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And the second day started out with just that. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2802-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4917" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2803-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4910" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2804-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4907" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2806-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4909" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2807-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4912" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2802.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4918" />\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2808-3-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4914" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2815-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4903" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2803.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4911" />\n\n\n\n<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2818-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4904" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2804.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4908" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2809-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4906" />\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2813-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4915" />\n\n\n\n<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2817-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4920" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2810-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4905" />\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2812-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4916" />\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2811-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4913" />\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-after-social">The After Social</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As with tradition of WordCamp US, the social at the end of the second day was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Quite the impressive museum. Now I am not a huge fan of museums. I could also say that it was mostly bones, stuffed or recreated animals, rocks and overpriced jewelry, but nonetheless it was quite breathtaking. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of people had a great time and it was also filled with conversation, laughter and yummy desserts with old and new friends. </p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2860-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4923" />\n\n\n\n<p>And what is a museum visit without posing as a museum exhibit.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2855-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4925" />\n\n\n\n<p>Of course my friend Miriam had to catch as I ventured into the fossil display where I discovered an old acquaintance, Joe the Tyrannosaurus. As I gently touch the bones of his neck on display, I pondered our prehistoric life together.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/F4f6OdpXsAAvT_w.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4928" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-it-s-why-i-do-what-i-do">It&#8217;s Why I Do What I Do</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a nutshell, I do WordPress because of the community. And events like WordCampUS is like a moment of pure oxygen. So much laughter, conversation, hugs, food and drinks with old and new friends. I wouldn&#8217;t have it any other way. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I leave you with one last photo. As I was flying home, something outside my window reminded me of that museum. Can you guess what that is?</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2872-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4931" />\n\n\n\n<p>Hope to see you at WordCamp Asia in 2024.</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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: WordPress 6.3. Our Heroes, the Release Squad and Contributors";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4706";s: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:79:"https://dothewoo.io/wordpress-6-3-my-heroes-the-release-squad-and-contributors/";s: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:1386:"<p>The last time I wrote a post on a WordPress major release on this blog was sometime ago, where I was doing more tutorials and education pieces here. A previous focus of the life of this blog, now archived into oblivion.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But hey, can you imagine how many posts have been published and will still be published about 6.3? I cannot fathom that number.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-release-the-people">The release, the people</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t have to tell you about the features. Nor do I really need to tell you about what makes this happen, and the incredible people who contribute their time and expertise to each release. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I lied. On the latter, I do have to tell you. Because every time that a major release comes out, and I head over to WordPress.org to see the post. It&#8217;s always fun to read about the jazz artist that it was named after, revisit the features, but I always stroll to the bottom to see my heroes first.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The release squad and the contributors. And for each and every one of you, my sincere gratitude and appreciation for making this community what it is. Also, a big virtual hug.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="1000" height="2645" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WordPress-6.3-Release-squad-and-contributors.png?resize=1000%2C2645&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4713" />";s: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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Europe 2023. Amazing.";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3702";s: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:49:"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-europe-2023-amazing/";s: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:12637:"<p>If I could put every experience I had, every conversation, and every laugh or hug here in this post, I would. But it would be a very long post and, of course, I would have discovered something I missed, or several things, thus even a longer post. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was my second WordCamp Europe, but my first living here in Porto, Portugal. That fact alone, and the love I am getting from the community here, would be worth a post in itself.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-community">The Community</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s never surprising when I hear from anyone talk their experience at a WordCamp, community and people are always in there, often being what they loved most. And for me there is never an exception. New friends. Connecting with old friends. And so much laughter, and yes, food.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Sponsors and the Venue</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The venue was fantastic. Although I must admit at first it was a bit overwhelming as the sponsors winded around different parts and hallways. Some of the small biz sponsors were concerned being off the beaten path, but that changed quickly, at least for the ones I talked to. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fact is I started going around to the booths, meeting people, saying hi to others and stopping for so many hugs and conversations, it took me 3 hours just to do that. On the second day, I spent an hour easily just with the Small Biz sponsors. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I talk to a lot of WordPress businesses and I know there are always questions about  sponsoring WordCamps and the value behind it. So I am going t<a href="https://barn2.com/blog/wordcamp-europe-sponsorship-story/">o share a great post from my friend Katie Keith from Barn2 Plugins, where she shares their first experience sponsoring</a>. If you ever had questions about sponsoring, make sure and read it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you missed any of the sessions, or were not able to make it, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@wordcampeurope/streams">you can find all of them here from the livestream.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I said, there is a lot more I am still digesting and it will also settle in my brain just in time for WCUS. But I do want to thank the organizing team, the volunteers for their hard work in making it so amazing. And of course, the sponsors who make it possible. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I leave you with this. Some great WordPress peeps. (and a few taken by others, plus my mug occasionally).</p>\n\n\n\n\n<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyZ9OvrXsAM3z1j-1024x683.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3773" />\n\n\n\n<img width="300" height="211" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FE139717-AE09-4616-BFD7-68FFC0E540C2_1_105_c-e1686922323139-300x211.jpeg?resize=300%2C211&ssl=1" alt="WordCamp Europe 2023" class="wp-image-3707" />\n\n\n\n<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/954C73E6-6A97-4E0F-B7FD-0D5344E9A663_1_105_c-e1686922229852.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3708" />\n\n\n\n<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/97A20DDC-C7E0-40B4-934F-71883C07AEDD_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3709" />\n\n\n\n<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/468089F2-B3FF-4A9A-9880-61302EB35D75_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3710" />\n\n\n\n<img 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/>";s: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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:59:"Do The Woo Community: 20 Years. That’s a Lot of Community";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3448";s: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://dothewoo.io/20-years-thats-a-lot-of-community/";s: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:431:"<p>In May I was fortunate to <strong><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2023/05/30/20-years-thats-a-lot-of-community/">speak at WordCamp Lisboa about community</a></strong>. It had been awhile since I&#8217;ve spoken at a WordCamp, but I had a lot of fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are interested in my elaboration of the future of the community, <a href="https://dothewoo.io/future-of-the-wordpress-community/">listen to this show here.</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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Asia. Energized, Graciousness and Empathy";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=1625";s: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:39:"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-asia-2023/";s: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:9885:"<p>For 13 years I have been going to the smaller and local WordCamps and when the first flagship WCUS started, I jumped on the opportunity and have been lucky enough to attend all of them so far.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, I attended my <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-headed-to-wordcamp-asia/">first WCEU</a></strong> which of course was far from their first. It was an amazing event and even <strong><a href="http://https//portobobwptrainer0.wpcomstaging.com">pushed us to move to Porto</a></strong>, which we are doing end of March.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-then-comes-wcasia">Then comes WCAsia</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Judy and I were excited that we would be able to attend the <strong><a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/">very first WCAsia</a></strong>. Neither of us had been to any part of Asia, so Bangkok was soon to be our first.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1562-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1626" />\n\n\n\n<p>Now with all that comes for anyone attending a WordCamp, it can be anything from intimidating, to exciting, or both. I did not know what to expect from this very first flagship event. I knew that it would be good, but I didn’t know I would be blown away.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The event itself</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The event was held on the top floor of what&#8217;s called Iconsiam. A gigantic mall with a conference center.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1748-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1627" />\n\n\n\n<p>And everything about the organization of the event was top notch. The sponsor area was strategically placed. And I personally experienced a volunteer approaching me a few times and asking how I was doing and if they could help with anything. It was amazing.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Contributor day</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This was my second contributor day. And it did not disappoint. I spent my time with the Community team and we had several very good discussions. Of course a lot of time was put into the day-long event from both organizers and volunteers. And I had to get a shot of all the team table leads from around the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="1000" height="519" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Contributor-day-leads-WordCamp-Asia-2023.jpg?resize=1000%2C519&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1629" />\n\n\n\n<p>This was just how big contributor day was.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="683" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WordCamp-Asia-2023-Contributor-Day-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1630" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Two days of WordCamp Asia</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The minute I walked in that morning and headed straight for the expo area, this is what I saw. It was one of the most busy WordCamps I had ever been to, at least from this perspective. And the vibe in the air is what I believe energized everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1595-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1628" />\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The community, the people</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no single word to describe all the new and old friends that I met with. There were hugs, fist bumps, handshakes, and a lot of conversation. I had the chance to meet people who had literally been reading or listening to my stuff for over a decade. It was incredible humbling. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I don&#8217;t have these tagged, here is are bunch of selfies and other pics that were taken by others and myself. </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Three things really stood out to me</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As I mentioned earlier, this was likely the best WordCamp I have been to. If asked, I would have to say that there are three words that come to mind if I was to describe it as a whole.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The energy</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I have never been to a WordCamp that had as much energy as I experienced here. I’m sure it was a combination of it finally happening for the Asian community (the first time it was cancelled due to covid), the pride they felt and the fact that so many of the attendees were experiencing their very first WordCamp of any size.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone seemed hungry for community and education. Even the sponsors who frequent many WordCamps, the teams they brought were energized and kept very busy. There was a vibe of this energy with everyone you met.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know that both my brand BobWP and Do the Woo is very popular in that part of the world. But until you are able to talk, shake hands or hug, you just don’t know. I met strangers and people who I have been connected with online for a decade or more. I was in what felt like hundreds of selfies with friends and new friends. The energy there was contagious and even by day two, it did not let up till closer to the end of the day.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The graciousness</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is probably the most powerful word that stuck with us during our entire stay, both at the event and beyond. We felt welcomed wherever we went. The kindness and consideration of each individual we had contact with and I had contact with at the event, was something that added to the energy I previously talked about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Culturally, between the greeting with a bow and hands held together, and those who held their hands over their hearts as they approached you, other parts of the world could learn from those warm and loving gestures and how they made us feel each and every time.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The empathy</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Empathy has always been a huge part of my life, and I wish more people would naturally feel it in all circumstances.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I mentioned previously, a lot of the attendees where first time WordCampers. Because of the nature of our business, many are introverts and that first event experience can be overwhelming. But it was different. There was a natural born vibe of empathy coming from everyone. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vendors talking to community members. People meeting each other for the first time. Questions asked and answered. I would often catch pieces of conversation near me, and more times than not there was a tone of empathy. A tone that said we are the community and here to help each other, no matter who you are, what skill level you have or where you come from. The glass was half full, if not brimming over.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Of course all the other stuff</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There was so much to the event, but at the same time the entire experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Having a little fun and a good laugh</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There is nothing better than a good laugh. You may or may not know <strong><a href="https://wpbuilds.com/">Nathan Wrigley from WPBuilds</a></strong>. A great friend of mine and a treasure to the WordPress community. Unfortunately Nathan could not make it, so our friend <strong><a href="https://wsform.com/">Mark Westguard from WS Form</a></strong> created a &#8220;Nathan head&#8221;. And it started popping around here and there at WCAsia. Make sure and click on the images so you can easily find &#8220;Where&#8217;s Nathan?&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Nom nom</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The food was incredible. I’m not a foodie as much as many who travel, but the tastes I experienced are really beyond words. I am still deciding my favorites between Thai, Indian and Japanese.&nbsp;Unfortunately, I am terrible when it comes to taking pictures of our food. In fact, I likely got more from the food served on our flights than at the event.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was this amazing Espresso Martini that we had, in some kind of a chalice at a restaurant in a local marketplace. </p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/69856627392__9179F4B0-106B-43AC-A12F-D6A40A1FDD91-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1678" />\n\n\n\n<p>And the best experience I had was a cup of Spicy Coconut Soup with Scallops at a restaurant in the Iconsiam. Unfortunately I didn&#8217;t think to take a picture until I was half-finished. Trust me, the untouched presentation was pretty impressive. The taste, out of this world.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1757-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1679" />\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bangkok</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there was the host city. As mentioned, this was the first time Judy and I have been in Asia. The city was interesting and amazing at the same time. The weather was another thing. We spent an extra three days and found we could spend very little time outside because of the heat and humidity. Average days temp while while there were around 94<strong>°F</strong>&nbsp;/ 34<strong>°C</strong>. We thought we would either melt away or simple pass out. But between the hotel, a boat ride down the river and a few other places, I do have a few shots to share with you. </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What have I left out?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Likely a lot. But still recovering from jet lag and a good chunk of this post was written on the flight back. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we connected at WCAsia, you are now a big part of one of my favorites memories since using WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you were an organizer, volunteer or sponsor this year, a big thanks and hug for one amazing event. You should be proud of what you did and the community that you brought together. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until WordCamp Europe&#8230;.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1760-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1714" />";s: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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:54:"Do The Woo Community: The State of the Word experience";s: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:24:"https://bobwp.com/?p=585";s: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://dothewoo.io/the-state-of-the-word-experience/";s: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:5731:"<p>I have purposely chosen to not revisit the actual message delivered at State of the Word. There has been a lot already said and I don&#8217;t really need to add to that pile. In fact, I have listed a few posts at the end here that will give you that overview.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I arrived in New York City late Tuesday evening. The SOTW was not beginning till noonish on Thursday. But I was pretty sure Wednesday would be my &#8220;hang out with friends and community day&#8221;. Of course I was not disappointed.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-is-where-community-goes">Community is where community goes</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mid-morning on Wednesday, I ran into<strong> Michelle Frechette and her friend Julia</strong> in the hotel lobby. Hungry and in need of caffeine, I joined them for a bit of time at Starbucks. Returning to the hotel, we ran into Rich Tabor, and set a time to find a restaurant and have lunch. The four of us ended up at an Italian place, which would be the first of two that day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then came a break before I met <strong>Robert Jacobi, Rich Tabor</strong> at Nancy&#8217;s Whiskey Bar across the street. Where eventually we were joined by <strong>Robbie Adair and Bud Kraus</strong>. Although we didn&#8217;t get a group shot then, Robert did grab a shot of Rich and myself.</p>\n\n\n\n<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rich-Tabor-and-BobWP.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1" alt="Rich Tabor and BobWP" class="wp-image-586" width="768" height="576" />Thanks to Robert Jacobi for the photo\n\n\n\n<p>After that came dinner. <a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-state-of-the-word-dinner-with-some-woo/">I shared a bit of that experience on my podcast over on Do the Woo</a>, which in a nutshell ended up being a fantastic Do the Woo dinnner in a heated patio at yet another Italian restaurant.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_0063-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="Do the Woo Dinner in New York City" class="wp-image-587" /><em>Do the Woo Dinner at State of the Word 2023 with Michelle Frechette, Allie Nimmons, Bud Kraus, Nev Harris, Aaron Campbell, Rich Tabor, Timothy Jacobs, BobWP, Robbie Adair, Julie and Ryan Marks.&nbsp;</em>\n\n\n\n<p>Following that feast, a few of us ended up at the Rockefeller Center.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="800" height="764" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WordPress-people-at-Rockefeller-Centeer.jpg?resize=800%2C764&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-588" />Michelle, Nev, Ryan, Julia, Robbie and BobWP\n\n\n\n<p>And that was the day of true community. Friends coming together and just simply having a great time.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width="1024" height="576" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rockefeller-Center-New-York-City.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1" alt="Rockefeller Center New York City" class="wp-image-589" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">State of the Word Day</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course the day of the State of the Word has it&#8217;s fair share of community. From a casual get together at a cafe beforehand, to the event itself and rounding that off with a small dinner with Robert Jacobi, Robbie Adair and Nev Harris.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The entire day, day two, filled with community. Old and new friends.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Conversations at SOTW</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I cannot possibly share with you the conversations I had at the event, primarily because I had too many and cannot recall each one. But a couple of instances stick in my mind.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, I met<strong> Zandy Ring, COO at Tumblr</strong>. This was not only a fun conversation but also very timely as I dive into the Tumblr world as BobWP. It&#8217;s been an interesting platform to sort out. And the insights that Zandy shared with me confirmed I was doing the right thing by taking my time and finding my groove there. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, I had a chance to chat with <strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong> a couple of times. The best thing about the SOTW event if Matt is in his element there. The smaller crowd gives it a much more relaxed feeling and I sense that he is truly enjoying himself. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the cool thing. There would never be the opportunity where I would be able to share with him the new stuff we are doing over at Do the Woo in the new year. But this event gave me that chance. And even better, he loved what we were going to be doing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now with both of these conversations, I was fortunately to be given the opportunity to have them. But I did for two simple reasons.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress community is incredible, no matter who you meet</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am extremely fortunate to have such amazing sponsors for Do the Woo that made it possible for me to represent DTW at the event.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Learn more about the State of the Word</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt&#8217;s SOTW was great and there was some really cool stuff he shared. But I am not into reinventing the wheel, so here are a few options for you to catch up with it if you haven&#8217;t already. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over on WPTavern, <a href="https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2022-matt-mullenweg-highlights-gutenbergs-progress-announces-new-community-tools">State of the Word 2022: Matt Mullenweg Highlights Gutenberg’s Progress, Announces New Community Tools</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WPMinute has an a<a href="https://thewpminute.com/state-of-the-word-2022/">udio version if you are on the go, as well as some key takeaways.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/sotw-2022-a-celebration-of-the-four-freedoms-of-open-source/">over on WordPress.org, you can catch the full video.</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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:52 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:140:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #103 – Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and Updates from the Training Team ";s: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:53:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=29223";s: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:106:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/";s: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:57010:"<p>In this episode, Nadia Maya Ardiani and Birgit Pauli-Haack discuss the create block theme plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and updates from the training team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/#shownotes">Show Notes</a> / <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/#transcript">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/">Sandy Reed</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href="https://markuraine.com/">Mark Uraine</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Production:&nbsp;<a href="https://icodeforapurpose.com">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-larger-font-size" id="shownotes"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Special Guest: Nadia Maya Ardiani</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiamayaardiani/">LinkedIn</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ardianimaya/">WordPress profile</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2024/01/16/contributor-spotlight-nadia-maya-ardiani/">Contributor Spotlight: Nadia Maya Ardiani</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/author/nadiaardiani">Content Specialist at Hostinger</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.hostinger.com/blog/birgit-pauli-haack">Birgit Pauli-Haack: Fostering Community Spirit Through Knowledge Sharing</a> by Nadia Maya Ardiani</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Announcements</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/25/recap-hallway-hangout-theme-building-with-playground-create-block-theme-plugin-and-github/">Playground, Create-block-theme plugin, and GitHub</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/">Recap Hallway Hangout: Exploring Grid Layouts</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYdkXAx7qw">Developer Hours: What’s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 8th, at 16:00 UTC: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/hallway-hangout-section-styles-and-other-block-style-variation-updates/">Hallway Hangout: Section styles and other block style variation updates</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 9th, 2024, 15:00 UTC – Developer Hours: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/">Editor unification and extensibility in WordPress 6.6</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 23, 2024, at 15:00 UTC <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/">Developer Hours: Do you really need a custom block? Let’s explore alternatives.</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Training team updates</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/contributor-spotlight/">Contributor Spotlight series </a></p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Gather Press</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://gatherpress.org/">GatherPress.org</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2024/06/27/training-team-testing-gatherpress/">Training team testing </a>Gather Press</li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gatherpress/">https://wordpress.org/plugins/gatherpress/</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class="wp-block-heading">New Courses</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-user/">Beginner WordPress User</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/intermediate-wordpress-user/">Intermediate WordPress User</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-developer/">Beginner WordPress Developer</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s released</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/">Create Block Theme plugin 2.3</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-18-7-03-july/">What’s new in Gutenberg 18.7? (03 July)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WordPress 6.6</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/wordpress-6-6-rc2/">WordPress 6.6 RC2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://nomad.blog/2024/06/26/wordpress-6-6-source-of-truth/">Source of Truth on WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4D1dHTZvQQ">WordPress 6.6 – Huge Changes Coming Soon!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dev Notes\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/updates-to-the-interactivity-api-in-6-6/">Updates to the Interactivity API in 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/miscellaneous-editor-changes-in-wordpress-6-6/">Miscellaneous Editor changes in WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/section-styles/">Section Styles</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/21/wordpress-6-6-css-specificity/">WordPress 6.6 CSS Specificity</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/roster-of-design-tools-per-block-wordpress-6-6-edition/">Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.6 edition)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/site-wide-background-images-in-wordpress-6-6/">Site-wide background images in WordPress 6.</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/19/theme-json-version-3/">Theme.json version 3</a></li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/editing-custom-fields-from-connected-blocks/">Editing custom fields from connected blocks</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s in the works</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfive">Twenty Twenty-Five</a> </p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-large-font-size">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Did you like this episode? <a href="https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ping us on X (formerly known as Twitter) or send DMs with questions. <a href="https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes">@gutenbergtimes </a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/bph">@bph</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li>\n</ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-large-font-size" id="transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Hello, and welcome to our 103rd episode of the Gutenberg Changelog Podcast. In today&#8217;s episode we will talk in detail about Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and updates from the training team too. Maybe not in that order.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and a full-time core contributor for the WordPress Open-Source Project sponsored by Automattic’s Five for the Future Program. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m delighted to have again as co-host, my dear friend, Nadia Maya Ardiani from Indonesia, member of the WordPress training team, translating Learn WordPress content. And in her day job, Maya creates content for the Hostinger blog and social media. So glad you can make it this time, Maya. How are you today?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Hi, Birgit. It&#8217;s very nice to be back here. How are you by the way?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m good. So glad we&#8217;re doing this. And it&#8217;s summer in Munich.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s always summer here in Indonesia.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, I definitely have to visit sooner or later.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes, please.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Rather sooner than later because time runs out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. The last time you invited me, I think it was around WordCamp. After I came back from WordCamp US and you were not attending it. And this time it&#8217;s the other way around. You&#8217;re attending WordCamp Europe and I&#8217;m not, and I&#8217;m getting so FOMO of everything. So yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. FOMO is something that I&#8217;m looking at for now. Also for WordCamp Canada. There are some great speakers on there. But I am really looking forward. Are you coming to WordCamp Asia in the Philippines next year? You don&#8217;t know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I plan to. I plan to. So hopefully, we can meet again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I hope so too, in-person. Well, did you know that the call for speakers is out for WordCamp Asia?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, not yet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I haven&#8217;t checked.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So dear listeners, if you want to come to WordCamp Asia and be on the speaker roster, now is the time to get your creative juices going on what you want to talk about. All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Announcements</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I forget again, because I did the last time, I want to mention our new music for the intro and the outro. So this is the second episode actually with new music dear listeners, and I hope you like it. A 100 episodes is a great run for Homer Gaines’ music that we started out with and we used for 100 episodes. But I&#8217;m also grateful that he allowed me to use his music for free. So big prompts to Homer Gaines. And I&#8217;ll share again the link to his music channel on Spotify or what was the other one? SoundCloud.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> SoundCloud.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yes. Yeah, thank you. The new jingle, or what you call it, whatever you call it, is actually created by Udio, and that&#8217;s an audio AI site. Which I just was trying out. And the prompt was Jango Edwards style intro music, and it&#8217;s called Manouche Morning. I share the link also in the show notes, so you can go to the site and try out your music tastes. But let me know what you think about it, dear listeners. And also, of course, Maya.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I really like it, because it sounds like something that you can hear from a gramophone and take you back to another time. And it&#8217;s really a nice change of vibe. Because before we have this cool guy, a cool person, who is more very chill and very calm person, and this time it&#8217;s more happy-go-lucky. So yeah, I think it&#8217;s really great. And it&#8217;s like Morning Spirit, like the name.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> You kind of get in a different mindset there. And I learned in between that music actually changes, depending on which music of course, your brainwaves. So your alpha waves and your mood. I find it really interesting. So I read more about it. Well good. So that&#8217;s music. Well, either comment on the episode or send me an email or just ping me on Twitter what you think about the music.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So last episode, we talked about the upcoming events and now those events have taken place, and I can share the recordings in the show notes. If you are a theme developer, but you are not so much into code and want to use the Site Editor to create your theme, the Hallway Hangout where Beatrice Fialo demonstrated how she changes a theme and then used to create Block Theme Plugin to save all the changes that are normally in the database to the theme files and then make those theme files part of Version Control and GitHub.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that process she demonstrated very closely. And on the recap post, I actually also spelled out the steps so you can really follow along. It was really a cool event. And you can actually design a theme and Site Editor and still update the theme files and handle it in Version Control. That was one of the big questions we had on the Outreach channel.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah. I personally also really love Playground because it really helps for content creation as well. Because I don&#8217;t have to keep on tweaking my WordPress site, even though that&#8217;s a special site for testing. But it&#8217;s very handy to have it. I can just test everything there and then forget about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I don&#8217;t have to reset everything. So, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Yeah. You don&#8217;t mess up the site that you use for other things. Yeah. Totally get it. And so I use local or used to use local, and I have probably 25 sites in there. Because I spin up a new site for everything. But that also clogs up my computer, although I have a terabyte of hard drive. But it still clogs up my computer. Because every single site has all the WordPress files, and with Playground I have nothing stored there except what I wanted to store in the browser or something like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, yeah. The other event was the exploration of Grid Layouts. It was also a Hallway Hangout. And Isabel Brison, also a regular co-host here on our show, gave a great demonstration on how to handle blocks with Grid Layout or the other way around, how to work with a Grid Block, which is a subset of the Group Block. And she showed off the 6.6 features, but also what she&#8217;s working on for 6.7 in an experiment. So that&#8217;s also something, if you are keen to learn more about Grid Layout and what you can do with it, definitely watch that recording.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. People already starting to work on 6.7. It&#8217;s like, wow, so fast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. So once decided when the Beta 1 is of major release, then it was also decided which Gutenberg Plugin version will make it from the new feature point of view. So the week the Beta 1 is released, that&#8217;s the week where the Gutenberg Plugin released, and that&#8217;s the last release with new features.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Beta 1 was on June 4th and the release candidate for 18.5 was already out. So those features made it into the major 6.6. And everything else afterwards, 18.6 and 18.7hat we&#8217;re going to talk to now, are either bug fixes and they will be ported to the release on WordPress but all the new features that add UI, that are enhancement to existing things, stay in the plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Isabel Brison, and I think Robert Anderson, they were working on the Grid Layout, they actually started that experiment way earlier, but they were not ready to make it public. So if you want to test out what she showed off in the Hallway Hangout, you need to enable that experiment on the experiment page in Gutenberg before you can actually see that feature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there&#8217;s multiple levels of how you learn about new things. And if you want to get in early, the experiment page on the Gutenberg Plugin gives you a clue what people are actually working on. Some of them are pushed forward like the data views or the Grid Layout, and some of them are a little bit stale because there hasn&#8217;t been enough feedback to move forward with a lot of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going back to the announcements or to the upcoming events, there&#8217;s also in the show notes a link to the recording of the developer hours, what&#8217;s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6, where Nick Diego and Justin Tadlock were talking about all the good things that are coming, especially the overrides to sync patterns and also grid, but also most prominently the section styles, that&#8217;s it, block styles, and how that works with the reduced specificities for custom CSS.