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




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: GitHub Adds Dependency Graphs, Security Alerts for PHP Repos";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=94088";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"https://wptavern.com/github-adds-dependency-graphs-security-alerts-for-php-repos";s: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:4157:"<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>PHP developers everywhere can rejoice as GitHub adds the long-awaited <a href="https://github.blog/2019-09-18-dependency-graph-supports-php-repos-with-composer-dependencies/">dependency graphs feature for PHP repositories</a> that use Composer.  The feature provides security alerts, shows dependency insights, and displays the dependents of a given repository.  If enabled, it can also automatically send security fixes to the repository via pull requests.</p>



<p>GitHub initially added support for JavaScript and Ruby when <a href="https://github.blog/2017-11-16-introducing-security-alerts-on-github/">rolling out dependency graphs in 2017</a>. They added <a href="https://github.blog/2019-07-02-yarn-support-for-security-alerts/">support for Yarn lock files</a> in July of this year. This has been a boon to the JavaScript community as it alerts developers of vulnerabilities in code they&#8217;re using and shipping to users.</p>



<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re also seeing PHP and Composer grow in popularity&#8211;PHP is the fourth most popular language on GitHub and Composer is the fourth most starred PHP project,&#8221; wrote Justin Hutchings, Senior Product Manager at GitHub.  The company has taken notice of the trends.  JavaScript is a hot topic in many developer circles today, but PHP frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony continue growing in popularity and dominate among <a href="https://github.com/topics/php">popular PHP repositories</a>.</p>



<p>Composer is the <em>de facto</em> standard for PHP dependency management.  Core WordPress first <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43558">added Composer support</a> for development environments in version 5.1.  While it&#8217;s not a part of the release package, this was some small victory after a <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23912">years-long discussion</a> of adding a basic <code>composer.json</code> file to core.  Core hasn&#8217;t fully embraced Composer or any type of PHP dependency management, but plugin and theme authors are using it more than a few short years ago.  The new alerts and automatic pull requests will offer one more avenue for catching security issues with plugins and themes.</p>



<p>GitHub seems to be rolling this feature out in waves.  After checking some repositories with dependency graphs enabled, some still do not have their PHP dependencies listed.  It may take some time, but developers should start seeing dependencies appear that are listed in their <code>composer.json</code> or <code>composer.lock</code> files.</p>



<p>Public repositories should begin seeing automatic security alerts when an issue is found.  GitHub will start notifying repository owners of these alerts via web notifications or email, depending on what the account holder has set as their preference.  Developers with private repos or who have disabled dependency graphs will need to enable them to take advantage of the new feature.</p>



<p>Security alerts on old repositories could become an annoyance.  GitHub recommends archiving those repos.  &#8220;Archived repositories send a signal to the rest of the community that they aren&#8217;t maintained and don&#8217;t receive security alerts,&#8221; explained Hutchings.</p>



<p>Developers who have opted into GitHub&#8217;s <a href="https://help.github.com/en/articles/configuring-automated-security-fixes">automatic security fixes beta</a> feature can now enjoy automatic pull requests (PRs) from GitHub when vulnerabilities are found.  GitHub creates a PR with the minimum possible secure version.  The developer can then merge the PR at their discretion.</p>



<p>Dependency graphs also make for a much nicer experience when browsing a repository&#8217;s dependencies.  Previously, developers would need to dive into a project&#8217;s <code>composer.json</code> or view them from Packagist, the official package directory for Composer.  Developers can now click on a link to view a dependent repository.</p>



<p>Rolling this feature out for PHP repos is a welcome addition and should help more projects keep their code secure.</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, 20 Sep 2019 17:45:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"BuddyPress: A new place to learn how to build on top of BuddyPress!";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=307844";s: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:45:"https://buddypress.org/2019/09/bp-devhub-1-0/";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:4575:"<p>Hi!</p>



<p>We’re very excited to officially announce the launch of a new development resources site on the BuddyPress.org network.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://developer.buddypress.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2019/09/bpdevhub-landing-page-1024x652.png" alt="" class="wp-image-307848" /></a></div>



<p>Today we are inaugurating <strong><a href="https://developer.buddypress.org/">developer.buddypress.org</a></strong> with a complete <a href="https://developer.buddypress.org/bp-rest-api/">handbook documenting the BP REST API</a>. This API will be introduced into our next major version which is scheduled on September 30, 2019. We thought you’d be interested to have a tool to help you discover the BuddyPress REST endpoints and their parameters to start playing with them (You’ll need <a href="https://buddypress.org/2019/09/buddypress-5-0-0-release-candidate/">BuddyPress 5.0.0-RC1</a> to have even more fun with it!).</p>



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



<h2 id="rest-api-handbook">Using the BP REST API Handbook</h2>



<p>The main part of the handbook is the «&nbsp;Developer Endpoint Reference&nbsp;». We grouped these endpoints according to the component they belongs to.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2019/09/bpdevhub-02-911x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-307845" /><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2019/09/bpdevhub-02.png" target="_blank">View the full screenshot in a new tab.</a></div>



<p>Each page of the reference is firstly introducing the component and describing the data schema of items contained into the REST responses. Then for each verb (or method), you&#8217;ll find the available arguments, their definition and an example of use with the <code><a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2019/09/12/let-us-start-using-the-bp-rest-api/">bp.apiRequest()</a></code> JavaScript function. Below is a screenshot of the method to get a specific Activity.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://developer.buddypress.org/bp-rest-api/reference/activity/#retrieve-a-specific-activity"><img src="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2019/09/bpdevhub-verb-example.png" alt="" class="wp-image-307851" /></a></div>



<h2>The future of this development resources hub</h2>



<p>You can have a good idea of what’s coming next into this developer oriented site looking at its current landing page. We will first work on building the full <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6812">PHP Code Reference for BuddyPress</a>: functions, classes and hooks.<br /></p>



<p>Then, we haven’t planned anything yet <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/263a.png" alt="☺" class="wp-smiley" /> and we’re very opened to ideas and of course contributions about the «&nbsp;how&nbsp;» step and the «&nbsp;do&nbsp;» one.</p>



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



<h2>About the editing workflow</h2>



<p>Unlike the BuddyPress Codex, it’s not possible for everyone to directly edit the content of the BP REST API Handbook or the future PHP Code Reference.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/newticket"><img src="https://buddypress.org/wp-content/uploads/1/2019/09/new-ticket.png" alt="" class="wp-image-307857" /></a></div>



<p>But you can always report issues or suggest improvements using our <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org">Bug Tracker</a> making sure to select the «&nbsp;<strong>BuddyPress.org sites</strong>&nbsp;» option of the components dropdown of your ticket.</p>



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



<h2>Props</h2>



<p>The first version of the development resources hub was built thanks to the involvement of these contributors:</p>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/boonebgorges/">Boone B Gorges (boonebgorges)</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnjamesjacoby/">John James Jacoby (johnjamesjacoby)</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/imath/">Mathieu Viet (imath)</a>,  <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tw2113/">Michael Beckwith (tw2113)</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/espellcaste/">Renato Alves (espellcaste)</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweb/">Stephen Edgar (netweb)</a>.</p>



<p>Many thanks to them <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f609.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 20 Sep 2019 14:47:52 +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:"imath";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"Post Status: Salesforce Ventures invests $300 million in Automattic, at a $3 billion valuation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=68901";s: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://poststatus.com/salesforce-ventures-automattic/";s: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:6125:"<p>Salesforce Ventures is the investment arm of Salesforce. Prior to this investment in <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a>, Salesforce Ventures had <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/funds/">announced</a> $875 million raised across 11 fund initiatives — but none that amounts to $300 million. Previosuly, each fund has been between $50 to $125 million spread across several <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/salesforce-ventures/investments/investments_list">investments</a>.</p>



<p>I believe <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/">Salesforce Ventures</a> called up funds specifically for this strategic investment in Automattic, which would likely put their total dollars invested (or committed to existing funds) well beyond $1 billion, and the $300 million into Automattic would be their largest investment to date, to my knowledge.</p>



<p>Salesforce Ventures states on their website that they are exclusively seeking investments in &#8220;enterprise cloud&#8221; companies. In Automattic Founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s <a href="https://ma.tt/2019/09/series-d/">announcement</a> about the funding, he specifically noted how Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, &#8220;helped open my eyes to the incredible traction WordPress <a href="https://wpvip.com/">and WP VIP</a> has seen in the enterprise market, and how much potential there still is there.&#8221; I am curious to see how Automattic changes their approach to VIP in particular, in light of this.</p>



<p>$300 million is a lot of money. Salesforce is joining Insight Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and True Ventures as primary outside investors in Automattic. </p>



<p>Given that Salesforce was the lead and only investor here, they now own a significant stake in Automattic — and it will be interesting to see what kind of confluence that enables between the two companies. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg tells me, &#8220;Automattic has been a long-time customer of Salesforce’s products, and we think there are lots of opportunities for closer integration.&#8221;</p>



<p>Since Automattic recently acquired Tumblr and brought on a few hundred new employees from it, it&#8217;s natural to think the new fundraising is related. I asked Matt about that, and he said it was unrelated in terms of financial justification, but they did, &#8220;disclose the Tumblr transaction to Salesforce during [their] discussions.&#8221;</p>



<p>Automattic hasn&#8217;t raised money since 2014, and it seems like this round is similar to prior ones, wherein the money helps spur their growth plans along but that they are operationally profitable — or close to it. Matt <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/automattic-raises-300-million-at-3-billion-valuation-from-salesforce-ventures/">told Techcrunch</a>, &#8220;The roadmap is the same. I just think we might be able to do it in five years instead of ten.&#8221;</p>



<p>Matt called the investment proof of Salesforce&#8217;s own &#8220;tremendous vote of confidence for Automattic and for the open web.&#8221; Salesforce does have some history of supporting <a href="https://opensource.salesforce.com/">open source projects</a>, although that shouldn&#8217;t be equated to an investment in Automattic as a company; it is a vote of confidence for companies that rely on open-source platforms as a part of their line of business.</p>



<p>Automattic is the single most significant contributor to WordPress and related open-source projects. It also relies on open-source software for its product development — particularly Jetpack and WooCommerce — and features like Gutenberg as the core experience for writing and site-building. How that blend of open source software and business development plays out, in the long run, is certainly of high interest to the open-source community.</p>



<p>I have long discussed on various platforms how I think there are a handful of companies that are big enough to acquire Automattic someday. I still think Automattic is more likely to go public at some point, but if they are acquired, Salesforce is definitely one of those few with the resources to make it happen, and perhaps the operational congruence as well.</p>



<p>Reaching a $3 billion valuation is an amazing feat that Automattic has achieved. Matt has said before that he believes each of their primary lines of business — WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Jetpack — can be multi-billion dollar opportunities. I agree with him, particularly for WooCommerce. I think there&#8217;s a good chance WooCommerce will end up several times more valuable than all their other lines of business combined. <span class="pullquote alignleft">I would love to see these new funds be funnelled into the incredible opportunity in the eCommerce landscape; one only needs to look at what Shopify has done to see what&#8217;s possible, and just how successful it can be.</span> </p>



<p>I asked Matt why he was attracted to an investment from Salesforce&#8217;s VC arm, rather than an investment-only style firm. He said, &#8220;I love Salesforce’s philosophy, how they cultivate such a fantastic community, how they support progressive policies in San Francisco and the other cities they operate in, how they’ve been founder-led, their scale, their leadership, and their longevity in defining an entirely new class of software and being the most significant player in it.&#8221;</p>



<p>I love the point about Salesforce defining a class of software — and I have realized recently just how huge their developer community is — so I really appreciate this comment from Matt. Making commercial and SaaS software is a well-established business now. Automattic is in a unique position as the most powerful player in an <em>open</em> ecosystem proud of its independence. This provides many unique opportunities for Automattic the business and unique challenges for Automattic the WordPress community member.</p>



