesha, you'll get to meet her.

She's our new director of operations and all kinds of people in between. I can't wait to do that. And then laugh together. Our theme for the ongoing, I hesitate to say it's going to be 2022, because I just want it to be forever is give. Together. 

David Bisset: What was that again?

Cory Miller: Give, grow together. It's part of what I want to be our member mantra.

The thing we come to post to us and say, I'm here to give of myself my time, talent, treasure, all that stuff. Not true necessarily, but like give up myself in the spirit of open source to the commuity. To each other. Second is I'm here to grow. I want to grow myself. I want to grow my business.

I want to grow my career. We've got specific plans for the growth side and then together, it's [00:26:00] just the thing that wraps everything together. It's not I. It's not you. It's always, we at Post Status. It's not just me. I happen to be on, you know, I had my face out there and stuff like that. But if this is truly a community and truly a team too, and I want us to just emphasize those three things, give in spirit of WordPress, same thing, just give to each other in the community business of WordPress second is to grow commit. You want to be here, let's grow yourself, grow professionally, grow your business, whatever it is, come here to grow. And then to do it together do it all of us together. So, even our products, like, as you will know David is called and that's a Portuguese word for probably mispronounced it, but together we're together.

So it's been a theme of my life even before clinical campaigns and the COVID time. But I really mean it next year as I'm going to do these things from in-person camps, how we do slack, how we do some of the cohorts, we're going to be rolling out. And I hope you'll show up next week and we can talk more about that and get your feet.

David Bisset: What was the date again?

Cory Miller: [00:27:00] December 22nd.

David Bisset: So December 22nd, Wednesday, are we going to see any sign of a state of post status with you in a suit? Is that something we can look forward to? 

Cory Miller: You're probably not the second 

David Bisset: the people that are listening for the people that are listening at home.

Cory shook his head so quickly that I thought his neck was about to snap. 

Cory Miller: Yeah, I think we should do these types of things where as our leader of post, as getting in front listing talk, discuss, put things out there that help you learn and grow and all that with postdocs, for sure. And I always want to get to Canada.

So maybe to the first to the second one, the suit, you know, I mean, I've got two suits. I probably don't fit currently. So. I think you're more likely to see me in a Chewbacca outfit than a suit, but no shady. Anybody else? It's just, 

David Bisset: no, you have to stand up. You gotta make yourself stand out with all these other state of the blah-blah-blah.

I mean, if Matt does a [00:28:00] suit, I think. Any, if you're going to wear a hairy Chewbacca outfit, I think that's a good countermove. But anyway, 

Cory Miller: Somebody is gonna remember this and come back and say, Cory memory, you say you do that. 

David Bisset: Oh, people will remember it. I might have a little bit of a night terror about it. I've got a thing against Wookiees. But other than that, I think it's a fantastic idea. Well, it sounds like you had a blast and it was a blast watching. I see you in some of the photos. Sometimes you're in the background You're in the background photo bombing. It's fantastic. I'm glad that this happened and I'm glad to see Matt so open.

Maybe it was because it was a smaller venue or it was the fact that there wasn't a word campy west surrounding Matt. You know how draining that is even to, just to be at a work camp us and then, and that WordCamp us with a talk in front of a thousand, 2000 people, it would look like a really nice event with a ton of energy, but.

Personable intimate. And I'm glad you all in this, in the few got to experience that. And I, of course, next year though, [00:29:00] or next time this happens, hopefully it will be under different circumstances and we'll have more people. In fact, think he said, if all goes well, San Diego is going to be the work camp spot for 20, 22.

Have you ever been to Sandy? Oh, really? I've never been. So it'll be interesting for me. Was there anything else that you wanted to share? I think we, it was good seeing you. It was good seeing you. I'm glad you're home safe. And then it sounded like they do all the safety precautions and everything, which was fantastic.

I'm glad they did that. And it was good to see Josepha and the others there as well representing so great. So next time. Let's it sounds like we're going to talk about wrapping up our thoughts about the year with the biggest news stories that you think Corey or the most influential to you personally.

And we've asked the same question to our post status members, this awesome service zip message. I want to say zap message, but that sounds more painful. Zip message. It's zip message. And we're encouraging people [00:30:00] to go in there and just leave a brief clip about what story to them was the most influential for WordPress this year.

And to them personally, and maybe by the time we talk next time, we will have a couple of us to talk about and share our own as well.

Cory Miller: Thanks, david. And thanks everybody.

Some Gutenberg plugin releases feel like heavy-hitters with new user-facing features. Others, such as today’s version 12.2 update, smooth over problems and create a more well-rounded experience.

Switching between the site editor and templates is smoother. The color picker is no longer a hot mess. And, border controls now use the tools panel approach of allowing users to enable or disable the options they want.

Contributors have made progress on updating the Comments Query Loop block, which will eventually be the backbone of displaying comments in block themes. One of the tallest hurdles was making nested comments work. With that now fixed, moving forward with other comment-related components should be less problematic. The latest release also introduced the Comments Pagination Numbers block for handling paginated comment lists.

View Templates Without a Page Reload

Templates view in the site editor.

When Gutenberg 12.1 launched two weeks ago, I was happy to see the new and much improved slide-out panel in the site editor for viewing templates. My primary complaint: it was slow. Switching between the editor and template view required a page reload.

In the latest 12.2 release, this has all changed. Thanks to client-side routing in the site editor, the transition between the editor and templates feels fast and smooth.

Changes like this are one of the reasons I have welcomed the postponement of WordPress 5.9 until late January. Some of these little wrinkles needed ironing before showing the site editor to the world.

Improved Color Picker

Color picker popup.

Gutenberg 12.2 introduces a much-improved color picker. The previous iteration was unwieldy, bulky to the point of being an annoyance. Users would have to scroll and scroll and scroll some more just to jump between changing a block’s text color and its link color. This was especially true if the theme showed both its colors and those from core.

The latest iteration tightens up the UI to the point where users can see the text, background, and link color options all at once. If they want to customize any of them, they can click on one to pull up the color picker popup.

Perhaps this change will open the door for other color options in the future, such as one for link hover/focus. It would have been far too messy in the old UI. However, the new minimalist design leaves ample room.

I would love to see the border-color control get the same treatment. However, there is a separate ticket that offers more fine-tuned control.

Font Size UI Change

Numbered-style font-size selector.

The font size control for supported blocks looks much different. It shows a list of numbered buttons for themes with five or fewer custom sizes. The font-size name appears when one is selected. Otherwise, it is simply a list of numbers with no context.

I have generally liked the progress made toward updating the block options UI. But, I am not a fan of this change. As a user, what do these numbers even mean? Is the “1” size small or medium? There is no way of knowing without testing it. Plus, the context will change from theme to theme. A UI change like this may have been OK on the back of a standardized naming scheme. However, that will be tough to implement after three years of usage.

In general, clicking a single button feels like a better experience than clicking a dropdown, followed by a second click of making a selection. I am just not sure that it works here. However, I am open to seeing where it goes upon further iteration.

There is also no visible way to clear the current selection and return to the default size. If the theme supports custom sizes, users can switch to the “Custom” field and clear it out. This is not obvious unless you stumble upon it. Users could also hit the “Reset All” button, but doing so resets all typography options.

The easiest way to avoid this UI change is for theme authors to register at least six custom font sizes. The option will automatically revert to its former dropdown select field. Fortunately, I have 13 in the theme I primarily work on, so it is a non-issue for me.

Block Template Part Hooks

Theme and plugin developers now have additional action hooks around the block template part system. These should be handy for debugging or other complex use cases.

• render_block_core_template_part_post fires when a part is found from the database.
• render_block_core_template_part_file fires when a part comes from a theme file.
• render_block_core_template_part_none fires when no part is located.

Last week, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy opened a discussion on how many releases the project will aim for in 2022.

“Given that we have a release in January already, I wonder if we might be able to use 2022 to attempt four releases,” Haden Chomphosy said. She proposed three different release schedules:

• Quarterly releases: January, April, July, October
• Trimester-ly releases: January, May, September
• Known release and then evenly spaced targets?: January, May, August, November

When she brought it up in the #core Slack channel, a few contributors said they would like to see the project move towards more frequent releases. They were optimistic that it can be done, since a January release is already on the schedule.

Responses to the post on make.wordpress.org were markedly different. A few commented that they would be comfortable with a quarterly releases as long as they avoid major holidays. Several participants in the conversation have urged WordPress to slow down to two or three releases. Others suggested WordPress simply wait to release new features until they are ready, with no schedule. This particular suggestion makes it difficult for various stakeholders, like hosting companies, agencies, and WordPress product businesses, to plan effectively.

In 2021, WordPress released version 5.7 in March and 5.8 in July. A third major release planned for December was postponed due to critical blockers and decreased volunteer availability. A jump to four releases next year seems overly ambitious without a change in processes.

“Is it realistic to plan four releases for 2022 right after three releases per year plan was not fulfilled?” Oleg Kharchenko asked in the comments. “I don’t get what’s the benefit of having more releases just for the sake of number. It looks good in business reports but it has no real value for WordPress users as frequent releases lead to half-baked features which are hard to use.

“Also plugin and theme authors will have to put more time into testing instead of their product development. Finally, there are many tickets on Trac with ‘early’ keyword which are punted for years just because everybody is too busy to find time to include these tickets in the upcoming release, making the release schedule tighter would worsen this situation even more.”

Jessica Lyschik, a developer and an active member of the German WordPress community, said she would prefer two releases for the future.

“As several people already mentioned, planning more releases did not work out in the past, so why should it work now?” Lyschik asked. “5.9 got postponed to have refined features included so it can be actually used. The complexity of the new features is huge and trying to split that up in smaller releases is not something I see to work in the future.”

The roadmap for 2021 originally planned for four major releases but was scaled back to three in February. At that time Haden Chomphosy cited a lack of automation and the necessary personnel to execute the plan without risking contributor burnout and update fatigue.

WordPress core committer John Blackbourn commented on the discussion, urging Haden Chomphosy to elaborate on why she is proposing the potential of more frequent releases. He also requested she summarize the original list of challenges and needed changes and the progress that has been made towards improving them.

In a post titled “Why I Voted to Delay WordPress 5.9,” Anne McCarthy explained a few of the factors and blockers that caused the release to be postponed to January 2022.

“What I’d like to understand better is what are we going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” WordPress 5.9 release lead Matt Mullenweg commented. “There could always be more polish, more bugs fixed, and I would challenge you to pick a year in the past decade that didn’t have its share of human issues. I’d like us to really understand and agree what went wrong, particularly in the first months of 5.9, and what we’re starting now to make sure 6.0 is effortlessly on time.”

McCarthy responded, citing the following reasons:

• lack of contingency plans around the interrelated features
• lack of clarity around scope for various individual features (particularly the browsing feature)
• lack of a comprehensive check in early enough ahead of feature freeze
• a need for more decision makers who have a high level view of where the work is headed

“Personally, I’d love to see the Go/No Go meeting overhauled to be less aspirational and more concrete as to where things stand as I think that’ll set the tone early enough in the release cycle to avoid some of these problems again,” McCarthy said.

A few of these challenges with 5.9 correspond to the items Haden Chomphosy identified in February as needing to change in order to make WordPress releases easier and more frequent: better testing, more seasoned core developers available with time focused on core, better handoff in design/dev iterations, and shifts in collective philosophies towards continuous development.

In the absence of a comprehensive 5.9 retrospective, it may be difficult to plan the next year’s release schedule based on the reality of what contributors experienced most recently. Moving to four major releases will be a tough sell after closing out a year where WordPress could not post three major releases. It will require significant changes to how the work is scoped and managed as it is in process. The topic will be up for discussion again during today’s weekly core dev chat at 20:00 UTC.

From a very young age, I can remember dreaming about a business I would one day own. It would be a restaurant named “The Comfy Chair.” Serving mainly breakfast and light lunch, I pictured a funky space with a mix of unique, comfortable chairs. Patrons could choose the chair that fit their mood of the day.

I’m sorry to report that my childhood dream never came true.

Instead, I now lead a 15-person remote team that develops open source software on WordPress, our primary product is the membership plugin Paid Memberships Pro.

The road that led me to WordPress didn’t begin with a passion for the web, or democratizing publishing, or coding, or anything technology-related.

I began my career in WordPress through my passion for entrepreneurship. A passion to control my earnings, “be my own boss,” and maybe more specifically, work when I want, on what I want, and for the price I choose.

That is the most kickass thing about WordPress—people can enter our community and leverage WordPress for free, from anywhere, anytime, for any reason.

From Craigslist to Plugins

Throughout college, I freelanced doing simple brochure websites, graphic design, and a lot of print work. I used Craigslist and word of mouth to get projects, taking nearly any job that a) paid and b) I could handle on my own or with some help from my “high school sweetheart, husband, co-founder, and best friend” Jason.

After graduation, my parents were cautiously enthusiastic about my decision to start a web design business. I knew I had many months of runway and felt it was a no brainer. Starting a business is a risk. The bigger risk was missing the opportunity to create my own business in the “carefree” days of youth.

Business ownership teaches you a ton—I was learning not just about emerging web technologies like WordPress. I had to learn every aspect of small business: sales and marketing, project scoping, invoicing and accounts receivable, taxes, healthcare…everything.

In Fall 2006, Jason left his job at Accenture and joined me full time. I had my projects and clients, Jason had his. He led the projects that were more development-focused, I led the more design-focused projects.

By 2007, we started doing WordPress sites almost exclusively. WordPress was about four years old at the time. The community was starting to take shape. Meetups and WordCamps were becoming a thing, but the events were very different back then.

I didn’t identify with the early WordPress community. Events were primarily attended by developers and coders, who were primarily male. So I stayed on the periphery of the community.

Jason and I continued operating Stranger Studios as a two-person team. In an agency, there are two main ways to grow revenue: charge more per hour or bill more hours (grow the team). I couldn’t picture myself managing other people. Life and business was good just the way it was. So we regularly raised rates, focused on high value clients, and tried our best not to keep too many clients on maintenance plans.

The WordPress “CMS” helped us increase the number of clients we could serve by giving them more independence in managing their own sites.

Then, life decided to push me into my next chapter with an event that happened when we had our first child, Isaac.

A Building Block For Change

Isaac had a rough start to life 13 years ago and needed surgery a day after his birth. We are endlessly grateful to St. Christopher’s Hospital and The Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House for supporting us through his first two weeks.

And while going through those heartbreaking, chaotic, and hopeful weeks, we still had to work. I remember waiting in our hotel room for Jason to wrap up an urgent call with a client so we could go see our days-old baby. It’s a ridiculous scene to reflect on.

I thought I was living life my way. In reality, I was financially tying myself to a handful of long-term clients. And what’s worse: there was no one to hand things off to when my personal life needed attention.

Consulting work felt like being on call 24/7.

That event changed my life in more ways than I could ever put into words. For the intention of this essay, let’s just say that our business needed to change dramatically, quickly.

When I talk with other entrepreneurs and business owners, we often break down the differences between a services company and a product company. You may have heard a WordPress talk on this very topic: the move from “consulting to products”.

It’s an appealing path for many WordPressers. And now that I’m on the other side of the transition, I can’t deny it is an awesome space to be in—even with the product space going through some major shifts with all the acquisition activity. But that’s a topic for another conversation entirely…

The biggest turning point in my WordPress journey was the decision to create a product. By moving to a product company, I could make more money without working 24 hours a day or (immediately) having to hire people and grow as an agency.

But what kind of product should we build? What untapped market could we serve? What was missing in the WordPress ecosystem?

We found the answer by looking at our history of proposals and projects.

