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




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:68:"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 5.2.3 Security and Maintenance Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7064";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/wordpress-5-2-3-security-and-maintenance-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7631:"<p>WordPress 5.2.3 is now available! </p>



<p>This security and maintenance release features 29 fixes and enhancements. Plus, it adds a number of security fixes—see the list below.</p>



<p>These bugs affect WordPress versions 5.2.2 and earlier; version 5.2.3 fixes them, so you&#8217;ll want to upgrade. </p>



<p>If you haven&#8217;t yet updated to 5.2, there are also updated versions of 5.0 and earlier that fix the bugs for you.</p>



<h3>Security Updates</h3>



<ul><li>Props to&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ripstech.com/authors/simon-scannell/">Simon Scannell of RIPS Technologies</a>&nbsp;for finding and disclosing two issues. The first, a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability found in post previews by contributors. The second was a cross-site scripting vulnerability in stored comments.&nbsp;</li><li>Props to&nbsp;<a href="https://security-consulting.icu/blog/">Tim Coen</a>&nbsp;for disclosing an issue where validation and sanitization of a URL could lead to an open redirect.&nbsp;</li><li>Props to Anshul Jain for disclosing reflected cross-site scripting during media uploads.</li><li>Props to&nbsp;<a href="https://fortiguard.com/">Zhouyuan Yang of Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs</a>&nbsp;who disclosed a vulnerability for cross-site scripting (XSS) in shortcode previews.</li><li>Props to Ian Dunn of the Core Security Team for finding and disclosing a case where reflected cross-site scripting could be found in the dashboard.</li><li>Props to Soroush Dalili (<a href="https://twitter.com/irsdl?lang=en">@irsdl</a>) from NCC Group for disclosing an issue with URL sanitization that can lead to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.</li><li>In addition to the above changes, we are also updating jQuery on older versions of WordPress. This change was&nbsp;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/47020">added in 5.2.1</a>&nbsp;and is now being brought to older versions.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<p>You can browse the&nbsp;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&resolution=fixed&milestone=5.2.3&order=priority">full list of changes on Trac</a>.</p>



<p>For more info, browse the full list of changes on Trac or check out the Version&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-2-3/">5.2.3 documentation page</a>.</p>



<p>WordPress 5.2.3 is a short-cycle maintenance release. The next major release will be&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-3/">version 5.3.</a></p>



<p>You can download WordPress 5.2.3 from the button at the top of this page, or visit your<strong> Dashboard → Updates</strong> and click <strong>Update Now</strong>. </p>



<p>If you have sites that support automatic background updates, they&#8217;ve already started the update process.</p>



<h2>Thanks and props!</h2>



<p>This release brings together contributions from more than 62 other people. Thank you to everyone who made this release possible!</p>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamsilverstein/">Adam Silverstein</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/xknown/">Alex Concha</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/alpipego/">Alex Goller</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/afercia/">Andrea Fercia</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aduth/">Andrew Duthie</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz/">Andrew Ozz</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/afragen/">Andy Fragen</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/762e5e74/">Ashish Shukla</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/wpboss/">Aslam Shekh</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/backermann1978/">backermann1978</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/cdog/">Catalin Dogaru</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chetan200891/">Chetan Prajapati</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/aprea/">Chris Aprea</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/christophherr/">Christoph Herr</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/danmicamediacom/">dan@micamedia.com</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/diddledan/">Daniel Llewellyn</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/donmhico/">donmhico</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/iseulde/">Ella van Durpe</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/epiqueras/">epiqueras</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fencer04/">Fencer04</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/flaviozavan/">flaviozavan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/garrett-eclipse/">Garrett Hyder</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pento/">Gary Pendergast</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/gqevu6bsiz/">gqevu6bsiz</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/thakkarhardik/">Hardik Thakkar</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ianbelanger/">Ian Belanger</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/iandunn/">Ian Dunn</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/whyisjake/">Jake Spurlock</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/">Jb Audras</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul/">Jeffrey Paul</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jikamens/">jikamens</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnbillion/">John Blackbourn</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorgefilipecosta/">Jorge Costa,</a> <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/karlgroves/">karlgroves</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kjellr/">Kjell Reigstad</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurelfulford/">laurelfulford</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/majemedia/">Maje Media LLC</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mspatovaliyski/">Martin Spatovaliyski</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/">Mary Baum</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/monikarao/">Monika Rao</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27/">Mukesh Panchal</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nayana123/">nayana123</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/greatislander/">Ned Zimmerman</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nickdaugherty/">Nick Daugherty</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rabmalin/">Nilambar Sharma</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nmenescardi/">nmenescardi</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/bassgang/">Paul Vincent Beigang</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/pedromendonca/">Pedro Mendonça</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/">Peter Wilson</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/">Sergey Biryukov</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/vjik/">Sergey Predvoditelev</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sharaz/">Sharaz Shahid</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/sstoqnov/">Stanimir Stoyanov</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryokuhi/">Stefano Minoia</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/">Tammie Lister</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/isabel_brison/">tellthemachines</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tmatsuur/">tmatsuur</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/vaishalipanchal/">Vaishali Panchal</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/vortfu/">vortfu</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tsewlliw/">Will West</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/yarnboy/">yarnboy</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 05 Sep 2019 01:51:15 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jake Spurlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:63:"WPTavern: WordPress Governance Project Looks for New Leadership";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93009";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-governance-project-looks-for-new-leadership";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11564:"<p>The <a href="https://wpgovernance.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress Governance</a> project is looking for new leadership after its current leaders, <a href="https://bamadesigner.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rachel Cherry</a> and <a href="https://mor10.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Morten Rand-Hendriksen</a>, announced that they will be stepping down. Weekly meetings have been canceled until the organization selects new leadership.</p>
<p>After its introduction at WordCamp Europe 2018, the project went through what its leadership believed were the appropriate channels for launching it through the Community group but it was <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-governance-project-flagged-as-unsanctioned-first-meeting-set-for-january-15" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">flagged as unsanctioned by WordPress leadership</a> shortly before the first meeting and denied access to the Make blog and Slack workspace. Despite initial setbacks, the group has been meeting regularly throughout 2019 on its own website and Slack instance.</p>
<p>&#8220;I need to step down from my leadership role in this project,&#8221; Cherry <a href="https://twgp.slack.com/archives/CF94YNHT8/p1566830315017300" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> in a recent meeting. &#8220;I’m not stepping away for good, but this project is too important and I don’t have the bandwidth needed to keep it moving forward in the manner it deserves.&#8221;</p>
<p>She said the team is looking for two co-chairs who will help lead WordPress Governance going forward. Responsibilities include managing the overall vision and planning, as well as managing meetings and delegating assignments in support of the vision. Cherry said the duties list is intentionally &#8220;slim and vague,&#8221; as the leadership team doesn&#8217;t want the new leaders to feel they have to keep doing what has been done in the past.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Governance Project was always meant to be a community project meaning we want the community to take ownership of it,&#8221; Rand-Hendriksen said in his farewell <a href="https://twgp.slack.com/archives/CF94YNHT8/p1566574797490300" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announcement</a>. &#8220;This is the first step: We&#8217;ve established the project and set some parameters. Now it&#8217;s time for the community to move beyond our intentionally vague vision and make it into what the community wants and needs. New internal governance in the form of co-chairs from the actual community is a key step in this direction.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Governance Project Aims to Bring Clarity to WordPress&#8217; Organizational Structure and Decision Making Process</h3>
<p>In a recent post titled &#8220;<a href="https://wpgovernance.com/2019/09/03/what-is-governance-and-why-does-it-matter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What is governance and why does it matter</a>,&#8221; Cherry said that the project &#8220;made a crucial error&#8221; in not clearly setting clear expectations at the beginning:</p>
<blockquote><p>This lack of clarity, combined with a growing undercurrent of unrest in the WordPress community, led some to label the project a revolt, a revolution, even a coup.</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate and has done governance, and our project, a disservice. I feel it&#8217;s incumbent upon myself and Morten to set the record straight so we are able to move forward as a community.</p></blockquote>
<p>Cherry identified two recent controversial issues within the WordPress project with debates that highlight a lack of established policy, including <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">auto-updating old versions of WordPress</a> and questions about <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/08/15/discussion-how-to-handle-conflict-of-interest-situations/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">conflicts of interest</a>.</p>
<p>On both of these matters members of the governance project have chimed in on the Make/WordPress posts to urge decision makers to establish policies that will guide future decisions and to be more transparent about who is making the decisions.</p>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36698" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">asked</a> questions about how and where the decision will be made regarding auto-updating old versions of WordPress, who holds responsibility for the final decision, and how people without decision-making power will be represented. His questions went unanswered.</p>
<p>&#8220;The WordPress project already has some governance, but much of it remains ad-hoc, opaque, and often inscrutable,&#8221; Cherry said. She identified three key areas where the WordPress Governance project seeks to introduce clarity and transparency: organizational structure, day-to-day processes, and how decisions are made.</p>
<p>The group is also actively working on researching and drafting policies around a variety of topics, including the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Community Code of Conduct</li>
<li>Diversity and Inclusion Policy</li>
<li>Code of Ethics</li>
<li>Privacy Policy</li>
<li>Conflict of Interest Policy</li>
<li>Accessibility Policy</li>
</ul>
<p>It is not clear whether these policies would then be submitted to WordPress&#8217; community team for consideration, as the group has not yet attempted to propose a finished document.</p>
<p>&#8220;Considering there’s no clear process for proposing and ratifying these types of policies, the goal of these efforts are to create a starting point for future official discussions within the WordPress project,&#8221; Cherry said.</p>
<h3>The Challenge of Defining Governance in a BDFL-led Open Source Project</h3>
<p>In the past, WordPress has navigated controversial issues in its own way. While the project has handbooks that offer guidelines, its leadership has never really been in the business of piling up policies to act on in anticipation of of future conflicts. The Governance project seems to have a good deal of both active and passive supporters. Regardless, when it was officially branded as unsanctioned, it was clear that WordPress&#8217; leadership was not actively looking to amend its organizational structure or decision-making process through the Governance project&#8217;s particular approach.</p>
<p>Cherry&#8217;s post clearly states that the project is not aiming to overthrow Matt Mullenweg as WordPress&#8217; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Benevolent Dictator for Life</a> (BDFL).</p>
<p>&#8220;Governance and Matt Mullenweg leading the WordPress project are not mutually exclusive,&#8221; Cherry said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The goal of the WordPress Governance Project isn’t to change how Matt is involved, but to more clearly define how the project is managed, and how he and others fit into the process.&#8221;</p>
<p>The BDFL governance model has traditionally operated with leaders acting more as a &#8220;community-approved arbitrator,&#8221; who often &#8220;let things work themselves out through discussion and experimentation whenever possible,&#8221; as Karl Fogel describes in <a href="https://producingoss.com/html-chunk/benevolent-dictator.html#benevolent-dictator-qualifications" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Producing Open Source Software</a>. Historically, WordPress&#8217; particular expression of BDFL leadership has loosely followed this design.</p>
<p>In her February 2019 newsletter, <a href="https://nadiaeghbal.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nadia Eghbal</a>, a researcher who specializes in open source infrastructure, shared some informal thoughts about governance, particularly in relationship to BDFL-led projects:</p>
<blockquote><p>A friend of mine has very good taste in music, but I couldn’t tell you what he listens to. I couldn’t name a single artist he plays, or where one song begins or ends. His view is that “the best kind of music is where nobody notices it’s playing”. In his ideal world, music shapes ambiance as a background process. </p>
<p>Similarly, despite all our talk about governance design, I keep coming back to the idea that the best kind of governance is where nobody can tell it’s there.</p></blockquote>
<p>Eghbal describes the relationship between the “government&#8221; and “the governed” as fragile and symbiotic and that &#8220;having power can be just as vulnerable [as disenfranchisement], an act of cupping water in your hands, rather than closing your fist over it.&#8221; Maintaining a BDFL leadership role requires diplomacy and a broad awareness of the project&#8217;s needs. Eghbal surmises that contributors support a leader in this position because of the character the leader has demonstrated:</p>
<blockquote><p>In open source, there’s this concept of a “benevolent dictator for life”: a developer, usually the author, who runs the project and whose authority is not challenged. This phrase is often interpreted as “You’re the dictator, but at least you’re nice about it”. But I think there’s a hidden causal relationship that gets missed. It’s not that you’re a dictator who’s decided to be benevolent. Rather: because you are benevolent, you get to be dictator for life.</p></blockquote>
<p>This idea echoes Fogel&#8217;s summary of the <a href="https://producingoss.com/html-chunk/benevolent-dictator.html#benevolent-dictator-qualifications" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">qualities of a good BDF</a>. The forkability of any open source project serves to keep BDFL powers in check:</p>
<blockquote><p>It is common for the benevolent dictator to be a founder of the project, but this is more a correlation than a cause. The sorts of qualities that make one able to successfully start a project — technical competence, ability to persuade other people to join, and so on — are exactly the qualities any BD would need.</p></blockquote>
<p>In reviewing the 16-year history of WordPress&#8217; leadership structure on a <a href="https://poststatus.com/matt-mullenweg-on-gutenberg/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Post Status podcast episode</a> earlier this year, Matt Mullenweg described different experiments the project has explored, including a &#8220;lead developers consensus&#8221; approach and having the release lead as the final decision maker for the software. In recent years he has returned to a more overt BDFL model but said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t see that as the forever structure.&#8221;</p>
<p>In attempting to clarify WordPress&#8217; organizational structure and decision making model, the independent Governance project will need to be sensitive to the possibility that this ability to improvise and evolve the project&#8217;s leadership structures may have been one of the key factors in its continued growth and long-term ability to thrive.</p>
<p>The new leaders who replace Cherry and Rand-Hendriksen will have a formidable challenge ahead of them in carving out a path for the organization to have a meaningful impact on WordPress, despite not being designated as an official project. As it stands, the leaders face an uphill climb in moving the project from an unofficial working group to one that can effectively draft policies that WordPress will readily adopt.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 04 Sep 2019 22:28:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:101:"WPTavern: WordPress 5.3 to Use Robots Meta Tag to Better Discourage Search Engines from Listing Sites";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93331";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:112:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-3-to-use-robots-meta-tag-to-better-discourage-search-engines-from-listing-sites";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2491:"<p>WordPress is changing the method it uses to prevent search engines from indexing sites. Previously, if a user checked the &#8220;Discourage search engines from indexing this site&#8221; option in a site&#8217;s Settings > Reading screen, WordPress would add <code>Disallow: /</code> to the robots.txt file. This would prevent crawling but did not always prevent sites from showing up in search results. </p>



<img />



<p>As of 5.3, WordPress will drop the robots.txt method in favor of adding an updated robots meta tag to prevent the site from being listed in search engines: <code>&lt;meta name='robots' content='noindex,nofollow' /></code>. The meta tag offers a more reliable way of preventing indexing and subsequent crawling.</p>



<p>When checking the setting to discourage search engines from indexing a site, users are often looking for a way to hide their sites, but the setting does not always work as they expected. Jono Alderson summarized the problem and the proposed solution in a <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43590#comment:9">comment</a> on the trac <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43590">ticket</a> that brought about the changes:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>The Reading setting infers that it&#8217;s intended to prevent search engines from <em>indexing</em> the content, rather than from <em>crawling</em> it. However, <strong>the presence of the robots disallow rule prevents search engines from ever discovering the <code>noindex</code> directive</strong>, and thus they may index &#8216;fragments&#8217; (where the page is indexed without content).<br /><br />2) Google recently announced that they&#8217;re making efforts to prevent fragment indexing. However, until this exists (and I&#8217;m not sure it will; it&#8217;s still a necessary/correct solution sometimes), we should solve for current behaviors. <strong>Let&#8217;s remove the <code>robots.txt</code> disallow rule</strong>, and allow Google (and others) to <em>crawl</em> the site.</p></blockquote>



<p>In the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/02/changes-to-prevent-search-engines-indexing-sites/">dev note</a> announcing the change, Peter Wilson recommends that developers wanting to exclude development sites from being indexed by search engines should include the HTTP Header <code>X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow</code> when serving all assets for the site, including images, PDFs, video, and other assets.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 04 Sep 2019 03:19:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: Toolbelt: A New Jetpack-Inspired Plugin with a Focus on Speed and Privacy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92814";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/toolbelt-a-new-jetpack-inspired-plugin-with-a-focus-on-speed-and-privacy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6830:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-09-02-at-11.16.22-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress theme and plugin developer <a href="https://www.binarymoon.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ben Gillbanks</a> is building a <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a> alternative with an emphasis on speed, simplicity, and privacy. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-toolbelt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Toolbelt</a> is a new, lightweight plugin that offers a collection of functionality that is commonly-used on WordPress sites. Currently available modules include features like breadcrumbs, browser native lazy loading, a Portfolio custom post type, related posts with images, responsive video, static social sharing, and more.</p>
<p>Gillbanks runs <a href="https://prothemedesign.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pro Theme Design</a>, a commercial WordPress theme shop, and has sold themes on WordPress.com for the past seven years. He likes the idea of Jetpack and all of his commercial themes support it, but a desire to deliver more performant and sustainable sites drove him to create Toolbelt. He&#8217;s working on a new free theme called <a href="https://github.com/BinaryMoon/jarvis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jarvis</a> that will be released on WordPress.org with full Toolbelt compatibility.</p>
<p>&#8220;With my new theme I wanted to make something that was fast, private, and accessible. Inspired by people like Jack Lenox with <a href="https://sustywp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Susty</a> (and <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2019/08/27/jack-lenox-how-better-performing-websites-can-help-save-the-planet-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">his talk at WordCamp Europe</a>), I wanted to make something more sustainable. In testing my theme on my personal site I found that Jetpack was slowing it down. So I started rebuilding the features I wanted to use as an optimized plugin.&#8221;</p>
<p>Toolbelt currently includes more than a dozen modules, offered in a format similar to Jetpack but with a dramatically stripped down management interface in the admin. All modules are disabled by default so users can turn on only the ones they need.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-09-02-at-11.01.15-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The settings page includes a column that transparently displays the page impact for several of the modules, as high performance is one of Gillbanks&#8217; chief goals for the plugin.</p>
<p>&#8220;I had been testing my theme on a dev server and it was getting a score of 99 or 100 &#8211; but when I added it to my personal site the score dropped,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It took me a while to realize the problem was Jetpack, and once I had disabled Jetpack my score went up to 99 or 100 again. So now, each time I add a feature, I test the site to make sure I am maintaining the performance I am testing my site, with each feature and &#8211; hopefully &#8211; keeping the score nice and high.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although Toolbelt borrows a lot of code from both <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a> and the <a href="https://github.com/nilovelez/machete/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Machete</a> plugin, Gillbanks made some deliberate choices in favor of performance when loading the code for the modules:</p>
<ul>
<li>Doesn’t use jQuery or any other javascript framework. All javascript is vanilla js, and minified.</li>
<li>Minifies all assets (JS and CSS)</li>
<li>Loads all assets inline. They are already small, and loading them directly on the page means there are no server requests.</li>
<li>Only loads things when they are needed. JS and CSS are only loaded for activated modules.</li>
<li>No options. There’s only one database option, and that’s an array that stores what modules are active.</li>
<li>Uses the minimum code possible. Minimum Javascript and PHP. Less code means more speed, and fewer bugs.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Toolbelt&#8217;s Approach to Privacy: No Phoning Out, No User Tracking</h3>
<p>Privacy is one of the most important aspects of the plugin for Gillbanks, who is English and has to deal with GDPR and EU cookie laws. Toolbelt does not phone out for any of its features, nor does the plugin share data with third parties or use standard social sharing JavaScripts. It also does not track usage or add any comments to the site&#8217;s HTML.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the downsides of Jetpack is that it relies on the wordpress.com servers, including hosting images and content on their site,&#8221; Gillbanks said. &#8220;Things like Related Posts sync the blog post data to their servers so it can be searched and filtered.&#8221;</p>
<p>The privacy choices built into Toolbelt may limit Gillbanks&#8217; ability to reproduce certain features that rely on third-party servers, such as visitor stats, downtime monitoring, and image CDN.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure if I&#8217;ll add these features, or partner with privacy focused third party services,&#8221; Gillbanks said. &#8220;I must admit I&#8217;d really like to add the stats so I&#8217;m hoping I can find someone to work with.&#8221;</p>
<p>Toolbelt is heavily inspired by Jetpack but Gillbanks said he doesn&#8217;t plan to rebuild all of its features. He is starting with the easier ones and focusing on the ones he wants to use. He also doesn&#8217;t have plans to monetize it anytime soon.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m open to adding premium features in the future, but if I do I won&#8217;t start charging for anything that is currently free,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For the time being I just want to keep adding more modules and making something that I find useful.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gillbanks is currently working on improving Toolbelt&#8217;s cookie consent bar to build a method for having it allow an &#8216;accept&#8217; and &#8216;decline&#8217; option, so that tracking is only enabled when users press the accept button. This assists those who want to follow GDPR guidelines more strictly. The current implementation automatically links to the site&#8217;s privacy policy page if the user has it setup in their site settings.</p>
<p>Toolbelt doesn&#8217;t have any settings, besides what modules are active on the site, but Gillbanks has created a collection of actions and filters that allow developers to customize things for clients/ themes. The <a href="https://github.com/BinaryMoon/wp-toolbelt/wiki" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">documentation</a> is available on GitHub, where users can also submit issues and feature requests.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 03 Sep 2019 20:13:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress: August 2019";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7059";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/the-month-in-wordpress-august-2019/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9644:"<p>This has been a particularly busy month, with a number of interesting and ambitious proposals for the WordPress project along with active progress across the entire community. </p>



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



<h2>Core Development and Schedule</h2>



<p>The upcoming minor release of WordPress, v5.2.3, is currently <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/22/wordpress-5-2-3-rc-1/">in the release candidate phase</a> and available for testing.</p>



<p>Following that, the next major release is v5.3 and the Core team has laid out <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/21/wordpress-5-3-schedule-and-scope/">a schedule and scope</a> for development. In addition, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/27/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-3/">a bug scrub schedule</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2019/08/28/wordpress-5-3-accessibility-focused-bug-scrub-schedule/">an accessibility-focused schedule</a> have been set out to provide dedicated times for contributors to work on ironing out the bugs in the release.</p>



<p>Want to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">the Core team blog</a>, and join the #core channel in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">the Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>



<h2>Proposal for User Privacy Improvements</h2>



<p>The Core Privacy Team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/feature-plugin-discussion-a-consent-and-logging-mechanism-for-user-privacy/">has proposed a feature plugin</a> to build a consent and logging mechanism for user privacy. This project will focus on improving the user privacy controls in WordPress Core in order to protect site owners and users alike.</p>



<p>The proposal includes some useful information about building effective controls for users, how other projects have worked on similar efforts, and what kind of time and resources the project will need in order to be developed.</p>



<p>Want to get involved in this feature project? Follow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">the Core team blog</a>, and join the #core-privacy channel in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">the Making WordPress Slack group</a> where there are open office hours every Wednesday at 19:00 UTC.</p>



<h2>Core Notification System Proposal</h2>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/05/feature-project-proposal-wp-notify/">A proposal has been made</a> for a new feature project to build a robust notification system for WordPress Core. The aim of the project is to build a system to handle notifications for site owners that can be extended by plugin and theme developers.</p>



<p>This proposal comes on the back of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43484">a Trac ticket</a> opened 18 months ago. With weekly meetings to discuss the project, the team behind WP Notify are <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/wp-notify-meeting-recap-august-26-2019/">in the planning phase</a> while they establish exactly how to develop the feature.<br /></p>



<p>Want to get involved in this feature project? Follow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">the Core team blog</a>, and join the #core channel in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">the Making WordPress Slack group</a> &#8211; meetings for this project happen every Monday at 14:00 and 22:00 UTC.</p>



<h2>Local WordPress Development Environment</h2>



<p>Members of the Core Team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/05/wordpress-local-environment/">have put together a local development environment for WordPress</a> that runs on Docker. This environment provides an easy way for developers to get involved with WordPress core development. </p>



<p>The work on this was inspired by the environment used for local Gutenberg development, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/30/gutenberg-local-environment-rewrite/">which has since been improved</a> based on the new work that has been done here.</p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/05/wordpress-local-environment/">The announcement post</a> explains how to use the Docker environment. If you have any feedback or bug reports, please comment on the post directly.</p>



<h2>Updates for Older Versions of WordPress</h2>



<p>On July 30, the Security Team shared that security updates need to undergo the same testing and release process for every major version of WordPress. This means they have to provide long-term support for over fifteen major versions of WordPress. This requires a lot of time and effort, and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/07/29/should-security-fixes-continue-to-be-backported-to-very-old-versions-of-wordpress/">the team has sought feedback on potential solutions for this challenge</a>. </p>



<p>Following this discussion, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/">a proposal was made to auto-update old versions of WordPress to v4.7</a>. This proposal garnered many responses and has since been updated to incorporate feedback from comments. The current recommendation is to secure the six latest versions and to eventually auto-update all older versions of WordPress to 4.7. Since this proposal was made, it has been discussed at <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2019/08/26/hosting-meeting-notes-august-19-2019/">Hosting Team meetings</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/16/follow-up-discussion-on-major-auto-updates/">Dev Chat meetings</a>, and the conversation is still ongoing.</p>



<p>Want to provide feedback on this proposal? Comment on <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/">the original post</a> with your thoughts.</p>