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you can override. Well, how you can override some custom styles and block style. It&#8217;s a little bit highly technical, and if you&#8217;re not into that, the last part might be a little bit too technical, but it&#8217;s definitely worth checking out.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there&#8217;s a set of upcoming events in July on Monday, you might not have listened to that, next week, July 8th there&#8217;s a Hallway Hangout where Justin Tadlock and Nick Diego are talking about the section styles and block style variations, want to discuss with the extenders what are the challenges and what are the problems or questions. Bring them all to the Hallway Hangout. That&#8217;s on July 8th, 1600 UTC.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then on July 9th, there&#8217;s a Developer Hour, Editor, Unification and Extensibility in WordPress 6.6. That&#8217;s with Ryan Welcher and Nick Diego. And they talk about how the slot fields and all the other extensibility works now for post editor, site editor, template editor. They&#8217;re all now one interface or almost, in how you can take advantage of it. And the additional ways to add your own interfaces to the sidebar.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then July 23rd at 1500 UTC is another Developer Hours, and that covers that topic, do you really need a Custom Block? And it explores the alternative, and it was one of the things that early on, but more and more you have already built in ways to modify core blocks without having to create your own blocks. So be based on the core blocks. And with pattern overrides, there&#8217;s another feature there where you can say, okay, maybe I don&#8217;t need my Custom Block. And the other part is the Block Bindings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So for custom fields, that you don&#8217;t need a block for each custom field, your customer needs. So you could actually use the Block Bindings for that and bind those information or the values to certain core blocks. It&#8217;s not available for all the blocks, but it&#8217;s 6.6. Block Bindings came with 6.5 and all extended, especially the editing part in the interface for 6.6. All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Training Team</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And speaking of events, so currently the training team is, we are trying to test GatherPress. So it&#8217;s like an event management application and it&#8217;s open source. So we are thinking, why not? We&#8217;re trying to move through this platform, we are looking for a tool that can help us to improve the flow management of our Learn WordPress online workshops, for the scheduling stuff.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we hope that by testing it, we can try to meet the diverse needs of even organizers and members of the WordPress community in general. And it&#8217;s not just training team members who can test it. Everyone basically can test it. And I will put the invitation to test it in the show notes. And the main areas that we follow will be including its ease of use and then the registering process, and then the editing attendance feature, and basically any other stuff that stands out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> That&#8217;s great. Thank you so much for bringing that to the show. I totally dig it. And I remember having conversations about replacing Meetup as the tool for the local Meetups with multi-site, for all the 700 local Meetups when I was a Meetup organizer in &#8217;16 and &#8217;17, so this is great that it comes together now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, the GatherPress Plugin is also now available in WordPress Plugin Repo, so you can also test it on one of your other sites. You don&#8217;t have to use it for WordPress events. But yeah, I&#8217;m going to look at the invite. So that is really cool. When I look at the plugin page, it has blocks for everything and it has for RSVP, add to calendar, the online event, event date, menu and all that. So this is really great. And maybe could even be used for other events, not just WordPress events.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And I myself haven&#8217;t tested as well, so sharing this also became a reminder for me to test it. Because it&#8217;s really great to have this alternative.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Absolutely. Oh, and speaking of the training team, there are three courses that came out in the last couple of months. One is the beginner WordPress user. So if you start out as a WordPress content creator and/or site owner, this is definitely a course to go through because it explains some of the WordPressy things that are a little bit harder to know. It&#8217;s like your driver&#8217;s license course for WordPress. Sometimes we just need a refresher as well. And I just realized that there&#8217;s also an Immediate WordPress User course out there. So I think it just went online. And for those who are….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;s very new.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. Have you worked on those?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Actually, these three stuff like Beginner WordPress User and then Beginner WordPress Developer, and then Intermediate WordPress Developer. WordPress user, sorry, they&#8217;re all part of the Learning Pathway Project. So lately we try to create learning pathway. Because sometimes people get into learn.wordpress.org and became like, oh my God, there&#8217;s so much stuff to learn. Where do I start?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we&#8217;re thinking maybe it will help if we can have separate learning pathways, for example, for people who don&#8217;t have enough technical background, they can start by the Beginner WordPress User. As you already said, it&#8217;s like the driving license for WordPress. It&#8217;s a really nice way to put it. It&#8217;s when you want to really learn from the basics. And then we have Beginner WordPress Developer. It&#8217;s for those who want to start developing for WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then we have Intermediate WordPress User. So it&#8217;s for people who already have basic fundamental knowledge and then they want to level up their use of WordPress. Maybe for content creation, they want to make it more effective, and then they want to explore the advanced features. So this is what everyone can learn from this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. No, really, and I know there&#8217;s a lot of work that goes into that, especially because WordPress changes so much in the recent year. What I also like is that the single lessons are actually available separately. You don&#8217;t have to go through the course or finish one lesson to go to the next. You can just look at the list of the course and then pick the lessons where you want to expand your knowledge. Or when you say, okay, I need to dive deeper in that topic, and hopefully the lesson covers that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s a really good way also for people who actually build sites for others, to say, okay, if you want to learn that, why don&#8217;t you go to that lesson, instead of having to do that training themselves. Although it builds trust, sometimes it can be a bandwidth. You don&#8217;t have the bandwidth as a freelance developer or as a small agency to do all the training. And having an official site where you can point people to for certain explanations or for certain tools, on how to use them, is definitely a feature also very well-built for agencies that are out there and working with clients. You are pretty much the first line of support. So that definitely gives you support in supporting. I like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Support in supporting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. So check out the <a href="http://learn.wordpress.org">learn.wordpress.org</a> site and the three courses we will have in the show notes for you. And of course, yeah, the Beginner WordPress Developer course covers all the things that you might need to at least get started. Because there&#8217;s a lot of tutorials out there that assume a certain knowledge of certain things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I know because I work with the writers on the developer blog on the WordPress Developer Blog, and some of it is kind of how can we get to the meat of that particular tutorial without having to explain about everything WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Everything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So now we can point to the WordPress Developer lessons and say, okay, here you can beef up thinking about this or this and that. So it&#8217;s great fundamental work that the training team is doing there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And we try to facilitate the many ways people might prefer to learn. Some people prefer to learn audio/visually, some people prefer to just read it, because they can do it anytime and anywhere, and also for the accessibility reasons.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Excellent. Yeah, definitely. That was the section about the training team. Well done on the training team and everybody else out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What’s Released &#8211; Create Block Theme Plugin<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So that brings us to the section, what&#8217;s released. And before we dive into WordPress 6.6 some more, I just wanted to give a shout-out to the latest release of the Create Block Theme Plugin. It has become my most favorite plugin that I actually use. And the team working on has released version 2.3 with a few more capabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now you can add image credits to the theme modal. So there&#8217;s a theme modal where you can put all the information about a theme that you create in there. And there&#8217;s now also a section for the image credits if you use somebody else&#8217;s images in there that are not commonly licensed or public domain. So you can add this to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>External links are now translatable. So the translation team, whoever and polyglots wants to translate a theme can do that. There is a new About section in the editor that helps you with what the various pieces are about. And the landing page in the plugin has been majorly improved from the design, and it now looks a little bit more like that plugin is. And then now the font settings. When you clone a theme, the font settings actually persist over the cloning part. So what the original theme is doing you can do. The clone theme is also respecting that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there were quite a few bug fixes and all that. But it&#8217;s so great how this plugin actually evolves throughout the times and goes along with the WordPress features. I think that they&#8217;re working now on some pattern management, but they need to wait for the core to finish developing. Sometimes the heart of the matter, if you want to create, you can create patterns in the interface, but you need to export them separately and not with the theme. So that&#8217;s kind of a major stepping stone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the styles and section styles, they haven&#8217;t implemented that yet. But it&#8217;s coming along and stay tuned.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WordPress 6.6</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So for WordPress 6.6, release candidate two is now available for testing. Today, we are recording this on July 4th, thinking July 4th to our American listeners. Happy Independence Day. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And enjoy the summer coming in. But no rest for the wicked. WordPress 6.6 is scheduled to come out July 16th. That&#8217;s 12 days away. And there is with the release candidate one, also the Source of Truth came out, a compendium, it&#8217;s a book about that, WordPress 6.6. Compiled or composed, edited, authored by and&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Curated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Curated By Anne McCarthy. It&#8217;s all you want to ever learn about 6.6 in any detail, about every feature. It might not interest everyone. But you can actually&#8230; She tags each feature for the intended user, like this is the theme author, plugin author, end user or enterprise level or for everybody. So you can actually use the browser, find function for the tag theme author, and then go just hop from one occurrence to the next and read it that way. That&#8217;s how I do it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> If you need a shorter version, Jamie Marsland summarized the most important feature in this video and calls it WordPress 6.6, huge changes coming soon.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> As a content writer, I am so thankful that Anne McCarthy always creates this source of truth every time there&#8217;s a major release. So it became our source of truth, literally, to write anything about WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it&#8217;s also interesting that today&#8217;s marketing team, from the make teams shifting to Media Corps. Because it&#8217;s expanding the possibilities for the Source of Truth. Now that we are going to have that one place, one central to getting everything about WordPress and being updated on it. So it&#8217;ll be really helpful for content creators especially.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah, it&#8217;s actually meant for content creators. It&#8217;s not so much for end-users, because that also can be quite technical. So Jamie Marsland, in his video, points out pattern overrides, the grid layout, and we all talked about the negative margins, the custom shadows, and as well as the data views.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there were actually for the developers additional def notes since the last episode were published, and one was the updates to the interactivity API, miscellaneous editor changes. These are smaller changes, but still don&#8217;t overlook them. A definite about section and styles, is definite about the CSS specificity. That&#8217;s a very difficult word for me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Me, too. It&#8217;s a tongue-twister.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And it reflects how hard it is to talk about that as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, yeah. 6.6 specificity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Specificity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So many S.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And then there&#8217;s a roster of the design tools per block that&#8217;s just a table of lists, all the blocks, and then which design tool, line, typography, color, dimensions, background image, gradient, yay, duotone, which block does what. And then there&#8217;s another dev notes about the theme JSON version three that also covers the style variations or the section style variations, how you can manage them through theme JSON.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maya, from all the small and big features, what intrigues you as a content creator the most?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I actually want to say the zoom out view, but sadly, based on the 6.6 Source of Truth, it&#8217;ll be available on a future release. But I was like, if it&#8217;s finally available, it&#8217;ll be a game changer, because I can&#8230; Instead of cut and then move it to somewhere else by scrolling up or down my mouse and put it on the wrong part of the website, being able to zoom it out will be, oh my God, it will be&#8230; What is it in English? Sorry. It&#8217;ll be really time-saving.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I can definitely see that. Because we are so focused on the block or on the section kind of thing that sometimes you need a full view of a page. And the zoom out view is&#8230; We are looking at things sometimes only for the block section and what&#8217;s in front of us, but the zoom out view gives you actually a view of the full page and how everything fits together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s very important when you look at template previews or on pattern previews or even on when you go through the categories of patterns and then you see the pattern, how would that fit in into your full page kind of thing? Yeah. But if I understood it correctly, it wasn&#8217;t all that seamless to use. It was always a little bit of a surprise when it happened that the team still wanted to&#8230; And nothing is hated more than a surprise by an end user. What did I do?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Did I do something wrong?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. That&#8217;s the first question I always ask. What did I do? And how did that happen? So they wanted to finesse that a little bit more and make that usage a bit more intuitive. So apart from what&#8217;s not in 6.6.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> What else?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I think it&#8217;s the unified editor experience. It just makes sense to me to have the featured image position way higher than before, because before it&#8217;s down there. Now it&#8217;s way up there. Because when we create a blog post after finishing the text, the first thing that comes to mind is what feature image we will put there to represent the blog post.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because having a proper and featured image is also important for the SEO and for branding, especially if we name the featured image with the keyword that we target, it&#8217;ll boost the SEO performance as well. And I like how the publish flow looks more compact and less distracting. Because some stuff gets inside when we click something and&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> The three-dot menu.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes. It can be also less intimidating for newbies because there&#8217;s not so much stuff right there. And then I&#8217;m also interested in the pattern overrides, because it will be so handy and time-saving. And also help create a cohesive design across the site, especially for no-code or no designer, non-designer users, and then also the negative margins because it unlocks the design possibilities for us who don&#8217;t really design in our daily lives. So yeah, it will look really cool, I think.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, absolutely. And I like the combination between the grid block and the custom shadows. And then now you can have some overlap of images and text, and you don&#8217;t have to use a cover block to have that because it&#8217;s hard to organize that. Yeah,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>It&#8217;ll be so fun to play with.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah. Great tools in there for designers that are no-coders. Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of cool. Yeah. I&#8217;m a total fan of the pattern enhancement that comes with 6.6. It&#8217;s not only the set pattern overrides that were punted from 6.5, I like the additional time, which really helped with the feature to bring it in. Because now you see it in the sidebar which content you can override and how they&#8217;re called.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And to create this, you can actually guide your users, which piece of the pattern you can override. So there&#8217;s a sidebar on that, when the pattern comes in you really see it. And there&#8217;s also the full pattern management, is made available for sites that use a classic theme. So they get a menu item in the WP admin and also all the pattern management screens. So that&#8217;s a big deal for the classic themes because they still dominate the space of course.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not everybody changes themes every two years, but users can take advantage of the broader template part and pattern management. And theme developers can also make those available for their users. So I&#8217;m really happy about that. Yeah, we talked about the grid layouts. I&#8217;m absolutely a fan of that. And because you can have so much more design, although I want to do something like a Pied Mondrian kind of style, and I am….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani</em>: Oh, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Looking forward to doing that. And now you can also create your own drop shadows and you don&#8217;t need a theme developer or a developer for it or wait for core. You can create your own drop shadows with the color, how they lean, what&#8217;s the angle and what&#8217;s the distance from the thing. It&#8217;s not available for all blocks. But I think it&#8217;s still only for four blocks, but it&#8217;s definitely changed for the content creators to make some interesting things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yep, yep.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And one thing I really like is that it&#8217;s finally coming to WordPress, and that is, to use….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>What is that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: The tab button to indent list items?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, yeah, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Every time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani</em>: Yeah, I forget about that too. It&#8217;ll be really nice too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And because it trips me up every time I know I&#8217;m going to use it very much. I have not learned to work around it. Why can&#8217;t I do this? So I try it every time I use a list that needs to have multiple hierarchies. So I&#8217;m really happy about that. Thank you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Finally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>The time that I don&#8217;t spend in WordPress, I spend in Google Docs. So some things from Google Docs. What drives me crazy in Google Docs is that I can&#8217;t just highlight something and put a link underneath with copy paste. That kind of trips me up in Google. And I was like, Google, get on with it. And GitHub can do it, WordPress can do it, you can do it too. And this was the other way around. Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of what Google does nicely and WordPress does.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talked a little bit on the podcast already about the new screens coming, called the data views. And those are the admin screens, that insight editor to manage pattern pages, styles, navigation and templates. And as they are tested for more admin redesigns to come. And yeah, I&#8217;m really excited about that because it kind of gives you a little view into the future, and also lets you already use it and see how that works well for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know for 6.7, they&#8217;re looking at making those available for the media library and also for the post because those two things on the content side, they still use the old WP admin for various reasons. Most of it because of the extensibility that needs to be built in, because a lot of plugins kind of tap into these screens right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the 6.7 is probably going to have at least some first versions of that in that. If you&#8217;re a plugin developer, you might want to check out theWordPress&nbsp; component package data views. And there&#8217;s also one that contributors are working on, it&#8217;s called data forms, maybe to make them work for your plugins or at least test them out, and what it would bring for you later on in a year or so.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then of course, the last feature that I am really happy about is the extensions of the Block Bindings, they were a big deal in 6.5, but the enhancements that coming in 6.6 is even more useful for site owners and site content creators, because WordPress now offers various ways where you can update the custom fields through the Block Binding screen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the meta boxes that are on bottom of your screen are not the best interface. They also don&#8217;t have any validation and all that, but you can now change it right in the block. So if you have a typo of inner value for the meta, thinking of a book, if you have a typo in the author. Or you can change the author right there in the block, as well as if that&#8217;s in the archive, you can use those Block Bindings also in the archive pages through your templates, but users can then change, oh, this is a wrong date, or this is a wrong location. They can change it right there in the archive pages in the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it&#8217;s kind of nice to have that now built into the Block Editor, what before you actually needed custom blocks for it or you needed ACF for it or parts or something like that. But now you can just have the custom fields connected with blocks still in the early stages of course, but it&#8217;s not complicated fields or complicated connections. But it&#8217;s a start and it might make….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>We&#8217;re getting there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;s getting there. And it might make quite a set of custom blocks redundant if you could use those for that. And you don&#8217;t have to maintain the code for that. Yeah, that&#8217;s what I think about 6.6. What I like and what&#8230; I am really looking forward to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s less than two weeks from now, I think.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> 12 days from today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 12 days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So this comes out on Sunday, and you have only 10 days once you listen to that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 10 days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Or maybe today, Thursday. Well, it comes out on Sunday, so you only have eight days.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Gutenberg 18.7</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>But that was not the only thing that was released today or this week. The WordPress 6.6 release candidate two, it was Gutenberg 18.7. Total of 115 PRs were merged in Gutenberg 18.7 with seven first time contributors. Yay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was going to look at that and hope they contribute not only their first contribution, but also because now they&#8217;ve got the process right that there will be many, many more contributions from those users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Of course, of many contributions after this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right, right. Yeah. And with WordPress 6.6 at our doorstep, many contributions are focused on bug fixes. So there&#8217;s not a whole lot of new features in there, but what we are talking about, some of them are really&#8230; We will find in 6.7, but let&#8217;s talk about them.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Enhancements</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So there is now a content panel for template parts, and that is good because now developers, and when you create templates in the editor, you can add a description and that shows up in the content area for that template. So you can make your theme a little bit more descriptive. Then the next one is, we talked about the published workflow, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Mm-hmm. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And there is the Sticky Toggle, which is something that means the sticky post.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> That is&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s now under&#8230; It will be under&#8230; Wait, I forget.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Those three dots.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;ll be under the status and visibility. And I think that will be great because it makes it more clear what sticky means, especially for non-English speakers and beginners. Because I remember the first time I learned using WordPress, I was confused what does this sticky mean? Because I was trying to make my first blog post and then I tried this sticky feature and nothing happened. Of course, because my post is only one. So I cannot see what this feature actually does. So by moving it under status and visibility, I think it makes it more intuitive. Because by that we know that, oh, this sticky might be related to the visibility. Oh, it&#8217;ll stick to somewhere in the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I think you&#8217;re right. And it&#8217;s also not the first&#8230; The first few blog posts you probably wouldn&#8217;t need to know about Sticky Post to get that into your feature set that you would need. So why is it there? Yeah, you&#8217;re totally right. Yeah. What they also did in 18.7, why am I still two years, in 16?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Numbers are also hard.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, numbers are hard, especially for writers. But I&#8217;m actually a number person, so&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Ahh. Yeah, yeah. Number person and alphabet person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> I used to say, so it&#8217;s a real miracle what word people do with numbers. Because I looked at budgets from word people that didn&#8217;t work out. But off my tangents now. So one feature that comes with 18.7 is the alignment of the naming models. So we are renaming and naming quite a few things. One is we renamed the sections in the pattern overrides. We renamed template parts, we renamed posts and pages, titles, and all these models, they looked a little bit differently every time. So they are now aligned and use the same design.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it makes it less of a friction, because every time you see something different, you think there might be something different, but there isn&#8217;t. So that&#8217;s really good for quality of life improvement on that. So we haven&#8217;t talked a lot about the writing mode support for blogs. What is that? That is&#8230; Do you know what that is? Have you ever used it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I tried it, but not really applied it to my daily process. But I think it opened more design possibilities. Because we can make any other element to be vertical or there are so many possibilities that we can do with the layout and then with the message that we want to share to the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so you could pretty much say in the fonts you see in the three dot menu in your font, typography, things you see, vertical alignment or orientation, is I think what you see. Font orientation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, yeah, orientation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So you can then say, okay, I want this headline to be vertically aligned with the paragraph that it kind of comes after. So it actually will be on the left-hand side instead of on top of it, but it is vertically aligned. And yeah, as you said, it&#8217;s a nice design tool to break up the wall of text, I call it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So when you use headers and list items and all that, they need to be visually attractive at one point, so you can end this PR or with 18.7, the feature of the vertical alignment comes to other blocks. The writing mode support is now also available for buttons and verse and side tagline blocks and side title blocks. Not just for headings and paragraphs. There&#8217;s a theme JSON settings in there, and you can also kind of see it then in your style blocks. So I think that&#8217;s a great feature to have, that is added to a few more blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So wonderful. Another tool, it&#8217;s not a tool, but what has changed, and you will see it in 6.6, is that with the entity that you&#8217;re editing. So what do I mean by that? Is it a pattern or is it a block or is it a template? And now you get a document bar on top of the screen that actually tells you where you are. And that document bar is now also available in 18.7 Gutenberg with the style book and the style revisions. So it&#8217;s one more piece of getting the orientation right for a content creator. So what am I actually doing? And I liked it for templates and for pages. So am I in template mode or am I in page editing mode, which is kind of a little different.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I checked the GitHub issue and still cannot really comprehend what we will get from this feature? But then you just explained about it. It makes me, oh, yeah, yeah, I will&#8230; looking forward to this. That&#8217;s why even though I&#8217;m not really a technical person, I&#8217;m still keeping notes and updating myself of all these updates. Because, oh, this one, I might need this. And just taking notes of everything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And the last one, it&#8217;s also a very small thing, but it&#8217;s really improved the quality of life of these new features. And I&#8217;m sad it&#8217;s not going to come to 6.6. Not that I&#8230; Because it&#8217;s the tool top to hover over the color and to typography presets. So if your theme has, or if you&#8217;re a theme developer and you create color and typography presets for your theme, then the user can hover and identify that color palette or what typography, what&#8217;s the font like or what do you call those fonts. And you can then point people to it in your documentation and say, well look at that. Well look at this. And the Tooltip helps you identify really the things that are on screen. All right. Do you want to add something to the Tooltip?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah, I just want to say that this will be very handy for working with teams because you don&#8217;t have to pick that one that is the third one from the top. You can just say the name of, what is it? The color presets. The color palette. So yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bug Fixes</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. No, you&#8217;re right. Yeah, it&#8217;s really hard to organize it. So we mentioned quite a few bug fixes in there. And there is one in there that we are talking about, that&#8217;s the writing flows, split the heading into a default block. You can split a block and then it&#8217;s still going to be a heading.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. Because sometimes when we enter in the middle of the heading and then it creates another H1, let&#8217;s say. It just didn&#8217;t make sense to have&#8230; Why do we want to have two heading one in a row? So yeah, it just makes sense to have when we enter, it automatically becomes a normal text like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, a normal paragraph block. Or when you get carried away with writing a headline and say, ah, no, I want to break it and do that as a subheading. Yeah. Yeah. So that&#8217;s a very good fix. You can also now, it fixes the custom color palette. Because that was always a little bit hard to use when you wanted to create new ones.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. I also found this one really useful because sometimes, especially for brands, some brands have that very specific color and by being able to create the custom color palette, it will help us to have a website in our signature color.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Yeah. And this fix actually makes that workflow much smoother and you don&#8217;t have to fiddle around with it too much. And the next one is that for the grid, we talked about the experiment, about the grid interactivity, and it now allows blocks to be positioned in manual mode using drag and drop.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the handing of grid and grid cells is going to be much easier. And even in the manual mode you can use drag and drop to place your blocks on the grid. There were two things that I want to&#8230; There are quite a few documentation PRs that fix or add to the documentation, which is always appreciated.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Documentation</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The interactivity API docs now have an addition of the WP-async directive documented. It&#8217;s for the developers when they go out and grab some data from somewhere and how to push that into the website. And then for the Query Loop Block, it clarifies some explanation about the variation examples that are in core, so developers can handle them. And I think that was it, what we have for Gutenberg&#8217;s 18.7. Yes, we are almost through.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What’s in Active Development or Discussed</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We have one section for the&#8230; What&#8217;s in active development or discussed, and I just wanted to let you know that the GitHub repo for the next default theme can&#8217;t….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Twenty Twenty Five.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Very good. We did not plan this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And I connected with Carolina Nymark who created the repo, and she just said that it&#8217;s pretty much right now just to put the placeholders in. Because the release team for 6.7 hasn&#8217;t been announced yet. And the default theme Co leads, will be part of the release team. So we need to wait for that. But if you have any input or any ideas for Twenty Twenty Five, you can definitely create issues there and start and raise your hand if you want to contribute however you want.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> The Twenty Twenty Five will be part of the last release of this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Which is WordPress 6.7.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 6.7. Oh, yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yes. Yeah, it&#8217;s the next release and it will come out in November. But I think the release date is before Thanksgiving, so it&#8217;s November 12th. So it&#8217;s way before Black Friday and all the holidays are going to start. At least in America, between Thanksgiving and New Year, nobody really, everybody shops and not a whole lot of people work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. It&#8217;s time for&#8230; Have fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, it&#8217;s time to have fun, but also to keep websites stable so the online shopping spray is not interrupted. And because that&#8217;s where most people make the year&#8217;s revenue.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Gift giving time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> It&#8217;s giving time, it&#8217;s buying time. It&#8217;s Black Friday time, it&#8217;s Cyber Monday time. It&#8217;s all the discounts that come around for that. Yes. Yeah. So I&#8217;m so happy that you were on my show, Maya. Or on our show.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Me, too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And it&#8217;s always wonderful to chat with you about WordPress and all the things content creators do with it. So when people want to connect with you, where would they find you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So you can find me on wordpress.org, of course. And then I have LinkedIn as well, and Twitter and Instagram. But lately I&#8217;ve been taking social media time off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So if anyone wants to get in touch with me, I think wordpress.org. And maybe if you want to read anything related to me, so in training team, we recently developed&#8230; We have a new initiative, so it&#8217;s Contributor Spotlight. So we celebrate the journey of training team contributors. It&#8217;s initiated by Courtney Paulo-Kranzke or Courtney PK, we call her. It started this January, I think. And yeah, you can all read it on the training team made WordPress Blog.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Oh, wonderful, wonderful. I&#8217;m going to put a link in the show notes to that profile.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Thank you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, thank you for that initiative. It&#8217;s always good to read the stories, contributor stories. And I will add your LinkedIn and your WordPress Slack profile or WordPress Slack account as well to the show so you can all follow up with Maya.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Thank you so much.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> You&#8217;re welcome. As long as the show notes ,dear listeners, will be published on gutenbergtimes.com for WordPress Podcast. This is episode 103. And if you have questions or suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>, that&#8217;s <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. Or just ping me on Twitter like many people do. And if you enjoy the show, please, please leave a review on Apple or Stitcher or whatever your favorite podcast directory is, so other people can find it too. Again, thanks to Maya and thanks for listening, and goodbye.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Thanks to Birgit as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, thank you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s always an honor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Thank you. And a great pleasure for me. All right, this is the outro. Listen to it and I&#8217;ll see you in two weeks or talk to you in two weeks. Bye-Bye.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Bye.</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:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 08:59:49 +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:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:98:"Gutenberg Times: Grid Layouts, curate the Editor experience, WordPress 6.6 — Weekend Edition 298";s: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:35:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=29127";s: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:103:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/";s: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:19986:"<p>Hi there, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a fairly normal WordPress week, apart from the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2024/06/29/password-reset-required-for-plugin-authors/">general password reset for all plugin committers</a> on the repository. That was highly unusual. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The release of WordPress 6.6 is moving along right on schedule.  <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/wordpress-6-6-rc2/">Release candidate 2</a> is out. The video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_UJQ0369c">Watch the Build: How WordPress Release Pages are Created in the Site Editor</a> allows you a look behind the scene of this part of the release process. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg 18.7 was also released. Together with my friend Maya, I recorded  a Gutenberg changelog episode again, number 103. I just can&#8217;t get my head around that we already recorded over 100 shows. We also added new music.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Weekend Edition has quite a few videos linked on what&#8217;s coming in WordPress 6.6, on Grid layouts, and Interactivity API. Something for everyone. To learn about new features and grasp their impact, it&#8217;s much easier to see them demo&#8217;ed in a video setting or screen share than just learn about it via a blog post or a podcast. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wishing you a fabulous weekend! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n<div width="100%" class="wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block">\n<p><em>PS: Thank you to <a href="https://x.com/chris_c">Chris Clarke</a> for sharing his <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/554667b23a/">Hong Kong Harbor photo</a> on WordPress Photo directory. </em></p>\n</div>\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#upcoming-events">Upcoming events</a></li></ol></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ol>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First time release lead, <a href="https://x.com/kevin940726"><strong>Kai Hao</strong></a>, published Gutenberg plugin version 18.7 and highlighted in his release post <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-18-7-03-july/"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 18.7? (03 July)</strong></a>, the feature of moving grid items around via drag and drop in manual mode, and new content panels for template parts, allowing developers and users to add descriptions to those sections.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nadia Maya Ardiani</strong> and I reviewed the latest Gutenberg version for our <strong>Gutenberg Changelog episode 103</strong>. We also discussed the latest learning path courses by the training team, upcoming events and WordPress 6.6. The episode will be published over the weekend and arrive shortly after at your favorite podcast app. It was lovely to chat with my friend, Maya from Indonesia again.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast"><img width="652" height="185" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-04-at-17.07.21.png?resize=652%2C185&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29190" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-accent-color has-light-background-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-bd161c98d845ccce6904985904015b6a">🎙️ Latest episode: <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/">Gutenberg Changelog #103 – Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and Updates from the Training Team </a> with Nadia Maya Ardiani</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tammie Lister</strong> <a href="https://x.com/karmatosed/status/1808098791708315820">wrote on X </a>(former Twitter): &#8220;Being sponsored to work on the WordPress default theme task force has been one of the most rewarding contribution areas for me in a while. I wrote a post about what has gone on so far. Thank you to everyone who supported me and collaborated.&#8221; You can read more about the project on her <strong><a href="https://binatethoughts.com/update-on-default-theme-focus/">Update on default theme focus</a>.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>The work on the default theme <strong><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfive">Twenty Twenty-Five</a> </strong>has begun with a fresh GitHub Repo. There isn&#8217;t much information available yet. After checking in with <strong>Caroline Nymark</strong>, who created the repo, I learned that the release squad for WordPress 6.7 hasn&#8217;t been announced; the repo is more a placeholder until the new theme leads are picked.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="upcoming-events">Upcoming events</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>July 8th, 2024 at 16:00 UTC &nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/hallway-hangout-section-styles-and-other-block-style-variation-updates/">Hallway Hangout: Section styles and other block style variation updates</a></strong>&nbsp;with Justin Tadlock and others: &#8220;At a technical level, the expanded tool set does not add too many new concepts to learn. However, in practice, working with these updates can present challenges and may even have you rethinking your approach to theme design.&#8221; says the description. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As already mentioned in <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#upcoming">Weekend Edition 297</a></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>July 9th, 2024, 15:00 UTC </strong>–&nbsp;<strong>Developer Hours</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/"><strong>Editor unification and extensibility in WordPress 6.6</strong></a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>July 23, 2024</strong>, at 15:00 UTC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/"><strong>Developer Hours: Do you really need a custom block? Let’s explore alternatives.</strong></a>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Isabel Brison</strong> showed us in a Hallway Hangout how to work with the Grid block and what will be in WordPress 6.6. After answering questions, Brison also showed us what she is working on in a Gutenberg Experiment. Learn more via the post <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/"><strong>Recap Hallway Hangout: Exploring Grid Layouts</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also try things out via this <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wordpress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/grid-variations/blueprint.json">Playground instance</a>. The experiment is already enabled. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">\n<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>\n</div>Find summary, transcript shared resources via the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/">Recap post</a>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published videos on YouTube around WordPress 6.6. for content creators and site builders.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdh1hKAuXSQ">Negative Margins, Grid Block, &amp; Custom Shadows</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zidqPCJhze8">The power of a shared publishing flow &amp; unified extensibility APIs</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvEhnjbdyM">Bringing a Modern Patterns Experience to Classic Themes</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n<div width="100%" class="wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block">\n<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">\n<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bud Kraus</strong> selected for you the <a href="https://www.hostinger.com/blog/wordpress-6-6-preview"><strong>6 Hot Changes Coming to WordPress 6.6</strong></a> on the Hostinger Blog. He highlights Pattern overrides, the Grid block, Sections Styles, Data views, Pattern management for classic themes and negative margins. Kraus provides screenshots and instructions on how to use the features. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>You might have waited for the video of WordCamp Europe&#8217;s edition of the Speed Build Challenge live on stage. <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong> published the actual Speed Build challenge and cut in from the Matt&#8217;s Summer Update and the Q &amp; A after. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVW4vdBdtuk&t=116s"><strong>Epic Showdown: Who will win WordCamp Europe&#8217;s First-Ever WordPress Speed Build?</strong></a> with Jessica Lyschik and Rich Tabor.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stephanie Pi</strong> just announced <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/18/woocommerce-9-0-our-most-accessible-checkout-and-much-more/"><strong>WooCommerce 9.0: Our most accessible checkout and much more</strong></a>. It comes with an improved check-out experience, the next iteration of Product blocks, new REST-API endpoints for the refunds and much more.  Actually, <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/20/woocommerce-9-0-1-dot-release/">WooCommerce 9.0.1</a> came out a few days later, fixing what caused a fatal error on installations. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/18/woocommerce-9-0-our-most-accessible-checkout-and-much-more/"><img width="652" height="416" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image.png?resize=652%2C416&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29184" /></a>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carlo Daniele</strong>, blogger at Kinsta, has all the pertinent information about WordPress 6.6 in his post <strong><a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-6-6/">What’s new in WordPress 6.6: Pattern overrides, Block Bindings API, Data Views, new design tools, and much more!</a></strong> You&#8217;ll find short explanations, screenshots, and code examples on how to implement some new features into your projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my favorite plugins lately is the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/"><strong>Create Block Theme</strong></a> plugin. The team working on it just released version 2.3&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Add image credits edit capabilities to the edit theme modal by <a href="https://github.com/matiasbenedetto">@matiasbenedetto</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/662">#662</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make external links translatable by <a href="https://github.com/t-hamano">@t-hamano</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/663">#663</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add an about section in the editor by <a href="https://github.com/matiasbenedetto">@matiasbenedetto</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/667">#667</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Landing Page: Improve design by <a href="https://github.com/t-hamano">@t-hamano</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/673">#673</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Persist font settings when cloning a theme by <a href="https://github.com/mikachan">@mikachan</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/678">#678</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2024&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: <strong><strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">2020</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2021/">2021</a></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2022/">2022</a></strong></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2023">2023</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nick Diego</strong> collected <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/07/04/15-ways-to-curate-the-wordpress-editing-experience/"><strong>15 ways to curate the WordPress editing experience</strong></a> and explained each of them in his latest post for the WordPress Developer Blog. Diego covered all possible ways from disabling parts of the design tools, Block directory or Pattern directory to Openverse. Also, how to unregister core block styles and variations or formatting options for RichText blocks. If you build bespoke themes for client projects, some of this might be quite useful to make the block editor a streamlined experience for the client&#8217;s content creators, and stay true to branding and design requirements.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://x.com/perezcarreno"><strong>Armando J. Perez-Carreno</strong></a> had a two-part conversation with <strong>Seth Rubenstein</strong> from the Pew Research Center, on how he and his team use the Interactivity API for their website. Rubenstein demonstrated the use of facets and the Interactivity API in creating dynamic and interactive blocks, as well as the concept of &#8216;atomic&#8217; blocks. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otFjPLOWWsc"></a></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUXoZQRVJcY">The Interactivity API in Action, a conversation with Seth Rubenstein</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERXUMh1S2ws"></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDkvVTmVSRQ">Interactivity API: Getting Creative with Atomic Blocks</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://x.com/olawanle_joel"><strong>Joel Olawanle</strong></a>, technical writer at Kinsta, set out to help developers <a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/react-19-wordpress/"><strong>Preparing for React 19: a guide for WordPress 6.6 users</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Magdalena Paciorek</strong> gave a talk on <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2024/07/03/building-custom-post-types-with-blocks/"><strong>Building custom post types with&nbsp;blocks</strong></a> at WordCamp Europe. The recording made it to WordPress TV for your perusal. In this session, she took a look at how to create bespoke WordPress websites that make use of custom post types directly in the site editor. Paciorek also explored how to build templates with blocks and examined different ways to extend the editor, including the use of block filters, block formats, custom block styles, block patterns, inner blocks, block locking, interactivity API, building our own blocks, and more. </p>\n\n\n\n		\n			<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div></div>\n			\n			\n		\n		\n\n\n<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now also available via <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json">WordPress Playground</a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">Email me </a>with your experience</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? </em><br /><em>Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">them via email</a> or</em><br /><em> send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size">For questions to be answered on the <a href="http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, <br />send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image: <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/554667b23a/">Hong Kong Harbor</a> photo by <a href="https://x.com/chris_c">Chris Clarke</a>, found in the WordPress Photos space. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-left"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n<form class="wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait" action="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/" method="post"><div class="ngl-form-container"><div class="ngl-form-field"><label class="ngl-form-label" for="ngl_email"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class="ngl-form-input"><input type="email" class="ngl-form-input-text" name="ngl_email" id="ngl_email" /></div></div><button type="submit" class="ngl-form-button">Subscribe</button><p class="ngl-form-text">We hate spam, too, and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone <br />except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay"><div class="ngl-message-svg-wrap"></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay-text">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type="hidden" name="ngl_list_id" id="ngl_list_id" value="26f81bd8ae" /><input type="hidden" name="ngl_double_optin" id="ngl_double_optin" value="yes" /></form>\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" />";s: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, 06 Jul 2024 04:20:00 +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:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";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:11:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:75:"HeroPress: An Essay From Japan, Interviews From Italy, Photos From Romania!";s: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://heropress.com/?p=7226";s: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:189:"https://heropress.com/an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania";s: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:12318:"<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1566614a4ecc542f1.48731483-1024x576.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Colorful sunset at Sugar Beach, Costa Rica." /><div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_5cc667-2b"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_83e99e-fb alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_ac77f0-9d"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/essays/freed-from-the-soil-lab/" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="300" height="300" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2015-WCORL-professional-300x300.jpg" alt="Jesse Petersen" class="kb-img wp-image-755" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_f0688f-e1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_bbac4c-c5 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">This week&#8217;s banner image is in memory of <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/freed-from-the-soil-lab/">Jesse Petersen</a> who left us on this date in 2017. Godspeed Jesse.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_cec507-06"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_d1d005-3e alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_f7f055-32 inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_fa34bf-0f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">HeroPress At WordCamp Europe 2024</h2>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/accessibility-and-inclusivity/"><img width="1024" height="296" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/wceu_updates-1024x296.jpg" alt="WCEU Latest Updates" class="wp-image-6680" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, WordCamp came and went.  We had a wonderful time, and like always met some people I&#8217;ve known for years, but never expected to get to meet in real life.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We did 4 interviews, check out these amazing people:</p>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_ef682a-a5 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_86e4c2-f5"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-karolina-vyskocilova/" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_8348-768x1024.jpg" alt="Karolina pointing at her name on the contributor wall" class="kb-img wp-image-6929" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_b49a16-9f"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_181d04-ef wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-karolina-vyskocilova/">Karolína Vyskočilová</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_5d395a-8d wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Karolina is from Prague and has been active in the WordPress community for many years.  Despite that fact, I had never heard of her, which is one of the main points of these interviews.  Find all the new people!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_karolina.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</a></p>\n\n\n\n\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_7c50a9-ba alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_1f8bb5-b7"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/aida-1024x1024.jpg" alt="Aida Correa-Jackson" class="kb-img wp-image-7089" />\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_677a35-3b"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_6cd39f-8c wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-aida-correa-jackson/">Aida Correa-Jackson</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_c5c0ec-57 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Aida is from Florida, but grew up in Brooklyn New York. She works hard on Kids Camp, and I won&#8217;t spoil the rest of it for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_aida.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</a></p>\n\n\n\n\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_fbc5c2-04 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_94fcc7-79"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<img width="768" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_5117-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="kb-img wp-image-7229" />\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_8d7f86-12"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_9d47e0-82 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-josephine-rahissa-ngo-nonog-and-herman-ngembu/">Josephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_c5dbd2-df wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Rahissa and Herman came to Italy from Cameroon and someone suggested they try WordCamp!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_josephine_herman.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from 4.</a></p>\n\n\n\nJosephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu Interview\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_87b923-87 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_68abf8-22"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<img width="576" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thabo_topher-576x1024.jpg" alt="Thabo Tswana and Topher" class="kb-img wp-image-7194" />\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_43cf02-5d"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_02c072-53 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-thabo-tswana/">Thabo Tswana</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_e267ab-ab wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Thabo is from Zimbabwe originally, but since doing an Essay has had the means to move to South Africa!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</p>\n\n\n\n\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div></div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_b7d0f5-fb"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_019df4-d1 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_295130-1d inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_f693a5-0a wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/">HeroPress.com</a> &#8211; <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/">A welcoming community that embraces authenticity – 本物らしさを受け入れる温かいコミュニティ</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/"><img width="600" height="600" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ben-2023-square-extra-small-1-scaled-1.avif" alt="Ben Evans" class="wp-image-7135" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben Evans had a love for teaching that he was able to leverage in the WordPress community when the pandemic hit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I had opportunities to be part of educational projects within Automattic. I coached Japanese support agents, created internal training materials, and developed a new onboarding program for new employees. These experiences rekindled my love for education.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben&#8217;s essay is <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/">available</a> on <a href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress.com</a>.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_c424c9-73"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_f839c6-b2 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_72e536-04 inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_2e134d-fe wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://hallwaychats.com">WPPhotos.Info</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<img width="200" height="300" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/97066503502793e94.69715830-scaled-1-200x300.jpg" alt="Kid on bike with yellow helmet on gravel, bird-eye view" class="wp-image-7234" />\n\n\n\n<p>This week&#8217;s <a href="https://wpphotos.info">WPPhotos Info</a> is called &#8220;<a href="https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/">Yellow helmet from bird-eye view</a>&#8220;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This photo was taken by&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/psdtohtmlguru/">Hapiuc Robert</a> on an iPhone 15, wide camera. In the photo is his daughter riding her bike. He used to be a professional photographer and he takes advantage of every opportunity to get a good photograph.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The photo it’s an instant photo, he just takes out the phone, plane it above her and press the shutter button a couple of times.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>His taught was that her helmet will look amazing a bird eye view, and it does! The photo was taken around the house on a gravel road.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more of the story at WP<a href="https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/">https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/</a>Photos.info!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<p>The banner at the top of this post is a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/">CC0</a> licensed <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/1566614a4e/">photo</a> by <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/author/pastelito/">Ericka Barboza</a> from the <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s it for this week! If you&#8217;d like to get this post in your email every week, <a href="https://heropressnetwork.com/newsletter">make sure you sign up</a>!</p>\n<p>The post <a href="https://heropress.com/an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania/">An Essay From Japan, Interviews From Italy, Photos From Romania!</a> appeared first on <a 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:"Fri, 05 Jul 2024 21:51:47 +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:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:80:"Do The Woo Community: How Much Woo Can One Cram in a Short Podcast with ChatGPT?";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=5572";s: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:78:"https://dothewoo.io/how-much-woo-can-one-cram-in-a-short-podcast-with-chatgpt/";s: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:3526:"<p>A bit of fun today, or maybe not. I asked ChatGPT to <em>Give me a shorter script of a podcast where I mention WooCommerce or Woo, short for WooCommerce as many times as I can.&nbsp;</em>Well, if you know me, and my personality, I am a basically a mellow guy. So I took this one step further seeing that ChatGPT obviously doesn&#8217;t know me well and will deliver a monotone version of the results.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />\n\n\n\n<p>[Intro Music]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Welcome, Woo enthusiasts, to another exciting episode of WooWonderland, where we dive deep into the magical world of WooCommerce. I&#8217;m your host, [Your Name], and today&#8217;s episode is going to be an exhilarating journey through the enchanting landscape of Woo-commerce. Yes, we love saying Woo!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Transition Music]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Woo, woo, woo! Before we jump into the heart of today&#8217;s discussion, let&#8217;s take a moment to appreciate the incredible community that surrounds WooCommerce. Woo, you guys are amazing! Whether you&#8217;re a seasoned Woo expert or just starting your Woo journey, there&#8217;s always something new and exciting happening in the world of Woo.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Woo Chanting]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s talk about the latest Woo updates because, you know, staying current with Woo-commerce is crucial for all you Woo enthusiasts out there. The Woo team has been working tirelessly to enhance the Woo experience, and guess what? The latest Woo update is nothing short of spectacular. Woo!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Applause]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Speaking of updates, have you ever wondered how other businesses are utilizing Woo-commerce to elevate their online presence? Well, wonder no more because we have some incredible Woo-commerce success stories lined up for you today. These stories showcase the versatility and power of Woo. Woo-hoo!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Background Cheers]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s Woo our way into the realm of e-commerce trends. Woo-commerce is not just a platform; it&#8217;s a trendsetter! From headless commerce to mobile commerce, Woo-commerce is at the forefront of shaping the future of online businesses. Woo, it&#8217;s like the trendiest kid on the e-commerce block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Transition Music]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: And here&#8217;s a pro tip for all you Woo enthusiasts out there: if you want to optimize your Woo-commerce store for success, pay close attention. Speed up your Woo site, master the art of SEO, enhance the user experience — because a well-optimized Woo store is a happy Woo store. Woo-hoo!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Background Cheers]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s take a moment to celebrate the Woo experts in our community. Being a Woo expert is like having a VIP pass to the coolest e-commerce party in town. If you&#8217;re not part of the Woo expert program, what are you waiting for? Join the Woo party and let the Woo-magic unfold!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Transition Music]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: As we near the end of this Woo-tastic episode, I want to thank all our Woo fans for tuning in. Remember, whether you&#8217;re a Woo novice or a seasoned Woo master, there&#8217;s always something Woo-nderful to discover in the world of Woo-commerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Closing Music]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host: That&#8217;s a wrap for today&#8217;s WooWonderland episode. Until next time, keep woo-ing and stay enchanted by the magic of Woo-commerce. Woo you later!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Music Fades Out]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, now you can see the reason why I shared this in text vs. audio. LOL</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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:45 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: Building Community Without the Noise";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4750";s: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://dothewoo.io/building-community-without-the-noise/";s: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:8328:"<p>When I first launched this site Do the Woo, I had written a post about this. I wanted to pull a bit from that before I bring you to-date.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-my-first-thoughts-on-community-and-noise">My first thoughts on community and noise</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dated October 20, 2020</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tomorrow comes the official launch of this new site. And let me tell you, it’s been an amazing journey of learning and understanding myself as well as the audience I will be speaking to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One interesting aspect of this is the main goal, connecting the Woo builder community. I talked about this on a previous post, but I would like to dive into the concept of connecting. And conversation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I was asked about  groups for Do the Woo</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>What brought the idea of Facebook groups to mind was something that happened as I have been chatting with various people about my new site. When I talk about connections, conversation and community, a few times I was asked,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you creating a Slack Channel? Starting a Facebook group? Perhaps a forum? Where are you growing your community and letting them have a conversation?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we go into or lurk in community chats, whether it’s a Facebook group, regular chatter on any social platform or even Slack, often we end up in the middle of a massive amount of noise. There is a lot going on. Conversations going left and right. Sometimes with a bit of anxiety, bitterness, and yes, anger.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I’m not saying that nothing good comes out of these conversations. But that isn’t the only way to connect and grow a community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can start with this, the art of listening. Remember when that was part of connecting? Taking the time to listen to someone else share their insights and perspectives. Getting a better understanding of that person, and often, the community they are representing. In fact, get three people together for a good conversation and I can guarantee that you will get a lot more out of it vs. endless streams and threads of online chatter.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let’s take it a step further, though: personal connection. Learning about someone and then reaching out to them. Or perhaps, even having a connector that will help to introduce you to others in the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, that’s it. I am the connector.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether it’s via a podcast conversation or a post interview, I am connecting you to a new face. Or it might even be me connecting you personally with someone else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I get enough of that noise, or what you might consider chatter amongst dozens of people via social and other platforms. And yes, I enjoy that. But with Do the Woo, I am cutting through that noise while bringing the Woo builder community together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in the end, when I do conversations, they are one-on-one. A Zoom chat. A DM on Slack. Email and a variety of other ways. The point is, again, no matter how or where you do it, listen.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-now-it-s-today">Now it&#8217;s today</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So I was hoping as you read that you hung onto the fact that I wrote this over three years ago.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, it has since resonated with me and, to be honest, I think it has always been a part of how I have built my own communities. The fact is we all do it in some way. For Woo builders, while keeping it on the business side of things, it may be a community of customers or clients. It may also be a community within a business you work for, or perhaps, colleagues of yours.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may also build communities around you brand or business on your site, on social, on Slack, you name it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are community experts out there that will give you advice. There are also social media consultants that will do the same, specifically for social communities. The thing is that one size doesn&#8217;t fit all. And often that is what you will discover over and over when seeking advice on building your own community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been building community long before I got into the WordPress space in 2006. With our other business, there were ways that we built our community, and some of this was long before we did it online. I don&#8217;t proclaim to be an expert on community building, but I can share my own experiences that have worked for me. No promises here that I will deliver the perfect piece of advice for your needs, but I am hoping this will give you a bit of a different perspective on community building and something to ponder on.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-community-does-not-need-a-bunch-of-noise">A community does not need a bunch of noise</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now before I get into this part, understand that this is how it works for me, and in these last few years with Do the Woo, it has proven right for me. And by no means am I saying it&#8217;s the right way, or the only way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I just feel that a lot of people never think about other options when building community. They tend to &#8220;jump on the bandwagon&#8221; of <em>engagement</em> and <em>active conversation</em> as the only way to build all communities.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-engage-or-die">Engage, or die</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Community and social media experts say you must engage. Or else why do it? Your community will not thrive without this engagement. It often is literally rammed down your throat. At the same time, engagement isn&#8217;t always clearly defined, and seen as this constant need to reply, comment and add your own opinion, advice or simply be part of the conversation, no matter what.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, I have seen social media experts take &#8220;engagement&#8221; to a new and disturbing level. They constantly drop into conversations with replies like &#8220;nice&#8221;, &#8220;that&#8217;s great&#8221;, &#8220;cool&#8221; and &#8220;yeah&#8221;. If that is considered engagement, well, count me out. In fact, shouldn&#8217;t engagement also mean bringing value to a conversation. Not simple, meaningless replies that help you as they build up your metrics in your social media engagements.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-everyone-has-an-opinion">Everyone has an opinion</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the beauty of the human race. We all have an opinion and can freely express it. But on the other hand, at times, it&#8217;s nothing but added noise. How often do you see a thread of a conversation and it appears that most of the comments are left by people who never read what others have said. And alarmingly, more people appear to never have read the original comment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, it comes across as being all about &#8220;you&#8221;. You and what your opinion. It&#8217;s like a freaking room of people just shouting out what they are thinking, and ignoring everyone else. Nothing gets resolved and more times than not, it can turn sideways and end up being a never-ending debate or argument, instead of a discussion.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now with both engagement and conversations, it&#8217;s not cut and dry. And neither of them are something that you should consider totally dismissing. In fact, depending on the goal of your own community, you may just ignore the advice I have given you so far.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With that all said, I simply bring these up to give you another thought to ponder on as you build your own community.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-is-this-all-going">Where is this all going</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This has turned into quite the long post and if you are still with me, I&#8217;m amazed. But hey, it also means you are listening, or perhaps, reading.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do the Woo now has 14 co-hosts and more coming on board. On top of that I am constantly having people come in and host their own show, more of a one-off opportunity. And who knows what is next.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact is that each time you hear a show on Do the Woo, and you don&#8217;t hear me, well, that&#8217;s because I was listening. Behind the scenes, taking notes, and enjoying the conversations. Sure there is what you might consider noise in our community, but it&#8217;s softer, more viable and easy to focus on. There is a time and place for lots of noise in many communities, and that is where it will thrive and stay.  But for now, I&#8217;m in my happy place.</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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:45 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: The Perfect Marriage of Content and Community";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=5385";s: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:66:"https://dothewoo.io/the-perfect-marriage-of-content-and-community/";s: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:2303:"<p>I typically don&#8217;t spend a lot of time in the past, but every once in awhile I become reflective. As I move into the next phase here at Do the Woo, well, that is when it happens.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-content-and-community-a-combo-that-hit-me-hard">Content and Community, a combo that hit me hard</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have been following my journey, you know that, since diving into WordPress 16 years ago, community and content have played a key role in what I do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when I set this site aside, BobWP in October of 2020 and <a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-live-connecting-the-woocommerce-builder-community/">turned my focus on Do the Woo</a>, it was a transition that grew not only from the previous months of 2020, but all the years before that. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-interesting-thing-happened-back-in-2020">An interesting thing happened back in 2020.</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It can best be described as two-pronged: <em>community and content.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we all know, in-person connections went down the toilet during COVID. Although I had not been traveling as much over the years prior to COVID, still, I found myself reaching out to more people online. More one-to-one conversations. More digital meetups. More forms of smaller online events. But, to be honest, I probably connected more with the community that than I have in any of the previous years in the space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>During that same year I found myself burning out on content creation around blog post tutorials. I have done these for years and I just couldn&#8217;t poke one more out at the keyboard.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I decided to focus on more community-focused content, such as my podcasts and virtual meetings. It became a natural marriage of content and community.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-between-now-and-then">Between now and then</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So on reflection, this was one of the best moves I have made in my WordPress career. I continued on building the community at Do the Woo. Online connections grew, and then when IRL events started back up, well, they blossomed. That tie between content and commiunity have grown to be such a huge part of Do the Woo, and everything I do these days. And now on to 2024, the biggest year yet for Do the Woo.</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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:45 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:73:"Do The Woo Community: 16 Years Later, the WordPress Origin Story by BobWP";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3325";s: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://dothewoo.io/16-years-later-my-wordpress-story/";s: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:4535:"<p>As I celebrate my own birthday today, many more than 20, I am reflecting on the years WordPress has been there for me. Oddly, I&#8217;m not sure where to begin except the beginning. And if I was to write a post to publish on the 20th anniversary of WordPress, it&#8217;s gotta be done here on BobWP.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, there lies the fact that I just returned from WordCamp Lisboa where I gave a talk on 20 Years of WordPress community. So it&#8217;s a bit on my mind.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-george-clooney-was-named-people-s-sexiest-man-alive-and-i-discovered-wordpress">George Clooney was named People’s sexiest man alive and I discovered WordPress </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These two events have nothing more in common than it was the same year, 2016. I can&#8217;t say I think George deserved it, but I had other things on my mind. In fact two things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>First this was the year I became a bit intrigued with blogging. Nothing that had me gasping at the thought of writing posts, but simply a curiosity. At the same time I was trying to step into the world of web design as we had been running a marketing and design company for 13 years. And as much as building a site thrilled me, which was equal to having my hand smashed in a door, I figured there had to be a better way than html and flash.