A growing number of our freelance projects had a “membership-type” component. People wanted to protect access to features of their site (content, tools, applications). People wanted to get paid through their WordPress site. More specifically, they wanted to “make money while they sleep” and get paid on a recurring basis. Sell once, get paid over and over again.

Jason and I recognized this trend and the lack of a leading WordPress plugin for memberships. We focused only on freelance projects for “membership-type” sites built on WordPress. These projects helped us bootstrap the development of what is now Paid Memberships Pro.

Open Source Products Are Better Products

I believe in open source. I believe open source products are better products.

We release all of our products with an open source license, just like WordPress. We make our code publicly available on GitHub in a format that removes barriers to collaboration for internal and external contributors. And we make a very good living for ourselves and our team by building a business on top of our open source products.

The decision to be open source has made an overwhelmingly positive impact on the growth of our business. But there’s another major reason why we’ve made it in the WordPress product space.

Paid Memberships Pro is a success in large part because we release the full version for free in the WordPress.org Plugins repository.

Putting my beliefs in OSS aside, the repo makes your plugin available for every WordPress site. That’s 43.1% of websites that exist today. The repo is an amazing resource for every site using WordPress and also for every business building a WordPress product. Not only does the repo facilitate installs and updates, it also builds in a layer of security for WordPress users.

I am deeply grateful for the WordPress community members (the Plugins team) that maintains, reviews, and supports the repository. Without you, I wouldn’t be sitting here today writing an essay about my WordPress journey.

Building a Team That’s Diverse In Many Ways

I’ve always been a woman business owner in a male-dominated field. But I can’t say that my being a woman was something that limited or, on the flip side, catapulted my career forward.

I say this because there are many people in the WordPress community that speak intelligently and openly about important topics like diversity, inclusion, and the serious problem of underrepresentation. I have not devoted enough time to educate myself on their efforts.

But as a person who has interviewed and hired people for a variety of roles, I do have some perspective on the value diversity has brought to our team.

Nearly half of our team are women. And we are diverse in other ways including age, geography, physical ability, and experience.

I value diversity as I value any other positive trait that an employee brings to the table.

When I am interviewing another woman, I recognize that they bring a woman’s perspective to the team, which is valuable. When I am interviewing someone with very little experience, I recognize that I can teach anyone that’s willing to learn and grow, which is valuable. When I am interviewing someone that lives a 20-hour plane ride away, I know that we work remotely and don’t have to overlap for our entire work day.

The diversity in our team has changed my worldview. I have learned endless things about other cultures, such as the troubling issues that a Nigerian mother has faced to find a safe and enriching school for her daughter. I’ve learned about the lasting effects of apartheid in South Africa, about the progess has been made to unify the country and where there is work to be done.

As a parent of “tweens”, I’ve learned valuable lessons from people with adult children. And on the flip side, I’ve shared my stories with people at an earlier stage in the parenting journey.

WordPress is an open, free, accessible tool used by the whole world. Getting involved in WordPress doesn’t require a special form of education, grasp of the English language, or boatloads of money.

I wouldn’t have been able to build a diverse team if the WordPress community, itself, wasn’t diverse.

Live Your Way

Live your life your way. Do more of the things you want. Do less of the things you don’t want.

I am extremely grateful that I am safe, comfortable, and able to live my life, my way. I know that many people are in a place where this type of thinking is not possible.

But even people with everything can have a feeling that something is missing. For me, that feeling is influenced by what other people want for me, when I feel pressure to live out someone else’s dream.

Jason tells me (and others) that my skills are wasted on this product. He boosts me up with encouragement and praise. He says that I am capable of bigger, grander things.

The message I take from this is that I can do anything. So I will do what I want to do. I will do more of the things I like to do, and less of the things I don’t.

In work, that looks like filling senior roles on our team to do things I am currently responsible for. Freeing up my time to nurture the next big product. Or, freeing up my time to spend in ways that my kids need me. Or, I could get another dog.

What I want to leave you with here is that you don’t have to feel pressured to go after someone else’s dream. I’ve watched companies like mine get acquired. Their founders take extended vacations and are living semi-retired lives. I think “is this what I’m supposed to do next?”

Then I join my team on a call and I think “I never want to stop working with these people. This is my family.”

I’ve had opportunities to swing for the fences. To push harder. To get bigger, faster. To be wildly successful.

This is a monetary measure of success. This is feeling successful because other people think you are.

To me, success isn’t measured by dollars or ego. Success is a life well lived. I want to energetically pursue living well. I want to build products that help people find this success. I want to grow a team that has the same freedoms in life that I humbly enjoy.

I want to keep pursuing success with WordPress.

Do you know if WordPress FSE is working to make it easier to create block patterns? Templates and Parts need to just click a button to download them. But patterns are very manual, and you need to register all of them programmatically.

Thiago

You are not the first person to ask this question, and it is something that I have been mulling over for a while. With theme development quickly encroaching a point where it could almost exclusively be done via the site editor, it makes sense that block patterns follow along with their template counterparts.

The feature has not been given any sort of official green light. I am not aware of a specific ticket for it, but it seems like it will be a part of the natural evolution of themes and patterns. I encourage opening a new ticket via the Gutenberg GitHub directory.

Two core features need to precede it:

• A standard folder for storing patterns in themes.
• A way to save patterns in the database.

Fortunately, there are tickets for both of these. Last month, Gutenberg lead Matías Ventura opened a new issue for standardizing how themes are organized. WordPress 5.9 will see the introduction of /templates and /parts folders for templates and template parts, respectively. These will be the officially-supported locations in block themes.

That same ticket proposes future enhancements of a /styles folder for global style variations and /patterns for block patterns. Having a standard location for these things is vital because the exporter in the site editor needs to know where to put them in the exported ZIP file.

A side benefit of this feature is that theme authors would no longer be required to register their custom patterns via PHP. They could merely drop the files into their /patterns folders and move on. The format of this is nowhere near official at this point. There is an unmerged pull request that implements this by searching file headers.

The second piece of solving this issue is figuring out how to allow users to save patterns via the UI similarly to reusable blocks. This is a more complex issue. There are existing plugins that already do this, such as my own Block Pattern Builder, which sorely needs updating, and BlockMeister, a more robust solution. Reusable Blocks Extended even allows users to convert reusable blocks into patterns. So, there are already folks who are trying to solve the problem.

There are still questions about the implementation before it can be officially supported. Are saved patterns a subtype of wp_block, which is currently the post type for reusable blocks? Are they something separate? Then, the project must also decide whether it wants to allow custom pattern categories via a new taxonomy.

There are also other considerations before adding another feature into core, such as adding a design library for components in the global space.

We are not quite to the point where you want, but we are on the path. The /patterns folder alone would remove the code-writing requirement. If it lands in WordPress, you could copy and paste block HTML over. It is not the same as exporting them alongside templates, but I hope the platform arrives at that destination one day.

WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 is now available for testing!

This software version is still under development. Please do not run this software on a production site; install it on a test site, where you can try out the newest features and get a feel for how they will work on your site.

You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 in three ways:

Option 1: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).

Option 2: Direct download the beta version here (zip).

Option 3: When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, or 3 to Beta 4 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:

Command One:

wp core update --version=5.9-beta4

Command Two:

wp core update --version=5.9-beta4 --force

The current target for the final release of 5.9 is January 25, 2022, which is only five weeks away. Your help testing this beta is vital: the more testing that happens, the more stable the release, and the better the experience for users and developers—and the entire WordPress community.

Some Highlights

Since Beta 3, 20 bugs have been fixed. Here are a few of the changes you will find in Beta 4:

• Bundled Theme: Fixed duplicate CSS rules in Twenty Twenty-One theme (#53605).
• Customizer: It’s possible to switch to a block theme from within Customizer (#54549).
• Themes: Provide guidance to users seeking to preview block themes on WordPress versions below 5.9 (#54575).
• REST API: The get_theme_item method should respect fields param (#54595).
• Editor: Block Patterns: “Featured” category & patterns missing from inserter (#54623).
• Login and registration: Add a filter to allow to disable the Login screen language dropdown – (#54675).

How You Can Help

Do some testing!

Testing for bugs is vital for polishing the release in the beta stage and a great way to contribute. 

Please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums if you find a bug. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

Got questions? Here are some answers

In the coming weeks, follow the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.9-related developer notes that will cover these items in detail.

So far, contributors have fixed 326 tickets and 108 new features and enhancements in WordPress 5.9. More bug fixes are on the way with your help through testing.

Props to @cbringmann, @psykro, @hellofromtonya, @marybaum, @webcommsat, @audrasjb, @cbringmann, @costdev and @meher for contributions to this post.

More than half of all WordPress sites (50.5%) are using translations for non-English speaking locales. It’s only natural that these users would want the ability to register, log in, and reset their passwords in their own languages. A new language switcher on the login screen has finally made its way into core, four years after the ticket was opened.

WordPress 5.9 will introduce a new dropdown on the login screen that will display all the languages that are currently installed. (New languages can be added under the Settings > General screen in the admin.)

In a dev note for the new features, WordPress Core Committer Jb Audras demonstrated how developers can filter the default arguments for the languages dropdown. This might be useful for sites that have dozens of languages installed where administrators only wish to display a handful in the dropdown.

WordPress 5.9 beta 3 was released last week. In addition to the new language switcher, the latest beta also includes the following:

• Editor: Add FSE infrastructure from Gutenberg plugin into Core (#54335).
• Formatting: Allow PDFs to embedded as objects (#54261)
• REST API: Add navigation areas REST API endpoint from Gutenberg plugin (#54393)
• Themes: A fix for the Live Preview button bug (#54578)

RC1 is expected January 4, 2022, which will bring a code freeze for both Gutenberg and core and a hard string freeze. Contributors are also aiming to have the field guide with dev notes published at this time.

If you have time to contribute during the upcoming holiday weeks, the 5.9 release team welcomes more testing for bugs. Anne McCarthy has published a detailed guide to testing the full-site editing features that are anticipated in 5.9. Testers should check against the list of known issues before reporting bugs on Trac or in the Alpha/Beta forums.

In last week’s annual State of the Word address, WordPress project lead Matt Mullenweg announced the WordPress.org photo directory. Officially, it has not yet “fully launched.” However, it is live on the site, and anyone with an account can submit their photos.

Thus far, the directory has 103 submissions and are under the CC0 license. Unfortunately, there is only a single photo of a house cat. Perhaps I will need to contribute to the commons that this project has made possible.

This is a separate project from Openverse, a search engine for finding open-source media, launched before the State of the Word event. Eventually, images from WordPress Photos should be discoverable via the Openverse search.

Earlier this year, I was already envisioning what Openverse could be. However, what I really wanted was a WordPress photo directory. Actually, I wanted a WordPress media directory, but starting with images is easier:

Openverse must become more than a media search engine. It needs to be a project where the Average Joe can upload a nice nature picture he took over the weekend barbecue. A place where Average Jane can share a video clip of the ocean waves hitting the shoreline from her beach trip. And a place where professionals can pay it forward to the world.

When Jeff Chandler of WP Mainline shared his first photo, I quickly turned it into a block pattern that wrapped the image in a wooden frame (pattern and image links available via Gist). When the WordPress pattern directory opens its submission process, I would love to submit it or some variation.

Wooden frame block pattern around Chandler’s image.

My customization was not anything special. I wanted to showcase how vital CC0 photos are to those building WordPress extensions like patterns and themes. Having a reliable image resource is invaluable to our creator community. It also gives non-developers another way to contribute to the project.

I also like seeing the faces of people I know listed in the directory. It very much feels like a photo directory made by the people of WordPress. One of my favorites is this one from Topher DeRosia (he has already submitted five):

Single image posts provide additional photo information, categories, and tags. Each photo also has multiple download sizes.

The front page and search could still use a little work. Being able to at least search for images based on orientation (e.g., landscape vs. portrait) would be helpful. A nav menu with all of the categories would be handy too.

The Space Needed Disruption

The stock imagery space needed to be turned upside down. More and more, creators from the WordPress community have stepped away from some of the sites they once loved.

Unsplash. Pexels. Pixabay. They have all had an opportunity to become the most significant open-source photo website in the world. They are places for snagging a quick photograph for free. And, for the most part, they have allowed people to give back with their art.

However, these stock photo sites that previously distributed images in the public domain began adding restrictive licensing terms. It started with Unsplash in 2017. Pexels soon followed, and Pixabay was in lock-step with the others by 2019.

Most of these restrictions disallow users to build similar “collection sites” with those same images, essentially creating a competing service. However, they all have other restrictive terms on selling photos, especially unaltered ones. Note: Pexels still allows its contributors to choose between the Pexels License and CC0 (public domain).

Many photo-sharing sites built their empires on top open source, only to turn their backs on it down the road. The open-source spirit embraces competing websites. The art itself is meant to be shared. That is kind of the point. To be fair, the aforementioned were not the only such sites. They were just the most prevalent in the WordPress ecosystem.

WordPress theme authors were often champions of those sites in years prior. However, they saw service after service disappear before their eyes as they were banned from use on WordPress.org. Themers could not distribute the images because the users who downloaded them would not have the same freedoms as promised by the GPL. It was a loss for open-source.

Now that WordPress has a pattern directory, the issue has become more evident. In the coming months and years, creators will need high-quality photos to showcase their patterns.

The easiest path was to leverage the millions of people who use WordPress and build our own thing. WordPress Photos could very well become the de facto standard of open photos on the web, and that is something we should all welcome with open arms.

The project is necessary. WordPress.org has the resources to make something remarkable: a photo-sharing site that is 100% open and will never change.

In this last episode of 2021, Josepha Haden Chomphosy takes the time to appreciate those who make the WordPress project a success and offers a carol of thanks.

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

References

Have yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Transcript

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  00:10

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

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  00:39

So, ages and ages ago, when I first started this podcast, someone basically requested that Matt and I do a duet for the last podcast of the year. A Christmas carol duet; him on the saxophone and me on voice. I obviously did not get that coordinated I don’t even know why I said obviously. I’ll tell you right now I did not get that coordinated. I was a very busy lady this year. So I don’t have a Matt on saxophone. Still, I did think that maybe it might be nice just for me to sing a teensy little Christmas carol for you all just because it seems especially poignant the words this year, especially after the 2020, 2021 COVID, all the things and trying to get back in person. So I’m going to sing you all one little verse from Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy 01:35 Singing  

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light

From now on our troubles

Will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yuletide gay

From now on our troubles

Will be miles away

Here we are as in olden days

Happy golden days of yore

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Gather near to us, once more

Through the years we all will be together

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Here we are as in olden days

Happy golden days of yore

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Gather near to us, once more

Through the years we all will be together

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  03:34

Alright, my friends, that was from my heart to yours if you happened to listen. If you skipped a few seconds to get through it, which I would totally understand, that is also fine. But I did want to just kind of wrap up the year to let you all know that I am so incredibly grateful for all of the people who show up for the WordPress project to make it a success. I have made so many friends and wonderful acquaintances throughout my time here with the WordPress project. And especially in my three years as the project’s Executive Director. You all have put a lot of trust in me and a lot of faith. And I know that we have gotten so much done together in the last few years. And I am equally sure that we’re going to get so much done in the years to come. And so thank you all so much for your continued work with WordPress and the way that you just bring your best at all times. 

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  04:32

One other little thanks I want to give. Over the course of this year, I’ve had an excellent team that works with me on this podcast. I have editing and design folks and people who’ve joined me here and there, folks who helped me with my production. So big thank you to Dustin, Bea, I realize your name is Beatriz in the actual credits, but I call you Bea, and so thank you. Also, a huge thank you to Chloé, who does all of our production and wrangling every couple of weeks. A big round of applause and kudos to that tiny but tough team that helps me get this all done.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy  05:10

That’s to go on top of the general thanks to the WordPress project. And if you all are celebrators, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. If you are not celebrators, I hope that you have a wonderful end to your year and that everything you wanted to get done, you did get done, and that you can start 2022 with a fresh slate. Again, this is the WP Briefing. Thank you so much for listening. I’m your host Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I’ll see you again in 2022.

