A curated weekly collection featuring community-driven content, podcasts, news on WordPress developments, digital identity innovations, event recaps, and resources for developers and entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.

BobWP introduces Mark Westguard as a new host. They will launch a monthly show where Mark chats with small businesses in WordPress, sharing their stories and challenges starting January 2025.

The Idea Behind WP Campus Connect

The journey of WP Campus Connect has been nothing short of extraordinary for us. This first-of-its-kind initiative was born out of a desire to bridge the gap between students and the WordPress ecosystem and also to grow the local community. As an active member of the WordPress community, I often noticed the need to introduce fresh talent to the platform and create a space where students could learn, grow, and connect with the global WordPress community.

I shared this idea with our local community members, and we decided to design an event tailored specifically for students, providing them with hands-on exposure to WordPress and opening doors to potential career opportunities. Over the course of 23 days in October 2024, we conducted a WordPress workshop in four colleges in Ajmer, India, to bring this vision to life through engaging seminars and workshops.

What began as an experimental event has now set a foundation for nurturing the next generation of WordPress enthusiasts and contributors. In this blog post, we’ll discuss WP Campus Connect’s highlights, achievements, and incredible journey.

Event Format

When we decided to organize a WordPress event exclusively for students, the big question was: How do we gather interested students, and where? Instead of asking them to come to us, we chose to meet them where they are—on their campuses. That’s how the event got its name: WP Campus Connect. We also decided that unlike other WordPress events, where attendees had to purchase the ticket, we removed this barrier and kept it free for all. 

We decided to partner with four colleges, making it a multi-day event planned across four Saturdays in October. Though we had to adjust the schedule along the way (more on that later!), the concept remained the same.

Once our proposal was approved by the WordCamp Central, we started pitching the idea to colleges. The plan was to conduct 5-6 hour workshops in each college to introduce students to WordPress and career opportunities in web development. However, WordPress awareness in our region was low, and convincing colleges wasn’t easy. Out of six colleges we approached, four partnered with us after seeing the potential impact of the event.

Feedback from our partner colleges added another layer to our format. Most students had never heard of WordPress, so jumping straight into workshops might not have been effective. To address this, we introduced a pre-event seminar in each college. These 90-minute sessions aimed to familiarize students with WordPress, its global impact, career opportunities, and the upcoming workshops—ensuring they were motivated and prepared.

To maintain quality, we capped participation at 100 students per college, considering the infrastructure provided and our capacity to deliver a meaningful experience.

In the end, our final format became:
4 Colleges, 4 Seminars, 4 Workshops, and introducing WordPress to 400 students.

Event Planning & Execution

The Team

Once the event format was finalized and approved, it was time to turn the vision into reality. Organizing WP Campus Connect required meticulous planning, dedicated teamwork, and the support of our vibrant community. With a clear roadmap ahead, the next step was to form a team and assign responsibilities to ensure everything was executed smoothly.

We built a 10-member organizing team, with each member taking on a specific role based on their expertise. Here’s how we divided the tasks:

• Program Team: Crafted the workshop flow, deciding what to teach, how to teach it, and ensuring the sessions were engaging and impactful.
• College Coordinator: Liaised with our partner colleges to ensure we had the necessary infrastructure for the seminars and workshops, from projectors to seating arrangements.
• Design Team: Created promotional materials, session slides, certificates, and other visual assets that gave the event a polished and professional feel.
• Sponsorship Team: Focused on securing funds by reaching out to sponsors, ensuring we had the financial backing needed to organize the event seamlessly.
• Social Media and Content Team: Managed promotions across platforms, kept the community engaged, and shared regular updates about the event. They were also responsible for creating engaging content, such as announcements, blog posts, and updates, to amplify excitement and spread awareness.

Every aspect, from logistics to content creation and online engagement, was managed collaboratively, with frequent check-ins to track progress and address challenges. With each team member playing their part, we turned the concept of WP Campus Connect into a well-coordinated, impactful event.

This teamwork not only made the event possible but also strengthened the bonds within our community, showcasing the power of collaboration in achieving ambitious goals.

Student Selection: Ensuring the Right Participants

With participation capped at 100 students per college, the respective colleges were responsible for selecting attendees. To ensure a fair and effective process, all colleges followed a similar pattern.

Each pre-event seminar was conducted for a larger audience, introducing students to WordPress, its career potential, and the workshop objectives. Following the seminar, the college faculty invited students to express their interest in joining the workshop. This allowed students who were genuinely motivated and eager to learn to step forward.

Based on these expressions of interest, the final list of workshop attendees was prepared. This approach ensured that the workshops were filled with enthusiastic participants who were ready to make the most of the learning opportunity.

Event Days: Bringing WP Campus Connect to Life

The event days were the highlight of WP Campus Connect, with seminars and workshops conducted at all four partner colleges. Each session was tailored to inspire and engage students, introducing them to the power of WordPress and its vast career opportunities.

Seminars: Setting the Stage

The 90-minute seminars introduced WordPress, its global presence, and its potential as a career path. While engaging a large audience within this short timeframe was challenging, we managed to keep the sessions interactive and enjoyable, ensuring students left motivated and curious.

Workshops: Hands-On Learning

While the seminars only required two team members, the workshops were a full team effort. Each workshop was approximately 5-6 hours long and designed to provide students with hands-on experience building their first WordPress website.

The college infrastructure varied, adding a layer of complexity. At one college, a single large computer lab accommodated all participants, allowing one lead facilitator to guide the session while others assisted. In other colleges, the workshops were split across multiple rooms. To maintain consistency, we conducted an internal team session before the event to ensure every facilitator was aligned on the workshop structure and delivery.

We helped students build their first WordPress websites, set up WordPress, understand themes and plugins, manage pages and posts, and more. In this hands-on workshop, they built a website home page, set up a blog, and added a contact form to the site. 

Breaks and Activities

Workshops included a small break where we provided refreshments and set up fun activities like photo booths. These activities added a lively touch and allowed students to interact and capture memories of their day.

The Closing Moments

Each workshop concluded with a feedback session, during which we interacted with students, learned about their experiences, and encouraged them to join our Meetup group to continue their learning journey with the WordPress community. Participation certificates and swag were distributed to all attendees, leaving them with a token of their experience.

The events wrapped up with group photos, which captured the energy and excitement of the day—a perfect end to a successful event.

Challenges Faced

One major challenge was ensuring the required infrastructure at partner colleges. While students were encouraged to bring their own laptops, many relied on college computer labs. At some colleges, outdated systems and missing configurations made it difficult to install the necessary software.

To overcome this, we used InstaWP to spin up temporary WordPress sites, allowing students to work seamlessly without delays. This quick solution ensured the workshops ran smoothly and introduced students to an innovative way of using WordPress.

The Final Impact

Through WP Campus Connect, we introduced WordPress to over 370 students, sparking a newfound enthusiasm among many of them. The impact became evident at our next meetup, which saw a record-breaking attendance of over 50 participants—most of whom were new members. What stood out was their active involvement. They were not just attending but also contributing ideas for future meetups, showcasing their eagerness to engage further.

With the growing number of attendees, we recognized the need for a larger venue. One of our partner colleges stepped forward and is now a venue sponsor for our meetups, solidifying their support for the community.

Another exciting outcome was the suggestion to establish Student WP Clubs within colleges. These clubs can help sustain in-campus activities and introduce WordPress to students who missed the WP Campus Connect event. It can be a critical step toward ensuring the long-term growth and sustainability of the local WordPress community.

Looking ahead, we’re in talks with stakeholders and exploring possibilities to integrate WordPress into the college curriculum soon. This initiative has the potential to embed WordPress knowledge at an academic level, equipping students with a competitive edge by the time they graduate.

The momentum from WP Campus Connect has strengthened our local community and set a strong foundation for continued growth, innovation, and collaboration.

ClikIT has announced its acquisition of the Infinite Uploads and Big File Uploads plugins from UglyRobot, LLC, owned by Aaron Edwards, the former CTO of WPMU DEV. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Infinite Uploads is a versatile WordPress plugin offering cloud storage, video hosting, and CDN delivery to enhance media management and site performance. Big File Uploads, on the other hand, simplifies the process of uploading large media files directly to the WordPress media library without requiring FTP or SFTP.

Blake Whittle, owner of ClikIT, shared that his team had been seeking an acquisition opportunity since December 2023. Discussions with Aaron Edwards had been ongoing for several months before finalizing the deal.

About the acquisition, Blake said, ““As websites become more complex and WordPress developers continue to innovate, we aim to solve the challenges of storing large amounts of media, such as images and PDFs, while making video streaming effortless with Infinite Uploads. We’re also leveraging Big File Uploads, used by over 100,000 websites, to simplify the process of uploading large files and bypassing web host limits. Our goal is to make managing WordPress websites as seamless as possible, and these plugins move us closer to that goal.””

“Existing customers will not notice any changes in billing, their portal, support emails, or even the description on their credit card statements. Much of the Infinite Uploads infrastructure was separate from UglyRobot’s other assets, meaning we didn’t need to decouple or migrate any data. The only noticeable change will be that support responses will now come from our team—and we’re dedicated to providing support that goes above and beyond.”, Blake promised.

ClikIT plans to relaunch Infinite Uploads’ affiliate program, improve support response times, optimize CDN caching, and further integrate the plugin into the ClikIT brand.

When asked on X if he was stepping away from WordPress, Aaron Edwards responded, “Pretty much! I still have small Imajinn AI plugin. Excited to see what @BlakeWhittle7 and team do with @infiniteuploads now. It’s in good hands and has so much potential!”

Transcript

On the podcast today, we have Stephen Dumba. 

Stephen has been a high school teacher in Uganda since 2007. He specialises in WordPress, computer repair, and teaching IT skills. As the National Coordinator of the ICT Teachers’ Association of Uganda, he mentors both students and teachers in ICT.

An active WordPress community member since 2019, Stephen organises WordCamps and conducts online and in-person WordPress training across Uganda. Initiatives like Each One Teach One and 1000 WordPress Ninjas, aim to promote the use of WordPress nationwide.

Stephen regularly speaks at WordPress events, and focuses on integrating WordPress into education and community-building.

I suspect many listeners might not know about the landscape of WordPress and ICT education in Uganda. Stephen is here to correct that today.

We start off talking about the ICT curriculum in Uganda, the initiatives to equip schools with computer labs, and the surge in student interest for ICT education.

We then discuss how WordPress is beginning to see adoption in Ugandan educational circles and Meetup communities. Stephen talks about how investing in WordPress turned his business around, and the larger impact it has had on education and employment opportunities.

But, why is WordPress so embraced in Uganda? Stephen emphasises its simplicity, extensive plugin options, and community support. He also describes the vibrant WordPress community initiatives, including regular meetups and the goal to host a thousand-attendee WordPress event in the future.

Towards the end of the podcast, we discuss Stephen’s vision for building future WordPress leaders in Uganda and the significance of sponsorships and financial support to sustain and grow these initiatives.

If you’re curious about how WordPress is shaping communities and education in Uganda, and the broader implications of ICT education in different regions, this episode is for you.

Useful links

WordCamp Kampala

WordCamp Entebbe

WordPress Entebbe Meetup

Jinja WordPress Meetup

Masaka WordPress Meetup

Lira WordPress Meetup

ICT Teachers Association of Uganda

State House of Uganda website

National Curriculum Development Center

Uganda Communications Commission

Uganda Communications Universal Service Access and Fund – UCUSAF

Business Registration Services Bureau

BobWP requests year-end support for the podcast through Community Friends, offering benefits while acknowledging listener contributions.

Hosts Katie and Marcus about their highlights and strategies for 2025, focusing on plugin optimization, agency transitions, onboarding, pricing, and marketing challenges.

Your Gravatar profile is your digital identity hub. Today we’re making it even better with more free domain options and seamless Bluesky integration.

