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


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




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"WPTavern: FSF Doubles Down on Stallman Reinstatement, WordPress Does Not Support His Return to the Board";s: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=114565";s: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:251:"https://wptavern.com/fsf-doubles-down-on-stallman-reinstatement-wordpress-does-not-support-his-return-to-the-board?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fsf-doubles-down-on-stallman-reinstatement-wordpress-does-not-support-his-return-to-the-board";s: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:9079:"<p>The <a href="https://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> (FSF) is hemorrhaging board members and management following the <a href="https://wptavern.com/free-software-community-condemns-richard-stallmans-reinstatement-to-fsf-board-of-directors">reinstatement of Richard Stallman</a>. The GPL author and founder of the FSF announced last week that he had rejoined the board and is not planning to resign a second time. An <a href="https://rms-open-letter.github.io/">open letter</a> signed by more than 3,000 people called&nbsp;for the removal of Stallman from all leadership positions, including the GNU project, and removal of the entire Board of the FSF. So far it has gained support from Red hat, Mozilla, Outreachy, the Software Conservancy project, and many other high profile organizations.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We are long past the point where we can pretend that the most important thing about software freedom is the software,&rdquo; Mozilla Engineering Community Manager Michael Hoye said in signing support for the open letter. &ldquo;We cannot demand better from the internet if we do not demand better from our leaders, our colleagues and ourselves.&rdquo; </p>



<p>In addition to the resignation of former FSF board member Kat Walsh, the organization&rsquo;s executive director, deputy director, and chief technology officer have also resigned. They published a joint <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/executive-director/management-team-members-resigning">statement</a>, reaffirming their commitment to the mission of free software, despite their departure:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p></p><p>As members of FSF management, we have decided to resign, with specific end dates to be determined. We believe in the importance of the FSF&rsquo;s mission and feel a new team will be better placed to implement recent changes in governance. Free software and copyleft are critical issues of our time, and the FSF is, and should continue to be, the organization leading this movement. FSF staff have our utmost respect, support, and appreciation, and it has been a privilege to work with you all. Our team&rsquo;s mutual goal is to ensure a smooth transition while supporting the necessary renovation of the foundation&rsquo;s governance.</p></blockquote>



<p>An oddly-timed <a href="https://twitter.com/fsf/status/1376714994721689601">tweet</a> announced a new published statement the FSF board voted on, which &ldquo;condemns misogyny, racism, and other bigotry as well as defamation, intimidation, and unfair attacks on free thought and speech.&rdquo; The statement was met with ridicule and outrage on Twitter, as it hints at the defense Stallman used when he <a href="https://wptavern.com/gpl-author-richard-stallman-resigns-from-free-software-foundation">resigned as the FSF board director</a>, claiming he had been subject to &ldquo;a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations.&rdquo;</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">While our primary mission is freedom for software users, we want to be clear, the FSF board unanimously condemns misogyny, racism,and other bigotry as well as defamation, intimidation, and unfair attacks on free thought and speech.</p>&mdash; Free Software Fndn. (@fsf) <a href="https://twitter.com/fsf/status/1376714994721689601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Recent statements published to the FSF website indicate that its leadership is doubling down on the decision to reinstate Stallman:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><a href="https://fsf.org/about/staff-and-board">Some of our colleagues in the FSF</a>&nbsp;have decided to resign. We are grateful for the good work they have done for so long, and we will miss them. We regret losing them; we regret the situation that has motivated them to leave.</p><p>We appreciate their strong commitment to free software and we want to find replacements with a similar competence and commitment. We are open to suggestions and applications for these positions.</p><p>Finally, we would like to thank the numerous friends across the free software movement who have recently joined as well as those who have left and provided suggestions for helping us through this difficult time.</p></blockquote>



<p>The FSF seems to be counting the resignations as an acceptable loss, as funds from donors are evaporating. Several organizations have discontinued financial support for the organization. Most notably, Red Hat, a long-time donor with hundreds of contributors who have submitted millions of lines of code to projects stewarded by the FSF, publicly <a href="https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-statement-about-richard-stallmans-return-free-software-foundation-board">discontinued support</a> for the organization and any of its events. In addition to $708,016 in membership dues, the FSF received $1,383,003 in contributions, gifts, and grants, which makes up the bulk of its annual revenue, according to a recent <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=8557#accountability-transparency-performance-metrics">report</a> on Charity Navigator.</p>



<p>Stallman is synonymous with the FSF and his reinstatement puts many free software advocates in a difficult position. Some cannot easily write off the entire organization, as it is engaged in important work. The FSF publishes the GPL, LGPL, and FDL licenses. It also holds copyrights to defend free software from those who would seek to make it proprietary and has the power to enforce the GPL. As part of its <a href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing">Free Software Licensing and Compliance Lab</a>, the organization works to ensure that free software distributors respect their obligations to pass on the user freedoms that these licenses are meant to convey. </p>



<p>The Fedora Council cited the FSF&rsquo;s important function when publishing a <a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/fedora-council-statement-on-richard-stallman-rejoining-fsf-board/">statement</a> on why it is pulling funding from the organization:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Along with many in the free and open source software world, the Fedora Council was taken aback that the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has allowed Richard Stallman to rejoin their Board of Directors given his history of abuse and harassment. The Fedora Council does not normally involve itself with the governance of other projects. However, this is an exceptional case due to the FSF&rsquo;s stewardship of the GPL family of licenses, which are critical for the work we do.</p></blockquote>



<p>The council will not provide funding or attend any FSF-sponsored events where Stallman is a featured speaker or exhibitor, and stated that this also applies to any organization where he has a leadership role.</p>



<h2>WordPress Responds to Stallman&rsquo;s Reinstatement</h2>



<p>Up until today, WordPress had not published an official statement on Stallman&rsquo;s reinstatement to the FSF board. <a href="https://wordpressfoundation.org/">The WordPress Foundation</a> website lists the Free Software Foundation as one of the project&rsquo;s inspirations. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg was also among the FSF&rsquo;s list of patrons in previous years. </p>



<p>After asking WordPress&rsquo; executive director Josepha Haden Chomphosy for a comment regarding the matter, she published a <a href="https://josepha.blog/2021/04/02/on-recent-news-about-the-fsf-board-of-directors/">statement</a>: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>In short, I do not support his return as a board member.&nbsp;</p><p>It makes me proud that the WordPress project embodies the best traditions of open source and retires outdated traditions, or shibboleths, that do not have a place in our mission: to democratize publishing and grow the open web. For years, this community has been committed to championing underrepresented voices and maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for those we rarely see in open source.&nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>Although the statement is published on her personal blog, Haden Chomphosy confirmed that this is the WordPress project&rsquo;s official stance on Stallman&rsquo;s reinstatement. The statement quietly calls out Stallman&rsquo;s lack of accountability and the fact that he has not publicly acknowledged how harmful his behavior has been to the free software community:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The high standards for welcoming behavior are held across the board. WordPress contributors lead with accountability, acknowledgment of error, and a genuine desire to grow based on feedback. Under the guidance of many thoughtful leaders, WordPress makes space for those who are committed to growth.&nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>The message is more focused on the positive aspects of the WordPress community and its values but is clear in the first paragraph: WordPress does not support Stallman&rsquo;s return as an FSF board member.</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, 02 Apr 2021 18:57:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WPTavern: Disable the WordPress Block Editor’s Fullscreen Mode With a Plugin";s: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=114659";s: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:195:"https://wptavern.com/disable-the-wordpress-block-editors-fullscreen-mode-with-a-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=disable-the-wordpress-block-editors-fullscreen-mode-with-a-plugin";s: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:3173:"<p class="has-drop-cap">On Wednesday, Johan Jonk Stenstr&ouml;m released <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fullscreen-mode-b-gone/">Fullscreen Mode B Gone</a> to the WordPress plugin directory. As the catchy title implies, it gets rid of the block editor&rsquo;s fullscreen mode.</p>



<p>As anyone who prefers to opt-out of fullscreen mode knows, there are moments when you log into WordPress and hop over to the post editor only to find it is not in the state you last left it. It is a slight annoyance but enough to dampen the user experience.</p>



<p>Nearly two years ago, Andrew Duthie opened a ticket for storing <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/15105">users&rsquo; editor preferences to the database</a> instead of their browser&rsquo;s local storage. This includes basic settings like toggling whether fullscreen mode should be enabled. Local storage is not considered sticky, at least not permanently. It can be cleared in a variety of ways. This means that users must deal with disabling the default fullscreen editor more often than they should. It is also not stored when switching browsers, using private tabs, or when working on multiple sites across the same network.</p>



<p>The ultimate goal should be to persistently save preferences on a per-user basis. There has been little movement on that ticket in the past year. Most comments have come in the form of closed duplicates.</p>



<p>In the meantime, users must look for alternative solutions. That&rsquo;s where plugins like Fullscreen Mode B Gone offer some assistance.</p>



<p>The plugin is simple. It toggles the block editor&rsquo;s fullscreen mode off. Regardless of whether users have switched browsers, cleared their local storage, or anything else, they can safely enter the editor without being bombarded by a different editing experience.</p>



<img />New post with fullscreen mode disabled.



<p>Both an upside and a downside of the plugin is that it resets fullscreen mode each time the user opens the editor. It does not address the sticky issue. For users like me who prefer to always have fullscreen mode disabled or only turn it on once in a while, this is ideal. However, for users who want WordPress to remember the last state, it is best to skip this plugin. The default experience is better suited to what you need.</p>



<p>One of the things I dislike about how the editor works is that it requires JavaScript for plugins to make changes like this. Even if it is merely a few lines of code, it still calls for one more HTTP response just to alter a default setting. At least with PHP, a simple filter would have sufficed.</p>



<p>This is not Stenstr&ouml;m&rsquo;s first editor-related plugin. He has a plugin titled <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fatso/">Fatso</a>, which widens the content canvas for users who prefer more space when writing. Also, continuing with the &ldquo;B Gone&rdquo; branding, he released <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/welcome-to-the-block-editor-b-gone/">Welcome To the Block Editor B Gone</a> a week ago. Similar to his current plugin, it disables the block editor welcome message permanently.</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, 02 Apr 2021 16:38:20 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:115:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 10.3 Supports Default Image Sizes, Continues Normalizing Toolbars, and Categorizes Theme Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=114610";s: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:271:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-3-supports-default-image-sizes-continues-normalizing-toolbars-and-categorizes-theme-blocks?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gutenberg-10-3-supports-default-image-sizes-continues-normalizing-toolbars-and-categorizes-theme-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6241:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Version 10.3 of the Gutenberg plugin landed yesterday. Users can now define a default Image block size. The development team also continued work on normalizing block toolbars, created a &ldquo;theme&rdquo; block category, and added a padding option to the Verse block.</p>



<p>Contributors fixed over 30 bugs. However, the bulk of work went toward Full Site Editing (FSE) with over 70 commits. It is an impressive effort toward the looming WordPress 5.8 deadline and an upcoming decision on whether FSE will land in the release.</p>



<p>The team included a few additional blocks for FSE. The new <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29766">Login/out block</a> displays a login or logout link, depending on whether the user is logged out or in, respectively. The block also has an option for displaying a login form. A <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29428">Query Title block</a> was included with an Archive Title variation, which will automatically output the current title on archive views. The team also added a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29613">Term Description block</a> for displaying category, tag, and custom taxonomy term descriptions on archives.</p>



<p>Of course, as has become ritual at this point, I am now writing in an editor that looks different than it did a day ago. In version 10.2, all of our Paragraph blocks were shifted to the left.  In 10.3, none of our theme&rsquo;s width constraints are applying to the content canvas.   I still optimistically envision a day in which a Gutenberg update does not affect theme styles.</p>



<h2>Default Image Sizes</h2>



<img />



<p class="has-drop-cap">One of the features I have been patiently awaiting has finally arrived &mdash; <em>sort of.</em> We all have pet-peeves when it comes to the block editor, and not being able to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29966">set the default image size</a> when using the Image block has been high on my list.</p>



<p>A recently-added feature uses the core WordPress <code>image_default_size</code> option to handle this. When set, any new Image blocks added will default to this chosen size. While it is a welcome enhancement, there are two problems with the solution.</p>



<p>The first issue is that this option is not exposed in the WordPress admin interface. That is unless you know how to get to the secret <code>/wp-admin/options.php</code> page. There are no links to it, but users can directly enter the URL, scroll down to find the <code>image_default_size</code> option, and manually type in the size handle (e.g., <code>full</code>, <code>large</code>, etc.) that they want before saving.</p>



<p>The second issue is that it solves the problem on a site-wide level but not on a user level. For publications like WP Tavern with multiple authors, we all have our own preferred workflows. For me, I like to pre-crop all of my images before uploading, which often means that I want to use the full-sized image in the post. However, other writers may want to go a different route. The default image size should be a user preference, falling back to the site setting.</p>



<p>Nevertheless, I am happy to see some progress. I can skip that extra step of setting the image size every time I add an image to a post.</p>



<p>Next, let&rsquo;s make this happen for image alignment. Or, how about we let users set defaults for many more block options to help them streamline their workflows?</p>



<h2>Normalizing Block Toolbar Groupings</h2>



<img />Semantic groupings for the Paragraph block.



<p class="has-drop-cap">Building off <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-1-enhances-reusable-blocks-updates-social-icons-spacing-options-and-normalizes-image-block-toolbar">work that started in version 10.1</a>, the development team continued <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/25983">normalizing the block toolbar</a>. Over a dozen blocks received the new treatment.</p>



<p>The end goal is to create semantic groupings of the toolbar buttons for all blocks. This will make it easier for end-users to find options and for developers to know where to place buttons in the future. The order in the toolbar, broken down into four groups, is as follows:</p>



<ul><li>Meta</li><li>Block Level</li><li>Inline Level</li><li>More Options</li></ul>



<p>The toolbar separates each grouping with a border. With the Paragraph block, for example, the text alignment option is on the block level. However, the bold, italic, and link settings are inline.</p>



<p>Developers creating custom blocks should follow the best practices under the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/blob/trunk/docs/how-to-guides/designers/block-design.md">block design documentation</a>.</p>



<h2>Theme Block Category</h2>



<img />Theme category with Template Part, Header, and Footer blocks.



<p class="has-drop-cap">When using a block-based theme, which enables FSE mode, Gutenberg 10.3 introduces a new <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/30020">&ldquo;Theme&rdquo; category in the inserter</a>. It currently includes the Template Part, Header, and Footer blocks. The goal for the enhancement is to indicate that they are the building blocks of themes.</p>



<p>The enhancement could be better if the category was not so tough to find in the inserter&rsquo;s long list of blocks. I am still arguing that we bring back the original accordion in the UI. In the site editor, it would be better to shift the Theme category to the top, which is primarily for editing theme-related things.</p>



<h2>Padding Option for the Verse Block</h2>



<img />Adding horizontal padding to the Verse block.



<p class="has-drop-cap">Users can now set the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29820">padding for the Verse block</a>. The setting feels a bit out of place right now without any other stylistic options. Background and border options will make padding more relevant in the long term. </p>



<p>For now, it is nice to see more blocks getting spacing options. It just happened to land on what, I&rsquo;d wager, is the least-used block for WordPress users.</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, 01 Apr 2021 22:21:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:99:"WPTavern: FSE Outreach Round #4: Building a Restaurant-Themed Header With Gutenberg’s Site Editor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=114578";s: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:233:"https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-round-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header-with-gutenbergs-site-editor?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fse-outreach-round-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header-with-gutenbergs-site-editor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6069:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Anne McCarthy <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/25/fse-program-testing-call-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header/">announced the fourth round of testing</a> for the Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach program last week. This testing phase calls for users to build a restaurant-themed header via the Gutenberg plugin&rsquo;s site editor. Testing is open to anyone, and participants should leave feedback by April 8.</p>



<p>The testing process is broken down into 24 steps with both setup and testing instructions. Those participating will need to activate the latest version of the <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tt1-blocks/">TT1 Blocks</a> theme and the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg">Gutenberg</a> plugin.</p>



<p>The more people who leave feedback, the better it is for the project. The program provides that direct link between the user and the developer team that has often been missing in the past. If you have an hour or so of spare time, jump right in.</p>



<h2>Building a Custom Header</h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap">I want to push the site editor beyond its limits, creating move advanced layouts. However, the site builder is so fundamentally limiting &mdash; and broken in some cases &mdash; that it is easy to become frustrated. And, depending on which version of Gutenberg you are using, such as the latest dev vs. stable version, you can get wildly different results.</p>



<p>This propensity to jump ahead of the lesson is something I have done my entire life. In school, I frustrated more than a few teachers. I would be working on stuff from the end of the chapter when they were still explaining the basics to the rest of the class a half-hour later. I have always wanted to get to the &ldquo;good stuff.&rdquo; Of course, I did so by blazing past the boring fundamentals. I also dropped out of software engineering twice in college because building calculators was neither exciting nor challenging.</p>



<p>Like always, I jumped ahead with Round #4 of the FSE Outreach Program. I came to the realization that attempting to do anything remotely advanced with the site editor was simply not going to happen.</p>



<p>I want Full Site Editing to be successful, but we are mere weeks away from the deadline that determines whether it will land in the next version of WordPress. Somehow this experience felt like a step back from where the plugin was a few weeks ago as I built a custom homepage as part of the <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-round-2-building-a-custom-homepage-with-gutenbergs-site-editor">second round</a> of the FSE Outreach testing program. I do not know whether the problems stemmed directly from Gutenberg, the TT1 Blocks theme, or both. As someone who prides himself on near-infinite patience, Round #4 sought to crack me.</p>



<p>I wanted to recreate several elements from the UK-based <a href="https://www.phocafe.co.uk/">Pho Cafe</a> page header. I knew the site editor could not yet manage a one-to-one replication.  I still thought I could pull in parts of it but utterly failed.</p>



<img />Pho Cafe website page header.



<p>I appreciate the need for controlled circumstances. Step-by-step testing puts everyone on the same page, makes it easier to gather data, and allows others to reproduce issues. I am just bad at it.</p>



<h2>Following the Rules</h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap">I restarted from scratch. I followed the rules. And, for the most part, the testing round was successful. I built a restaurant website header from the instructions and put my own spin on it.</p>



<img />Custom beachside caf&eacute; header design.



<p>Of course, I hit a few snags. That is what the testing program is all about &mdash; identifying pain points.</p>



<p>The most problematic issue is that what I saw in the editor was not what I got on the front end. I have played around with it enough to know in my mind what it <em>might</em> look like on the front end to make adjustments without previewing the changes. However, that is not the user experience that WordPress is shooting for.</p>



<img />Editor view of the restaurant website header.



<p>Admittedly, on the front end, I tidied up the padding for the Group block and bottom margin for the Columns block for the &ldquo;Order Online&rdquo; strip across the top of the header. I thought about making the button smaller too. However, I stuck with the TT1 Blocks theme default. Ultimately, padding, margin, and other types of sizing/spacing should be customizable by the end-user.</p>



<p>Wide and full block alignments completely disappeared after activating TT1 Blocks. I am unsure if this was a recent change in the Gutenberg plugin or the theme. Nevertheless, they were gone, which was one reason I had trouble recreating pieces of the original page header I wanted to build.</p>



<p>The TT1 Blocks theme also has a hardcoded font-size for the site title link. This means that users cannot change the size of the Site Title block. I wanted to bump this up a little to make it more prominent.</p>



<p>Like the first design I was shooting for, I wanted my Navigation items to look like individual buttons, each with a bit of whitespace in between. However, the Navigation block does not currently support adding backgrounds to each nav item. Even if it did, it also does not have a horizontal margin setting to add the spacing. And, I outright refuse to use a <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-2-adds-spacers-to-navigation-lists-lets-users-categorize-template-parts-and-introduces-scoped-patterns">Spacer block between items</a>.</p>



<p>I did want to spruce my restaurant page header up a bit with a custom background. To do that, I added the primary elements inside a Cover block. Currently, the only way to do that is to copy all of the blocks, delete the old ones, and paste them into a new Cover block. A welcome enhancement to the editor would be an option for &ldquo;grouping&rdquo; blocks into a Cover like what is possible with the Group block.</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, 31 Mar 2021 22:07:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"WPTavern: First Look at Initial Designs for WordPress’ Block Pattern 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=114531";s: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:199:"https://wptavern.com/first-look-at-initial-designs-for-wordpress-block-pattern-directory?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-look-at-initial-designs-for-wordpress-block-pattern-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:3268:"<p>WordPress contributors began <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-contributors-discuss-launching-an-official-block-pattern-directory">discussing</a> the possibility of a block pattern directory in October 2020, an idea that garnered enthusiastic support. The directory would offer a place to browse user-submitted patterns, as well as one-click installation of patterns from the block inserter inside the editor. </p>



<p>Interface designer Shaun Andrews <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/03/30/wordpress-org-patterns-directory/">published</a> the initial designs for the pattern directory yesterday. Patterns will be displayed in a masonry-style grid that can be sorted by category, which works well for pattern thumbnails of varying heights. Users can search the directory and sort by featured, newest, and most popular. </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://cloudup.com/cK4jSz1Fx9c"><img src="https://cldup.com/HiaWY_zXIf.gif" alt="Masonry grid" width="1024" height="535" /></a>
</div>



<p>The idea is that a user will be able to copy a single pattern to their clipboard while visiting the directory and paste it directly into the block editor. Users will also be able to &ldquo;favorite&rdquo; patterns from the directory and access them inside the editor.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://cloudup.com/czovcau6B_D"><img src="https://cldup.com/OYhRf1SQz9.gif" alt="Copy pattern flow" width="1024" height="757" /></a>
</div>



<p>One of the most exciting aspects of the plan is that anyone will be able to create and submit a pattern without having a lot of technical knowledge. Andrews shared a quick landing page mockup to explain what patterns are and how to submit one. Prospective pattern authors would be able to create a pattern on WordPress.org using a hosted instance of the block editor with a few tweaks specific to describing and categorizing the pattern.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Users who submit patterns will have a new &ldquo;My Patterns&rdquo; screen listing all of their patterns, ones they have favorited, information about how many people have favorited their submitted patterns, and status updates for patterns still in review.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>&ldquo;This is a big opportunity for designers to contribute to the overall WordPress ecosystem without having to know how to code a&nbsp;plugin&nbsp;or a theme,&rdquo; Andrews said. It opens up a new avenue of design contribution that would not have been possible with the same scale of distribution in the days of the previous editor.</p>



<p>There are still many unanswered questions, such as how &ldquo;featured&rdquo; patterns would be chosen, how drafts work, if the patterns can only include core blocks, how users will browse and manage favorite patterns in the editor, who approves the patterns, how pattern authors can edit existing patterns, and more. If you want to help out on the project, check out the Pattern Directory repository on <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/pattern-directory">GitHub</a>. The work is broken down into smaller projects in the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/pattern-directory/issues">issues</a>. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 31 Mar 2021 17:12:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"WPTavern: GoDaddy Pro Will Kick off 2-Day Expand Event on April 27";s: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=114518";s: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:177:"https://wptavern.com/godaddy-pro-will-kick-off-2-day-expand-event-on-april-27?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=godaddy-pro-will-kick-off-2-day-expand-event-on-april-27";s: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:5095:"<p class="has-drop-cap">GoDaddy Pro is launching its first <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/expand">virtual Expand event</a> on April 27. The <a href="http://events.godaddy.com/expand">free-to-attend conference</a> will focus on web professionals and will last until April 28.</p>



<p>In February, GoDaddy <a href="https://wptavern.com/godaddy-launches-the-hub-a-new-site-project-and-client-management-experience-for-web-professionals">re-launched GoDaddy Pro</a> as a formal sub-brand of the company. The &ldquo;Pro&rdquo; branding was not a new outing. However, it was a fresh take on an old idea. As part of this launch, they introduced a re-engineered interface named the Hub. The experience was geared toward website designers and developers, providing them with a central location to manage their client projects. More than simply a new set of tools, the company created a dedicated branding experience for GoDaddy Pro.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We are committed to, passionate about, and truly in awe of web designers and developers,&rdquo; said Adam Warner, the Global Field Marketing Sr. Manager at GoDaddy. &ldquo;It has been a pleasure supporting this audience, but it&rsquo;s now our mission to up the ante and deepen our commitment. Our goal with GoDaddy Pro is to empower web pros with a unified tool that helps them create outsize efficiency for their operation, deliver incredible results for their clients, grow their skills and operation, and connect and inspire by fostering community.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The Expand 2021 event is a continuation of that goal. The target audience is described as &ldquo;web designers and developers who identify as eager side hustlers or website freelancers.&rdquo; The conference&rsquo;s sessions are meant to provide instructions, resources, and connections to help developers grow their businesses.</p>



<p>The event will begin with an opening keynote from GoDaddy&rsquo;s Aman Bhutani, the CEO; Tara Wellington, the Senior Director of Product Management; and Warner. It will feature eight sessions, split evenly between each day. The event&rsquo;s schedule will fit into a small window between 10 am and 12:30 pm <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pt">Pacific Time</a> on both days.</p>



<p>By some conference standards, even virtual ones, this may seem like a small event. However, the tighter focus could be a welcome one for people suffering from <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-us-2020-canceled-due-to-pandemic-stress-and-online-event-fatigue">online event fatigue</a>. Each session is scheduled to last around 30 minutes.</p>



<p>The sessions will focus on a wide span of topics like client management, eCommerce, creating a project starter stack, website security, and scaling a freelance business with care plans.</p>



<h2>The History Behind GoDaddy Pro Expand</h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap">Spearheading the first Expand conference, Warner avoided talking about target audiences, performance indicators, or budgetary concerns in an internal memo sent throughout GoDaddy. The effort is about creating a series of GoDaddy Pro Expand events globally in the coming months and years that help the community.</p>



<p>The idea for a conference had been in the making since 2018. Warner described the purpose of GoDaddy Pro, Expand 2021, and meetups as empowering and inspiring the next generation of web designers and developers to deliver for their clients and create self-sustaining freelance businesses.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Expand 2021 is, in some way, my Opus for giving back to the community that raised me and giving the new generation a head start in following their own passions. It&rsquo;s the culmination of my years exploring and creating on the internet. My first time on the internet was in 1993. I was in my third year of college, working at Hungry Howie&rsquo;s Pizza in small-town Michigan. A co-worker had some of us to her house, and her boyfriend logged us on to a Bulletin Board System (BBS). We chatted in a dull, orange text late into the night to people around the world.</p><p>I was amazed then, and that sense of wonder and possibility stayed with me as I started to learn HTML and build simple websites a few years later. Then came my discovery of WordPress in early 2005 and the incredible global community of users willing to lift each other up for collective success.</p><p>It was at that moment, I knew I had to find a way to make websites and WordPress my career.</p></blockquote>



<p>Now, 28 years later, Warner is taking the next step in organizing his first event from scratch along with over 40 others. He wanted to build a conference that was devoid of &ldquo;talking heads touting theoretical advice.&rdquo; Instead, to offer an experience with actionable knowledge that web professionals can use immediately.</p>



<p>&ldquo;The real purpose of Expand 2021 is to &lsquo;pay it forward&rsquo; by advising and inspiring the next generation of web designers and developers, enabling them to take the next steps in their paths,&rdquo; said Warner.</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, 30 Mar 2021 20:16:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WordPress.org blog: So you want to make block patterns?";s: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:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=9995";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/so-you-want-to-make-block-patterns/";s: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:12967:"<img width="632" height="356" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Block-Patterns.jpg?resize=632%2C356&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-9998" />



<p>If you&#8217;ve ever built something for the WordPress block editor — a theme or a plugin — you may have also heard about <strong>block patterns</strong>. </p>



<p>Looking at the patterns that come bundled with WordPress, I thought it would be nice to dedicate to them a short post. They&#8217;re pretty nice, useful shortcuts when you know them, but there&#8217;s a good chance you may not know what they are or why you might want to use them.</p>



<h2>What&#8217;s a block pattern?</h2>



<p>Patterns are&nbsp;<strong>collections of pre-arranged blocks</strong>&nbsp;that can be combined and arranged in many ways making it easier to create beautiful content. They act as a head-start, leaving you to plug and play with your content as you see fit and be as simple as single blocks or as complex as a full-page layout.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="632" height="414" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/block-library.png?resize=632%2C414&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10021" /></div>



<p>They live in a tab in the block library. You can click or drag and you&#8217;re able to preview them with your site&#8217;s styles.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="632" height="413" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/block-pattern.png?resize=632%2C413&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10022" /></div>



<p>Basically, a block pattern is just a bunch of blocks put together in advance:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>	&lt;!-- wp:group --&gt;
&lt;div class="wp-block-group"&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-group__inner-container"&gt;&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;
&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;
&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;
&lt;!-- wp:image {"align":"center","id":553,"width":150,"height":150,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":"is-style-rounded"} --&gt;
&lt;div class="wp-block-image is-style-rounded"&gt;&lt;figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"&gt;&lt;img src="https://blockpatterndesigns.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/StockSnap_HQR8BJFZID-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-553" width="150" height="150"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;!-- /wp:image --&gt;
&lt;!-- wp:quote {"align":"center","className":"is-style-large"} --&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large"&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Contributing makes me feel like I'm being useful to the planet."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;cite&gt;— Anna Wong, &lt;em&gt;Volunteer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;!-- /wp:quote --&gt;
&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;
&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;
&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;!-- /wp:group --&gt;</code></pre>



<p>That&#8217;s also how you create them: just use the block editor to configure a smattering of blocks to your liking, and the hard part&#8217;s over.</p>



<h2>How do I get them in the block library?</h2>



<p>There&#8217;s <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/developers/block-api/block-patterns/">more documentation in the handbook</a>, but what it boils down to is this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;?php 
/*
Plugin Name: Quote Pattern Example Plugin
*/

register_block_pattern(
	'my-plugin/my-quote-pattern',
	array(
		'title'       =&gt; __( 'Quote with Avatar', 'my-plugin' ),
		'categories'  =&gt; array( 'text' ),
		'description' =&gt; _x( 'A big quote with an avatar".', 'Block pattern description', 'my-plugin' ),
		'content'     =&gt; '&lt;!-- wp:group --&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-group"&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-group__inner-container"&gt;&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:image {"align":"center","id":553,"width":150,"height":150,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":"is-style-rounded"} --&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-image is-style-rounded"&gt;&lt;figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"&gt;&lt;img src="https://blockpatterndesigns.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/StockSnap_HQR8BJFZID-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-553" width="150" height="150"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:image --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:quote {"align":"center","className":"is-style-large"} --&gt;&lt;blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large"&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Contributing makes me feel like I\'m being useful to the planet."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;cite&gt;— Anna Wong, &lt;em&gt;Volunteer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:quote --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:group --&gt;',
	)
);

?&gt;</code></pre>



<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f446.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> That&#8217;s a snippet of PHP, which means you can drop it in a WordPress plugin, or perhaps more simply, paste it into the <strong>functions.php</strong> file from your theme. Done:</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="632" height="430" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Quote.jpg?resize=632%2C430&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10047" /></div>



<p>For patterns that include images, it&#8217;s worth thinking about where those are stored. The <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tt1-blocks/">TT1 Blocks theme</a> (which is a fancy name for &#8220;TwentyTwentyOne Blocks&#8221;) stores images in the theme library.</p>



<h2>Now what?</h2>



<p>The thing about a block pattern is, as soon as you insert it from the block library, it stops being <em>a cohesive unit</em> — now it&#8217;s just a smattering of blocks, detached from the pattern you created and meant to be customized to your liking. It&#8217;s a <em>shortcut</em>, not a <em>template</em>. That also means you don&#8217;t have to worry about switching themes or deactivating pattern plugins: the blocks you already inserted won&#8217;t go anywhere.</p>



<p>That being said, if you like this one pattern so much you want to use it again and again, with no customization at all, you can make it into a <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/02/gutenberg-tutorial-reusable-blocks/">reusable block</a>:</p>







<p>Reusable blocks are created, as the name implies, to be reused. The feature is a great way to store small bits of commonly used snippets that you can edit in one place to update in all. &#8220;<strong>Follow me on Twitter</strong>,&#8221; &#8220;<strong>Article series</strong>,<strong>&#8220;</strong> or <strong>&#8220;Subscribe to my podcast&#8221;</strong> are great examples of that.</p>



<h2>What makes a good block pattern?</h2>



<p>Patterns, as they ship today, are limited by the features available. If the block editor doesn&#8217;t allow you to customize letter-spacing, your block pattern can&#8217;t either. While the Global Styles project will expand what&#8217;s to blocks, in the meantime, we have to work with the available tools.</p>



<p>Even then, with the most basic ingredients — color, photography, typography — it is possible to do a lot:</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/W3RKCu5c7ONKnmuLdChmOhD40iZAFseq30i-qGwqFaq0dPTj_U5b1JXhhRR96-jRvJvKgC8BBZA4p_-EBYF-WoMRPoDLgCX8FG3RIWQhv6zX6-H7xBj4FZGGRm7cl_qdVgRy9G8q" alt="" />Three columns with images and text<br /></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="632" height="397" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Media-and-text-with-image-on-the-right-1.png?resize=632%2C397&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10036" />Media and text with image on the right</div>



<p>I designed these patterns to potentially land in WordPress core, which all have a few properties in common:</p>



<h3><strong>They share a theme.</strong></h3>



<p>You can think of a pattern as a section of a website: it is meant to be part of a whole, and so it works best when it can exist in the context of other patterns that share the same theme. There are a few sharing a Nature theme in the patterns above, a few sharing an Art theme, and others sharing an Architecture theme. When seen together, it becomes easier to see how you might be able to piece together multiple pages of your site, one page at a time.</p>



<ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><img width="632" height="406" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Large-header-with-text-and-a-button.png?resize=632%2C406&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10033" /></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><img width="632" height="405" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Media-text-with-image-on-the-right.png?resize=632%2C405&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10034" /></li></ul>



<h3><strong>They share a minimalist color palette.</strong></h3>



<p>By being parts of a whole, patterns will inevitably land in a context that uses different colors. With a reduced color palette, there&#8217;s both a better chance of fitting in and less to customize to make it just right.</p>



<ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><img width="632" height="535" src="https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Heading-and-a-paragraph.jpg?resize=632%2C535&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10042" /></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><img width="632" height="271" src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Media-text-in-a-full-height-container.jpg?resize=632%2C271&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10043" /></li></ul>



<h3><strong>The best patterns <strong>do things you might have not done otherwise</strong>.</strong></h3>



<p>Whether that&#8217;s images offset to create a unique silhouette, or just using less visible features (like fixed positioning in the Cover block), it&#8217;s a way to surface creativity.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>Tip: You can use any block in your patterns, including blocks that came from a plugin. And if that block is in the block directory, it will prompt you to install it with one click if it&#8217;s missing from your self-hosted WordPress:</em></p></blockquote>







<h2>Here’s a plugin for you</h2>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>&lt;?php 
/*
Plugin Name: Quote Pattern Example Plugin
*/

register_block_pattern(
	'my-plugin/my-quote-pattern',
	array(
		'title'       =&gt; __( 'Quote with Avatar', 'my-plugin' ),
		'categories'  =&gt; array( 'text' ),
		'description' =&gt; _x( 'A big quote with an avatar".', 'Block pattern description', 'my-plugin' ),
		'content'     =&gt; '&lt;!-- wp:group --&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-group"&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-group__inner-container"&gt;&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:image {"align":"center","id":553,"width":150,"height":150,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":"is-style-rounded"} --&gt;&lt;div class="wp-block-image is-style-rounded"&gt;&lt;figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"&gt;&lt;img src="https://blockpatterndesigns.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/StockSnap_HQR8BJFZID-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-553" width="150" height="150"/&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:image --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:quote {"align":"center","className":"is-style-large"} --&gt;&lt;blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large"&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Contributing makes me feel like I\'m being useful to the planet."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;cite&gt;— Anna Wong, &lt;em&gt;Volunteer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:quote --&gt;&lt;!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-default"} --&gt;&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-default"/&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:group --&gt;',
	)
);

?&gt;</code></pre>



<p>In case you want to make patterns, this example plugin features two of the patterns you saw above. Drop it in your plugins folder and they should show up in your block library.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img width="632" height="966" src="https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/03/Captura-de-ecra-2021-03-30-as-11.00.39.png?resize=632%2C966&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10062" />Installed pattern under &#8220;Text&#8221; Category</div>



<p>Feel free to tweak it, customize it, and make it yours. It’s GPL, after all!</p>



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



<p><em>Thank you <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joen/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>joen</a> for the help writing this post.</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:"Tue, 30 Mar 2021 17:01:10 +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:"Beatriz Fialho";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:112:"WPTavern: Open Collective Launches Funds to Help Companies Streamline Donations to Multiple Open Source Projects";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=114400";s: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:269:"https://wptavern.com/open-collective-launches-funds-to-help-companies-streamline-donations-to-multiple-open-source-projects?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=open-collective-launches-funds-to-help-companies-streamline-donations-to-multiple-open-source-projects";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4141:"<p>Open Collective has launched <a href="https://blog.opencollective.com/funds-for-open-source/">Funds</a>, a new funding infrastructure for funneling contributions to open source projects. Any open source project can receive contributions from a Fund, even those that are not listed on Open Collective due to having their own foundation or working with another fiscal host. The new feature was added to Open Collective&rsquo;s existing non-profit funding platform that serves more than 2,500 projects. </p>



<p>Funds were designed to mitigate the friction between corporations and open source projects, cutting out the excessive bureaucracy that can sometimes stifle funding for smaller projects. Companies can use the feature to support multiple projects that are crucial to their business efforts and underlying tech.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Funds facilitates a relationship between maintainers and organizations on their own terms,&rdquo; Open Collective co-founder Pia Mancini said. &ldquo;No contracts, no promises, no agendas. We take on the work of administrating payments to projects and of ensuring companies have what they need in their procurement processes.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Traditionally, if you wanted to work on an open source project full time, you would most likely need to be sponsored by a company. Although WordPress&rsquo; &ldquo;<a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a>&rdquo; campaign isn&rsquo;t perfect, it has brought some stability, enabling the project to drive important efforts forward even in leaner times of contribution from unpaid volunteers. Some open source projects aren&rsquo;t able to thrive this way, especially those that are categorized as simple utilities.</p>



<p>Critical dependencies can sometimes be grossly underfunded when supported by only a handful of individuals who may not have steady employment to buoy their maintainership efforts. The <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://heartbleed.com/" target="_blank">Heartbleed Bug</a> that was disclosed in 2014 put a spotlight on the immense economic challenges of funding open source work. In the aftermath of this global fiasco, the tech industry turned its attention towards brainstorming different initiatives that might create a more healthy ecosystem.</p>



<p>Open Collective&rsquo;s Funds feature aims to make &ldquo;working for an open source project a legitimate alternative to a career working for a for-profit corporation.&rdquo; Prior to launching the new feature, the platform quietly tested a number of Funds with Airbnb, Indeed, Salesforce, and other companies with successful outcomes for maintainers.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Airbnb&rsquo;s investment in webpack has enabled groundbreaking advancements in web compiler technology, paved the way for the last 2 major versions, and enabled us to devote entire teams to ecosystem management, CLI, docs, and infrastructure,&rdquo; webpack core team member Sean Larkin said. </p>



<p>Airbnb received so many reports of the positive impact of its Fund that the company decided to expand its open source sustainability commitment by 50% to $150,000.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Donations from Airbnb have made it possible for ESLint to pay core contributors for work,&rdquo; ESLint creator Nicholas Zakas said. &ldquo;As a result, contributors are able to spend more time pushing forward large projects that weren&rsquo;t possible when we relied solely on volunteering.&rdquo;</p>



<p>As open source projects are becoming less self-contained and more interdependent, maintaining the health of the overall ecosystem is a priority. When smaller utilities that everyone depends on are underfunded, it can have a ripple effect that slows down progress throughout the vast web of projects that rely on the dependency. </p>



<p>Open Collective&rsquo;s Funds feature is one solution that helps companies streamline their donations and keep track of their contributions to multiple projects in one place. Companies interested in creating a new Fund can get in touch with the organization via its <a href="https://www.oscollective.org/contact">contact form</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 30 Mar 2021 06:39:15 +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:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"WPTavern: Creating Tiled, Masonry, and Other Image Layouts With Meow Gallery";s: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=114473";s: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:193:"https://wptavern.com/creating-tiled-masonry-and-other-image-layouts-with-meow-gallery?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=creating-tiled-masonry-and-other-image-layouts-with-meow-gallery";s: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:4546:"<p class="has-drop-cap">I am uncertain of how I first came across the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/meow-gallery/">Meow Gallery</a> WordPress plugin. It was a pinned tab in my browser for a while, but it has recently become one of those projects that I keep coming back to. I delight in the imagery of the Meow Apps brand, created by Japan-based software developer Jordy Meow. It has the sort of fun and artistic visuals that are often missing in the WordPress business ecosystem. This creativity also comes across in the Meow Apps plugins.</p>



<p>The problem with WordPress gallery plugins is that I find a new one I want to use every other week. It is a bit of an obsession. There are so many different options that it is tough to grow comfortable with a solution before finding something new and shiny to tinker with.</p>



<p>Such is the case with Meow Gallery. From the simplicity of its options to the range of layouts that the plugin provides, it has found its way onto my ever-growing list of favorite gallery-related plugins.</p>



<p>I also prefer the decoupled, modular nature of what Meow Apps is doing with its plugins. Meow Gallery keeps a tight focus on the gallery layout itself.  Users can select an image lightbox/overlay extension separately. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/meow-lightbox/">Meow Lightbox</a> is recommended, of course. However, both are developed to work alongside third-party gallery or lightbox plugins. It is the sort of building-block solution that more developers in the community should embrace, ultimately offering end-users more freedom.</p>



<p>Meow Gallery is straightforward to use. It works similarly to the core Gallery block. When first adding images, users can drag-and-drop them directly into it or select from their media library. From that point, the experiences begin to diverge.</p>



<img />Tiled gallery with 10px gutter.