Howdy,

Wow, this is already the fourth year-end message, I send out with this newsletter. There isn’t much, I have been doing so consistently then this weekly newsletter. It’s been such an inspiring journey, thanks to you and the WordPress contributors, extenders and users. Your creations, questions, comments have been wonderful, especially when in-person contact have been sparse and zoom-fatigue set in.

For Gutenberg, the block editor the best is yet to come.

In his State of the Word presentation, Matt Mullenweg mentioned for next year Full-Site Editing in WordPress 5.9, which he called the MVP, minimal viable product, Openverse and WordPress Photos, maybe four WordPress releases and in-person meetings. Work on Phase 3, Collaborative editing, won’t come until 2023. This was not all and below you’ll find an array of Recap posts and media for your perusal.

This is my last edition of the year 2021. I wish you a great time with family and friends and a Happy New Year. I am excited to connect with you again around January 9th with the next weekend edition.

Yours, 💕
Birgit

PS: 2129 users voted at the WPAwards produced by Davinder Si ngh Kainth. It’s all in good spirit and a fun activity. In the category of Page builders, Gutenberg landed on second place behind Elementor and before Beaver Builder. 🙂 Thank you, for those who voted for the Gutenberg Times and the Gutenberg Changelog. Seems we need to do some more community outreach and lobbying next time around. 🤔

PPS: To bridge the gap until the next edition, I sprinkled some Gutenberg highlights of the year sprinkles among the links below: starting with the recordings of Gutenberg talks from WordCamp US 2021 on WordPress.TV.

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Table of Contents

 “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

State of the Word and Q and A

My longtime Webdev friend, Deborah Edwards-Onoro shared her thoughts in Takeaways from State of the Word 2021.

The Posts Status team collected voices from the community after the State of the Word & Q & Two ways.

• Responses to the State of the Word 2021 – Openverse. Diversity. Training. Future generations. A whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. These are our quick takes on SOTW ’21.
• Comments (No. 4) — State of the Word 2021 Analysis The recording of the Twitter Spaces with held after the State of the Word event, moderated by David Bisset

Courtney Robertson, WordPress Training team, sponsored by GoDaddy, also wrote a Recap of both Mullenweg’s presentation and the Q & A.

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The Feedback for the 11th Call for testing from the FSE program is in, and Anne McCarthy published the Site Editing Safari Summary.

“As folks dug in, there were numerous enhancements that quickly came to mind as awesome nice to haves. These desired enhancements not only underscores the potential of various full site editing pieces when put together, but also highlights the frustration around the current limitations” McCarthy wrote. She also created a list of GitHub Issue for those feature requests. Check them out and comment if you are interested in those features as well.

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Building Custom Blocks and developing for Gutenberg

Before you start thinking about building a custom block, read Tammie Lister‘s Block patterns are better than blocks, published on the Extendify‘s blog.

The Team at Learn.WordPress.org has two workshops for developers and more are coming.

• Registering Block Patterns with Daisy Olsen
• Intro to Gutenberg Block Development with Jonathan Bossenger

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Ari Stathopoulos posted a WordPress 5.9 DevNote on Using multiple stylesheets per block

“Blocks will now be able to register multiple stylesheets, and load styles from other blocks when needed. Themes will be able to add styles on a per-block basis instead of loading monolithic stylesheets that are force-loaded anywhere. This has a greater impact on block themes where stylesheets loading is optimized based on the page & layout contents, but can also be used by classic themes.”, Stathopoulos wrote.

He continued: “This change can benefit both block developers and theme developers, further reducing the total page-weight by only loading styles for blocks that exist on a page.”

---

Justin Tadlock reviewed a new plugin providing chart blocks in this post: Hello Charts Launches a Native Chart-Building Experience for the Block Editor. In the article, he also lists other block plugins that allow you to create charts. There are actually four:

• SB Charts by WordPress plugin developer Herb Miller
• Chart Block by the bPlugins Team from Bangladesh
• Charts Blocks for Gutenberg by Sandip Mondal, and
• Hello Charts, by Luke Carbis, Rob Stinson and Byron Keet.

Hello Charts is not available in the WordPress repository, only from their website. It’s the first block-based product site, I noticed, that sells single block features.

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In his last stream before the holidays, Ryan Welcher took his viewer through extending the meme block he created last week, to use images from the Media library. You can watch it on YouTube: Expanding the Meme Generator plugin.
If you prefer not to watch the programming part and just look at the code, you can see all code from the Twitch stream on GitHub. Be aware they are educational and not meant to be used in production.

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.

Block Themes for Theme developers

Maggie Cabrera published the Gutenberg + Themes Digest for this week. She highlights PRs and discussions on four topics:

• Typography supports for group and row blocks
• Nameless font sizes
• Approach to global padding
• Default font sizes renamed
• Template parts in child themes

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I suffered from serious flashbacks, when I noticed that Riad Benguella recreated the Kubrick Theme as a block theme. Matias Ventura tweeted a short video on how to change the header color gradient with the site editor. You can study the block theme on GitHub. It might even show up in the WordPress repository.

Justin Tadlock also has a few more thoughts and screenshots Yes, a Block-Based Version of the Kubrick WordPress Theme Exists

Post’s Featured Image: “Building blocks, color, abstract, international, global, corporate, colorful” by Wonderlane is licensed under CC0 1.0

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One of the best things about WordPress is the hundreds of ways of turning things off. There are likely dozens of plugins for disabling various items, each with its own unique set of options. No Nonsense is no different. It is a plugin that allows users to control whether they want to use over a dozen features.

The plugin was developed by Room 34, a Minneapolis-based web development and creative consulting studio. No Nonsense is the team’s 11th free plugin available through the WordPress.org plugin directory.

The team’s plugin caught my eye because it has options for features that I routinely disable on WordPress site builds, such as emoji JavaScript, individual dashboard widgets, and the toolbar. Today’s update (version 1.2) even added an option to permanently remove the Hello Dolly plugin.

Before anyone asks — someone always asks —, the plugin does not disable the block editor. However, it does have an option for turning off the block-based widgets editor.

Room 34 released the plugin on Tuesday, so it has fewer than 10 active installs at the moment. It also does not have any reviews. I suppose this post will suffice as the first. Based on my experience and a peek at its code, the plugin looks solid.

Plugin settings screen.

I tested each feature and did not find any issues, so it gets a 5/5 for doing what it says on the tin. I would love to see a few more options. One example that immediately comes to mind is the the “Posts” screen. Since users can remove the “Comments” section in the admin, it makes sense to have a similar setting for posts. Both are related to blogging, and not all WordPress websites need them.

No Nonsense includes one of my favorite admin-access limitations. It can redirect logged-in users to the homepage when accessing anything other than their user profile in the WordPress admin.

Its toolbar options are all things I have lying around in my code toolbox. The plugin has settings for hiding it for users without editing access, removing the WordPress logo, and ditching the “Howdy” text.

The plugin includes options for many commonly-disabled features, but a new one that I had not thought about was the core update email. When managing sites for several family and friends, those “your site has updated to WordPress x.x.x” emails can become irritating. The plugin allows you to disable those except in cases of an error.

If someone has not already done so, I would love to see a deactivation plugin to end all deactivation plugins. It would feature a complete list of things that a site owner can turn off, disable, deactivate, remove, or whatever you want from a WordPress website.

No Nonsense looks like a good starting place, but there are always other things that I might remove from an install. I almost always give the ax to the theme and plugin editors. As well as the plugin works, there’s always just a little something more I need to get rid of, depending on the site in question. So, I am still looking for that behemoth plugin that gives me that one-click access to disable anything. For now, I can see myself deploying this on a few sites.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced it is implementing a new Board Member Agreement and  Code of Ethics that is meant to guide members in their responsibilities, decision-making, and activities. The documents, which FSF says were “designed to help make FSF governance more transparent, accountable, ethical, and responsible,” were created as part of a six-month long consultant-led review.

In March, FSF founder and GPL author, Richard Stallman, announced that he was returning to the board, after resigning as director of the board and president of the FSF in 2019. His resignation followed a series of controversial remarks on rape, assault, and child sex trafficking, along with two decades of behaviors and statements that many have found to be disturbing and offensive. He was subsequently ousted by GNU project maintainers from his position as head of the project.

Stallman’s controversial return was supported by the majority of FSF’s board, with the exception of board member Kat Walsh who resigned after voting against his reinstatement. The organization’s executive director, deputy director, and chief technology officer also resigned in protest. 

At that time, the FSF’s board published a statement saying they “take full responsibility for how badly we handled the news of his election to a board seat. We had planned a flow of information that was not executed in a timely manner or delivered in the proper sequence.” His reinstatement took FSF’s staff by surprise, as they were not informed or consulted.

Mozilla, the Open Source Initiative, Red Hat, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other prominent tech organizations also opposed the decision in published statements and removed their support for FSF and critical funding.

The WordPress Foundation, which previously listed FSF among the project’s inspirations, quietly removed the link from the website following the controversy. WordPress’ executive director Josepha Haden Chomphosy published a statement, saying she did not support Stallman’s return as a board member, and confirmed to the Tavern that this is also the WordPress project’s official stance.

In what appears to be an attempt to claw its way back to a semblance of accountability, FSF’s newly approved Code of Ethics is targeted at preempting future incidents of board members acting on behalf of the organization without permission. A few relevant ethics in the document include the following:

• Members of the board of directors will not undertake an activity that substantially hurts the FSF. When acting as board members, they will work toward the success of the FSF.
• Board members shall all avoid placing–and the appearance of placing–one’s own self interest or any third-party interest, including the interests of associate members, above that of the organization as a whole.
• Board members shall not speak on behalf of the FSF unless given explicit permission. Directors must not represent that their authority as board members extends any further than it actually extends. The board speaks as a whole, not as individuals.

New governance is a positive step towards transparency and accountability, but after all the damage done during the botched rollout of Stallman’s reinstatement, it’s not likely that opposing organizations will settle for anything less than his removal from the board.

“You shouldn't be the one to always take, you want to be the one to always give.” —Mary Job

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with special guest Mary Job. Mary is a remote, “nomad” worker in Africa who travels from city to city. She is an engineer with Paid Memberships Pro but also spends a large amount of time growing and stimulating the African WordPress community. Mary has helped start WP Africa, a site devoted to the community of WordPress users on the continent. She talks about challenges they face, compares the WordPress presence with Google in Africa, and looks forward to the day when there can be a WordCamp Africa.

Also: Mary shares how she got involved in WordPress, and how appreciative she is of the giving nature of the WordPress community. David will have to figure out how to get Mary's invite to Matt.

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.

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS.

Mentioned in the show:

• WP Africa
• David Bisset (Twitter)
• Mary Job (Twitter)
• Post Status (Twitter)

Sponsor: Pagely

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It is literally the one thing that no one was asking for, but we can all collectively agree is kind of cool. A block-based version of the old-school Kubrick WordPress theme exists.

Gutenberg lead Matías Ventura tweeted a quick video of it in action yesterday. Fellow Automattic engineer Riad Benguella had put the theme together.

I am always on the lookout for those nostalgic plugins and themes that harken back to my early days on the web, the early-to-mid 2000s, the golden age of blogging. And, there is nothing that embodies that more than Kubrick, WordPress’s second default theme. It was literally named “Default” and represented the platform for over half a decade.

Even today, Kubrick/Default still has over 10,000 active installs. I wonder whether it is running on now-defunct sites or if the number represents still-active bloggers.

The theme was the face of WordPress during its rise to dominance as a CMS. Theme authors owe more credit to it than any others. It was copied, forked, repackaged, and redistributed more times than most of us will likely ever know.

Kubrick 2, as it is named in the GitHub repository, is still a work in progress. There are still a few kinks, such as single posts showing the excerpt instead of the full content. However, it is a working theme.

The shocking thing about it is how little code it took to recreate Kubrick with the block system. The original theme, last updated in 2020 and now at version 1.7.2, falls short of 11 kb of CSS. I cannot remember the last time I saw a classic WordPress theme with so little code. The block-based version currently uses a handful of theme.json settings and has no CSS.

Of course, it did not take me long to dive into the site editor and start customizing. The most recognizable design aspect of Kubrick was its gradient-blue header. It was also one of the pieces that users from around the blogging world would customize to make their site feel like their own. They would decorate it with custom colors, gradients, and even images.

Today, with the block editor, that is far simpler than a decade and a half ago. Plus, there are more options.

With such power in my hands back in 2005, I am not sure if I would have pursued theme development at all. I probably could have done everything I needed to do within the WordPress admin. Kubrick was one of my first introductions to theme design, and I owe an unpayable debt to it. It is nice to know that its legacy continues to live on.

For old time’s sake, I spent a few minutes making modifications via the site editor — ever so slightly modernizing it. However, I did not want to lose the flavor of the original work.

I am as comfortable as anyone can be in the editor. I know most of its pain points, but this somehow felt more natural than usual. Maybe it was the simplicity of a theme from a bygone era. Perhaps the site editor and I were just seeing eye to eye today. Or, it might simply have been in the cards. I had a lot of fun venturing down memory lane.

I doubt Kubrick 2 sees a lot of action in the real world. Maybe a few folks who are as nostalgic as I am will install it when it is ready for production.

Much like Ian Stewart did with Kirby in 2010, maybe some adventurous theme author will take it upon him or herself to build a modern-day successor to Kubrick. One that both leans into the block system and has readable typography. I am getting older and blinder. A 13px font size is not as easy on the eyes these days.

Following the 2021 State of the Word, Michelle Frechette spoke with Matt Mullenweg about the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the WordPress space this year and their implications for employment and the product ecosystem.

You can read Michelle's and the rest of the Post Status team's takes on this year's SOTW. We've also got a community discussion hosted by David Bisset following Matt's address for you to listen to, and we rounded up reactions to the event from the whole Post Status team.

Members of the WordPress Community on Their Takeaways from SOTW

This episode of Post Status Comments features a live conversation in Twitter Spaces that was recorded right after Matt Mullenweg‘s State of the Word 2021 broadcast on December 14th. Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, and Rae Morey joined David to share their reactions. Others from the audience join in, including Jeff Chandler, Ryan Marks, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, and Amber Hinds.

Among the questions discussed: What stood out in the State of the Word for each of our guests? What did they think of Matt Mullenweg's take on web3, NFTs, and ownership? Was there agreement about Matt's points on WordPress market share, acquisitions, and contributions to WordPress core teams?

This engaging conversation went on for a little over an hour.

Bonus: Michelle Frechette caught Matt for a brief interview after the SOTW address, and we rounded up reactions to the event from the whole Post Status team.

Post Status Comments provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS.

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Mentioned in the show:

• YouTube: State Of The Word 2021
• GoDaddy Review And Timeline of State of the Word 2021
• The WP Minute (Audio + Transcript)
• Post Status (Twitter)

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Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. 

Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

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Transcript

David Bisset: [00:00:00] Uh, my name is David Bisset. I am one of the people at post status. Um, if you're not familiar, go to post status.com. It's a great community. In fact, they might as well be sponsoring this whole thing. What we do is we record, we do Twitter spaces every once in a while we record them and we make them available as podcasts.

So, um, a few rules before we get started here, as we still get a few more people coming in, um, just we'll make it very simple, prove a code of conduct. Just pretend this is a work camp. Be nice. You try to be family friendly in terms of your language and your feedback and your comments. And be be advised that this is a public space and you will likely be recorded and used later in a podcast or something like that.

