but you know, I think it\'s going to be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where this commercial part we\'ve talked about, becomes a little bit more leveled out. I think four is where we don\'t get all excited and, you know, acquisitions no longer are like the biggest news in WordPress. They Almaz say they become everyday normal things and people will still talk about them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think those moves that we\'ve been [00:49:00] making to where we see that it\'s becoming a bigger thing. And I also see that 4.0 is, and it\'s already, maybe it is already happening. I see a lot of attraction even more so I\'m more visibly from outside. Businesses, you know, that say, I want a piece of WordPress. I want a piece of WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, I get this a lot through conversations and companies that reach out to me, you know, they want to get in on it. They want to get in on the action. So that\'s almost like an, and however people view that, you know, that they view that as positive or negative is not really the point that, but I think that is becoming people are companies are being a bit more visible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think this will be part of 4.0 is in their interest in WordPress where it used to be WordPress is [00:50:00] open source and you know, it\'s not that big of a deal and stuff. And now it\'s like, they\'re flat out saying, Hey, we want in, how do we get in? We want to be, because</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> it\'s like we said, it\'s a little hot about the money.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> Exactly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Once you see these aquifers, I think, you know, like once you start seeing bigger acquisitions, they\'re taking headlights now in tech crunch, all these other things, people are starting to, I guess, pay attention. Oh wow. There is money to be made here. So I\'m yeah. I mean, I want to I, wouldn\'t thinking about the same thing and I don\'t have a year in mind yet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, if I did, I\'d probably play the lottery or something, but what I see are four potential factors for version four, if you want to call it that, and maybe they all are playing. One, I think we\'re in, I think we\'re version three still includes the acquisitions craze that we\'re going through right now, because I think the acquisitions, if you look back a little bit far enough after Gutenberg, I think launched. To me, it just seemed a lot more common.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s really exploded the last couple of years. I don\'t think it\'s over, but I still think we\'re in the same general [00:51:00] time period acquisitions were happening before Gutenberg came out, but I think Gutenberg probably has triggered a lot of companies, smaller companies for, to be acquired by hosting companies and others because of the blocks, the themes and all of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course, we\'re not even going to talk about theme, you know, WordPress themes at all, or we\'re not even about WooCommerce or e-commerce, I\'m not even going to talk about that stuff cause that\'s too much. But I think if I was to guess what a version four would be, and this is commute, this it\'s sad because I\'m not talking much about the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m just thinking of the, community\'s going to react to these things. And that becomes version for the community outside investments. How we react to that outside investments might mean more people coming in from the outside, even if it\'s just from a business standpoint, but they would be part of the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think too, it\'s possible than an aversion for maybe near the end of that. We will see acquisitions, maybe become normal, more normal. But I think we\'re also going to see market share eventually [00:52:00] level off. And that could be years from now. It\'s going to be hard to calculate it because they\'re shutting down Alexa, not that Alexa, the other Alexa next year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we don\'t know exactly how we\'re going to be able to determine them at the market share metric because we\'ve kind of taken advantage and abuse it over the years. But I tend to see a general acquisitions being more of the norm market share, not as explosive as it used to be, because quite it\'s kind of like apple.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s kind of, again, I go back to apple, they were selling iPhones one year. That would, their total sales of iPhones for one year would be all of the sales for the previous years combined. And they had that kind of explosive growth. Then it stopped because you couldn\'t sell that many phones anymore. But look at them today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\'re doing just fine. They\'re doing just fine. So I think that\'s going to be the way with WordPress. We\'re going to see market share slowed down because quite far, I mean, whether it gets to 50% or not, I don\'t care. It could be beyond that. It could be years from now, but eventually the market share has to slow down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I\'ll ask you a [00:53:00] question about market share in a second. I think acquisitions nor market share slows down. We\'re going to get more, you know, outside investments. We\'ll see those. And then I think matt\'s master plan. Maybe I\'m not sure what you would call this his plan of an open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you looked at the acquisitions and I\'m not sure if you had the read the piece by David Pierce yet on ma on mat, it was a click baity title. It was can Matt Mullenweg save the internet if you haven\'t read it because it basically folk you would think, oh, it\'s a piece about Matt WordPress and yes it is, but it goes along also the acquisitions automatic has taken over the past couple of years and individually by themselves were like, oh, that\'s neat. They have this little thing. But if you add them together, Matt is slowly accumulating like a collection of these technologies and these corners of the internet that I think needs to be maintained as open, like a diary app and a photos on creative commons.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there\'s analytics, statistics company that they acquired that I can\'t remember the name of, but it\'s like, he\'s collecting almost one of each or automatic is collecting one of each of [00:54:00] everything. And I think that is going to change. Maybe it\'s making the community more open source minded than WordPress minded maybe, but I think there\'s a cat there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\'s going to be some change. There may be an, a version four, maybe a version five. However you want to split it where we\'re going to see, like we\'re going to be so more fighting for the open source or the open web. And WordPress is just going to be part of that. In fact, I think didn\'t Matt say that Gutenberg is going to be bigger than WordPress. Yeah. Yeah. That\'s a state of the word. So if I had to guess that\'s my version for, I don\'t know, that\'s it. And the</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> only other thing I\'d add, and this is more around the people side of things. I\'m really curious that by version four, if we will have a bigger turnover in who you really notice in the WordPress space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, we got all these people that I\'ve, you know, kind of are the faces we\'ve been around forever. We\'ve seen them, is there going to be a new generation and a kind of influx of newer [00:55:00] people stepping up and taking over the roles in the bigger WordPress community. And some of the other people that have been in a while might be at that point in time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And maybe again, we can\'t get 4.0 will start, but will they be stepping back and maybe doing other things with their lives? And it\'ll be this. This whole new kind of, even though each one has been a generation in its own, that might be a more pivotable generation. That with, when you look at the kids and what your kids are doing, I mean, what so many of them are doing that they could come in and just, you know, barnstormed the place and ,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>, but you see it, like how many P how many original people of the original tech companies are still around Microsoft?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>No bill gates has gone even his can\'t remember his name now developers, guy has gone. The original owners are starters of Google aren\'t there anymore. All of in fact, I think an apple of course, has a leader. They\'ll probably transition like, like the only person left is Zuckerberg is still a [00:56:00] Facebook.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone else has had one or two leadership changes. Very recently, Jack is no longer Twitter. So we\'re seeing that, but also in the WordPress space you know, the advanced custom fields, Sandhill development these people that have been like the starters from day one, they\'re moving on, whether they\'re moving on retiring or they\'re moving on to other projects or other companies through acquisitions is up for debate or whether it\'s, they\'re doing, but we\'re seeing the same thing happen in the global tech community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So exactly. So, yeah, I, wow. This has been a really deep conversation about community, but I didn\'t think, but it was all because of your all because of your blog posts really. And that\'s really</p>\n\n\n\n<p>right. I wrote it and I wrote the, I titled it in a question because I thought, okay, this is just a little snap, a snapshot in my brain.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I want people to think about this and I love that you did this. And I loved hearing on slack and hopefully, you know, this might. Inspire some some blog posts, cause I\'d love to hear other ideas and stuff. [00:57:00] So, so, it did its job and that, that\'s what I wanted it to do. Get people thinking about</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> it. I know I\'ve taken too much of your time already talking about this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like, what else am I going to do? And we got to go out and do, let me direct you to one last thing earlier today, because I don\'t plan enough far enough in advance for half of our conversations. I put up a Twitter poll and that\'s going to run for another two days. So, while we\'ve been talking about here, strangely enough, we\'ve had at least 10 people vote on it and it\'s only been.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three or four hours since I put the vote up has been over 40 votes on it so far, but for a Twitter poll for me, that\'s on a new year\'s Eve. That\'s pretty good. So I asked based on your post, where do people feel they belong in terms of what WordPress generation and I we\'ve listed the version one version two, version three, and then whatever, if there\'s other than replying, the comments nobody\'s replied other yet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So they pick one or two or three. So after 41 votes, let\'s see, just making sure I got my numbers, right. [00:58:00] 41 votes. So 39% responded version one. This is 36% version two. So that\'s 2010 from 2018 and 24% said two to 2018 and above for version three. Interesting. So it\'s, you know, it\'s only 40 votes if it was more evenly split between thirds the last time I saw it, but you are getting a little bit more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A slightly older people are older versions. Yeah. So I just thought that was interesting. We\'ll link to this in the in the show notes as well. So by the time you hear this recording, this poll would have ended long ago. It should be interesting to see what it ends up being. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s fantastic. Was there anything else that we didn\'t cover about that post that you think we should have?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> No, I think we, we dove into a deep, yeah, we</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> killed, we deep dive and killed it, buried it. We used every part of the Buffalo. Yeah. Bobby could be</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> and now, everybody else can chime in and create their own posts and create their own tweets.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And [00:59:00] then talk about this. Yeah. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> You know, besides Bob, other than my wife, you\'re the only adult I\'ve spoken to in the last couple of days. Anyway. So maybe it\'s nice to have a good conversation. We don\'t have WordCamps anymore. This is the type of conversations I\'d love to have. Right at word camps.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\'s the parts that, that I miss the most, but we can still do them up to this point. And I\'m looking forward to that time where you and I can sit together and talking you know what? Version three is coming to a close, or maybe we\'ll say it probably a year after it\'s happened. Cause you know, retrospect is Einstein sights, 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, Bob tell us where people can find you or version two, but on the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> Okay. I\'m version two. Best place I hang out a lot of on Twitter, you can either @BobWP or @dothewoo depending on what you want to do. Bob wp.com is I\'ve kind of revived that blog. I took all the WooCommerce stuff off and I\'m basically just talking about community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So these kinds of little thoughts come to me and that\'s what I\'m going to be putting there. And if you want [01:00:00] to, you know, again, woo commerce do the blue dot on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Okay, great. Yeah, and like I said, check the show notes for this episode. We will throw Bob\'s link to his blog post in there, specifically this Twitter poll that I did and a few other tidbits as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bob, it has been awesome. Thank you very much for sharing all this thoughts with us. And I really hope this at least brings a couple of ideas and thoughts into people\'s heads, not just ones that have come into the WordPress community recently, but also the ones that have been around with it since version one, maybe, or version two, we\'ll see where the poll ends up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Dunn:</strong> Cool. Thanks, David. This has been a blast. Thank you.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Jan 2022 04:55:34 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:107:\"WPTavern: WordPress Community Team Proposes Stricter COVID-19 Safety Protocols for In-Person Events in 2022\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=128077\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:259:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-team-proposes-stricter-covid-19-safety-protocols-for-in-person-events-in-2022?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-community-team-proposes-stricter-covid-19-safety-protocols-for-in-person-events-in-2022\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6953:\"<p>Mounting concerns about <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-birmingham-updates-covid-19-protocols-amid-omicron-surge-wordcamp-europe-still-planning-for-in-person-event\">loose safety protocols at upcoming WordPress events</a>, and the prevalence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, have prompted the Community Team to be more explicit in its COVID-19 safety guidelines. The team is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/10/proposal-mandatory-safety-measures-for-in-person-wordpress-events-in-2022/\">proposing additional measures</a> previously not required.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, in-person attendees are required to be fully vaccinated, recently tested negative, or recently recovered from COVID-19. Every one of these requirements is vague and open to multiple interpretations. Recent spikes in infection in both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations has caused the Community Team to propose the following: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Mandatory masks for all attendees (even in regions that do not have a mask mandate at this time).&nbsp;</li><li>More prominent messaging in&nbsp;WordCamp&nbsp;websites, emails, and social media posts about COVID-19 safety guidelines.</li><li>Mandatory temperature checks for all attendees at the event (if permitted by local authorities).</li><li>Accessible hand sanitizing stations in the venue.</li><li>Maintaining social distancing practices during the event (Larger meeting rooms and seating arrangements with good spacing can be a good way to implement this).</li><li>Having a plan for contact tracing measures in case of infections (can be done using WordCamp registration data,&nbsp;meetups&nbsp;are a bit tricker).</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the concerns with imposing more mandatory safety measures is enforcement. WordPress events are generally hosted by volunteers who would now need to go beyond simply facilitating an event to being ready to confront and remove those who don&#8217;t comply with safety protocols. In a community of people with diverse convictions, what happens if some members decide that WordCamp is a good place to protest pandemic restrictions? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I appreciate very much the heart behind wanting to keep the community safe, but have significant issue with how this is being proposed, and how it would be enforced, and how it shifts the burden of health and safety to a volunteer team of organizers who are not in any way trained or equipped to handle making medical decisions,&#8221; Ben Meredith said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Further, there are many jurisdictions where the proposed changes (like a mask mandate) are specifically prohibited by local law or executive order.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Trying to make a policy from the international level (WordCamp central) that applies fairly and equitably to all local jurisdictions is a fool’s errand. What works in Los Angeles probably wont in Louisiana or Lagos. That’s why organizers are local.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the WordPress community is fixed on hosting events at this time, then there are many more responsibilities organizers are now obligated to assume in order to ensure the safety of attendees. Participants in the discussion on the proposal raised dozens of questions about how these new safety measures might be implemented. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;On temp checks, if someone reads high ( they may not even be aware) would we then refund their ticket to the event assuming we are talking a WordCamp?&#8221; Laura Byrne asked.</p>\n\n\n\n<p> WordCamp organizer and speaker David Ryan raised questions about masks, will the requirements outline what qualifies as a mask? (<em>&#8220;Does a plastic face shield qualify as a mask? Are masks with ventilation valves acceptable? A bandana?&#8221;</em>) Does the requirement include speakers while they are speaking? &#8220;This should be clear in advance for both speakers and attendees to make informed choices without surprises day-of,&#8221; Ryan said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also asked if the masking policies extend to other venues, such as the official event hotel and after parties, the way the Code of Conduct applies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Refunds are another consideration. Will WordCamps refund people who test positive right before the event? Will the event refund if people arrive and are not comfortable or are asked to leave for not complying with the safety measures?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In addition to these proposed guidelines, I also recommend that we remove our existing guideline of allowing recent-recovered community members from attending a WordPress event <a href=\"https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron\">since new COVID variants like Omicron are known to cause reinfection</a>,&#8221; Automattic-sponsored WordPress Community Wrangler Hari Shanker said in the proposal.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laura Byrne urged the Community Team to clearly define this guideline.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are in for a boatload of trouble with the word &#8216;recent,\'&#8221; Byrn said. &#8220;In other words, something along the lines of, &#8216;anyone who has tested positive for COVID may not attend a WordPress event until X days after they are no longer testing positive.\'&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some participants in the discussion see the additional safety measures as an overreach for WordPress events. It&#8217;s easier and more straightforward to recommend organizers stick with local requirements for anything related to health safety. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Surely I’m not the only one thinking that the foundation shouldn’t be setting health guidelines at all?&#8221; Cameron Jones said. &#8220;Compliance with local regulations should be the only requirement.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem with this is that many locations and regions do not have any kind of precautions in place, due to political differences, or are slow in recognizing emerging threats. Lax local guidelines for large gatherings may leave the WordPress community vulnerable to outbreaks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As a WordCamp organizer and speaker, and more personally as a recent cancer survivor and immunocompromised person, State of the Word was a troubling event to observe,&#8221; David Ryan said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Local legal requirements were met, but not proven event practices that eliminated or greatly-reduced positivity rate at larger gatherings in 2021 compared to the results of SOTW (namely, masks and testing). Planning, day-of and response afterwards didn’t inspire confidence this community was prepared to run safer and inclusive events — so this is an encouraging step towards remedying concerns many have expressed.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Comments on the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/10/proposal-mandatory-safety-measures-for-in-person-wordpress-events-in-2022/\">proposal</a> are open until January 22, 2022. The Community team plans to assess the feedback and finalize the updated guidelines in time to publish them to the handbook in early February 2022.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Jan 2022 04:27:12 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"WPTavern: Customizer Will Disappear for Some Block Theme Users With WordPress 5.9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=128089\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:207:\"https://wptavern.com/customizer-will-disappear-for-some-block-theme-users-with-wordpress-5-9?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=customizer-will-disappear-for-some-block-theme-users-with-wordpress-5-9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5712:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Nine years ago, the customizer had a rocky start among theme authors and users. Despite this, it has become the standard for modifying the look and feel of a website. Developers have become comfortable with the API. Users have grown accustomed to adjusting colors, fonts, and even internal WordPress options through it. However, it will disappear for many once a block theme is activated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I began writing this post on the upcoming block-based theme system and site editor. However, I spent so much time explaining the customizer changes that I thought it best to focus on that aspect to let users know their options if they run into a snag.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is also a follow-up to a <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/ask-the-bartender-what-happens-to-the-customizer-when-a-block-theme-is-active\">post I published in October 2021</a> on the same subject. Since then, some things have changed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 will launch with several of the final components of Full Site Editing. The centerpiece of these features will be a new theme system, which allows themers to build designs entirely out of blocks. Once such a theme is active, users can edit their site&#8217;s front end via the site editor and global styles system.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site editor is, essentially, the next iteration of what the customizer aimed to do. The difference is that users can now customize every aspect of their site&#8217;s front-end and not just configure the options their theme author made available.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many block theme users, the disappearance of the customizer will be a non-issue. However, three missing options have no exact equivalent:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>A partial site icon (favicon) solution exists but not for every scenario.</li><li>The custom CSS box is not available.</li><li>There is no draft process before switching to block theme.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Technically, the customizer is available via <code>/wp-admin/customize.php</code>. Even though no links to it are shown in the admin, any user with the requisite permissions can access it via that URL. At the very least, the first two issues can be mitigated by editing options in this way. It is not ideal, but it will work in a pinch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Site Logo block has a &#8220;use as site icon&#8221; option. This is a quick and easy way to update the logo and favicon via the new site editor, assuming they use the same image.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />New “Use as site icon” option.\n\n\n\n<p>If they are different images or if the user does not use a logo, the only built-in way to change the site icon directly is through the <code>customize.php</code> URL trick mentioned above. The Site Logo block also adds a link to the customizer option.  Users can also opt for one of the dozens of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/favicon/\">favicon plugins</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A custom CSS solution in core WordPress is unlikely to be reimplemented in the site editor. The global styles panel and per-block design options are the future of styling. This makes many of the most common stylistic tasks much easier for non-coders. In the context of block-based themes, the average user is unlikely to need the CSS editor in the customizer.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Custom CSS section in the customizer.\n\n\n\n<p>However, there are situations where custom CSS is necessary. Again, the easy answer is to access <code>customize.php</code> once again. For a more dedicated solution, there are <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/custom+css/\">numerous plugins available</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is currently no solution for live previewing and customizing inactive block themes. With classic ones, users can test customizations before activation. In the customizer, block themes will appear with a warning message.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Theme details with warning about customizer support.\n\n\n\n<p>Once a block theme is activated from the customizer, WordPress will return the user to the Appearance &gt; Themes page in the admin. They can then modify their site via the site editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, this can be problematic for some sites. Just about any theme change will mean there is at least some customization work in order, and most people will not want their visitors to see an unfinished site. Working from a dev or staging site before migrating the changes is ideal. However, that option is not always available or even easy to figure out for everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another solution is to install a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/maintenance+mode/\">maintenance-mode plugin</a> if working on a live site. This way, visitors will at least know some changes are happening under the hood and that they can return later. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is an open ticket for <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/37201\">previewing and editing</a> inactive block themes. As ticket creator Anton Vlasenko wrote as the proposed solution, &#8220;It&#8217;s simple: we need to implement that feature.&#8221;  In the long term, this is a must-have feature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is one situation where the customizer will still be accessible via the admin menu and toolbar. WordPress will <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/35877\">automatically detect</a> when a plugin or theme hooks into the customizer and make links to it available.  I like to think that my first post covering block themes and the customizer <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/30496#issuecomment-948276503\">raised awareness</a> of this issue. At the very least, we now have a fix in place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming there are no other changes in the next two weeks, this is how the customizer will function when paired with an active block theme.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:22:10 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:138:\"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #58 – Gutenberg 12.2 and 12.3, WordPress 5.9 RC and DevNotes for Full-Site Editing and Block Themes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=19982\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:89:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-58-devnotes-for-full-site-editing/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60523:\"<p>Birgit Pauli-Haack and Grzegorz Ziolkowski  talk about WordPress 5.9 release and DevNotes for Full-site Editing and block themes, and  Gutenberg 12.2 and 12.3.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Music:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://soundcloud.com/xirclebox\">Homer Gaines</a></li><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/\">Sandy Reed</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://markuraine.com/\">Mark Uraine</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://paulisystems.net/wordpress-consulting\">Pauli Systems</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-58-devnotes-for-full-site-editing#shownotes\">Show Notes </a>/ <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-58-devnotes-for-full-site-editing#transcript\">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-19982\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Subscribe to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/\">Gutenberg Changelog</a>&nbsp;podcast via your favorite podcast apps!</strong><br />🎙️&nbsp;<a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/620NwVKQJGdTupy36zYxvg?mc_cid=4b6c9f88fe\">Spotify</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ndXRlbmJlcmd0aW1lcy5jb20vZmVlZC9wb2RjYXN0\">Google</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gutenberg-changelog/id1469294475\">iTunes</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://pca.st/podcast/f8445ec0-7508-0137-f267-1d245fc5f9cf\">PocketCasts</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/show/gutenberg-changelog\">Stitcher</a>&nbsp;|<br />🎙️&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/chi7j-9904a/Gutenberg-Changelog-Podcast\">Pod Bean</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://castbox.fm/channel/Gutenberg-Changelog-id2173375\">CastBox</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/gutenberg-changelog-878239/\">Podchaser</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/podcast\">RSS Feed</a>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"shownotes\"><strong>Show Notes </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"listener-questions\">Listener Questions</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/jessicalyschik\">Jessica Lyschik</a> (<a href=\"https://twitter.com/jessicalyschik/status/1478785283889971200\">Question tweeted</a>)</p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"paragraph-block-add-font-family-support\"><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37586\">[Paragraph Block] add font family support</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/adityakane\">Aditya Kane</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to Jessica and Aditya for your great questions!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">If you have questions about Gutenberg, Block Themes or Full-site Editing, email us changelog@gutenbergtimes.com or DM on Twitter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes\">@gutenbergtimes</a> or WP Slack. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"state-of-the-word-videos-and-q-as\">State of the Word Videos and Q &amp; As</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word/\">State of the Word 2021 on WordPress.tv</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2021-qa/\">Q &amp; A after State of the Word on WordPress.tv</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://josepha.blog/2022/01/04/state-of-the-word-2021-qa/\">Josepha Haden: State of the Word 2021 | Q&amp;A</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-5-9-release-devnotes\">WordPress 5.9 Release + DevNotes</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>About Themes</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/theme-focused-changes-and-filters-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Theme-focused changes and filters in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/state-of-the-customizer-with-block-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">State of the Customizer with block themes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/bundled-theme-updates-with-wordpress-5-9/\">Bundled theme updates with WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/block-themes-a-new-way-to-build-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Block themes, a new way to build themes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/updates-for-settings-styles-and-theme-json/\">Updates for Settings, Styles, and theme.json</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Block Building and extending Gutenberg</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/new-api-to-access-global-settings-styles/\">New API to access global settings &amp; styles</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/miscellaneous-block-editor-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Miscellaneous block editor changes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/28/take-more-control-over-inner-block-areas-as-a-block-developer/\">Take more control over Inner Block Areas (as a block developer)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\">Using multiple stylesheets per block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/13/posts-post-types-and-taxonomy-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Posts, Post types and Taxonomy changes in WordPress&nbsp;5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/locking-blocks-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Locking Blocks in WordPress 5.9</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>New Blocks</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/the-new-navigation-block/\">The new Navigation block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/20/gallery-block-refactor-dev-note/\">Gallery Block Refactor Dev Note</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need additional reading or if those are too developer centered for your taste, Birgit collected additional resource to a <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/whats-new-in-wordpress-5-9-a-reading-list-on-full-site-editing-and-block-themes/\">Reading List</a> for developers, designers, site builders and content creators. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-8-3-security-release/\">WordPress 5.8.3 Security Release</a> Update Now! </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"gutenberg-plugin-releases-versions-12-2-and-12-3\">Gutenberg Plugin releases versions 12.2 and 12.3</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.2? (22 December)</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-2-focuses-on-user-experience-improvements\">Gutenberg 12.2 Focuses on User Experience Improvements</a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.3? (5 January)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-3-introduces-new-blocks-design-options-and-a-complete-core-blocks-reference\">Gutenberg 12.3 Introduces New Blocks, Design Options, and a Complete Core Blocks Reference</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s in the Works or Discussed?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/proposal-changes-to-javascript-coding-standards-for-full-prettier-compatibility/\">Proposal: Changes to JavaScript Coding Standards for Full Prettier Compatibility</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 17, 2022 8 pm ET / 1:00 am UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/BoulderWP/events/282792359\">What&#8217;s coming in WordPress 5.9</a></strong> Panel discussion w/ Brian Gardner, Courtney Robertson and Birgit Pauli-Haack via WordPress Meetup Boulder, Co</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-61e6fc2e1e57c wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<ul><li>Did you like this episode? <a href=\"https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog\"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li><li>Ping us on Twitter or send DMs with questions. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gziolo\">@gziolo </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bph\">@bph</a>.</li><li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li><li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/\">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li></ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Hello, and welcome to our 58th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast, the first podcast of 2022. Happy New Year, everyone.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today&#8217;s episode, we will talk about Gutenberg 12.2, 12.3 and even more features to customize sites, WordPress 5.9 release candidate and the available Gutenberg related developer notes for the upcoming release, and probably more. I&#8217;m Birgit Pauli-Haack curator of the Gutenberg times and developer advocate at Automattic. And I&#8217;m here with my co-host Grzegorz Ziółkowski, JavaScript developer at Automattic and WordPress School contributor. Happy new year to you, Grzegorz. How are you today?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Happy new year, Birgit. I wish you and all of our listeners a lot of exciting experiences with the Gutenberg blog during the 2022 year. I personally immensely enjoyed the slower pace at work in the last weeks when so many more WordPress contributors took well deserved, extended time off. And you were one of them. How was your vacation?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, yeah, I&#8217;ve been very well spending the holidays with dear friends in Vancouver, and a short trip to Whistler in British Columbia. We had -21 degrees Celsius and beautiful weather in Whistler on the second day. So we went up with the gondola to the mountain peak and yeah, what breathtaking view. It&#8217;s not something we see ever in Florida, where the highest peak is the I-75 overpass. I&#8217;m so glad to talk to you again, dear listeners, and Grzegorz. It&#8217;s been almost four weeks and we have a great show for you. Let&#8217;s dig in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, there is a lot to cover today, so let&#8217;s start right away.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"listener-questions-1\"><strong>Listener Questions</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. We first have listener questions that we picked up on Twitter and from the email. Jessica Lyschick is a German front end developer and was part of the WordPress 5.6 release squad, tweeted the other day, &#8220;Is it correct that in WordPress 5.9, it is still not possible to change the font family for a paragraph on a per-block basis? I know it&#8217;s possible in the styles and theme JSON, but only globally and not for the individual block.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well our answer, indeed. Yes, it&#8217;s not yet possible with WordPress 5.9, but it&#8217;s already available in Gutenberg 12.3. It&#8217;s the PR 37586 in our change log today, if you want to look it up. The change helps site owners and content creators to handle paragraph-related topography and font family. One caveat is that the theme needs to provide a list of allowed font families, otherwise the settings will just follow back on the system font. Jessica, thank you so much for your question. And when you get a moment, play around with it, we&#8217;ll have the Gutenberg 12.3 plugin, and see if that matches your needs. And if there&#8217;s something quirky, please let the developers know via GitHub Issue, or just ping me again on Twitter.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, I think we will also cover the changes to the group block, which also added the same functionality. So that will give you a fuller depth. So if you have several paragraphs and you don&#8217;t want to change every one of them one by one, you&#8217;ll be able to do it in the Gutenberg plugin on the group level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh, that&#8217;s awesome. Yeah, I haven&#8217;t seen that yet. Thanks putting that in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And we have a second question from Aditya Kane and she wrote, &#8220;While full site editing is already very exciting and we are looking at some cool things happening around it, and I do think it will start to become a viable product to pitch to clients after WordPress 5.9 release. But at what point do you see it measuring to the level where WordPress agencies could feel more comfortable pitching it to very large enterprise-level clients? Are there any great resources or places someone should watch or follow other than of course, Gutenberg Times?&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well hi, Aditya. Thank you for sending us your question. Yes, it&#8217;s a very good one and it gets the obligatory &#8220;it depends&#8221; answer. So from what I see, the foundations for full site editing are in. That means the minimally viable product with a user interface, it&#8217;s only in the first version. I would not start pitch until 6.0 is out. That hopefully settles the interface quirks some more. I probably would even wait building sites based on FSE until the fourth quarter of 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, and I have been known to be a risk taker, so take this with a grain of salt, but however, if your clients don&#8217;t need site editing interface for most of their workflows, the theme JSON improvement for controlling the theme and the block editor is solid. And it allows for disabling many, many features a client might, with many members on the editorial staff, definitely won&#8217;t need, or don&#8217;t want. And you should be able to start working with it in the second quarter in 2022, considering that large projects have a long on-ramp time. So by the time you&#8217;re finished, maybe in late 2022, or even early 2023, it might have a much more solid base for you. So yeah, take it with a grain of salt. I think it&#8217;s moving fast, but it&#8217;s also something that everybody needs to get accustomed to. Grzegorz, what do you think?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, I&#8217;m still processing that, because full site editing means a lot of things. And as you already mentioned, theme JSON and all the capability gives to the site owners or even content creators. So definitely you will see a lot of new blocks if you enable a block theme. However, if you only are concerned about editing content, you still will receive a lot of enhancement and new features to all blocks. Like this global styles, this is something that you can control on the block level. And with the theme JSON you mentioned, you can fine tune to your needs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So definitely you should check out those global styles features on the block level first and see how that works for you. And wait maybe a couple of weeks to, and I&#8217;m talking about enterprise, which is like, we talk about big money here. So in that case, it&#8217;s better to wait a few weeks and see how the committee responds to that. And definitely in the meantime you should try block themes that are showing up, and every week we see something new, exciting, and you will follow it closely and you definitely will have a recommendation for people if they want.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, yeah. I mean, it&#8217;s very exciting and I&#8217;m personally more optimistic and I don&#8217;t think that we need to wait so long for everything, but I&#8217;m a developer and I like to live on the bleeding edge of technology, so.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So yeah, I really like that. So you got two optimists on that answer. Take it on a grain of salt, Aditya. Thank you for your question. And you had a second question in there, is where to follow along with all the changes. It definitely is the Make Blog Core where all the updates will show up with the release notes for every Gutenberg plugin. It definitely will help you gauge all the good things if you follow along with Gutenberg plugin and test things out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, thank you for the shout on the Gutenberg Times. We&#8217;ll keep you up to date on any changes that are significant for agencies and others. You will also find a few shout outs to plugin developers that also work on the workflows for site builders. Yeah, and also there is a series going on that Ryan Welcher and Daisy Olson, they are just starting with their live streams, taking a theme from zero to block. And that&#8217;s certainly something. And of course we will have the links in the show note. That&#8217;s certainly something to watch and share with your developers so they can get accustomed to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, listeners, if you have questions about Gutenberg blocks or full site editing, feel free to connect with us on Twitter, the WordPress slack, or via email. It&#8217;s <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. It&#8217;s changelog@gutenbergtimes.com. We&#8217;ll answer right away if we know the answer. And if we don&#8217;t, we&#8217;ll find someone who knows the answer and we will share the question and answer with all our listeners. So don&#8217;t be shy. We know that if you have a question, that many others might want to hear the answer as well, as they have secretly asked themselves the same question. So it&#8217;s definitely worth doing it and it helps us be a little bit more, or even more streamlined for your needs. That&#8217;s what we all want to do. Yeah. It&#8217;s kind of help you with the Gutenberg adoption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of Q&amp;A…</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"announcements\"><strong>Announcements</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, so if you missed it, the new State of the Word talk by Matt Mullenweg and the live Q&amp;A recording are now up on the WordPress TV. And Josepha Haden, the executive director of the open source project also posted on her blog answers to questions they didn&#8217;t get to during the event. You will also find the array of questions people sent in or posted in the YouTube livestream. Not all have answers yet, but the comments are filling up. And we will share all the links, of course, in the show notes. And yeah, now let&#8217;s go to the committee contributions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Which we don&#8217;t have.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Oh, yeah. Right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So let&#8217;s go to What&#8217;s Released, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"what-s-released\"><strong>What’s Released</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: And with that, let&#8217;s go the What&#8217;s Released section. Birgit, can you share the updates?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yes. So there were quite a few things going on. So WordPress release candidate 1 for 5.9 was released on Tuesday, January 4th. And that signaled a hard string freeze. That&#8217;s when the translators go to work and prepare the release for hundreds of languages. It&#8217;s also the time to where developers start publishing the developer notes for the new version. And the block related dev notes are….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: There is a lot of them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: There&#8217;s a lot of them, yeah. It&#8217;s about the block theme, and it&#8217;s about new APIs. Even miscellaneous block editor changes that are not going into a full post. There&#8217;s a very interesting dev notes also on how to control the inner block areas for the block editor, on how to use multiple styles each for blocks, the post type and taxonomy changes. One dev note that has already been published in August is the gallery block refactor. Dev notes were listed again. And there are still dev notes in the works.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, at least today just before we started recording, there was a navigation block in WordPress 5.9 post published with all the explanations. And I think there are two more coming, and you should know more about them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. It&#8217;s the theme related changes and the updated for the setting styles on theme JSON. But also I found in the Make Blog a post about WordPress 5.9 performance improvements. Do you want to talk briefly about that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Oh yeah, sure. So that&#8217;s something that summarizes the work that was done over several WordPress major releases. So the post was by Anne McCarthy, but it was contributed by many more people from the community. And it was mostly about the performance related to the block editor, but also so related to how that translates to the front end. And there is an interesting table there that shows the features of the block editor and how all those metrics changes starting from WordPress 5.6, up to the upcoming WordPress 5.9 release. And in many of these places, we can see significant improvements. And with the highest peak, for instance, for the inserter opening that is faster. Like the metrics that has been reduced by over 70%, which is like mind blowing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah, the goal of the post is just to show that it&#8217;s something that is constantly on the radar. And the goal is to arrive in future releases at even lower numbers. So it&#8217;s not like a one-time initiative. It&#8217;s something that we strive for the better future and for the better performance of websites. And definitely some of the dev notes we mentioned about, one of them is, for instance, about style sheets. And so there are multiple projects that are interconnected.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So one of the things that with the block themes that come to WordPress 5.9, we have now this way of serving only CSS for the blocks that are actually rendered on the page, which was never a possibility. Like theme authors, they could add CSS styles and you wouldn&#8217;t say if that is needed or not, but it had to be always included. Now we can control that, and that&#8217;s another great improvement that the block paradigm allows. So definitely check this post to see how many benefits the Gutenberg Project brings. And all the work that people are doing on this, which is like&#8230; I would like to thank everyone for getting involved in the work and do that, and for all the people that help to summarize all that, which is like a lot of work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. I imagine it was a lot of work. Speaking of a lot of work for Anne McCarthy, she just posted this week ahead of the release, user documentation for end users about the new features so you can share them with your team, clients and content creators, about the new features that come in and can read up about how they&#8217;re supposed to function. Sometimes iteration misleads us, and sometimes we need to take up the manual.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At our household, we have a two-prong approach. Every time we get a new device, my husband disappears with the manual and I start pressing buttons. And sooner or later I&#8217;ve come to the end of my knowledge because, yeah, there is a whole new feature there that I don&#8217;t even know how it&#8217;s supposed to work. So having the user end documentation is a huge step forward. And we didn&#8217;t see that in the last four years. End user documentation was always behind the fast paced releases on the block editor. But for this release, there was this urgent need, and I&#8217;m so glad that it happened. That we have some of the end user documentation already there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right. So that&#8217;s, for now, all we have for you around the upcoming WordPress 5.9 release. The reading list is quite long for everyone and we are probably just 90 minutes ahead of you. But we had another release, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, there is more. So I think it was yesterday, or on Wednesday, right? On Wednesday. So on Wednesday we had WordPress security release. So we have now WordPress 5.8.3, which is the latest version. And the same changes were applied back to WordPress 3.7, which is what happens usually. And I checked the changes in the release. I didn&#8217;t notice anything related to the block editor, but there were a couple of changes fix it. So yeah, make sure you update your website to the latest one. I hope you already have auto-updates enabled because we asked you for it for so many times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And if you don&#8217;t patch your site as soon as possible, we urge you. It&#8217;s a security release, so it&#8217;s definitely urgent that you do that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, there were also two Gutenberg plugin releases during the holiday break. WordPress never sleeps. So we are all going to talk about it now. It&#8217;s not going into WordPress 5.9. Only features from Gutenberg plugins up until 11.9 made it into WordPress 5.9. And only a few bug and interface fixes from later versions have been back-ported to the WordPress 5.9 release. So when we talk about features and new blocks and everything, it&#8217;s not going to be in 5.9. It will be in 6.0. So Grzegorz take us into Gutenberg 12.2. I know you also worked on the new post comment blocks, a major feature to complete the blocks available for themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"gutenberg-12-2\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.2</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s right. So first let me say that the Gutenberg 12.2, it was released on December 22 and the release was led by Antoine Vlasenko. And as you mentioned already, there is ongoing work on the still experimental comments query block. And in that release, we added support for pagination, which is the same concept that if you are familiar with the query block, that allows you to display a list of posts. So here it&#8217;s the same concept and it brings the pagination so you can split here. Or if you have a lot of comments, you can split them into pages, and then the navigation. The numbers are just the way of navigating between pages.