More Ways to Make Your Mark

We’re expanding our domain offerings to give you more ways to express yourself online. For a limited time, grab your free domain with any of these extensions:

Your domain isn’t just a URL — it’s your identity on the open web. Use it for your Gravatar profile, email signature, business cards, and now…your Bluesky handle.

Level Up Your Bluesky Game

Bluesky is growing in popularity, and it’s doing usernames differently. Instead of traditional @usernames, Bluesky uses domains as handles. This means your Gravatar domain can be your Bluesky identity too.

By default, new Bluesky users get a generic yourname.bsky.social domain. But to verify ownership of your account, you can use any domain you own, like yourname.link or yourname.social.

With Gravatar, we’ve made it super simple:

1. Claim your free domain on Gravatar
2. Connect your Bluesky account
3. Use your domain as your Bluesky handle

No DNS configuration needed. No technical hassles. Just a sleek, professional identity that’s truly yours.

Why This Matters

Your online identity should be in your control. With a custom domain, you’re not tied to any platform’s naming rules. You own it. You control it. You can use it anywhere.

Custom domains build trust and recognition. When people see your own domain instead of a generic link, they’re more likely to remember and engage with your content. It’s a simple way to make your online presence more professional and credible.

Get Started Now

Ready to claim your piece of the web? Head to your Gravatar dashboard and look for the claim a domain option at the top of your profile.

Remember — these domains are free for the first year, but only for a limited time. Claim yours before someone else does!

Already have a Gravatar domain? Check out our quick guide on using it with Bluesky.

A recent poll revealed that quality support is the most important factor for choosing a hosting company, far outweighing specifications and price considerations for customers.

In this episode, hosts explore WordPress 6.7's highlights, including performance enhancements, the Site Editor's progression, advancements like the Interactivity API, and future developments anticipated for 2025.

WordCamp Europe 2025 will take place in the vibrant city of Basel, Switzerland, from 5 to 7 June 2025. This will be the 13th edition of this flagship event, and the organizers are currently seeking both sponsors and speakers to make this event the best one yet.

Call for Speakers

WordCamp Europe 2025 is currently inviting speakers to share their knowledge, experiences, and innovative ideas with the WordPress community. The event will feature two full days of engaging talks and interactive workshops. There are three presentation formats available: Lightning talks (10 minutes) for concise insights, Long talks (30 minutes) for in-depth exploration of topics, and Workshops (60–90 minutes) for hands-on learning experiences.

The call for speakers is open to everyone, regardless of prior speaking experience. You can share technical expertise, an inspiring personal story, or an innovative use case for WordPress. To encourage diversity and inclusion, underrepresented speakers are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Each applicant can submit up to two proposals. The deadline to submit your application is 31 January 2025.

Call for Sponsors

Organizations looking to connect with the WordPress ecosystem can participate as sponsors. Sponsorship opportunities for WordCamp Europe 2025 range from €1,000 to €90,000, with add-on packages to suit varying levels of engagement and budgets. Sponsors can benefit from brand visibility, networking opportunities, and recognition as a vital part of the WordPress community.

All sponsors must comply with the 100% GPL requirements and pass a vetting process to ensure alignment with the community’s values. A detailed breakdown of sponsorship options is available on the event’s Sponsorship Packages page, and the Sponsors Team is ready to assist with any queries.

The 2024 edition of WordCamp Europe was a huge success, with nearly 3,000 attendees from 96 countries, 86 sponsors, and 52 speakers. For 2025, the organizers are anticipating even bigger numbers, with an estimated 3,500 to 4,500 attendees expected to join in the excitement.

DreamHost has been removed from WordPress.org’s recommended hosting page. The update was made by Samuel Wood (Otto), “Tech Ninja” for Audrey Capital, and the page now exclusively lists Pressable, Bluehost, and Hostinger as recommended hosting providers.

The removal came without any explanation, with the associated changeset message simply stating, “Hosting: rm dreamhost, per matt.” DreamHost was previously removed temporarily from the page earlier this year, on January 17, 2024, only to be reinstated later.

The Hosting page has been a point of contention within the community for years. The lack of clarity surrounding the criteria for being listed or delisted on this influential page has often sparked debates.

Last year, when SiteGround was removed from the recommended list, the WordPress community responded with demands for greater transparency. Contributors called for clear and objective guidelines to determine who qualifies for inclusion on the page.

Interestingly, the page doesnot include WordPress.com in the recommended list. 

Your online presence is more extensive than you might think. A 2023 report by Ghostery, a provider of privacy-focused software, found that the average website contains 32 tracking scripts, silently collecting data on your browsing behavior. This highlights a crucial fact: a significant portion of your digital footprint forms without your direct input.

So, despite what many people think, managing your digital footprint goes beyond obsessing over your online privacy – it’s also about protecting your reputation, future opportunities, and personal safety. For example, your online content can affect your employment and relationships; it could even make you vulnerable to cybercrime.

If you’re looking to go beyond basic management strategies, this article offers advanced techniques to take control of your online presence. We’ll explore the potential consequences of an unmanaged digital footprint and provide you with powerful tools and strategies – including Gravatar – to help you shape and protect your online identity.

Whether you’re a professional concerned about your online reputation, a privacy-conscious user, or a parent worried about your child’s digital presence, these strategies will give you the skillset to navigate the Internet with confidence.

7 important steps to manage your digital footprint

1. Assess your current digital footprint 

Start by conducting a thorough digital footprint audit. Search for your name on various search engines and take note of what information appears. Check all your social media profiles, blogs, and websites where you have an account. Pay special attention to old, inactive accounts and consider deleting or deactivating them if you don’t need them anymore. One way to find accounts you might have forgotten about is to search your email inbox for words/derivatives of words like “Verification”, “Activation”, “Login”, etc., things they send when you create a new account

Next, evaluate the content you’ve shared. Does it align with your current personal and professional goals? Look for any outdated or potentially harmful information. This process helps you identify areas for improvement.

As you review, note any discrepancies or negative information that could impact your reputation. Make a plan to update, correct, or remove such content. Remember, your digital footprint is dynamic, so we recommend making regular assessments on a monthly or quarterly routine.

2. Adjust privacy settings on social media and other online platforms

Take control of your online presence by regularly reviewing and updating privacy settings on all your social media platforms. Ensure that only necessary information is visible to the public.

Limit data sharing by disabling location services and restricting the amount of personal information you share online. Use privacy settings to control who can see your posts and personal information.

And don’t forget to utilize platform-specific tools. For example, Facebook offers a Privacy Checkup feature, while X (formerly Twitter) provides detailed Privacy and Safety settings. These tools can help you manage your privacy more effectively.

3. Be mindful of what you share online

Before hitting that ‘post’ button, pause and consider the long-term impact of sharing personal details or sensitive information online. Remember, once something is posted, it can be challenging to remove it completely.

Understanding your audience is crucial. Be aware of who can see your posts and adjust your sharing settings accordingly. You might want to use different privacy settings for different audiences – friends, public, or custom lists.

Oversharing can lead to serious consequences. It increases your risk of identity theft, unwanted solicitations, and even professional repercussions. A good rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t want it on a billboard, don’t put it online.

4. Regularly update software and applications

Ensure all your devices and applications are running the latest versions to protect against security threats. This is important because security updates prevent attacks that lead to data leaks and breaches, and it’s always recommended that you update to the latest privacy policies.

Where possible, enable automatic updates to stay protected without extra effort.

Don’t stop at updates – use security tools to bolster your defenses. Install and regularly update antivirus and anti-malware software. Firewalls and VPNs can add extra layers of security, helping to keep your online activities private.

Lastly, don’t forget about data backups. Regularly back up important data to prevent loss in case of a security breach. This practice not only protects your information but also gives you peace of mind.

5. Monitor your online presence and reputation

Stay on top of what’s being said about you online by setting up alerts. Tools like Google Alerts can notify you when your name or brand is mentioned online. This allows you to respond quickly to any mentions, whether positive or negative.

Make it a habit to periodically search for your name on search engines. This practice gives you a clear picture of what information is publicly available about you.

If you come across negative or inaccurate information, address it promptly and professionally. In some cases, you might need to contact website administrators to remove harmful content. 

6. Showcase your skills and accomplishments

Your digital footprint isn’t just about minimizing risks – it’s also an opportunity to showcase your best self. Create a professional profile on platforms like LinkedIn to highlight your skills, experience, and accomplishments.

Regularly share relevant content that showcases your expertise and interests. This could be articles you’ve written, projects you’ve completed, or industry news you find interesting. By doing so, you’re actively shaping your online presence in a positive way.

Don’t forget to engage with your network. Comment on and share posts from others in your field so you can increase your visibility and build valuable professional relationships.

7. Create a centralized online presence with Gravatar

Gravatar offers a strategic solution for creating a centralized online identity that’s more consistent with your preferred brand and, crucially, completely in your control. It’s a service that allows you to create and manage a single profile that can be used across multiple websites and platforms.

Here’s how it works: You create a profile on Gravatar, storing your information securely. When you interact with Gravatar-enabled websites, they import your data from your Gravatar profile rather than storing it themselves. This approach is highly beneficial for alleviating data privacy concerns.

To get started with Gravatar:

1. Visit Gravatar.com and sign up for an account.

2. Upload an avatar image.

3. Fill out your profile information.

4. Choose your privacy settings.

5. Add more relevant information, such as links, images, interests, and more! 

How to remove unwanted content from the internet

Prevention is the best way to go, but you can’t protect yourself from absolutely everything, and chances are there will be some content that ends up somewhere you wished it didn’t. But how do you deal with this issue if you don’t own the website? 

Let’s take a look. 

1. Contact the website owner or content creator

The most direct approach to removing unwanted content is to reach out to the website owner or content creator. When drafting your request, be polite and persuasive. Explain why the content should be removed and how it affects you personally or professionally.

Here’s a template you can use or adapt:

Subject: Request for Content Removal Dear [Website Owner/Content Creator],I hope this email finds you well. I’m writing to request the removal of [specific content] from your website, which can be found at [URL].This content [explain how it affects you, e.g., “contains outdated information about me” or “is causing harm to my professional reputation”]. I would greatly appreciate if you could remove or update this information.If you need any additional information from me, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’m happy to provide any necessary documentation to support this request.Thank you for your time and consideration. Best regards,[Your Name]

If you don’t receive a response, follow up after a week or two. Be persistent but remain courteous throughout the process.

2. Use Google’s removal tools

If the content appears in Google search results, you can request its removal using Google’s Search Removal Request. While this doesn’t remove the content from the original website, it can significantly reduce its visibility.

To use Google’s removal request form:

1. Go to Google’s Search Console Help page.

2. Click on “Start removal request.”

3. Fill out the form with the URL of the page you want removed and explain why.

4. Submit the form and wait for Google’s response.

This method is particularly effective for removing explicit images, fake pornography, or personally identifiable information. However, keep in mind that Google’s removal process has limitations, and not all requests are granted.

3. Request de-indexing from search engines

De-indexing is the process of removing a webpage from search engine results. While the content remains on the original website, it becomes much harder to find.

To request de-indexing:

1. Contact the website owner and ask them to add a “noindex” tag to the specific page.
2. If the website owner agrees, they’ll add a line of code to the page’s HTML that tells search engines not to include it in search results.

This method can be particularly effective for news websites or blogs that may be willing to de-index older articles without removing them entirely.

You can also do this to your own website by adding <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> to the <head> of the page you don’t want indexed.

4. Legal options and pre-trial claims

If the content is defamatory or violates your rights, you may need to consider legal options. Always consult with a legal professional before taking this route.