If you are listening on your mobile app, you have the opportunity to request, um, feedback. We would like to, uh, like to ask if you could limit your questions or feedback to at least 30 or 60 seconds at a time. Initially that [00:01:00] way we are only planning for maybe 30 minutes or so of discussion this evening may be a little bit longer.

So we'll try to get to everyone. And I know people are still digesting what Matt spoke about tonight as well. I didn't get a chance to hear everything he said either. So we're hoping if we don't bring up some things that were covered. And if you feel like something was important that stood out into night's state of the word, then please feel free to bring it up.

We're also watching the post status slack right now on the club channel. If you feel like typing rather than talk. So anyway, um, there is a distinction just once again, we had some confusion on this last month, you can listen to Twitter spaces on the desktop that does work, but you will not be able to raise your hand or talk as far as I know you need the mobile app for that.

So if you feel like you want to contribute, switch over to the mobile app. Okay. So we have with start off with our initial four, um, speakers for tonight. [00:02:00] Um, Eric, can you tell us just a few seconds of, can you unmute yourself first of all, Eric, and tell us, um, who you are in the WordPress space in 30 seconds or less.

Eric Karkovack: I'm Eric Karch, evac. I'm a web designer and writer for specie boy.com. And I've been using WordPress for well over a decade. And this is my 25th year in the industry overall.

David Bisset: Um, Ray, is this the F, is that your first? Am I doing that? Right? There was only three letters, but I feel like, okay. Where, where are you from right now in the world? 

Rae Morey: Um, I'm based in Melbourne Australia. It's currently just after 11:00 AM here.

David Bisset: I am so stinking jealous, but go ahead. What, what published, what publication are you from?

Rae Morey: I published the repository. It's a weekly newsletter that, um, takes a bit of a deep dive into the news each week and, and kind of picks apart [00:03:00] with the headlines and what people are saying about 

David Bisset: oh, excellent. We'll be look forward to hearing some of your comments. Um, Mr. Palomo Palomo whiskey. I think I butchered that like some fine beef.

Uh, can you, uh, unmute yourself and tell us a few things about. 

Maciek Palmowski: Yes, you did a bit. Uh and, uh, well of course, when you say it that fast, it sounds better, but go ahead. Yeah. Uh, yeah, you know, Polish is, is, is very hard. So English is hard for me, but yes, but if you're from another publication as well. Yes. Uh, I am from WP owls, uh, which let's say I do at night because, uh, during the day I am a hundred percent Basadur at body and, uh, w P owls.

Uh, we also try to find some interesting things that are happening in the WordPress space. Uh, we try to [00:04:00] focus a bit more on the things that happens for developers, but of course, we also find all the news and try to share everything with this interests. Hmm. Here at night. WPLS I S I see the connection.

David Bisset: All right. Finally, that Hannon welcome to the program. 

Bet Hannon: Hi, David I'm Ben and I live in central Oregon and the USA. I run an agency that designs and develops WordPress does manage hosting for WordPress. So we have a specialization with accessibility. So we do a lot of things with accessibility, and I'm also a local meetup organism.

David Bisset: So we, uh, we have a little bit of a diverse bunch here in terms of, at least we have at least an agency owner. We have a couple of people from the news we have, and there's a lot more interesting people that hopefully we'll get to meet in the audience as well. So Eric, why don't we start with you from maybe a developer perspective, but from any perspective, what's the biggest thing that jumped out at you that Matt talked about tonight?[00:05:00] 

Eric Karkovack: Well, first of all, I was glad that he, he kind of explained, uh, you know, the whole web series. Um, topic that, you know, we weren't quite sure what he was going to say on that. Uh, we weren't sure if maybe he was going to introduce NFTs to a WordPress somehow. Uh, so I was glad he kind of, um, spoke about how that already fits in with work.

WordPress, WordPress is already doing it. It is a decentralized platform. It is, um, you know, something that you own the content of your site. So I was really happy about that. And I think the other thing that really, um, interested me was when he was actually talking about his youth a little bit about his time building B2, um, those things kind of stood out to me because he started out much the same way I did no, you know, formal education and it just did it because he was passionate about it.

And I think that's something we don't always hear from Matt. So I thought that was, um, [00:06:00] really great to hear.

David Bisset: He seemed to be a little more personable. I mean, I don't mean, I, you know, I guess I'll go next and a little bit in terms of what I thought overall. Um, we'll, I'll let you all handle the technical, but overall, maybe it was the smaller stage.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't spoken in front of people maybe in two years, I think he said, or maybe he, or at least in front of a WordPress crowd, he seemed to like be more happy or at least like a little bit more. And he seemed to be a little bit more, um, I don't know. I can't really put a word on it of personable or, um, maybe nervous too, maybe a little bit of that.

Maybe it could have been the most nervous. I've seen Matt out of state of the word in a long time and maybe that was because of the proximity or because of COVID or whatever. Um, 

Bet Hannon: I think it's really different when you're speaking to a small. Based versus thousands, you know, thousands of people in a big auditorium, it just feels really different when you're in front of a small audience since we, you, since we have you bet, why [00:07:00] don't you tell us what, what's the one thing that probably stood out to you the most now?

Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's actually a thing that kind of surfaces again and again for me, and it's a little bit of a push Paul. And so, uh, uh, on the one hand, I really celebrate all the ways that we are, um, making customization so much apart. And we're giving so much ability for people with little or no coding skills to be able to do these amazing things with their sites.

As an agency owner, you know, I have clients who have, you know, five or 10 or 15 content creators, and they don't want to give that kind of, they don't want their content creators necessarily going off brand for example. And so there's, uh, I'm always kind of trying to think about, uh, you know, balancing that out or, uh, thinking about how will we help our clients work with their content creators, amid [00:08:00] all of this amazing ability to customize.

David Bisset: As an, as an agency owner where you overall satisfied with what was presented tonight. 

Bet Hannon: Oh yeah. You know, uh, it's always great to hear how things are going, looking. Uh, I thought it was really interesting the, um, the perspective that Matt was giving on some of the acquisitions, but it's a, it's not just happening in WordPress, that there's a much broader kind of, um, you know, that's happening at a much larger scale and all across many industries.

And, um, so yeah, no, I, I really was pleased. 

David Bisset: So, um, our, our WP gals and our repository people here, they cover the news. They cover acquisitions as far as everything else. I'll let you decide which one of you wants to go first, but again, same question. What was the biggest thing that stood out to you during maths?

Talk the seat. 

Rae Morey: I'm happy to jump in. Um, I think, um, [00:09:00] one of the big things for me, I think, which you've kind of already touched on is the energy of the address today. Um, it was very obvious that Matt was really happy just to be around like-minded people who, like he said, I got him dancing, a jig as an animator, which he also pointed out or your case, but it was really nice seeing him so happy he's been there and vocal about how uncomfortable he was last year during the prerecording.

So it was nice to see him in front of a crowd again. Um, but I, I guess just the energy of seeing things moving forward again, after a bit of a, not a stagnant past couple of years, but things have been a bit slower with contributors being involved, I guess in WordPress has been, um, a bit of a slow down in number of people contributing to the project.

Um, And I, he was feeding off the energy in the room, as bet said. Um, I guess one of the other takeaways for me was, um, just, uh, you know, uh, [00:10:00] we didn't know what he was going to talk about, um, around web three. And, and if T's, it was, uh, you know, there a bit of speculation around what he was going to say, few ideas floating around, but it was really nice to see or to hear him talk about, you know, basically WordPress is already leading the way when it comes to web three to centralization of the web and, and ownership over content.

So it was really nice for him to address that and, and talk about where WordPress fits into that space. Um, you know, as well as the focus on open verse and, um, you know, where that's going to go in, in 2022 is, is really exciting. 

David Bisset: Oh, and Mr. Owl, I feel like I need to ask you something about the Tootsie roll pop, but I don't think the kids today will get that.

Maciek Palmowski: So, um, for me, uh, there were two things that really stood out. First of all, uh, when he mentioned the number of, uh, people doing translations and the languages in the repository, uh, because [00:11:00] I am a non native English speaker, which probably you can hear with my thick accent. 

David Bisset: I think it's cool. 

Maciek Palmowski: Thank you. Uh, but um, I know how many people in Poland, for example, need to see their CMS in, in Polish because English, it's not something they want to, they want to read some, some of my clients that I had don't even knew English or just didn't felt comfortable with it.

So, um, the, the growing number of polyglots, this is really something great. And this is really a thing that, uh, Um, that will really make WordPress bigger and bigger. Uh, w when we confronted with, uh, other CMS is out there because most of them are still mostly created and maintained [00:12:00] in English. So this is something very important.

And there was one sentence that was also very intriguing for me. Maybe I, um, I misheard it, but I thought that Matt, at some point mentioned something about breaking a bit, uh, how he called it, that backward compatibility. Yeah, he did. I remember him talking about that, what specifically thinking of exactly.

And this is, um, I know that he mentioned it, uh, in the, in the context of, uh, in the context of themes, maybe, maybe, and this is. A bigger step to some bigger changes in, in inside of core, inside of, uh, uh, of, of, uh, of the coal tooling and stuff like this. So, uh, really Matt saying, let's break the [00:13:00] backwards compatibility.

This is something huge. 

David Bisset: Did he say that though? Break? I remember I may have missed that quote. 

Maciek Palmowski: You mentioned something. I mean, it wasn't, uh, as the size, if it's let's break that backwards compatibility, but in terms of WordPress, when we, I would say we have a bit paranoid, backward compatibility, which is great in some cases, um, Talking about breaking any backward compatibility is something.

David Bisset: Yeah. Matt did quote, this was a quote in this again, take, take in context and keep in mind that, you know, we'll listen to this again. And again, probably a few times to get a better understanding of what was said, but he did say in the presentation that a theme that was created with like an early version of WordPress, will it be like 1, 2 0 1, 5 or something like that would work with WordPress 5.9 next month.

That is what he said. And that's his, and that he said, quote, that's how serious we are about backwards compatibility. [00:14:00] Um, but like we said, that I would have to go back and listen, but I know, I know at least currently has strengthened backwards. Compatibility seemed pretty strong, at least from that statement now, whether or not it stays that way.

Maciek Palmowski: Um, but I think it was a sentence before, when he mentioned that. The developers should move from the old editor to the new one. So we should update. So this is something, uh, but, uh, yes, I, like I said, I wasn't sure about this, but, uh, it caught my attention. So I think that, uh, yeah, I will have to relisten it once again to, to make sure.

David Bisset: So we'll let, we'll let that, uh, bet chime in here and then I'm going to open before you start that. I'm good. Then after you, I'm going to open the floor a little bit of a few other people who are going to raise their hands and we're going to keep everyone on stage though. So you can keep interjecting back and forth.

We're not kicking anybody off. I'm sorry. Go ahead. 

Bet Hannon: I might be wrong, but I think that Matt was referring to the breaking the backward compatibility in terms of the introduction of Gutenberg that the Gutenberg would break a [00:15:00] backward. That that would not be backward compatible as we move forward with blocks. Well, I might be wrong.

David Bisset: Well, I don't know about you, but some of my old themes won't work with flux gear guaranteed. Yeah. And, and the old editor things in the old adage that use that tiny MCE editor are not going to work. And so there's some backward compatibility that is broken with the introduction of blocks. So, um, all right.

Uh, Jeff, welcome to the show. Welcome on stage. Um, Eric Ray, Brett, and Mr. Owl. I'm going to refer to him as, um, are still on stage with us and are going to interact with anybody we bring up. Can you hear us, Jeff? Uh, absolutely I can. And Ray, you have an awesome accent. Thanks for that. She has, she's also in the morning too, so she's got that.

Perkiness that currently very few of us have right now, but oh, I have a coffee. So I'm doing well, sorry. You're not making me [00:16:00] like you in any more, right. Uh, so Jeff, what for the, for us up here on stage and for the rest of the audience, what would you like to share about what you heard.

Jeff Chandler: Um, I, you know, I think people on the, in a web three space might look at what Matt said on stage as him maybe Disney web three.

But I think what he did was he cautiously tiptoed around the subject. He brought it up, he skimmed the surface. So I think at the very least people know that he's aware of it. He's going to keep his eye on it. And it may come up again in next year's state of the word, but I don't, I think you did a good job with bringing it up.

But one of the things I also enjoyed that he brought up, I'm glad that he brought up was when he went over the market share numbers. And this is something that Yoast EVOC did in his CMS market analysis posts is that he talked about how software as a service company is Wix Squarespace. And, uh, some of the other ones they're all rapidly growing and all of the open source solutions minus WordPress are losing.

And I was glad that he brought [00:17:00] that up and that's something that we should keep an eye on. Uh, here in the next few years, 

David Bisset: He also said something interesting too. About, and this was in a different part of the presentation, but regarding Drupal and Joomla, I got him quoted as saying he thought they would be more successful if they had apps, which I thought was interesting.

Jeff Chandler: I, I thought, I thought they had the apps, but if they don't, I think that's a very valid point.

David Bisset: Yeah, that's true. So market share was definitely something that, that brought up 43%. And I won't go into it now because it's not relevant to the state of the word precisely, but wean very soon because of an Amazon shutting down, Alexa, we may not have the privilege or the opportunity to have percentage of market share numbers like we do today, so that, you know, examining this information now for Matt, I think during the state of the word is very important because without those are W3C texts, numbers are based on Alexa and Alexa is shutting down in, I think may of next year, Amazon shutting it down, not that Alexa, [00:18:00] the other Alexa, and I'm just turned on a bunch of Alexis and people's houses.

Jeff Chandler: And one of the last things I'll say here before I get off, is that I think it's obvious that 20, 22 is going to be the year of the open verse. 

David Bisset: I, I can't, I, every time I think of open verse, I think of something else and I hate myself every time. I think of that associate, thank you very much, Jeff, for, for sharing with us, Scott.

Um, let's see. We're inviting Scott upstage or SKC. I think he likes to, I think that's his rap name. 

Scott Kingsley: Hey, what's up? 

David Bisset: What's up?

Scott Kingsley: Let's say Casey, you know me? 

David Bisset: Oh God. He started her up already quickly before, before he does tell us what you thought of tonight. 

Scott Kingsley: Uh, the 

lack of banana milkshake representation, it was kind of a disappointment, but, and wanted to run that operation banana milkshake failed.

David Bisset: It was fine. Nobody knows what we're talking about.

Scott Kingsley: Oh, one out, but, uh, availed on asking the question. [00:19:00] So, cause he got up right near the end. I was like, oh, come on. You can get, you can get the question in there. But uh, I thought it was really interesting. Um, well obviously. I think web three is a whole thing, but I'm really glad that he brought it more towards like reminding people.

You need to remain cautiously optimistic about things and keep things open. Um, especially from the perspective of making sure things are, are done right. And you're not watching hucksters and stuff, but, um, but I think maybe the part I really liked the most was probably all around how, um, collaboration is phase three and we're, I know we're still a year out now, but, uh, if we could have gotten to that in 2022, I think that would have been a pretty big thing because there's so much about the collaboration idea of just like going into, um, uh, Figma or Google docs and you seeing everyone else were working together and, and just that collaboration aspect of things could make things so much easier, especially on the open web, we're trying to replace something like Google docs, [00:20:00] having an experience like that inside of WordPress and being able to collaborate like that would be pretty, pretty.

David Bisset: Yeah, I wish I knew more about it in terms of, um, he did say he was going to talk about web three and he did say NFTs in his blog post, but I don't think he said much about it unless I missed that part. I think he was just putting a bunch of keywords together. Um, yeah. Um, but he did make it a point to kind of bring up the larger issue about what those individual things stood for, at least from a philosophy philosophy standpoint, what you hear on the web in terms of, um, ownership.