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the other work that was done for the same blog was adding support for nested comments, which some sites they can decide whether you can have threaded responses to comments, to have more granular discussions on some topics. So in general, this feature is now also included, which is the major difference between the query loop, which is just a simple list. And yeah, that&#8217;s something that was added and….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Mm-hmm. I really like that that is now coming to WordPress, because comments, there was no granular control ever for a site owner for the comments except a few features on and off, and the bad word list kind of thing. But how to handle it with the pagination, with the nested or non-nested way, it definitely gives more control to the site owner that&#8217;s never been there for WordPress before. So thank you for working on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. So there&#8217;s a full team working actually. They are a team, so the component that they work on their own framework. All those great folks, they are now working on bringing the interactivity for comments into the WordPress Core, which is amazing. They are doing great job.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And one more thing that I wanted to mention in here is that you mentioned that the styling for comment, that was really hard. And extending them. There are a lot of filters and functions and helpers, but the way I see that everything, they had to redo it from scratch, and like write their own PHP implementation. And it will give a lot of flexibility for creators.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. So another feature was that the team refactored the handling of the padding for the group and the columns blocks, which it&#8217;s a major improvement, especially for designers and theme developers, because now this refactor kind of lowers the&#8230; It&#8217;s a little bit technical, I&#8217;m sorry, but I think it&#8217;s helpful for the theme developers who are looking at using groups and column blocks in patterns. It lowers the specificity for the CSS, and now you can control padding for both blocks very easily by overriding the CSS in your theme. And an example of that is in the PR. It&#8217;s the PR 37356, if you want to look it up. 37356. The specificity for blocks CSS has always been one of the pain points of nested blocks and more complex blocks, so this definitely reduce it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, there is also, if you talk technical, there is a change to the template part and there are now filters that allow you to change the loading behavior. Because as you know, like for template part, you can provide with the theme an HTML file, but it&#8217;s something that you can also override so it&#8217;s stored in the database. So this allows plugging authors to change how it behaves and provide their own workarounds, or like improvements.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And it seems that those hooks are also back-ported to 5.9. So that&#8217;s one of the features that made it into the release because it started very, very early in the release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right. The next thing we want to talk about, and believe me, there is a lot of port requests in the changes, so we are really cherry picking things. So the border controls are now how displayed in the tool panel to make it available to the site editor to control all the borders around things. And with this release, switching it to the tools panel, it makes it easier to put it into&#8230; The tool panels were introduced in Gutenberg in 11.3 and they offer a so-called progressive discovery options for all the block supports features. And they&#8217;re still working on improving the user experience. And I like it that it&#8217;s now not all in one display, but you can have sections. So one is the border controls, one is the typography, the other one is appearance or colors. And then there&#8217;s a slide out that gives you then the additional controls for that. So it&#8217;s a much better experience and you are not looking at all the controls all the time. Only when you need them. So that&#8217;s certainly part of it. And the border controls were wanted for so long from the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yes. And they also changed the font size picker. So this component has so many enhancements over time. I think like a fifth version of how it behaves. So now we have a change if there is like a bigger number of labels, it shows now numbers. Like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and it&#8217;s like when you hover over it, then it shows the name. But the idea is that you can now simplify changing between them because you just move between numbers and just, you see how it looks like. And yeah, I don&#8217;t know how you feel about that as like something you need to test and see how it works for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. I think it&#8217;s important to have end users or content creators look at that again and send us the feedback, because at one point it&#8217;s certainly easier to say, &#8220;Okay, I want the first level, second level, third level, fourth level, fifth level,&#8221; kind of in a&#8230; But it has, the numbers have nothing to do with the size of it in the pixel size. But it&#8217;s definitely easier to understand the hierarchy than the earlier ones with &#8220;small, large, huge, very large,&#8221; kind of where the labels were a bit arbitrary, but the hierarchy wasn&#8217;t really particularly clear. Yeah. It&#8217;s definitely a work in progress and it could use some user feedback there, definitely. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another feature enhancement was that most components are now iterated in getting to reducing the sidebar clutter, also in the tools panel includes now the custom color implementation that takes advantage of the new dropdown-based color picker. And it seems to be improving the UI quite a bit. And I like it very much. And now many of the components, many of the blocks are actually using that. And so we&#8217;ll see about that. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s released in the plugin and not yet in WordPress, because the developers definitely need some user feedback in if it makes life easier and how to improve it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. There are also some changes to the site editor. And if you weren&#8217;t aware, so when you have the block theme enabled, then you won&#8217;t see the customizer link in the appearance menu. However, there are some plugins that require that feature. Like woo commerce is one of them. So the change was to detect that case and show back this link to the customizer when it&#8217;s very necessary. I&#8217;m not sure if that was a big part of the WordPress 5.9. Yeah. I commented on the PR, so we&#8217;ll find out about that soon. But yeah, it seems like something that was missed in the process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other change is that before when you would like to switch between templates when being undecided. So for instance, when you were on the single post template and you wanted to go to the home template, then you would have to click and go to like have a full page refresh, go to another page, then load the list of templates, pick your template, it will refresh again, reload everything. Now it was vastly improved because it uses a client-side routine, so everything happens with JavaScript, which like speeds up the process a lot and is much more user friendly, in my opinion, at the moment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, thank you. And so there was also a change in the scripts to enact fast refresh for the block development. I saw that and I thought that was also part of the changing how re-render from upon changes the components and the block editor work. Is that a fair assessment or am I missing something?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: No, it&#8217;s purely for blog development and that is still not published to NPM to the WordPress scripts tool and should happen in the upcoming days. But the idea is, because this is the feature that was implemented for react, which basically it&#8217;s a mix of few techniques. And the idea is that when you change something in your source code and you have built in the watch mode, so that means that it picks up all your changes from the code when they are saved. This allows you to, in the browser, to update the code on the fly and you don&#8217;t have to refresh anything. You will see all the changes immediately. And that applies to JavaScript, but also to CSS, which brings a really nice experience that, blog developers should take advantage of in the new future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, I&#8217;m really excited about that one. And yeah, I can see for the feedback from people and how they like it, and how it should evolve.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. Yeah. So increasing the developer experience is definitely a good way to, now that all the foundations are in, to get that even more prominent.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"bug-fixes\"><strong>Bug Fixes</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there were a ton of bug fixes in the release 12.2. And we only wanted to point out one that is coming to the query loop, or that came to the query loop, that uses a used block preview component. And that fixes the alignment of the query loop block editor. So the block preview is that when you hover over the patterns in the placeholder, that you actually see how it all works and it&#8217;s now implemented for the query loop.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: So yeah, but this is something like, this is a place where there was a code reuse. The feature is excerpt from the inserter, but also in other places. And this particular it&#8217;s the query loop, so when you have a list of posts. And the issue was that sometimes when you had multiple inner blocks and that selecting them would have some bad side effects. In this particular, the alignment wouldn&#8217;t be properly applied. So when you would like pick for your query loop, wide alignment, but the parent alignment would be different, it didn&#8217;t quite work well. So that&#8217;s fixed now and this is going to be in the WordPress 5.9 release as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh good. Good, good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Actually, there&#8217;s one more thing I want to talk about, which is in the site editor, there was an issue with the order of including templates. In the case when you would have a child theme, so it became a bit complex because you could have the case when your parent theme would have HTML template in the block theme, but your child theme would override that with a PHP file, like in the classic theme. So now it&#8217;s fixed that if your theme defines this PHP file, it will take precedence over the HTML, which is like, when you have a block theme, it&#8217;s the opposite. Like the HTML take precedence. So it&#8217;s like some complex edge case, but fortunately it was fixed sometime.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. And then I think there&#8217;s another one in the block editor where the team fixed the content loss when ungrouping template parts or reusable blocks. So there was some edge cases where content was lost when you changed the order of blocks, or make a group block disseminated into the single blocks. The same with reusable blocks. So that is definitely fixed and a lot of users will probably issue a sigh of relief for that, finally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. You could always use undo button, but it&#8217;s always the worst experience when your content disappears suddenly and you don&#8217;t know why.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. It&#8217;s heart attack inducing. Yeah. Or at least adrenalin shots. Yeah. There was quite a few documentation updates. Nothing really stood out, but definitely go through the list. If you are missing some documentation, it might have been already issued. And I&#8217;m just only skipping over that because we have another release to go to and we are pressed for time in this.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah I think we can go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: There is so big. I think we can go to Gutenberg 12.3, because we could spend a lot more time on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"gutenberg-12-3\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.3</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, definitely. And so Gutenberg 12.3 was released on Wednesday, January 5th and the release was led by Luis Herranz. And he also published a new post. And I know that you were also working more on the Gutenberg 12.3, Grzegorz. Do you want to start out with the new features there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, sure. So this release was much smaller, mostly because as I mentioned at the beginning, so many people were away from keyboard, enjoying some time with friends and family. But still there was a couple of interesting features added. So some of them you know already, if you are listening to our podcasts. So to the group block, which also has the variation for the row, there was added gap support. Which gap support is the space that you can control between several blocks that are inside this block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the other feature is typographic support that I mentioned when we were answering the questions. So yeah, that is now possible. It&#8217;s quite nice. I like that. Especially the typographic ones. Like you can like change the typography for a couple of blocks and that applies not only to paragraphs, but to other things that support typography.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And one note is that the new gap setting is also available to the row variation of the group block, which was added in 11.5. But it&#8217;s added horizontally instead of vertically, so it gives you a lot more options to customize your layout. Then there was a new block. It&#8217;s the new author name block, and it&#8217;s part of the effort to split the post author block and to separate blocks to allow even more granular layout options for themes. And theme developers were kind of complaining that there wasn&#8217;t enough flexibility there, and it now has been released. This means you have extra options to customize the author name to your liking.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And there is a plan to add author bio and author avatar, so that will give like more options. And this one was also inspired by the implementation of the comments query block, which got another two blocks which are related to the pagination. And one of them is next, and obviously the other one is previous. Although they might be renamed to &#8220;older&#8221; and &#8220;newer&#8221; because this is how you usually see them in the existing classic themes. And that was a very exciting milestone because that means that all blocks that were planned for this block are already in place and you can test all of them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I just want to mention that it&#8217;s still experimental. It means that some of the features, especially for settings for the sites that exist already in WordPress are still being applied. And it&#8217;s quite complex task, so I expect that it might take some more time. However, it&#8217;s like the most important part, which is how to style those blocks is already there. So definitely check it out. If you don&#8217;t like the block that it&#8217;s called post comments block that is already there, that eventually will be replaced with the new one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. Yeah. Yeah, there is also a tracking issue available on GitHub with the upcoming changes. So there is the new and older that you mentioned name for the pagination blocks, forwards and backwards. And then also how the pagination is handled with comments with replies, that&#8217;s still in the works. There&#8217;s also something in the works for the block placeholders that will be created similar to the query loop. So you have different combinations that you can get out of the box. And a few bug fixes. So yeah, it&#8217;s definitely the first version. It&#8217;s a working version, but nothing is perfect and it can always be improved on.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"enhancements\"><strong>Enhancements</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So in the 12.3, there were also enhancements to the block library. And I want to point out the one for the site logo. And the site logo block now has an option to also set the site icon from the site logo block settings. That&#8217;s one of the features that actually were coming through the customizer and it&#8217;s very important to get some parity with it. Site icons, just in case you&#8217;re not aware of it, all the little icons that you see in browser bookmarks, or in tabs, or within the mobile app. So it&#8217;s quite of identify the site in open tabs. Which I have now open, I don&#8217;t know, 30 per window, and now having a site icon definitely helps me find the right one.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, this one is a little bit surprising for me the way it&#8217;s implemented, because this is a toggle button that is inside the sidebar. So when Luis was working on the release post, we discussed that one because we couldn&#8217;t quite understand how it works exactly. I mean, it makes a lot of sense how it ended up being implemented. But the confusing part was that when someone changes the site icon in a different place and that&#8217;s&#8230; You need to refresh the page to see that it&#8217;s no longer set as the default one. So that&#8217;s something that might confuse some people.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah, I can see that that&#8217;s happening. It&#8217;s always the time when you have the synchronization issues kind of….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, between the classic and the new block editor. And I think there&#8217;s a similar problem, I would say, with the navigation block. When you have existing menus that coming into the navigation block, when you change them, it&#8217;s not going to change the existing one. It&#8217;s creating a new record and all that. I think there is no really good way to do this, but it will be at first a little bit confusing to some users. The same when you go back from block editor to classic editor in your post. It doesn&#8217;t work switching back and forth. So once you decide going one way, might want to stick to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. But because like, from my perspective, the biggest challenge is that when you see toggle, you expect that once you toggle it, it will remain like in this state, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Mm-hmm.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: However, it&#8217;s not the case here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. And you can change it through the customizer again, and then it&#8217;s not showing up on the side logo block. Yeah, that is a disconnect there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next feature, we already talked about. That&#8217;s the paragraph to add font family support. Again, shout out to Jessica who raised the question on Twitter. And I was so happy that we could point to this pull request.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then the next one is the comments template now has also comments pagination. That&#8217;s all part of the comments query block in a template. So there&#8217;s, I don&#8217;t think more to talk about that what you already told us.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah, I think when you insert the comments query loop, it&#8217;ll just show you all the available inner blocks. That&#8217;s the biggest change here. And in the future, I would expect that it&#8217;ll look more like the query loop, that you have this option to pick one of the existing quick templates, or just go to the pattern selector and just see whatever is there and pick the one that suits you best.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s wonderful. Thank you. And then one of the most popular blocks is the spacer block, and it now has custom units for height and width. So you can do it in EMs, in REMs. You can do it in viewport width and viewport heights. So a lot of people asked for that, especially theme builders or site builders that control their site through the interface and are not working with code.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: I&#8217;m curious what&#8217;s the future of this block, because now we have all those spacing options that you could pick like top margin or bottom margin, and then this block might not have the future at all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, I think it does because it&#8217;s an easy way to, so you don&#8217;t have to space out both of it. Yeah, you&#8217;re just going to put a space and continue working on your content. Just because when you&#8217;re having two blocks bump up against each other, you don&#8217;t have to think about which one do I have to change, and where do I change it? So you just going to put the space out block in there. It has a default of I think 40 pixels. You can change the default to 20 pixels, and then every time you use the spacer block, it&#8217;s the same.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think it has a future for fast power users that got accustomed to it. The custom units for height and width definitely help you also for the theme JSON to have default values for that. But other than that, a content creator definitely seems to love that because they&#8217;re not always in control of the theme. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: I know that is highly popular block. Like when I saw some stats a few months back, it was on the seventh place from the most popular blocks. Which was quite surprising, but now I get your point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. I was surprised when I saw that too, but that has been for the last four years. So it definitely is good that padding and margin controls are in, but they only came in in 2021. So that&#8217;s where also a lot of muscle memory is in there to use the spacer block just instead.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"bug-fixes-1\"><strong>Bug Fixes</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, there are quite a few other enhancements. We will, however, jump over them and go to one of the bug fixes that restrict the navigation permission and show the UI warning if it cannot create it. So there was one in the testing of WordPress 5.9 that came out that the navigation block or menu is actually restricted for non-admin users, but the block editor wouldn&#8217;t behave well for that. And now it&#8217;s definitely clear that only admins can create navigation menus. And there is, instead of just a loading spinner that doesn&#8217;t go anywhere, it now has a UI warning that the permissions are not the right ones. So that&#8217;s definitely&#8230; and that was also patched back to WordPress 5.9, if I&#8217;m not mistaken.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. It would give you a false feeling that you can do too much, but it looks like&#8230; And more like the approach they took, that it only allows you to pick one of the existing menus is pretty nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. What else do we want to pick out from there? So there is an update in the multi-editing saving. Do you have any more information about that? On the post editor?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: No.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh, when the publish button was clicked and not always the multi-editing. When multi-editing saving needs to happen, it wouldn&#8217;t then go further to the post publish panel to actually publish a post. It would just save the multi-editing, but not publish a post. I think that was a problem. Or when you want to switch off saying, &#8220;Oh, I changed the header. I didn&#8217;t want to do this.&#8221; And then you check it off in the multi-editing saving, and still wanted to publish it. I think that was a problem.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"documentation\"><strong>Documentation</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And that brings us to the documentation section. And here we have a new page that was other than that one is for Core block. So now we have a new tool in place that generates some basic characteristics for all Core blocks that exist there. So that&#8217;s good for theme authors because now they can check all the blocks, and they can easily look for the features they have. Like all these block supports, like typography, spacing, borders, whatever. And yeah, I expect that this page will get much better over time, because this is just the beginning. But now that we have, feedback from everyone would be very much appreciated because it will help to shape that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And I can see that it&#8217;s not only usable for theme developers. Plugin developers are absolutely happy about that too, because they also see all the attributes that come with each block and can decide right there how the extensions would work if they want to extend existing blocks. And can have a complete, and I think that&#8217;s the operating, or the executive kind of word there. Complete block reference of all the Core blocks coming from the block JSON file in the block. So it&#8217;s definitely an improvement of the documentation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. Now that we have that, it also would be great to include that information when block was included in WordPress Core. So people can have a good expectation, because some of those blocks are still in experimental phase. Some of them, they&#8217;re becoming new WordPress 5.9. And some of them exist from the very beginning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Exactly. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. And there was also a change in the handbook. So there is a lot of code examples, and so far they had two versions. One of them was called ES.Next and the other one was called ES5. And that has changed now, because the distinction that existed before was mostly because IE 11, it could support only older version of JavaScript. And these days, all the browsers that work with supports, they work with ES.Next, so this wasn&#8217;t working well. So now the distinction is between JSX, which also translates to the code examples that require a build step. And then other one is called plain, which basically you can copy and paste into your browser some of those examples, and they should just work. So, yeah.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. So it lowers the barrier of entry for someone who&#8217;s not yet completely familiar or comfortable with JSX to see other code examples here. But JSX is mostly coming from the React framework, but you can also write blocks in plain vanilla JavaScript, as it&#8217;s called. I think that was the name I was trying to find. Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think that concludes our dive into the change log of the 12.3 Gutenberg plugin release from this week.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"what-s-in-active-development-or-discussed\"><strong>What’s in Active Development or Discussed</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re coming to the section of what&#8217;s in active development. And I just wanted to give a shout to your proposal, Grzegorz, on changing&#8230; You were the one who published the proposal, but of course it comes from the Core JavaScript group, on changing the JavaScript coding standards. So Prettier, and can be used also out of the box instead of using the WordPress own version of it. Do you want to explain a little bit more about that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Yeah. So first of all, Prettier, this is the tool that we use in the Gutenberg project to format the code so it looks the same no matter what your style preference is. So that helps us a lot to decrease the number of changes in the PRs that were purely about wide spaces or stuff like that. And also improve the speed of code review because now you can focus on the code. And, the thing is that it was, I think two years ago, when we introduced this tool. We couldn&#8217;t use the official one that is big open source project and is widely used by the JavaScript community because WordPress has different opinions about spacing around brackets and parents. So we respected that and we used form that automatic was maintaining.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in the last year there were not any updates. And in the meantime, we started using that tool because it&#8217;s so powerful. It also works with CSS, markdown, XML, JSON, and the list is so long. There is even experimental version for PHP. We don&#8217;t want to go in the PHP route. Like it&#8217;s too much, but for other things, we started applying that and it&#8217;s so fantastic. Like makes everything so much easier. And for me, the biggest, the most like powerful thing is that when you format markdown files, it also can edit CSS, snippets, JavaScript snippets, and it applies formatting to them according to the rules you specify for this language. So it&#8217;s like, wow. So it can do that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, we just need to use the full power of the tool. But it&#8217;s a hard decision because like nobody wants to change the coding styles that&#8230; I, myself, I&#8217;m familiar with this existing coding style for nearly seven years. And I&#8217;m fine with that. I&#8217;ve been using them for so long, so it&#8217;s not that I want that. It&#8217;s just like the benefits, in my opinion. And as far as the feedback goes so far, for many people the benefits are much bigger than, the need to change those styles and reformatting many projects. But it&#8217;s a hard decision, so we are waiting for the feedback from the community before we take any further steps.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yes. And if you want to get even more detailed, we will have the link to it in our show notes. And also, yeah, comment and let the team know what you think about that. I find it, yeah, if it&#8217;s inclusion more JavaScript and gets WordPress more into what the bigger JavaScript community is doing, it&#8217;s one thing. It also takes care of TypeScript, I understood. And some of the underlying code of Gutenberg is written in TypeScript, so it helps also new contributors coming to the project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I&#8217;m not that into that coding, but Prettier is definitely a nice tool, especially for beginners to make sure that your code is right, and to find all the quirks and syntax problems that you inadvertently introduced before you have a build done. So yeah, definitely all for it. And I need to add my comments to that as well. But yeah, so that is in the works. And how long is the comment? It&#8217;s about three weeks, I think. The comment time for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Okay. So initially I set the deadline for three weeks. However, there was a comment from Google that it should extended. And I&#8217;m fine with that. It&#8217;s like, whatever the committee decides. Let&#8217;s say a few weeks from now to make the decision.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Excellent. Yeah. All right, so this concludes our Gutenberg Changelog episode 58. It&#8217;s 5.8. No, it&#8217;s 58, sorry. And I want to remind everyone there is actually, if you want to learn more about full site editing and what&#8217;s coming to 5.9, the meetup of Boulder, Colorado has a panel discussion coming up on Monday the 17th at 6:00 PM Mountain Time. That&#8217;s 8:00 PM Eastern, and 1:00 AM, sorry Europeans, UTC. And of course we have the link in the show notes. But the panel is Brian Gardner from WP Engine, developer advocate, and a theme developer by heart. Courtney Robertson, she is a developer advocate at GoDaddy Pro, and she&#8217;s also part of the WordPress training team that brings you all those nice new courses and workshops and social learning spaces. And yours truly. And I will be on the panel too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you want to join us and get your questions answered, panel discussion, WordPress Meetup, Boulder, Colorado. January 17th at 6:00 PM, Mountain time, 8:00 PM Eastern, and 1:00 AM UTC. And if you have any things that you&#8217;re not able to go there because of the late night, just have your question or so in the comments on the meetup page, and we&#8217;ll take it in onto our panel.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shout to Angela Bowman, who is the meetup organizer of that meetup. And I thank her for the invitation and the preparation for that. All right. Do you have anything that you want people to know, Grzegorz, off the top of your head?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: No, just when you said 5.8, a piece of number, just like I told that next in two weeks, we will be very close to WordPress 5.9 and we will be recording Gutenberg Changelog number 59, which is quite a nice coincidence.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s awesome. Yeah, you&#8217;re right. I didn&#8217;t realize that. So our next recording will be on January 21st. So that&#8217;s about four days before WordPress 5.9 is going to be released. All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So as always, if you listen to the shows and you like it, it would be really helpful to have a review on the places where you&#8230; like Stitcher, or iTunes, or Google. If you write us a review, it will be really fantastic because it also helps us with the distribution of the podcast. And we always want to get in contact with you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, if you have questions, ping and Grzegorz on Twitter, or myself, or Gutenberg Times. @gutenbergtimes on Twitter. Or send us your questions or suggestions or news to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. That&#8217;s <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. The show notes will be on gutenbergtimes.com/podcast. And this is, as we mentioned, episode 58.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So thank you, Greg, for another great show. We covered a lot, and I hope you have a wonderful next two weeks. And I will get back to Florida to the warmer weather, which I really like, and I really long for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: I can only imagine, yeah. So thank you everyone. Thank you, Birgit. And hopefully we see in two weeks, so we don&#8217;t have to wait so long to record the next episode.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: All right, you all take care. Bye-bye now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</em>: Bye.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:00:23 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"Gutenberg Changelog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:150:\"Gutenberg Times: Block Template for Custom Post Types, Reading list for WordPress 5.9, Grainy Gradient block and so much more – Weekend edition #198\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=19918\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/block-template-for-custom-post-type-weekend-edition-198/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28374:\"<p><strong>Happy New Year!&nbsp;</strong>🎆 🙌 🎉🥂</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you all had wonderful time over the Holidays and you didn&#8217;t have to work. And if you had to work, that it was quiet time for reflection, catch-up and strategic planning. At Whistler, we encountered -21&nbsp;°C (-5.8&nbsp;°F) weather and this Florida Weather wimp had to put on about 15 pounds (ca. 7 kg) of layered clothes to feel warm enough to go outside. It is easy to forget what Real Winter feels like. I also was pretty amazed how fast one can adapt to anything, given enough time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a day and a half, we were ready to head up to the top of the mountain and all the suffering was definitely worth it. Look at the view! </p>\n\n\n\n<img />Whistler &#8211; View from the Top (Photo by Birgit Pauli-Haack)\n\n\n\n<p>Before I get out of the way of the curated list of fabulous Gutenberg content,  I want to express my wishes for you and the New Year: Good health, stay safe, prosperity, lots of laughter and loads of love for you and yours. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br />Birgit </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#block-editor-related-devnotes-for-wordpress-5-9\">Block Editor related DevNotes for WordPress 5.9 </a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#gutenberg-plugin-12-2-and-12-3\">Gutenberg Plugin 12.2 and 12.3</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#developing-for-gutenberg-and-block-building\">Developing for Gutenberg and Block Building</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#updates-for-designers-and-theme-developers\">Updates for Designers and Theme Developers</a><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#getting-started-with-block-theme-development\">Getting Started with Block Theme development</a></li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#tools-for-site-builders-and-content-creators\">Tools for Site Builders and content creators</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#upcoming-wordpress-events\">Upcoming WordPress Events</a></li></ul></div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>In the <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/excerpt/39/\"><strong>39th episode of the Post Status Excerpt Podcast</strong></a> guest <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> talked with <strong>David Bisset</strong> about the delay of WordPress 5.9, Automattic, COVID’s impact on contributors, Full Site Editing, and the future of the Customizer.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a new <strong>Hallway Chats</strong> episode! <a href=\"https://hallwaychats.com/episodes/episode-156-a-chat-with-tammie-lister/\"><strong>Topher and Cate DeRosia sat with Tammie Lister</strong></a>, Senior Product Designer at XWP, and talked about what it means to be a web designer these days, as well as how Gutenberg and the WordPress editor are changing and growing.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"block-editor-related-devnotes-for-wordpress-5-9\">Block Editor related DevNotes for WordPress 5.9 </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>About Themes</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/theme-focused-changes-and-filters-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Theme-focused changes and filters in WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/state-of-the-customizer-with-block-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">State of the Customizer with block themes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/bundled-theme-updates-with-wordpress-5-9/\">Bundled theme updates with WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/block-themes-a-new-way-to-build-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Block themes, a new way to build themes in WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/updates-for-settings-styles-and-theme-json/\">Updates for Settings, Styles, and theme.json</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Block Building and extending Gutenberg</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/new-api-to-access-global-settings-styles/\">New API to access global settings &amp; styles</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/miscellaneous-block-editor-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Miscellaneous block editor changes in WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/28/take-more-control-over-inner-block-areas-as-a-block-developer/\">Take more control over Inner Block Areas (as a block developer)</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\">Using multiple stylesheets per block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/13/posts-post-types-and-taxonomy-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Posts, Post types and Taxonomy changes in WordPress&nbsp;5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/locking-blocks-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Locking Blocks in WordPress 5.9</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>New Blocks</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/the-new-navigation-block/\">The new Navigation block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/20/gallery-block-refactor-dev-note/\">Gallery Block Refactor Dev Note</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate was released on Tuesday, January 4th, 2022 and the version is on schedule to be released on January 25, 2022. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a some spare time, <strong>Anne McCarthy </strong>has great instructions and topics on how you can <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">Help test WordPress 5.9 Features</a>. It&#8217;s a huge release and test can help. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/whats-new-in-wordpress-5-9-a-reading-list-on-full-site-editing-and-block-themes/\"><strong>full reading list</strong> </a>about the Block editor updates for WordPress 5.9 for developers, site builders and content creators is in the works. <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/whats-new-in-wordpress-5-9-a-reading-list-on-full-site-editing-and-block-themes/\">You can start reading here.</a></em><br /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"gutenberg-plugin-12-2-and-12-3\">Gutenberg Plugin 12.2 and 12.3</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Only Gutenberg features and enhancements until version 11.9 made it into the WordPress 5.9 version. Only Bug and UI fixes to existing features of later Gutenberg plugin version were backported to WordPress 5.9 </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anton Vlasenko </strong>published the release notes: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.2? (22 December)</a>&nbsp;and points out as highlight the following: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#seamless-navigation-between-the-site-editor-and-the-template-list\">Seamless navigation between the Site Editor and the Template List</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#improvements-to-post-comments\">Improvements to post comments</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#a-new-home-for-border-controls\">A new home for border controls</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#new-font-sizes-in-the-fontsizepicker-component\">New font sizes in the&nbsp;<code>FontSizePicker</code>&nbsp;component</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#improved-color-picker\">Improved color picker</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/#preview-for-block-styles-in-the-widget-editor\">Preview for Block Styles in the Widget Editor</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Justin Tadlock gave it a whirl in his post <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-2-focuses-on-user-experience-improvements\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.2 Focuses on User Experience Improvements</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/luisherranz\"><strong>Luis Herranz</strong></a> released Gutenberg 12.3 and published the release notes on January 5th, 2021: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/\"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 12.3? (5 January)</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlighted PRs are listed as follows. </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/#new-blocks-to-build-with\">New blocks to build with</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/#more-controls-to-customize\">More controls</a> for Spacer and Group Blocks</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/#set-your-site-icon-using-the-site-logo-block\">Set your site icon using the Site Logo block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/#restrict-navigation-menu-creation-for-non-admin-users\">Restrict Navigation Menu creation for non-admin users</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/#core-blocks-reference\">Core Blocks Reference</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The last bullet point references the new Handbook page Core Block Reference and it is a big step forward to a complete and updated documentation of the core blocks. The blocks&#8217; block.json information feeds into this page automatically. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> wrote about it in <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-3-introduces-new-blocks-design-options-and-a-complete-core-blocks-reference\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.3 Introduces New Blocks, Design Options, and a Complete Core Blocks Reference</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</strong> and I recorded the <strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-58-devnotes-for-full-site-editing/\">58th Gutenberg Changelog</a></strong> episode on Friday, January 7th, 2022. We talk about WordPress 5.9 release and DevNotes for Full-site Editing and block themes, and Gutenberg 12.2 and 12.3. We also, answered listener questions, this time by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adityakane\">Aditya Kane</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jessicalyschik\">Jessica Lyschik</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"developing-for-gutenberg-and-block-building\">Developing for Gutenberg and Block Building</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For those among us, who still rely on ACF for site data handling, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Joey_Farruggio\">Joey Farruggio</a></strong> built a command line tool to streamline the ACF blocks creation. You can read more about the context and the making of the CLI and what you can delegate to a script. <a href=\"https://github.com/joseph-farruggio/create-acf-block\">The <strong>Create-ACF-Block CLI code</strong> </a>is available on GitHub. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of scaffolding blocks, the <strong>official WordPress create-block</strong> received and update, too. Once you are done with developing your plugin, you can automatically assemble the plugin.zip that you can upload to WordPress or share with other users via the plugin directory. Here is a short blog post about it: <a href=\"https://icodeforapurpose.com/run-plugin-zip-for-create-block/\"><strong>Run plugin.zip for create-block</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanwelcher/status/1478737187738894339\">tweet</a>, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanwelcher\">Ryan Welcher</a></strong> pointed to the most recent Block Plugin Checker updates. When you submit your single block plugin to the directory, the Plugin Checker now validates against the block.json schema and also has a check for unique plugin namespaces as well. You can read about the details in this trac ticket: <strong><a href=\"https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/5303\">Block plugin validation tool UI improvements</a></strong>. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Only tangentially related to the block editor, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/gziolo\">Grzegorz Ziolkowski</a></strong> published for the Core JavaScript team a proposal on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/proposal-changes-to-javascript-coding-standards-for-full-prettier-compatibility/\"><strong>Changes to JavaScript Coding Standards for Full Prettier Compatibility</strong></a>. Several contributor and developers have already commented. Let you opinion heard. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his post, <a href=\"https://carlosbravo.blog/2021/01/07/how-advanced-custom-fields-handle-blocks/\"><strong>How Advanced Custom Fields handle&nbsp;blocks</strong></a>, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/c4rl0sbr4v0\">Carlo Bravo</a></strong>, discusses how you can create blocks with ACF (the plugin Advanced Custom Fields), what advantage is has and what downsides are for the users of such blocks. If you try to decide to invest in learning how to create dynamic blocks or ACF Blocks it&#8217;s a great article to start the process. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/CometMarie\"><strong>Marie Comet</strong></a> explains in her post <a href=\"https://mariecomet.fr/en/2021/12/14/adding-options-controls-existing-gutenberg-block/\"><strong>Adding options and controls to an existing Gutenberg block</strong></a>, how to extend core blocks with an additional button in its Toolbar or  more option controls in the sidebar. Sometimes extending existing blocks is faster than recreating features via Custom Blocks. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s main (trunk) branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt=\"GitHub all releases\" src=\"https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total\" /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"updates-for-designers-and-theme-developers\">Updates for Designers and Theme Developers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from the list of developer notes and reading list, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/angelasjin\">Angela Jin</a></strong> published a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/03/proposal-approving-block-pattern-directory-submissions/\"><strong>Proposal for Approving Block Patterns Submissions to the directory</strong></a>. If you are a designer, or theme developer it might be interesting for you, and you might have an opinion how submissions should be curated on the official WordPress repository. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of the WordPress repository, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/m_munirkamal\">Munir Kamal</a> </strong>created his idea of a Theme directory via the Gutenberg Hub: <a href=\"https://gutenberghub.com/re-imagined-wordpress-themes-directory/\"><strong>Re-Imagined WordPress themes directory</strong></a>. I really like the way how themes details on color schema, typography, and block styles can be surfaced to a Theme directory page. Kamal was right when he wrote: &#8220;This makes it much easier to find the theme that’s right for you without having to download and test multiple themes.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> at the WPTavern also took a look and wrote: &#8220;In the dawn of the block theme era, the WordPress theme directory could use a reimagining.&#8221; <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-hub-launches-a-block-based-wordpress-theme-directory\">The rest of the article is ready for your purusal</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolinapoena\">Carolina Nymark</a>,</strong> write and developer on Fullsiteediting.com has a tutorial for you on <a href=\"https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/creating-block-templates-for-custom-post-types/\"><strong>how to use a php template to create a block template for Custom Post Type</strong></a>. Given how often I see the question on what about Custom Post Types, this is a very timely tutorial for Theme Developers. Nymark wrote: &#8220;The main pain point is that people are expecting to be able to create this type of template via the new&nbsp;<strong>Site Editor</strong>&nbsp;interface. This is a reasonable expectation, unfortunately&nbsp;<a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/37407\">the feature is not complete yet</a>&nbsp;and not included in WordPress 5.9.0.&#8221;. In her post she shows you a viable workaround, that doesn&#8217;t leave you with too much technical debt. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/carlodaniele\">Carlo Daniele</a></strong> took a <a href=\"https://kinsta.com/blog/twenty-twenty-two-theme/\"><strong>Deep Dive into Twenty Twenty-Two and WordPress Block Themes</strong></a> for Kinsta. The article describes the upcoming new WordPress default theme, that will be the first default block Theme. Kjell Reigstad and Jeff Ong worked on the design and development. The Theme will come out bundled with WordPress 5.9 </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"getting-started-with-block-theme-development\">Getting Started with Block Theme development</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you like to get started on block theme development, there are a few choices depending on how you want to learn. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Developer Handbook on WordPress.org</strong> hold all the documentation about <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/themes/block-theme-overview/\">Block Themes</a>. You start at the  Overview page, then walk along the <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/themes/create-block-theme/\">Create a Block Theme </a>tutorial to learn more about the templates, template parts, template hierarchy and all necessary files. A primer on theme.json enables you to control the feature set and setting for Global Styles. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Marcus Kazmierczak</strong>&#8216;s Devnote <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/block-themes-a-new-way-to-build-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\"><strong>Block themes, a new way to build themes in WordPress 5.9</strong></a> catches you up on the latest updates. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Another opportunity to is the Twitch live stream series by <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> and <strong>Daisy Olsen Creating a block-based theme</strong>. <a href=\"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1254807465?t=00h14m32s\">Part 1 is available on Twitch</a>, and will later be posted on  YouTube. The start was a bit wonky with some audio issues that cleared up at the timestamp 14:32. The next session will be next week, Thursday at 10:30 am ET / 15:30 UTC</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>On January 12th, <strong>Daisy Olsen</strong> and <strong>Sarah Snow</strong> present the first installment of another series: &#8220;<a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283103474\"><strong>Zero to Block Theme Series: Foundations&#8221;</strong></a> at 1pm ET / 18:00 UTC. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan</strong>, core contributor on the meta team,  takes you along her journey while <a href=\"https://ryelle.codes/2021/12/switching-to-a-block-based-theme\"><strong>switching to a block based theme</strong></a>. She shares with you her process and her challenges and how she overcame them. Choyce-Dwan also surfaced a few things that are bugs and some have already been fixed. She also noticed that there is no way to give buttons or links hover state/colors, and CSS is your fallback. In conclusion, she wrote: &#8220;It was a fun experiment to refresh this site, and I really see the promise of block-based themes for easy site building. It’s a new framework to get used to, and sure there are bumps to work through, but it’s going to be great.