A pre-trial claim is a formal request for content removal that can be made before taking legal action. The process varies by jurisdiction but generally involves:

1. Drafting a formal letter outlining the legal basis for your claim.
2. Sending the letter to the content publisher via certified mail.
3. Providing a reasonable timeframe for response (usually 14-30 days).
4. If there’s no response, consider further legal action.

Make sure to research the specific requirements for your country and state if you’re from the US because they will be different. Just to give you a general idea, here’s an example from the state of Illinois. 

And for the people in the EU, remember that under the GDPR law, individuals have the right to request their data be deleted from institutions and websites at any time, even if they previously agreed to its presence.

5. Leverage online reputation management services

For particularly challenging cases, consider using Online Reputation Management (ORM) services. These professionals specialize in improving and protecting your online image.

Reputable ORM services can:

• Implement strategies to push negative content down in search results.
• Create and promote positive content about you.
• Monitor your online presence continuously.
• Provide expert advice on managing your digital footprint.

While these services can be effective, they often come with a significant cost. Research thoroughly and read reviews before engaging in any ORM service.

Remember, managing your online presence is an ongoing process. Regular monitoring and proactive management are key to maintaining a positive digital footprint.

Take control of your digital identity today

The consequences of neglecting your digital footprint can be severe and long-lasting. From missed job opportunities to identity theft, the risks are real and growing. But armed with the strategies we’ve discussed, you’re now equipped to take charge of your online presence.

Remember, managing your digital footprint is an ongoing process. Start today by conducting a thorough audit of your online presence. Adjust your privacy settings, be mindful of what you share, and regularly monitor your reputation online.

Don’t forget the power of a centralized profile. Gravatar offers a simple yet effective way to manage your online identity across multiple platforms and build a more controlled and cohesive online presence.

Your digital identity is yours to shape. Take control now – create your free Gravatar profile today and start managing your digital footprint more effectively.

PressConf, reviving the essence of Pressnomics, is an upcoming business-centric WordPress event from April 23-26, 2024. It focuses on networking, curated speakers, and compensating organizers, fostering community innovation.

WordCamp Asia, one of WordPress’s premier flagship events, is seeking a host city for its 2026 edition. Previous editions were held in Bangkok and Taipei, with Manila set to host in 2025.

Local WordPress communities meeting the following criteria are encouraged to apply by December 31, 2024:

• The city has an active local community that regularly organizes WordCamps, Meetups, or similar events.
• At least one WordCamp has been successfully organized in the city within the past four years.
• A committed team of at least eight active organizers is ready to collaborate and contribute.
• The city has a suitable venue that can accommodate 1,500 attendees, along with space for workshops, multiple tracks, and support functions.

The global organizing leads will review applications, and the selected host city will be announced during the closing remarks of WordCamp Asia 2025.

Organizing a flagship event is a significant undertaking, but a global team of experienced organizers from across Asia will collaborate closely with the local team for over eight months to ensure its success.

Check out the call for host cities announcement for more information.

Hi there,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spend some time offline with friends and family. And if you don’t live in the US or don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, you might still have had a quiet time, with US business owners and leaders offline.

This time of the year there is a lot of planning going on. The first in-person event of 2025 will be WordCamp Asia. The Gutenberg Times is a media partner and I will hold a workshop on how to create a demo with Playground. If you’d like to connect for a meeting in Manila, use the self-schedule app.

For now, I wish you a incredible rest of the weekend!

Yours, 💕
Birgit

Developing Gutenberg and WordPress

The Gutenberg 19.8 RC1 is available for testing. With the final release, a few experimental settings and functions will be stabilized. You’ll find many quality-of-life improvements for blocks and editors. You will learn from the release post of the final release on December 4th, 2024. Sarah Norris, JavaScript developer and core contributor will join me as my special guest on the Gutenberg changelog episode 112, and we will cover all important changes, then, too. You can use the Gutenberg Nightly via Playground to start testing.

Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners

In his latest video, INCREDIBLE WordPress layout in 250 seconds, Jamie Marsland, teaches you how to create a stunning card layout in WordPress using core blocks and the new negative margin feature.

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Rob O’Rourke, principal engineer at the enterprise agency Human Made, was Introducing the WordPress Query Loop Filters plugin. This plugin provides filter controls for the query loop block, using the interactivity API and a powerful way to bring dynamic filtering to your WordPress site. In this article and accompanying video, O’Rourke leads you on a walk-through on how to add a taxonomy filter, create a dynamic Search or add a Post Type filter.

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For your more complex table needs in the Block editor, Table Block by Tableberg might be the right plugin for you. The description reads: “From pricing tables to product tables, you can build any types of tables using Tableberg. The plugin is designed for both novices and experienced users. It offers advanced functionalities like responsive controls, alignment adjustments, and cell merging, ensuring that tables look great on all devices without the need for coding skills.”

Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks

Justin Tadlock published a Snippet on the Developer Blog on How to disable the Font Library. With a few lines of code you and remove Font library tools for the users of your theme.

 “Keeping up with Gutenberg – Index 2024” 
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. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor

Mark Howells-Mead shared in his post how to get preset aspect ratios in the WordPress Block Editor. He sets them via theme.json and then with the help of the useSettings function, he retrieves the value for a SelectControl component.

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Join Ryan Welcher and Nick Diego in the upcoming Developer Hours: Improve your workflows with WordPress development tools. They will take a deep dive into the advanced usage of tools like create-block and wp-scripts, along with a few others. Their focus will be on solving common challenges and showcasing techniques that go beyond the basics, even for developers already familiar with these tools.

This session will feature practical examples and insights to help you work more efficiently, especially when building blocks, block themes, and Editor extensions. While the discussion will cover more advanced implementations, it will remain accessible to developers of all experience levels, with plenty of resources provided. There will also be time for questions and a preview of enhancements coming in future WordPress releases.

Steve Bonisteel, technical editor at Kinsta, discusses in his recent post Advanced WordPress development: how to build your next project with wp-scripts a set of tools for WordPress development. He highlights how wp-scripts makes the build process easier with a zero-configuration setup, support for modern JavaScript, CSS processing, code quality tools, and testing utilities. This package helps agencies manage multiple WordPress projects by standardizing the environment and centralizing tool dependencies.

The article includes guidance on setting up a development environment with wp-scripts, using webpack, and utilizing features like advanced compilation, intelligent bundling, and integrated testing, along with examples for handling JSX, modern JavaScript, and linting for code quality checks.

Gutenberg Fun & Games

Aki Hamano demo’d on X that “Code is Music” and share a video on how his Piano Block can be used to interrupt your content creation flow with some music. You can also study the source code on GitHub

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Tom Rodes is Using a Gutenberg Block to run Snake. He built it in React and runs it in the Gutenberg editor. It’s a fabulous way to procrastinate on your content creation tasks. You can inspect the code on GitHub or play the game inside Playground.

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Jonathan Bossenger built a variation of Dodge game you can play on his site. It’s outside the block editor but used the Interactivity API directives, actions, and stores. The code is available on GitHub.

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Do you know other fun way to use WordPress and the block editor for a fun projects? I want to know about it. Email me pauli@gutenbergtimes.com

Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg’s master branch?
Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.

Now also available via WordPress Playground. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? Email me with your experience

This week in Playground

Save the date! Next week, Dec 6th, 2024 at 14:00 UTC, Adam Zielinski will meet with Tammie Lister and others for a Hallway Hangout to discuss Playground for agencies; how agencies and product builders could use WordPress Playground for client work and showcase their products. 

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You can create Playground configuration files called blueprints written in JSON (see docs). With the help of Blueprints you can build demos or test environments and share with clients, users or co-workers. You can also view a list of example blueprints in the Blueprint Gallery. You can access directly from the https://playground.wordpress.net/ > Blueprint Gallery.

Not everyone is comfortable writing JSON, so Ajit Bohra and his team created a Blueprint builder in the block editor. On Friday. Adam Zielinski and Dawid Urbanski met with Ajit Bohra for an informal discussion about this tool and how it can be integrated into the Playground platform. The recording is now available on YouTube.

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Two new blueprints in the Gallery: ImportStarter Content

Since WordPress 4.7, Theme builders could add Starter Content to their themes, to showcase how the theme could shine or to give users a head start on building their new site. Playground offers two methods to import Starter Content: via an option on the installTheme step or as a separate importStarterContent step. The two new examples in the Blueprint Gallery show how to use both of them.

Questions? Suggestions? Ideas?
Don’t hesitate to send them via email or
send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph.

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For questions to be answered on the Gutenberg Changelog,
send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com

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Featured Image: Wynwood Walls, Miami Florida, photo by Birgit Pauli-Haack

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BuddyPress 14.3.3 is now available. This is a maintenance release.

14.3.3 fixes a mistake made in the build process for 14.3.1 (and 14.3.2 attempted to fix, but didn’t completely fix the issue, so was never released).

14.3.1 fixed two bugs:

• WordPress 6.7 compatibility: WP 6.7 will throw notices for plugins that load their textdomain before ‘init’ (see #9247).
• BP Legacy Theme Pack: Make sure the bp_heartbeat property is included in the WP Heartbeat data object (see #9248).

For complete details, visit the 14.3.1 changelog.

You can get the latest version by clicking on the above button, downloading it from the WordPress.org plugin directory or checking it out from our Subversion repository.

Many thanks to our 14.3.3 contributors 

dreampixel, boonebgorges, emaralive & imath.

I’m not opposed to age-gating at all, I think it’s appropriate in many situations and useful, and democratic societies can decide their own rules there. But it should be handled and authenticated as low-level as possible, at the operating system layer.

See also: Australia’s Senate bans social media for kids under 16. But there are lots of other less controversial examples, like adult websites, or ordering alcohol online or through an app.

BobWP's weekly list features community insights, projects, transition discussions, security advice, multimedia accessibility tips, WordCamp updates, resource guides, and a variety of WordPress-related content to enhance user experience.

In this episode of Woo ProductChat, BobWP has a Q & A with James Kemp talking about WooCommerce. Community questions included plugin integration, product editor updates, roadmap transparency, and future plans for WooConf, emphasizing community feedback.

The highly anticipated preliminary injunction hearing in the WP Engine v. Automattic case took place yesterday at the Northern California District Court. Presiding Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín made it clear that while she was “inclined to grant some sort of injunction,” WP Engine’s proposed version was “exceedingly vague” and “not particularly narrowly tailored.”

The judge emphasized that she could not enforce WP Engine’s proposed injunction due to its lack of specificity. In the meantime, both parties have been ordered to maintain the status quo until December 2, giving them time to submit revised proposals for the injunction.

Automattic and Matt Mullenweg were represented by Anna Shaw and her team from Hogan Lovells, while WP Engine was represented by Rachel Herrick Kassabian and her team from Quinn Emanuel. 

WP Engine’s counsel asserted their client’s right to operate without the looming threat of a “nuclear war” and to remain an integral part of the WordPress community, which they have contributed to for over 15 years. They highlighted the abruptness of Automattic’s actions, pointing out the sudden issuance of a trademark license agreement on September 20—an unprecedented move after years of peaceful coexistence.

They told the court, “That’s not how trademark owners operate. That is not how you protect and enforce your mark. You don’t wait 15 years and then drop a demand for thirty two million dollars on the recipient.” 

One of the key issues discussed was Automattic’s demand for 8% of WP Engine’s gross revenue, a sum amounting to $32 million. When questioned, Matt Mullenweg allegedly admitted that this figure was based on WP Engine’s financial capacity, stating, “It’s what I thought they could pay. We did an analysis to figure out what the free cash flow was. That’s how we set that number.” WP Engine’s legal team compared this approach to setting a ransom rather than calculating a reasonable royalty.

WP Engine also claimed Automattic’s actions, including their ban from WordPress.org, have caused significant harm—loss of customers, market share, reputation, and goodwill. 