And I'm drawing a blank on the other things right now, but he did really kind of go into why WordPress was representing those things. And he did make a point that you can overlook some of the things that are the WordPress has four freedoms can be overlooked if you focus too much into some of the, I don't think he used the word hype, but I think he meant something like it.

So [00:21:00] there's a danger there overlooking what he thinks are the critical freedoms to WordPress. Eric, did you have. 

Eric Karkovack: Yeah, I think he was also talking about decentralization a little bit with that. Um, just the basic idea that, you know, you can take your WordPress website with you to any host. Um, maybe it doesn't fit in exactly with like something like blockchain.

Um, but it does kind of speak to, you know, the danger of going with, uh, you know, his favorite, uh, competitor Wix. I think he said that WordPress grew by two Weeks's over the last year, which was kind of a good line. Might have been my favorite of the night. I, I have a, I have a little chalkboard up here and every time he made a mark a comment about Wix, I drew a line and I've got a couple of lines here on the board, but yes, he did make that comparison.

David Bisset: Go ahead. 

Eric Karkovack: Okay. I just going to say, I think that, that, um, you know, having that ability to move content from place to place is what's going to [00:22:00] separate. WordPress from everything else right now. I mean, as we see Joomla and Drupal dropping down well, WordPress is kind of like the last bastion of hope for open source at this moment.

Maybe. I don't know, like see what other people think about that 

David Bisset: You need to write a transformers movie.

 That was excellent.

Eric Karkovack: Well, I, I think, you know, if, if, if that's the case, then you know, that's going to be the big selling point. Um, I actually had someone in my family wanted to start a blog this week and I pushed him to WordPress and not to Squarespace or Wix, because if you don't like the service, you're not going to be able to just take the website with you.

It doesn't work that way. 

David Bisset: So let me let, speaking of that, um, let me ask a broader question. Cause I get a feeling we're going to boomerang back to the web three stuff anyway. Matt said, and this question goes for everybody on stage or anybody in the audience. Matt did say a quote later on in his, um, I think in his Q and a about, he said that, um, [00:23:00] 85% or some big percent of the web doesn't really care about it was either open source or owning your own content or something along those lines that most that WordPress would have in order to be usable.

WordPress would have to be a great user experience and WordPress will be invisible to those people. And that's okay. Does, what does anybody think about that? Do you agreed, or do you, do you think that number is larger or smaller or does that seem to gel with your philosophies and your observation?

Bet Hannon: That's true for a lot of people, they think they just, you know, uh, they just want to get the website up and they're really, uh, a little more platform agnostic. They want to know. Is it going to be hard? Right. They want to know about ease of use. They don't, but they don't really care that it's open source for not.

David Bisset: Jeff, what do you [00:24:00] think?

Jeff Chandler: Uh, I think for a lot of people that way, he said in terms of like maybe one or 2% of the people who understand TPO and its freedoms and what they mean, uh, those are the people, very, very small percentage of people. Uh, you know, it be an open source is not the concern. It's how to get the aid to be the fastest and the easiest.

And you, that pretty much explains why a Shopify and somebody software as a service solutions are growing a market share because they're providing a great user experience for a lot of people out there to get from a to B quickly and easily. So I think it was a nice for Matt to bring it up and saying, you know, if we're going to, uh, become the dominant player and get open for some more hands that even if it means that we're presses invisible.

David Bisset: That's okay. Yeah. I think that's reasonable. I think that's a little hard for some of us to like we accept on the surface, but I think some of us have to kind of dig down a little bit and realize that some of the things that we're passionate about us, not what 99% of most people passionate about. You know, they want something that works.

Ray Ray, uh, did [00:25:00] you have something to say, and then I'm going to bring in a new speaker?

Rae Morey: Yeah, no, I'd absolutely agree if you're running a small business, you know, like my hairdresser, for example, she just built a website recently to support her new business and she's, um, using, um, GoDaddy, um, and they're, you know, website builder, and she built a site in an afternoon really easily with WordPress and, you know, people like that, they don't want to muck around with something that's really tricky to, to work with.

They, they wanna drop in their images or their content and have their website up and running with in her case. E-commerce as well, really quickly. And, um, you know, it's important. Um, platforms like, you know, it's not all about, um, WordPress being the center of attention in, in that space. It's, it's about elevating the user experience and making sure that users, um, can, um, have the tools they need to run their business without WordPress necessarily being front and center.

Maciek Palmowski: And, um, [00:26:00] I wanted to mess one more thing because when the whole COVID madness started, many people realized that their business needs a website. Right. And you all remember that this was the moment. Uh, workers had a much bigger amount of downloads. WooCommerce was downloaded the biggest amount of, uh, of times.

And this was because first of all, workers was kind of popular. So people were able to find materials about how to insulate, how to create their first e-commerce. So they could, so their business could work during the pandemic. And it seems that WordPress was easy enough for them to just start to make their business round during those, uh, those hard times.

And probably during the process, [00:27:00] they started to. More and more things, how to optimize some things. And some of them learned probably a finger to about, uh, about C, about search engine optimization about performance and stuff like this, but still, uh, we saw how many businesses started their websites on WordPress, because it was easy.

It was free. 

David Bisset: Yeah. Free. In fact, a real Aruba hope. I probably butchered your name in the chat. She says, I think for a lot of folks open source means free in that vein for some folks, open source also means hard to install. And she says, when I pitched WP, I rarely talk about the open source aspect. I talk about the ease of use security, constant updates, et cetera.

So, you know, playing to the strong, playing to the strong points there. If it's okay with you, Mr. Owl, I liked to switch over to Hazel. Who's been waiting patiently. Hopefully she's not mad at me. 

Hazel Quimpo: Hi. I don't get mad. Um, [00:28:00] quick. No, I mean, I think I'm on the same page with a lot of the folks is like, I don't know.

I think of like travel agents, right? And I feel like we're at this stage where, you know, you used to go to a travel agent to get all your stuff. And I think if you have a really small website, you don't need to even go to like your cousin. Who's a WordPress developer. Well, you might need to today. But I think that the expectation is you shouldn't have to.

Um, and I like from the lay person who doesn't know about WordPress, who doesn't know what, whatever they think they should be able to go and set up their website and frankly they can. And I think that's where we need to realize that's where the people, I was recently looking at tons of web hosts. And so many of them tout like image compression.

And do you know how many people I know that start businesses every day, who care about image compression? Like zero to say a lot, but I guess I was way wrong

for touting these things. Expect. And I think we need to realize some of that when we do WordPress stuff is like, cool. Like we do believe in the open source nature of the things we believe in [00:29:00] owning your content. But I view it a lot of the way. Like, you know, my doctor tells me to drink less and eat healthier, and I think that's a good idea, but I don't care that much.

And I think that's how the rest of the world is right. And Hazel, for as long as we have you in the living, as long as we have you in the living world. 

David Bisset: Thank you for, thank you for that. Um, I'm gonna put, I'm gonna put you back into the audience, but for the love of God, please don't disappear right away cause you're scaring me now. Um, stick around please in the world that we're living and in our, in our little chat room here, Dave, Ryan, um, you're onstage. Welcome to whatever we're calling this little freak show. How are you? Apparently Dave's a quiet person. That's fine. 

Dave: Sorry, Twitter space is cut out there for a second.

David Bisset: No problem. Real quick. Tell us what you thought of that. What, what stood out to you or what did you, or maybe you're responding to someone else's comment? 

Dave: Well, I guess on the current topic, I think of WordPress. You know, if we look at [00:30:00] automobiles, there's a lot of different ways to get where you want to go, right?

But WordPress is ideally these sort of Toyota Camry, the undeniable, you know, lay person, car that anyone, you know, that almost just blends into the background, but is everywhere. And you live where I live with. But also, you know, like the Ford transit van, if we're looking at blue commerce, the thing that every business needs to get, where it needs to go and, you know, it can be customized.

Um, I guess the one thing that really stood out to me about the presentation today is just kind of the talk about the open verse photo directories, digital art, the project doesn't really have an apparatus today to do content moderation at scale. And I'm not sure that that's something that volunteers could really easily be asked to do.

Um, you know, once you create a way for people to easily express themselves, you also open up, you know, copyright [00:31:00] issues, uh, hate, um, questions about what's decent and what isn't, and you have to navigate a global web of legal frameworks or. So I think as excited as I am about those ideas, and I think it's a great opportunity.

I also think that Twitter and Facebook have proven that money and AI don't necessarily solve those problems. And so I'm just curious how the project that going forward. 

David Bisset: That's uh, I would, I would say that too, Adam attempted to ask that toy. He did ask it, um, or attempted to address that as well. And I'm, I'll, I'll be honest with you.

I don't know much about now there was a distinction between the open verse project and the, what was the other thing? Was the WordPress photo project or photo library? Something, um, I'll admit. I admit I, I'm not really good in depth on both of those, by the way. Did I mention, I worked for post tennis? Um, But I, yeah, so there was definitely talk of like, if you uploaded a [00:32:00] photo somewhere with that data, some of the data that sticks to it, you know, like how you upload a photo, like if you upload a photo to Twitter, for example, from your phone on your phone, there's metadata attached to that photo.

And when you upload it to Twitter, it's gone. Um, but that's just, that's just one level. And what you're talking about is the, what hits the news a lot, like in terms of, you know, you could be posting photos without people's permission, or you could be posting hate speech or that sort of thing. So, and we all know that's a moderation nightmare, right?

Guest: I think today, the ways that we contribute to WordPress have a steep enough curve and our barrier to entry that we don't deal with as much of that. But I think the big question is going forward as we make it radically easier to contribute, how are we going to tackle the problem that all these other networks have had to deal with once they scale.

David Bisset: That's an excellent question. I feel like I'm still at the Q and a part of State of the Word. I really, yeah. Subtly we should, [00:33:00] we should get that question in front of Matt and some other, some other people's. So I think that's an excellent question. Dale has decided they don't have a really good answer.

A thought about that. Thank you though, for, for speaking up. Um, so one of the other things that was spoken about here, and I get a feeling this was in, in an inescapable gravitational force in 2021 was acquisitions. And we mentioned this briefly. Um, do you agree, does the, is there anybody here that maybe sees Matt's point, but has a different opinion in terms of this is I think it's, I think the point he was getting across was this is happening everywhere.

It's not just in the WordPress space. Is that, is that generally something that you would agree to? Um, the way he presented it, especially with lots of nice old charts. Does anybody have an opinion on his take on acquisitions?

And if I can take a silence as a yes. If anybody wants to, [00:34:00] I, I can, uh, chime in, I guess. 

Jeff Chandler: Um, I think one of the things he mentioned, he mentioned Yost by name, and I think he also talked about, you know, the number of employees and what they're doing and kind of extrapolating the impact that, that accompany like that has like all the millions and millions of websites that are like, just for example, running Yoast right now.

Um, and I think he's what he's kind of getting at is that there's a lot of responsibility in that. And for a lot of smaller entrepreneurs who started out with these plugins. You know, maybe that's just getting to be to a point where they're just not able to do it anymore. I know that was part of the, the case with advanced custom fields from they, they were sold, um, you know, it was a one man operation with a user base in the millions and, you know, kind of how do [00:35:00] you, how do you manage that?

How do you continue to, to support it and build the product at that scale? When, you know, you're just a small group of people or even just an individual. Um, so it's, it's a matter of WordPress is growing so radically big and you can't be a one person team, especially on something that large sure. Seems like it these days.

I mean, I I'm, I don't doubt that, you know, individuals are still gonna come up with amazing things, but to compete at the level of a Yoast or an AC. I don't know how that's sustainable for a long period for such a small group of people.

David Bisset: Well, I think that also, and not to get off track here because this isn't, I think Matt didn't mention this at some point directly cause he ma he brought up the CD comic about, um, about it there's I tweeted [00:36:00] it, but I'm looking, I'm trying to look at the picture right now.

It's basically about picture a all modern digital infrastructure being a giant castle. And there's this one little piece of the bottom that says a random, some random person in Nebraska, thankfully maintaining a project since 2003. Um, that, that is kind of also the same problem, in my opinion, in terms of like, it is this, there is a strength of open source and yet there's this weakness.

And I think this week two, if anybody's been following the news about the Java exploit that came out on Friday, who's named now, I'm not remembering logs. Um,

Guest: log4j

David Bisset: yes, that's, that's it. So we're beginning to see these things happening outside of WordPress and open source that we've been kind of contemplating now for quite some time, whether it's bugs, whether it's something that needs to be addressed in terms of open source manpower, or woman power human power, or it's a, like you said, Eric, it's an acquisition thing you absorb, somebody gets [00:37:00] acquired because they can't physically maintain it on the same scale anymore.

Um, did that did accurately that I accurately represent you there? Eric didn't mean to? 

Eric Karkovack: Oh yeah, absolutely.

David Bisset: Okay, great. I've got uh, oh, Ooh. We've got an entire company on the line right now. It's Pagely so this, this should be interesting. Pagely uh, who specifically inside page? 

Dave from Pagely: It's Dave struggle as I'm probably having dinner right now.

David Bisset: Bless his heart. Go ahead, sir.

Dave from Pagely: Well, it's great to see us on the big board with the acquisitions. It's been quite a month for us. We've been part of GoDaddy now for a little over four weeks, and I want to dovetail something that was said earlier, which I tweeted a Jeffer a second ago. Um, we should be concerned about closed source platforms gaining in popularity, um, because none of us want to see the depth of the open web, right.

And it's great to see or press with the market share that it has. And you know, when everyone kind of says we need to get online, what's the first thing I think of is usually [00:38:00] WordPress, which is great. Um, Well, we've been brought in to build with GoDaddy is this next generation of, of an open source commerce product on top of WooCommerce.

And that gets us excited because that is open source. That's going to be built upon this platform and not, you know, going the way of, you know, Wix or Squarespace or any of that. So, you know, we're, we're still kind of committed to that, making sure everything is open source and that the open web doesn't go away.

David Bisset: Hmm. Okay. Well, send a thank you very much and thank you for being a recognizable P avatars. I could quickly point around right here. Thank you. I mean, oh, sorry. Sorry. Going through a tunnel, going through a tunnel right now. Sorry, I can't hear you. No, we'll, we'll keep you on. We'll keep you on the stage a little longer.

Um, Ryan, welcome to the party. Do you, did you have a comment for the group, Ryan? I [00:39:00] think that's Ryan mark. It is. Yes. Okay. Ryan, welcome. Welcome to the show.

Ryan Marks: Oh, well, thanks. Uh, the, the graphic that you were talking about and the person in Nebraska reminded me of the recent news with the PHP foundation and the fact that there was a bus factor of two, uh, with respect to how many people actually knew the code base, according to articles.

And, um, I just thought that was somewhat similar, right? 

David Bisset: So, yeah, so I'm, so this was all coming to the original, um, me bringing up the acquisitions part of it. And some of it is the acquisitions that especially, I think it absorbed the one or two people. The small companies are, are probably doing WordPress a favor in some regards in the long run, because otherwise, like you get hit by a bus, what happens to advanced custom fields, which a lot of people rely on, uh, I think Matt presented that pretty well in terms [00:40:00] of, um, the numbers and some people, some people have different opinions about what is happening in the WordPress space, but there is some validation or some validity of taking a step back and looking at the largest.

There was one bar graph and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really that business oriented again. I work at post status. Thank you very much that on 2021, a bar graph just like shot the way the heck up. I think it was the, um, think it was, it was, it was something about the money that was, that was being transferred at hand-to-hand or something along those lines.

Um, it's just 20, 21 just basically exploded for the rest of the tech industry. And WordPress is a part of that tech industry. So it's not just WordPress and, but at the same time, I think WordPress has its own valid reasons for why it's happening. There were 42 logos on Matt's slide. At one point we have a WordPress acquisition tracker.