<p>Instead of selecting the number of columns, whether to crop, or the image size, the Meow Gallery block automatically handles this based on the type of layout chosen.  Options may change based on the layout too. The following are available:</p>



<ul><li>Tiles</li><li>Masonry</li><li>Justified</li><li>Square</li><li>Cascade</li><li>Carousel (pro only)</li><li>Map (pro only)</li></ul>



<p>The block also offers a handful of basic animations, link options, and more. However, the gutter setting provides more control over the output. The gutter is the horizontal and vertical space between images. Users can choose between 0 and 100. Gutter spacing is the one option from the plugin that WordPress should adopt, allowing theme authors to opt-into a default and users to customize.</p>



<img />Square-layout gallery with no gutter.



<p>The plugin also has <a href="https://meowapps.com/plugin/meow-gallery/">commercial features</a>, but they are value-added upsells instead of necessary functionality. The pro version includes extras like more layouts, new animations, and infinite scrolling for galleries with many images.</p>



<p>The one off-putting issue with Meow Gallery is that it creates a custom block. Having already seen solutions from other plugin authors that extend the default Gallery block, I was hoping this plugin would go in the same direction. Extending the core block makes it easier for end-users to switch gallery plugins at any point. However, users can transform Meow Gallery blocks into Gallery blocks and vice versa.</p>



<p>Keep in mind that the WordPress Gallery block is also undergoing drastic changes. Currently, the plan is to make it more of a container block that houses nested Image blocks. By not extending the core block, plugin users will miss out on some of the advantages this change brings. Of course, the plugin developer could follow suit and add the same features to the project.</p>



<p>Meow Gallery relies on the WordPress <code>gallery</code> shortcode. Therefore, it will continue working regardless of whether users deactivate the plugin in the future. As a fallback, it is not a perfect solution. Users of the block editor would likely rather have it revert to the core Gallery block &mdash; the shortcode and block are not remotely the same. However, it is a bit of a compromise between showing a working gallery or nothing at all.</p>



<p>I suspect the reliance on the shortcode is for historical reasons. Meow Gallery existed in the pre-block era. However, the developer has managed to keep up with the times, offering support for both the block and classic editor.</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, 29 Mar 2021 21:26:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: How WordPress Improves";s: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:52:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=9980";s: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:58:"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/how-wordpress-improves/";s: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:10231:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a> explores the WordPress release process. Tune in and learn the phases of a release and catch this week’s small list of big things.</p>



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



<h2><strong>Credits</strong></h2>



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



<h2>References</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/esperanza/">WordPress 5.7 “Esperanza”&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanza_Spalding">Esperanza Spalding</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/02/gutenberg-tutorial-reusable-blocks/">Gutenberg Tutorial: Reusable Blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/">make.wordpres.org/test</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/contribute/git/">GitHub repository&nbsp;</a></li></ul>



<h2>Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-9980"></span>



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



<p>All right, so last week, we wrapped up and shipped the WordPress 5.7 release. The release team this time around was smaller than we&#8217;ve had in the last couple of years. By the numbers, it looks really good: 66 enhancements or feature requests went in, 127 bugs were fixed, and seven versions of a Gutenberg plugin were merged and backported. If you use WordPress, you are probably aware that we have new releases throughout the year, but you probably don&#8217;t know much about the release process. There&#8217;s not really a reason to know unless you&#8217;re actively contributing to a release. For those interested in knowing more about how we improve WordPress, this week&#8217;s exploration is for you.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re gonna take a look at what goes into WordPress releases and just kind of zoom our way in from the highest level. At the highest level, there are three major WordPress releases a year, plus the minor releases, plus Gutenberg releases. So if you&#8217;re following current WordPress work and future WordPress work, that&#8217;s going to get you to probably around <strong>30 releases a year</strong>. If we zoom in one level to the release itself, a single release of WordPress takes four to five months from start to the day that we ship, and an additional four to six weeks on support and translations, and minor releases after that. If you&#8217;re looking from my vantage point, you&#8217;ll see that WordPress releases have essentially five parts, some of which happen kind of simultaneously.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The first part is planning and includes the project lead, lead developers, design; groups like that. The second phase is the creation phase when we&#8217;re actually building the things that have to go into the CMS that involves the design, core, editor, mobile, and other teams. Then there&#8217;s this phase that I like to refer to as the distribution phase. This is mostly done by the teams that make sure that WordPress is widely distributable; the polyglots team work on translations, accessibility does some work, docs make sure that everything is documented, and training, of course, gets things ready for when we have to be able to tell people how to use the release.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Then there is the fourth phase; I really don&#8217;t think they go sequentially or in a waterfall format. The fourth-ish phase that I include, and that I tend to see, is this extending and iteration phase. It&#8217;s the phase where we see our theme authors and our plugin authors, folks who are doing support, show up and help us to make sure that WordPress is available not only widely but broadly to ensure that their audiences as theme authors and plugin authors are covered in the features that they need based on what they are using WordPress for. The fifth phase is the part of our communication that involves the community team, especially marketing, WordPressTV, and learn.wordpress.org. Basically, anyone who&#8217;s showing up to make sure that we all share what happened in the release, the features that are coming, and how that affects the users is involved in that particular phase. So five big phases of what happens over those four to five months, and then for the month or month and a half afterward.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If we zoom in a bit more on the creation phase, each release has people who lead the work and coordinate contributor efforts during the course of the release. For any given release, hundreds of people contribute and receive credit for moving the WordPress project forward. Okay, hold on a second. Let&#8217;s pump the brakes and zoom in a bit on that. Hundreds of people work on every major release for a project that powers over 40% of the web that feels like a small number. But for the people who process the contributions in preparation for release, it&#8217;s actually pretty substantial. For every release, there is a small team of leaders who asked the hard questions. Is this a usable feature? Does this make WordPress better overall? And, of course, is this ready to ship?&nbsp; Some of those leaders, a smaller subset of even the leaders that we have already, are committers who actually prep and merge patches to the CMS; they don&#8217;t do all the work to create a design or write all the code. This tiny group of people processes hundreds and hundreds of bug fixes, improvements, and enhancements that have been submitted over the course of months and sometimes years. As a side note, that whole process is a little smaller, a little faster in the Gutenberg featured plugin, but the basic parts are still there. Alright, so we&#8217;ve zoomed from the big picture way into some of the finer details, and it really looks like any other project cycle. So now, I&#8217;m going to layer in the filter of open source to that process.</p>



<p>There are a couple of things that make building software in an open source environment so different. The first is that the code is readily available. If you have a basic understanding of the languages, you can see the code, learn from it, and make suggestions about improving it. Second, you consider the user a co-developer in the process, which means that as long as people use your product, they will have opinions on what you shipped. This way of iterating improves WordPress and ties back to one of my favorite open source principles. The idea that with many eyes, all bugs are shallow. To me, that means that with enough people looking at a problem, someone is bound to be able to see the solution.</p>



<p>This brings us to our community highlight, the segment where I share a note about contributors who have helped others along the way or a WordPress success story. This week&#8217;s highlight is from Nok in our Bangkok community. When asked to help her find her way into the WordPress community, she said, “@shinichiN who started the WordPress community in Bangkok and encouraged me to contribute, and also @mayukojpn has introduced me to the WP community team to join as a deputy. “ Thank you for sharing those two inspiring people with us. And if you, listener, have any stories that you would like to share of your own WordPress success or people that you have been so grateful to help you find your way in the project, you can feel free to email those to me at <a href="mailto:wpbriefing@wordpress.org">wpbriefing@wordpress.org</a>.</p>



<p>That brings us to our final segment of the WP Briefing, the small list of big things. I only have three things to share with you this week. The first one is that about a week ago, we had our first release of 2021. It was the WordPress 5.7 release, titled Esperanza. If you have not yet seen it, go ahead and update your website or check with your host and make sure that they have updated you if you&#8217;re on a managed host. And then take a listen to the artists that it&#8217;s named after.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The second thing that I want you to keep an eye out for is wordpress.org/news. We are starting a new series of content that gets at the heart of some of Gutenberg’s basic parts; there’s a lot of change coming up in the next few releases of WordPress. And the most important thing to me is that you understand what we&#8217;re trying to change and where those changes are primarily taking place. There will be a couple of tutorials that go up there over the course of the of the next few weeks. The third item on the small list of big things is to remind you of our call for testing. As I mentioned earlier in the podcast, the users of any open source software are the code developers; the software built is supposed to make your life and work easier. When you test things and find interactions that can use a little bit of refinement or features that are not working exactly as expected, it&#8217;s incredibly helpful for us to have that information to always make sure that we&#8217;re solving problems instead of accidentally creating them. If you want to participate in the Current call for testing, you can head over to make.wordpress.org/test. Or, if you&#8217;ve been doing your own testing, you can also submit any bugs you have found in the GitHub repo, which I will share in the show notes below. So that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress briefing. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks!</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:15:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Josepha";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: My Typical Day as WordPress’s Executive Director";s: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:52:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=9825";s: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://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/my-typical-day-as-wordpresss-executive-director/";s: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:9925:"<p>In this episode, Josepha Haden Chomphosy speaks to her role as the Executive Director of WordPress. Learn about the day-to-day of her role and how it supports the mission of WordPress.</p>



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



<h2><strong>Credits</strong></h2>



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



<h2>References</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/arunaswp/status/1339344702466887686">Contributor Highlight&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core">WordPress Core</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h2>Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-9825"></span>



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



<p>I&#8217;ve been asked many times what the day-to-day work looks like for the Executive Director of the WordPress project. I don&#8217;t really think I&#8217;ve done a great job of answering that question. My default answer is either too broad, and I say, “I helped turn the WordPress vision into reality by supporting the community of contributors,” or way too narrow, and I start telling people what&#8217;s on my calendar. Probably no one cares about each entry on my calendar, and almost every contributor is covered by “I get things done by helping people.” So today, I invite you to join me in exploring the type of work required and the balance it takes to keep WordPress working.</p>



<p>First, some context on the weekly activity I see in WordPress, on average, 1,800 to 2,000 contributors a week, participate in conversations and tickets across the entire WordPress project in our entire ecosystem. There are about 20 volunteer teams that are each led by two to three team reps. Each of those teams actually has smaller groups that work on specific things; all told, it&#8217;s probably about 50 distinct teams. And probably quite a few more if you are very generous in your counting about what makes up a team for us.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Among those teams, a minimum of about 35 meetings a week are held, plus more for working groups. That doesn&#8217;t take into account the things most people are aware of externally.&nbsp; It doesn&#8217;t take into account the big quarterly or annual activity things like WordPress software releases or any of our events. When those sorts of things do happen, there&#8217;s a bit of an increase in our activity.</p>



<p>&nbsp;I work 40 to 60 hours a week on WordPress, depending on what&#8217;s going on, to make sure that I know what&#8217;s happening now; so that I have insight into what the next three to five years will bring. All of that is in support of <strong>the WordPress community, which I define as anyone who has ever interacted with WordPress ever</strong>, regardless of whether they know it or not. In case you&#8217;re feeling a bit lost right now, we can shorthand that entire context as this is really big and really complex.</p>



<p>Given that giant scope, it makes sense that people wonder what the work looks like. So I&#8217;ll talk about it in three big chunks: what I focus my time on, what I focus my attention on, and what helps me balance my decisions.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So first, what I focus my time on. I spend about a quarter of my time in meetings, mostly with current contributors, project leadership, and community members. I spend another quarter of my time in WordPress community outreach, checking in with current folks, reaching out to future WordPressers, and checking in with people that I haven&#8217;t heard from in a long time to make sure that I know what they need and if there&#8217;s anything that I can do to help. After that, I spend a bit under 15% of my time each on writing/communications work or ad hoc project work. I then spend 10% of my time reviewing proposals, editing, communication drafts for others, and determining my stances on discussions that we&#8217;re having in tickets and elsewhere. I spend all of my remaining time planning for various goals, projects, initiatives and personally working to remove blockers for our volunteer contributors. So the bulk of my time, about 50% or more, is spent in calls with people, which makes sense if you&#8217;ve ever worked with me; personal connections with the community have been the best part of my job for a long time. Since the community is what makes WordPress so great, it&#8217;s only natural that I want to stay connected.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The second big chunk is what I focus my attention on. I pay attention to four big pillars of work in the project. The first one is the WordPress CMS itself. So that&#8217;s the core team, accessibility, design, and many, many others. The second one is the WordPress community. And that&#8217;s the training team, everybody who is working on the Learn initiative, and the actual community team as well.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The third big pillar that I focus on is the WordPress contributor experience, which is mostly the meta team but&nbsp; includes all of the teams they work with: plugins, themes, polyglots, etc. The fourth big pillar that I turn my attention to is our communication; what I am saying about the WordPress project to people outside of it and what I am helping our team reps to say about the work that we&#8217;re accomplishing for the WordPress project inside the project. In general, we have to make sure that we coordinate a big group of contributors around a common idea or a common practice as we move forward.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Now, the way I focus both my time and attention probably isn&#8217;t quite right if you&#8217;re focused on a single feature or team. And it&#8217;s definitely not right if you aren&#8217;t spending 40 hours a week in the project; what that probably looks like for you is more like an hour in a team meeting, 30 minutes or so on clarifying conversations, and any remaining time that you are able to contribute focused on the feature that you&#8217;re actually contributing to. And so, there you have it all my time and attention. That is WordPress in a nutshell.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This brings us to the third chunk, the balance part. You might be wondering, how do I make sure I am fair and balanced in decisions that I have to make. That is something that I think about all the time, and I take very seriously. It&#8217;s hard to make decisions that might affect 2,000 people. It&#8217;s even harder when those decisions might affect 40% of the web. I know that I don&#8217;t have all the answers. And I&#8217;m fortunate enough to have 50 or 60 people in the community who offer me advice and guidance every single week. I&#8217;m in constant contact with the project lead, of course, but I also prioritize messages and concerns raised from team reps. And I always strive to understand before I try to problem solve. I don&#8217;t always get it right, but I do always work to get better. And that is the day-to-day work of a WordPress executive director.</p>



<p>That brings us to our community highlight. I tweeted out into the community asking for excellent examples of Freelancer success stories, and today I&#8217;m going to share a story from <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ideag/">Arūnas Liuiza</a>. Their story goes like this:&nbsp;</p>



<p class="has-text-align-justify">“For almost a decade, freelance WordPress gigs allowed me to support myself and my family and keep my full-time teaching position at the local college, which was paying peanuts but was an awesome, meaningful, and fulfilling. I am sincerely grateful for that.”</p>



<p>That brings us to our final segment of this brief podcast. The small list of big things to keep an eye out for in the next two weeks in WordPress. I only have two things this week. The first one is daylight saving time. It is that time of year where daylight saving time starts or stops at various parts in the globe. If you are a team rep here at WordPress, don&#8217;t forget to talk to your teams in your meetings in the next few weeks to decide what you&#8217;re going to do. You can move your team meeting if you want, and you can keep it where it is and see what new voices show up when it moves around for various people. Either way, make sure that you chat it out with your team and make sure that everybody understands what is and isn&#8217;t moving on your calendar. That will also be relevant to any of our brand new work-from-home folks in the middle of this global pandemic.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The second thing to share is that there is a major release of WordPress coming up that&#8217;s going to happen on March 9th. It’s WordPress 5.7; it&#8217;s going to be a good release. We&#8217;ve been working on it since December or maybe a little bit earlier. So keep an eye out for announcements about that here on wordpress.org/news, or if you want to follow more about the developer details and the process details you can head on over to wordpress.org/core. That, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress briefing. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks!</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:15:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7:"Josepha";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Talking Full Site Editing with Matías Ventura";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=10013";s: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:81:"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/talking-full-site-editing-with-matias-ventura/";s: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:31281:"<p>In this episode, Josepha is joined by Matías Ventura, also known as “the spark behind the vision of Gutenberg.” Josepha and Matías discuss full site editing and answer your questions, from “is full site editing a standalone plugin?” to “will full site editing break my current site?”</p>



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



<h2><strong>Credits</strong></h2>



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



<h2>References</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tt1-blocks/">Twenty Twenty One theme</a></li><li><a href="https://centroamerica.wordcamp.org/2021/">Word Camp Central America&nbsp;</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/12/q2-listening-hours-april-7th-2021/">2Q21 Listening Hours with Matt Mullenweg and Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a></li></ul>



<h2>Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-10013"></span>



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



<p>Josepha [0:41]: This month, we have a bonus briefing, so I&#8217;ve asked my dear friend and colleague <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/matveb/">Matías Ventura</a> to join me. Matías was recently called “the spark behind the vision of Gutenberg.” With full site editing coming our way in 202, I asked if he would join me for a quick Q&amp;A. Welcome, Matías.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Matías [0:56]: Hello, hello! Thanks for inviting me. It&#8217;s a pleasure to be here.</p>



<p>Josepha [1:00]: Well, I&#8217;m delighted to have you. And I think that we have a lot of excellent questions. All right, so Matías, we actually ended up with questions in about three different groupings. And so I&#8217;m going to start with the “what is it about full site editing,” sorts of questions that people had. We&#8217;re gonna work our way into “what are we doing with it?” and then “how are we planning on getting this out the door?” Then, a couple of big picture questions that people asked. We&#8217;re just gonna leap right in this full site editing part of the Gutenberg plugin, or is it a standalone plugin?</p>



<p>Matías [1:39]: Okay, we&#8217;ll start with the basics. Full site editing is part of the Gutenberg plugin right now. I think it&#8217;s important to mention that full site editing is like an umbrella for several projects that we&#8217;re working on. They are all aiming to bring blocks into more parts of your site so that editing becomes easier and more expressive, and so on. So full site editing right now encompasses adding a ton of new blocks. I think we have around 20 new blocks coming in, including navigation query, site, title, logo, etc. There&#8217;s also the interface to interact with templates outside of the content; that&#8217;s another big part of the full site editing project. We also have a lot of new design tools included, many of these have been released in previous major releases, but they still comprise a strong part of what full site editing is. We also have something called Global Styles, which aims to allow people to configure the visual aspects of blogs across the entire site, not just on any individual blog. And of course, then there&#8217;s a whole layer of how we utilize these tools. It can get complex because there are many layers and projects that need to come together. So yeah, all of these are accessible through the Gutenberg plugin right now.</p>



<p>Josepha [3:07]: Yeah. So it&#8217;s not a standalone plugin. If you wanted to check out full site editing the site editor experience as it is now, you would just have to make sure you had the Gutenberg plugin on your site. Right?</p>



<p>Matías: Yes, correct.</p>



<p>Josepha:&nbsp; So a couple of the questions related to this are how exactly do I enable it on my site? And what is the easiest and safest way to try this on my site? And I think the answer is, is right in there. It&#8217;s in the Gutenberg plugin. And so if you have that plugin, you don&#8217;t need the testing plugin or anything else to make that work, right?</p>



<p>Matías [3:51]:&nbsp; No, you like, you might need to install a theme like Twenty Twenty One blocks that unlock some of these new interfaces that we just talked about. Like other of these pieces are available for anything. But some of these, like the interface to edit templates, right now only talk with things that know how to express their desire.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Josepha [4:14]: And I think we have less than 10 themes right now that do that, but I&#8217;ll leave some links to at least 2021 blocks in the show notes. And then, if there are another one or two themes that I can find, I can add those in there as well.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So you have to have the Gutenberg plugin; you have to have a theme that works with that site editor kind of experience. And then you&#8217;re safe to try everything out. It shows up in your left toolbar just like any other thing, like if you were working with plugins, or if you were adding a post or anything else, right?</p>



<p>Matías [4:51]: Yes, correct. And so, some of these details are being worked on right now. Like how and where you access things, and so on. These things are subject to change, but right now, you have this site editor beta in the sidebar when both you have the plugin running and a theme that&#8217;s capable.</p>



<p>Josepha [5:10]: Yeah. Excellent note. If you are running this on a production website, I would recommend you not do that unless you are very, very good with WordPress. It&#8217;s a really safe and easy thing to test and try out. But because it is still in beta, I recommend always putting it on a test site. I have a couple of different test sites that I run on myself. Another question that I had was, “will full site editing slow down my site?” And I think we have some refreshed performance tests coming out about that. And maybe they&#8217;ll be out by the time we publish this podcast.</p>



<p>Matías [5:49]: Yeah, I mean, like the performance has been one of the major focuses for the whole project. In many cases, it should speed up things because we&#8217;re like, I think one of the big pieces that these projects bring into the picture, especially for themes, is that it allows only the necessary assets to be loaded on the front end. For example, if for a given page, there are, I don&#8217;t know, 10-15 blocks being used, you would only get the CSS and scrapes and so on related to those blocks. This can cut down on a lot a ton of CSS that themes used to end queue on a side, particularly if you were trying to customize many widgets and so on, like a lot of themes have the full styles or multiple widgets, even third party plugins, and so on. So one of the advantages of having this blog system is that we can know at the time of rendering what blogs are being used and only load those assets.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Josepha [6:50]: Excellent. Another big question that we have is, “does full site editing work with the classic editor? And does it work with other builders?” I think that&#8217;s a really big answer if you&#8217;re going to get super deep into it. But I think that the short answer is yes, it does. Is that fair?</p>



<p>Matías [7:08]: Yeah, I don&#8217;t think it touches a bit on that full site editing is not like a single thing. There are multiple projects around it. So again, like the template editor that only deals with blogs, it doesn&#8217;t have a lot to do with a classic editor. But the classic editor use for both doesn&#8217;t change anything at all; like the same way that when the block editor was introduced, it didn&#8217;t change how you could still write posts in the classic editor. You will still be able to do that.</p>



<p>Josepha [7:41]: And if you are brand new to WordPress person, or, I mean, I guess at this point, you don&#8217;t have to be super brand new. If you&#8217;re fairly new to WordPress person and have no idea what we&#8217;re talking about when we say the classic editor, you don&#8217;t really have to worry about it either. You don&#8217;t have to go and find out what that is; the block editor that you have right now works perfectly for what you&#8217;re trying to do. So if you don&#8217;t know what I mean when I say classic editor, don&#8217;t worry about chasing it down either.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I think that this last question we accidentally answered earlier, but I&#8217;m going to go ahead and ask it anyway since I received it. “I keep hearing that you can use the site editor with the 2021 theme. But I don&#8217;t seem to be able to. What am I missing?” I think the answer is that there&#8217;s the Twenty Twenty One theme shipped with the WordPress release 5.6. And then there is the Twenty Twenty One blocks theme; those are two different themes. The link to the Twenty Twenty One block theme is going to be in our show notes this time around. And so, if you have been trying to use the full site editor with Twenty Twenty One and not succeeding, try the link to the one below. And I bet that that will work for you.</p>



<p>Matías [8:50]: Yes, that&#8217;s correct.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Josepha [8:51]: All right, excellent. Well, that brings us kind of into our second set of questions, which is about how we are doing it. The first one that folks have is “will full site editing be on by default in the next release. In this context, the next release is WordPress 5.8. But I think it&#8217;s a safe question to ask if full site editing will be on by default in the release that it&#8217;s planned for.</p>



<p>Matías [9:15]: Yeah, and for this, I need to go back to the same principle of many projects because there are many pieces of full site editing, and we have been merging them in major releases, particularly like the blocks and the design tools. There are more coming in that we want to make accessible as soon as possible. The full experience that requires a theme to opt-in to templates using blogs won’t be by default; it requires a specific theme running. A lot of these details we&#8217;re still like determining exactly what projects are ready to be merged and so on. But yeah, if you have a theme right now that works the way you want, it doesn&#8217;t change anything there. If anything, it adds some more capabilities and more customization tools, and so on. And the theme can also regulate how much they want to incorporate.</p>



<p>Josepha [10:13]: Matías, you&#8217;ve mentioned a couple of times in this podcast so far like this is a really complex and really complicated part of this work. And just for anyone out there who&#8217;s either encountering Gutenberg or full site editing or this podcast for the first time, I think a tiny bit of context that&#8217;s worth having here is that Matías and I have been working on this together in various capacities for like, five years. And Matías has probably been working on this for practically a decade. So, when we say that this is a really complicated problem, and when we say that this is a complex set of issues that we&#8217;re working with like, it is all that we have been thinking about for I want to say at least the last three or four years, but certainly it&#8217;s all that we have been trying to untangle for quite a bit of time before that as well. So we don&#8217;t take it lightly when we&#8217;re like, “this is complicated;” we mean it. It&#8217;s really complicated. And we&#8217;re trying our hardest over here as WordPress.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The next big question, since we&#8217;re all stuck in the “it&#8217;s very complicated,” part of things is the question, “will this update break my current site?” Like, if I have a site that is updated and ready, and it&#8217;s exactly as I wanted it to be, and it took me two years to get there will full site editing, whichever release it&#8217;s in. Currently, 5.8 is what we&#8217;re planning for. Will that break anything on my site as I know it right now?</p>



<p>Matías [11:44]: No, not at all. One of the major things that the WordPress team, the WordPress community, always cares so much about, never to break things. Many of these things are stepping stones that you can adopt, as we&#8217;ve talked about full site editing. But for example, we also have a few concurrent projects around the widget screen and the navigation screen that are meant to bring blocks into existing interfaces. So again, the theme doesn&#8217;t need to change, and a lot of care is being put into making this more like you&#8217;re unlocking new features, and nothing really breaks or falls apart.</p>



<p>Josepha [12:23]: This update, like all the other updates, should have minimal, minimal impact on what you have to actively fix on your site. Every once in a while, a bug is gonna get by. We can&#8217;t say that we&#8217;re 100% perfect with not breaking things. But also, we always and I and I know that we&#8217;re planning on this for our remaining releases for the rest of the year. At the very least, I can&#8217;t imagine we&#8217;d ever change it. But after every major release, we always make a plan to have a minor release within the next one or two weeks. Because we know that a broken thing on a site is really incredibly impactful, even if you&#8217;re only 1% of the sites that had that happen to it. And so I think that&#8217;s true in this case, too. And getting that feedback back from all of the people who are actually using WordPress is the thing that makes us be able to kind of move quickly when we do see those problems.&nbsp;</p>



<p>One of the questions that we have been getting is, “can I see a live preview without saving the changes that I made?” When I got this question, I didn&#8217;t actually understand it. And so I went and looked at a site without the Gutenberg plugin on it, and then a site with the Gutenberg plugin on it. And of course, on sites without Gutenberg, without the block editor, without full site editing, when you are looking to preview, you have the option to open up your preview in a new window. And you don&#8217;t have that with Gutenberg because it&#8217;s supposed to be a true WYSIWYG editor. A true what you see is what you get, editor. I think that the answer to this is, yes, you can see a live preview without actually saving the changes on the front end of your site. But you don&#8217;t actually have to reload anything. You don&#8217;t have to open it up in a new window. You don&#8217;t have to, like, actively click “please show me a preview” because what you see in your editing screen should be what you see at the end of your app as an end-user.</p>



<p>Matías [14:28]: Yeah, that&#8217;s the sort of the main gist to it. Yes, the site editor is built so that it always reflects the front end as truly as possible, so that&#8217;s one layer. Also, the preview tools should allow you to see in different devices like mobile breakpoints, and I don&#8217;t know if they will have breakpoints and stuff like that. There are a lot of things in the current interface that is just not enabled. There are some challenges in the sidebar. Because the site editor is not just focused on a single post, it&#8217;s focused on the entire site. So, there can be many, many changes that need to be shadowed for the site.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re changing the site title, some of the global styles, aspects, and so on need to be orchestrated. So, to see in the previewing new window, there are some challenges there to integrate. Again, the interface is not final yet; a lot of these things are still being tweaked and improved. There are many things from the regular post editor that are not enabled yet. But they will be enabled. So yeah, it&#8217;s a, I guess, it&#8217;s not a simple thing to answer. Because, again, the idea of previewing the site that&#8217;s core to the whole project is that you&#8217;re always interacting in the same way that when you&#8217;re in the customizer, you&#8217;re seeing the preview all the time. That&#8217;s the main scope of this project,</p>



<p>Josepha [15:54]: Excellent. Changes like that changes to your workflow can be really hard to get your mind around, especially if part of that existing workflow was there to create some confidence in what you&#8217;re seeing with your users. And so I understand. Now that I&#8217;ve researched that question a bit, I see where that&#8217;s coming from. Based on existing workflows and existing patterns that we have for ourselves in WordPress, will we need to have a theme to use the full site editor?</p>



<p>Matías [16:33]: I think we&#8217;ve already covered some of these. And again, they are tools that can work on any existing theme. There is other stuff that needs space-specific themes to opt-in into these tools, like blog templates and so on.</p>



<p>Josepha [16:50]: Yes, I think the question that we have next, because I see that the literal next question I have is actually something we have covered; just because we&#8217;re being pretty conversational about it, not because anyone already asked the question. So I&#8217;m actually going to skip to the last question of this section that I received. I got this next one via Twitter. The question is, “how do you view the role of themes once full site editing is fully rolled out and all the page elements (content, headers, widgets, footers, etc.) and all the views are managed via blocks and block patterns? Will things become typographic and block styles?”</p>



<p>Matías [17:28]: I think this is a great question because it goes to the heart of, why are we doing all this. One of the main reasons is to empower users more. WordPress has been democratizing publishing for a while; this is another step into allowing themes to get more customization tools and more control over their site if they want to. I think the recent call for testing has focused on the 404 page, for example. That&#8217;s something that forever has been locked away from users. And it&#8217;s also something that, as a theme developer, and I used to develop themes a long time ago, that was one of the things where you decide what sort of approach you take for the 404 page. Maybe sometimes you want to have something more whimsical. Sometimes you need something more serious. And committing to one when you can have such a diverse and broad user base can be challenging. With these, it becomes as easy as offering a few different patterns for that template. Then the user will always be able to change the copy and modify something. So again, it opens up a lot of these things that used to be locked down. However, from a theme perspective, I think this doesn&#8217;t reduce the theme at all. If anything, it allows the theme to focus less on coding and functions and more on design expression and aesthetics. I don&#8217;t think that would ever be exhausted. That will always remain as diverse as humans are interacting with WordPress. And so it&#8217;s not that I don&#8217;t see it&#8217;s just as like, typographic and block styles. How do you express a template, how do you express the structure, what choices you quote, what choices you make as a theme builder? And of course, there are many degrees of control there. Because a site maintainer may not want the 404 template to be editable, that sort of control will always be present.</p>



<p>Josepha [19:38]: Yeah. And really fast. I have to add a caveat to a thing that you said in there. For anyone who&#8217;s listening keenly, you may have heard Matías say that the users can update any of the content there &#8211; any of the copy. In this context, we&#8217;re talking about users as in the people who are maintaining the site, not people who are visiting your site. Visitors to your site will not be able to change any copy on your page unless you&#8217;ve done something very interesting with your WordPress site, which is also fine if that&#8217;s what you prefer to do. By default, your visitors can&#8217;t change everything on your website, which is good news, frankly.</p>



<p>So I&#8217;ve got one logistics question, which I&#8217;m happy to take. And then one is kind of a big picture question that I also got from Twitter. “What about the classic editor block; what is going to happen to that? And when will we know?” So ages and ages ago, before COVID? I think so. Probably maybe a couple of years ago, Matt said that the classic editor plugin would be supported through the end of 2021. And that is still the case; there will be active support on that through the end of 2021. After that, it will not be actively supported anymore. It won&#8217;t be removed from any place that you can get access to right now. In a “this is the end of its lifecycle” sort of way, we just won&#8217;t have anyone who is currently committed to maintaining that plugin anymore. So that&#8217;s what&#8217;s happening at the end of the year. And yeah, at the end of 2021. The big question that we have is, “why is full site editing being so rushed?” I think this is a bit of a loaded question.</p>



<p>Matías [21:32]: Yeah, I think I think it&#8217;s still a fair question, though. I think we&#8217;re dealing with two things here. And one is ensuring that we release things in the best state possible. And also, some of the urgency is to offer tools that we know that people lack right now and that could really benefit from. Making that determination is very tricky. The full site editing project has been in the works for the last couple of years. If we count the initial phase of Gutenberg, that&#8217;s four to five years. We&#8217;ve been doing many calls for testing, which I think have been super useful to catch issues and reflect as a community on where things are going; how do we integrate with these? How do we use it? What are the shortcomings? What do we need to do? Based on all of these, we&#8217;ll continue to make decisions on when things become ready. We&#8217;re not committed to releasing something that&#8217;s not in a good state. And I think we will always be very careful about that. There are these two competing senses of the urgency &#8211; of getting some of these tools out, and because it also benefits from the feedback loops. I always say that, in many ways, the initial phase of Gutenberg, to me, is not finished. We took the initial two years to do the 5.0 release, the initial block editor, and so on. But, it&#8217;s still being improved at a very fast pace, among all the recent major releases improvements to the editor were included; that will continue to be the case. In many ways, phase one is not finished. And the moment we choose to release some of these tools or editing tools, it won&#8217;t be finished either. They will need to continue to grow, mature, and incorporate a lot of the feedback. Even the things that the ecosystem is building around. I&#8217;ve seen a few themes already that are incorporating a blank canvas template so that you can use them in some pages and take over and do everything with blocks. So even the community and ecosystem as a whole is also sort of paving the way for what needs to come.</p>



<p>Josepha [24:06]: I think from my perspective, and of course, I&#8217;m on the people side of things, the communication side of things, the logistics side of things; I have a frequently a very different view from what a lot of other folks are seeing. And so from my side of things, I have to say, I&#8217;m communicating about this change in a really broad way, which has not been happening since 2019 when we started the work. We&#8217;ve been communicating broadly with the WordPress community, but not with everybody who uses WordPress. So, I think that for a lot of people, this looks like a project that we started really actively working on in the last six months or so. And now we&#8217;re just racing toward a finish line. I think that there&#8217;s, there&#8217;s not been a lot of awareness of everything that&#8217;s gone into it. And so, on the one hand, it feels a little less rushed to me knowing the full length of the history on this. But also, as you said, I really think that this gets a bunch of tools to people who otherwise have not been able to accomplish these things in WordPress or otherwise. I am so anxious to get something to people who really can benefit from this change the most. And it&#8217;s the nature of the open source, right that like, one, as long as you have users, you&#8217;re going to have stuff you have to fix in your software. So we&#8217;re never really, really going to be done with this; there&#8217;s not going to be like a done point of WordPress. And the second thing is, I think it&#8217;s generally true that you don&#8217;t really start getting full user feedback until after you have launched your major release. I think that we see that a lot in open source software; you can bring in as many people as you think you can in your user tests heading up to it. And in your accessibility tests. And, in general, quality assurance tests. You can bring in a lot of people and still not have gotten the full understanding of the various niche use cases that your users will bring to you. Because at this point, we&#8217;re like 40% of the web. And that means that we&#8217;re serving this majority collection of increasingly minority voices and niche voices in the space. And so, a little bit I feel a sense of urgency; I feel a bit of anxiousness about trying to get this out there for one, to get the tools in the hands of the people who can benefit the most from them, but also so that we can start really getting the full stress test of this software out and get that feedback in so that we can really build something responsive to what our users need our long tail, “anyone who ever uses WordPress ever,” definition of users. And so, that&#8217;s why I feel a sense of urgency around it. Even though you know, as I said, you and I have been working on this for like five years, and you&#8217;ve been working on it for a decade or something. I actually don&#8217;t know how long it&#8217;s been worked on.</p>