Anna Shaw, representing Automattic, countered that WP Engine still has access to WordPress software and plugins. What has been restricted, however, is their ability to use enhanced services provided by WordPress.org, such as hosting, managing, and distributing plugins via the platform. Shaw further stated that WP Engine circumvented this restriction by creating a “mirror” to restore customer functionality.

WP Engine’s Attorney Brian Mack said the mirror was only a temporary and partial workaround they had to put in place to satisfy their customers. He added that “The WordPress core software, the software that defendants make available on their website, is intimately linked with WordPress.org. There’s 1500 references in the code. They’re hard coded references that you cannot change… Every single WordPress installation relies on WordPress.org.”

He also shared about the huge security vulnerability for all of their clients and Automattic releasing the paid features of ACF pro on WordPress.org under a new URL. But Shaw accused them of wanting to avoid the costs associated with paying for or building an alternative solution.

Transcript

On the podcast today we have Steve Burge.

Steve is behind several popular WordPress plugins such as PublishPress, MetaSlider, and TaxoPress, and today, he’s here to share his journey, especially his recent ventures into the SaaS (Software as a Service) landscape with his latest project, Logtivity.

Steve is experienced in building and marketing WordPress plugins, but Logtivity is different. It’s a SaaS product aimed at offloading and managing activity logs for WordPress sites, ensuring that the site’s performance isn’t bogged down by massive data logs.

We talk about how Logtivity started, somewhat serendipitously, through discussions with a UK-based developer. Steve recounts how this partnership evolved from a side project into a full-time commitment. He emphasises the often underappreciated requirement of dedicating undivided attention to a SaaS product, highlighting the challenges and setbacks faced when juggling other responsibilities.

One of the key takeaways from Steve’s journey is the importance of identifying and pivoting to the right niche. Initially targeting large websites with massive data needs, Steve and his team discovered that agencies and maintenance services provided a more stable customer base for Logtivity. This pivot not only helped them understand their market better, but also influenced their marketing strategies and pricing models.

Speaking of pricing, Steve touches on the substantial difference between monetising plugins and SaaS products. A plugin might be a one-time or annual purchase, SaaS services often require higher, recurring monthly fees. This price shift is essential for covering the more considerable operational costs, including uptime guarantees, server maintenance, and robust data handling practices, all of which are critical for a reliable SaaS offering.

Steve also discusses the less glamorous side of SaaS development, managing uptime, server administration intricacies, and the constant need for vigilance. Unlike plugin development, where a failure might only inconvenience users until they download a fix, SaaS downtime can be catastrophic, especially for services as crucial as those monitoring site activity logs.

As someone who’s navigated this challenging, yet rewarding, path, Steve offers good advice for anyone looking to make a similar transition. 

If you’re a WordPress developer eyeing the SaaS space, or simply curious about the differences between plugin and SaaS development, this episode is for you.

Useful links

Lessons for WordPress Plugin Developers Starting a SaaS

PublishPress

MetaSlider

TaxoPress

Metorik

ManageWP

BlogVault

Laravel Vapor

DocsBot

Steve on X

Devin hosts Pooja and Anand to chat about WP Campus Connect, a successful initiative boosting Ajmer's WordPress community by targeting college students through workshops and seminars.

Marcus, a well-respected leader in the WordPress community, and host here at Do theWoo, transitions from GoDaddy to Bluehost as Sr. Manager for Agency Strategy, continuing to influence and support agencies in the industry.

WordCamp Asia 2025, in partnership with The WordPress Foundation and WordCamp Central, has announced two scholarship opportunities for the upcoming event in Manila, Philippines. These scholarships aim to support community members by covering essential expenses such as flights, accommodation, and event tickets. A team of program managers from WordCamp Central and the WordPress Global Community Team will oversee the selection process.

The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship is being extended to WordCamp Asia for the very first time. Previously, this scholarship was exclusively available for WordCamp US attendees. It is designed to support women who are active contributors to the WordPress project, have never attended WordCamp Asia, and require financial assistance to participate in the 2025 event.

The Diversity Fund Scholarship reflects WordCamp Asia’s commitment to inclusivity and accessibility. This scholarship supports active WordPress contributors who have never attended flagship WordCamps (Asia, US, or Europe) and require financial assistance. It prioritizes individuals from underrepresented demographics who are eager to use their WordCamp experience to strengthen their local WordPress communities in Asia.

Applications for both scholarships are now open and will remain so until December 6, 2024. If you meet the criteria, don’t miss the chance to apply. All applicants will be notified of their selection status by December 20, 2024.

Also mark your calendars—the third batch of tickets will drop on November 28 and 29, 2024.

In the latest chapter of the ongoing dispute between Automattic and WP Engine, a new plugin “Secure Custom Fields” (https://wordpress.org/plugins/secure-custom-fields/) has been added to the Plugin Repository by WordPress.org. This plugin has 90+ active installations and exhibits the features of ACF Pro plugin like repeater, flexible content, clone fields gallery, options pages, and ACF Blocks.

Last month, WordPress.org took over WP Engine’s ACF plugin, citing security issues, and renamed it Secure Custom Fields (https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) 

David McCan from WebTNG, has a detailed video analyzing the new plugin. He shares that the update check and license check functionality from ACF Pro has been removed. He remarked “This seems like a classic case of a null plugin which is now being hosted in the WordPress plug-in directory. So I’m wondering if this is even a legal Fork. I’m not an expert in software licensing law but my understanding is you need to preserve the original copyright notices when you fork a plugin. it’s one of the requirements.”

Prominent voices have weighed in on the controversy. Gergely Orosz of The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter tweeted, “Automattic – the creator of WordPress, a company raising $950M in VC funding – took a paid WordPress plugin built and owned by another dev and re-published it, making it free. If you have a business selling a paid WP plugin: Automattic can null it, anytime. Another new low.”

Duane Storey shared in X that ACF is now “an officially registered trademark of WP Engine.” He also said, “Sounds like what’s being put into the WordPress repository is basically a nulled version of ACF Pro without some of the copyrights.  It’s clear Matt’s no longer a champion of any of the things he once said he was.  I left a review. “

Tim Brugman, a Full-Stack Developer, pointed out, “A8c’s _new_ SCF plugin deactivates Advanced Custom Fields PRO when it is activated. An action that is not allowed by the dot org Plugin Handbook.”

Automattician Brandon Kraft, who submitted the plugin, addressed the issue on Mastodon, “The decisions on forking ACF or ACF Pro, etc., are above my paygrade, so to speak, but I didn’t refuse to work on it because I wanted to try to do it right/better.” He also shared, “I wasn’t involved in the forking the Pro code, but I just don’t see a notice. One item on my list is create a proper LICENSE.md that includes the GPL and ack past copyright…acknowledging it is built on existing work. If I missed the copyright already in the code, that’s an oversight on my part and not intentional.”

The Repository reported that a member of the WordPress Plugin Review Team, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that after Kraft submitted the ACF Pro fork, it was approved by another Automattic employee, bypassing the Plugin Review Team’s usual processes and checks.

The incident has sparked heated discussions on Reddit too. While the majority is against WordPress.org’s action, some support getting the pro features for free.

The preliminary injunction hearing for WP Engine vs Automattic is scheduled for later today. 

BuddyPress 14.3.1 is now available. This is a maintenance release.

14.3.1 fixes two bugs:

• WordPress 6.7 compatibility: WP 6.7 will throw notices for plugins that load their textdomain before ‘init’ (see #9247).
• BP Legacy Theme Pack: Make sure the bp_heartbeat property is included in the WP Heartbeat data object (see #9248).

For complete details, visit the 14.3.1 changelog.

You can get the latest version by clicking on the above button, downloading it from the WordPress.org plugin directory or checking it out from our Subversion repository.

Many thanks to our 14.3.1 contributors 

dreampixel, boonebgorges, emaralive & imath.

I guess something has changed with the Joe Rogan / Spotify deal and now all the old episodes are on YouTube again, which means the gems from the archives can now pop up. I was alerted to this conversation between Joe Rogan and John Carmack, and it’s pure gold. I know I’m five years late in watching this, but that makes it even better because it’s so prescient. Joe asks amazing, in-depth questions that reveal deep domain knowledge, and it sparks John Carmack to make observations that are quite wise. No filler. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see both Joe and John being absolutely right. This is one of my favorite podcast episodes ever.

In this episode, Birgit Pauli-Haack and Anne McCarthy discuss Gutenberg 19.6 and 19.7, Developer Hours, Playground, and Collaborative Editing

Show Notes / Transcript

• Editor: Sandy Reed
• Logo: Mark Uraine
• Production: Birgit Pauli-Haack

Show Notes

Announcements

• WordPress 6.8 Call for Volunteers
• Proposal: Major releases for 2025
• Exploring the Block Bindings API in WordPress 6.7
• December 3rd 16:00 UTC  Improve your workflows with WordPress development tools

Community Contributions

• What’s new for developers? (November 2024)
• Snippet: How to disable heading levels in the Editor by Nick Diego
• Snippet: Conditionally unregister patterns by Justin Tadlock

WordPress 6.7 and 6.7.1

• WordPress 6.7 “Rollins”
• WordPress 6.7.1 Maintenance Release
• Field guide 6.7
• WordPress 6.7 Source of Truth

Gutenberg plugin releases

• What’s new in Gutenberg 19.6? (6 Nov)
• What’s new in Gutenberg 19.7? (20 November)

What’s discussed and in the works

• Update on Phase 3: Collaboration efforts
• Real time collaboration Update (GitHub)
• First and experimental version for inline commenting
• Inline Commenting: Next iteration

Stay in Touch

Transcript

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Hello, and welcome to our 111th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. In today’s episode we’ll talk about Gutenberg 19.6, 19.7, developer hours, playground and collaborative editing. I’m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and full-time core contributor for the WordPress Open Source project sponsored by Automattic. With me today is the brilliant Anne McCarthy, product manager for WordPress and author of the Source of Truth posts that she’s keeping for almost over a year. No, two years maybe. Forgot. Yeah.

Anne McCarthy: Might be almost.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Hi, Anne.

Anne McCarthy: It’s been a long time. Yeah. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. And also I feel like it’s like a lucky, I don’t know, 1, 1, 1, 1. I’m like, I’m into that 111. That feels good.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. Yeah. I can’t believe it’s over 100 episodes, yeah.

Anne McCarthy: That’s amazing.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, it’s amazing. All the co-hosts that I had and special guests, it was really, it’s quite a trip. And I’m still excited and people are listening to it even more. And so, this is my shout-out for all the new listeners on the podcast. And if you want to, please, please leave a review, whatever you feel about the show, it definitely helps with the distributions. Anne, while 6.7 came out, you did a masterwork of Source of Truth. Can you pick up two features that you are most excited about from this release?

Anne McCarthy: Oh, yeah, that’s tough. Yeah, two features. I am very biased by the things that improve the experience and the feedback that we heard back when I was running the FSC outreach program. That’s something that I’m always thinking about. And so for me, I would pull out, zoom out. I think zooming out and being able to build with patterns, one of the big issues that we used to have back in the day was that it was hard to find the discoverability of patterns and to work with pattern’s a lot easier.

And I think the potential of zoom out, I think there’s a lot of things that we need to figure out still. But I think the potential of zoom out and the ability to zoom out and focus on the sections of your site, to get out the granular details is a huge win and something that can be built upon and used contextually right at the moment when you need it. I think that’s the part that we need to start sorting through is do we now expose this when it comes to adding a new page or adding a new template? Because I know some folks really don’t like that pop up of starter patterns.

But I’m always fascinated by how we can make the pattern experience easier and make the site building experience for folks who need it a bit more approachable and more section by section. I’m really, really excited about it. I just built a site for someone recently, a podcast I really like. And that’s one of the things I was most excited to show her is like, “Hey, if you want to add future stuff, look, you can just, boom, sections. Add this in, you can just add these patterns.” And I think it makes the user experience a lot better.