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



<h2>Further Reading:</h2>



<ul><li>The recommended minimum PHP version for WordPress Core <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/13/increasing-the-recommended-php-version-in-core/">has been increased to 7.0</a>.</li><li>Gutenberg development continues at a rapid pace with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-28-august/">new updates</a> coming out every month.</li><li>The Core Team is kicking off bug scrub and triage sessions <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/26/apac-triage-and-bug-scrub-sessions/">at APAC-friendly times</a>.</li><li>WordCamp US announced <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/schedule/">the event schedule</a> to take place on November 1-3.</li><li>The Plugin Team reminded developers that <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2019/08/23/reminder-developers-must-comply-with-the-forum-guidelines/">they need to stick to the Plugin Directory forum guidelines</a> if they choose to use them for support.</li><li>WordPress project leadership is looking at <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/07/30/update-sanctions-and-open-source/">how to respond to political sanctions</a> in light of the open-source nature of the project.&nbsp;</li><li>The Community Team has proposed <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/08/19/proposal-speaker-feedback-tool/">a WordCamp speaker feedback tool</a> that will allow more reliable and consistent feedback for WordCamps speakers all over the world.</li><li>The Five for the Future project now has <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/08/29/five-for-the-future-proposed-scope-and-mockups/">more complete mockups</a> and a plan to move forward.</li><li>The Theme Review Team decided to terminate the Trusted Authors program for a number of reasons <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2019/08/14/trusted-author-program-a-year-of-its-journey/">outlined in the announcement post</a>.</li><li>The Design Team is taking a look at <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/08/28/discussion-about-the-about-page/">how they can improve the About page</a> in future WordPress releases.</li><li>This month saw <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/2019/08/14/wp-cli-release-v2-3-0/">the release of v2.3 of WP-CLI</a>, including a number of new commands and improvements.</li><li>WordCamp websites can now make use of <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/08/19/wordcamp-blocks-are-live/">custom blocks in the block editor</a> for crafting their content.</li><li>The Mobile Team are looking for testers for the v13.2 release of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2019/08/27/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-13-2/">Android</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2019/08/29/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-13-2/">iOS</a> apps.</li><li>The WordCamp Asia team <a href="https://2020.asia.wordcamp.org/2019/08/20/wordcamp-asia-logo-a-design-journey">published an interesting look</a> at the journey they took to design the event logo.</li><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/08/26/call-for-volunteers-2020-global-sponsorship-working-group/">A working group of volunteers is being formed</a> to work out the details for the Global Sponsorship Program in 2020.</li><li>In an effort to increase the accessibility of available WordPress themes, the Theme Review Team now requires that <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2019/08/03/planning-for-keyboard-navigation/">all themes include keyboard navigation</a>.</li></ul>



<p><em>Have a story that we should include in the next “Month in WordPress” post? Please </em><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><em>submit it here</em></a><em>.</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 02 Sep 2019 10:00:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Hugh Lashbrooke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: NetNewsWire 5.0 RSS Reader Rebuilt from Scratch, Now Free and Open Source";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93240";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/netnewswire-5-0-rss-reader-rebuilt-from-scratch-now-free-and-open-source";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4964:"<p><a href="https://inessential.com/2019/08/26/netnewswire_5_0_now_available" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NetNewsWire 5.0</a> was released this week as a completely rebuilt, free and open source Mac app. Back in its earlier days, the 17-year old RSS reader was widely regarded as the best available. Since its creation, the app has changed hands multiple times through two acquisitions, finally <a href="https://inessential.com/2018/08/31/netnewswire_comes_home" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">landing back home with its creator, Brent Simmons</a>, in August 2018.</p>
<p>NetNewsWire 5.0 retains much of its original character while incorporating modern features like JSON Feed support, Dark Mode, a “Today” smart feed, syncing via Feedbin, starred articles, and more. It is a brand new app that doesn&#8217;t use any code from previous versions. Users who are updating from older commercial versions can export OPML from the old app and import it into the NetNewsWire 5.0 app.</p>
<p>Notably lacking from the app is the ability to sync data across devices. Right now this is only possible if users hook up Feedbin. Simmons said he is working with contributors on an iOS version of the app.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NNW5Light.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Although it may not yet have as many features as some of its contemporaries, NetNewsWire&#8217;s return was celebrated by those who are hopeful that RSS can be one of the key technologies for unshackling web users from social media silos. NetNewsWire is back in support of this mission, which is highlighted on the app&#8217;s homepage:</p>
<blockquote><p>We support the open web. The big social networking sites are damaging society and eroding democracy — and we believe one of the ways out of this is to get our news via the open web rather than from Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p>NetNewsWire is part of repairing the web we lost, and it’s part of building the web we want. That future web should not include viral hate speech, abuse, massive corporate surveillance, or successful influence operations by hostile governments and entities opposed to democracy.</p></blockquote>
<p>NetNewsWire is no longer owned or sponsored by any corporation. In fact, the app&#8217;s GitHub repo has a <a href="https://github.com/brentsimmons/NetNewsWire/blob/master/Technotes/HowToSupportNetNewsWire.markdown" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support document</a> that says: &#8220;First thing: don’t send money. This app is written for love, not money.&#8221; It outlines the project&#8217;s values:</p>
<blockquote><p>NetNewsWire is all about three things:</p>
<p>The open web<br />
High-quality open source Mac and iOS apps<br />
The community that loves both of the above</p></blockquote>
<p>In contrast to recent <a href="https://wptavern.com/standardjs-ends-controversial-funding-experiment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">experiments and conversations around sustaining open source infrastructure</a>, NetNewsWire&#8217;s approach gives the project the <a href="https://inessential.com/2015/06/30/love" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">creative freedom to take risks</a> and ship software at their own pace.</p>
<p>When one commenter asked on Twitter about NetNewsWire&#8217;s business model, Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1167445558534914048" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> in defense of the project&#8217;s lack of a plan for making a profit.</p>
<p>&#8220;Not everything needs a business model,&#8221; Hansson said. &#8220;Writing open source software for fun, for the intellectual challenge, for the expression of creativity, are valid reasons. Same too goes for writing and sharing. Filtering everything through WHERE’S THE MONEY is a disease of the soul.</p>
<p>&#8220;An open source RSS reader that does not operate a service does not need a business model. An individual publisher paying a pittance to host a blog with RSS does not need a business model.&#8221;</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a new RSS reader to aggregate your news in a more calm environment than Twitter or Facebook can provide, NetNewsWire is a strong open source option with an exciting future ahead. Few apps have this kind of longevity, and it will be interesting to see how it evolves as an open source Mac app. As of <a href="https://ranchero.com/netnewswire/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">version 5.0</a>, it&#8217;s still fairly minimalist in terms of features but has a lot of momentum and <a href="https://netnewswire.slack.com/join/shared_invite/enQtNjM4MDA1MjQzMDkzLTNlNjBhOWVhYzdhYjA4ZWFhMzQ1MTUxYjU0NTE5ZGY0YzYwZWJhNjYwNTNmNTg2NjIwYWY4YzhlYzk5NmU3ZTc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a passionate community</a> behind it, which in this case has proven more valuable towards ensuring its future.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 31 Aug 2019 03:10:51 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"WPTavern: StandardJS Ends Controversial Funding Experiment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93212";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://wptavern.com/standardjs-ends-controversial-funding-experiment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4851:"<p>Feross Aboukhadijeh, maintainer of StandardJS, has formally <a href="https://feross.org/funding-experiment-recap/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ended the funding experiment</a> he started lasted week, which <a href="https://wptavern.com/standardjs-pauses-experiment-with-ads-in-the-terminal-after-linode-pulls-sponsorship" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inserted ads in the terminal</a> whenever Standard 14 is installed.</p>
<p>Although the experiment met widespread aversion, it successfully captured public attention and put a spotlight on the critical need for a viable model of funding open source infrastructure. It also uncovered some intense presuppositions that developers have when it comes to protecting their workflow in the terminal.</p>
<p>&#8220;If nothing else, it’s nice that funding forced open source &#8216;consumers&#8217; – folks who enjoy the benefits of open source software without ever contributing anything back – to reconsider their relationship with open source,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;I think we successfully pushed back against the entitlement to free labor that is pervasive in the interactions that open source consumers have with maintainers.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">glob bless <a href="https://twitter.com/feross?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@feross</a> for poking the hornet’s nest tho</p>
<p>&mdash; Forrest L Norvell (@othiym23) <a href="https://twitter.com/othiym23/status/1165709255967510528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Supporting work with advertising is nothing new, but the shock of seeing ads in the terminal activated an urgency in the open source community to collectively brainstorm and consider new approaches.</p>
<p>&#8220;While I didn’t like the approach, I understood the goal,&#8221; <a href="https://eslint.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ESLint</a> creator Nicholas C. Zakas <a href="https://twitter.com/slicknet/status/1167154854298411008" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;There is little involved in mindlessly typing &#8216;npm i&#8217; and getting something for free. This experiment at least broke people out of that mode, even if only momentarily.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google Chrome engineer Chris Palmer <a href="https://twitter.com/fugueish/status/1166192728603914241" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> he saw Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s experiment as &#8220;a live demonstration of the fact that it’s very very hard to get people to pay, in any way, for information goods, which are indeed scarce. It has been as delightful and as bracing as it always is.&#8221;</p>
<p>In his recap of the <code>funding</code> experiment, Aboukhadijeh contends that the phrase &#8220;open source sustainability&#8221; isn&#8217;t ideal, because maintainers are often simply subsisting, as opposed to thriving, on the few donations they receive, despite creating millions of dollars of value for the companies that use their work.</p>
<p>&#8220;The dirty secret of open source is that much of it is powered by maintainer guilt,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;A lucky few manage to land day jobs that allow them to work on open source. But most folks have to be more creative – squeezing in time after work, secretly doing open source maintenance at work, or opting out of normal society completely.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh is particularly concerned about finding solutions for the &#8220;invisible&#8221; maintainers of transitive open source dependencies, packages that no one installs directly:</p>
<blockquote><p>But reliable, error-free transitive dependencies are invisible. Therefore, the maintainers are invisible, too. And, the better these maintainers do their job, the more invisible they are. No one ever visits a GitHub repository for a transitive dependency that works perfectly – there’s no reason to do so. But a developer investigating an error stack trace might visit the repository if for no other reason than to file an issue. At least then there’s a small chance they’ll see the maintainer’s plea in the README.</p>
<p>We need solutions that work for these folks too.</p></blockquote>
<p>Although this particular funding experiment did not prove to be successful, Aboukhadijeh said he has more sponsors who are interested and more experiments in the works that he is excited about.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe ads aren’t the answer – fine,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But telling maintainers to bury their appeals where no one bothers to look is not the answer, either.</p>
<p>&#8220;Approximately 100% of the Fortune 500 use open source code. Maintainers are just starting to wake up to our own power. Expect to be surprised. This certainly won’t be the last open source funding experiment.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:02:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 6.4 Adds New Typewriter Experience, Cover Block Resizing, and Block Inserter Help Panel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93172";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:116:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-6-4-adds-new-typewriter-experience-cover-block-resizing-and-block-inserter-help-panel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5662:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-28-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gutenberg 6.4 </a>arrived this week with two more improvements to the Cover block. The background can now be set to a solid color (in addition to images and videos). Users can also easily <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/17143" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">resize the block</a>, making it far more useful for those who are designing their own pages.</p>
<p>One notable change to Image block in this release is the addition of a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16475" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">circle mask variation</a>. Gutenberg designer Joen Asmussen described how it works with various image aspect ratios:</p>
<blockquote><p>This PR adds a variation to the Image block, &#8220;Circle Crop&#8221;. What that means is you can choose a style variation for the image, which rounds all 4 corners. When this is applied to a square image, that means a perfect circle. When it is applied to a rectangle, it means a pill-shape.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.55.40-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>A new &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16460" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Typewriter experience</a>&#8221; landed in this release, providing a smoother writing flow that is especially beneficial when writing on mobile. It keeps the users&#8217;s place while typing, maintaining a margin at the bottom of the screen. This prevents typing from overflowing outside the viewport and allows the user&#8217;s eyes to stay in the same place.</p>
<p>This video demo from the release post explains how the Typewriter experience improves writing in the editor:</p>
<p><div class="wp-video"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');</script><![endif]-->
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/typewriter.mp4">https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/typewriter.mp4</a></div></p>
<h3>New Help Panel in the Block Inserter Offers More Real Estate for Contextual Help and Tips</h3>
<p>After another round of <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/tag/usability-testing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">usability testing in July 2019</a>, Gutenberg designers found that most participants were not interacting with the new user help tips, preferring to jump right into editing. The floating tips also obscured essential UI and the placement of the tips was <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16225" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">even worse on mobile</a>.</p>
<p>As part of an ongoing effort to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16315" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bring all tips inline</a>, Gutenberg 6.4 <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16813" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">adds a new help panel to the block inserter</a>, designed to provide contextual help and education for users. As the user mouses over different blocks, the panel displays the icon, title, a brief explanation of what the block does, along with space for an image preview.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.01.21-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Contributors entertained quite a bit of discussion regarding how the block hovering interactions should behave, and this is likely to go through more iterations as users start testing it in the plugin. Some users may not like that it makes the block inserter take up more space on the screen, so there is a checkbox setting to turn it off under the vertical ellipses menu > Options:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.34.40-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The new help panel might be a good solution for helping users <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16521" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">identify the source of a block</a>, since branding in the block icon doesn&#8217;t always provide enough information. It could also be useful in providing a space where plugins authors could indicate if the block is only available with a paid upgrade. This would go a long way towards solving controversial issues related to monetizing plugins. Jetpack is currently <a href="https://wptavern.com/jetpack-7-6-improves-amp-compatibility-adds-preview-and-upgrade-nudge-for-blocks-only-available-on-paid-plans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">beta testing a preview and upgrade nudge for blocks only available on paid plans</a>. Using the help panel to indicate that the block is a non-functional preview might prevent users from getting frustrated by inserting the block only to discover the upsell in the editor.</p>
<p>In a related ticket, Matias Ventura has also floated the idea of implementing <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16866" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">block collections</a>, which would initially function in the same way block categories do now. This would allow developers to register a collection as another way to help users identify blocks coming from a single source.</p>
<p>Gutenberg 6.4 includes several new APIs and more than two dozen enhancements and bug fixes. Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-28-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">release post</a> for a full list of all the changes.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 29 Aug 2019 20:14:35 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta1";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=307494";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://buddypress.org/2019/08/buddypress-5-0-0-beta1/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3126:"<p>BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta1 is available for testing. You can <a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta1.zip">download it here</a> or get a copy via our Subversion repository. We’d love to have your feedback and testing help.</p>



<p>If your version of WordPress is &lt;= 4.6, we remind you that <strong><a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/buddypress-5-0-0-will-require-wordpress/">BuddyPress 5.0.0 will require at least WordPress 4.7</a></strong>. </p>



<p>A detailed changelog will be part of our official release notes, but, until then,&nbsp;here’s a tasty list of some of our favorite&nbsp;changes. (Check out&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&group=resolution&milestone=5.0.0">this report</a>&nbsp;on Trac for the full list.)</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2><strong>BP REST API</strong></h2>



<p>A BuddyPress developers tool to build awesome community applications or improve the performance of their existing ones. It has been developed as a feature as a plugin from <a href="https://github.com/buddypress/BP-REST">GitHub</a> and we think it&#8217;s time to include it in BuddyPress Core.</p>



<p>To help you discover the great powers of this new API, we&#8217;re also introducing a new user interface to manage Group members (<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8045">#8045</a>).</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2>BP Invitations API</h2>



<p>This API opens very promising opportunities to BuddyPress developers willing to manage their custom objects invites or membership requests. We&#8217;re primarly using it to improve how we handle invitations and requests to join Groups (<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6210">#6210</a>).</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2>BuddyPress Site Health section</h2>



<p>Users requesting for support will soon be able to copy the information of this section to their clipboard to share them with us. This should help our beloved support forum contributors to explain/fix issues faster.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/buddypress/assets/icon.svg" alt="" width="33" height="33" /></div>



<p>5.0.0 is almost ready (Targeted release date is <a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2019/08/23/bp-dev-chat-summary-august-21/">September 30, 2019</a>), but&nbsp;please do not run this Beta 1 release in a production environment just yet.&nbsp;Let us know of any issues you find in&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.org/support">the support forums</a>&nbsp;and/or&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/">our development tracker</a>.</p>