<p>Matías [27:35]: Now that makes me feel a bit old.</p>



<p>Josepha [27:40]: Nobody makes Matías feel old. He is a lovely, wonderful colleague. Sorry, Matías, If I made you feel old.</p>



<p>Matías [27:46]: No, that&#8217;s totally fine. I also want to add that full site editing is not like a single toggle that&#8217;s going to drop into a major release. So I think that&#8217;s important to consider, I think this entire year is going to see a lot of these tools being, and sometimes the sort of the end-user is not the, again, the site maintainer. Still, you can also be the theme developer; I think there are many tools that would be empowering for theme developers to use. Again, we mentioned there are like five to ten themes, block themes right now. That needs to grow a lot, and that only grows through these sorts of feedback loops. And the theme community pushing things forward and seeing where things can lead to. I&#8217;m very excited about the pattern directory integration because I think that can also combine with blog themes in very powerful ways. Imagine if, I don&#8217;t know many of these patterns that are very common on the web and very needed, that if we can refine them together with a second community and make them available across themes, you can combine a header from one theme with a content of another; all these sorts of mixtures could happen. All of this needs exploration, the creativity of the entire community, and so on. In that sense, getting all these tools, even if it doesn&#8217;t immediately change anything for like the site itself, starts to unlock a lot of things.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Josepha [29:27]: I&#8217;m going to take a bit of your answer from there and tie it all the way back to your first answer that we had when you joined me today. And say, I think you&#8217;re absolutely right. We have a set of users in our theme authors and our plugin developers as well that we desperately need to get looking at this set of tools. I hope that what we are shipping in the first iteration of this serves as an opportunity for all of those theme authors and agency owners, plugin authors, WordPress site configurers freelancers. Like, I really hope that this puts it into a really accessible, easy-to-access space for them so that they can do those experiments based on what they know their users need the most. They are the group that has the closest access to site maintainers. And what they need compared to, for instance, me or a potential you like we have a lot of information, you and I, we do a lot of tests, we have a strong sense of what is needed at the moment, but we don&#8217;t have as a close connection that our theme and agency and plugin folks all have. And so that&#8217;s another part of why I&#8217;m so excited to get this out in the current iteration of it.</p>



<p>Josepha [31:04]: That was a lot of questions in a little bit of time. This is going to be officially my longest WordPress briefing. Matías, I am so glad that you were able to join me today. And I think that everyone&#8217;s going to be really, really excited to hear your answers to these questions.</p>



<p>Matías [31:23]: Thank you for having me.</p>



<p>Josepha [31:25]: All right, my friends. That brings us into our small list of big things. I&#8217;m going to skip our community highlight today just because we had a slightly longer word press briefing in our bonus iteration today. But the small list of big things. The first thing is WordCamp Central America is coming up on April 15; there is a registration link in the show notes that you can access your tickets with. I recommend that you go; we&#8217;ve got a lot of excellent speakers coming up there and a lot of good content and good training and learning for y&#8217;all. The second thing is that Matt Mullenweg and I have listening hours coming up with the community in the first week of April. I&#8217;ll add the link to register for those in the show notes as well; it&#8217;s just a few minutes for you all to stop by, check-in, see what&#8217;s going on, and share some celebrations or concerns with us. And I hope that I see you there.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So that my friends is your small list of big things. Thank you for joining in today for the WordPress briefing. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks!</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:05:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Chloe Bringmann";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"Gutenberg Times: New Gallery Block, Convert Blocks, Business News and more  Weekend Edition #164";s: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=17347";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/gallery-block-convert-blocks-business-weekend-edition-164/";s: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:21372:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>Despite the new spread of the coronavirus in Europe and the problems around vaccinations, I am  quite hopeful to be able to travel again in the second half of the year and visit the homeland after two years. Patience is a virtue. </p>



<p>Today, we have a full roster of content for developers, content creators, theme authors, implementers and contributors.  Again I am awed by the astonishing creativity in the WordPress space! </p>



<p>Remember, you don&#8217;t need to read it all in one sitting. It&#8217;ll keep the whole week!  </p>



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





<div class="wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost"><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-full-site-editing-themes">Full-Site Editing + Themes</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-refactor-of-the-gallery-block-using-image-blocks">Refactor of the Gallery Block, using image blocks. </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-block-editor-for-content-creators">Block editor for content creators</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-should-you-switch-to-the-block-editor">Should you switch to the block editor? </a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#4-business-news-around-gutenberg">Business News around Gutenberg</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#5-extendify">Extendify</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#6-plugins-now-owned-by-extendify">Plugins now owned by Extendify: </a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#7-people-behind-extendify">People behind Extendify</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#8-go-daddy">GoDaddy</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#9-developing-for-the-block-editor">Developing for the block editor</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#10-meta-charset-utf-8-word-press-events">&lt;meta charset=&#8221;utf-8&#8243;>WordPress Events</a></li></ul></div>



<h2 id="0-full-site-editing-themes">Full-Site Editing + Themes</h2>



<p>WPTavern has a podcast again! The WordPress Juke Box. For the inaugural episode host Nathan Wrigley interviewed. Among other things, <strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy</strong> talked about her benchmark for the Go/NoGo decision to merge Full-Site Editing into core for the 5.8 release in July. Find additional thoughts in my post: <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/full-site-editing-mvp-can-i-build-a-landing-page/"><strong>Full-site Editing MVP: Can I Build a Landing Page?</strong></a></p>



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



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> posted the fourth call for testing: <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/25/fse-program-testing-call-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header/">Building a restaurant themed header</a></strong>, with instructions to use columns, navigation block and other features for the header template part. </p>



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



<p>There is a lot of movement on the Gutenberg Repo and the Themes Team keeps a list of relevant issues and discussions for theme developers. <a href="https://twitter.com/one_maggie"><strong>Maggie Cabrera</strong></a> published the round-up post <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/03/26/gutenberg-themes-week-of-march-25-2021/">Gutenberg + Themes: Week of March 25, 2021</a></strong>. It&#8217;s an excellent reading list if you need to dive deeper in the upcoming changes for your theme or your customer. One of the issues caught my eye: the discussion and work around block alignment settings for themes. The current way predates the revamp of the Inner Blocks. There is some work to be done, streamlining the styling for themes. <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/29506">Join the discussion on GitHub</a>. </p>




<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index&#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. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">The index 2020 is here</a></p>




<h3 id="1-refactor-of-the-gallery-block-using-image-blocks">Refactor of the Gallery Block, using image blocks. </h3>



<p>If you love to take a sneak peek at the new version of the Gallery block, heed the call for testing by <a href="https://twitter.com/glendaviesnz"><strong>Glen</strong></a><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/glendaviesnz"> </a></strong><a href="https://twitter.com/glendaviesnz"><strong>Davies</strong>:</a> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/23/gallery-block-update-call-for-testing/"><strong>Gallery Block Update – Call for Testing</strong></a>. The refactored version is now using single image blocks inside the Gallery block. You can us all the great features: individual links per image, block styles, choices for size and editing capabilities. If you also use a plugin with your site, like CoBlocks, you can still apply the great filters and animations to your gallery block. In his post, Davies walks you through the few features and asked to test all the many facets of the new Gallery block. </p>



<p>On the WPTavern, <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> explains how this new change can make a lot of difference on how gallery layouts will be built. Among other ideas, he pictures that among images, a Pull Quote block could be added. <a href="https://wptavern.com/refactoring-gutenbergs-gallery-block-to-support-nested-images">Refactoring Gutenberg’s Gallery Block To Support Nested Images</a>.</p>



<p>I posted <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/23/gallery-block-update-call-for-testing/#comment-40962">my first impression as a comment</a> and created <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/30250">a bug report on GitHub</a> when my images lost all their styling when I added the gallery block to a group. I suggested making it possible to apply block styles to more than one image at a time, and that the gallery block / image block copies the respective Alt texts from the media library. Both suggestions made it into the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/projects/56#card-57737540">project board.</a></p>



<h2 id="2-block-editor-for-content-creators">Block editor for content creators</h2>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/liamdempsey"><strong>Liam Dempsey</strong></a> asked his Twitter followers for recommendation of Block plugins. He collected all the suggestions in this blog post: <strong><a href="https://liamdempsey.com/community-recommendations-for-gutenberg-blocks-in-wordpress/">Community Recommendations for Gutenberg Blocks in WordPress</a>.</strong> </p>



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



<p><strong>Amie Suzan</strong> at at <a href="https://twitter.com/virfice"><strong>Virfice</strong></a> reviewed the <strong>Blocksy Theme and gives 18 <a href="https://www.virfice.com/blocksy-wordpress-theme-review/">Unavoidable Reasons to Build Sites With It</a></strong>. The theme received some attention after Chris Lema revamped his site using the block editor it <a href="https://chrislema.com/this-site-now-runs-on-the-blocksy-theme/">now runs on the Blocksy theme</a>. Justin Tadlock at the WPTavern also found the <a href="https://wptavern.com/blocksy-wordpress-theme-provides-a-solid-block-editor-experience">Blocksy theme to provide a solid block editor experience</a></p>



<p>?  <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/blocksy/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://creativethemes.com/blocksy/">Website</a></p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/andersnoren">Anders&nbsp;Norén</a></strong> published a new free theme in the WordPress Repository, named <strong>Eskell</strong>, inspired by the Swedish graphic designer&nbsp;Olle Eksell. In his <strong>introduction to the theme</strong>, Andres wrote: &#8220;(&#8230;) <em>the star of the show in Eksell is the archive page, which features a masonry grid of posts and a category filter that updates the grid with posts from the selected category without a hard reload.&#8221;</em> In includes full color settings and dark mode for devices that support it. He continues: <em>&#8220;The Blank Canvas Template hides everything on the page except the blocks you add to the Block Editor content. That gives users the freedom to create entirely custom pages, with whatever blocks they want. It feels like a little preview of what we’ll be able to do once Full Site Editing is merged into WordPress Core.&#8221;</em></p>



<p> <strong>Justin Tadlock </strong>published a review <a href="https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks">Eksell theme creates art with blocks</a> and <a href="https://wptavern.com/eksell-portfolio-theme-now-available-in-wordpress-themes-directory">a follow-up article</a> on the WPTavern. </p>



<p>? <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/eksell/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://www.andersnoren.se/teman/eksell-wordpress-theme/">Website</a> | <a href="https://andersnoren.se/themes/eksell/">Demo</a></p>



<h2 id="3-should-you-switch-to-the-block-editor">Should you switch to the block editor? </h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/bfintal">Benjamin Intal</a></strong> from Stackable posted <strong><a href="https://wpstackable.com/blog/why-you-should-switch-to-the-gutenberg-wordpress-editor/">Why You Should Switch to the Gutenberg WordPress Editor</a></strong>. He wrote: <em>&#8220;In this article, we enumerate some reasons why the Gutenberg WordPress editor might be your new primary choice for page building. Read on, and we might just convince you to give Gutenberg another shot.&#8221;</em></p>



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



<p>WordPressVIP post takes us <strong><a href="https://wpvip.com/case-studies/behind-the-scenes-of-news-uks-rampant-speed-to-value/">Behind the scenes of News UK’s rampant speed to value</a></strong>. News UK is the powerhouse behind some of the UK’s most famous news, media, and lifestyle brands. Its reach ranges from the highly respected the London Times to the hugely popular Sun. In the more detailed case study, you&#8217;ll learn from the editor&#8217;s perspective how the usage of the block editor has streamlined content production, increased productivity and fosters a culture of innovation between teams. </p>



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



<p>On the WPBuild podcast <strong>A-Z of WordPress</strong> this week, <strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong>and <strong>David Walmsley</strong> tackled the letter  <a href="https://wpbuilds.com/2021/03/25/222-g-is-for-gutenberg/"><strong>G &#8211; Gutenberg</strong></a>. If the early controversy in 2018 had you shy away from trying it out,  but now you heard so much positive about it, this episode will give you an update on how people are using the block-editor now and what&#8217;s in store for 2021. </p>



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



<p>Let <a href="https://twitter.com/allie_nimmons"><strong>Allie Nimmons</strong></a> of WPBuffs tell you <strong><a href="https://wpbuffs.com/why-and-how-to-use-the-wordpress-block-editor/">Why and How to use the WordPress block editor.</a> </strong> It&#8217;s an excellent introduction and tutorial with dozens of links to learn more. </p>



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



<p>For those of us who are worried about migrating a ton of content from classic editor and short codes to block editor, <a href="https://twitter.com/_dsawardekar"><strong>Darshan Sawardekar</strong></a>, lead web engineer at the web agency 10up, has good news. This week, he announced <a href="https://10up.com/blog/2021/convert-to-blocks/"><strong>the release of the Convert to Blocks plugin.</strong></a> Convert to Blocks converts your content to blocks on the fly and those changes will be saved when you update the post. It&#8217;s not a Bulk Converter, it only converts content once it is opened in the block editor. </p>



<p>? <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/convert-to-blocks/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://github.com/10up/convert-to-blocks">GitHub</a></p>



<p>A couple of months ago, the WPTavern published the article <strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/ask-the-bartender-how-to-bulk-convert-classic-wordpress-posts-to-blocks">How To Bulk Convert Classic WordPress Posts To Blocks?</a></strong>. Justin Tadlock listed two more plugins for the purpose: <a href="https://bulkconverttoblocks.com/">Bulk Convert to Blocks</a> (still in development) and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/bulk-block-converter/">Bulk Block Converter</a>, last updated a year ago. We used it at a recent project and it worked very well. </p>



<h2 id="4-business-news-around-gutenberg">Business News around Gutenberg</h2>



<h3 id="5-extendify">Extendify</h3>



<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/extendify-acquires-editor-plus-introduces-commercial-templates-in-its-plan-to-improve-block-editing">WPTavern has the scoop:  <em>Extendify</em> recently aquired plugin EditorPlus</a> and joined forces with Munir Kamal and his team around Gutenberg Hub. Back in November 2020, they also acquired Redux Framework, and hired its creator, <a href="https://twitter.com/dovyp">Dōvy Paukstys</a>, part-time. </p>



<h4 id="6-plugins-now-owned-by-extendify">Plugins now owned by Extendify: </h4>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/editorplus/">Editor Plus,</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/acf-blocks/">ACF Blocks</a>,</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/forms-gutenberg/">Gutenberg Forms</a>,</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/redux-framework/">Redux Framework</a>,</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ml-slider/">MetaSlider</a>,&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-slider/">Block Slider</a>. </li></ul>



<h4 id="7-people-behind-extendify">People behind Extendify</h4>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/chrislubkert"><strong>Chris Lukbert</strong></a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/arturgrabo"><strong>Artur Grabowski</strong></a>, co-founders of <a href="https://extendify.com/">Extendify</a>, are former Automattic employees. So is <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/karmatosed">Tammie Lister,</a></strong> Extendify&#8217;s Head of Design. Lister has been a major WordPress contributor on the Gutenberg block-editor as co-lead since  the beginning in 2017. She participated in one of our first Live Q &amp; As in  <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/episode-6-creating-gutenberg-live-q-a-w-leads-tammie-lister-joen-asmussen-and-matias-ventura/">November 2018 </a>with her Gutenberg co-leads  Joen Asmussen and Matias Ventura. You can also read more about Lister on <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/discovering-your-place/">HeroPress: Discovering Your Place</a>. </p>



<h3 id="8-go-daddy">GoDaddy</h3>



<p>GoDaddy is sponsoring <a href="https://twitter.com/Mamaduka"><strong>George Mamadashvili</strong></a> to contribute on the WordPress Gutenberg project full-time. Mamadashvili was one of the developers behind the cool blocks published under the brand of SortaBrilliant in 2018 and 2019. Recently, he released <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/toggles/">Toggles</a>, an accordion block for FAQs, and other use cases. You can also use it to hide spoilers in Movie or Book reviews. </p>



<h2 id="9-developing-for-the-block-editor">Developing for the block editor</h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/mattwatsoncodes">Matt Watson</a></strong> published his 5th tutorial <a href="https://wholesomecode.ltd/guides/create-customizer-panel-wordpress-gutenberg-components/">Create a Customizer Panel using Gutenberg Components</a> for developers. You should read his previous posts before tackling this one. </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wholesomecode.ltd/guides/creating-plugin-wordpress-gutenberg/">Creating a Plugin for the Block Editor</a></li><li><a href="https://wholesomecode.ltd/guides/options-settings-data-wordpress-gutenberg/">Using Options to Store Data in the Block Editor</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://wholesomecode.ltd/guides/entry-points-wordpress-create-block-script/">Add Entry Points to the Create-Block Script</a></li><li><a href="https://wholesomecode.ltd/guides/create-settings-page-wordpress-gutenberg-components/">Create a Settings Page using Gutenberg Components</a></li></ul>



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



<p>On <strong>WordPressTV</strong> you&#8217;ll find <strong>Chris van Patten</strong>&#8216;s <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2020/04/02/chris-van-patten-the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-the-gutenberg-data-api/">The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to the Gutenberg Data&nbsp;API</a>. The Data API is how you get data in and out of Gutenberg, track changes across blocks, and execute events around the editor.</p>



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



<p>The <strong>WordCamp India</strong> presentation by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/gziolo">Grzegorz &#8220;Greg&#8221; Ziółkowski</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQwHsk27HMQ">Block</a></strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQwHsk27HMQ"><strong> Development with scaffolding</strong></a> helps you get started building a single block plugin with the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/@wordpress/create-block">create-block-script</a>. </p>



<p></p>




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



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>




<h2 id="10-meta-charset-utf-8-word-press-events">WordPress Events</h2>



<p><strong>April 6, 2021 9 am EDT / 14:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAIlY3lTAos"><strong>WPCafe: Building the Twenty Twenty-One</strong> </a>with Caroline Nymark and Mel Dwan-Choyce, live on YouTube</p>



<p><strong>April 6, 2021 9 am EDT / 14:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAIlY3lTAos"><strong>WPCafe: Building the Twenty Twenty-One</strong> </a>with Caroline Nymark and Mel Dwan-Choyce, live on YouTube</p>



<p><strong>April 15, 2021 6:30 pm EDT / 23:30 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/SF-WordPress-Users/events/277019024/">South Florida Mega Meetup</a></strong> &#8220;New Site Builder Edition&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>April 15 &#8211; 17, 2021</strong><br /><a href="https://centroamerica.wordcamp.org/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordCamp Centroamérica 2021</a></p>



<p><strong>April 27 and 28th</strong><br /><a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/expand"><strong>Expand 2021</strong></a> &#8211;&nbsp;a virtual event hosted by GoDaddy that brings the web design and developer community together to share ideas and experiences, make connections and support each other.</p>



<p><strong>May 24 &#8211; 27. 2021</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://wordsesh.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordSesh 2021</a> </strong><br /><a href="https://wordsesh.com/speak/">Speaker submissions are </a>due on Monday! (March 29th)! </p>



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<p id="block-7cb87457-965b-4235-ab43-168b3a78f4ee">On the<a href="https://wpcalendar.io/online/">&nbsp;<strong>Calendar for WordPress Online Events</strong></a> you&#8217;ll find a list of the upcoming WordPress Meetups, around the world, including WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi Builder and Beaver Builder meetups.</p>






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



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



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



<hr class="wp-block-separator 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, 27 Mar 2021 20:30:55 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"WPTavern: WordPress to Drop Support for IE11 in Upcoming 5.8 or 5.9 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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=114416";s: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:195:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-to-drop-support-for-ie11-in-upcoming-5-8-or-5-9-release?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-to-drop-support-for-ie11-in-upcoming-5-8-or-5-9-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:3258:"<p>In early March, WordPress contributors began discussing the possibility of <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-considers-dropping-support-for-ie-11-after-usage-falls-below-1">dropping support for IE11</a> in the near future after usage fell below ~1%. This week, the discussion&rsquo;s facilitator, H&eacute;ctor Prieto, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/25/discussion-summary-dropping-support-for-ie11/">confirmed</a> the majority of participants are in agreement to move forward and set a timeline for discontinuing support. Contributors are now considering either the 5.8. or 5.9 release.</p>



<p>&ldquo;The argument for dropping in 5.8 is to realize the change and improvement quicker, while others are inclined to wait until 5.9 to provide a longer window between the official announcement and the effective date,&rdquo; Prieto said. The final call is up the the 5.8 release team, which has not yet been identified.</p>



<p>The release scope and schedule hinges on whether or not the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/03/12/full-site-editing-pre-merge-overview/">April go/no-go conditions</a> are met for including full-site editing in the merge for 5.8 (July 2021) or 5.9 (December 2021). Teams for 5.8 will be finalized in April/May, and they will decide how to proceed for discontinuing IE11.</p>



<p>Jb Audras suggested that if 5.8 release leads elect to drop support for IE11,  he could work with other contributors to update the BrowseHappy notice in one of the upcoming minor versions.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Even if the BrowseHappy notice can be updated independently from&nbsp;Core&nbsp;releases, I think it&rsquo;s better to update alongside a release, to give better visibility to this change,&rdquo; Audras said.</p>



<p>Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support IE11 <a href="https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-blog/microsoft-365-apps-say-farewell-to-internet-explorer-11-and/ba-p/1591666">beginning August 17, 2021</a>. Drupal recently went through a similar process of deciding to drop IE11 support with the upcoming Drupal 10 release, anticipated in June 2022. Those who have to use IE11 retain the option to remain on Drupal 9&rsquo;s LTS release until the end of 2023. Participants in the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/3155358">discussion</a> cited many of the same considerations now facing WordPress contributors.</p>



<p>Matt Mullenweg <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/04/discussion-dropping-support-for-ie11/#comment-40870">commented</a> on the preliminary discussion to suggest giving IE11 users a path forward if they land on wp-admin using an unsupported browser: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Supportive of dropping support, and if someone visits on an explicitly dropped browser like IE11 showing them a friendly message saying why wp-admin&nbsp;is not accessible and next steps they can take.</p></blockquote>



<p>The technical implementation is being discussed in the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/48743">ticket</a> Riad Benguella created to discourage IE11 usage and WordPress&rsquo; projects and teams will begin examining the practical implications of dropping 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:"Fri, 26 Mar 2021 23:32:33 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"WPTavern: 10up Creates Classic Post Migration Route With Its Convert to Blocks WordPress Plugin";s: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=114406";s: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:235:"https://wptavern.com/10up-creates-classic-post-migration-route-with-its-convert-to-blocks-wordpress-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10up-creates-classic-post-migration-route-with-its-convert-to-blocks-wordpress-plugin";s: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:3803:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Yesterday, 10up officially announced <a href="https://10up.com/blog/2021/convert-to-blocks/">Convert to Blocks</a>, a WordPress plugin for transforming classic posts into blocks. The goal is to provide users with a safe migration route for old content while removing the burdens of other options in the space.</p>



<p>I briefly mentioned this plugin in an <a href="https://wptavern.com/ask-the-bartender-how-to-bulk-convert-classic-wordpress-posts-to-blocks">article covering bulk conversion</a> in the Ask the Bartender series. However, I could not recommend it to most users because it was <a href="https://github.com/10up/convert-to-blocks">hosted on GitHub</a>, a site that is geared toward developers. With it now officially in the WordPress plugin directory, it is a much more user-friendly option.</p>



<p>Most conversion options either convert posts in bulk or through a manual process, such as the user clicking a button. Bulk converters can be problematic at a large scale simply because there is no reliable way for users to check the success of each post&rsquo;s conversion to blocks. Of course, users could check these posts individually, but that is impractical when dealing with more than a few dozen posts.</p>



<p>Bulk converters are also done so in conjunction with a database backup. It is sensible to do this when altering large amounts of content at once just to be on the safe side.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We saw a space for a third way &mdash; a solution that eliminates editors stumbling upon Classic blocks and needing to know how to convert them, while also holding back on content transformation until content needs to be modified &mdash; at which point it is also, typically, checked again on the front end of the site,&rdquo; <a href="https://10up.com/blog/2021/convert-to-blocks/">wrote Darshan Sawardekar</a>, a 10up lead web engineer, in the announcement.</p>



<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where the idea for Convert to Blocks came into play. It began as a creative engineering solution to mitigate risk and improve content mapping. Its success inspired the development and public release of the plugin to help others facilitate safe content migrations to the WordPress block editor.&rdquo;</p>



<p>10up&rsquo;s solution is a bit of a middle ground. It only converts a post when a user enters the editing screen for it. From that point, the user can check whether the conversion looks correct, fix any problems if they arise, and save the post.</p>



<img />Converted gallery post.



<p>Essentially, it works the same as the default convert-to-blocks options in WordPress without the manual step.</p>



<p>For many users, this is the ideal solution. Because classic content works the same as it always has on the front end, it is unnecessary to convert it unless the need to edit the post also arises.</p>



<p>Convert to Blocks also adds a new column to the manage posts screen named &ldquo;Editor.&rdquo; It lists whether the post content was created with either the block or classic editor, providing users with an at-a-glance look without checking posts individually.</p>



<img />Additional &ldquo;Editor&rdquo; column on the manage posts screen.



<p>Like other plugins, Convert to Blocks uses the core transformation feature, which is an imperfect solution. Depending on the content of the post, the conversion will sometimes throw an error. That is why bulk solutions are often problematic. With this plugin, users will know immediately upon editing a post if there is an issue.</p>



<p>Given the plugins available today for converting classic posts to blocks, this would be my top choice. It focuses on transforming to blocks where it matters &mdash; during the editing process &mdash; and removes some manual work for the user.</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, 26 Mar 2021 16:01:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: Free Software Community Condemns Richard Stallman’s Reinstatement to FSF Board of Directors";s: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=114253";s: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:245:"https://wptavern.com/free-software-community-condemns-richard-stallmans-reinstatement-to-fsf-board-of-directors?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=free-software-community-condemns-richard-stallmans-reinstatement-to-fsf-board-of-directors";s: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:7505:"<p>GPL author Richard Stallman <a href="https://streamable.com/nzthxn">announced</a> this week that he has rejoined the board of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which he established in 1985, and is not planning to resign a second time:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&ldquo;I have an announcement to make. I&rsquo;m now on the Free Software Foundation Board of Directors once again. We were working on a video to announce this with, but that turned out to be difficult, we didn&rsquo;t have experience doing that sort of thing so it didn&rsquo;t get finished but here is the announcement. Some of you will be happy at this, and some might be disappointed, but who knows? In any case, that&rsquo;s how it is, and I&rsquo;m not planning to resign a second time.&rdquo;</p></blockquote>



<p>In 2019, Stallman <a href="https://wptavern.com/gpl-author-richard-stallman-resigns-from-free-software-foundation">resigned</a> as director of the board and president of the FSF, and was subsequently <a href="https://wptavern.com/gnu-project-maintainers-move-to-oust-richard-stallman-from-leadership">ousted by GNU project maintainers</a> from his position as head of the project. Calls for his removal were precipitated by Stallman&rsquo;s controversial remarks on rape, assault, and child sex trafficking, along with two decades of <a href="https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman">behaviors and statements</a> that many have found to be disturbing and offensive. His return came as a shock to the free software community, though some suspect he never really left.</p>



<p>&ldquo;I did not support the decision to reinstate RMS,&rdquo; former FSF board member Kat Walsh <a href="https://twitter.com/mindspillage/status/1374448587388588037">said</a> after resigning from the board yesterday. &ldquo;I made my arguments and placed my opposing vote; while I was glad I was able to do that I regret not being able to turn the decision the other way.</p>



<p>&ldquo;I wish the organization well; my departure is not a rejection of the ideas of free software, only a belief that my role in the organization was no longer the best way to put them forward into the world.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Stallman&rsquo;s reinstatement came with a staggering lack of transparency from FSF&rsquo;s board of directors and has triggered a cascade of condemnation from individuals and organizations across the tech industry. Among the many critical responsibilities it maintains, the FSF currently&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation#History" target="_blank">holds the copyrights to enforce the GPL</a>.</p>



<p>The Open Source Initiative published a <a href="https://opensource.org/OSI_Response">statement</a> this week, calling for Stallman&rsquo;s removal from FSF&rsquo;s leadership:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Open Source Initiative calls upon the Free Software Foundation to hold Stallman responsible for past behavior, remove him from the organization&rsquo;s leadership and work to address the harm he caused to all those he has excluded: those he considers less worthy, and those he has hurt with his words and actions. We will not participate in any events that include Richard M. Stallman and we cannot collaborate with the Free Software Foundation until Stallman is removed from the organization&rsquo;s leadership. &nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>Red Hat <a href="https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hat-statement-about-richard-stallmans-return-free-software-foundation-board?sc_cid=701f2000000tyBjAAI">announced</a> that it is suspending all funding of the FSF and any FSF-hosted events. Mozilla <a href="https://twitter.com/mozilla/status/1374513444838199304">joined</a> the Open Source Diversity Community, Outreachy, and the Software Conservancy project in supporting an <a href="https://rms-open-letter.github.io/">open letter</a> that calls for the removal of the entire Board of the Free Software Foundation, along with the removal of Stallman from all leadership positions, including the GNU Project. The letter states that the undersigned do not acknowledge Stallman&rsquo;s leadership of the FSF and do not condone his actions and opinions:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>There has been enough tolerance of RMS&rsquo;s repugnant ideas and behavior. We cannot continue to let one person ruin the meaning of our work. Our communities have no space for people like Richard M. Stallman, and we will not continue suffering his behavior, giving him a leadership role, or otherwise holding him and his hurtful and dangerous ideology as acceptable.</p></blockquote>



<p> The petition has been signed by more than 2400 free software advocates. Notable signatories include Molly de Blanc (Debian Project, GNOME Foundation), Elana Hashman (Debian Technical Committee Member, Open Source Initiative Director, Kubernetes SIG Instrumentation Chair), Neil McGovern (GNOME Foundation Executive Director, Former Debian Project Leader), and Luis Villa (Former Director of the Open Source Initiative and the GNOME Foundation; contributor to the GPL v3 drafting process).</p>



<p>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published a <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/statement-re-election-richard-stallman-fsf-board">statement</a> urging the voting members&nbsp;of the FSF board to call a special meeting to reconsider Stallman&rsquo;s reinstatement, in support of the &ldquo;long-term viability of the free software movement:&rdquo;</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Free software is a vital component of an open and just technological society: its key institutions and individuals cannot place misguided feelings of loyalty above their commitment to that cause. The movement for digital freedom is larger than any one individual contributor, regardless of their role. Indeed, we hope that this moment can be an opportunity to bring in new leaders and new ideas to the free software movement.</p></blockquote>



<p>Stallman still has many staunch supporters, as more than 2,000 people have signed an <a href="https://rms-support-letter.github.io/">open letter</a> in support of him and his leadership. They contend that removing RMS &ldquo;will hurt FSF&rsquo;s image and will deal a significant blow to the momentum of the free software movement.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Stallman is still listed among the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board">FSF&rsquo;s board of directors</a>, but the board appears to be reorganizing. A preliminary <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/preliminary-board-statement-on-fsf-governance">statement</a> on upcoming changes to the board&rsquo;s governance said they are moving to adopt a transparent, formal process for identifying candidates and appointing new board members. The board intends to require existing board members to submit to this process as well &ldquo;to decide which of them remain on the board,&rdquo; with a deadline of 30 days to complete the changes.</p>



<p>By allowing Stallman to resume his position, the FSF squandered the opportunity it had to redefine itself following his resignation in 2019. The organization missed the chance to carve out a new future that would be free from his damaging influence. If the board doesn&rsquo;t act in the best interests of the greater community, by remedying its lack of transparency and accountability, it may permanently resign the organization to irrelevance.</p>



<p></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 26 Mar 2021 05:46:39 +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: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:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"Gutenberg Times: Full-site Editing MVP: Can I Build a Landing Page?";s: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=17337";s: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:76:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/full-site-editing-mvp-can-i-build-a-landing-page/";s: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:6562:"<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy</strong> was the featured guest on the <a href="https://wptavern.com/podcast/1-josepha-haden-chomphosy-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-wordpress">inaugural episode of the WPTavern Jukebox podcast</a>, hosted by <strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>. In their conversation, they covered a lot of ground. The show is definitely worth your 40 minutes of listen. </p>



<p>Around minute 23 of the audio they talked a bit more about Full-Site Editing and its merge into the core. Chomphosy said she knows &#8216;this summer&#8217; is an ambitions goal, and she also assured the listeners that the team won&#8217;t release something that&#8217;s not functional and usable. </p>



<h2>Go/NoGo Mid to End of April</h2>



<p>The Core release and Gutenberg teams will make the Go/NoGo decision to merge Full-Site Editing for the next WordPress release in July (5.8)  on April 17 or on April 23.  In other words, the state of Full Site editing in Gutenberg plugin version 10.4 and 10.5.  If it doesn&#8217;t get merged into 5.8, Full-Site Editing will be merged in WordPress 5.9 to be released in December 2021</p>



<p>Chomphosy also shared her &#8211; unofficial &#8211; benchmark of what should be possible with the prototype of the Site Editor by April: Can you &#8211; without writing code &#8211; create a landing page with Full-site editing tools. She calls it &#8220;the smallest viable sentence. The I-AM of websites.&#8221;</p>



<h2>A Landing page is the smallest viable unit</h2>



<p>This single web page consists of a header, a footer, a hero image with a button, some text, a form or a call to action.  This narrows the focus of the MVP, the prototype, considerably. It also increases the probability that the first low-key, opt-in version of Full-Site editing might actually make it into the next WordPress version. A narrow scope will also help content creators, teachers and developers get started working on their discovery of the new WordPress feature. As soon as it is merged into WordPress core, plugin developer and theme builders can test their ideas against it and get familiar with the underlying concepts. </p>



<p>It&#8217;s a good way to ease-in content creators, too. When you are not dealing with the header and footer of a big site, but just for a single page, it’s not so critical if you get lost on the way from content editing to template part (header, footer) editing and back again. It&#8217;s all on the same page, literally. </p>



<p>This transition was one of the major causes of confusion during the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/16/high-level-feedback-from-the-fse-program-march/">first few testing calls for the FSE outreach program</a> and the developers are working on making it less confusing. With this unofficial benchmark of a single landing page creation, the team will have additional time and input on how to better handle that switch between editing a template that is used for many pages and the content of a single post or page content.</p>



<p>A very tangible goal, &#8220;Can I build a landing page with the tools available?&#8221; makes it straightforward for WordPress contributors who work on the parts that make that are not code, like documentation, marketing, training and testing.</p>



<h2>Call For Testing: Create a Header</h2>



<p>The <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/25/fse-program-testing-call-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header/">4th call for testing</a> via the WordPress FSE-Outreach program asks you to<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/25/fse-program-testing-call-4-building-a-restaurant-themed-header/"> create a header for a Restaurant</a>. <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> has detailed instructions for you as well as video if you are in a testing mood. Your input is definitely wanted!</p>



<p>Chomphosy also added that Matias Ventura, the technical lead for Gutenberg,  might have different benchmarks for the MVP. I am curious, and <a href="https://twitter.com/JosephaHaden/status/1371956586516606977">answer Josepha&#8217;s call for questions</a> on Full-Site Editing for her next episode of the WPBriefing podcast when Matias will be her guest. </p>



<p>Full-Side Editing project encompasses a lot more than the Site Editor with template parts. There are Global Styles, Widgets in Customizer, a new Navigation and Widget screen, block-based themes with a theme.json file and query block. Some of it will work its way into the MVP. We will see how far the team progresses on their journey, that will only begin once Full-Site editing comes to Millions of WordPress users. No Fear, though. It will all be opt-in. Nothing will break. </p>



<p class="has-white-color has-secondary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-large-font-size">&#8220;Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow&#8221; &#8212; Eric Raymond&#8217;s Linus&#8217; Law</p>



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<p class="has-text-align-center has-white-color has-text-color has-huge-font-size"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/full-site-editing/">Full-Edit Editing </a></p>



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</div></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 26 Mar 2021 04:34:22 +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:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:110:"WPTavern: Extendify Acquires Editor Plus, Introduces Commercial Templates in Its Plan To Improve Block 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:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=114307";s: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:263:"https://wptavern.com/extendify-acquires-editor-plus-introduces-commercial-templates-in-its-plan-to-improve-block-editing?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=extendify-acquires-editor-plus-introduces-commercial-templates-in-its-plan-to-improve-block-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:6447:"<p class="has-drop-cap">With the release of <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/editorplus/">Editor Plus 2.7</a> in recent weeks, <a href="https://extendify.com/">Extendify</a> stamped its brand name on the plugin. The company officially acquired the plugin months ago. However, this was its first public outing as the new owner of a project that has seen a steady uptick in its popularity, recently surpassing 5,000 active installations.</p>



<p>Extendify was busy in late 2020. The company quietly purchased the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/redux-framework/">Redux Framework</a> in November. D&#333;vy Paukstys, the creator, remained on board part-time with the financial backing needed to continue the project. In December, Extendify joined forces with Munir Kamal and his team behind Editor Plus and Gutenberg Hub.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Our mission is to turn WordPress into a superpower for entrepreneurs around the world,&rdquo; said Extendify co-founder Chris Lubkert. &ldquo;As you know, despite its unrivaled popularity, many users still struggle to use WordPress to create the site they need. We see tremendous potential to empower WordPress users to create a Gutenberg-native website in a few clicks. By bringing together Redux, Editor Plus, and Gutenberg Hub, we have the foundational pieces to create a world-class onboarding and site-building experience.&rdquo;</p>



<p>There are no plans to build a &ldquo;super&rdquo; plugin that combines Editor Plus and Redux. Gutenberg Hub will continue providing resources to help users leverage the block editor.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Currently, the Redux template library and the library in Editor Plus are separate,&rdquo; said Lubkert. &ldquo;But we are heavily investing in making the Extendify library the best solution for users and eventually plan to introduce this to the Redux user base as well.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Extendify&rsquo;s first public act as Editor Plus&rsquo;s owner was not to introduce new features in its recent major-release, version 2.7. Instead, users were presented with a limitation on features they previously had access to for free.</p>



<p>Version 2.7 limits the template and pattern inserter, <a href="https://wptavern.com/editor-plus-2-6-adds-block-pattern-and-template-library">introduced in 2.6</a>, to three imports. Beyond that, users must upgrade to one of the Extendify Pro paid tiers. The single-site option is $99 per year with an introductory rate of $49. The unlimited sites tier is $299, and it currently has a $149 limited-time offer.</p>



<img />Template and pattern inserter.