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"tools-for-site-builders-and-content-creators\">Tools for Site Builders and content creators</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In her latest YouTube video <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5fbGuTdPKw\"><strong>Connecting The Dots: Level up with Query Loop</strong></a> block, <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> is showing off a real-world example of the Query Loop block, and she demonstrates how it saves her time. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his review <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/anariel-design-releases-bricksy-its-third-wordpress-block-theme\"><strong>Anariel Design Releases Bricksy, Its Third WordPress Block Theme</strong></a>, Justin Tadlock gives Ana Segota, designer at Anariel Designs, and her theme high marks on beauty and versatility. It sports 32 Block patterns and also supports WooCommerce. Certainly, worth checking out. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alexandra Yap</strong> introduced you to a new feature from the team at Stackable: Their plugins now gives you the option to start your design process directly in the Site editor. <a href=\"https://wpstackable.com/blog/how-to-wireframe-a-website-using-gutenberg/\"><strong>Learn how you can use Gutenberg to wireframe a website.</strong></a> </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Although the block editor can handle Markdown in and of itself, it&#8217;s not the most convenient Markdown editor. The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/markup-markdown/\"><strong>MarkUp MarkDown</strong></a> plugin seems to change that although it gives me unwanted flashback to pre-block editor times. In his review, <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/new-wordpress-plugin-offers-a-markdown-editor-solution\"><strong>New WordPress Plugin Offers a Markdown Editor Solution</strong></a> Justin Tadlock, is of other opinion, so it was a worth a read for me. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of Flashback, read <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/a-throwback-to-the-past-retro-winamp-block\"><strong>A Throwback to the Past: Retro Winamp Block</strong></a> by <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> on his take on the block plugin that allows you to embed a Winamp player and skin into your 21st-century website.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/phil_webs\">Phil Webster</a></strong> created the <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/a-throwback-to-the-past-retro-winamp-block\"><strong>Newspaper Column </strong></a>block, and interesting approach to have this block automatically display text  over three or four columns automatically. It works best with paragraph and lists. Webster also plans to work on Accessible Block Collection to offer additional accessibility features for core blocks and build blocks that are missing for instance an Accordion block.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a sidenote, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/phil_webs/status/1479242474304552960\">here</a> is a twitter exchange with Webster about <a href=\"https://twitter.com/phil_webs/status/1479242474304552960\">what is best for the user: Single purpose blocks or bock collections.</a> What has been the better experience been for you? And would you pay for a single block premium plugin? And more. I found it quite insightful. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Good news for site owners looking for high-quality block themes: <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wp-engine-acquires-brian-gardners-frost-opens-it-to-the-public\"><strong>WP Engine Acquires Brian Gardner’s Frost, Opens It to the Public</strong></a> &#8211; now available for free. <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> has the skinny for you. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kelly Choyce-Dwan</strong> released &#8216;a souped-up Spacer-type block&#8217;. With the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/grainy-gradient-block/\"><strong>Grainy Gradient Block</strong></a> plugin end-users can decorate the area with various gradient backgrounds and spruce up their content with interesting forms and color combinations. <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/decorating-web-pages-with-the-grainy-gradient-block\">Justin Tadlock took it for a spin</a> and shared ways he experimented with with the block on the WPTavern.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"upcoming-wordpress-events\">Upcoming WordPress Events</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 12, 2022, 1 pm ET / 18:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283103474\"><strong>Zero to Block Theme Series: FoundationsJoin this space</strong></a> via WordPress Social Learning Spaces<br /><br /><strong>January 14, 2022</strong> <strong>1pm ET / 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283051937/\"><strong>Demo: All About Colors with Full Site Editing</strong></a> with Roxy Kohilakis via WordPress Social Learning Spaces</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 17, 2022 3pm ET / 20:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/282772979\">Advanced Layouts with the Block Editor</a></strong> with Wes Theron via WordPress Social Learning Spaces</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 17, 2022 8 pm ET / 1:00 am UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/BoulderWP/events/282792359\">What&#8217;s coming in WordPress 5.9</a></strong> Panel discussion w/ Brian Gardner, Courtney Robertson and Birgit Pauli-Haack via WordPress Meetup Boulder, Co</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 20, 2022 &#8211; 7 pm ET / 00:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/SF-WordPress-Users/events/283096780/\"><strong>WordPress &#8220;Mega Meetup&#8221;: Block Patterns, WordPress 5.9</strong></a><br />South Florida WordPress Meetup Group</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>January 26, 2022, 6:00 pm ET / 23:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/282773311/\"><strong>Intro to Templates and Template Parts (Full Site Editing)</strong></a> with Wes Theron via WordPress Social Learning Spaces</p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\">Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Jan 2022 08:50:22 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"WPTavern: Microsoft Bing Releases New IndexNow Plugin for WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=128014\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:179:\"https://wptavern.com/microsoft-bing-releases-new-indexnow-plugin-for-wordpress?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=microsoft-bing-releases-new-indexnow-plugin-for-wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3501:\"<p>In July 2020, Bing <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/bing-launches-url-submissions-plugin-for-wordpress\">released its first official plugin</a> for WordPress that allowed site owners to submit URLS and get their content indexed immediately, instead of waiting for the search engine to crawl the site. The IndexNow API, which <a href=\"https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/october-2021/IndexNow-Instantly-Index-your-web-content-in-Search-Engines\">debuted in October 2021</a>, is the next evolution of the <a>Bing URL submissions API</a>, created by Microsoft Bing and Yandex. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bing Webmasters has released a new <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/indexnow/\">IndexNow plugin for WordPress</a> sites to take advantage of this new protocol. It makes it possible for websites to notify participating search engines whenever content is created, updated, or deleted, so that the site is indexed faster for updated search results. The Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools team anticipates that it will minimize the need for crawling:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>IndexNow is an initiative for a more efficient Internet: By telling search engines whether an URL has been changed, website owners provide a clear signal helping search engines to prioritize crawl for these URLs, thereby limiting the need for exploratory crawl to test if the content has changed. In the future, search engines intend to limit crawling of websites adopting IndexNow.</p><p>IndexNow is also an initiative for a more open Internet: By notifying one search engine you will notify all search engines that have adopted IndexNow.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The IndexNow WordPress plugin tracks changes in content and automatically submits the URLS in the background. It comes with a few basic features and configuration options: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Toggle the automatic submission feature.</li><li>Manually submit a URL to IndexNow.</li><li>View list of recent URL submissions from the plugin.</li><li>Retry any failed submissions from the recent submissions list.</li><li>Download recent URL submissions for analysis.</li><li>Status on recent successful and failed submissions</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The IndexNow protocol is supported by Microsoft Bing and Yandex. <a href=\"https://searchengineland.com/google-is-testing-the-indexnow-protocol-for-sustainability-375932\">Google is testing the protocol</a> to see if it makes sense for a more sustainable approach to indexing the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bing Principal Program Manager Fabrice Canel <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/52900\">proposed WordPress core integrate the IndexNow protocol</a> but contributors suggested Microsoft keep it as a plugin until it&#8217;s more widely adopted by major search engines and proves that it has a positive effect on reducing the need for crawling. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;By releasing this plugin, we aim not only to benefit right away WordPress websites adopting it, but also learn, tweak as needed to someday release IndexNow in WordPress core to benefit all websites and all existing and upcoming search engines adopting IndexNow,&#8221; Canel said on the ticket.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/indexnow/\">IndexNow plugin</a> already has 800 active installs but it&#8217;s a long road for Microsoft to prove that its API is effective at streamlining indexing for search engines. If Google agrees to support it after testing, the protocol may gain enough momentum to attract other search engines&#8217; support.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Jan 2022 03:14:05 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"WPTavern: Decorating Web Pages With the Grainy Gradient Block\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=128020\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:167:\"https://wptavern.com/decorating-web-pages-with-the-grainy-gradient-block?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=decorating-web-pages-with-the-grainy-gradient-block\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3198:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Yesterday, Kelly Choyce-Dwan released a souped-up Spacer-type block. However, instead of just empty space on the screen, end-users can decorate the area with various gradient backgrounds.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/grainy-gradient-block/\">Grainy Gradient Block</a> is just the type of plugin that I look forward to tinkering with. It is not complex. It stays in its lane. And, it is just plain fun to use.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The block was inspired by the grainy gradient trend <a href=\"https://css-tricks.com/grainy-gradients/\">touted by CSS-Tricks</a> in 2021. Now, users can use them directly in the WordPress editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin&#8217;s single block has four variations, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The variations are:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Default:</strong> Noisy/Grainy texture.</li><li><strong>Horizontal Grain:</strong> Horizontal lines.</li><li><strong>Vertical Grain:</strong> Vertical lines.</li><li><strong>Blob Grain:</strong> An effect similar to lava lamps.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>After far too much time attempting new design ideas with the plugin, I finally landed on something that I liked. I pulled a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/52761c1391/\">sunset image</a> from WordPress Photos by Mark Westguard and used it within a cover block. Then, I applied a couple of different Grainy Gradient blocks over it.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Grainy sunset over a lake.\n\n\n\n<p>The goal was to give it an old, worn painting feel. I was happy with how it and several other variations I worked through turned out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to see what I could do with some real-world art &#8212; I had paintings on my mind at that point. So, I grabbed a photo of a piece I completed a week or two ago and began anew.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This time, I used a similar process. I wrapped everything in a Cover block and applied a duotone filter over the image. Then, I placed the Grainy Gradient block inside and switched it to the Horizontal Grain variation.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Horizontal grain over an image.\n\n\n\n<p>It turned out similar to a poor photocopy of a hand-drawn piece. Essentially, it was better than my original artwork.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do not let my imagination fool you into thinking this plugin is limited to just a handful of ideas. There are 1,000s upon 1,000s of variations users can create. For example, just dropping it in a column next to a text-heavy section can spruce up a page&#8217;s design a bit:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Blob gradient next to text column.\n\n\n\n<p>If I had one request, it would be to add grainy gradient backgrounds to the Group and Cover blocks. Both allow for gradients but not of the <em>grainy</em> variety. The effect is created via an SVG filter, which is how the duotone feature in core works. There seems to at least be some <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/35359\">appetite for other filter types</a>. Maybe we will see a more broad list of such options in the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, I think I will continue playing around with Grainy Gradient Block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The development version of the plugin is also <a href=\"https://github.com/ryelle/grainy-gradients\">available via GitHub</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Jan 2022 00:35:39 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:104:\"Gutenberg Times: What’s new in WordPress 5.9 – a Reading list on Full-Site Editing and Block Themes.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=19945\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:107:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/whats-new-in-wordpress-5-9-a-reading-list-on-full-site-editing-and-block-themes/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11092:\"<p>WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate 1 was released on Tuesday, January 4th, 2022 and the version is on schedule to be released on January 25, 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress 5.9 release mostly introduces Full Site Editing to WordPress user. It&#8217;s the biggest release since the roll-out of the block editor in December 2018.  The umbrella term Full-site Editing covers a multitude of editing features. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This reading list covers the latest publication of Developer Notes and User Documentation related to the Block Editor. </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#block-editor-related-devnotes-for-wordpress-5-9\">DevNotes</a> are for extenders, plugin, and theme developers.</li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#user-documentation-for-site-builders-and-content-creators\">End User documentation</a> is for site builders and content creators.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, see the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/10/wordpress-5-9-field-guide/\"><strong>WordPress 5.9 Field Guide</strong></a> with all DevNotes for the upcoming release. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Table of Content</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#block-editor-related-devnotes-for-wordpress-5-9\">Block Editor related DevNotes for WordPress 5.9 </a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#user-documentation-for-site-builders-and-content-creators\">User Documentation for Site Builders and Content Creators</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#block-based-themes-ready-for-full-site-editing\">Block-Based Themes, ready for Full-Site Editing. </a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#courses\">Courses</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#social-learning\">Social Learning</a></li></ul></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"block-editor-related-devnotes-for-wordpress-5-9\">Block Editor related DevNotes for WordPress 5.9 </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>About Themes</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/theme-focused-changes-and-filters-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Theme-focused changes and filters in WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/state-of-the-customizer-with-block-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">State of the Customizer with block themes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/bundled-theme-updates-with-wordpress-5-9/\">Bundled theme updates with WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/block-themes-a-new-way-to-build-themes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Block themes, a new way to build themes in WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/updates-for-settings-styles-and-theme-json/\">Updates for Settings, Styles, and theme.json</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Block Building and extending Gutenberg</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/new-api-to-access-global-settings-styles/\">New API to access global settings &amp; styles</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/miscellaneous-block-editor-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Miscellaneous block editor changes in WordPress 5.9</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/28/take-more-control-over-inner-block-areas-as-a-block-developer/\">Take more control over Inner Block Areas (as a block developer)</a> </li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/15/using-multiple-stylesheets-per-block/\">Using multiple stylesheets per block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/13/posts-post-types-and-taxonomy-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Posts, Post types and Taxonomy changes in WordPress&nbsp;5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/locking-blocks-in-wordpress-5-9/\">Locking Blocks in WordPress 5.9</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>New Blocks</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/07/the-new-navigation-block/\">The new Navigation block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/20/gallery-block-refactor-dev-note/\">Gallery Block Refactor Dev Note</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about the progress on performance improvement efforts coming to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/wordpress-5-9-performance-improvements/\">WordPress 5.9 Performance Improvements</a> </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"user-documentation-for-site-builders-and-content-creators\">User Documentation for Site Builders and Content Creators</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/site-editor/\">Site editor</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is only available to content creators who are using a Block theme. When you are using the Site Editor, most changes here are made across your entire site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/block-themes/\"><strong>Block Themes </strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>A block theme is a theme that uses blocks for all parts of a site, including navigation menus, header, content, and site footer.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/styles-overview/\"><strong>Styles Overview</strong></a>  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a new feature in WordPress 5.9 that comes included in&nbsp;Block themes&nbsp;that allows you to customize your site as much as you’d like with different colors, typography, layouts, and more</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/navigation-block/\"><strong>Navigation block</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>Navigation Block</em>&nbsp;is an advanced block in WordPress 5.9 that enables you to edit your site’s navigation menu, both in terms of structure and design. The&nbsp;<em>Navigation block</em>&nbsp;can be used with a&nbsp;block theme&nbsp;or a theme that has support for&nbsp;template editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/template-part-block/\">Template part block</a> </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>Template Part block</em>&nbsp;is an advanced block introduced in WordPress 5.9 that can be used with a block theme or a theme that supports&nbsp;template editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"block-based-themes-ready-for-full-site-editing\">Block-Based Themes, ready for Full-Site Editing. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready to Test? To date, you&#8217;ll find 34 block Themes already in the WordPress repository that are prepared for Full-Site Editing. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I often get the question: &#8220;What are the few themes you like?&#8221; Here is my list: </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I received similar questions at meetup gatherings. Here are the themes of my response.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/tove/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tove by Anders Noren</a></li><li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/ona/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ona by DeoThemes</a></li><li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/clove/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clove by Anariel Design</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All three are from trusted theme designers, and were reviewed by Justin Tadlock at the WPTavern.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/tove-a-block-based-wordpress-theme-by-anders-noren\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tove: A Block-Based WordPress Theme by Anders Norén</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/ona-by-deothemes-just-raised-the-bar-for-wordpress-block-theme-design\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ona by DeoThemes Just Raised the Bar for WordPress Block Theme Design</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/clove-a-showcase-of-block-patterns-by-anariel-design\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clove: A Showcase of Block Patterns by Anariel Design</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Automattic</strong> also published a set of themes, all focused on blogging and writing: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/quadrat/\">Quadrat&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/geologist/\">Geologist&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/videomaker/\">Videomaker</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/zoologist/\">Zoologist</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/seedlet-blocks/\">Seedlet Blocks</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I am also a huge fan of the first WordPress default block theme, called Twenty-Twenty-Two. Carlo Danielle did a <a href=\"https://kinsta.com/blog/twenty-twenty-two-theme/\"><strong>deep dive into the inner workings</strong></a> for Twenty-Twenty two.  and takes you along for the ride in his post for Kinsta. Designer-developers Kjell Reigstad and Jeff Ong worked on it with other contributors. It will be released with WordPress 5.9. New WordPress site will activate it out of the box. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Share in the comments if you find a block-based theme that you like or built. </em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"courses\">Courses</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At <strong>Learn.WordPress.org</strong> the course <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/course/simple-site-design-with-full-site-editing/\"><strong>Simple Site Design with Full Site Editing</strong> </a>is now available online. It&#8217;s part 1 in a series of 2 or 3 courses to come out soon. It&#8217;s free of charge</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At <strong>Fullsiteediting.com</strong>, Carolina Nymark, contributor on the WordPress theme team prepared two courses</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://fullsiteediting.com/courses/full-site-editing-for-theme-developers/\"><strong>For theme developers</strong></a></li><li><strong><a href=\"https://fullsiteediting.com/courses/full-site-editing-for-site-creators/\">For Site Creators</a></strong></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"social-learning\">Social Learning</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Social Learning events around the new features. Register on Meetup.com</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 10:00 am (UTC-08:00)<br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283103474\"><strong>Zero to Block Theme Series: FoundationsJoin this space</strong></a></li><li>Friday, January 14, 2022, 10:00 am (UTC-08:00)<br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/283051937\"><strong>Demo: All About Colors with Full Site Editing</strong></a></li><li>Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 3:00 pm (UTC-08:00)<br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/282773311/\"><strong>Intro to Templates and Template Parts (Full Site Editing)</strong></a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-accent-background-color has-accent-color is-style-dots\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Featured Image:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/17751217@N00/2558304478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Mitchell Library, Sydney (#24)&#8221;</a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/17751217@N00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christopher Chan</a>&nbsp;is licensed under&nbsp;<a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/2.0/jp/?ref=openverse&atype=rich\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY-NC-ND 2.0</a> found on <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/openverse\">OpenVerse</a></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:36:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"WordCamp Central: Call For Speakers for WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto is Open\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3143943\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:105:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/01/07/call-for-speakers-for-wordcamp-europe-2022-in-porto-is-open/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:813:\"<p>Call For Speakers for WordCamp Europe (2-4 June, Porto, Portugal) is open and <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\">we are inviting you to apply</a>!</p>\n<p>Whether you have given thousands of talks in front of a large audience or you have moderate experience in public speaking, if you have the practical knowledge to share — please, do it, <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\">apply to speak</a>!</p>\n<p>WordCamp Europe organizers will soon be hosting an online Q&amp;A session where you can ask questions and get guidance on how to raise the chance for your application to be selected. Keep an eye out <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022\">on the WCEU website </a>to be notified of the same.</p>\n<p>We look forward to seeing your application soon!</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jan 2022 07:32:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Sabrina Zeidan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 40) — Post Status from 2021 to 2022\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=92232\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://poststatus.com/excerpt/40/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:27913:\"<h3>&#8220;In 2022 at Post Status&#8230; we will be together and make the most of our online experiences.&#8221; —<strong>Cory Miller</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory chat about the key events for Post Status in 2021, including Cory\'s acquisition of Post Status from Brian in May, <strong>StellarWP</strong>&#8216;s sponsorship of <strong>Post Status Slack</strong> to go pro, and the acquisition tracker. Cory also explains how his understanding of Post Status has changed since acquiring it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also: </strong>David and Cory also discuss what they hope Post Status can become in early 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\">Every week <strong><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what\'s new in WordPress in a flash. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png\" alt=\"⚡\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7\">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d\">Castro</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts\">Player.fm</a>, <a href=\"https://pca.st/05rR\">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h3><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/acquisitions/\">Post Status Acquisition Tracker</a></li><li><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/open-web-manifesto/\">Post Status Open Web Manifesto</a></li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Bisset (Twitter)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Post Status (Twitter)</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sponsor: <a href=\"http://poststatus.com/godaddy\">GoDaddy Pro</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\"><strong>Transcrip</strong>t</h2>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> It may seem like [00:01:00] yesterday, but you know, we started 2021 with Brian\'s still at the helm of Post Status. You were a partner, but that changed in the middle of the year, around may or June and where you are fully acquired Post Status. So you remember that still.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Oh yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vividly. We were just kind of prepared for this. It was just pulling me back and going. It\'s really good to reflect, you know, and review what\'s going on. And I don\'t take enough time for this instead of member huddle, but, you know, we didn\'t really talk about this linking back for posts specifically on, remember how that on some, I\'m glad to do it because.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think if I look back, it was me taking over full-time with Post Status going from what was kind of a part-time gig and a really fun gig to a very busy gig. And because we\'re growing the vision and it just I think there was, you know, if I can look back on the year related to Post Status for me, it was.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This light bulb moment of like, I can do anything. I want, not that I couldn\'t with Brian, it was just like, okay, I\'ve got [00:02:00] full control of this. I don\'t know if a lot of people realize David, but at I themes, I actually wasn\'t the majority owner. And I start when I started in 2008, I met two, my, my two partners and they gave me some initial funding.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To to get started with iThemes. And so, I had partners all along and there\'s many pluses to that, by the way. But this magical moment that happened to me was over that summer and just realizing one day. This is all mine. Not to sound very selfish about it. You know, Dave, because I\'ve tried to be very collaborative and share everything we\'re doing, but I go, I can do anything I want, what do I want to do?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, wow. Like, yeah. And again, not that brian was holding me back at all. It was just, it was this moment of going, this is mine. And then another day, wake it up and go on everything I want to do I can do here. So those are huge light bulb moments for me looking back in this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I hope everybody can see that my energy, like we\'re we were a [00:03:00] bunch of part-timers David you\'re part time Dan\'s part-time more or less. I was part time. Brian was part-time like, when we all we said, and I gather, we probably have a couple of full-time people here. But this was just different fitting for me this next adventure spirit Post Status.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\'m, really pumped about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> So obviously you saw potential in Post Status when you first joined Brian, I\'m going to say sometime in 2020.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yes, January 2020, right before the pandemic. And he came out and we had a lot of cool plans that we\'re now gonna start doing, starting in February. Some of our in-person things, very small groups now with omicron going on and we\'ll see how everything goes, but we\'re going, we\'re pushing forward with our first in-person meetup.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our partner summit in February in Oklahoma city. But yeah, that was pre printed. January, 2020. It\'s crazy to think our fastest.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> So you cruise through and then May 2021 you acquired. [00:04:00] So what is the difference between how you\'re looking at Post Status and your goals when you acquired it from Brian then versus now, like what\'s changed in your mind?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What goals have changed? What potential are you realizing?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> You know, being very honest and reflective about all of this David it\'s just going we\'ll maintain cool stuff. That process was already doing. That was the previous mindset. The mindset today is now we\'re going to grow. We\'re going to do 10 times what we\'ve done in the past.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re going to take community to a whole new level. We\'re going to really blow out what we\'re doing at post-test and truly become and be, and showcase. We are the professional community of the open web. That WordPress leads in that we, as WordPress leaders are a part of that bigger ecosystem, but the whole point of we are Post Status.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s an energizing, shared vision that rallies all of us together. And that\'s why I\'m so energized about all of this, because it\'s, what I [00:05:00] love to do is help bring people together. And it\'s just funny, the artificial boundaries and barriers we\'ve put on ourselves, but that\'s what I had. Previously, when I took over, I thought I will maintain this awesome community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was my, that was pretty much my vision. I\'ll do cool stuff. Get to work with cool people, get the, hang out with all of my friends. You know, now it\'s even a bigger vision and I\'ve had a lot of. With that Jonathan Wald, yourself, Dan, or editor-in-chief Michelle Frechette. My wife Lindsay is always my number one partner in anything I do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\'s always there to help and support me. Now we have Felicia on full-time to take over operations here. Our first full-time employee. I don\'t know, I guess technically second, because you can count Brian in the past. So, Yeah. It\'s spark. You just got me all excited, just thinking about that, but that was on this truth.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was, as far as I could see at that point, you know, was let\'s make them this cool thing. Let\'s don\'t do anything to break it, [00:06:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> right? Yeah. When you inherit something precious, the first thing I do is like, don\'t break anything. Don\'t don\'t mess up. And then eventually you\'re like, okay, how can I expand this without breaking it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I wrote down, you know, Your better journalist and I am, but what I did was I wrote down, I tried to write down the top three Post Status moments of the past year. And frankly, I think palpably, since you took over, I think has before, you know, with everything going on, I can barely remember the last six minutes, let alone six months.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we\'re starting from you, acquiring from may have going forward. So one of those was actually something you touched on before, and I think it caught a few people, maybe not delight, surprise, but something that, what is this. You, you mentioned an open source manifesto, or you talk to, you mentioned about seeing Matt and talking about open source, the open source manifestos on our site right now at poststatus.com/open-web-manifesto.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it says Post Status seeks to grow WordPress economy in three [00:07:00] ways, guide, connect, and elevate. Was this an idea that you and the in the team had, you know, when you acquire Post Status or when did this come into real clear picture? They feel like, oh, I know I\'m going to talk to Matt about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, I\'m going to, we\'re going to put this together, put on our website and what, you know, what was the, what was, what were you trying to get out of this by posting this Manifesto?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yeah, that was you know, everything I do it\'s just a collaboration and I try never to take credit for things to that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\'t do I work so much better in a band or an orchestra or whatever, like with other people. And this was a vision that Jonathan Walton. You know, crystallized in my head he shared the vision of the open web, what she\'s talked about and blogged about prolifically on his own site. And then he shared that with me and I asked him questions and clarify, like, okay, what do we mean when we say that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How does WordPress fit into all of that? And super got energized by that vision shared vision [00:08:00] that, that really is it connects all of us here at Post Status in the bigger ecosystem of WordPress. And so, And I just like, I love building community, a little blood pulling people together. And I know that one way to do that is to have a shared vision that energizes us just like WordPress is the shared vision of democratizing publishing for postage.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The open web, we are builders and makers of the Oakland web, you know, crux guard did a shirt like that back in the day. And I thought it was the coolest thing. I\'d seen a, I make the internet or something like that was the shirt that we\'re going to bring back by the way. So this has been, this is not a new vision necessarily.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s a clarification of one, but so much of what we\'re doing today is what was built with the bedrock of what Brian did. And then you David and Dan. And now me and now Michelle, now Jonathan NA AIG. Now all these different people that we\'ve got on our contributing team to build something cool. But the open web manifest is sometimes just want to keep [00:09:00] ringing the bell.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When they think of Post Status. I want them to think open web. We are the makers of the open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. Cause it says here we offer guidance on how to think and where to focus. Businesses, we help our members get connected with each other and we grow businesses or growing businesses need support. And we\'re committed to doing what needs to be done to help our members grow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that actually fits into something that you mentioned. You\'ve been one message you have been repeating in some form more or less, I\'d say you fully took over in may or June is that Post Status is not a news site. So if somebody came up to you and said, is Post Status a new site, how would you respond to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> We\'re not there\'s variations of that. We happen to break news. We happen to commentate on these, but I\'m a purist as a journalist and I go, true news is, should be balanced. It should be fair. It should be. Objective as possible within our humans feces about we can be, and that\'s just not what we do here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We serve and support WordPress professionals and WordPress businesses. [00:10:00] That\'s what we do. So we\'re not a journalistic outlet. We are ho what can we do that serves and supports our members and makes our life better? How do we help think ahead for them? How do we think, like one of the stalwarts of post as for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Brian and you and Dan later on, was that too long? Didn\'t read email. I got every week and I would sit and read that and go, okay. I can\'t keep up with drama press sometime. I can just scroll through my email and go &#8220;here\'s the interesting things. I should probably pay attention,&#8221;. And so that\'s the guide part as part of our mission guide connected elevate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so the we\'ve been doing that for years. That\'s a legacy that Brian has a huge fingerprint on going forward from forever here at Post Statuses. We should give he, I loved his thought analysis pieces his commentary and his insights. And I pushed our team and brought in more contributors to say, don\'t just say this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\'t, that\'s a headline they can get anywhere. That [00:11:00] doesn\'t help people. It just shoves a headline in your face. But if it says, how does this, what does this mean for me in a couple of lines succinctly, which is hardware, by the way, that\'s what we want to be doing at Post Status is saying the too long didn\'t read. Here we can help you say brain processing power and keep up with all the stuff going on that you can\'t within this amazing ecosystem called WordPress and the open web. So that\'s the way I see our content. What we publish here is everything that just helps our members think about, get ahead, stay ahead of what\'s going on in their world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah, good. Cause you know, I can\'t stop giving my 2 cents on anything. So that kind of fits well with the analysis part of it. All of it. One of the things we did do that seemed, I mean, I think may have, seemed like news in the beginning, but we kept one of the top three, I think highlights of my personal highlights of post status over the past year is we started the acquisition tracker. You [00:12:00] know, you can look at that as news. I kind of look at it as more of a guide for all of WordPress to look at because now I think whenever there is an acquisition. Either me or Dan get pinged on Twitter or in post that a stock that somebody else randomly reset the calories at the counter or some other podcasts goes, this is where, and you can see now it\'s a very useful tool for now, for me personally, even though we\'re the ones who put it together, that wow, you can look, I was reading article about Matt Mullenweg the other day about his role in trying to push the open web. And in order to do that, he needs he through automatic. For the most part, we\'re making these certain acquisitions in certain categories and you\'re reading the article and you go, well, I, you know, you look at, and then look at the acquisition page and you see all the acquisitions, automatic is put together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You begin to see, wow, this is starting to make sense. It\'s like, you know, the over not to get into a story about Matt and the acquisitions, but you begin to see. Wow. This particular journalism app has been acquired this particular photo, you know, the creative comments thing has been acquired or [00:13:00] absorbed into the project and you begin to see a grander picture and, you know, embarrassed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am to probably have read I think it was David Pearce\'s article or something on this, but you can go back and look at a nice orderly list, like the acquisition tracker and we\'ll have more stuff next year, probably to go along with that. So I thought that was a real. Good thing for us post status people to put up because everybody seems to use it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, you know, I like putting up stuff. That\'s actually useful to people.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Again, we should be giving those type of tools for people it\'s not about, it\'s not about breaking news. It\'s about which we happen to do with the Pagely announcement. But like, that was a member longstanding member of our community who wanted it of the two that news to be broken through post status, which he in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lovely wife has, co-founders have supported for years here. And that\'s why we broke that news. But yes, it comes down to those tools. Like how can we help our members? You know, keep up. We have a set of members that are founders here. We want to help them [00:14:00] move up, take the next level and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yeah, that all just kind of gets me excited. Cause that\'s what I want to be doing more and more of here at post status and to</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> be clear our own community is adding. List as well. They\'re not waiting for us to read stuff and update their they\'re just sending us stuff to update. So to me now it\'s more of like a.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Borderline Wiki page at this point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> But this is why I love the word collaboration, because there is no way I can do it by myself, no way. And it\'s so obvious that I love it because then we can say like, I don\'t know whose idea was the tracker, but it wasn\'t mine. And when that, then I was like, yes, we, but when I heard that deal, I was like, absolutely this fits perfectly. We should do that. And then we got it out and it has been a community collaboration because I know we miss things. We\'re not in a news, you know, watch Doug and financial.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> We\'re not a news site as you\'re saying well, so, so here\'s the last thing on my list. And I wanted, I want to talk to you about stellar WP [00:15:00] provided us a sponsorship that allowed our post status slack to be fully upgraded to I guessing the pro version, which means you get access to all of the past conversations and a lots of other bells and whistles as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weeks before that announcement was made publicly. You were talking about that internally with us as a possibility, and you were very excited about that possibility. Can you tell me why it was so important for you to, with stellar WP to pursue this particular upgrade and what it means for the post status community?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> I had heard from a number of people, you know, this is the hallway track. This is the in between times where we see each other, you know, team. Meet all the time, see each other all the time, but we have so many amazing community members that are on different teams. And hosts has, is the glue is the hub.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I had heard from so many members over the two years of being a part of post status now. And that issue would be [00:16:00] nice. Well, when I asked, I was like, okay, a pressing increase right now is not going to is probably not going to work or fund us, you know, for the foreseeable future. So I valued the preservation of memories and conversations and things like, particularly in the DMS, our stats say it every single week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s just conversations don\'t happen in public, on Prestos. They haven\'t happened in the DMS and then you lose track of the conversation. You and I might have had five years ago, Dave, and you know, and now we get it back and we can kind of retrace that. I think that\'s valuable because there\'s so many best practices, tips, cool stuff that we share with each other, and it just needed a better way to be preserved.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this is my short term solution. I think, you know, you and I\'ve talked and our team has talked about how. Going forward. When I talked to Matt Mullenweg in San Francisco, a couple in back in where was it? December? Earlier this month when I mentioned we\'re going to paid slack he mentioned an open source project [00:17:00] that I don\'t think is ready for the prime time just yet, but that they were looking to use for the.org project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was like, okay, that\'s interesting. But really the premise is just maintaining that hub. To connect with each other. That\'s the essence of why we did, why I sought out a sponsorship, but then out into the universe. And then our friends at seller WP said, we\'ll take it. We\'d love to be that sponsor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\'m so thankful for Hazel and her team and core course, Michelle Frechette and her new role over at seller WP and being a huge part of our culture contributing team here at Post Status is pretty awesome. So synergy, can I use that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> You can use whatever word you want. As long as it\'s family friendly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s my only thing for this show. Cause my kids listened to this. Believe it or not. Yeah. They really need to get them a Disney plus subscription they\'re going into from now. well, Olivia, my 17 year old daughter It\'s getting to be more of a [00:18:00] production type oriented type of person, probably a lot more professional than me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So she actually listens and tells me when I mispronounced things and when I could have done better. So what do you, so we\'ve kind of covered what was the quickly the big, exciting moments of post status last year. And I don\'t want to put you too much on the spot, cause I think we can probably.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do a whole other episode about what\'s coming in 2022, but what are you most excited about maybe generally speaking, whether involves post status or not, as we kind of get into the first quarter of 2022 what Scott what\'s on your radar in terms of things that are interesting you the most in this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> For process specifically it\'s small group cohort type meetings that we\'re going to be starting posters. So like we\'ll be starting January 12th. I think it is on the Wednesday, our first 2022 member huddle each week. We\'ll do that on slack. There\'s a channel there for that. So I like more than. We went, you know, finishing the year, getting to be with Matt Mullenweg and [00:19:00] awesome members like Aaron Campbell, and Jordan, Michelle Frechette and a different people in person for state of the word was freaking awesome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We, we missed the human. We have so much miss that human component in a recognize that in lieu of being able to do that. And we\'re going to try to do that in 2022 is be together, is if we can\'t, you know, in person we\'ll make the most of our online experiences. And so that\'s what I\'m most excited for the first quarter at Post Status.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Oh, great. I, again, I go back to the manifesto that was published and beyond the open web, again, there, there is a, the post status credo. Is embedded in, into growing the WordPress economy. And then by and by that, we mean growing the businesses that need the support, the individuals too, that also need that support a rising tide lifts all the boats.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in order for WordPress [00:20:00] to like eventually market share is not going to matter anymore. It\'s either, we\'re going to be able to lose the ability for the reporting of it or something else will take its place or the market share. From a certain metric is going to stop. I\'ve always said that\'s not really a good measure of how WordPress is doing. That\'s just an easy number to pluck off you know, in, in sticking in a sticker or stick it in a headline, stick it in a tweet, but the best way for, to judge the growth of WordPress in my opinion has always been the community, the strength of the community, because you can have software. Without the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you can\'t, there\'s not really much, you\'re going to be able to do with it. You\'re not going to enjoy using it. You\'re not going to look forward to using it with other people. And I think what you\'re discussing here is more than just centering around WordPress, the software. Once you have this community and slack and Post Status slack, you\'re talking to people about running your business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\'re talking to these, all these great people and it\'s just, WordPress becomes just a thinner line that connects everybody into one. Great, huge. Community. And I\'m really looking forward, like you to see [00:21:00] how this expanded slack goes, how this more interactive ability, like some people will use, we use Post Status and just like they\'ll drop into slack, have a few conversation, reads things and leave.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think now, especially going to 2022 is whether or not we\'re trying to judge carefully how to step back into the public, you know, however way that is and wherever we live. We need to be able to take advantage of having this collective community bonding together and meeting together regularly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because sometimes even though you may not feel like it, sometimes you really need to have to talk to someone or be coached by someone or be enlightened, be refreshed, be relaxed by someone. And sometimes being people around that digitally even is better than nothing you don\'t want to be alone. I don\'t think for very long in this space emotionally or.