<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-squared"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-background" href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta1.zip">Download and test 5.0.0-beta1</a></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<p>Thanks everyone for all your contributions so far; please help us test and polish the 5.0.0 release so it can be as awesome as possible!</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 28 Aug 2019 22:30:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"imath";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"WPTavern: StandardJS Pauses Experiment with Ads in the Terminal after Linode Pulls Sponsorship";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93124";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/standardjs-pauses-experiment-with-ads-in-the-terminal-after-linode-pulls-sponsorship";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10594:"<p><a href="https://feross.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Feross Aboukhadijeh</a>, maintainer of the <a href="https://github.com/standard/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">StandardJS</a> library, a JavaScript style guide, linter, and automatic code fixer, <a href="https://github.com/standard/standard/issues/1381" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched an experiment</a> last week that places ads in the terminal in order to fund development. The experiment has since been paused after receiving negative feedback from the developer community, causing Linode, one of the initial sponsors, to remove its advertisement.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that the current model of sustaining open source is not working and we need more experimentation,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;This is one such experiment.&#8221; He developed a <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">module</a> that inserts an ad whenever Standard 14 is installed. Sponsorship funds are designated to pay for maintainer time, which he defined as &#8220;writing new features, fixing bugs, answering user questions, and improving documentation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh is a prolific developer who has authored more than <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/~feross" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">100 packages on npm</a> that are downloaded 100+ million times per month. Standard is his most popular open source project and is used by high profile projects and companies, including Node.js, npm, GitHub, Automattic, and many more.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-10.26.50-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh said his goal with the experiment is to make Standard and other open source projects healthier.</p>
<p>&#8220;For complex reasons, companies are generally hesitant or unwilling to fund OSS directly,&#8221; he said. &#8220;When it does happen, it&#8217;s never enough and it never reaches packages which are transitive dependencies (i.e. packages that no one installs explicitly and therefore no one knows exists). Essentially, we have a public good which is consumed by huge numbers of users, but which almost no one pays for. Fortunately, there exists a funding model that usually works for public goods like this – ads.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here is an example of the LogRocket ad that was part of the initial experiment:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/logrocket-ad.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>While some developers communicated support for open source maintainers to monetize their projects in whatever way they choose, the majority of feedback on GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, and social media strongly criticized this particular approach.</p>
<p>William Hilton, developer at Stoplight, speculated on the consequences of this type of advertising becoming a popular funding model:</p>
<blockquote><p>I do worry that npm install will just become a long trail of banner ads though eventually and it won&#8217;t scale. Because if every npm package adds ads, the noticeability of each ad will diminish. (Interestingly, the most valuable &#8220;realestate&#8221; will be packages whose banner is displayed last, so if it becomes a literal &#8220;race-to-the-bottom&#8221; people might add sleep statements to their post-install scripts so they are displayed nearest the bottom. What a dystopian installation experience!)</p></blockquote>
<p>He also noted that Yarn blocks the output of post-install scripts, which in this case would serve as built-in ad-blocking. Yarn&#8217;s maintainer chimed in on the thread with more context.</p>
<p>&#8220;As maintainer of Yarn, I&#8217;m strongly against this pattern, although not for the reasons you might think,&#8221; Maël Nison <a href="https://github.com/standard/standard/issues/1381#issuecomment-524276499" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Post-install scripts deoptimize packages and break workflows.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yarn already doesn&#8217;t print the build logs unless they make the installs crash, so this post-install script wouldn&#8217;t have any visible effect for our users. Still, I value the health of the ecosystem a lot, both from the point of view of maintainers and users, and I would be happy to discuss how we could satisfy this use case in a more integrated and less intrusive way.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since this is a newer experiment and hasn&#8217;t gone mainstream, it&#8217;s not clear whether npm may decide to block all methods of serving advertisements through the terminal in the future. A new module called <a href="https://github.com/kethinov/no-cli-ads" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">No CLI Ads</a> was created in response to Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s funding module. It blocks ads from appearing in console output. <a href="https://github.com/mkg20001/npm-adblock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">npm-adblock</a> is an alternative that functions in a different way. The existence of simple, albeit inconvenient, ways of blocking these types of ads may be all that is necessary to dry up any potential revenue stream.</p>
<p>Feedback on this experiment demonstrates that there is wide support for finding a solution to the problem of open source funding, but most agree that terminal ads is not a viable option. In fact, many commenters identified this approach as the most annoying thing that a package maintainer can do, apart from removing the package. Developers do not wish to be spammed while installing a dependency. One commenter describes his terminal as &#8220;the one last stronghold&#8221; and &#8220;haven of peace&#8221; that doesn&#8217;t serve ads from corporate overlords.</p>
<p>&#8220;Selling ad-space is not innovative,&#8221; developer Matthias Hogerheijde said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s particularly unhelpful in my logs. For me, the issue is more that I don&#8217;t want stuff that doesn&#8217;t help me in my logs. I wholeheartedly agree with putting your &#8216;supported by company X&#8217; in the readme. That helps me understand, it does resonate with me when I see certain companies donating money to OSS. I, too, want to live in a perfect world where every developer can live, pay rent and only work on projects they like. That perfect world for me does not include ads in my terminal.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reddit commenters took humorous jabs at the idea, penning sample ads that interrupt the build process:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-6.18.13-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<h3>Linode Pulls Sponsorship from Standard&#8217;s Terminal Ads Experiment</h3>
<p>Standard.js users who were unhappy with the ads in their terminals complained to the sponsors and Linode decided to remove its ad from the experiment.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We hear you loud and clear. We've reconsidered and have removed the ad.</p>
<p>&mdash; Linode (@linode) <a href="https://twitter.com/linode/status/1165421512633016322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>&#8220;We reconsidered after reflecting on the developer community&#8217;s reaction,&#8221; a Linode representative said on Twitter. &#8220;We still passionately support open source software along with @feross, but we&#8217;ll be more careful about experimenting in the future while continuing to innovate.&#8221;</p>
<p>Prior to pausing the experiment, Aboukhadijeh reported he had raised $2,000, enough to fund five days worth of his time to release Standard 14.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we are able to raise additional funds, the next thing I&#8217;d like to focus on is out-of-the-box TypeScript support in StandardJS (one of the most common feature requests!) and modernizing the various text editor plugins (many of which are currently unmaintained),&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;If others in the community are interested in taking the lead on any of these issues, I&#8217;d like to direct some funds to you.&#8221;</p>
<p>The experiment isn&#8217;t entirely off the table, since it seems to have met one of Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s immediate objectives, despite annoying (and in some cases infuriating) the developer community.</p>
<p>Four days ago, Standard locked the GitHub thread discussing the new funding model after it became too heated. The project&#8217;s maintainers are now <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">evaluating this iteration of the experiment</a>, but the discussion extends beyond the simple question of whether developers like ads in their terminals. A new thread on the project&#8217;s repo, titled &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What&#8217;s wrong with Open Source right now?</a>&#8221; has diverted some of the negative feedback into a broader, more productive discussion.</p>
<p>The experiment has reignited important conversations about the sustainability of open source and <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">where project maintainers want to see it go in the future.</a> In a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/feross/status/1163553976937304065" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweet</a>, Aboukhadijeh shared a <a href="http://softwaremaniacs.org/blog/2019/02/25/misconception-about-oss-support/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">link</a> to particular situation that one maintainer faced in supporting a free syntax highlighting library.</p>
<p>After receiving urgent comments and emails following a release that had errors causing dependencies to break, Ivan Sagalaev, the original author of highlight.js, aptly summarized the current state of the relationship between businesses and open source projects:</p>
<blockquote><p>Dear fellow engineers, please take this build hiccup as an opportunity to explain to your particular business people that their entire intellectual property is a thin layer on top of a shaky foundation of open-source code lazily maintained by hobbyists or paid for by other businesses having their own goals in mind. </p>
<p>If they really want stability they have to invest in it by, for example, hiring engineers to deal with myriad of dependencies, maintain local stable forks, contribute patches upstream, or whatever — the key point is that it should not look like it &#8216;just works&#8217; on fairy dust.</p></blockquote>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 28 Aug 2019 20:14:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: Top Fifty WP: New Website Ranks Plugins by Downloads per Day";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93005";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"https://wptavern.com/top-fifty-wp-new-website-ranks-plugins-by-downloads-per-day";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3117:"<p>The team behind <a href="https://www.pootlepress.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pootlepress</a> has launched a new website that displays the <a href="https://topfiftywp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">top 50 WordPress plugins</a> by downloads per day. It uses the <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress.org_API#Plugins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress.org Plugin API</a> to pull the previous day&#8217;s download stats from plugins hosted in the directory. The site also shows the average rating as a percent in the right-hand column.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-10.33.41-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>As one might expect, the most popular plugins with more than a million active installs dominate the top 50 spots. There are a few surprising plugins in the mix, with 500,000 installs or less, where these daily download stats might be an indication of their potential growth: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ocean-extra/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ocean Extra</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wps-hide-login/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPS Hide Login</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/amp/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AMP</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-file-manager/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">File Manager</a>, and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP Statistics</a>. It&#8217;s something to monitor over time, as there may be quite a bit of turnover in the top 50.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also interesting to see a few plugins among the top 50 that provide utilities frequently used when working with WordPress but not necessary to have installed all the time. It looks like users are installing plugins like WordPress Importer, Maintenance, All-in-One WP Migration, and Coming Soon Page, and then leaving them active on their sites.</p>
<h3>Top Fifty WP Is Now Available as a Plugin with Gutenberg Blocks for Top Plugins and Themes</h3>
<p>Pootlepress has <a href="https://www.pootlepress.com/2019/08/introducing-topfiftywp-com-our-new-website-that-shows-the-most-downloaded-wordpress-plugins-per-day/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">packaged up Top 50 WP as a plugin</a> so that other publishers can use it to display the same data on their own websites. It includes two Gutenberg blocks &#8211; one for plugins and the other for themes. They are listed under Layout Elements.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-2.00.12-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Pootlepress founder Jamie Marsland said the plugin is coming soon to WordPress.org but for now it can be downloaded from his website. It requires the Caxton plugin to be installed, which provides Pootlepress&#8217; base framework for new blocks. Marsland&#8217;s team is working on adding more blocks with plugin and theme data, as well as customization options for each block.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 27 Aug 2019 19:15:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"WPTavern: Micro.blog Adds Tumblr Cross-Posting";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93064";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:57:"https://wptavern.com/micro-blog-adds-tumblr-cross-posting";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4304:"<p>Over the weekend, <a href="https://micro.blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Micro.blog</a> added <a href="https://www.manton.org/2019/08/23/tumblr-crossposting.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tumblr cross-posting</a> to its service in response to <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-tumblr-plans-to-rebuild-the-backend-powered-by-wordpress" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Automattic&#8217;s acquisition of the company</a>. Micro.blog users can now elect to have their blog posts automatically syndicated to Tumblr.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/tumblr-cross-posting.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Although Tumblr is somewhat of a competitor to Micro.blog&#8217;s social networking and microblogging service, founder Manton Reece said he sees Tumblr as more of a social network:</p>
<blockquote><p>I usually avoid adding blog hosting services to Micro.blog’s available cross-posting destinations. After all, if it’s a good blog host that I could recommend as your primary blog, why not just post everything there instead of using Micro.blog’s own blog hosting? But the more I’ve used Tumblr in the last couple of weeks, the more I think about Tumblr as a community first and a blog host second.</p></blockquote>
<p>Micro.blog may bear some similarities to Tumblr but the service has an entirely different flavor. It has become an alternative watering hole for indie web enthusiasts with its support for Webmention and Micropub protocols. Many who use the service seem to already be convinced of the value of hosting a blog that is independent from the major social media silos.</p>
<p>Micro.blog already had several Tumblr-related features built in to the platform. Users can follow Tumblr blogs on Micro.blog by visiting the Discover feed and plugging in any Tumblr domain name. Micro.blog users can also add their own Tumblr feeds to their accounts so followers can see posts from both their main microblog and the Tumblr blog.</p>
<p>On a recent episode of the Core Intuition podcast titled &#8220;<a href="https://coreint.org/2019/08/episode-384-a-much-bigger-megaphone/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Much Bigger Megaphone</a>,&#8221; Reece and co-host Daniel Jalkut, the developer of <a href="https://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MarsEdit</a>, speculate on the future of Tumblr and discuss some key differences from Micro.blog&#8217;s service and social network. Micro.blog acts more as an aggregate of blogs from around the web, whereas Tumblr&#8217;s blogging aspect is limited to Tumblr accounts only.</p>
<p>Both networks aim to make blogging easier and seem to focus on shorter-style posts. However, Micro.blog is more of a social network for independent microbloggers who want to connect their content to a stream of blogs. Tumblr is a blogging service that has a symbiotic relationship with the communities its publishing capabilities enable. It has the potential to become the most important social network on the open web, given its active user base and Automattic&#8217;s commitment to independent publishing.</p>
<p>Both Reece and Jalkut said they were optimistic that Automattic&#8217;s acquisition of Tumblr will introduce more opportunities for both Micro.blog and MarsEdit, as the company&#8217;s influence makes it easier to market the value of owning your own blog. For a long time, Tumblr&#8217;s API hasn&#8217;t supported some of the key features of MarsEdit and Jlkut said he is hopeful that with Automattic at the helm the API may change to support the types of things his customers need.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.manton.org/2019/08/13/tumblr-and-appnet.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> published shortly after the acquisition, Reece said he believes Tumblr has a lot of overlap with Micro.blog and views Automattic as having a &#8220;shared vision of the future that embraces content ownership, supports healthy communities, and deemphasizes massive social networks.&#8221; Those who value blogs and blogging are hopeful that Tumblr&#8217;s new ownership will rekindle some of the social magic that was present in the early days of the web but has since become more scarce.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:59:56 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"WPTavern: php Central Europe Conference Canceled Due to Lack of Speaker Diversity";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93012";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://wptavern.com/php-central-europe-conference-canceled-due-to-lack-of-speaker-diversity";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8679:"<p><a href="https://2019.phpce.eu/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">phpCE</a>, a central European PHP conference that was previously scheduled for October 4-6, has been cancelled due to a public fiasco resulting from a lack of gender diversity in the speaker lineup. The event, previously known as PHPCon Poland, was set to be held in Dresden, Germany, after the concept changed last year to rotate host cities and include a larger region of the PHP community.</p>
<p>After phpCE had <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1156646682114830336" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">boasted</a> a &#8220;rich and diverse lineup,&#8221; the published schedule was criticized for including zero women, while several speakers were given two sessions apiece. The <a href="https://2018.phpce.eu/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2018 event</a> had a similar lack of diversity among speakers. <a href="https://www.cfpland.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CFP Land</a> founder Karl Hughes&#8217; tweet precipitated a flood of critical feedback.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This year's <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@phpce_eu</a> conference seems to have gone with the "White Males Only" conference lineup <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f62c.png" alt="😬" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>Shame. It's 2019, we can do better.</p>
<p>&mdash; Karl L Hughes (@KarlLHughes) <a href="https://twitter.com/KarlLHughes/status/1151525811616387073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Organizers received the public criticisms as an attack, a response that disappointed many who were previously considering attending the event. Speakers started to withdraw from the conference and <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1165381240922484743" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket sales dried up</a>, as organizers demonstrated an unwillingness to do further diversity outreach beyond their initial call for proposals.</p>
<p>Mark Baker, one of the speakers who decided to <a href="https://markbakeruk.net/2019/07/24/withdrawal-from-speaking-at-phpce-2019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cancel his engagement</a>, said organizers attempted to persuade him not to withdraw by offering to put the sole female speaker applicant on the schedule. Baker said he was uncomfortable, as that would put &#8220;a lot of pressure on the woman, knowingly being invited to speak after an all-male speaker list has already been announced, making her a &#8216;token&#8217; to diversity.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It wasn’t an easy decision to make, because I do enjoy sharing my coding passion; but having advocated for diversity at PHP developer conferences for the last several years, I have to follow my beliefs that diversity should be a cornerstone of the PHP developer community,&#8221; Baker said. &#8220;Diversity matters more to me than speaking.&#8221;</p>
<p>Larry Garfield (<a href="https://twitter.com/crell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@crell</a>), who is active in the Drupal community, <a href="https://steemit.com/php/@crell/skipping-php-ce-this-year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> that he also tried to work with phpCE&#8217;s organizers to diversify the lineup before being forced by his personal convictions to withdraw.</p>
<p>&#8220;I messaged the organizers, asking them to drop some of our double-sessions in favor of more female participation,&#8221; Garfield said. &#8220;We also offered to work with them to figure out ways to reduce the cost of bringing us in (a number of us were transatlantic, and Dresden is not the cheapest city to get to) so they could afford to cover more speakers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the organizers indicated they were not open to such an arrangement. According to them, they had only a single woman submit a session proposal this year despite having women present in previous years, and hers was a repeat from a local conference last year. They were also firm that the Call For Papers was done and over and they&#8217;re not open to reaching out to new people now. Sadly, from what the organizers told me, they actively don&#8217;t want to do outreach.&#8221;</p>
<p>A situation that has gone this far is often irreparable once it reaches the point of becoming an international debacle. If a diverse speaker selection hasn&#8217;t been established before the schedule announcement goes out, backpedaling to arrive at inclusion inevitably sends a signal to potential attendees that this might not be a welcoming event.</p>
<p>Due to the way it was handled, phpCE&#8217;s cancellation became a spectacular failure of inclusion that played out in a public way over the past several weeks. phpCE&#8217;s organizers remained <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1151606520406257664" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">defensive in their replies</a> to critics on social media, clinging instead to what the community has deemed to be an outmoded and ineffective approach to organizing more diverse events.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">D&amp;I is okay as long as it means the equalization of chances. If you place D&amp;I in a stronger position than substantive content of the agenda, you destroy the event. The "prioritize" sounds exactly in that way.</p>
<p>&mdash; Dariusz Grzesista (@DarGrze) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarGrze/status/1151923365269127168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>phpCE did not publish a post regarding why the event was cancelled but rather cited several blog posts and exchanges on social media as factors in the decision.</p>
<h3>How WordPress Is Equipping Event Organizers to Create more Diverse Speaker Lineups</h3>
<p>Many organizers of large tech events are making proactive attempts at getting more diverse speakers and the web is full of countless resources from those who have shared their processes and tips on the topic. In the WordPress world specifically, the Community team has created a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/diversity-speaker-training-workshop/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diversity Speaker Training Workshop</a> to help meetup and WordCamp organizers cultivate better representation from different groups in their communities.</p>
<p>This particular workshop, which was created by Jill Binder and <a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/want-to-see-a-more-diverse-wordpress-contributor-community-so-do-we/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sponsored by Automattic</a>, has produced positive results in 55 WordPress communities in 26 different countries.</p>
<p>“All of the communities that held this workshop experienced a real change in the speaker roster for their annual conferences; many of their WordCamps went from having 10% women speakers to having 50% or more women speakers in less than a year,&#8221; community organizer Andrea Middleton said. &#8220;In 2017, Seattle had 60% women speakers and in 2018, Vancouver had 63%.” Organizers of large events like WordCamp US and WordCamp Miami have also created more diverse lineups in recent years with their own proactive strategies.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another great year of amazing, diverse speakers! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCMIA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WCMIA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a> <a href="https://t.co/e2smmCpPAF">pic.twitter.com/e2smmCpPAF</a></p>
<p>&mdash; WordCamp Miami (@wordcampmiami) <a href="https://twitter.com/wordcampmiami/status/1107383222453833728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2019/07/30/jill-binder-what-is-the-diverse-speaker-workshop/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diversity Speaker Training Workshop</a> seems to be particularly effective because it focuses on actively creating and equipping future speakers in a more organic way at the local level. Any WordPress event organizers who feel they have no options for increasing the diversity of their events can get help from the Community team. Relying on the call for speakers to deliver a diverse lineup is not always the most effective strategy. In many cases, it takes a great deal of work to bring in diverse speakers, but the Community Team has worked for years to pioneer new resources that help organizers succeed in these efforts.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 26 Aug 2019 19:35:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"WPTavern: Chrome 76 Adds Native Lazy-Loading, WordPress Contributors Continue Discussion Regarding Core Support";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92958";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:121:"https://wptavern.com/chrome-76-adds-native-lazy-loading-wordpress-contributors-continue-discussion-regarding-core-support";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5009:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/lazy-cat.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>lazy cat &#8211; photo credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/uy5t-CJuIK4">Kate Stone Matheson</a></p>
<p>The latest version of Chrome (76) shipped with a new &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute that allows developers to specify resources, such as images and iframes, to defer loading until the user scrolls nearer to them. In the past, developers have used third-party libraries to achieve lazy loading but soon this will no longer be necessary, as more browsers adopt the loading attribute. Chrome developers <a href="https://web.dev/native-lazy-loading" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">published</a> a compelling, in-depth explanation of how browser-level native lazy-loading can improve performance.</p>
<p>Given Chrome&#8217;s seemingly unshakeable, staggering <a href="https://www.w3counter.com/trends" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">market dominance</a>, it will not be long before the loading attribute is supported for the vast majority of the web&#8217;s users. Firefox has an open <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542784" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket</a> for implementing lazy loading using this syntax and the feature is also supported in Chromium 76-based browsers. It even works when the user has disabled JavaScript. In the meantime, Chrome recommends developers continue to use a third-party library along with loading=&#8221;lazy&#8221; is to provide a polyfill for browsers that do not yet support the attribute.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.w3counter.com/trends"><img /></a></p>
<p>Morten Rand-Hendriksen filed a trac <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/44427" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket</a> 14 months ago, recommending WordPress introduce a lazy-loading API for media and other elements. Millions of WordPress users already have have some form of lazy loading on their sites using popular plugins like <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Autoptimize</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Smush</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP-Optimize</a>, and others.</p>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen contends that lazy-loading should be added to core because it is a <a href="https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/lazy-loading-guidance/images-and-video/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">performance best practice</a> that WordPress should not require site owners to implement on their own. Without a core standard for lazy-loading, themes and plugins are all taking different approaches to solve this problem, which can cause conflicts and unexpected behavior. Contributors working on the ticket are still discussing the specifics of how WordPress core can best support lazy loading.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, WordPress developers who are excited about taking advantage of native lazy-loading are sharing their their own functions and custom plugins on GitHub, WordPress.org, and in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/permalink/2575482092513989/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Advanced WordPress Facebook</a> group.</p>
<p>Peter Shaw created a plugin called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lh-native-lazy-loading/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LH Native Lazy Loading</a> that adds the &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute to IMG and IFRAME tags detected when filtering the_content(), post thumbnails, and oembed. It does not add any extra CSS or JavaScript and is compatible with JavaScript-based image lazy loaders, in case you want to use one as a fallback for browsers that don&#8217;t support the attribute.</p>
<p>Chris Franchetti shared a <a href="https://gist.github.com/Enaldi/ca7b7ab6108ce293365f380d5e99b6b2?fbclid=IwAR0fKgrkHCtTBswPU-i5d5HV0MH_DjdPpEFEvQIEv7CCNboxYQ0bMihrUU0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gist</a> for a function that adds lazy loading to it to anything with a src. Chris Zähller published a set of functions on GitHub called <a href="https://github.com/seezee/wp-lazy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP Lazy</a> that work in a different way. It adds the <code>loading=“lazy”</code> attribute when inserting new media or displaying a gallery via the WordPress gallery shortcode.</p>
<p>If there is a long delay on the core trac ticket, there will inevitably be a proliferation of native lazy-loading solutions that allow WordPress users to implement what several major browsers are already supporting. Existing lazy load plugins may also change to add support for the &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute, with their previous solutions as a backup for browsers that don&#8217;t yet support it.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 23 Aug 2019 20:27:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"WPTavern: Popular WordPress Themes Remove Obtrusive Admin Notices to Conform to New Theme Directory Requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92962";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:122:"https://wptavern.com/popular-wordpress-themes-remove-obtrusive-admin-notices-to-conform-to-new-theme-directory-requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2018:"<p>Last month the WordPress Theme Review Team took action to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-theme-review-team-seeks-to-curb-obtrusive-admin-notices-with-new-requirement-to-follow-core-design-patterns">curb obtrusive admin notices</a>, requiring all themes to use the admin_notices API and follow the core design pattern. Prior to this rule going into effect, many themes would commonly display a large, branded notice upon activation. Sometimes these came with a prompt to install more plugins or instructions for getting started. </p>



<p>The Theme Review Team began prompting the authors of themes already known to be in violation of this guideline, to change their notices as soon as possible or risk suspension. Popular themes are rolling out updates that include cleaned-up notices.</p>



<p>Storefront, WooCommerce&#8217;s flagship theme, was one of the themes the team cited during the meeting as an example of the notices that the team was looking to discourage with this new requirement. Its large post-activation notice took up half the screen and was previously displayed on every page. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/08/19/storefront-2-5-3-release-notes/" target="_blank">Storefront 2.5.2</a> replaces the notice with one that conforms to the new rule.</p>



<img />



<p>The Noto theme from Pixelgrade, which previously had nearly a full-page branded onboarding screen with a call-to-action, has updated to a smaller notice that appears in the designated area for admin notices. Futurio has also scaled back its post-installation footprint and now displays a simple, compliant message with a &#8220;Get Started&#8221; button.</p>