<p>At first glance, it seemed like a cash grab from new owners. There were no public announcements or explanations for the change outside of a minor note in the plugin&rsquo;s change log &mdash; just new ownership and upsells. Lubkert said he plans to rectify this by publishing an announcement post next week.</p>



<p>Extendify had already been involved with new feature development for months. The API behind the template inserter was coming from their server in Editor Plus 2.6. It was the groundwork for Extendify Pro, but it was also still under development.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a small, nimble team, and it was a development timing issue,&rdquo; said Lubkert. &ldquo;We finished the library approximately three weeks before we finished paid plans, and we certainly didn&rsquo;t want to delay users getting their hands on the library while we finished up work on Extendify Pro.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Users will not lose any previously-imported templates. However, importing anything beyond three additional templates in Editor Plus 2.7 or newer will require a purchase of Extendify Pro for an API key.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We are now offering an added layer of value for users who want to benefit from the power of Editor Plus but may not be in a position to use it to create their site from scratch,&rdquo; said Lubkert. &ldquo;For those users, we are creating the most beautiful and effective Gutenberg-native templates, built with Editor Plus, as part of the Extendify Pro template library. As you know, we launched the initial beta version a few weeks ago. A subscription is required for unlimited access to the library, but all users can import any three templates or patterns for free.&rdquo;</p>



<p><em>With the launch of the template inserter in 2.6, there was no public mention of it being a beta version.</em></p>



<p>Templates and patterns from Gutenberg Hub remain free. Users can still browse the site, copy a template code snippet, and paste it into the block editor.</p>



<p>The team removed the custom blocks extension in Editor Plus 2.7.1, released earlier today. This feature allowed end-users to copy blocks from the Gutenberg Hub block library, paste them into the plugin, and save them for use on the site. Users could also add custom blocks via this settings screen.</p>



<img />Removed custom block feature.



<p>&ldquo;The custom block feature in Editor Plus was an experiment that was pretty cool, actually,&rdquo; said Lubkert. &ldquo;However, [Kamal] suggested removing it from Editor Plus since it is now very similar to the reusable block functionality in core. We want Editor Plus to push the envelope of what is possible with Gutenberg, and having a duplicate feature that is available in core doesn&rsquo;t add real, incremental value for our users.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Updating to 2.7+ will also likely deactivate the plugin for end-users. The primary plugin filename changed from <code>index.php</code> to <code>editorplus.php</code>. Developers should generally avoid doing this because WordPress uses this filename to determine if a plugin is active.</p>



<p>I remain optimistic about Editor Plus&rsquo;s future now that it has the financial backing it deserves. Having been an early supporter of the project, I knew this day would come. Nearly every time I spoke with Kamal in the past, I asked him about plans for monetizing the product. It had grown beyond what one developer could reasonably handle and scale without a business plan in place.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We agree with your sentiment that WordPress projects need to generate revenue in order to fund the development of truly transformational experiences,&rdquo; said Lubkert. &ldquo;We have been investing in our team as well. Tammie Lister joined us as Head of Design. We&rsquo;ve also added engineering, support, and QA team members.&rdquo;</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, 25 Mar 2021 21:44:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"WordPress Foundation: 5 tips for organizing a successful online do_action charity hackathon";s: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=182733";s: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://wordpressfoundation.org/2021/5-tips-for-organizing-a-successful-online-do_action-charity-hackathon/";s: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:6491:"<p>In 2020, unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://wordpressfoundation.org/2020/charity-hackathons-august-2020-report/">community organizers rallied together and worked hard to give a WordPress-powered web presence for charities</a> through <a href="https://doaction.org/">online charity hackathons</a>. Our passionate and resilient community members are pulling out all stops this year to continue the good work. We already have two applications for do_action events in the queue, with more in the pipeline! This post aims to encourage all our zealous organizers with tips on how best to organize successful <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/organising-an-online-do_action-event/">online do_action charity hackathons</a>.</p>



<ol><li><strong>Recruit a core team and prepare an event plan</strong><br />Enlist a team of 5-10 members to wrangle the event. Much like a WordCamp, organizers need to plan do_action events down to the last detail. Make sure you have a plan for the entire event lifecycle &#8211; including <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/gathering-non-profits/">selecting nonprofits</a>, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/getting-particpants/">finding volunteers</a>, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/finding-sponsors/">finding sponsors</a>, task management, and execution. For inspiration, check out how the <a href="https://github.com/doactionjp/do_action_guideline">do_action Japan team came up with a plan for the event beforehand</a>! Having a solid communication strategy and setting deadlines is equally important. Finding answers to questions like: “<em>When do volunteer teams meet?”,  “How often should there be check-ins?”,  “How do we track tasks?”,  “How do we measure progress?” </em>and<em> “ What deadlines do we need to meet?” </em>for instance, will help in devising a strategy.</li><li><strong>Finding non-profits and volunteers </strong><br /><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/gathering-non-profits/">Finding eligible non-profits</a> for your event could be a challenge. When your event publishes the call for non-profits, share it widely on social media. Since this is a charitable event, we have noticed that getting PR from local news media outlets is a lot easier. You might also want to reach out to Non-profit organizations and offer assistance proactively. You can follow the same approach for volunteer recruitment too.</li><li><strong>Fix your collaboration tools and communication strategy<br /></strong>Since this will be an online event, you will need the right collaboration tools to make the event successful. <strong>Please note: A doaction.org G Suite/Google Workspace account will be provided to all do_action event organizers in 2021 and beyond! Feel free to use that account for all your needs. Check out </strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/google-workspace-account-for-do_action-events/"><strong>the handbook page for more information</strong></a><strong>.</strong> Here are some tools that you can use for your event:<ul><li>doaction.org website (call for nonprofits &amp; hackathon participants)</li><li>Slack (overall event prep, communication on the event days) &#8211; A free plan will be sufficient.</li><li>Zoom (event organizer &amp; inter-team meetings, opening/closing remarks) &#8211; <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/getting-started/special-virtual-events-zoom-request/">WordPress Community zoom accounts</a> can be used. </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/google-workspace-account-for-do_action-events/">Google Workspace tools</a> (provided to all 2021 organizers in the <a href="mailto:location@doaction.org">location@doaction.org</a> format) &#8211; Gmail (inquiries &amp; sponsor communication), Google Forms (call for organizers &amp; sponsors, post-event survey), Google Sheets (task &amp; data management), Google Docs (collaborative editing of documents, Google Drive (for storage needs),  and Google Slides (opening/closing remarks presentation)</li><li>WordPress.com P2 &#8211; for task management</li><li>Trello &#8211; for task management.</li><li>Figma (design)</li></ul></li><li><strong>Finding sponsors<br /></strong>For online do_action events, organizers need not worry about venue or catering expenses. Hence, sponsorship benefits for these events can be passed along directly to non-profits. Most WordPress companies are passionate about supporting non-profits, and providing product/service licenses is a cost-effective way for them to support the community. Consider reaching out to specific companies as per your needs. Sponsorship benefits that do_action events in 2020 had availed include:<ul><li>Free domain and web hosting for non-profits</li><li>Sponsored premium plugins and themes (Only 100% GPL Compliant themes and plugins are allowed)</li><li>Sponsored website services (backups, caching, security, optimization, etc.)</li></ul></li><li><strong>Find a way to offer post-event support for non-profit websites<br /></strong>Make sure that once the event is over, each non-profit is trained on how to use and update the site. Perhaps a few volunteers could provide post-event support for a short while (while ensuring that the right expectations are set on both sides). Offering post-event support as a sponsorship benefit could also be a solution to that problem.</li></ol>



<p>Does all of this sound exciting? Would you like to support your local community by organizing a do_action event? <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/do_action-event-application/">Send in your application</a> right away! You can read more about do_action in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/do_action-charity-hackathon/">event handbook</a>. Thank you for all that you do to support the global community through WordPress.</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, 25 Mar 2021 03:50:25 +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: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:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"WPTavern: Insert Font Awesome Icons Into the Block Editor via the JVM Gutenberg Rich Text Icons Plugin";s: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=114315";s: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:249:"https://wptavern.com/insert-font-awesome-icons-into-the-block-editor-via-the-jvm-gutenberg-rich-text-icons-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=insert-font-awesome-icons-into-the-block-editor-via-the-jvm-gutenberg-rich-text-icons-plugin";s: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:3071:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Joris van Montfort, a freelance WordPress developer, released the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jvm-rich-text-icons/">JVM Gutenberg Rich Text Icons</a> plugin over the weekend. The goal was simple: allow users to insert icons nearly anywhere in the block editor at the click of a button.</p>



<p>The plugin uses version 4.7 of the Font Awesome library out of the box. However, developers can modify this to include custom icon sets.</p>



<p>Like many of the most useful plugins, it stays in its lane, performing a simple task and doing it well. The plugin presents users with a &ldquo;flag&rdquo; button in the editor toolbar whenever they edit a Rich Text field.</p>



<img />Inserting an icon into a Heading block.



<p>Rich Text is a block editor component for entering text. Anywhere users can type in the editor canvas is fair game for inserting an icon. This includes paragraphs, headings, image captions, and more. It also extends to blocks from other plugin developers. If they employ a Rich Text field anywhere, the &ldquo;flag&rdquo; button will appear, and users can plop an icon in it.</p>



<p>Icons inserted through the plugin automatically inherit the surrounding text size. If you stick it in a Heading block, it will grow larger. If you stick it in a Button block, it will match up with the Button text. The same is true for the colors too.</p>



<img />Inserting icons in various blocks at different sizes and colors.



<p>Because it is impossible to match each theme&rsquo;s design perfectly, some minor spacing or alignment adjustments may be needed. For the most part, the icons looked good when I tested them with various themes. However, there were a couple of one-pixel-off issues and minor alignment miscues with some blocks. On the whole, I did not run into any design-breaking issues. The plugin displayed its icons as it should.</p>



<p>One usability issue I encountered was being unable to delete an icon via the <code>Backspace</code> or <code>Delete</code> keys on my keyboard in use with the Buttons block. It worked well with other blocks. The solution for this was to click on the inserted icon. Then, select the &ldquo;flag&rdquo; icon in the toolbar to reopen the inserter. After choosing no replacement, the old one disappeared.</p>



<p>The plugin developer provided filter hooks for third-party developers to implement icon sets other than Font Awesome via a custom JSON file. Instructions are outlined in the plugin&rsquo;s readme. There are also hooks for uploading or overwriting the stylesheet and classes.</p>



<p>While I like the plugin&rsquo;s execution, I dislike that it loads its own Font Awesome stylesheet. If using another plugin or theme that does the same, its inclusion increases the page load size for end-users by loading multiple copies of the same code. This is not the fault of the plugin developer. It is a limitation created by WordPress&rsquo;s lack of a dependency system. However, users who give the plugin a try should be mindful of this potential issue.</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, 24 Mar 2021 23:07:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"WPTavern: Chrome 90 to Use HTTPS by Default in the Address Bar";s: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=114269";s: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:169:"https://wptavern.com/chrome-90-to-use-https-by-default-in-the-address-bar?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chrome-90-to-use-https-by-default-in-the-address-bar";s: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:2895:"<p>Chrome&rsquo;s upcoming <a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2021/03/a-safer-default-for-navigation-https.html">version 90</a> will use&nbsp;<em>https://</em>&nbsp;by default in the address bar, bringing a significant improvement to security and loading speed. HTTPS adoption has shot up significantly over the past six years after Google&nbsp;<a href="https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html">announced</a>&nbsp;in 2014 that HTTPS would be used as a ranking signal in search results. </p>



<p>In February 2021, W3Techs found that <a href="https://w3techs.com/blog/entry/fact_20210202">82.2% of websites use a valid SSL certificate</a>. Today, more than <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/https/overview?hl=en">98% of pages loaded in Chrome</a> use HTTPS as the default protocol, making this change to using HTTPS as the default for navigations long overdue. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Firefox Telemetry charts HTTPS adoption at <a href="https://letsencrypt.org/stats/#percent-pageloads">more than 84%</a> of web pages for all users and 92% for traffic originating in the USA.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Currently, anytime a user puts a site into the address bar without specifying the protocol, such as &ldquo;example.com,&rdquo; Chrome uses HTTP by default and then has to retry for HTTPS. </p>



<p>The update in Chrome 90 is good news for Chrome users, because it improves the loading speed for sites that support HTTPS by cutting out the redirection loop after the initial load. A gif on the Chromium blog illustrates this in a nice way: </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Those who are using Chrome Canary can access experiments to try it out ahead of the version 90 release. Navigate to the following URL to mark the experimental feature as enabled:</p>



<p><strong><em>chrome://flags/#omnibox-default-typed-navigations-to-https</em></strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>WordPress site owners will want to make sure their sites are using HTTPS in order to take advantage of the speed boost this change introduces. Fortunately, for those who haven&rsquo;t migrated over yet, the latest <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-7-will-make-it-easier-to-migrate-from-http-to-https">5.7 release makes it easy to update with the click of a button</a>. WordPress can detect if the site&rsquo;s hosting environment supports HTTPS and then offers a one-click update process via the Site Health screen. It even handles mixed content rewrites where possible, so site owners will not have to worry about having a bunch of broken links after migrating. </p>



<p>Chrome 90 went into beta in mid-March. The stable release is <a href="https://www.chromestatus.com/features/schedule">scheduled</a> for 20 days following beta on April 13, 2021.</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, 24 Mar 2021 17:28:10 +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:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"HeroPress: My Journey From Freelancer To Product Maker";s: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:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=3513";s: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:160:"https://heropress.com/essays/my-journey-from-freelancer-to-product-maker/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-journey-from-freelancer-to-product-maker";s: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:9826:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/032321-min.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: The WordPress community is integral for its success and I can't thank it enough." /><p>Like many others in our industry, my WordPress journey started a while ago.</p>
<p>I built my first website using GeoCities when I was 14 years old, 21 years ago (boy am I getting old). At the time I was obsessed with skateboarding, the website was for friends I used to hang out and ride around with from school. I remember how excited I felt when I could see that my website was online and I would literally show it to everyone I could, even though looking back at it now it was extremely brightly coloured and scrappy!</p>
<p>Back then, with my family&#8217;s 56k connection, whenever I connected to the internet it would take over the landline, so I was only allowed to go online for an hour per day. So I spent the days fiddling with Front Page, just waiting for my 1 hour to upload the code and share the updates with my MIRC friends (kinda like a Stone Age version of Slack).</p>
<p>That’s about the time I also picked up a guitar for the first time&#8230;.</p>
<h3>Music, business and websites</h3>
<p>To start I borrowed a super cheap electric guitar from a friend to learn how to play, and impress a girl I liked. After playing all evening, I felt so inspired that the guitar ended up next to me while I slept in bed. It was love at first chord.</p>
<p>Because I was so obsessed, I couldn’t stop practicing and quickly I became pretty good (for a kid). So much so that I formed a band with some friends and started performing wherever we could. For the next decade, I focused on becoming the best rock musician I could.</p>
<p>I didn’t want to just play the guitar in a band that was performing at local events and school, I wanted us to go places and started treating it as a business. I began studying business by reading every book I could, which led me to take courses and become a certified business and digital consultant.</p>
<p>During my studies, I learned WordPress and the entire Adobe suite. This was my first introduction to WordPress and it made me love designing and developing websites even more than I already did.</p>
<p>I had fun during this time, but they were some tough years and despite all of my efforts, my band wasn’t doing very well.</p>
<blockquote><p>After everything I had put into it, I thought I’d have my own episode on MTV Cribs already!</p></blockquote>
<p>We decided the band needed a change.</p>
<p>We rebranded, wrote new stuff, this time in English to maximise our reach, and did an online launch using everything I learned.</p>
<p>Within a month of the launch, my local band from a small town in Israel was signed to release an album worldwide through a British label.</p>
<p>We were stoked!</p>
<p>We decided to drop everything, come to the UK and start touring Europe. And so we did!</p>
<p>Starting from scratch, we began building our audience at small venues and pubs, while really pumping things up online, using WordPress to build our website and promote!</p>
<p>We went from playing to sometimes less than 10 people to hundreds, then thousands. Playing with some of the artists we grew up listening to.</p>
<p>It was pretty amazing, but I was still broke surprisingly!</p>
<p><a href="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image1.jpg"><img /></a></p>
<p>Luckily though, from my efforts in promoting the band using our website and designs on social media, my work began to get noticed and I started to attract clients.</p>
<p>With little to no money in my bank account, I started freelancing out the back of our tour van and built clients websites while touring Europe. Free McDonalds WiFi became my best friend and no matter where we went, there was always one nearby.</p>
<p>While I drew in more clients and started generating revenue for myself, unfortunately my band ended up splitting up. It was unavoidable and in the end, it was the best thing that could have happened to me (even though it was devastating at the time).</p>
<p>I then thought, “you know what, I’m going to start taking this freelancing thing seriously.”</p>
<blockquote><p>I started building my own business, using my rediscovered passion for the web and WordPress in particular.</p></blockquote>
<p>As I got deeper into building websites, I began to insert myself more into the WordPress community, which filled the void of being “the band guy”. As my time now wasn’t being taken up by touring, I employed my first designer and this is where my agency took off.</p>
<p>We managed to pull in 6 figures within the first year, and we kept growing!</p>
<p><a href="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image2.jpg"><img /></a></p>
<p>Within a few years, my agency grew to 12 employees. As I acquired more clients, I realized there was something holding me back.</p>
<h3>From Agency To Product Maker</h3>
<p>As we began dealing with more and more clients day-to-day, it became blindingly apparent that we simply did not have the correct tools to deal with the volume efficiently.</p>
<p>So, I went on the hunt for a platform or tool that could help organize and deal with client requests quickly and easily. We already had a ticketing system in place, while using emails, phone calls and face to face meetings, but it was just all a mess.</p>
<p>There are solutions to the problems of project management BUT I struggled to find a purely dedicated platform that was for a web design agency.</p>
<blockquote><p>I arranged a meeting with my team and we decided, let’s just build our own solution.</p></blockquote>
<p>We had the designers and developers to make it happen, so&#8230;we did! We developed a simple WordPress plugin that we could use to take requests from our clients across all of their websites, and after it was implemented, it worked like a dream.</p>
<p>Being the person I am though, I didn’t stop there. I thought, “other people should be using this” and that’s where my product, Atarim, was born. I reached out to the WordPress community wherever I could and got a bunch of beta testers to try it out with their own clients.</p>
<p>The feedback was so positive that we developed the plugin even further and started charging monthly and annual plans for other agencies and freelancers to start using it. We are now a fully fledged agency management platform serving thousands of freelancers and agencies and helped deliver tens of thousands of website projects. In just short of two years.</p>
<p>Now we only deal with a couple of legacy clients who have been with us for a while, and we use our own platform to manage them.</p>
<h3>The WP Community</h3>
<p>I’ve been part of the WordPress community for a long time now, and I’m humbled and honored to say that without it, my product would not be where it is today.</p>
<p>Before COVID, I was a regular at every event I could get to, whether it was in London (where I live) or another country.</p>
<blockquote><p>I’ve made some lifelong friends within the community and it has made working day-to-day an absolute blast</p></blockquote>
<p>…(obviously with some major stresses in between, but hey you aren’t doing it right if you aren’t stressed most of the time!).</p>
<p>Because of COVID though, I was driven to creating our own event online. Last year we had our first and we are currently gearing up for the second one to go live very soon!</p>
<p>The Atarim Web Agency Summit was born out of love for the WordPress Community. An online event that spans 4 days where we can all come together and listen to some of the greatest minds in our industry talk about their craft and how we can improve our agencies and freelance businesses.</p>
<p>We managed to develop the summit into the biggest online event in the WordPress space and it was incredibly humbling to partner with some of the largest companies and famous speakers. Companies that have products I myself have been using for years, and speakers that I used to watch on YouTube!</p>
<p>Also, the feedback we received from our initial beta test and the feedback we continue to get from our current users, helps shape the product every single day. The WordPress community is integral for it’s success and I can’t thank it enough.</p>
<p>I love that our platform is helping agencies and freelancers that are experiencing the exact same stresses and problems I was facing when growing my agency. This is what drives my team and I to continue working and evolving Atarim, until it is the only way to manage website projects.</p>
<h3>What’s Next?</h3>
<p>Next, I want to make our platform accessible on any type of website, whether it’s WordPress, Drupal, Shopify or built purely from custom HTML &amp; CSS. I want Atarim to be accessible to any type of agency owner and freelancer so they can implement our platform and reap the benefits.</p>
<p>I’m continuing to build the team as our product gets more and more users, so we can up development on a weekly basis and release updates that enhance the experience for our current and bring in new users.</p>
<p>As for me personally, I’m learning new and exciting things every day, attending courses and webinars where I can to ensure that I’m doing the best I can to steer Atarim in the right direction. I’ve been at this for nearly 2 years now, the plan is to go for another 8 years and re-evaluate from there.</p>
<p>I’m excited for the future!</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/my-journey-from-freelancer-to-product-maker/">My Journey From Freelancer To Product Maker</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 24 Mar 2021 08:01:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Vito Peleg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"WPTavern: Eksell Portfolio Theme Now Available in WordPress Themes 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=114120";s: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:197:"https://wptavern.com/eksell-portfolio-theme-now-available-in-wordpress-themes-directory?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eksell-portfolio-theme-now-available-in-wordpress-themes-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:2805:"<p>Anders Nor&eacute;n&rsquo;s new <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/eksell/">Eksell theme</a> is now available for download from the WordPress Themes directory. Eksell was inspired by Swedish graphic designer <a href="http://olleeksell.se/">Olle Eksell</a>. It arrives a year and a half after Nor&eacute;n&rsquo;s popular Chaplin theme was released.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Last week Justin Tadlock published a <a href="https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks">preview</a> of the theme while it was still making its way through the review system. Since that time, Nor&eacute;n has added to the five block patterns he originally submitted with the theme. There are now 12 block patterns that help users create stacked galleries, calls to action, multiple columns with pullquotes, and more. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Eksell also includes a unique &ldquo;<a href="https://andersnoren.se/themes/eksell/blank-canvas/">Blank Canvas</a>&rdquo; page template that only displays content added in the block editor, which Nor&eacute;n said offers a preview of what users will be able to do once Full Site Editing (FSE) is merged into core.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://www.andersnoren.se/introducing-eksell/">Eksell announcement post</a> is a sobering reminder of the uncertainty facing even the most experienced theme developers with changes coming later this year. Nor&eacute;n said he is not planning to update his existing 20 themes to support FSE:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>My current belief is that I won&rsquo;t update my existing themes to take advantage of Full Site Editing. Not because I don&rsquo;t buy into the vision of Full Site Editing, but because I don&rsquo;t think anyone would be well-served by six year old themes (like Hoffman) very much not built for FSE being updated to sorta-kinda support it. I would rather spend that time on themes built from the ground up to take advantage of the new tools Full Site Editing gives us.</p></blockquote>



<p>Once FSE is released, Nor&eacute;n said themes not updated to support it will immediately feel outdated &ldquo;much like Classic Editor themes felt in the spring of 2019.&rdquo; Theme developers don&rsquo;t yet know what shape themes will take or how difficult it may be to update them once FSE is in core. </p>



<p>Nor&eacute;n is considering updating Eksell to bridge the gap between the world before FSE and whatever themes look like after it lands in core, but reserved the right to leave it behind with the others. For the time being, it is one of the best themes around for the block editor, but it may be the last of the truly classic themes before the dawn of a new era in theming.  </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, 24 Mar 2021 01:28:23 +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: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:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"WPTavern: Refactoring Gutenberg’s Gallery Block To Support Nested Images";s: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=114179";s: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:187:"https://wptavern.com/refactoring-gutenbergs-gallery-block-to-support-nested-images?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=refactoring-gutenbergs-gallery-block-to-support-nested-images";s: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:4957:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Like many others, I often have pinned tabs of all sorts of things in my browser. Some of them linger there for months. Others for years, I shamefully admit. Of the handful of Gutenberg-related browser tabs I have had <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/25940">pinned since late 2020</a>, one of them finally had the sort of movement I have been waiting on. The Gallery block was finally getting the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/23/gallery-block-update-call-for-testing/">much-needed refactor</a> it needed.</p>



<p>A gallery is essentially a container with nested images. The concept of nested blocks has existed and has been in use for a long while now. However, the core Gallery block does not make use of this capability. This means that users have no access to existing Image block features.</p>



<p><em>Want to customize the link for individual images?</em> No can do with the Gallery block. Instead, users must use Columns and drop Image blocks in. It is such a fundamentally broken part of the user experience there is little wonder that users have looked outside of core WordPress for alternative solutions. And it has been a problem since the introduction of galleries via the shortcode system in WordPress 2.5.</p>



<p><em>Want to alternate styles for each image in the gallery?</em> That has traditionally been impossible too. However, when each image is an Image block, users can alternate between square and round styles, for example.</p>



<img />Alternating Image block styles in a Gallery.



<p>Users can even use a plugin like Editor Plus with its extended Image block styles to create a Gallery of &ldquo;image blobs&rdquo; or animate them individually.</p>



<img />Individual images with &ldquo;blob&rdquo; shapes via Editor Plus.



<p>This change could open some layout possibilities where users control the positioning of each item in the grid. And, why stop with images? There is no reason that core could not open the block up to other types of nesting in the future, such as videos, quotes, and more.</p>



<img />Gallery of images with a quote.



<p>The downside to this new feature is that it could require more work from developers who have already built on top of the Gallery block. That is why it is fundamental that they test this change now.</p>



<p>Testers can see the change by switching to the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/25940">gallery refactor branch</a> via GitHub or grab a <a href="https://glendaviesnz.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/gutenberg-gallery-refactor-1.zip">ZIP file</a> of the build. It adds a new &ldquo;Gallery Refactor&rdquo; option to Gutenberg&rsquo;s Experimental setting screen, which must be enabled.</p>



<p>Only newly-added Gallery blocks will use the new format. Nothing changed about it at first glance. However, by selecting an individual image, users can use the typical Image block settings. The two exceptions are the align and resize options, removed because they would break the layout. New galleries also do not work in the site editor yet.</p>



<p>&ldquo;While the expectation is nothing changes in terms of output, this is a pretty major change on a technical level for a very popular block, so it&rsquo;d be a huge help to gather as much testing feedback as possible,&rdquo; wrote Glen Davies in the announcement post.</p>



<p>This statement could be misleading. There are fundamental, backward-incompatible changes to the markup output with the new implementation.</p>



<p>In previous iterations of the gallery, it had a wrapper container (<code>&lt;div&gt;</code>) and an unordered list (<code>&lt;ul&gt;</code>) of images. The proposed change would remove the list entirely, dropping the Image blocks as direct children of the containing element. This will break custom theme styles and potentially plugin integration.</p>



<p>On a technical level, I do not see the need to change the outer markup galleries. It is only the image part of the equation that needs to change. If this is because of limitations with the <code>InnerBlocks</code> system (nested blocks feature), perhaps it is not robust enough to meet developers&rsquo; needs.</p>



<p>With continual breaking changes to markup and CSS in the core block system, coding the entirety of a site&rsquo;s CSS from scratch is probably a thing of the past. This is not the first instance of such breakage and will undoubtedly be the last, a rarity in the pre-block era. The best course of action is for theme authors to leave core styles in place and extend them, even if it means some bloat for page loads. It is not a fool-proof plan, but it lightens the burden.</p>



<p>Overall, I welcome the Gallery block enhancement, even it breaks a few things. It potentially opens a world of possibilities and is necessary if the project ever wants to provide end-users with anything other than super basic functionality.</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, 23 Mar 2021 17:39:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:49:"WPTavern: Ulysses 22 Adds WordPress Post Updating";s: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=114118";s: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:143:"https://wptavern.com/ulysses-22-adds-wordpress-post-updating?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ulysses-22-adds-wordpress-post-updating";s: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:1429:"<p><a href="https://ulysses.app/">Ulysses</a>, the writing app for Mac, iPad and iPhone, released <a href="https://blog.ulysses.app/ulysses-22/">version 22</a> this week with support for updating WordPress posts as the headline feature. The app aims to provide a distraction-free writing experience and has offered the ability to export to WordPress for years. </p>



<p>Ulysses began alpha testing the highly requested WordPress post updating feature in early February. Updating an existing post is as simple as making a change and clicking &lsquo;Publish&rsquo; again. It&rsquo;s important to note that users can only update a post from the same device where it was originally published, due to a technical issue with iCloud syncing. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>The Ulysses development team is working on syncing the publishing state across devices and plans to add post updating for other services in the future. Version 22 introduces a new integration with the <a href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> service.</p>



<p>One improvement to document management in the app is the ability to add color to the icons in the document library. Users now have the option to add large headers in the editor. Version 22 also includes a host of UI updates that make navigating panels and sheets easier. Check out the <a href="https://blog.ulysses.app/ulysses-22/">release post</a> for a full rundown.</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, 23 Mar 2021 16:36:45 +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:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: New Private Slack Channel Created for Full-Time Sponsored WordPress Contributors";s: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=114088";s: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:225:"https://wptavern.com/new-private-slack-channel-created-for-full-time-sponsored-wordpress-contributors?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-private-slack-channel-created-for-full-time-sponsored-wordpress-contributors";s: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:5360:"<p>As part of an experiment designed to improve coordination of contributor teams, WordPress has <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/03/19/experiment-coordinating-sponsored-contributor-teams/">launched</a> a new Slack channel for full-time sponsored contributors. Josepha Haden Chomphosy, the project&rsquo;s executive director, announced the new closed Slack channel on Friday evening in a post that drew critical feedback from contributors who pushed for more clarification.</p>



<p>&ldquo;2020 was filled with hardships for many of us in the WordPress community, and we saw a predictable downturn in the level of volunteer contributions,&rdquo; Haden Chomphosy said. She noted that during difficult times WordPress relies on these company-sponsored contributors to keep the project going:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>In the near future, you will see a few more sponsored contributors around to make sure we are keeping up with the necessary tasks, from marketing professionals to backend developers. To assist in coordinating, I have created an experimental&nbsp;Slack&nbsp;channel for contributors who are sponsored for 32 hours or more.&nbsp;</p></blockquote>



<p>Haden Chomphosy hints at more sponsored contributors being added to the pipeline but didn&rsquo;t specify where they are coming from. The announcement did not identify a specific reason for the formation of the new channel but briefly outlined its purpose as follows:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>It is primarily an opportunity for those who are contributing full-time to WordPress to gain valuable knowledge of how we lead with a global mindset and how WordPress applies open source methodologies in a broader context than software development.</p></blockquote>



<p>Since the new channel is limited to full-time sponsored contributors, the enculturation process she described would exclude those who are not fortunate enough to be sponsored by a company. Traditionally, the WordPress community has worked towards transparency in decision-making as much as possible and in all aspects of development. This channel has the potential to create an imbalance between those with full-time status and those who can only volunteer part-time.</p>



<p>&ldquo;It can be difficult to&nbsp;<strong>not</strong>&nbsp;start making decisions wherever there is a discussion while working on WordPress,&rdquo; WordPress core contributor Jeremy Felt commented on the post. &ldquo;In some ways, every decision made in private can make it harder for future contributors who were not able to see the conversation. We are historically (core&nbsp;team, IMO) not good about documenting the&mdash;high bandwidth, in person&mdash;decisions that happen at WordCamps and other meetups. I think we can sometimes also be not so great at more permanently documenting decisions that are made in public chats.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Felt suggested WordPress consider making the channel read-only for non-participants or publish the chat log as a way to improve the documentation for private discussions.</p>



<p>Joost de Valk requested the goal be more specific so participants can understand what falls within the scope of the private channel vs a discussion that should be public.</p>



<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m honestly kind of radical about transparency and think there&rsquo;s too much secrecy already, but I also understand the need to be able to discuss without being interrupted,&rdquo; de Valk said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hard balance. I wish&nbsp;Slack&nbsp;had the equivalent of &lsquo;voice&rsquo; of IRC, so we could make some of these types of channels public but not allow everyone to post in them.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The most critical feedback on the announcement came from WordPress Community Deputy Timi Wahalahti, who said he doesn&rsquo;t necessarily oppose the experiment but felt strongly that it was &ldquo;a bad call to start the experiment with just notification without any prior public discussion about it.&rdquo; He also said the explanation in the announcement doesn&rsquo;t adequately justify the need for the channel.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Where was this proposed and discussed?&rdquo; Wahalahti said. &ldquo;To my knowledge, WordPress as a project lives from proposals, discussions and transparency. I&rsquo;m quite sure it&rsquo;s not the intention, but the project executive director making this kind of big decision that potentially impacts the transparency without transparent proposal and discussion looks like disparaging the project principles.&rdquo; </p>



<p>Wahalahti asked what kind of discussion Haden Chomphosy envisions for the channel. He suggested that since these contributors already belong to multiple teams in the project, it might be &ldquo;more important to improve the conversational connection between sponsored and volunteer contributors,&rdquo; instead of focusing on strengthening the bond between full-time sponsored contributors.</p>



<p>The matter of hosting the experiment seems to be settled already but Haden Chomphosy is open to circling back to review the channel&rsquo;s efficacy after the next major release of WordPress.</p>



<p>&ldquo;I will revisit the implementation post-WP5.8 to make sure it&rsquo;s useful, focused, avoiding black box decisions, and committing to transparency,&rdquo; Haden Chomphosy.</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, 22 Mar 2021 19:48:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:106:"WPTavern: WebARX Rebrands To Patchstack, Combines Services To Focus on WordPress Plugin and Theme Security";s: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=113659";s: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:255:"https://wptavern.com/webarx-rebrands-to-patchstack-combines-services-to-focus-on-wordpress-plugin-and-theme-security?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=webarx-rebrands-to-patchstack-combines-services-to-focus-on-wordpress-plugin-and-theme-security";s: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:5680:"<p class="has-drop-cap">In 2018, WebARX launched the first version of its security platform and grew to 3,000 users. Earlier this month, the company decided to <a href="https://patchstack.com/why-did-we-rebrand-from-webarx-to-patchstack/">rebrand to Patchstack</a>. Outside of customers getting the name wrong, the company had grown beyond its original SaaS product, providing other services like PlugBounty, an open-source bug-hunting platform. Earlier this year, they also acquired ThreatPress, a WordPress security service provider. Combining the three created an opportunity to relaunch the brand.</p>



<p><a href="https://patchstack.com/">Patchstack</a> is a website security company. Instead of focusing directly on the core WordPress software, it dives into the world of third-party extensions. For WordPress, that means monitoring and patching vulnerabilities in plugins, themes, and any other components users might install. The service&rsquo;s primary audience includes developers and digital agencies. It helps them to identify issues and provides almost real-time patching to eliminate threats.</p>



<p>Oliver Sild, Patchstack founder and CEO, already had the PlugBounty idea back in 2018. &ldquo;I realized it&rsquo;s impossible to tackle the security issues in the WordPress ecosystem if we don&rsquo;t have a big and strong community behind security as there is behind plugin/theme developers. I created a platform where security researchers can quickly put together a detailed security report for any WordPress plugin and which then will be delivered to the plugin developer.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The new <a href="https://patchstack.com/red-team/">Patchstack Red Team</a> was what was previously the PlugBounty project. His company and other WordPress ecosystem members contribute to the &ldquo;prizepool,&rdquo; cash paid out monthly to the top security researchers based on scores from their contributions. All findings are also made publicly available for free through the <a href="https://patchstack.com/database/">Patchstack Database</a>.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We manage the triage process by following a strict responsive disclosure policy and make sure the information reaches the right person and that the vulnerability will get properly fixed,&rdquo; said Sild.</p>



<p>Patchstack had already kept an internal database to compare customer software versions. After adding PlugBounty to the mix, it needed a public database to give credit to the community of security researchers.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We had discussions with different database vendors in the ecosystem, but the vision really clicked with ThreatPress,&rdquo; said Sild. &ldquo;The founder of ThreatPress also joined our team and is now running the Patchstack Database and Patchstack Red Team operations. Patchstack Database will be providing information about security vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem and will remain free to use for the public. We also have API which hosting companies can use to notify their customers about vulnerabilities within the websites.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Sild said that approximately 95% of security vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem are from third-party code. &ldquo;The best thing you could do is making sure you have your websites updated,&rdquo; he said when asked about the low-hanging fruit that any site owner could take care of.</p>



<img />Oliver Sild, Patchstack founder and CEO.



<p>&ldquo;The second big issue is the pirated and nulled plugins &mdash; keep in mind that if you found a premium plugin/theme for free, then there is a reason behind this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a trap many people fall into, and without their knowledge, they infect their own website with malware and backdoors. And how can I not mention passwords? Please use password management tools such as LastPass, KeePass, and try to enable two-factor authentication on all your accounts.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Free versions of commercial plugins and themes that are secure and up to date are possible to find. However, the average end-user would have no way of knowing if that was the case.</p>



<p>Patchstack is a SaaS product. Once users create an account through its system, it will guide them to connect their website with the Patchstack WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Once the website is connected, it sends environment details (plugin, theme, core, PHP, etc. versions) to Patchstack,&rdquo; said Sild. &ldquo;Patchstack then compares all the versions with known security issues and notifies the user if outdated/vulnerable code is detected.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Patchstack has different security modules, which can be enabled or disabled from the settings screen. One that is on by default is WordPress Virtual Patches. This feature detects if a vulnerable plugin is in use on the site and sends virtual patches immediately.</p>



<p>The service has a cloud-based dashboard, allowing users to access details for all of their sites in one place.</p>



<img />Patchstack dashboard.