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Financially or business-wise either. So I think that\'s one of the best things of appreciating. Our direction at Post Status. It\'s not just like you said, we\'re not a new site. We\'re offering commentary, but what I\'m most excited, [00:22:00] what I saw you especially talk about is we\'re trying to get people to have conversations together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, you know, on my end too, I\'m putting out a stage on Twitter spaces. For example, people communicating together their ideas because our community isn\'t going to be strong unless we\'re continuing the exchange of idea. And thoughts and advice. So that\'s awesome. Corey, that your vision, it kind of goes along that same path to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, I don\'t want to, I mean, it\'s not the, it\'s not the alcohol talking right now because it\'s still too early for that, but I do appreciate what you\'re doing. And so, yeah, so we\'ll, I\'m going to wish you a good year because there\'s only two more days left of it. So I mean, what could possibly go wrong?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'ll talk next year. Yep. And I\'ll see you then and best to the family.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> You bet. Thanks so much for what you do, David. Your commitment to the WordPress community and also post status</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> and our team and our team. You know, our team deserves our team. The team itself deserves [00:23:00] all the praise we can get, especially in these in these times confusing times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yes, we thank them as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yep.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:00:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"WPTavern: New WordPress Plugin Offers a Markdown Editor Solution\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127968\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:173:\"https://wptavern.com/new-wordpress-plugin-offers-a-markdown-editor-solution?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-wordpress-plugin-offers-a-markdown-editor-solution\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4955:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Earlier today, a new editor plugin named <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/markup-markdown/\">Markup Markdown</a> landed in the WordPress directory. It replaces both the classic and block editors with a Markdown solution. It is the first plugin by an author simply known as Peter, or @peter202202.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As someone who almost always writes in Markdown, I did not think twice about downloading, installing, and activating it. I was pleasantly surprised to find a decent editor that I enjoyed &#8212; after making a few changes, at least.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin is not complicated to use. If you are familiar with writing in Markdown, you need to only activate it. There are no settings. Markup Markdown replaces the editor for all post types with its own.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Markup Markdown editor.\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin relies on the <a href=\"https://parsedown.org/\">Parsedown</a> PHP library to handle front-end output, turning the Markdown into HTML. On the backend, it uses the <a href=\"https://easy-markdown-editor.tk/\">EasyMDE</a> script for a JS-based editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I am generally a fan of option-less plugins, this one could use a few. At the very least, users should get to choose which editor they prefer via their profile. On a multi-author site like the Tavern, not having this option means the plugin is a non-starter. I would also like to choose between editors for individual posts. It does not make sense for one already written in blocks to be edited in Markdown.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest issue I ran into with the plugin&#8217;s editor was that the font size was far too small and the content area too wide for comfortable writing. Therefore, I made a few CSS adjustments to make it more to my liking.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Custom CSS adjustments.\n\n\n\n<p>Without these adjustments, I genuinely liked the plugin. However, the older I get, the more crucial readable typography becomes. My eyes prefer the change.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the future, I would like to see the plugin author at least use the theme-defined content width to set the writing area. With <code>theme.json</code> files becoming standard, I would pull typography-related styles in too. It does not need to do much &#8212; no need to try to go for a WYSIWYG experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>An alternative would be to add a few design options for configuring the editor. A handful of settings would go a long way in creating a more user-friendly experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the most part, I enjoyed tinkering with Markup Markdown. If this were five years ago, I would already have it on all my sites. And, it is likely an ideal solution for many Markdown lovers today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I still prefer the overall interface of the modern post-editing screen. I feel like I am traveling through time whenever I encounter the classic version. It is jarring enough that I doubt I would seriously use this plugin today. I would prefer a Markdown solution built on top of the block system.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One downside of the plugin is that it may not work alongside some block themes. Some rely solely on <code>theme.json</code>-generated styles at the block level to handle their design. This means that valid HTML output not generated by the block system may be left unaccounted for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, the following <code>&lt;img&gt;</code> (image) tag wrapped inside <code>&lt;p&gt;</code> (paragraph) blows out of the layout when using Twenty Twenty-Two:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Twenty Twenty-Two fails to contain large image.\n\n\n\n<p>There is nothing wrong with the HTML, and it is the standard way Markdown outputs images. This mistake is from the theme, not the plugin. The design is not accounting for large images when not output by a block. This is something that nearly all classic themes handle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A theme that covers all its bases will show the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Custom theme that contains image.\n\n\n\n<p>I love block themes, but this is something to watch out for if using one alongside this plugin. Most of those I tested did not handle this scenario. This same problem could affect content written in the classic era or custom HTML.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While on the subject of images, the plugin sticks with pure Markdown output. It has a button for pulling up the media library, but there is no way to insert anything but the full-sized image. Alignment classes are not available either.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latter problem could be solved if the plugin bundled <a href=\"https://parsedown.org/extra/\">Parsedown Extra</a>, a Parsedown extension that supports <a href=\"https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/\">Markdown Extra</a>. The specification allows &#8220;special attributes.&#8221; As someone who routinely writes in Markdown, I almost exclusively use this feature to add classes to images.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the plugin is a solid solution for those looking for a Markdown-based editor. With it being a 1.x release, I look forward to seeing where it goes in the future.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jan 2022 01:11:36 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:47:\"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 10.0.0 Release Candidate\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://buddypress.org/?p=322784\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"https://buddypress.org/2022/01/buddypress-10-0-0-release-candidate/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6063:\"<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-61e7cf91d282d wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-fill has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background\" href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.10.0.0-RC1.zip\"><strong>Contribute to BuddyPress: Test 10.0.0-RC1</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Release Candidate&#8221; means that we believe the new version is ready for release, but with more than 200,000 active installs, hundreds of BuddyPress plugins and thousands of WordPress themes, it’s possible we missed something. BuddyPress 10.0.0 is slated for release&nbsp;on&nbsp;<strong>January 17, 2022</strong>, but&nbsp;<em>your</em>&nbsp;help is needed to get there <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" />.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can get the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.10.0.0-RC1.zip\">10.0.0-RC1</a>&nbsp;pre-release package in 4 ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Try the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/bp-beta-tester/\">BP Beta Tester</a>&nbsp;plugin. (This is the easiest way!)</li><li><a href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.10.0.0-RC1.zip\">Download the release candidate here (zip file)</a>.</li><li>Check out our SVN repository:&nbsp;<code>svn co https://buddypress.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/</code></li><li>Clone our read-only Git repository:&nbsp;<code>git clone git://buddypress.git.wordpress.org/</code></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"we-ve-closed-over-70-tickets-in-the-process-of-developing-bp-10-here-are-some-highlights\">We&#8217;ve closed over 70 tickets in the process of developing BP 10. Here are some highlights:</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"site-membership-requests\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f6c2.png\" alt=\"🛂\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Site Membership Requests</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Site Administrators wishing to have more control over who can join their community will be able to enable site membership requests from their BuddyPress Options Administration screen. Once done, BuddyPress sign-ups are transformed into membership requests to be manually reviewed and approved by an administrator to validate new user accounts.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"more-engaging-logging-activities\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f5de.png\" alt=\"🗞\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> More engaging logging activities</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>These simple activities about specific user interactions or events (e.g.: <em>a user became a friend of another user</em>) will be more visually attractive to improve user engagement in your community. The most impressive new activity is that which is generated when a user updates their profile photo: it will include the profile photo that spurred the creation of the activity item, even if it has been updated since <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4f8.png\" alt=\"📸\" class=\"wp-smiley\" />!</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"wordpress-full-site-editing-compatibility\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a8.png\" alt=\"🎨\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> WordPress Full Site Editing compatibility</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;re beta testing <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-9-rc-1/\">WordPress 5.9</a>: first thank you, second please take a few more minutes to check the improvements we&#8217;ve made to our BP Theme Compatibility API to play nice with themes supporting Full Site Editing such as the next WordPress default theme: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/06/introducing-twenty-twenty-two/\">Twenty Twenty-Two</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"a-new-place-to-easily-discover-our-next-buddypress-add-ons\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2795.png\" alt=\"➕\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> A new place to easily discover our next BuddyPress Add-ons</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>BuddyPress Add-ons are side projects/projects as features/next BuddyPress blocks maintained by the BuddyPress development team we&#8217;ll soon make more widely available by publishing them on the WordPress plugin directory. When BuddyPress 10.0.0 is released, you&#8217;ll find a new tab to your &#8220;Add Plugins&#8221; Administration screen. On it, you&#8217;ll see a new add-on for a potentially upcoming feature: <a href=\"https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2021/08/13/bp-rewrites-1-0-0-alpha/\">BP Rewrites</a>. We think this will bring more contributions to the BuddyPress project as a whole.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A detailed changelog will be part of our official release note. In the meantime,&nbsp;you can check the <a href=\"https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/query?group=status&milestone=10.0.0\">10.0.0 milestone changes list from our Trac environment</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-you-can-help\">How you can help</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Translate BuddyPress into your language.</strong> The release candidate also marks the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#string-freeze\">string freeze</a>&nbsp;point of the 10.0.0 release schedule. And we don&#8217;t have much time to update all of the BuddyPress translations. So if you speak a language other than English, please&nbsp;<a href=\"https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/buddypress/\">help us translate BuddyPress into as many languages as possible!</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you think you’ve found a bug</strong>, you can share it with us replying to this&nbsp;<a href=\"https://buddypress.org/support/topic/buddypress-10-0-0-release-candidate/\">support topic</a>&nbsp;or if you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report,&nbsp;<a href=\"https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/\">file one on BuddyPress Trac</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thanks in advance for your help&#8211;we can&#8217;t build BuddyPress without you! Happy testing!</strong></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:41:44 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Cavins\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:127:\"WPTavern: WordCamp Birmingham Updates COVID-19 Protocols Amid Omicron Surge, WordCamp Europe Still Planning for In-Person Event\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127922\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:297:\"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-birmingham-updates-covid-19-protocols-amid-omicron-surge-wordcamp-europe-still-planning-for-in-person-event?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordcamp-birmingham-updates-covid-19-protocols-amid-omicron-surge-wordcamp-europe-still-planning-for-in-person-event\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10040:\"<p>WordCamp organizers are responding to community concerns this week, as the more highly transmissible Omicron variant surges in many locations around the world. With WordCamp Birmingham less than a month away, the event&#8217;s COVID precautions came under greater scrutiny this week, as organizers work to adapt to the changing pandemic landscape. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220105003454/https://birmingham.wordcamp.org/2022/faq/\">the event&#8217;s masking policy</a> stated &#8220;Masks are required for entry and preferred throughout the event,&#8221; setting off a heated conversation on Twitter.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I see wordcamp central is following the cdc laissez -faire style of recommendations…. “Masks are required for entry and preferred throughout the event.” Are you freakin kidding?? This is totally irresponsible. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/wpyall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#wpyall</a></p>&mdash; Lucy Beer (@webtw) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/webtw/status/1478514593399861248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Birmingham has since updated its <a href=\"https://birmingham.wordcamp.org/2022/covid-19-safety-protocols/\">COVID-19 safety protocols</a> to require masks inside the venue except when eating or drinking: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Stay at home if you feel even a tiny bit sick.</li><li>Temperature checks for entry on both days.</li><li>Masks will be required while inside our venue except when actively eating or drinking.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Attendees are also required to be vaccinated, or have recovered from COVID-19 within the last 3 months, or have recently tested negative. It doesn&#8217;t state any specific timeframe for having tested negative.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our original masking recommendations were published prior to Omicron really taking hold and were based on our local laws, local health regulations, our venue&#8217;s input, and direction from WordPress Community Support,&#8221; WordCamp Birmingham lead organizer Ryan Marks said. &#8220;Since Omicron has become more prevalent, we are monitoring the situation and have evolved our guidelines as a result.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In what seemed to be an attempt to woo vaccine-hesitant Americans, the <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-plans-drop-mask-requirements-fully-vaccinated-people-n1267249\">CDC removed indoor masking requirements</a> for those who were fully vaccinated in May 2021, when vaccines were working well. Since that time, coronavirus variants have emerged that evade both vaccine and virus-induced immunity. However, many gatherings and indoor event organizers have been slow to change their COVID-19 protocols in response to the latest developments. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Europe tweeted an update recognizing the recent discussions and changeable nature of the current threat, linking to a <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/wordcamp-porto-and-covid-planning/\">post</a> on COVID planning from November 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We see a lot of discussions regarding COVID and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCEU?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WCEU</a>. As a lot of things still can change in 5 months, we\'re planning for a safe event. More on this:<a href=\"https://t.co/4K23m5eCk7\">https://t.co/4K23m5eCk7</a></p>&mdash; WordCamp Europe (@WCEurope) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WCEurope/status/1478723175844356096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 5, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Nilo Velez, one of the lead organizers for <a href=\"https://sevilla.wordcamp.org/2021/\">WordCamp Seville</a>, which took place in mid-December 2021, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NiloVelez/status/1478727316679372805\">responded</a> to WCEU organizers with some advice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been organizing in-person events during the last few months (including WordCamp Sevilla, with zero positives so far),&#8221; Velez said. &#8220;My top two take aways: 1) Airflow is your friend: plan for well-ventilated spaces and use CO2 meters on high people concentration areas.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;2) Enforce the use of face masks indoors, always. Enforce as in &#8216;Put a f*cking mask on or go home&#8217; Excessive? State of the Word proves otherwise.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Velez referenced the recent incident at the State of the Word 2021 event where attendees were not required to wear masks indoors. <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/multiple-state-of-the-word-attendees-test-positive-for-covid-19\">Multiple attendees reported infections</a> following the event, which generated exposure notices for all in attendance. Attendees were left to make their own choices regarding indoor masking, and the resulting lack of masks was alarming to many onlookers as Omicron was spreading rapidly through New York City. Prospective attendees for future in-person WordCamps shared their reservations about the lax protocols on Twitter and said they are reconsidering WordCamps as a result. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In my opinion, masks are not a choice but a must,&#8221; Velez told the Tavern. &#8220;In Seville, the precautions we took were simple:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Absolutely everyone was required to (correctly) wear a mask when indoors. That included, organizers, sponsors, staff&#8230; even the catering workers. The only exception were the speakers and only on stage.</em></li><li><em>No food or drinks were allowed indoors. If you wanted to have a coffee or smoke, you had to get outside</em></li><li><em>The WHO advises 11 cubic meters of air per person. We had only 100 attendees on a huge room to get 20 cubic meters per person.</em></li><li><em>We had a very short schedule, only 5 talks with long (outdoor) breaks every hour</em>&#8220;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Velez said his team had a streaming option for those who aren&#8217;t ready for in-person WordCamps and they were ready to switch to an entirely online event if necessary.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We also have had three in-person meetups with no reported cases so far,&#8221; Velez said. &#8220;Weather helps a lot. Today at noon (5th of January) we were at 20ºC (68ºC). That allows you to stay indoors only during the talks and have all the social activities outside.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Birmingham attendees have posted about how excited they are to attend the event, no matter what the protocols, after two years away from their WordPress friends. On the other hand, there are others who hold the opinion that organizing any kind of in-person event at this time while, hospitals are becoming overwhelmed, is premature and irresponsible.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Omicron?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Omicron</a> is surfing world-wide. Hospitals are at the breaking point already. Organizing an in-person conference in the next several months is irresponsible and puts not just the attendees but their communities at risk. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/wpyall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#wpyall</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/C0hcrnvELs\">https://t.co/C0hcrnvELs</a></p>&mdash; Morten Rand-Hendriksen (@mor10) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mor10/status/1478790408482164737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 5, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>After speaking with WordCamp Europe&#8217;s lead organizers this morning, they are closely monitoring the situation and believe that a safe in-person event is still possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;WordCamp Seville was a successful and safe event,&#8221; co-organizer Bernhard Kau said. &#8220;Some of our organizers went there. Also, the Web Summit in Lisbon with more than 42,000 had excellent measures. Those are events we see as&nbsp; examples.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organizers are eager to host the first in-person WordCamp Europe in three years but are willing to move to alternatives if new pandemic threats emerge in the next five months.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;At the moment our plan is to go for an in-person event but there will always be a plan B or C,&#8221; WCEU Public Relations team leader Evangelia Pappa said. &#8220;We wouldn’t want people to get in danger in any way. These people are our friends and family. They’re not just attendees or sponsors, speakers, volunteers. Keeping safe means also keeping our beloved safe when we get back home.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pappa said the team plans to follow all local regulations for in-person events with more than 1,000 attendees in a closed space. The regulations keep changing but for now they are requiring the following:  </p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Proof of vaccination AND proof of negative lab test is mandatory when entering Portugal</li><li>Masks are compulsory to enter the venue or remain inside</li><li>Maintain the basic guidelines (1.5 m distance, hand sanitizing, ventilate, face mask)</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Since we’re keeping constantly an eye on this, we may enforce other regulations on top of these, but it depends on the gravity of the situation,&#8221; Pappa said. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our aim is to get back to seeing our people, have a great in-person event, but when everyone goes back home, we’re all safe, our families are safe and we get to remember the WCEU 2022 as an amazing experience.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress&#8217; Community Team has been <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1641471764024000\">discussing new ideas for supporting the safety of in-person events in 2022</a> and plans to share more in a blog post next week. One safety measure suggested is mandatory masks for all attendees (even in regions that do not have a mask mandate at this time). WordCamp Central has agreed to cover the budget for additional safety measures like free masks and hand sanitization stations. Contributors plan to engage this sensitive topic with a larger discussion next week.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 06 Jan 2022 22:14:05 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:52:\"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 5.8.3 Security Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11999\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-8-3-security-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3679:\"<p>This security release features four security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 3.7 have also been updated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.8.3 is a short-cycle security release. The next major release will be version <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/\">5.9</a>, which is already in the Release Candidate stage.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can update to WordPress 5.8.3 by downloading from WordPress.org or visiting your Dashboard → Updates and clicking Update Now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have sites that support automatic background updates, they’ve already started the update process.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"security-updates\">Security Updates</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Four security issues affect WordPress versions between 3.7 and 5.8. If you haven’t yet updated to 5.8, all WordPress versions since 3.7 have also been updated to fix the following security issue (except where noted otherwise):</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Props to Karim El Ouerghemmi and Simon Scannell of <a href=\"https://www.sonarsource.com/\">SonarSource</a> for disclosing an issue with stored XSS through post slugs.</li><li>Props to Simon Scannell of <a href=\"https://www.sonarsource.com/\">SonarSource</a> for reporting an issue with Object injection in some multisite installations.</li><li>Props to ngocnb and khuyenn from <a href=\"https://giaohangtietkiem.vn/\">GiaoHangTietKiem JSC</a> for working with <a href=\"https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/\">Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative</a> on reporting a SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Query.</li><li>Props to Ben Bidner from the WordPress security team for reporting a SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Meta_Query (only relevant to versions 4.1-5.8). </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all of the reporters above for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/\">privately disclosing the vulnerabilities</a>. This gave the security team time to fix the vulnerabilities before WordPress sites could be attacked. Thank you to the members of the WordPress security team for implementing these fixes in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, check out the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-8-3/\">5.8.3 HelpHub documentation page</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"thanks-and-props\">Thanks and props!</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 5.8.3 release was led by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>desrosj</a> and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/circlecube/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>circlecube</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the security researchers and release squad members mentioned above, thank you to everyone who helped make WordPress 5.8.3 happen:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/xknown/\">Alex Concha</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32/\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ocean90/\">Dominik Schilling</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ehtis/\">ehtis</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/circlecube/\">Evan Mullins</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/whyisjake/\">Jake Spurlock</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/iandunn/\">Ian Dunn</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vortfu/\">vortfu</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/zieladam/\">zieladam</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 06 Jan 2022 21:02:03 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"Jonathan Desrosiers\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:100:\"WPTavern: Gutenberg 12.3 Introduces New Blocks, Design Options, and a Complete Core Blocks Reference\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127924\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:241:\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-3-introduces-new-blocks-design-options-and-a-complete-core-blocks-reference?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gutenberg-12-3-introduces-new-blocks-design-options-and-a-complete-core-blocks-reference\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6363:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The first <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-3-5-january/\">Gutenberg plugin release</a> of the year contains loads of features. Developers should enjoy a completed core blocks reference. Group block spacing controls offer more layout flexibility, and a new Post Author Name block has arrived on the scene. Overall, the site editing experience is shaping up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest release adds a couple of nice-to-have design options. The Group block now <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37456\">supports typography options</a>. This should make it easier for users and theme designers to change the font size, family, and more for all child blocks at once. The Spacer block <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36186\">supports custom units</a>, so users are no longer restricted to pixels. Paragraphs now have a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37586\">font-family option</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theme authors can now register <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37410\">&#8220;nameless&#8221; font sizes</a> to support the core sizes. They also have new Comments Pagination <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36912\">Previous</a> and <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36562\">Next</a> blocks for handling paged comments.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users without the <code>edit_theme_options</code> capability (Administrators by default) can <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37454\">no longer create nav menus</a> via the site editor. However, they can select an existing one via the Navigation block. This returns menu creation to its original restrictions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us dive right into some of the big features.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"complete-blocks-reference\">Complete Blocks Reference</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">While the average user may never look at it, the <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/core-blocks/\">Core Blocks Reference</a> in the editor handbook should be a welcome sight to developers. It is almost impossible to remember all the blocks and everything about them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data is automatically generated. Each block in the reference displays the following information:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Name</li><li>Category</li><li>Supports</li><li>Attributes</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I would love for WordPress.org to automatically display this for all block plugins in the future. The data is standardized through <code>block.json</code> files, so there is no reason it should not be possible. Otherwise, individual plugin authors would need to recreate this to share their own references.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"use-site-logo-as-favicon\">Use Site Logo as Favicon</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Users can now save the image used for the <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/35892\">Site Logo block as their site icon</a> (favicon) via the site editor. This is a step in the right direction now that the customizer is disappearing for block theme users. They will need an easy way to set this.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />New &#8220;Use as site icon&#8221; option.\n\n\n\n<p>There are two downsides to this solution. The first is that this option is enabled by default. If a user does not notice it, they could be overwriting their existing site icon without knowing. Logos and icons do not always match. The WP Tavern website shows a prime example of this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second issue is that we need a dedicated site icon option. Adding it to one of the available settings screens in the admin would be a simple solution. That would give time to figure out how to eventually work it into the site editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"post-author-name-block\">Post Author Name Block</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Gutenberg 12.3 introduces a new <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36001\">Post Author Name block</a>. As its name suggests, it displays a post&#8217;s author.  It is something so seemingly simple, but when you have been waiting ages for it &#8212; well, <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/24952#issuecomment-840994975\">since May 2021</a>, technically &#8212; it feels monumental. To show how happy I am to see this block, I made five custom styles for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Tinkering with custom Post Author Name block styles.\n\n\n\n<p>This is a part of an effort to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/35596\">split the original Post Author block</a> into smaller components. Currently, it can display the author name, avatar, bio, and custom byline text. If a theme designer needs just the author text in a one-line meta area, a user enabling those other elements via the site editor usually blows the entire thing up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Separate Post Author Avatar and Post Author Bio blocks are planned. When these next two land, it will give theme authors more flexibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"group-block-spacing-control\">Group Block Spacing Control</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I feel like a kid in a toyshop to see more than one of my long-time gripes taken care of in this release. The Group block now <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37459\">supports the Block Spacing control</a>. This allows users and theme authors to define the margin between its child blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the primary use cases for this is collapsing margins between similar elements. For example, a user might want to group three File blocks together without any whitespace between them, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Stacked blocks.\n\n\n\n<p>Typically, these blocks would have the standard top margins between each. By setting the block spacing to <code>0</code>, users can wipe them out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Zeroing out&#8221; margins has been one of the most frustrating problems to solve for some themers, especially when dealing with wide or full-aligned blocks. The WordPress editor&#8217;s HTML markup does not match the front-end in those cases. A block spacing control on the Group block solves this issue for several scenarios.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, it is not all about getting rid of margins between blocks. It is also possible to create even more space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When using the Row variation of the Group block, the spacing is horizontal. This should also take care of a lot of theme layout needs.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 06 Jan 2022 01:14:17 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress – December 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11972\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2021/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13055:\"<p>December was a busy month for the WordPress community. In the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/episode-22-a-carol-of-thanks/\"> latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast</a>, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares a carol of thanks and shows her gratitude to all the people who make the WordPress project a success.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>(&#8230;) 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.</p><cite>Josepha Haden, Executive Director of the WordPress project</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>We said goodbye to 2021 with the annual State of the Word, along with the release of WordPress 5.9 Beta 4, among many other exciting updates. Read on to learn more about the latest community achievements.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-5-9-the-first-release-candidate-just-landed\">WordPress 5.9: The first release candidate just landed</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Following the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-3/\"> Beta 3</a> and<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-4/\"> Beta 4</a> releases in December, the first <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-9-rc-1/\">release candidate for WordPress 5.9</a> is now out and available for testing.</li><li>With less than three weeks to go until the final release, this version continues the work from last year and marks the hard<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze\"> string freeze point</a> of the 5.9 release schedule.</li><li>Follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">5.9 developer notes</a> to learn more about the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/miscellaneous-core-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">changes</a> and updates coming with this release.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Are you interested in contributing to WordPress core?</strong> Join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a> channel, follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Core Team blog</a>, and check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/\">team handbook</a>. Also, don&#8217;t miss the Core Team’s weekly developer chat on Wednesdays at <a href=\"https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=20&min=00&sec=0\">8 PM</a> UTC.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"gutenberg-releases-versions-12-1-and-12-2-are-here\">Gutenberg releases: Versions 12.1 and 12.2 are here</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Core Team launched two new versions of Gutenberg last month. Both come with new features, code quality improvements, and bug fixes.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-1-8-december/\">Gutenberg 12.1</a> marks the return of the template List View and includes several Navigation block enhancements, new global styles features, an improved developer experience for block themes, and more.</li><li>The<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/\"> Gutenberg 12.2</a> release focuses on user experience improvements and brings the block styles preview to the Widgets Editor, among other new features.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Want to get involved in developing Gutenberg?</strong> Follow <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">the Core Team blog</a>, contribute to Gutenberg on <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/\">GitHub</a>, and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB2JS7\">#core-editor</a> channel in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\">Make WordPress Slack</a>. Follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\">#gutenberg-new</a> tag for details on the latest updates.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021\">Highlights from State of the Word 2021</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021/\">State of the Word 2021</a>, the annual keynote address delivered by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, was livestreamed from New York City on December 14, 2021. The event gathered WordPress enthusiasts at 29 watch parties around the world.</li><li>Matt shared his thoughts on the progress of the WordPress project and made announcements regarding its future in 2022. The presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>If you missed the event’s livestream, you could watch the </strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word/\"><strong>State of the Word recording</strong></a><strong> and the </strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2021-qa/\"><strong>Q&amp;A session</strong></a><strong> on WordPress.tv.</strong></p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"team-updates-2022-major-release-timings-new-team-rep-announcements-and-more\">Team updates: 2022 major release timings, new team rep announcements, and more</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The Core Team opened a discussion on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/17/discussion-2022-major-release-timing/\">the release dates for 2022</a> and the possibility of having four major WordPress releases this year.</li><li>The following teams announced their team representatives for 2022: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/12/03/introducing-new-themes-team-representatives/\">Themes</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2021/12/agenda-for-the-december-9-support-meeting/\">Support</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/11/08/call-for-polyglots-team-representatives/#comment-293358\">Polyglots</a>, and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/03/announcement-team-representatives-for-2022/\">Community</a>.</li><li>In 2021, 2572 people contributed to WordPress source code using Trac, including 305 first-timers. Check out <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/29/a-year-in-core-2021/\">A Year in Core – 2021</a> for more interesting stats on WordPress Core contributions.</li><li>The Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) shared its accomplishments from last year in this<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/14/diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-2021-year-end-report/\"> 2021 year-end report</a>.</li><li>The Training Team<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/12/07/december-2021-team-sprint/\"> planned a sprint</a> to audit and revisit the Learn WordPress content for the WordPress 5.9 release.</li><li>The Design Team summarized some of the key changes behind the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/12/17/redesign-of-openverse/\"> Openverse redesign</a>.</li><li>The December 2021 editions of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/12/20/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-december-2021/\">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter</a> and the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/14/meetup-organizer-newsletter-december-2021/\"> Meetup Organizer Newsletter</a> are out.</li><li>The latest edition of<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\"> </a>People of WordPress features <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\">Collins Agbonghama</a> from Nigeria.</li><li>The Core Team <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/proposal-changes-to-javascript-coding-standards-for-full-prettier-compatibility/\">announced a proposal</a> to change the JavaScript coding standards for complete Prettier compatibility.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Are you looking for some 5.9 resources to share with your local community? </strong>Check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/10/wordpress-5-9-talking-points/\">WordPress 5.9 Talking Points for Meetup Organizers</a> post.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"feedback-testing-requests-contribute-by-testing-or-translating-wordpress-5-9\">Feedback/Testing requests: Contribute by testing or translating WordPress 5.9</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Your feedback on WordPress 5.9 release candidates is still needed and appreciated! If you haven’t tried this version yet, you can find instructions on testing 5.9 features <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">in this post</a>.</li><li>Do you speak a language other than English? The Polyglots Team announced that <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/12/16/wordpress-5-9-ready-to-be-translated/\">WordPress 5.9 is also ready to be translated</a>.</li><li>Version 18.9 of WordPress for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2021/12/14/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-18-9/\"> Android</a> is available for testing.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\"><strong>Share your feedback</strong></a><strong> on WordPress 5.9.</strong></p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"apply-to-speak-or-host-a-workshop-at-wordcamp-europe-2022\">Apply to speak or host a workshop at WordCamp Europe 2022</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>WordCamp US 2022 is currently looking for<a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/are-you-ready-to-be-a-2022-organizer/\"> organizers</a>.</li><li>The WordPress community celebrated its first in-person WordCamp after 21 months in<a href=\"https://sevilla.wordcamp.org/2021/\"> Sevilla (Spain)</a> on December 11-12, 2021.<a href=\"https://taiwan.wordcamp.org/2021/\"> WordCamp Taiwan</a> was held online the same weekend.</li><li>The Test Team organized the Hallway Hangout titled <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/12/21/hallway-hangout-lets-talk-about-wordpress-6-0/\">Let’s talk about WordPress 6.0</a> on December 21, 2021. The team also shared a wrap-up of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/12/16/fse-program-site-editing-safari-summary/\">Site Editing Safari</a> as part of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/full-site-editing-outreach-experiment/\">FSE Outreach Program</a>.</li><li>The Training Team hosted several WordPress Social Learning Meetups last month, and there will be many more in <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/\">January 2022</a>.</li><li>Last year the WordPress Foundation made significant progress in its mission to educate the public about open source software. Learn more about it in this <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/looking-back-at-2021/\">2021 recap</a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don’t miss the following upcoming WordCamps: <a href=\"https://birmingham.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama 2022</a>,<a href=\"https://vienna.wordcamp.org/2022/\"> </a><a href=\"https://geneve.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Genève 2022</a><a href=\"https://vienna.wordcamp.org/2022/\">, WordCamp Vienna 2022</a>, and <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Europe 2022</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>The</strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-sponsors/\"><strong> Call For Sponsors</strong></a><strong> and </strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\"><strong>Call For Speakers</strong></a><strong> for WordCamp Europe 2022 are open! </strong>Read <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/a-sneak-peek-at-wceu2022/\">this post</a> to learn more about the Organizing Team&#8217;s plans for the first in-person WordCamp Europe in three years.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know by filling out </em></strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this form</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following folks contributed to December 2021’s Month in WordPress: <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/anjanavasan/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>anjanavasan</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/harishanker/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>harishanker</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/lmurillom/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>lmurillom</a>  <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>meher</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>webcommsat</a></em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Jan 2022 19:03:59 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"rmartinezduque\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"WPTavern: Anariel Design Releases Bricksy, Its Third WordPress Block Theme\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127820\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:191:\"https://wptavern.com/anariel-design-releases-bricksy-its-third-wordpress-block-theme?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=anariel-design-releases-bricksy-its-third-wordpress-block-theme\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4675:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Yesterday, Anariel Design&#8217;s third block theme, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/bricksy/\">Bricksy</a>, went live in the WordPress.org directory. Ana Segota, the co-founder and self-proclaimed &#8220;creative motor&#8221; of the company, has almost become a master at block-based theme design at this point, and this project is just her showing off her skills.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I actually took the theme for a spin over the weekend when I saw it was waiting in the review queue, so I have had a few days to play around with it. Despite a few trivial issues, it has quickly become one of my favorite block themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Bricksy blog page design.\n\n\n\n<p>While I have generally liked Anariel Design&#8217;s two previous block themes, <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/anariel-design-launches-naledi-a-block-based-wordpress-theme\">Naledi</a> and <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/clove-a-showcase-of-block-patterns-by-anariel-design\">Clove</a>, I could not see myself installing them on a real-world project. They were simply not my personal style. However, Bricksy is a theme I would definitely use if I had a project for it at the moment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my favorite design elements is the cursive handwriting for the site logo, which is also used across various patterns.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Team Alternative pattern with cursive header image.\n\n\n\n<p>The downside is that these are images, so they are not easily recreated by end-users without Photoshop chops. I would like to see the team reconsider using a handwriting-style font &#8212; maybe <a href=\"https://fonts.google.com/?category=Handwriting\">one from Google Fonts</a> &#8212; that allows users to add custom text directly from the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bricksy has, hands down, some of the most beautifully-designed patterns I have seen in a block theme yet. In total, there are 32.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Bricksy&#8217;s general block patterns.\n\n\n\n<p>It is making an early bid for my favorite theme of 2022, but I will not get ahead of myself. We still have almost an entire 12 months to go before I make that call.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It even includes a custom social links layout. More and more themes are bundling their own takes on this pattern, but Bricksy&#8217;s color scheme and default Cover block image stand out.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Social Links block pattern.\n\n\n\n<p>With 32 patterns, I could dedicate an entire post to them all, but I am limited on time. For the most part, they are layout-focused rather than industry-focused patterns. This means they can be used on a vast range of sites. However, the pricing tables and team sections make sense for small businesses. Bricksy also supports WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most striking thing about each pattern is that they all seem to fit within the theme&#8217;s overall design. Often, when themes include dozens of block patterns, some of them can feel like an additional option simply for the sake of adding one more thing in. And, that never feels like the case with Bricksy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For long-form content, the theme is decent. However, it could be better. Its 720px content width and 18px font size can quickly grow hard to read. Cutting the width anywhere from 80px to 120px makes it much more comfortable. Bumping the font size up a couple of extra pixels works too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first activated the theme, I thought it was utterly broken. I had wondered how it managed to slip through the review system. The theme&#8217;s header was outputting seemingly random demo content. But, it was also familiar. I was positive it was a test post from my install.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Nav menu showing a blog post&#8217;s content.\n\n\n\n<p>The issue was tough to hunt down. After everything from deactivating plugins to scrubbing templates from the database, I finally found it. The <code>ref</code> key for the Navigation block in the theme&#8217;s <code>header.html</code> template part was the culprit. Bricksy pointed to a specific post ID in the code:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>&lt;!-- wp:navigation {\"ref\":4790,\"layout\":{\"type\":\"flex\",\"setCascadingProperties\":true,\"justifyContent\":\"right\"}} /--&gt;</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p><code>4790</code> is the ID of a literal post on my test install, so the Navigation block showed its content instead of a menu. Most likely, this was directly copied or exported from the site editor. Theme authors need to watch out for specific ID references in their code when building from the editor, making sure to remove them before shipping.