<img />



<img />



<p>Theme authors are still finding creative ways to brand their notices, but they are now much less obtrusive and confined to the expected area. They are still able to communicate the necessary information for getting started, without cluttering the admin by taking over half the screen. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 23 Aug 2019 04:21:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"WPTavern: WordPress 5.3 Development Kicks Off: UI Polishing, Editor Improvements, and New Twenty Twenty Default Theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=89726";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:125:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-3-development-kicks-off-ui-polishing-editor-improvements-and-new-twenty-twenty-default-theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3911:"<p>WordPress 5.3 release dates were <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/21/wordpress-5-3-schedule-and-scope/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">confirmed</a> this week. The timeline has the official release arriving November 12, 2019, with a decent margin of time to avoid WordCamp US (early November) and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday week at the end of November. Beta 1 is expected September 23 and a Release Candidate is scheduled to follow on October 15.</p>
<p>The scope for this release is squarely in line with Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s 2019 goal of tightening up the software to improve existing features.</p>
<p>&#8220;The focus will be polishing current interactions and making the UIs more user friendly,&#8221; WordPress 5.3 release coordinator Francesca Marano said in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/21/wordpress-5-3-schedule-and-scope/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">schedule announcement</a>.</p>
<p>Another major part of this release is the editor improvements that have already been pushed to the Gutenberg plugin over the past few months. Riad Benguella, WP 5.3 Editor Tech lead, said these improvements &#8220;go beyond &#8216;polishing things,'&#8221; and will include more than 10 previous releases of the plugin.</p>
<p>After speaking with component maintainers, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/wordpress-5-3-planning-roundup/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">posted</a> a summary of updates that could be included in the release during the proposed timeframe:</p>
<ul>
<li>Grouping: support for dividing your page into sections</li>
<li>Motion: support for visual motion when moving/arranging blocks</li>
<li>Column patterns and widths: support for fixed column widths, and predefined layouts</li>
<li>Big images: support for saving progress after a big image fails to upload</li>
<li>Media accessibility: some fixes and a lot of polish as a result of the a11y audit</li>
<li>PHP 7.4: support for the new version coming late in November</li>
<li>And also: Build/Test updates, better administration of emails, and a lot of under the hood improvements</li>
</ul>
<h3>WordPress 5.3 to Introduce Twenty Twenty Default Theme</h3>
<p>Earlier this month, Haden confirmed that WordPress 5.3 will include a new bundled default theme. Twenty Twenty development is taking a different route from previous default themes in that it will not be designed from scratch.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think something that would be cool is taking a theme from the community that is already doing cool stuff with the features we&#8217;ve been introducing, and modifying it to fit with the 5.3 release,&#8221; Haden said.</p>
<p>The lead for the default theme project has yet be announced, although Mark Uraine, a designer working on Gutenberg, will be facilitating the effort behind the scenes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know people are looking at themes that make good use of Gutenberg and have theme developers that can dedicate some time to this,&#8221; Uraine said.</p>
<p>WordPress 5.3 will be the last major release of 2019. Contributors plan to land a minor release in the meantime. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/22/wordpress-5-2-3-rc-1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress 5.2.3 RC 1</a> was released today. Jeffrey Paul, who is helping to coordinate this release, said the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/13/5-2-3-release-planning/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">focuses for 5.2.3</a> include the PHP version bump coming in 5.3, backporting some block editor features, and improving accessibility and RTL issues. The official 5.2.3 release is scheduled for <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20190904T1700" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wednesday, September 4, 2019, 10:00 AM PDT</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 22 Aug 2019 19:05:54 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"WPTavern: WordPress Poised to Begin Implementing Proposal to Auto-Update Older Sites to 4.7";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92908";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-poised-to-begin-implementing-proposal-to-auto-update-older-sites-to-4-7";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11440:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dinocar.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/A0737DFF83">Ryan McGuire</a></p>
<p>WordPress contributors from around the world joined in a lively meeting yesterday to continue the discussion regarding the <a href="https://wptavern.com/proposal-to-auto-update-old-versions-of-wordpress-to-4-7-sparks-heated-debate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposal to auto-update old sites to version 4.7</a> in a controlled rollout. The idea is that sites would gradually update from one major version to the next (not all at once). The discussion was led by WordPress 3.7 release lead Andrew Nacin with help from Ian Dunn and security team lead Jake Spurlock.</p>
<p>Based on the participants&#8217; responses during the meeting, there were a handful of dissenters who are not comfortable with updating old sites without the site owner&#8217;s explicit consent, which is difficult to acquire when emails and admin notices will not reach everyone affected.</p>
<p>The majority of contributors are leaning towards finding the best implementation for moving forward with the proposal, which essentially makes a bold decision for regular users who may not know that they are not on the latest version of WordPress and those who have abandoned their sites. Site owners who are actively choosing to hang back on older versions have most likely already opted out of auto-updates, and those decisions will be respected by the update system.</p>
<p>Dunn said his goal for the discussion was to &#8220;listen for ideas, and hopefully move closer to some kind of decision.&#8221; At the beginning, it kicked off with more of a focus on marketing and implementation details, rather than the matter of whether or not WordPress should auto-update sites to major versions.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that a major marketing push is needed around this,&#8221; Spurlock said. &#8220;We want to be ahead of any news about WordPress breaking sites, and in a position to frame this update as a major benefit for the millions of sites that are being updated.&#8221; After encouragement from WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden, those eager to discuss the rollout process pulled back to engage the more central matter of the auto updates themselves. Spurlock summarized the three options the security team has for older sites:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1. Abandon security updates for older sites<br />
2. Continue security updates, at great cost<br />
3. Manually update sites, leaving older sites without updates.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;It’s worth pointing out that these site owners have already had up to six years of admin notices,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;The oldest sites likely received north of 30 emails. The way we might communicate a new feature (in say 5.3 or 5.4) to add support for major release auto updates might be drastically different than how we might handle an old site running 3.7 that we’d like to move to 3.8 and higher.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Contributors Weigh the Consequences of Leaving Older Sites Without Updates</h3>
<p>Core contributor Zebulan Stanphill was one of the more vocal opponents of auto-updating to major versions without consent.</p>
<p>&#8220;The auto-update feature in 3.7 was not advertised as including major updates, so it seems deceptive in my opinion to suddenly change it to include that,&#8221; Stanphill said. &#8220;It feels like assuming more control over a website than the owner had originally given to WordPress. I&#8217;m fine with auto-major-updates becoming the default in new versions of WordPress, but retroactively applying that to old versions seems wrong to me.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gary Pendergast, a full-time sponsored contributor to core, countered that the problem is potentially millions of site owners will not see the notice and will be stuck on old versions that will eventually become insecure. Stanphill argued that it&#8217;s not WordPress&#8217; responsibility to update people&#8217;s sites for them if they did not give permission.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is our responsibility to not lay the groundwork for a botnet of a sizeable portion of the internet,&#8221; Pendergast said.</p>
<p>WordPress has a much larger footprint on the web than it did in 2013 when the auto-update system was put in place in 3.7. The platform&#8217;s marketshare has grown to <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">34.5% of the the top 10 million websites</a> as of August 2019. Sites running 3.7 have been informally estimated at around 2 million but a definitive count has not been confirmed.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we unwittingly give someone a platform to do real evil, we’re big enough that could have consequences,&#8221; Core contributor Mary Baum said.</p>
<p>Lack of explicit consent and the possibility for breakage were the top two concerns for those opposed to the plan. Those in favor believe it can be done without breaking millions of websites. Former security team lead Aaron Campbell highlighted the advantages of a tiered update rollout:</p>
<blockquote><p>Speaking of starting at 3.7 users as a test base (which is part of the plan Ian proposed), one of the great things we can offer users that they have a hard time doing themselves, is a slow update from version to version. The button in the dashboard of a 3.7 site will update the site to 5.2, which is understandably scary. We&#8217;d be updating 3.7->3.8, then 3.8->3.9, etc etc until 4.6->4.7. It&#8217;ll offer a smoother path from 3.7 to 4.7 AND give us plenty of places to improve on the process along the way if it&#8217;s needed.</p>
<p>I think there are some benefits to rolling up. One of those is the DB changes, which would be rolled out in chunks the same as they happened over the last 6 years rather than batched all in one update. It seems like it would cause fewer memory and time limit errors as well.</p></blockquote>
<p>As he has stated in previous P2 discussions, Nacin reiterated that the core team&#8217;s plan has always been to bring auto updates for major versions:</p>
<blockquote><p>I want to share a bit of history and context: Only the latest version of WordPress is, of course, officially supported. Automatic background updates in 3.7 (October 2013) completely changed the calculus—for the first time, we were able to ship security releases to older branches. But we didn’t announce or document these older versions, offer them for regular download, or expose them to the Dashboard → Updates screen. There was no intention—and still isn’t—to change our often stated policy that only the latest version of WordPress is officially supported. What we realized, though, if we are building the ability to quickly push security fixes to older unsupported sites, we’d be out of our mind to not use that feature.</p>
<p>We expected to make quicker progress on automatic updates for major releases, improving the safety and resiliency of those updates. That would have then enabled us to update these older sites, all the way back to 3.7, to more recent versions of WordPress. That was always the plan. We just didn’t expect it’d take us six years to get there.</p></blockquote>
<p>Eventually, the long term goal is to change the default for major updates to &#8220;opt-out,&#8221; once they have proven stability. The proposal for auto-updating older versions to 4.7 would be the next step towards gradually moving in that direction. Nacin contends older sites &#8220;are already opted-in by virtue of being on an install of WordPress 3.7+.&#8221;</p>
<p>At a certain point in the meeting, the discussion surrounding the ethics of auto-updating older sites to 4.7, broke down into analogies involving car maintenance, vaccinations, rotting corpses, and anything contributors could pull from the real world to make their opinions more relatable to the topic at hand.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s hard to talk about &#8216;autonomy&#8217; for sites that have effectively been abandoned,&#8221; Mark Jaquith said. &#8220;Like, if you drop dead on the street, society doesn’t just let you rot there because you haven’t consented to burial.&#8221;</p>
<p>Core contributor John James Jacoby said he is not entirely comfortable with the implied consent of opt-out vs. opt-in but ultimately agreed that it is &#8220;something that needs to happen.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;But to paraphrase Mark from earlier, I guess I feel like WordPress shouldn’t be cleaning it’s own carcasses from the web unless it includes a big’ol meta-box in the Dashboard that says &#8216;Hey we had to do this for you and here is why,'&#8221; Jacoby said.</p>
<p>Others are more strongly opposed to WordPress changing files on users&#8217; servers, after having originally communicated that 3.7 would only perform automatic security updates unless they decided to opt into major updates.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am very much against pushing an unattended major update to any software,&#8221; Gabor Javorszky said. &#8220;WordPress Core does not have the authority to change code on my server without my explicit ask. I&#8217;m okay with it updating itself for minor versions, because that&#8217;s what I signed up for, and that&#8217;s how the current auto updater works by default. I can change it to allow major updates, and I can change it to not allow any updates at all, but WP overriding that choice is wrong.&#8221;</p>
<p>Michael Panaga contended that users would be more willing to understand that their old websites have been hacked, rather than find out that their sites have broken because of an unauthorized automatic update. Opponents of the proposal do not believe that it is WordPress&#8217; responsibility to keep people&#8217;s sites from being compromised, even if millions of sites get hacked. They see this as the user&#8217;s problem or something hosting companies should handle.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reasonable people can and will disagree on this, but our philosophy is that we do not think it is solely the user’s responsibility if their site is hacked,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;We feel that responsibility too, and we’re going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure their site stays updated and they are running the latest and greatest version of WordPress.&#8221;</p>
<p>No official decision has been announced but those who have the power to implement the plan are firmly decided and seem to have gained a consensus through yesterday&#8217;s meeting.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the end of the day there&#8217;s only a few people who have the ability to push the change to the auto-update server to make this opt-out instead of opt-in and sounds like their minds are made up, so no point in continuing P2 [discussions], might as well move into the implementation phase and try to minimize the destruction,&#8221; WordPress developer Earle Davies said.</p>
<p>Nacin thanked contributors for lending their voices to the discussion and said there will be some follow-up posts and possibly a roadmap published to make/core in the coming days, documenting previous decisions back to 2007.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m really glad you all showed up to talk about this topic,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;Even after 10 years, I remain deeply impressed with the WordPress community and how much it cares about its users. The web deserves it.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:07:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"HeroPress: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2951";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:166:"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6926:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/081919-min-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="I don't have to commute to work and risk my life every day." /><p>My adventure with WordPress started back in the days, circa 2006, when I tried to use WordPress.com in a local area network at the company I was working for at the time. I soon realized WordPress.org was a better fit and began experimenting with setting up multiple sites for different purposes. Fast forward to 2015/2016, I decided I would no longer work for the company I was working with for the past 10 years and I started looking for opportunities to either work from home or create my own company. I tried to do both at the same time as neither would exclude the other and so I went the self-learning path with MeteorJS and WordPress.</p>
<p>As a little bit of background, I have worked in support for as long as I can remember. I was the school&#8217;s computer lab technician at the age of 10, and trust me all I did was dust-off computers, install MS-DOS and Prince of Persia. In 2005 I got my Computer Sc Engineer degree and since then I worked for Venezuela&#8217;s national oil company (PDVSA 2006-2016) as a Workflow Support Engineer helping engineers with oil drilling and completion engineering tools, but I also filled many temporary roles such as a PHP developing project as a contractor, creating extensive SQL queries to pull data out of Oracle databases and even led team members at different times for specifics developing projects, software implementations I developed myself, or for projects to help design a database model for a third party software.</p>
<blockquote><p>I was very stuck in an office with an every day commute time of 92 minutes.</p></blockquote>
<p>As the living conditions in Venezuela worsened, the job did not longer fit my needs. I decided I would no longer wait to secure another job or have established a running business to leave, so I left with the uncertainty of what I was going to do next. A year before I actually left, I resumed my journey with WordPress by building websites for a couple of local businesses and tried luck with a viral news website I eventually gave away to a friend of mine. The more I looked into moving to WordPress as my go-to developing tool for work, the more I realized I was still better at providing support, at helping colleagues develop better products or at helping business owners decide a route to have a successful online presence. I often found myself supporting web development rather than developing or building sites. But conditions in Venezuela started to deteriorate faster than one could adapt, businesses closed their doors and working with local clients was becoming harder and not the best option to support a large family.</p>
<h3>How WordPress Changed My Life</h3>
<p>I live in Venezuela and let&#8217;s say this is not the safest place in the world, among other things.</p>
<p>Millions has left the country looking for better work opportunities and to improve their living conditions, including most of my friends and my closest family relatives, so in a way WordPress changed my life for the better. Leaving a job in a country in crisis were personally difficult times and a tough decision to make. In the meantime, I kept submitting countless resumes to different distributed customer support positions, unsuccessfully. I also joined Support Driven in Slack to get familiar with current trends in customer support and to build relationships and even though I wasn&#8217;t as active as I wanted to, I was able to find an open position for a Happiness Engineer role at Automattic. It was at my second try with Automattic that I was able to secure an interview for the role. I did a 5-weeks trial and finally joined Automattic full-time by the end of 2016.</p>
<blockquote><p>I choose to work from home so I can be next to the people I care the most, my wife, my kids, my parents, but equally importantly to me and my immediate family is the fact that I don&#8217;t have to commute to work and risk my life every day as I did in the past.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress is as big as you want it to be, you are always learning and never stuck. Find your niche within WordPress, there are more work opportunities that I can count where you can insert yourself and continue doing what you are best at. If you are a software developer, a database administrator, a lawyer, a musician or an event organizer, it doesn&#8217;t matter: WordPress is still for you, it changed my life and it can change yours too!</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=WordPress%20and%20Customer%20Support%2C%20A%20Perfect%20Match&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F&title=WordPress+and+Customer+Support%2C+A+Perfect+Match" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/081919-min-150x150.jpg&description=WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/" title="WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/">WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 21 Aug 2019 12:00:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Aniello Forlini";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: University of Helsinki Publishes Free Intro Course on Modern JavaScript-based Web Development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92885";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:114:"https://wptavern.com/university-of-helsinki-publishes-free-intro-course-on-modern-javascript-based-web-development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3097:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-20-at-5.41.06-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The University of Helsinki is offering its &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deep Dive Into Modern Web Development</a>&#8221; course online for free. It provides an introduction to JavaScript-based web development with React, Redux, Node.js, MongoDB, and GraphQL. Participants will learn the basics of building single page applications with ReactJS. This course is the same as the <a href="https://fullstack-hy2019.github.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Full Stack course</a> that was offered at the university&#8217;s <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en/computer-science" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Department of Computer Science</a> in Spring 2019.</p>
<p>The material is available in both Finnish and English and is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. It is structured into nine parts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Fundamentals of Web apps</li>
<li>Introduction to React</li>
<li>Communicating with the server</li>
<li>Programming a server with NodeJS and Express</li>
<li>Testing Express servers, user administration</li>
<li>Testing React apps, custom hooks</li>
<li>State management with Redux</li>
<li>React router, styling app with CSS and webpack</li>
<li>GraphQL</li>
</ul>
<p>The University partnered with seven companies to provide participants with an &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en/part0/general_info#interview-promise" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interview promise</a>&#8221; if they complete the course with full credits and the practical work. This offer, which is only available to those with a Finnish social security number, is similar to coding bootcamps that offer job interviews after completion.</p>
<p>The university issued a call for companies to join the &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en/challenge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Full Stack Challenge</a>,&#8221; encouraging their employees to take the course and build upon their expertise:</p>
<blockquote><p>Our objective is to encourage learning. We offer a fully-assembled and purposefully-scoped Full Stack course that lowers the barrier of entry for learning about new state-of-the-art and production grade technologies. The course is free of charge and you can participate from anywhere at anytime, at your leisure.</p>
<p>The course is built by coders for coders, and offers something for both newcomers and seasoned industry veterans alike.</p></blockquote>
<p>All participants who finish the course can download a certificate of completion. Those with a Finnish social security number can take an exam and get official credits from the University.</p>
<p>WordPress developers who have yet to jump into the world of React-based JavaScript development may find this course to be a useful, structured introduction. Participants should have a a basic understanding of programming and databases, as well as decent grasp of working with Git.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 20 Aug 2019 23:15:01 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:60:"WPTavern: A Nofollow Option for Links Is Coming to Gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92873";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"https://wptavern.com/a-nofollow-option-for-links-is-coming-to-gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3116:"<p>Gutenberg users are requesting an easy way to add a nofollow attribute to links in the block editor. Users can currently toggle a setting to designate a link to open in a new tab, but a similarly user-friendly option for adding a nofollow attribute is not yet available.</p>
<p>Requests have come in across multiple issues on GitHub, as well as in the WordPress Gutenberg Editor group on Facebook. For example, one blogger <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/161444577756897/permalink/488349518399733/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">asked</a> for advice today after not finding any Gutenberg-compatible nofollow plugins:</p>
<blockquote><p>Has anyone found an easy way to add a nofollow attribute to links using Gutenberg other than editing the HTML for every single link?</p>
<p>I used to have a checkbox for nofollow plugin but it seems that none of the plugins I&#8217;ve found are compatible with Gutenberg.</p>
<p>As a blogger, I need to add nofollows often to remain compliant with FTC requirements for sponsored/affiliate links.</p></blockquote>
<p>Others requesting the feature in issues filed on the Gutenberg repository are looking for an easier way to make their links compliant with Google and other major search engines&#8217; requests that marketers add nofollow to links that are part of an endorsement or commercial relationship.</p>
<p>&#8220;On behalf of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who make money with their website with affiliate programs and sponsored content: please, make it easy for us to add the nofollow rel attribute to a link,&#8221; Renee Dobbs <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13542" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">requested</a> in her first ever issue opened on Github.</p>
<p>&#8220;I honestly don&#8217;t know why it isn&#8217;t a part of WordPress core. Every WordPress commercial I see lately is about having your business on WordPress, yet WP is making it difficult for business owners to be compliant with Google&#8217;s guidelines on paid/affiliate links. We shouldn&#8217;t have to add yet another plugin to handle something so basic and widely used. Just have a checkbox or similar (like open to new window) to add the nofollow rel attribute for a link.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gutenberg contributors have worked on a couple different solutions for getting this feature added to the editor. Alexander Botteram, a developer at Yoast, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">opened a PR</a> that adds a new &#8220;nofollow&#8221; toggle setting to the core link modal. Gutenberg phase 2 lead Riad Benguella <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/13190#issuecomment-489580675" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recommended</a> this as a first step towards making links more extensible.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nofollow-link-option.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The PR is still undergoing review but it looks like a promising solution with the UI that users are requesting.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 20 Aug 2019 19:51:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"WPTavern: Fabrica Dashboard Plugin Brings a CMS Overview to Multi-User Editorial Sites";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92847";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"https://wptavern.com/fabrica-dashboard-plugin-brings-a-cms-overview-to-multi-user-editorial-sites";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4945:"<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fabrica-dashboard/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fabrica Dashboard</a> is a relatively new plugin released earlier this year by the team at <a href="https://yeswework.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yes We Work</a>, after a long beta and extensive internal use on their own projects. The plugin revamps WordPress&#8217; default Dashboard screen to display information that is useful for multi-user editorial sites, highlighting content, activity, and engagement. New dashboard widgets include a high level overview of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Posts, Pages, Blocks, and custom content types that make up your site</li>
<li>Recent activity and updates across content, media, and comments</li>
<li>Upload sizes / formats and possible security issues</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/fabrica-dashboard-overview-screenshot-2.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Fabrica Dashboard was built to be content-aware without any configuration. It automatically detects the different types of content in use on the site, including custom post types and custom taxonomies, and populates the dashboard widgets accordingly. The display respects user roles and privileges and the screen can also be customized using the Screen Options tab. Fabrica Dashboard is also compatible with other dashboard widgets, which can be mixed in and moved around.</p>
<p>&#8220;The plugin aims to make the dashboard more useful as an ongoing tool for managing site content (rather than a first time user&#8217;s guide to the wonderful world of WP, that more experienced users will be forced to skip over),&#8221; Yes We Work director Thomas Eagle said.</p>
<p>The Editorial Overview and Content Activity widgets are particularly useful for distributed, multi-author teams that are working in different timezones. It makes it easy for users to catch up on editorial activity across all content types, with a filter for activity by post type, user, or time period. There is even a direct link to view each post&#8217;s Compare Revisions screen.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/content-activity-widget.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;The Dashboard also means that as an external developer or site maintainer, only logging in occasionally, you can quickly get up to speed on the evolution and growth of a client site, and spot potential problems ahead of time,&#8221; Eagle said.</p>
<p>Fabrica Dashboard also works seamlessly with the team&#8217;s new plugin, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fabrica-reusable-block-instances/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fabrica Reusable Block Instances</a>. It is a plugin that provides an inventory of all the reusable blocks that are being used in content across a site on a separate management screen that displays the number of instances. This plugin is useful for sites where Reusable Blocks are sometimes updated and it&#8217;s important to know where they are in use.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/reusable-blocks-screen.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Better management capabilities for Reusable Blocks is a feature that has been indirectly requested several times in Gutenberg <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/manage-all-reusable-blocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support</a> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/locations-reuseable-blocks-are-used-count-column/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">topics</a>. A solution for this may soon be coming to core, as a screenshot of a similar Reusable Blocks screen was published in July with the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/07/11/block-directory-in-wp-admin-concepts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Block Directory design prototypes</a>. In the meantime, Fabrica Reusable Block Instances is a lightweight plugin for managing these types of blocks. It doesn&#8217;t modify the database in any way, nor does it come with any settings.</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fabrica-dashboard/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fabrica Dashboard</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fabrica-reusable-block-instances/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reusable Block Instances</a> are some of the best CMS plugins I&#8217;ve seen recently that have been designed to include Gutenberg block content. While they are targeted specifically at multi-user editorial installations, the plugins may also be beneficial for highly active, single-author blogs. Both are available for free on WordPress.org. Users who want support can purchase the <a href="https://fabri.ca/product/fabrica-dashboard-for-wordpress/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commercial version</a> that also comes with the ability to remove the Fabrica branding from the dashboard.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 20 Aug 2019 06:04:20 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: WordCamp London 2020 Organizing Team Eyes September Dates Due to Brexit Uncertainty";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92817";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-london-2020-organizing-team-eyes-september-dates-due-to-brexit-uncertainty";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4303:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/london.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Oja2ty_9ZLM">Benjamin Davies</a></p>
<p>The Joomla World Conference in London, planned for November 2019, has been <a href="https://community.joomla.org/blogs/community/information-about-the-joomla-world-conference-2019.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cancelled</a>. Joomla&#8217;s Board of Directors announced the cancellation at the end of July, citing the updated October 31, 2019, Brexit deadline as the primary reason:</p>
<blockquote><p>Last week the new UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has been elected with a mandate to ensure Brexit happens on 31st October, even if that means without any form of deal with the EU.</p>
<p>Sadly, for an international conference planned for the weeks after Brexit, there is considerable doubt and uncertainty around travel requirements to the UK and what (if any) visas may be required. This coupled with the huge workload already on the limited resources of the community with Joomla 4 at an advanced development stage, the Board has very reluctantly taken the decision to postpone JWC2019 to some date yet to be announced.</p></blockquote>
<p>The directors did not want to risk international attendees purchasing travel not being able to attend. They are issuing refunds for tickets already purchased.</p>
<p>WordCamp London, which has traditionally been held in early April or late March, is also not exempt from Brexit-related planning challenges. The lingering uncertainty bleeds into other aspects of planning, such as recruiting sponsors and speakers.</p>
<p>&#8220;The uncertainty that Brexit brings when trying to organize an international conference adds huge pressures to the organizing team, creates many additional logistical problems for sponsors, and creates uncertainty for volunteers and attendees,&#8221; WordCamp London organizer Dan Maby said. He and co-lead Barbara Saul are currently in the early stages of planning the 2020 event. They faced similar issues this year with the original Brexit date set for March 29, 2019.</p>
<p>&#8220;The WordCamp was planned just one week after this date,&#8221; Maby said. &#8220;As an organizing team we faced unanswerable questions from the outset. We planned to develop a dedicated team within the organizers to support questions, but we soon realized this wasn&#8217;t possible because even at governmental level the answers to questions we had were not answered.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since WordCamps are designed to be focused on the local communities where they are produced, Maby and his team adopted a mindset that they would send a message by keeping the 2019 camp running as planned: &#8220;Let&#8217;s do our small part in demonstrating that the UK is open for international business.&#8221; The event ended up selling out of both tickets and sponsor packages. Although WordCamp London historically attracts an international audience, the marketing team for the 2019 event focused heavily on the local community.</p>
<p>Maby said it saddened him to read that Joomla World Conference 2019 has been postponed due to Brexit and that he empathizes with their team.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re in early discussions regarding WordCamp London 2020 and considering delivering the event later in the year,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Part of the reason is to allow the unknown of Brexit to start to settle.&#8221;</p>
<p>With a lack of definitive information about who will need visas and how Brexit will affect international travelers, Maby said his team is still mostly in dark. The biggest complication is not knowing if sponsors or attendees will be able to legally enter the country. This makes planning a budget and selling sponsorship packages and tickets more tricky. WordCamp London co-leads have yet to put the application in but are eying September 2020 for the next event.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are investigating September as a potential alternative,&#8221; Maby said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll be 11 months post-Brexit (if it happens in October) so we will hopefully have a better idea of what to communicate to attendees, volunteers, and sponsors traveling into the UK. It also sits well between the European and US regional WordCamps.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 19 Aug 2019 21:18:52 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"WPTavern: Attend the Great WP Virtual Summit for Free: August 19-23";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92796";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"https://wptavern.com/attend-the-great-wp-virtual-summit-for-free-august-19-23";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3312:"<p>For five days next week, from August 19-23, the inaugural event of <a href="https://summit.wpvirtualsummit.com/">The Great WP Virtual Summit</a> will be taking place.</p>



<p>Conceived by South African based WordPress developer <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/anchenlr/">Anchen le Roux</a>, the summit aims to bring together experts from various fields within the WordPress ecosystem to share their knowledge over the five days</p>



<p>I reached out to Le Roux, to find out why she came up with the idea of the summit, and what her goals are for the event.</p>



<p><em>“Being an organiser of WordCamp Johannesburg for the last few years, I&#8217;ve been very aware of how only a small number of people are actually able to attend an event like WordCamp.&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><em>Obviously there are a lot of reasons, but for the most part travelling, accommodation, and other logistical items seemed to be the biggest hindrance.”</em></p>



<p>Being based at the tip of Africa, Le Roux also realized that many other African countries don’t even have a WordCamp, and started wondering what she could do to bring WordCamp to them. The idea for the summit was born.</p>



<p><em>“I&#8217;m hoping an online summit can introduce aspects of WordPress, and being part of the WordPress community, to those living in areas where it&#8217;s not easily accessible. It’s also my hope that this will plant a seed with folks, to start their own local communities around WordPress, and ultimately lead to more local WordCamps.”</em></p>



<p>Anchen is hoping to recreate some of the atmosphere and energy that takes place at a local WordCamp, at this online event.</p>



<p><em>“I know nothing can substitute for the in-person experience of a WordCamp but I&#8217;m trusting that some bits of what makes WordCamps awesome can be recreated in what we do. I&#8217;m hoping for this to be the first of many. This first one is very much an experiment but I&#8217;m anticipating for it to grow into something that more people can be involved in.“</em></p>



<p>I asked Le Roux what she hopes attendees will take away from the event.</p>



<p><em>“Firstly, the goal is to allow folks to learn from top authorities in the WordPress realm on a variety of topics. We have four different tracks catering to all types of  WordPress users. Topics range from branding and design, development, and running your business with WordPress, to running a WordPress agency or being a WP freelancer. </em></p>



<p><em>Above and beyond that, I’m hoping that folks who are new to the community, or are operating on the fringes of our community, are encouraged to become a bigger part of the WordPress community, by giving them the opportunity to chat with other community members, ask questions and/or share ideas.</em></p>



<p><em>We have 20+ experts over 5 days, who will teach you strategies you can use to both improve and scale your WordPress business, no matter which stage you’re at, or what type of user you are.”</em></p>



<p><a href="https://summit.wpvirtualsummit.com/">The Great WP Virtual Summit</a> is happening August 19 &#8211; 23 and you can get your free tickets to the event right now by visiting the <a href="https://summit.wpvirtualsummit.com/tickets/">tickets page</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 16 Aug 2019 23:16:21 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Jonathan Bossenger";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"WPTavern: Automattic Acquires Zero BS CRM, Considers Rebranding it as Jetpack CRM";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92774";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-zero-bs-crm-considers-rebranding-it-as-jetpack-crm";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4972:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-16-at-1.57.42-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Automattic has <a href="https://zerobscrm.com/zbs-blog/entrepreneurs/weve-joined-automattic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">acquired</a> <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/zero-bs-crm/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zero BS CRM</a>, a free plugin with more than 30 commercial <a href="https://zerobscrm.com/extensions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">extensions</a> that provide deeper integrations with third-party services. Zero BS was co-founded by a two-person team that includes Mike Stott and Woody Hayday. The team marketed the plugin as a &#8220;no-nonsense CRM&#8221; and have been operating it with a successful <a href="https://zerobscrm.com/pricing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">subscription-based model</a> for bundles of extensions.</p>
<p>With just 1,000 active installs on WordPress.org, Zero BS was not previously a very well-known plugin but it caught Automattic&#8217;s attention based on the strength of the product.</p>
<p>&#8220;Automattic reached out to us after being a happy customer,&#8221; Stott said. Former Automattic executive John Maeda had used Zero BS CRM and recommended it to the company. Stott said the main appeal for the acquisition was &#8220;strong advocacy of the product.&#8221;</p>
<p>It started with a support ticket Zero BS CRM received from a user, asking about Mail Campaigns and how best to set up sequences for customers.</p>
<p>&#8220;What we didn’t realize was this user was linked to Automattic, and was becoming a strong advocate for our product within the company,&#8221; Stott said. &#8220;What followed was a series of conversations with leaders from different parts of Automattic.&#8221;</p>
<p>Talks regarding the deal began in February and carried on at WordCamp Europe 2019 in Berlin.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great to meet <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@photomatt</a> at WordCamp EU. He's still doing his daily press-up <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/strong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#strong</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f642.png" alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://t.co/QAstY9YrEc">pic.twitter.com/QAstY9YrEc</a></p>
<p>&mdash; ZBSCRM (@zerobscrm) <a href="https://twitter.com/zerobscrm/status/1142501444572110848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h3>Jetpack CRM is a Strong Consideration for Rebranding</h3>
<p>Zero BS CRM will be rebranded as the team comes under the Automattic umbrella. The original name was somewhat polarizing in that potential customers either loved it or hated it.</p>
<p>Although the product&#8217;s founders have built extensions that connect WooCommerce stores to a CRM, Stott said the acquisition was not driven by Zero BS&#8217;s potential use with WooCommerce specifically.</p>
<p>&#8220;Variants will fit in well to Woo, Jetpack, as well as serving the standalone market,&#8221; Stott said. &#8220;If our users outgrow us, we will want to help them find the next step (similar to the Basecamp model).&#8221;</p>
<p>Yahoo Finance is <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/automattic-acquires-wordpress-plugin-zbs-130000149.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reporting</a> that Automattic will be rebranding the product as &#8220;Jetpack CRM,&#8221; but Stott said that has not been confirmed yet. He said Jetpack CRM is &#8220;the favorite so far internally but still open to discussion.&#8221; This may be a strong indication of what Automattic intends to do with the product.</p>
<p>Stott said they are not looking to compete against the likes of Salesforce or Hubspot but rather are focused on providing the basic concepts of a CRM &#8211; &#8220;knowing who your customers are, getting leads, and helping businesses grow.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Entrepreneur bundle is Zero BS&#8217;s most popular pricing plan, which includes all of the extensions and priority support for $17 per month, billed yearly. It accounts for approximately 75% of the company&#8217;s ARR. Stott said they do not have plans to stop the subscription model and will continue with their current pricing.</p>
<p>&#8220;We had planned to increase the price with v3.0 because with the updates and mail campaigns we felt we weren&#8217;t charging enough for the product,&#8221; Stott said. &#8220;But we&#8217;ve also found a good price point and Automattic didn&#8217;t want to change what was already working price wise.&#8221;</p>
<p>Next on the roadmap the team plans one of their most requested features: smart inbox linked to CRM data. They are aiming to release version 3.0 in September.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to reach more customers and just keep on building to help people and SMBs achieve the best they can,&#8221; Stott said.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 16 Aug 2019 18:59:55 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:42:"Post Status: Chat with a WordPress skeptic";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=67358";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://poststatus.com/chat-with-a-wordpress-skeptic/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2078:"<p>I talked with Kira Leigh, a full-stack creative entrepreneur and consultant. Skeptic may be too strong of a word, but she makes it clear that she thinks WordPress is too often used when it&#8217;s not necessary.</p>



<p>Kira handles every part of her projects, which typically stem from marketing and copywriting, but she takes on design, development, and whatever is required to get the job done. She is the type of person who WordPress <em>should</em> be able to serve quite ably. But more often than not, she would rather steer clear.</p>



<p>In this episode of the Draft Podcast, I talk to Kira about her work, why she is pained by WordPress, and I try to come to some conclusions. I am not sure if I accomplished much, but I do feel like I am better able to see where she&#8217;s coming from.</p>



<p>This conversation stemmed from a friend sending me <a href="https://hackernoon.com/this-is-why-wordpress-sucks-and-you-should-probably-stop-using-it-v697y30v7">a post Kira wrote</a> that was (to my mind) a bit aggressive toward WordPress — and while perhaps not 100% accurate, it is 100% her perception of the reality of working with WordPress.</p>







<h3>Links from the show</h3>



<ul><li><a href="http://thereisno.design">There Is No Design</a> — Kira&#8217;s business</li><li>Kira on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirakiraleighleigh/">LinkedIn</a></li><li><a href="https://assemblyline.in">Assembly</a> — a pretty neat page builder I&#8217;ve never seen before</li></ul>



<h3>Sponsor: Pagely</h3>



<p><a href="https://pagely.com/">Pagely</a> offers best-in-class managed WordPress hosting, powered by Amazon&#8217;s Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brands scale WordPress. Their new platform <a href="https://northstack.com">NorthStack</a> is a completely serverless solution for managed application hosting. Thank you to <a href="https://pagely.com/">Pagely</a> for being a Post Status partner! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11.2.0/72x72/1f44d.png" alt="👍" class="wp-smiley" /></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 15 Aug 2019 21:30:31 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 6.3 Improves Accessibility with New Navigation and Edit Modes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92737";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-6-3-improves-accessibility-with-new-navigation-and-edit-modes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2778:"<p>Major accessibility improvements are the headline feature of this week&#8217;s Gutenberg plugin release. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Version 6.3</a> introduces new Navigation and Editor modes to address long-standing problems navigating the block UI with a screen reader. The editor is now loaded in Navigation mode by default. Riad Benguella described it as &#8220;an important milestone in terms of accessibility of the editor&#8221; and explained how it works:</p>
<blockquote><p>It allows you to move from block to block using a single Tab press. You can also use the arrow keys to navigate between blocks. Once you reach the block you want to edit, you can enter the Edit Mode by hitting the Enter key. The Escape key allows you to move back to the Navigation Mode.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/navigation-mode.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>These modes are still early in their development and will require more testing.</p>
<p>At WordCamp US 2018 in Nashville, Accessibility Team contributor <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/arush/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amanda Rush</a> gave me a demonstration of what it is like to navigate Gutenberg with a screen reader. Using the editor was painfully difficult for even the simplest tasks, such as setting a title and writing paragraph content.</p>
<p>Since that time, the Gutenberg and Accessibility teams have made great strides towards improving this experience. The new interaction flow in the Navigation mode is one example of their progress. The teams have also worked together to tackle a collection of 84 issues that Tenon created on GitHub in May, based on the findings in <a href="https://wptavern.com/wpcampus-gutenberg-accessibility-audit-finds-significant-and-pervasive-accessibility-problems" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPCampus&#8217; Gutenberg Accessibility Audit</a>. To date, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+author%3Akarlgroves+" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">54 of those issues</a>, many of which were related to screen reader accessibility, have been resolved and marked as closed.</p>
<p>Other notable updates in Gutenberg 6.3 include support for text alignments in table block columns, border color support for the separator block, and improvements to the BlockPreview component, which allow developers to preview blocks in any context. Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">release post</a> for the full list of all the changes in 6.3.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 15 Aug 2019 20:27:33 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:40:"Post Status: Is Tumblr a social network?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=67306";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:50:"https://poststatus.com/is-tumblr-a-social-network/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2632:"<p>What the heck is <a href="https://tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>, anyway? I&#8217;ve never done a particularly deep dive into the platform, though it is <a href="https://poststatus.com/automattic-has-purchased-tumblr/">recently relevant</a> for my line of work.</p>