<p><em>Image credit: <a href="https://ma.tt/2019/09/series-d/">Matt Mullenweg</a>, whose blog I brazenly stole it from.</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 23:05:39 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"WPTavern: WordPress Community Contributors to Host Free Online Diversity Workshop Ahead of WordCamp US";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93735";s: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:113:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-contributors-to-host-free-online-diversity-workshop-ahead-of-wordcamp-us";s: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:5663:"<p>WordCamp US will <a href="https://2019.us.wordcamp.org/2019/08/08/wordcamp-us-debuts-community-track/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">debut a new Community Track</a> in November that will feature sessions and workshops on topics like meetups, WordCamps, diversity and inclusion, and kids/youth. Jill Binder, Allie Nimmons, Aurooba Ahmed, and David Wolfpaw will be hosting a workshop called &#8220;Creating a Welcoming and Diverse Space&#8221; at the event. In order to adequately prepare for presenting on this sensitive topic, the team will be <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/09/13/call-for-participants-creating-a-welcoming-and-diverse-space-online-workshop-on-sun-oct-6/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">running the workshop in a live, interactive Zoom call on Sunday, October 6</a>.</p>
<p>In light of the recent news about <a href="https://wptavern.com/php-central-europe-conference-canceled-due-to-lack-of-speaker-diversity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a central European PHP conference getting canceled due to a lack of a diverse lineup</a>, the broader PHP community is becoming more conscious of the importance of recruiting speakers that better represent their communities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The <a href="https://tiny.cc/wpdiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diverse Speaker Workshops</a> that I’m running in WordPress and am <a href="https://diversein.tech/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bringing to other technologies</a> have been just as important for years as they are now,&#8221; training leader <a href="https://diversein.tech" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jill Binder</a> said. &#8220;These workshops are an essential piece to the whole puzzle for creating diverse communities, attendance at events, public speakers, and ultimately, leaders and organizers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Binder said there are many factors in society that work against having diversity in a tech event’s public speaker lineup, but one that her team is specifically tackling in these workshops is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">imposter syndrome</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our workshops help folks bust through their impostor syndrome and develop a topic, title, pitch, bio, and outline, more confidence in public speaking, and the motivation to start speaking,&#8221; Binder said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The new workshop that Allie, Aurooba, David, and I are creating for WordCamp US on &#8216;Creating a Welcoming and Diverse Space&#8217; is another important piece to the puzzle. We are going to be teaching mindset, community, environment, speakers, and allyship. It will be an interactive workshop where people will walk away with an action list they can start implementing in their communities (whether in person or online) right away.&#8221;</p>
<p>Some organizers of tech events have claimed that for certain events it is impossible to create a diverse lineup of speakers due to the demographics of the community and lack of willing participants.</p>
<p>Binder said that in her experience it is unlikely that more diverse people are unwilling to speak but rather that the event is not being created with more kinds of people in mind. She offered a few suggestions for organizers to consider in planning ahead for a welcoming and diverse space:</p>
<ul>
<li>Have the event at different times that work for people with families. For example, don’t hold them all at 9pm at night. Weekend afternoons may work. Ask those with children what works for them.</li>
<li>Consider venues that are not centered around alcohol (like bars and pubs). This opens up the event to attendees who are under 21, recovering addicts, folks who belong to a religious group that prohibits alcohol, and many other people who don’t feel safe or welcome in an alcohol-focused environment.</li>
<li>Choose venues that have accessible alternatives to stairs, such as elevators and ramps.</li>
<li>Try to have more diversity in the organizing team.</li>
<li>Bring in more diverse speakers. Don’t know how? Check out the Diverse Speaker Workshop – <a href="https://tiny.cc/wpdiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in WordPress</a> and in <a href="https://diversein.tech/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">other techs communities.</a></li>
</ul>
<p>She also recommends organizers directly invite more people into their communities.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ask people in your network to introduce you to diverse people they may know who work with WordPress or your technology,&#8221; Binder said. &#8220;You can even go out and find those communities in your area – online and in person – or ask people to make an introduction for you to those groups. Examples of groups: Ladies Learning Code, Black Girls Code. Form genuine, friendly relationships with community members so that they can help you reach the WordPress enthusiasts in their communities.&#8221;</p>
<p>Binder said the team will go into more detail on these topics during the workshop. Anyone who would like to learn more is welcome to attend the online public rehearsal for the workshop on October 6, at 3pm-5pm ET. This is a unique opportunity for those who cannot attend WordCamp US to join in on one of the interactive workshops. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2019/09/13/call-for-participants-creating-a-welcoming-and-diverse-space-online-workshop-on-sun-oct-6/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Comment on the Community team&#8217;s post</a> with contact information and workshop leaders will send the zoom link and more information.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 22:14:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WPTavern: Bayleaf: A Food and Recipe Blog Theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=94041";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:57:"https://wptavern.com/bayleaf-a-food-and-recipe-blog-theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5971:"<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>With the WordPress theme directory dominated by business-oriented themes, it&#8217;s sometimes tough to find themes that cater to more specific user groups. If you dig deep enough, you&#8217;ll find something outside the norm.  <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/bayleaf/">Bayleaf</a> is a blog theme specifically designed for sharing food and recipes.  </p>



<p>The theme is designed and developed by <a href="https://vedathemes.com/">Vedathemes</a>.  They currently have three themes in the theme directory, which follow the same clean design trend of Bayleaf.</p>



<p>Food-related themes excite me.  In my off-time, I&#8217;m often browsing recipe blogs and looking for my next culinary experiment.  The problem with many such sites is their designs have too much noise instead of just showcasing the content visitors are looking for.  I was pleasantly surprised at the minimalist and open approach in the <a href="https://vedathemes.com/bayleaf-pro/">Bayleaf demo</a>.</p>



<p><em>Admittedly, I was drawn in by all the yummy food pics.</em></p>



<p>The theme author has obviously taken a look at the food blogs and built a design that showcases what&#8217;s possible without adding complexity.  The related posts feature is also a nice extra for site visitors who&#8217;ll likely look for related recipes.</p>



<p>Bayleaf combines the Poppins and Montserrat font families to create bold headers that are complimented by readable body copy.  The theme comes with options for displaying a sidebar on single posts or pages, but I&#8217;d recommend opting out.  The design works best without a sidebar, allowing more breathing room for sharing food images.</p>



<p>The theme is slowly building an audience since its release in February.  It currently has 1,000+ installs and a five-star rating from six reviews in the theme directory.</p>



<h2>Create a Unique Look with the Display Posts Widget</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>Bayleaf&#8217;s most prominent custom feature is its Display Posts widget.  By placing this widget in the Homepage Above Content or Homepage Below Content sidebar, users have a ton of variety with how their site looks.  No two homepages need look alike.</p>



<p>The widget comes with six list, grid, and slider styles to choose from. It supports custom post types and taxonomies, so users can use it for content such as events, products, or anything else they want to showcase.</p>



<p>My first thought when viewing the demo was, <em>Not another complicated slider with a hard-to-configure customizer experience.</em> While I&#8217;m not usually a fan of sliders, configuring this one was easy.  Plus, the grid and list styles offered alternative options.</p>



<p>A lot of themes overdo features like this, offering a clunky experience within the customizer.  However, Bayleaf keeps it simple by packaging the feature as a widget with just enough variety to cover most use cases.</p>



<p>My one complaint with the Display Posts widget is that it was hard to find at first.  At this point, it should be standard practice to prefix custom widgets with the theme name.  &#8220;Bayleaf: Display Posts&#8221; would&#8217;ve been far easier to pick from the widget lineup.</p>



<h2>Handling Block Editor Support</h2>



<div class="wp-block-image"><img /></div>



<p>I tested Bayleaf against the latest public release of the Gutenberg plugin. The theme is not without a few problems, which is par for the course with most themes supporting the block editor.  The Gutenberg plugin&#8217;s development is fast-paced, and it&#8217;s tough for theme authors to keep up.  Something that works one week could break the next.</p>



<p>The theme takes a minimalist approach with regards to the editor, allowing the default editor styles to handle much of the layout.  With the break-neck pace of change, this can sometimes be a better approach than attempting to manage every style.</p>



<p>There are areas where Bayleaf could be more opinionated.  For example, the alignment and typography for the post title aren&#8217;t a one-to-one match between the editor and front end.  The content width is wider on the front end than the editor, which means the number of characters per line doesn&#8217;t match.  There are several minor items where the block editor overrules theme styles.</p>



<p>The theme doesn&#8217;t offer a 100% WYSIWYG experience, but it&#8217;s close enough at this stage and doesn&#8217;t break anything.  Most issues are trivial and will simply take some adjustment time, assuming Gutenberg development settles a bit.</p>



<h2>How Does the Code Stand Up?</h2>



<p>Bayleaf isn&#8217;t pushing any boundaries, but it&#8217;s solid in comparison to the average theme.  It&#8217;s based on the Underscores starter, which serves as the <em>de facto</em> standard for many themes in the official directory.</p>



<p>The theme doesn&#8217;t have a ton of custom code, so there are few places it could go wrong.</p>



<p>Like all themes in the official directory, it undergoes a rigorous review process.  It&#8217;s <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/query?keywords=~theme-bayleaf">Trac history</a> doesn&#8217;t show anything worrisome.  Vedathemes seems to have a good grasp of building themes that meet the official theme review standards.</p>



<h2>The Final Verdict</h2>



<p>You won&#8217;t find a boatload of options in Bayleaf.  What you will find is a clean design that gets out of the way but with enough features to have fun tinkering around on your blog for a couple of hours.  The Display Posts widget can get you pretty far with little work.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a change to your food or recipe blog, you can&#8217;t go wrong giving this theme a run. </p>