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from a couple of trivial issues and a single <em>OMGBBQ</em> one after activation, I enjoyed using the theme. It has found its place in my recommended-themes list.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Jan 2022 23:42:39 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"WPTavern: Yoast Moves Outside of Open Source Platforms to Launch SEO App for Shopify\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127863\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:213:\"https://wptavern.com/yoast-moves-outside-of-open-source-platforms-to-launch-seo-app-for-shopify?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=yoast-moves-outside-of-open-source-platforms-to-launch-seo-app-for-shopify\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7617:\"<p>After 10 years in the WordPress ecosystem as one of the most popular plugin businesses, Yoast is branching out with a new <a href=\"https://yoast.com/yoast-seo-is-coming-to-shopify/\">SEO app for the Shopify market</a>. The app will offer Shopify merchants a set of optimizations for search results and Google Shopping, automatically add structured data, and allows users to optimize for desired keyphrases. It will launch in the Shopify app store on January 18, 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;An app on the Shopify platform is a huge business opportunity,&#8221; Yoast CEO Thijs de Valk said. &#8220;Shopify is growing fast. It makes sense to build an app and profit from the growth of that specific platform.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shopify is the second-fastest growing CMS, according to <a href=\"https://w3techs.com/blog/entry/web_technologies_of_the_year_2021\">W3Techs&#8217; 2021 data</a>, used on 4.4% of websites, up from 3.2% last year. The next closest contender, Wix, passed up Joomla and Drupal in 2021, furthering a trend of hosted, closed source software platforms burying open source CMS&#8217;s. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><img /></div>\n\n\n\n<p>In his biannual <a href=\"https://joost.blog/cms-market-share/\">CMS market share analysis</a>, Yoast founder Joost de Valk observed WordPress&#8217; slowed growth as compared to earlier in the pandemic and commented that the platform does not appear to be heading towards  50% market share as he would have projected based on the numbers a year ago. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Shopify continues to show amazing growth, in some months in the last 6 months it even managed to match the growth of WordPress in absolute numbers,&#8221; de Valk said. &#8220;Similarly, Wix has stepped up the pace and is growing rapidly.&#8221; He projects Shopify&#8217;s market share will be over 5% within the next six months.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><img />Joost de Valk&#8217;s <a href=\"https://joost.blog/cms-market-share/\">CMS market share analysis</a> &#8211; December 2021</div>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The growth of Yoast (up until now) has been highly dependent on WordPress,&#8221; Thijs de Valk said. &#8220;That makes us a bit vulnerable. When deciding to build the Shopify&nbsp;app, we were not acquired by&nbsp;Newfold&nbsp;Digital yet. The decision to build that app was also one of risk-diversification. Having an app&nbsp;or plugin&nbsp;on multiple platforms just makes sure that our company can&nbsp;grow sustainably.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breaking into a new market, de Valk said the experience so far is very different. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Shopify is a different ecosystem, much more commercialized than WordPress,&#8221; he said. Product pricing for the hosted platform is higher than what users might pay monthly for a plugin in the WordPress ecosystem. The <a href=\"https://yoast.com/shopify/apps/yoast-seo/\">Yoast SEO app</a> is starting out on the Shopify App Store at $29/month, which de Valk says is competitively priced.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That makes the Shopify market attractive to extend to,&#8221; de Valk said. &#8220;We have big dreams to grow our company further (in and outside of WordPress) and success in Shopify would make that a lot easier.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the WordPress plugin repository, the Shopify App Store doesn&#8217;t publish numbers of users for each app, so it&#8217;s not easy to see who Yoast SEO&#8217;s main competitors will be. <a href=\"https://apps.shopify.com/search?q=SEO\">SEO apps for Shopify</a> are already a someone crowded space and many apps, such as <a href=\"https://apps.shopify.com/seo-king\">SEO King</a>, have more features, a free plan, more competitive pricing, and hundreds of positive reviews already. Yoast SEO will have a challenge ahead, entering a market with many established competitors. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>de Valk said Yoast has not hired any Shopify developers but is relying on the current employees&#8217; skills.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Most of what was needed we already knew, or learned on the job, as we do,&#8221; he said. The company has had internal discussions about the fact that employees are now asked to write closed source software.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We’re breaking with our tradition to only release Yoast SEO software to open-source platforms,&#8221; de Valk said. &#8220;Shopify is closed source. We had a lot of conversations about that because at Yoast we’re&nbsp;<a href=\"https://yoast.com/open-source-story/\">open-source fanboys and girls</a>. At the same time,&nbsp;<em>making the web better</em>&nbsp;is also something very dear to our heart. And we think that Shopify is making the web better.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>de Valk confirmed that all Yoast employees were on board with developing closed source software and none of them moved on as a result of the change. The company&#8217;s more nebulous &#8220;making the web better&#8221; mission trumped its commitment to open source software in this case. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/29/a-year-in-core-2021/\">Yoast was one of the biggest contributors to WordPress core</a> through its <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/pledge/yoast/\">Five for the Future pledge</a>. The company plans to continue its commitments to WordPress and will be expanding its charitable giving  from the expected Shopify profits. Yoast is calling this new initiative &#8220;Five for the web.&#8221; This strikes me as an odd choice, as the intention of the Five for the Future program is to avoid the &#8220;<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons\">tragedy of the commons</a>&#8221; scenario, which affects open access resource systems like open source software. This is clearly outlined on Yoast&#8217;s website in the <a href=\"https://yoast.com/open-source-story/#open-source-or-not\">section on open source</a> where it states, &#8220;At Yoast, it’s at the heart of what we do.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With the money we make in Shopify, we want to give back as well,&#8221; de Valk said. &#8220;We’re going to give that money back to initiatives that make the entire web better. We’re already doing some things there. Yoast is a member of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.w3.org/\">W3C</a>, and our very own Jono Alderson is in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://amp.dev/\">AMP advisory board</a>.&nbsp;We’re planning to grow our efforts and initiatives to make the web better and give 5% of our Shopify revenue back to the web.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoast&#8217;s intention to support the <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives\">controversial AMP project</a> with a portion of its 5% profits is a curious choice, as the initiative is already heavily financially backed by Google and doesn&#8217;t appear to be soliciting donations. When asked what kind of influence or accountability the company is bringing to the AMP Advisory Board, de Valk said their primary goal is to offer advice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;AMP is just one of the things we do, we also support w3c, we make tools for PHP testing, and we’ll be supporting a lot more,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We put time into the AMP advisory committee with the goal to provide advice to the Technical Steering Committee. And in that way we try, as I said, to make the open web as strong as possible.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoast will be hosting an <a href=\"https://yoast.com/yoastcon/\">Online Yoastcon – Shopify Edition</a> on January 20, which will kick off with a product demo. The event is free and attendees can expect to hear from SEO industry experts and learn how to improve their online stores. </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Jan 2022 22:38:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38:\"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 5.9 RC 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11948\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-9-rc-1/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5479:\"<p>The first Release Candidate (RC1) for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/\">WordPress 5.9</a> is now available!&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to everyone who has contributed to reach this important milestone in the community’s progress towards a WordPress 5.9 release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Release Candidate” means the new version of the software is ready for release. It helps the community check that nothing is missed, given the thousands of plugins and themes and differences in how millions of people use the software.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 is slated for release on January 25, 2022. This is just three weeks to go&nbsp; &#8211; and there’s still time to help!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"testing-the-release\">Testing the release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 release candidate in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Install and activate the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"><strong>WordPress Beta Tester</strong></a><strong> </strong>plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 2:</strong> Direct download the beta version here (<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-RC1.zip\"><strong>zip</strong></a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, 3 or 4 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Command One:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-RC1</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Command Two:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-RC1 --force</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Your help to test the RC1 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.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all of the contributors who tested the Beta releases and gave feedback. Testing for bugs is not just a critical part of polishing every release; it is also a great way to contribute to WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">Help test WordPress 5.9 features</a> &#8211; a guide to how you can take part.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"what-is-in-wordpress-5-9-release-candidate\">What is in WordPress 5.9 release candidate?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This will be the first release of 2022 and continues the work towards 5.9 from last year. It features the latest advances of the block editor and is the first version of full site editing in Core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 also brings more refinements to the developer experience. To keep up with the latest updates and discover more about how the community works to continually improve the software, please subscribe to the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a>. In particular, the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">developer notes tag</a> will keep you up to date on changes that might affect your products or how you use the software.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"plugin-and-theme-developers\">Plugin and Theme Developers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.9 and update the <em>Tested up to</em> version&nbsp; to 5.9 in your readme file. If you find compatibility problems, please post to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">support forums</a>, so volunteers and developers can help you figure them out before the final release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress 5.9 Field Guide will be out very shortly. It will give you a deeper dive into the major changes.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-to-help\">How to Help</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you speak a language that is not English? You can <a href=\"https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev\">help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!</a> Release Candidate 1 marks the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze\">hard string freeze</a> point of the 5.9 release schedule. Thanks to every locale that is already involved with translations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>If you think you have found a bug</em></strong><em>, you can post to the </em><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta\"><em>Alpha/Beta area</em></a><em> in the support forums.&nbsp; If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can </em><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"><em>file one on WordPress Trac</em></a><em>, where you can also check the issue against </em><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"><em>a list of known bugs</em></a><em>.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Props to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>webcommsat</a> for the post and to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>marybaum</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>hellofromtonya</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>audrasjb</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>davidbaumwald</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/estelaris/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>estelaris</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>cbringmann</a> for final review. </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:43:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:116:\"WPTavern: WordPress 5.9 to Fix Lazy Loading Performance Regression, Resulting in 30% Faster Page Loads in Some Cases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127830\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:273:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-9-to-fix-lazy-loading-performance-regression-resulting-in-30-faster-page-loads-in-some-cases?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-5-9-to-fix-lazy-loading-performance-regression-resulting-in-30-faster-page-loads-in-some-cases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3361:\"<p>WordPress sites may soon see a slight performance improvement on page loads, thanks to a fix for a performance regression in the core lazy loading feature. An <a href=\"https://web.dev/lcp-lazy-loading/\">analysis</a> published in July 2021 showed that lazy loading applied too aggressively can have a negative impact on performance and that it&#8217;s better to eagerly load the images within the initial viewport.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress&#8217; default of lazy loading all images was causing slower performance on the <a href=\"https://web.dev/lcp/\">Largest Contentful Paint metric (LCP)</a> metric, which Google defines as &#8220;the render time of the largest <a href=\"https://web.dev/lcp/#what-elements-are-considered\">image or text block</a> visible within the viewport, relative to when the page <a href=\"https://w3c.github.io/hr-time/#timeorigin-attribute\">first started loading</a>.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google-sponsored WordPress contributors wrote a fix that avoids lazy-loading images above the fold and thoroughly tested it as part of their efforts to evaluate the impact of various past performance initiatives. The delayed LCP will be fixed in WordPress 5.9.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This can be improved by skipping addition of <code>loading=\'lazy\'</code> for the first content image or iframe, which in the vast majority of cases will appear within the initial viewport,&#8221; Felix Arntz said in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/29/enhanced-lazy-loading-performance-in-5-9/\">dev note</a>. &#8220;WordPress can only make educated guesses around that and not be 100% certain, but an analysis taking into account 50 popular themes showed that the enhancement brought LCP improvements across the board, up to 30% faster page load.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the future, this implementation may be able to drill down further into the block content on the page and eagerly load whatever images the theme identifies as being within the viewport.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Have you thought about how we could have more precise heuristics going forwards that can take the semantics and structure of blocks into account to get a sense for what is actually deferrable?&#8221; Matias Ventura commented on the ticket in process. &#8220;For example, an image block or a site logo used in a header template part would be strong indicatives of being above the fold. &#8216;The first image of the content&#8217; seems instead like a rudimentary measure, that varies a lot depending on preceding layout. With block themes we should have some ahead-of-time awareness of layout which we can use to produce more meaningful instructions.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Felix Arntz said he already has detecting the header template part on his radar and is willing to refine the implementation as the world of block themes expands.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The refinement of the lazy-loading implementation should notably improve LCP performance for most sites that rely on it, while not having adverse effects for sites where the default heuristics described above do not apply to,&#8221; Arntz said. &#8220;That is only a solid starting point though. In the future, specifically with the more semantic content specification that block-based themes will facilitate, we will be able to further fine tune the lazy-loading implementation by using the available block information.&#8221;</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Jan 2022 03:48:56 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"WPTavern: Gutenberg Hub Launches a Block-Based WordPress Theme Directory\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127764\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:189:\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-hub-launches-a-block-based-wordpress-theme-directory?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gutenberg-hub-launches-a-block-based-wordpress-theme-directory\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4808:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In the dawn of the block theme era, the WordPress theme directory could use a reimagining. That is what Munir Kamal set out to do before WordPress 5.9 launches later this month. He <a href=\"https://gutenberghub.com/re-imagined-wordpress-themes-directory/\">announced</a> an <a href=\"https://themes.gutenberghub.com/\">alternative theme directory</a> on the Gutenberg Hub website earlier today. It lists all the block themes that are officially hosted on WordPress.org.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Gutenberg Hub&#8217;s theme directory.\n\n\n\n<p>The interface and experience are similar to the official theme directory and for a good reason. Kamal is pushing for changes on WordPress.org.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I noticed the lack of info the official theme directory provides,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want to initiate a discussion around this to fix it, and thus created this as a concept/experiment. Now that it&#8217;s an era of the new generation of WP themes (Block Themes), the themes directory needs to be reimagined. Block themes are all about colors, typography, block styles, patterns, and templates. As a WP user, I wish to see all that info related to a theme when I explore themes in the directory. I need to choose without installing and testing multiple themes.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Single theme pages in this reimagined directory include more data than the official directory. Instead of merely a screenshot and description, each page displays the theme&#8217;s color palette, provides typography examples and info, and previews several content blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<img /><a href=\"https://themes.gutenberghub.com/octane\">Octane</a> theme page.\n\n\n\n<p>One thing that makes modern themes unique is their included <code>theme.json</code> file. This file allows theme authors to register settings and add styles that work in both the editor and the front-end. This level of standardization did not exist until WordPress 5.8 rolled around last year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also allows developers like Kamal to build new tools on top of it. When nearly all the data related to a theme is in a standard format, it is easy to pull out and experiment with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, because there is a specific key in the <code>theme.json</code> file for colors, anyone can grab and display them via code. Gutenberg Hub&#8217;s directory displays these as a palette alongside each theme. Users can even click to copy them.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Copying a theme color.\n\n\n\n<p>This would have been practically impossible in the past because WordPress did not have a way for themes to define something as simple as a color palette.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The directory also auto-generates social images for each of the themes. The following for <a href=\"https://themes.gutenberghub.com/mebae\">Mebae</a> and <a href=\"https://themes.gutenberghub.com/pacer\">Pacer</a> both show their description, fonts, colors, and screenshot.</p>\n\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n\n<p>For years, WordPress.org theme previews have been plagued by sub-par demo system. Today, the live demo can show starter content if a theme provides it. However, there is no current FSE support for the feature. Gutenberg Hub displays the same live preview as shown in the official directory.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kamal has partially addressed this issue by adding a &#8220;Content&#8221; button. Clicking it allows users to see dozens of blocks in action.</p>\n\n\n\n<img /><a href=\"https://themes.gutenberghub.com/tove\">Tove</a> theme content preview.\n\n\n\n<p>This provides a general overview of what the theme looks like, but the preview experience is still lacking. A handful of featured images would add some visual <em>oomph</em> to the home/blog and archive pages.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kamal has plans to incorporate theme templates and patterns into the preview in the future. Those additions would make theme demos more useful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He does not plan on stopping there. &#8220;Other plans include providing a super useful search and filter functionality that makes it easier to trim down the result to the closest needs of a user,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And maybe a comparison tool that a user can use to compare two themes side-by-side with practical elements to decide between the two, rather than reviews, downloads, etc.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The work Kamal has put in so far looks promising. There is still much that could be improved if we had an entire community effort behind this. With the block theming feature launching with WordPress 5.9, there is no reason to stick to the old theme preview system when so much more is possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-tavern-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p>If I had one extra wish for Gutenberg Hub or WordPress.org, it would be for all child themes to be listed on their parent theme&#8217;s page. But, I will take this redesigned directory first.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 03 Jan 2022 23:03:58 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 9.2.0 Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://buddypress.org/?p=322735\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"https://buddypress.org/2022/01/buddypress-9-2-0-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1616:\"<p>Immediately available is <a href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.9.2.0.zip\">BuddyPress 9.2.0</a>. This maintenance release fixes three bugs, anticipates one issue which appeared while beta testing WordPress 5.9 and prepares the release of our first BuddyPress add-on (a community search block). For details on the changes, please read the <a href=\"https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/version-9-2-0/\">9.2.0 release notes</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Update to BuddyPress 9.2.0 today in your WordPress Dashboard, or by&nbsp;<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/\">downloading from the WordPress.org plugin repository</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"many-thanks-to-9-2-0-contributors\">Many thanks to 9.2.0 contributors&nbsp;<span class=\"dashicons dashicons-heart\"></span></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/josett225/\">josett225</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/needle\">needle</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32\">dd32</a> &amp; <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/imath/\">imath</a></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"happy-2022\">Happy 2022!</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The BuddyPress developers and contributors wish you the best for this new year! Have fun, stay safe and carry on sharing great words &amp; feelings with WordPress and BuddyPress <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4dd.png\" alt=\"📝\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f917.png\" alt=\"🤗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;Très belle année à tou·te·s&#8221;</em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 03 Jan 2022 22:22:26 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mathieu Viet\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:26:\"Matt: Celebrate by Writing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"https://ma.tt/?p=55257\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://ma.tt/2022/01/celebrate-by-writing/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1965:\"<p>My <a href=\"https://ma.tt/category/birthday/\">birthday</a> is coming up soon so it&#8217;s that time of the year when friends start reaching out and asking where they should fly to and how we&#8217;re going to celebrate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a good run in the post-vaccinated-and-boosted part of 2020 that felt relatively &#8220;normal&#8221;, including traveling almost 200k miles, I&#8217;m going back into a pretty locked-down state of things. Omicron has just been catching too many friends and loved ones, even with fairly careful measures and testing. So what&#8217;s happening on January 11th?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What I&#8217;m asking for my birthday is for people to blog!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether professionally on <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/\">WP.com</a>, socially on <a href=\"https://tumblr.com/\">Tumblr</a>, or privately journaling with <a href=\"https://dayoneapp.com/\">Day One</a>, there&#8217;s never been a better time to stop being a passive consumer of the internet and join the class of creators.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://ma.tt/2014/01/intrinsic-blogging/\">Write for a single person</a>. Share something cool you found. Summarize your year. <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/blog/2021/07/13/blogging-reminders-push-notifications-wordpress-apps/\">Set a blogging goal with reminders</a>. Get a Gutenberg-native theme and play around with building richer posts. Start a nom de plume. <a href=\"https://help.dayoneapp.com/en/articles/3750565-daily-writing-prompts\">Answer daily prompts on Day One</a>. Forget the metaverse, let&#8217;s hang out in the blogosphere. <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/domains/\">Get your own domain</a>!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re a close friend that feels intimidated by the software at all or that you don&#8217;t know where to start, I&#8217;m happy to hop on a Zoom to go through everything on a screen share. That will also be a great learning for me for places we can improve things, which is also a fantastic gift!</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sun, 02 Jan 2022 22:22:35 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"WPTavern: WP Tavern’s 2021 Year in Review\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127766\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:125:\"https://wptavern.com/wp-taverns-2021-year-in-review?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wp-taverns-2021-year-in-review\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13867:\"<img /><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/94661cc6f3/\">Abstract Lights</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/mkaz/\">Marcus Kazmierczak</a>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A friend prompted me to fix an issue with the WP Tavern <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/archives\">archives page</a> a few days ago. Not all of 2021&#8217;s posts were visible. As I glanced over the updated list, I realized our team put in a lot of work for the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the day-to-day mix of things, it is easy to forget how much you have written during the year. Some of the articles are memorable and stick with you for a while. Much passes by in a blur. But, I felt a sense of pride in the work our team has put in as I scrolled through the posts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These year-in-review posts tend to take about two days&#8217; worth of work, gathering up all of the stats and notes and formatting them so that they are presentable. However, they are always one of my favorite articles to put together every year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should always take some time to remind ourselves where we have been on this journey. This makes sure we are better informed before taking our next steps. At the Tavern, that means paying attention to what content people are reading and how they are engaging with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, let us just dive right into some of the 2021 highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"the-year-in-wordpress\">The Year in WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">WordPress <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/happy-18th-birthday-wordpress\">turned 18 years old</a> in 2021. That is a massive feat for any software, especially a CMS that consistently faces competition from newer web technologies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike last year&#8217;s three, the platform only saw two major releases this year. WordPress 5.9 was initially slated to land in early December, but it was <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-9-revised-release-date-confirmed-for-january-25-2022\">postponed until January 25, 2022</a>. This should give contributors more time to smooth out several wrinkles with new features.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-8-tatum-introduces-block-widgets-duotone-media-filters-new-emoji-support-and-more\">WordPress 5.8 &#8220;Tatum&#8221;</a> introduced block widgets, duotone media filters, and new emoji support.</li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-7-introduces-drag-and-drop-for-blocks-and-patterns-streamlined-admin-color-palette-and-one-click-migration-from-http-to-https\">WordPress 5.7 &#8220;Esperanza&#8221;</a> added drag-and-drop for blocks and patterns, a streamlined admin color palette, and one-click HTTPS migration.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gutenberg plugin was a consistent force, driving new features that would eventually make their way into core WordPress. We have <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/tag/gutenberg\">covered its releases</a> throughout the year here at the Tavern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt Mullenweg recorded his <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2021-wordpress-passes-43-market-share-looks-to-expand-the-commons-through-openverse\">annual State of the Word</a> before a live audience in New York City in mid-December. The address focused on WordPress&#8217;s growth in the past year, a decentralized web, and version 5.9 features. He also focused on contributing to the commons. He <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/creative-commons-search-is-now-openverse\">introduced Openverse</a>, formerly Creative Commons Search, and noted the beta launch of the <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the-wordpress-photo-directory-is-the-open-source-image-project-we-have-long-needed\">WordPress photo directory.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"favorite-plugin\">Favorite Plugin</h2>\n\n\n\n<img />Newsletter Glue&#8217;s theme designer.\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">One of the best things about writing for WP Tavern is covering a <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/category/plugins\">range of new plugins</a> every year. Unfortunately, we cannot get to them all. However, there are always a few projects that stand out in the crowded field.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe it was <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/newsletter-glue-pro-my-first-foray-into-journalism-and-new-ideas\">nostalgia for a bygone era</a> of printed family newsletters. Perhaps it is just a neat idea, but my favorite plugin of the year is <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/newsletter-glue/\">Newsletter Glue</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It showcases how a small team can get a complex project off the ground via the block editor. Newsletter Glue is just over a year old, and Lesley Sim and Ahmed Fouad have created a solid product.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"favorite-theme\">Favorite Theme</h2>\n\n\n\n<img />Eksell theme homepage\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">This should come as no surprise to Tavern readers. I have touted its <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks\">well-rounded design and architecture</a> on multiple occasions. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/eksell/\">Eksell</a> by Anders Norén is my favorite theme of the year. Twenty Twenty-Two would be a close second, but it has not officially launched yet. Maybe it will reign in the year to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been on the lookout for a block theme to win this for the entire year, but none of them quite lived up to Eksell. Not even Noren&#8217;s own attempt with Tove.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eksell plays well with blocks, supporting all current, stable advancements in WordPress theming. It is far more modern than many other classic-supported themes. And, it is just beautiful.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wp-tavern-stats\">WP Tavern Stats</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Over the past couple of years, we have increased our content output. Engagement via published comments is down, but &#8220;likes&#8221; continue climbing. The following is a table of the past three years of stats. <em>Note that averages are per post.</em></p>\n\n\n\n\n        <table>\n                <thead>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th class=\"pad\"></th>\n                                <th>2021</th>\n                                <th>2020</th>\n                                <th>2019</th>\n                        </tr>\n                </thead>\n                <tbody>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Total Posts</th>\n                                <td>443</td>\n                                <td>406</td>\n                                <td>382</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Total Comments</th>\n                                <td>3,151</td>\n                                <td>3,699</td>\n                                <td>2,864</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Avg. Comments</th>\n                                <td>7.1</td>\n                                <td>9.2</td>\n                                <td>7.5</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Total Likes</th>\n                                <td>4,508</td>\n                                <td>3,589</td>\n                                <td>2,676</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Avg. Likes</th>\n                                <td>10.2</td>\n                                <td>9.0</td>\n                                <td>7.0</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Total Words</th>\n                                <td>324,842</td>\n                                <td>317,231</td>\n                                <td>225,117</td>\n                        </tr>\n                        <tr>\n                                <th>Avg. Words</th>\n                                <td>733</td>\n                                <td>791</td>\n                                <td>589</td>\n                        </tr>\n                </tbody>\n        </table>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, we moderate comments here at WP Tavern. We could let things run wild for a bump in commenting stats, but we want to continue creating an environment where people feel welcome to participate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am the champion of comments this year with a total of 81. I would still like to engage a bit more. That is something I will work on in the new year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Props to the five people next in line for total comments in 2021:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Miroslav Glavić</li><li>Eric Karkovack</li><li>Andrew Starr</li><li>Steven Gliebe</li><li>Paul Lacey</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Without you and other readers, there would be no Tavern. I hope to see more of you all and others in 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"top-10-most-viewed-stories\">Top 10 Most Viewed Stories</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Sarah Gooding pretty much single-handedly broke our all-time daily views record in January, a record that had stood since 2015. It now stands at 24,887. <em>I contributed a bit</em>, but her coverage of WordPress.com&#8217;s website building service did the heavy lifting. And, it was not even the overall most-viewed story of the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following are the articles Tavern readers viewed the most in 2021:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wix-takes-a-jab-at-wordpress-with-bewildering-new-marketing-campaign\">Wix Takes a Jab at WordPress with Bewildering New Marketing Campaign</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-rattles-freelancer-community-with-new-website-building-service-launch\">WordPress.com Rattles Freelancer Community with New Website Building Service Launch</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-unveils-gutenberg-roadmap-at-wceu-wordpress-agencies-and-product-developers-sprint-to-prepare\">Matt Mullenweg Unveils Gutenberg Roadmap at WCEU, WordPress Agencies and Product Developers Sprint to Prepare</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/disable-over-a-dozen-wordpress-features-with-the-no-nonsense-plugin\">Disable Over a Dozen WordPress Features With the No Nonsense Plugin</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives\">AMP Has Irreparably Damaged Publishers’ Trust in Google-led Initiatives</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wixs-negative-advertising-campaign-falls-flat-with-wordpress-developers-and-professionals\">Wix&#8217;s Negative Advertising Campaign Falls Flat with WordPress Developers and Professionals</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/biden-white-house-sticks-with-wordpress-for-website-relaunch\">Biden White House Sticks with WordPress for Website Relaunch</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/elementor-raises-eyebrows-with-google-ads-targeting-full-site-editing\">Elementor Raises Eyebrows with Google Ads Targeting Full-Site Editing</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenbergs-faster-performance-is-eroding-page-builders-dominance\">Gutenberg’s Faster Performance Is Eroding Page Builders&#8217; Dominance</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/getting-to-know-the-upcoming-wordpress-5-8-template-editor\">Getting To Know the Upcoming WordPress 5.8 Template Editor</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"top-10-most-commented-stories\">Top 10 Most Commented Stories</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">You would think that our most-read articles are those that receive the most comments. However, that is not always the case. While there is some crossover between the two lists, our readers sometimes need to be vocal on a particular topic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the top 10 most-commented posts of 2021:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/profilepress-rebrands-and-repurposes-wp-user-avatar-now-a-membership-plugin-users-revolt-via-the-wordpress-review-system\">ProfilePress Rebrands and Repurposes WP User Avatar, Now a Membership Plugin, Users Revolt via the WordPress Review System</a> <em>(100 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-classic-editor-support-extended-for-at-least-another-year\">WordPress Classic Editor Support Extended for at Least Another Year</a> <em>(100 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wp-tavern-is-sporting-a-new-website-design\">WP Tavern Is Sporting a New Website Design</a> <em>(50 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/is-wordpress-development-really-all-that-hard-to-get-into-today\">Is WordPress Development Really All That Hard To Get Into Today?</a> <em>(45 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/elementor-to-roll-out-significant-pricing-hike-for-new-customers\">Elementor to Roll Out Significant Pricing Hike for New Customers</a> <em>(41 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenbergs-faster-performance-is-eroding-page-builders-dominance\">Gutenberg’s Faster Performance Is Eroding Page Builders&#8217; Dominance</a> <em>(38 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/why-did-you-start-using-wordpress\">Why Did You Start Using WordPress?</a> <em>(38 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/yes-comments-are-still-relevant-but-we-need-a-better-system\">Yes, Comments Are Still Relevant, But We Need a Better System</a> <em>(37 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/disable-over-a-dozen-wordpress-features-with-the-no-nonsense-plugin\">Disable Over a Dozen WordPress Features With the No Nonsense Plugin</a> <em>(37 comments)</em></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wixs-negative-advertising-campaign-falls-flat-with-wordpress-developers-and-professionals\">Wix&#8217;s Negative Advertising Campaign Falls Flat with WordPress Developers and Professionals</a> <em>(36 comments)</em></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-tavern-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p>I look forward to another year of delivering stories to all of our readers. The Tavern staff will see you all in 2022 for the next steps on this journey.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 31 Dec 2021 04:11:06 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:59:\"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Collins Agbonghama\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11923\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7730:\"<p>In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people’s lives for the better. This month we feature a website builder from Nigeria, who uses the open source WordPress platform to support his family and to share learning with others in his home country and beyond.</p>\n\n\n\n<img src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?resize=632%2C318&ssl=1\" alt=\"Collins Agbonghama\" class=\"wp-image-11919\" width=\"632\" height=\"318\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"creating-a-life-in-the-wordpress-ecosystem\"><strong>Creating a life in the WordPress Ecosystem</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins Agbonghama started his journey to becoming a web developer by reading the football news headlines on a friend’s mobile phone. His fascination with development and learning continued to grow, and he now makes a living using WordPress and the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to discover his story, which shows with creativity and determination you can create products and make a living using WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"starting-web-building-on-a-phone\"><strong>Starting web building on a phone</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"350\" height=\"426\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/collins-agbonghama1.jpg?resize=350%2C426&ssl=1\" alt=\"Collins Agbonghama headshot photo\" class=\"wp-image-11920\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Collins began his exploration of the internet while attending Secondary School in Nigeria, or High School as it is known in some other countries.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A friend at the school had a simple mobile phone which could browse the internet. Collins had his first introduction to the World Wide Web through access to this device. He became hooked by reading headlines on a sports site about a famous English Premier League Football Club, Chelsea, a soccer team which he has long supported.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Being a very inquisitive person, I wanted to learn how the web works as well as have my own website. I was able to buy a classic mobile phone through the menial jobs I did after school,” he said.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>His first website was a wapsite or Wireless Application Protocol site optimized for mobile devices.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He took to Google to learn how to actually build a site. He discovered he needed something called an ‘email address’ to sign-up for site builders. Google Search came to the rescue again, and he created the first email account for his first website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A desire for a website was the catalyst for further learning, starting with HTML and CSS from an online provider. His interest in building sites with more advanced tools grew, and then he came across WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using his savings, he bought the cheapest hosting plan from a local Nigerian web host. He installed WordPress and started writing tutorials for a mobile device platform. He built the site, created the lessons, and started his entry into WordPress all on a mobile phone.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This led to him having the confidence to start building sites for others, and he was able to earn a small income from that.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins said: “I couldn’t go to the university because of my precarious financial situation. I continued to do menial jobs during the day and started learning PHP in the evenings and at night using my mobile phone via online learning platforms.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was later able to get an old laptop, which helped him access ebooks to learn more and practice his coding.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keen to share this learning, he started blogging about what he was learning on his website.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins said: “I later took up a job teaching children at a school primarily because I got tired of the menial jobs and wanted to earn enough to take care of my internet data plan. After a while, I became fairly proficient in PHP and even took up a job to build a school management system.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"using-wordpress-to-make-a-living\"><strong>Using WordPress to make a living</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins’ blog wasn’t making money through advertisements, but he discovered opportunities to write tutorials for other platforms.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I started writing PHP and WordPress development tutorials and got paid a few hundred dollars per article. In Nigeria, that’s quite a lot of money. I was able to improve the life and wellbeing of my family and myself,” he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After getting into a higher education program to study computer science, his life dramatically changed. He decided to stop writing and began to focus on building and selling WordPress plugins.&nbsp;His first one was a user and profile plugin for WordPress sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Thankfully, after a year, it started making enough revenue for me to live pretty comfortably here in Nigeria because the cost of living here is relatively low,” he said</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Collins has several plugins which have given him a sustainable source of income. He’s also a Core and Translation volunteer contributor to the WordPress.org Open Source project. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote><p>I am thankful for WordPress because without it, I’m really not sure I would have been able to live a decent quality life. <br />Who knows what would have become of me?</p><cite>Collins Agbonghama</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>“I am also thankful for the community. I have made lots of friends that have been very supportive and helpful in my journey.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: “I tell people, life won’t give you what you want. You demand from life what you want. You make these demands by being determined and never giving up on your dreams and aspirations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“If you are poor, perhaps because you came from a humble and poor background, it is not your fault. You can’t go back in time to change things. I implore you to be strong, determined, and work hard.” </p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Meet more WordPress community members in our <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/category/interviews/\">People of WordPress series</a>.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"contributors\">Contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Michael Geheren (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/geheren/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>geheren</a>), Abha Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>webcommsat</a>), for writing this feature, to @MeherBala (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>meher</a>) for follow-ups and photo-editing, and to Chloe Bringmann (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>cbringmann</a>) and Nalini Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a>) for the final proofing. Thank you to Collins Agbonghama (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/collizo4sky/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>collizo4sky</a>) for sharing his Contributor Story.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thanks to Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp;(@<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">chanthaboune</a>), Topher DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/\">@topher1kenobe</a>) and others for their support </em>of this initiative. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on&nbsp;</em><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia, which highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers.&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>#HeroPress #ContributorStory</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 30 Dec 2021 22:45:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"Post Status: Post Status Comments (No. 5) — The First Annual WordPress News Draft\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=91900\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://poststatus.com/comments/5/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76553:\"<h3>&#8220;This story reminded me that big company, big money doesn\'t mean just more profit but can also mean big contributions.&#8221; —Aurooba Ahmed</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">It\'s the first-ever Post Status WordPress News Draft! The initial group of news &#8220;avengers&#8221; in this episode are <strong>Aurooba Ahmed</strong>, <strong>Jason Cosper</strong>, <strong>Daniel Schutzsmith</strong>, <strong>Robert Jacobi</strong>, and <strong>Lesley Sim</strong> — with <strong>David Bisset</strong> hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also: </strong>There was also a final &#8220;quick link&#8221; round with some interesting choices the guests brought to the table. </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\"><strong>Post Status Comments</strong> <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4ac.png\" alt=\"💬\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.<br /><br /><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/comments/\">Browse past episodes</a> and subscribe to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcasts/\">our podcasts</a> on&nbsp; <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7\">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d\">Castro</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts\">Player.fm</a>, <a href=\"https://pca.st/05rR\">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\">Simplecast</a>, or get them by <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-9-delayed-until-january-2022\">WordPress 5.9 Release</a> (Aurooba Pick #1)</li><li><a href=\"https://wpengine.com/blog/wp-engine-adds-frost-to-open-source-wordpress-project/\">Frost being acquired and made open source</a> (Aurooba Pick #2)</li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/stubbornella/status/1471213109767405568\">Stubbornella utilities classes twitter thread</a> (Aurooba Pick #3)</li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/profilepress-rebrands-and-repurposes-wp-user-avatar-now-a-membership-plugin-users-revolt-via-the-wordpress-review-system\">WP User Avatar &gt; Profile Press Debacle</a> (Daniel Pick #1)</li><li><a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/blocks-boards-fishing-reels-how-gutenberg-has-divided-wordpress/\">Blocks, Boards & Fishing Reels – How Gutenberg has Divided WordPress</a> (Daniel Pick #2)</li><li><a href=\"https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/16/podcast-app-pocket-casts-acquired-by-wordpress%E2%80%A4com-owner-automattic/\">Podcast app Pocket Casts acquired by WordPress․com owner Automattic</a> (Daniel Pick #3)</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/12/proposal-for-a-performance-team/\">WordPress Performance Team</a> (Jason Pick #1)</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/07/configuring-theme-design-with-theme-json/\">theme.json drops with WordPress 5.8</a> (Jason PIck #2)</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/04/18/proposal-treat-floc-as-a-security-concern/\">Google’s FLoC and WordPress</a> (Jason Pick #3)</li><li><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://yoast.com/exciting-news-yoast-joins-newfold-digital/\">Exciting news: Yoast joins Newfold Digital</a> (Robert Pick #1)</li><li><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/05/welcome-to-openverse/\">Welcome to Openverse</a> (Robert Pick #2)</li><li><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/american-airlines-sues-online-publisher-host-over-fake-website-2021-08-09/\">American Airlines sues online publisher and host over fake website</a> (Robert Pick #3)</li><li><a href=\"https://getellipsis.com/blog/am-marketing-machine/\">AM Marketing Machine</a> (Lesley Pick #1)</li><li><a href=\"https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/6786509/mullenweg-the-past-present-and-future-of-the-internet?tab=transcript\">Founder\'s Field Guide Podcast: Matt Mullenweg &#8211; The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet</a> (Lesley Pick #2)</li><li><a href=\"ttps://www.amazon.com/dp/0578675862/\">Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software, Nadia Eghbal</a> (Lesley Pick #3)</li><li><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.protocol.com/matt-mullenweg\">Can Matt Mullenweg save the internet?