<p>I created a Tumblr back when WordPress was debating post formats — <a href="https://poststatus.com/post-formats-looking-back/">before they died</a>. I also did a small client project on Tumblr — which ended up being a tedious experiment of much custom HTML and CSS inside a customizer-like interface.</p>



<p>I never stopped to think what kind of platform Tumblr is. Is it a blog platform? A site builder? A social network?</p>



<p>Of those three particular options, I would&#8217;ve leaned on blog platform with a dose of light-CMS for tiny site building. I probably would&#8217;ve mostly dismissed a notion that it&#8217;s a social network. But perhaps that&#8217;s where it can be best.</p>



<p>When I visit Tumblr, I see tons of different content formats, mostly short-form and ephemeral — whether a meme, funny pic, quote, or news link. None of the gamified restrictions on the type of content exist on Tumblr, as is so well known on Instagram. It is a fairly simple feed based on the content posted or engaged with by the people you follow.</p>



<p>Tumblr feels like the whimsical side of blogging. Too often, when I blog, I feel like it better mean something. So usually I tweet, or I do something else that feels less permanent. This is a sad outcome, as I loved blogging in the weblog sense — before the arrival of &#8220;big-thought&#8221; blogs finely tuned to the desires of Google algos, carefully crafted with just the right CTAs, sub-heads, and content plans, all within a well-defined site structure.</p>



<p>All that serious businessy stuff is great, I guess. It makes sense. The &#8220;investment&#8221; in our content &#8220;strategies&#8221; — these words are making my old-school web self puke — are totally reasonable. For our businesses, personal brands, stores, and whatnot, we want a good ROI on our blogging. We have strategies.</p>



<p>What is fun about the Tumblr vibe is that it feels strategy-less. It feels social.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m gonna try to <a href="https://krogsgard.tumblr.com">Tumbl</a> for a while, see how it feels, how it works, and what happens. Am I worried about my brand, my audience development, my influence, my monetization strategy? Nah. I can do that on this site, or web-Twitter, or YouTube, or Instagram. I just want to have fun.</p>



<p>Maybe that&#8217;s where Tumblr can shine.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 15 Aug 2019 17:42:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: WordPress Theme Review Team Scraps Trusted Authors Program Due to Gaming and Inconsistent Reviews";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92690";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:118:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-theme-review-team-scraps-trusted-authors-program-due-to-gaming-and-inconsistent-reviews";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4459:"<p>After several months of discussion, WordPress.org&#8217;s Theme Review Team has decided to discontinue the Trusted Authors (TA) Program that <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2018/04/30/trusted-authors-program/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched in April 2018</a>. The program, which was controversial from its inception, allowed certain authors to bypass the normal theme review queue after demonstrating an ability to submit themes with fewer than three issues. Trusted Author theme submissions went to their own dedicated queue that was handled by team leads.</p>
<p>The objective of the program was to streamline the review process and lessen the burden on reviewers. When it failed to deliver the intended results, the Theme Review team leads made a unilateral decision behind closed doors, <a href="https://wptavern.com/theme-review-team-leadership-implements-controversial-changes-to-trusted-authors-program-requiring-theme-reviews-in-exchange-for-making-themes-live" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">implementing a change requiring TA participants to join the team</a> and perform a minimum number of reviews in order to continue having their own themes fast tracked through the review process. This was loudly decried by other members of the Theme Review team who were blindsided by the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are removing the Trusted Author Program,&#8221; team lead William Patton announced in the most recent meeting. &#8220;It has not fulfilled the intended plan and has caused more problems than it is solving.&#8221;</p>
<p>Fellow team lead Sandilya Kafle outlined the reasons in a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2019/08/14/trusted-author-program-a-year-of-its-journey/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> published today. The entrance requirements for the program did not ensure that participants were truly &#8220;trusted&#8221; authors, as many had to be removed for gaming the system. Reviewers also reported that there was a group of people releasing clones of themes every week.</p>
<p>&#8220;We got lots of help from the TA authors – for which we’d like to thank them,&#8221; Kafle said. &#8220;However, there was still gaming from some of the authors – which resulted in their removal from the TA program. One of the intentions of the TA program was to reduce the gaming by the use of multiple accounts. However, we still saw some authors having multiple accounts so this intention was not realized though the program existing.&#8221;</p>
<p>The TA program&#8217;s entrance requirements also did not ensure that participants were prepared to review themes at a high level, which resulted in inconsistent reviews.</p>
<p>&#8220;We strongly believed that TA members were highly familiar with the requirements but we found that was not the case for all of them,&#8221; Kafle said. &#8220;Additionally, some authors did not feel confident enough in their own understanding of all requirements to perform reviews and set themes live. Instead many TA reviews went to the admin queue after approval. This was an indicator that the quality of the themes by TA&#8217;s may not be as high as expected.&#8221;</p>
<p>Most of the Theme Review team members present in the meeting were generally agreed on shutting the TA program down. Alexandru Cosmin, the former team lead who introduced the program, was the only vocal outlier, whose acrid responses to scrapping the program reflect a long-standing frustration with the slow queue.</p>
<p>&#8220;Honest opinion, and I could bet on this: by the end of the year we&#8217;ll have 5-month queues and multi-accounters,&#8221; Cosmin said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll see how fair it will be when you have guys with 15 accounts and authors complaining in the main chat about how long the queue is.&#8221;</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s decision to discontinue the TA program restores the natural order to the queue, with all theme authors receiving the same treatment. Tying an incentive program to the review system was ineffective for taming the queue.</p>
<p>Long queues and gaming the system have proven to be continual struggles for the Theme Review Team, but the existence of these problems underscores the significance of the official themes directory for theme shops. Companies continue to use WordPress.org to gain users for their commercial versions, and the directory remains an important distribution channel for WordPress themes.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 14 Aug 2019 22:01:41 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Matt: On Vergecast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=49979";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://ma.tt/2019/08/on-vergecast/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:495:"<p>If you&#8217;d like some more background and context on Tumblr and Automattic coming together I had a chance to have <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/14/20804894/tumblr-acquisition-matt-mullenweg-ceo-automattic-wordpress-verizon-changes-vergecast">a short but nuanced conversation with Nilay Patel and Julia Alexander on The Verge&#8217;s podcast, Vergecast</a>. I love how great journalists are able to really dive into the heart of issues, and I really enjoyed the conversation.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 14 Aug 2019 19:59:35 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"WPTavern: Write for WP Tavern";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92673";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:40:"https://wptavern.com/write-for-wp-tavern";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1146:"<p>WP Tavern is hiring full-time writers. We are looking for reporters with the ability to write WordPress news every day, covering a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to) Gutenberg, core development, community, open source software,  plugin and theme ecosystems, Tumblr, developer trends, and the open web.</p>



<p>The position requires the ability to discern the immediacy of stories that need to be told, attention to accuracy, and the ability to cultivate sources. Applicants must have a commitment to serve the public interest and remain impervious to a constant barrage of companies wanting to influence the press. A deep knowledge of the WordPress ecosystem is helpful for this position.</p>



<p>WP Tavern is, by reputation, WordPress’ newspaper of record. We are looking for writers who can approach this community with a critical and unbiased point of view,  preserving the independent and provocative spirit of the Tavern. Interested applicants should use the <a href="https://wptavern.com/contact-me">contact form</a> to get in touch, and be prepared to submit at least three writing samples for consideration.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 14 Aug 2019 16:34:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: New mycamp.rocks Newsletter Launches with Tips for Conference Organizers, Speakers, and Attendees";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92656";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:116:"https://wptavern.com/new-mycamp-rocks-newsletter-launches-with-tips-for-conference-organizers-speakers-and-attendees";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3713:"<p><a href="http://davidbisset.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Bisset</a> launched <a href="https://mycamp.rocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mycamp.rocks</a> today, a newsletter targeted at conference organizers, speakers, and attendees. The WordPress newsletter landscape is currently dominated by general industry and developer news digests, such as <a href="https://masterwp.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Master WP</a>, <a href="https://wpmail.me" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WpMail.me</a>, <a href="https://poststatus.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Post Status</a>, and <a href="https://thewpdaily.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The WP Daily</a>. mycamp.rocks is the first newsletter to drill down into community event topics and will be sending out new tips every Tuesday.</p>
<p>Bisset has helped organize WordCamp Miami, meetups, and other events for more than a decade. He has accumulated a large store of knowledge, resources, and experience managing all the minutiae of conference organization. The <a href="https://mycamp.rocks/august-13-2019/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of the newsletter includes tips on badge design, lanyards, dealing with rejection as a speaker applicant, communicating special diet requests, and other miscellaneous topics. He is intentionally keeping the focus broad and not limiting it to WordPress events.</p>
<p>Bisset said he decided to go the newsletter route, as opposed to creating a blog, because he was inspired by some developers experimenting with the same format. Newsletters tend to get mixed into an inbox management routine and are more likely to receive attention than websites that broadcast their posts to social media.</p>
<p>&#8220;Perhaps with busy lives people are appreciating small emails,&#8221; Bisset said. &#8220;For some it&#8217;s hard to keep checking a website and I think people are avoiding social media (or filtering it down). So email once again is becoming a good solution for delivering tips, especially if the emails are short and happen once a week.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bisset said the email format is an experiment, since the website is updated with the newsletter information anyway. He plans to evaluate after a month to see if more people are visiting the website versus opening the emails.</p>
<p>The newsletter has already received some feedback that Bisset plans to implement, such as separating the tips that work best for small events, like meetups, and larger conference-type events.</p>
<p>WordCamp US announced last week that it will host <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/2019/08/08/wordcamp-us-debuts-community-track/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a dedicated track for community-related topics</a>, such as meetups, diversity, inclusion, and kids camps. Bisset said he sees this as a significant development in support of community members and event leaders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Community is the biggest strength of WordPress itself,&#8221; Bisset said. &#8220;Many people have asked for and needed some direction, tips, or general knowledge on how to better run meetups, contributor days, WordCamps, and kid&#8217;s events. I think we&#8217;ve also seen over the past year or two some communication problems in the community itself, and I think addressing all of these things on a national stage like WCUS leads us down the road of educating people on how to improve our interactions with fellow community members. Those members could be fellow organizers, fellow contributors, or just anyone that we interact with &#8211; regardless of their gender, background, or age.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 13 Aug 2019 22:37:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:26:"Matt: Tumblr the Day After";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=49968";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43:"https://ma.tt/2019/08/tumblr-the-day-after/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3133:"<p>It is not surprising that the news about <a href="https://photomatt.tumblr.com/post/186964618222/automattic-tumblr">Automattic buying Tumblr</a> has <a href="https://www.techmeme.com/190812/p22#a190812p22">picked up a lot of coverage</a>. I especially appreciated the notes of support <a href="https://www.davidslog.com/186979222210/just-wanted-to-add-my-congratulations-and-thank">from Tumblr founder David Karp</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/1161015149563645953">former CTO Marco Arment</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/bijan/status/1161295918123163648">investor Bijan Sabet</a>. I am beyond excited to see what the Tumblr team creates next, and I will definitely be connecting with alumni to hear their perspective.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just wanted to add my congratulations and thank you to everyone at WordPress and Tumblr.<br /><br />Matt is a visionary, and the team at WordPress has built something absolutely foundational to the Internet. What an amazing home and opportunity for Tumblr.<a href="https://t.co/6AVXBVuUr1">https://t.co/6AVXBVuUr1</a></p>&mdash; David Karp (@davidkarp) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidkarp/status/1161253181315330050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>There has also been a lot of speculation on the purchase price, which I think is missing the real story. I would like to take this opportunity to express my respect for Verizon and how they approached this entire process. They inherited Tumblr through an acquisition of a merger, a few steps removed from its initial sale; it&#8217;s probably not a company they would have bought on its own, but they nonetheless recognized that there is a very special community and team behind the product. It&#8217;s also worth noting at this point that Verizon is a company that <a href="https://www.verizon.com/about/news-tag/earnings-and-investor-conferences">will do over $130B in revenue this year</a> and has over 139,000 employees.</p>



<p>First, they chose to find a new home for Tumblr instead of shutting it down. Second, they considered not just how much cash they would get on day one, but also &#8212; and especially &#8212; what would happen to the team afterward, and how the product and the team would be invested in going forward. Third, they thought about the sort of steward of the community the new owner would be. They didn&#8217;t have to do any of that, and I commend them for making all three points a priority. </p>



<p><a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> is still a startup &#8212; I&#8217;m sure there are deep-pocketed private equity firms that could have outbid us, but the most likely outcome then would have been an &#8220;asset&#8221; getting chopped up and sold for parts. (This is a caricature and there are PE firms I like, but it&#8217;s not a terrible stretch of the imagination.) Instead, Tumblr has a new chance to redefine itself in 2019 and beyond. Its community is joining with WordPress&#8217; 16-year commitment to open source and the open web. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 13 Aug 2019 21:38:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"WPTavern: Automattic Acquires Tumblr, Plans to Rebuild the Backend Powered by WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92627";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-tumblr-plans-to-rebuild-the-backend-powered-by-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7202:"<p>Automattic has acquired Tumblr, a long-time friendly rival company, for an undisclosed sum. Just six years after Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, the company is said to have been acquired for &#8220;a nominal amount&#8221; from Verizon, who indirectly acquired Tumblr when it bought Yahoo in 2017.</p>
<p>Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg declined to comment on the financial deals of the acquisition, but a source familiar to <a href="https://www.axios.com/verizon-tumblr-wordpress-automattic-e6645edd-bc73-45c2-9380-9fe8ca34291f.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Axios</a> puts the deal &#8220;well south of $20 million.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tumblr is Automattic&#8217;s biggest acquisition yet in terms of product users and employees gained. The microblogging and social networking website currently hosts 475.1 million blogs, for which Automattic will now assume operating costs. All 200 of Tumblr&#8217;s employees will be moving over to Automattic, bringing the company&#8217;s total employee count over 1,000.</p>
<p>Mullenweg took to the <a href="https://poststatus.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Post Status</a> community Slack channel for an impromptu Q&amp;A this afternoon where he discussed more of Automattic&#8217;s plans for Tumblr. He outlined a brief roadmap for Tumblr&#8217;s future that includes re-architecting its backend with WordPress:</p>
<ol>
<li>Move infrastructure off Verizon</li>
<li>Support same APIs on both WP.com and Tumblr</li>
<li>Switch backend to be WP</li>
<li>Open source Tumblr.com client similar to Calypso</li>
</ol>
<p>&#8220;WordPress is an open source web operating system that can power pretty much anything, including Tumblr.com, but it&#8217;s also a large property so will take a bit to figure out and migrate,&#8221; Mullenweg said.</p>
<p>Automattic doesn&#8217;t currently have plans to change the frontend Tumblr experience. Mullenweg said the Tumblr mobile app gets 20x more daily signups than the WordPress app. &#8220;It&#8217;s working amazingly well, despite being fairly constrained in what they can launch the past few years,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Tumblr changed its adult content policy in December 2018, banning pornographic content which reportedly accounted for <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/20/tumblrs-adult-fare-accounts-for-11-4-of-sites-top-200k-domains-tumblrs-adult-fare-accounts-for-11-4-of-sites-top-200k-domains-adults-sites-are-leading-category-of-referrals/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">22.37 percent of incoming referral traffic from external sites</a> in 2013 when it was acquired by Yahoo. Automattic has a similar content policy in place for WordPress.com and Mullenweg confirmed that the company does not plan to lift the ban on adult content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Adult content is not our forte either, and it creates a huge number of potential issues with app stores, payment providers, trust and safety&#8230; it&#8217;s a problem area best suited for companies fully dedicated to creating a great experience there,&#8221; Mullenweg <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20679894" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> in response to questions on Hacker News. &#8220;I personally have very liberal views on these things, but supporting adult content as a business is very different.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Automattic&#8217;s Tumblr Acquisition Opens Up New Possibilities for E-Commerce, Plugins, and Themes</h3>
<p>Beyond this initial roadmap Mullenweg outlined, he also said he thinks &#8220;e-commerce on Tumblr is a great idea,&#8221; with simpler features developed first. In the past, Tumblr users who wanted to add e-commerce to their sites would need to use a service like Shopify or Ecwid and generate a Tumblr-compatible widget. Users would have to move to a self-hosted site on another platform in order to get more full-featured e-commerce capabilities. Automattic has the ability to build e-commerce into the platform using WooCommerce or any number of other existing solutions for simpler sales features.</p>
<p>An emerging Tumblr/WordPress plugin and theme ecosystem is also a possibility but may not affect the wider WordPress ecosystem as much unless Automattic opens up the Tumblr marketplace to third-party developers. Mullenweg said once Tumblr&#8217;s backend is on WordPress, the idea of plugins can be explored. Whether that is on a private network, like WordPress.com, or a new breed of self-hosted Tumblr sites, is yet to be seen.</p>
<p>Automattic&#8217;s apparent bargain basement deal on Tumblr is good news for the preservation of the open web, as the company is committed to supporting independent publishing. Migrating Tumblr&#8217;s infrastructure to WordPress also expands WordPress&#8217; market share with a significantly younger user base. A study conducted by <a href="https://weareflint.co.uk/main-findings-social-media-demographics-uk-usa-2018" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">We Are Flint</a> in 2018 found 43 percent of internet users between the ages of 18 to 24 years old used Tumblr.</p>
<p>Tumblr&#8217;s primary demographic thrives on community and its current feature set is built to support that. If Automattic can preserve Tumblr&#8217;s distinct community and convenient publishing, while invisibly re-architecting it to use WordPress, users could potentially enjoy seamless transitions across platforms to suit their publishing needs. This improves the likelihood that this generation of internet users will continue to own their own content instead of tossing it away on social media silos that feed on users&#8217; most important thoughts, writings, and memories.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very excited about Tumblr&#8217;s next chapter and looking forward working with Matt Mullenweg and the entire team at Automattic,&#8221; Tumblr CEO Jeff D&#8217;Onofrio said. &#8220;I&#8217;m most excited for what this means for the entire Tumblr community. There is much more to do to make your experience a better one, and I&#8217;m super confident that we are in great hands with this news. Tumblr and WordPress share common founding principles. The plane has landed on a friendly runway. Now it is time to freshen up the jets.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://photomatt.tumblr.com/post/186964618222/automattic-tumblr" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announcement on his Tumblr blog</a>, Mullenweg said he sees &#8220;some good opportunities to standardize on the Open Source WordPress tech stack.&#8221; This migration will undoubtedly be a formidable technical challenge and Mullenweg <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20680634" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">promised to document the team&#8217;s work</a> after it is complete. In the meantime, the Tumblr team has new functionality they plan to introduce after the acquisition is officially closed.</p>
<p>&#8220;When the possibility to join forces became concrete, it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive – and, frankly, more fun web,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;I knew we had to do it.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 13 Aug 2019 03:18:29 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"WPTavern: WooCommerce 3.7 Introduces New Blocks, Updates Minimum WordPress and PHP Requirements";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92601";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-7-introduces-new-blocks-updates-minimum-wordpress-and-php-requirements";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5022:"<p><a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/woocommerce-3-7-has-landed/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WooCommerce 3.7</a> was released today after four months in development. This minor release is backwards compatible with previous versions. Despite containing more than <a href="https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/compare/release/3.6...release/3.7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1,290 commits</a>, 3.7 is smaller than previous releases, as the WooCommerce team is working towards delivering more frequent releases to improve the stability of the platform.</p>
<p>WooCommerce 3.7 bundles updates from the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/woo-gutenberg-products-block/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WooCommerce Blocks</a> feature plugin <a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/woocommerce-blocks-2-3-release-notes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">version 2.3</a>, including the following new blocks and enhancements to existing blocks:</p>
<ul>
<li>A new focal point picker on the Featured Product block</li>
<li>A new Product Categories List block</li>
<li>A new Featured Category block</li>
<li>A new Products By Tag(s) block</li>
<li>Featured Product now allows for featuring a product by variation, linking to the product page with the variation pre-selected</li>
</ul>
<p>Here&#8217;s an example of the featured category block, which lets store owners stay right inside the editor to select the category and see an instant preview of the content.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/featured-category-block.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WooCommerce developers are working on creating more block editor capabilities for store owners. Future versions of the WooCommerce Blocks plugin will include new blocks for product filtering and for displaying product reviews. These will be tested first through the WooCommerce Blocks feature plugin before being added to core.</p>
<h3>WooCommerce 3.7 Requires WordPress 4.9+ and PHP 5.6+</h3>
<p>This release bumps the minimum required WordPress version to 4.9 and the minimum required PHP version to 5.6. There are new upgrade nudges in WooCommerce 3.6, alerting users who will need to to upgrade WordPress and PHP versions in order to update their stores to WooCommerce 3.7.</p>
<p>The increased minimum versions allows WooCommerce developers to include new and more performant code in future versions of the plugin. It also enables them to utilize PHP packages. The Product Blocks and REST API functionality have been removed from core and are now loaded via Composer.</p>
<h3>WooCommerce Blocks Rebranded</h3>
<p>Users may notice some visual changes to how WooCommerce blocks appear in the editor. The blocks have been updated to better reflect the WooCommerce brand. This is becoming more common, as plugins with multiple blocks carve out their own branded spaces in the block inserter.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/blocks-rebrnded.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>A few other notable enhancements in WooCommerce 3.7 include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Email Settings: New &#8220;Additional Content&#8221; sections replace the old hardcoded &#8220;Thanks&#8221; sections so store owners don&#8217;t have to override templates to change the wording</li>
<li>Coupon admin pages: Automatically generate new coupon codes with the click of a button</li>
<li>Performance improvements, new dedicated table for tax classes, reduced number of queries to populate variations, excluding Action Scheduler tasks from comments queries to speed up page load times</li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-admin/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WooCommerce Admin</a> feature plugin continues to make progress and currently has 300,000 active installations. The plugin provides a new JavaScript-based dashboard for monitoring store reports and sales metrics. <a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/woocommerce-admin-v0-15-0/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Recent updates</a> include more data on the Customer Report page, improved navigation bar design, and an improved Stock Activity panel that automatically responds to inventory updates. Store owners who want to preview this functionality in WooCommerce can install the feature plugin.</p>
<p>Version 3.7 should not cause any backwards compatibility issues but the update includes a few database upgrade routines. The WooCommerce team recommends those with large amounts of data in their databases to upgrade using the WP CLI command wp wc update, instead of through the admin. Check out the <a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/woocommerce-3-7-has-landed/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">release post</a> and <a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2019/07/16/woocommerce-3-7-beta-1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">beta announcement</a> for more details.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 12 Aug 2019 20:41:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"Post Status: Automattic — the maker of WordPress.com — has purchased Tumblr";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=67143";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"https://poststatus.com/automattic-has-purchased-tumblr/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10424:"<p>Automattic — which owns WordPress.com — has acquired Tumblr and about 200 employees from Verizon, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/verizon-to-sell-tumblr-to-wordpress-owner-11565640000">according to</a> <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> and confirmed in Post Status Slack by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg.</p>



<p>Tumblr has had a rocky road since their sale to Yahoo! in 2013 for $1.1 billion. Yahoo! is now owned by Verizon — whose entire content and platform lineup is a mess. The WSJ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/verizon-looks-to-unload-tumblr-blogging-site-11556823135">reported in May</a> that Verizon was shopping Tumblr.</p>



<p>The most recent controversy for Tumblr was a community revolt over the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/3/18123752/tumblr-adult-content-porn-ban-date-explicit-changes-why-safe-mode">treatment of adult content</a>. Matt says Tumblr&#8217;s new adult content policy will stay in place under the new ownership. On Hacker News, <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20679894">he said</a>, &#8220;Adult content is not our forte either, and it creates a huge number of potential issues with app stores, payment providers, trust and safety&#8230; it&#8217;s a problem area best suited for companies fully dedicated to creating a great experience there. I personally have very liberal views on these things, but supporting adult content as a business is very different.&#8221;</p>



<p>Matt tells me the initial goals for Tumblr are:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>1. Move infrastructure off Verizon.<br />2. Support same APIs on both&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=http%3A%2F%2FWP.com">WP.com</a>&nbsp;and Tumblr.<br />3. Switch backend to be WP.<br />4. Open source&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=http%3A%2F%2FTumblr.com">Tumblr.com</a>&nbsp;client similar to Calypso.</p></blockquote>



<p>Tumblr will remain a separate brand. There is a dedicated Tumblr community even after years of neglect and confusion. Still, Matt says Tumblr&#8217;s user base is &#8220;several times larger than [WordPress.com&#8217;s].&#8221; </p>



<p>The Tumblr backend will change its technology, but the front-end experience will stay similar to what it is today, as Automattic &#8220;[doesn&#8217;t] want to change what&#8217;s working.&#8221; Matt said Tumblr&#8217;s interface is &#8220;working amazingly well, despite being fairly constrained in what they can launch [the] past few years.&#8221;</p>



<p>There are several potential wins here for Automattic. For one, they gain a committed community for pennies on the dollar compared to the $1.1 billion Yahoo! paid — a classic Yahoo! exit.</p>



<p>While the WSJ called the purchase amount &#8220;nominal&#8221; for Verizon, Matt says he considers the brand &#8220;super valuable, but right now not making as much as they could or should.&#8221;</p>