<p>&ldquo;Patchstack allows you to create custom security alerts and send them on emails and Slack channels when vulnerable or outdated plugins are detected,&rdquo; said Sild. &ldquo;It provides a central overview on all the different security issues across an unlimited number of sites, and you can export a monthly PDF report for each website if needed. Additionally, to how many vulnerabilities and security issues you have on your websites &mdash; the Patchstack dashboard is also telling you when any of the vulnerable plugins/themes on your websites have been attacked, and you&rsquo;ll have granular details about each threat that has been blocked.&rdquo;</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, 22 Mar 2021 18:36:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"Gutenberg Times: Building Forms with Blocks, Work w/ Blocks via GraphQL API,  and more – Weekend Edition #163";s: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=17282";s: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:47:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/weekend-edition-163/";s: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:16804:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>It&#8217;s another month, until we know if the Full-site editing experience is good enough for the merge into core. It still has many moving parts that need to fit neatly together to make it a good user experience and allow site owners to design their site within the boundaries of their block-based theme. </p>





<p>Discover two plugins to build forms with the editor and read two articles  on how to work with blocks in decoupled (also called headless) WordPress via GraphQL. Some developers might find it as exciting as I do. </p>



<p>Enjoy the plugins shared and check out the upcoming WordPress events. </p>



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





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<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&#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. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">The index 2020 is here</a></p>




<p><strong>Gutenberg team released version 10.2 of the plugin. </strong><br /><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/17/whats-new-in-gutenberg-10-2-17-march/">Release notes by Bernhard Reiter</a><br />WPTavern post: <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-2-adds-spacers-to-navigation-lists-lets-users-categorize-template-parts-and-introduces-scoped-patterns">Gutenberg 10.2 Adds Spacers To Navigation Lists, Lets Users Categorize Template Parts, and Introduces Scoped Patterns</a></p>



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



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> shared <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/16/high-level-feedback-from-the-fse-program-march/"><strong>high level feedback from the FSE Program.</strong></a></p>



<p>The <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/">3rd Call for Testing</a> is only open until March 23, 2021. If you have about 20 minutes, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/"><strong>build a fun 404 page</strong> via the new Site Editor</a> in WordPress. <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> has some very details instructions. Please share your experience as a comment on the post. </p>



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<p>Monday started with <a href="https://news.wpbuilds.com/issues/154/"><strong>This Week in WordPress live show #154</strong></a>, a podcast by <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/wpbuilds">Nathan Wrigley</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/wp_paullacey">Paul Lacey</a></strong>. This week <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> and <a href="https://twitter.com/jcasabona"><strong>Joe Casabona</strong> </a>were on the show as guests, and they covered the new features in WordPress 5.7 and more Full-Site Editing. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUrJHhv1InQ">Head on over to YouTube</a>!</p>




<p> <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/changelog-40-full-site-editing-rollout-gutenberg-10-2-farewell-to-mark-uraine/"><strong>Episode #40</strong> is now available</a>!</p>



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



<img />Review by <a href="https://twitter.com/Peter_Ingersoll"><strong>Peter Ingersoll</strong></a> on <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/gutenberg-changelog">Stitcher</a>




<h2>Plugins for the Block Editor</h2>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/formality/"><strong>Formality</strong></a> is an all-in-one WordPress form plugin for the block editor. <a href="https://twitter.com/michelegiorgi"><strong>Michele Giorgi</strong></a>, who built it for fun and <em>&#8220;because he hates the gym.&#8221;</em> I definitely can relate to the sentiment, although, I get cranky when I skip our lunch runs for too many days. The plugin comes with 12 blocks that include usual form elements, multi-steps layout, and ratings. You&#8217;ll also find 24 templates with backgrounds from Unsplash and corresponding color palettes. For developers, there are hooks and filter to extend it for your needs. <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/benswrite">Ben Townsend</a></strong> of LayerWP reviewed it on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjnDb_4bXeM"> YouTube.</a></p>



<p class="has-small-font-size">? <a href="https://formality.dev/">Website</a> | <a href="https://github.com/michelegiorgi/formality">GitHub</a> | <a href="https://gist.github.com/michelegiorgi/56fe4489b922cf2af4704b79d4f56bb6">Gist</a> | <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/formality/">WPRepo</a></p>



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



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/forms-gutenberg/"><strong>Gutenberg Forms</strong></a> is another block editor only plugin to create forms for your page and post. The author, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/m_munirkamal">Munir Kamal</a></strong>, also created add-ons for <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/guten-forms-mailchimp/">Mailchimp</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/guten-forms-mailpoet/">Mailpoet</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/guten-forms-akismet/">Akismet</a>. All his code it open-source, and maybe he inspires you to create your special integration as well. You can also read <a href="https://wptavern.com/build-forms-via-the-block-editor-with-gutenberg-forms">Justin Tadlock&#8217;s review</a> from last summer</p>



<p class="has-small-font-size">?  <a href="https://docs.gutenbergforms.com">Docs</a> | <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/forms-gutenberg/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://gutenbergforms.com/">Website</a> | <a href="https://github.com/gutenberghub/gutenberg-forms">GitHub</a></p>



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



<p>The plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/full-screen-galleries/"><strong>Full Screen Galleries</strong></a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/NickHalsey_"><strong>Nick Halsey</strong></a> creates an automatic full-screen slideshow mode for images on your page or post. It works on both, block editor and classic editor. It&#8217;s designed to work with any theme out of the box. See the plugin page for code snippets to add custom styling and a launch button. It&#8217;s a focused way to showcase travel photos or art work. This week, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/justintadlock">Justin Tadlock</a></strong> of WPTavern published <a href="https://wptavern.com/automatically-create-image-slideshows-with-the-full-screen-galleries-plugin">a review</a>.</p>



<p class="has-small-font-size">? <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/full-screen-galleries/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://celloexpressions.com/photography/2020/02/raindance-ranch-winter-2020/">Demo</a> </p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/k2-blocks/">K2 Blocks </a></strong>is one of the Block collections extending the core block editor with additional blocks. The most interesting to me would be the Counter and Time blocks as well as the  Magic Image block. The <a href="https://twitter.com/PookiDevsTech"><strong>PookiDevs</strong></a> team from Islamabad <a href="https://pookidevs.com/2021/02/23/using-k2-blocks-to-make-gutenberg-blocks/">posted screenshots and more details.</a></p>



<p class="has-small-font-size">? <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/k2-blocks/">WPRepo</a> | <a href="https://k2plugins.com/">Website</a></p>



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




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



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>




<h2>Gutenberg for Developers</h2>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/rmccue"><strong>Ryan McCue</strong></a>, director of product at the agency HumanMade, shared some experimentation with the navigation components in Gutenberg and created a new WP-Admin navigation bar outside the editor. He &#8220;<em>based this stand-along plugin on existing work in WooCommerce.&#8221;</em> You can <a href="https://twitter.com/rmccue/status/1369312175513296908">follow the discussion on Twitter</a>.. The <a href="https://github.com/rmccue/experimental-navigation">code is available on GitHub</a> for your perusal.</p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/JustinFerriman">Justin Ferriman</a></strong> of LearnDash shared how they leveraged Gutenberg to make a <a href="https://www.learndash.com/certificate-builder-has-arrived/">Certificate Builder in LearnDash</a>. You can see short demos on how it works. </p>



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



<p>As an alternative to <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jasonbahl">Jason Bahl</a>&#8216;s</strong> work with <a href="https://www.wpgraphql.com/2021/03/09/gutenberg-and-decoupled-applications/">Gutenberg and WordPress decoupled</a> sites a couple of weeks ago, <a href="https://twitter.com/losoviz">Leo Losoviz</a> published <a href="https://graphql-api.com/blog/proposing-a-new-approach-for-gutenberg-and-decoupled-applications/">his proposal on how to handle blocks with a decoupled WordPress</a> and GraphQL site. The two different approaches are a deep dive into both plugins that provide GraphQL APIs for WordPress. </p>



<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-graphql/">WPGraphQL</a>  and <a href="https://github.com/GraphQLAPI/graphql-api-for-wp">GraphQL API for WordPress</a></p>



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



<p>Speaking of Headless or Decoupled: <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/3binco">Michal Trykoszko</a></strong> started a three-part series of blog posts: <strong>Headless WordPress Gutenberg &amp; NextJS </strong>with <a href="https://trykoszkom.medium.com/headless-wordpress-gutenberg-next-js-part-1-3-creating-a-block-with-react-e8d69e8460d4">Creating a block with React</a>.</p>



<h2>WordPress Events</h2>



<p><strong>March 23 &#8211; 26th, 2021</strong><br /><a href="https://atarim.io/summit/"><strong>Atarim Web Agency Summit</strong></a></p>



<p><strong>March 24, 2021 &#8211; 10 AM EDT / 14:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-discussions/events/276945655/">Intro to Publishing with the Block Editor</a></strong> (<strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-discussions/events/276945655/">Demo + Discussion group</a></strong>) with contributors of Learn. WordPress program</p>



<p><strong>March 26, 2021 &#8211; 10 AM EDT / 15:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-discussions/events/277036759/">Creating and Registering Block Patterns (Demo + Discussion group)</a></strong> with Daisy Olsen from via Learn WordPress program<br />If you want to come prepared with questions, watch the workshops <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/intro-to-block-patterns/">Intro to Block Patterns</a> and <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/registering-block-patterns/">Registering Block Patterns</a></p>



<p><strong>April 6, 2021 9 am EDT / 14:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAIlY3lTAos"><strong>WPCafe: Building the Twenty Twenty-One</strong> </a>with Caroline Nymark and Mel Dwan-Choyce, live on YouTube</p>



<p><strong>April 15, 2021 6:30 pm EDT / 23:30 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/SF-WordPress-Users/events/277019024/">South Florida Mega Meetup</a></strong> &#8220;New Site Builder Edition&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>April 15 &#8211; 17, 2021</strong><br /><a href="https://centroamerica.wordcamp.org/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordCamp Centroamérica 2021</a></p>



<p><strong>April 27 and 28th</strong><br /><a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/expand"><strong>Expand 2021</strong></a> &#8211;&nbsp;a virtual event hosted by GoDaddy that brings the web design and developer community together to share ideas and experiences, make connections and support each other.</p>



<p><strong>May 24 &#8211; 27. 2021</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://wordsesh.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordSesh 2021</a> </strong><br /><a href="https://wordsesh.com/speak/">Speaker submissions are </a>due on March 29! </p>



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



<p>On the<a href="https://wpcalendar.io/online/">&nbsp;<strong>Calendar for WordPress Online Events</strong></a> you&#8217;ll find a list of the upcoming WordPress Meetups, around the world, including WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi Builder and Beaver Builder meetups.</p>




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



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



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



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<p></p>



<p><em>Featured image: Photo by&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/@glencarrie?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Glen Carrie</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/lego-blocks?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></em></p>



<p></p>




<h3>Thank you to our in-kind Sponsors!</h3>


<div id="wp-sponsors" class="clearfix grid"><div class="sponsor-item default current-sponsors"><a href="https://pantheon.io/?utm_medium=OnlineAdvertising&utm_source=GutenbergTimes&utm_content=Homepage&utm_campaign=Home" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img width="300" height="111" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Sponsored-by-Pantheon.png?fit=300%2C111&ssl=1" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Sponsored by Pantheon" /></a></div><div class="sponsor-item default current-sponsors"><a href="https://www.paulisystems.net/wordpress-consulting" rel="nofollow"><img width="300" height="77" src="https://i2.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/cropped-paulisystems-trademark-no-tagline.gif?fit=300%2C77&ssl=1" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Pauli Systems" /></a></div><div class="sponsor-item default current-sponsors"><a href="https://brand24.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img width="300" height="64" src="https://i2.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/logo_brand24_black_small.png?fit=300%2C64&ssl=1" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" /></a></div></div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:18:36 +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: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:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: Upcoming Changes and Steps for an Overhauled WordPress Theme Review System";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=112892";s: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/upcoming-changes-and-steps-for-an-overhauled-wordpress-theme-review-system?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=upcoming-changes-and-steps-for-an-overhauled-wordpress-theme-review-system";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6299:"<p class="has-drop-cap">On Wednesday, WordPress executive director Josepha Haden Chomphosy posted <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/03/17/next-steps-on-themes-and-reviews/">the next steps forward</a> for themes and reviews for the official theme directory. In the post, she describes the tools and types of access the Themes Team needs. She also laid out some other goals for the system. The timeline is to have much of this in place by early 2022.</p>



<p>Two months ago, <a href="https://wptavern.com/upsells-barriers-and-the-end-beginning-of-the-quality-free-themes-era">things were coming to a head</a>. Project lead Matt Mullenweg saw much of what we have all been seeing. Creative contributions to the free directory were few and far between, many of the submissions merely being stripped-down &ldquo;lite&rdquo; themes with commercial interests.</p>



<p>There was some disagreement on <em>why</em> the directory was not producing the high-quality projects users should expect from an official source. Mullenweg cited the rules and update mechanism as problem areas.</p>



<p>However, others like Joost de Valk, the CPO of Yoast, said the reality of the situation is that money is now a part of the equation. Producing high-quality products, maintaining them, and supporting them is not sustainable without the financial resources in place. Because WordPress.org provides no path for developers to make money directly, upsell-motived themes are the result. Eric Karkovack expanded upon this in his piece for Speckyboy, <a href="https://speckyboy.com/are-high-quality-free-wordpress-themes-a-thing-of-the-past/">Are High-Quality Free WordPress Themes a Thing of the Past?</a></p>



<p>Some of the Themes Team members disagreed that the rules were the problem. At the heart of the team&rsquo;s handbook is the idea that themes should be GPL-compatible, secure, and not break things.</p>



<p>The problem is not necessarily specific guidelines but the process. Mullenweg wanted to switch to a post-commit strategy that would see themes move into the directory more quickly. The goal is to be a little more like the plugin directory and let users guide others through the star-rating review system.</p>



<p>However, themes and plugins are different beasts. Themes must follow some standard patterns and do some specific things to actually work. The best way to make that happen is with automated tools performing the grunt work that humans have been doing for the past decade. Many guidelines could become a line of code in a script. Each new line would lighten the burden on volunteers.</p>



<p>The Themes Team agreed with his assessment of the theme quality. However, some did feel like the theme system was the oft-forgotten stepchild who received all the hand-me-downs from its preferred sibling, the plugin directory. They needed resources from the community to drive any sort of change. Team members had little power outside of their gatekeeping responsibilities and were short on volunteers.</p>



<h2>Changing Hearts and Minds</h2>



<img />



<p class="has-drop-cap">Haden Chomphosy <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/02/24/meeting-notes-matt-josepha-and-theme-review-team/">published notes on the meeting</a> in February. The post detailed the ideas and what took place. However, much of it seemed vague in terms of actionable items. It was the groundwork phase.</p>



<p>In a private discussion with one of the Themes Team reps, they said the meeting was productive not because of action taking place but through the changing of outlooks. More of the team reps warmed to the idea of reducing the requirements and moving forward with a change. The meeting was more about winning hearts and minds, which was a necessary first step.</p>



<p>This changed outlook did not mean throwing caution to the wind and flipping the switch overnight. The team wanted to set some guardrails in place, particularly surrounding high-priority issues like proper licensing.</p>



<p>&ldquo;In the meeting, we discussed the need to change the review process,&rdquo; said team rep Ari Stathopoulos. &ldquo;All guidelines have a reason they exist. They were all added after some things got abused. But the process followed had an unfortunate side-effect; the rules that were added to avoid abuse by a few bad apples are the same rules that hinder innovation and deter people from submitting a theme in the repository.&rdquo;</p>



<p>He brought up the universal rules of not doing evil things, disrespecting others, or abusing the system. Citing them as the foundation of what the guidelines should be. &ldquo;But then, of course, everyone has a different definition of evil, disrespect, and abuse, so something a bit more verbose may be needed but obviously not as verbose as the dozens upon dozens of guidelines we currently have.&rdquo;</p>



<h2>The Next Steps: Tools and a User-First Strategy</h2>



<img />



<p class="has-drop-cap">The first goal is to have access to a functional meta environment for testing. One of the team reps currently has this. However, others would need access in the long term. Moderator tools are also on the list for reviewers, likely similar to what the Plugin Review Team has.</p>



<p>Those are some of the baseline things. The next item will be more automation. Dion Hulse is currently working on automated security checks, which should help with a consistent problem area. Steve Dufresne is working on an automated code-scanning solution.</p>



<p>One idea for a post-commit strategy is flagging themes with &ldquo;quality tags.&rdquo; These include items like Gutenberg-ready, security, last updated, translation-ready, and accessibility. It is not clear how this system would work, but it could be a way to surface themes in the directory that meet standards. <em>Perhaps a new featured-theme algorithm should be in the works?</em></p>



<p>The last piece of the proposal introduces the concept of a yes/no voting mechanism for end-users. These would be &ldquo;trust tags&rdquo; that allowed users to mark themes as updated, visually broken, and more. The goal is to hand over much of the gatekeeping responsibility to users, putting them in the driver&rsquo;s seat of what they want out of the theme directory.</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, 19 Mar 2021 16:16:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:127:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 10.2 Adds Spacers To Navigation Lists, Lets Users Categorize Template Parts, and Introduces Scoped Patterns";s: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=113984";s: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:295:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-2-adds-spacers-to-navigation-lists-lets-users-categorize-template-parts-and-introduces-scoped-patterns?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gutenberg-10-2-adds-spacers-to-navigation-lists-lets-users-categorize-template-parts-and-introduces-scoped-patterns";s: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:6487:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Yesterday, version 10.2 of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/17/whats-new-in-gutenberg-10-2-17-march/">Gutenberg WordPress plugin landed</a>. Users can now add a Spacer block between Navigation items, categorize custom template parts, and pick between patterns when inserting the Query block.</p>



<p>The user experience continues to improve in some areas. The Media &amp; Text block, one of the few holdouts, can now be <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29415">transformed into Columns</a>. The transformation results in two columns with the media and the text separated. This is a one-way transform, however. It is a necessary enhancement for users who write out their text column to realize they can only add uploaded media instead of something like a YouTube embed to the Media &amp; Text block. Making a quick switch over to Columns solves the issue.</p>



<p>The &ldquo;Start writing or type / to choose a block&rdquo; prompt only <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/28275">appears for the first empty paragraph</a> when there are subsequent paragraphs. It is a trivial change, but it removed a minor annoyance.</p>



<p>The development team squashed 30 bugs for Gutenberg 10.2. They also continued work toward improving experimental features such as the site editor, global styles, and block-based nav menus. Full Site Editing is shaping up, but it will still be a while before we know whether it will be ready for inclusion in WordPress 5.8.</p>



<p>As I write this post, I am also doing so in a broken editor.  Gutenberg 10.2, yet again, changed either its markup or CSS, which means I will have to do some digging to find out why all of our paragraphs are misaligned in the editor.  But, that is a job for tomorrow.  This should be a theme-specific fix and an isolated issue.</p>



<h2>Nesting Spacer Blocks Within Navigation Lists</h2>



<img />Inserting a Spacer into a Navigation list.



<p class="has-drop-cap">In one of the worst ideas the Gutenberg project has brought us, users can now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29133">insert spacer blocks</a> between horizontal Navigation block items. And they can increase or decrease the space in pixels. The idea of spacing is not in and of itself bad, but the solution used is.</p>



<p>As far as I know, the <code>&lt;div&gt;</code> tag is not allowed as a direct child of <code>&lt;ul&gt;</code>. That is where <code>&lt;li&gt;</code> elements go. Maybe it is my old-school HTML upbringing, but it does not feel right to throw other things in the mix. List items are the children of lists.</p>



<p>Fortunately, there are solutions for this sort of horizontal spacing that have been available to web designers for decades: margin and padding.</p>



<p>The Spacer block has never felt right since it was introduced into Gutenberg. I always assumed it was an unfortunate stopgap solution for vertical spacing until we got proper margin and padding block options. I never imagined we would find new and inventive ways to use it for defiling a site&rsquo;s markup.</p>



<h2>Template Part Categories</h2>



<img />Selecting an area for a template part.



<p class="has-drop-cap">Users can now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/29159">save template parts to a specific category</a> or &ldquo;area,&rdquo; as they are called in the site editor UI. In <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-1-enhances-reusable-blocks-updates-social-icons-spacing-options-and-normalizes-image-block-toolbar">Gutenberg 10.1</a>, the development team introduced a new categorization system for theme authors that would automatically place template parts into the Header, Footer, Sidebar, or General categories. The same system is now open for user-created template parts.</p>



<p>When saving a template part via the site editor, users must open the &ldquo;Advanced&rdquo; block tab. There is a new &ldquo;Area&rdquo; option. The Sidebar category is missing in this release. Nevertheless, it is a welcome step toward template-part management.</p>



<h2>Query Block Patterns</h2>



<img />Pattern selections for the Query block in its initial state.



<p class="has-drop-cap">The Query block is at the heart of Full Site Editing. It will eventually be one of the primary components both developers and users interact with as they build sites.</p>



<p>The development team introduced a new concept for end-users when first inserting the Query block. In the past, users saw several block variations. Now, they can <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/28891">choose between patterns</a> that are specific to the block.</p>



<p>Out of the box, there are Large, Medium, and Small patterns. Users can also opt to start from a blank slate.</p>



<p>For developers, this change introduces scoped patterns. It is a new layer to the Block Patterns API that should offer a ton of flexibility in the long run. While the feature only works with the Query block right now, theme and plugin authors could create predefined layouts for blocks that users can choose from in the future.</p>



<p>Imagine having several different styles of post loops that you want to offer to your users. With a few lines of code, you could register each of these as selectable Query patterns.</p>



<p>The new part of the API adds a <code>scope</code> argument that looks like:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>'scope' =&gt; [
        'inserter' =&gt; false, // Whether to show in the main block inserter.
        'block'    =&gt; [ 'core/query' ] // The container block for the pattern.
]</code></pre>



<p>This is still in the experimental stage, so things could change as the feature is further developed.</p>



<p>Following the core example, I created a quick Query pattern with the following code:</p>



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

	register_block_pattern(
		'tavern-query',
		[
			'title'  =&gt; 'Tavern Query',
			'scope'  =&gt; [
				'inserter' =&gt; false,
				'block'    =&gt; [ 'core/query' ],
			],
			'content' =&gt;
                '&lt;!-- wp:post-title {"isLink":true} /--&gt;
				&lt;!-- wp:post-featured-image {"isLink":true,"align":"wide"} /--&gt;
				&lt;!-- wp:post-excerpt /--&gt;
				&lt;!-- wp:separator --&gt;
				&lt;hr class="wp-block-separator"/&gt;
				&lt;!-- /wp:separator --&gt;
				&lt;!-- wp:post-date /--&gt;'
		]
	);
} );</code></pre>";s: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, 18 Mar 2021 22:45:55 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: Elementor Patches XSS Vulnerabilities Affecting 7 Million WordPress Sites";s: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=113940";s: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:211:"https://wptavern.com/elementor-patches-xss-vulnerabilities-affecting-7-million-wordpress-sites?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=elementor-patches-xss-vulnerabilities-affecting-7-million-wordpress-sites";s: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:3889:"<p>Elementor users who haven&rsquo;t updated recently will want to get on the latest version 3.1.4 as soon as possible. Researchers at Wordfence disclosed&nbsp;a set of stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the plugin to its authors in February, which was partially patched at that time and additional fixes were released the second week of March. </p>



<p>Wordfence summarized the vulnerabilities in a <a href="https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/03/cross-site-scripting-vulnerabilities-in-elementor-impact-over-7-million-sites/">post</a> published yesterday, accompanied by a detailed walkthrough of how an attacker might compromise sites using Elementor:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>These vulnerabilities allowed any user able to access the Elementor editor, including contributors, to add JavaScript to posts. This JavaScript would be executed if the post was viewed, edited, or previewed by any other site user, and could be used to take over a site if the victim was an administrator.</p></blockquote>



<p>Many of the plugin&rsquo;s &ldquo;elements,&rdquo; or components, accept an <code>html_tag</code>&nbsp;parameter, which was output without escaping and could be set to execute a script. A few of the vulnerable elements include the column, accordion, heading, divider, icon box, and image box.</p>



<p>At the time of publishing, less than half of all Elementor installs are running on version 3.1.x, leaving millions of sites still vulnerable. Wordfence confirmed this morning that they are not currently seeing active exploits against these vulnerabilities.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>&ldquo;Due to the privileges required, we expect it to be used primarily in targeted attacks rather than widespread attempts,&rdquo; Wordfence security researcher Ram Gall said.&nbsp;&ldquo;That is, it is likely to be used for privilege escalation once an attacker has been able to get a foot in the door, rather than a complete start-to-finish exploit chain. This is going to be more of a concern for sites that have many contributor or author users, as this means a wider attack surface. The main reason this is a concern is the sheer number of installations.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Gall, who discovered the vulnerabilities, described a scenario in which they are most easily exploited. A contributor on the site re-uses a password that has been in a data breach. The attacker finds that password, logs in, and adds a post with malicious code. The administrator sees the post from the contributor in the admin. Visiting that post will run the malicious JavaScript in the browser, which Gall said could infect the site with new rogue admin accounts or code to take over the site.</p>



<p>Apart from a brief mention in the changelog, Elementor did not alert its users to the security issues on the product&rsquo;s blog or social media accounts: </p>



<ul><li>Fix: Hardened allowed options in the editor to enforce better security policies</li><li>Fix: Removed&nbsp;<code>html</code>&nbsp;option in Lightbox module to prevent security issues</li></ul>



<p>&ldquo;Elementor was very responsive initially, though they didn&rsquo;t keep us updated about the patches after the initial report,&rdquo; Wordfence representative Kathy Zant said. &ldquo;They do have a security contact listed on their site, which is always helpful. Often, security researchers have a difficult time identifying and contacting the right person with whom to share vulnerability proof-of-concepts, so we&rsquo;re always grateful when we&rsquo;re able to easily start those discussions.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The latest version 3.1.4 contains the patches for these vulnerabilities, along with fixes for other less severe bugs in the plugin. Elementor users are advised to update as soon as possible to avoid the vulnerabilities being used for site takeover.</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, 18 Mar 2021 17:41:12 +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:31;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: Work on the Twenty Twenty-Two Default WordPress Theme Should Already Be Underway";s: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=113906";s: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:225:"https://wptavern.com/work-on-the-twenty-twenty-two-default-wordpress-theme-should-already-be-underway?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=work-on-the-twenty-twenty-two-default-wordpress-theme-should-already-be-underway";s: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:5806:"<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>[The Eksell theme] does such a great job of selling a block editor-driven WordPress. It was a missed opportunity to not pair something of this quality with the block editor when WordPress 5.0 was released.</p><p>It&rsquo;s responsive! I&rsquo;m amazed this stands out as a highlight for me, but, as the official theme, Twenty Twenty-One breaks in pretty basic ways in multiple places for different screen widths. I think this visual approach is also probably more approachable as &ldquo;good design&rdquo; for the average person than Twenty Twenty-One&rsquo;s attempt at a more typographical approach&hellip;</p><cite>Daniel</cite></blockquote>



<p class="has-drop-cap">In hindsight, it is easy to look back at past default themes and find fault. There is always something better around the corner. However, Daniel makes some good points <a href="https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks#comment-369254">in his comment </a>on our recent <a href="https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks">review of the Eksell theme</a>. The theme does sell the idea of blocks to the user far more so than many others.</p>



<p>It would be hard to convince me that launching a great block-ready theme with 5.0 would have been feasible, given that so much about the new block editor was changing at a lightning-quick pace. <em>But, a year or two later?</em> Probably.</p>



<p>Twenty Nineteen, which launched with WordPress 5.0 and its block editor, is the worst-rated (3.5 stars) default theme in history. Twenty Twenty was a decent block-ready outing. It also happened to be forked from Chaplin, a theme built by Eksell&rsquo;s designer, Anders Nor&eacute;n. While I still believe that Twenty Twenty-One was a refreshing shift and a fun experiment at the time, my fondness for it has waned in the last few months.</p>



<p>None make a convincing case for the block editor. If we are being honest, there are not that many third-party themes in the official directory making it either.</p>



<p>I may have already said it thousand times, so once more will not hurt. Themes are the face of WordPress. They are often a new user&rsquo;s first introduction to our beloved platform and blogging in general. And, the default themes are the first they see.</p>



<p>The defaults also have another role they need to play today. They need to showcase blocks to all the old-timers among us who have clung to the classic editor and page builders we have used over the years.</p>



<p>It is no doubt a tough job working on a default theme. We have world-class developers and designers putting in the hours to create something that needs to work on millions of websites. However, part of the toughness of the job is in the process.</p>



<p>Each of the last three default themes was announced in September or October of the year before a November &ndash; December release. While I am not privy to any private discussions or work that went on beforehand, the bulk of the theme-building and testing process has happened in a small window. WordPress has also forked at least the last two themes from existing projects, presumably because of the time constraints.</p>



<p>In 2021, the community should expect its fourth default theme, Twenty Twenty-Two, in the block era. It is time we begin thinking about what that should be instead of waiting until the 11th hour.</p>



<p>We are in mid-March. WordPress 5.9 is currently scheduled for December 2021, which should coincide with the Twenty Twenty-Two theme launch.</p>



<p>By starting the research phase now, it gives us the head-start we lacked in years past. The development team would also not need to fork an existing theme. Forks are not necessarily bad, but starting early means the team can go down the from-scratch route if preferred. It is an opportunity to rethink the approach to default themes and do more community outreach before laying down the first code.</p>



<p>What are the trending features this year?</p>



<p>Which types of themes are most popular?</p>



<p>What has the community been asking for that we have yet to deliver?</p>



<p>Will this be the first block-based default theme to showcase Full Site Editing?</p>



<p>There are tons of questions we should be asking, and more-seasoned designers are better suited to the task than I am.</p>



<p>Like Daniel said in the comments, we are not asking for Eksell to be ported to default-theme status. However, something with that design-quality level is what the community should expect. Make us believe; make us passionate; make us want to build our sites with it.</p>



<p>High-quality themes meant for public release are not built overnight. Except in the rarest cases, they are not created in a month. Client projects can often move faster because they are typically under controlled settings with fewer edge cases. Publicly-released themes do not have the same benefit because they need to handle everything users will throw at it and work alongside untold numbers of plugins. While all designers and developers have different processes and work at different paces, three months is easily the minimum amount of time to code and test a well-rounded theme for modern sites. Some of the best theme authors I know spend upwards to half a year fine-tuning their creations.</p>



<p>We need research, followed by a decision about what type of theme we are building. We need an outline of the goals it should achieve and its primary audience. Rounds of mockups before the code hits a repository. A real community effort.</p>



<p>Three months ago was the best time to begin planning for Twenty Twenty-Two. The second best time is today.</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, 17 Mar 2021 22:20:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"Post Status: Chris Hardie on WP Lookout, WordPress updates and information flows";s: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=81771";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"https://poststatus.com/chris-hardie-on-wp-lookout-wordpress-updates-and-information-flows/";s: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:2819:"<p>Chris Hardie has been a web developer since the late 1990s. In this episode of the Post Status Draft podcast, Chris talks with Brian Krogsgard about his career as a deep generalist. Chris has worked as a writer, journalist, political candidate, and consultant, as well as a technologist and web developer. </p>



<p>This conversation touches on the challenges of winding down an agency and handling clients. Chris also talks about his experiences with the Special Projects team at Automattic, running for local office, being a journalist, and now launching WP Lookout to help site owners and developers safely update WordPress websites.  </p>



<h2 id="h-safe-wordpress-updates"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/261d.png" alt="☝" class="wp-smiley" /> Safe WordPress Updates</h2>



<p>Automatic updates are great, but what if you could get critical information about potentially breaking changes to WordPress core? What if you could get notified about changes to the plugins and themes you and your clients rely on? </p>



<p>WP Lookout is a new service that monitors WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates so you can apply them safely. You can subscribe to get notices about potentially breaking changes to the software you and your business depend on.&nbsp;</p>







<h3 id="h-topics-mentioned-in-the-show"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f517.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Topics mentioned in the show</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://chrishardie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chris Hardie</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/chrishardie" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@chrishardie</a>)</li><li><a href="https://wplookout.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WP Lookout</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/lookoutwp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@LookoutWP</a>)</li><li><a href="https://wpspecialprojects.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Automattic Special Projects</a></li></ul>



<h3><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f44d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Sponsor: <a href="https://poststat.us/bluehost" rel="sponsored nofollow">Bluehost</a></h3>



<p>Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at <a href="https://poststat.us/bluehost" rel="sponsored nofollow">Bluehost</a>.&nbsp;Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, <a href="https://poststat.us/bluehost" rel="sponsored nofollow">Bluehost</a> will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at <a href="https://poststat.us/bluehost" rel="sponsored nofollow">Bluehost</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 17 Mar 2021 20:54:12 +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:10:"Dan Knauss";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: WooCommerce Live Africa to Host First Online Meetup Event, March 18, 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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=113837";s: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/woocommerce-live-africa-to-host-first-online-meetup-event-march-18-2021?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=woocommerce-live-africa-to-host-first-online-meetup-event-march-18-2021";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:2421:"<p><a href="https://www.meetup.com/woocommerce-live-africa/">WooCommerce Live Africa</a> is hosting its first online meetup on Thursday, March 18, 2021, from 5:30 PM&nbsp;to&nbsp;7:00 PM GMT+1. The new regional group is part of the <a href="https://www.meetup.com/pro/woocommerce/">WooCommerce network</a> of more than 100 meetups with nearly 30,000 members across 40 countries. Events will be focused on topics pertinent to store owners and entrepreneurs with a focus on making it easy for anyone to get started with e-commerce.</p>



<p>Mary Job and Sunday Ukafia will be hosting the first event, titled &ldquo;<a href="https://www.meetup.com/woocommerce-live-africa/events/276460743/">Getting Started in eCommerce</a>&rdquo; that will guide new store owners from idea to first customer. No technical knowledge is required to join the session, since it&rsquo;s aimed at absolute beginners. Topics include basic business concepts:</p>



<p>1. Choosing an audience<br />2. Finding a problem to solve<br />3. Selling your product before you make it<br />4. Creating the product<br />5. Choosing an operating system<br />6. Delivering the product to your customer<br />7. Creating happy customers</p>



<p>&ldquo;What inspired the new group is the zeal to help every individual succeed in their eCommerce venture, connect with Woo individuals and businesses to learn more about how they use Woo and how we can all help each other overcome challenges and succeed,&rdquo; Mary Job said.</p>



<p>In Nigeria, where Job is located, many store owners are using WooCommerce but most tend to focus on selling more via social media channels. Job said she hopes the group can help merchants be as successful with their WooCommerce stores as they already are with Whatsapp, Telegram, and social media.</p>



<p>&ldquo;The local entrepreneur community is pretty optimistic, despite the environmental challenges that comes with doing business in our country,&rdquo;  Job said. &ldquo;Add to that the irregular and inconsistent government policies (speaking for Nigeria alone here), can&rsquo;t speak precisely for other African nations.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The organizing team plans to focus future sessions on a range of skill levels from beginner to advanced. <a href="https://www.meetup.com/woocommerce-live-africa/events/276460743/">Registration</a> is free and the link to the online event will be visible after you sign up.</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, 17 Mar 2021 17:39:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37:"HeroPress: Empowered To Make A Change";s: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:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=3502";s: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:126:"https://heropress.com/essays/empowered-to-make-a-change/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=empowered-to-make-a-change";s: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:9237:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/031621-min.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: WordPress made this world smaller, and empowered me to make a change." /><p>The good part; When writing this, I am working with the top companies in the WooCommerce ecosystem, partnering with creative minds, making things happen that can make a massive difference to many users, or even an essential lifeline to their business survival due to a lockdown. As a partnership manager at YITH, I also had* the privilege of traveling worldwide and attended various WordCamps and WordPress events. I’ve co-organized WordCamps, Meetups, and with 28 WooCommerce London Meetups in 2020 alone.<br />
<small>* We are still in a local lock down due to covid at the time of writing this.</small></p>
<p>The rubbish part; Okay, nine years ago, life was not great, my daughter passed away, and I was stuck as a restaurant owner, working hard and not making much money, plus soon after, I started a court case against my landlord. Maybe this was the year I lost most of my hair, and it also caused my flare-up of UC… so hopefully, you get it, it was not a good time of my life, and I probably had every reason to find ‘the bottle’ more attractive.</p>
<h3>From The Rubbish To The Good Part</h3>
<p>When bad things happen to people, some will hide and go downhill, whereas others use this negative energy into something positive. I can’t say, I fall in either camp, but having been influenced by the right people around me, decisions I made, and by chance, I was being drawn towards the latter one.</p>
<p>Soon after our daughter died, my wife, Nihan enrolled in the open university to finish her Computer Science degree. I have massive admiration for Nihan’s strong determination, and I wholeheartedly supported her in this decision. We managed to finance this with an adult learning grant and working as a chef in various local pubs.</p>
<p>My wife’s coursework interested me a lot, and very soon, we started following the lectures together, plus extra course work I was practicing myself too.</p>
<p>Then came the idea of affiliate commission earnings through blogging, which I started out using Joomla as a CMS platform. Creating websites was slowly becoming a passion for me, and in these first few years, I enjoyed every part of the steep learning curb tackling the basics to more advanced coding and designs.</p>
<h3>Diving Into The Web</h3>
<p>After reducing hours as a chef, I followed various online courses in coding and e-commerce, SEO, and online marketing. One of the training courses I signed up for was a lifetime deal for OSTraining. The lessons came in particularly useful when I applied for a job as a WordPress designer. Please note that at this time, I had heard of WordPress and used it as a blogging platform but not played with it as a designer. One of the tutors on OSTraining became my absolute savior in the next two weeks before my interview for a new WordPress job. His name is Topher, also well-known for being the founder of HeroPress.</p>
<p>Having binge-watched various WP development topics and getting familiar with the structures, I was rather lucky to have been given the job. Still, this was only the beginning of my journey into the world of WordPress.</p>
<p>A year later, my boss asked me whether I would consider taking over the business and clients. Together with my wife, we started a new brand and company that we then build up over the years. This path naturally leads us into a niche of working with WooCommerce in combination with Online marketing.</p>
<blockquote><p>As I often say to people, WordPress is just one of the tools in my box, just like a carpenter can’t do without a hammer.</p></blockquote>
<p>The skill in using it efficiently comes over time and even then, there are different techniques. We all look back at projects and think: “ouch, why did I do it that way?” I often hear the term ‘imposter syndrome.’ I don’t believe in this, as I think whoever progresses and explores is eager to learn and wants to improve. It is frankly in human nature to drive ourselves forward. WordPress has evolved in so many branches that require different skills, and thank goodness for that, or we’d all be in competition. Instead, there are 100’s of areas of expertise, roles, and jobs that complement WordPress to make it what it is. A big part of that is each person’s personal background complements their skillsets. Think about it, who you are and what you do is influenced by what you have done and learned. Cherishing this, adding your culture, language, and experience and you suddenly find yourself more than qualified. And often these are not skills or certificates you list on a CV as they might be good and also bad experiences.</p>
<h3>Joining A Business</h3>
<p>The next part of this chapter was my dealings with YITH. As a long-term customer and having met some of the team at WordCamp London, I got into discussions to represent them at events held in the UK. This soon went global with me attending WordCamps in 3 other countries… and this was the moment I realized I could do much more with my connections and create meaningful partnerships. Within a few weeks, I crafted my dream job and sent a proposal to Nando, the CEO of YITH.</p>
<blockquote><p>It is not easy to pitch yourself with an idea hoping that someone, I never met or spoken, understands this vision.</p></blockquote>
<p>The doubts went through my head; “do I give up my business and work for the benefit of another company? What if I don’t get on? After all, I met 2 out of a team of 40 only three years ago… What do I do with my customers? Thinking of which, they have been demanding and not paying us on time. Plus, they annoy me when I want to be on holiday, not just that, they cause arguments between my wife and me. Because what is more important, family time or a site down and a business that is not earning enough money? Okay, this could work out, and I will try it for a year; if not, I can pick up my business again while my wife continues running it.” That was my thought process every day for months…</p>
<p>Then we agreed, and I was not sure if I should be happy or not. A year later, I can only say that working for Nando at YITH has been the best choice. He has been my mentor, supporter, devil’s advocate, and friend, but not a ‘boss.’ He has never told me what to do, but instead, asked questions to make me realize what is achievable, or even better, simply suggests me to read a book and come to my conclusions. YITH is an organization without hierarchy based on a holacratic structure.</p>
<a href="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/DSC5927-scaled.jpg"><img /></a>The Yith Team
<h3>Looking Back</h3>
<p>I often think back to the moment my daughter passed away. She only lived for a few days, but ask any bereaved parent; it is often the thought of: ‘what could have been.’ It will have been nine years, and every day, I wonder how events would have unfolded if she had survived. So, maybe her memory lives on in every decision I make and the paths I decide to take. But did I make the right decisions? I would have said yes, though only last week, my wife suggested she never really processed the events nine years ago. The path ahead will not always be straight, but whatever the next turning is, I hope I can nudge it in the right direction. After all, I have big and exciting plans ahead!</p>
<p>Is this story helpful to someone? Maybe it is for one of two reasons.</p>
<blockquote><p>If you struggle to change your career, you can do this, though it might take a couple of years of a transitional period.</p></blockquote>
<p>Only looking back do I realize that each small step slowly made a difference in my life. I am no guru or dare-devil entrepreneur that will tell you how to do things. No, I am an ordinary person with dreams and aspirations, just like there are so many in the world. But as I write this, it was WordPress that made this world smaller and empowered me to make a change. Learning from someone on the other side of the world and even getting work and customers from companies and people I never met before. Feeling welcomed into the WordPress community through Meetups and WordCamps added this human dimension and confidence that I can do ‘this’ too.</p>
<p>For those who had a personal tragedy, I hope that I can give you hope and strength to try and put your energy into something else that can lead to more significant changes in your life. Our minds are mighty and the tiny small decisions of: ‘if I do this then that, and if this then that’ &#8211; you see life is like a game of chess and you can influence the outcome a lot… I accept, not always, but take it as one positive decision at a time.</p>
<p><a href="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PXL_20200912_144823691.MP_-scaled.jpg"><img /></a></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/empowered-to-make-a-change/">Empowered To Make A Change</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 17 Mar 2021 08:13:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Ronald Gijsel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: Automatically Create Image Slideshows With the Full Screen Galleries Plugin";s: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=113770";s: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:215:"https://wptavern.com/automatically-create-image-slideshows-with-the-full-screen-galleries-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=automatically-create-image-slideshows-with-the-full-screen-galleries-plugin";s: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:2946:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Earlier today, core WordPress contributor Nick Halsey released <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/full-screen-galleries/">Full Screen Galleries</a>, a plugin that automatically creates a full-screen slideshow when site visitors click on an image. The plugin works with all images, regardless of whether they are in a gallery block. It also supports both the classic and block editors.</p>



<p>Lightbox-type plugins are a dime a dozen. It is tough to wade through them to find the perfect solution. However, sometimes the simplest solution is the way to go. Halsey&rsquo;s plugin has no settings screen, post metadata, or block options. It is plug-and-play.  The only configuration is in activating the plugin itself.</p>



<p>Full Screen Galleries creates a slideshow-style overlay for all images located on a post or page. When a visitor clicks on one, the full-screen slideshow takes over the page.</p>



<img />Slideshow overlay from Full Screen Galleries.