</a> (David\'s Pick #1)</li><li><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/news/awesome-motive-has-acquired-sandhills-development/\">Awesome Motive Has Acquired Sandhills Development </a>(David\'s Pick #2)</li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Bisset (Twitter)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Post Status (Twitter)</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sponsor: <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/gravity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Gravity Forms</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:00] David Bisset: All right. Welcome to the first and maybe even last news draft for post status. My name is David White screen Bisset, I\'ll be your host this evening. We have some great panelists here this evening. Let me explain to you the concept of what\'s going on first. So there are sports drafts where people pick players within a group.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And at the end of the draft, these people pick the players they want, and they form these teams. Well, we are basically doing that except for WordPress news. So we have five panelists plus myself here this evening. There\'ll be introducing themselves in a second. They all have their top WordPress stories of 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I asked what WordPress stories of 2021. They think we\'re the most important or the most influential that meant the most to them. So in a draft, there is an order. We have our order set. The only two rules, I think are one. You obviously can\'t repeat another pick once it\'s out. So you have go to your [00:02:00] alternate picks and you have to be specific in your pick.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it can\'t be just acquisitions. It has to be a specific news story. So X acquired Y and I think there is also one more rule where it\'s about the story, not where it\'s posted from. So if X acquired, Y was taken from the Tavern, the next person can\'t pick the same story just because it was the new story there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The link that they\'re sharing is from another source Post Status. So if we\'re all good on that, let\'s , introduce our panel and the order that was picked by random.org. Ruba, why don\'t we start off with you</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: I\'m Aurooba, I\'m a WordPress developer, and I\'m excited to be here,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Daniel, your name, occupation, and rank.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: Daniel\'s Schutzsmith. I\'m a web developer and get to work on things like WP live streams, directory.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. And next is Jason Cosper, not Cooper Cosper.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Hey, what up everybody? This is Jason Cosper, AKA fat Mullenweg. I am the [00:03:00] WordPress product advocate over at DreamHost and also I cohost WP water cooler with my friends Jason Tucker and Steve Zynga,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Robert Jacoby. You\'re up next. How\'s it going?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: And grade what a wonderful way to end the sort of year Robert Jacobi director of WordPress at cloud ways, a WordPress cloud manage hosting service.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: And you go the way of the clouds last, but certainly not least. Leslie, tell us a little bit about your.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: Hey, it\'s Leslie SIM I\'m co-founder of newsletter glue.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s a WordPress newsletter plugin and also a big Post Status fan.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, okay. Well, that\'s not going to get you anywhere, but the the nice remark is appreciated. All right, let\'s start off with Aurooba, what is your first pick?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: I apologize to everyone, but it\'s that 5.9 was delayed. This was really, really big.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I [00:04:00] remember at the beginning of this year, complaining and complaining about 5.8 being released with half-baked features and, for developers who were working on products for clients, this was a really frustrating time. So on 5.9 was delayed because some of the features were not as you know, still needed some issues fixed in them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That felt like we were hurt a little bit. And this was setting a precedent of never doing. A release with half big features and maybe even a president of never doing a release around December holidays. Like maybe this will just shift the whole cycle. That would be really nice. And I mean, I remember someone said that deadlines are not arbitrary and they\'re not, but meeting a deadline for the sake of meeting a deadline is also not a valid approach.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I hope that we can have more discussions around that with WordPress release cycles.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: This was not on my list, but because I only have like five or six items on my list, but I agree that this is a bit of a change. I mean, five nine would have come out. It would have come out. Guess when it [00:05:00] would have come out? On state of the word night.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, I don\'t know. It\'s certainly affecting next year somewhat because I think the schedule they\'re trying to talk about next year as a potential four release schedule, or at least two of the four or two of the three we\'ve never had. I don\'t think we\'ve had a release in January. I think that\'s potential.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s a very good first round pick. I don\'t know if anybody got that, but so far I\'m safe, but I think that\'s a very good pick. And that\'s one of those picks that\'s going to be by like maybe middle of the year next year, we\'re going to look back on here and say, this is how much this decision made in terms of change.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think it was good decision to . All right. Let\'s see Daniel, you\'re up. What\'s your first pick?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: This happened this year and I didn\'t even realize it was this year was the whole profile press WP user avatar debacle. They had a. 400,000 active installs at the time. And basically I believe what happened was the company got taken over basically and renamed the plug-in [00:06:00] overnight to which it was a bit different than when it used to be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for those who didn\'t use WP use avatar, it was basically a kind of a one function type of plugin. But all of a sudden you had this profile press, which was much more involved. And it basically changed the user interface of everything. I had a few clients using it, so it was a bit of a shock. And uh, since then, I\'ve, I believe on all those, we just got rid of it and just did something else instead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But to me, I was looking back then, you know, what happened in the past year and 2021 and this stuck out right away. Once I realized it did happen in 2021. Yeah. Well, Collins Collins is the owner of profile press and he\'s a developer and owner and really nice guy. There\'s actually a great interview with him over on the WP minute.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was also done around the same time. So it wasn\'t a malicious intent at all. I think it was just, you know, just a misstep basically in in best business practices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: And just goes to show you the like, I think now as we get further, along in the WordPress ecosystem, how, like, if that would\'ve happened, maybe.[00:07:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe with less users, maybe like four years ago. I think it wouldn\'t have been such a magnified or a focus type of issue. Right. So as WordPress plugins go on, you know, and people have to be really, even more careful because the audiences are getting bigger. The stakes are getting bigger. My headache medications getting bigger.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right. But that\'s okay. Great. Excellent pick. So profile press debacle, unintended debacle, but debacle was Daniel\'s pick. And thank you very much. So, Jason what\'s your first pick? Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: So, Aruba took my pick naturally. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: We have our first snipe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is awesome. This is like the first night.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\'t really think we\'d have one tonight.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Yeah. well, I mean, she\'s in the catbird seat. She is basically you know, there, first up so I applaud you for grabbing that one. So I\'ve got to go with what was going to be my second pick, which is the WordPress performance team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Ah, [00:08:00] I got sniped.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Yeah, there we go. So I snipe with a snipe. Perfect. So as somebody who has been focused on WordPress performance through a pretty significant portion of my time in WordPress making WordPress faster, I think that it is great that we are finally seeing a focus for this on core and the people who are throwing their names in till Cruz Henry Helvetica a few other you know, just really amazing people and just the amount of activity that\'s happening in the performance channel or when they have their weekly team meetings is just phenomenal to me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it was kind of a late in the year thing, but I\'m really excited to see it grow in 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I honestly had doubts in the beginning when I first read it, that it was going to be a thing. It was a proposal when I read it first. And I\'m not saying that nobody cares about performance, but it was just, I don\'t know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:00] It\'s one of those things where I guess maybe it was too good to be true. Right. You know, one of those, one of those deals it\'s being Frank here, my views and opinions don\'t reflect those of any collective or individual Post Status and Post Status team can incorporate. Well, that\'s a great first. Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s a great first pick word, press performance team. And yes, I would. I would admit I was sniped on that. So Robert Jacobi, please leave me with a list I can share</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: with the 2017 first pick the Chicago bears choose Mitch Trubisky.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: That sounds like a great clam chowder too</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Rochelle wrong show.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, that\'s been wrong year. Good Lord. Oh, wrong team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: I\'m going to snipe. Everyone\'s acquisition. Want to be. Drafts and say that the biggest acquisition news of the year was Yoast being acquired by new fold. Digital</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: hard to ignore that one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: It\'s I think it\'s important [00:10:00] because everyone knows Yost from like, you know, community hardcore folk to end your end users and users almost got ghosted by Yoast. And I think it really shows what the WordPress economy is evolving into and no opinions here, but it\'s changing. And when you have a huge, acquisition by someone like new fold slash blue host, for all intents and purposes of Yoast I think it really sent up flares economic flares throughout.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress ecosystem</p>\n\n\n\n<p>it very few long old-school WordPress plugin companies left. And that way I think on a lot of people\'s lists was the first one they thought of. Yeah. I\'m not going to mention the other ones, because if I say it three times, maybe like Candyman there\'ll be acquired or they\'re already acquired or they\'re already in the works for all I know for all we know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. I think it was the suddenness of it too. [00:11:00] That was a quick one. Right. I think with the like advanced custom fields, you could see it a little bit coming, or you wondered in the back of your mind one lazy day on wonder what\'s. I wonder if they\'re ever going to be acquired some day, but I personally never felt that way with Yoast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s just the yellow steel was approximately nine to 12 months in the works.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. Which, you know, obviously for that good, you keep a secret, right? Yeah. But yeah. So, okay. Well our first acquisition pick off the tape. Fortunately for us, we\'ve got 85,000 more acquisitions on the table. So that may be a popular one, but it\'s not the</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: I\'m following all the acquisitions with that one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, it\'s going to be a long night. So Leslie, maybe you can what\'s your pick first round?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: So my I\'m going with an acquisition related topic and it\'s extending insight Awesome Motives self-perpetuating marketing machine. So I think like this post was inspired because of Awesome Motives acquisition of [00:12:00] Pippins plugins, but it\'s called something else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s not called that. And so what I liked about this article was kind of how it mapped out the huge fast SEO machine that Awesome Motive is building and how Sandhills and all their plugins kind of fits into that and how it kind of, yeah, just like creates this big content marketing machine, which is hard to replicate on a smaller scale.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I guess like people often talk about WordPress from a developer point of view. I think like most of you here are, you know, developer centric. And so I wanted to bring in marketing the marketing side of things and, you know, like talk about how begin and WP and all of the automotive blog assets plays such a big part in the WordPress ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like anyone who\'s not a WordPress professional, if they\'re coming into WordPress for the first time, it\'s likely that [00:13:00] Awesome Motives blogs will be the first point of contact into WordPress. And I think like that\'s really interesting to consider and also what that looks like going forward as well for the ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: They have a very good content management strategy I used to work there. So I can tell you if they\'ve got a nice well-oiled machine over there and that in your right. I don\'t, I, you know, maybe it\'s just the circles that I travel with or the circles that allow me to travel with them, if you want to look at it that way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I don\'t think that gets a lot of attention, so, so great job,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: David. I think Syed likes it that way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Let\'s quickly move on to my pick. So this was my first pick and it\'s a pick from the Tavern and it\'s specific it\'s Tavern. It\'s partly the subject material, but also because Sarah Gooding just did an excellent job.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s amp has irreparably damaged publisher\'s trust in Google led incentives. This got on hacker news, which appeals to a broader audience than beyond WordPress, which is one reason why I [00:14:00] picked it. The other is if anybody remembers how amp was I\'m going to say promoted at word camps. And I remember one word camp, it probably it\'s either 2018 one or the 19 one. Like I think it was in giant letters. Google had a huge, and they were advertised. There was other things being promoted there. But I remember all of the discussion and the effort that went into convincing developers to contribute to the amp project. I remember discussions about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it\'s the old automatic contribution controversy that some people like to bring up, like, you know, like it\'s open source, but there\'s so many people from this company working on it, that they have a certain level of control that is unfair or is unwarranted and so forth. And people made that case for the Google and people again, to, in that project, regardless of where, which site you fell on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause I ultimately, in the end, I think that discussion never [00:15:00] really reached an official conclusion or closure. There was a lot of talk and this kind of, regardless of how many developers were aware of what Google was doing, their trust there has been broken and it\'s broken today. It\'s going to take a very long time for Google, I think, to come into the WordPress community and open project or not, and not be looked at with a mark of suspicion, even if the developer, and I\'m not even saying the developers involved with NAMP knew everything that was going on or what, or whatever was brought up. It\'s an excellent article by Sarah on that. And I thought it was fair and it got picked up by a wider audience. And it does address, not just Google, but you know what happens when we have companies, larger companies that are in the news because of the, you know, of antitrust or because of their worker policies or whatever, what far extent do you trust them?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing that not everybody in the [00:16:00] company has the same evil intentions, what you think are evil, but how far do you trust them when it comes to the, you know, WordPress and open source projects? And I think that\'s a good question. And I think everybody has the right to have a different answer. So I thought it was a very thought provoking article.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that was my first pick there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Even if I may, you snipe me. That was my number three pick, but I actually came at it from a different way. It was the Jeremy Keith blog post about resigning from the amp advisory committee.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Okay. That\'s another good one. Yeah. And what did you think about what stood out from you on that one?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'ll throw you a bone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: That\'s what I think I\'ve been I\'m not an eight amp. Let\'s just call it an amp because that\'s what everyone else calls it. I\'m not an amp fan in the first place. I don\'t like public content being made proprietary. And I think for Justin, all the reasons that he left are the exact reasons no one should be using amp in the first place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think it\'s bad tech for band.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: It\'s a shame too. Cause I know some people that were, you had some people [00:17:00] for and against it, but in the end that I think that article combined with Sarah\'s excellent evaluation of it. Just really it\'s hard to get a lot of positive. Again, this is my opinion.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not an opinion of anybody else. So that was my pick. I thought it was very thought provoking and it went beyond the WordPress industry. Ruba. What is your second we\'re in the second round pick? What\'s your second pick?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: So I had a different second pick, but then something happened today that made me change my second pick.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that was frost being acquired by WP engine. So the reason I had to choose this as my pick is because as a developer and as a person who use WordPress a lot and seeing all these acquisitions happen, I am wary of acquisitions. I wonder how good these bigger companies are going to be as stewards of these plugins and where are they going to take it next?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when co when plugins and smaller companies get acquired, I tend to think, oh, okay, now this is going to [00:18:00] be more profit heavy, more money-making, less contribution, less being part of the community. But then WP engine did this thing where they acquired a commercial thing and they made it open source.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it reminded me that big company, big money doesn\'t have to mean only more profits and more sales. And in fact you can have big money that brings big contributions back to the community as well. If they choose to. And it made me look at WPS. In a more positive light. So I think that was a great marketing move on their end.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: In fact, I didn\'t have a chance to absorb it a lot, but I know they refunded. Everybody bought a copy, so yeah. Which in all honesty, no, I probably that was jumped, changed the engine, but I think that\'s a Goodwill, both there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Who created frost again?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Brian Gardner</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: and Diego. That\'s it. Where does where\'s Brian work [00:19:00] now</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: at WP engine?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Where does Nick also work now</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: WP engine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: There\'s something to be said too, though, for Brian Garner has a formula down for doing this because before he had studio press, that also went to</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: WP engine. Oh, and PS. I love Brian Gardner he\'s. He\'s a local. WordPress supergroup because he\'s in the Chicago community. So that\'s amazing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you know, I don\'t think it\'s an accident that frost followed Brian to WP engine. . If you know Brian up at some other place, frost may have wound up at that other place. That\'s all I\'m saying</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Frost isn\'t even a year old or is it, I think it\'s barely a year old or,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: yeah, I I don\'t if it came out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. I thought it came out in 21. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. Okay. Well, good. That\'s another great acquisition picks. So new off the presses. So new and [00:20:00] still at time, Daniel. Let\'s see. What\'s your round two.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: Yeah, mine\'s more an editorial.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Thank goodness. So,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: so this was Paul Lacey had done rather lengthy post about his stance on WordPress, how he was going to leave in the community for a little while.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, I think he\'ll probably come back, but but it was also, you know, truly about his feeling of Gutenberg and the dichotomy between WordPress foundation and automatic and reflections on him, fishing with his father. I mean, it took you for a roller coaster and it\'s probably one of the most beautiful reads I had of the year in the WordPress space, which was really odd because usually we\'re talking about technology more than anything, and this was a little bit more human felt.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it, you know, in, you know, everyone should really take a look at it and he voices some really good concerns. You know, concerns of again, of, what\'s the role of different companies and what we\'re doing, what\'s their own Gutenberg and kind of pushing forward and how that\'s going to reflect, you know, making websites in the future.[00:21:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And how do we bring people into the fold that might be having more difficulty with adopting Gutenberg or, traditionally want to be able to use page builders more often and feel like they\'re getting neglected or pushed out of the community? Personally aside, I mean, I think page builders are here to stay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\'t think it\'s a, this or that. I think it\'s just an added additional kind of quality aspect that people can use, you know, to use an element or use you know, ocean\'s WP or something like that or oxygen. But it was a really good article and it spread like wildfire through the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you actually saw a lot of people doing blog posts or other posts that were reflecting similar things and, you know, referring back to the specific posts they\'re over on the WP minute.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Okay. Great pick. Yeah. And that\'s why we have the people we have here tonight, because I didn\'t, I w I was hoping to get diverse collection of articles and not just a name, as many acquisitions as we can in the next hour.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, but yeah, it\'s the heart of, and if it impacts you in a heart impacted a [00:22:00] lot of people emotionally, then that\'s definitely a good pick. So, Jason, what\'s your outreach around to here? Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: I\'m maybe gonna pull a Babe Ruth pointed the bleachers and call the shot that round two is going to be pretty Gutenberg heavy because my second pick is a theme dot Jason shipping with WordPress five point eight.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think this is a really a huge deal for folks. I know that you\'re kind of when it comes to custom CSS and stuff like that you can either wear in CSS or json it\'s not really necessarily the easiest switch to make. Like if you present somebody who is a little less experienced with code however I just think that the impact of this or the amount of things that it can control with blocks is going to be massive.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the next few versions of WordPress when five nine finally drops when you know, as [00:23:00] things mature. I just think that theme json really is going to make a huge impact on how themes are built, how child themes are belts, how like all of that basically</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Who\'s doing the theme. I know that more than one person is doing it, but who\'s is David. Somebody is doing the theme .Json generator. Has anybody seen that? Yep. Yeah. David, what\'s the last name I keep forgetting. Yeah. I mean, it\'s looking pretty good, remember when. We had themes and then the underscore generator came out and there was another generator whose name escapes my mind right now, but it seems once we get these generators going, things accelerate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think that\'s a really great pick because obviously theme .json is something that can be turned into a builder or tool or a companion there\'s so much you can do because Jason\'s practically human readable. That\'s the point of it. So I think that\'s, yeah, I think that\'s an excellent technological we\'ll, we\'ll look back in a couple of years and say, is it, you know, if we [00:24:00] have a thousand themes or variations, is it because of the theme .json and I would venture a guess.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s going to have a heck of a lot to do with it. So that\'s an excellent.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: And it\'s also setting itself up for good expansion in the future, too, of what the capabilities will be</p>\n\n\n\n<p>like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: So it could have been hopefully extensibility. Yeah, because it could have been that could have gone a different way and not a easily readable editable, text file kind of way either.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in fact, there\'s probably some things in Gutenberg that are, you know, that you have to know some deep knowledge on that. I wish they could just make it like that magically somehow as easy as adding a file. So. Excellent. Excellent pick. Okay, Robert, you\'re up. What\'s your round number two pick.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: I\'m going with the, I want to extend the extensibility with open verse.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welcome to the open verse. Now we\'re not adding just the code. We\'re extending all the media that comes in contact with work. And the acquisition [00:25:00] technically by automatic of CC search. I think part of the state Matt\'s state of the word is going to insanely impact what every single, you know, day-to-day user can do with audio video and who knows what else will wind up in the open verse?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Okay. So what is the difference between for our listeners and for maybe me, but our listeners? What is the difference between open verse and wordpress.org/photos?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: wordpress.org/photos will be a curated, subset of open verse. As I understand it from the state of the word and that\'ll, you know, have audio and video at some point, but let\'s not say it\'s going to be tomorrow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that\'ll be. Family-friendly the open-source friendly, the community friendly version of what open verse is because open verse will probably encapsulate a lot more content than probably wp.org can. [00:26:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Well, yeah, it\'s spot from creative comments. Right? So creative commons looks like they didn\'t have the support financially or structurally to be able to have that library automatic acquired it, brought it into the open source.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Correct. So the library technically still exists. The creative comments, it\'s the whole search engine and all the infrastructure around that, because that\'s the hard part. Right. I could have a billion photo albums that are creative commons license zero. But if you can\'t find the folder, you\'re looking for, if you\'re looking for that flower or that bird, you know, you can\'t find it unless there\'s a tool to do it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s the one that takes all the you know, the hit on performance. Yeah, just getting stuff done. So, I mean, that\'s the bigger deal at the end of the day. And I think that\'s where they were creative commons was having problems running that on a day-to-day basis. And you know, I\'m going to give automatic and frankly, Matt kudos for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, I think that really changes the conversation [00:27:00] about what open source means. Now it\'s not a geeky code thing, like GPL this GPL that now it\'s like, oh, I can put up a website and I can click the photos button and I\'m not going to get sued for, you know, this picture of a walrus.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: Keep in mind that creative con open verse still has non CC zero images as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s the difference between slash photos and open verse because the one on photos will only have</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: CTCs. Exactly. Thanks so much Aruba. Yup. Yup. I mean, that\'s a huge difference. So yeah, on the open verse side, Deal with the licensing voodoo, whereas photos that\'s done, you can use it. Commercial pers personal edit, no attribution, whatever.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. You can do whatever you want with it. So it\'s become the free version of of Getty for all intensive purposes. Oh,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: and we all know how the, how another site that rhymes with bee splash started that. And Matt likes to, [00:28:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: the good part is it\'s not being called WP slash</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Unsplash.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: I trust Matt and automatic with what he said, state of the word, you know, about making sure open is open</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: and automatic had to be involved because they\'re the ones with the money in the infrastructure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So automated the actual acquisition. And I think they had to, because it\'s not, it can\'t be just mad. It has to be in it. It needs to be a company privately.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Well, there is a WordPress foundation, but they don\'t have the money to acquire anything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Then you\'re starting to get into, there\'s probably reasons why legally and why it did, why I did what I had to do, but I\'m just glad it\'s back the word they just said it was contributing it back to the, you know, they use the words contributing back to the open source project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, for all intents and purposes, I like you, I trust Matt and I trust them that the fact is they\'re not trying to make a buck off of this. They\'re not trying to take what Getty did with that certain website and turn it into something it wasn\'t originally intended for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Oh no, everyone\'s going to make a buck out of this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the best part about of [00:29:00] even photos. It\'s the fact that any one can integrate this. It\'s Matt said it stated the word. It is open. It\'s an open API. Wix can use this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Careful. We can only say that three times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: What if I use the alternative, if I say Squarespace and Weebly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh crap. There, it goes two more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, but you\'re right. Anybody can use, and they are the ones, but it\'s not it\'s like creative commons, like you said, they can do anything with it. They\'re just ones to maintaining the database. So I can\'t wait to see what like with apple, I can\'t wait to see what your, what you\'ll do with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I just feel the only thing I don\'t like about open versus that it sounds like something else, but Matt Mullenweg thought of the name probably before mark Zuckerberg did announced it anyway.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So anyway, Leslie let\'s get to your number two pick. We\'ve got some great choices here. I have you been sniped.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: I have not I feel like I actually picked my picks to avoid being sniped. So I hope</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: your\'e so [00:30:00] smug, I like that, it\'s going to be easier to take you down next round.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: So my next pick is a podcast. It\'s called the founder\'s field guide and they interview met Mellon wig. The host is Patrick O\'Shaughnessy. And it\'s it\'s just I\'m not sure how many, sorry. I\'m like flipping between zoom and the sites. I don\'t know if any of you listen to the podcast, but it\'s super cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it talks. So, basically it\'s an hour long interview and we learn about Matt\'s kind of approach to WordPress. And, you know, he\'s talked a lot about this in the past, but it was nice to just kind of hear it in one hour long podcast. He talks about one day to work on WordPress for the rest of his life and his approach to making WordPress the open source platform or operating platform that also happens to be open source for the web and how he sees, you know, kind of the law [00:31:00] of platforms being.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a company that\'s building a platform, you can only profit 5% off of the platform being built. And that\'s kind of like a good gauge of a thriving platform. So he uses Microsoft as an example, like he says that Microsoft benefits 5% and the platform that they built, you know, everyone else that builds on top of it gets the 95% yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Profit. And I thought that was a really cool approach. I never heard him talk about that before and that, and you know, it really kind of expands your mind in terms of what he thinks is possible and what he wants, you know, like it\'s not going to be a cash grab, you know, at the end of the day, which and that kind of, I guess, leads into what he\'s doing with open verse and what we just talked about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It really, you know, Makes you feel like you can trust the future of WordPress because he\'s trying to build it towards this 5%. I\'m trying not to like [00:32:00] add into many different you know, the salsas as well, because then I\'m going to accidentally snake other people. But you know, he\'s always talking about avoiding the tragedy of the comments and he\'s always talking about Firefox for the future and how you know, he wants more people to contribute.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think understanding that this is kind of where he\'s coming from, like wanting work has to be a platform I want to only ever have take 5% of the profit of the platform. I think that\'s like, yeah, just like a really good once you understand that you can make a lot of business decisions from there and be comfortable in those decisions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Didn\'t he say and say to the word that ratio is that 5% ratio is how five of the future was five. I got that. I- if we accidentally sniped someone\'s specific article on that specific mention of the ratio, then I guess we\'ve done that. But, there\'s, if somebody still has something to share for five for the future I\'ll I\'ll hear it, but that\'s yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that\'s a great pick two and I haven\'t [00:33:00] had a chance to listen to the podcast, man. To do now, if everybody\'s comfortable with it, I\'d like to go through one more quick round, which means share your pick and maybe give a minute explanation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then once we go through that, we\'re basically we\'re basically at that point going to just share real quickly in a fourth round, just basically throwing out. At that point, you don\'t need to explain them. They were just going to blow through it. So we\'re going ever perpetually faster toward the singularity rubella.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\'re up next? What is, what quick now is your third and third pick and real quick, why?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: Oh, okay. This is not from a news place, but it\'s something that made a really big impact on me. I\'m going to post this. It\'s a Twitter thread by Nicole Sullivan, where she\'s talking about how she doesn\'t want to be erased when talking about a utility classes and you know, tailwind, for example, is like a library of utility classes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it made me think about in our own community and we\'re press who we choose to [00:34:00] amplify who are the kinds of people that we choose to listen to and share more from and how that impacts. What we understand about the kind of work everyone\'s doing. So for example, Nicole is talking about this because people were asking, Hey, who started this whole trend?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And people are playing to all these men. And it\'s like, hi, I was doing this before the men, but nobody went, nobody\'s sharing that because lots of people chose to amplify the men and not the women doesn\'t mean the women aren\'t doing good work. It means that they\'re just not being amplified. It made me think a lot about like, there was a thread also on Twitter about, Hey, who are all the people like involved in all of these acquisitions?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\'t remember who put out this post Leslie matting but it was like all men. It\'s like, you know, there\'s women involved in this situation too. Let\'s talk about and be more mindful of who we\'re thinking of and who we\'re involving and sharing about. And that\'s you know, it\'s a topic close to [00:35:00] heart.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: So two things first you gave out a Twitter thread. I did not think of that. I\'m we\'re going to go for it. It\'s it\'s I think Twitter is news it\'s okay. Twitter is news. And second of all, I forgot about me. I skipped myself. So real quick, remember I was at the world with that,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Dave. We\'re all good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yes. But like my wife, you still have to endure me so real quick.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m just going backwards a little bit. I actually have a brand new pick that actually has been ma it\'s only been online since December 21st. So it\'s only been online for two days and it actually took an acquisition. I had an acquisition pick ready, but it\'s moved it down in terms of it\'s. It\'s a thought piece.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s actually, I think it\'s a thought piece. Cause I don\'t he did talk with Matt, but it\'s not an interview. It is from protocol written by David Pierce called, and this has a click baity title, but it\'s the only thing that I didn\'t like about the article. It was. Can Matt Mullenweg [00:36:00] save the internet?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think it\'s a really catchy I can see now probably the more I get into it, like sometimes writers don\'t get to pick their titles. Sometimes the editors or whatever\'s do. I thought it was a little click baity. Dan David responded by Twitter. He says, yeah, that\'s I, you know, I\'ll take that judgment then that\'s fine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as you go through that, this is not just another profile on Matt Mullenweg. At least I don\'t think so. The more I get into it, it is about, it does start in the beginnings where Matt was a young guy, they have a photo of him. He did upgrade parties instead of whatever kids his age were doing at that time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And which I thought was really cool, but it really kind of lays the impression that, you know, we\'re in this phase right now of such closed walled gardens from Google, from Apple, from Microsoft, from all the big players, right. And even the stuff that is coming up front of all the web three technologies and the promises of that being open and ownership, there\'s still some controversy in that regarding how that\'s going.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\'t, you know, once you realize [00:37:00] that automatic has been buying, basically one of everything it\'s been acquiring it, I\'m going to forget some names here because I\'m being put on. I didn\'t put, I put myself on the spot, but it\'s acquired that journal app. It is a quiet. Yep. It has. We talked about already how the creative comments things was basically acquired slowly, but surely it seems like Matt through automatic is acquiring one, like one piece of something that should always remain open source from various different kinds of categories.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m trying to remember, there\'s an analytics. If you go to poststatus.com/acquisition, she could probably just look at the automatic parsley. Yeah. So that\'s an acquisition type of fleet. So it looks like he, if you look at it and this article mentions that, but it hides it in like a history and talks about Matt and how he uses WordPress and how he will continue to use WordPress for his full-time career, or at least that\'s how he hopes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But once you start reading this, you begin to realize what, and I [00:38:00] think Matt\'s state of the word kind of hinted that more this year than any other year, In terms of where WordPress is like Gutenberg, he says going to be bigger than he considers Gutenberg bigger than WordPress. Not just because it\'s a product, but because of the openness at other people can use it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg in of itself is in my mind. Now I\'m thinking of it more like a parsley or more day one is a day one, the app I\'m thinking of, it\'s another piece of this family of products that kind of cover what you would want to maintain an open presence on the web. Maybe social network is one thing that it hasn\'t been touched yet maybe, but I think maybe wordpress.org could be that too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who knows? But if you, so anyway, that was my more lengthier number to pick. I think that if you give it a good and fair read sometimes articles really put Matt on a pedestal in terms of things. But I think if you take a step back and realize the and tumbler too. Yes. Somebody mentioned tumbler.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. That\'s a big one too. And we may not see all of the pieces right away, but once you read this and appreciate the acquisitions automatic [00:39:00] has been doing, I think it starts to give you at least a little bit of a different perspective. And that\'s why I liked it. It wasn\'t just another interview piece about Matt.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was really well done. So anyway, that was my number two, epic. Sorry I got skipped. Daniel, what\'s your quickie number three? Oh, God, don\'t get it. Don\'t take that out of context either. All right, thanks. Sorry, go ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: I gotta tell you, you\'re making me nervous. I\'m sweating bullets over here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause he just started rattling off all the different acquisitions. Oh no, we got a good one. I think I got a good one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: You can mention some</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: pocket casts being acquired by automatic. To me, this was a pretty big one. This was actually on the nine to five Mac blog slash easing. That\'s just, you know, podcasts is a great podcast application kind of a competitor to apple podcasts and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, you know, that\'s literally what I listen to on my podcast, but but they have a nice web interface to which most don\'t have. And so that\'s really, you know, been a key thing for me, being able to kind of listen to those while I\'m working and during the day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Okay. Yeah. And that\'s another thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, [00:40:00] like you said, that\'s just adding to all these, like the article I was previously talking about. Yeah. That even adds even more to it. Robert, which. At this point,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Mr. Cassper is ahead of me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, I\'m sorry. I\'m sorry. Jason, do you switched zoom? I had my zoom windows set appropriately. Go ahead, sir. I mean,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: I had to mute my video for a second to get my standout and on my apple watch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I\'m very sorry. Oh God, we\'re going through hell right now, sir, but what\'s your quickie?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: So yeah the quick one I have is Google\'s flock and the federated learning of cohorts. Yeah. So, flock was a fairly large thing back in. I wanna say April may that had the electronic frontier foundation up in arms, a lot of privacy advocates up in arms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically like we\'re replacing cookies with this like federated learning cohorts. There\'ve been a few other proposals as well. But [00:41:00] the interesting and the WordPress spin on this is that there was a post up on the make blog about basically like, Hey, let\'s treat flock. Like it\'s a security concern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We, we don\'t want people who visit our sites to be tracked. So, it seems like Google took its foot off the gas a little bit in part because of large projects like WordPress saying, Hey, hold</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: up. Yeah. And WordPress, I mean, that decision is not made by one person. Right. So Google would have, or at least Google views that as a decision made by a committee or a party or the project or the contributors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\'s kind of hard to predict if that will go through. It\'s kind of hard to push that through. Right. So, yeah, I think that\'s an XII I\'ve actually forgotten about that. I forgotten about flock. How can I forget such an acronym? It was a long year it\'s. Okay, man. I had some flock last night with my chicken was delicious, but to Google\'s flux just [00:42:00] doesn\'t need to go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert, what is your, what\'s your quickie three.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Gosh. I\'m so like jealous of Jason\'s pick for flock. I even wrote about this in April and I, how did I miss that one? I called it flock. Is cash a centralized analytics of segmented humans because that\'s really what it was. It was just another, no, I gotta write that</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: My number three is. It\'s technically not a WordPress thing. Oh, that\'s a loud, I\'m gonna, you know, upset the apple cart. I want to talk about the American airlines lawsuit of open source matters and an associated hosting company open source matters is the holding company for JeWella. As we know from the state of the word, the second largest, and really the only other top five content management system [00:43:00] you know, that\'s being really utilized out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>American airlines ha earlier this year, sued open source matters because someone slash someone, created a fishing site with a joomla.com name. Because that was being light. You know, it gets an all into all that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Am I drawing a blank on this? Oh my goodness.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Oh, that\'s, you know, draw, it happens, you know, the WordPress space, but</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: my medication, it\'s not a hundred percent,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: but this is a big deal actually, because this will impact how, you know, I think at the end of the day, what happens when you license a domain name to a third party to utilize for revenue or whatever, and this is where this comes to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, this happened the lawsuit was announced in August of this year, but actually I think some of the nitty-gritty was happening much earlier.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Wow. That\'s an, oh, well, I\'ll be reading this right [00:44:00] afterwards. This is news. If I saw this man, I went right by it. This is pretty, very good pick. Very good pick.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Well, I\'ll be doing a deep dive of it next week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Okay. Well, come up for air. Let me know when you come up for air, let\'s save Leslie. You\'re at the bottom of the three here bef before me anyway, what\'s your third quickie. I got to stop saying that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: My pick is broadly the introduction of the F S E outreach program that started this year. I think it was talked about last year, but it started for reals this year. And yeah, and McCarthy\'s been doing an amazing job. One of the things that I find constantly interesting and maybe a tiny bit irritating is how many millions of people use WordPress, but like, think of WordPress as something that happens to them, like</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: a traffic accident?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: Like, you know, like when Gutenberg comes up and they\'re like, oh, I hit it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, this [00:45:00] sucks and all that. Right. But like it\'s open source so everyone can have their say even, I mean, I get the people who have their essay and then get ignored. But the people who just kind of sit back and just wait for Gutenberg to happen to them or for stuff to happen to them. I\'m not such a fan of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I like the FSE outreach program because it kind of goes out and tries to get people involved. It does a much better job at communicating the things that are happening next. It encourages people to do testing, like the amount of times I\'ve seen and kind of reach out to different people in different platforms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just trying to get someone, anyone to come and test the next video. This is like, I don\'t ever want to do her job. And I\'m always constantly surprised by how few people come and help tests. I think 10, definitely under 20 people is the kind of typical number which is, [00:46:00] it said right. So, so hopefully, you know, me talking about this gets more people interested in going to do it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah it\'s a cool thing. I like Alex seeing the livestream she\'s been doing and like, seeing it, like she puts out the first time I tried to do on the tests following all the instructions was it was tough. Like I realized it wasn\'t actually that easy to test. And I think like that\'s gotten better over time as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yeah, so it\'s just kind of a cool project that I hope to see it continue next year as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Great. Well, I agree. I, like I said, I\'d like to see more testing as well. So my third quickie pick is actually an acquisition one. Very quick. It was basically Awesome Motive acquired</p>\n\n\n\n<p>sorry, dribble. I\'m sorry. Do a blank. I wanted to make sure I got this right. It got easy digital downloads some out of acquired WP, simple pay affiliate WP. And it basically grabbed all those assets and I\'m dropping the actual article is from DVB beginner, but there\'s also another article. A few there\'s few people covered this as well, but [00:47:00] I thought it was just if I had to pick one acquisition, I think this was the biggest one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think Sand Hills development, I know was another with bread not on Pippin, sorry. With Pippin basically short term retiring and or another old school, one there all of those products going to automotive I thought was probably the biggest shift. If I had to pick one acquisition that had a big shift, that would be definitely in my top three.