<p>The theme could also be used for other types of sites.  There are no specific features that limit its use to only food blogging.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:49:50 +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:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: Automattic Raises $300M in Series D Investment Round, Valuation Jumps to $3 Billion";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=94026";s: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:101:"https://wptavern.com/automattic-raises-300m-in-series-d-investment-round-valuation-jumps-to-3-billion";s: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:6254:"<p><a href="https://automattic.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Automattic</a> announced another round of funding today, a $300 million Series D investment from <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Salesforce Ventures</a>, giving the company a $3 billion valuation post-funding. The last time Automattic raised money was $160 million in a Series C round in 2014. Since that time the company has grown to more than 950 employees and made strategic acquisitions, including <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-woocommerce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> in 2015 and <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-tumblr-plans-to-rebuild-the-backend-powered-by-wordpress" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> (closing in 2019).</p>
<p>CEO Matt Mulleneweg <a href="https://ma.tt/2019/09/series-d/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> the funds will enable the company to speed up and scale its product development, as well as continue the company&#8217;s continual contributions to WordPress:</p>
<blockquote><p>For Automattic, the funding will allow us to accelerate our roadmap (perhaps by double) and scale up our existing products—including WordPress.com, WordPress VIP, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and (in a few days when it closes) Tumblr. It will also allow us to increase investing our time and energy into the future of the open source WordPress and Gutenberg.</p></blockquote>
<p>In 2016, Mullenweg <a href="https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-powers-42-of-all-online-stores" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">identified both Jetpack and WooCommerce as “multi-billion dollar opportunities”</a> that could each be larger than WordPress.com in the future. Jetpack has grown from 1+ million users in 2016 to more than 5 million today. The plugin&#8217;s product team has aggressively expanded its commercial plans and features and is one of the first to experiment with offering <a href="https://wptavern.com/jetpack-7-6-improves-amp-compatibility-adds-preview-and-upgrade-nudge-for-blocks-only-available-on-paid-plans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">previews and commercial upgrade nudges for blocks in WordPress&#8217; editor</a>.</p>
<p>WooCommerce has also grown to more than 5 million active installs (from 1+ million in 2015 at the time of acquisition). The e-commerce platform has a more challenging market with formidable competitors like Shopify, which recently <a href="https://observer.com/2019/09/shopify-ebay-amazon-ecommerce-growth/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">overtook eBay as the second largest shopping site after Amazon</a>. Shopify <a href="https://investors.shopify.com/Investor-News-Details/2019/Shopify-Announces-Second-Quarter-2019-Financial-Results/default.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported $362 million in revenue</a> during its last quarter with $153 million coming from subscriptions to the Shopify platform.</p>
<p>I asked Mullenweg about how the funding might help Automattic make WooCommerce more user-friendly and competitive. Despite going up against the seemingly indomitable e-commerce powerhouses, Mullenweg sees WooCommerce&#8217;s platform an opportunity for growing independent stores on the web.</p>
<p>&#8220;WooCommerce already represents the best way to marry content and commerce, and has a huge advantage being so tightly integrated from a user perspective with WordPress itself,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;However it also inherits some of the barriers WordPress has to adoption, particularly from new users. I think that Gutenberg will help a ton, as it&#8217;s better than any of the builders the eCommerce players have, and when that gets combined with the flexibility, control, and scalability you get from WP + WooCommerce it&#8217;s going to be huge. There&#8217;s a ton of work left to do, though, and we&#8217;re trying to grow that team as quickly as possible to keep up with the opportunity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mullenweg declined to share any information about Jetpack and WooCommerce&#8217;s revenue today but confirmed that they have not yet eclipsed WordPress.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;What I can say is that WP.com is still our biggest business, and WooCommerce was our fastest growing last year,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Automattic&#8217;s most recent round of funding will help the company better monetize these products that have grown in tandem with WordPress&#8217; market share, which W3Techs puts at <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress/all/all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">34.5%</a> of the top 10 million websites. Independent stores sitting on top of this large chunk of the web represent a significant market that Automattic is currently dominating in the WordPress space.</p>
<p>The Tumblr acquisition also affords another opportunity to introduce e-commerce solutions to more of Automattic&#8217;s customers. Mullenweg previously said the Tumblr app receives 20X more daily signups than the WordPress mobile app. The social network/blogging hybrid also has a significantly younger user base, based on <a href="https://weareflint.co.uk/main-findings-social-media-demographics-uk-usa-2018" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a 2018 study</a> that found 43 percent of internet users between the ages of 18 to 24 years old used Tumblr. It&#8217;s an untapped market for e-commerce, as Tumblr users who want to sell currently have to use a service like Shopify or Ecwid and generate a Tumblr-compatible widget.</p>
<p>Mullenweg said the acquisition hasn&#8217;t closed yet but Automattic may explore e-commerce on Tumblr in 2020.</p>
<p>&#8220;Once it closes there will be a few months of normal integration work and getting the teams working together, making sure we have harmonized policies on support, content moderation, anti-spam, ads, and all of those lower-level things,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Beyond that I’ve seen what you’re seeing — a lot of Tumblr users want access to more customization and e-Commerce. There are no specific plans yet but I imagine that’s something the team will consider for next year’s roadmap.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:15:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"Matt: Automattic’s Series D";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=50121";s: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:31:"https://ma.tt/2019/09/series-d/";s: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:3727:"<p>Today <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> announced it has closed a new $300 million Series D, with <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/">Salesforce Ventures</a> taking the entire round. This puts us at a post-round valuation of $3 billion, three times what it was after our last fundraising round in 2014. It&#8217;s a tremendous vote of confidence for Automattic and for the open web.</p>



<p>I met <a href="https://twitter.com/Benioff">Marc Benioff</a> earlier this year, and it became obvious to both of us that <a href="https://salesforce.com/">Salesforce</a> and Automattic shared a lot of principles and philosophies. Marc is a mindful leader and his sensibilities and sense of purpose feel well aligned with our own mission to make the web a better place. He also helped open my eyes to the incredible traction WordPress <a href="https://wpvip.com/">and WP VIP</a> has seen in the enterprise market, and how much potential there still is there. I’ve also loved re-connecting with <a href="https://twitter.com/btaylor">Bret Taylor</a> who is now Salesforce’s President and Chief Product Officer. Bret’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Taylor">experience</a> across Google Maps, Friendfeed, Facebook, Quip, and now transforming Salesforce makes him one of the singular product thinkers out there and our discussion of Automattic’s portfolio of services have been very helpful already.</p>



<p>For Automattic, the funding will allow us to accelerate our roadmap (perhaps by double) and scale up our existing products—including <a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a>, <a href="https://wpvip.com/">WordPress VIP</a>, <a href="https://woocommerce.com/">WooCommerce</a>, <a href="https://jetpack.com/">Jetpack</a>, and (in a few days when it closes) <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>. It will also allow us to increase investing our time and energy into the future of the open source <a href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/">Gutenberg</a>.</p>



<p>The Salesforce funding is also a vote of confidence for the future of work. Automattic has grown to more than 950 employees working from 71 countries, with no central office for several years now. <a href="https://distributed.blog/">Distributed work</a> is going to reshape how we spread opportunity more equitably around the world. There continue to be new heights shown of what can be achieved in a distributed fashion, with <a href="https://about.gitlab.com/2019/09/17/gitlab-series-e-funding/">Gitlab announcing a round at $2.75B earlier this week</a>.</p>



<p>Next year Automattic celebrates 15 years as a company! The timing is fortuitous as we&#8217;ve all just returned from <a href="https://ma.tt/2018/10/the-importance-of-meeting-in-person/">Automattic&#8217;s annual Grand Meetup</a>, where more than 800 of us got together in person to share our experiences, explore new ideas, and have some fun. I am giddy to work alongside these wonderful people for another 15 years and beyond.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re curious my previous posts on our fundraising, here&#8217;s our <a href="https://ma.tt/2006/04/a-little-funding/">2006 Series A</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2008/01/act-two/">2008 Series B</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2013/05/automattic-secondary/">2013 secondary</a>, and <a href="https://ma.tt/2014/05/new-funding-for-automattic/">2014 Series C</a>. As before, happy to answer questions in the comments here. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/automattic-raises-300-million-at-3-billion-valuation-from-salesforce-ventures/">I also did an exclusive interview with Romain Dillet on (WP-powered) Techcrunch</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 13:01:36 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 6.5 Adds Experimental Block Directory Search to Inserter and New Social Links Block";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=94000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:114:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-6-5-adds-experimental-block-directory-search-to-inserter-and-new-social-links-block";s: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:3773:"<p>Gutenberg 6.5 was released today with a rough prototype that adds one-click search and installation of blocks from the block directory to the inserter. Selected blocks are automatically installed as a plugin in the background and inserted into the editor with one click.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/block-directory-experiment.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/17431" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pull request</a> for the experiment indicates that it&#8217;s still very much a work in progress. It extends the inserter to fetch a list of suggestBlocks similar to reusableBlocks, and the list is currently served from a mock API.</p>
<p>The prototype is can be turned on under the <strong>Gutenberg > Experiments</strong> menu, a relatively new Settings page that was <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16626" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">added in Gutenberg 6.3</a>. This menu also allows testers to enable the experimental Navigation Menu Block, Widgets Screen, and Legacy Widget Block.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-18-at-8.46.59-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Block Navigation has also been added to the experimental Navigation Block in this release. This addition is considered a first start that is expected to evolve over time.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/block-navigator.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;Regardless of how the UI evolves for this block, I think there will always be a need for representing the menu structure as a child block tree with all menu hierarchies mapped out consistently and not hidden (dropdowns, etc),&#8221; Gutenberg engineer Matias Ventura <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16812" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Luckily, we already have a view that handles that representation in the &#8216;block navigator.&#8217; That means if the navigation menu block is represented through child blocks, we&#8217;ll get this view for free.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the future, Gutenberg engineers may allow for drag-and-drop reordering of items in the navigator and may explore rendering the view inline or in a modal launched from the navigation menu block.</p>
<h3>Gutenberg 6.5 Adds New Social Links Block</h3>
<p>Gutenberg 6.5 also adds a new social links block under the widgets panel. It allows users to place social links anywhere within the content by clicking on the icons and pasting in their social URLs. The gif below demonstrates how the block works, although the grey placeholder icons have since been removed in favor of opacity changes to indicate unconfigured blocks.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/social-links-block.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>This release introduces a handful of other notable updates, including support for <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/17253" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">border radius changes in the button block</a>, support for <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/17101" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">adding captions to images in the Gallery block</a>, and the addition of <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16490" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">local autosaves</a>.</p>
<p>The 6.5 release post has not yet been published but the plugin update is available in the admin and a full list of enhancements and bug fixes can be found in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/#developers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">changelog</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 19 Sep 2019 03:41:01 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:110:"WPTavern: EditorsKit Adds Nofollow Options for Links, Fixes Bug with Gutenberg Metaboxes Overlapping in Chrome";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93971";s: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:120:"https://wptavern.com/editorskit-adds-nofollow-options-for-links-fixes-bug-with-gutenberg-metaboxes-overlapping-in-chrome";s: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:3528:"<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-options/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EditorsKit</a> is becoming somewhat of a &#8220;hotfix&#8221; plugin for Gutenberg, especially with the additions to the 1.14 release this week. Developer Jeffrey Carandang added new link formats for nofollow rel attribute options, along with a fix for an annoying bug in Chrome that causes Gutenberg metaboxes to overlap. He has been closely monitoring feedback on both Gutenberg and EditorsKit, introducing features for which users have an immediate need.</p>
<p>Google recently announced <a href="https://wptavern.com/google-announces-new-ways-to-identify-nofollow-links-progress-on-related-gutenberg-ticket-is-currently-stalled" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new ways to identify nofollow links</a> with two additional rel attribute options for specifying links as sponsored and/or user-generated content. The Gutenberg core team has expressed hesitation on a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609#issuecomment-527921959">PR that would add nofollow link options</a>, invoking WordPress&#8217; <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/philosophy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">80/20 rule</a>.</p>
<p>Since the related PR doesn&#8217;t seem to be a priority, with no movement for two weeks, Carandang decided to add the nofollow and sponsored rel attribute options to EditorsKit, so users can start following Google&#8217;s recommendations without having to switch to HTML mode. He also managed to make it work with the version of Gutenberg included in core.</p>
<p><a href="https://cloudup.com/cqP3APNEF3j"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/cldup.com/kLcfVSl1UW.gif?resize=627%2C495&ssl=1" alt="Nofollow link options" width="627" height="495" /></a></p>
<p>Chrome users may have noticed that <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/17406" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the block editor has a nasty bug with metaboxes overlapping</a>, obscuring the main content area. This problem was introduced in the recent Chrome 77 update and is present on WordPress 5.2.3 and older versions.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/metabox-overlapping.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Chrome developers are aware of the issue and a fix will be in the next release. Version 78 is expected October 22. Since it is a bug with Chrome, the Gutenberg team has opted not to release a fix/workaround for this problem. In the meantime, they recommend updating to WordPress 5.3 if it is released before the Chrome bug is fixed. This isn&#8217;t likely, as 5.3 is scheduled for mid-November.</p>
<p>The Gutenberg team also recommend using a different browser or installing the Gutenberg plugin to fix the issue. Andrea Fercia noted on the ticket that the plugin is still listed among WordPress&#8217; beta plugins and may not be advisable to use in production on some sites. Users with a technical background can implement one of several CSS solutions in the ticket, but this is a frustrating bug for users who don&#8217;t know how to apply code fixes.</p>
<p>Carandang added a fix for this bug to the most recent version of EditorsKit. So far his strategy of being responsive to users&#8217; requests seems to have been successful, as his Gutenberg utility plugin now has more than 1,000 active installs. He said he is happy to add hot fixes for EditorsKit users and will remove them once the fixes have been added to Chrome and/or the block editor.</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, 18 Sep 2019 19:42:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: Behind New Packages Project Lead, Theme Review Team Launches Admin Notices Solution";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93936";s: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://wptavern.com/behind-new-packages-project-lead-theme-review-team-launches-admin-notices-solution";s: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:7754:"<p>As part of the WordPress Theme Review Team&#8217;s plan to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-theme-review-team-seeks-to-curb-obtrusive-admin-notices-with-new-requirement-to-follow-core-design-patterns">curb obtrusive admin notices</a>, the team pushed version 1.0 of its <a href="https://github.com/WPTRT/admin-notices">Admin Notices</a> package to the public.  The new package provides a standard API for theme authors to display admin notices.</p>



