As my 2 weeks as a guest writer at The Tavern wind down, I thought y’all might be curious to hear some of my reflections on the experience. As James wrote, bringing 7 writers in for 2-week stints is kind of like The Hunger Games – many go in, two get the job. That “Hunger Games” analogy seems to have …
The WordPress Training Team’s Big Changes: Learning Pathways and Website Redesign
Knowledge and training for WordPress has traditionally been very decentralized. There’s the official documentation, the developer documentation, the support forums, WordPress.tv, and then the wide array of community blogs, tutorials, and YouTube videos. Resources like documentation and support forums exist to answer questions and explain features, but their purpose is not to teach a person what it means to use …
Matt Mullenweg to Deliver State Of The Word 2024 From Tokyo, Japan
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg announced at the Q&A session of WordCamp Asia 2024 that he would deliver the 2024 State Of The Word from Tokyo, Japan on December 16. This marks a significant moment for the WordPress community, as it’s only the second time the annual address is delivered outside of North America. Last year, the event took place in …
Which WP Theme is Best? Fun With Theme Download Stats
Today I embarked on a mission to figure out which WP.org themes are used the most and why. As you likely know, “Top 5” lists, as a rule, are generally very opinionated and based on fuzzy assumptions and non-standard use cases. I want to assure you – this article is no exception to that rule. I had to make some …
Synced Pattern Overrides punted, Font Library approved, as WordPress 6.5 nears release
As the WordPress 6.5 release date is just around the corner, contributors have been racing to complete work on a few outstanding issues and bug fixes. Two of the most prominent features, Synced Pattern Overrides and the Font Library, have been stuck in critical debates until today when Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy weighed in with an official response and …
WordPress Developer Docs Shows Off a New Block-Based Redesign
Over the years, WordPress’s developer documentation, originally the Codex but now the WordPress Code Reference, has served the project well. However, there’s been a sense in the community that much of the more recent documentation- for example, the JavaScript APIs and packages coming out of Gutenberg- has been inconsistent and harder to read and understand. Developers often find themselves navigating …
Certain WP Form Plugins Make Accessibility Easy
According to the WAVE web accessibility tool, Gravity Forms scores a perfect score out-of-the-box for their front-end forms. Same with Ninja Forms, Contact Form 7, and WP Forms. I tested 2 other popular WP form plugins that did not fare as well. Gravity Forms’ Investments in Web Accessibility Are Paying Dividends The Tavern reported in 2021 that Gravity Forms invested …
Gutenberg’s Project Leadership Sits Down with New Outreach Team to Discuss Problems with the Site Editor
What do you get when you put a handful of outspoken WordPress developers, agencies, product owners, and community advocates on a video call with both the Lead Architect and the Product Owner of the entire Gutenberg project? Hopefully progress. Matt Mullenweg may have surprised a few people when he recently stated that the Gutenberg project still has years of development …
WordPress Photo Festival 2024, A Five Part Retrospective, Part 5, What We Learned, Where We’re Going
In this last episode about the Kerala WPPhotos Festival I talk not only about the project, but also where this project is leading us. Next Gen events are a breath of fresh air for those of us who need something more than the classic WordCamp. This article is available in video, audio, and transcribed text. Audio version: Transcription: [00:00:00] Welcome …
WordPress Photo Festival 2024, A Five Part Retrospective, Part 4, Next Generation Events
In the penultimate episode of this series I talk with Julia Golomb from the WordPress Community Team about Next Generation WordPress Events. We’ll include how the WPPhotos Event was a great template, and other ideas that could come. This article is available in video, audio, and transcribed text. Audio version: Transcription [00:00:00] Topher: Welcome back! In this episode, we’re going …