Matt Mullenweg Announces Tech and Design Leads for New Focus-Based Development Cycle

photo credit: Angelina Litvin WordPress core development is kicking off in 2017 with the new focus-based development process that Matt Mullenweg announced during the 2016 State of the Word. The new approach to releases shifts WordPress from the familiar time-based release cycle to one that is more project-based. The idea is that design and user testing will lead the way …

Micro.blog Surpasses Kickstarter Funding Goal, Set to Launch New Social Network for Independent Microblogs

Developer Manton Reece is on a mission to take back short form content for the open web by providing better tools for independent microblogging. Most short form content today is posted through centralized social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where posts are mixed with promoted content and users have no control of their timelines. There’s no guarantee that …

WP-CLI Gets Official WordPress.org Support

The WP-CLI open source project will be coming under the WordPress.org umbrella in 2017. After recent talks with Daniel Bachhuber, WP-CLI’s official maintainer, Matt Mullenweg announced WordPress’ support for the project, calling it “one of the highest impact developments for WP in many years.” The wp-cli.org website will soon be migrated to WordPress.org and a CLI Make site with its …

WordPress.org Launches Homepage Redesign

WordPress.org made its new homepage redesign live today. The meta team worked quickly to put the new design in place in time for the holidays. “While this is only the first iteration, the plan is to continue design and development to create something truly amazing,” Mark Uraine said in the announcement. “This is the first step toward that goal.” The …

WP-CLI Project Launches Patron Support Model to Fund Ongoing Development

WP-CLI contributors have been working towards a more sustainable future for the project throughout 2016. Daniel Bachhuber, the project’s official maintainer, has launched an experiment to fund ongoing maintenance and new development, asking potential patrons, “How much is WP-CLI worth to you?” Options for contributions range from $100/yr – $7500/yr. This particular funding experiment is not asking for one-time contributions …

Matt Mullenweg Proposes WordPress Growth Council

During the last WordSesh event held in August 2016, Matt Mullenweg joined the community for a session where he spoke about the growth of WordPress and his thoughts on confronting the project’s external threats. Mullenweg floated the idea of a WordPress Growth Council – a collection of individuals and organizations interested in contributing to WordPress’ growth. “We have very direct …