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time drifted by. Judy had started a blog on Typepad and didn&#8217;t give a crap where it was. She just wanted to write. As I eased into the next year, WordPress slipped into my consciousness more and more. It seemed apparent that this thing called WordPress was going to become part of my life one way or another. Seriously though, I didn&#8217;t have a clue to what extent.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the next few years, up to 2010, bit and pieces fell together. I found a theme on a fairly new site called iThemes. The concept of these seemed to be luring me into creating a site for our business that didn&#8217;t look like shit. And that&#8217;s exactly what WordPress and the Corporate theme from iThemes did for me. Without any freaking code!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The BobWP brand rises out of the ruins of ancient web design</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I am avoiding going through my 16 years of WordPress history, simply for the reason that I cannot afford to lose you through my years of pivots, twists and turns. It may make you dizzy and I don&#8217;t want you vomiting before I wrap this up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But 2010 was the pivotal moment in my WordPress Story. Why? Well, I had been doing some blogging workshops the two years prior to that year. I was getting my feel for where I need to go with WordPress. I was starting to explore the community more and more from that day in 2006. And I liked what I saw.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the time came to make the transition from our marketing and design firm, Cat&#8217;s Eye Marketing, to something that would let me do my WordPressy thing, whatever that meant and wherever it led.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I got rid of all our our &#8220;print&#8221; clients or the last few that we were hanging onto. Mentally I told myself I&#8217;m going all in on WordPress. Design, training and whatever else would come my way. And it was time to rebrand. Not the business, per se, but myself. I was going to be the brand. So after some contemplation, possible consumption of alcohol and severe mumbling to myself, I came up with BobWP. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mmmmmmm. It was short and sweet. And the domain was available, go figure. But would people get it? Would someone that doesn&#8217;t know what I do, and doesn&#8217;t know WordPress find it to be puzzling? Would people say my business is Bobwup? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, those concerns and questions did not weigh heavily on me. Nor did the fact that I was tying myself into a personal brand, that, well, would likely die with me. I bought the domain, and made it happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you may know the rest, the rest is history.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">I&#8217;m a WordPresser at heart</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I really do love the community. And at this point I&#8217;m here to stay. Right now I&#8217;m doing what motivates me the most. Connecting people. Raising voices. And meetings some of the coolest people I have ever known, both in these last 16 years and moving forward.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So as much as I find it kind of weird singing Happy Birthday to my dashboard, my computer or any part of the software, or thinking that WordPress could be my grandchild, I will say this.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Happy 20th Anniversary, WordPress Community</h2>";s: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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:45 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:64:"Do The Woo Community: Are We in WordPress Community Version 3.0?";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4975";s: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:62:"https://dothewoo.io/are-we-in-wordpress-community-version-3-0/";s: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:3740:"<p>I was recently on <a href="https://wpmainline.com/podcast/wp-mainline-episode-19-godaddy-acquires-pagely-doing-the-woo-and-wordpress-contributor-churn/"><strong>Jeff&#8217;s podcast over at WPMainline</strong></a>. A good part of the conversation was about the GoDaddy acquisition of Pagely. We also chatted about community and how some frustrations have led to great people moving on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But with the acquisitions, blocks, community disruption, etc. etc. etc., a thought occurred to me. We focus on the versions of WordPress, but what about community?</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-three-versions-ago">Three Versions Ago</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I like to think of it this way.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-community-version-1-0">WordPress Community Version 1.0</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is when it all started. WordPress moved on from being a sparkle in Matt&#8217;s eye to something on the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-community-version-2-0">WordPress Community Version 2.0</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure exactly when this came out, but am looking at the 2007 &#8211; 2010 time frame. Why? This is when I started using WordPress. Ha. Well, that isn&#8217;t the reason. This was the time period a lot of the veterans in the space started up businesses. Or entered the space themselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But more importantly I think around 2010 WordPress really started to gain traction. Why do I feel this way. From experience and having talked to others, this we a sweet spot. Where the rubber hit the highway. And again, from conversations with others, this seemed to be a ripe time to really dive into the space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And lastly, what followed in that time, I can guess that the community started kicking up a few notches.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-community-version-3-0">WordPress Community Version 3.0</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This one happened in the last couple of years, or maybe when 5.0 came out for WordPress. This is when the stuff hit the fan. More rapid innovation and more rustling in the community. Acquisitions are on the journey to become a norm. Rumblings were hot and heavy. And the community, well, started feeling different. Depending on who you are and what you perceive, those feelings where either really good, kind of sucky or a mix of everything between.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now rest assure, this is something that came to me as I was driving back from the grocery store at 7:30 am while having just listened to Cory from Post Status talk to Josh from Pagely about the acquisition.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I suppose I could go on to fill a lot of versions of the community between those versions. That would be fun, but obviously time-consuming.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All I know is that I am curious now about version 4.0.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Update/Sidenote:</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had the chance to go on the<a href="https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-41-wordpress-community-versions-past-present-future/"><strong> Post Status podcast and take a deep-dive with David Bisset on this topic</strong></a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here is a poll he took on Twitter with some interesting results and comments as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">\n<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a> folks: based on <a href="https://twitter.com/BobWP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BobWP</a> post here what WP generation do you feel you belong to?<a href="https://t.co/bjNynPvjL6">https://t.co/bjNynPvjL6</a></p>&mdash; David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) <a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/1476956055448006656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2021</a></blockquote>\n</div>";s: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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:45 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:80:"WPTavern: #126 – Aaron Jorbin on Navigating WordPress Major and Minor Releases";s: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:48:"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=156753";s: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:94:"https://wptavern.com/podcast/126-aaron-jorbin-on-navigating-wordpress-major-and-minor-releases";s: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:44100:"Transcript<div>\n<p>[00:00:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress, the people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, how WordPress gets updated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast, player of choice, or by going to wptavern.com/feed/podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature in the podcast while I&#8217;m keen to hear from you and hopefully get you, or your idea featured on the show. Head to wptavern.com/contact/jukebox .</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Aaron Jorbin. Aaron has led teams responsible for some of the largest and most prominent WordPress sites in the world, including Rolling Stone, Variety, WIRED, The New Yorker and The White House. He&#8217;s also a WordPress Core committer who focuses on improving developer happiness, and making the internet usable by everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s been an integral part of the WordPress community since 2010, and today Aaron opens up about the crucial importance of major and minor WordPress releases, and the need for user trust, which forms the backbone for features like auto updates that enhanced WordPress security.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We get into the process behind WordPress releases, discussing how major and minor releases a planned and executed. Aaron explains the dynamics of the Core Committer community, a group of around a hundred dedicated individuals, about 50 of whom are currently active, whose decisions and hard work keep WordPress robust up to date and secure. The commitment to transparency, minimal egos, and the ability to handle criticism are mentioned as key elements for maintaining trust inside this community within a community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how communication and decision-making take place mostly in public forums, ensuring openness and collaboration. The conversation also touches on the ebb and flow of volunteer and sponsored contributors. The challenges of coordinating across global time zones, and the need for asynchronous decision-making.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aaron explains what it takes to move from a small contributor to a key player in the WordPress ecosystem, emphasizing the burden of responsibility that comes with making changes affecting millions of non-technical users. Whether you&#8217;re a developer tester or enthusiastic user, Aaron encourages contributions in various forms, from sharing ideas to testing and providing feedback.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever wondered how WordPress is maintained and updated, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to wptavern.com/podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so without further delay, I bring you Aaron Jorbin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Aaron Jorbin. Hello Aaron.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:42] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Hello Nathan.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:43] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> This is going to be a really interesting episode, and I confess, dear listener, that this is an episode that I basically know almost nothing about. So everything that comes out of Aaron&#8217;s mouth is going to be schooling me in a process that I know nothing about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it is probably the most important process. Without the process that we&#8217;re going to discuss today, the entire enterprise of WordPress doesn&#8217;t exist, because we&#8217;re going to be talking about the way that WordPress is released, goes from one version to another.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we get into the meat of the podcast though, Aaron, can I just offer you the opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, where you come from, where you are at the moment, because that&#8217;s kind of interesting, and what your role in the WordPress community is, please.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:26] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> So I am Aaron Jorbin. I have been a Core contributor since 2010, and have been involved in WordPress since about a year or two before that. I went to a WordPress meetup and got sucked into the community, got lucky. And it was right before WordCamp Portland 2009, which was sold out in like three hours. And so I had not gotten a ticket, and there was a raffle for tickets. And so I was able to win the raffle and get a ticket, and get to go to a WordCamp, and start meeting the people that I had known from IRC in real life, and got brought in then.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And my role, I am one of the Core committers, so I&#8217;m one of the one hundred or so people that can make changes to WordPress Core itself. And for the last year, I&#8217;ve been specifically focusing on the minor releases of WordPress, so the maintenance and security releases.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And these are ones that are much smaller in scope, these aren&#8217;t bringing in new features, but in my opinion, some of the more important ones. They&#8217;re the ones that are auto updated by default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so the changes that we make in these releases go to every site. And it is a terrifying moment when you start rolling them out, and you just have to cross your fingers that everything is going to go smooth. And so we&#8217;ve put a lot of processes in place to help them go as smooth as they possibly can.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That has been my main focus, but I&#8217;ve also worked a lot on the build tools of WordPress, and on the more low down systems. I haven&#8217;t done a lot with many user facing features. I think the last user facing feature that I had a heavy hand in was the ability to log out of other, where you were logged in elsewhere. And we did user testing for that at the final WordCamp San Francisco, so I think that was 2014.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Honestly, what a fascinating story. Can I just ask though, if we go back to 2010, I think that was the year that you said you began your WordPress journey. So it&#8217;s a long time, you&#8217;ve been doing this software now for 14 years. What was the path of escalation that took you from, I&#8217;m brand new to WordPress, to Core Committer?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because it feels like, if you&#8217;re into the software of WordPress, Core Committer is, that&#8217;s like where the road ends. There&#8217;s not really too many places to go beyond there. You know, you&#8217;ve got the capacity to improve WordPress. You could destroy it if you so wish to. So how did that path happen? And I&#8217;m guessing it was a sort of slow, incremental community journey, but I&#8217;d love to hear that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:07] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Yeah, so my first code contribution was, so Jen Milo, who was at the time the UX lead of WordPress. She published a blog post about a few small UX changes she would like to see in WordPress Core. And I was like, well, I&#8217;ve got some extra time on my hands. I&#8217;m going to try to work on one of these.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I sat down for a couple of days, and worked on the initial patch for it, and went back and forth with Andrew Nacin, who was a new committer at that time, and we came up with a solution. This was during the 3.0 cycle, and it was for the ability for you to see, if you attempted to change the admin email in WordPress, it sends an email that you need to confirm, but there was no notice whatsoever that there was a pending change. So it was just adding a notice that there was a pending change, so you could know that someone had tried to change it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, worked on that, and that got accepted. I was very excited. I ran home to my then girlfriend, and told her, oh my God, oh my God, you&#8217;re not going to understand any of this, because she was not a techie. This is what I did. My code is now going to help power almost 20% of the internet. That also shows how old this was.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From there it was, well, now I&#8217;ve seen this process, now I&#8217;ve been involved in this process, what can I do to continue being involved in this process? And so I was working on a few small enhancements, or bug fixes, every release. And did that for, probably about three years before I got a job at Condé Nast, the magazine publisher. And part of my role there was to really help the company used WordPress better.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so that gave me a lot of freedom and time, and I found one of the best uses of that time was to help make WordPress itself better. If it&#8217;s better for Condé Nast, it&#8217;s probably going to be better for everyone. And at the time, one of the challenges, it was right as the Git mirrors were added for WordPress. And I was like, okay well, now we have patches that are coming in through Git, coming in through SVN, coming in against the old Core repo, versus against the modern develop repo.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I worked on a tool called Grunt Patch WordPress, that made it easy for you to apply patches from anywhere. And you could just enter a ticket number, it would list all of the patches, and it would apply it automatically, no matter how it had been created. And working on that, I got involved more in the build tools, and was asked during the 4.1 cycle, if I would be willing to become a committer, and if I was willing to help maintain WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it was a huge honour, and a huge burden that I would be willing to take on. My friend Daniel Bachhuber gave a talk a number of years ago, my condolences, you are now the maintainer of an open source software project. And in many ways, like you are taking on a great weight. Your changes are going to affect other people, and you are going to be responsible for making these changes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is still an honour that the community and other committers trust me enough to stay in this role, and that I have been able to make a number of changes, and hopefully make WordPress better in the process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It is such an interesting tale that. And really, I think the word that&#8217;s coming out of it for me was one that you just said, and it was trust. It feels like this whole process, from 2010 until the moment you were offered the Core Commiter status, it feels like it&#8217;s a work of building up trust, of doing things in a way which is fully transparent. People can see what you&#8217;re doing. You&#8217;ve done something important. Things worked, I guess, as well. And over time, people just begin to say, oh okay, yeah, Aaron, oh yeah, his name&#8217;s come up a little bit. And then eventually, that moment where you get the ability to alter WordPress Core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also, I guess the journey between 2010, okay, it was 20% of the internet. It was still big. But it&#8217;s like going from 20 to 43, let&#8217;s say about there at the moment. That&#8217;s a big jump. To be approaching half of the internet is incredible. And you illustrated, or you alluded to the fact that you sometimes probably feel the burden of that a little bit. You commit something, and millions of people are going to feel the effect of that. And millions of them will be utterly non-technical. And so they will not know when something goes wrong. They will not understand where to go and seek resolution to that, potentially.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so that must add to the burden even more because, you know, if something goes wrong at my local shop, I just take it back and get another one. If something goes wrong with a website and I&#8217;m non-technical, then, yeah, that&#8217;s really interesting. So trust is what I&#8217;m imagining is the sort of essence of what you&#8217;re doing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:14] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Yes. So ultimately, user trust matters. I think it was Andrew Nacin who first said to me that, what makes WordPress work as well as it does, is the trust the users place in the software. The fact that users trust WordPress to auto update. Without auto updates, WordPress would be less secure. Without the ability to have a bug fix, or a security bug fix go out nearly instantaneously, it would be weeks before many people logged into WordPress. Potentially, you know, some people will set up a site, and set it and forget it. And they would get hacked if it wasn&#8217;t for auto updates. And so having that user trust really is a requirement for WordPress to be as successful as it is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:05] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So there&#8217;s the trust from the community, but also presumably there must be a fairly high level of trust between you Core Commiters. And I think you said about the number 100, something like that. Have I got that right? Is it roughly around there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:17] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> It is about a hundred people that have committed over the course of the 21 years that WordPress has been involved. I think there&#8217;s about 50 active at the moment in some way, shape, or form.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:28] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But a hundred broadly speaking, over the course of WordPress, and maybe 50 at the moment. I guess the trust between all of you must be fairly high. And I presume you must have back channels. Well, of course you do. But I&#8217;m really just leading you down the garden path of, tell us what these are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you communicate? How do you maintain that trust? Is the trust, dare I ask it, is the trust ever taken away, and somebody has to be removed from that role? So yeah, let&#8217;s just get into that. How do you communicate? How do you ensure that trust is kept going? What are the ways that you build all of that up?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:03] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> First off, there&#8217;s very little back channel. There&#8217;s very little that is not discussed in the open, related to WordPress Core. Security is about the only thing that does not get discussed openly. Otherwise, there might be some conversations, especially when things are just not known. When people have, what I would refer to as a very half-baked idea. You might back channel, and have a quick side discussion with one or two other people, to try to make that idea a little bit better, so that you don&#8217;t feel like you&#8217;re going to embarrass yourself by sharing the idea.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than that, it is all in public. It is in Slack, it is on Trac tickets , it is on GitHub issues, it is on pull requests. That discussion is happening in public, and is open for anyone to really contribute their thoughts and their ideas.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And where the trust amongst us comes in, is the fact that I think, generally, there is very little ego involved in the people that are committers. We don&#8217;t feel bad if another person tells us our idea was wrong, or our idea isn&#8217;t the right solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is okay for someone to tell me that my code is, bad or that my code doesn&#8217;t solve the problem. That&#8217;s not an insult to me personally. I think that all of the committers, there&#8217;s that idea that we are all going to be okay. We&#8217;re not going to insult each other. It&#8217;s not an instance of, what idiot made that decision? That&#8217;s not the type of thing that would ever be said amongst committers. It&#8217;s, okay, what information was had that guided that decision? How can we improve that information?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:15:48] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Does the Core Commiter community, you mentioned that it was, over time it&#8217;s been a hundred, and at the moment it&#8217;s 50. Does it ebb and flow a little bit? In other words, are there people who just take a step back, maybe come back in six months time or something? Or are many of those people in some way able to commit to Core on a more or less permanent basis because, I don&#8217;t know, maybe they&#8217;re sponsored, or seconded by their company or something like that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:16:08] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Yeah so, I mean, I would say most of the people that are active are given support in some way, shape, or form. So myself, I have GitHub sponsors that, right now, are covering a portion of my life expenses. But others are paid full-time, whether it be by a hosting company, by a product company. And so most of the people that are active are supported, but not all of them. There are a number of committers that are still doing this on a very volunteer basis.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And people&#8217;s activity does ebb and flow. And so, I think a good example of this is myself. So I was very active, especially during the 4.1 to about 4.9 timeframe. But then I took on a different role, and didn&#8217;t have as much time. And so I stepped back from necessarily doing as many active commits, and more was there to help be in meetings, and provide some historical context, or to work on a couple of small things here or there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then after I left my most recent job, I was like, I&#8217;m taking a break. I stopped looking at computer screens for nearly six months. It was incredible. But decided that, ultimately, I like WordPress. I like contributing to what I view as a very important mission to democratise publishing. I think that, even if I don&#8217;t necessarily agree with everything everyone has to say online, I think they have a right to share it and a right to say it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to help people do that. I want to help, whether it be a small business that just wants to get word out about its hours, to a large media company that wants to do journalism, to politicians who I may or may not agree with, wanting to get elected. I think that everyone has a right to share their beliefs online, and WordPress helps unlock that, and I like working on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:07] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Nice. I think, if we were to poll every single person that&#8217;s used WordPress ever, which should be a difficult thing to do, but let&#8217;s imagine that we could. I&#8217;m imagining that the vast majority of those people would not necessarily have technical expertise or any interest in the project. They&#8217;re just using it, it&#8217;s functional to them. They may not even know that it&#8217;s called WordPress. They log into their website, and they do their thing. They create their content, and they click publish, and what have you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yet It just magically updates itself from time to time, whether that&#8217;s at the click of a button, or something, a little bit more automated. It just sort of happens in the background. And also, I would imagine that the listeners to this podcast, even though it&#8217;s very likely that they&#8217;re really quite crazily into WordPress, there&#8217;ll be this curtain between what they experience, and what Core is doing. How all those decisions are made, and how those changes get pushed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, they may have noticed, obviously, that there are minor releases. So we go from 6.5, to 6.5.1, to 6.5.2, and then there are more major releases, 6.5 to 6.6, or 7 at some point, you know. But the major releases kind of have dates in the calendar, stretching right out into the future. So we try to get those dates for the whole year, and you can look those up online, and may provide that in the show notes. But you can see, in theory, they&#8217;re provided for. We&#8217;ve got a north star. We know that on this date we should be shipping the next version of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in between those major ones, we get these little ones which come around, like today. Little ones just happen, might happen in a week, might be two weeks, there might be a few weeks that go between them. How are those decisions made, and could we break it into the two parts? Could we do the major first, and then the minor afterwards? Because I think the major is more, how to describe it, there&#8217;s more thought goes into it on a long term basis.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s more north star of that, and the minor ones feel like sometimes it&#8217;s reactive instead of proactive, because of security and so on. So let&#8217;s do the major releases. How is it decided what features go in, what we&#8217;re aiming for, what we want to ship?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:20:05] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> So, I mean ultimately it&#8217;s decided what is going in by what is ready to go in, for a major release, and what people want to work on. Whether that is individuals that have a improvement that they really want to drive forward, whether it&#8217;s a company that decides that they want to donate, or devote, resources to working on maybe a larger feature that they think that will benefit their users, or hopefully benefit all users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decisions of what is ready to go in is basically a decision of the committers as a whole. And it&#8217;s often based on a consensus. And it&#8217;s not necessarily that everyone agrees, it&#8217;s that no one disagrees. So we will work in Slack, there will often be people that are guiding it. There are individuals that are wholly focused on just looking at the backlog of requests, and every idea that ever has been proposed. And saying like, okay well, this is a common theme, and this is a way to solve that problem. And we&#8217;ll be working towards that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so those major releases will often be set, generally by the project leadership, by Josepha and by Matt. And the dates might flux. Oftentimes we&#8217;re looking at trying to find a date that works for everyone in the world can be hard. There are holidays nearly everywhere, or nearly every day in some countries, and so trying to minimise the impact of those releases. And so not doing a release on a major Christian holiday, or a major Muslim holiday, is generally best possible solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the minor releases, like you said, there&#8217;s kind of the reactive ones, in which case, those would generally be decided sometimes hours ahead of time. In the case of 6.4.1 two weeks ahead of time in other cases. So the recent 6.5.3 there was about one month of process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And basically what it was was, it started with, some discussions in Slack of, okay, I think we&#8217;re going to want a maintenance release. Let&#8217;s try to put together a group of people that can lead it. And then, okay, amongst that group, let&#8217;s discuss possible dates. Let&#8217;s look at calendars. Let&#8217;s look at our personal calendars to make sure that we will be available. Let&#8217;s look at the holiday calendars to make sure that we&#8217;re not scheduling it during a bank holiday, or a religious holiday. And let&#8217;s try to do our best to make sure that people will be available for that release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as what goes into the minor releases, it&#8217;s a lot of times like what bugs are known, what bugs are people reporting, what things can we fix in that timeframe? And so, a way that people can get involved is, there will generally be a post on Make Core about the release, and if you don&#8217;t see one, there&#8217;s always the weekly Dev Chat agendas, where you can comment on there. And commenting about a bug of, I think that this bug needs to be fixed in this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We keep the scope rather tight, and that we try to focus the bug fixes solely on recently introduced bugs, rather than longer standing bugs, but anything can be discussed. If someone wants to try to make the case for it, they can try to make the case for it. The idea that, in the presence of new rationale, a good maintainer changes their mind often. And so even if the answer is initially no, that doesn&#8217;t mean the answer is no forever, and adding new information, adding data can really change minds a lot of times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You talked about a consensus there, and in fact, I think the implication of what you said was that, broadly speaking, the consensus is often there. There&#8217;s often broad consensus amongst you Core Committers about what needs to go in. In a way that kind of seems surprising, because you&#8217;d imagine that with 50 minds staring at a problem, there&#8217;s going to be 50 different solutions, and a lot of arguing and tussling.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, again, I suppose that goes back to the trust thing that we talked about earlier, and maybe something different to trust, maybe it&#8217;s accommodation, or the ability to defer to somebody politely, as opposed to just wanting to railroad them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I feel maybe that in the corporate world, that whole governance model would break down reasonably quickly. Is that what you&#8217;re saying? That the 50 of you, or however many are in the, air quotes, room at the time, you really do have that? There is a consensus of almost everything that goes in. That&#8217;s remarkable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:24:46] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> I would say we get to consensus. There is not always one to begin with. There is absolutely disagreements that happen, and disagreements that take place. And I would say that there are very few changes that aren&#8217;t without some sort of, often minor, disagreement. Of whether it be, I think this line needs more documentation, or I don&#8217;t like the variable name used here, ultimately nitpicky things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All the way up to major, I don&#8217;t think that this is something that should be in Core disagreements. And you will have discussions, and sometimes that discussion will peter out, and not necessarily get to a quick resolution. Oftentimes though it will get to a resolution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And another saying that I often use to guide me is, no is temporary, but yes is forever. Saying that code is not ready for WordPress isn&#8217;t saying that this code is never going in WordPress, or this feature is never going in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s very few things I can think of that I would be like, this should never go into WordPress. But once it is in WordPress, it is the responsibility of all maintainers, all of the committers to maintain it, and to make it as best as it possibly can. Once it&#8217;s released from WordPress, because there will be features that are added that might get removed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I think the font library is a good example of this. This was originally targeted for, I think, 6.3, and wasn&#8217;t quite ready. And then 6.4, it got very close, but then ultimately was pulled back. And then 6.5, after a lot of disagreement that people probably saw publicly amongst many committers, we did find solutions in a way to ship that, in a way that I think ultimately has been beneficial for the users of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Is the release lead for each release, so that, let&#8217;s say, for example, 6.5 or 6.6, has a release lead. Is the release lead ultimately responsible for the go, no go decision? In other words, if the 50 of you are, yeah, you can&#8217;t quite get that consensus that would be lovely, then it falls on the shoulders of an individual, and if you follow the project, you&#8217;ll know that that individual changes from time to time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:05] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Yeah. So, I mean ultimately it is Matt&#8217;s decision. And I for one, think that Matt has very good product sense, and WordPress is largely successful because of Matt. And I think that there are very few cases where I can think of where a problem has needed to be escalated to Matt to make a decision. Ultimately, you know, it&#8217;s often there will be a decision that gets made amongst the people that are most active, and working on it closely. And it&#8217;s not a highly conflicted situation. It&#8217;s very rare that the release lead needs to decide between two camps, if you will.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:50] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think sometimes the impression, out in the wider world, probably not in the community of WordPressers who follow the project really, really closely, but I do wonder sometimes if there is an impression that decisions, like any hierarchy, there must be somebody at the top making all these decisions and what have you. So that&#8217;s really nice to hear. That&#8217;s nice to hear that you think that&#8217;s a fair and equitable way of doing it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I wonder how you feel about the, I can&#8217;t think of a better word, so I&#8217;m going to use the word chaos. The open source nature of the project can at times be fairly chaotic, because everybody gets a voice, everybody can put time into things, everybody can push their own agenda. I guess in a more corporate structure, it would be top down, whereas we&#8217;ve got a much flatter structure in WordPress. Everybody gets their go. Does it sometimes feel a little bit like that? And I&#8217;m not asking you to throw any names out, or throw anybody under a bus. But, does it occasionally feel, oh, can we just make the decision? Can we just do this, or this, which one?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:28:45] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> I think chaos actually is a great term for it because it often is, and especially when working around the clock. There are people contributing in nearly every time zone. And I think you would struggle to find a time of day where someone isn&#8217;t working on WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luckily there&#8217;s very few decisions that need to get made at a snap of a hat. It is almost always a case where the decisions can be made asynchronously, where the discussion can continue possibly over the course of multiple days, or weeks. And the chaos works. And I know that a lot of people struggle with the chaos, and with understanding, well, how can I get involved? Who&#8217;s the person in charge that I need to talk to? Everyone is in charge, so you talk to everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:38] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s not like if you&#8217;re in the corporate world where you just whip out the company Rolodex, for want of a better word, and you discover that, oh okay, they&#8217;re in charge of that department, that&#8217;s them. It&#8217;s a little bit more fine grain and nuanced, and things change all the time, and somebody&#8217;s gone on holiday. I love that then. So there is a kind of chaotic element to it, which I think you embrace, I guess. This is just the way it works, and it&#8217;s probably got massive upsides, as well as some interesting downsides as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of the project, it feels like, since the dawn of the internet, so whenever that was, Tim Berners Lee, 35 years or whatever. Open source, at the beginning of the internet, was a real crucial underpinning for all sorts of things. The servers that we use, the CMSs that we use, and so open source projects just popped up everywhere. But then it feels, more recently, that competitive, market-based, commercial CMSs have come along, with probably a corporate governance structure. So not as transparent, but maybe more top down. So perhaps easier to manage in that way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you have any feelings, or misgivings about open source in the near future, because of the competitive landscape that a CMS finds itself in now?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:50] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> I think that ultimately open source always wins. I think that you are better off betting on open source. I saw a tweet the other day about someone that has a shop on Shopify, and they woke up one morning and Shopify had turned them off. And they were like, well, our target was to make $25 million this year, but now it might be zero, because this decision by this company was to turn us off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And thankfully with WordPress, you don&#8217;t have to deal with that. WordPress cannot turn a site off. WordPress cannot decide that a specific website is no longer going to be allowed to use WordPress. WordPress has the benefit of the GPL, GNU public license. And in that there are the four freedoms, and one of those is the freedom to run the software in any way you choose.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that freedom, I think, ultimately is what gives open source its power, and its sustainability. WordPress itself is a fork of another project. I am never upset if someone says, well, I&#8217;m going to fork WordPress to do this, it&#8217;s like, okay. If your software is going to be better, that&#8217;s awesome. Open source wins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am not someone that&#8217;s ever been a big Drupal user, but I love Drupal. Drupal&#8217;s open source software. I don&#8217;t view Drupal as the enemy of WordPress. I think that, if a site wants to use Drupal because that&#8217;s the best open source software, or the best software it can find, awesome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress has been lucky to, you know, at various times, collaborate with people in the Drupal community. A number of years ago, I was running the WordPress meetup in Washington DC, and we organised what we refer to as the open source barbecue. And so it was the WordPress meetup, the PHP meetup, the Android meetup, and the jQuery meetup. And we just threw a barbecue for 200 people to come and celebrate open source, and eat barbecue.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> If we were just concentrating on the features, so not the ethics of owning the technology, who owns it, who gets to shut you down or not. Do you think that it&#8217;s easy for an open source project, of the breadth, and scale, and depth, and enormity of WordPress, to keep up with the features that the proprietary CMSs ship? Because they know their users, and because they don&#8217;t have to make decisions in committee.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, they probably do but, you know, the committees are probably much smaller, and managed from the top down. And they can ship features like this, and like that. They don&#8217;t need to necessarily worry. It&#8217;s a difficult question to encapsulate, but do you understand where I&#8217;m going with that? They can ship features perhaps more quickly than WordPress can.