The other one I’ll mention is more technical, but something that also has been a long-standing point of feedback back. Back when I was doing developer relations, developer advocacy, the template registration API, I remember early on so many plugin authors being like, “How do we adopt block templates? How does this work? How do we register things?”

And I would send very niche GitHub links to how other folks had done it. And this registration API just eases all of that. And I’m really excited for folks to increase the adoption of using block themes and block templates and embracing a block world. And I am thrilled that that has landed in 6.7. And I hope more and more folks can take advantage of it. Those are the two very different, but I would say those are the two that make me excited.

Announcements

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, we talked about 6.7 with other hosts here before because it’s an eight to nine weeks release cycle. In between we had our episodes and we looked at that. But we are looking to the future. We have right now on the Make Core blog, we have two posts. One is the release schedule proposal by Héctor Prieto for next year and I can’t believe we are going to have a 7.0 release in 2025.

6.8 is proposed to be scheduled for April 15th, 6.9 for August 5th and 7.0 for November 11. And it’s all around the flagship word camps, around some holidays and way before Black Friday the new version is out. Even those who experienced a lot of traffic for the last two months of the year, they can do it with a new version.

Also for WordPress 6.8, the call for volunteers is out, so if you want to contribute to a release, it is definitely a certain advanced level of contributing. But what you can do, even if you don’t have experience, you can shadow people that are on the release. To maybe do that and then start working in the release squad for 6.9. Definitely try and figure that out if you want to contribute.

Otherwise, there are multiple other ways to contribute to WordPress course. We all have done it. We all did some documentation changes, we did some reports on the Gutenberg and the track tickets we tested with that. And testing has become really fun now with Playground. Yeah, it’s really interesting to see how that sped up so much. Any thoughts about that?

Playground

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, I am super… It’s so interesting when I had a call this week with some of the WordPress YouTubers, an AMA with Matías Ventura, the project architects of Gutenberg. And Playground is something I’m so fascinated by because it really does make it immediately accessible. You immediately can have your hands on it and it works well.

And Playground, one of the things I love about the Playground team, and this is something I think that’s really important when you’re using a new tech like that, they want to hear what would make your experience better, easier, if you run into a bug, all that sort of stuff. You’re getting… We report stuff all the time. I feel like that’s one of the things that I really love about these efforts right now in the WordPress project is there’s so much momentum and so much care and thought being put into those tools.

And so if you haven’t given it a try, please give it a try. If you’ve run into an issue, please, there’s a GitHub repo where you can open issues. But I’m really hoping we can get more educators and influencers using it to help bring WordPress to more people. If you haven’t been paying attention to WordPress Playground, I definitely encourage you to do so. And it’s a great way to test things early. As Birgit was saying, testing is a lot easier and more approachable thanks to a lot of the stuff that’s being done there.

I always find it a great way to, whenever I’m doing the Source of Truth, I’m spinning up WordPress Playground constantly. I think there’s some stat where I think 700,000 people have used WordPress Playground. I’m probably 50,000 of those. Because I feel like I’m using it probably on a daily basis, so if that’s helpful insight for… I truly probably use it on a daily basis. If you aren’t, it’s definitely something to add to your list of tools.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Definitely. Yeah. If you want to learn more about Playground, we are planning some Hallway Hangouts. Hallway Hangouts are informal discussions with contributors on their new features and what they’re working on to give a little bit feedback but also to show off a few things to trigger some creativity.

And there’s Ajit Bohra who is a early adopter of Gutenberg as well as a Gutenberg contributor, has built a blueprint builder. Blueprints are the configuration files for Playground. And he made this into a block editor feature and had been working on it. And so next week, February… February, how did this come in? No, it’s Friday, not February, it’s Friday, November 29th at 14:00 UTC we are in a Playground Hallway Hangout with Ajit Bohra. And he shows off what he has done, what his vision is, what the team is going to think about. Adam Zielinski who was the sole developer for a year now has the whole team behind Playground will also be there.

And the second event is with Tammie Lister and discussing how agencies can use Playground for their product, in their client work and all that. That’s December 6th, also 14:00. These are save the date for you right now. We are publishing that on the Make Blog on Playground before with all the Zoom links, but that’s just to get it out before that happens. And you know about it.

There’s also a developer hour coming up on December 17th that’s also on Playground and watch the announcement on meetup.com. It is not quite clear what the topic is about, but it’s definitely on the roster. December 17th for 16:00 UTC. And this week was a developer hangout. No, next week, I’m sorry. I’m getting my weeks mixed up. 

Anne McCarthy: So much is happening. I don’t blame you.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. December 3rd there is a 16:00 at 16:00 UTC. Ryan Welcher will talk about improving your workflows with WordPress development tools. It’s about extensions, it’s about create block, it’s about create block theme, it’s about webpack and all the different things that can make your life easier. That’s also sniffers for coding standards and all that. You will learn how to use them and how to make it easier for you to develop things.

This week what I wanted to say was the recording of the developer hours is available on Exploring the Block Bindings API from WordPress 6.7 with Justin Tadlock and Nick Diego. They just had the block bindings actually my favorite thing for 6.7 that it’s in the UI and you can connect your custom fields with the blocks and have an automatic display on the front end that’s just phenomenal and is really magic for me. But that’s what you can see in that recording.

Community Contributions and Developer Hours                                                      

All right. Now the announcements. The developer blog has some new things there since we last talked about it. Of course, the What’s New for Developers comes out every 10th of the month. And that covers a lot of things from 6.7 but also from the 19.6 release that we are going to talk about today. And we have a new post format on the developer blog called Snippet, which is a small explanation of a problem solution for one task and then the code snippet with it.

There are two snippets there right now. One is how to disable heading levels in the editor. That’s about a feature that came with 6.7 as well is different heading levels and how you can control that. When you have your editors and they are not supposed to use H1s, you can disable that from the drop-down list. And you can also say, “Okay, we don’t do H5 and we don’t do H6,” and disable that. And the snippet shows you how to do that very easily with BHP.

The other one is to conditionally unregistered patterns. That’s important for theme developers who have patterns for plugins that might not be installed yet. You don’t want to show the pattern because it runs into a problem. Now you know how to conditionally unregister those patterns and both by Justin Tadlock. All right. That’s from the developer hours to developer news. And from the upcoming events, the Hallway Hangouts and developer hours.

Anne McCarthy: I love all the formats that are happening. There’s so many learning opportunities and I really liked the new snippet approach. I saw that coming up and I think that’s a really neat way for folks to get bite-size… The tutorials are so cool. I followed some of them to learn. And the snippets I think really round it out. Kudos all around. I think it’s just awesome how much… I’ve never… In my opinion years ago, I think this is the dream. If we had to be able to see how much stuff was going on, it’s just amazing how many resources there are and ways to either watch live or watch later and learn with other people. It’s really cool.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. And we will also bring the developer hours recordings into the developer blog.

Anne McCarthy: Nice.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: That’s on my list for the last thing that I’m going to do this year is to create the custom post type and figure out how we lay it out and what additional information is going to be around the embedded videos. But yeah, it’s such a great tool. And we are all working towards the extenders who try to use the new APIs, be it interactivity API, the block bindings or even the block hooks that came out in 6.6 and 6.5. There’s always something… And especially also using block themes with the style variations. And so the developer blog is now a… It’s been around two years this month.

Anne McCarthy: Wow.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: And we have about 50 posts. And this definitely enriches it because not everybody has time to read 3,000-word tutorials when they’re looking for something. Yeah. Yeah. And if you have any ideas, dear listeners, about what should be written about, you can always come in into the core-dev-blog channel in WP Slack and the Make Slack and figure out how that is. There’s on the website there’s also how to contribute, how you go from idea to post if you want to write for it. Yeah, definitely. You can also subscribe to it so you never miss a post again with developer.wordpress.org/news/subscribe and put in your email address and you get notification.

What’s Released – WordPress 6.7 and 6.7.1                                                       

That brings us to what’s released. And we talked about WordPress 6.7. We have in the show notes for you the field guide 6.7 and also Anne McCarthy’s WordPress 6.7 Source of Truth published on the Gutenberg Times. But I mention it also because this week WordPress 6.7.1 was released and it fixed a few bugs that okay, those needed to be really done fast because there was a fatal error or the editor didn’t work right when you had uncategorized pattern browsing or there was a TypeScript error on the categories for theme patterns. 

Anne McCarthy: Was an auto-size issue with lazy loading and that was a big one that we saw. I saw a lot of reports of across many different areas. And so that will be fixed and yeah, I’m excited. I’m really kudos to everyone who worked on that. It’s a huge… It’s one thing you race to the finish line to get the big major release out and then to do another point release. It’s just really impressive and a lot of effort from a lot of folks in the community.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. And that’s just nine days after the release of 6.7, so that’s really kudos to the release leads. There was Jonathan Desrosiers and Carlos Bravo who pushed this all over the finish line with the contributors that actually fixed the bugs. But now some of them is in the upcoming Gutenberg releases we’re going to talk about.

Gutenberg 19.6

Which brings us to Gutenberg 19.6. 194 PRs with 57 contributors, eight were first timers. Kudos to them getting their badges for core contributing there as well. It has 37 enhancement, 65 bug fixes was the one that was released right before release candidate to get all the bugs in. And the rest is always on documentation, tooling, code, quality and components. Let’s dive in. What’s first on the list? 

Oh, yeah, there are two things that I want to talk about for the developers. The great block scaffolding tool has a new flag. It’s called Dash dash target dir, to allow the tool to also target where the scaffold should be placed.

There were some conventions that you had to call the command line outside the plugins in the plugins repo to get a next folder into the repo to where your blocks are created. And now you are in more control of where you can place the new block or a new series of blocks with a scaffolding tool. That was a major request from developers that that might be added.

And the other one is with wp-scripts, you can now also do a root folder argument for the plugin zip command, so you get your plugins packaged. And that’s in the right folder or from the right folder. That’s better there. I want to point that out for the developers on the show using the tools that are built into Gutenberg. Do you want to take the Block Libraries B list?

Enhancements

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, let’s run through that. I love block library updates because it’s amazing how just slowly chipping away at stuff, whenever I’m doing a Source of Truth, I always find there’s a beautiful set of things that have just big and small tools like 6.7 had shadow support for the group block, which folks really wanted. And it’s just amazing how the improvements continue to come.

We have a transformation from separator to spacer blocks. And that just allows whenever you’re using the transform menu to easily switch between things. I think that’s a great one. I think it makes a lot of sense. I actually am really… Whenever I was looking for the changelog for this, I was excited to see it. I ran into that maybe three weeks ago and so it’s like, “Oh, yeah, this is an obvious one to have.

But adding the lightbox option in the gallery block link control. I actually used this. When did I write a blog post? Three days ago? Whenever you add a gallery block before you had to individually select each image block within it to add that lightbox and the lightbox is when the image takes over the screen. And now there’s just a control at the top level. When you’re selecting the gallery block, go into the block toolbar, hit the link, and you can easily just have it applied to all the images. Which yes.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Such a relief.

Anne McCarthy: Yes, it’s a relief that it’s perfect… Yeah, it’s like, “Oh, this makes perfect sense. Why didn’t we have this before? I love when that sort of stuff comes out.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. Not everyone has just three pictures in the gallery. Some people have 20 pictures in the gallery. And then it’s really…

Anne McCarthy: And it’s funny. Yeah, I was like, “When did we add this?” Because I literally… Yeah, that’s something I cannot tell you how many times I have gone through and manually added that. Or I’ll miss one image by accident and not realize it. This just makes it so much easier for the archives. There is now border block support, which is great for block theme authors. Border support is also added to comments. Just again, more styling options.