I posted a sock hops last acquisition. So I'll have to go back later and see if all those logos are. Otherwise, I'm not doing my job. Um, what [00:41:00] else did we, oh, bet. Did you have a common rule? 

Bet Hannon: Well, I was just gonna say, I think some of the acquisitions or, you know, the pandemic really caused people to just stop and think a lot more about quality of life.

And, uh, you know, I think sometimes you stop and you take a look around and you say, I think I want to move on and do some other things, or I think I've done what I can do here for now. And so some of that can be there. And so I think in 2021, you know, that that's a piece of more, more broadly. A lot of those acquisitions happening is just people thinking differently about what they want to do.

David Bisset: There was a good comment made on another podcast of there was, um, if you look at the big tech, big tech companies, now that started maybe 10 years ago, um, Amazon's founder is no longer with the company he's off on rocket ships or something. Um, there's the, the original founders of Microsoft are long, no longer there.

The founders of Google are no longer there. Apple's obviously [00:42:00] had new leadership. The only person I think running the same ship they have for awhile has been mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. So all of these people have moved on after a certain period of time and they've done it all within a relatively short period of time.

I think Twitter has been the latest one where Jack Dorsey just basically stepped completely away and he's off following his next adventure. Other people have just basically retired. So it's not just about the money in the, in the, in the acquisitions, but it sounds like to me, people, you know, you can, if you, if you're really successful, you have the opportunity after 5, 6, 7, 8 years to say, maybe I want to do something different.

Maybe. All right. Um, Jeff, can you, what do you, what are your thoughts? 

Jeff Chandler: I, in and talking about the acquisitions for a little bit, there is kind of like two separate topics for getting conflated with each other, between the five for the future and an acquisition. I dunno, I was getting little confused, but I think [00:43:00] the whole fight for the future initiative, I think is going to take on even more important as we go forward.

As we look at open source maintainers and the bus factor of two and open source is seen as something that's free, but there's people behind it. There were people putting in time and work and effort and the passion, and it can only go so far and somebody is going to have to flip the bill. And I'm looking forward to ma maybe putting like an executive director or somebody in charge of the five for the future initiative and get that out into the public's eye more often because outside of web dev studios, uh, advertising what they're doing and how they're contributing, and then some efforts from GoDaddy and 10 up, I mean, it's kind of like a behind the scenes thing, and I'd like to see more effort on making the whole fight for the future thing, uh, initiative, go more public, get more people involved and get more people to know about, especially companies.

David Bisset: Oh, okay. Sounds good. Sorry, [00:44:00] Jeff. A bucket, a bucket of chicken wings just went by my field of view and I got distracted for a second. Courtney, um, Robertson, let me add you as a speaker here. Um, after this, I want to talk about the next generation of WordPress users, which was part of the Q and a at the end there.

Um, and what we might think might be our thoughts on bringing in, or people attracted to WordPress for the first time, especially the next generation, but Courtney, what do you got for us? 

Courtney Robertson: Hey there. So, um, one, we saw Andrea and Middleton lurking in the crowd, and I just have to say, I am so glad to see your face popping up and we all miss you as we're talking about five for the future, 

David Bisset: let's do a show just about her.

I think that would drive her. I think that she would love it.

Courtney Robertson: I think so. So did anybody else notice piggybacking off of what Jeff just said, but the very last thing that Andrea wrote to the WordPress community, aside from a fantastic series of posts on her own site, you [00:45:00] head over, if you head over to make.wordpress.org/project suggested iterations for the five for the future program and the tool, um, and ways that we can perhaps reinvision what five for the future could look like from this point, moving forward, how to.

Do a fantastic job at connecting the five for the future initiative, with the various teams. Um, there are things in Andrea's post on the project about the pledges to the different teams and ways to get more connected, partnering up the talents of those that are able to contribute with five for the future, with those in the teams that need to have stuff happen to get work done.

Um, I wanna say that I participated in a number. I want to say five probably contributor days over the past year on behalf of the training team, all of these being virtual summit attached to a word camp, [00:46:00] some as part of the translator day, which was really a month and a few other kinds of things. Yoast did a fantastic job at partnering the various folks with different sets.

And reaching out to the various make teams and saying, w we have this day coming up, we're going to break into, um, a hybrid partially online, partially in person break into different groups and get to work on different things. What are some of the tasks that we can look at? I think when we look at five for the future, um, you know, my employer go, daddy has been amazing at helping fund through five for the future fund.

Part of the word camp events that we see happen, um, sponsoring some other great places like post status and other things, too. But as we're, as we're looking to the future, I really am excited around doing contributor days through post status, inviting all folks that are in [00:47:00] post status and the wider community.

To get connected and similar to how Yost has done it. And perhaps in conjunction with Yoast, we'll see in the very near future. Um, but connecting with the various team reps and connecting with the teams that have needs and saying, let's match up these skill sets of the talent that we've got in our company and the things that need to happen.

And also simultaneously open that thing up by calling in the wider WordPress community, because across the teams, teams are really hurting during COVID not only can we seen the attendance of things like bird camps and all of the setback, uh, you know, a number of years comparatively in the stats, but across the teams were hurting to have.

Contributors that are showing up to actually do some of the work on the teams. And there's a lot of talent and a lot of interest in what's going on. So, um, I just, I love the posts that Andrea left us with. I love that Andrea is in the room right now. I loved the, [00:48:00] we could do a five for the future contributor day series through post status.

So quarterly ones that will probably be hybrid. I welcome anyone that would like to help organize something like that, um, to connect with me over in post status. Oh, well, thank you very much. And, um, I'm sure Andrea is very honored. Um, I'll speak for her a little bit here. Um, yeah, so obviously I'm a little bit biased.

David Bisset: Cause my daughter was mentioned. I don't think she'll be in the witness protection program anytime soon. Thanks to tonight. But she was absolutely absolutely thrilled, but she's not like, but I don't. I want her to be more like blending into a larger crowd of younger people that are running their own hackathons or they're doing their own thing within the comforts of, you know, being even mildly associated with the pro WordPress community. Even if they're not sitting down to crew to quote unquote directly contribute. Um, um, Amir, I think, do we have you [00:49:00] back on now? Can you say something, let us know that you're still alive.

We might be having some difficulties, maybe your Mike's not on or something. I try and again here. Um, yep. Oh, you're muting yourself on and off. Are you, is it Morris code? I see a blinking. Nope. All right. I'm going to leave you on speaker for a second and then I'll let Ryan cut into here, Ryan

Ryan Marks: . Um, so I had a question for those that do pledge five for the future.

Do you feel that you do it primarily with people man hours, or do you do it with dollars or is it a mix? Do you feel like you actually get the 5%, if anything, or is it more, we try to get something close. I think that has her hand, right? So we do fight for the future. Um, I don't know that we calculate it, but you know, certainly, um, you know, [00:50:00] I contribute my time.

Bet Hannon: Um, and then our, our agency subsidizes our people as they, you know, they can, they can put in, uh, you know, time that they're doing community work and get, um, get paid for that. Um, as a way that we try to support the wider community, I think that's just a part of, you know, my wife is an economist, so I understand that tragedy, the commons, uh, example really well.

And I want to make sure that the ecosystem stays supported. And so that's, that's a really, you don't have to be really big to do those things right. To, um, to, to make a difference. Uh, but I just feel like that's an important part of what we do is for the community. 

David Bisset: All right. So as we start to run down here, cause.

Did promise, uh, it promise someone I would be home in time for bed. I do. I want lot of stall all us to think about a maybe if, if there's any final comments you had about what Matt talked about or Matt's comments about uni questions or about how that [00:51:00] fits in with your version of WordPress in the future.

While you're thinking about that, let me quickly get, um, Olivia on. I think she wanted to make a quick comment.

You're muted. Olivia,

maybe we have a maximum number here. Maybe it's why this isn't working. Let me remove a speaker. 

Olivia Bisset: I can speak

David Bisset: Sorry, go ahead. What's your comment listener. 

Olivia Bisset: Okay. So with five for the future, I don't know what, but it just got the general vibe that that's starting to head towards, like, okay.

Yeah, we got people now, but like youth, I feel like there was more of a youth focus. This state is a word, especially with the question from Allie and others. I don't know. That's my 2 cents. 

David Bisset: I thought Allie gave an excellent question and [00:52:00] that was followed up by others as well. Um, and we'll have to go back and review that because my memory is beginning to fade a little bit, but I thought she had a very excellent question about what Matt thought the youth, um, what his advice to you would be regarding how to use WordPress for the next generation.

So, um, let's um, let's take one more comment from the audience here and then we'll see if we go around. Anybody has any final thoughts, Aaron Edwards, um, welcome to whatever we're calling this. What, what do you have to share? 

Aaron Edwards: Uh, hi, I'm the co-founder of web three WP. So of course we are very interested in what Matt had to say about web three.

I thought it was a good kind of balance, like opinion, like, like Jeff Rose said, um, just the fact comparing WordPress to kind of some of the ideals, uh, web three, I think that was kind of a good tact that he took, but it was interesting just discussing in our community. It's like, it does follow like those ideals of data [00:53:00] ownership when you're the site owner, but it doesn't really address the site users, which is something that web three is kind of known for you.

It basically allows you, WordPress allows you to create your own data silo, you know, to maybe compete with the Facebooks or whatever centralized apps there are, but it doesn't necessarily empower users to continue to have your site on their own data. So that's kind of a interesting take that I heard in our community.

David Bisset: Interesting take at that sounded like I haven't heard that take exactly like that before. Uh, well, I kind of wrote that same thing on our website, but, oh, would you mind sending a link to that in post at a slack or wherever your finest links are sold?

Aaron Edwards: Yeah. The web three wp.com pages talking about WordPress being, um, kind of along those ideals, but definitely it was, it was interesting to, to hear his take in that, uh, another thing he kind of made a joke about dowels and [00:54:00] domains, um, which kind of seemed like disingenuous to me personally, because I've had experiences where I've had domain registrars, uh, shut down my domain because someone filed a false abuse report, you know?

So it's like that's renting. That's not really owning. As he kind of made it out to be okay.

David Bisset: I can see that point. Absolutely. And hopefully I won't have anything shut down on my side Verde, but thanks. Thanks for sharing and feel free to ping me in post status or on Twitter. I'd like to get that link from you.

All right. So, um, it's been about an hour. Um, so I wanted to, um, I did make, uh, wanted to see if anybody else has any last comments. Um, either somebody who hasn't spoken yet are part of our, um, ongoing panels here, um, that I know you wanted to share. Something felt like a last lot quickly with us, and then I'll nail a few other people that didn't sound right in my head.

But go ahead and you under, do you [00:55:00] please take it, please take the mic from me. 

Bet Hannon: Yes. Um, so I'm a little disappointed that Matt didn't say more about accessibility. And the times when he talked about accessibility, he really meant it in the terms of just making things available to people, uh, like features available.

Um, but you know, we didn't talk about web accessibility and we we've had some issues with that. Um, in the past, things are better than they were, but we still have a long way to go for web accessibility, especially in the WP admin side, in the dash, in the backend side. So Amber Heinz tried to call out Matt earlier in the week, uh, just to try and get him to speak a little bit more about accessibility, but he didn't so well, his slides were probably already written by then too.

David Bisset: I don't, I'm not going to speak for them 

They said they were editing them 

Bet Hannon: up to the last minute. 

David Bisset: I know what that's probably true too. I can't speak to that, but no, he did mention it, but I'm getting a feeling that for some people who wanted him to mention accessibility of may not have filled their cup to. [00:56:00] It's an important piece and growing in importance.

Bet Hannon: And so we have to pay attention to it if we want to keep that market term. Yes. Because like he said, we're pressed should be like, for most of the people, WordPress will be invisible. Right. If the, if the user experience is done. Right. And would you bet, um, I know you've said many times that part of the user experience is what, well, it's gotta be accessible.

Right. And it's gotta be, um, and as we're increasingly in the us having some, um, legal pieces where people are going to be required to have their sites accessible, we we're gonna need to be ready for that. Um, so we can help people do that. 

David Bisset: All right. Um, speaking of Amber, I think we said her name three times.

She's appeared. Um, we'll get right before we get to Ryan. Um, Amber, did you want to share something with us? I'm guessing you want to share something that starts with the letter a and it's not your first name.

Amber: Uh, not Amber, uh, accessibility. Yeah, I think, I think the thing that's interesting too, I [00:57:00] actually got a couple of messages from, um, some users after they read, you know, the thread and conversations and in process.

And I think maybe the contribution to core accessibility, the people on the accessibility team, particularly maybe some people that have disabilities that are part of the accessibility team. Probably I think there are some of them that feel like it's still not as positive or as central of a focus as it as maybe Matt kind of thinks that it is.

Um, I think it still is a lot of an afterthought and really that's, you know, one of my hopes that I'm really would love to see more. Thinking about accessibility as something you do at the beginning, not something that you do wait around at the end of the process, whether it's in core or whether it is, you know, in plugins or themes or on the front end of the end websites, [00:58:00] let's start at the beginning, not in the middle of the end.

David Bisset: It's like how I should do most things in my life, especially the chores around the house. Thank you, Emery. We did see a lot of this stuff in accessibility mentioned in post status too. So we've been following that as well. And thanks for speaking up here today. Really appreciate it. Okay. Let's let's go through the rest here.

We're going to be ending shortly, but Ryan, you are up next. Um, what closing remarks do you have for us?

Ryan Marks: So three things caught my attention. Uh, and then I'll hang up and let you guys talk about, we'll just pretend you're not here. I can remove you as a speaker.

David Bisset: You don't have to hang up, but we can ignore you easily, but go ahead.

Ryan Marks: Um, I thought that there was an open invitation for up to 50 people. So I tend to stand in the word, but then later it seemed like there were about 30 people there, there were all five for the future. And I thought that was just, that was an interesting change. Maybe a two, I thought the idea of a query block was something new and I liked it.

[00:59:00] And there was a lot of focus on multi-lingual at the beginning and towards the end. And I'm really interested to see how that will pan out. Me too. I don't think Matt was in it. It seemed like Matt wasn't in a position to quote a lot about phase four and rightly so, because not even phase three is happening next year officially, but I think we're, can't be aware of me maybe a little strange, a little bit more out of them, but I'm looking forward to the language aspect as well.

David Bisset: In fact, I'm kind of surprised I was at the phase four at the four phases when he first announced it a couple of years ago. Um, Um, let's see who, uh, who else we got here? I think we have, um, let's see. I think we, Eric, I think it's down to you now. Um, you might, you might be closing here. I know no big pressure.

Eric Karkovack: For baseball fans during this lockout, I'll try to be the closer here. Get on the mound and pitches to a victory here, 

David Bisset: not a sports person, but tackle, go and tackle and hit a fuel. Go right through the goalposts for me, please. 

Eric Karkovack: Okay. I'll shoot it into the [01:00:00] net for you. All right. So my bedroom aside, I think one thing I'm interested to watch is the, um, the growth of block themes.

Matt talked about, you know, hoping to have 3000 available, uh, at the next state of the word. That's going to be interesting because. I haven't seen like the commercial theme market takeoff for that yet. Um, there's a few opportunities there. I'm seeing some, you know, some new ones come out. So it'll be very interesting to see in 2022, how much, uh, adoption rate there is for block themes and full site editing and what number of themes we actually get to buy the next state of the word.

David Bisset: What do you think? What's your guess? 

Eric Karkovack: I'm going to say somewhere around a thousand, that'll just be my completely uneducated guests. I think there's so many theme authors that are still kind of hanging to the classic theme, uh, you know, style and way of [01:01:00] building. Um, and it's probably going to be a little bit slower adoption than maybe Matt hopes, but, uh, you know, I may be very wrong on that.