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:33:33] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Absolutely. But I don&#8217;t think it is the ability to ship features quickly that leads to success. I think it&#8217;s the ability to ship the right features, and provide the right experience for users. And I think that experience includes the ability for them to decide to move. If you are not happy with your WordPress host, you can move hosts. If you are not happy with the agency that you are using, you can move agencies. If you are using a closed source CMS, your ability to move is a lot harder.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You get locked in, and ultimately that is harder for you. It might mean that you get features quicker. It might mean that you get up and running quicker, but at what cost? Everything has a benefit, everything has a cost. And I think that the benefits of open source just drastically outweigh the costs of using it. The fact that you are going to deal with volunteers running your software project in many cases.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s the old XKCD article, which has the tiny twig of holding up the software is one random guy in Omaha, Nebraska. And as much as possible, I think one of the benefits of WordPress is that there&#8217;s very few things where it&#8217;s one twig being held up by a single person. There are very few parts of the code base that multiple committers aren&#8217;t familiar with. And the beauty of how it&#8217;s been developed is we can look back in many cases, and understand why changes were made.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll see in, if you ever look at a WordPress commit, there&#8217;s often be a long section. There will be a one sentence description, and then there might be a paragraph or two explaining what the change is. And then there&#8217;s also links to tickets, and often very important, the props of who worked on it along the way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so you can see, okay, well, these 15 people contributed to this. Oh, 12 of them aren&#8217;t active anymore, but there&#8217;s 3 of them that are. Maybe they remember, or I can look at the tickets that are referenced, and I can find the discussion that took place leading up to it. And that ticket, maybe that links to an IRC conversation from 15 years ago. We have the logs of that conversation, and can look back at what was discussed, and how did we get to this solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:03] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think history shows that people seem to like open source. You only have to look at the numbers, and the enormity of a lot of open source projects to realise that it definitely tends towards winning. I don&#8217;t know quite how to phrase that but, does that make sense? The graph tends towards open source on the whole.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay so, Aaron, given all of this, if somebody&#8217;s listening to this and they think, actually, I&#8217;d like to get into that, I&#8217;d be curious to see what this is like, dip my feet. Nobody&#8217;s suggesting that you have to show up and stay there for the rest of your life but, how do people begin this journey? Where are the best places to go?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:36] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> So if you want to contribute to WordPress Core, and I hope that everyone does at some point in their life, the best way to get started is to join the new contributor chats, which take place biweekly in WordPress Slack. And so if you go to make.wordpress.org/chat, you can join the WordPress Slack. If you go to make.wordpress.org/core, you can see the Core discussions, and you can see the meetings that are taking place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get involved. Find a issue that is bothering you, or that you think is going to make WordPress better, and add your thoughts. Think about like, if someone isn&#8217;t thinking about this, what is going to get them to think about this? Add context, add information. Even if you are not someone that can write code, maybe you can quickly sketch out an idea, take a picture of that and upload it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you can share some data or share some stats from your company of, hey, this change took place and it&#8217;s actually caused a 10% drop for us in user signups. That is like, okay, well, that&#8217;s a data point that we can look at, and maybe use to come up to a better solution. This change would help speed up our website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also test the changes that other people have proposed. There is the WordPress Playground now, that allows you to very easily test out a change. Just earlier today, there&#8217;s a change that was being proposed for 6.6 to remove the revisions panel from the sidebar. And a handful of us were like, I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s quite right, here&#8217;s some alternate ideas. And then someone coded one up. A couple people looked at it and we&#8217;re like, that&#8217;s not the right way, how about this other way? And it was coded up, and I tested it and just was like, all right, here&#8217;s what I see. And it just took a couple of clicks of my mouse. It wasn&#8217;t a hard process to test and share a little bit of feedback for the project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So it&#8217;s not all about committing code. There are many more ways that you could help Core. So it may be that you identify problems, or test possible things that could go in, and just give your opinions. There&#8217;s loads of different ways that you can help in this initiative. And I will make sure that the, bits and pieces that Aaron has mentioned today all make it into the show notes. If you go to wptavern.com/podcast, and search for this episode, you&#8217;ll be able to find the show notes all attached there. It only remains for me, Aaron, to ask, if anybody is interested in just connecting with you personally, do you have a favorite place online where you send people?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:16] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> My WordPress site is my favorite place, which is at aaron.jorb.in. I&#8217;m also on a number of social media networks, generally with the username of Aaron Jorbin. A handful of them I think I use just Jorbin. Yeah, I would love to chat with people. If people see me at a WordCamp, please come up and talk to me. I can be a bit of an introvert at those, and so I might not approach people, but would love to chat with as many people as I can.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Something I used to do, that I&#8217;m going to try to get back into is, one lunch during the WordCamp, I&#8217;d sit down at a random table and just ask people, so how do you use WordPress? And you never know who you&#8217;re going to meet, and what they&#8217;re going to have to share if you do that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:58] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s nice. And by the way, I&#8217;m incredibly jealous of your domain name. That&#8217;s just a stroke of luck that there&#8217;s a whole top level domain with your final two letters of your name in there. That&#8217;s lovely. I&#8217;ll add that into the show notes as well. But, Aaron Jorbin, thank you so much for chatting to me today. A real pleasure, thank you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:40:14] <strong>Aaron Jorbin:</strong> Thank you so much for having me.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today we have Aaron Jorbin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aaron has led teams responsible for some of the largest and most prominent WordPress sites in the world including Rolling Stone, Variety, WIRED, The New Yorker, and The White House. He is also a WordPress Core Committer who focuses on improving developer happiness and making the internet usable by everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He’s been an integral part of the WordPress community since 2010, and today Aaron opens up about the crucial importance of major and minor WordPress releases, and the need for user trust, which forms the backbone for features like auto updates that enhance WordPress security.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We get into the process behind WordPress releases, discussing how major and minor updates are planned and executed. Aaron explains the dynamics of the Core Committer community, a group of around 100 dedicated individuals, about 50 of whom are currently active, whose decisions and hard work keep WordPress robust, up to date and secure. The commitment to transparency, minimal egos, and the ability to handle criticism are mentioned as key elements for maintaining trust inside this community within a community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how communication and decision-making take place mostly in public forums, ensuring openness and collaboration. The conversation also touches on the ebb and flow of volunteer and sponsored contributors, the challenges of coordinating across global time zones, and the need for asynchronous decision making.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aaron explains what it takes to move from a small contributor to a key player in the WordPress ecosystem, emphasising the burden of responsibility that comes with making changes affecting millions of non-technical users. Whether you&#8217;re a developer, tester, or enthusiastic user, Aaron encourages contributions in various forms, from sharing ideas to testing and providing feedback.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’ve ever wondered how WordPress is maintained and updated, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Useful links</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://www.condenast.com/">Condé Nast</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/03/28/grunt-patch-wordpress-1-0-0/">Grunt Patch WordPress</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/download/releases/">Previous WordPress releases</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://www.drupal.org/">Drupal</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://www.meetup.com/wordpressdc/">WordPress DC meetup</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://xkcd.com/2347/">Dependency cartoon from xkcd</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">WordPress Slack</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/playground/">WordPress Playground</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://aaron.jorb.in/">Aaron&#8217;s website</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, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:00 +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:14:"Nathan Wrigley";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:45:"Akismet: What is reCAPTCHA? How Does It Work?";s: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:28:"http://akismet.com/?p=284031";s: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://akismet.com/blog/what-is-recaptcha/";s: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:28876:"<p>There are few things in this world as annoying, and pervasive, as spam. You probably get spam phone calls, spam texts, and spam emails. <em>You’ve won a prize. You’ve broken a copyright law. You’ve placed an order and need to verify your account details.</em> <em>You can make $3,956 a day working from home doing this one cool trick</em>. It sucks up our time and, if we fall for it, can be downright dangerous.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there’s also spam on many websites. Comment sections filled with links to less-than-reputable pages designed to phish for sensitive info or initiate a malware download.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For site owners, spammy comment sections, fake user registrations, and false contact form submissions can add hours of work each week, make your site seem less legitimate, and put visitors and your entire reputation at risk.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That’s where reCAPTCHA comes in. Owned by Google, reCAPTCHA is a free service that distinguishes real human users from automated bots. But there are pros and cons to implementing reCAPTCHA on your site, so you’ll need to weigh your options carefully in order to find an effective solution.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>In this post, we’ll take a closer look at reCAPTCHA and how it works. Then, we’ll explore the main drawbacks of reCAPTCHA, and consider a better alternative. Let’s jump right&nbsp;in!</p>\n\n\n<span id="more-284031"></span>\n\n\n\n<p>.</p>\n\n\n<h2 id="what-is recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">What is&nbsp;reCAPTCHA?</h2>\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA is a free Google service that protects websites from spam. <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/what-is-captcha/">CAPTCHA tests</a> were first introduced in 1997 as an extra layer of security against hackers and bots.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These tests were deployed primarily on login pages and <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/how-to-add-wordpress-contact-form/">contact form pages</a>. They generated distorted text and users had to decipher the words to pass the test. Since then, CAPTCHAs have become more complex to keep up with evolving technologies and bots.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>The advanced nature of CAPTCHA can cause problems for the user experience (UX) since it demands more input from site visitors. In fact, reCAPTCHA (introduced in 2007) presents more complicated challenges like puzzles and image identification, which typically require user&nbsp;interaction.</p>\n\n\n<img width="434" height="627" src="https://akismet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image.png" alt="example of a CAPTCHA with images of cars" class="wp-image-284033" />\n\n\n\n<p>In 2009, reCAPTCHA was acquired by Google. The original version is no longer available since it was found to be too easy for bots (using algorithms trained in pattern recognition) and too difficult for humans.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>So now, there are different versions of reCAPTCHA, which we’ll explore later in the&nbsp;post.</p>\n\n<h2 id="how-does-recaptcha work" class="wp-block-heading">How does reCAPTCHA&nbsp;work?</h2>\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA uses artificial intelligence (AI) to differentiate between humans and bots. While the traditional CAPTCHA issued tests before allowing visitor access, algorithms trained in pattern recognition could quickly solve these challenges.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, reCAPTCHA was introduced. As we discussed, the original version is no longer in use, but there are still two versions available.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v2 requires users to select images or check the “I’m not a robot”&nbsp;box.</p>\n\n\n<img width="371" height="480" src="https://akismet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image-1.png" alt="example form with ReCAPTCHA" class="wp-image-284034" />\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, reCAPTCHA v3 aims to minimize the disruption to the user experience. Instead of requiring user interaction, it calculates scores based on user behavior. The website administrator can then allow or block access, but they can also issue further v2 tests, if needed, for&nbsp;verification.</p>\n\n<p>The latest version of reCAPTCHA (v3) uses a JavaScript API to determine a score between 0 and 1. While a score of 0 is judged to be a bot, a score of 1 is almost always a human user. It uses a concept called “actions” which lets you define steps in your typical user&nbsp;journey.</p>\n\n\n<p>This way, the reCAPTCHA technology learns how real users interact with your site so that it’s able to detect bot traffic. In fact, some websites deploy reCAPTCHA across all pages so that the technology has more user activity to work with.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 id="distinction-between-captcha-and recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">Distinction between CAPTCHA and&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</h2>\n\n<p>You might still be wondering about the <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/akismet-vs-captcha-vs-recaptcha/">difference between CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA</a>. First off, CAPTCHA is an umbrella term used to describe any website authentication test to separate humans from&nbsp;bots.</p>\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, reCAPTCHA is a type of CAPTCHA test owned by Google. Note that there are several types of CAPTCHAs owned by different companies, and reCAPTCHA is just one of many.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>As we discussed, the original reCAPTCHA test was much more simplistic, primarily relying on word tests disguised with twisted letters. But now, there are different types of reCAPTCHA including images, checkboxes, and tests that require no user input at&nbsp;all.</p>\n\n<h2 id="the-different-types-of recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">The different types of&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</h2>\n\n<p>Now, let’s take a look at all <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/recaptcha-v2-vs-v3/">the different versions of&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</a>.</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="recaptcha-v1" class="wp-block-heading">reCAPTCHA v1</h3>\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v1 isn’t widely used anymore and was discontinued by Google in 2018. But this version of reCAPTCHA came the closest to emulating the traditional CAPTCHA tests that relied on object&nbsp;recognition.</p>\n\n\n<p>In this instance, a user would be presented with a pair of words, one of which functioned as a control word and could be understood by a bot. The other word could only be recognized by human users.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>This CAPTCHA method was developed in the late 1990s and continued to be used throughout the 2010s. It also started using scanned words and photographs to make the tests more challenging, but it has since been replaced with more sophisticated reCAPTCHA&nbsp;tests.</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="recaptcha-v2" class="wp-block-heading">reCAPTCHA v2</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After reCAPTCHA v1 was shut down, it was replaced with reCAPTCHA v2, which currently consists of three versions.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first one is the reCAPTCHA v2 for Android, which is an API that can protect Android apps from bot traffic. The API integrates directly into Android apps, and in an attempt to preserve the UX, the API allows low-risk users to pass through easily. When needed, the API will present a challenge to the user to verify that they are human.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there’s the reCAPTCHA v2 that most users are familiar with. This is the “I’m not a robot” checkbox. In this case, all that users have to do is check the box, rather than solve a complex test or problem.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>As such, it’s considered more user&#8209;friendly than previous methods. Though it sounds simple, Google analyzes various factors like mouse movement and browsing history to detect bot&nbsp;activity.</p>\n\n\n<p>Even more sophisticated is the invisible reCAPTCHA badge which requires no user input at all. Similar to the previous method, Google evaluates activities like mouse movement and typing patterns. This version of reCAPTCHA is triggered via a JavaScript API call or when a user clicks on a button.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s still not a perfect solution since sophisticated bots that use AI technology can bypass the reCAPTCHA. And, it isn’t immune to CAPTCHA farms — which are businesses that employ human workers to solve reCAPTCHAs to aid cybercriminals and hackers.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id="recaptcha-v3" class="wp-block-heading">reCAPTCHA v3</h3>\n\n\n<p>In further attempts to improve the UX, Google introduced reCAPTCHA v3, which works similarly to the invisible reCAPTCHA badge. This version of reCAPTCHA works in the background, so it’s completely invisible to users and presents no&nbsp;tests.</p>\n\n<p>The reCAPTCHA v3 method tracks all requests made by a user on a website, and every request is given a score between 0 and 1. As we discussed earlier, a score close to 0 is likely to be a bot whereas a score closer to 1 is judged as&nbsp;human.</p>\n\n\n<p>The interactions monitored by the reCAPTCHA vary between websites. For instance, the administrator can provide examples of normal user interactions&nbsp;so that the reCAPTCHA can pick up on any deviation from the norm.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v3 is the best version of the technology in terms of efficacy and UX. That said, it’s more difficult to implement since the scores must be defined by the administrator, which can be time&#8209;consuming to set&nbsp;up.</p>\n\n\n<p>With this in mind, you might automatically block users who return a score below 0.2. Then, scores between 0.2 and 0.6 may generate a CAPTCHA challenge to verify that the user is human.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, any score above 0.6 may instantly be granted access. The issue is that a strict scoring system holds the potential to block out legitimate users while a lenient system may allow bots to bypass the reCAPTCHA.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 id="challenges-and-downsides-of recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">Challenges and downsides of&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</h2>\n\n\n<p>Now that you know the different types of reCAPTCHA, let’s take a look at the main limitations.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="1-impact-on-users-with disabilities" class="wp-block-heading">1. Impact on users with&nbsp;disabilities</h3>\n\n\n<p>It’s imperative to design web content in a way that’s accessible to people with disabilities. This way, your enterprise site can comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>The problem is that many reCAPTCHA tests are visual and require users to identify images or text. This has been shown to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3524010.3539498">discriminate against users with visual impairments</a>. And since they’re designed to be unreadable by machines, screen readers are unable to interpret&nbsp;them.</p>\n\n\n<p>Additionally, audio reCAPTCHA tests alienate users with hearing impairments. Meanwhile, the mathematical equation tests are believed to be more accessible to users with vision impairments, but these can exclude those with cognitive disorders like dyscalculia.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="2-annoyance-and frustration" class="wp-block-heading">2. Annoyance and&nbsp;frustration</h3>\n\n<p>Many users may find reCAPTCHA annoying. When you expect instant access to a page, and instead you’re required to check a box or complete a task, it’s natural to become&nbsp;frustrated.</p>\n\n<p>This can lead to early exits. High bounce rates can send signals to search engines that users don’t find your website valuable. Therefore, it can result in both traffic and revenue&nbsp;loss.</p>\n\n<h3 id="3-data-collection-and-privacy concerns" class="wp-block-heading">3. Data collection and privacy&nbsp;concerns</h3>\n\n<p>In order to differentiate between bots and humans, reCAPTCHA v3 and the invisible reCAPTCHA badge analyze data like mouse navigation and click patterns. Since this is classified as personal data, this method of reCAPTCHA requires privacy&nbsp;compliance.</p>\n\n\n<p>There are plenty of laws and legislations that exist to protect user privacy on the internet. Most notable, perhaps, is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU, but there’s also the Colorado Privacy Act, the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and many more.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Therefore, it’s important to gather consent from users if you plan to implement reCAPTCHA. <a href="https://developers.google.com/assistant/console/policies/privacy-policy-guide">Google recommends a privacy policy</a> that informs users of the data collected, the data shared, and a statement that tells users how the data will be&nbsp;used.</p>\n\n\n<p>That said, this is considered the bare minimum in terms of privacy, so it’s useful to have a proper look into what should be included. This is very important since non-compliance can damage your reputation, erode customer trust, and lead to heavy financial penalties.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="4-recaptchaâs-decreasing effectiveness" class="wp-block-heading">4. reCAPTCHA’s decreasing&nbsp;effectiveness</h3>\n\n\n<p>Another potential problem with reCAPTCHA is its effectiveness given the emergence of artificial intelligence. In fact, researchers from the University of Columbia <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7467367">created reCAPTCHA attacks</a> that managed to solve 70 percent of all challenges.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>This shows that reCAPTCHA is no longer as effective as it once was, whether that’s down to AI, CAPTCHA farms, or internal logic. What’s more, reCAPTCHA v3 requires the analysis of user&nbsp;behavior.</p>\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA needs a large volume of data to determine normal human interactions and tell them apart from bots. But this technology relies on a client&#8209;side fingerprinting approach, which advanced bots can bypass&nbsp;easily.</p>\n\n<h3 id="5-potential-for-false positives" class="wp-block-heading">5. Potential for false&nbsp;positives</h3>\n\n\n<p>The final drawback to reCAPTCHA is that there is still the potential for false positives, which can block legitimate users from your site. For instance, enterprises that prioritize security may adopt a strict scoring system for reCAPTCHA v3. This makes it harder for users to score 1.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To give you an example, many administrators grant low scores to users who submit forms very quickly. That said, some human users are naturally quick typers, but going by this system, they may be flagged and denied access to your website.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, researchers from the University of Toronto found that <a href="http://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.01003">reCAPTCHA gives lower scores</a> to users who don’t have a Google account. Therefore, privacy-conscious visitors who use private browsers or VPNs are more likely to be mistaken for bots.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 id="akismet-the-better-alternative-to recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">Akismet: The better alternative to&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</h2>\n\n<p>Considering the challenges and drawbacks of reCAPTCHA, you may be cautious about deploying it on your website. Instead, you might prefer an alternative anti&#8209;spam solution that is more inclusive and doesn’t disrupt the&nbsp;UX.</p>\n\n<p><a href="https://akismet.com/">Akismet</a> was developed by Automattic (the same team behind WordPress.com) and it’s one of the <a href="https://akismet.com/features/">leading anti&#8209;spam plugins</a>. It protects you against form, comment, and text&nbsp;spam.</p>\n\n\n<img width="1600" height="732" src="https://akismet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image-2.png" alt="Akismet homepage with the text " />\n\n\n<p>Since 2005, Akismet has removed over 500 billion pieces of spam across 100 million sites. The plugin is powered by machine learning, which explains how Akismet detects spam with a 99.99 percent accuracy&nbsp;rating.</p>\n\n<p>Unlike reCAPTCHA, Akismet doesn’t require too much from your visitors. Instead, it operates behind the scenes, so it doesn’t add friction to your UX. This means that users may be more likely to stay on your website, helping you <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/form-conversion-rate/">get more conversions</a> and&nbsp;sales.</p>\n\n<h2 id="how-akismet works" class="wp-block-heading">How Akismet&nbsp;works</h2>\n\n<p>Akismet analyzes every piece of user&#8209;submitted content to prevent a range of online attacks. This analysis takes place in real time, so you can block suspicious activity before it even reaches your&nbsp;site.</p>\n\n<p>It’s best to think of Akismet as a filter, where legitimate submissions are allowed to pass through, but spam submissions are denied. This saves you from manually reviewing every&nbsp;submission.</p>\n\n<p>As mentioned earlier, Akismet is powered by machine learning algorithms. This enables the plugin to compare the content of submissions against a database of known spam. Plus, it integrates with popular form plugins, so you’re not limited to <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/comment-spam/">blog comment&nbsp;spam</a>.</p>\n\n\n<p>You’ll also get access to monthly and annual spam charts. This way, you can check your spam accuracy rating, false positives, and more.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>The Akismet plugin is simple to install on WordPress, but you will need an API key to connect to the Akismet&nbsp;database.</p>\n\n<h2 id="benefits-of-akismet-over recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">Benefits of Akismet over&nbsp;reCAPTCHA</h2>\n\n\n<p>Now that you know more about Akismet, let’s look at the benefits of using this plugin over reCAPTCHA.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="1-improved accessibility" class="wp-block-heading">1. Improved&nbsp;accessibility</h3>\n\n<p>As we discussed earlier, one of the limitations of reCAPTCHA is that some versions require users to decipher visual or auditory information. Other versions contain mathematical equations or ask users to complete&nbsp;checkboxes.</p>\n\n\n<p>This can exclude those with cognitive, hearing, or visual impairments. Therefore, if you want to keep an accessible website, you’re better off <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/captcha-alternatives/">using a CAPTCHA alternative</a> like Akismet.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Akismet doesn’t require any user interaction. It works silently behind the scenes, so users can submit content without running into any obstacles.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="2-enhanced-user experience" class="wp-block-heading">2. Enhanced user&nbsp;experience</h3>\n\n\n<p>All kinds of reCAPTCHA (except v3) add friction to the user experience, as they require individuals to check a box or complete a test. This delays access to a page or resource, which can lead to frustration on the user’s part.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Akismet doesn’t interfere with the UX. It operates in the background, so most users aren’t even aware of it. Additionally, the spam data is stored in the cloud, so the plugin doesn’t impact site&nbsp;speed.</p>\n\n<h3 id="3-privacy protection" class="wp-block-heading">3. Privacy&nbsp;protection</h3>\n\n\n<p>While reCAPTCHA can reduce spam submissions, it does so by gathering personal data, which means you have to obtain explicit consent from users. Plus, privacy-conscious users may be perturbed by data collection.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Akismet also collects personal data, but only that which is needed to carry out spam protection. According to the GDPR, this is classified as a “legitimate interest” use of that data.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the plugin settings, you can easily enable a privacy notice that informs users about this. The company never sells personal data gathered through the plugin. You can check out the <a href="https://automattic.com/privacy/">full privacy policy here</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="4-better-spam detection" class="wp-block-heading">4. Better spam&nbsp;detection</h3>\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA is primarily an anti&#8209;spam measure, but the <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/do-captcha-and-recaptcha-protect-wordpress-sites-from-bots/">effectiveness of reCAPTCHA</a> has been challenged by advances in AI technology and the growth of CAPTCHA&nbsp;farms.</p>\n\n<p>Akismet has a long reputation for detecting spam with very high accuracy. Currently, the plugin boasts an overall accuracy score of 99.99 percent, but you can view the exact spam accuracy score within your Akismet&nbsp;dashboard.</p>\n\n<h3 id="5-reduced-false positives" class="wp-block-heading">5. Reduced false&nbsp;positives</h3>\n\n<p>Earlier, we mentioned the fact that some versions of reCAPTCHA frequently result in false positives which block legitimate users from websites. This is especially true in the case of reCAPTCHA v3 (where administrators have to define their own rules) and for users who opt for private browsers and VPNs. Not only is this frustrating for users, but it can also result in revenue loss for&nbsp;organizations.</p>\n\n\n<p>With Akismet, submissions are analyzed in real time and with incredible accuracy. Additionally, there are systems in place that make it easy for websites to <a href="https://akismet.com/support/general/akismet-unblocking-a-spam/">report false positives</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to forms, you can simply remove submissions from the spam list. For comments, all you have to do is check the relevant boxes and use the <strong>Bulk actions </strong>dropdown menu to select <strong>Not spam.&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n<h2 id="frequently-asked questions" class="wp-block-heading">Frequently asked&nbsp;questions</h2>\n\n<p>This guide has answered questions like “what is reCAPTCHA” and “how does reCAPTCHA work”, but you may still be looking for clarification on this technology. We’ll answer some other common questions in the next&nbsp;section.</p>\n\n<h3 id="what-is-the-primary-purpose-of recaptcha" class="wp-block-heading">What is the primary purpose of&nbsp;reCAPTCHA?</h3>\n\n\n<p>The primary purpose of reCAPTCHA is to differentiate human users from bots in order to block spam and other forms of online abuse. It is a type of technology that deploys adaptive challenges like image identification and checkboxes that detect suspicious behavior.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="how-does-recaptcha-differentiate-between-a-human-and-a bot" class="wp-block-heading">How does reCAPTCHA differentiate between a human and a&nbsp;bot?</h3>\n\n\n<p>Depending on the version of reCAPTCHA, different factors are considered to distinguish between bots and humans. For example, some reCAPTCHA tests track cursor movement, typing patterns, and browser history.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v3 evaluates these factors to generate scores. Scores closer to 0 are judged to be bots while those closer to 1 are considered human.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="what-are-the-key-differences-between-recaptcha-v2-and v3" class="wp-block-heading">What are the key differences between reCAPTCHA v2 and&nbsp;v3?</h3>\n\n\n<p>There are some key differences between reCAPTCHA v2 and v3. reCAPTCHA v2 includes three different methods including the Android API, the “I’m not a robot” checkbox, and the invisible reCAPTCHA badge. All of these, except the badge, require user interaction.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v3 doesn’t require user input. Instead, it monitors certain factors like mouse movement and typing patterns to return a score between 0 and 1, which helps systems detect bot traffic.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="is-recaptcha-completely-effective-against-bots-and-automated attacks" class="wp-block-heading">Is reCAPTCHA completely effective against bots and automated&nbsp;attacks?</h3>\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA is an <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/best-anti-spam-wordpress-plugins-compared/">anti&#8209;spam service</a> that attempts to block bots and prevent automated attacks like distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The problem is that several researchers have questioned the effectiveness of reCAPTCHA. For instance, researchers from the University of Columbia launched low&#8209;risk bot attacks that solved over 70 percent of all&nbsp;challenges.</p>\n\n<h3 id="how-does-recaptcha-impact-the-overall-user-experience-on websites" class="wp-block-heading">How does reCAPTCHA impact the overall user experience on&nbsp;websites?</h3>\n\n<p>Most versions of reCAPTCHA require users to solve mathematical problems, decipher images and text, or simply check a box. While this may not sound too problematic, it adds friction to the user&nbsp;experience.</p>\n\n\n<p>It delays users from accessing the desired page or resource, which can be frustrating. In turn, this can lead to early exits — which affect bounce rates, traffic volume, revenue, and more.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="can-recaptcha-be-bypassed-or-tricked-by-sophisticated bots" class="wp-block-heading">Can reCAPTCHA be bypassed or tricked by sophisticated&nbsp;bots?</h3>\n\n\n<p>There are ways for cybercriminals and bots to bypass reCAPTCHA tests. To do this, all they have to do is raise the trust score by mimicking normal human behavior on a web browser.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can achieve this effect by using a resistant TLS fingerprint. Plus, hackers can execute JavaScript using browser automation tools, and rotate JavaScript fingerprint details.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="what-are-the-implications-of-recaptcha-for-user privacy" class="wp-block-heading">What are the implications of reCAPTCHA for user&nbsp;privacy?</h3>\n\n\n<p>Since reCAPTCHA gathers personal data about the user’s browser and device, certain states and countries require companies to get user consent. In particular, the GDPR ensures that visitors know how websites use, process, and store their information.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, you’ll need to obtain explicit consent. It’s also important to display a privacy policy on your site. Otherwise, you may encounter hefty financial penalties.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="are-there-any-alternatives-to-recaptcha-that-offer-similar-or-better functionalities" class="wp-block-heading">Are there any alternatives to reCAPTCHA that offer similar or better&nbsp;functionalities?</h3>\n\n<p>Although reCAPTCHA is capable of blocking some spam, it can interfere with the UX and discriminate against those with disabilities. Therefore, you might prefer a more user&#8209;friendly alternative, like&nbsp;Akismet.</p>\n\n\n<p>Akismet works in the background of your site, so it requires no user interaction. It also filters spam with an impressive accuracy rating of 99.99 percent, which means it rarely produces false positives.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="how-accurate-is-akismet-at-stopping spam" class="wp-block-heading">How accurate is Akismet at stopping&nbsp;spam?</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet filters comment, form, and text spam with a 99.99 percent accuracy rate. Plus, it analyzes submissions in real time to maximize threat protection. And there are systems in place to report false positives, which makes Akismet much more effective than&nbsp;reCAPTCHA.</p>\n\n<h3 id="how-many-sites-use akismet" class="wp-block-heading">How many sites use&nbsp;Akismet?</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet is installed on over 100 million websites, and the plugin has blocked over 500 billion spam submissions. Better yet, it’s trusted by plenty of enterprise brands like Microsoft, ConvertKit, Bluehost, and&nbsp;WordPress.com.</p>\n\n<h3 id="are-there-any-case-studies-of-companies-that-use akismet" class="wp-block-heading">Are there any case studies of companies that use&nbsp;Akismet?</h3>\n\n\n<p>If you want to know how Akismet has helped real brands, you can check out some case studies.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/convertkit-customerstory/">ConvertKit</a> implemented Akismet to filter out spam and automate spam prevention. <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/saying-no-to-spam-on-smitten-kitchens-popular-food-site/">Smitten Kitchen</a> automated spam detection in the comments section of recipes, which has helped prevent the presence of affiliate links and irrelevant promotions.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 id="where-can-i-learn-more-about akismet" class="wp-block-heading">Where can I learn more about&nbsp;Akismet?</h3>\n\n\n<p>If you want to learn more about the service, you can find a lot of <a href="https://akismet.com/resources/">free resources</a>. Akismet also has a <a href="https://akismet.com/support/">dedicated support page</a> to help you set up and use the plugin. And the <a href="https://akismet.com/blog/">Akismet blog</a> is frequently updated with useful articles.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 id="akismet-the-best-spam-solution-for-your website" class="wp-block-heading">Akismet: The best spam solution for your&nbsp;website</h2>\n\n<p>Spam is a concern for any site administrator, since it can make your site appear less trustworthy and lead to cyberattacks. While reCAPTCHA is one solution for preventing spam, it may not be the best option in terms of user&nbsp;experience.</p>\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v3 runs in the background of your site, but it can still be frustrating for visitors. Additionally, it can exclude those with disabilities and incorrectly block legitimate visitors. Therefore, you might prefer a better alternative, like&nbsp;Akismet.</p>\n\n<p>With a 99.99 percent accuracy rating, Akismet is excellent at blocking comment, form, and text spam. It also analyzes submissions in real time, and it doesn’t interfere with the UX. <a href="https://akismet.com/pricing/">Get started with the Akismet&nbsp;today</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, 03 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +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:11:"Jen Swisher";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: Recap of Do the Woo 4.0 Launch and WordPress dot com Post";s: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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=84450";s: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:78:"https://dothewoo.io/recap-of-do-the-woo-4-0-launch-and-wordpress-dot-com-post/";s: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:1839:"<p>As you know, during the week of WordCamp Europe 2024 last month, June 10 &#8211; 15, we led up to our huge launch of 4.0 at the event. A lot of content was pushed out, plus a so many conversations at WCEU about the launch. If you happened to miss any of it, here are the links to the episodes.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>June 10: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-4-0-this-week-at-wordcamp-europe/">Do the Woo 4.0, This Week at WordCamp Europe</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li>June 11: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-new-show-scaling-enterprise-wordpress-and-oss/">A New Show, Scaling Enterprise, WordPress and OSS</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li>June 12: <a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-pre-launch-chat-with-jay-walsh-at-woocommerce/"><strong>A Pre-Launch Chat with Jay Walsh at WooCommerce</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>June 13: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/thinking-about-our-launch-on-wceu-contributor-day/">Thinking About Our Launch on WCEU Contributor Day</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li>June 14: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-podcast-channel-4-0-official-launch/">Do the Woo Podcast Channel 4.0 Official Launch</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li>June 15: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/learn-about-all-the-shows-on-the-do-the-woo-podcast-channel/">Learn About All the Shows on the Do the Woo Podcast Channel</a></strong></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, BobWP published a guest post on WordPress.com about the launch and partnership with WordPress.com, Woo and Jetpack.