<p>Dan Primack of Axios is reporting a &#8220;source familiar&#8221; put the price &#8220;well south of $20 million.&#8221;</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Automattic paid peanuts for Tumblr. Source familiar puts it well south of $20 million.<br /><br />Reminder: Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for it.<a href="https://t.co/N63c5y3MEh">https://t.co/N63c5y3MEh</a></p>&mdash; Dan Primack (@danprimack) <a href="https://twitter.com/danprimack/status/1161015743531618305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Primack later stated the upfront sale price was less than $3 million.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3/ Story updated: Price less than $3 million.</p>&mdash; Dan Primack (@danprimack) <a href="https://twitter.com/danprimack/status/1161038705295089664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>In Post Status Slack, Matt noted that &#8220;adding ~200 people and porting all of Tumblr to Automattic is non-trivial and by far the largest investment or acquisition Automattic has ever made.&#8221; </p>



<p>While unrelated to the upfront cost, the ongoing costs Automattic is taking on — and Verizon was surely quite keen to unload — is significant. The development and hosting effort will surely cost millions per year, not counting employee expenses. Automattic&#8217;s <a href="https://poststatus.com/automattic-acquired-woocommerce-woothemes/">largest previous acquisition</a> — of WooCommerce — was about $30M in cash and stock. Thas is probably not far from the annual cost of the Tumblr employees Automattic is taking on now.</p>



<p>In recent years Automattic has put much more energy into effective monetization, and I have no doubt they can do significantly better than the sprawling Verizon organization Tumblr languished under.</p>



<p>Again <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20679711">on Hacker News</a>, Matt noted, &#8220;We&#8217;ve been evolving Automattic to be more of a Berkshire Hathaway-inspired model and businesses with a lot of autonomy, and this [acquisition] continues that trend.&#8221; This is interesting, particularly as Berkshire is known to let portfolio companies operate quite independently, and of course, Berkshire CEO Warren Buffet is famous for being a savvy value investor. Tumblr is definitely a deep value play at this price.</p>



<p>With Tumblr&#8217;s acquisition, Automattic has an opportunity to diversify its own brands — <a href="https://poststatus.com/resources/wordpress-versus-automattic/">WordPress vs WordPress.com</a> is always very confusing. (Legacy and tech media will surely screw it up talking about this acquisition.) Inevitably different cultures and web communities drift to different spaces online — think Instagram and Facebook, for instance. </p>



<p>Tumblr is a very browse-heavy platform. The potential for eCommerce on such a platform could be significant. Matt said in chat that he thinks &#8220;eCommerce on Tumblr is a great idea.&#8221; I can also see a world where Tumblr could be shaped into a primarily mobile product — a more direct (and more privacy-focused) implementation of what Instagram is, with a similar, minimal interface.</p>



<p>I would really love this, and Matt hints at some alignment on that front. In response to a comment speculating they&#8217;d wind Tumblr down, he said the plan was the opposite because &#8220;the web needs open and independent publishing and social media more than ever.&#8221; I know from my own conversations with Matt that he&#8217;s thinking about this a lot now. The way he plugged &#8220;social media&#8221; in that statement makes me think it&#8217;s at the top of mind inrelation to Tumblr.</p>



<p>If Tumblr is open-sourced, a plugin ecosystem could work there as well. Matt says that &#8220;when [Tumblr] is on [WP&#8217;s] backend that [idea] &#8230; can be explored.&#8221; So a plugin market for Tumblr is not off the table, but it doesn&#8217;t sound like third-party extensibility is an immediate priority. I think the initial goals is to revive a large community and keep to the basics.</p>



<p>Matt Mullenweg now <a href="https://photomatt.tumblr.com/">has a Tumblr himself</a>. He posted his own <a href="https://photomatt.tumblr.com/post/186964618222/automattic-tumblr">announcement</a> of the acquisition there, where he wrote:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>I have worked on WordPress my entire adult life — 16 years now — and so the democratization of publishing is near and dear to my heart. Tumblr and WordPress have always been very philosophically aligned there.</p><p>When the possibility to join forces became concrete, it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive – and, frankly, more fun web. I knew we had to do it.</p></blockquote>



<p>Everyone loves to have a say on social media, but this move is well regarded so far in the tech space. It&#8217;s nice when a company makes a save-attempt on something good that&#8217;s been presumed &#8220;dead.&#8221;</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm happy for the Tumblr community and hope Tumblr goes free software like WordPress. Local federated Tumblr would be a lot of fun.</p>&mdash; Paul Ford (@ftrain) <a href="https://twitter.com/ftrain/status/1161017044172718080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div><br />



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is pretty cool. Can’t think of a better owner today than Automattic for Tumblr’s huge creative publishing community. <a href="https://t.co/G9pVtpjKJ9">https://t.co/G9pVtpjKJ9</a></p>&mdash; Marco Arment (@marcoarment) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/1161015149563645953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>The CEO of Tumblr, Jeff D&#8217;Onofrio, said the following <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffdonof/status/1161034494465519620">on Twitter</a>:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>I’m very excited about Tumblr’s next chapter and looking forward to working with <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt">@photomatt</a> and the entire team at Automattic.  I’m most excited for what this means for the entire Tumblr community.  There is much more to do to make your experience a better one, and I’m super confident that we are in great hands with this news.  Tumblr and WordPress share common founding principles. The plane has landed on a friendly runway.  Now it is time to freshen up the jets.   </p></blockquote>



<p>There will be more to come from Post Status about Tumblr joining the Automattic family of properties and also how it fits in the broader WordPress ecosystem. To my mind, porting a decaying but massive platform to an actively developed WordPress stack is a huge net positive for the web. </p>



<p>Additionally, the potential to further develop Tumblr, specifically in the social networking space, could be a beacon for a more user-centric web with clear offramps — it&#8217;s just WordPress! — for folks to protect and own their own data.</p>



<p>I am optimistic.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 12 Aug 2019 20:15:03 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:52:"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Amanda Rush";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7047";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/08/people-of-wordpress-amanda-rush/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6491:"<p><em>You’ve probably heard that WordPress is open source software, and may know that it’s created and run by volunteers. WordPress enthusiasts share many examples of how WordPress changed people’s lives for the better. This monthly series shares some of those lesser-known, amazing stories.</em></p>



<h2><strong>Meet Amanda Rush from Augusta, Georgia, USA.</strong></h2>



<p>Amanda Rush is a WordPress advocate with a visual disability. She first started using computers in 1985, which enabled her to turn in homework to her sighted teachers. Screen reader technology for Windows was in its infancy then, so she worked in DOS almost exclusively.</p>



<p>After graduating high school, Amanda went to college to study computer science, programming with DOS-based tools since compilers for Windows were still inaccessible. As part of her computer science course of study, she learned HTML which began her career in web development.</p>



<h2>How Amanda got started with WordPress</h2>



<p>Amanda began maintaining a personal website, and eventually began publishing her own content using LiveJournal. However, controlling the way the page around her content looked was hard, and she soon outgrew the hosted solution.</p>



<p>So in 2005, Amanda bought customerservant.com, set up a very simple CMS for blogging, and started publishing there. She accepted the lack of design and content, and lack of easy customization because she wasn’t willing to code her own solution. Nor did she want to move to another hosted solution, as she liked being able to customize her own site, as well as publish content.</p>



<h3><strong>Hebrew dates led her to WordPress</strong></h3>



<p>At some point, Amanda was looking for an easy way to display the Hebrew dates alongside the Gregorian dates on her blog entries. Unfortunately, the blogging software she was using at the time, did not offer customization options at that level. She decided to research alternative solutions and came across a WordPress plugin that did just that.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The fact that WordPress would not keep her locked into a visual editor, used themes to customize styling, and offered ways to mark up content, immediately appealed to Amanda. She decided to give it a go.</p>



<h3><strong>Accessibility caused her to dive deeper</strong></h3>



<p>When the software Amanda used at work became completely inaccessible, she started learning about WordPress. While she was learning about this new software, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">Web 2.0</a> was introduced. The lack of support for it in the screen reader she used meant that WordPress administration was completely inaccessible. To get anything done, Amanda needed to learn to find her way in WordPress’ file structure.</p>



<p>Eventually Amanda started working as an independent contractor for the largest screen reader developer in the market, Freedom Scientific. She worked from home every day and hacked on WordPress after hours.</p>



<p>Unfortunately Amanda hit a rough patch when her job at Freedom Scientific ended. Using her savings she undertook further studies for various Cisco and Red Hat certifications, only to discover that the required testing for these certifications were completely inaccessible. She could study all she wanted, but wasn’t able to receive grades to pass the courses.</p>



<p>She lost her financial aid, her health took a turn for the worse, she was diagnosed with Lupus, and lost her apartment. Amanda relocated to Augusta where she had supportive friends who offered her a couch and a roof over her head.</p>



<h3><strong>But Amanda refused to give up</strong></h3>



<p>Amanda continued to hack WordPress through all of this. It was the only stable part of her life. She wanted to help make WordPress accessible for people with disabilities, and in 2012 joined the&nbsp; WordPress Accessibility Team. Shortly after that, she finally got her own place to live, and started thinking about what she was going to do with the rest of her working life.</p>



<p>Listening to podcasts led her to take part in <a href="http://wordsesh.org/">WordSesh</a>, which was delivered completely online and enabled Amanda to participate without needing to travel. She began to interact with WordPress people on Twitter, and continued to contribute to the community as part of the WordPress Accessibility Team. Things had finally started to pick up.</p>



<h2><strong>Starting her own business</strong></h2>



<p>In 2014, Amanda officially launched her own business, <a href="http://www.customerservant.com/">Customer Servant Consultancy</a>. Since WordPress is open source, and becoming increasingly accessible, Amanda could modify WordPress to build whatever she wanted and not be at the mercy of web and application developers who know nothing about accessibility. And if she got stuck, she could tap into the community and its resources.</p>



<p>Improving her circumstances and becoming more self-sufficient means Amanda was able to take back some control over her life in general. She was able to gain independence and create her own business despite being part of the blind community, which has an 80% unemployment rate.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In her own words:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>We’re still fighting discrimination in the workplace, and we’re still fighting for equal access when it comes to the technology we use to do our jobs. But the beauty of WordPress and its community is that we can create opportunities for ourselves.</em></p><p><em>I urge my fellow blind community members to join me inside this wonderful thing called WordPress. Because it will change your lives if you let it.</em></p><cite>Amanda Rush, entrepreneur</cite></blockquote>



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



<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2019/07/heropress_large_white_logo-1.jpg?fit=632%2C474&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-7026" width="110" height="83" /></div>



<p><em>This post is based on an article originally published on HeroPress.com, a community initiative created by <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/">Topher DeRosia</a>. HeroPress highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories would otherwise go unheard.</em></p>



<p><em>Meet more WordPress community members over at </em><a href="https://heropress.com/"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>!</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Aug 2019 21:23:23 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Yvette Sonneveld";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: BuddyPress 5.0 to Add Category for Storing BuddyPress Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92240";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://wptavern.com/buddypress-5-0-to-add-category-for-storing-buddypress-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1506:"<p>BuddyPress 5.0 will include a way for developers to organize their blocks under a <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/12418" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BuddyPress blocks category</a>. Mathieu Viet <a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2019/07/31/a-category-to-store-your-buddypress-blocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shared a code example</a> on the BuddyPress Dev Updates blog, demonstrating how to set the category property of a block to BuddyPress when registering a block type. The blocks registered with this category will appear under the BuddyPress panel in the block inserter.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/buddypress-blocks-panel.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>As the block ecosystem expands, keeping things organized inside the block inserter is becoming more important. BuddyPress having its own designated category helps user find blocks faster, especially if they don&#8217;t know the exact block name to search for, or if they are just browsing to see what blocks are available. With the <a href="https://wptavern.com/buddypress-5-0-to-introduce-bp-rest-api-first-beta-due-mid-august" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BP REST API set to land in the 5.0 release</a>, blocks will be easier for BuddyPress developers to create.</p>
<p>BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta1 is expected to be released around August 15. Subsequent release dates are yet to be confirmed following feedback on the beta.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Aug 2019 19:10:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"WPTavern: Build Customizer Settings Faster by Using the Kirki Framework in Your Project";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92405";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"https://wptavern.com/build-customizer-settings-faster-by-using-the-kirki-framework-in-your-project";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10422:"<p><a href="https://kirki.org">Kirki</a> is a free open-source (MIT-licensed) framework built for developers who are looking to add Customizer Controls to their themes or plugins.</p>



<p>Aristeides Stathopoulos, Kirki&#8217;s lead developer has been working on the framework <a href="https://wptavern.com/kirki-a-free-plugin-to-style-the-wordpress-customizer-and-add-advanced-controls">since 2014</a>. Thanks to the continuous updates and improvements, Kirki has built a community on Github which includes over 1000 stars and 300 forks.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>Before Kirki I never touched the customizer. Kirki helped me to understand the customizer and do a lot in less time!</p><cite>LebCit &#8211; WordPress Theme Developer</cite></blockquote>



<h3>WordPress Core Customizer Controls</h3>



<p>WordPress Core includes a handful of basic Customizer Controls by default. For example: text, textarea, checkbox, radio, select, dropdown-pages, email, URL, number, hidden, and date controls.</p>



<p>Kirki supports the Core Controls too, plus around twenty more. Generally speaking, the Kirki controls cover the more advanced use-cases. For example:</p>



<ul><li>Typography</li><li>Color Palettes</li><li>TinyMCE Editor</li><li>Sortable Fields</li></ul>



<p>Kirki also offers functionality not available in Core WordPress, such as the auto-generation of your CSS output and postMessage scripts. These features, which we’ll look at later in this article, can easily cut your development time in half.</p>



<h3>Kirki is Slow</h3>



<p>One criticism commonly held against Kirki is that it’s slow. In fact, this criticism is used against most frameworks (including WordPress). It makes sense, right? You are loading a lot of code you might never use.</p>



<p>In this case, the reality is that the opposite is true. Most of the time control panels built using Kirki will actually be faster than the same panels built with Core Controls.</p>



<p>This is because Kirki adds an optimization layer that isn’t built into WordPress. </p>



<p>When the Customizer is initialized WordPress instantly tries to load all the controls, even if they are within a section or panel and the user can’t interact with them yet. In comparison, Kirki postpones the loading until just before the user will be interacting with the control.</p>



<p>To see the effect of this in practice, let’s try adding 50 color controls using each method.</p>



<p><strong>Core Method:</strong></p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
for ($i = 0; $i &lt; 50; $i++){
	$wp_customize-&gt;add_setting( 'color_setting_hex_' . $i , array(
		'default' =&gt; '#0088CC'
	) );

	// add color picker control
	$wp_customize-&gt;add_control( new WP_Customize_Color_Control( $wp_customize, 'color_setting_hex_' . $i, array(
		'label' =&gt; 'Color Control',
		'section' =&gt; 'title_tagline',
		'settings' =&gt; 'color_setting_hex_' . $i,
	) ) );
}
</pre>


<p><strong>With Kirki:</strong></p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
for ($i = 0; $i &lt; 50; $i++) {
     Kirki::add_field( 'config_id', array(
         'type'        =&gt; 'color',
         'settings'    =&gt; 'color_setting_hex_' . $i,
         'label'       =&gt; __( 'Color Control', 'kirki' ),
         'section'     =&gt; 'title_tagline',
         'default'     =&gt; '#0088CC',
     ) );
 }
</pre>


<p><strong>The results:</strong></p>



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/dannycooper.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/kirki.png?w=627&ssl=1" alt="" />



<p>As you can see, the initial load speed is considerably faster when using Kirki. The code required to create the controls is more concise too.</p>



<h3>Integrating Kirki Into Your Project</h3>



<p>There are multiple ways to integrate the Kirki Framework into your project, the official documentation does a good job of explaining the different methods.</p>



<p>I recommend developers guide the user to install the plugin version of Kirki, rather than including the framework directly within your project’s code. This can be done using TGMPA or the script provided.</p>



<p>The reasoning behind taking the plugin route is that Kirki is frequently updated and improved. By installing the plugin version, your users will have instant access to bug fixes and security updates. </p>



<p>In contrast, when you include the framework as part of your project, users will only receive updates when you update your theme or plugin, which might be less frequently than is required.</p>



<p>Whichever method you use, be sure to check Kirki is initialized before you add your settings:</p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
// Early exit if Kirki doesn’t exist.
if ( ! class_exists( 'Kirki' ) ) {
    return;
}
</pre>


<h3>Fields</h3>



<p>In the Core Method example, we first created a setting and then created a control for it. In most cases, the two are directly linked. Kirki simplifies the process and allows us to create a ‘Field’ instead. When a field is created, it builds the setting and control in the background for us.</p>



<p>Fields support all the control arguments you would expect (label, description, section, default), as well as some Kirki-specific arguments.</p>



<p>The ‘type’ argument allows you to choose one of Kirki’s 30 control types: https://kirki.org/docs/controls/</p>



<h3>Sections</h3>



<p>Customizer Sections allow you to group Controls together. WordPress has six built-in sections that you can add your controls too:</p>



<ul><li>title_tagline &#8211; Site Identity</li><li>colors &#8211; Colors</li><li>header_image &#8211; Header Image</li><li>background_image &#8211; Background Image</li><li>static_front_page &#8211; Homepage Settings</li><li>custom_css &#8211; Additional CSS</li></ul>



<p><br />Sections in Kirki work exactly the same as in Core, the Kirki::add_section() method is simply a wrapper for $wp_customize-&gt;add_section() and accepts the same parameters and arguments.</p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
Kirki::add_section( 'section_id', array(
     'title'          =&gt; esc_html__( 'My Section', 'kirki' ),
     'description'    =&gt; esc_html__( 'My section description.', 'kirki' ),
 ) );
</pre>


<h3>Panels</h3>



<p>Panels allow you to create another level of hierarchy by grouping Sections together. WordPress Core has one built-in panel, which is ‘Menus’.</p>



<p>Again, the Kirki implementation is simply a wrapper for the Core functionality.</p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
Kirki::add_panel( 'panel_id', array(
     'priority'    =&gt; 10,
     'title'       =&gt; esc_html__( 'My Panel', 'kirki' ),
     'description' =&gt; esc_html__( 'My panel description', 'kirki' ),
 ) );
</pre>


<h3>&#8216;transport&#8217; =&gt; &#8216;auto&#8217;</h3>



<p>Traditionally when creating Customizer Controls you have two options for the transport argument:</p>



<ul><li><strong>Refresh</strong> &#8211; Each time the user makes a change the preview pane is refreshed to show the changes. This can take a couple of seconds.</li><li><strong>postMessage</strong> &#8211; Each time the user makes a change the preview pane is updated using Javascript which doesn’t require a refresh and is near-instant.</li></ul>



<p>postMessage is undoubtedly the superior method for updating the previewer and should be used where possible. However, there is one downside, using postMessage means you need to create write custom JS code for each of your controls. A simple implementation looks something like this:</p>


<pre class="brush: jscript; title: ; notranslate">
// Update the site title in real time...
wp.customize( 'blogname', function( value ) {
    value.bind( function( newval ) {
        $( '#site-title a' ).html( newval );
    } );
} );
</pre>


<p>When you have a lot of settings, this can quickly become repetitive.</p>



<p>This is where Kirki shines, it adds a third option: ‘transport’ =&gt; ‘auto’.</p>



<p>‘transport’ =&gt; ‘auto’ works together with another argument Kirki adds named ‘output’. When both values are defined, Kirki will auto-generate the postMessage scripts for you. Which means you get all the benefits of using postMessage without having to write any of the Javascript code.</p>



<p>A field using transport =&gt; ‘auto’ looks like this:</p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
Kirki::add_field( ‘config_id’, array(
     'type'        =&gt; 'color',
     'settings'    =&gt; 'color_setting_hex',
     'label'       =&gt; __( 'Color Control', 'kirki' ),
     'section'     =&gt; ‘colors’,
     'default'     =&gt; '#0088CC',
     'transport'   =&gt; 'auto',
     'output' =&gt; array(
         array(
             'element'  =&gt; 'body',
             'property' =&gt; 'background-color',
         ),
     ),
 ) );
</pre>


<p>This time-saving feature of Kirki means that most of the time you will no longer need to write or enqueue your own postMessage scripts.</p>



<h3>Frontend CSS Output</h3>



<p>Another part of creating Customizer settings is generating the CSS output on the frontend. A simple example might look like this:</p>


<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
/**
 * Output the Customizer CSS to wp_head
 */
function wptavern_customizer_css() {
	$bg_color = get_theme_mod( 'color_setting_hex' );
	?&gt;
	&lt;style&gt;
		body {
			background-color: &lt;?php echo sanitize_hex_color( $bg_color ); ?&gt;;
		}
	&lt;/style&gt;
	&lt;?php
}
add_action( 'wp_head', wptavern_customizer_css );
</pre>


<p>Like the postMessage example, writing this code can quickly become repetitive if you have a lot of settings. </p>



<p>Fortunately, ‘transport’ =&gt; ‘auto’ takes care of the frontend output for you too. Even in our simplified example, ‘transport’ =&gt; ‘auto’ has reduced the code we need to write by ~50%.</p>



<h3>Conclusion</h3>



<p>In this article, we’ve looked at just the basics of the Kirki Framework and two of its arguments, already we can see how it allows us to create Customizer Controls faster and without compromising on performance.</p>