David Bisset: Do you think it has to do with just being, not familiar and trying to stick with what works as long as possible? 

Eric Karkovack: I think so. I think it's. If you watch how this is unfolding, it changes like almost weekly. And if I'm a theme developer, I'm probably going to hold off until I have a pretty good idea of what's going to be required and how these themes are going to work over the long-term before I invest a bunch of time in it.

So I think we're going to get there, but it may just take a little bit of time for people to get used to the idea and for standards to form.

David Bisset: Hmm. That sounds reasonable. That's okay. I don't know. Or it could be something I just drank. That's making me agreeable to everything I'd already said right now. It's possible. Well, anyway, I [01:02:00] really want to thank everybody who I think by the way, that was excellently, put Eric in terms of I could have been, that was just probably. 3000 sounds like an ambitious number. Who knows if we'll get there, but, uh, I think I'll put you down for a thousand and then this time, next year we'll come around and we'll see if we can collect on that bet and see if you were high or low.

So appreciate it. Oh, wait. What's uh, let's get Jeff here is the real closer about you or the fake closer Eric. Let's let's not to put any pressure on you there, but Jeff, can you, can you close this out for us here? Oh, wait, whoa, sorry, Jeff. I think I just,

okay. Jeff. Now you can go,

Jeff Chandler: uh, yeah, three words, block theme generator,

David Bisset: block theme generator. Oh, isn't somebody working on that or is that somebody is already working on it. 

Jeff Chandler: There's going to be more of [01:03:00] those created throughout next year. And 3000 I think is easily doable and there's going to be a bunch of them.

Bunch of themes created from these generators. That's my take.

David Bisset: So we're thinking, we're thinking the themes did themes really take off after the underscore S generator or a discourse came about? Is that, is that where you're considering more or less the equal the, was it underscore? 

Jeff Chandler: Uh, I don't underscore is just like a starter theme, but you know, what, what I'm seeing from the theme.json theme by theme generators nowadays seems to be just makes the theme generation process so much easier.

I mean, if you're, if you're a theme developer and you're not excited about what's coming down the pike in 2022, what is wrong with you? 

David Bisset: Well, wow. I mean, people ask what's wrong with me and I, they don't literally have the, I don't have the time to tell them all day. Um, okay, well, good. Yeah. So generator, we'll put that down as something for 2022.

Jason, did you have something to share before [01:04:00] we close out here or did I accidentally pushed the wrong. 

Jason: No, you didn't accidentally push the wrong button. Hi everyone. 

David Bisset: Hi Jason.

Jason: Hello. Well, there was a lot to, uh, digest and, um, the state of the word think it was interesting. Um, one of the things that we started noticing, uh, during our, our live broadcast of, of it was the fact that it's really interesting to, to have Matt interact with a smaller group of people versus such a larger room of people.

And we were also very disappointed that there was no boot. 

David Bisset: Well, I mean, where did it fit in the room? And that would, would've been a lot of polishing dude to remove any, I don't know. I feel like I would have to be like the Adrian monk on that show where he just, you just basically have to hand wipe the entire thing.

It doesn't seem so clean. Now after the last two years to be coming out of a boot, I mean, it was questionable to begin with. [01:05:00] Yeah, indeed. But yes, but yes, I, I think all of us are walking away here that this had a different, definitely that a different vibe. And I don't think it was just because we have, it's been two years since we've seen Matt in front of a live studio audience.

I think it was the size of the event. I think the mood was a lot lighter. Um, and there was a lot, not just because of the less people in the room. I think Matt's attitude and his casualness were a little bit more open, a little bit more different directed, but it was still very good. So I, I agree with Jason that I think it had a lot to do with the environment on that.

And we got to see me be a little bit more open Frank. Um, I dare say even some of it was even not that even rehearsed, not saying less rehearse, but I think maybe he, this is a couple of times tonight. He did pause for a while before answering a question, usually math pretty quick, usually mats pretty quick with questions.

And he's always been a talented speaker in that regard. Something I'll never learn even after doing so many of these things with you people, but, but yeah, it really did see him [01:06:00] when seeing him pause and consider the questions, especially I think from Allie's question to really. It did mean a lot more.

And I kind of enjoyed what tonight brought even though I think next time in, by if this happens at the end of 2022 and it's in front of a larger audience, I don't think I'd mind that either, but yes. Thanks. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. No problem. No problem at all. Okay. I think that just about, does it this time?

I promise. I want to thank everyone for joining us this evening, especially on the east coast and in where the time zones are and where the time zones, where you're very late. Mr. Owl. Um, I just want to say thank you very much for your, um, it's. What is it like one in the morning over there? I, I can't imagine what.

Putting into your body right now to just doing the morning two in the morning. Oh my goodness. Oh, well, we admire your dedication, sir. Thank you for coming here and we hope to have you back soon. Uh, really, really appreciate it, Ray. Uh, on the other hand, you are bright and [01:07:00] cheery with your coffee in the morning.

So, uh, damn you my dear, but I want to thank you for coming as well.

She's not speaking to

Bet Hannon: thanks so much for inviting me to be part of this chat David. 

David Bisset: No problem. We want you back more for some of you, the more insights that you have, um, examining the entire WordPress through the repository or that's something that's in my inbox and I read it first. Every, every chance I get I'm going to drop in.

I think it's Friday my time. I don't know. Time's a flat circle for me, but thanks for coming. Bet. Thank you for coming as well. Greatly. Appreciate you taking some viewpoints from an agency standpoint and accessibility. Thanks for coming.

Hazel Quimpo: Great. Thanks for having me. 

David Bisset: Eric. Thanks for okay, now we're even now you don't owe me anything.

Thanks for coming.

Eric Karkovack: Hey, my pleasure. 

David Bisset: And I want to thank, um, LemonadeCode, who is the cohost right now. Um, she has been my producer, my, my wing person. I want to thank her as well for her help this evening as well, making sure the equipment has been organized, pointing out when people were raising [01:08:00] their hands and criticizing me when I've made very, very poor means on the web tonight.

So I want to thank you as well, Olivia. Thank you very much. Um, we're going to, this will be recorded and posted on post status in, in a day or two. So you can feel free to check out post status.com or our podcast links for that. And if you have any questions about anything we've shared here, you want a copy of the recording, whatever.

I'll feel free to share it with you. I don't want to thank everybody again and have a good evening. Goodbye.

Our Thoughts After SOTW

Michelle Frechette: I was shocked and thrilled to receive an invitation to State of the Word in New York, and even happier when my travel was approved at StellarWP.  Arriving at the venue (Tumblr’s old digs) we were required to prove our vaccination status to go up to the loft. I got off the elevator and was immediately greeted by Josepha and then Matt. It was SO GOOD to see so many friends and well-known WordPress faces!

I took a reserved place in the front row and sat captivated by the environment, the information, and the nervous energy in the room. We were returning to some level of normalcy by being in that space together, and it felt both familiar and foreign after the last two years…but it was good.

When the address was done, and all the questions had been answered, and the broadcast had ended, there was an elegant reception with food and beverages. I met new people and enjoyed the conversation.

Not to be one to miss an opportunity, I asked Matt for an interview for Post Status, and recorded a 7+ minute conversation with him on the recent surge of acquisitions and the future of work in WordPress, that we will share later. He was truly gracious with his time, and I appreciated that very much.

On leaving, I gathered my jacket and was handed a swag bag.

All in all, I felt a bit like Cinderella, with a Lyft for a pumpkin carriage, purple hair as my tiara, and scads of friends helping me navigate the time with my electric scooter.

I enjoyed every minute.

Bonus: Michelle caught Matt for a brief interview after the SOTW address!

Anna Maria Radu: I was happy to learn about Openverse as a visual storytelling fan myself. The fact that Creative Commons has become part of WordPress is probably one of the best things that could happen for creators. Their work can now be even more easily incorporated and credited within anyone's storytelling. By doing this we, as a community, are supporting artists to gain recognition and appreciation through WordPress. Open Content for the win!

But probably the topic that stood out to me the most was the Diverse Speaker Program. I have worn many hats behind the scenes of pre-pandemic WordCamp events and WordPress-themed events in general. I loved seeing so much diversity — yet, there’s no such thing as too much diversity. I immediately joined the #diverse-speaker-support channel on WordPress Slack to learn more about it.

AJ Morris: I'm excited for the future of block patterns and global styles! Having the native ability to use core block editor options for themes is going to drastically change the way we look at WordPress themes over the next 5 years.

Courtney Robertson: Matt's vision of what contribution could look like was really exciting. As a Make WP Training Team co-rep, I eagerly welcome more contribution efforts across the WordPress project by connecting with teams. See Five Ways to Participate in Five for the Future for examples of how you can get involved as a contributor.

Also, Michelle Frechette's and Allie Nimmons‘ questions for Matt after his presentation — about introducing WordPress to youth and young adults — really reminded me of why I teach WordPress. I've instructed high school students as WP developers, and there are logistical challenges. I'd love to partner more closely with more educational organizations to help resolve these challenges. We can improve content across WordPress.org as we become compatible with COPPA requirements.  Sandy Edwards, Youth Working Group Team Co-Lead, is also eager to resume KidsCamps as we return to in-person WordCamp events. 

Kayla Demopoulos: This year's SOTW was a great reminder that all the pieces of the puzzle work together to create the whole. It is great to remember where the project has come from, but more importantly, inspiring to think where together we can take it.

Dan Knauss: What a difference a physical venue makes! At the old Tumblr offices in Noho, this year's State of the Word looked like an opening at a small art gallery. No big screen, just a lot of framed visual art. No stage, just a simple podium. And after such a long period of time without in-person events, there was Matt waiting to go up front, casually leaning off to the side of the audience (maybe two dozen people) a few feet away. There were some awkward (but good!) moments, plenty of laughs, and a personable atmosphere that came through — even on YouTube. A lot of important facts and numbers were shared that we'll dig into later, I'm sure. That's what we usually focus our attention on. But my initial impressions had to do with mood, atmosphere, and tone — the emotional register of the themes that went through Matt's address and into his dialogue with the audience afterward.

We learned Matt wishes he had done things differently with the WordPress 5.0 release, and I thought of Courtney pointing out to me last month how the decision to delay 5.9 was a quiet sign of significant growth. We learned how Matt relates to the story of Ernest Shackleton turning back from an attempt to reach the South Pole only 97 miles from it — and why Matt wears a suit for SOTW. These were small things that came up in the question period, but they touch important themes for the WordPress community — growth and maturity — and maybe what they should look like. (More than a touch of humility and grace?)

Those who were in attendance are well-known for their contributions to the WordPress community, including many whose companies' participate in Five for the Future. The constant and increasing importance of giving back, of getting young people involved, and taking ownership of the largest open source community effort of its kind — together — these are the mature, future-facing themes that stood out to me.

I was talking with Matt Medeiros a few hours before SOTW, and he remarked how WordPress is paradoxically gigantic and small at the same time. It's a huge project with a giant ecosystem relative to the community of active contributors and what we might call the core culture of WordPress — including the people who make, distribute, and consume the news, information, and ideas that help direct the project. There's fragility and power, weakness and opportunity in being small in a big distributed network.

We're coming through (and possibly getting deeper into) pivotal and challenging times — not just for WordPress but the larger world of web tech and the global human community. Matt didn't mince words when he named the threats from big tech companies that aren't friends of The Open Web. If we're not just spinning our wheels, the future we want is what we're building toward today, together. These are some of the big themes we're focused on at Post Status too, as we move into a new year.

David Bisset: After watching Matt give this annual talk for years I could tell early on that something was different (in a good way) — but I couldn’t my finger on the cause. Matt seemed to be the most excited person in the room, along with whatever nervousness he had. He seemed more excited than in any State of the Word I can recall. Matt laughed more, and I think he went “off script” more too, telling stories and jokes. “I haven’t spoken to a crowd in two years,” he said at one point. Maybe that was it. I caught him a few times in a “nervous happy” state before the conference started. With no WordCamp US to provide a big crowd, this might have been the most open we’ve seen Matt, and I think he reflected the energy coming from the crowd.

I'm glad the “next generation of WordPress users” was brought up by Allie Nimmons and later Michelle. This topic was raised in the last in-person SOTW in 2019 as well. WordPress market share growth will eventually stop, and we’ll need to create and sustain new generations of developers, designers, and contributors from within the community. It’s really going to be up to the WordPress community and WordPress companies to mentor, intern, and train our future leaders and core contributors.

About “Be Like David” — it's the worse advice ever. (Editor's note: we respectfully disagree.)

Cory Miller: Gutenberg and contributing to core continue to be key themes from Matt for the project.

Regarding Gutenberg — I greatly appreciate the work being done to make the Block Editor easier to use. It reminds me of the creative innovations that have happened since I started doing themes in 2006. I hope that continues to accelerate like it did with themes.

About Five for the Future and contributing to core — When I was leading iThemes and as a small team, I always struggled with how to meaningfully contribute to Core on a consistent basis. Courtney and I are working on Post Status Contributor Days for 2022 to help bridge that gap. She’s been pinging Team Leads to ask for their wish lists. Then we plan to put some dates out and tackle them together as a community. Stay tuned.

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State of the Word 2021, the annual keynote from WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, happened on December 14. The hybrid event took place in New York City with a small audience (proof of vaccination required). As Matt said, “we had people join by plane, train, and automobile.” Those who didn’t make the trek to the live event watched the livestream from wherever they call home, all around the world. 

It was an exciting moment for the WordPress community which also celebrated its first in-person WordCamp in Sevilla, Spain, after a lengthy hiatus for in-person events.

You can view the full recording, complete with captions and transcripts on WordPress.tv.

It was thrilling to see so many meetup organizers host watch parties worldwide. Twenty-six watch parties were held across eleven countries, with more than 300 RSVPs.  

Similar to past State of the Word events, Matt covered a broad range of topics. This year was no different. WordPress’ past, present, and future were in the spotlight, with highlights on the growth of the contributors, language translations, recent release milestones, and educational initiatives, to name a few.

Audience members and livestreamers alike viewed product demos showcasing upcoming features that will be the hallmark of WordPress 5.9, such as full site editing, block patterns, global styling options, and enhanced image controls.

Matt took the opportunity to remind everyone of the WordPress roadmap which includes native multi-lingual support and real-time collaborative site editing. He also pointed out that anyone can contribute to WordPress’ progress through a number of different initiatives ranging from creating new features and testing to helping spread the word and educate others.

Matt emphasized the way that open source software gets better by reminding everyone that “The more people that use a program like WordPress, the better it gets.”

Broader topics covering the tech landscape including web3, merger and acquisition activity, as well as the growth and support of open source software, rounded out the energetic presentation. 

The one-hour multimedia presentation was followed by an interactive question and answer session where Matt fielded questions that were submitted ahead of the event, as well as questions from the livestream and studio audience.

Discover everything that was covered by watching the official event recording and join the ongoing #ILoveWP conversation on Twitter!

Special thanks to @dansoschin for review and edits!

David Gwyer has been teasing ThemeGen over the last couple of weeks. It is his upcoming block theme generator app. Piece by piece, it has seemed to be coming together and could prove invaluable for theme developers. Currently, it is in beta testing.

He provided me with a link to an early preview to get my feedback on the tool. This is also available to anyone who signs up for access via the ThemeGen website.

Currently, the app only generates theme.json files. The feature was first launched in WordPress 5.8 for classic and block themes. It can have a bit of a learning curve for theme authors diving in for the first time. Plus, it is easy to make mistakes when hand-coding JSON files.

The dream goes beyond theme.json. That is the obvious starting point for such a project because it helps with current and future theme development. However, Gwyer wants to take this to another level as the project evolves.