<p>Ari Stathopoulos took over as the packages project lead in late August.  Stathopoulos is the primary developer and creator of the highly-rated <a href="https://kirki.org/">Kirki customizer framework</a>, which currently has 300,000+ active installs as a plugin.  However, the framework is also available as separate modules that theme authors can bundle within their themes.</p>



<p>The Admin Notices package is the third package produced by the team and the first that Stathopoulos has spearheaded.</p>



<p>Adding a basic admin notice in WordPress is relatively easy for most developers. However, handling features such as persistent dismissible actions is more complex.  The Admin Notices package handles this out of the box.</p>



<p>Some options for the package include the ability to:</p>



<ul><li>Set a title and message.</li><li>Select a type that adds in the appropriate UI class (info, success, warning, error).</li><li>Choose which admin screens the notice appears on.</li><li>Limit the message by user capability so that it doesn&#8217;t appear for all users.</li></ul>



<div class="wp-block-image"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wptrt-admin-notices-002.png?ssl=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img /></a></div>



<p>The above screenshot shows an example of a basic admin notice output for the four available types.  The dismiss action is handled by JavaScript and works without reloading the page.  Once dismissed, users will no longer see the notice.</p>



<p>&#8220;I think the hardest thing about it was deciding how restrictive we wanted it to be,&#8221; said Stathopoulos of the challenges building this package. The package restricts theme authors to paragraph, link, bold, and italic elements in version 1.0.  It doesn&#8217;t leave a lot of room for experimentation, but standardization is the goal.  The more elements allowed, the more likely the tool doesn&#8217;t solve the team&#8217;s problem of keeping admin notices unobtrusive.</p>



<h2>User Notifications Are a Complex Problem</h2>



<p>WordPress doesn&#8217;t provide a formal API for user notifications.  However, it does provide a standard set of CSS classes and a hook for attaching notices.  The Codex also has some examples of <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Action_Reference/admin_notices">best practices</a>.  The lack of a formal API has left theme and plugin authors to their own devices.  Users have suffered because of wildly varying implementations and common issues such as <a href="https://wptavern.com/please-stop-abusing-wordpress-admin-notices">non-dismissible advertisements</a>.</p>



<p>Tim Hengeveld <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43484">proposed a Notification Center API</a> on Trac in 2018.  The ticket has a healthy, ongoing discussion and some UI proposals.  The proposal is still marked as &#8220;Awaiting Review,&#8221; and it&#8217;s unlikely that it&#8217;ll ship anytime sooner than WordPress 5.4 or later.</p>



<p>Currently, many plugins and themes also use admin notices for user onboarding, which is a separate problem in need of a solution.  There&#8217;s a 4-year-old ticket that discusses <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34116">WordPress new-user onboarding</a>, but there&#8217;s not much movement to solve this problem for plugins and themes.</p>



<p>While the TRT&#8217;s package doesn&#8217;t tackle all issues associated with user notifications, it does help limit some of the short-term damage.</p>



<h2>More Packages in the Works</h2>



<p>More packages are currently being built and others are in the planning stages.</p>



<p>The goal of the overall project is to provide theme authors with drop-in modules they can bundle with their themes.  The packages are all written in PHP 5.6+ in hopes to push theme authors toward more modern coding practices (relatively speaking, since PHP 7.4 will be released this year).  It will also help streamline the review process if more theme authors adopt the packages rather than building everything in-house.</p>



<p>&#8220;If we build packages for the most-requested things, we&#8217;ll hopefully empower people to build quality themes easier,&#8221; explained Stathopoulos.  &#8220;I think of packages as building blocks for themes.&#8221;</p>



<p>Stathopoulos is working on a customizer control for selecting a color with alpha transparency, which could be released as early as next week.  It will provide theme users with more control over how their colors appear for themes that implement it.</p>



<p>&#8220;After we build the basics I want to focus on packages that would enhance a11y and privacy in themes &#8211; two areas where themes are falling short,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;It would help a lot of people, and that is ultimately our goal.&#8221;</p>



<p>Theme authors have grown accustomed to installing JavaScript and CSS packages via NPM over the past few years.  However, their use of Composer as a PHP dependency manager has lagged.  In some part, this could be due to WordPress&#8217; previous reluctance to bump its minimum version of PHP.  Many packages available on Packagist, the main Composer repository, do not work with older versions of PHP.  WordPress&#8217; recent jump to PHP 5.6+ and plans to move to 7+ in the future may push more theme authors to consider PHP dependency management.</p>



<p>The TRT has a <a href="https://packagist.org/packages/wptrt/">Packagist account</a> and has made all of its packages installable via Composer.</p>



<h2>No Requirement to Use Packages Yet</h2>



<p>There are no current plans for the TRT to start requiring the use of these packages for specific features, but a few team members have proposed doing so.</p>



<p>&#8220;There are valid reasons to enforce the use of these packages, but it can&#8217;t happen overnight,&#8221; said Stathopoulos. &#8220;We want themes in the repository to have some standards, it can not be the wild west. Code quality has to improve. These packages are a way to make life easier for people, and ultimately save time for everyone.&#8221;</p>



<p>Stathopoulos is open to theme authors building custom implementations if they can improve upon what the team has built, but he prefers that authors &#8220;discuss their ideas in the package repository and submit a pull-request so that the whole community can benefit.&#8221;</p>



<p>Getting theme authors involved is one area where the team has struggled.  Contributing to the packages could benefit the entire community.  &#8220;Most people don&#8217;t even know about them since they are not listed anywhere,&#8221; said Stathopoulos.  &#8220;Theme Authors currently have to look for them, and in order to look for them someone needs to tell them they exist (which doesn&#8217;t happen).&#8221;  One of the next steps would be getting the packages listed in the TRT&#8217;s documentation.</p>



<p>Working together on common theme features could provide a bridge between theme authors and reviewers, allowing them to solve issues together.</p>