The cover block has image resolution options now, which is just again, more control to more having commonality between every image block. And this is something I think about a lot whenever you’re working with blocks that interact with media is like, how can we make it as similar as possible When you’re working with image things? Because that is an inconsistency that it wears on you when you’re using a block and it’s similar, you’re like, “I’m just using an image. Why is it different if I’m using the cover block or the image or the gallery block?” We should have a lot of congruence there.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Totally.

Anne McCarthy: And so it’s neat to see that.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, yeah. Love it.

Anne McCarthy: And then the HTML block forces the HTML preview when you’re in view mode, which I actually need to look at this and make sure I’m going to get this right.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: The view and design view, yeah, the edit view, that changes. I think there’s a writing, write mode coming that I have to dive into because the change was edit and view and now it’s write and design. And I need to figure out what the differences are.

Anne McCarthy: Oh yeah, if you ever offline, want to talk about that, I can do a deep dive about write mode. I’ve been up in there opening a lot of issues around that.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Hallway hangout about it. 

Anne McCarthy: Yes, I think that’d be really smart mode for any folks who have blocks bundled in their plugins, something to pay attention to. And there’s a great tutorial that I think Nick Diego just did around adopting your blocks to content only that you can find the developer blog. I’m pretty sure that’s live. I saw a draft and now I’m like, I’m pretty sure I saw it live.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: It’s live. It’s live on the developer blog.

Anne McCarthy: Okay. Cool.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Oh. And I’ll share the link then in the show notes. Yeah.

Anne McCarthy: Cool.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: The next one is that we have a… Oh, your favorite feature. The zoom out note now has a keyboard shortcut to open up the editor of being available in the editor. You can zoom out per keyboard and you don’t have to look for that little icon there. And there’s an iterated zoom out shuffle into a more visual control. What does that entail?

Anne McCarthy: It’s cool. I can talk about that a little bit.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, please.

Anne McCarthy: Before whenever you were zoomed out and looking at the patterns, there was this shuffle option. And while it was nice to just quickly switch through it, it shuffles through patterns of the same category. The issue is you’re not seeing visually what’s coming next and you can’t get at a glance, “I want to switch to this.” And so it changes it from this shuffle option to this change design option. You’re also a bit clearer on what it’s doing.

And it gives you this nice little preview of, okay, change design, and then look at a list of the patterns related to this. And then you can visually select what you want to change it to rather than just a full blown shuffle, like what’s going to happen when I click this? It allows a bit more control and predictability to the experience. I was really excited to see this.

I have noticed I need to test this more as part of the fun of things when I was working on a site yesterday, that there’s a little bit of lag. Definitely keep… This is one of those areas that when we talk about zoom out is a great initial feature. I’m really excited to keep iterating to make it more useful. No, feedback is very much welcome there.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: The data views is the way how you in the site editor, you can navigate all through all the templates and all the pages and patterns. And it’s also the predecessor for the new admin design. But that has now in the templates, it hides the media field in the list view, which makes it a little bit more dense and more streamlined. Yeah. The next one is, I really love that, the style book now has a color tab where you can see all the color variations. This additional stuff, we’re going to talk about it in 19.7. But the style book is coming really to its better use now that we have all the different features like the style variations, block variations and that. Do you want to do the next one?

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. Real time collaboration, this is relating to inline commenting specifically. There was a lot of work being done around inline commenting that I think we’ll get into later. But basically comments were disabled for published posts for now. You can imagine this is basically to narrow the scope.

While we’re trying to get this feature in place to have it be ready for future release and maybe a bit beta form, there’s some just hard decisions that be made to narrow the scope so we’re not just completely exploding the scope and then something doesn’t work super well. The decision was made for post after they’ve been published to not have the ability to add comments.

And we actually got great feedback from some folks in the enterprise space who there’s a channel for real time collaboration. I posted it about online commenting. And some of the enterprise folks are hanging out there and it was great. One of them actually chimed in on the main iteration issue for what’s coming next with online commenting and mentioned, “Hey, that thing you just disabled, we actually want that.” I think that’s part of the beauty of keeping folks up to date and having that tight feedback loop.

The second that was disabled, someone was like, “Can you revert that? I actually want that.” And it’s like, “Yes, yes, yes. Eventually we will revert. This is just for now narrowing scope.” That’s what you can get from that release. But that’s part of the beauty. I wanted to mention the feedback there because I think it’s really cool that folks are paying such close attention.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah.

Anne McCarthy: Behind the scenes stuff.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: I think I was one of the people who said, “I want this back.”

Anne McCarthy: Yes. Yeah, yeah, you comment on it too. Yeah.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. But the inline commenting when you get… It’s an experiment still in Gutenberg, so you need to enable it so you can see it. But then it’s really good to have the… Because you can comment on each block and you can have replies. And it’s a great way to collaborate on things and have one editor there and have everybody else comment on a picture or on a block or on a quote or on a design. If you use the design tools and to just have it right there.

And when you open up a post, you see the comments there, you can open it up, you can even pin it to your sidebar. It’s a great feature to test out and comment on. And when you have a few minutes in the afternoon or something like that, I really enjoyed it. And to see what’s coming next in the experiments, there are a lot of experiments in Gutenberg.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. I know we need to groom that list. I’m trying to wait for the right time to do a make test post asking for feedback. If you want to wait for more curated specific, “I can look at this post and follow these instructions and click on this link and I’ll open a WordPress Playground,” you can wait for that too. Because that is something… I just am trying to wait for us to fix some of the obvious stuff before asking people for their time. That’s something I’m always mindful of is the right time to bring folks in where it’s the most impactful for bringing feedback.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: I have to tell you, I love your test instructions. Every time something comes out, it’s such a great way to explore a new feature guided. But then all of a sudden, now that you know how it works, you can create an opinion and I always have an opinion. I travel with it, but then you also can pinpoint it to a certain instruction as well. It’s a guided testing instruction. And also exploring new features. You do fantastic work with that and I’m looking forward to some of the new ones that come out.

Anne McCarthy: Thank you. Yeah, that’s helpful to hear. Because I want it to be that. I want it to be both exploration and feedback. We need to be veering people into what’s coming next so they can have that opinion that you just described. Yeah, that’s really cool to hear.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. The next one was on a backport that actually made it into 6.7. It was an improvement to get the post format in the query loop. And that is something that if your theme supports post formats, there is a way to do archive pages and all that. It’s not 100% seamless. There is some thinking through it from the developer part when you build a theme, but having that is definitely helpful so you don’t have to write the query yourself. There is a… I am a little bit… I don’t remember. 

New APIs

Anne McCarthy: I know this preview, I was like, “I can talk about this a little bit.” But yeah, basically, there’s, yeah, a new API is preview mode flag. And this is something that it looks like it’s been three years looking at the PR since this flag was there to basically allow, to indicate if a block is rendered as part of a blocks list, a block preview, a pattern preview, et cetera. And it’s a way, at this point we need to make it stable. And this came in again from feedback. What I really like to call out whenever this is influenced by feedback.

And this came up with in Jetpack where Riad was helping someone on the Jetpack team when they were asking questions. And he was like, “We should probably stabilize this. It’s been three years now. This isn’t actually unstable, but if we can render a placeholder for this, let’s do it.” And so this is really helpful and it’s just another signal. We do want to be careful about what we list is stabilized. And so this is one of those examples where it’s good to have just another tool in the toolbox to stabilize it for plugin authors.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Absolutely, because a lot of plugin authors are a little hesitant to use marked unstable or marked experimental flags features. And so adoption is really slow, although the things have been used in core or with other plugins quite a bit already and are stable, but they haven’t been made stable. And I know for the next release of 6.8, there’s a huge push on that for some of the design tools like the fonts and border controls and all that to make that what’s experimental to be stable and move that forward. It’s really cool.

Bug Fixes                                                       

I think we are through the enhancement on 19.6, but there are a few bug fixes I wanted to point out. The first one is the self-nesting and circular nesting block fix. Up until that fix, it was really possible to have a block that has inner blocks to make it an inner block of itself. It’s like an Inception, if you ever saw that movie. It really confused the block and what to do with it. And you could also nest blocks that are the same nesting in multiple times. It’s like the infinite mirror when you go in zoom and you share a screen and everybody can… You see yourself multiple times, but that is definitely fixed. Or well, if it’s not, please let us know.

And the other part that I wanted to shout out is that there is the link shortcut only to be triggered when there is a text selection. And that has to do with the two features that are triggered by the same shortcut. And depending on which context you are, it gives you the right tool. Control K opens up the command palette where you can then just look for a new open site editor or create a new page. You can do this in the command palette, but it also lets you add a link to the canvas if you’re in there.

And if you are having a text selected, you could trigger that, creating a link with control K, but you wouldn’t be able to trigger the command palette. And if nothing is selected, that’s what you probably wanted. There were a few people, there’s a whole discussion about it in that PR about maybe changing the shortcut, but it’s the internet and the software developers have used the same shortcut for multiple things.

It’s, yeah, exercise. People know about it, and here it comes together quite interestingly enough. But, well, I don’t know about you, but if I have a text selected, I don’t use Control K. And I just do copy-paste and have the link underneath my text selection. It doesn’t bother me, but it would’ve bothered me if Control K gives me the control panel, it doesn’t give me the command palette and rather opens the link feature there. I think it was a good decision. Riad made the pragmatic decision.

Anne McCarthy: I think it was a really good call because this is definitely, I have found it to be incredibly frustrating with the command pilot. And I think it has impacted the experience of using that and the likelihood of people using it in a way that it’s just not predictable. I think this will… I really hope it’s a meaningful improvement and it seems like it is based on… I actually helped test this at one point and just forgot to leave feedback. But yeah, I’m excited to see this in place and hope it helps.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, it definitely does.

Anne McCarthy: It’s a great call out. Yeah.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. I wanted to let everybody know that command palette, control K is a shortcut to get to you fast. And I think that’s it. Yeah, that’s pretty much what I wanted to talk about in Gutenberg 19.6. And we go right into 19.7.

Anne McCarthy: Let’s do it.

Gutenberg 19.7

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Let’s do it. It’s 148 PR. Is not as much as 19.6, but that was with 46 contributors and six of them were first timers. The release had 26 enhancements and 49 bug fixes. Bug fixes are a big, big piece of every release. And of course, I have in the show notes both the release posts and we can go into the enhancement. Do you want to start us out?

Enhancements

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, I would love to. Now in the preview dropdown, the device preview dropdown, there is an option to show template. And before this was available in the setting sidebar, but it wasn’t super discoverable. And so this is just adding it there as well. Whenever you want to actually see a template preview, this option is now there whenever you’re trying to review your content.

And I think this is one of those things that again, I am very curious to see how the feedback lands and how folks feel about it. If it ends up making sense to folks. We’ve added various things into that device preview dropdown. Including zoom out originally was thought of as being in the device preview and that was eventually moved. And I think this makes more sense conceptually. I was against zoom out being there, but I think having a template preview is a neat way to have a what you see is what you get. You may not need to go see the post in a new tab if you can just toggle this on and off to show or hide template.

And I don’t know, for me personally, whenever I’m writing or creating stuff, I often start with having the template gone. I don’t want to see it. It’s a distraction. And then whenever I’m ready to see, “Okay, how does this actually look in context?” You can toggle that on for show template. And I think it’s a great small enhancement that can help with usability and curious to see how people like it and use it.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Absolutely. Yeah, and I’m really curious what people are going to do with the… Because the preview dropdown has been opened. There’s an API now for plugin developers to put it in. And I saw people put in view this in your newsletter because they use the block editor for the newsletter. And I also have seen it in I think blog visibility, what’s it on the front end when you have… The plugin block visibility by Nick Diego has an option to see it what is it that I showed. Where you can show and hide things. And he was able to manage the canvas to actually show and hide things quite easily. Yeah. It was really interesting what plugin developers are going to do.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s the preview options API, I just was looking it up to make sure I had the name and was available in 6.7. I think it’s a pretty cool… The accessibility there feels pretty powerful.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Absolutely. Yeah. And this is, the next thing is more like a PSA so to speak, that the view external link that is in the toolbar on top is actually now at the end of the editor header controls. It got moved, so don’t be confused. It’s now on its final place for now until we move it again. But yeah, I think the zoom out button or link made us think a little bit more about what is the order of those things. And it would really help to get some feedback on it. What do you think about it? Yeah, just don’t miss it. It’s there. You just need to look a little left on it. And the next one is, can you talk about that?