“It’s not 100% functional yet, but I’m adding features daily,” he said. “I’m hoping that designers and non-coders will soon be able to create block themes visually, independently of WordPress. And be able to manage all their themes in a centralized location via the app. This opens up possibilities of a community of theme creators sharing and contributing to a resource of templates, styles, designs, etc.”

These goals align directly with my hopes for WordPress and its block system. I want to see creators actively involved in a give-and-take design community. The ideal place for this to happen is WordPress.org, but third parties can often develop these things faster without any potential hurdles from the platform’s official site. They can also push the WordPress project in a specific direction if successful on their own.

Using the App

Settings fields and generated theme.json.

For generating a theme.json file, the app works well. Currently, it allows creators to configure settings, templates, and template parts. The missing piece is building out styles, which is coming soon.

There is also an “Other” section. It has a single setting for supporting the Theme JSON Schema. This is handy for developers who like built-in validation, tooltips, and autocomplete if their code editors support it.

The most fleshed-out area of the app is for generating global settings. It covers border, color, layout, spacing, and typography options. As far as I can tell, it has most of the available flags that a theme author can set. It is hard to remember them all offhand, one of the reasons tools like this are helpful.

I did notice that a way to input font families was missing. He could do a lot with that in the future, especially if a web fonts API is ever bundled in core WordPress.

The “Custom” settings section is still unfinished. This will likely take some time to implement because theme authors can add any type of data with multiple levels of nesting. Unsurprisingly, it is not ready yet, but I am eager to see how Gwyer tackles the UI for it.

Creators can import colors from the Twenty Twenty-Two, Blockbase, or Tove themes. Implementing such a feature this early tells me that Gwyer is likely already thinking ahead to that future of shared resources. How neat would it be to pull in any piece of an existing block theme into another at the click of a button?

Colors, gradients, and duotone filters are missing one configuration option I would like to see. Right now, creators can add a name. However, they cannot manually add a slug, which is automatically generated.

Creating custom colors.

There are scenarios where some designers might use developer-friendly slugs like primary-100, primary-300, and primary-500. Then, they would use names that make more sense to end-users, such as “Primary Lightest,” “Primary Light,” and “Primary Medium,” respectively.

The auto-generated slugs feature is nice. However, it should allow for manual input too.

ThemeGen will likely be a welcome resource for theme authors as they navigate the block theme world in the coming months. Given enough interest, it could also become that community of like-minded creators who are open to sharing with one another. The first step is to get more testers and feedback during this beta period.

Matt Mullenweg delivered his annual State of the Word address yesterday before a live studio audience in New York City. The majority of WordPress enthusiasts joined the event through the livestream on YouTube. More than 25 meetups gathered for in-person and online watch parties around the world – from Detroit, Singapore, Pakistan, and Medellín, to name a few.

Mullenweg began by reviewing WordPress’ growth over the past year, beginning with the Polyglots’ continued efforts to make WordPress available to the non-English-speaking world. In 2021, translators have significantly increased access to WordPress through language packs and active translations:

• 13,659 language packs in core (+76%)
• 15,900 active translations (+28%)

WordPress also expanded its Diverse Speaker Training program, gaining 135 participants in 66 cities across 16 countries.

The Learn.Wordpress.org site is now available in 21 languages, and Mullenweg said it is going to be a more prominent part of what visitors see when they visit the WordPress website. The platform has had 186 learning spaces, which he said is essentially cohorts of people going through the different courses. Learn.WordPress.org’s catalogue has grown to 73 workshops and 70 different lesson plans. There are now two courses available, which include collections of lesson plans.

“I think this is actually one of our biggest opportunities to expand the knowledge of what WordPress is, and also define it to a new audience through these courses,” Mullenweg said.

One of the most notable stats from the presentation is WordPress’ distribution, which is now at 43.1% usage on the web, according to W3Techs, up from 39.1% last year.

One concern is that open source CMS’s are slowly disappearing from the top five competitors, as proprietary systems pass up Drupal and Joomla. Mullenweg said in general the CMS’s aren’t taking market share from each other but rather from the websites which previously had no detectable CMS.

“We actually grew two entire Wixes this year, which is a new unit of measurement,” Mullenweg joked.

“And to put that in perspective, we’re still 10 times larger than number two out there, but this doesn’t happen for free. And we shouldn’t take any of this for granted. There are in the history of software, and certainly the internet, many services that were once dominant that now we need museums to remember what they were there to maintain.

“We really need to stay humble and stay close to users and iterate the software as quickly as possible.”

Mullenweg hinted that 2022 might be a year that WordPress aims for four releases instead of three.

“I’m proud to say it was a good year for WordPress security,” he said. More than 30 people contributed to security patches, and 1/3 of those were first-time contributors.

“Security is a process,” Mullenweg said. “Anyone who says they are perfectly secure is tempting fate.

“Our ability to be one of the most secure platforms in the world is one hundred percent a result of how much we’re going to be able to update sites because humans are fallible sometimes.”

State of the Word Features WordPress 5.9 Demos

Mullenweg highlighted a few new features coming in 5.9, with demos of block themes, template editing in the block editor, global styles, and pattern improvements. He reiterated that Gutenberg is the future of WordPress for the next decade:

As we look towards the future of WordPress, we are finally achieving one of the things that WordPress set out to do 18 years ago.

This is why we started the Gutenberg project. When we first introduced Gutenberg a few years ago, we said this was going to be the foundation, what the new versions of WordPress were built on, what our next 10 years would be.

Not only are we enabling folks to express themselves uniquely on the web, unlike the cookie cutter that all the social sites try to put you into, the cookie cutter looks. We’re doing it in a way, which is standards based, interoperable, based on open source, and increases the amount of freedom on the web, which is very key, certainly to me, and the most important thing that I work on.

WordPress has just begun on its journey with Gutenberg. Mullenweg reviewed the four planned phases, which began with “Easier Editing” in 2018. The second phase, Customization, started in 2019 and Mullenweg said 5.9 will be the MVP of this phase.

With 5.9 delayed until 2022, he has the third phase, Collaboration, slated for 2023, so that contributors don’t leave customization too early before it’s polished. There are only 28 block themes available so far. “That needs to be 5,000,” Mullenweg said. Later during the presentation he said he hopes that WordPress will “have 300 or ideally 3,000 of these block themes” before entering the Collaboration phase.

There is no timeline yet for the fourth Multilingual phase, which aims to make it easy to publish sites in multiple languages with a workflow that makes sense.

Web3 and the Decentralized Web

Many State of the Word viewers were eagerly anticipating Mullenweg’s thoughts on Web3 and NFT’s, after the controversial topic was included in the State of the Word announcement last month. They speculated on how WordPress might incentivize contribution through tokens or NFT’s. For now, it appears WordPress will keep attracting contributors the old-fashioned way.

Mullenweg’s message was essentially that WordPress already embodies Web3 ideals and has from the beginning.

“What Web3 embodies is two essential ideas — decentralization and individual ownership,” he said. “Those are both things that WordPress is both well-poised to be already doing and to continue doing for some time to come.”

He also cautioned those exploring Web3 projects to keep the freedoms of open source in mind:

There’s been an incredible amount of innovation. I think this has also attracted some hucksters and some folks kind of hustling things that aren’t truly open. So you all are very familiar with WordPress. For every project, which is asking for your money dollars, or for you to pay the cost of a house for a picture of an ape, you should ask, does it apply the same freedoms which WordPress itself does, and how closely does it apply to increasing your individual agency and freedom in the world?

Mullenweg also spoke about the many acquisitions in the WordPress space and put them in the context of what’s happening in the world of business. WordPress appears to be a microcosm of global acquisition activity.

“And if you were to broaden it to the global M&A landscape, not just technology, we’ve seen over 45,000 different acquisitions,” Mullenweg said. This is up over 24% from last year, which is already a huge year and represents $3.6 trillion of different mergers and acquisitions.

“This is driven by another trend, which I found utterly shocking to learn and understand, which is capital inflows to stocks,” Mullenweg said. He shared a chart that shows how much money is moving from other assets into the public equity markets.

A Call to Contribute Back to the Commons

With an economy estimated at over $10 billion per year, and all the companies making millions of dollars using WordPress, Mullenweg took a few minutes to highlight how the Five for the Future program has protected the project from the Tragedy of the Commons.

In one slide, he dispelled the myth that the impact a company has on the future of WordPress is dependent on the size of the company.

For example, Yoast has a major impact on WordPress, despite having 80x fewer employees than GoDaddy, a web host that Mullenweg seemed to be specifically calling out in the presentation when driving the point home:

So the impact the company has on the future of WordPress is not at all related to the size of the company. There’s no reason that if we really take to heart what’s made us successful so far, that we can’t get more companies participating in the commons of what’s happening.

When a company benefits from WordPress, when they put something back into the core, whether that’s your translations community volunteering or code, as this particular graph is representing, it ensures that there’s something left in the future for WordPress to be there. You can’t run Wix or Squarespace on GoDaddy.

Mullenweg also officially introduced Openverse now that the first version is live. He shared some of his vision for the project’s future with WordPress. The plan is to build this into the admin, so that when users upload a new image or video, they will be able to choose from among Creative Commons licenses and perhaps have their work indexed in the Openverse.

“It’s all about creators having the control and autonomy they need to license their content, however possible,” Mullenweg said. “And for those that choose to put into the commons, that then becomes a part of what is shared in humanity and allows us to grow and create cool things together.”

He also introduced the new WordPress.org Photo Directory, which hosts totally open imagery that can be used on any site for commercial and non-commercial uses. Someday WordPress users will be able to insert works from the Openverse into their content with just one click.

In addition to contributing to Gutenberg through patterns and block themes and other means, Mullenweg also encouraged users to put some of their work into the Openverse.

We’ll go deeper into some of his Q&A answers in an upcoming post, but one common theme among the questions was how WordPress might attract a younger generation of contributors and what advice Mullenweg might give to the young people inheriting the investments contributors have made in WordPress.

In his response Mullenweg returned to his call to replenish the commons. This lifestyle of giving back and making things as open as possible is the golden thread running through the message of this year’s State of the Word.

I think if you just give a person a blog, or even worse, a social media account, you feed them for a day. You teach them how to create the web, which is in many ways, in my opinion, the most amazing actualization of shared humanity and knowledge – how do we create something that lasts beyond our own individual lifetimes? It’s the web.

How do we create something that lasts beyond us? A legacy, a true legacy. It’s adding to the information. That’s part of what hopefully goes forward for future generations and then allows us to sort of fast [forward], skip all the mistakes, skip all the learnings, to what’s latest. It’s upgrading the clock speed and version of humanity.

With the official launch of Openverse and the continued growth of WordPress against proprietary systems, Mullenweg was able to make a compelling case for contribution as a matter of importance to humanity — a meaningful way to increase the commons available to future generations and to be part of defining the future of the web. The vision of Openverse goes beyond WordPress, as Mullenweg said it is “something the WordPress community is creating for the benefit of the world,” with works that people are free to use on any platform.

“I think it’s possible to have an abundance of the commons,” Mullenweg said.

“So the more people that use a program, the better it gets in so many ways. More bugs get reported, more translations happening, more plugins get developed, more themes get developed.” This is one of the reasons market share is a strong indicator of the health of the project and its potential to continue meeting users’ needs.

“But part of that is some percentage of the people who essentially directly benefit from WordPress, putting something back into the commons, fertilizing the soil, planting some more grass,” Mullenweg said.

The All In One SEO plugin has patched a set of severe vulnerabilities that were discovered by the Jetpack Scan team two weeks ago. Version 4.1.5.3, released December 8, includes fixes for a SQL Injection vulnerability and a Privilege Escalation bug.

Marc Montpas, the researcher who discovered the vulnerabilities, explained how they could be exploited:

If exploited, the SQL Injection vulnerability could grant attackers access to privileged information from the affected site’s database (e.g., usernames and hashed passwords).

The Privilege Escalation bug we discovered may grant bad actors access to protected REST API endpoints they shouldn’t have access to. This could ultimately enable users with low-privileged accounts, like subscribers, to perform remote code execution on affected sites.

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) gave the vulnerabilities High and Critical scores for exploitability.

Montpas explained that All In One SEO failed to secure the plugin’s REST API endpoints, allowing users with low-privileged accounts (such as subscribers) to bypass the privilege checks and gain access to every endpoint the plugin registers. This includes a particularly sensitive htaccess endpoint, which is capable rewriting a site’s .htaccess file with arbitrary content. Montpas said an attacker could abuse this feature to hide .htaccess backdoors and execute malicious code on the server.

All in One SEO is active on more than 3 million WordPress sites, and every version of the plugin between 4.0.0 and 4.1.5.2 is affected and vulnerable. Users with automatic updates enabled for minor releases should already have the patch since it was released six days ago. For those who are updating manually, the Jetpack Scan team recommends users within the affected range update to the latest version as soon as possible.

One month ago, UXL Themes released Alara. It was a theme that carried with it one bold promise: every week for the next year, users could expect a new design variation, child theme, or block pattern. And, all of this would be done on the back of the block theme system that is slated to launch with WordPress 5.9 next month.

Aside from one part-time member of the support crew, Andrew Starr is the sole developer for UXL Themes. With the promise, he put a whole lot of creative work on his shoulders for most of 2022. Alara already has 41 block patterns and one child theme available. Presumably, he will ship global style variations when the feature lands.

Alara is the third block theme by UXL Themes. In February, I covered the first, Hansen. Block theming was still in its infancy at the time. The system has matured, and Starr has built some experience on top of it. It shows with his latest outing. And, for this theme, he has thus far kept up with his plan to offer new features every week.

I am not the biggest fan of the theme’s default typography. The font-size and line-height work well enough for long-form content. However, its light font-weight can make text tough to read. The great thing about block themes is that they integrate with the site editor. Users who prefer a thicker weight only need to select it via the Typography panel.

Changing the theme’s default font-weight.

What Alara does well is offer a large selection of patterns for its users. I will sound like a broken record here, but this is how themes will differentiate themselves from others in the block-theming paradigm. If users can essentially overwrite anything about the design, the value-add is all the extras themers offer to them. Right now, that is in the form of patterns and block styles. Eventually, global style variations will be included in that list.

Alara initially launched with 29 patterns, but Starr has added 12 more since then. They are broken down into 13 categories. One of those is an “Alara – New” category, which showcases the latest patterns bundled with the theme.

Latest patterns bundled with the theme.

I like this approach to letting users know what is new with the theme. Since WordPress has no built-in way for theme authors to highlight new features, I expect to see more theme authors take similar approaches.

The patterns cover a range of use cases. The latest release includes some new recipe patterns for food bloggers. It includes business-friendly layouts for pricing tables, reviews, and call-to-action sections. Plus, it has several more for general-purpose use.

Some of my favorites are the “About” patterns. There are layouts for both single site owners and teams.

“Team 3” block pattern.

The theme also offers two full-page patterns. Users can insert them and instantly have an editable page with filled-in content.

Such patterns often take up a lot of room in the inserter when opened as a sidebar. They are better viewed in the full-screen pattern explorer overlay.

Full-page patterns.

I would still like to see WordPress officially adopt the starter page templates system or something similar to handle these use cases. Many users will rather insert a full page of content instead of piecing it together with smaller patterns. They should have a dedicated section in the UI for easy access.

For users who prefer brighter and bolder color choices over Alara’s more vintage default design, UXL Themes has also released a child theme named Ceres.

Alara could be a solid block theme for those eager to tinker with WordPress 5.9 features. There are still a few quirks, depending on which version of the Gutenberg plugin (or beta version of WordPress 5.9) is in use. I am excited to see if Starr keeps up with the promise of weekly design and pattern releases over the next year.