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Somebody already picked one and somebody probably will also pick the other one I have in mind too. So, yeah, a lot of products underneath one, one company. I thought that was significant on multiple levels, which I won\'t have time to go into. So that was my third round pick. Now comes our last round, which has been called by other podcasts and I\'ll stick with it and see if it sticks for our first round here, it\'s called the, bring out your dead round, where we are not going to give any explanations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just simply read what you have left and let us know if anybody, if including, if you got sniped by anybody else, if you haven\'t mentioned already Ruba, what have you got left [00:48:00] real quick listed out for us.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: I got a snipe when you talked about Pippin retiring. The other thing I had was MailChimp\'s sail and the public draft release of cascade layers, which is going to be really big in CSS.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gravity forms 2.5 release, which was, and ECF being acquired by delicious brains and the element tours, pricing update.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, yeah, you got lots of good ones in there. I can\'t pick just one to critique on Daniel. What is your-</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: element or cloud or whatever they\'re calling it today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: Let\'s see. I got sniped on the protocol article about Matt. Also got sniped on the uh amped thing there. The ones I had left were let me just bring it up. Yeah. Oh, I got snapped on the frost one too. That\'s right. And the man I got,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: you got sniped a lot for being somebody who was number two on the list.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: I do have a good one here though, which was our future together at post status, which was coordinator\'s post about taking over post status. And I had just joined Post Status, I think maybe a month before that. [00:49:00] And so that was a pretty transitional thing for me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Right. Pretty good. Yeah. That obviously had impact for me for me as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That seemed like so long ago, but a yes, at the beginning of this year, Brian Cross guard was still owner of Post Status. So, Jason, I have, I think you\'re up next.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: That\'s correct. Yeah. So, let\'s just get through my small handful of other articles automatic acquiring frontier. And having their founders working full-time on Gutenberg, like, Hey fantasy, like, you know, you\'re a cool looking project, but get out of here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We need you for Gutenberg.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. They gave up their rest. They gave up what they were working on to the open source community, which basically means this is your problem then.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Yeah. It dead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Well, I\'m not going to say dead. Well, I mean, they gave it up to the open source community. It\'s kind of like leaving food out for the bears.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like, just don\'t look back and you\'ll just pretend the bears had a. [00:50:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: Well, I guess to keep in the theme with the, bring out your dead it\'s, I\'m not dead yet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: It\'s just a fresh of stewards and they\'re gone and there\'s no transitioning team. It\'s dead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: So, also dropping support for internet Explorer 11 that happened this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wow. Yeah. Out of self-interest WP, watercooler turned nine years old this year. 400 episodes. You know, we\'ve been at it for awhile. I came along within the past, like four or five years. So I\'ve only been a row along for part of that ride, but you know, it\'s just you run into a lot of WordPress podcasts that don\'t stick around that maybe only put out like 10 or 20 episodes</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: or 300 episodes is only that much, but yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: And the last one, a weird pick Matt Mullenweg backing open insulin open source insulin back in July. And he kind of, put his money behind [00:51:00] that. And I think that is, I mean, it\'s not necessarily a WordPress thing for the people who are in the WordPress community affected by type one diabetes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s a huge thing. But just the fact that he did that I thought was super cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. I think I remember hearing about that, but yeah I, it just, so went along with Matt personality and his view of the open web, that it wasn\'t a surprise when I heard about it, even if it wasn\'t WordPress related, but it is so nice to hear something when it comes to man, and it\'s not WordPress related because sometimes that\'s rare when it comes to our radar.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert bring out your dead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: I\'m going to lead with open source is broken by Christine. Daughdrill this, I liken the shaking the up and down nods of approval on this one. It I\'ve been in the open source space for almost 20 years. And I know that open [00:52:00] source contributors are treated less than dirt until something completely explodes, cough log for J.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then the folks all like four of them who are supporting this thing for free get yelled at for destroying the internet for like three days. And that\'s ridiculous. What is the, you know, the mindset of, you know, folks who have worked their tails off to make this stuff. And yeah, it\'s their fault because no one wants to pay them to make sure that, you know, there\'s, you know, syntax error somewhere keeps running.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. So look at it, look at our lives, everyone here, certainly on this calls. And certainly everyone listening to this is wholly dependent on a million billion pieces of code written by [00:53:00] folks who did it for fun for dinner, for, you know, testing the bounds of tech trying to solve a bigger puzzle, WordPress Linux, Apache, DNS, every, I mean, we could go on and on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the support for these communities is crap and yeah, that, you know, that\'s going to be. Whether it\'s the it\'s a story that no one cares about because if they cared about they\'d already paying into it. So yeah. Support your open source project. Yeah, I like it. Cause it runs every minute of your day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I got, when I tweeted something, once it was about like a company saying we have, we make tons of money off open source. We linked to support the open source community and the open source community says pay us. And the company says, but not like that. I like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Yeah. I mean that, that\'s the problem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, very good. We\'ll just, I\'ll put a pour one out for the open source contributors tonight, ladies and gentlemen, [00:54:00] as we move to our final. Leslie, what\'s your bring out your deads or mostly dead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: So I\'m going to piggyback on what Robert just talked about. So one of my picks is Nadia. I\'m going to pronounce her last name, wrong her book called working in public, the making and maintenance of open source software.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that might have come out last year, but let\'s pretend the chemo this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. So it\'s kind of, the same as what Robert talked about. It looks into open source, how it\'s all structured, the, you know, tiny bits of code that, that run so much of our platforms today. And interestingly, it talks also about the communities that maintain it and how different open source projects have different, have evolved to have different styles.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So for example, some. Some [00:55:00] maintainers like to be contacted on Twitter, for example, and others such as WordPress express, the city don\'t ever contact us on Twitter because that\'s not how we\'re able to communicate. And it just talks to about the size and the scale and the scope of open source projects and how they\'re all so different.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it, it kind of actually sent us around, get hub and talks also about how much get hub has changed, how open source is run and operated any team these days. So yeah, a really good book. How do you recommend it? So that\'s one of my picks and I\'d quickly just go through the other two. The next one is Wix.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: The second one here, second mention. The</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: WP Tevin article title is &#8220;Wix takes a jab at WordPress with bewildering new marketing campaign,&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I got you. Snake me, sniped him. One of my, when my, my, one of my dead ones here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: Yeah. So wix going taking a snipe at [00:56:00] WordPress. It\'s those army headphones though in know a bunch of people who\'ve got them and we were just really confused.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the last pick that I had was the white house. So I\'m not American, but the white house.gov website being rebuilt in like crazy short amount of time maybe a month and completely rebuilt going from Jupiter back to WordPress and being built in Gutenberg, which I thought was really cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, those are my picks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yeah. And Helen actually gave a pretty good presentation of how all that went down during the word camp Europe know WordCamp US a couple of months ago she gave the full story. Well, as much as she can reveal, and the fact that they turned it around that fast was mind-boggling. That was also a snipe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You, you pretty much slept the rest of my dad. Leslie there I had white house runs on WordPress. I also had things like proposed WordPress performance team gets Greenlight that was also taken I had the Wix one as [00:57:00] well, the marketing campaign. How could you forget that? I think the only one I have left that wasn\'t touched by anybody here is the WordPress economy drives more than half a trillion revenue, which was a report reported, or it was a report authored by WP engine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And since our WordPress market share Alexa is being not the Alexa the device, but Alexa company, they supply the numbers for w three texts, market share numbers, which is where we get all of our 43%, 40%, were a little over 43% right now that shuts down in may. So if that shuts down, our ability for that market share number is going to be, I don\'t know if anything will take its place, but in my opinion, relying on the market share number, especially when it\'s going to stop.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually at some point it\'s not a good way to, it\'s not a good, real quick way to tell WordPress is a success in terms of growth, in terms of all of this, we ha we relied on that number because of as easy. And, but I think what we should start doing now is looking at other places [00:58:00] to determine the strength of a WordPress the community and all of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And one of it is money. I thought this article really kind of, it was the first time I\'ve think I\'ve seen half a trillion in revenue in terms of the entire WordPress space, not just somebody like Automattic is we\'re 7.4. Or some which also I think was news this year. So I thought that was a pretty critical article that other people now can start to build off of and, or add to their collection of how they can tell how the WordPress ecosystem is moving along because market share, it was kind of a poor metric to begin with.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\'s, you know, the closer you get, the higher you go up, whether we\'re presses growth slows or not in terms of market share, it\'s kind of like the iPhone market share doubled every year. You know, I phoned for so more than all the I-phones previous years put together iPhone five, the same thing, but eventually that iPhone market share slowed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\'s still making record profits. It\'s still doing all of these wonderful things today. And I think that\'s where the WordPress economy [00:59:00] is going to be. You won\'t see that market share number, go up, even if we have a market share number, but you\'re going to see all these other factors. And that\'s why I think the.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Article from WP engine is a good article to start thinking like that. Well, that was fantastic. Thank you everybody. I I think we had a very wonderful, diverse set. Some surprises, some things I never even read before. Let me see if I can look in slack right now. This may be Barra, edit something out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay. So if you can go ahead right now and just paste the, I only need the top three. I\'ll get the others later. If you haven\'t put your top three in slack, just all you need to do is just drop the link. I\'ll be able to figure it out from there. And then what I\'ll do is I\'ll go through everyone, read it off, and then we\'ll be done.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since I\'m editing this part out anyway, and I\'m waiting for Jason and Daniel, you put it in there. So we\'re rating waiting on Robert. Leslie. Ruba needs to just update slack real quick. This podcast episode will probably be out next [01:00:00] week. It\'s hard to say near the end of the year, cause we have a lot of end of year stuff going on, but I\'ll let you know about that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I need a picture from every one of you at some point in the next couple of days to put in graphics for promotion for this. And I\'ll try to keep you updated in terms of anything else I might need from you. But I think that\'s basically it because we should have all the links in slack. I can order them and all of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If this goes well, we were hoping to get a second episode out of this with some other people who couldn\'t make it for this time zone too, but you are the first congratulations, no longer a draft versions, as they say, well, I should probably shouldn\'t use that word. Okay. Strike it. New word, newbs noobs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There we go. This is why I have, this is why I have producers. They have poo-pooed my ideas so often. And I didn\'t really, I didn\'t say poopoo in the beginning, but they told me to say that word instead. I\'m calling</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Corey right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Oh, you can come, please. It probably thinks of</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: you. Oh, also too. If you want to spice [01:01:00] up the podcast, you should throw in some more combat stuff like bonus round</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: finish. Well, that\'s why you, we should deal with the end. We should just finish it. Alright. Let\'s see what we got. All right. Jeff is still alive that he\'s only in slack. We should\'ve just brought him on. He could have just listened. All right. So here we go. Running through the top three here. Ruba.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours is up there we go. Yours was the WordPress 5.9 release. It was frost being acquired and made open source and stubborn Nella utilities classes, Twitter thread. That was your three picks. Excellent picks. Daniel, your picks were you w the WP user avatar tobacco with profile press.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was how Gutenberg has divided WordPress. That\'s what the article was titled. Remind me of the author again on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Let</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: me see. I</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: don\'t remember. It\'s a long night. I\'ll edit this. Hopefully [01:02:00] don\'t worry. It\'s from the WP minute. I\'m just remembering who policy. Okay. Thank you very much. He deserves the credit and then finally podcast app podcast acquired by automatic again, another great one of those. Acquisitions that you may not have thought of at first in 2021, but I think definitely fits into a grand scheme of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\'s see Jason, your top three, the WordPress performance team. That was an excellent one. The theme digests on another great one with 5.8 and Google\'s flock and WordPress they\'re pretty good. Solid picks. Robert yours were the Yoast joins the new phone, digital acquisition, the open verse announcement and the American airlines, Susan sues online publisher and host over fake website involving Joomla, which is something I\'ll be reading right after this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Leslie you\'re top three was the marketing machine blog post from the get elliptics.com. It was the the article about the past, the present of the future with Matt mullenweg\'s. And that was from my [01:03:00] podcast. Joined Colossus that the name of the podcast, or that\'s at least the URL where we\'re pointing out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then your last pick was the waking of, excuse me, working in public, the making in maintenance of open source software. I won\'t try to pronounce the author\'s name, but it is a book on amazon.com published in August of 2020. I thought that was a very excellent pick as well on our first book pick. So,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: and also the FSC outreach program.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yes. And that too, I don\'t know. I can\'t remember if that was in your quickies or your deads definitely need to be renamed. My, my final three or my big three was the amp was, has a rapidly damaged publisher\'s trust. And half of the credit goes to the subject matter. Half of it goes to Sarah Gooding\'s writing on that piece.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ken saved the internet from the David from the protocol. Article written by David Pierce and the acquisition of automotives acquisition of easy digital downloads, [01:04:00] WP, simple pay affiliate WP, and all of that stuff from Sandhills development as well. I think that was my one acquisition pick, which I I\'m surprised nobody got to Pagely, but that\'s fine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\'ll they? I managed</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: chat, but it\'s just, you know, it happened so recently. And there\'s just so many other things that</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I have to say it once, because it\'ll show up in the transcript. It\'ll just make everybody feel good. Yeah. We\'ve only said Wix twice. Oh, crap.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: Well, let\'s say go daddy mode. What happens when you say GoDaddy three times?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I get a coupon in the, in my email for free months. I was thinking, so why do so ever? I know what I do on the first of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: It\'s like a Sinatra. I\'m going to give him a shout out for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: It should, he should. It\'s a lots of companies did a lot of hard work this year. I will. So I want to thank my panelists and I\'m going to go on the order of which they were delivered.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And please let me know as you\'re closing off here, where people can find you on the internet, let\'s start with Aurooba.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aurooba Ahmed: I\'m a [01:05:00] Aurooba.com or twitter.com/aurooba, Aurooba. Thanks for having me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: No, thank you for having us. I think you were one of the first people that said yes. It\'s very rare. Yes. When it comes to this podcast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. At least anyway Daniel where people can find you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Schutzsmith: Yeah. Danielschutzsmith.com. You know, I do a lot of different projects, but really just find me on Twitter. So it\'s S C H U T Z S M I T H.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Great. And Jason Cosper, where can we find you? Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Cosper: You can find me at Jason.Cosper.ME or on Twitter at B as in boy, O G as in girl, a H</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: like, Ooh.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, it sounds like I, yeah, something I should yell in the middle of the Costco\'s and see what happens. Robert trying</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: to spell Jason\'s Twitter handle. Hold on. I\'ll be there. I\'ll be back in a minute. When I figure out all</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: the letters well, admire your a mustache in the meantime. [01:06:00] Go ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: You can always reach me somewhere at cloudways.com but on Twitter at Robert Jacobi spelled like it\'s sounds except it\'s an I at the end and Robertjacobi.com.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, there\'s Jason, you know, we\'ve got triple J who\'s got the Jacoby with the.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yes. Yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert Jacobi: It\'s really supposed to be an eye.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: I\'m just telling you, we don\'t want to get you too mixed up. That\'s right. Definitely not different facial hair at the very least. And finally, Leslie, my darling, Leslie, where can people find you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim: You can find me on Twitter. I\'m there too much. I\'m only second to you. And your means stated you can find me on Twitter at lesley_pizza, L E S L E Y underscore pizza. And you can find my plugin at newsletters new.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bisset: Yes, that\'s right. And if you need a newsletter and a plugin form, put her on the list and definitely I [01:07:00] want to thank you all for coming this evening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was the first time we did this first time I\'ve done this. I think it went really well. I, we there\'s a lot of people doing into the year roundups. In about two weeks, you\'ll see everybody doing the predictions for 2020 twos. That\'s your, if I\'ll be able to do anything differently there, but I wanted to close out the year what our best picks were in a format.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was we\'ll show these off on post status.com as our, as kind of like our teams, you know, this is, these are the picks that represent us and what we thought. And I think we got a really great mixture. Thank you for not turning this into acquisition. Allie, really appreciate that. I probably will be our invite by five VCs on next time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, you know, I\'ll just sit here and just, you know, watch Seinfeld or something while they rattle off all their acquisition acquisitional hires. But thank you very much for coming. And I hope you guys have a good night and I wait a minute. Let\'s back up. Let me re edit that. I hope all you people have a good [01:08:00] night.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right. Thank you.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 30 Dec 2021 17:30:17 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Olivia Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:42:\"WordPress Foundation: Looking back at 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:41:\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/?p=206345\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/looking-back-at-2021/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6647:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">As 2021 is coming to an end, it is time to look back at the year that was. 2021 was a challenging year for the world due to the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite all the challenges, the WordPress Foundation was able to make excellent progress in its mission of educating the public about open source software and serving the public good &#8211; thanks to our global team of spirited volunteers and contributors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to find out about our various programs in 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"do-action-charity-hackathons\">do_action charity hackathons</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of our focuses this year was to <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/do_action-hackathons-and-open-source-workshops-in-2021/\">revamp our do_action program</a>. Thanks to our hard work, do_action organizers now have a dedicated <code>location@doaction.org</code> email ID powered by Google Workspace for Non profits, which will help them in their initiatives. We also kick-started discussions to organize a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/09/01/proposal-centralized-global-do_action-charity-hackathons/\">global do_action charity hackathon held fully online</a>, and we are all set to execute this idea in 2022. We also announced <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/announcement-in-person-do_action-hackathons-are-back/\">the return of in-person do_action hackathons</a> after nearly 18 months of online events!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had two do_action charity hackathons planned this year: <a href=\"https://doaction.org/event/karnataka-2021/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">do_action Karnataka </a>and <a href=\"https://doaction.org/event/nigeria-2021/\">do_action Nigeria</a>. do_action Karnataka was held in August 2021, where 12 volunteers worked hand-in-hand to create websites for three non profits. You can read more about the event here: </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/do_action-karnataka-2021-a-report/\">do_action Karnataka 2021: A report</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>While <a href=\"https://doaction.org/event/nigeria-2021/\">do_action Nigeria had to be canceled</a> due to unforeseen circumstances, the local WordPress community &#8211; led by WordPress Community Deputy <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mariaojob\">Mary Job</a>, is doing a phenomenal job on the ground by uplifting women and children <a href=\"https://uwani.org/\">through their own charitable initiatives</a> using WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"introduction-to-open-source-workshops\">Introduction to Open source workshops</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2020/open-source-workshops-november-2020-report/\">brought back</a> our <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2018/call-for-organizers-introduction-to-open-source-workshops-for-2018/\">Introduction to Open source workshops</a> as a way to re-engage the community and to reinforce our core mission of promoting open source software to the community. At the start of this year, we <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/do_action-hackathons-and-open-source-workshops-in-2021/\">announced our plans to continue these workshops in 2021</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of writing this post, we have had 11 Global Introduction to Open source workshops, which have had a total of 233 RSVPs so far. We also have our <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/282952546/\">final Introduction to Open source workshop</a> for the year scheduled for tomorrow (December 31) as well!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"learn-wordpress\">Learn WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn WordPress (<a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org\">learn.wordpress.org</a>) &#8211; a cross-team initiative led by the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/\">Make WordPress Training team</a> was launched in December 2020. The initiative serves to democratize and support WordPress learning by providing high-quality WordPress learning content in different formats. At the time of publishing this post, the platform had published the following content in 2021 alone:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>39 <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshops/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">video workshops</a></li><li>2 new text/video based <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/courses/\">courses</a></li><li>20 <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plans/\">lesson plans</a></li><li>134 <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/\">social learning spaces</a></li><li>4367 RSVPs for <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/\">social learning spaces</a>. </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The contributor teams working on this project have some amazing plans for the project, and the WordPress Foundation will continue to support their work in the best way possible. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Several individuals contributed generously to the WordPress foundation this year. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/donors/\">all our donors</a> who supported us in sustaining the foundation this year. Special mention to the following individuals who went above and beyond in supporting us in 2021:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h3 id=\"sustainer-1000-per-year\">Sustainer &#8211; $1000 per year</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>10up</li><li>Human Made</li><li>Jetpack</li><li>Matt Mullenweg</li><li>Multidots, Inc</li><li>Sujay Pawar</li><li>Wordfence</li><li>InMotion Hosting</li></ul>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h3 id=\"sustainer-200-per-year\">Sustainer &#8211; $200 per year</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Donavon Guyot</li><li>Eric Kuznacic</li><li>Ellen and Karl Olinger</li><li>Pippin Williamson</li><li>W4</li><li>René Hermenau / WP Staging</li></ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress Foundation has several ambitious plans for 2022, none of which would be possible without your help. If you would like to support the WordPress Foundation and contribute to our mission of serving the public good and educating the public about open source software, please consider donating to the WordPress Foundation. Your donation goes a long way in keeping the web open. Please use the link below to donate. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/\">Donate</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for your continued support of the WordPress Foundation. Here&#8217;s wishing you all an excellent holiday season and a happy 2022!</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 30 Dec 2021 12:48:59 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Hari Shanker\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"WPTavern: A Throwback to the Past: Retro Winamp Block\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=127752\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:149:\"https://wptavern.com/a-throwback-to-the-past-retro-winamp-block?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-throwback-to-the-past-retro-winamp-block\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4112:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In mid-November, I happened upon a block plugin called <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/retro-winamp-block/\">Retro Winamp Block</a>. As many of our readers know, I am always on the lookout for those WordPress extensions that remind me of the era when I first started using computers and exploring the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin seemed to fit the bill. It had &#8220;retro&#8221; in the title, so it had already piqued my interest without even installing it. It had been years since I used Winamp. The media player was first released in 1997 for Microsoft Windows and grew in popularity through the early 2000s. By the time I arrived on the scene, it had already built a massive user base. It was the best option available for creating music playlists at the time, and it was skinnable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winamp was popular back when the world wide web felt more alive. I still look upon it as the golden era of user creation and the blossoming of fandom. Where else could you find a collection of Brad Pitt skins for your computer&#8217;s media player? Or, <em>One Piece</em>? Even <em>Super Mario</em>?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did not hesitate to install this throwback plugin. Unfortunately, it errored out whenever I attempted to add an audio file. So, I set it aside with a note to look at it down the road.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few weeks later, I read WordPress lead developer Helen Hou-Sandí&#8217;s <a href=\"https://helen.blog/2021/12/its-so-hard-to-say-goodbye-to-yesterday/\">goodbye announcement to 10up</a>, the company she had been with for a decade. With the help of Mel Choyce, co-workers Jeff Paul, Darin Kotter, and Tung Du created the Retro Winamp Block in her honor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I checked back in on the plugin. There was an update, and the change log noted a fix for the error I had encountered. In minutes, I was able to once again experience the glory of one of the first media players I had used on my old Gateway laptop.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Retro Winamp Block in the editor.\n\n\n\n<p>Retro Winamp Block has does not have many options. Actually, it only has one customization that users will be interested in: the player skin. They can enter any URL for it, and over 83,000 are available via the <a href=\"https://skins.webamp.org/\">Winamp Skin Museum</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Winamp Skin Museum.\n\n\n\n<p>The museum is hosted by <a href=\"https://github.com/captbaritone/webamp\">Webamp</a>, a project that implements an HTML5 and JavaScript of the old Winamp 2.9. 10up used it for its own Retro Winamp Block plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since installing the latest version 1.0.1 of the plugin, I have only hit one issue. The live preview in the editor is partially broken. The player floats in the same spot instead of scrolling with the page..</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I had one wish for this plugin, it would be to see the addition of Milkdrop, the popular Winamp visualizer add-on.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Winamp with Milkdrop add-on.\n\n\n\n<p>Mostly, I simply enjoyed this jaunt down memory lane. I even went as far as installing the latest Winamp on my computer. The original player still has a thriving community if its forums are any indication. The UI is practically unusable on my laptop, so I dropped it after listening to an old Ashlee Simpson album.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I enjoyed the nostalgia of the old player, I want to see modern-day implementations of these types of features for WordPress. Instead of a throwback to Winamp, where is the skinnable audio block?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I put together a quick pattern to test out some ideas (<a href=\"https://gist.github.com/justintadlock/a38e129326dfdbeff4498999130aeee8\">code on Gist</a>):</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Cover + Audio + Social block pattern.\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/63161c1f1d/\">background is by Jeff Golenski</a> from WordPress Photos (this directory is already coming in handy). A few adjustments later, I had a custom-styled audio layout. However, I could not modify the audio player itself. It is just the browser default. There is no equalizer, track info, or visual flair. Just a clean, boring player that longs for someone to sprinkle a little pizazz on it.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 30 Dec 2021 02:43:25 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:101:\"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 39) — WordPress 5.9: Delays, the Customizer, and Contributing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=91867\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://poststatus.com/excerpt/39/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:59922:\"<h3>&#8220;Too many things were interrelated and we didn’t have enough people who were looking across…&#8221; —<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an informative chat with <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>. Anne is a <strong>Developer Relations Wrangler</strong> for <strong>Automattic</strong> and (among other things) has been responsible for many of the recent videos showcasing the features of <strong>Full Site Editing</strong> and <strong>WordPress 5.9</strong>. David and Anne talk about what decisions led to the delay of WordPress 5.9, her start with <strong>Automattic</strong>, COVID\'s effect on core contributions, and how polished Full Site Editing might be by the end of January 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also: </strong>David asks Anne what the future of the WordPress Customizer will be in a world of Full Site Editing.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\">Every week <strong><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what\'s new in WordPress in a flash. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png\" alt=\"⚡\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7\">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d\">Castro</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts\">Player.fm</a>, <a href=\"https://pca.st/05rR\">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/22/wordpress-5-9-revised-release-schedule/\">WordPress 5.9 Revised Release Schedule</a></li><li><a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2021/11/23/why-i-voted-to-delay-wordpress-5-9/\">Why I Voted To Delay WordPress 5.9</a></li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Bisset (Twitter)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Post Status (Twitter)</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sponsor: <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/gravity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow\">Gravity Forms</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I didn\'t go to the state of the word, obviously, w it was, it would take too much time away from me, tweeting fun, little memes and remarks. So I decided to stay home and it hurt your</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Twitter</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> game. Yeah. Twitter didn\'t ban me. So, you know, I must be on the good list. But yeah, it was, I thought it was you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you did you watch it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I did watch it, but I will admit that I was helping with the slides that day. So what I did actually watch, I was pretty fried by the time I actually watched it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> How did you help with the slides?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Just from afar. There were some demos that needed some voiceovers and designers had done two wonderful demos, but there was just no con like voiceover to explain what was actually happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I jumped in to do some of those and just kind of fill filling gaps with the</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> bar.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I knew that voice sounded familiar.I mean, not every voice cause I\'m like, wow, you must have had a lot of cigarettes that day for that for that voice. But no I forget his name, but we, there was a voice that I remember for one of the [00:02:00] demos that previously did, like a whole bunch of WordPress demos and he has an accent and I can\'t think of his name right now, but I will later&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Oh, you\'re probably thinking Michael Peck.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yes, that\'s probably</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> yes, he did the 5.9 voiceover demo. And that\'s actually like, I don\'t know if you\'ve seen a YouTube video, but there\'s a awesome YouTube video. That group has worked on. A WordPress YouTube channel. And he did the voice over for that. And it\'s like a really cool kind of throwback to the early days where he would do release videos and he like knocked it out of the park.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pretty sure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> What does he do besides does all he do is voiceovers. What does he do?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> No, he works for automatic. Now. He\'s mainly focused, I think on a combination of probably. Brand and design stuff or a purse.com. So</p>\n\n\n\n<p>we got them on loan.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I said, he must have, you must have been in some virtual cafeteria, regular cafeteria back then in the here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you\'re like, oh, that voice, I must have that voice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> It\'s very impressive. I have a friend who has a really good radio voice. I\'m always really [00:03:00] jealous. I want him to record my voicemail at some point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Oh yes. Anybody with an accident? I wanted to be good. I want it on mine. My parents said I always had a great face and voice for books.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So let\'s talk about, let\'s actually talk a little bit, the videos. How did the I know you\'re involved in them now. I, you seem to be in the. We\'re going to have our IC a video. Most of the time, outside of the state of the word, it looks like you, that you are pushing them. Are you primarily the one that makes those.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, for the YouTube videos. I have some on my personal channel that I do, I did help with the 5.9 video, mainly from a logistics wrangling, like figuring out script actually did an initial voiceover that got nixed and be like, Michael police come in here. I was very sick and Michael very graciously hopped it at the last minute, but mainly I just kind of help out in terms of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming up with ideas. So sometimes with learn WordPress folks, I\'ll also share some like review what they\'re working on, but a lot of the YouTube videos on my channel are [00:04:00] just things that I find interesting or that I anticipate with the next release. We just need to get some content out there and I\'m fortunate to be so.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the project that I can share things early and from there I can then send them to folks who actually have real followings and be like, Hey, I know you\'re probably going to create content, but the navigation block, here\'s like a rundown of all the features. Here\'s how I\'m presenting it, like do your thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it actually started that way where I was just creating content as a way to actually demonstrate something for other people to kind of just. Get the word out about something new that was coming and it was easier to communicate, especially from afar using videos. I had no aspiration. It helps a lot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. And I have zero aspirations to be like a YouTuber. I just like, I don\'t think I\'m, you know, have the equipment or the ability to be very good at it. Like some folks are in the WordPress community, but it is fun. It\'s cool. I guess to have it\'s very visual.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s very visual. I know a lot of people really appreciate the, like, just give me the heads up [00:05:00] in two to three minutes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause I remember when I think after Gutenberg was launched, we really appreciated those two or three minute demos that was at Marcus did during the state of the words or during presentations at work camp us or something like that, where you sat down in two minutes or three minutes when you got basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All you needed to know. And it was, there was a wow factor there. They, you know, they look at time and space by doing this. I think that\'s a very good idea and I hope you continue. Yeah, I plan to, so</p>\n\n\n\n<p>yeah, I appreciate that because I\'ve got a lot of encouragement from Paul AC and Nathan Wrigley, and they were both like, you should do it, but you\'d be fine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was like, I don\'t know, like, I don\'t think I have the time or I don\'t think it\'s like saying that I would be very good at. And I\'ve gotten good feedback where people are kind of like what you\'re saying was like, I need to see the visual and also. Who is so close to the project on a day-to-day basis.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like, give me the little details. Like, I don\'t want to just see it at a high level. Give me the like bells and [00:06:00] whistles. So it\'s kind of a, it\'s a cool, neat way to connect with folks too. I\'ve gotten this just this week. I had like three or four people reach out and my contact form, like, Hey, I watched your video about this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like, can you help me with facts?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Oh great, I\'m a support person now! Yeah. Now. But it\'s, you know, in the beginning was so easy to see the mess because there were massive changes or adjustments happening to Gutenberg, but, and there still are, but now things are being tweaked and being refined. And over a post status, Courtney produces like every week she produced.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this is the list of things that are happening in core. And of course, a lot of it\'s Gutenberg related. Yeah. And, you know, share, feel free to share with me your thoughts on this is it. I think it\'s becoming a little bit harder now to gauge a lot, unless it\'s a big headline feature and full site editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can get into that unless it\'s a headlined feature that you\'ve been hearing about. I think, you know, when I do the summaries and do the post for post status and what little time I have to review the text, which is in a [00:07:00] make.wordpress.org document. It\'s kind of hard to visualize a lot of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And therefore it\'s kind of hard for anyone outside of maybe two or three dozen people to really communicate and train, you know, translate that excitement to other people or to show how much progress is being made. Because you read a bullet list and it\'s, you don\'t know, you don\'t know how much work is happening behind those bullet lists for starters.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, you know, something could do something very cool visually, but if it\'s just on a bullet list on make.wordpress.org, the public not gonna see that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, no, I think you\'re right about that. And that\'s one of the things I don\'t know if you\'ve noticed, but in the last year or so the designs and like the visuals that had come with the what\'s new in Gutenberg posts have definitely been upgraded because of that exact problem is it\'s like, show me the value, show me how it actually connects, how it makes my life easier.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there\'s also a series of posts. I do the core editor improvement posts. Yeah, that also seeks to even highlight that more. And it started out as like highlighting individual things. And recently I\'ve [00:08:00] actually had to switch to not have to, but it actually makes sense to switch to like a collection of improvement.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I have a post right now that I\'m working on with a couple of folks. On like performance at 5.9. So let\'s talk about the performance enhancements. Let\'s run through it in one place so you can see it. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> You\'ve given me a topic to talk to you about. Thank you. But to some somebody\'s credit though, and I think when they do the Gutenberg plugin, Release posts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They do offer him graphics and they\'ve gotten better with videos. I just wish everything was an animated GIF so I could share it. That\'s a lot easier. Thank you very much. So those existed, but like, I think for what you\'re doing and for some of the things that I think flying under the radar, you know, that, you know, not again, not the headline features.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the there\'s nothing. Then a short video. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> And the connecting the dots. Like I started that connecting the dots series, just kind of on a whim because I found something that I was like, you can do this. If you combine these different tools, you can then do this crazy thing. Like I think [00:09:00] that\'s also, I actually, that\'s the series I\'m probably most excited about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like, it\'s fun to do these headline, like explore navigation blockers from 5.9 or the query look like that. Those are fun videos to do, but the connecting the dots. It feels more exciting. Like I\'m like, gosh, yes, get this major feature in your head. But then also like, let\'s talk about like the weird things you can do and the cool things you can do when you actually combine these things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause that\'s, what\'s really powerful is it\'s not like cool. We added dimension controls to this thing, but like what does this actually allow me to do? Okay. This.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Practical application right? Yes. Cause those are the videos I\'d like to show off from the meetup groups. And a lot of times meet up organizers, just say, this is cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the media bargain meet up organizers. If they\'re good meetup organizers say, and this is how it could apply to you person, that\'s running an agency out of there out of a phone booth or whatever it is you do. Let\'s transition from weird to WordPress 5.9, because you could say something [00:10:00] happened a little bit weird on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh yeah. It\'s supposed to be out or right around this time of rigidly, right? I think it was before the holidays. Yeah. You mean the same date as the state of the word? Really? Yeah. I didn\'t put those dots. Yeah. That, that, that would yeah, that\'s a coincidence. So it didn\'t happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you tell me a little bit about what happened and what was involved in making the decision? No spoilers, but to push that into charity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, it\'s a really tough decision. And I\'ll preface this by saying I wrote a post that on why I voted to delay it. So I won\'t go into hyper detail cause there\'s a lot of detail on that post that I try to make it very practical.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\'s how you can enact a lot of videos and like images being like, this is why. But yeah, this is my first time on a really squad too. So I don\'t have the historical knowledge that other folks bring to the table, but from my point of view and from my experience. Which program, which really is where I\'m coming from too many things were interrelated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then we didn\'t [00:11:00] have enough people. Who were looking across basically is the long and short of it. So, you know, 2022 is relying on you know, certain things get in place with styles, but at the same time, those working on styles aren\'t necessarily solely focused on 2022. So like, it was kind of, there was a weird tension there of bringing a lot of unrelated things together,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> ultimately, I\'m sorry, was it like the sunny from Philadelphia meme where the chart is. I think it\'s Charlie, he\'s looking at the board behind him and then the oldest red strings going everywhere. And he\'s trying to explain something was a kind of like that a</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> little bit. Yeah. There is a little element of that, but almost imagine. That if you were to remove one of the strings, like that feature wouldn\'t make as much sense anymore.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So remember how we were just talking about connecting the dots and how things working together is actually where the value like hyper value goes. That\'s what basically was going on, where it was like, if we ship these things independently, we could in theory, remove some of the stuff. But it\'s going to be, it\'s just the value kind of isn\'t as exponential when they\'re all together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was [00:12:00] looking at the issues. I test it every day, like, especially leading up to release for 5.8, 5.9. I\'ve been testing every single day in this stuff all the time. And a lot of it was refinements. It was like, there were a couple of things that, some big decisions. So one I can tell. There was stuff around the navigation block, how to reuse it across Wakim\'s.