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.com/blog/2024/06/14/partner-spotlight-do-the-woo-4-0/">WordPress.com Partner Spotlight: Do the Woo 4.0</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/press-release-do-the-woo-4-0-launches-at-wordcamp-europe/">And if you missed our press release, check that out here.</a></strong></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, 03 Jul 2024 08:30:00 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:124:"HeroPress: A welcoming community that embraces authenticity – 本物らしさを受け入れる温かいコミュニティ";s: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=7139";s: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:170:"https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity";s: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:23262:"<img width="1024" height="512" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/070224_min.webp" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull quote: Every conversation can either build or destroy safety." />\nHere is Ben reading his own story aloud.\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href="https://heropress.com/feed/#japanese">この記事は日本語でも読む事が出来ます。</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-my-interactions-with-tech-growing-up">My interactions with tech growing up</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first time I remember interacting with tech was on my parents’ Macintosh computer when I started primary school. I loved drawing with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPaint">MacPaint</a> and found it much cooler than my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etch_A_Sketch">Etch A Sketch</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, my parents got a Windows 95 computer and we were connected to the internet. My parents would check for important calls before unhooking the telephone to plug in the computer. When Google search came out, my family would sit around the screen, amazed at the “dozens” of search results. We even played a game to see whose name got the most results. I won by a long shot because my middle name Luke (Japanese: ルカ) appears in the word “digital camera” (デジタルカメラ).</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>In junior high, I joined the table tennis club but quickly realized sports weren’t my thing. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I switched to the computer club, where I edited my first video, learned about spreadsheets and word processors, and built my first website using a Japanese software called Homepage Builder. I started maintaining a website for my church, self-teaching myself about staging environments and FTP through help docs and online manuals.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In senior high, I started looking at the HTML code produced by Homepage Builder. I realized I didn’t have to use the drag-and-drop editor to make edits and taught myself basic HTML and CSS. That’s when I created my first game, an HTML game where players clicked on doors to navigate a maze. I remember someone “hacked” my game by figuring out the URL logic and jumping to the goal. That was my introduction to cyber security and encryption.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-information-ethics-opened-my-eyes-to-the-diversity-in-the-world">How information ethics opened my eyes to the diversity in the world</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In university, I studied information science, which pulled me deeper into the tech world. I continued to master’s and doctorate programs, and started teaching tech classes at three universities. I taught in both Japanese and English to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Subjects included programming basics (C, Java), informatics, and image processing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But my most favorite subject was information ethics, which highlighted how different cultures have varying ethical values in tech. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>For instance, some communities pirate software out of necessity, some share login credentials to bypass censorship, while other communities consider both these practices unethical. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Teaching this course really opened my eyes to global diversity. It taught me the importance of open dialogue, empathetic listening, and creative thinking.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-i-met-wordpress">How I met WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I first heard about WordPress in my university lab. A senior student returning from overseas said it was all the hype in the west, so we moved our lab’s website to WordPress. I didn’t fully understand what WordPress was then, but I decided to ride the hype and move my church websites to WordPress too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since making the switch in 2014, WordPress has become my Content Management System (CMS) of choice. I tried a brief stint with Wix, but it just confirmed my loyalty to WordPress. And after joining Automattic, I discovered the community behind the software and my love for WordPress has grown even more.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-i-joined-automattic-and-the-wordpress-community">How I joined Automattic and the WordPress community</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At one point, I installed the VideoPress plugin on one of my sites and needed support with a subscription mix-up. The agent resolved my issue in one email and signed off as a “Happiness Engineer,” which made me smile. Years later, I saw a job opening for Happiness Engineers at <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> and remembered that interaction. I volunteered on the WordPress.com support forums for a couple months building up my support skills before getting accepted into Automattic in 2019.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon after joining, I learned that WordPress is more than just a CMS. It’s <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/">a community</a> built on open-source principles. I didn’t wait long to attend my local WordPress Meetups later that year, and was amazed at the selflessness and dedication of the participants. At those Meetups, I learned the WordPress ecosystem extends beyond the community that creates it. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>WordPress is composed of the people who use it &#8211; the developers, designers, analysts, hobbyists, hosts, marketers, etc. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a common bond that brings people together from different walks of life to a safe space of diversity and acceptance. It was the first time I had interacted with people quite like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-my-journey-in-the-wordpress-training-team">My journey in the WordPress Training Team</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, the pandemic canceled in-person events, but I had opportunities to be part of educational projects within Automattic. I coached Japanese support agents, created internal training materials, and developed a new onboarding program for new employees. These experiences rekindled my love for education.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was around that time that WordPress launched its educational site, <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/">Learn WordPress</a>. I was selected for an internal position at Automattic to become a full time contributor to the Learn WordPress initiative, and joined the WordPress project’s <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/">Training Team</a> in June 2022. I started in the team by understanding the team’s values, priorities, and challenges. Over the next six months, I worked on improving team processes and documentation. At the end of 2022, I was honored to be nominated as a team rep, since which I’ve led projects like migrating from Trello to GitHub and building an onboarding program. These efforts have increased team member engagement and activity, which in turn is contributing to traffic and engagement increases on the Learn WordPress site, too.</p>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7139_e29120-08 alignfull has-theme-palette1-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-3-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_ab010b-f3"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wordcamp-asia-2023.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wordcamp-asia-2023-1024x683.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Asia 2023" class="kb-img wp-image-7148" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_f7f196-5a"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-at-wordcamp-tokyo-2023.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="579" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-at-wordcamp-tokyo-2023-1024x579.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Tokyo 2023" class="kb-img wp-image-7149" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_fcf7c6-6d"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wrodcamp-europe-2024-scaled.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wrodcamp-europe-2024-1024x683.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Europe 2024" class="kb-img wp-image-7150" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-a-safe-space-to-be-authentic">WordPress &#8211; a safe space to be authentic</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on my tech journey, the moments I felt most energized were when I contributed to creating a safe space of diversity and acceptance. Teaching information ethics laid the foundation, customer support as a Happiness Engineer let me practice this in 1:1 interactions, onboarding new employees allowed me to create these spaces for larger groups, and contributing to the WordPress Training Team extended this to a global community. These were moments when I felt most authentic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Building a safe space where one can be authentic isn’t a one-time project; it’s formed through humble and curious interactions. Every conversation can either build or destroy safety. I remember the excitement of my first WordPress Meetup, where I felt accepted for who I am. My hope is that everyone who interacts with the WordPress community experiences that same acceptance. I look forward to continuing contributing to this safe space &#8211; WordPress &#8211; so that both I and those around me can continue to be our authentic selves.</p>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7139_300d56-8f alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_c998c3-e2"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<h2 id="work-environment" class="kt-adv-heading7139_ace920-e9 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Ben&#8217;s Work Environment</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We asked Ben for a view into his development life and this is what he sent!</p>\n\n\n	<div class="hotspots-image-container">\n		<img width="2560" height="1920" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/workspace-scaled-1.jpg" alt="Ben Evans Desk" class="hotspots-image skip-lazy" />\n	</div>\n\n\n\n\n<p class="kt-adv-heading7139_6bbaea-89 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading has-theme-palette-9-background-color has-background">HeroPress would like to thank <a href="https://wpdrawattention.com/">Draw Attention</a> for their donation of the plugin to make this interactive image!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<p class="has-small-font-size"></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="japanese"><strong>本物らしさを受け入れる温かいコミュニティ</strong></h2>\n\n\n\nベンさんが以下の記事を読んでいるのを聞くことができます。\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-幼少期の-it-技術との触れ合い"><strong>幼少期の IT 技術との触れ合い</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>私が初めて IT 技術と触れ合ったのは、小学校に入学したころ、親のマッキントッシュ・コンピューターを通してでした。<a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPaint">MacPaint</a> でのお絵描きが大好きで、それまで遊んでいた <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etch_A_Sketch">Etch A Sketch</a> よりもはるかにかっこいいと感じました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>その後、親が Windows 95 コンピューターを購入し、インターネットに接続しました。両親は重要な電話がくる予定がないかを確認してから電話線を外し、コンピューターを接続していました。Google 検索が登場したとき、家族で画面の周りに集まり、「数十件」もの検索結果に驚いていました。私たちは、誰の名前が最も多くの検索結果を引き出すかを競うゲームもしました。私のミドルネーム「ルカ」が「デジタルカメラ」に含まれているため、私が圧倒的に勝ちました。</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>中学では卓球部に入りましたが、スポーツが自分に合わないとすぐに気付きました。</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>そこでコンピュータークラブに転部し、初めてのビデオ編集、スプレッドシートやワードプロセッサの学習、そしてホームページビルダーという日本のソフトウェアを使った初めてのウェブサイト作成を経験しました。その頃から教会のウェブサイトの管理を始め、ステージング環境や FTP についてヘルプドキュメントやオンラインマニュアルを読みながら独学で学びました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>高校では、ホームページビルダーが生成する HTML コードを見始め、ドラッグ＆ドロップエディタを使わずにサイトを編集できることに気付き、基本的な HTML と CSS も独学で習得しました。初めてのゲームを作成したのもその頃です。プレイヤーがドアをクリックして迷路を進む HTML ゲームでしたが、誰かが URL の論理を解読し、ゴールにいきなり飛ぶ「ハック」をしたことを覚えています。これが私のサイバーセキュリティと暗号化の世界への初めての導入でした。</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-情報倫理を通して多様性に目が開かれる"><strong>情報倫理を通して多様性に目が開かれる</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>大学では情報科学を学び、IT 技術の世界にさらに深く入り込みました。修士課程と博士課程に進み、三つの大学で情報系の授業を教え始めました。日本語と英語の両方で、学部生と大学院生にプログラミングの基本（C、Java）、情報学、画像処理などを教えました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>しかし、最も好きだった科目は情報倫理でした。これは、様々な文化が IT 技術に対して異なる倫理的価値観を持っていることを強調するものでした。</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>例えば、あるコミュニティは必要に迫られてソフトウェアを海賊版で使用し、あるコミュニティは検閲を回避するためにログイン情報を共有し、他のコミュニティはこれらの行為を非倫理的と見なします。</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>この科目を教えることで、世界の多様性に目が開かれました。オープンな対話、共感的な聞き方、そして創造的な思考の重要性を強く感じました。</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpressとの出会い"><strong>WordPressとの出会い</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>大学の研究室で初めて WordPress について聞きました。海外から帰国した先輩が、西洋ではこれが大人気だと言って、研究室の Web サイトを WordPress に移行しました。その時は WordPress が何であるか完全には理解していませんでしたが、流行に乗って自分が管理していた教会のウェブサイトも WordPress に移行しました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>2014年に移行して以来、私がサイトを作るときのコンテンツ管理システム（CMS）の選択肢は WordPress 一択になりました。Wix を試したこともありましたが、WordPress への忠誠を再確認するだけでした。その後 Automattic に入社し、ソフトウェアの背後にあるコミュニティを発見した時には、WordPress への愛がさらに深まりました。</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-automattic-と-wordpress-コミュニティへの参加"><strong>Automattic と WordPress コミュニティへの参加</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>ある時、私のサイトに VideoPress プラグインをインストールした際、サブスクリプションの問題でサポートが必要でした。担当者はただ一通のメールで問題を解決し、署名には「ハピネス・エンジニア」と書いていました。それを読んだ時、私は笑顔になりました。数年後<a href="https://automattic.com/">、Automattic</a> でハピネス・エンジニアの求人を見かけ、当時のやり取りを思い出しました。私は WordPress.com のサポートフォーラムで数ヶ月ボランティアをしてサポートスキルを磨き、2019年に Automattic に入社しました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>入社して間もなく、WordPress は単なる CMS 以上のものであることを知りました。それはオープンソースの原則に基づく<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/">コミュニティ</a>だったのです。その年の後半には地元の WordPress ミートアップに参加し、参加者の無私と献身に驚かされました。そのミートアップでは、WordPress がそれを作るコミュニティを超えて広がっていることを学びました。</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">\n<p>WordPress は、使用する人々、すなわち開発者、デザイナー、解析者、趣味の人、ホスト、マーケティング担当者などで構成されていました。</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>それは異なる背景を持つ人々を、多様性と受容性を大切にする安全な場所に結びつける共通の絆です。そのような人々と初めて触れ合った瞬間でした。</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-トレーニングチームでの経験"><strong>WordPress トレーニングチームでの経験</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>2020年、コロナ禍によって対面イベントが中止される中、Automattic 内で教育プロジェクトに参加する機会がありました。そこで日本のサポートチームを指導し、内部トレーニング資料を作成し、新入社員向けの新しい教育課程を開発しました。これらの経験は私の教育への想いを再燃させました。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>その頃、WordPress は教育サイト <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/">Learn WordPress</a> を立ち上げました。私は Automattic 内でフルタイムのコントリビューター（貢献者）として Learn WordPress プログラムに参加するために指名され、2022年6月に WordPress プロジェクトの<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/">トレーニングチーム</a>に加わりました。最初はチームの価値観、優先事項、そして課題を理解することから始めました。次の6ヶ月間で、チームのプロセスとドキュメントを改善するために取り組みました。2022年の終わりにはチーム代表に推薦され、Trello から GitHub へのシステム移行やオンボーディングプログラムの構築などのプロジェクトをリードしました。これらの努力はチームメンバーのエンゲージメントと活動を増加させ、その結果、Learn WordPress サイトへのトラフィックとエンゲージメントの増加にも寄与しています。</p>\n\n\n<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7139_67c6bb-b3 alignfull has-theme-palette1-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-3-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_2978b6-8b"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wordcamp-asia-2023.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wordcamp-asia-2023-1024x683.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Asia 2023" class="kb-img wp-image-7148" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_b385b7-0e"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-at-wordcamp-tokyo-2023.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="579" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-at-wordcamp-tokyo-2023-1024x579.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Tokyo 2023" class="kb-img wp-image-7149" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7139_f93224-d3"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">\n<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wrodcamp-europe-2024-scaled.jpg" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ben-wrodcamp-europe-2024-1024x683.jpg" alt="Ben Evans at WordCamp Europe 2024" class="kb-img wp-image-7150" /></a>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordpress-自分らしくいられる安全な場所"><strong>WordPress &#8211; 自分らしくいられる安全な場所</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>私の IT 技術との関わりを振り返ると、多様性と受容性を大切にする安全な場所を作ることに貢献していると感じた瞬間が最も活力を感じました。情報倫理の教育はその基盤を築き、ハピネス・エンジニアとしてのカスタマーサポートは1対1のやり取りでこれを実践させてくれました。新入社員の教育では、これをより大きなグループに対して作ることができ、WordPressトレーニングチームへの貢献はこれをグローバルなコミュニティにまで広げました。こういった働きをしている時こそ、自分は最も自分らしいと感じます。</p>\n\n\n\n<p>自分らしくいられる安全な場所を作ることは一度きりのプロジェクトではなく、謙虚で好奇心旺盛な人との関わりを通じて形成されます。すべての会話は安全を築くか、破壊するかのどちらかです。私は最初の WordPress ミートアップで感じた、受け入れられる喜びを鮮明に覚えています。私の希望は、WordPress コミュニティと触れ合うすべての人が、その同じ受容性を経験することです。私も周囲の人々も本当の自分であり続けるために、WordPress というこの安全な場所に貢献し続けることを楽しみにしています。</p>\n<p>The post <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/">A welcoming community that embraces authenticity &#8211; 本物らしさを受け入れる温かいコミュニティ</a> appeared first on <a 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:"Tue, 02 Jul 2024 23:00:00 +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:9:"Ben Evans";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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: WordPress 6.6 Release Candidate 2";s: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:35:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=17469";s: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://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/wordpress-6-6-release-candidate-2/";s: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:10513:"<p>WordPress 6.6 RC2 is ready for download and testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>.<strong> Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites.</strong> Instead, please evaluate RC2 on a test server or a local environment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reaching this phase of the release cycle is a worthy achievement. While release candidates are considered ready for release, your testing is still vital to make sure everything in WordPress 6.6 is the best it can be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test WordPress 6.6 RC2 in four ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<table><tbody><tr><th>Plugin</th><td>Install and activate the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</td></tr><tr><th>Direct Download</th><td>Download the <a href="https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.6-RC2.zip">RC2 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td></tr><tr><th>Command Line</th><td>Use the this <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/">WP-CLI</a> command:<br /><code>wp core update --version=6.6-RC2</code></td></tr><tr><th>WordPress Playground</th><td>Use the <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/#%7B%20%22preferredVersions%22:%20%7B%20%22php%22:%20%228.0%22,%20%22wp%22:%20%22beta%22%20%7D,%20%22features%22:%20%7B%20%22networking%22:%20true%20%7D,%20%22steps%22:%20[%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22login%22,%20%22username%22:%20%22admin%22,%20%22password%22:%20%22password%22%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22importFile%22,%20%22file%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22url%22,%20%22url%22:%20%22https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wpaccessibility/a11y-theme-unit-test/master/a11y-theme-unit-test-data.xml%22%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22importFile%22,%20%22file%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22url%22,%20%22url%22:%20%22https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/theme-test-data/master/themeunittestdata.wordpress.xml%22%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22query-monitor%22%20%7D,%20%22options%22:%20%7B%20%22activate%22:%20false%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22create-block-theme%22%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22debug-bar%22%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22health-check%22%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22test-reports%22%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D,%20%7B%20%22step%22:%20%22installPlugin%22,%20%22pluginZipFile%22:%20%7B%20%22resource%22:%20%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%20%22slug%22:%20%22user-switching%22%20%7D,%20%22progress%22:%20%7B%20%22weight%22:%202%20%7D%20%7D%20]%20%7D">6.6 RC2 WordPress Playground instance</a> (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.</td></tr></tbody></table>Please test WordPress 6.6 RC2 in one or more of these four ways.\n\n\n\n<p>The target for the WordPress 6.6 release is <strong>July 16, 2024</strong>. Get an overview of the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-6/">6.6 release cycle</a>, and check the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-6/">6.6-related posts</a> in the next few weeks for further details.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s in WordPress 6.6 RC2?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to your testing and many other contributors‘ up to now, this release includes more than 19 bug fixes for the Editor and more than <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&changetime=06%2F25%2F2024..07%2F01%2F2024&milestone=6.6&col=id&col=milestone&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&order=id">20 tickets for WordPress Core</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get a recap of WordPress 6.6’s highlighted features in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/06/wordpress-6-6-beta-1/">Beta 1 announcement</a>. For more technical information related to issues addressed since Beta 3, you can browse the following links:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/6.6?since=2024-06-24&until=2024-06-30">GitHub commits for 6.6</a> since June 25</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&changetime=06%2F25%2F2024..07%2F01%2F2024&milestone=6.6&col=id&col=milestone&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&order=id">Closed Trac tickets</a> since June 25</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? You might want to make your first stop <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/25/wordpress-6-6-field-guide/">The WordPress 6.6 Field Guide</a>. Then, check out this list:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/roster-of-design-tools-per-block-wordpress-6-6-edition/">Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.6 edition)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/hallway-hangout-section-styles-and-other-block-style-variation-updates/">Hallway Hangout: Section styles and other block style variation updates</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/">Recap Hallway Hangout: Exploring Grid Layouts</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/editing-custom-fields-from-connected-blocks/">Editing custom fields from connected blocks</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/updates-to-the-interactivity-api-in-6-6/">Updates to the Interactivity API in 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes+6-6/">All 6.6-related developer notes</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">You can contribute. Here&#8217;s how</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress is the world’s most popular open source web platform, thanks to a passionate community of people who collaborate on its development in a wide variety of ways. You can help—whether or not you have any technical expertise.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Get involved in testing</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing for issues is critical to keeping WordPress speedy, stable, and secure. It’s also a vital way for anyone to contribute. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/06/03/help-test-wordpress-6-6/">This detailed guide</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.6. If you&#8217;re new to testing, follow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/06/03/help-test-wordpress-6-6/">this general testing guide</a> for more details on getting set up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you encounter an issue, please report it to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums. If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can also report it on <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket">WordPress Trac</a>. Before you do either, you may want to check your issue against a list of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/">testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/">#core-test channel</a> on <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/">Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Search for vulnerabilities</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>From now until the final release candidate of WordPress 6.6 (scheduled for July 9), the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/security/2024/06/04/wordpress-6-6-is-coming/">financial reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities</a> doubles. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the <a href="https://hackerone.com/wordpress">HackerOne page</a> and in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/security/">security white paper</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Update your theme or plugin</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you build themes, plugins, blocks, or patterns, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks for continuing to test your products with the WordPress 6.6 beta releases. With RC2, you’ll want to finish your testing and update the <em>“Tested up to”</em> version in your <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/how-your-readme-txt-works/">plugin’s readme file</a> to 6.6.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/">support forum</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Help translate WordPress</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? You can <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev/">help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Release the haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>6.6 draws near.<br />In two weeks the final&#8217;s here.<br />Test. Test. Then test more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-right"><em>Props to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/juanmaguitar/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>juanmaguitar</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>meher</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>desrosj</a></em> <em>and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/atachibana/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>atachibana</a> for peer review.</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:"Tue, 02 Jul 2024 17:09:27 +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:8:"marybaum";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:11:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:50:"HeroPress: Voices Of WordCamp Europe: Thabo Tswana";s: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://heropress.com/?p=7211";s: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:143:"https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-thabo-tswana/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=voices-of-wordcamp-europe-thabo-tswana";s: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:884:"<img width="1024" height="895" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/thabo_topher_short-1024x895.webp" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" /><p>When I needed more Africans for HeroPress I went looking and quickly found Thabo Tswana. Since then nearly every African I&#8217;ve spoken to about how they got started in WordPress, Thabo&#8217;s name comes up. He makes things happen and he helps people grow and advance. He&#8217;s one of the people I admire most in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn&#8217;t know he&#8217;s be at WordCamp Europe, so I was super excited to get to meet him in person. Here&#8217;s our interview.</p>\n\n\n\nThabo Tswana Interview\n\n\n<p>The post <a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-thabo-tswana/">Voices Of WordCamp Europe: Thabo Tswana</a> appeared first on <a 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:"Tue, 02 Jul 2024 15:49:54 +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:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:69:"Do The Woo Community: Accessibility Certification with Regine Gessner";s: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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=84341";s: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://dothewoo.io/accessibility-certification-with-regine-gessner/";s: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:20218:"<div class="wp-block-group has-border-color has-light-gray-background-color has-background has-small-font-size has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-40 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">\n<p class="has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9acf640b7ba38a84a982fc35d618387f">This show is sponsored by&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-39 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">\n<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">\n<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">\n<div class="wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-36 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">\n<div class="wp-block-group has-base-background-color has-background wp-container-content-15 has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-35 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">\n<img width="500" height="500" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Omnisend-square.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-78802" />\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">\n<p class="wp-container-content-16"><strong><a href="https://your.omnisend.com/onlywoo_dothewoo">Omnisend</a></strong>: Whether it&#8217;s for integration into your Woo product, or building sites for clients, <strong>Omnisend</strong> is the solution for email and SMS marketing with their CRM solution for WooCommerce shops and your own website.</p>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">\n<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">\n<div class="wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-38 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">\n<div class="wp-block-group has-base-background-color has-background wp-container-content-17 has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-37 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">\n<img width="1224" height="1224" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Hostinger_Vertical_Purple-e1668465093968.jpg?resize=1224%2C1224&ssl=1" alt="Hostinger" class="wp-image-73505" />\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">\n<p class="wp-container-content-18"><strong><a href="https://hostinger.com">Hostinger</a></strong>: As a builder or an agency managing multiple sites, check out <strong>Hostinger</strong>. Whether you are building a WordPress site or specifically, a Woo store, their infrastructure brings your clients sites speed, uptime and security.</p>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\nEpisode Transcript\n<div class="wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">\n<p>Anne:<br />Hello everybody. Welcome to the next episode of All Things WordPress and WooCommerce in regards to accessibility. My name is Anne Bovelett. I&#8217;m an accessibility specialist. I have a lot to say about accessibility, and I try to teach anyone who wants to hear it and probably those who don&#8217;t want to hear it too. Accessibility is very important. Since we&#8217;re talking e-commerce, we&#8217;re also talking about revenue. It doesn&#8217;t really matter why you make something accessible, as long as you do it. If your web shop is losing revenue by the thousands or millions because you&#8217;re not making it accessible, you&#8217;d have good reason to do it, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know that came out a bit harsh, but I don&#8217;t mean it that way. We&#8217;re trying to come from a kind place. One of the things we&#8217;ve learned lately is that people are saying, &#8220;We don&#8217;t know where to go. We don&#8217;t know who to turn to. We don&#8217;t know who to ask or who to trust.&#8221; I can understand that this is a very uneasy situation to be in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m sure that if my co-host Taeke Reijenga could have been here today, he would have started filling us in on a lot of stuff in that regard. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, he couldn&#8217;t be here today, but he&#8217;ll probably be back next episode. So, let&#8217;s see how far we get today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This show is not just about the people that everybody already knows. We love the familiar faces, but it&#8217;s also about introducing some people you may not know yet. Today, I&#8217;m super excited to introduce Regine Gessner from the IAAP. I&#8217;ll ask her to explain what the IAAP is, who she is, what the IAAP is doing, and about an interesting discussion we had in December about certification. Hi Regine, welcome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Hello Anne. Thank you very much for having me here today. I&#8217;m very happy to join in. My name is Regine Gessner, and I am working for the IAAP, which stands for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, an association based in the U.S. The IAAP started 10 years ago and has developed several chapters in different regions. Four years ago, we started the German-speaking chapter, called IAAP DACH, which stands for Deutschland, Austria, and Switzerland. We are in charge of the German-speaking community and are the contact point for these countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IAAP&#8217;s mission is to network and exchange ideas. That&#8217;s one of our key pillars. Another is certification and advanced training. These are our key points. Since we started here in the German-speaking area, we have more than 350 members, including organizations. When you become a member, you are a member of the global IAAP, but then you will be directed to the region where you are based. Worldwide, IAAP has 6,500 members and about 220 organizations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that&#8217;s basically what the IAAP is. My position, since a bit more than a year ago, is to manage everything full-time, as it became too much to handle voluntarily. I am the main key contact for all people interested in membership and certifications. I&#8217;m the connection to the global team in the US and coordinate our working groups, board, and some of our tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Alright, so just for our audience, because we have mentioned certification several times, this is about the certification for specialists in accessibility in several disciplines. These certifications are sometimes a topic of discussion regarding their value and importance. We will get into that later on because this was the basis of our discussion in December.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the reasons I asked you to join us today is because we know that in many organizations, regardless of size, it matters that you have people trained to maintain accessibility over time. Accessibility is not a one-off, is it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />That&#8217;s right. It&#8217;s not a one-off; it&#8217;s an ongoing process. It&#8217;s not something that is done and then over. It&#8217;s something you have to start and build up capacity or competence in your company and teams. To implement it is not only technical but also a mindset in the people. That is very important and a key pillar. It must be obvious and natural that thinking about accessibility is part of the company or structure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Let me ask you a controversial question. Do you think companies should make CPAC certification an obligatory certification for everybody working on their digital representation? Would that be a good idea?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />I would say yes. From my personal view, even as a newcomer in this topic, I did the CPAC certification, and it gave me a basic understanding of what we&#8217;re talking about. It covers disability models, types of disabilities, barriers people face in the digital world, what can help them, and what&#8217;s important to know when building a website, app, or documents. It&#8217;s not a technical certification but a basic knowledge one. So, I would recommend it as a good foundation when building your team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Yeah. I&#8217;ve been thinking about this topic long and hard, especially now that we&#8217;re talking about it with this podcast. I hear a lot of companies say, &#8220;Making things accessible is too expensive.&#8221; But what if you integrate this into the core of your business? If it becomes second nature, getting the CPAC certification teaches you a lot about the why. And if you understand the why, it comes more naturally to a person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why I was asking this question. It&#8217;s tough because, in an ideal world, you&#8217;d want everyone certified. For example, if you own a web shop with a lot of people coding and creating content, you can say, &#8220;It&#8217;s expensive to remediate or keep fixing things.&#8221; But if you have to keep fixing things, it means people are doing things the wrong way. I would love to hear from our audience if they agree with this or why they disagree. Let&#8217;s discuss this in the next couple of weeks as people respond.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing I wanted to ask you, the DACH chapter in Germany has about 350 members. While I&#8217;m happy there are so many members, I&#8217;m also worried because, with the upcoming legislation, it&#8217;s sad that the law has to push us to speed up a process we&#8217;ve been waiting for the past 20 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Yes, I agree. In the beginning of 2023, we had about a hundred members, and now we&#8217;ve really increased. But for three countries, or even the whole world, having just 6,500 members in IAAP is not much.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />But there is a great thing. It means there is opportunity for people working in web design, development, content creation, marketing, and communication to learn and expand their services. I&#8217;m sure many companies will want to do this and might outsource it. There are pros and cons to that, but let&#8217;s say our audience includes web shop owners, developers, designers, and other disciplines. If a web agency starts thinking about accessibility, learning about it, and expanding their services, what would you recommend from an IAAP point of view?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />If a company has no connection with accessibility yet, they can start by joining the community to network and learn. We offer several tools for our members to get in touch with each other, such as online breakfast meetings and networking events. These connections and exchanges are very valuable. Members can discuss their issues and concerns, and the group can help each other. This is very helpful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />This is wonderful and very similar to the WordPress community, where we help each other succeed. It kept me coming back to WordPress in general. People exchange information and support each other. I hear complaints about Slack, and I’m one of them. Can you tell our listeners where they can go on your website to find out how to become a member and if they can talk to someone before becoming a member?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />It&#8217;s simple. They can email contact@iaap-dach.org, which is for the German-speaking region. This will come to me, and I can get in touch. I prefer personal calls to understand better. You don&#8217;t necessarily need to be a member to do certifications, but being a member has its benefits.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Is the same approach available for the international department if people go to accessibilityassociation.org, or is this specific to the German chapter?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />We have several chapters, including a Nordic chapter for Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland, a UK chapter, and a Mexican chapter. More chapters are in the process of starting. You are always welcome to contact the global colleagues from IAAP.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />That&#8217;s wonderful because we have listeners from all over the world. Investing in accessibility can be costly for some, but it&#8217;s essential. Let&#8217;s discuss the December DACH region discussion about certification. People sometimes look for shortcuts to show certification without the proper intentions. There are also people with 10-20 years of experience who might question the need for certification. For example, someone who wrote the book on accessibility guidelines might be offered a junior salary because they lack certification.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an interesting dialogue because certification is important. If someone gets certified, it means they learned a lot about the topic. There are several certifications, such as CPAC and WAS. Could you explain the prerequisites for the WAS certification?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Yes, to start with the basic certification, CPAC, it gives you basic knowledge, but not expertise in digital accessibility. The WAS (Web Accessibility Specialist) certification requires a minimum of three years of documented roles and responsibilities in web accessibility. It’s not just enough to have knowledge of HTML or JavaScript; hands-on experience and knowledge of code elements and assistive technology are needed. This exam is for those with significant experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same applies to the ADS (Accessible Document Specialist) certification. These certifications are valid for three years and need to be renewed or maintained by collecting credential points through training or speaking at conferences. This ensures that knowledge stays current.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Accessibility is never a one-off, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Exactly, it’s an ongoing process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />This brings up the importance of accredited courses, like those offered by the Accessibility Collective</p>\n\n\n\n<p>. They provide credits for IAAP certification, which helps ensure the courses give you long-term benefits. Companies need to understand where to find the correct information and how to avoid conflicting advice. Referring to the WCAG guidelines and talking to the IAAP are crucial.