<p>When you dive into Kirki you will quickly discover the wealth of functionality it adds on top of the Customize API. It’s no surprise that it’s in use on over 300,000 websites and a core part of some of the biggest WordPress themes on the market.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Aug 2019 16:46:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Danny Cooper";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"WPTavern: Proposal to Auto-Update Old Versions of WordPress to 4.7 Sparks Heated Debate";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92391";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"https://wptavern.com/proposal-to-auto-update-old-versions-of-wordpress-to-4-7-sparks-heated-debate";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14387:"<p>WordPress contributors, developers, and community members are currently debating a proposal to would implement a new policy regarding security support for older versions. The <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-security-team-discusses-backporting-security-releases-to-fewer-versions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">discussion</a> began last week when security team lead Jake Spurlock asked for feedback on different approaches to backporting security fixes to older versions. Following up on this discussion, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/iandunn/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ian Dunn</a>, a full-time contributor to WordPress core, sponsored by Automattic, has published a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposal</a> for moving forward with a new policy:</p>
<blockquote><p>Support the latest 6 versions, and auto-update unsupported sites to the oldest supported version.</p>
<p>That would mean that the currently supported versions would be 4.7 &#8211; 5.2, and the 3.7 &#8211; 4.6 branches would eventually be auto-updated to 4.7.</p>
<p>In practice, that’d provide roughly 2 years of support for each branch, and roughly 10% of current sites would eventually be auto-updated to 4.7. Once 5.3 is released, the oldest supported version would be become 4.8.</p></blockquote>
<p>Dunn outlined a detailed plan for implementing the new policy that involves testing a small subset of sites to identify problems before gradually updating older sites from one major version to the next (not all at once). Site administrators would be notified at least 30 days prior to the automatic updates with emails and notices in the admin that would also offer the opportunity to opt out.</p>
<p>The proposal has received dozens of comments, with some contributors in support, some in favor of modifications to the rollout, and others who are unequivocally opposed to the idea of auto-updating old sites to major versions.</p>
<p>One of the prevailing concerns is that many admins will not receive any notice due to non-functioning email addresses or not logging into their admin dashboards frequently enough. Opponents also contend that even though there are fallbacks for sites that fail to upgrade, some sites may be broken in a way that WordPress cannot detect, due to problems with plugins or themes.</p>
<p>&#8220;A back-end notice will not even begin to make up for the lack of reliable email communication,&#8221; Glenn Messersmith <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36344" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;There are tons of site owners who never venture into the back-end once their site has been developed. These are the very people who will not get email notifications either because the email address is that of some long gone developer.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no way any sort of error detection can act as a safety net for those who never saw any notifications. There are all sorts of ways that a site owner might consider their site to be &#8216;broken&#8217; which an update script could not possibly detect.&#8221;</p>
<p>In response to concerns about abandoned sites breaking or administrators relying heavily on a plugin that has been abandoned, Dunn agreed that these types of situations may be unavoidable under the current proposal.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can definitely sympathize with that situation, but we have to draw the line somewhere,&#8221; Dunn <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;We don’t have unlimited resources, and the current policy has damaging effects for the entire WordPress ecosystem.</p>
<p>&#8220;In reality, choices are never between a purely good thing and a purely bad thing; they’re always between competing tradeoffs.</p>
<p>&#8220;I definitely agree that it’s bad if a small number of site owner have to do extra work to upgrade their site, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s much, much better than having our security team be hindered by an extremely onerous support policy.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Proposal Author Claims &#8220;Nobody Would be Forced to Update;&#8221; Opponents Argue that Requiring Users to Opt Out is Not Consent</h3>
<p>In addition to the problem of possibly breaking sites, those opposed to the proposal are not on board with WordPress forcing an update without getting explicit consent from site administrators. Providing users a way to opt into automatic updates for major core releases is one of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/12/08/9-priorities-for-2019/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nine projects</a> that Matt Mullenweg had identified for working on in 2019. However, the plan for this proposal is more aggressive in that it would require site owners on the 3.7 &#8211; 4.6 branches to opt out if they do not want to be incrementally auto-updated to 4.7.</p>
<p>&#8220;They still retain agency no matter what, nobody would be forced to update, everybody retains control over their site and can opt-out if they want to,&#8221; Dunn <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36395" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Something being on by default is very different from forcing somebody to do something. We would make it very easy to opt out — just install a plugin, no config required — and the instructions for opting out would be included in every email and admin notice.&#8221;</p>
<p>Dunn further clarified in a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36401" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">comment</a> regarding who would receive these updates:</p>
<blockquote><p>Nobody would be forced, it would instead be an opt-out process. If someone has already disabled auto-updates to major versions, that would be respected and their site would not be updated.</p>
<p>If someone clicked the opt-out link in the email, or if they clicked the opt-out button in the admin notice, then the updates would also be disabled.</p>
<p>The only people who would receive the updates are the ones who:</p>
<p>1) Want the update<br />
2) Don’t care<br />
3) Have abandoned their sites or email accounts</p></blockquote>
<p>Several participants in the discussion asked why the process of getting these sites on 4.7 cannot be opt-in for consent, instead of forcing the update on those who don&#8217;t opt out. No matter how convenient the opt-out mechanism is, having one in place doesn&#8217;t constitute consent. Many site owners who will be forced into this process thought they would be safe in opting for maintenance and security updates and leaving their sites to perform &#8220;updates while you sleep,&#8221; as the <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2013/10/basie/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">3.7 release post</a> described the feature.</p>
<p>&#8220;Insecure sites are bad, but arguably, retrospectively enlarging the power granted to oneself by this mechanism is worse,&#8221; UpdraftPlus creator <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidanderson/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Anderson</a> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36302" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Potentially it could damage trust + reputation more than insecurity. I’d argue that huge dashboard ugly, irremovable notices on older versions warning of upcoming abandonment + the need to update would be better. Let the site owner take responsibility. Don’t play nanny, abuse trust, break sites and then write blog posts about how it was necessary collateral damage. Nobody who wakes up to a broken site will be happy with that.&#8221;</p>
<p>Andrew Nacin, WordPress 3.7 release lead and co-author of WordPress&#8217; automatic background updates feature, encouraged those behind the proposal to clarify that WordPress only supports the latest major version and has never officially supported older versions.</p>
<p>&#8220;It takes a lot of work, for sure, to backport,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;But we should still stick to our north star, which is that WordPress is backwards compatible from version to version, that WordPress users shouldn’t need to worry about what version they are running, and that we should just keep sites up to date if we are able.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nacin offered more context on the original strategy for introducing automatic updates, which included gradually moving to having major releases as auto updates so all sites would eventually be on the latest version:</p>
<blockquote><p>First, when we first released automatic background updates, we thought that our next big push would be to get to major release auto updates in the next few years. In practice, we can do this at any time, and, indeed, 3.7 supported this as a flag. But the idea was we would invest energy in sandboxing, whitescreen protection, improving our rollback functionality, etc., so our success rate was as high for major versions as it was for minor versions. (The failure rate scales somewhat linearly with the number of files that need to be copied over, and also gets more complex when files need to be added, rather than just changed.) Once we did this, we’d simply start updating all sites to the latest version and stop backporting. Obviously we still haven’t gotten here.</p></blockquote>
<p>He commented that overall the proposal is &#8220;a great plan&#8221; but emphasized the benefits of communicating to users that it is safe to update and that WordPress only intends to support the latest version.</p>
<p>Most participants in the discussion are in favor of the security team discontinuing backporting fixes to older versions of WordPress. The question that remains unanswered for opponents is why is it WordPress&#8217; responsibility to force older sites to update.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don’t think it should be WordPress’ decision to update sites that they don’t manage to major/breaking versions, but I think maintaining those branches should be stopped,&#8221; Will Stocks said. &#8220;You (WordPress) don’t own the infrastructure or business processes, or understand the support in place to manage those sites. There is also a reason those sites are still on that version today and have not upgraded past.&#8221;</p>
<p>There are other approaches that can still draw a line to respect the security team&#8217;s limited resources without forcing any non-consensual updates to major versions. Rachel Cherry, director of WPCampus, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36373" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> on the proposal, strongly urging WordPress to establish consent before updating these sites:</p>
<blockquote><p>We are getting into the weeds of whether or not forced updates will cause tech issues and missing the real problem altogether.</p>
<p>We are discussing force updating people’s software when they have not given consent.</p>
<p>And for what end? What is the real problem here? Because we don’t want to worry about updating old versions?</p>
<p>There are other ways to solve this problem.</p>
<p>We can make a clear policy regarding EOL support for releases.</p>
<p>We can add a setting to core that lets the user choose whether or not they want auto updates and going forward that is the decision maker. Then we have consent.</p>
<p>We can work on education and communication regarding updates.</p>
<p>We can email people that their site is outdated and insecure and they should update ASAP, along with links to education and best practices. If they still need help, encourage them to reach out to a professional.</p>
<p>We can fix this problem for going forward, but we do not have implied retroactive consent just because we never put a permission mechanism in place.</p>
<p>If someone didn’t update their site, they did so for a reason. Or indifference. Either way, we have no right to go in like this and modify people’s websites.</p></blockquote>
<p>Participants in the discussion are still wrestling with the potential implications of the proposed policy change. Minor updates have proven to be very reliable as auto-updates. Dunn <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36312" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> that the 3.7.29 auto-update had only one failure that had to be rolled back to 3.7.28. Using the auto update system to push major updates to sites as old as these has not yet been thoroughly tested.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whether or not we do auto-update the 3.7 -> 5.x releases, I fully support making it clear that this is something we expect to start doing for the future (5.x -> x.x+),&#8221; Jeremy Felt <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36383" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> on the proposal. &#8220;The work on testing infrastructure and code to support this should absolutely be done either way.&#8221; Felt also said he appreciated the staggered rollout scheduling for the proposed releases as well as the plan to provide an officially supported plugin for disabling auto-updates.</p>
<p>Discussion is still open on the proposal, but so far there seems to be a fundamental disagreement among participants about whether WordPress has the right to force major version updates without explicit consent, even if it is with the intention of saving site owners from potentially getting hacked.</p>
<p>&#8220;One thing is for sure, it appears to be a majority concern so far, while many of us are fond of these noble intentions, I’m just not so sure being the benevolent overlord of the Internet is a good image for WP moving forward,&#8221; plugin developer Philip Ingram <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/proposal-auto-update-old-versions-to-4-7/#comment-36343" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Aug 2019 05:24:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:120:"WPTavern: Jetpack 7.6 Improves AMP Compatibility, Adds Preview and Upgrade Nudge for Blocks Only Available on Paid Plans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92278";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:130:"https://wptavern.com/jetpack-7-6-improves-amp-compatibility-adds-preview-and-upgrade-nudge-for-blocks-only-available-on-paid-plans";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4082:"<p><a href="https://jetpack.com/2019/08/06/jetpack-7-6-amp-plugin-compatibility/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack 7.6</a> was released this week with several improvements to the plugin&#8217;s AMP compatibility. Automattic was one of the earliest publishing partners on Google&#8217;s AMP project, as well as the original author of the official AMP plugin for WordPress. This release makes three more Jetpack features compatible with AMP:</p>
<ul>
<li>Related Posts now display on AMP views.</li>
<li>AMP images are now rendered via Jetpack&#8217;s image CDN if the module is active.</li>
<li>AMP plugin is now capable of styling the Jetpack sharing buttons, without loading any additional CSS.</li>
</ul>
<p>More AMP compatibility improvements are planned for the 7.7 milestone, including <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/pull/12733" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AMP support for the WordAds block</a>.</p>
<p>Version 7.6 also fixes a security vulnerability in the <a href="https://jetpack.com/support/simple-payment-button/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Simple Payments</a> description output. This fix only affects those who have Premium or Professional plans and are using the Simple Payments button to sell products or collect donations.</p>
<h3>Jetpack is Beta Testing a Preview and Upgrade Nudge for Blocks Only Available on Paid Plans</h3>
<p>Jetpack is testing a new way of marketing its Paid plans inside the block editor. One of the more interesting additions to this release is that the plugin now allows for the insertion and preview of any Jetpack block in the editor, even if the block is only available via a Paid plan. Although it was included as part of the 7.6 release, it look like it&#8217;s currently only active for sites that have enabled beta testing.</p>
<p>The first iteration was merged as <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/pull/12823#issuecomment-508545015" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a generic solution</a> that can be extended for all premium blocks but it currently only applies to the Simple Payments block. Prior to this update, users on the free and personal plans would not see the Simple Payments block in the block inserter. This change adds the Simple Payments block to the list of available blocks and allows users to insert and preview it. The block will not show up on the frontend unless the user upgrades.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-07-at-10.09.12-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Clicking on the upgrade nudge takes the user to the checkout with the plan pre-selected and then drops them back to the editor after they purchase the required plan for using the block. After the initial implementation with the Simple Payments block, the Jetpack team <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/pull/12823#issuecomment-508545015" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">plans</a> to do the same for the Recurring Payments, VideoPress, and WordAds blocks.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s easy to see why this controversial addition to the plugin was omitted from the release post. It adds new blocks for features that users cannot access without upgrading. The <a href="https://wptavern.com/anders-noren-release-free-chaplin-theme-designed-for-block-editor-theme-authors-discuss-better-ways-to-promote-truly-free-themes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress.org theme directory has struggled with a similar issue</a>, which Justin Tadlock characterized as &#8220;crippleware,&#8221; where certain features are locked away behind upsells.</p>
<p>If Jetpack&#8217;s implementation catches on and other plugins follow suit, it could cause the block inserter to become a frustrating minefield. Users select from existing blocks, not knowing if the blocks they are inserting require a paid upgrade until the upsell pops into the editor. This is one block editor marketing tactic worth keeping an eye on as Jetpack rolls it out for more of its blocks that are restricted to Paid plans.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 08 Aug 2019 04:14:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"WPTavern: EditorsKit 1.9 Introduces Block Styles, Utility Classes, and Full Height Editor Screen";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92229";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/editorskit-1-9-introduces-block-styles-utility-classes-and-full-height-editor-screen";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5263:"<p><a href="https://jeffreycarandang.com/introducing-editorskit-block-styling-utility-classes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EditorsKit 1.9</a> was released this week with a new Block Styling feature for the image and cover blocks. It allows users to change these blocks to be displayed as circular, diagonal, inverted diagonal, rounded corners, or with a shadow. It also adds a &#8220;full screen height&#8221; display option to the Advanced block settings panel. This makes it easy to turn the Cover, Image, and Media &amp; Text blocks into a hero section.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-07-at-10.16.56-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Jeffrey Carandang, the plugin&#8217;s author, has also added a full height toggle option to the editor screen. It makes the editor&#8217;s minimum height match the browser&#8217;s viewport so that metaboxes are not in view until the user scrolls down. This creates a cleaner interface when creating new posts and pages. It is also optional, so it doesn&#8217;t exclude sites where the content added to the metaboxes is more important than the main posting area.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/67519529_10217025088132458_9173961289972580352_o.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Version 1.9 introduces a feature called Utility Classes to the Advanced CSS Class(es) option. The classes can be removed in one click from the selected block and the preview instantly updates to reflect the change. It also includes auto-suggestion for classnames so they can be easily re-applied.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/utility-classes.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Carandang shared sample code for how theme developers can add their own utility classes using a custom PHP filter. This makes it more extensible but seems unlikely to that theme authors would go to the trouble, given the plugin&#8217;s relatively small user base at the moment.</p>
<p>He is working on improving interoperability with other plugins in the ecosystem by adding filters for plugin and theme developers to make better use of EditorsKit. He also continues to add tweaks and improvements for those using Jetpack, Block Lab, the Genesis Framework, CoBlocks, Thrive Comments, ACF, and other popular third party extensions.</p>
<p>Carandang <a href="https://www.producthunt.com/posts/editorskit-wordpress-editor-toolkit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched EditorsKit on Product Hunt</a> where new users are discovering the plugin for the first time. He also set up a new &#8220;<a href="https://wptavern.com/frontenberg-lets-users-test-gutenberg-on-the-frontend" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">frontenberg style</a>&#8221; live demo that lets users test EditorsKit features on the frontend of the site. Demo sites like this are a good way to market Gutenberg blocks, making it convenient for users who would otherwise have to install the plugin on their own test sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;My main objective is for EditorsKit to be known in the community,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I feel like it&#8217;s really solid plugin and I need to reach more people. With tons of blocks plugin available, utility plugins like EditorsKit are being left out.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although Carandang has no plans to release a pro version of EditorsKit at the moment, he has considered creating commercial extensions for it in the future. Marketing a utility plugin has so far proven to be more of a challenge than plugins that offer custom blocks.</p>
<p>There was some discussion in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1306393256173179/permalink/1731127937033040/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EditorsKit community on Facebook</a> about recent EditorsKit features straying into the design aspect of site building. While the new Block Styling options may be a useful for some users, custom shapes and layouts straddle the line between design and editing features. It seems like a slight departure from the more utilitarian editor features the plugin became know for, such as markdown formatting, block visibility, drag-and-drop import/export, and the ability to disable auto-saving.</p>
<p>Carandang may need to tread carefully to keep the plugin from becoming a catch-all drawer of &#8220;features that would be nice to have for Gutenberg,&#8221; for the sake of marketing it more effectively.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t plan on adding design utility classes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Just padding, margin and flexbox. The rest should be from the theme. I&#8217;m planning to help out theme devs that will support EditorsKit with the integration. I don&#8217;t want the plugin file to be huge and filled with CSS for design. My goal is still Gutenberg Editor Toolkit.&#8221;</p>
<p>A loose EditorsKit roadmap is public with upcoming features outlined in <a href="https://github.com/phpbits/block-options/issues" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">issues on the plugin&#8217;s GitHub repo</a>. Most of of those listed seem more aligned with editing than design, so future versions of the plugin likely will not bloat the plugin with too many design-related block settings panels.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 07 Aug 2019 19:36:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"WPTavern: WordCamp Long Beach to Debut a “Future of WordPress” Track";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92200";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-long-beach-to-debut-a-future-of-wordpress-track";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3417:"<p>The first-ever <a href="https://2019.longbeach.wordcamp.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordCamp Long Beach</a> is happening October 5-6 at the Pointe Conference Center at Walter Pyramid (CSULB). Organizers are planning to host practical, skill-building talks and panels, abstract discussions, and networking events at locally-owned eateries. The event will be the only WordCamp happening in Los Angeles county this year.</p>
<p>Last week organizers opened the <a href="https://2019.longbeach.wordcamp.org/2019/08/01/call-for-speakers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">call for speakers</a> and announced a new concept for the schedule. Saturday&#8217;s program will include two traditional tracks, one geared towards users and another towards professionals. Sunday will feature a &#8220;Future of WordPress&#8221; track with more philosophical/concept style presentations focused around the topic.</p>
<p>&#8220;This concept was inspired by the desire to have some &#8216;bigger&#8217; conversations about WordPress, its place in the web/tech ecosystem, and where WordPress is headed,&#8221; co-organizer Sé Reed said. As a former WordPress Growth Council member, Reed has a special interest in facilitating discussions on these ideas.</p>
<p>&#8220;These topics come up occasionally, like with the WP Council/Advisory Board and the WP Governance Project, but they always seems to be relegated to a side conversation,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;We need to be having these conversations openly and honestly, as a community. The future of WordPress is a big issue that affects everyone who works with WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since there doesn’t seem to be a place where these conversations are put front-and-center, I suggested we do it at our camp, which just so happens to be one month before WCUS.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordCamp Long Beach&#8217;s <a href="https://2019.longbeach.wordcamp.org/2019/08/01/call-for-speakers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Call for Speakers</a> post include a few sample topics to inspire potential applicants:</p>
<ul>
<li>Internal Governance (WP Project)</li>
<li>External Governance (WP, WC3, GDPR, other acronyms)</li>
<li>Accessibility</li>
<li>The Future of WordPress</li>
<li>Future of the Web (technology, standards)</li>
<li>The WordPress Community</li>
<li>Backwards compatibility</li>
<li>WordPress’ impact on the open web</li>
<li>Third parties, browsers, operating systems, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are the types of big picture presentations that you rarely see at smaller WordCamps. They are usually sprinkled in with other topics at larger camps, so having an entire track dedicated to the Future of WordPress is a unique opportunity for attendees to join in these important conversations.</p>
<p>WordCamp Long Beach has space for a total of 250 attendees. Although it is the only camp happening in the county this year, the area has a strong group of local meetups throughout.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are lucky to have a really large number of active meetup groups spread through the county, so even though we are based in Long Beach, we are representing more than just our local meetup.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaker applications are open to anyone, regardless of speaking experience. Each presentation should be 30-40 minutes in length, and applicants can also propose a workshop or panel. Applications will be open through August 23, 2019.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 06 Aug 2019 23:28:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"WPTavern: O’Reilly Partners with Netlify to Publish Free E-Book: Modern Web Development on the JAMstack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92237";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:112:"https://wptavern.com/oreilly-partners-with-netlify-to-publish-free-e-book-modern-web-development-on-the-jamstack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4555:"<p>If you are following the JAMstack (JavaScript, APIs, and markup) craze and want to learn more about the history and best practices of the architecture, O&#8217;Reilly has published a short book called <a href="https://www.netlify.com/oreilly-jamstack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Modern Web Development on the JAMstack</a> that is now available as a free download. Netlify CEO Mathias Biilmann, who coined the term &#8220;JAMstack&#8221; and pioneered hosting for it, co-authored the book with Phil Hawksworth, Netlify&#8217;s principal developer advocate, with contributions from other engineers at the company.</p>
<p>In the introduction, they describe the JAMstack movement as a rare shift in the tech landscape that &#8220;delivers a productivity boost for developers and a large performance boost for users.&#8221; They also see it as a more efficient way of building a secure and stable websites that will advance the open web.</p>
<blockquote><p>We’ve seen firsthand how the JAMstack improves the experience for both users and developers. Most importantly, we’ve seen how increases in site speed, site reliability, and developer productivity can contribute to the continued health and viability of the open web.</p></blockquote>
<p>The book is an important read, not only for those exploring JAMstack architecture but also for getting an outside perspective on the kinds of problems that the WordPress ecosystem needs to solve. The authors describe WordPress and other CMS&#8217;s as monolithic apps, referencing security and performance concerns. The introduction summarizes many of the problems that professionals are routinely paid to solve when managing and scaling WordPress websites:</p>
<blockquote><p>For nearly three decades, the developer community has explored ways to make the web easier and faster to develop, more capable, more performant, and more secure. At times, though, the effort has seemed to trade one goal for another. WordPress, for example, became a revolution in making content easier to author—but anyone who’s scaled a high-traffic WordPress site knows it also brings a whole set of new challenges in performance and security. Trading the simplicity of HTML files for database-powered content means facing the very real threats that sites might crash as they become popular or are hacked when nobody is watching closely.</p>
<p>And dynamically transforming content into HTML—each and every time it’s requested—takes quite a few compute cycles. To mitigate all the overhead, many web stacks have introduced intricate and clever caching schemes at almost every level, from the database on up. But these complex setups have often made the development process feel cumbersome and fragile. It can be difficult to get any work done on a site when you can’t get it running and testable on your own laptop. (Trust us, we know.)</p></blockquote>
<p>Biilmann and his co-authors have kept to the more general concepts and technical details of how JAMstack architecture differs from other, more traditional stacks. JAMstack does not prescribe any specific frameworks or tools but is rather a diverse and growing ecosystem. The authors see it as &#8220;a movement, a community collection of best practices and workflows that result in high-speed websites that are a pleasure to work on.&#8221;</p>
<p>The book covers topics like the benefits of atomic deployments, end-to-end version control, choosing a site generator, and the variety of automation and tooling available. It suggests a few ways of handling some of the more challenging additions to static sites, such as forms, search, notifications, and identity.</p>
<p>Modern Web Development on the JAMstack concludes with a case study on how Smashing Magazine moved its publication from a WordPress site with thousands of articles, 200,000+ comments, and an attached Shopify store, to a new JAMstack setup. The detailed breakdown of the migration provides an interesting look at one solution to the challenges of publishing at scale. These are the kinds of architectural concerns that the WordPress ecosystem needs to continue to address and simplify for the next generation of developers.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.netlify.com/pdf/oreilly-modern-web-development-on-the-jamstack.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">127-page PDF</a> is available for free and an EPUB version is <a href="https://twitter.com/philhawksworth/status/1157647862089617409" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">expected sometime this week</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:54:42 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: WordPress Explores Forming a Nomination-Based Advisory Board";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92162";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-explores-forming-a-nomination-based-advisory-board";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10090:"<p>WordPress contributors are weighing in on a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/07/23/proposal-a-wordpress-advisory-board/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposal</a> for the formation of a nomination-based advisory board with set term limits for its members. Josepha Haden, the project&#8217;s Executive Director, published a first draft two weeks ago with ideas for how the board might operate and feedback is rolling in.</p>
<p>WordPress <a href="https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-proposes-wordpress-growth-council" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">experimented with a growth council</a> three years ago that Haden said was disbanded in December 2018 due to logistics and too much analysis causing paralyzed decision-making. The proposed advisory board would exist to provide &#8220;information on industry trends and risks as well as non-binding strategic advice to the Project Lead and Executive Director.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I am not proposing that this group would function as a final-say, decision-making body for the WordPress project,&#8221; Haden said. &#8220;It should serve as a collection of bright, insightful people who have contact with clients and end-users of WordPress. This removes the &#8216;analysis paralysis&#8217; challenge that the growth councils faced.&#8221;</p>
<p>Haden proposed that WordPress use a traditional board process of nomination and self-nomination to form the group, where existing members would select candidates from nominees. Previous members of the growth council would be invited to be part of the first iteration of the Advisory Board with a 12-month term. New members would be incorporated in 2020 with an emphasis on creating a diverse group of advisors. Haden plans to publish a list of previous members of the growth council.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the moment, I find that I’m hovering around 12-15 to allow for as many clear subsets of our community/users as possible,&#8221; Haden said when asked how many people would be on the advisory board.</p>
<h3>Advisory Board Proposal Discussion Surfaces Concerns Regarding its Impact, Diversity, and Corporate Influence</h3>
<p>The proposal has so far garnered support and positive feedback, but some participants in the discussion have questioned the impact of an advisory board that lacks any decision-making capability. The structure is not like a Board of Directors where members have authority to vote on matters and bear legal responsibilities. Board members may become frustrated if their advice has no real impact on important project decisions.</p>
<p>&#8220;My eyebrows raised at the specific inclusion of the phrase &#8216;non-binding strategic advice to the Project Lead&#8217; as a way of essentially giving (before the board starts) a feel that this might be just more of the same, where we in the community are asked for our opinion, but then fairly routinely feel ignored or condescended to by the project lead,&#8217; WordPress developer Ben Meredith <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/07/23/proposal-a-wordpress-advisory-board/#comment-4622" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> the proposal.</p>
<p>&#8220;So my main concern would be how this is going to be different? At the end of the day, it’s still Matt’s party, and he can do what he wishes. I’d love to see true governance here, where Matt submits a bit more officially to the board.&#8221;</p>
<p>Others are concerned about balancing the diversity of the board using a nomination process, although Haden said she reserves the right to invite nominees for diversity and representation purposes. WordPress developer Pat Lockley <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/07/23/proposal-a-wordpress-advisory-board/#comment-4625" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">suggested</a> board members be paid in order to prevent them from trying to gain economically from their position. One byproduct of having unpaid board members is that participation might then exclude those who cannot afford to offer their time without compensation.</p>
<p>Several participants in the discussion advocated for the inclusion of people representing users who are not enterprise or industry professionals. If the first iteration of the Advisory Board is comprised of former members of the Growth Council, it&#8217;s possible that the board&#8217;s advice would be skewed towards corporate interests, since it was originally formed for the purpose of marketing WordPress against direct competitors.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think we could do a lot to figure out a roadmap for countering this huge marketing spending being directed against us, because we are the big guy here,” Mullenweg <a href="https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-proposes-wordpress-growth-council" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> when first floating the idea of the Growth Council during his WordSesh talk in 2016. “We are the 26% and they are like a 1%. But even though they’re smaller, they might be cannibalizing some of the most valuable aspects of the WordPress customer base.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://sereedmedia.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sé Reed</a>, one of the members of the Growth Council, said that she and at least one other member were not representing a corporate interest. Overall, the council&#8217;s focus was &#8220;truly was on the WP Project as a whole, and not focused on the needs of any individual company.&#8221; She reported that conversations were open and everyone seemed to be personally passionate about the project and willing to share information. The breakdown was in the execution of their plans and decisions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, and possibly because of the obscured profile, the conversations and actions we attempted to take didn’t really go anywhere within the project,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;The entire council was frustrated by this. It’s possible that some of those conversations were integrated into the strategies of some of the companies represented, and I personally feel in some cases it was, but I could not say for sure.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reed said the general consensus was that there was &#8220;no clear path to integrate the council’s conversations into the WordPress project, and indeed not a clear role for the council within the project.&#8221; Members were able to speak candidly, knowing the conversations were confidential.</p>
<p>&#8220;These are important discussions to have, but when held publicly, in the Make channel for example, people can’t be, or won’t be, as frank or as honest as they would be in a confidential conversation, especially if they are representing companies,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;That was, to my understanding, the impetus for the Advisory Board &#8211; to create a space where the difficult confidential discussions can be held, but there is also a clear and public role for the results of those discussions.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reed said she thinks it makes sense for the Growth Council members to be the starting Advisory Board, since the group already has a shared history and a year of conversations under their belts.</p>
<p>&#8220;We all feel strongly about creating a space for this type of bigger picture conversation, so we can hit the ground running,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The first members will likely set the stage for the Advisory Board’s bylaws and elections and such, and then move out of that role once that structure is in place. I think the experience of the council members will facilitate a streamlined process for this, and I think it’s a logical group to start with. It has to start somewhere if it’s going to start at all, and if it is not the Growth Council then it would have to be just Matt and Josepha deciding where the start is. And honestly, that’s just as controversial within the community as having the Growth Council do it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Haden proposed that the advisory board meet using video calls with high level notes published afterwards. One participant in the discussion said he would prefer full transcripts. Simon Dickson, Director of Platform Services of WordPress.com VIP at Automattic, said he would like to see some clear examples of the tasks the board might take on.</p>
<p>&#8220;For example, would the Project Lead or Executive Director be required to present an annual strategy to the Board, and take their questions? Could release leads be required to present a retrospective after each release? Would the Board sign off on ‘State Of The Word’ each year? Would the Board have a role in endorsing key appointments, such as the Executive Director?&#8221;</p>
<p>Dickson also suggested that board members be encouraged to act as representatives of the community.</p>
<p>&#8220;I hope Board members will be tasked with acting as representatives, bringing not only their own personal thoughts, but those of the diverse communities they come from,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They should be encouraged, perhaps even required to blog, tweet, speak and engage; and to reflect back what they hear.&#8221;</p>
<p>With strong user representation and more transparent communication, an advisory board has the potential to be an organization that the WordPress community can feel invested in, if their experiences and opinions are included in important conversations. If ex-Growth Council members are going to be its charter members, the group may have some challenges in assuring the community that they are representing community interests to WordPress&#8217; Project Lead and Executive Director.</p>
<p>&#8220;I absolutely think users need to be represented, and I attempt to represent that viewpoint in all of my community participation, but I also think sometimes we forget that even the larger companies have invested heavily in WordPress and they have an interest in the WP Project’s success,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;They are the face of WordPress to hundreds of thousands of users who don’t even know the community exists. For better or worse, our fates are intertwined.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 05 Aug 2019 22:33:56 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: Bootstrap Adopts New Long Term Support Plan, Moves Version 3 to End of Life";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92205";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/bootstrap-adopts-new-long-term-support-plan-moves-version-3-to-end-of-life";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2448:"<p><a href="https://getbootstrap.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bootstrap</a>, the most widely used open source front-end component library on the web, has adopted a new <a href="https://github.com/twbs/release" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Long Term Support</a> plan that will make the development cycle a little more predictable. From now on, each major version will receive at least six months of support after it is retired, followed by six months of critical bug fixes and security updates before transitioning to Maintenance.</p>
<p>The Bootstrap development team moved version 3 to end of life this week and plans to move version 4 to LTS after releasing v4.4. LTS versions will generally not get new features but may still receive bug fixes, security updates, and documentation updates.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, version 5 is currently under active development and its initial release date has not yet been set.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-02-at-5.38.59-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>BuiltWith ranks Bootstrap as the most popular technology among <a href="https://trends.builtwith.com/docinfo/design-framework" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">design frameworks</a> in use across the internet. HTML5 Boilerplate, the next most popular, has roughly a third of Bootstrap&#8217;s market share. According to W3Techs, Bootstrap.js is used by 25.4% of all the websites whose JavaScript library it can detect, an estimated 19.3% of all websites.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-02-at-10.26.42-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/bootstrap/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hundreds of WordPress plugins and themes</a> implement Bootstrap in one way or another. Depending on how they include the framework and which versions they support, developers will want to note the changes with <a href="https://github.com/twbs/release" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bootstrap&#8217;s new LTS plan</a>. It provides a definitive guide to the development life cycle, helping those in the surrounding ecosystem make better decisions about which versions to support in their projects and how long. The LTS dates are not set in stone but Bootstrap&#8217;s development team said they are working on strengthening timeline assurances.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 03 Aug 2019 04:54:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"Post Status: WooCommerce vs Shopify: A battle for ecommerce platform dominance";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=66780";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"https://poststatus.com/woocommerce-vs-shopify-a-battle-for-ecommerce-platform-dominance/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9117:"<p>This post is available below by text, and Jonathan and Brian talked about it for a podcast episode as well. They are additive to one another.</p>