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



<p><em>Note: The author of this article was involved with the initial theme packages proposal and a developer on its initial package releases.</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:"Wed, 18 Sep 2019 18:06:27 +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:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"HeroPress: Life Stacks Up –  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur";s: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=2963";s: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:192:"https://heropress.com/essays/life-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=life-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur";s: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:10001:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/091719-min-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: For me, WordPress means freedom, self expression, and adaptability." /><p>A six year old is in deep thought. His gaze stuck on an intricate structure made with wooden sticks – a large rectangular box in the centre, a tall stick, some knitting threads running up and down. All this is arranged in a shelf in a common terrace wall of two middle class Indian homes.</p>
<p>The boy is holding what seems like a paper cup telephone – two paper cups with a thread running between. Soon, he smiles and throws one paper cup over the wall to the other side. His counterpart on the other side picks up his side of the &#8220;telephone&#8221; and they start talking.</p>
<p>&#8220;I made a TV using the sticks. I&#8217;m now going to set up a power line&#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Awesome, I&#8217;ll be there after my homework!&#8221;</p>
<p>Aha! Now it makes sense. The kids are pretend-playing, and this one in particular is into science and model making. He has made an elaborate television model with limited resources.</p>
<p>Fast forward six years, and the boy is writing programs on a school computer. Couple years later he’s making model rockets and planes.</p>
<p>Fast forward another six years, and the boy is sitting with Bill Gates, being one of the eight national winners in a competition.</p>
<p>He goes on to launch India&#8217;s first electronic magazine, a web solutions business, local language versions of Linux and OpenOffice, a content management system, few books and a string of businesses that have made millions of dollars.</p>
<p>And he fondly remembers meeting Matt Mullenweg and Chris Lema at WordCamp San Francisco in 2014. His web agency business had gone bust around 2011, and his WordPress plugins business was picking up. Those meetings strengthened his conviction for WordPress and he doubled down on his plugins. Today his team takes care of 200,000+ active users across two dozen of their plugins – both free and premium.</p>
<p>That small town boy is me.</p>
<h3>Who I Am</h3>
<p>My name is Nirav Mehta. I live in Mumbai, and I&#8217;m super passionate content, commerce and contribution. I run three businesses – two in WordPress (<a href="https://www.storeapps.org/">StoreApps.org</a> – where we solve problems for growing WooCommerce stores,<a href="http://icegram.com/"> Icegram.com</a> – where creators find tools to inspire, engage and convert their audiences), and one SaaS business (<a href="https://www.putler.com/">Putler</a> – meaningful analytics for e-commerce).</p>
<p>I have done some or other form of writing for over two decades. I&#8217;ve done open source for my whole life and used Drupal and Joomla earlier. As a matter of fact, I created a content management system using PHP back in 2000. But I liked the simplicity and community of WordPress. So when I wanted to start two blogs in 2006, I jumped on to WordPress.</p>
<blockquote><p>And it was amazing. WordPress simplified a whole lot of things, allowed customization and had extensive plugin ecosystem.</p></blockquote>
<p>I continued blogging and tinkering with WordPress. WordPress kept growing, and when I was looking for &#8220;the next big thing&#8221; around 2011, I figured I can bet on e-commerce with WordPress.</p>
<p>There was no WooCommerce back then, and we built an extension to WPeC – an e-commerce plugin that was popular at that time. Smart Manager – the plugin we built – allowed managing products, orders and customers using an easy spreadsheet like interface. It quickly became popular. When WooCommerce came along, we ported our WPeC plugins to WooCommerce, and also became an official third-party developers with our Smart Coupons plugin. StoreApps – our WooCommerce plugins business continues to be our top business today.</p>
<p>WordPress has changed my life. For me, WordPress means freedom, self expression and adaptability.</p>
<h3>Where I Came From</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m from a small town, I am not an engineer, I didn&#8217;t do an MBA. I don&#8217;t have a godfather. But I&#8217;ve always wanted to contribute to a larger community, I&#8217;m a stickler for elegant solutions that solve practical problems and I&#8217;m ready to delay gratification. I believe grit and humility are essential. I&#8217;m a curious lifetime learner. I&#8217;ve realized that money is important, it&#8217;s a great resource. But I&#8217;ve also learnt that the joy of seeing someone benefit from your work far surpasses anything else.</p>
<p>WordPress fits perfectly here. It gives me a platform to reach out to the whole world. It&#8217;s built on community and greater good. There are lots of opportunities and entry barriers are low.</p>
<h3>What WordPress Has Given Me</h3>
<p>WordPress allowed me to exercise my creative skills and easily build solutions on top of the core platform. I am not a great marketer, and WordPress and WooCommerce enabled me to build strong businesses by tapping into their distribution prowess. WordPress was easy to learn, so when we found people with the right mindset, they became productive soon.</p>
<p>Icegram – our onsite and email marketing plugins business – is a clear example of the power of WordPress. Icegram Engage shows popups, header-footer bars and many other types of visitor engagement and call to action messages. Maintaining such a solution on a large scale would require huge server costs and sys-op efforts. We could avoid all that because we could keep most of the functionality in WordPress. It also provided a cleaner and much better user experience than typical SaaS solutions. When I wrote the initial code for it, I wanted to keep the frontend logic in JavaScript – and of course, WordPress allowed doing that. Eventually, it was also easy to migrate to a hybrid model – where complex functions are performed on our servers and rest remains in WordPress.</p>
<blockquote><p>WordPress has given me great friends. I&#8217;ve met so many talented people online and at WordCamps! Me and my WordPress friends have done amazing adventures together! And the circle keeps expanding. You will find amazing people in WordPress!</p></blockquote>
<p>When you look at my life, and if important events were plotted as a chart, you won&#8217;t see a straight curve. It&#8217;s a bundle of long lull-times with gyrating ups and downs in between. I studied behavior patterns, data modelling and visualization for Putler – our multi-system analytics solution for online businesses. I also get to see numbers from many other businesses. I wanted to analyze how businesses work. What causes success.</p>
<p>And one big, common takeaway &#8211; in both business and life &#8211; is that results are non-linear. There is no single cause to any result.</p>
<h3>Back To You</h3>
<p>It all starts simple. What you do today, is shaped by something you did earlier, and will shape something else you&#8217;ll do in the future.</p>
<p>Every little act of courage, every little getting out of your comfort zone, every new thing you learn, every setback, every little success&#8230; It all keeps building who you are.</p>
<p>You see, life stacks up!</p>
<p>Do not despair, do not lose faith. Series of actions produce a result, and you have the ability to act.</p>
<p>So stay on!</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Life%20Stacks%20Up%20%2D%20%20From%20A%20Small%20Town%20Boy%20To%20A%20Geek%20Entrepreneur&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Flife-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Flife-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Flife-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur%2F&title=Life+Stacks+Up+%26%238211%3B++From+A+Small+Town+Boy+To+A+Geek+Entrepreneur" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/life-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/091719-min-150x150.jpg&description=Life Stacks Up -  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/life-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur/" title="Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/life-stacks-up-from-a-small-town-boy-to-a-geek-entrepreneur/">Life Stacks Up &#8211;  From A Small Town Boy To A Geek Entrepreneur</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 18 Sep 2019 03:00:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11:"Nirav Mehta";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"WPTavern: GPL Author Richard Stallman Resigns from Free Software Foundation";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93898";s: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:86:"https://wptavern.com/gpl-author-richard-stallman-resigns-from-free-software-foundation";s: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:8749:"<p><a href="https://stallman.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Stallman</a>, free software movement activist and originator of the &#8220;copyleft&#8221; concept, has <a href="https://www.fsf.org/news/richard-m-stallman-resigns" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">resigned from his position as director of the board and president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF)</a>, which he established in 1985. This resignation comes on the heels of his resignation from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) after remarks he made regarding a 17-year old victim of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, characterizing her as seeming “entirely willing.”</p>
<p>Stallman <a href="https://www.stallman.org/archives/2019-jul-oct.html#14_September_2019_(Statements_about_Epstein)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blamed media coverage</a> for misinterpreting his comments as a defense of Epstein two days before announcing his <a href="https://www.stallman.org/archives/2019-jul-oct.html#16_September_2019_(Resignation)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">resignation from MIT</a> on his personal blog:</p>
<blockquote><p>To the MIT community, I am resigning effective immediately from my position in CSAIL at MIT. I am doing this due to pressure on MIT and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations.</p></blockquote>
<p>The remarks in question were sent on a department-wide CSAIL mailing list in response to an MIT student email calling for a protest against Jeffrey Epstein’s donation to the school. Selam Jie Gano, the MIT graduate who exposed Stallman&#8217;s comments in a <a href="https://medium.com/@selamie/remove-richard-stallman-fec6ec210794" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> on Medium, also leaked the full thread to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9ke3ke/famed-computer-scientist-richard-stallman-described-epstein-victims-as-entirely-willing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Vice</a>.</p>
<p>In the email thread, which was also circulated to undergraduate students, Stallman became pedantic about the definition of assault and the use of the term &#8216;rape&#8217; after a student pointed out the laws of the location and the victim&#8217;s age:</p>
<blockquote><p>I think it is morally absurd to define “rape” in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17.</p></blockquote>
<p>These comments caused media organizations to dig up old posts from Stallman&#8217;s blog where he <a href="https://stallman.org/archives/2012-jul-oct.html#15_September_2012_(Censorship_of_child_pornography)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">demands an end to the censorship of &#8220;child pornography&#8221;</a> and <a href="https://stallman.org/archives/2006-may-aug.html?fbclid=IwAR09M66FT8o8cYpAZCkW07KCWwNtXWJgvAz02H5K6_iwrGyWIhY24OuJ5Js#05%20June%202006%20(Dutch%20paedophiles%20form%20political%20party)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">says</a> he is &#8220;skeptical of the claim that voluntarily pedophilia harms children.&#8221;</p>
<p>Why Stallman felt it necessary to lend his controversial views to public comments on rape, assault, and child sex trafficking on a public mailing list is a mystery, but he has a long history of being outspoken when it comes to politics and civil liberties.</p>
<p>This particular incident seemed to be the straw that broke the camel&#8217;s back, unleashing a flood of outrage from the the free software and broader tech communities who demanded Stallman&#8217;s removal from the FSF. Critics cited two decades of behaviors and statements that many have found to be disturbing and offensive. The Geek Feminism Wiki maintains a <a href="https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">catalog</a> that includes some of these references.</p>
<p>&#8220;The free software community looks the other way while they build their empires on licenses that sustain Stallman&#8217;s power,&#8221; Software engineer  and founder of RailsBridge Sarah Mei <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahmei/status/1172283772428906496" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> in a Tweetstorm calling on the FSF to remove Stallman from his positions of influence.</p>
<p>&#8220;Your refusal to part ways with him &#8211; despite well-known incidents that have pushed women and others out of free software for decades &#8211; might have been ok 10 years ago. Maybe even two years ago. It&#8217;s not ok now.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Software Freedom Conservancy also issued a <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2019/sep/16/rms-does-not-speak-for-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">statement</a> calling for Stallman&#8217;s removal, titled &#8220;Richard Stallman Does Not and Cannot Speak for the Free Software Movement:&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>When considered with other reprehensible comments he has published over the years, these incidents form a pattern of behavior that is incompatible with the goals of the free software movement. We call for Stallman to step down from positions of leadership in our movement.</p>
<p>We reject any association with an individual whose words and actions subvert these goals. We look forward to seeing the FSF&#8217;s action in this matter and want to underscore that allowing Stallman to continue to hold a leadership position would be an unacceptable compromise. Most importantly, we cannot support anyone, directly or indirectly, who condones the endangerment of vulnerable people by rationalizing any part of predator behavior.</p></blockquote>
<p>In a <a href="https://twitter.com/sarahmei/status/817378684638068736" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2017 Twitter thread</a>, Mei shared some context on her perspective of how Stallman&#8217;s influence has had a ripple effect of damage throughout the free software and open source communities:</p>
<blockquote><p>In the 90s, Richard Stallman&#8217;s attitude towards women alienated me (and many others) from any interest in or support for &#8220;free software.&#8221; Viewing software through the Richard Stallman/GNU/&#8221;free as in freedom&#8221; lens would have run our industry into the ground. But it was the only alternative to proprietary software for ~20 years. So lots of folks worked on it despite finding Stallman problematic. This was the period when women largely declined to be part of computing, despite having pretty reasonable representation through the 80s.</p>
<p>In the early 2000s, &#8220;open source&#8221; was a breath of fresh air. All of the usefulness! None of the built-in arrogance, privilege, or misogyny! But just because it wasn&#8217;t built in doesn&#8217;t mean it disappeared. As folks converted, the behaviors normalized by Stallman and others followed. Our drive now for diversity/inclusion wasn&#8217;t even conceivable until we discarded GNU, Stallman, and &#8220;free software&#8221; in favor of &#8220;open source.&#8221; It&#8217;s not an accident that the communities who still, today, embrace that outdated philosophy are the least diverse and the most hostile.</p></blockquote>
<p>Stallman is the author of the GPL, which he wrote with the help of lawyers. For the most part, the free software community is able to objectively separate the license from the man who conceived it. The FSF&#8217;s sister organization in Europe <a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2019/news-20190917-01.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">welcomed Stallman&#8217;s resignation</a>, echoing the sentiments of many who value his contributions but are unwilling to support his public representation of the organization:</p>
<blockquote><p>On 16 September, one of our independent sister organizations, the US-based Free Software Foundation (FSF), announced the resignation of Richard M. Stallman as its president. While we recognize Stallman&#8217;s role in founding the Free Software movement, we welcome the decision.</p></blockquote>
<p>The FSF has the opportunity to redefine itself after the resignation of its founder and supporters are hopeful that the free software movement can find a better way forward without Stallman&#8217;s influence.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe in Free Software and have published most of my work open source under LGPL/GPL/AGPL (notably including Cydia, Cycript, WinterBoard, ldid, and now my work on Orchid),&#8221; software engineer Jay Freeman <a href="https://twitter.com/saurik/status/1173810527853670402" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad to see Richard Stallman leave, and hope this starts a new era for the Free Software Foundation.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 17 Sep 2019 23:58:55 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:63:"WPTavern: Yoast to Reward Contributors with the Yoast Care Fund";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93862";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"https://wptavern.com/yoast-to-reward-contributors-with-the-yoast-care-fund";s: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:4284:"<p>Yoast, a company primarily known for its popular Yoast SEO plugin, announced a new program earlier this month called <a href="https://yoast.com/yoast-care/">Yoast Care</a>.  The project aims to reward volunteers in the WordPress community.  &#8220;Care&#8221; stands for &#8220;Community Appreciation REwards.&#8221;</p>



<p>Thousands of people contribute to WordPress.  Some choose to contribute code.  Others answer dozens of support questions every day in the forums.  Many spend their free time actively running or helping with the various <a href="https://make.wordpress.org">Make WordPress</a> teams.  Many people do it because they love WordPress or have found a home within the community, but not all of them get paid for their work toward the open-source platform.</p>



<p>Contributing untold hours is often a thankless job.  The many millions of WordPress users will never know about the time and effort these volunteers pour into the project.  They are in the trenches doing the work that keeps WordPress running.  They don&#8217;t wear capes, but they are the unsung heroes of the community.</p>



<p>&#8220;We visit a lot of WordCamps and know a lot of people. We notice that some people have a hard time making a living from just their WordPress-work,&#8221; said Marieke van de Rakt, CEO of Yoast. &#8220;We wanted to do something for these people. We can&#8217;t hire them all.&#8221;</p>



<p>Yoast Care will grant $500 to around 50 volunteers each year.  The company has already set aside $25,000 for the first year and has an open application process for nominating contributors.</p>



<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re aiming for people that do not get paid for their work on WordPress,&#8221; said van de Rakt, founder of Yoast Academy and CEO of Yoast. &#8220;It has to be a person that is active in a Make WordPress team.&#8221;</p>



<p>Some within the community have noted that Yoast is a for-profit company and that such programs are more about PR.  At the heart of the discussion is whether the fund will obscure the longstanding issue of how to properly fund contributors to open-source projects ($500 only goes so far).  Others have pointed out that the program is a step in the right direction and could push other companies to follow suit.</p>



<p>The fund could help those who need it most.  It may help a volunteer replace their worn-out laptop, cover a freelancer during a low-income month, or boost someone in need of cash flow for their new WordPress project.</p>



<p>The application process is open for anyone to fill out, but applicants can&#8217;t throw their own names into the hat.  The form for applying also asks for up to 3 references to confirm the nominee&#8217;s work. The team has already received many applications.</p>