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />I agree. The IAAP is not perfect, but we provide a platform, guidelines, and legislation. The discussion on certification is important, and there are many specialists with years of experience. They can use their references and tools to prove their expertise. The IAAP is one channel, but there are many pieces to the puzzle that help us on our way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Yes, altogether we can take the fear out of doing accessibility right. Every time I speak to companies, I emphasize that accessibility is everyone’s task, not just one person&#8217;s. Support and teamwork are essential. If someone finds an issue, it’s about helping each other, not pointing fingers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If someone contacts you about an issue with your web shop, it’s a gift, even if it’s wrapped in anger. Engaging with them can turn them into ambassadors. Ignoring accessibility can mean losing potential customers, and it&#8217;s important to take these opportunities to improve.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Absolutely, everyone wants access to everything. For example, around 15% of people in Europe have some kind of disability and can&#8217;t use everything fully. This potential customer base is missed if your shop isn’t accessible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Yes, there&#8217;s so much potential. Ignoring accessibility leaves about 13 trillion dollars on the table globally, which is larger than the Chinese economy. This includes all accessibility, not just digital. Restaurants not accessible to wheelchairs miss not just the person in the wheelchair, but also their friends and family.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Exactly, the whole group can&#8217;t go there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />So, if someone contacts you about an accessibility issue, consider it a valuable opportunity. Improving accessibility benefits everyone. Thank you so much, Regine, for coming on the show today at such short notice. Your insights were invaluable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regine:<br />Thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure to be here, and I will make sure to provide all necessary links and information for your audience to learn more about us, our certifications, member benefits, and events.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne:<br />Thank you. And thank you to Greyd in Munich for sponsoring this podcast. This has been a different show than usual, but flexibility is important. We&#8217;ll talk about WordCamp Europe next month. Thank you, Bob Dunn, and Do the Woo for giving us this platform to discuss digital accessibility, especially in e-commerce. If you have questions or comments, please reach out to us. Thank you and see you next month.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of <strong>All Things WordPress and WooCommerce via our series on accessibility</strong>, host <strong>Anne Bovelett </strong>is joined by <strong>Regine Gessner </strong>from the<strong> International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP)</strong>, as they explore the role of certifications in accessibility, the challenges companies face, and practical steps for integrating accessibility into digital projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also address common misconceptions and the need for ongoing education and community support to ensure web accessibility becomes second nature in digital development.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Introduction to Accessibility</strong>: Anne Bovelett emphasizes the importance of accessibility in e-commerce and its impact on revenue, stating that accessibility should be integral to digital projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>R<strong>ole of IAAP</strong>: Regine Gessner introduces the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and its mission to network, exchange ideas, offer certifications, and provide advanced training in accessibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Certification Importance</strong>: The discussion focuses on the value of certifications like CPAC and WAS in establishing credibility and knowledge in accessibility. Regine explains the prerequisites and renewal process for these certifications.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenges in Accessibility</strong>: The common challenges companies face in implementing accessibility, such as understanding its importance, integrating it into core business practices, and overcoming the perception of high costs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Community and Networking</strong>: IAAP offers various tools for members to connect and exchange knowledge, including online breakfast meetings and networking events, highlighting the importance of community support.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Legislation and Compliance</strong>: Upcoming legislation is mentioned as a driving force for companies to prioritize accessibility, despite it being a long-standing issue.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Practical Steps for Companies</strong>: Recommendations for web agencies and companies on starting their accessibility journey, including joining IAAP, networking, and leveraging available resources and tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Personal Stories</strong>: Regine shares a personal story to illustrate the real-world impact of accessibility issues, emphasizing the need for inclusive digital experiences.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Business Opportunities</strong>: Anne and Regine discuss the potential market and revenue opportunities that accessible web design can unlock, highlighting the significant percentage of the population with disabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Links</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><strong><a href="https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/">The International Association of Accessibility Professionals</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://theadminbar.com/accessibility-weekly/">The Admin Bar, Accessibility Week</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU2Y4t4wtnU">IAAP D·A·CH Online Seminar Zertifizierungen</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://iaap-dach.org/nachrichten.html">IAAP D·A·CH</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/regine-gessner/">Regine on LinkedIn</a></strong></li>\n</ul>";s: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, 02 Jul 2024 09:51:12 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:99:"Do The Woo Community: A Deep Dive into the Metorik Insights Report for WooCommerce with Bryce Adams";s: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:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=84462";s: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://dothewoo.io/a-deep-dive-into-the-metorik-insights-report-for-woocommerce-with-bryce-adams/";s: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:50211:"Episode Transcript\n<div class="wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">\n<p>Marcus:<br />Hey everyone. Welcome to another BizChat here on Do the Woo. My name is Marcus Burnett and I&#8217;m a community marketer with GoDaddy. I am here today with my wonderful co-host from Barn2 plugins, Katie. Keith, how are you today, Katie?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Hey, great, thanks. What about you, Marcus?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah, not doing too bad. We&#8217;re spanning all parts of the globe today, so it&#8217;s morning for me, afternoon for you, and evening for our guest, but doing pretty good. As usual, we have an excellent guest, and like I said, today we&#8217;re spanning all different parts of the globe. Joining us today from the ecommerce Marketing suite of tools at Metorik is founder Bryce Adams. Welcome to the show, Bryce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Thanks, Marcus. Thanks, Katie. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it&#8217;s really cool to be back on a Do the Woo show. I think the last time I did was maybe half a decade ago. I don&#8217;t know. I love being able to say half a decade.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Absolutely.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />But yeah, it&#8217;s cool to be here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Happy to have you here. Bryce is here to talk about a report he recently published on the State of WooCommerce at Scale. But first, would you please share with folks a little bit about yourself and your company, Metorik?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Sure, yeah. So my name is Bryce and my background in Woo, I guess, started at WooCommerce itself back in 2014. I was there initially in a support role and eventually in a development role. Then Automattic acquired Woo in 2015. So I joined that and that happened pretty quickly, and then left in 2016 to do Metorik. So that&#8217;s like eight years ago now. I guess the majority of my career has been spent on it. Metorik is basically an analytics and email automation tool for WooCommerce and for Shopify and maybe more platforms in the future. But primarily we started with WooCommerce back in 2015 and only really added Shopify a few years ago. The majority of the customers we have around the world are WooCommerce stores.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />So let&#8217;s move on to the report then. You&#8217;ve recently published an insights report based on the sites which are using Metorik with WooCommerce. Can you tell us a bit about that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah, for sure. It was something we wanted to do for a really long time. I think even a few years in, as it was starting to approach several thousand stores, I was starting to see trends and patterns. One of the most common feature requests we got was benchmarking and trying to understand how a store compared to other stores, especially in Woo, where it can sometimes feel like we&#8217;re all kind of isolated on our own server and our own websites, not necessarily all on one platform. There was a lot of demand for clarity into what was going on. So people were asking for it a while ago, but a project like this is challenging to do well and at the quality level that I wanted.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We couldn&#8217;t do it with the few of us that were working together, but the team&#8217;s growing recently and we&#8217;ve got more resources. Luke, someone who just joined primarily for marketing and design-related stuff, said, &#8220;Oh, I reckon I could throw something together if you can get the data.&#8221; We were just sitting around the couch here in Melbourne, brainstorming ideas. It&#8217;d be cool to see that stat and then on Twitter, I think Katie, we talked about some stats even a couple of months ago, about bundles. I was also talking with Vova from Freemius about different subscription stats. We started to create this foundation to do this at scale, thinking about privacy at the forefront of that. So anonymized samples of all that data and just using averages to try to paint a picture of what was going on. Once we had that list to work from, it started to be pretty fun. We were just going through a list like, okay, let&#8217;s try and figure out that metric and that one, and then you&#8217;ve got to actually dig through it a lot more to find the interesting parts. But it was a big project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I think it&#8217;s really useful for companies like yourself that have access to data of multiple sites to publish that because, as you said a minute ago, WooCommerce sites are all installed on people&#8217;s own servers unless you&#8217;re using Woo Express or something and people just don&#8217;t have those benchmarks. I&#8217;ve seen a bit of that going on in the industry. For example, WP Fusion&#8217;s year in review reports are really useful from a WordPress perspective because they publish data about the different sites running WP Fusion, which LMS plugins are the most popular and page builders and so on. So it was really nice to see a WooCommerce version of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I think the fun thing for me was this was, I mean, I love Woo. It&#8217;s where I first started working, my first job really was at Woo, and then it&#8217;s all I&#8217;ve really ever known. I love it as a platform. I love what it enables, the fact that people can run their own site, control everything, customize everything, but also own everything. That idea of data ownership is so important to me. Woo enables that. Part of doing the report was wanting to validate, even though all these sites are their little islands out there on the internet, the scale that Woo is operating at is massive. I don&#8217;t think people realize it. We hear numbers being thrown around, several million Woo stores and things like that, but they don&#8217;t really mean anything until you actually see the data behind it and the scale and that validation, the brands that are using it. I don&#8217;t think people know how many Woo stores out there are doing millions of dollars a year in revenue. There&#8217;s tens of thousands, but yeah, I&#8217;m not sure the exact number, but there are so many stores out there that are really pushing the limits of Woo and people don&#8217;t know about it. So it&#8217;s cool to share.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />You said that Luke came in and kind of threw something together, but this is actually really polished and really nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Luke is so talented.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Before we get into some of the different pieces of it, I do want to let people know that they can also follow along with us at metorik.com/woocommerce-insights. We&#8217;ll leave that link in the show notes, but if people want to look at it while we&#8217;re having a discussion here, that&#8217;s metorik.com/woocommerce-insights. I ended up writing just a ton of questions basically on every slide, so I don&#8217;t know if we&#8217;ll get to all of them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />That&#8217;s awesome. No, whatever is interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />I kind of want to jump in, maybe start from the top and work our way down. One of the first things that you shared in here is that the average age of WooCommerce stores is four years. That kind of lines up with the start of COVID in my head. How do you think COVID changed the landscape of ecommerce or specifically, WooCommerce?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />What we saw when COVID happened? Yeah, it&#8217;s an interesting perspective when you are coming at it as a SaaS because maybe as a plugin maker, Katie, you would&#8217;ve seen at the time an increase in sales as more people were setting up Woo stores. But for us, it wasn&#8217;t just an influx of more stores, but what was really interesting was what every store was doing across the line, the scale of the growth during that time. We have some reports we were looking at back then just in terms of being able to run the app and see the scale of order volume and Airbnb and things like that across everyone. It&#8217;s like a spike around COVID and just consistently through that whole period, we found that on average every store was doing better. There were definitely a lot of new stores starting, but I found it more interesting to see the existing stores all grow as a result of it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, that all dropped off, and you can actually, it&#8217;s pretty interesting when you look at the higher scale, a five-year period, you see that growth and that decline happen through the actual order volume that&#8217;s happening. But in terms of the age, a lot of it comes down to the fact that Woo itself is not that old. The oldest a store could possibly be is probably 10 years, I&#8217;m not sure the exact age. Over time, very few stores are going to go from 11 years and still be running after all that time or necessarily be on the same platform. I think four years is actually probably bigger than what I&#8217;d expect just because Woo is such a young platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />That makes sense. A slightly more practical question, I was interested to see that you said 32% of stores are tracking their costs and profit as well as their sales. I was interested because I didn&#8217;t know it was possible to do via a website analytics tool. Everybody knows you&#8217;d use it to get sales data and things like that, which is a lot better than the sales data you get from WooCommerce reports in core, which is very basic obviously. But how does that work, tracking costs and profit, because that data isn&#8217;t entered into the WooCommerce admin?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I think that&#8217;s actually something that I&#8217;d love to see WooCommerce core improve, having the ability to set up a product cost. It should just be built into Woo by default. Shopify has it by default, almost Square does, almost every other ecommerce or commerce platform does because it is something that if you look at like 80/20, 80% plus of stores probably do have a cost that they want to set on a product. It should be core. It&#8217;s not, but we decided to offer that as a feature. Before that though, we just integrated directly with the WooCommerce Cost of Goods plugin, which itself Skyverge made, and that&#8217;s probably explained why it was so good and it worked really well because for us, we were able to then basically build this whole profit</p>\n\n\n\n<p>reporting feature and have all historical costs come in and profit reports come in without stores having to do anything. It was really cool because they&#8217;d never even had that. They&#8217;d set up a product cost inside of WooCommerce Cost of Goods, and there were some basic reports, but all of a sudden we were able just to bring that data in and kind of cleared it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It got to a point where we were just telling everyone to go and buy the Cost of Goods plugin. People were like, well, I don&#8217;t want to install a new plugin just to have a field on my product page to set the cost. That&#8217;s very fair, especially when they don&#8217;t need the reports and the other functionality from it. So we decided to build it into the app. Of course, it morphed into something much bigger. We got shipping transaction, extra cost. You can say a lot of people want us to do their monthly salary costs and office expenses. They really want to have a bigger picture of things. We&#8217;re not really meant to be an accounting or profit tool in that way, but over time it&#8217;s kind of becoming that. People want more and more from there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the other cool things you can do as a SaaS when it comes to this kind of thing is we integrate with Google Ads, TikTok ads, Facebook ads, all these different providers to let people bring in their live advertising costs from those platforms. It starts to be a really cool experience as a user because you&#8217;re getting all this data from different places in one location and getting to actually report on it, aggregate it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />What&#8217;s keeping the other 70-odd percent or so from doing the same? Is it a knowledge thing about whether they don&#8217;t know that that exists or is it an industry thing where it doesn&#8217;t make sense for some folks?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I think industry plays a big part. Privacy is another issue. We don&#8217;t have it in a way, again, it was just kind of bolted onto the app. It wasn&#8217;t what we initially set out to do. We don&#8217;t have a way for you to just say, this user can see all the reports, but they can&#8217;t see the cost and profit. That&#8217;s a common thing that a store owner might want to hide from their team. They want them in there using metrics for the reports. A lot of users have asked us to do that and we&#8217;ll probably do that soon. I think that would increase adoption a little bit. But also, we&#8217;re not trying to be an app for them to figure out their profit and pay taxes on. We don&#8217;t encourage it in that way. When people come to proper reporting, they&#8217;re probably looking for that level of detail. They need to incorporate all their costs across the whole thing, salary to everything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interesting part on our end starts to be trying to figure out reports based on that. We added these reports to the app a few months ago for doing cohorts, customer cohorts based on when they join by the month they join, week they join, or maybe the first product or first coupon they use. It&#8217;s really cool to split your customers up into those cohorts automatically and then see the lifetime profit and profit margin over time, how that changes. Then you start to understand not just at what point a customer has spent enough that they&#8217;ve reached a target revenue per customer, but they&#8217;ve actually become profitable. You can measure that and be like, by month 14, we know on average that&#8217;s where we&#8217;ve got enough profit from each customer. I love that part of it more than being an accounting tool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />It&#8217;s really helping WooCommerce store owners to run their company as a proper business. A lot are more hobbyist sites and it helps to bring them to the next level. Some of them will already be doing that, of course, but a lot of WooCommerce store owners don&#8217;t do that kind of thing. This is really making it much more accessible. I&#8217;m kind of wishing I use WooCommerce on my own website. I use Easy Digital Downloads and I can&#8217;t access any of this because quite sensibly you&#8217;ve built this for WooCommerce and Shopify, the two biggest players. I get that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I have had some requests for EDD, but every single request has come from people I knew in the community who would want it. Then I start to think about how many stores that is and it&#8217;s maybe a couple of hundred that I know would pay for it as well. It starts to be a little harder.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Yeah, totally agree.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />But I&#8217;ve always wanted to build it for EDD because all my friends and all my colleagues are using EDD rather than Woo. At the start, it wasn&#8217;t like I could really contact too many of my friends running WordPress businesses and say, please use my product because they were using EDD.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />You mentioned earlier about maybe they should put something in core related to the cost of goods. I was thinking that when I saw your stat about subscriptions, 28% of all the WooCommerce stores that you track use subscriptions. The vast majority of them will be WooCommerce subscriptions to one specific plugin, of course. I know they will never put that in core because they must make so much money from that premium only add-on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I don&#8217;t think they make enough from it to be honest.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Because it&#8217;s so valuable in recurring revenue.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Exactly. It&#8217;s one thing that we&#8217;d probably do next year and we want to improve in a report based on the feedback, but also just based on what I think would be interesting is actually saying, while maybe it&#8217;s 27% of stores that have subscriptions on, does that actually account for more like 40-50% of the revenue or are those stores by default on average double or triple stores that don&#8217;t have subscriptions? We didn&#8217;t go into that and I think we&#8217;d like to expand on that, but I think that would actually show that while maybe 27-30% are using subscriptions, those stores tend to be much more successful because it&#8217;s such a great business model if you can make it work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah, absolutely. I want to shift gears a tiny little bit and talk about, you have a couple of slides in here about the top themes and plugins in WooCommerce stores. Looking at the top themes and plugins, I see Elementor ranking pretty high in both and Classic Editor at number five in the top plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Not too surprised to see that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah, native WordPress right now with full site editing isn&#8217;t quite ready to handle the majority of WooCommerce stores.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Well, I think that indicates that there&#8217;s still a heavy dependence on the Classic Editor for sure. A lot of that might come through other builders that are being used, but also maybe other WooCommerce plugins and stuff that aren&#8217;t quite there yet. I know even for us, we&#8217;ve been integrating with commerce blocks and stuff for the checkout recently for an update we&#8217;ve been working on. I think a lot of the filters that we needed were only added in a WooCommerce version that just came out or is about to come out. That&#8217;s certainly fine if things take time and it&#8217;s good to take time to get it right, but if we&#8217;re an app that&#8217;s trying to really stay ahead and move with Woo, we were really only able to integrate with some of those features in a version that&#8217;s just coming out now on June 24. It&#8217;s going to take time for that shift to happen, maybe longer than anyone&#8217;s expecting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus, while you mentioned that, it makes me think about a part of the report that I found a little surprising and actually came out of a discussion I had recently about PHP versions. I noticed that 7.4 is still at 45% of WooCommerce stores that we&#8217;re tracking. I think that&#8217;s actually higher than the average across all of WordPress generally. There is that kind of fear when it comes to an ecommerce store. Upgrades come at a very big cost if it messes up. If your site goes down or if something&#8217;s incompatible and you have downtime, it&#8217;s not just downtime, it&#8217;s losing money time. That&#8217;s a very valid concern for an ecommerce store.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah, one of the other stats that just screamed off the page at me was that the average number of active plugins is 58 on a WooCommerce store. So compatibility-wise, you have to make sure that all 58 of those are ready to move beyond PHP 7.4 before you upgrade. But also, why so many and what do the annual costs look like? Not all of those plugins are going to be free. I know a lot of WooCommerce plugins cost an annual fee.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah. I think we are always, and I think that comes with a caveat with this report, we&#8217;re looking at stores that are willing to pay us, Metorik, as an app, at least $20 a month, and in most cases, $100 plus a month for an app for their WooCommerce store. They aren&#8217;t reflective of every WooCommerce store. I think with that means they&#8217;re willing to spend for sure at least two, $3,000 a year on their website if they&#8217;re willing to pay that much to us as an app for their website. It&#8217;s reasonable to think that most of them would have 10, 20 plus active subscriptions, but with that cost comes so much value because a lot of these stores are doing significant numbers and significant volume. If they wanted to have a similar setup, an equivalent setup on another platform like Shopify, they would be looking at a larger annual cost for sure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I enjoyed the section about order milestones. I spent quite a while looking at that and trying to visualize the typical store and how long it takes them to get any significant momentum and so on. It is interesting to see that the majority, 76%, get to a thousand orders and it takes just over a year, whereas it&#8217;s a pretty small number that make a hundred thousand orders ever, which is 7.9%, and that takes multiple years. A million orders, which kind of makes sense, is only 1%. It&#8217;s interesting to see the</p>\n\n\n\n<p>dropoff. It made me wonder how WooCommerce compared with that regard to other platforms that might be more enterprise-tailored or something, whereas lots of WooCommerce stores are more small.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah, that&#8217;s a good point. Look, Shopify for sure, I think the number would be a bit quicker, but I don&#8217;t know necessarily how many are getting to that scale as well. I think it would be similar, but again, I do think it always comes back to if the store is investing a lot more in their online presence through paying more for the ecommerce platform, through spending more on hosting or developers or marketing costs, any of those things, they&#8217;re typically going to be a bigger store. I think WooCommerce by default is a cheaper option, so you do tend to get stores that invest less in marketing at the start. But then that&#8217;s what we saw that I found really interesting with this report. You kind of get to that a hundred K, and we didn&#8217;t have enough time to really show a good picture between that a hundred and a million, but you scale so much faster at that point because you&#8217;ve already got the momentum, you&#8217;ve already got the infrastructure set up, and probably more than anything, you&#8217;re at a point in the business where you want to invest in marketing and other ways to improve your store.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />It kind of fits with a theory I&#8217;ve been developing about the way that WordPress and WooCommerce are growing more widely. If you look at data on Built With, which I was looking at yesterday, I think I tweeted about it actually, if you look at WordPress and WooCommerce&#8217;s growth for the top hundred thousand sites, the top million sites, they&#8217;re actually going down a bit. They&#8217;re declining, but then if you tick the whole internet box on Built With, they&#8217;re going up quite rapidly. So that says to me that the growth is in the smaller websites, and I thought that might fit with your data that the majority have a smaller number of orders as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah. I think the tricky thing with all of those numbers that are out there with Built With in different companies that try to track the state of ecommerce across the whole internet is that we just don&#8217;t know how many of those sites are actually operating and have at least 20 sales a year. You&#8217;ve got to learn a hundred, and I think really the number of stores that is like sub a hundred orders a year is the majority probably. And that&#8217;s okay. There&#8217;s still so many stores out there that are doing larger numbers, but especially with sites that are just being set up and not running, you can do that basically for free on WooCommerce. We always have to take those numbers with a grain of salt.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah, I was looking at that chart as well. Less than 10% of stores make it to that a hundred thousand plus orders mark within an average time of four years or so to make it to this milestone. Why do you think stores don&#8217;t stick it out? The average time to a million plus is like six years. Is it just a patience issue? Do people just need to be in it for the long run? Do people give up too early?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Maybe. Maybe they&#8217;ve switched platforms as well. It&#8217;s hard to really paint that picture in a report like this, but it&#8217;s something that we see tends to happen. Stores get to a certain size and they end up then wanting to try a different platform, become Shopify or something custom. I&#8217;ve seen stores go to Magento, and so I think that sometimes can be a reason. But also it&#8217;s just really hard to get to that scale. You see people on Shopify, especially because they send out these trophies and things like that to commemorate when you get to certain milestones, they send a physical item. I think you order it through them to merchants and you see people posting on Twitter, but the reality is there aren&#8217;t that many stores that are getting a million plus orders. That&#8217;s a big volume. If you&#8217;re doing a hundred plus average AOV, that&#8217;s like a hundred million. So a more realistic average Woo store, I don&#8217;t think we published it in it. The number I was seeing was something like off the top of my head, 30, 40,000 orders, something around that bracket. But that&#8217;s still massive, especially if an average order is a hundred dollars.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />The ones that are switching platforms, what is making them want to do that? What is WooCommerce not doing well at a hundred thousand or a million orders?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />That&#8217;s probably an episode in itself just because it&#8217;s such a big thing to unpack. At that scale, stores are thinking about what matters to them. What I&#8217;ve found, it&#8217;s not even about reliability, but having someone to depend on. I think Shopify does that well. It&#8217;s like a safety net. A merchant running on that, even if their site does go down, it&#8217;s like it&#8217;s going down with every other Shopify site and that gives them some confidence. Shopify&#8217;s reliability recently has been really good. So a lot of it is peace of mind. Merchants don&#8217;t want to be technical. They don&#8217;t want to get in the weeds that much. They really just want to run their shop and not think about plugin updates or anything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I see a lot of WooCommerce agencies now pop up that are focusing on maintenance plans and things like that, that&#8217;s really good and a step in the right direction. But it needs to come as well with the reliability or the escape, the reassurance that someone&#8217;s got your back if the site goes down and you&#8217;re not going to lose your order data and things like that. The cost to a store if their site goes down and they have to restore to a backup and it&#8217;s eight hours before, and in that time they had orders, it&#8217;s such a big cost that it would almost pay for a subscription for Shopify or something else in a year. If it&#8217;s going to solve it by going to one of those platforms, they&#8217;re going to do it. There needs to be enough upside for them to stay with Woo.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a lot of stores, subscriptions are amazing and above, beyond what most subscription platforms that exist for Shopify allow. The cost of running on Woo is low. If you can do that at scale and you can really optimize your site and handle how you tackle downtime, but also have a good backup plan, have a good recovery plan, then you start to save several hundred thousand a year with Woo if you&#8217;re a big store and maybe even a million plus if you&#8217;re doing tens of millions a year in revenue. Woo has a lot of advantages. It&#8217;s just about finding the disadvantages and trying to solve them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Marcus, did you have any questions about the average order stuff or the refunds?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />I had one. You have a note on the refund section that physical goods are refunded at lower amounts than software because of the low overhead for software. In general, the outlier here seems to be clothing and footwear. I think I have an idea, but what makes that industry have the highest refund rate?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />It&#8217;s probably one of the most compelling things you can offer as a business in that industry is free returns and really to almost encourage them and say, order from us as much as you want, and then the few things you don&#8217;t want to send it back will include a free return bag because that&#8217;s really how those stores start to get higher AOV. I think it&#8217;s a symptom of that, but it&#8217;s probably by design and it probably does actually increase the AOV for that industry quite a lot more than what it would be without it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I see that online learning has an 85% refund rate, which is kind of scary because it makes me think that people are abusing it potentially.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Oh no, that&#8217;s only 85% of the refund amount, not refund rate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Oh, okay. Yeah,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I&#8217;d be surprised if they were doing well enough to keep running their shop with that much of a refund rate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Oh, the amounts 1.5%. Yeah, that&#8217;s better.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Exactly. The one that we want to highlight with the refund amount was just to show, when a refund does happen, is it a full refund? Is it a partial one? I found that interesting with some consumable ones like food and beverage, the refund amount on average is 56%. That would indicate that a lot of stores are doing partial refunds. Maybe one of the items they&#8217;re not happy with is not worth the cost of returning it, while software or online learning, it&#8217;s 80-85% because it&#8217;s a digital item. You can effectively refund the whole thing without incurring a major cost as a store.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Those are a little harder to partially refund too. Refund a handful of lessons from a course. You&#8217;re either refunding the course or you&#8217;re not refunding the course.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Exactly. You might as well, if you&#8217;re having a credit cost as a software business, just find a solution like that. I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve experienced the thing, both of you, over the years with WooCommerce and WordPress support. Sometimes just to solve it, let them move on, give them a refund rather than try to hold on to 70 or 80% of the money or even 20-30% of the money. Risk covering someone who really has it out for you after that and wouldn&#8217;t speak favorably about you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I thought the devices section was interesting. We&#8217;ll all have heard many stats way before this report that the majority of online shoppers are using mobile devices. I&#8217;ve always kind of ignored that on my own website because we sell WordPress plugins. The vast majority are sitting at their desks on their desktops.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />What percent is, in your case?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I can&#8217;t remember off the top of my head, but it&#8217;s like, I don&#8217;t know, 70 or 80% or something on desktop, which makes sense. You don&#8217;t buy a plugin on your phone, do you? You&#8217;re at work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I hadn&#8217;t realized that we had this in the report, I forgot,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>but it says it there. Software stores have the most desktop-driven customers with 79% of orders being placed on a desktop device.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Which makes sense.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />That checks out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />For other industries, obviously mobile&#8217;s important for my business as well, but it&#8217;s more so for things like clothes where people are buying from their sofas and so on. It was interesting seeing that the average order value placed on desktop is significantly higher than people ordering on their mobiles. Even if you are in a mobile-first industry, you do really need to think about those desktop users because even if they&#8217;re buying clothes or something that suggests to me that they&#8217;re having a serious session of buying clothes, they&#8217;re sitting at their computer, got multiple tabs open, it&#8217;s a very different experience and they spend more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />That&#8217;s a good point. Another common one is if you&#8217;re buying an appliance or an electronic product, a lot of those decisions are made at the computer where you can really take the time to research, look at five different tabs and then check out. That&#8217;s a kind of trend with a lot of these numbers. A lot of them aren&#8217;t as surprising, but the actual level that the number ended up at, in this case, 38 to 62, I didn&#8217;t know that until we pulled that. Actually, to be fair, I didn&#8217;t realize that the desktop AOV would be that much higher. If you just asked me off the top of my head, I would&#8217;ve guessed anecdotally 30-40%, not almost double. I think it just comes down to when you&#8217;re doing a high-value order, when you are spending several hundred dollars in a shop, you&#8217;re going to probably do it on a computer. Typically they&#8217;re going to move to a desktop for those transactions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Yeah. I also was interested for the same reason in that section. It kind of made me think about my purchasing habits and maybe how important it is for stores to have carts that you can move between mobile and desktop via login or something. I spend a lot of time browsing on my mobile device and I&#8217;ll toss things in the cart, but then by the time I&#8217;m ready to make a purchase, I might hop over to the computer. I&#8217;ve got desktop extensions that help with coupon codes and all of that kind of thing that I can take advantage of that I don&#8217;t have on my mobile device. Really a lot of the purchasing, I would guess that I&#8217;m not in the minority, that there&#8217;s a lot of folks that are browsing on their mobile and then making an actual final purchase on their desktop, especially like you said, with high order value items and orders and stuff. Just being able to, Amazon obviously, right? I&#8217;ll toss a bunch of things in an Amazon cart and then, because I&#8217;m logged in, I can log back in on the computer and finish that order. The importance of having a system like that, maybe for even smaller stores to be able to jump between devices and keep your cart.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />It&#8217;s an interesting product idea, really. I think we kind of do that, and a lot of plugins do that in a small way through abandoned cart tracking and being able to send a link that just restores it in one click, which is close. But I&#8217;m just thinking about, it&#8217;d be quite cool, even just a simple plugin that was just like, send me a link right now just to access this cart on a computer. That would probably have some value rather than being this whole thing to track carts. It can tie into that, but I think just as a core feature, I want to move this cart to a desktop.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Speaking of recovered carts, I also saw in the report that the average order value of recovered carts is about 30% higher than even regular placed orders. The report states it&#8217;s because customers tend to add multiple items into their cart before making a decision. Then they get that abandoned cart link and they come back and place the order. What are some good abandoned cart strategies to recover these carts?