Ahmad Awais, who created the Gutenberg Boilerplate last year, has released a Guten Block Toolkit. The toolkit substantially simplifies the creation of Gutenberg Blocks by providing no configuration, one dependency, and no lock-in. Awais created the toolkit after receiving feedback that configuring things like Webpack, React, ES 6/7/8/Next, ESLint, Babel and keeping up with their development was too difficult. “Developers …
Free Conference Dedicated to WordPress in Higher Ed Takes Place January 30th at 9AM CST
If you’re interested in learning how WordPress is used in Higher Ed, tune in to WPCampus Online, January 30th at 9AM Central Standard Time. WPCampus Online is a virtual conference that people can watch for free, no traveling necessary. The event uses Crowdcast allowing viewers to switch between rooms, interact with each other, and ask questions. Some of the topics …
WPWeekly Episode 301 – WordPress in HigherEd, Accessibility, and More With Rachel Cherry
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Rachel Cherry, Senior Software Engineer for Disney Interactive and Director of WPCampus. Cherry describes how she got involved with WordPress, its use in higher education, the inspiration behind WPCampus, and her thoughts on accessibility both in WordPress and across the web. She also assigned everyone the following homework assignment. …
DesktopServer 3.8.4 Includes A Gift to the Community
DesktopServer has released version 3.8.4 of its local development software. This version includes a lot of refactored code, setting the foundation for faster updates in the future along with design-time plugins. One of the major changes in 3.8.4 is the use of the .dev.cc top level domain. Due to the latest changes with the .dev Top Level Domain and the …
Gutenberg 2.0 Released With Numerous Accessibility and Keyboard Navigation Improvements
Gutenberg 2.0 is available for testing and includes a changelog that’s a mile long. Accessibility, keyboard navigation, and the ability to drag-and-drop multiple images to the Gallery block are among the improvements listed. Clicking the Publish button displays options in the sidebar rather than a drop-down menu to add polish to the publishing flow. Publish Button Options In The Sidebar …
Zac Gordon Launches Gutenberg Development Course, Includes More Than 30 Videos
Zac Gordon, a technology educator, has released his Gutenberg Development course. The course is $79 but is available for $49 using the coupon code earlyadopter. Gordon says the course is aimed at developers who want to update their themes, plugins, shortcodes, etc. to work with Gutenberg and take advantage of blocks. “There is also some content I am adding geared …
WPWeekly Episode 300 – Interview with Matt ‘Gutenbeard’ Mullenweg
In this the 300th episode, John James Jacoby and I interview Matt ‘Gutenbeard’ Mullenweg, co-creator of the WordPress project. We discuss a range of topics including, the somewhat controversial poetry reading that included a curse word prior to the State of the Word, the WordPress Foundation increasing its range of funding, and of course, Gutenberg. One of the big takeaways …
WPWeekly Episode 299 – 2017 Year in Review
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I review the WordPress news that made headlines on the Tavern in 2017. Among the stories we talk about more in-depth was Headway Themes, WP-CLI becoming a WordPress.org sanctioned project, and Disqus being acquired. We also talked about the future of comments in WordPress and what circumstances could lead to Intense Debate being …
WPWeekly Episode 298 – GDPR, User Privacy, and More With Heather Burns
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Heather Burns, Founder of WebDevLaw. We have a lengthy discussion about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), what it is, what’s at stake, and its potential impacts on the WordPress ecosystem. We also discuss the cultural differences between the North American and European views on user privacy. When asked what …
Jetpack 5.6.1 Increases Security of the Contact Form Module
Jetpack has released version 5.6.1 which hardens the Contact Form module by improving permissions checking when updating a form’s settings. In addition to security fixes, the character count for when Publicize publishes content to Twitter has been increased to 280. This release also fixes a bug that disabled the ability to save widgets after removing a Widget Visibility rule. Users …