<p>Taco Verdonscho is leading the Yoast Care project for the company&#8217;s community team.  Such a program is no small task to run, and the rewards will be spread out through the year.  </p>



<p>&#8220;It is a lot of work,&#8221; said van de Rakt.  &#8220;They&#8217;ve really thought it through (what the demands are), so I think it&#8217;s rather easy to decide whether or not the application can be rewarded. But, still after that, we need to do an interview and make it happen financially. So there are a lot of people involved.&#8221;</p>



<p>Outside of a cash reward, Yoast will feature winners in a blog post that highlights his or her contributions to WordPress.</p>



<p>Yoast is not new to community outreach and funding those in need.  Last year, the team <a href="https://wptavern.com/yoast-launches-fund-to-increase-speaker-diversity-at-tech-conferences">launched the Yoast Diversity Fund</a>.  The program was created to help minorities and other underrepresented groups afford to speak at conferences.  It covers travel, accommodations, childcare, and other costs.  The Diversity Fund is still <a href="https://yoast.com/yoast-diversity-fund/apply/">accepting applications</a>.</p>



<p>Most within the inner WordPress community know at least one or two people who deserve some appreciation for all the work they do.  If you know someone who fits this description, you can nominate them via the <a href="https://yoast.com/community/yoast-care-fund/">Yoast Care application page</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:51:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 5.0.0 Release Candidate";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=307797";s: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://buddypress.org/2019/09/buddypress-5-0-0-release-candidate/";s: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:2517:"<p>Hello!</p>



<p>The first release candidate for BuddyPress 5.0.0 is now available for a last round of testing!</p>



<p>This is an important milestone as we progress toward the BuddyPress 5.0.0 final release date. &#8220;Release Candidate&#8221; means that we think the new version is ready for release, but with more than 200,000 active installs, hundreds of BuddyPress plugins and Thousands of WordPress themes, it’s possible something was missed. BuddPress 5.0.0 is&nbsp;scheduled to be released&nbsp;on&nbsp;<strong>Monday, September 30</strong>, but we need&nbsp;<em>your</em>&nbsp;help to get there—if you haven’t tried 5.0.0 yet, <strong>now is the time!</strong> </p>



<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-squared"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-background" href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-RC1.zip">Download and test the 5.0.0-RC1</a></div>



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



<p><em>PS: as usual you alternatively get a copy via our Subversion repository.</em></p>



<p>A detailed changelog will be part of our official release note, but&nbsp;you can get a quick overview by reading the post about the&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.org/2019/08/buddypress-5-0-0-beta1/">5.0.0 Beta1</a>&nbsp;release.</p>



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



<h2>Plugin and Theme Developers </h2>



<p>Please test your plugins and themes against BuddyPress 5.0.0. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to this specific <a href="https://buddypress.org/support/topic/buddypress-5-0-0-release-candidate/">support topic</a> so we can figure those out before the final release.</p>



<h2>Polyglots, we need you!</h2>



<p>Do you speak a language other than English?&nbsp;<a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/buddypress/">Help us translate BuddyPress into many languages!</a>&nbsp;This release also marks the&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#string-freeze">string freeze</a>&nbsp;point of the 5.0.0 release schedule.</p>



<p><strong>If you think you&#8217;ve found a bug</strong>, please let us know reporting it on&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.org/support">the support forums</a>&nbsp;and/or&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/">our development tracker</a>.</p>



<p>Thanks in advance for giving the release candidate a test drive!</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, 16 Sep 2019 23:15:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"imath";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"WPTavern: New Attock WordPress Meetup Empowers Pakistani Women Freelancers and Business Owners";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93733";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/new-attock-wordpress-meetup-empowers-pakistani-women-freelancers-and-business-owners";s: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:10042:"<p><a href="https://2019.lahore.wordcamp.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordCamp Lahore</a> is getting rebooted on November 30 &#8211; December 1, at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences. The first edition of the event was planned for 2016 but was derailed by local disagreements and ultimately <a href="https://wptavern.com/karachi-to-host-first-wordcamp-in-pakistan-following-cancellation-of-wordcamp-lahore" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">canceled</a>. For the past three years organizers have worked to strengthen their local meetup groups and follow suggestions from the WordPress Foundation before reapplying.</p>
<p>WordCamp Lahore lead organizer <a href="https://www.meshpros.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Muhammad Kashif</a> said his team is expecting more than 350 attendees, with the majority of them coming from the local community. The <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Lahore/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lahore WordPress meetup group</a> is thriving and has grown to 4,383 members who regularly meet in various groups across the area.</p>
<p>&#8220;We still have attendees from other cities and in closing I encourage them to start local chapters and offer any help they need,&#8221; Kashif said. He works as a Master Trainer for a government training program called <a href="https://www.erozgaar.pitb.gov.pk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eRozgaar</a> that trains unemployed youth in more than <a href="https://www.erozgaar.pitb.gov.pk/#erb08" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">25 centers</a> across Punjab. The program was launched by the Punjab Government in March 2017 and <a href="https://www.erozgaar.pitb.gov.pk/#erb06" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress is a major part of the eRozgaar curriculum</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I manage the WordPress curriculum and in a recent update I have included community building, which is about Meetups and WordCamp events,&#8221; Kashif said. He reports that eRozgaar trainees have collectively earned more than $1 million US dollars to date after going through the 3.5 month-program.</p>
<p>&#8220;The program is making a big impact, especially for women who can&#8217;t go out for jobs,&#8221; Kashif said. &#8220;They are making good money from freelancing and WordPress is playing a big part in that.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kashif attributes some of Pakistan&#8217;s current economic challenges to a rapidly growing population and poor planning from past governments. The job opportunities have not grown as fast as the population, which was one of the reasons the government created the eRozgaar training program.</p>
<p>As the result of having WordPress in the curriculum that is used across so many areas of Punjab, new meetups are starting to pop up in other cities. <a href="https://www.salmanoreen.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Salma Noreen</a>, one of the program&#8217;s trainers who Kashif worked with, started <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Attock-WordPress-Meetup/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a meetup in Attock</a> and is the first female WordPress meetup organizer in Pakistan. She plans to apply for WordCamp Attock in 2020.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/this-too.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>Salma Noreen, first female WordPress meetup organizer in Pakistan</p>
<p>&#8220;Attock is a small city but love for WordPress is big and I am so happy to see other women participating in the WordPress community,&#8221; Noreen said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Every year, 1000+ people graduate in this city after 16 years of education. But we don&#8217;t have many jobs in this small city, so a small number of people who are backed by financially good families can move to other big cities like Lahore and Karachi for jobs and learning opportunities. The remaining people&#8217;s future is always a question mark.</p>
<p>&#8220;Being a woman, I was more worried about women, as we have a cultural barrier that most women cannot get permission to relocate or go out of home for a regular 9 to 5 job. Introducing them to WordPress and then guiding them on how to find online clients has helped many to earn a decent living from home.&#8221;</p>
<p>For the past 10 years, Noreen worked primarily as a freelancer and has completed more than 3,500 projects in web development. She is mentoring new WordPress users in her city to become successful freelancers and online store owners using resources like Udemy courses, YouTube, public blogs, and the WordPress codex.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am still struggling but yes I am confident that one day everyone will be making enough from home,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>The Attock WordPress meetup is averaging 60-70 attendees in recent months, where members share their knowledge, experience, and best practices. For many of those attending, the meetup group was their first introduction to the software. Noreen describes the local community as &#8220;crazy about WordPress&#8221; and eager to have their own WordCamp in 2020.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/group-photo-2.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>Attock WordPress meetup</p>
<p>One meetup member, Uroosa Samman, is a graduate of Environmental Science studies but is now working with WordPress after attending the monthly meetups.</p>
<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t have any WordPress or coding background during my education,&#8221; Samman said. &#8220;It was difficult for me to learn tech things. The meetups were very helpful and motivational for me, so I decided to start working in tech. Since the events were organized by a female organizer, it was comfortable for us to attend. I am able to provide my services as a freelancer and I am developing my own WordPress e-commerce store. If I get stuck in any issue related to WordPress, I immediately contact this community and they are always ready to help each other.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FB_IMG_1564500844418.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>Women attending a recent Attock WordPress Meetup</p>
<p>Shahryar Amin, a recent college graduate, was uncertain about his future until he discovered WordPress through Noreen&#8217;s support and the Attock meetup:</p>
<blockquote><p>Just a few months ago, I was completely devastated financially. Pakistan is going through turbulent time, and its economy has never been performing this low. So, fresh graduates like me had their dreams absolutely shattered, when after four months of rigorous effort, we were unable to find a source of livelihood. That was truly a testing time.</p>
<p>Moving back to my small city, I was not much hopeful for the future. My hometown, Attock, is a remote city with limited opportunities to advance one’s career. But ironically, that turned out to be a wrong assumption. I moved back to my city after nearly four years, and it had some phenomenal changes which I couldn’t resist noticing. The most<br />
impressive of them was WordPress meetups. </p>
<p>That was the first time I became familiar with the platform. I was curious, and that got me to the very first meetup organized by Ms. Salma Noreen. She is a remarkable soul, and I can’t thank her more for putting up such effort for an ignored city like ours. I learned my basics from these meetups, and as my interest become my passion, I was spending more and more hours on learning WordPress through the internet. I had no programming skills, but fortunately one don’t need any to setup a website on WordPress. </p>
<p>As I delved further into it, I discovered some very useful plugins, like Elementor, Divi and Visual composer, and at that moment I decided to become a designer using WordPress. I won’t say that I have become an expert in WordPress, but I am paying back the community by sharing my knowledge as a speaker at the very last meetup on July 30. Also, I have been working as a freelance designer on various online platforms, and WordPress expertise has truly been rewarding me financially.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-16-at-3.01.35-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>Shahryar Amin speaking at a recent Attock WordPress meetup</p>
<p>Attock resident Sania Nisar has a degree in software engineering and used to spend several days creating a simple website before discovering WordPress. She has never had any formal training through paid courses but is now working as a WordPress professional with the knowledge she gained from attending WordPress meetups and online resources.</p>
<p>&#8220;WordPress Attock is playing a vital role in empowering women in my vicinity,&#8221; Nisar said. &#8220;It is difficult for the women of Attock to travel to big cities like Islamabad to gain knowledge. However, WordPress Attock has efficiently solved this problem by providing an engaging learning platform for the women of this city. Today I am a successful freelancer and a WordPress professional.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/meetup1.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Noreen said her team hopes to bring 15 to 20 people from Attock to attend WordCamp Lahore. The trip is expensive and takes approximately seven hours so not many will be able to make it but there will be other camps in the region that are nearer for Attock residents.</p>
<p>Last year a WordCamp was held in Islamabad, and the second WordCamp Karachi took place in August 2019. WordCamp Lahore will be Pakistan&#8217;s fourth WordCamp, held in the country&#8217;s second-most populous city. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and connect with WordPress professionals and enthusiasts from across Pakistan. Speaker applications are open and sessions will be held in Urdu and English. Regular admission is Rs 1,700.00 and <a href="https://2019.lahore.wordcamp.org/tickets/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tickets are now on sale</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, 16 Sep 2019 22:04:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:40:"WPTavern: Justin Tadlock Joins WP Tavern";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93843";s: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:51:"https://wptavern.com/justin-tadlock-joins-wp-tavern";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4839:"<p>The kid scampered ahead of his classmates.  He wanted to be one of the first to set foot in the building, but he stopped as he got to the first step.  He looked up to count the floors.  One, two, three…it wasn&#8217;t <em>The Times</em>.  He was awestruck all the same.  <em>The Birmingham News</em>.</p>