Anne McCarthy: Oh, yeah, I would love to. There’s situations where there’s a post, you’re writing a post, you have a number of images in the post. And let’s say you want a quicker way to just set a featured image. There’s now an option where if no featured image is set, you can set any image to be the featured image.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: That’s cool.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, it’s really cool and it comes from this desire to make it easier for folks whenever they’re in the flow of writing things. And as we know, images are really powerful. If you switch themes and you don’t have a bunch of featured images set, it can be a pain. There’s a lot of broader thinking around this. This is just an initial iteration to make it really easy to make sure to just set an image as a featured image.

And so, I definitely plan on using this. Because I always am reusing… I’ll post a blog post, I have a gallery of images, I love taking photos. And then I have to go again and select the featured image and go through the media library and all sorts of stuff. And now instead I can just be like that one, I want that one as a featured image. Through that, set as featured image. And so it just uses the same set as featured image property as it’s used elsewhere in the system. It’s also really cool use case with that. I’m excited to see it.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: I have two questions about it. One is if I set it as a featured image, then I can take it out of the post because it’s a different storage? Yes. Okay.

Anne McCarthy: I think so. Yeah. I think it’s basically it’s an attribute that’s set. And so, if it doesn’t have a featured image, it’ll be set as a featured image of the post. And you can also, if you override that and set the featured image, I’m pretty sure then that will be the priority is whatever is set as a featured image in that flow.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Most of the time or sometimes the theme supports featured image in a blog post. Then if you take an image that’s in the canvas as a featured image and it still stays in the post, then all of a sudden you have a double in there. It depends on how the theme works or how you set up your templates for the single post. If that’s a trained method now for you, yeah, you probably want to switch off the display of the featured image on the single post.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. Because that is such a… I right now have a theme that has… It does duplicate and I just decide to accept it. And I often, because block themes are so powerful, I’ll just go on a site editor and make sure that it looks good or looks separate and doesn’t feel too, I don’t know, annoying, where it’s like the images are just right after each other. And that’s one of the cool things with block themes is you can always just edit it or straight up remove it from your template if you want.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, it’s fascinating what you can do, what you couldn’t do before. Yeah, yeah. The next two are other ones of getting more support for blocks. That’s the post content. Block now has border support and spacing support. And the details block also got anchor support. You could have the header of the details block be an anchor so you can link to it, which is very powerful. 

Anne McCarthy: Oh, this is a big one.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. Can I talk about it? I’m obsessed with.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, talk about it.

Anne McCarthy: Okay. I’m going to tell the story of the background of this. When the site editor first was launched and people would drop into the editor, the site editor and start building, they would stumble on this style section. And a lot of folks thought that they were just styling their template. Whatever they were looking at, it was like, “Oh, cool, I’m styling just what I’m seeing.” And it’s actually styling everything.

The style section when you’re in the editor is styling everything, whether you can see it or not. And so this was almost like an information architecture problem, a UX problem. And to help start to alleviate this and to communicate the global nature, the same styles experience you get when you’re in the editor is being moved to the top level in that dark sidebar. Designers call that the frame. The frame of the experience or that dark sidebar before you get into the canvas and the editor.

It’s being moved to the top level. Whenever you first enter the site editor, you’ll see those same sections that you’re used to seeing. And when you hit styles, it’ll actually bring you in using data views. This great view of all your styles experience that you would expect whenever you’re actually in the editing experience. And the hope is that this will allow folks to understand that it’s like you’re editing everything. And in line with the other changes were done to allow you to toggle between the style book and previewing your site. And so, I think it’s a really exciting way to see when you first are landing there. I’m pretty sure it’s in 19.7. There’s basically a new landing section that’s added to the style book. I’m 99% sure I’ve tested this a ton.

And there’s also in line with this, there’s some upgrades to the style book. The style book is a bit better laid out. And then there’s also this landing section that basically pulls the most important information from your theme related to styles so that when you get there you get this sense of like, “Okay, this is the styling of my site, these are the colors, this is the typography.” And it just is meant to be a clear, easier to understand experience that you’re impacting the entire site.

And with that said, you will still have access to styles when you’re in the editor, so it duplicates it. And I am really curious to get feedback from folks because I think this is going to be confusing. I think folks are going to see the same thing and think, “What’s the difference? Is this the same? I’m not really sure. Is this for the entire site and this is for the template.” And so that’s one of the things that’s part of the beauty of iterating in Gutenberg before a major release is to get that feedback.

And part of the reason to keep it in the editor is for block themers who will want to be making changes while they’re editing templates and not just necessarily at the high level. There were a couple of different use cases to have to accommodate there. And part of the issue that we can figure out is what does the user experience look like between the two? How do we connect the two experiences?

Maybe when you open styles in the editor, it automatically brings you to that view. I’m not really sure, but there’s ways that design thinking can be applied to this. I’m really excited about this. This helps to solve, it starts to solve a long-standing issue around communicating styles as global styles, styles as impacting your entire site. And it just brings that sidebar at the top level to be a bit more useful. And so I’m obviously way too excited about this.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: No, no, no, no. I’m really glad that you explained it. Also, the whole genesis of it because I remember those feedback from the FSC program here that people are… And I always attributed to that there’s another level of abstraction and another level of design coming with the templates where users never had access to it so they didn’t have to learn that new concept. That stumbles them, but there is a way to actually alleviate that from the user experience. That’s brilliant. And I’m really happy that it also ties the style book of it.

What I saw was if you go through the styles in the middle section and you change the color palette in the style book, then in the right hand side, you can then see how that affects every single block or every single… Yeah. You can actually really make decisions about if you wanted that or do you need to do some additional adjustments there. The style book gives you a whole good overview. And it was always a little bit off site if you… It was hard to discover and now it’s right there for you to see. Yeah, so I’m really happy about that.

Anne McCarthy: I’ll share a little sneak peek. I was talking with some of the developers yesterday about this. But some of the work also to bring this to the top level, have it be like that is to then expose it for classic themes. Can you imagine a style book for classic themes and this landing section for classic themes?

The benefit, and this again goes back to phase two and gradual adoption and how important it is that we have these on ramps and ways of bringing some of these new features to everyone who’s using WordPress. And so that’s a PR in progress expected on a future Gutenberg Times episode. And all block themers out there and all themers in general out there, this is a great area to give feedback and to see how it works with your theme.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. Yeah, the style book. When I was implementing some Gutenberg sites in the early days, 2018, I would create a post with all the blocks in there so we could, together with a client, look at how everything’s going to look from the theme point of view and where adjustments need to be made. But that was a major effort to put all the blocks in there. The style book is such a great tool. And bringing that to the classic theme is definitely a great way to foster adoption. Also to make the life of a classic theme developer a little bit easier doing that.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. We got a lot of good feedback from folks being like, “I want this. Why can’t I use this yet? How can I use this?”

Birgit Pauli-Haack: It’s the best thing that comes with Gutenberg and, “I need it.” I can totally.

Anne McCarthy: And I love that feedback loop. And then one of the things, the next thing to think about is what does that look like to expose it in the appearance menu? We have patterns, do we have a style? And then what about the font library? Where’s the order of things? These are things that are on my mind. It’s like, “Okay, do we have them all separate? When do we bring them together? What does that experience look like for exposing these things?”

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, the holistic approach to design is so important. Yeah. But that’s the whole story about Gutenberg. You need to first do the small things so you can do it in context with the big things. And it’s really a little slow to go from the small things to the big things when you do something new. The iteration and the feedback loop is really, really important.

Yeah. Here’s your landing section for the style book is the next one. Next item on the style book tab. Then the next one is something that surprised me a bit, that we have now an exposed filter in the drop down for the individual image on select or upload media that says, “Okay, filter the medium about uploaded in this post or unattached pictures or to show me just my pictures.” Yeah. It’s filtering down to something that we were never exposed to before and it’s really an enhancement of the media library for this Gutenberg section. Yeah.

Anne McCarthy: Yeah. And I’ll note that this actually really nicely ties into phase three. I know it doesn’t seem like it at first, but one of the things that whenever I talk to enterprise folks, imagine you are writing 50 articles a day. And you have photographers, you have media teams, you have all this sort of stuff. And you’re trying to add content, you’re trying to add media to a post.

One of the biggest things is, is this file in the doc already and is it attached to this post in any way? They need quick ways to identify very fast, is this already in here? If not, can I add it in? And because it helps prevent people from uploading the same image five times. This is something that starts down that path of thinking about media library improvements, the workflow related to it. And whenever you’re creating content in mass with lots of different people, how can you make it clearer and easier to quickly filter?

I’m so glad you called this out. I actually totally missed this. It seems like a smaller thing, but it actually directly ties into feedback that’s come into the project. I think it’s a cool quality of life improvement.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, I can see that. Then especially the net has become so much more visible, visual that you need the pictures or the videos or the audio a little bit more sorted so that’s wonderful. Yeah, so I think we’re through the enhancements and I haven’t seen…

Anne McCarthy: Oh, I can point out one thing that I think could be good.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yes, please.

Anne McCarthy: We were talking about this write mode, and this relates to this. This is like a bug fix. Write mode is exposed currently. And the plugin, it’s actually as of… I just checked the issue today that I opened. Between user testing and feedback, it’s pretty clear that it needs to be behind an experiment.

It’s actually going to be moved behind an experiment, but that will happen in 19.8. I’m pretty sure not 19.7. But in the meantime, to help reduce some of the confusion that we saw some folks running into, it basically makes it so that the tool selector between write and design is not exposed in the post editor. You’re only in design mode. And design mode, it shows all the tools. You can see everything, which is what you’re used to. Write mode offers that content only experience. It really just focuses on the content. It really… There’s a lot to figure out there, but I think of it as it contains the experience just to the purity of writing. It just is focused on the words. You can’t add a block, you can’t remove a block. It’s a very simplified editing experience.

And so, this basically has it so it’s only available in this write mode whenever you’re in the site editor. Which makes sense where you get that overwhelm and that’s where someone might just want to focus on the content of their template. But in the post editor, it doesn’t make as much sense. If you’re writing content, you don’t necessarily need to have these two different options. For 19.7, this is with landing. And then in the future, this will be put behind an experiment.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Okay. Yeah, I think we should do a separate podcast episode about all the 15 experiments in Gutenberg.

Anne McCarthy: Yes, that would actually be a really cool episode. I would love that. I would be game for that. For sure.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: We definitely would need to do this on video because we’re going to demo things and all that. Yeah. Yeah. I will keep it in the back of my mind for next year.

Anne McCarthy: Do it.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: And we can do that. Yeah. Because we have until April until the new version comes out so there’s a lot of experiments that come up. yeah. The listeners, this was 16. 16. Yeah. 6.7 or 19.7. It’s 16.7. Yeah. Right?

Anne McCarthy: Yes. When you said it, it made perfect sense to me. I’m not going to lie. I was like, “Yep, that’s right. That’s true.”

What’s in Active Development or Discussed

Birgit Pauli-Haack: This was Gutenberg 19.7. And so we are at the section of what’s in active development or discussed. And we mentioned it before, there is these inline commenting that actually was almost entirely done by a group of contributors from a sponsored company called Multidots. And Pooja Bhimani, I hope I pronounced that right, is the lead on that. And they released the first and experimental version of inline commenting for the block editor. I think you were involved in that a little bit more heavily. Do you want to talk about this a bit more?