<p>Ben Thompson recently wrote about <a href="https://stratechery.com/2019/shopify-and-the-power-of-platforms/">Shopify and the Power of Platforms</a>. He highlights the difference between an aggregator (e.g. Amazon’s Merchant Services) and a platform (Shopify) and makes a case for how Shopify can successfully compete against Amazon. If you’re new to Ben’s work, I highly recommend following the links he references in the opening paragraphs.</p>



<h3>Aggregators vs Platforms</h3>



<p>As Ben explains, Amazon is an aggregator that owns the users (i.e. customers, Amazon Prime subscribers) and aggregates the suppliers (i.e. merchants, manufacturers). Amazon succeeds by providing a great user experience (e.g. one click checkout, same day delivery) and by treating products and their suppliers as commodities, all available to the customer in a single, aggregated shopping experience. While aggregation can provide high value for customers, it minimizes the opportunity for merchants to differentiate and can ultimately hurt customers as competition and innovation are stifled.&nbsp; </p>



<p>A competitor to Amazon might try becoming a larger aggregator. It&#8217;s a difficult endeavor. Walmart <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=walmart+vs+amazon">has been trying</a> for years. The larger an aggregator grows, the more entrenched their position, and the less likely a competitor can unseat them by utilizing the same strategy. </p>



<p>There is another way to compete with an aggregator. Build a platform.&nbsp;</p>



<p>While an aggregator owns the customer and commoditizes its suppliers, a platform empowers those who build on it, relying on its suppliers being differentiated and successful in their own right.&nbsp;</p>



<p>As Ben details in the article, Shopify’s best shot at taking on Amazon is to double-down on their focus as a platform and, by all evidence, that seems to be their strategy. Shopify wants to be the platform that empowers its merchants to succeed. </p>



<p>There are several problems I suggest with Shopify’s strategy, though.</p>



<ol><li><strong>Data Control</strong> &#8211; Shopify has taken a strong stance on centralizing control of customer data and using their terms of service to enforce their policies. Their recent <a href="https://mailchimp.com/shopify-statement/">clash with MailChimp</a> (who decided to leave the platform) may be indicative of more to come. It makes sense to have a centralized source of truth for your data. Shopify’s position, though, is an all or nothing approach that results in more lock-in to the platform and more data in their control. Actions that stifle or remove <em>choice </em>from the equation for end users and the suppliers who serve them is aggregator thinking more than platform thinking. </li><li><strong>Closed Source</strong> &#8211; Shopify is a proprietary platform with closed source code. While they make efforts to show <a href="http://shopify.github.io/">open source friendliness</a>, the reality is that the platform code is <em>theirs</em>. If you stop paying Shopify, you lose it all and if you don’t like what they’re doing with the platform, you’re stuck unless you choose to leave. </li><li><strong>Growth Risks</strong> &#8211; Shopify is growing fast and as a publicly traded company, they are focused on accelerating growth. Products like Shopify Capital, and the emphasis on offline services through Point-of-Sale as well as the continued push into enterprise, deepen the risk of growing for growth’s sake, rather than doing what’s best for the merchants they serve. </li></ol>



<p>Shopify is a good<em> </em>solution for independent merchants who want to be more than an aggregated commodity. There are problems, though, and while Shopify is likely continue to grow despite the problems I’ve suggested (they have no shortage of interested investors), there is a better approach. </p>



<h3>WooCommerce on WordPressOS</h3>



<p>In my writing on <a href="https://growinwp.com/ecosystem-plugins/">Ecosystem Plugins</a>, I introduced the concept of WordPress as an Operating System for the Open Web and cited WooCommerce as an example of an Ecosystem Plugin. </p>



<p>I believe strongly in the importance and value of WordPress as an Operating System, a <em>platform</em>, for the Open Web.&nbsp;</p>



<p>With WooCommerce, I see potential for it to become <em>more </em>than an Ecosystem Plugin and serve as <em>the </em>platform for ecommerce on the Open Web.&nbsp;</p>



<p>To do that, WooCommerce needs three things:</p>



<ol><li><strong>A great core experience</strong> &#8211; Out-of-the-box, WooCommerce needs to have the essentials built-in and provide a great, user-focused onboarding and operating experience. It needs to be intuitive and accessible for non-technical, small business merchants, who should always be the core focus. Importantly, this is <em>not </em>about removing choices and dumbing interfaces down. This is about doing the <em>harder </em>work and teaching merchants how to make the right choices for them and use the power that WooCommerce provides. </li><li><strong>A vibrant partner ecosystem</strong> &#8211; Shopify has nearly 3000 apps in its “App Store” today. The WooCommerce marketplace has less than 300 extensions, and more than 30% are maintained by Automattic. For WooCommerce to succeed as a platform it needs to be trusted by its partners and seen as the <em>best </em>platform with clear short-term incentives and long-term value.</li><li><strong>A strong community</strong> &#8211; WordPress’ community is a <em>huge </em>key to its success. Meetups and WordCamps create a sense of belonging and shared ownership that drives a loyalty to WordPress that’s unparalleled. WooCommerce needs to create a similar community where merchants feel that they have each other’s<em> </em>backs and are able to share their love for the platform that makes it all possible.</li></ol>



<p>By many standards, Shopify is a giant compared to WooCommerce. With 4000+ employees, a $35+ billion dollar market cap, and a marketing budget to match, they seem to be the dominate ecommerce platform and show no signs of slowing down their efforts. </p>



<p>You can’t buy trust, vibrancy, and loyalty though. Deepening trust through a great core experience, investing in the partner ecosystem, and strengthening community loyalty is where I think WooCommerce has the opportunity to improve and succeed. </p>



<p>Here are three ideas for WooCommerce to increase its value and strengthen its position as <em>the</em> platform for ecommerce on the Open Web:</p>



<ol><li><strong>Introduce a WooCommerce Subscription</strong> &#8211; Provide access to non-SaaS extensions for a flat, monthly rate and easy bundling of SaaS billing for those who want it. Make it a clear win for all involved, including the merchants and marketplace partners. Position the subscription as an investment in the Open Web. The code is GPL &#8211; they could stop paying at any time and keep access. Paying, though, provides support and capital for reinvestment, ensuring the continued success of the platform. A subscription also offers opportunity to streamline the user experience for customers, reducing friction for developers.</li><li><strong>Invest in the Partner Ecosystem</strong> &#8211; Make building a healthy partner ecosystem a priority. Provide guidance, mentorship, and funding to help developers succeed on the WooCommerce platform. Build strong relationships with SaaS providers, including ecommerce focused companies like BigCommerce, and help streamline their integrations into the platform.&nbsp; </li><li><strong>Cultivate Community</strong> &#8211; Invest in and support ecommerce meetups and create more ecommerce focused events. Double-down on the Open Web narrative and encourage community members to support each other in improving and maintaining their freedom as merchants on the Open Web. </li></ol>



<p>Shopify provides a valuable service that empowers merchants. Unfortunately, their approach to centralized data control, their closed source platform, and the risks of a growth focus pose the potential for more harm than good. </p>



<p>I believe that WooCommerce, with data control in the hands of its users, an open source ecosystem, and a strong independent community give it the opportunity to become the <em>best </em>platform for ecommerce on the Open Web. </p>



<p><em>Special thanks to <a href="https://www.embrin.com">Caleb Johnson</a> for his epic illustration.</em></p>



<p class="boxy"><em>This is a guest post by Jonathan Wold. Jonathan has been living and breathing WordPress for 14 years and believes its best years are still to come. He writes about WordPress on </em><a href="https://growinwp.com"><em>GrowInWP.com</em></a><em> and blogs about life and habits on </em><a href="https://jonathanwold.com"><em>JonathanWold.com</em></a></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Aug 2019 15:45:09 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jonathan Wold";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"WPTavern: Gatsby Theme Jam Contest Inspires Two WordPress Starter Themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92099";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"https://wptavern.com/gatsby-theme-jam-contest-inspires-two-wordpress-starter-themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4233:"<p><a href="https://www.gatsbyjs.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gatsby</a>, the open source app and website framework based on React, celebrated the <a href="https://www.gatsbyjs.org/blog/2019-07-03-announcing-stable-release-gatsby-themes/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stable release of Gatsby themes</a> by launching a <a href="https://themejam.gatsbyjs.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Theme Jam contest</a>. Participants were invited to create their own Gatsby Themes and submit them for an opportunity to win swag or the grand prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to the Gatsby Days event of their choosing. Submissions closed yesterday and winners will be announced on August 7, 2019.</p>
<p>Gatsby themes include a site or app&#8217;s configuration as an installable package, which can then be versioned and managed as a dependency and easily updated. They were designed to make Gatsby-based projects more extensible, allowing developers to reuse site configurations, plugins, styles, and components across multiple sites.</p>
<p>Looking through the contest&#8217;s <a href="https://themejam.gatsbyjs.org/showcase" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">showcase</a> of submissions, I found two that were created for sites that are using WordPress. Both rely on the <a href="https://www.wpgraphql.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPGraphQL</a> plugin to source WordPress content.</p>
<p>Alexandra Spalato created a theme called <a href="https://github.com/alexadark/gatsby-theme-jam" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gatsby Theme WordPress Starter</a> that allows developers to build a standard blog. It has styles for all the standard features, such as featured images, lists, categories, and pagination support. Setup instructions are on GitHub and a <a href="https://gatsby-theme-wordpress-blog.netlify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">demo site</a> shows the theme in action.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/gatsby-wordpress-theme-screenshot.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Spalato plans to create some video tutorials to demonstrate how to customize the theme. She also recommends using it with the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/webhook-netlify-deploy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deploy Netlify Webhook</a> plugin to automatically rebuild the site after publishing new posts.</p>
<p>Andrey Shalashov created a theme called <a href="https://github.com/progital/gatsby-theme-wp-source-one" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress source theme for Gastby</a> that he intends to be &#8220;a one-stop solution for a WordPress blog owner who wants to switch to Gatsby powered frontend.&#8221; For most simple sites, the only thing developers have to configure is the source url and the menu location slug.</p>
<p>The theme supports using a WordPress menu from a defined location but only displays first level items. It also supports post categories. It automatically downloads images embedded in posts, pages, and custom post types and converts their tags to the Gatsby img component. Links embedded in posts that lead to other pages are converted to the Link component. Check out a <a href="https://gatsby-wp-theme.progital.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">demo</a> to see it in action.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/gatsby-wp-source-theme.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>So far, the Theme Jam contest seems to have been a successful strategy for Gatsby to quickly expand developer&#8217;s knowledge of creating Gatsby themes, as well as multiple their availability in the ecosystem. The <a href="https://themejam.gatsbyjs.org/showcase" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">showcase</a> displays 112 themes that have been submitted for the contest.</p>
<p>Submissions are being judged on code quality, accessibility, performance, the availability of a live demo, documentation, and other criteria. They are also judged on having accurate metadata for showing up in searches, with certain keywords in the package.json file that enable the theme to show up in both the Gatsby showcase and npm searches.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Aug 2019 06:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: Ninja Forms Parent Company Saturday Drive Acquires CalderaWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92134";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://wptavern.com/ninja-forms-parent-company-saturday-drive-acquires-calderawp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6890:"<p><a href="https://saturdaydrive.io" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Saturday Drive</a>, makers of Ninja Forms, Ninja Shop, and SendWP, has acquired <a href="https://saturdaydrive.io/saturday-drive-acquires-caldera-forms/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Caldera Forms</a>, a React-based, drag-and-drop forms builder plugin. In addition to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/caldera-forms/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">free plugin on WordPress.org</a>, which has more than 200,000 active installs, CalderaWP&#8217;s product line includes a <a href="https://calderaforms.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pro version</a> and more than 30 free and commercial add-ons for things like payment processors and marketing integrations.</p>
<p><a href="https://joshpress.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Josh Pollock</a>, who co-founded CalderaWP in 2015 with <a href="http://christiechirinos.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Christie Chirinos</a>, will be <a href="https://calderaforms.com/2019/08/saturday-drive-acquires-caldera-forms/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">joining Saturday Drive</a> as VP of Engineer Experience, along with three other employees from the company, bringing Saturday Drive&#8217;s total crew number to 25. Chirinos began working as a product manager at <a href="https://www.liquidweb.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Liquid Web</a> earlier this year.</p>
<p>Caldera Forms will still operate under the Saturday Drive umbrella and continue to be developed with more resources.</p>
<p>&#8220;If it ever felt to you like Caldera Forms was a part time thing, that was true,&#8221; Pollock said. &#8220;It’s not true anymore.&#8221; Saturday Drive is aiming to speed up development and decrease support times.</p>
<p>&#8220;Caldera Forms is not going anywhere,&#8221; Pollock said. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to get a lot more focus and attention now. I didn&#8217;t contribute any code to the last release, it was all Nico and community contributors. I reviewed the changes. Kevin (CTO at Saturday Drive) and I helped manage him, but he&#8217;s ready to take over Caldera Forms from me and has all of the support he needs.&#8221;</p>
<p>Pollock will be focusing on improving the engineering process at Saturday Drive and working on some products, starting with SendWP. He also plans to continue writing tutorials about PHP and JavaScript development.</p>
<p><a href="http://jameslaws.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Laws</a>, Saturday Drive co-founder and co-creator of Ninja Forms, said the attraction to CalderaWP was &#8220;a combination of acquiring the team and the profit potential.&#8221; With more resources at their disposal, he anticipates that Caldera will become even more profitable. Laws declined to share more specific details on the financial aspects of the arrangement but shared a few factors involved in considering what it costs to acquire a forms builder plugin in the WordPress space these days.</p>
<p>&#8220;It really depends on the form builder,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It’s similar to any WordPress plugin &#8211; number of customers, active users, growth trend, support load, team makeup, and so much more all goes into the conversation. Some form builders might not be worth anything. Others are worth millions. Much of it depends on the objectives of the buyer.&#8221;</p>
<h3>How Saturday Drive Plans to Market Two Different WordPress Forms Plugins Under one Umbrella</h3>
<p>One of the more intriguing aspects of this acquisition is that Saturday Drive already has one of the most successful WordPress forms plugins in its arsenal. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ninja Forms</a> has more than a million active installs but is knee deep in competition with alternatives such as <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Contact Form 7</a> (5 million+ installs), WPForms (2 million+), and Gravity Forms. Although Caldera Forms is technically a competitor to Ninja Forms, both Laws and Pollock seem to be confident marketing them separately under the same company umbrella.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been really friendly competitors for years,&#8221; Pollock said. &#8220;Caldera Forms had always been a developer tool with a goal of being intuitive enough for everyone. I think this will allow us to focus Ninja Forms and Caldera Forms on serving different needs. Neither plugin can make everyone happy.&#8221;</p>
<p>Laws said the plan is to keep Caldera Forms as a unique brand, since it has a different user base and primary message focused on developers.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will focus on this difference in messaging,&#8221; Laws said. &#8220;Ninja Forms for a long time has been moving towards being more user centric with a focus towards simplicity and specific ways of accomplishing particular tasks. This direction has certainly alienated developers who want to do deeper customizations because that just isn’t our primary goals any longer.&#8221;</p>
<p>For Saturday Drive&#8217;s co-founders, the decision to acquire CalderaWP seems to have been just as much about gaining Pollock&#8217;s leadership and his team as it was about gaining the product line.</p>
<p>&#8220;Caldera Forms has always been the WordPress developers form builder,&#8221; Laws said. &#8220;Josh is, at his core, an extremely talented developer who loves helping developers. Caldera Forms is the product of this passion. We saw a great opportunity to have a tool under our umbrella that now focused on this exciting space of developers, agencies, and freelancers that needed a tool that could be truly modified to their hearts content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Laws said Saturday Drive plans to slow down for a bit to ensure all four of the company&#8217;s products are where they want them to be. &#8220;I’m confident that all the products will be seeing some very cool updates over the next 6 months,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Pollock, who has a strong interest in headless WordPress setups, said he has been experimenting with new ways to use the newer React-driven parts of Caldera Forms anywhere. He has a Gatsby + WordPress test site (<a href="https://futurecapable.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">futurecapable.dev</a>) where he set up a first pass at this prior to getting distracted by acquisition negotiations and daily life.</p>
<p>&#8220;Part of the new job is finding new ways to fill the same needs that Caldera Forms, Ninja Forms, and Ninja Shop fulfill today,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If the future is headless and static sites, which I think so, then contact forms, eCommerce, list building, etc. we need to make that easy. That&#8217;s the challenge I&#8217;m most interested in.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 01 Aug 2019 20:15:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress: July 2019";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7040";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:68:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/08/the-month-in-wordpress-july-2019/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6981:"<p>This month has been characterized by exciting plans and big announcements &#8211; read on to find out what they are and what it all means for the future of the WordPress project.</p>



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



<h2>WordCamp Asia Announced</h2>



<p>The inaugural WordCamp Asia will be in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 21-23, 2020. This will be the first regional WordCamp in Asia and it comes after many years of discussions and planning. You can find more information about the event <a href="https://2020.asia.wordcamp.org/">on their website</a> and subscribe to stay up to date with the latest information.</p>



<p>This is the latest flagship event in the WordCamp program, following WordCamps Europe and US. Tickets <a href="https://2020.asia.wordcamp.org/tickets/">are now on sale</a> and the <a href="https://2020.asia.wordcamp.org/call-for-speakers/">call for speakers</a> is open. Want to get involved in WordCamp Asia? Keep an eye out for volunteer applications, or buy a micro sponsor ticket. You can also join the #wcasia channel in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">the Making WordPress Slack group</a> for updates.</p>



<h2>WordCamp US Planning Continues</h2>



<p>The WordCamp US organizing team is excited to announce some new additions to this year’s WCUS in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 1-3, 2019. The first is that there will be an onsite KidsCamp: child-friendly lessons that introduce your young one(s) to the wonderful world of WordPress.&nbsp; <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/kidscamp/">You can register your child for KidsCamp here</a>. In addition, free, onsite childcare will be provided at this year’s event &#8211; <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/child-care/">you can sign up here</a>.</p>



<p>Looking for further ways to get involved? The <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/call-for-volunteers-form/">call for volunteers is now open</a>. For more information on WordCamp US, <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/">please visit the event website</a>.</p>



<h2>Exploring Updates to the WordPress User &amp; Developer Survey</h2>



<p>To improve the annual WordPress User &amp; Developer Survey, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/06/28/updates-to-the-wordpress-user-developer-survey/">a call has been made</a> for updates and additional questions that can help us all better understand how people use WordPress.</p>



<p>To improve the survey, contributor teams are suggesting topics and information that should be gathered to inform contributor work in 2020. Please add your feedback <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/06/28/updates-to-the-wordpress-user-developer-survey/">to the post</a>.</p>



<h2>Gutenberg Usability Testing Continues</h2>



<p>Usability tests for Gutenberg continued through June 2019, and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2019/07/10/gutenberg-usability-testing-for-june-2019/">insights from three recent videos were published</a> last month. This month’s test was similar to WordCamp Europe’s usability tests, and you can read more about those in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2019/07/05/wceu-usability-test-results-part-one/">part one</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2019/07/09/wceu-usability-test-results-part-two/">part two</a> posts. Please help by watching these videos and sharing your observations as comments on the relevant post.</p>



<p>If you want to help with usability testing, you can also join the #research channel in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">the Making WordPress Slack group</a>, or you can write a test script that can be usability tested for Gutenberg.</p>



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



<h2>Further Reading:</h2>



<ul><li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2019/07/23/proposal-a-wordpress-advisory-board/">A proposal has been made</a> to put together a nominated WordPress Advisory Board &#8211; this is certainly an exciting development for the project.</li><li>The Design team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/06/28/wceu-contribution-day-recap-design-team/">reported on the work they did</a> at the WordCamp Europe Contributor Day.</li><li>The Theme Review Team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2019/07/22/theme-sniffer-v1-1-0-and-wpthemereview-v0-2-0-release/">has released updated versions</a> of their ThemeSniffer tool and coding standards.</li><li>The Security team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/07/29/should-security-fixes-continue-to-be-backported-to-very-old-versions-of-wordpress/">is looking for feedback</a> on whether security fixes should continue to be backported to very old versions of WordPress. </li><li>The Design and Community teams have worked together to come up with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/07/29/proposal-clearer-wordcamp-and-wordpress-chapter-meetup-logo-guidelines/">official guidelines for how WordCamp logos should be designed</a>.</li><li>The Core team has implemented <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/07/12/php-coding-standards-changes/">a few changes</a> to the PHP coding standards within WordPress Core.</li><li>The Community Team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/07/26/discussion-what-to-do-in-case-of-irreconcilable-differences/">is looking for feedback</a> on a tough decision that needs to be made regarding the implementation of the licence expectations within the meetup program.</li><li>The Design team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2019/07/11/block-directory-in-wp-admin-concepts/">has presented some designs</a> for a Block Directory within the WordPress dashboard.</li><li>A recent release of WordPress saw an increase in the minimum required version of PHP &#8211; the Core team is now looking at <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/07/29/proposal-for-increasing-recommended-php-version-in-wordpress/">increasing that minimum further</a>.</li><li>The Site Health feature was first introduced in the 5.1 release of WordPress, and at WordCamp Europe this year <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/07/01/new-core-component-site-health/">a new Core component for the feature was added to the project structure</a>.</li><li>The Community Team has posted some interesting data regarding <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/07/29/numbers-in-the-netherlands/">WordCamps in the Netherlands</a> over the last few years, as well as <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/07/31/wordcamps-in-2018/">WordCamps in 2018</a>.</li><li>The WordCamp Europe team <a href="https://2019.europe.wordcamp.org/2019/07/15/survey-results/">released the results of the attendee survey</a> from this year&#8217;s event in Berlin.</li></ul>



<p><em>Have a story that we should include in the next “Month in WordPress” post? Please </em><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><em>submit it here</em></a><em>.</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 01 Aug 2019 09:56:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Hugh Lashbrooke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 362 – Fitness, Freelancing, and More With Michelle Schulp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92126&preview=true&preview_id=92126";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-362-fitness-freelancing-and-more-with-michelle-schulp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2062:"<p>In this episode, <a href="http://jjj.me">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by Michelle Schulp, an <a href="https://marktimemedia.com/">independent freelancer</a> and Director of Technology at<a href="http://aigaminnesota.org/"> AIGA Minnesota</a>. We discussed the impacts speaking at multiple WordCamps had on her business early on, why she continues to be a freelance contractor as opposed to managing her own agency, and the role fitness has in her life. We also touch on what her personal experience has been like as a woman in the WordPress community.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-security-team-discusses-backporting-security-releases-to-fewer-versions" rel="bookmark">WordPress Security Team Discusses Backporting Security Releases to Fewer Versions</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordsesh-emea-coming-september-25-a-new-virtual-wordpress-event-for-europe-middle-east-and-africa" rel="bookmark">WordSesh EMEA Coming September 25: A New Virtual WordPress Event for Europe, Middle East, and Africa</a></p>
<p><a href="https://allienimmons.com/how-to-be-a-wordpress-ally/">How to Be A WordPress Ally</a></p>
<p><a href="https://fitnessandfreelance.com/">Fitness and Freelance</a></p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16662"><span class="js-issue-title">Add support for gradients in cover image</span></a></p>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 7th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
<p>Subscribe to <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>
<p>Subscribe to <a href="https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>
<p>Subscribe to <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>
<p>Subscribe to <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>
<p><strong>Listen To Episode #362:</strong><br />
</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:41:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Thu, 05 Sep 2019 08:06:49 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Thu, 05 Sep 2019 07:45:08 GMT";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 1";s:16:"content-encoding";s:4:"gzip";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20130911040210";}