<p>Truth be told, the kid was a man grown in 2007, but he was still a kid at heart.  His graduation was fast approaching.  He&#8217;d soon leave The Plains, his home of Auburn, Alabama.  He needed to get some experience at smaller, local papers before landing a job at <em>The Birmingham News</em>.  He didn&#8217;t know it while standing on those steps, but before the day was out, he&#8217;d return home and start filling out applications for every small paper across the state.</p>



<p>His only real experience with newspapers outside of university was reading about J. Jonah Jameson and Peter Parker or following the exploits of Clark Kent and Lois Lane.  He had this 1950s-esque picture in his mind of a cigar-smoking reporter wearing a cheap suit and fedora while pounding the keys of his typewriter.  He&#8217;d be working toward a Pulitzer-winning story.  Other reporters would sprint by his desk with their next big lead.  The editor would yell orders across the room as everyone rushed to beat the deadline.</p>



<p>Reality didn&#8217;t exactly match the picture in his mind.  The kid knew it wouldn&#8217;t.  On those steps of the recently-built news office, he&#8217;d need to let go of the fantasy.  He breathed deep and stepped forward at the instruction of his professor.</p>



<p>Field trips were a rare occurrence in college, but this professor was different.  His classroom was merely a part of the learning process.  Journalism was more than memorizing rules and writing a few papers each semester.  The only way to understand journalism was to step foot into an office and observe.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s the day the kid&#8217;s life changed forever.  He knew what he wanted to do after he graduated.  He wanted to work at a small-town newspaper by day and pen the great Southern American novel by night.</p>



<p>The roads people travel are rarely the direct route they set out on.</p>



<p>A few months later, the kid was living in Atlanta, Georgia, and traveling to Home Depots across half the state as a vendor.  During his summer in the Peach State, he got an opportunity to visit the CNN Center.  It was a thing of beauty.  With renewed vigor, he put in more applications at small papers.  Either no one was hiring or he didn&#8217;t have the experience.</p>



<p>He applied for other jobs.  Once he interviewed to be a used-car salesman.  However, he landed a job teaching in South Korea.  While imparting the few things he picked up about the English language to young minds, he began building his reputation in the WordPress community.  Before leaving the country, he&#8217;d bootstrapped his own WordPress theme shop in 2008.</p>



<p>After 11 years, the kid stumbled upon an opportunity to join the staff at WP Tavern, a chance to combine his passion for WordPress and writing.</p>



<p>Now a new chapter in his life begins.</p>



<h2>Allow Me to Introduce Myself</h2>



<p>My name is Justin Tadlock.  I&#8217;m the new staff writer for WP Tavern.  It&#8217;s my hope that I can bring a different perspective and produce many engaging stories for you to read long into the future.</p>



<p>You&#8217;ve probably used at least a few lines of my code to run your web site.  I&#8217;ve contributed to WordPress in some form or fashion since I started using the software in 2005.  I formerly ran Theme Hybrid, which was one of the earliest and longest-running theme shops in the WordPress ecosystem.  I also co-authored <em>Professional WordPress Plugin Development</em>.</p>



<p>Over the coming weeks and months, I plan to get to know more of you within the WordPress community.  I&#8217;ve been an avid reader of WP Tavern since its inception.  It&#8217;s always held a special place in my heart, and I want it to be an environment where everyone feels welcome to discuss all the things happening in the WordPress world.</p>



<p>It will take me a bit to get a feel for the new writing position and find my voice.  I may have a few hit-or-miss stories out of the gates, but I&#8217;m always open to feedback and criticism from our readers.  Ultimately, it&#8217;s my job to serve you the stories that you enjoy reading.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m stoked for the opportunity to get to know more of you.  I want to help you share your stories.  I want the community to know the people behind this platform that so many of us rely on in our personal and professional lives.</p>