<p>Halsey has a <a href="https://celloexpressions.com/photography/2020/02/raindance-ranch-winter-2020/">demo page on his site</a> where potential users can see the plugin in action.</p>



<p>There are more advanced options out there. Some show EXIF data, create transition effects and other types of animation, and offer a boatload of customizable settings. However, I prefer the simplicity of something that I can activate and forget. Over the years, I have come to appreciate these types of plugins more and more. They let me get back to focusing on the parts of my sites that I care about.</p>



<p>Full Screen Galleries also figures out the full-sized image URL automatically. If a gallery uses thumbnail-sized images and links to the attachment page, the slideshow will still display it in full.</p>



<p>Each slide outputs forward and back arrows to scroll between the images. In the top left corner is an exit button. In the top right, the plugin outputs a northeast arrow button that links to the original image. It also displays the image caption if it is available.</p>



<p>For many users, this is all they need. I am particularly interested in it because it works well with classic content. Many of the sites I am involved with have years of galleries from the pre-block era.</p>



<p>One of the downsides is that the plugin relies on jQuery. The plugin&rsquo;s code has a small footprint, but jQuery has grown into a bit of a beast over the years and is becoming less and less relevant with more recent features of modern JavaScript. For many WordPress sites, this may be a non-issue because their theme or some other plugin is already loading the jQuery library. This plugin will be a lightweight addition. For others who are keeping it lean, they might want to seek out alternative solutions.</p>



<p>Regardless, this plugin is going into my toolbox, ready to pull out when I need it. Overall, it is a dependable version 1.0.</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, 16 Mar 2021 22:41:03 +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:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"WPTavern: Attackers Continue to Exploit Vulnerabilities in The Plus Addons for Elementor Plugin";s: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=113763";s: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:235:"https://wptavern.com/attackers-continue-to-exploit-vulnerabilities-in-the-plus-addons-for-elementor-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=attackers-continue-to-exploit-vulnerabilities-in-the-plus-addons-for-elementor-plugin";s: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:2911:"<p>Last week, security researchers at Seravo and WP Charged <a href="https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/c311feef-7041-4c21-9525-132b9bd32f89">reported</a> a critical zero-day vulnerability in The Plus Addons for Elementor on March 8, 2021. WPScan categorized it as an authentication bypass vulnerability:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The plugin is being actively exploited to by malicious actors to bypass authentication, allowing unauthenticated users to log in as any user (including admin) by just providing the related username, as well as create accounts with arbitrary roles, such as admin. These issues can be exploited even if registration is disabled, and the Login widget is not active.</p></blockquote>



<p>It&rsquo;s important to note that this particular vulnerability affects users of the commercial version of The Plus Addons for Elementor, not the free version, and not core Elementor. </p>



<p>The plugin&rsquo;s authors pushed out a partially patched version 4.1.6 after disclosure and then a second version 4.1.7 to more fully address the issue. </p>



<p>Wordfence is reporting that they are still blocking attempts on sites that are using unpatched. They have blocked 1900 site takeover attempts from a specific username, blocked 1170 attempts from a specific email, and blocked 4,000 attempts over the past week. Attackers are still targeting sites that have not updated to the patched version.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Evidence suggests it had been actively exploited for ~5 days before that,&rdquo;  Wordfence threat analyst Chloe Chamberland said on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYfg7iLbSlE">Wordfence Live</a> show today. &ldquo;Our earliest date of compromise was March 5th that we know of so far. There was a vulnerability for a few days that nobody really knew about except for this attacker who was going out and exploiting it.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Those whose sites have been exploited have seen malicious admin accounts created.  Others have experienced every URL on their sites redirecting, making it very difficult to clean. Attackers have also been installing malicious plugins called &ldquo;WP Strongs&rdquo; and &ldquo;WP Staff.&rdquo; Those who cannot access the admin dashboard will have a more difficult time removing these plugins. </p>



<p>Elementor users who have the Plus Addons plugin installed are advised to update to the latest version and check for malicious plugins and files. Ideally, site owners who were subject to exploits would have a backup to restore.  Chamberland concluded the Wordfence Live broadcast today by walking users through manually cleaning up exploited sites, including replacing the wp-includes and wp-admin folders, along with standard files outside those directories. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYfg7iLbSlE">recording</a> might be helpful for those who are struggling to clean up the damage.</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, 16 Mar 2021 19:26:23 +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: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:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s: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:65:"WPTavern: Google Accuses Microsoft of “Breaking the Open Web”";s: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=113773";s: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:163:"https://wptavern.com/google-accuses-microsoft-of-breaking-the-open-web?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-accuses-microsoft-of-breaking-the-open-web";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4506:"<p>Just before the weekend, Google published a caustic <a href="https://blog.google/products/news/google-commitment-supporting-journalism/">statement</a> on Microsoft&rsquo;s public support of Australia&rsquo;s new law that forces Google and Facebook to pay publishers for their content. The law requires the companies to negotiate licensing agreements with publishers in order to include news articles in both search and news feeds, including snippets.</p>



<p>Last month, Microsoft published its <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2021/02/11/endorsement-australias-proposal-technology-news/">endorsement</a> of the Australian proposal and stated intentions for its Bing search engine to comply. </p>



<p>&ldquo;In the hunt for better ideas, Google&rsquo;s threat to boycott an entire country got our attention,&rdquo; Microsoft President Brad Smith said.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Satya Nadella and I reached out to Prime Minister Morrison. It was an opportunity to combine good business with a good cause and, as we explained, even if Google wanted to leave Australia, we would stay.&rdquo;</p>



<p>After negotiations, Facebook decided to simply block Australian publishers from posting and block users from sharing any news originating from the country. In a full reversal, the company <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-news-corp-facebook/news-corp-reaches-deal-with-facebook-in-australia-idUSKBN2B72Q9">inked a three-year agreement with News Corp</a> today, which covers The Australian national newspaper and several metropolitan papers. </p>



<p>Similarly, Google did not make good on its threat to remove its search engine from Australia, reluctantly making deals with Australian publishers and News Corp a few weeks ago. The company&rsquo;s <a href="https://blog.google/products/news/google-commitment-supporting-journalism/">statement</a> on Friday characterizes Microsoft&rsquo;s position and its overt contrasting with Google, as &ldquo;naked corporate opportunism&rdquo; and an attack:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>We also believe that this important debate should be about the substance of the issue, and not derailed by naked corporate opportunism &hellip; which brings us to Microsoft&rsquo;s sudden interest in this discussion. We respect Microsoft&rsquo;s success and we compete hard with them in cloud computing, search,&nbsp;productivity apps, video conferencing, email and many other areas. Unfortunately, as competition in these areas intensifies, they are reverting to their familiar playbook of attacking rivals and lobbying for regulations that benefit their own interests. They are now making self-serving claims and are even willing to break the way the open web works in an effort to undercut a rival. And their claims about our business and&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.google/supportingnews#facts">how we work with news publishers</a>&nbsp;are just plain wrong.</p></blockquote>



<p>The historic rivalry has been reignited, as Google fired back at Microsoft&rsquo;s insinuation that the company doesn&rsquo;t support journalism and is unwilling to collaborate with publishers.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Proposals that would disrupt access to the open web (such as requiring payment for just showing links to websites) would hurt consumers, small businesses, and publishers,&rdquo; Google&rsquo;s SVP of Global Affairs Kent Walker said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve engaged constructively with publishers around the world on better solutions and will continue to do so.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Microsoft supports Australia&rsquo;s new law as a means to rectify &ldquo;competitive imbalance between the tech sector and an independent press.&rdquo; It also gives the company a high perch from which to call out Google and Facebook as &ldquo;profitable tech gatekeepers on which businesses must advertise to reach consumers.&rdquo; Microsoft believes its endorsement spurred Google to reverse its decision in order to remain in competition for the Australian search market.</p>



<p>&ldquo;Unlike Google, if we can grow, we are prepared to sign up for the new law&rsquo;s obligations, including sharing revenue as proposed with news organizations,&rdquo; Brad Smith said. &ldquo;The key would be to create a more competitive market, something the government can facilitate. But, as we made clear, we are comfortable running a high-quality search service at lower economic margins than Google and with more economic returns for the press.&rdquo;</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, 16 Mar 2021 03:13:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:89:"WPTavern: Compatibility Is Not Enough: The Eksell WordPress Theme Creates Art With Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=113779";s: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:221:"https://wptavern.com/compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=compatibility-is-not-enough-the-eksell-wordpress-theme-creates-art-with-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6218:"<img />



<p class="has-drop-cap">It is easy to become jaded after reading the same old keyword-stuffed theme descriptions. After viewing the same hero-plus-three-boxes theme designs. After seeing another theme with &ldquo;block editor styles&rdquo; that utterly fails to deliver on its promise.</p>



<p>As I peruse <a href="https://andersnoren.se/themes/eksell/">the demo</a> of Anders Nor&eacute;n&rsquo;s latest WordPress theme, <a href="https://www.andersnoren.se/teman/eksell-wordpress-theme/">Eksell</a>, I am reminded that artists still exist in the WordPress theming realm. For those familiar with his past theming work, this is not revelatory. Most of his 20+ free themes have 1,000s of active installations &mdash; <a href="https://wptavern.com/first-look-at-twenty-twenty-new-wordpress-default-theme-based-on-chaplain">Chaplin even became the base of the Twenty Twenty</a> default theme.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img />Single post view.</div>



<p>Awaiting a theme from Nor&eacute;n is almost like counting down the days until your favorite director&rsquo;s film hits the theater. You know you are going to like it before you see it. Even the worse outing is better than everything else spilling through the pipeline. Every now and then, you are greeted with something special.</p>



<p>I could not wait this time. Nor&eacute;n&rsquo;s latest project is at a pitstop in the review system, so it is not <em>officially</em> available in the WordPress theme directory yet. In the meantime, anyone can still grab a ZIP file from its <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/96348">Trac ticket</a> and upload it the old-fashioned way.</p>



<p>Eksell is a love letter to the block editor.</p>



<p>It is more than just making a few style adjustments to work around any quirks of the default block styles. It is an extension of those styles to create something unique. It is more than running a theme through a few tests and calling it <em>compatible</em>. It is looking at common problems and making sure they are styled correctly on the front end. And it is more than slapping a few blocks together and calling them a pattern. It is about providing users with a one-click solution for custom-designed or tough-to-build elements.</p>



<p>Building WordPress themes means being able to wrangle tons of elements that users can rearrange on a whim. The block editor has increased those pieces at least tenfold. It is rare to see a theme that manages to handle every edge case, and I am sure there are some that Eksell misses. However, the whole of the work is one of &mdash; if not the best &mdash; block-ready themes available today.</p>



<p>If there is one area in which Eksell did not go far enough, it is with block patterns. The theme registers five of them:</p>



<ul><li>Cover Header</li><li>Featured Items</li><li>Call to Action</li><li>Contact Details</li><li>Stacked Full Groups</li></ul>



<img />Cover Header block pattern.



<p>Each of these is in the demo. However, there are some missed opportunities, such as the following three-column &ldquo;pattern&rdquo;:</p>



<img />Three columns with images on the outside and text on the inside.



<p>Pros at building layouts with blocks could recreate that in minutes. A one-click option for inserting it into a post might save a headache or two for average users.</p>



<p>This is not the only example. Eksell&rsquo;s demo is full of experimental groupings that showcase the flexibility of the block system. As bold as it is, the theme is a bit timid with its patterns. There is no need to be. They are already there. They simply need to be registered in the system.</p>



<p>Users can stack individual Image and Gallery blocks, making them appear as part of the same gallery. The theme automatically adjusts the margins between the blocks, bringing them together.</p>



<img />Gallery + Image + Gallery block stacked.



<p><em>Another candidate for a block pattern.</em></p>



<p>And, here&rsquo;s the thing. I firmly believe the traditional theming paradigm held back this theme. Its uniqueness is in its handling of blocks, which are still limited to the content area in WordPress. When the site editor and global styles land in WordPress later this year, a theme like this would already be miles ahead of others in integrating with Full Site Editing.</p>



<p>Eksell is more than just a theme that <em>does cool stuff with the block editor</em>. It is a genuinely useful portfolio theme. Instead of marketing it as yet another <s>multipurpose</s> general-purpose project, it has a target audience. Despite that, it is well-rounded enough to handle a variety of situations. Nor&eacute;n made sure the theme would work for blogging with on-point typography.</p>



<p>By default, the theme displays blog posts in a grid-style portfolio. However, Jetpack users can opt to use the plugin&rsquo;s portfolio project post type to keep their portfolio separate from their blog.</p>



<p>One feature that might go overlooked is that Eksell provides an option to upload a fallback featured image. Far too often, portfolio-style themes with post-image grids fail to load a default image. The expectation is that the user will have featured images for every post, which is not always the case. When a theme is built around this idea, it needs to cover all of its bases, covering edge cases where things might fall apart. Eksell handles this, but Nor&eacute;n is an old pro at this point. He doubtless knows these common pitfalls.</p>



<p>The theme does not overwhelm users with options. It provides enough flexibility to personalize the theme&rsquo;s color scheme and make a few layout-related decisions.</p>



<p>Old-school theme options will be a thing from a past era in the coming years. It is best to focus on the elements users will be working with for the long term. The customization power is with what users decide to do with blocks, and Eksell is ready for whatever users might throw at it.</p>



<p>Every WordPress theme author should dive into the Eksell theme. Consider it a free masterclass in building on top of the block editor. It is the standard by which we should be judging all other offerings.</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, 15 Mar 2021 22:54:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg, Block Editor and WordPress Roadmap";s: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:34:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=6188";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:64:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/mullenweg-on-gutenberg-roll-out-plan/";s: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:51059:"<p><em>Last updated March 14, 2021</em></p>



<h2>Full-Site Editing Go/NoGo decision for 5.8</h2>



<p>Now that <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/esperanza/">WordPress 5.7 is released since  March 9th, 2021</a>, the core team is planning 5.8 and putting the next release team together. </p>



<p><em>Josepha Haden Chomphosy</em> published two posts with additional information.  </p>



<ul><li><strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/03/12/full-site-editing-pre-merge-overview/">Full-site editing pre-merge overview</a>&nbsp;</strong>an updated time line of decision-making on the prototype/MVP and communication roll-out for the merge of Full-Site Editing (FSE) into the core software. </li><li>In a follow-up post<strong>,&nbsp;</strong>Josepha shared the core team’s&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/12/early-thoughts-on-wp5-8-planning/"><strong>early thoughts on 5.8 Planning</strong></a>&nbsp;and elaborated on the changes, depending on if FSE will be merged or not in assembling the release team.</li></ul>



<p class="has-text-color has-background has-large-font-size">The team will decide on April 13 or 27, if a successful merge can be achieved for the 5.8 release in July (Yes, it was moved a month) or if it will be pushed to 5.9 in December 2021.</p>



<h2 id="2021goals"><strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/01/21/big-picture-goals-2021/">Big Picture Goals 2021</a></strong></h2>



<p>Josepha Haden set the goal posts for the WordPress projects for 2021</p>



<ul><li>Timeline for <strong>Full Site Editing: </strong><ul><li>MVP&nbsp;in the plugin by April 2021</li><li>v1 in Core by WordPress 5.8.</li></ul></li><li><strong>Learn.WordPress </strong><ul><li>regularly publish new workshops and lesson plans, </li><li>maintain a high pass rate on workshop quizzes to establish learner success and comprehension.</li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/block-editor-workshops-wordpress/">Block Editor related Workshops </a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Contributor tools</strong> decrease the manual overhead of maintenance work for teams through better tooling.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/01/21/big-picture-goals-2021/">Read the full post here</a></p>



<h2>Follow along with these resources:</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-7/">WordPress 5.7 Development Cycle</a><br />WordPress 5.7 Beta 1 is scheduled for February 2nd, 2021.</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/">Keeping up with Gutenberg Index</a><br />if you missed a week or month with updates from team you can always go back </li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/category/weekend-edition/">Weekend Edition of the Gutenberg Times Archive</a>  </li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/">Gutenberg Changelog Podcast</a>, every other week. <br /></li></ul>



<form class="wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-landscape" 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">The Weekend Edition via Email</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></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>



<h2>State of the Word 2020</h2>



<p>December 17, 2020, Matt Mullenweg gave his State of the Word talk with an extensive Q &amp; A afterwards with him and other team members. </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2020/12/17/matt-mullenweg-2020-state-of-the-word/">26 minutes keynote</a></li><li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2020/12/17/matt-mullenweg-2020-state-of-the-word-qa/">Questions and Answer session</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/site-editor-demo-sotw/">Site Editor coming to WordPress</a></li></ul>



<h2>WordPress 5.7 &#8211; March 2021</h2>



<p><strong>WordPress 5.7</strong> planning has already begun. </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-7/">WordPress 5.7 Development Cycle</a></li><li>Francesca Marano posted <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/11/23/wordpress-5-7-whats-on-your-wishlist/">WordPress 5.7: What’s on your wishlist?</a> to collect input from the WordPress Community. </li><li>JB Audras posted a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/12/11/call-for-volunteers-early-bug-scrubs-for-wordpress-5-7/">Call for Volunteers – Early bug scrubs for WordPress 5.7</a></li></ul>



<h3>Block Editor in 2021 &#8211; Full-Site Editing and Global Styles</h3>



<p><strong>Matias Ventura</strong> posted a <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/12/10/status-check-site-editing-and-customization/">Status Check: Site Editing and Customization</a></strong>. In this post, Ventura summarizes  the current status of Gutenberg’s Phase 2 Projects:  Site Editor, Block-based Themes, Navigation Block, Query Block, and Global Styles. </p>



<p>He ends with: &#8220;In terms of timelines, all of these are in advanced stages and can be used in the Gutenberg plugin already. The main hurdle to include the work in major WordPress releases are the various dependencies between each project when it comes to ensuring a great user experience. The immediate focus is then on completing the milestones, stabilizing the work, and doing as much testing with different kinds of users as possible. For that last purpose, there will be some calls for testing announced soon as part of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/full-site-editing-outreach-experiment/">Site Editing Outreach Program</a>.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>?</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Bookmark&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e3062ef0fb204dbbc2135b555&id=71d0f52b69&e=3e58a13321" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Keeping up with Gutenberg – Index”</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />The WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development Phase 2 are listed on one page: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS from June to December 2020</p>



<h2>WordPress 5.6  &#8211; December 2020</h2>



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<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/12/03/wordpress-5-6-core-editor-overview/">WordPress 5.6: Core Editor Overview</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/11/20/wordpress-5-6-field-guide/">WordPress 5.6 Field Guide</a></li></ul>



<p><strong>Update May 13, 2020: </strong>Josepha Haden posted </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2020/03/06/update-progress-on-goals/">Update: Progress on Goals</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/05/13/wordpress-5-5-planning-roundup/">WordPress 5.5 Planning Roundup</a></li></ul>



<h2>WP5.5 – August Release</h2>



<ul><li><strong>Feature Plugin</strong>: Automatic updates functionality for major WordPress Core releases (opt-in).</li><li><strong>Complete</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13204">Convert the widgets-editing areas complete</a>.</li><li><strong>Complete</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13489">Functionality for full site editing complete</a>&nbsp;behind experimental flag in the plugin.</li><li><strong>Complete</strong>: Global styles behind experimental flag in the plugin.</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>: Update WordPress Core to include current releases of the Gutenberg plugin.</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>: Navigation menus block in Core.</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>: Automatic updates for plugins and themes in Core.</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>: Block directory in Core.</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/27/feature-plugin-xml-sitemaps/">XML Sitemaps</a>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Ship</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/29/lazy-loading-images-in-wordpress-core/">Lazy Loading</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p class="has-small-font-size">Quoted from Josepha&#8217;s post, these are <em>planned</em> items. </p>



<p class="has-small-font-size">&#8220;Current release of Gutenberg plugin&#8221;, means the current version at time of 5.5 Beta 1, which is <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/05/13/wordpress-5-5-planning-roundup/">planned for July 7, 2020</a>. It probably will be Gutenberg 8.5 or 8.6. Final release of 5.5 is scheduled for August 11, 2020. </p>



<h3>Design &amp; Dev Updates in May 2020</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/05/06/whats-next-in-gutenberg-may/">What’s next in Gutenberg? (May)</a> by Riad Benguella</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/05/08/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-52/">Gutenberg Phase 2 Friday Design Update #52</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/05/02/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-51/">Gutenberg Phase 2 Friday Design Update #51</a></li></ul>



<h3>Matt Mullenweg at WPBlockTalk</h3>



<p>Matt Mullenweg open the <strong>April 2, 2020, </strong>WPBlockTalk conference with an updated Gutenberg Roadmap and what&#8217;s next in Gutenberg and Matias showed off the Full-site Editing experience. </p>



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<h3>Design updates Gutenberg Phase 2 <br />Jan &#8211; April 2020</h3>



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<p>April 2020</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/04/24/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-50/">Update #50</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/04/17/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-49/">Update #49</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/04/10/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-48/">Update #48</a></li></ul>
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<p>March 2020</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/03/28/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-47/">Update #47</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/03/20/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-46/">Update #46</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/03/13/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-45-2/">Update #45</a></li></ul>
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<p>Jan / February 2020</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/02/21/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-45/">Update #45</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/01/31/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-44/">Update #44</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2020/01/24/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-43/">Update #43</a></li></ul>
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<h2>Update on nine focus projects</h2>



<p>In <strong>December 2019</strong>, Josepha Haden, executive direct of the open-source projects published a<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/12/06/update-9-projects-for-2019/">n update on the nine focus projects</a>. </p>



<p>The migration of the widgets to blocks and the merge of the Site Health project into core were shipped in 5.3.</p>



<p>For the work in progress, Josepha also added the targeted versions, when we can expect them in core. </p>



<ul><li><strong>Navigation Block </strong>to build menus (5.5)</li><li><strong>Block Directory</strong> for discovery and installation single block plugins from the Block Inserter (5.5)</li><li><strong>Automating update</strong> opt-in for plugins and themes (5.5)</li><li><strong>Themes registering content areas</strong> for block editor (5.6)</li><li><strong>Widget areas and Customizer</strong> are able to use blocks (5.6)</li><li><strong>Automatic update</strong> of major core releases (5.6) </li></ul>



<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/">WordPress Core Roadmap page</a> shows the target dates for the next releases.  WordPress 5.5 is planned for August 2020 (Call for tickets has already been published) and WordPress 5.6 is slated to be released in December 2020. </p>



<h3><strong>Gutenberg Phase 2 Updates<br />September &#8211; December 2019</strong></h3>



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<p>Nov / December 2019</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/12/20/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-42/">Update #42</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/12/07/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-41/">Update #41</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/11/22/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-40/">Update #40</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/11/08/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-39/">Update #39</a></li></ul>
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<p>October 2019</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/10/25/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-38/">Update #38</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/10/18/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-37/">Update #37</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/10/11/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-36/">Update #36</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/10/04/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-35/">Update #35</a></li></ul>
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<p>September 2019</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/10/11/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-36/">Update #34</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/09/06/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-33/">Update #33</a></li></ul>
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<h2>State of the Word 2019 &#8211; Matt Mullenweg </h2>



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<p>During his State of the Word 2019 in St. Louis in October 2019, Matt Mullenweg talked a lot about the first full year of Gutenberg. </p>



<h3>The Four Phases of Gutenberg. </h3>



<ol><li>Easier Editing &#8211; already in Core, refinement is ongoing</li><li>Customization &#8211; Full Site editing, Block Patterns, Block Directory, Block based themes</li><li>Collaboration &#8211; A more Google Doc co-authoring </li><li>Multi-lingual &#8211; Core implementation for Multi-lingual sites. </li></ol>



<p>Currently, it&#8217;s all about Phase 2,  and not only to make the post / page content editable via the block editor but add site-building capabilities to the block editor. The goal is to provide a single interface for all site customizations. </p>



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<h3>Gutenb<strong>erg Phase 2 Updates</strong><br /><strong>June &#8211; August 2019</strong></h3>



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<p><strong>August 2019</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/30/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-32/">Update #32</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/23/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-31/">Update #31</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/16/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-30/">Update #30</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/09/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-29/">Update #29</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/02/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-28/">Update #28</a></li></ul>
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<p><strong>July 2019</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/07/19/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-27/">Update #27</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/07/12/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-26/">Update #26</a></li><li>*</li></ul>
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<p><strong>June 2019</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/06/28/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-24/">Update #24</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/06/21/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-23/">Update #23</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/06/14/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-22/">Update #22</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/06/07/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-21/">Update #21</a></li></ul>
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<p class="has-text-align-right">*There is no Update #25</p>
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<p><em>Updated July 4th, 2019 with Mullenweg&#8217;s Summer update. </em></p>



<h2>WordCamp Europe 2019</h2>



<p>At WordCamp Europe, Matt Mullenweg gave his Summer Update. </p>



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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/on-gutenberg-resources-matt-mullenwegs-summer-update-at-wordcamp-europe/">On Gutenberg (Resources) &#8211; Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s Summer Update at WordCamp Europe</a></blockquote>
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<h3><strong>Weekly Gutenberg Phase 2 Updates </strong><br /><strong>March &#8211; May 2019</strong></h3>



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<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/05/31/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-20/">Update #20</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/05/24/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-19/">Update #19</a>  </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/05/17/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-18/">Update #18</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/05/10/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-17/">Update #17</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/04/26/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-16/">Update #16</a> </li></ul>
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<p class="has-text-align-left"><strong>April 2019</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/04/19/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-15/">Update #15</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/04/12/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-14/">Update #14</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/04/05/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-13/">Update #13</a> </li></ul>
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<p class="has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size"><strong>March 2019</strong></p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/03/29/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-12/">Update #12</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/03/22/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-11/">Update #11</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/03/15/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-10/">Update #10</a> </li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/03/08/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-9/">Update #9</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/03/01/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-8/">Update #8</a></li></ul>
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<h2>Progress on <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#9projects">Nine Projects</a>. </h2>



<p><em>February 11, 2019.</em>  </p>



<ul><li>#1 Navigation Menu is still in discussion on GitHub. (<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13690" target="_blank">#13690</a>)</li><li>#2 has been moved forward already for quite a bit. The latest Gutenberg release(5.0), incorporated the RSS widget. Mel Choyce publishes regular <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/02/05/porting-widgets-to-blocks-feb-4-2019/">updates on this particular project</a></li><li>#3 is coupled with #2</li><li>#4 hasn&#8217;t started yet </li><li>#5 Partial integration in core is scheduled for the WordPress 5.1 release</li><li>#6 &amp; #7 haven&#8217;t started yet</li><li>#8 hastn&#8217;t started yet. It is the one that&#8217;s most exciting to me, as the proliferation of blocks are getting a bit overwhelming. </li><li>#9 The Core is still discussing best methodology and taxonomy for ticket gardening. Jon Desrosiers <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/01/04/short-term-trac-milestone-ticket-triage-proposal/">published a proposal</a> on how to handle punted tickets in the short term and also how to manage the other open tickets.  </li></ul>



<h3>Design Updates for Gutenberg Phase 2</h3>



<p>Every Friday, Mark Uraine publishes Updates for Gutenberg Phase 2 on the make/design blog. Here is the list: </p>



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<p>February 2019</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/02/22/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-7/">Update #7</a> (Feb 22, 2019)</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/02/15/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-6/">Update #6</a> (Feb 15, 2019)</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/02/08/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-5/">Update #5&nbsp;(Feb&nbsp;8,&nbsp;2019)</a></li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/02/01/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-4/">Update #4&nbsp;(Feb&nbsp;1,&nbsp;2019)</a></li></ul>
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<p>January 2019</p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/01/25/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-3/">Update #3&nbsp;(Jan&nbsp;25,&nbsp;2019</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/01/18/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update-2/">Update #2&nbsp;(Jan&nbsp;18,&nbsp;2019)</a><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/01/11/gutenberg-phase-2-friday-design-update/"> Update&nbsp;#1&nbsp;(Jan&nbsp;11,&nbsp;2019</a></p>
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<h2 id="9projects">Nine Projects for 2019 </h2>



<p><em>Dec 8th, 2019. </em>A couple days after the WordPress 5.0 release, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/12/08/9-priorities-for-2019/">Matt Mullenweg posted</a> on the make/core blog the 9 projects for 2019, highlighting what he outlined in his <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2018/12/27/state-of-the-word-2018/">State of the Word at WordCamp US 2018</a></p>



<ol><li>Creating a block for navigation menus.</li><li>Porting all existing widgets to blocks.</li><li>Upgrading the widgets-editing&nbsp;areas in&nbsp;<code>wp-admin/widgets.php</code>&nbsp;and the Customizer to support blocks.</li><li>Providing a way for themes to visually register content areas, and&nbsp;exposing that in Gutenberg.</li><li>Merging&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/">the site health check plugin</a>&nbsp;into Core, to assist with debugging and encouraging good software hygiene.</li><li>Providing a way for users to opt-in to automatic plugin and theme updates.</li><li>Providing a way for users to opt-in to automatic updates of major Core releases.</li><li>Building a WordPress.org directory for discovering blocks, and a way to seamlessly install them.</li><li>Forming a Triage team to tackle our&nbsp;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&status=reviewing&order=priority">6,500 open issues on Trac</a>.</li></ol>



<h2><em>WordPress 5.0 &#8220;Bebo&#8221; released on December 6th, 2018</em></h2>



<p><em>December 6th, 2018. </em>Today around 1:30pm ET, the core team released the WordPress 5.0 and with it the new block editor&nbsp; as default editor for content creators.&nbsp; </p>



<a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/bebo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img /></a>Putting the final touches on the WordPress 5.0 release:  Tammie Lister, Gary Pendergast, Jonathan Desrosiers and William Earnhardt at WordCamp US  2018



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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/bebo/">WordPress 5.0 “Bebo”</a></blockquote>
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<ul class="wp-block-latest-posts__list is-grid columns-3 wp-block-latest-posts"><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/gallery-block-convert-blocks-business-weekend-edition-164/">New Gallery Block, Convert Blocks, Business News and more  Weekend Edition #164</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/full-site-editing-mvp-can-i-build-a-landing-page/">Full-site Editing MVP: Can I Build a Landing Page?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/full-site-editing/">Full-Site-Editing &#8211; the Ultimate Resource List</a></li>
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<p><em>December 3rd, 2018.&nbsp;</em> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/12/04/new-5-0-target-date/">Matt Mullenweg posted</a> the new target date for the WordPress 5.0: December 6th, 2018, <a href="http://php.net/archive/2018.php#id2018-11-22-1">the same day PHP 7.3 will be released</a>. WordPress 5.0 includes not only the new Block editor but also compatibility fixes for the new PHP version. <br /></p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Based on the stability, testing, and reports on the release candidates for WordPress 5.0 so far, we are now targeting Thursday&nbsp;<strong>December 6th</strong> for public release and announcement. 5.0.1 will open for commits soon, and will be an area people can choose to focus on at the contributor day at WordCamp US in Nashville this Sunday.<br />As before, if new information arises that indicates the software is not stable, we will adjust or remove the target date.</p></blockquote>



<p>Below Questions and Answers are taken from <a href="https://ma.tt/2018/11/a-gutenberg-faq/">Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s&nbsp; Gutenberg FAQs&nbsp;</a> as well as from his <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/12/04/new-5-0-target-date/">post about the new target date.</a><br /></p>



<div class="schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block"><div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1543929591132"><strong class="schema-faq-question">Do I have to switch to Gutenberg when WordPress 5.0 is released? <br /></strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">Not at all. When it’s released, you get to choose what happens. You can install the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/">Classic Editor plugin</a> today and when 5.0 is released, nothing will change. We’ve commited to supporting and updating Classic Editor until 2022. If you’d like to <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/">install Gutenberg early</a>, you can do that now too. The Classic Editor plugin has been available for 13 months now, and Gutenberg has been available for 18 months. Both have been heavily promoted since August 2018, and more than 1.3 million .org sites have opted-in already to either experience, so nothing will change for them when they update to 5.0.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1543929747530"><strong class="schema-faq-question">Is it terrible to do a release in December?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">Some people think so, some don’t. There have been <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/">9 major WordPress releases</a> in previous Decembers. December releases actually comprise 34% of our major releases in the past decade.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1543932662856"><strong class="schema-faq-question">What if I don’t want to update on that date, or I’m not ready?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">That’s totally okay, there’s nothing that says you must update the moment there’s a new version released. You can push the button whenever you’re ready.</p> </div> <div class="schema-faq-section" id="faq-question-1543932734088"><strong class="schema-faq-question">What if I want to upgrade but I’m not ready for Gutenberg?</strong> <p class="schema-faq-answer">No problem, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/">install the Classic Editor plugin</a> and 5.0 will be indistinguishable from 4.9.8 for your posting and editing experience, and you’ll still get the other improvements and fixes that have gone into 5.0. Classic Editor is supported until 2022, and now allows you to switch between Classic and Gutenberg on a per-user or per-post level.</p> </div> </div>