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So originally there was a thing called navigation areas that was a new block that got reverted. That was I think, the right call. And then there the browsing. So when I talk about browsing, it\'s like, how do you navigate between your homepage, your templates and your template, parts and styles? Like what does that system look like from an information architecture perspective?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there was a weird combination of. Technical constraints that came up as well as like design, so design and the technical constraints. We\'re kind of dancing with each other. And at a certain point, it just got to a place where. Fortunately like a middle ground could be found. And I think the solution they have right now is excellent.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally that, that seemed to be not viable. So kind of by having the delay, we\'ve [00:13:00] had like a better solution, I think, than what was originally in place. That\'s been tested a lot with the outreach program, so it\'s a lot of it. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Am I correct in understanding you that you were the one who initially brought something up?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I was not necessarily, there was a team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah, everybody started getting the idea around the same time. Maybe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, it was one of those where I think enough people kind of paused and like, I can tell you leading up to the release. I was like, okay, are we really feeling good about this? Like, I had some moments, but I also wasn\'t like confident and being the person to say like, we can\'t ship this, we can\'t ship this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like, I\'m definitely not one of those decision makers, but I mean, I\'m filing, I was filing tons of issues and getting, and with the outreach program, obviously, like I\'m seeing the complaints, I\'m writing a summary post. So like I knew what the pain points were. And then at a certain point, it becomes a decision for the designers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like what design direction do we want to go in? And that\'s kind of where we landed, where it was just like a last minute kind [00:14:00] of Too much to figure out. And a lot of it\'s like little things too. So I\'m talking about these big decisions. If there were a lot of small things that need to be sorted out that thankfully were more refinements.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I felt really comfortable delaying and voting to delay because of that, because I was like, the value will be exponential. If we can ship these altogether, everything I\'m seeing right now can be figured out like at first. And I think this is where the confusion really started. There was this like long list and it was all seen as blockers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So originally there was like this get hub issue that Someone did there. I think it was Rob who\'s, the corridor tech lead, who has been doing an excellent job. All the lease lead folks have been doing amazing work and he wrote all the issues out and gathered all of them that people were flagging.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they were seeing all his blockers and that wasn\'t the case. Really from that list, there were like a subset of blockers that were truly like, we need to delay this. And that\'s part of the chaos of, you know, working remotely. Yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> You had a translated into a sound. It would be mostly that. So yeah, I would imagine the [00:15:00] holidays.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It didn\'t help that the fact that we have this, let\'s be honest, the last two weeks of the year or the last week of the year, the first week in the new year, however you want to slice it really for me, three weeks, really, or two and a half at best, but sometimes three weeks for everybody to get.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if they\'re staying home, even if they\'re not traveling, it\'s your brain is kind of in a reset mode. Yeah. Like I need, listen, I may not be leaving my house, but I\'m taking a vacation, so you\'re not talking to me. Regardless if you celebrate any of the holidays or not, there\'s enough mass people taking time off visiting family, or just staying at home or away from computers that I would imagine productivity would\'ve hit a dive there and, or you didn\'t want to, nobody would want it have taken the chance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, we don\'t want to make Matt Mullenweg into Scrooge because he\'s to he\'s the lead. Right. He\'s the lead. Right. So that would be, yeah, that I\'m correctly associating the[00:16:00] fictional character with the appropriate reference. Thank you. Case. I get an email later. So when is a WordPress 5.9 coming up?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> It\'s going to be released January 25th. And as you were saying, like originally the beta was only pushed by two weeks, but then we had to add extra time because of the end of the year period and beginning of the year. I mean, it\'s just a chaotic time. And I think that is also the right call. I don\'t think it\'ll hyper disrupt any other releases.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think there\'s a ton of stuff for 6.02. It\'s not like, oh, by delaying, we\'re going to have a really light 6.0 release. I think it\'s gonna be. How\'s that going to change as</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> well? Is that going to be a little bit compressed then in the first part of the year, you think, or is different people working on different things?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, I think at a certain point it might compress it a bit, meaning like there might be a release in like March or something like that, but they actually didn\'t release the schedule for 6.0 yet. So I\'m not really sure how that\'s going to impact. Things I will say part of the discussion that\'s come up amongst score contributors when I\'ve checked in with a lot of them, when this was going on to make sure everyone was doing okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And a lot of them were like, man, this is when I wish [00:17:00] we had more releases. Like I wish we could have this like more of a release cadence where it\'s more frequent. So we\'re not like needing to do with delay. Cause like the options were not fun, but that\'s the constraints of the current system. And, you know, ideally in a future world, it isn\'t as Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each release. You can kind of say like, it\'s okay. We can ship this because we have another release coming in a month rather than like three months.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. Is that possible though? I mean, is that possible at least where we stand right now, because we just talked about how. And like how integrated are, how one piece is related to this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, you know, you know, maybe this is just one of those junctures in the four stages of Gutenberg or whatever timeline you want to pick where yes, it all is intersecting together. Cause it\'s full site editing. I mean, it\'s the words are in there. It\'s full side. Right. And then maybe down the road with when he gets to collaboration and translation, maybe things will go a bit easier, but regardless it\'s like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know there\'s so many, there\'s so many ways you can look at it. I hear about a lot of time in other technology groups, in terms of first, you have people say, well, why [00:18:00] don\'t you just release every month? It\'s no worries. Any automatic updates. It\'s fine. And then that happens. And then you say, why are we getting so many updates?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have to keep updating.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. Which, which, you know, is another subject in of itself because in theory, You shouldn\'t have update fatigue, if you have automatic updates turned on and you know, that\'s another thing too. You know, in some situations that\'s not possible. So you\'re going to have people, whether it\'s a real problem or something that someone projects into their mind, like some sort of ghost but it\'s still a legitimate thing to deal with.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I see. So yeah, you have this, you it\'s a bunch of. All not the code, but the responsibilities and the dependencies is a bunch of, you know, a bunch of well cooked, fine high quality spaghetti.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> And yeah, it would be really tricky to do. Like, I don\'t necessarily think that\'s like a viable thing right now, or I don\'t, I can\'t speak to it in the future, but I do [00:19:00] think it is a result of, you know, the circumstances that we\'re in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like we\'re all impacted by the same constraints. And I think that\'s one of the things where. You know, for example, there are, I don\'t think it was fully scoped out even like, what would a dependency plan look like where it\'s like, or contingency plan? Sorry, look like where if let\'s say we had to remove some of these things, would we, excuse for example, we could do things like remove browsing entirely, which is one of the things that was, I think, shipped at some point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re instead you have, you know, your appearance menu, you have templates, simpler parts, the editor styles. And so you have no sort of browsing in the sidebar. You could also like say, you know what, the navigation block isn\'t ready or counting it to another release. You could also say like, you know what, you can\'t actually create new templates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can only just view the ones that come with your theme. Like there\'s a lot of ways that could have been pulled back. But thankfully what shipping is very comprehensive. Like I think that\'s the good thing with this delays also.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I don\'t think anybody\'s looking at it going on, man.[00:20:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah. And I mean, I also think the good news is ultimately these features that we\'re talking about, which get a lot of attention are going to impact a small subset of people. Like this is not going to be five point where all of a sudden it takes over your site and you have to use it like this is it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s very much. So in line with the gradual adoption, where if you want to use these features, you have to literally hyper opt-in. You have to switch your theme. You have to like seek it out. Like it\'s very much something that. That also gave me confidence where it\'s like, I know these like full siting and all the collection features that go along with that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You get a lot of attention. But even if you upgrade, you\'re not switching to full site editing, you\'re still gonna get a ton of value in this release. And that, that to me is what\'s really exciting is it\'s almost like, because this is a smaller subset. The features are more high impact exponentially when they\'re working together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think it was just the right call, but I\'m really excited to see people get their hands on 5.9. And speaking of police health tests, the Tesco lead, I\'m like, please help test. It\'d be a huge help.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> We\'ll get through testing in a second, because I [00:21:00] do want to, I do want to get, like, if you had the opportunity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make it to make a pitch for you. You did mention 5.0 though. When that first came out, I think there was a there\'s a number of people that, and you know, that the circumstances behind that you know, around the state of the word time, everybody was busy or give Ghana was one of those. I think it wasn\'t November.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I mean, it was approaching a holiday season or something or something like that, but it was, I would be, I don\'t know, a lot of people said it was around rough around the edges. I\'m not going to argue with him about that when it came out but over time that the improvements on it have been, I think in my opinion, pretty good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pretty, pretty tremendous. In fact, do you think and you may, I think you touched on this already, but do you think with a full site editing, we\'re going to see not what 5.0 is. Cause I think you just said that, but do you feel comfortable with the level of Polish that will be out at the end of January?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Oh,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>that\'s a great question. There\'s a lot of nuance here, so it depends [00:22:00] upon someone\'s skill level. If you were brand new WordPress user, I would, I\'d say very beta. So like, I think it\'s literally going to ship with a beta warning. So in terms of, is it hyper polished? I would call it functional kind of empowering.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I wouldn\'t necessarily be like, oh, it\'s delightful. And you can, it\'s completely intuitive. Like I think, and I say this partially because especially if someone, maybe if someone was new, they might actually have an easier time, because there\'s a lot of concepts built within full that are really hard to grasp.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those of us who\'ve been in WordPress for a long time. Things</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Can they get those videos in there? That would probably help.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah, no, I think that\'s part of, so I actually am also helping with the user support docs for this release. So I\'m co testing it and then helping with the user docs. And that\'s one of the things that\'s really difficult to communicate simply.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So like, how do you explain to someone, what template parts are. And how do you explain when to use them? So, like one of the, I just opened an issue for this yesterday, but it\'s like, we probably need to explain the difference [00:23:00] between template parts, reusable, blocks and patterns. And when do you use each? So I probably need to write a doc on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there\'s a lot to be explained there in a way that\'s very simple so that people can make good decisions. And right now their, what is being shifted doesn\'t necessarily have guardrails to nudge someone in the right direction. If that makes sense. So you\'d have to have some level of knowledge in order to write.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put it together, but do I think it\'s a polished V1 for someone who likes to tinker? Definitely. Like, I, for sure think that\'s the case. The only I can tell you my major sticking point, which is driving me nuts right now is right now. Are you familiar with the template editing mode?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I launched.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'ve played with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. Yeah. So right now let\'s say I have a block theme activated and I\'m using 5.98. I can go in and I\'m using a theme with template mode. I can go in and I can like add a new post. And then under the posts kind of sidebar, I can select and create any template. And from there I can have a fresh new template that I can then assign to the post.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, if I\'m in [00:24:00] the site editor and I\'m navigating through the templates, I cannot create a new generic template. And there\'s an issue open for this. I can create an archive when I complete a search warrant. I create a new front page one, but there\'s not a. I want to create a new template and I want to sign this poster page or this category to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there\'s a lot like that basic infrastructure you can, it\'s a workflow thing. So it\'s like in one place, you can do this thing, but in the other place that feels more intuitive. You can\'t. And then on top of that, obviously for this release, some stuff is constrained. So this was one of the decisions that had to be made.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you can\'t have. If you wanted a category to use a specific template, you\'d have to actually add it to your blocking files rather than like being able to do it in the interface. So the good news is it\'ll ship, but then there\'s some really common. Possibly common use cases where people are going to be like, oh, but I want to do this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s where I think 6.0 6.1, like these future releases will continue to deliver on the promise to pull siding. And I think right now what is in place is really powerful. And I think it\'ll [00:25:00] actually jumpstart. People\'s excitement into everything that you can do. But there are just some. I don\'t know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think Justin Tadlock had a good description where he\'s like, it works, but then as you\'re getting involved in it, there\'s like some common things that you\'re not yet able to do. And I\'m like, yeah, that\'s very true. Like there are some things that I can imagine. I\'m like, I would love on my personal site to have a specific template for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All my posts that are tagged with WordPress resources so that I could just send people there and I could have a different header. I could have a different contact form, like have a completely different experience with that. I think it\'d be really cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> But you know, I was like, it sounds like something in the old days before Gutenberg, that would be like a WordPress plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You would have to find</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Which in the defense of Gutenberg, in terms of that, I mean, You know, you\'re, it seems like a lot of the, you know, a lot of the major work being done, but also some things that are being done in Gutenberg. Like duotone, for example, maybe it\'s the one that jumps out at me. It\'s like, [00:26:00] like before it was just, you had to go find a plugin for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, you\'re you and birds taking off. Lots of cool and interesting things that were before with maybe with, or with maybe with a page builder, with an add on with a page builder or just a plugin that those were just like little thrills that you would just find in the plugin stuff, getting Berg\'s incorporating this in the course.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Gutenberg, I mean, it\'s not just a, it\'s not just the blocks anymore. You\'re incorporating all these like, you know, fun stuff that like, maybe. Not even the majority of people might even use some time, unless there\'s a big, duotone a fan group out there. In other words,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> the only thing that I think is cool is that you can add it on theme level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that\'s part of it. It is very much a design tool in that sense. And I think that. To me where I\'ve seen it really come to life is when I\'ve seen some theme authors. I think some automatic female author is released. It\'s skate park is a theme, but it has like do a twin filters baked in. So like, if you change the [00:27:00] background of your theme, the images were also like a doc, the duo tone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Oh no. My F my life is a French film to atone anyway. So I\'m full of that. Did you happen to hear. I think when it comes to block themes, Matt said something about wanting 3000 a year or so. Was he exaggerating there a little bit? I</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> think he\'s serious. And like, I also, this sounds wild, but I think it is very much so, like he actually thought it was interesting that he said it in that way, because how do I explain this?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like, You could take one block theme, like let\'s take 20, 22. For example, the announcement post showed this and any announcement posts, it shows like four or five different style theme Jason files and switching between them. And it looks like a completely different theme. And I think that\'s where it\'s like, you could literally take the base of one theme with the same patterns, all that sort of stuff, and create.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>20 different theme, Jason files to switch [00:28:00] between and have a complete different experience. And to me, that\'s, what\'s really cool. And then once you start integrating with the pattern directory even more, I think that unlocks some really cool stuff. So when he says that, I\'m like, yeah, I understand what he\'s saying, but I actually, I think that\'s a way to connect with like the.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>FIM world that we have come to know to last however many years. Yeah. But I think the future with block themes, things are going to be wildly different. I think rich table were asked a question about, you know, could there be a directory for different style? And I\'m like, yes, like that to me, I think is a really cool model and there\'s work being done to enable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And json switching within a block theme,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> so definitely would make it competitive with you know, like, like a Wix or Squarespace in terms of like you could have, this is a completely customizable experience. Speaking of customizable, I do have a question for you. When it comes to the full site editing, what happens to the customizer?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\'s numerous people that use that there\'s people that use that and granted they use that for their theme settings and maybe. And [00:29:00] for other things, and in addition to the normal customization, so what\'s going to happen to the customizer?.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Yeah. So this is actually something that I\'m so glad you\'re asking me this, because this is a thing I\'ve seen, brought up a ton.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'ve gotten, especially in the span of like, it felt like two weeks, I was getting a ping, like every other day being like customizer. And I\'m like,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I know like a bot on Twitter about the customizer, but I\'ve figured that ask you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> So basically the customizer, if a plugin or theme happens to look into it the customizer will be available to actually it\'ll direct you to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\'s not like it\'s going away forever. Is it removed from the menu item? Yes. If you\'re using a block theme, you will not see it unless you are using a plugin that somehow hooks into the</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> customizer, but you have to switch to a block theme and then at the official</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> blocking the lose, the customizer only superior.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Correct. And it would only disappear if you don\'t have a plugin that happens to look into</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> it as well. Right. I\'m sure somebody will come up with that in a few seconds, but</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay. Then I, you know, initially [00:30:00] here, I mean, I\'ve, haven\'t had my coffee yet, but it sounds like to me, that makes sense where in terms of, you know, you\'re not going to need it. You may not need it. Now, if anybody has anything in there, there\'s probably something developers that have put something in there that shouldn\'t be in there then, you know, get out, get it out of there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But okay. That answers that question pretty well, because it makes sense. With a block theme on there shouldn\'t be anything in the customizer left.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> There is a universal theme. I don\'t know if you\'ve heard about universal themes, but they\'re also a combination. So there\'s like, let\'s see there\'s black beans hybrid themes, universal themes, and classic themes is like theme paradigm.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re about to enter and blockings are like fully built in with full siting. Like you\'re not, you know, using the customized or anything</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> like that. You don\'t need the, you don\'t need the additional CSS. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the additional CSS thing in the in the customizer and you and I both know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That if I don\'t usually use that, I use, I, I add the CSS some other way. It\'s usually through a plugin or through the style sheet, in the theme [00:31:00] or something like that, whatever. That\'s the only thing that kind of concerns me a little bit, because I\'ve seen people put CSS in there that relate even to plugin, not even the theme directly, because that\'s just one place that they\'re able to put CSS.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They know it they\'ve seen it, or some webpage told them to put it there, that they don\'t have to like dig into any code to, they can just put the additional CSS. In fact, it wouldn\'t surprise me if some WordPress plugin support people have told people, oh, in order to resolve this issue with our. You just need a CSS tweak with your theme going here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But again, you\'re saying that it\'s still going to be there unless they switched to a block theme. So the only danger there is if you switch to a block theme, but if you\'re somehow using the plugin, is that, does that, it\'s just hiding it. It\'s not removing it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> It\'s just hiding it. It\'s not removing it. So</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> sorry.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had to work that out. Yeah,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> no I totally understand. Cause I used to work on Jetpack a lot and that was one of the things. It has an additional CSS part of it. So I understand what you\'re describing. [00:32:00] Yeah, it\'s very, I also want to advocate actually for universal themes, because if someone is like, I\'m curious about this world, but I don\'t want to jump in universal themes are basically designed so that you can use blocking functionality, but then also the customizer.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it basically bridges. Which is why it\'s called universal</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> either that or the movie company bought you the rights.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Did you not hear about the new acquisition?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I was going to go to the theme park in Orlando and see all the new Gutenberg blocks, right? The ride, the Gutenberg ride. Oh my God.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> You say that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I did. I was getting beer the other day at a store and there was a thing called gluten berg. Which is a form of gluten-free beer. And I was like, oh my God. And I was off work. So I was like, am I tripping right now? Like, what is happening, dude, bird everywhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> I made a slip on Twitter, I think yesterday morning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I said something about like, I\'m having a state of the word hangover, a hashtag Gutenberg. And I left it in there and I just said, Gutenberg is just you [00:33:00] trying to contribute to the project, but you haven\'t figured out yet how to be sustainable. So you\'re, and you\'re not above begging. So, you know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. So I left Gutenberg and I left good Megan, there let\'s talk about at least two more things before I leave you to. Fantastic video editing work here. One thing is about testing. What is the number one way? What\'s the number one? What\'s number one thing you advocate regarding testing. And you\'re going to give me symbol links to put in the show notes for this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we\'re not going to worry about that, but how does that work and what do what\'s the qualifications and what are you looking. In terms of testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> It\'s a great, so like the beta posts on, I\'m going to drag people to the beta posts on your research backslash news, because there\'s actually a link under like a testing instructions to a post that I did that gets very detailed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you just are comfortable testing, go for it. If you\'re someone who needs more instruction or. Exactly. Like what to test, how to test. I have a post that\'s it\'s titled help test 5.9 features, and it [00:34:00] goes step by step through the different features with like a brief description of what they are, how to find.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as well as like, if you want to get even more detailed steps, a lot of them link out to calls for testing that were done through the outreach program. So you can even get like a step-by-step description of what needs to be done. But yeah, right now, if you can, I highly recommend testing both 5.9 in terms of, without a block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then also take the 2022 thing first, then it is a very cool expansive team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Hey, Matt gave us the bird on Tuesday and my wife looked at me like I was, should report it to the. Yeah, but it\'s in, that\'s also another, that\'s another complication layer too. It\'s not just the five nine release. It\'s it\'s the new default WordPress theme. It looks fantastic. It is the, it looks fantastic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m more excited. I can\'t remember the last time I\'ve been more excited about like a default theme coming up because it really looks like it\'s using the art state of the edge [00:35:00] stuff, plus, you know, the birds well, good. Well, thanks for you. Share those links with me. I\'ll make sure to add them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I make them in there. So here\'s one thing that\'s been. I was scratching my noggin the other day and trying to figure out the best way to describe this. So I\'ve been told by multiple sources that thanks to COVID thanks to the lack of in-person work camps. The contributions contributors have been, they\'ve been low for the past 16, 18 months, two years, something like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then. Do you think that first of all, do you think that\'s true? And if so of it\'s true. Do you think it\'s, is it impacted the project because Matt, I guess I\'m just gonna finish my sentence and let you speak at the end, because I don\'t know when to shut up, but I did see, I saw Matt slides on Tuesday.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He did highlight. I mean, there are lots of circles in the slides, right. And then there was lots of new contributors. Yes. Circles. I work in [00:36:00] shapes. But there were, and there were lots of new contributors to that. We don\'t know what they worked on. I mean, new contributors, that\'s awesome in there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there was definitely a lot of circles on there, but do you think that COVID has had an impact on the contributions or contributors over the past two years?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I mean, yes, both. And I will say, I think it\'s like a. Multi-directional so I think it\'s everything from, for example, the outreach program, I\'ve given out 70 badges for a test contribution, which is probably more than has been given in a long time, you know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\'s like, in some ways we\'ve had more contributors, probably in some spaces and have brought in. And I\'ve had the chance to work with folks who have gone out into their local communities or held things online with their local communities to help people test and explore that. So there\'s like, it\'s both right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like I think in some cases it really burns some people out. I think it burned a lot of folks out were just dealing with like trying to survive day to day. You\'re probably not going to want to jump into open source and contribute. [00:37:00] But at the same time, I think suddenly the community had to become a lot more accessible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So actually I started this role in April of 2020, so right when things were really like in the U S it was. Getting really serious, like in lockdown, all this sort of stuff. So it\'s been very interesting. I, when I first started the job was told like, oh yeah, one of the first things we\'d probably do is send you around a bunch of word camps and word cancer, where people get onboarded and like all this sort of stuff.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was like, okay, well that\'s not an option. So what are we going to do about this?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> And this is where we\'re all kind of delusional about like, oh, maybe this will pass. And so it\'s been very interesting and like, I can tell you speaking personally, a very anecdotally I have spoken at probably 10 or 11.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Events, maybe more in the last year I do not like public speaking. If I had to go up on stage and do it, it would be way less successful for me. Like it causes way too much anxiety. And then on top of that, like, you know, I just gave the word camp Taiwan recorded or camp Taiwan keynote at [00:38:00] like one 30 in the morning of my time where like, normally I would have to travel to Taiwan.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would have to, you know, be jet lagged pregnant. There were a couple of days early, like all this sort of stuff. And then it. Being able to connect with brand new contributors and brand new folks has become way easier. And so I think that\'s like one of the things that makes me really excited is like, you can travel the world from your apartment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I often look@theonlineeventson.org and just see what people were talking about. And we\'ll just jump in. Either a 5% or 50% meetup</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> group. Oh, I love her. I love virtual stuff. I talked to my kids. That\'s how I talked to my kids all the time. My kids still live with me, a side note. So do you, so,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> yes, I do think it\'s also caused a decrease.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think there\'s an over-reliance on On people who are sponsored contributors. And I think, but I think it also, at the same time, new pathways have been built. So I\'m both encouraged that like new pathways are being built. New folks are being brought in and things like the photo directory, the pattern directory even blockchains are way easier to build.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:00] I think we\'re going to see an influx of more folks coming in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The onboarding process. Right? I would imagine. Yeah, like you said, it\'s harder for any individuals with present condition. So I, you know, companies like, like, and Matt was showing those, the other bubble slide where there was automatic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I imagine there\'s like you said, you were doing one thing now you\'re doing another, it sounds like there\'s automatic made some adjustments there to. I\'m not putting words in your mouth, but if it wouldn\'t surprise me, if some companies made some adjustments to compensate for the fact that, you know, there is less of certain kinds of contributors out there just because of oral conditions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we just finished. I don\'t know if you\'ve been following this log for. She fought with J or something.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Log4jI.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Mean, everybody\'s talking about it. I mean, nobody\'s rewriting my software yet. Thank goodness. I\'m unpopular now. And it\'s an advantage but I mean, there, you have, like, I think two people, one [00:40:00] person working on that and the guy had a side job too, and now everybody\'s kind of relying on it and you know, that makes you sit back and watch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, a lot of people rely on WordPress. Obviously things are going to slip through the cracks, but overall it\'s nice to have, even if there was a major world event and this has been a major world event, then I think things from a feature standpoint, from a bug standing standpoint, it could, I guess it depends on your experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can either say it\'s been fantastic that it\'s managed to be as uninterrupted as it has been over the last two years. Or you can just say, Hey, it could have been worse. It, you know, WordPress runs 43% and the train has to keep moving. The show must go on. And some adjustments, I guess, have to be made.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m looking, I do want to see more independent or at least other companies enter into that bubble space. Just like Matt had. I mean, at one point it was a bubble\'s commercial, but I mean, you know, that second slide with just more independent bubbles on it. So it sounds it\'s, but it sounds like for [00:41:00] me talking with you here, that of all the challenges that\'s happened, both ones that I think everybody could imagine in some of the ones that you\'re not telling me, because we don\'t want to get into the weeds on it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It sounds like, from stability-wise I th the decision. To bump it. I think it was only a little bit controversial for a moment. At least from the outside. I can\'t speak within the inside of a group. I imagine there was a lot of talk and maybe there was some tradition or precedent there, but obviously that would have didn\'t sound like that lasted very long if there was any, and it was only controversial out here, like, you know, weirdo land where I live, you know, there was news, but it was.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, fine. You\'re bumping it from December. I think I\'d rather have that been bumped. And so it sounds like,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> And that was part of why I wrote the post to be honest, because I was like, man, this is going to be so confusing and people who aren\'t just like knee deep in this, like it\'s going to be seen in a light.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s like really hard to parse. And so that was really part of my aim and writing [00:42:00] like, Hey, this is why I voted. And this is the details. If you really want to know Of course, Matt, I don\'t know if you saw Matt\'s comment where it\'s like, this is the actually information I want. Like that\'s a different post that Matt. Like, I can\'t, I don\'t want to write it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Let me do my work. Cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I know I got that comment on Sunday and I was like, oh, okay, cool. Like I, where do I need to write out a post about this? I was like no. We have to do a retro for the release. Like, this is a really good, but he\'s right. I was like, oh man, I should have included some stuff about like, here\'s what I think we can do going forward.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, it was chaotic. I wrote it, I think, within a week of the decision. And it was doing it on top of other stuff. So</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> yeah, next time it\'s a long story, but next time I have to get you to get him to say banana milkshake and the state of the word I have. If you don\'t know what it is, I\'ll try to put a link in the show notes, but anyway.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. But th the thing about the bingo card is we put some obvious ones there, and then we put some less obvious ones. Like there\'s like, like NFT. He said NFT. Okay. How about metaverse? You said metaverse.. Okay. Now it\'s like, everybody\'s doing bingo. Bingo, and going, oh, crap. I could have made [00:43:00] this harder, except everybody has a one random generated word.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like I was saying to myself, what\'s the antifree square. It\'s what\'s on a bingo card. What\'s one thing he would never say. And then everybody says, well, we can\'t get bingo. And he says banana milkshake. And I\'m like, all right, people put on your big person pants. And we\'re going to see if we can get someone there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But anyway, besides that way, we\'ll edit this all out. It\'s boring. but anyway, and what you do, but. To end on a good to end on a very good note here, because I\'m talking to you and you do very good things. So this is going to be very, it\'d be very you\'re very much appreciated in. And even if the resources, even if the testing, you know, is, you know, we could always use more testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can always use more contributors. I think the job that you\'re doing, the videos is doing two things really well, everything that you do, it\'s not just the videos, but the videos, just making things a lot easier to consume. Especially in this Tik TOK world we live in don\'t do tick. I didn\'t say the tick-tock</p>\n\n\n\n<p>world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I mean,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> here, my kids don\'t either [00:44:00] I\'m that I\'m not going there, but two it\'s also about the transparency for something like this, I think because it wasn\'t such of a talking point, partly was because you and the team were so transparent. And the minute that we read, the minute I read the report, I\'m like, yeah, this sounds like the way you\'re presenting it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A it\'s a, no, it sounds like a no-brainer and B we can wait another month. I can wait another month.,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I really credit folks like Tonja and Mary and Rob. And like, there\'s a lot of folks who made that transparency. This is tough decisions, Jonathan to Rogers. Who\'s not even on release squad was like giving advice about timing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like it really was a team effort to operate in that way. And I loved seeing the liveliness of the 5.9 release leads channel, and it folks are curious about how our release works. And you can literally watch us talk. And there is no back channel. Like it\'s like, I have a question I\'m going to that channel.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. I need that. I need kind of that for my, from my marriage. Cause it\'d be nice to have some texts. You didn\'t say that will [00:45:00] let me do a little search here. And where are you going to your mother\'s? Okay. I\'ll catch you later. All right. So, and tell us where we can find you on the web and where people can reach out to you, especially if they have questions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I\'m at an Zazu and an E Z a Z U on we\'re personal work slack. And then I have a block like I\'m very I know shocking nomad dot block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Make sure to throw that into the show notes or give that to me and I\'ll put in the show. Yeah. Yeah,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> I will. And like, I honestly am not, you can find me on LinkedIn, but I\'m off of Instagram. I activate and deactivate quite frequently. It\'s the one that I seem to be, I do too, but that\'s in</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> real life, but yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know you\'re not on Twitter and you\'re sometimes on Instagram. That\'s why I wanted to get a few links for you because I\'m in post out a slack and there\'s posts at a slack there\'s WordPress slack. Thank you very much for sitting down and talk to me about this. I think</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> thanks for the opportunity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\'s so much, I feel like we could talk about, which is always such a great feeling is it\'s like, gosh, I could just talk for hours about these different things, because I think so much about them and you [00:46:00] really hit everything that I want to talk about. So it\'s awesome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset:</strong> Yeah. Why didn\'t I have this skill when I was young and single, I have no idea.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That gives me food for thought later, but anyway, I really appreciate it. And I will I\'ll definitely be checking out the betas for 5.9. We can\'t wait for January.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy:</strong> Awesome.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 29 Dec 2021 23:18:43 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Olivia Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"Akismet: How to Stop Contact Form Spam on WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=2177\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://blog.akismet.com/2021/12/29/how-to-stop-contact-form-spam-on-wordpress/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15509:\"<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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!&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-2177\"></span>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"what-is-contact-form-spam\">What is contact form spam?&nbsp;</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before solving this common issue, you’ll need to understand what contact form spam is and how it affects your website and business.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact form spam is exactly what it sounds like:&nbsp;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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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,&nbsp;resulting in a slower site or errors when you try to make changes.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spammers target contact forms in one of two ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"1-manual-spammers\">1. Manual spammers</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"2-spambots\">2. Spambots</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"why-do-bots-and-human-spammers-target-contact-forms\">Why do bots and human spammers target contact forms?&nbsp;</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are several reasons spammers look for loopholes and vulnerabilities in your website forms:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><strong>They want to send you spam.</strong> Most spam includes links to phishing sites or revenue-generating ad sites.</li><li><strong>They want to exploit your contact form to spam others</strong>. 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.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>They’re searching for vulnerabilities to access the backend of your website or server</strong>. 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.&nbsp;</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"how-to-identify-contact-form-submission-spam\">How to identify contact form submission spam</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Phishing links</strong>. 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.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Irrelevant messages</strong>. Another typical indication of spam is unsolicited or irrelevant messages. Spammers send these messages out in large numbers for advertising, phishing, or spreading malware.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Submissions with no real name</strong>. If you get submissions with no real name or a fake name, you’ll want to look into blocking form spam.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Grammatical errors or typos</strong>. 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.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>An offer that’s too good to be true</strong>. Like everything in life, an offer too good to be true also indicates a problem. Don’t fall for this easy trap.&nbsp;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-to-block-contact-form-spam\">How to block contact form spam</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"1-install-the-right-wordpress-anti-spam-plugin\">1. Install the right WordPress anti-spam plugin</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The easiest and fastest way to combat contact form spam is to install the right <a href=\"https://akismet.com/\">anti-spam WordPress plugin</a>. 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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With several options available, it’s critical to pick the right anti-spam plugin. <a href=\"https://akismet.com/\">Akismet</a> 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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"how-to-set-up-an-anti-spam-plugin\">How to set up an anti-spam plugin:</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Installing a WordPress plugin is easy. In your WordPress dashboard, go to <strong>Plugins → Add New</strong>. Search for the one you’d like to add, then click <strong>Install → Activate</strong>. Then, follow any specific instructions for the tool that you chose. For example, Akismet provides a great <a href=\"https://docs.akismet.com/getting-started/activate/\">how to activate</a> tutorial with easy-to-follow instructions and visual cues.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"2-add-a-custom-captcha\">2. Add a custom CAPTCHA</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://blog.akismet.com/2021/12/23/do-captcha-and-recaptcha-protect-wordpress-sites-from-bots/\">Custom CAPTCHAs</a> 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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"how-to-implement-a-captcha\">How to implement a CAPTCHA:</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <strong>Products</strong> part of the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://developers.google.com/products#r\" target=\"_blank\">Google Developers</a> page. Make sure to sign in to your Google account. Next, you’ll read through a short overview before clicking on <strong>Sign up for an API key pair</strong>. You’ll need to fill in your website information and follow the prompts to complete the process.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"3-use-google-recaptcha\">3. Use Google reCAPTCHA</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some other types of reCAPTCHAs:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Checkbox reCAPTCHA v2 </strong>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.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Invisible reCAPTCHA v2</strong> 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.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>reCAPTCHA v3</strong> 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.&nbsp;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Photo © Google\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"how-to-implement-google-recaptchas\">How to implement Google reCAPTCHAs:</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>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.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"4-use-an-ip-access-list\">4. Use an IP access list</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <strong>Comment Blacklist</strong> section of the <strong>Discussion</strong> settings page in the WordPress admin.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"how-to-implement-an-ip-access-list\">How to implement an IP access list:&nbsp;</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to block an IP address, navigate to <strong>Settings → Discussion → Comment Moderation</strong> in your WordPress dashboard. Then, simply add any IP addresses you want to block and save your settings.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"5-take-advantage-of-the-honeypot-method\">5. Take advantage of the honeypot method</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"how-to-implement-honeypot\">How to implement honeypot:</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>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=&#8221;-1&#8243; autocomplete=&#8221;false;&#8221; to ensure the field is empty by default.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"protect-your-wordpress-contact-forms\">Protect your WordPress contact forms</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:28:15 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Simon Keating\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"WordCamp Central: The first in-person WordCamp Europe in 3 years is coming!\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3143787\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2021/12/28/the-first-in-person-wordcamp-europe-in-3-years-is-coming/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1047:\"<p>WordCamp Europe organizing team has shared what we are planning for <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/a-sneak-peek-at-wceu2022/\">the first in-person WCEU in 3 years</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s taking place in Porto, Portugal, on 2-4 June 2022.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With all safety measures, our beautiful spacious venue,&nbsp;Super Bock Arena can hold up to 4000 people, and we can&#8217;t wait to welcome you there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-sponsors/\" target=\"_blank\">Call For Sponsors</a> and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\" target=\"_blank\">Call For Speakers</a> are already open!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/a-sneak-peek-at-wceu2022/#newsletter-form\">Subscribe to WordCamp Europe Newsletter</a> to get to know about all WordCamp Europe 2022 updates first!</p>\n\n\n\n<img src=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/files/2021/12/WCEU-assortment-pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:52:36 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Sabrina Zeidan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:\"type\";i:128;s:7:\"headers\";O:42:\"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";a:8:{s:6:\"server\";s:5:\"nginx\";s:4:\"date\";s:29:\"Wed, 19 Jan 2022 11:05:05 GMT\";s:12:\"content-type\";s:8:\"text/xml\";s:4:\"vary\";s:15:\"Accept-Encoding\";s:13:\"last-modified\";s:29:\"Wed, 19 Jan 2022 11:00:10 GMT\";s:15:\"x-frame-options\";s:10:\"SAMEORIGIN\";s:4:\"x-nc\";s:9:\"HIT ord 1\";s:16:\"content-encoding\";s:2:\"br\";}}s:5:\"build\";s:14:\"20220114133434\";}', 'no');