Anne McCarthy: Yeah, I would love to talk about it. I think it’s a great example of a wonderful contribution story for a really big feature. And the team over at Multidots reached out and they built a number of collaboration tools within their plugin and naturally wanted to help Core. And so this was where they decided to jump in. And right now they have shipped an initial version of 19.5, I think is what it got into, for inline comments.

And what it does is block level inline comments. You can comment on an entire block and you cannot comment on a sentence within that block. It’s an initial prototype to get some of the kinks out. And Ella, one of them, EllaTrips I think is her GitHub username. 

Yeah, long, long, long time WordPress contributor and Core contributor has been really helping there as well as Riad and Joen and design. There’s just been a lot of beautiful coming together to move this feature forward. And it’s basically in a state where they’re both starting to chip away at some of the minor bugs, like, “Okay, these are obvious things to fix.” And then they’re going to work on implementing a new design.

And so there’s some really cool designs on there, both for the short term and thinking really long term. I actually have a post I’m hoping to share today, sharing an update about all these different phase three areas. And this is just one of those big areas to keep in mind and to follow. There’s a lot of momentum and there’s a lot of work being done there. And Multidots has done a great job.

This is a huge thing to jump into as a first contribution. And so huge kudos to them. This is not an easy task. I think they’ve been working on this since April of this last year. It’s been a huge effort to come together. And it’s been really fun to work with them and to watch them develop directly in the Gutenberg plugin and land something and iterate.

And that’s part of the cool thing with the Gutenberg plugin and with the… It’s an experiment right now, so you have to turn it on under Gutenberg experiments. But expect to see more to come there and test, a call for testing from yours truly eventually. I’m hoping next week. That’s one of my top priorities for next week and this week is to get that announced update post out about the different areas of phase three.

But yeah, I’m really excited about it. I think it’s a cool thing if you’re a small editorial team to try it out. If you’re a plugin author, think about how you might want to extend it. All that workflow collaboration head space, this is one of the first meteor things, or probably the second meteor thing that’s land other than data use, which is a huge thing. I just completely… Data views is the first, this is the second. And so, I’m really excited to see some of these phase three features that are really tangible begin to get out into the open.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah. Well, I’m glad you bring this all to us. And I think we are all… Yeah, test it all out. Did you say you want to post it today or tomorrow?

Anne McCarthy: The update for phase three will be today. I want it out today.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: I will bring it into the show notes.

Anne McCarthy: Perfect.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: … because we are not going to publish that until Sunday. Today is Thursday, so it’s really good. I’m going to share it in the show notes. I think that’s an update on the real collaboration on commenting and interviews. I’m very much looking forward to reading that as a whole. 

All right. This is, we are at the end of the show today, although with two plugins and Anne here, we have a great show. And next show would be in two weeks with Sarah Norris and it will be the last of 2024. And then I’ll go on vacation. Yes.

Anne McCarthy: Good. Good. Love to hear it. You got to rest. Congrats on over 100. I cannot believe you have over a hundred episodes of this. That’s really incredible. I keep thinking about that at the beginning of the show. I think that’s so cool.

Birgit Pauli-Haack: Well, thank you. Yeah. I couldn’t have done it without you and all the other guests that are here that bring their brilliance to here. Because I only see one side of things and having other aspects of it makes it so much richer. Dear listeners, as always, the show notes will be published on gutenbergtimes.com/podcast. This is episode 111.

And if you have questions or suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com. That’s changelog@gutenbergtimes.com. And I want to thank you, Anne, for taking the time tonight to be with me and walk me through things and share your insights with everybody. Thank you all for listening. Goodbye.

Anne McCarthy: Goodbye. Thank you for having me.

Phew! That was a long break! And a lot happened. It might take two editions to get us up to speed again.

And it doesn’t stop, the preliminary schedule for WordPress releases in 2025 came out and the call for volunteers is open for WordPress 6.8 release cycle.

With Thanksgiving ante portas (= at the gate. Yes, I was in Rome) I hope you have a calmer week ahead of you, be it because many contacts take time off and the noise level is reduced, or you connect with family and friends on Turkey day, off-screen.

I am always grateful to you, dear subscriber. Your support and keen curiosity keeps me sharing the news around the block editor and beyond with you. It also makes me a listener beyond the noise.

Have a splendid weekend ahead!

Yours, 💕
Birgit

Developing Gutenberg and WordPress

WordPress 6.7.1 was released to quickly fix bugs that appeared late in the release cycle. Check the release post for details. If you just now consider upgrading to WordPress 6.7, you can consult the Field Guide and the Source of Truth to find out about all the new features and APIs.

Rich Tabor recorded the The Official WordPress 6.7 release video. Adam Preiser commented: “This is the best “official” WordPress release video you guys have ever uploaded. Great job!.”

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Joen Asmussen posted an update on the Design teams work in his Design Share #68 (Nov 4-Nov 15). You can get a glimpse at the following projects or tasks:

• WordPress 6.7 release site
• Menu navigation editing
• Page preview in global styles browsing

Earlier this month, Asmussen published Design Share #67 (Oct 21-Nov 1) and highlighted these projects, some were already implemented in the latest Gutenberg release.

• “Show template” option
• A dedicated Styles screen
• Editor Comments
• Ambiguating Write/Design tools
• Photo Directory
• Make’s homepage
• DataViews: Density preference
• Advancing the Pages data view
• Global styles iA exploration
• Updating active menu item styling in the site editor
• Badge component
• Updated Figma Library

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Nick Diego published this month’s roundup post on What’s new for developers? (November 2024). Catch up on last-minute additions in WordPress 6.7 and see what’s coming next for Core, Gutenberg, and WordPress Playground.

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Gutenberg plugin releases

Gutenberg 19.6 was released on November 6th. It entailed 194 Pull Requests (PRs) by 57 contributors, eight were first time contributors. 

37 enhancements and 65 Bug fixes. The rest are documentation, tooling, and code quality updates. Release lead Carlos Bravo highlighted in his post What’s new in Gutenberg 19.6? (6 Nov) the experimental inline comments, and improvements to the overall site editing experience.

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This week, Hector Prieto pushed Gutenberg 19.7 release over the finish line. It included 148 PRs by 46 contributors, 6 of them first timers. The release contains 26 Enhancements and 49 bug fixes. Prieto emphasized in his post What’s new in Gutenberg 19.7? (20 November)

• Global Styles available on the main site editor sidebar
• Swifter hiding & showing the template
• Set image blocks as featured image

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For the 111th Gutenberg Changelog, I invited the brilliant Anne McCarthy to go over these two Gutenberg plugin releases and also discuss in more depth the inline commenting and the updates in general.

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Anne McCarthy published Update on Phase 3: Collaboration efforts which discusses improvements in WordPress’s collaboration tools, including Dataviews, real-time collaboration, and inline commenting. The goal is to make teamwork easier during content creation. The post highlights important updates and invites the community to provide feedback for a better user experience.

Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners

Jeremy Holcombe found for you the 12 best WordPress block themes and most of them are free!. He also explains briefly what block themes are and how they differ from classic themes.

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In his latest video on WordPressTV, Wes Theron answers the question: Why design in the Site Editor and use it for prototyping? You’ll learn how to use the Site Editor to design and prototype websites with blocks, customize layouts, and apply basic design principles.

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Devin Walker, co-founder of GiveWP, published a new plugin in the repo: Blocks for GitHub. Once installed, it enables a site owner to share a specific repo or the GitHub profile with their readers.

Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks

Stephanie Pi from WooCommerce Developer Experience team invites you to talk about Themes with Ellen Bauer on December 2, 2024, from 16:00 UTC. Pi wrote “You don’t have to be an expert on themes to join. This event will serve as an informal opportunity for you to share your initial thoughts, feedback, and questions about Woo Block Themes. It’s our way of starting the conversation early and getting input directly from the community as we shape the future of this space.” Ellen Bauer is a long-standing community member, theme builder, and now Product Lead at Woo, and occasional co-host on the Gutenberg Changelog.

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Bud Kraus posted about Working with properties and key-value pairs in theme.json on the Kinsta Blog site. “Whether you’re building a theme from scratch, customizing an existing one, developing a style variation, or working on a child theme, grasping how to work with theme.json is essential.” he wrote.

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In episode 146 of the WP Tavern podcast Fränk Klein on Redesigning WordPress: The Shift to Block-Based Systems, Nathan Wrigley and Frank Klein discuss how block patterns improve user experience and highlight the need for adaptable design, cooperation among developers, and the ability to create more dynamic content with these new systems.

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Brian Coords has Mike McAlister on his show and discussed with him Full Site Editing and Ollie. Mike talks about his extensive journey in the WordPress ecosystem, from a designer to a product builder with Ollie WP. They cover the importance of design in WordPress themes, the shift towards full site editing, the value of patterns and pattern libraries, responsive design controls, and more.

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 “Keeping up with Gutenberg – Index 2024” 
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. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor

The upcoming Developer Hours will happen on December 3rd, 2025 at 16:00 UTC. Ryan Welcher and Nick Diego will discuss and demonstrate how to Improve your workflows with WordPress development tools. They’ll take a deep dive into the advanced usage of tools like create-block and wp-scripts, along with a few others. They will also focus on solving common challenges and showcasing techniques that go beyond the basics, even for developers already familiar with these tools.

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In this week’s Developer Hours: Exploring the Block Bindings API in WordPress 6.7, Justin Tadlock gave an overview of the Block Bindings API and how it works, including major changes in the API since WordPress 6.5. He demonstrated how to use the new Editor UI for binding attributes and work with the new JavaScript API. Whether you are new to Block Bindings or have already started using them in their projects, the session offered valuable insights for everyone.

In his latest article, How to add content-only editing support to a block, Nick Diego shows how this feature lets users edit the content in a block without changing the block’s settings, improving user experience during content creation. He includes clear code examples to demonstrate how to implement it.

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In his post, WordPress Block Development: Complete Guide to Multiple Blocks & Interactivity API, Deryck Oñate tailored his tutorial to developers who want to streamline their WordPress build setup, making it both efficient and flexible. You’ll dive into optimizing webpack configurations, using the interactivity API, and building multiple blocks—all while keeping the codebase clean.

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In his latest Livestream, Ryan Welcher explored Creating an advanced UI for plugins, and used as example building the UI for managing taxonomy controls for his Advanced Query Loop plugin.

This week in Playground

The Playground app now offers the Pull Request (PR) testers for WordPress Core and Gutenberg in the interface. Thanks to the contributions by Agata Dobrowolska and Brandon Payton, the feature is now reachable through the 3-dot menu in the left sidebar. If you are part of the outreach channel on Make Slack you might appreciate the easier way to test contributor work before it’ll be merged into the next release.

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Don’t miss the upcoming Playground Hallway Hangouts:

• November 29, 2024, at 14:00 UTC – Playground Hallway Hangout with Ajit Bohra and Adam Zieliński – Ajit Bohra developed a block-based blueprint builder and will give us a walk-through and answer questions.
• December 6, 2024, at 14:00 UTC Playground Hallway Hangout with Tammie Lister and Adam Zieliński, as informal discussion on how agencies can use Playground for client and product demos and brainstorm ideas on how to improve it for this use case.

Details will follow in Make Slack channel #playground and the Make Blog.

Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg’s master branch?
Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.

Now also available via WordPress Playground. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? Email me with your experience

Questions? Suggestions? Ideas?
Don’t hesitate to send them via email or
send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph.

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For questions to be answered on the Gutenberg Changelog,
send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com

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Featured Image: Featured image for the Block Talks event site in 2020 by Mel Choyce

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