<p><em>November 30, 2018. </em><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/11/29/5-0-gutenberg-status-update-nov-29/">WordPress 5.0 RC2&nbsp;</a> is scheduled for&nbsp; today. Earlier this morning the team released <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/11/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-30th-november/">Gutenberg 4.6.1.</a>&nbsp; &#8220;This brings plugin up to parity with RC2 packages&#8221;&nbsp; noted Matias Ventura on the #core-editor Slack channel.&nbsp; <br /><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/11/30/5-0-gutenberg-status-update-nov-30/">Read also today&#8217;s status update on the Make.Core Blog</a><br /></p>



<h3>When will 5.0 be released?</h3>



<p>Read Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s answer in his blog post: &#8220;<a href="https://ma.tt/2018/11/a-gutenberg-faq/">WordPress 5.0: A Gutenberg&nbsp;FAQ</a>&#8220;<br /></p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>We have had a stable RC1, which stands for first release candidate, and about to do our second one. There is only currently one known blocker and it’s cosmetic. The stability and open issues in the release candidates thus far makes me optimistic we can release soon, but as before the primary driver will be the stability and quality of the underlying software. We made the mistake prior of announcing dates when lots of code was still changing, and had to delay because of regressions and bugs. Now that things aren’t changing, we’re approaching a time we can commit to a date soon.</em></p><cite><a href="https://ma.tt/2018/11/a-gutenberg-faq/"></a>Matt Mullenweg answer in <a href="https://ma.tt/2018/11/a-gutenberg-faq/">his blog post&nbsp; Nov 29, 2018</a><br /></cite></blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator gt-separator" />



<p><em>November 23, 2018</em> WordPress 5.0 RC1 &#8211; the first release candidate was released about 4 days late.&nbsp; On Nov 21, Matias Ventura wrote: &#8220;The date for 5.0 release is under consideration, given it’s not plausible for it to be the on 27th. &#8220;</p>



<span id="more-6188"></span>



<p>Gutenberg 4.5.1 was released Nov 20th. This is the last Gutenberg version before the 5.0 Final release. There will be bug fixes in between, but no more changes to API etc. &#8211; or so I hear. It&#8217;s included in the WordPress 5.0 Release candidate 1 version. You can test both via the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/">WordPress Beta plugin.</a></p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>The WordPress 5.0 release date has shifted from the 27th to give more time for the RC to be fully tested</strong>. A final release date will be announced soon, based on feedback on the RC.<br /></p><cite>Matias Ventura, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2018/11/wordpress-5-0-release-candidate/">on the make.core blog</a><br /></cite></blockquote>



<p>Unless they are blockers to the 5.0 release, newly found issues will be tagged for Gutenberg 4.6 and 5.0.1. <br /></p>



<p><em>November 9, 2018.&nbsp; </em>Developer lead for Gutenberg, Matias Ventura <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/11/09/update-on-5-0-release-schedule/">announced today the updated schedule</a> for WordPress 5.0 release:&nbsp;</p>



<ul><li>Final release scheduled for November 27, 2018 </li><li>Beta 4:&nbsp; Monday November 12, 2018 </li><li>Beta 5: Thursday, November 15, 2018<br /></li><li>Release Candidate 1: Monday November 19, 2018</li></ul>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>After listening to a lot of feedback — as well as looking at current issues, ongoing pull requests, and general progress — we’re going to take an extra week to make sure everything is fully dialed in (&#8230;)<br /></p><cite>Matias Ventura, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/11/09/update-on-5-0-release-schedule/">on make.blog November 9th, 2018.</a><br /></cite></blockquote>







<p><em>October 31, 2018.</em> After the first beta release date slipped to October 24, Gary Pendergast <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/31/wordpress-5-0-schedule-updates/">updated the release schedule </a>yesterday. He added a few more Beta release dates, which pushed the RC 1 to November 12th. The final release date of November 19, hasn&#8217;t been moved, though. </p>



<ul><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2018/10/wordpress-5-0-beta-2/">Beta 2</a> released Oct 30</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2018/11/wordpress-5-0-beta-3/">Beta 3:</a> released Nov 5, 2018</li><li>Beta 4: November 5, 2018&nbsp;</li><li>RC 1: November 12, 2018</li><li>Final release: November 19, 2018</li></ul>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/31/wordpress-5-0-schedule-updates/">Details can be viewed in the post on make.wordpress</a></p>



<p><em>Updated Nov 6, 2018: updated with release dates and post for Betas 2 + 3 bph</em></p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/31/wordpress-5-0-schedule-updates/">WordPress 5.0 Schedule Updates</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p><em>Also updated the photo credit. The feature image was shot by </em><a href="http://www.instagram.com/adspedia/"><em>Val Vesa </em></a><em>and can be found on </em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wceu/41176987410/"><em>WCEU&#8217;s Flickr account</em></a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator gt-sep-navy" />



<p><em>On October 3rd, 2018</em>, Matt Mullenweg published <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/03/a-plan-for-5-0/">&#8220;A Plan for 5.0&#8221; </a>on the WordPress Make Blog with the leadership team that will push Gutenberg over the finish line of becoming the default editor for WordPress.</p>



<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/03/a-plan-for-5-0/"><img /></a>



<p><strong>Gary Pendergast</strong>, WordPress Core Developer, followed suit with his post; <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/03/proposed-wordpress-5-0-scope-and-schedule/">Proposed WordPress 5.0 Scope and Schedule</a></p>



<h3>The Scope: </h3>



<ul><li>Merging the Gutenberg plugin into trunk.</li><li>Updating the default themes to work well with the block editor</li><li>Creating the new Twenty Nineteen theme.</li><li>Creating an upgrade experience to remove the Gutenberg plugin and offer the Classic Editor plugin.</li></ul>



<h3>The Schedule</h3>



<ul><li><strong>October 3, 2018 WordPress 5.0 Kickoff meeting&nbsp;</strong><br /></li><li><strong>October 19: Beta 1</strong><br /></li><li><strong>October 30: RC 1</strong><br /></li><li><strong>November 19:&nbsp; Release</strong><br /></li></ul>



<p><em>&#8220;We know there is a chance that 5.0 will need additional time, so these dates can slip by up to 8 days if needed. If additional time beyond that is required, we will instead aim for the following dates:&#8221; Gary wrote,</em></p>



<ul><li><strong>Secondary RC 1</strong>: January 8, 2019</li><li><strong>Secondary Release</strong>: January 22, 2019</li></ul>



<p>The following days, strong voices suggested to make Plan B to Plan A and not release WordPress 5.0 until after the busiest online business time of the year for the United States universe. </p>



<p>Here an opinion piece on the WPTavern: &#8220;<a href="https://wptavern.com/if-deadlines-are-not-arbitrary-why-not-release-wordpress-5-0-in-the-beginning-of-january">If Deadlines Are Not Arbitrary, Why Not Release WordPress 5.0 in the Beginning of January?</a>&#8220;</p>



<p>At <a href="https://www.paulisystems.net/gutenberg-ready/">Pauli Systems</a>, we plan to beta-best WordPress 5.0, help surfacing problems and report them either on Trac or on GitHub. The amount of issues and the time it will take to fix them will determine the final release date for WordPress 5.0.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large"><p>With the track record on estimating release dates this year, there might be a RC (Release Candidate) in November. It seems to be a given that the final release will be pushed into late January 2019.</p><cite><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack,Oct 3rd, 2018 0&nbsp; <a href="https://www.paulisystems.net/gutenberg-ready/">Pauli Systems</a></em></cite></blockquote>



<h2>WordPress 5.0 Kick-off Meeting </h2>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/10/04/dev-chat-summary-october-3rd-5-0-week-1/">Dev Chat Summary: October 3rd (5.0 Week 1)</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p><em>updated: October 5, 2018 / bph</em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator gt-sep-navy" />



<p>At WordCamp Europe, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, laid out the Gutenberg roadmap for the next three months.</p>



<p>For the rest of June, the development team will work on the few issues and features that are identified to land in the first core version. </p>



<p>In July more users will be able to use Gutenberg on wordpress.com as well as on self-hosted WordPress sites <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/try-out-gutenberg-call-out-will-be-in-4-9-5-release/">via a &#8220;Try Gutenberg&#8221; prompt in a future 4.9.x version.</a></p>



<p>In August, the team will work on bug fixes and the merge proposal to land in WordPress Core. Mullenweg said that after one hundred thousand users and two hundered fifty thousand blog posts, Gutenberg could be ready to be released with WordPress 5.0 as soon as August. He also stress he is not making any promises, though. <br /></p>



<img />



<h2>The Gutenberg Roadmap</h2>



<h3>June 2018<br /></h3>



<ul><li>Freeze new features into Gutenberg<br /></li><li>Hosts, agencies and teachers invited to opt-in sites they have influence over. </li><li>Opt-in for wp-admin users on WP.com</li><li>Mobile App support in the Aztec editor across iOs and Android.</li></ul>



<h3>July 2018</h3>



<ul><li>4.9.x release with a strong invitation to install either Gutenberg or Classic Editor plugin</li><li>Opt-out for wp-admin users on WP.com</li><li>Heavy triage and bug gardening, getting blockers to zero</li><li>Explore expanding Gutenberg beyond the post into site customization. </li></ul>



<h3>August 2018 and beyond<br /></h3>



<ul><li>All critical issues resolved</li><li>Integration with Calypso, offering opt-in users.</li><li>100k+ sites having makde 250k+ post using Gutenberg</li><li>Core merge, beginning the 5.0 release cycle.</li><li>5.0 beta releases and translations completed</li><li>Mobile version of Gutenberg by the end of the year.</li></ul>



<h2>Video: Gutenberg Roadmap section of Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s Keynote</h2>



<p><em>Find the transcript&nbsp; below.</em></p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>



<p><strong>Update July 6, 2018</strong><br />So far the Gutenberg section of <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2018/07/04/matt-mullenweg-a-summertime-update-keynote-and-qa/">Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s &#8220;Summertime Update&#8221;</a>. Earlier this month, the volunteers of WordCamp Europe uploaded the video of the <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2018/07/04/matt-mullenweg-a-summertime-update-keynote-and-qa/">whole keynote to WordPress TV</a>.</p>



<a href="https://wpbuffs.com/pricing/affilibuff/paulisystems/"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/wpbuffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Care-Plan-Wide.jpg?w=640&ssl=1" alt="WP Buffs" /></a>



<p><em>Featured Image: </em>Photo by Stephen M. Blythe, <a href="https://allmyfriendsarejpegs.com">allmyfriendsarejpegs.com</a></p>



<h2>Transcript: Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s Keynote at WordCamp Europe (Excerpt)<br /></h2>



<p>(&#8230;) The major features that are in effect so far are we have a block based writing experience, with over 20 blocks built in. Gutenberg is fully adaptive, meaning that whether you&#8217;re looking at it on a small screen, a medium screen, a large screen, a huge screen, the design and the functionality adapts to be fluid and easy to use on any of those.</p>



<p>There is ah, there we go &#8230; Optimized for direct manipulation of content, so we&#8217;re bringing it closer to where what you&#8217;re editing looks a lot more like what you&#8217;re seeing on the front page. They have a block aid [inaudible 00:00:43], support for static and dynamic blocks.</p>



<h3>Matt&#8217;s Favorite Gutenberg Feature: Copy/Paste API</h3>



<p>This is one of my favorite, the universal API, which is copy and paste. Who&#8217;s ever tried to copy and paste things into the WordPress editor, or anyplace else, and it just goes kind of sideways?</p>



<p>Gutenberg already has support for fully supported copy and paste from Google Docs, a Apple&#8217;s Pages, everyone&#8217;s favorite Microsoft Word, Office 365, Evernote, Legacy WordPress, random webpages, and then finally something that I know will be very popular with this audience is Markdown.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s actually what you are seeing in this little GIF there, is a copy and paste from a Markdown source. That&#8217;s a note editor or for wherever you want. You paste into Gutenberg, it translates it just instantly into Gutenberg blocks. It&#8217;s very, very slick. If you haven&#8217;t tried this yet, I&#8217;d highly recommend trying it. It&#8217;s one of my favorite hidden features alongside &#8230; I&#8217;ll tell you about my other favorite hidden feature. Which is that when you copy and paste the URL onto some text, it auto links it. Saves a ton of time.</p>



<h3>Templates, Shared Blocks, Nested Blocks and Child Blocks</h3>



<p>There are templates for predefined blocks. This is starting to go into where you can see hints of where we are going to end up, with full site customization with this. Which basically allows you to create for your users or for yourself kind of pre-built layouts where you can say, &#8220;Okay. A title goes here, an image goes here, some text goes here, a map goes here.&#8221; That can be reused over and over again, or assigned to entire pages. There&#8217;s shared blogs, so if you do want to reuse things across the entire site, that can be a shared unified resource. So when you edit it once, it shows up everywhere.</p>



<p>And finally, we are very excited about, that we have nested blocks and child blocks. These are blocks within blocks. Like it&#8217;s turtles and blocks all the way down, and child blocks, which only work if the parent block is there. Perhaps like your children. Media drag and drop. Extensions where you can add extra things to the sidebar. Like this beautiful &#8220;Hello Belgrade&#8221; extension here.</p>



<h2>30 Gutenberg releases, 1,700 issues open , 1,100 closed</h2>



<p>There have been 30 Gutenberg releases, since we started, and 12 just since WordCamp US in December. As you can see, this is kind of running through all the different releases. There have been over 1,700 issues opened, and 1,100 closed in the Gutenberg Project thus far. From the development point of view, I&#8217;m very proud of it. We have open development, design-led testing in our releases, presentations across pretty much every WordCamp now, including here. It&#8217;s developed a wide awareness. Support and awareness in every single page builder out there. You know the names.</p>



<p>We already have people who&#8217;ve extended Gutenberg through plugins they are starting to pick up in the directory, and major sites. Agencies and others have been building and launching things with Gutenberg because, to be honest, it works. It&#8217;s not perfect yet. We&#8217;re not ready to release it yet, but for the things it does, it does them well. You can actually start using this in production already.</p>



<p>There are now 14,000 sites actively using Gutenberg. So this isn&#8217;t just installed it&#8217;s actually active. Just released this week are tools for enterprises. This one called <a href="https://vip.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/jumpstart-gutenberg-testing-transition-ramp/">Gutenberg Ramp</a>, which is a new plugin from VIP which basically allows them to turn Gutenberg on for certain post ID&#8217;s, page ID&#8217;s or content text. So that way you can start to phase in. Say you have a really complex setup of WordPress and maybe certain post types of things, extra customization. You can start to turn Gutenberg on for parts of it, not for others until you get to the point where you have everything on and fully done.</p>



<p>But the question I&#8217;m going to preempt it, so you don&#8217;t need to ask it is &#8220;What&#8217;s coming next in the world of Gutenbergification?&#8221; Which is just kinda fun to say. It sounds almost like a German word right?</p>



<h3>Roadmap For Gutenberg Roll-Out</h3>



<h4>Happening in June</h4>



<p>Here&#8217;s the roadmap. So these are things happening in June which means they are highly .. [inaudible] . First I&#8217;m going to freeze new features coming in to Gutenberg. We&#8217;ve reached a point where there is a functionality that matches in affect of in the area it exceeds what we accomplished in the editor. We&#8217;re gonna encourage host agencies and teachers to start opting in folks that they have influence over to start using Gutenberg. Now very much &#8230; especially if it&#8217;s someone who you&#8217;re working with close to so that you can start to gather feedback from third party users of it, people who are involved in development everyday and pass that back, of course, to developers. This is to compliment the user testing, since the user testing that we&#8217;ve already been doing.</p>



<p>One of the hosts that&#8217;s gonna be sort of contributing to this is WordPress.com so there is several hundred thousand, in the high numbers of thousands folks from WordPress.com that actually use wp-admin interface primarily. So we&#8217;re gonna be offering a call to action to opt-in. You can start using it very soon. One of the key measures that we are tracking there are the number of sites and the number of posts that are using this.</p>



<p>Then finally the mobile apps, which I said are getting more and more popular. Right now, if you move between editing things in the mobile apps, Gutenberg, it breaks in pretty spectacular fashion. So within the next few weeks that will be all fixed up across both IOS and Android. </p>



<h4>Coming up in July: Thousands more users .org and .com<br /></h4>



<p>Coming up in July, there is going to be a 4.9 point WordPress release that has a <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/try-out-gutenberg-call-out-will-be-in-4-9-5-release/">strong invitation in the dashboard.</a> The first time we&#8217;ve had this, to either install Gutenberg or the Classic Editor Plugin. So basically we will be encouraging people to get on the train early, or if when 5.0 comes out and your site is not gonna be ready for it, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/">install the Classic Editor Plugin</a>. For those who don&#8217;t know, basically locks in your site to use how WordPress WYSIWYG editor&nbsp; works today. So it kinda opts you out of Gutenberg. We&#8217;re, of course, going to be tracking the use of both those.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re gonna switch to opt-in for their wp-admin on dot com to be opt-out and I&#8217;m tracking who opts out and trying to gather as much data from them as well because there&#8217;s gonna be a lot of information there, especially from people who might be using third party plugins on WordPress.com. Be a heavy, heavy triage on bug gardening, getting all the blockers to zero. Then finally, we&#8217;re gonna actually kick off and maybe even branch off the customization leads to start the work for what we wanna launch hopefully this year. Which is more of the full site editing experience of Gutenberg.</p>



<h4>In August and Beyond: Merge Proposal<br /></h4>



<p>So in August and beyond we&#8217;ll have all critical issues resolved. It&#8217;ll be integrated with the Calypso interface on WordPress.com, which is where the majority of people use it. I want to have 100,000 sites, 250,000 posts made, so 100,000 sites active with Gutenberg over 10x, where it is today, about 10x where it is today. A quarter million posts I think we&#8217;ll be able to say that a lot of the bugs will be worked out. We&#8217;re gonna merge with Core beginning the 5.0 release cycle. So beta releases, translations and then finally we are planning &#8230; there&#8217;s work undergoing, it&#8217;s not ready yet, but there will be full mobile versions of Gutenberg at the end of the year in the iOS and Android app.</p>



<p>By August, they won&#8217;t break when you move between them. Of course, Gutenberg is done in a way that makes the content and the Markup backwards compatible. We&#8217;re actually gonna have the blocks supported in the mobile apps so that as you drag and drop blocks, move them around, have different sort of fun things you can do, that&#8217;ll all be there.</p>



<p>We could have a 5.0 as soon as August. Some of these things that I put up there, I&#8217;m very, very sure about. The big thing that we&#8217;re not sure about is as we vastly increase the average usage of Gutenberg across hopefully 100,000 sites. &#8220;What&#8217;s gonna come in?&#8221; </p>



<h4>Not date promised, though. </h4>



<p>The non-deterministic nature of fixing bugs means that I don&#8217;t know exactly the issues that could raise. Whether they&#8217;re going to be small tweaks or rather they might be sort of huge things that are going to require a few weeks of development. That is why I can&#8217;t promise you a date but we&#8217;ve done a lot of testing this far so the nature of bugs that we find &#8230; there&#8217;s no black swans in there of bugs. I do think that 5.0 is gonna be ready within a relatively short time frame.&nbsp; And that&#8217;s all I got so thank you very much.</p>



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<p>With the WordPress 5.7 out of the way, the next couple of month are all about Full-site Editing testing and planing for 5.8. </p>



<p>I love it when a plan comes together! The WordPress team responsible for the release of the 5.7 version delivered on time. <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/esperanza/"><strong>Meet “Esperanza”, the first WordPress release of 2021</strong></a>. Marvel again at the numbers: Contributors (457), Trac tickets (250) and  Pull Requests on GitHub(950). </p>



<p> <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb">Jean-Baptist Audras</a></strong>, team rep of the core team, documentation release lead and data wizard compiled additional information about contributors, by country and employers. <a href="https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/a496c333-7e64-412c-9299-9ea2c84e5d2c/page/j595B?s=gxzoCOs8rSk"><strong>Have a sneak peek on his material</strong></a>, JB will soon share in a blog post. </p>



<p>If it&#8217;s been a while since you checked on the Gutenberg state of affairs, there are plenty of resources in today&#8217;s edition. Let me get out of your way now.  </p>



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



<p>PS: ?️ The new episode, number <strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/changelog-39-gutenberg-site-editor/">#39 of the Changelog</a> </strong>is now available with show notes and transcript. </p>





<h2>Full Site Editing Updates</h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/JosephaHaden">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a></strong> published in her <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2021/03/12/full-site-editing-pre-merge-overview/">full-site editing pre-merge overview</a> </strong>an updated time line of decision-making on the prototype/MVP and communication roll-out for the merge of Full-Site Editing (FSE) into the core software. As far as I understood it, the team will decide  on April 13 or 27, if a successful merge can be achieved for the 5.8 release in July (Yes, it was moved a month) or if it will be pushed to 5.9 in December 2021. </p>



<p>Josepha wrote: <em>&#8220;The following is an outline of the communication work needed in the pre-merge period for Phase 2 of the Gutenberg project. This will put us in a position to merge Full Site Editing later this year while raising awareness and increasing the skills of our community as we go.&#8221;</em> She lists in bullet points, the who, what, why,  of the various teams to work together on this feature&#8217;s roll-out. </p>



<p>In a follow-up post<strong>, </strong>Josepha shared the core team&#8217;s <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/12/early-thoughts-on-wp5-8-planning/"><strong>early thoughts on 5.8 Planning</strong></a> and elaborated on the changes, depending on if FSE will be merged or not in assembling the release team. </p>




<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index&#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. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">The index 2020 is here</a></p>




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<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/geoffreygraham">Geoff Graham</a></strong> discussed <a href="https://css-tricks.com/the-wordpress-evolution-toward-full-site-editing/"><strong>The WordPress Evolution Toward Full-Site Editing</strong></a> at CSS-Tricks. He wrote: <em>&#8220;I’m personally all-in on this direction. I’d even go so far as to say (peeking over my shoulder at Chris) that CSS-Tricks is all-in on this as well. <a href="https://css-tricks.com/wordpress-block-transforms/">We made the switch to blocks</a> last year, and it has reinvigorated our love for writing blog posts just like this one.&#8221;</em> </p>



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<h3>Calls for Testing Full-Site Editing</h3>



<p>Are you as excited about Full-Site Editing as I am? Well, I can&#8217;t wait to follow <strong>Anne McCarthy&#8217;</strong>s <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/"><strong>third call for FSE testing</strong></a>. This time she envisions you to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/">create a fun 404 page</a>, something you normally couldn&#8217;t do without touching a php file and look at code. It&#8217;s called 404 because that&#8217;s the error code from web servers when they receive a browser request for a URL that doesn&#8217;t exist. If you need some inspiration the people at CreativeBloq have a <a href="https://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/best-404-pages-812505">great collection of 404 pages</a>. </p>



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<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> walked the path before you, and shared her experience on the WPTavern, calling it the <strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/new-full-site-editing-testing-challenge-create-a-custom-404-page">Full Site Editing Testing Challenge</a></strong>. </p>



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<p>The results of the second testing call are in. <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published the summary overall comments:  <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/12/fse-program-build-a-homepage-testing-summary/">FSE Program Build a Homepage Testing</a></strong>. The team gained invaluable information from those tests reports. 29 GitHub Issues were either confirmed, commented on or newly filed. </p>



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



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>




<h2>Block Editor for Content Creators</h2>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/critterverse">Channing Ritter</a></strong>, a new contributor on the design team she designed a site with large type, Dark Mode detection, and other accessibility-friendly styling such as visible underlines and focus states on links with the block editor. In her article <strong><a href="https://automattic.design/2021/03/12/accessibility-in-the-block-editor/">Accessibility in the Block Editor</a>: A Beginners Guide.</strong> She wrote about the <em>&#8220;many useful accessibility features available and provide some context about how recent improvements are helping take accessibility and usability to the next level.&#8221;</em> She elaborates on recent Keyboard Navigation, Keyboard Shortcuts, and other Usability updates of the block-editor. </p>



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



<p>To learn about <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/block-editor-keyboard-shortcuts/" rel="nofollow">keyboard shortcuts the block-editor</a></strong> the documentation team  just published a comprehensive list of shortcuts and what they do, for both, Windows and Mac Operating Systems. </p>



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<p><strong>Will Morris</strong>, staff writer at <em>WordCandy, </em>published an in-depth article on the <em>Torque Magazine</em>: <strong><a href="https://torquemag.io/2021/03/gutenberg-full-site-editing/">What Is Gutenberg Full-Site Editing (And How to Access It Today)</a></strong>. He wrote: <em>&#8220;The upcoming Full-Site Editing (FSE) feature promises to be the next major step in WordPress design and development. By getting some hands-on experience now, you can ensure your site is prepared for the changes ahead.&#8221;</em> </p>



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<p><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/events/276672145/">Fantastic Blocks and Where To Find Them</a></strong> is the title of <a href="https://twitter.com/newyorkerlaura"><strong>Laura Byrne</strong></a>&#8216;s talk at the <strong>WordPress NYC Meetup</strong> group on Tuesday, March 16th, 2021 at 7:00 pm. She wrote:<em>&#8220;With so many blocks to choose from (both native and 3rd party blocks) and more being added every day, which are the most vital ones to have in your content creation arsenal? Pick up indispensable tips and tricks for yourself and your clients.&#8221;</em> It&#8217;ll be a fast-paced presentation and Laura has a wealth of knowledge. Come for the blocks and stay for the second talk: <strong>The Three Layers of WP Maintenance</strong> with Mervin Hernandez. I definitely try to make it. Will we see you there, too?</p>



<h2>Block Editor for Themes builders</h2>



<p>Given the above mentioned timeline for the merge of Full Site Editing, it&#8217;s no surprise that <strong>Hector Pietro</strong> grouped the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/08/whats-next-in-gutenberg-march-2021/"><strong>focus projects for March </strong></a>around that feature and the possible adoption path for conventional Themes.  He covers: Widget Screen, Navigation Screen, and Full-Site Editing. You might appreciate the section <strong>&#8220;Areas to be aware of&#8221;</strong> for block and plugin developers, theme builders, contributors and designers. </p>



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



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jeffikus">Jeffrey Pears</a> </strong>again keeps everyone updated on the specific discussions and issues around Themes in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/03/12/gutenberg-themes-week-of-march-11-2021/">Gutenberg + Themes: Week of March 11, 2021</a> for this week. </p>



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<p>In <strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/recreating-the-music-artist-wordpress-theme-homepage-with-the-block-editor">Recreating the Music Artist WordPress Theme Homepage With the Block Editor</a></strong>, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/justintadlock">Justin Tadlock</a></strong> walks us through his experience to replicate the theme&#8217;s design sections with the block editor and patterns starting with a theme already supporting the block editor.  It&#8217;s a great example, how theme developers and site builders could embrace the Block editor and create new designs fast and support their users. Not all the modifications are yet available in Gutenberg. Justin use the EditorPlus plugin by Munir Kamal to add additional styling. </p>



<h2>Developers and Block Building</h2>



<p><strong>Justin Ahinon</strong> updated the WordPress community on the <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/12/block-editor-handbook-restructuring-project-update-march-12/">block editor handbook restructuring project</a>.</strong> &#8220;<em>The idea is to build technical documentation around four parts: <strong>tutorials</strong>, <strong>how-to guides</strong>, <strong>technical reference</strong> and <strong>explanation</strong>.&#8221; he wrote. </em></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jasonbahl">Jason Bahl</a></strong>, creator of the WPGraphQL plugin, tackled the topic <strong><a href="https://www.wpgraphql.com/2021/03/09/gutenberg-and-decoupled-applications/">Gutenberg and Decoupled Applications</a>.</strong> He walks you through three different approaches to use Gutenberg in a decouple application environment and lists the trade-offs for each. </p>



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<p><strong>Greg Ziolkowski</strong> shared on the core blog what it takes to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/03/08/publishing-wordpress-packages-to-npm/"><strong>Publishing WordPress packages to npm</strong></a>, the NodeJS package manager registry. As of today, there are nearly 80 actively maintained packages under the <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/org/wordpress">WordPress organization</a> available. Greg shared some details about the latest addition to the process and summarize the overall strategy for publishing.</p>




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



<img />




<h2>Plugins for the Block Editor</h2>



<p>Meet <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/olivercampion">Oliver Campion</a></strong> and his plugin <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/options-for-twenty-twenty-one/">Options for Twenty-Twenty One.</a> </strong>This plugin adds a ton, over 70 modification options to the default WordPress theme. James Huff, calls Oliver <em>&#8220;the most active helper in the Twenty-Twenty-one support forum&#8221;</em></p>



<p>He also created the plugin <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-remote-posts-block/">Display Remote Posts Block</a></strong>, used to display recent posts from a WordPress or Blogger sites, bringing back the blog roll. </p>



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<p>Speaking of Blog roll, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/tw2113">Michael Beckwith</a></strong> released the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/blogroll-block/"><strong>Blogroll Block</strong></a> plugin. <em>Justin Tadlock</em> wrote <a href="https://wptavern.com/a-throwback-to-the-past-introducing-the-blogroll-block-wordpress-plugin">about it for the WPTavern.</a> </p>



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<p>The <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/NewspackPub">Newspack </a></strong>team at Automattic published their <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/newspack-newsletters/">Newspack-Newsletter</a> plugin in the WordPress repository. Similar to the <a href="https://newsletterglue.com/">Newsletter Glue</a> plugin, that I use here, this plugin also enables you to use the block-editor design your newsletters, store them on your site and send them through Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Besides an account at one of the offered providers you also to apply for a free API key at MJML.org </p>



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<p><strong>GeneratePress</strong> offers their future <a href="https://generatepress.com/introducing-the-gp-theme-builder/">GP Theme Builder plugin in public beta</a>. It brings you theme building using the core block editor and the GenerateBlocks plugin.</p>



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<p>The <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/">Gutenberg Block Manager</a></strong> Plugin by <a href="https://twitter.com/KaptonKaos"><strong>Darren Cooney</strong></a> helps you organize the hundreds of blocks on your site on various screens. It definitely will help you get organized. <em>Sarah Gooding</em><strong> </strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-block-manager-plugin-enables-global-block-removal-and-recategorization">reviewed it for the WPTavern.</a></p>



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<h2 id="4-word-press-events">WordPress Events</h2>



<p><strong>March 16, 2021, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM EDT</strong><br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPressNYC/"><strong>WordPress NYC Meetup Group</strong></a><br />Fantastic Blocks and Where To Find Them  with Laura Byrne<br />The Three Layers of WP Maintenance with Mervin Hernandez</p>



<p><strong>March 18, 2021 6:30 &#8211; 8:30 PM EDT</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/SF-WordPress-Users/events/276654859/">Mega-Meetup South Florida</a></strong></p>



<p><strong>April 15 &#8211; 17, 2021</strong><br /><a href="https://centroamerica.wordcamp.org/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordCamp Centroamérica 2021</a></p>



<p><strong>April 16th – 18th, 2021.</strong>&nbsp;<br /><strong><a href="https://greece.wordcamp.org/2021/">WordCamp Greece 2021 Online</a></strong>.<br />The organizer published the&nbsp;<a href="https://greece.wordcamp.org/2021/call-for-speakers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">call for speakers</a>.</p>



<p><strong>April 16th – 18th, 2021</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://neo.wordcamp.org/2021/">WordCamp Northeast Ohio</a></strong><br /><a href="https://neo.wordcamp.org/2021/call-for-sponsors/">Take a look at the Call for Sponsors</a></p>



<p><strong>May 24 &#8211; 27. 2021</strong><br /><a href="https://wordsesh.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordSesh 2021</a></p>



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



<p>On the<a href="https://wpcalendar.io/online/"> <strong>Calendar for WordPress Online Events</strong></a> you&#8217;ll find a list of the upcoming WordPress Meetups, around the world, including WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi Builder and Beaver Builder meetups.</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, 13 Mar 2021 21:44:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: Gutenberg Block Manager Plugin Enables Global Block Removal and Recategorization";s: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=113596";s: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:225:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-block-manager-plugin-enables-global-block-removal-and-recategorization?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gutenberg-block-manager-plugin-enables-global-block-removal-and-recategorization";s: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:3249:"<p>The world of Gutenberg blocks is expanding. WordPress&rsquo; official block directory <a href="https://wptavern.com/call-for-block-plugins-the-wordpress-block-directory-is-open-for-business">launched in June 2020</a> with just 60 single-block plugins. Today, it has grown to more than <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/blocks/">480 blocks</a>. As users incorporate more blocks into their websites, the block inserter can become a very long list to scroll when browsing.</p>



<p>Block management capabilities were added to Gutenberg in <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-5-3-introduces-block-management-adds-nesting-to-the-cover-block">version 5.3</a>, released in 2019. It allows users to search for a block and turn individual blocks and sections on or off in the block inserter. The feature hasn&rsquo;t changed much over the past two years but will soon be getting a major update that will relocate it to the Preferences modal and redesign it to use panels with support for&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/27708">toggling block variations</a>&nbsp;on and off.</p>



<p>If you need more fine-grained block management, <a href="https://connekthq.com/">Darren Cooney</a>&lsquo;s <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/">Gutenberg Block Manager</a> plugin offers an admin interface for removing and recategorizing blocks. It is different from the core capabilities in that site admins can globally manage the enabled/disabled state of each block and changes will be reflected in the block inserter for all users. The plugin provides a full-screen interface for managing blocks on its own settings page outside of the editor.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Each block has a description and a toggle button for disabling it. There is enough space to include the number of instances for each block, and this seems like something useful the plugin could add in the future. Block categories are available as a quick navigation list in the sidebar and entire categories can be turned on or off with one click. </p>



<p>The latest version of the plugin adds Category Switcher support for all blocks, including core Gutenberg blocks. Changing a block&rsquo;s category will update its location in the block inserter.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>This plugin could be useful for periodically tidying up, improving the organization of&nbsp;blocks&nbsp;within the&nbsp;block&nbsp;inserter. Paring back the list of available blocks could also make it easier for website managers to have access to only the blocks that are necessary for their work. The plugin includes a filter for controlling the status of blocks across multiple WordPress environments.</p>



<p>After testing the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/">Gutenberg Block Manager</a>, my only criticism is that the plugin&rsquo;s name is the same as the core WordPress feature, making it somewhat confusing. It might be more clear to focus on its distinctions and include that in the name, such as &ldquo;Global Block Manager&rdquo; or some variation. Other than that, it functions just as advertised and is available for free in the official plugins directory.</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, 13 Mar 2021 03:14:39 +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: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:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:64:"WPTavern: 2nd Annual Atarim Web Agency Summit Kicks Off March 23";s: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=113661";s: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/2nd-annual-atarim-web-agency-summit-kicks-off-march-23?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2nd-annual-atarim-web-agency-summit-kicks-off-march-23";s: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:6118:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Atarim is launching its 2nd annual <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/">Web Agency Summit</a> in a couple of weeks. The free event will run from March 23 &ndash; 26. The goal of the event is to help agencies and freelancers in the WordPress space grow sustainable businesses.</p>



<p>Atarim is the company formerly known as WP Feedback. In February, the <a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-feedback-rebrands-to-atarim-moves-to-a-full-saas-model">business rebranded</a> because its primary product had grown beyond a mere feedback plugin into an across-the-board agency solution.</p>



<p>&ldquo;While I&rsquo;m a big fan of WordCamps and a big believer in the value that events can bring to personal growth, we found that most events in our space focus on the technical aspect of building a website,&rdquo; said Vito Peleg, Atarim&rsquo;s founder. &ldquo;We take a more business-oriented approach. From finding the first clients through building solid recurring revenue and all the way to lessons from some of the biggest agencies in the world at full scale.&rdquo;</p>



<p>The event has 36 sessions, which are broken down into four categories that focus on:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Build:</strong> Best practices for performance, SEO, accessibility, and the future of building websites.</li><li><strong>Expand:</strong> Building recurring revenue and maintaining profits.</li><li><strong>Scale:</strong> Project management, completing services, payment, and getting projects unstuck.</li><li><strong>Thrive:</strong> Hiring, community building, profitability at scale, and exit strategies.</li></ul>



<p>Peleg hopes that attendees can glean some knowledge in the sessions while saving years of trial and error.</p>



<p>&ldquo;All are delivered through our own summit platform, so attendees don&rsquo;t need to jump around between Zoom calls, YouTube Lives, and Slack channels,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We brought it all into our own interactive platform.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Atarim has made several sessions publicly available from <a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-feedback-kicks-off-free-virtual-summit-for-wordpress-professionals-on-april-27">2020&rsquo;s event</a>. For those on the fence, it should provide insight into the types of talks they can expect.</p>



<ul><li><strong>Lee Jackson</strong>: <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/mastering-content-creation-with-lee-jackson/">Mastering Content Creation and the New Work Environment</a></li><li><strong>Clifford Almeida:</strong> <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/six-figure-recurring-revenue-business-with-clifford-almeida/">Blueprint To Building a Six-Figure Recurring Revenue Business</a></li><li><strong>Alex Panagis:</strong> <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/simple-seo-strategy-with-alex-panagis/">Developing a Simple and Replicable SEO Strategy for Your Business</a></li><li><strong>Alison Rothwell:</strong> <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/profitable-wordpress-care-plans-with-alison-rothwell/">The Path To Selling Profitable WordPress Care Plans</a></li><li><strong>Kristina Romero:</strong> <a href="https://atarim.io/summit/remote-team-management-with-kristina-romero/">Remotely Managing Projects and Your Team</a></li></ul>



<p>This year, each session will be running live &mdash; last year&rsquo;s sessions were pre-recorded. This will allow attendees to be involved in real-time. There will also be a designated Q&amp;A time for each session.</p>



<p>The event is free to attend through the last week of March for anyone. However, the sessions will eventually fall behind a paywall, which helps cover costs.</p>



<p>&ldquo;We offer an All Access Pass for those that want to watch the replays for $97, which is the investment for those that get it before the event,&rdquo; said Peleg. &ldquo;This also includes 30+ sessions from last year&rsquo;s event for a total of 50+ hours of expert advice, specifically designed to help web freelancers and agencies build a solid business.&rdquo;</p>



<h2>Success and Lessons Learned From 2020</h2>



<p class="has-drop-cap">Last year&rsquo;s event kick-started as a response to the changing nature of conferences in the Covid-era. Peleg described the initiative as a way of &ldquo;licking our own wounds&rdquo; after his company had planned to attend, sponsor, and have its own retreat at WordCamp Asia in Thailand, which was <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-asia-2020-canceled-over-covid-19-concerns">canceled in 2020</a>.</p>



<p>&ldquo;This drove me into action, wanting to lift some spirits in the community,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that we would end up with the biggest event in the WordPress space and have such incredible partners that came along for the ride.&rdquo;</p>



<p>Last year&rsquo;s event had 5,725 attendees from 126 countries. In total, they watched 53,945 hours of videos. They also won 1,000s of prizes at sponsor booths that included iPads, board games, and more.</p>



<p>&ldquo;This was way more than what we expected, and the summit platform even broke on the first day when we were getting more than 240,000 requests to the server in an hour,&rdquo; said Peleg. &ldquo;Luckily, there isn&rsquo;t a better community for something like this to happen. Very quickly, some of the sponsors joined forces with some of the speakers and our team and got us back on the air for a full week of action. While they were working to get this sorted, I was mostly pacing back and forth in my office like a headless chicken, but this year we&rsquo;ve come prepared, with load balancers, auto-scaling processes, and a much leaner platform to sustain the scale.&rdquo;</p>



<p>There are no plans to switch to a physical Web Agency Summit in the coming years. For now, the virtual model is working.</p>



<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very much looking forward to the return of WordCamps as physical events when [Covid-19] blows over, but I believe that virtual events are here to stay, so for the foreseeable future, once a year, we&rsquo;ll bring back our summit as a celebration of the business side of the WordPress industry.&rdquo;</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, 12 Mar 2021 17:16:36 +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:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 1) – WordPress 5.7 &amp; Plugin Rank";s: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=81617";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-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:3013:"<h2 id="h-learn-what-s-new-in-wordpress-5-7-this-week">Learn what's new in WordPress 5.7 this week <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f195.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></h2>



<p>With this episode of Post Status Excerpt — the first of many to come — David Bisset and Cory Miller kick off the new show with a quick chat about the latest WordPress release (5.7 &#8220;Esperanza&#8221;) — what it addresses, and maybe a pet peeve or two about the new editor. </p>



<p><strong>Also covered:</strong> PluginRank.com and the way it might be useful for WordPress entrepreneurs. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f50c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<p>Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/26a1.png" alt="⚡" class="wp-smiley" /></p>







<h3 id="h-mentioned-in-the-show"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f517.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Mentioned in the show</h3>



<ul><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia">David Bisset (Twitter)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/corymiller303">Cory Miller (Twitter)</a></li><li><a href="https://poststatus.com/footnotes/wordpress-5-7-was-released-on-schedule/">Some 5.7 release highlights</a></li><li><a href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2020/">WordPress 5.7 Field Guide</a></li><li><a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/news/whats-coming-in-wordpress-5-7-features-and-screenshots/">WPBeginner Guide To WordPress 5.7</a></li><li><a href="http://pluginrank.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">PluginRank.com</a></li></ul>



<h3>Sponsor: <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/hub-dashboard?utm_source=events_sponsor_page&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prd_awa_partners_part_poststatus_2021_001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">GoDaddy Pro</a></h3>



<p>Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/hub-dashboard?utm_source=events_sponsor_page&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prd_awa_partners_part_poststatus_2021_001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">GoDaddy Pro</a>. 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 happy clients. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.1/72x72/1f64c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> </p>



<p><a href="https://www.godaddy.com/pro/hub-dashboard?utm_source=events_sponsor_page&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prd_awa_partners_part_poststatus_2021_001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener sponsored nofollow">GoDaddy Pro is free</a> — and designed to make your life better. Try it today, for free.</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, 12 Mar 2021 16:45:24 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"David Bisset";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"WPTavern: Publish Text, Image, and Gallery Snippets With the Shortnotes WordPress Plugin";s: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=113624";s: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:217:"https://wptavern.com/publish-text-image-and-gallery-snippets-with-the-shortnotes-wordpress-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=publish-text-image-and-gallery-snippets-with-the-shortnotes-wordpress-plugin";s: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:4448:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Yesterday, Happy Prime owner and engineer Jeremy Felt released <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/shortnotes/">Shortnotes</a>, a plugin for writing notes from the WordPress editor. The intention is for users to create short pieces of content, such as that found on Twitter, Instagram, and similar social networks. However, it does not come with a front-end posting interface, at least not in version 1.0.</p>



<p>The plugin works just like the post and page editor. It should be straightforward for most users.</p>



<p>While the Shortnotes plugin is relatively bare-bones for now, it serves as a foundation of something that could be more. Part of what makes social networks appealing is the ease of publishing quick content. Publishing notes through the plugin requires visiting the WordPress admin, clicking &ldquo;Add New,&rdquo; writing the content, publishing, and clicking a new link to view it on the front end. A quick-publishing interface either through a Dashboard widget or a front-end form would be a useful addition.</p>



<img />Note post type in the block editor.