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Offer an incentive, and I think the incentive should be specific to your store and the situation you&#8217;re in. There&#8217;s no one size fits all. We kind of lead into this in one of the other pages where we talk about later in the report to do with the AOV of free shipping versus paid shipping orders. Something interesting with that is figuring out where your AOV is. In that case, if we&#8217;re looking at the cart report, it&#8217;s around 120, which is where the average cart value was when they got placed. Maybe you&#8217;d be wanting to incentivize people to spend over 150 and get free shipping or over 150 and get 10% off because at least then you&#8217;re increasing your AOV by 40-50% at the cost of a 10-15% discount. I think that&#8217;s one way, but otherwise, it&#8217;s also about using the moment when you try to recover a cart as a marketing opportunity. It&#8217;s not just saying, recover your cart, but maybe you should also add this item based on what you already have in your cart. It ends up being an actual win for the customer because they might discover something that they didn&#8217;t know about, and they&#8217;re getting a better deal with maybe they&#8217;re getting free shipping as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />I didn&#8217;t see in the report numbers on the percentage of stores using abandoned cart recovery versus not using abandoned cart recovery practices. Do you have maybe anecdotal numbers on how many people are actually taking advantage of that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />That&#8217;s a good question. Again, in our case, it&#8217;s all limited to the scope of Metorik because someone would have to turn on the cart tracking feature. We have then opted to pay extra for our email feature to send an abandoned cart email, which is why we didn&#8217;t go too deep into that because it&#8217;s just not big enough scale to be too insightful. Of the stores actually adding, anecdotally, it&#8217;s like 20-30% of our stores are trying to recover carts, not enough. It&#8217;s very common that I&#8217;ll meet really successful stores that are doing significant numbers but aren&#8217;t really focusing on abandoned cart recovery, but also failed order recovery and really simple actions like that alone will pay for the cost of Metorik or any other plugin or app to do it. You just need to recover several carts and you can recover the cost of the software to do it. It&#8217;s worth investing in for almost any business. Again, it depends on the industry and the business and the brand and all those factors. It&#8217;s never one size fits all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />Katie, is that something that you guys think about for the plugins? I don&#8217;t know how that works with EDD or any of the setup that you guys have. I know that you have demos with InstaWP, and you&#8217;re tracking all that stuff too. Is abandoned cart recovery something that you guys talk about?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Yeah. I miss Jilt. I know you used to work for that company. That was the best.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Jilt was such a great product.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Such a shame. We now use Recapture, which is nowhere near as good as Jilt was, but it kind of does the job. The data isn&#8217;t brilliant. It&#8217;s pretty basic, but we do recover a lot of carts that way, which as Bryce said, more than pays for Recapture. We also use it for post-purchase emails, like sending a discount code to people a few days after they make a purchase and stuff like that. We do get our money&#8217;s worth out of Recapture. There isn&#8217;t, for Easy Digital Downloads, a particularly professional abandoned cart solution. I think a lot of mailing list providers like MailChimp and so on integrate with WooCommerce as well as you having your own paid feature, Bryce, as well. Hopefully it&#8217;s better for WooCommerce than EDD.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />There&#8217;s definitely more options for Woo. I don&#8217;t think, again, Woo is typically a second-class citizen in a way on every platform. They&#8217;ll tend to just do it as an afterthought, so you don&#8217;t get maybe enough tracked or accuracy when it comes to carts. A lot of our cart tracking was inspired by Jilt. I think the whole team did such a good job on that product. We took a lot of inspiration from that. Klaviyo and all those apps that do integrate with Woo, MailChimp, they&#8217;re going to be thinking about Woo once every few months. It&#8217;s not like an active daily thought in how they develop and improve the product. It&#8217;s really fun for me to try to prioritize Woo and think, how can I make the best possible product for these merchants that typically aren&#8217;t getting anything made for them?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />On the country and currency section, I thought it was strange that there&#8217;s a significantly higher average order value when the customer is not in the store&#8217;s default currency. So if it&#8217;s a store in the US and they offer in British pounds, then there&#8217;d be a higher average order value on average than the US dollars. I can&#8217;t think of any reason why. Can you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah, no, definitely. I think it actually leads into two pages forward where we talk about, or several pages forward where we talk about delivery distances and how people typically spend more when they&#8217;re ordering from further away. A lot of it comes down to when you are ordering from a store in a remote area, it&#8217;s a bigger deal. You might have to pay more for shipping. It might be something you can do less frequently because of the cost. The average order tends to be higher because of that reason, where they&#8217;re trying to maximize that moment where they are making a purchase. It does lead into that idea where stores that offer free shipping end up having a higher AOV, and that can encourage higher spending. If you&#8217;re in an international country paying in a different currency, that free shipping could make a difference and make you spend a lot more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Personally, I do that all the time. Being in Australia, most of the things I&#8217;m buying online are from overseas, and I will always spend even double or triple to get free shipping, which isn&#8217;t logical in that way, but no one likes</p>\n\n\n\n<p>paying for shipping. I don&#8217;t want to pay 20 pounds to ship something from the UK. I would much rather just pay 300 pounds and get free shipping, but I get 300 pounds worth of items. It&#8217;s a weird thing, but I think a lot of people I spoke to about this report, especially Australian people, but really anyone American ordering from Europe or Europe ordering from America or Asia from anywhere in the world, you want to maximize those purchases to get free shipping, but also it might just not be something you do frequently because you have to wait several weeks for the delivery to come. So you want to spend a bit more instead of something local where you can order several times in a week and it&#8217;s not going to be that much of a delay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />I&#8217;m an Amazon Prime member, like many folks, at least in the US, probably all over the world, so I&#8217;m used to the free shipping. I was going to say, it&#8217;s no surprise that free shipping increases the average order value, but also I&#8217;m wondering if we&#8217;ve all been kind of conditioned to expect free shipping as an option. It shows in the report that about two-thirds of stores are offering it. What advice would you have for the third of stores that are not yet offering free shipping? Is it just a barrier for them?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />I don&#8217;t remember if we actually had the number of stores that offer free shipping, but I know that 66% of orders did have free shipping, which as a sheer number of orders is significant. But I&#8217;m curious, for stores that don&#8217;t offer free shipping, is that just a no-brainer that you should offer free shipping? That&#8217;ll basically guarantee a higher average order value?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not necessarily on every order, especially if your shipping costs are high. It&#8217;s feasible, but you need to figure out what is your shipping cost. Not just what you&#8217;re charging customers, because a lot of stores tend to charge a bit more. What&#8217;s your actual cost? What would your cost be if you were able to have double the number of orders because you&#8217;re offering free shipping? The cost might come down with that volume. But I would say figure out your cost and then factor that in. If I know my average cost is $9 and my average order is $50, if I could make free shipping over 90 or 80, it&#8217;s like I&#8217;m getting 30, $40 more revenue at a cost of nine or $10. It typically comes down to that, figuring out where you&#8217;re at, but where you want to get to. Free shipping is just a lever to get there. Abandoned cart discounts are another way, multiple different paths, and it depends on the store.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />That fits quite nicely into the page about delivery distances and where you talk about how far away people are ordering. It looks like the majority of stores are doing proper shipping, and they&#8217;re not just delivering pizza places delivering within a few miles. There&#8217;s a lot of people delivering, even thousands of kilometers, aren&#8217;t there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah, I think I&#8217;m just looking at that report as well. Sure, under a thousand kilometers looks like it&#8217;s around 50% of orders. But that&#8217;s a significant number of orders that are going a further distance, which is great. That&#8217;s what ecommerce is about. It&#8217;s about enabling people to buy the items that they normally couldn&#8217;t get locally. Being in a pretty remote place like Australia, you really appreciate it. So much stuff I love that I have to get from overseas. In my case, every order is traveling 10,000k or more. That probably brings it up a little bit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marcus:<br />You alone are making up that 3% of orders that travel more than 10,000 kilometers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />In some industries, maybe. I did buy a lot of stuff from the UK recently.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I never knew that about Australia.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Of course, we have so many amazing Australian brands and products and companies to buy from, but if you&#8217;re into a niche thing, I really love synthesizers. A lot of that&#8217;s not coming from Australia or records as well. They&#8217;re coming from America, Japan, places like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />I have a similar issue in Spain. Nearly everything is not available from Spain and I need to order it from elsewhere. So then there is that, depending on where you live.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />It goes back to that if you are ordering from somewhere domestically in Spain, you don&#8217;t need to really maximize that order as much as you are ordering from the states and have to incur shipping. You&#8217;d probably want to add a couple more items because you&#8217;re not going to make that order from the US every week, but you might do that domestically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Well, thank you so much, Bryce. That&#8217;s been really interesting, and I think it&#8217;s given us some good perspectives on WooCommerce that we never had access to before. So that&#8217;s really helpful. Thank you so much. Before we finish, can you tell us where we can find you online and also where we can read the report in full?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce:<br />Yeah, of course. For me, I&#8217;m on Twitter at BryceAdams. I don&#8217;t tweet much, but I&#8217;m trying to be better and taking a lot of inspiration from you, Katie, to try to engage more. The report is on Metorik at <a href="https://metorik.com/woocommerce-insights" rel="nofollow">https://metorik.com/woocommerce-insights</a>. I hope people love it and really let us know your feedback because if there are metrics that people want or would find useful for their business, we want to include those next year. A lot of this was just done on what we thought people would want, but we really do want to build it for not just our customers, but the WooCommerce community. It&#8217;d be great to hear more about what numbers would be of value to them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katie:<br />Excellent. Well, thank you so much.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of <strong>Woo BizChat</strong>, hosts <strong>Marcus Burnette</strong> and <strong>Katie Keith</strong> chat with <strong>Bryce Adams, founder of Metorik</strong>, to discuss his recently published first <em><strong>Metorik Insights Report for WooCommerce</strong></em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deep dive conversation spans a variety of topics, including the average age of WooCommerce stores, the impact of COVID-19 on ecommerce, and the significance of tracking costs and profits. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bryce shares valuable insights on the challenges and opportunities faced by WooCommerce store owners, shedding light on the trends and patterns observed across thousands of stores using Metorik&#8217;s analytics and email automation tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-center has-gray-background-color has-background"><strong><a href="https://metorik.com/woocommerce-insights">Download the Metorik Insights for WooCommerce</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bryce discusses the impact of COVID-19 on ecommerce</strong>, noting significant growth in existing stores during the pandemic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The need for better integration of cost and profit tracking features</strong> in WooCommerce core is highlighted.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prevalence of Elementor and Classic Editor</strong> among top themes and plugins in WooCommerce stores is discussed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Continued reliance on PHP 7.4</strong> in many WooCommerce stores is noted.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Successful WooCommerce stores</strong> often have numerous active plugins and subscriptions, leading to higher costs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Order milestones are explored</strong>, revealing why only a small percentage of stores reach a million orders.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Strategies for abandoned cart recovery</strong> are covered, including offering incentives and using recovery attempts as marketing opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recovered carts typically have higher average order values</strong>, emphasizing the importance of effective recovery strategies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The role of free shipping </strong>in boosting average order values is examined.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The impact of delivery distances</strong> on ecommerce purchasing behavior is discussed, with insights into how customers maximize their purchases.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Links</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><strong><a href="https://metorik.com/">Metorik.com</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://metorik.com/woocommerce-insights">Download the Metorik Insights for WooCommerce</a></strong></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href="https://x.com/bryceadams">Bryce Adams on X</a></strong></li>\n</ul>";s: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, 01 Jul 2024 08:07:00 +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:5:"BobWP";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:11:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:85:"HeroPress: Voices Of WordCamp Europe: Josephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu";s: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://heropress.com/?p=7182";s: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:209:"https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-josephine-rahissa-ngo-nonog-and-herman-ngembu/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=voices-of-wordcamp-europe-josephine-rahissa-ngo-nonog-and-herman-ngembu";s: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:836:"<img width="1024" height="590" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/jo_herman-1024x590.webp" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" /><p></p>\n\n\n\n<p>A big goal of mine was to meet people for the first time.  Rahissa and Herman fit the bill.  I saw them across the room and simply asked if I could interview them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They came to Italy from Cameroon as students and someone said they should try WordCamp.  I&#8217;ll let the interview tell the rest of their story.</p>\n\n\n\nJosephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu Interview\n\n\n<p>The post <a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-josephine-rahissa-ngo-nonog-and-herman-ngembu/">Voices Of WordCamp Europe: Josephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu</a> appeared first on <a 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:"Mon, 01 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +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:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:"Do The Woo Community: Press Release: Do the Woo 4.0 Launches at WordCamp Europe";s: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:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=7063";s: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://dothewoo.io/press-release-do-the-woo-4-0-launches-at-wordcamp-europe/";s: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:5714:"<p><strong>For Immediate Release</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do the Woo 4.0 Official Launch: Elevating Voices in the WordPress Community</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Europe, June 9, 2024 — We are thrilled to announce the official launch of Do the Woo 4.0, marking a significant milestone in our journey to build a vibrant community for WordPress and WooCommerce builders and businesses. This launch coincides with the first day of WordCamp Europe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2018, Do the Woo has evolved through continuously, growing both in content and community engagement. The decision to move Do the Woo to its own site in late 2022 was the first major step for the future. As we entered 2023, our mission began to extend beyond WooCommerce to encompass the broader WordPress ecosystem. The idea was simple: elevate voices and create a podcast by the community, for the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the beginning of 2023, planning for the new started and in October, we solidified our efforts, with the goal of showcasing the diverse range of the Do the Woo podcast channel with our shows. With significant support from WordPress.com, this vision became a reality, culminating in a redesigned site that went live in March.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week, we start our prelaunch. The official launch will be on June 13, 2024, when we will proudly unveil the fully developed Do the Woo 4.0.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Features of Do the Woo 4.0</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Comprehensive Podcast Lineup:</strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the official launch, we now have a total of <a href="https://dothewoo.io/our-shows/">12 shows</a> and <a href="https://dothewoo.io/about-the-woocommerce-builder-community/">26 hosts</a>, including our latest addition focused on <a href="https://dothewoo.io/podcasts/scaling-enterprise-wordpress-and-open-source-software/">enterprise WordPress and open-source software (OSS)</a>. <a href="https://dothewoo.io/our-shows/">Each show has its own dedicated page</a>, allowing listeners to learn about the series, explore past episodes, and subscribe to their favorite content.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Enhanced User Experience:</strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our top priority was to provide an easy way for listeners to subscribe to the shows they want. They can subscribe to individual shows or opt for the full Do the Woo feed if they want to stay updated on all content.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Global Community Representation:&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href="https://dothewoo.io/about-the-woocommerce-builder-community/">About page</a> features a dynamic map showcasing our hosts, sponsors, and guests from around the world. This interactive feature highlights the global reach and diverse backgrounds of our contributors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Support for Hosts</strong>:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We’ve introduced a <a href="https://dothewoo.io/support/">new support option</a> on our site, allowing listeners to support specific shows and their volunteer hosts. This initiative aims to sustain the high-quality content produced by our dedicated team and support them in their travels and contributions to the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Special Acknowledgments</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Partners:</strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We extend our heartfelt thanks to WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Jetpack for their unwavering belief in our community and the incredible support they have provided.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sponsors:</strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do the Woo&#8217;s existence and growth are made possible by our sponsors. We express our deepest gratitude to our current sponsors: Airwallex, Avalara, Cloudways, GoDaddy, Hostinger, Omnisend, and Weglot. Their commitment to our community is invaluable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Podcast episodes for the launch week scheduled to go out</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 10: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-4-0-this-week-at-wordcamp-europe/">Do the Woo 4.0, This Week at WordCamp Europe</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 11: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-new-show-scaling-enterprise-wordpress-and-oss/">A New Show, Scaling Enterprise, WordPress and OSS</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 12: <a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-pre-launch-chat-with-jay-walsh-at-woocommerce/"><strong>A Pre-Launch Chat with Jay Walsh at WooCommerce</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 13: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/thinking-about-our-launch-on-wceu-contributor-day/">Thinking About Our Launch on WCEU Contributor Day</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 14: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-podcast-channel-4-0-official-launch/">Do the Woo Podcast Channel 4.0 Official Launch</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 15: <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/learn-about-all-the-shows-on-the-do-the-woo-podcast-channel/">Learn About All the Shows on the Do the Woo Podcast Channel</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Join Us</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>We invite you to explore the new Do the Woo 4.0 at <a href="http://DotheWoo.io">DotheWoo.io</a>. Whether you are a developer, a business owner, or simply a WordPress enthusiast, there is something for everyone. Take a moment to browse through the site, subscribe to your favorite shows, and consider supporting our hosts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, to be featured on a podcast, or to discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact BobWP directly. We have exciting plans ahead and look forward to sharing them with you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contact:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>BobWP</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Email: info@dothewoo.io</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Website: <a href="https://dothewoo.io">https://dothewoo.io</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community and for your continued support. We can&#8217;t wait to see where this journey takes us next.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>###</p>\n\n\n\n<p>End of Press Release</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:"Sun, 30 Jun 2024 09:30:42 +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:5:"BobWP";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:31:"bbPress: bbPress 2.6.11 is out!";s: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://bbpress.org/?p=240802";s: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://bbpress.org/blog/2024/06/bbpress-2-6-11-is-out/";s: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:1322:"<p>bbPress 2.6.11 is a <strong>minor</strong> release that fixes <a href="https://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&group=resolution&milestone=2.6.10">13 relatively small bugs</a> reported over the past few years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most notably, it improves HTML output escaping in the topic &amp; reply forms (nothing serious, just some entities showing up where they should not), prevents a bunch of different debug notices from filling up error logs, and also updates some code to avoid deprecated notices from testing with the latest version(s) of WordPress itself.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of these fixes have already been merged up into the 2.7 development branch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re paying really close attention, you may be wondering &#8220;hey John, what happened to 2.6.10?&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well&#8230; I botched it. It&#8217;s been a while, ok? <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f926-200d-2642-fe0f.png" alt="🤦‍♂️" class="wp-smiley" /> And 2.6.11 is good to go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Huge thanks to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/eusebiuoprinoiu/">Eusebiu</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/kcristiano/">Kevin</a>, and (as always) <a href="https://bbpress.org/forums/profile/robin-w/">Robin W</a> for being super fast with their feedback and just generally awesome!</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, 29 Jun 2024 17:58:35 +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:17:"John James Jacoby";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:"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n";s: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:130:"Gutenberg Times: 796 Block themes, alternatives to custom block dev, game’s a changing for custom fields — Weekend Edition 297";s: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:35:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=29017";s: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://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/";s: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:22533:"<p>Hi there, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I love the excitement of a major WordPress release! All the new features and update coming to WordPress. The theme building becomes easier and easier to provide great design solutions for content creators and site builders. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll find lots of information in these editions and I also highlight a few upcoming events, two virtual one in-person. And recordings of previous events, so you can catch up on Developer Hours and Hallway Hangouts. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this week&#8217;s <a href="https://wpbuilds.com/2024/06/25/this-week-in-wordpress-299/">This Week in WordPress #299</a> &#8220;We have all the Birgit&#8217;s and Remkus&#8221;. It again was a fun show and great to catch up with Birgit Olzem, Remkus de Vries and Nathan Wrigley on WordCamp Europe, and the upcoming WordPress 6.6 release. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://wpbuilds.com/2024/06/25/this-week-in-wordpress-299/"><img width="652" height="367" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/This-Week-in-WordPress-299.jpg?resize=652%2C367&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29081" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to learn more about my non-WordPress self, Bud Kraus and I chatted on the <a href="https://seriouslybud.com/birgit-pauli-haack/"><strong>Seriously, Bud? Podcast episode</strong></a> </p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">\n<p><strong>Table of contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#upcoming">Upcoming Events</a></li></ol></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#wordpress-6-6">WordPress 6.6</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#plugins-themes-and-tools-for-nocode-site-builders-and-owners">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ol>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="upcoming">Upcoming Events</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>July 9th, 2024, 15:00 UTC &#8211; <strong>Developer Hours</strong>: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/"><strong>Editor unification and extensibility in WordPress 6.6</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this Developer Hours session, Nick Diego and Ryan Welcherwill explore how these updates can streamline your development process and enhance extensibility like never before. You will learn how to:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Extend the Post and Site Editor using slots and why you might want to do so</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Display content only when specific conditions are met, such as when editing a custom post type</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Update existing extensions to work in both the Post and Site Editor</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure updated extensions are backward compatible with WordPress 6.5 and lower&#8221;</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/"><img width="600" height="338" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/600_521936273.webp?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29070" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordCamp Canada</strong> will take place between <strong>July 11 and 13, 2024&nbsp;</strong>Ottawa, ON Canada and they published <a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/schedule/">their fabulous schedule.</a> If you can join them in person, here are a few block related talks to attend. They will also be recorded and will make their way to WordPressTV and YouTube. </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/session/your-wordpress-your-way-curating-the-editor-experience/">Your WordPress, Your Way: Curating the Editor Experience</a> with Nick Diego</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/session/working-across-timezones-as-a-productive-developer/">Working across timezones as a productive developer</a> with Aurooba Ahmed </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/session/creating-blocks-faster-than-a-cat-video-goes-viral-the-magic-of-create-block/">Creating Blocks Faster Than a Cat Video Goes Viral: The Magic of create-block</a> with Ryan Welcher</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/session/state-of-multilingualism-in-wordpress/">State of Multilingualism in WordPress</a><a href="https://canada.wordcamp.org/2024/schedule/"> </a>with Robert Windisch</li>\n\n\n\n<li></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>July 23, 2024</strong>, at 15:00 UTC <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/"><strong>Developer Hours: Do you really need a custom block? Let’s explore alternatives.</strong></a> <strong>Nick Diego</strong> and <strong>JuanMa Garrido</strong> will discuss the following scenarios</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>How to add new functionality to core blocks</li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to use content-only editing and the allowedBlocks attribute in patterns</li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to integrate block bindings and block variations</li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to effectively use block locking and naming</li>\n\n\n\n<li>How to create overrides in synced patterns</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/"><img width="600" height="338" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/600_521958647.webp?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29071" /></a>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="wordpress-6-6">WordPress 6.6</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This week, the release squad unleashed <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/06/wordpress-6-6-rc1/"><strong>WordPress 6.6 RC 1</strong></a>. It&#8217;s now high time to test your themes, plugins, and sites for compatibility. If you want to explore what is new in WordPress 6.6, one way is outlined in the post to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/06/03/help-test-wordpress-6-6/">Help test WordPress 6.6</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Devnotes </strong>have been published together with the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/25/wordpress-6-6-field-guide/">WordPress 6.6 Field Guide</a> </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/editing-custom-fields-from-connected-blocks/">Editing custom fields from connected blocks</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/updates-to-the-interactivity-api-in-6-6/">Updates to the Interactivity API in 6.6</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/miscellaneous-editor-changes-in-wordpress-6-6/">Miscellaneous Editor changes in WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/section-styles/">Section Styles</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/21/wordpress-6-6-css-specificity/">WordPress 6.6 CSS Specificity</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/roster-of-design-tools-per-block-wordpress-6-6-edition/">Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.6 edition)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/site-wide-background-images-in-wordpress-6-6/">Site-wide background images in WordPress 6.</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/19/theme-json-version-3/">Theme.json version 3</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/18/grid-layout-type/">Grid layout type</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/18/editor-unified-extensibility-apis-in-6-6/">Editor: Unified Extensibility APIs in 6.6</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/07/preparation-for-react-19-upgrade/">Preparation for React 19 Upgrade</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/06/jsx-in-wordpress-6-6/">JSX in WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/06/wordpress-6-6-rc1/"><img width="652" height="371" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-28-at-11.35.47.png?resize=652%2C371&ssl=1" alt="Draft highlight grid by the design team. Changes might occur. " class="wp-image-29080" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> also posted the <a href="https://nomad.blog/2024/06/26/wordpress-6-6-source-of-truth/"><strong>Source of Truth on WordPress 6.6</strong></a> features. It again is a great source to learn about every feature that is coming to a WordPress instance near you on July 16, 2024, tag for theme authors, plugin authors, end users, and enterprise. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-accent-color has-light-background-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-bd161c98d845ccce6904985904015b6a">🎙️ Latest episode: <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/">Gutenberg Changelog #103 – Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and Updates from the Training Team </a> with Nadia Maya Ardiani</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2024/06/17/design-share-58-jun-3-jun-14/"><strong>Design Share #58 (Jun 3-Jun 14)</strong></a>, <strong>Joen Asmussen</strong> shared the work by the WordPress design team in the previous two weeks, among them</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>A light Playground site update</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Color &amp; Fill?</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fix site editor frame artifacts</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2024/06/28/design-share-59-jun-17-jun-28/"><strong>Design Share 59 (Jun 17-Jun&nbsp;28)</strong></a>, Asmussen highlighted: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Background/Image Tools</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rename of Fill → Grow for the Flex layouts. </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clean up of Dimension Tools</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aligning Naming Modals</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adding custom fields in data views</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Design tools exploration: Contextual color controls and new panels for Background, and Elements</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lessons in Course page</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Open Graph images</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Theme preview</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Asmussen also lists helpful links to Figma Design Library, GitHub tracking issues and issues that need design work and feedback. Check in if you&#8217;d like to contribute with feedback and PRs.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2024/06/28/design-share-59-jun-17-jun-28/"><img width="652" height="330" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-29-at-13.13.50.png?resize=652%2C330&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29103" /></a><em>Mockup of possible screen to add Custom Fields in a very early exploration</em>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2024&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: <strong><strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">2020</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2021/">2021</a></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2022/">2022</a></strong></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2023">2023</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="plugins-themes-and-tools-for-nocode-site-builders-and-owners">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you know that there are now almost <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/"><strong>800 block themes </strong></a>available in the WordPress Theme Directory? 796 is today&#8217;s number. The most themes were built by the designers at <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/author/automattic/">Automattic: 183 themes</a>, of which the latest two are <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/sunderland/">Sunderland</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/otis/">Otis</a>. The designs from all theme designers become more and more interesting, for all kinds of use cases. If you haven&#8217;t done it recently, get our favorite beverage and start a browsing tour. You might be amazed what the Theme directory has to offer, especially after the refresh of the design and the new preview screens for patterns and style variations. </p>\n\n\n\n<img width="652" height="184" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-29-at-13.06.03.png?resize=652%2C184&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29102" />\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bud Kraus</strong> explored the Block editor&#8217;s Command Palette and takes you along for the tour in his post <a href="https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/wordpress-command-palette"><strong>Using the WordPress Command Palette to Work With Faster and Smarter</strong></a>. He <a href="https://x.com/joyofwp/status/1805563770384613555">commented on X</a>: &#8220;Even after writing this for Hostinger I still hardly use it. Maybe I am waiting for a more mature tool that we should see once the entire WP Admin gets overhauled.&#8221; What do you think? </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jamie Marsland</strong> summarized the most important features in his video: <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4D1dHTZvQQ">WordPress 6.6 &#8211; Huge Changes Coming Soon!</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">\n<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WPBeginner</strong>&#8216;s editorial staff posted <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com/news/whats-coming-in-wordpress-6-6-features-and-screenshots/"><strong>What’s Coming in WordPress 6.6 (Features and Screenshots)</strong></a> as a quick overview what will make it into the new version. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> and <strong>Nick Diego</strong> shared  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYdkXAx7qw"><strong>What’s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6</strong></a> in this week&#8217;s Developer Hours. The recording is available on YouTube and Presentation resources were shared in <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p9QzJ9MnFneoSun85f-6ZDRGJiIjlNNe2sqEcTGNDeM/edit#heading=h.uy7q2zyn0xy9"><em>this Google Doc</em></a>. &#8220;WordPress 6.6 will be released on July 16, 2024, bringing many exciting new features for theme developers. In this session, we explore how these updates can enhance your themes and streamline your development processes. Key highlights include: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li>Major upgrades to the block style variations system &#8211;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New color and typography-only style presets &#8211;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enhanced grid layout options in the Group block</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Specificity changes for Core styles &#8220;</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">\n<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p>Last week I already shared the short video by Beatrix Fialho, now you can follow the whole discussion via the <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/25/recap-hallway-hangout-theme-building-with-playground-create-block-theme-plugin-and-github/">Recap Hallway Hangout: Theme Building with Playground, Create-block-theme plugin, and GitHub</a></strong> with shared resources, step-by-step instructions, a recording of the full discussion and the transcript.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Carolina Nymark</strong>, core contributor and keeper of fullsiteediting.com updated lessons on her site to include the most recent changes in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class="wp-block-list">\n<li><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/global-styles/">Global Styles &amp; theme.json</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/theme-json-color-options/">Theme.json color options</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/theme-json-font-size/">Theme.json typography: Font size</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/theme-json-typography-font-styles/">Theme.json typography: Line height, font weight and more</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href="https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/how-to-add-box-shadows-with-theme-json/">How to add shadows with theme.json</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bernie Reiter</strong> published a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/proposal-block-variation-aliases/"><strong>Proposal: Block Variation Aliases</strong></a> for WordPress 6.7 and request feedback on a new method to add Block variations specific class names in front end and database. It will have technical ramification regarding backwards compatibility. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Coords</strong> just released a video on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNtHywyxWdc"><strong>WordPress 6.6 is changing the game for Custom Fields</strong></a> in which he walks you through the power of block binding and locking down templates for editing. Later on, he also shows you how to Block Bindings with a block variation. Coords also provides example code. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now also available via <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json">WordPress Playground</a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">Email me </a>with your experience</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size"><em>Questions? Suggestions? 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