<p>Some new concepts that not all users may be familiar with are the &ldquo;Reply to URL&rdquo; and &ldquo;Reply to name&rdquo; fields. These are semantic fields for creating a note in reply to another post or person on the web. The plugin will automatically output this reply link on the front end.</p>



<p>The plugin integrates with the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/webmention/">Webmention plugin</a>. A Webmention is a standardized protocol for mentions and conversations across the web. The goal is a decentralized social &ldquo;network&rdquo; of sorts where everyone owns and controls their content. It is an alternative to what <a href="https://indieweb.org/">IndieWeb</a> calls the &ldquo;corporate&rdquo; web in which large tech companies have control.</p>



<p>When entering a Reply to URL, Shortnotes will automatically send that URL through the Webmentions plugin system. It will also parse URLs in the post content as webmentions if they exist.</p>



<p>Users may also notice that the note title field is <em>missing</em>. This is intentional. The plugin automatically generates titles. They are needed for the <code>&lt;title&gt;</code> tag, which tools like search engines use.</p>



<p>The idea is for titles to not appear as part of the theme layout. Because most themes are not coded to check for post-type support before displaying them, there is a high chance that a user&rsquo;s theme will output the auto-generated title on the front end. For now, that means editing a bit of theme code for those who do not want them to appear. Felt has an <a href="https://github.com/jeremyfelt/writemore/blob/0b344cc9613b1ed011cba13cb3c09376def596fc/template-parts/content/content-single.php#L16-L36">example of how he modified this</a> for his site&rsquo;s custom Twenty Twenty-One child theme. In the long run, as more themes begin supporting the upcoming site editor, users will be able to make this customization directly in the WordPress admin.</p>



<p>With a few tweaks like removing the title and some minor CSS adjustments, I was able to create a clean Notes archive page using the Genesis Block theme:</p>



<img />Modified notes archive.



<p>One of my interests in checking this project out was diving into a real-world example of a plugin that limited which blocks could be used with the editor. The notes post type only allows the Paragraph, Image, and Gallery blocks. Again, the idea is to replicate the feel of what you can do on social networks. Overall, this feature worked as it should, limiting the notes to a subset of blocks.</p>



<p>However, I ran across a bug with the block editor. All block patterns, regardless of what blocks they contained, appeared in the inserter. Clicking on one containing a disallowed block would not insert it into a post. However, the editor did add a pop-up note that it had. There is a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/23275">GitHub issue for this bug</a> that has seen little movement since it was opened in June 2020.</p>



<p>Felt created a plugin to solve this called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/unregister-broken-patterns/">Unregister Broken Patterns</a>. It removes any patterns that contain blocks that a post type does not support. At best, it is a temporary measure and needs to be addressed in WordPress.</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, 11 Mar 2021 22:04:40 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"WPTavern: New Full Site Editing Testing Challenge: Create a Custom 404 Page";s: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=113522";s: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:193:"https://wptavern.com/new-full-site-editing-testing-challenge-create-a-custom-404-page?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-full-site-editing-testing-challenge-create-a-custom-404-page";s: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:7250:"<p>The Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach program has launched its <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/">third testing call</a>, continuing the effort to engage users in a structured testing flow focused on specific practical tasks. Previous rounds had testers <a href="https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-round-2-building-a-custom-homepage-with-gutenbergs-site-editor">building a custom homepage</a> and exploring the distinction between editing modes (template vs page/post).</p>



<p>The challenge in round #3 is to create a fun, custom 404 page. This page is often an opportunity for brands and individuals to inject a little humor and creativity into their websites, transforming a potentially negative experience into a path back to working links. In the past, site owners not comfortable with code had to rely on plugins in order to design their 404 pages. The new FSE capabilities will open a whole new world of customization. </p>



<p>Testers who want to jump in on this challenge will need to set up a testing environment that uses WordPress 5.7, the&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tt1-blocks/">TT1 Blocks Theme</a>, and Gutenberg&nbsp;10.1.1 (<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/releases/tag/v10.1.1">latest version</a>). Nothing special is required so it&rsquo;s easy to jump in and start testing right away.</p>



<p>Anne McCarthy, who is spearheading the FSE Outreach program, has published a detailed testing flow that provides a guided exploration of the 404 template and simple tasks like adding navigation and other blocks. </p>



<p>This challenge seemed like a good place to dip my toe into FSE testing and check out the progress the team has made in the past few months. Here is what I set out to do: add a funny gif, a search form, and a button to get back home. </p>



<p>One of the first steps is to open the&nbsp;<a href="https://cldup.com/UzP6gqLQYP.png">Navigation Toggle</a>&nbsp;and head to Templates &gt; 404. The &ldquo;Navigation Toggle&rdquo; refers to the WordPress icon in the top left corner of the page, but as a new user I would expect that to take me back to the dashboard. The naming doesn&rsquo;t seem clear and I had to look up what was meant by Navigation Toggle. </p>



<p>Following the instructions, I selected the Header template part and removed it from the 404 page, but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s obvious to users that it&rsquo;s possible to delete the entire template part in one go. Without the instructions, I probably would have started deleting all the blocks within the header template part before trying to figure out how to remove the entire thing.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>The testing flow asks users to insert a Template Part Block, select the &ldquo;New Template Part&rdquo; option, and add a custom title like &ldquo;404 Header.&rdquo; While this feature technically works, it seems like power user knowledge and I don&rsquo;t see less technical site owners having any idea that this is possible or understanding its purpose without reading tutorials. </p>



<p>One aspect of it that could be improved is that new Template Parts don&rsquo;t save until you click &ldquo;Update Design.&rdquo; If you move away from the block and continue other parts of the design, it appears that it hasn&rsquo;t saved and you may be tempted to create it again, as I was. Clicking &ldquo;Update Design&rdquo; will show you all the Template Parts you have created and requires confirmation to save them. This can get confusing if you don&rsquo;t make a point to stop and save periodically.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Once the design is saved, there is no confirmation but the button is no longer operable. The interface could communicate this better. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>I didn&rsquo;t encounter anything that was broken, though several aspects of it could be significantly improved. Everything outlined in the testing flow seems to work as it should, if users can ever find it. It is going to be a real challenge to make the interface spectacularly simple enough for ordinary users to feel comfortable knowing when and how to create their own template parts.</p>



<p>Adding more blocks was easy enough when I customized the 404 page content. I skipped the part of the testing script that involved creating a menu. </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<a href="https://cloudup.com/cZ2pTjzGoU4"><img src="https://cldup.com/fSlprFinO2.gif" alt="404 preview" width="1072" height="627" /></a>
</div>



<p>Unfortunately, the preview looked nothing like the display on the frontend, but I assume that is still in progress. After trying multiple sources, I found that embeds didn&rsquo;t work and some of the block styles were off. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>The testing flow for this challenge focused primarily on creating content within the new Template Part. That aspect of the test seemed to work, but there are a few things that could be significantly improved. The last part of the challenge is to answer the following questions: </p>



<ul><li><strong>Did the experience crash at any point?</strong>  <em>No</em></li><li><strong>Did the saving experience work properly?</strong>&nbsp;<em>Yes but it was confusing without any confirmation.</em></li><li><strong>Did the saving experience make sense when making changes to the Template Part vs the general content?</strong>&nbsp;<em>It did after taking some time to explore it, but it&rsquo;s not a concept that would be immediately evident to beginners.</em></li><li><strong>What did you find particularly confusing or frustrating about the experience?</strong> <em>Saving template parts was confusing, and the previews are much better than what you get on the frontend.</em></li><li><strong>What did you especially enjoy or appreciate about the experience?</strong>&nbsp;<em>I appreciated the ability to edit templates and template parts without jumping into code.</em></li><li><strong>Did you find that what you created in the Site Editor matched what you saw when you viewed your 404 page?</strong>&nbsp;<em>No, it was far from similar to the preview.</em></li><li><strong>Did it work using Keyboard only?</strong> <em>No</em></li><li><strong>Did it work using a screen reader?</strong> <em>Did not test</em></li></ul>



<p>My expectation when I began testing the 404 page design editing experience was that it would be a simple and enjoyable customization process with a few bugs. It ended up frustrating in the end because I could not trust the previews at all. </p>



<p>Is WordPress close to having an MVP of full site editing ready for 5.8? All the bones are in place. It feels like a rough prototype with enough momentum to reach MVP status in a few months. Editing and saving template parts works but the current interface design falls squarely within the realm of power users.</p>



<p>If you want to join this challenge, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/03/09/fse-program-testing-call-3-create-a-fun-custom-404-page/">follow the testing flow</a> and post your feedback by March 23, 2021.</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, 11 Mar 2021 16:14:23 +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: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:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"WPTavern: A Throwback To the Past: Introducing the Blogroll Block WordPress Plugin";s: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=113555";s: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/a-throwback-to-the-past-introducing-the-blogroll-block-wordpress-plugin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-throwback-to-the-past-introducing-the-blogroll-block-wordpress-plugin";s: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:4838:"<p class="has-drop-cap">It was 2003. I was just getting my first taste of blogging and similar experiments on the world wide web. Seemingly every blog I toured showcased a long list of the owner&rsquo;s friends. These were all the other cool kids jumping onto this blogging bandwagon &mdash; the blogroll was almost a status symbol. You had a sense of belonging with your online clique.</p>



<p>Let&rsquo;s face it. Many of the people blogging in that era were loners, geeks, nerds, artists, and people who generally did not feel they fit into groups of &ldquo;normal&rdquo; people. Perhaps that is overly stereotypical, but that was the culture I found exploring this new world. It was a breakthrough for me as a person. I could let my <em>geek flag fly</em> in this new group of non-normal-but-so-much-more-interesting people than those I grew up with from my small hometown. Blogs were a home away from home for those who felt like outsiders.</p>



<p>I could share that I cared more about comic books than football on my little corner of the web. I could link to like-minded people in my blogroll. And they would link back to me.</p>



<p>It has been eight years since the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21307">death of the link manager</a> in WordPress. The underlying code is still there, only shown for those with existing links or the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/link-manager/">Link Manager plugin</a> installed.</p>



<p>It was the end of an era. Social media had taken over much of that camaraderie from my early venture into the blogging world, replacing it with a much more toxic version. There are groups and pockets within the social spheres that replicate that feeling, but it is all on a third-party server. The people no longer control their content or their content&rsquo;s fate. Our likes and shares and retweets are lost in the endless void of memes, parodies, and libelous hot-takes. We no longer curate our links, cutting out the cruft to make room for the things representing who we are in the moment.</p>



<p>One of the early highlights of my development career was building an image gallery using the WordPress links system. I was able to showcase all of my must-read WordPress blogs on one page.</p>



<img />Link manager used to create image gallery.



<p>I also used the link manager as a menu-management interface for my theme users long before WordPress adopted its nav menu system. Themes at the time were still using a page-listing function that often required end-users to edit code to manage.</p>



<p>Not only was the blogroll a vital aspect of my introduction to blogging, but it was also equally as crucial to my evolution as a developer. WordPress&rsquo;s built-in link manager allowed me to step outside the box and innovate.</p>



<p>Maybe I am a bit nostalgic for blogrolls adorning every blog&rsquo;s sidebar. There was a bit of a trust system built into it. If I liked your blog, there was a good chance that I would find something interesting in the links that you decided to share.</p>



<p>Sure, there are other ways to achieve the same result today. However, the blogroll was a neon-sign in pitch black that shouted, &ldquo;Hey, check out these cools things!&rdquo;</p>



<p>That is why I am giddy any time I see something that takes me down the memory lane of nearly two decades ago. It reminds me of how far we have come and how the web has changed over the years. And how much I wish things would sometimes stay the same.</p>



<p>Michael Beckwith released the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/blogroll-block/">Blogroll Block</a> plugin two weeks ago. While I do not see a blogrolling revolution any time soon, it is nice to see a block-editor option for those of us who are still clinging to our links.</p>



<p>Blogroll Block requires the Link Manager plugin, which still has 60,000 active installs despite no updates since it was first dropped into the WordPress plugin directory. <em>Maybe there is hope for a comeback.</em></p>



<p>The block is straightforward. It replicates most of the options for the <code>wp_list_bookmarks()</code> function, which outputs the links. The downside to the plugin is there is no live preview in the editor. It currently outputs a box with a link to the developer reference. I am hoping this is a stopgap measure between version 1.0 and the next iteration.</p>



<img />Editor view of the Blogroll Block.



<p>I would also like to see the option to include link images in a grid. That way, I could recreate my &ldquo;bookmarks gallery&rdquo; with the block editor. That would be a fun afternoon project.</p>



<p>If we had a blogroll on the Tavern, I like to think that we would link to Beckwith&rsquo;s blog. <a href="https://trexthepirate.com/wp/">We are on his</a>. It would only be fair.</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, 10 Mar 2021 23:45:14 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:162:"HeroPress: How WordPress Made Space For Me As A Kid Who Grew Up With MS – Come WordPress Mi Ha Accolta Quando Ero Una Bambina Crescendo Con La Sclerosi Multipla";s: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:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=3492";s: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:194:"https://heropress.com/essays/how-wordpress-made-space-for-me-as-a-kid-who-grew-up-with-ms/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-wordpress-made-space-for-me-as-a-kid-who-grew-up-with-ms";s: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:12228:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/030821-min.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: Healthy or not, developer or not, blogger or not - WordPress belong to you too. Italian: Spero che ricorderà a chiunque legga questo articolo che WordPress è per tutti. Sano o no, sviluppatore o no, blogger o no, WordPress appartiene anche a te." /><p><a href="https://heropress.com/feed/#italian">Questo saggio è disponibile anche in italiano.</a></p>
<p>I was first introduced to WordPress when I was 13 years old. My parents had the idea to give me my very own WordPress website. I was able to use, play, test, and try whatever I wanted with it.</p>
<h3>My First Encounter With WordPress</h3>
<p>While the technical aspects of my new WordPress website intrigued me, I was more interested in the space it made for me to write. All throughout my childhood I had struggled with chronic pain, fatigue, and other unexplained symptoms. Having a private world I could call my own, I was able to write my story.</p>
<p>And there is something truly amazing about having a place to tell your story.</p>
<p>When doctors, nurses, specialists, and the best hospitals I could go to struggled to find answers for me and my parents, I felt like my life and world were out of control. But logging onto my little website and typing away on the computer keys gave me a sense of control. I couldn’t always do things that other kids had the energy to do. But I could get lost in writing for hours. I couldn’t control my life story, but I could write about it.</p>
<p>It felt like writing letters to my future self, “Look at what you went through, look how strong you were.” And even now, when I go on, I feel like I’m writing letters to my past self, “Look at you, look how you made it.”</p>
<h3>WordPress In The Real World</h3>
<p>I swear I thought that when I grew up, that I’d be healthy. I thought that “unhealthiness” was a part of being a kid. Something as terrible as having a bedtime, or having to eat carrots.</p>
<p>And like most kids, I couldn’t wait to be a grown up so that I could stay up as late as I wanted, never eat carrots again, and— be healthy.</p>
<p>But growing up didn’t change that. In fact, my condition grew slowly worse as years went by. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a decade later at 18 years old.</p>
<p>I realized that I couldn’t handle a 9-5 work schedule, I couldn’t drive to a job on some days (shout-out to my mom for driving me) and I knew deep down that I would need to find another way to work.</p>
<p>I began writing music and book reviews online. I wrote blog posts. They were getting published and I was getting paid too. WordPress felt familiar, typing on the computer keys felt comfortable, and sharing my words with the world felt surreal.</p>
<p>I think I believed WordPress was mine somehow. I was learning that WordPress is something that belongs to everyone in some way. And I loved it.</p>
<h3>My WordPress Job at Valet</h3>
<p>The thing I love about WordPress is that it’s not just for developers or bloggers or SEO experts. I began to meet more people in the community and was delighted to find people like me, who didn’t know the technical stuff, but were a part of WordPress.</p>
<p>There were social media managers, there were designers, there was a place for everyone. And the community felt as important as the rest of everything that makes WordPress what it is. It felt like it was about people and relationships as well as codes and databases.</p>
<p>I was hired at Valet in 2020 thanks to my relationships with people, in this case, my very own dad.</p>
<p>I like being a part of a WordPress company, and I love that I contribute to a team that helps people with their websites. I understand the importance of having a space that’s yours. Whether it’s a business or personal site, having a website gives you the power of telling your own story.</p>
<p>I didn’t have to work 9-5 jobs, or have my mom drive me to work, I didn’t have to worry about days when I needed to just stay in sweats. I have a 100% remote job which I can do despite the plot twists in my story, thanks to WordPress and the people in it.</p>
<h3>Welcomed Into The WordPress Community</h3>
<p><a href="https://heropress.com/essays/you-make-the-difference/">Kimberly Lipari</a> was the first person to repeatedly tell me that I was really indeed a part of the WordPress community. It felt unreal. I wasn’t a dev, I don’t know how to code, and yet I got to be a part of it all? I felt like I was a fake. But she continues to remind me that I’m real, I get to be here, I get to stay, I have a place.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/i-found-my-tribe/">Michelle Frechette</a> told me I could contribute to <a href="https://www.bigorangeheart.org/">Big Orange Heart</a>, I was honored. I was typing my words, pieces of my story, and sharing them with a community of people.</p>
<p>And when Topher contacted me to write my WordPress Story for HeroPress I could only say yes.</p>
<p>I could go on and on, this community is not perfect, but everyone here is constantly working to be better and do better.</p>
<h3>My WordPress Story</h3>
<p>I’m proud and grateful to be sharing my story today.</p>
<p>I hope that maybe it can be a letter to anyone out there thinking, “I won’t make it.”</p>
<p>I hope that it will remind anyone reading this that WordPress is a space for everyone. Healthy or not, developer or not, blogger or not— WordPress belongs to you too.</p>
<p>I hope most of all that my story can somehow remind you that your story is important.</p>
<hr />
<h1 id="italian">Come WordPress Mi Ha Accolta Quando Ero Una Bambina Crescendo Con La Sclerosi Multipla</h1>
<p>Sono stata introdotta a WordPress per la prima volta quando avevo 13 anni. I miei genitori hanno avuto l&#8217;idea di darmi un sito WordPress personale, tutto mio. Cosi potevo usarlo, provare e riprovare, o fare quello che volevo. Nessuno di noi sapeva l’importanza che WordPress avrebbe nel mio futuro.</p>
<h3>Il mio primo incontro con WordPress</h3>
<p>Mentre gli aspetti tecnici del mio nuovo sito Web WordPress mi hanno incuriosita, ero più interessata nel fatto che ha creato uno spazio per scrivere.</p>
<p>Per tutta la mia infanzia soffrivo con dolore cronico, stanchezza e altri sintomi inspiegabili. Avere quel mondo privato che era tutto mio, avevo la possibilità di scrivere la mia storia. E c&#8217;è qualcosa di veramente potente nell&#8217;avere un posto dove raccontare la tua storia.</p>
<p>Quando i medici ed infermieri, nei migliori ospedali facevano fatica a trovare risposte per me e per i miei genitori, mi sentivo come se la mia vita e il mio mondo fossero fuori controllo. Ma l&#8217;accesso al mio piccolo sito web e la digitazione sui tasti del computer mi dava semrpre un senso di controllo. Non riuscivo a fare tante cose che gli altri ragazzi riuscivano a fare. Ma potevo perdermi nella scrittura per ore ed ore. Non potevo controllare la storia della mia vita, ma la potevo scrivere.</p>
<p>Era come scrivere lettere al mio sé futuro, &#8220;Guarda cos’hai passato, guarda quanto eri forte&#8221;. E anche ora, quando torno a scrivere lì, mi sento come se stessi scrivendo lettere alla persona che ero nel passato, &#8220;Guardati, guarda come ce l&#8217;hai fatta&#8221;.</p>
<h3>WordPress nel mondo reale</h3>
<p>Giuro che pensavo che una volta cresciuta, sarei stata in buona salute. Ho pensato che la &#8220;malasanità&#8221; fosse una parte dell&#8217;essere una bambina. Qualcosa di fastidioso come andare a dormire ad una certa ora, o dover mangiare le carote. E come la maggior parte dei bambini, non vedevo l&#8217;ora di crescere per poter stare sveglia fino a tardi, non mangiare mai più le carote e poi— essere sana.</p>
<p>Ma crescere non ha cambiato niente. In effetti, la mia salute continuava a peggiorare lentamente con il passare degli anni. Mi è stata finalmente diagnosticata la sclerosi multipla, dieci anni dopo, quando avevo 18 anni.</p>
<p>Mi sono resa conto che non potevo gestire un orario di lavoro a tempo pieno, non riuscivo nemmeno a guidare certi giorni (ringrazio mia mamma per avermi accompagnata tantissime volte al lavoro), e sapevo in fondo che avrei dovuto trovare un altro modo per lavorare.</p>
<p>Ho iniziato a scrivere recensioni di libri e musica online. Ho scritto vari post per diversi blog. A volte venivo anche pagata. WordPress per me era familiare, digitare sui tasti del computer era comodo, e condividere le mie parole con il mondo era surreale. Penso che a quel tempo credevo che WordPress fosse solo mio in un certo senso. Ma stavo imparando che WordPress è qualcosa che in un modo o l’altro appartiene a tutti. E adoravo questo fatto.</p>
<h3>Il mio lavoro WordPress presso Valet</h3>
<p>La cosa che amo di WordPress è che non è solo per sviluppatori del web, blogger o esperti sul SEO. Ho iniziato a conoscere sempre più persone nella comunità, e sono stata felice di trovare persone come me, che non conoscevano le cose tecniche, ma facevano comunque parte di WordPress.</p>
<p>C&#8217;erano i social media manager, e anche designer, c&#8217;era un posto per tutti. E la comunità veniva apprezzata tanto quanto il resto di tutto ciò che rende WordPress quello che è. Erano importanti le persone e le relazioni, proprio come erano importanti i codici ed i database.</p>
<p>Sono stata assunta da Valet nel 2020 grazie ai miei rapporti con le persone, in questo caso, mio ​​padre. Mi piace far parte di un&#8217;azienda WordPress e mi piace contribuire ad un team che aiuta le persone con i loro siti web. Capisco l&#8217;importanza di avere uno spazio che è tutto tuo. Che si tratti di un sito aziendale o personale, avere un sito web ti dà il potere di raccontare la tua storia.</p>
<p>Non dovevo lavorare a tempo pieno, o farmi accompagnare da mia madre al lavoro, non dovevo preoccuparmi dei giorni in cui riuscivo solo a stare in pigiama a letto. Ho un lavoro remoto al 100% che posso fare nonostante i colpi di scena nella mia storia.</p>
<h3>Il Benvenuto nella comunità di WordPress</h3>
<p><a href="https://heropress.com/essays/you-make-the-difference/">Kimberly Lipari</a> è stata la prima persona a dirmi piu volte che facevo davvero parte della comunità di WordPress. Sembrava irreale. Non ero uno sviluppatore web, non so costruire un sito, eppure posso farne parte? Mi sentivo come se fossi un’intrusa nella comunità. Ma lei continua a ricordarmi che non sono un’intrusa, posso rimanere qui, ho un posto e uno spazio tutto mio qui.</p>
<p>Quando <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/i-found-my-tribe/">Michelle Frechette</a> mi ha detto che potevo contribuire a <a href="https://www.bigorangeheart.org/">Big Orange Heart</a>, ero così contenta e sorpresa. Posso scrivevo le mie parole, pezzi della mia storia, e li posso condividere con una comunità di persone carissime.</p>
<p>E quando Topher mi ha contattato per scrivere la mia storia di WordPress per HeroPress, potevo solo dire di sì.</p>
<p>Potrei andare avanti all&#8217;infinito, questa comunità non è perfetta, ma tutti qui lavorano costantemente per diventare sempre migliori.</p>
<h3>La mia storia di WordPress</h3>
<p>Sono grata di condividere la mia storia con voi oggi.</p>
<p>Spero che forse possa essere una lettera a chiunque pensa come pensavo io, &#8220;Non ce la farò&#8221;.</p>
<p>Spero che ricorderà a chiunque legga questo articolo che WordPress è per tutti. Sano o no, sviluppatore o no, blogger o no, WordPress appartiene anche a te.</p>
<p>Spero soprattutto che la mia storia possa in qualche modo possa ricordare a tutti che ognuno ha una storia, ed ogni storia ha importanza e valore infinita.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/how-wordpress-made-space-for-me-as-a-kid-who-grew-up-with-ms/">How WordPress Made Space For Me As A Kid Who Grew Up With MS &#8211; Come WordPress Mi Ha Accolta Quando Ero Una Bambina Crescendo Con La Sclerosi Multipla</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 10 Mar 2021 09:05:00 +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:9:"Allie Dye";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:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: WordPress.com and Jetpack Launch Story Block for Mobile Apps";s: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=113427";s: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:181:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-and-jetpack-adds-story-block-for-mobile-apps?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-com-and-jetpack-adds-story-block-for-mobile-apps";s: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:5217:"<p class="has-drop-cap">Automattic-owned WordPress.com <a href="https://wordpress.com/blog/2021/03/08/introducing-wordpress-stories-a-new-way-to-engage-your-audience/">launched its new Story-publishing feature</a> today. Currently, only users with the WordPress for Android or iOS apps can add stories. Self-hosted users with Jetpack-connected sites can publish via the mobile apps too.</p>



<p>The development team previewed the Story feature in January, <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-for-android-previews-new-story-posts-feature-now-in-public-beta">launching a public beta</a> on the Android app.</p>



<p>Stories are essentially media and text slideshows. They have become popular on the web via sites like Instagram and Facebook. Solutions for Stories already exist in the WordPress space, such as <a href="https://wptavern.com/google-officially-releases-its-web-stories-for-wordpress-plugin">Google&rsquo;s Web Stories</a> and the <a href="https://wptavern.com/makestories-2-0-launches-editor-for-wordpress-rivaling-googles-official-web-stories-plugin">MakeStories</a> plugins, both of which provide a more robust experience than Automattic&rsquo;s offering at the moment.</p>



<p>However, more options and tools do not always create a better overall user experience. WordPress.com&rsquo;s Stories feature has a more streamlined process, allowing users to build Story slides without much fuss.</p>



<p>To create Stories, users must click the &ldquo;New&rdquo; icon from their site&rsquo;s home screen in the mobile app. From there, they should see an option for adding a Story post. First-time users will see a Stories welcome screen.</p>



<ul><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-site-home-1.jpg"><img /></a></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-story-start-1.jpg"><img /></a></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-story-welcome-1.jpg"><img /></a></li></ul>



<p>The user experience in terms of editing slides for a Story was straightforward. I ran into no issues adding images, text, and customizing colors.</p>



<p>Right now, users cannot do much more. They are prompted to upload media when first creating a story. Each chosen media item automatically becomes a slide &mdash; users can add more later.</p>



<p>Font customization options are limited to a handful of presets. Text can be aligned or increased in size. Users can also change the color of the text and its background. For WordPress.com users who want more, they will have to wait. For self-hosted WordPress users, they have other plugin options.</p>



<ul><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-story-slide-text-colors-1.jpg"><img /></a></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-story-slide-text-edit-1.jpg"><img /></a></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/wpcom-story-publish-1.jpg"><img /></a></li></ul>



<p>I prefer the lighter experience. The learning curve is next to nonexistent, and the team can always tack on features later. The kitchen-sink route of launching with hundreds of options is prone to more errors. It also often include features that are not needed by a majority of the user base. I will take a smaller start with focused iteration any day.</p>



<p>My first attempt at creating Story had its share of issues, introducing speedbumps in the publishing and updating process. Not all of my slides were published. Some of the text I had worked so hard on disappeared. At first, I thought I might have messed something up along the way. It was my first attempt, after all. Following repeated attempts to update, the issues persisted. I re-added the text. Whether it became a part of the published Story was hit or miss. I put new slides in. One randomly duplicated itself, and others disappeared.</p>



<p>It was an hour-long exercise in frustration to publish a basic recipe. Even now, readers cannot learn how to make my Italian-style steamed Chinese pork buns. On the positive side, I did get four likes on my incomplete post.</p>



<p>Determined not to be defeated, I attempted a second Story. Publishing went off without a hitch. For good measure, I updated the Story and added a new slide. Once again, no issues.</p>



<p>I knew the publishing experience could not be that broken after the initial ease of creating the Story slides.</p>



<p>Maybe the development team fixed a bug between my first and second attempts. Maybe something simply broke down on the technological highway. I will chalk my first attempt up to the internet gods playing a cruel trick on me.</p>



<p>The Story feature is technically a <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/tree/master/projects/plugins/jetpack/extensions/blocks/story">block included with Jetpack</a> that can only be edited in the mobile apps. The version I am waiting on is when it works via the browser-based editor. At that point, we will be able to compare it to existing plugins.</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, 09 Mar 2021 22:17:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:149:"WPTavern: WordPress 5.7 Introduces Drag-and-Drop for Blocks and Patterns, Streamlined Admin Color Palette, and One-Click Migration from HTTP to HTTPS";s: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=113299";s: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:339:"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?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-5-7-introduces-drag-and-drop-for-blocks-and-patterns-streamlined-admin-color-palette-and-one-click-migration-from-http-to-https";s: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:5269:"<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/03/esperanza/">WordPress 5.7</a> &ldquo;Esperanza&rdquo; was released today, named for Esperanza Spalding, an American jazz bassist who became an accomplished singer, songwriter, and composer in her early 20&rsquo;s. </p>



<p>Versions 9.3 &ndash; 9.9 of the Gutenberg plugin are rolled into this update, bringing hundreds of enhancements and bug fixes that make working in the block editor more efficient and enjoyable. </p>



<p>One of the highlights is the new drag-and-drop capabilities in the block inserter. Users can now drag blocks and block patterns directly into the post content area, making page building even faster. </p>







<p>Many of the user-facing editor enhancements in this release give the user more control when using existing blocks:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Full height alignment</strong>: Blocks such as the Cover block now can have an option to expand to fill the entire viewport.</li><li><strong>Buttons block</strong>: The Buttons block now supports vertical alignments, and you can set the width of a button to a preset percentage.</li><li><strong>Social Icons block</strong>: You can now change the size of the icons in the Social Icons block.</li><li><strong>Font size in more places</strong>: You can now change the font size in the List and Code blocks</li></ul>



<p>This release also improves the UI for block variations to include the icon and description for the variation in the block inspector and a new dropdown to allow for switching between variations. Reusable blocks have been updated to be saved at the same time the post is saved. Quite a few more improvements have been added in <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-10-1-enhances-reusable-blocks-updates-social-icons-spacing-options-and-normalizes-image-block-toolbar#comment-368111">version 10.1</a> of the Gutenberg plugin, which is not yet included core. If you use Reusable blocks frequently, you may want to install the plugin to take advantage of the expanded UI.</p>



<p>In addition to all the editor improvements, WordPress 5.7 introduces a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/02/23/standardization-of-wp-admin-colors-in-wordpress-5-7/">streamlined color palette for the admin</a>. It standardizes the palette to&nbsp;seven&nbsp;core&nbsp;colors and a range of <a href="https://codepen.io/ryelle/full/WNGVEjw">56 shades</a>. One of the benefits is that all the shades meet the requirements for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html">WCAG 2.0 AA recommended contrast ratio</a>&nbsp;against white or black. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img />New Admin Color Scheme</div>



<p>Theme and plugin developers who want to better match the admin color scheme can easily reference the new standardized shades to make their products more at home in the WordPress admin. WordPress&rsquo; existing core classes have also been updated with the new color palette so plugin authors can use them to work within the new standardized palette.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>One of the most exciting technical enhancements in 5.7 is a new <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-7-will-make-it-easier-to-migrate-from-http-to-https">one-click migration from HTTP to HTTPS</a>. WordPress can now detect if the user&rsquo;s hosting environment has support for HTTPS and update with the click of a button, handling mixed content rewrites where possible. This feature is available on the Site Health recommendations screen.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>WordPress 5.7 continues the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/51812">ongoing cleanup after the update to jQuery 3.5.1</a>, which will eventually result in the removal of jQuery Migrate plugin. It fixes numerous jQuery deprecations in external libraries, cleaning up many <code>JQMIGRATE</code>&nbsp;warnings. </p>



<p>Developers may also be interested in the new filter-based <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/49992">Robots API</a> included in 5.7. It enables the central management of the content of the&nbsp;<code>robots</code>&nbsp;meta tag injected into the page, and includes a setting to toggle whether search engines are allowed to display large media from the site. By default, a&nbsp;<code>max-image-preview:large</code>&nbsp;robots directive which will be injected into the&nbsp;<code>robots</code>&nbsp;meta tag based on the new setting.</p>



<p>Version 5.7 also includes native support for <a href="https://wptavern.com/native-lazy-loading-support-for-iframes-coming-to-wordpress-5-7">lazy loading iframes</a>, a follow-up to WordPress&rsquo; support for <a href="https://wptavern.com/native-lazy-loading-support-coming-to-wordpress">lazy loading for images</a> that came in 5.5. This should improve loading for pages that include embeds and other types of iframes. </p>



<p>Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/02/23/wordpress-5-7-field-guide/">WordPress 5.7 field guide</a> for technical details on everything new in this release. This update is the result of work from 481 volunteer contributors who collaborated on 250 tickets on Trac and more than 950 pull requests on GitHub.</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, 09 Mar 2021 21:02:58 +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: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:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Sat, 03 Apr 2021 09:05:17 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Sat, 03 Apr 2021 08:45:08 GMT";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 1";s:16:"content-encoding";s:4:"gzip";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20201016172007";}