<p>I hope I exceed your expectations for quality reporting and feature stories for WordPress.  Stay tuned.</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, 16 Sep 2019 16:02:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Justin Tadlock";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:112:"WPTavern: Adam Jacob Advocates for Building Healthy OSS Communities in “The War for the Soul of Open Source”";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93730";s: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:117:"https://wptavern.com/adam-jacob-advocates-for-building-healthy-oss-communities-in-the-war-for-the-soul-of-open-source";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3704:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-13-at-1.40.07-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Chef co-founder and former CTO <a href="https://twitter.com/adamhjk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Adam Jacob</a> gave a short presentation at O&#8217;Reilly Open Source Software Conference (OSCON) 2019 titled &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q5o-4pnxDQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The War for the Soul of Open Source</a>.&#8221; In his search for meaning in open source software today, Jacob confronts the notion of open source business models.</p>
<p>&#8220;We often talk about open source business models,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There isn&#8217;t an open source business model. That&#8217;s not a thing and the reason is open source is a channel. Open source is a way that you, in a business sense, get the software out to the people, the people use the software, and then they become a channel, which [companies] eventually try to turn into money.&#8221;</p>
<p>Companies often employ open source as a strategy to drive adoption, only to have mega corporations scoop up the software and corner the market. Jacob addressed the friction open source communities have with companies that use OSS to make billions of dollars per year running it as a service, citing Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a prime example.</p>
<p>Amid conflicts like these, it&#8217;s a challenge to find meaning in OSS via business. Jacob looked to organizations like the Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative but could not get on board with the methods and outcomes they pursue through their efforts.</p>
<p>He concluded that what is left is the people at the heart of OSS, who improbably come together with an overlapping sense of shared values and purpose.</p>
<p>&#8220;Each of us are a weird different shape, struggling to find our path and yet open source software gives us this ability to gather together around this resource that we turn from being scarce to being infinite,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Look at your own desires, look at your own needs and the things you want in your own life. Then go out and find and build and steward communities with other people who share those values and who will embrace your purpose, and sustain each other. Because that is the true soul of open source.&#8221;</p>
<p>In December 2018, Jacob launched the <a href="https://sfosc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sustainable Free and Open Source Communities</a> (SFOSC) project to advocate for these ideas. Instead of focusing on protecting revenue models of OSS companies, the project&#8217;s contributors work together to collaborate on writing core principles, social contracts, and business models as guidelines for healthy OSS communities.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe we need to start talking about Open Source not in terms of licensing models, or business models (though those things matter): instead, we should be talking about wether or not we are building sustainable communities,&#8221; Jacob said in a <a href="https://medium.com/sustainable-free-and-open-source-communities/we-need-sustainable-free-and-open-source-communities-edf92723d619" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> introducing the project. &#8220;What brings us together, as people, in this common effort around the software? What rights do we hold true for each other? What rights are we willing to trade in order to see more of the software in the world, through the investment of capital?&#8221;</p>
<p>Check out Jacob&#8217;s presentation below for a 13-minute condensed version of the inspiration behind the SFOSC project.</p>
<p></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, 13 Sep 2019 21:31:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"WPTavern: Local Lightning Now in Public Beta with Major Performance Improvements";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93700";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"https://wptavern.com/local-lightning-now-in-public-beta-with-major-performance-improvements";s: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:4418:"<p>Flywheel put its new Local Lightning app into <a href="https://localbyflywheel.com/community/t/local-lightning-public-beta/14075" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">public beta</a> this week. The app is an improved version of the company&#8217;s local WordPress development tool, formerly known as Pressmatic before Flywheel <a href="https://wptavern.com/flywheel-acquires-wordpress-local-development-tool-pressmatic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">acquired</a> it from Clay Griffiths and renamed it to &#8220;<a href="https://localbyflywheel.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Local by Flywheel</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since its acquisition in 2016, Local has gained many fans, particularly developers who had grown tired of debugging local development environments. Local has proven to be a reliable app that saves many wasted hours. It also allows developers to quickly switch between PHP and MySQL versions as well as Apache and nginx.</p>
<p>Overall, Local users enjoy the app&#8217;s features but have found performance to be <a href="https://localbyflywheel.com/community/t/speed-issues-on-local-machine/360" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a continual issue</a>. Users reported having one-minute page loads in the backend, on small, uncomplicated sites. These speed issues began to drive users away from Local to other products, as many found that working locally was slower than creating a test site with their hosting companies.</p>
<p>Even booting up the app can be abysmally slow, as demonstrated in a video Griffiths shared announcing the Local Lightning beta:</p>
<p><a href="https://cloudup.com/cBmHR2MODnR"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/cldup.com/K7hEKiIfjA.gif?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1" alt="Local lightning comparison" width="600" height="338" /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;To chart a more reliable and powerful path forward, we’re rebuilding Local’s core architecture and moving away from virtualization in favor of native, system-level software to run WordPress locally,&#8221; Griffiths said.</p>
<p>The new Local Lightning app reduces system requirements and the minimum disk space requirement has decreased by more than 18GB. Griffiths also reports that the download size for Local is 50% less than before.</p>
<p>Local is also now available on Linux, thanks to the new architecture in the updated app. Linux availability has been a frequent request since Local was originally launched.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f916.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> Hey, guess what? LOCAL IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR LINUX!</p>
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f427.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /> We’ve built it into the public beta of Local Lightning. </p>
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/26a1.png" alt="⚡" class="wp-smiley" /> Get it here: <a href="https://t.co/7LOgLYWeLc">https://t.co/7LOgLYWeLc</a> <a href="https://t.co/N6klXH6BKl">pic.twitter.com/N6klXH6BKl</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Local by Flywheel (@LocalbyFlywheel) <a href="https://twitter.com/LocalbyFlywheel/status/1172175142883139584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Local Lightning and Local by Flywheel have been developed as two separate applications in order to allow users to migrate their sites at their own pace. They can also run alongside each other and are named differently. &#8220;Local by Flywheel&#8221; is now the old version and the new Local Lightning app is simply known as &#8220;Local.&#8221; Users can migrate their sites by exporting from the old version and dragging them into the new app for automatic import. The beta is lacking some features that were previously available, including hot-swapping development environments and support for Varnish HTTP Cache. Griffiths&#8217; team is working on restoring feature parity with the original app.</p>
<p>When asked in the product&#8217;s forums about the general release date, a Flywheel representative said that it &#8220;will definitely be by the end of the year.&#8221; Users who want to join the public beta can download the latest version for Mac, Windows, or Linux from the <a href="https://localbyflywheel.com/community/t/local-lightning-public-beta/14075" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Local Lightning announcement post</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, 13 Sep 2019 16:17:26 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: WPHindi Plugin Instantly Converts Text from English to Hindi in the Block Editor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92869";s: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://wptavern.com/wphindi-plugin-instantly-converts-text-from-english-to-hindi-live-in-the-block-editor";s: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:3607:"<p>Hindi is one of the world&#8217;s top languages, with more than 520 million native and non-native speakers, and is the <a href="https://thelogicalindian.com/news/hindi-fastest-growing-language/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fastest growing language in India</a>. In a region where English is also commonly spoken, many Hindi publishers have the unique requirement of being able to switch back and forth between the two languages when writing articles.</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wphindi/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPHindi</a> is a new plugin that was developed to help WordPress users stay inside the editor instead of copying and pasting from third-party tools.</p>
<p>It offers a block that instantly converts text from English to Hindi as users are typing. It also works with the Classic Editor. The block supports intelligent auto-suggestions that make it easy to correct typos. Users can quickly enable/disable WPHindi with one click when switching between languages. It also works seamlessly with the rich text options inside the editor.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The plugin was originally created by the team at <a href="https://www.zozuk.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zozuk</a>, a WordPress support and maintenance service, as a custom solution for a client.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are a big publisher in the Hindi content space and with a lot of writers,&#8221; Zozuk representative Aditya Rathore said. &#8220;Using tools outside the WordPress dashboard was becoming a huge productivity killer for them.&#8221;</p>
<p>After this request Zozuk contacted 54 Hindi content publishers who are WordPress users and found that 39 of them were facing the same problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was more than enough to realize the scale of the problem and we decided to make the plugin available for free to every webmaster including our partners,&#8221; Rathore said. &#8220;The scale of the problem and how important it was to solve it, proved to be our element of inspiration for WPHindi.&#8221;</p>
<p>Data from a <a href="https://www.theatlas.com/charts/r1q1GxrJW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KPMG-Google study</a> indicates that 201 million Hindi users, which comprise 38% of the Indian internet user base, will be online by 2021.</p>
<div class="atlas-chart"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/qz-production-atlas-assets/charts/atlas_r1q1GxrJW.png?w=627&ssl=1" /></div>
<p></p>
<p>WPHindi is currently the only solution of its kind in the WordPress space. An older plugin called <a href="https://www.monusoft.com/products/wordpress-plugin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hindi Writer</a> performed a similar function for converting text in the comment box but it was not available from the official plugin directory and has not been updated since 2006.</p>
<p>Hindi publishers have also used tools like <a href="http://google.com/intl/hi/inputtools/try/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">google.com/intl/hi/inputtools/try/</a> and <a href="http://easyhindityping.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">easyhindityping.com</a> but these are not tailored to WordPress and have to be open in a separate window. WPHindi provides text conversion directly in the editor, speeding up writers&#8217; workflow.</p>
<p>Rathore said Zozuk plans to monetize the plugin in the future with an add-on that will allow users to comment in Hindi on the frontend. The plugin is currently in development. The team is is also working on releasing similar plugins for other languages like Bengali and Marathi.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 12 Sep 2019 18:52:14 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"WPTavern: Richard Best Releases Free Audio and Ebook: “A Practical Guide to WordPress and the GPL”";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93615";s: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://wptavern.com/richard-best-releases-free-audio-and-ebook-a-practical-guide-to-wordpress-and-the-gpl";s: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:2768:"<p>If you&#8217;re itching to go deeper into the legal aspects of navigating WordPress&#8217; relationship to the GPL license, <a href="https://richardbestlaw.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Best</a> has recently made his ebook (and the audio version) called &#8220;<a href="https://richardbestlaw.com/2019/09/10/a-practical-guide-to-wordpress-and-the-gpl/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Practical Guide to WordPress and the GPL</a>&#8221; available for free. Best, a technology and public lawyer based in New Zealand, had previously sold the book with other products as part of a <a href="http://wpandlegalstuff.com/a-practical-guide-to-wordpress-and-the-gpl-get-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">business package</a> that is still available for purchase. After receiving feedback on his most recent post titled &#8220;<a href="http://wpandlegalstuff.com/taking-gpld-code-proprietary/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Taking GPL’d code proprietary</a>,&#8221; he found that the issues addressed in the book are still relevant and decided to release it for free.</p>
<p>The first two sections provide a brief history of WordPress, its adoption of the GPL, and a summary of the license. These sections are a bit dry, but Chapter 3 is where it gets more interesting, particularly for theme and plugin developers who have questions about licensing GPL-derivatives. Best explores the practical application of the GPL in common business scenarios:</p>
<ul>
<li>If I modify the core WordPress software or a GPL’d theme or plugin, must I release the source code of the modified versions(s) to the public?</li>
<li>I’m a theme/plugin developer. I’ve put huge effort into writing my theme/plugin and I’m going to release it under the GPL but I want to make sure that everyone who receives my theme or plugin, even if from someone else, is obliged to pay me a licensing fee or notify me that they have it. Can I do that?</li>
<li>I’ve purchased some fully GPL’d themes or plugins from a commercial theme or plugin provider. May I sell those themes or plugins from my own website for my own benefit or publish those themes or plugins on my own website and give them away for free?</li>
</ul>
<p>Subsequent chapters cover controversies surrounding &#8220;GPL non-compliant&#8221; sales models, applications of copyright law, GPL compatibility with other licenses, and trademarks. Both the audio and the PDF ebook are <a href="https://richardbestlaw.com/2019/09/10/a-practical-guide-to-wordpress-and-the-gpl/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">available for download</a> on Best&#8217;s website. The text of the book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.</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, 11 Sep 2019 22:24:33 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:121:"WPTavern: Google Announces New Ways to Identify Nofollow Links, Progress on Related Gutenberg Ticket Is Currently Stalled";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93592";s: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:131:"https://wptavern.com/google-announces-new-ways-to-identify-nofollow-links-progress-on-related-gutenberg-ticket-is-currently-stalled";s: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:4775:"<p>This week Google <a href="https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2019/09/evolving-nofollow-new-ways-to-identify.html?fbclid=IwAR2pPFs1IaEfRNj7w_xPO1TLw-1RQSWwUeRiKjYZBwSENf7A1f426mDlz0I" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announced</a> changes to the 15-year old <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/96569" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nofollow attribute</a> that was previously recommended for identifying links related to advertising, sponsors, or content for which users are not intending to pass along ranking credit. The nofollow attribute is no longer a catchall for these types of instances, as Google has introduced two new rel values (&#8220;sponsored&#8221; and &#8220;ugc&#8221;) to further specify the purpose of the link to the search engine:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>rel=&#8221;sponsored&#8221;</strong>:</li>
<p> Use the sponsored attribute to identify links on your site that were created as part of advertisements, sponsorships or other compensation agreements.</p>
<li><strong>rel=&#8221;ugc&#8221;</strong>:</li>
<p> UGC stands for User Generated Content, and the ugc attribute value is recommended for links within user generated content, such as comments and forum posts.</p>
<li><strong>rel=&#8221;nofollow&#8221;</strong>:</li>
<p> Use this attribute for cases where you want to link to a page but don’t want to imply any type of endorsement, including passing along ranking credit to another page.
</ul>
<p>Google is also shifting to using a &#8220;hint model&#8221; for interpreting the new link attributes:</p>
<blockquote><p>When nofollow was introduced, Google would not count any link marked this way as a signal to use within our search algorithms. This has now changed. All the link attributes &#8212; sponsored, UGC and nofollow &#8212; are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search. We’ll use these hints &#8212; along with other signals &#8212; as a way to better understand how to appropriately analyze and use links within our systems.</p></blockquote>
<p>The announcement includes a few notable instructions regarding usage. Although all the new link attributes are working today as hints for ranking purposes, there is no need to change existing links. For sponsored links, Google recommends switching over to using rel=”sponsored” if or when it is convenient. Users can also specify multiple rel values (e.g. rel=&#8221;ugc sponsored&#8221;). Google plans to use the hints for crawling and indexing purposes beginning March 1, 2020.</p>
<p>The new ways to identify nofollow links impacts not only how users create links in their sites but also <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/nofollow/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">plugins that add the nofollow attribute</a> sitewide or other otherwise. Plugin authors will want to reevaluate the options provided in their products.</p>
<p>Progress on the relevant <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gutenberg PR for adding a nofollow option</a> has stalled and is not currently listed for any upcoming milestones. Last week Gutenberg designer Mark Uraine expressed hesitation on adding this feature to the plugin.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m hesitant on this one,&#8221; Uraine <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609#issuecomment-527921959" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;I think it’s been a long-standing discussion and there are reasons behind not including this option in the Classic Editor.</p>
<p>&#8220;How does it adhere to the WordPress 80/20 rule? We’re looking to implement this as an option (not a decision)… so will 80% of WP users benefit from it?&#8221;</p>
<p>Gutenberg users are continuing to advocate on the ticket for the necessity of nofollow link options.</p>
<p>&#8220;Now, with Gutenberg, you can only add a nofollow by switching to the HTML version and manually add the nofollow attribute,&#8221; Andreas de Rosi said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big pain. I don&#8217;t know how to best implement it (I am not a programer), but this is an important feature the Gutenberg editor should have.&#8221;</p>
<p>Paal Joachim Romdahl <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609#issuecomment-528838567" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> on the ticket, requesting a simple way for plugins to extend the link dialog box if the Gutenberg team decides to reject the PR for adding nofollow options.</p>
<p>More general <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/13190" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">discussion</a> regarding how to implement link settings extensibility is open in a separate ticket on the Gutenberg repository.</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, 11 Sep 2019 18:41:31 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:109:"WPTavern: Kioken Blocks: The New Street Fighter-Inspired Block Collection that Is Taking Aim at Page Builders";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93524";s: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:119:"https://wptavern.com/kioken-blocks-the-new-street-fighter-inspired-block-collection-that-is-taking-aim-at-page-builders";s: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:7918:"<p>With the proliferation of block collection plugins over the past year, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/kioken-blocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kioken Blocks</a> is a relatively unknown newcomer that you may have missed. Compared to competitors with thousands of users like <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/coblocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CoBlocks</a> (30K+), <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/atomic-blocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Atomic Blocks</a> (20K+), <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/stackable-ultimate-gutenberg-blocks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stackable</a> (10K+), and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg</a> (100K+), Kioken is a small fish in a big pond of page builder utilities.</p>
<p>You might have seen Kioken Blocks in action recently without knowing it, if you checked out Matias Ventura&#8217;s demo introducing the concept of “<a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-team-explores-the-future-of-full-site-editing-with-new-prototype" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">block areas</a>.&#8221; The plugin was first released two months ago but is already starting to differentiate itself with some innovative design features, block templates, and layouts. Its name was inspired by the <a href="https://streetfighter.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Street Fighter</a> arcade game and major releases are named for different character moves.</p>
<p>Kioken&#8217;s most recent release includes a new Vertical Text setting that allows users to rotate paragraphs and headings for a special effect in more complex layouts.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Inside the block editor, users can flip the vertical text rotation, adjust the alignment, add margins, dropcaps, and apply other standard text settings to the selection.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-10-at-1.49.07-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Kioken currently includes 17 blocks, all created with an emphasis on providing an aesthetic base design that will seamlessly fit into a user&#8217;s theme, with further customization options for each block. The blocks are not cookie cutter repeats of other collections but rather offer their own distinct styles and features.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://kiokengutenberg.com/blocks/kinetic-posts-block/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kinetic Posts</a> block allows users to list blog posts, including custom post types, inside a grid, columns/list, or slider with multiple different layout options. Users can run custom queries, such as ordering randomly, or by name, popularity, date, and by post type with custom taxonomy queries.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-10-at-2.06.08-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Kioken Blocks creator Onur Oztaskiran said he focuses on adding features and blocks that are not commonly available already. This includes some under the hoods usability features, such as custom block appenders, lighter block highlighter on block selection on dark backgrounds, and block settings change indicators in the sidebar.</p>
<p>&#8220;I try to add blocks that people don’t have access to yet,&#8221; Oztaskiran said. &#8220;So I don’t spend my time on creating accordions or team blocks but rather add things that enrich your content building process in the same fashion premium page building tools do (Kinetic Wrapper block, Animator and Vertical Text extensions are some of these).&#8221;</p>
<h3>Kioken Blocks Aims to Provide a Faster, Simpler Alternative to Complex Page Builder Plugins</h3>
<p>Oztaskiran has a design background, having previously worked as the design lead at Udemy, Noon.com, and Qordoba, but he taught himself how to build blocks in order to push the limits of WordPress&#8217; page building capabilities.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kioken Blocks started out as a personal hobby to learn Gutenberg development and test out if I can do something with GB that would replace mine and everyone else’s page building workflow with WordPress, using only Gutenberg by extending it.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am a designer and not so great developer. I’ve mostly built Kioken Blocks following Gutenberg resources on the web and GitHub, most of the time by learning from the Gutenberg GitHub repo.&#8221;</p>
<p>Oztaskiran&#8217;s personal site, <a href="https://monofactor.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">monofactor.com</a>, was built with nothing but Gutenberg and Kioken Blocks, including the fancy animations reminiscent of Themeforest products, along with the layout. The site is a good example of how the block editor and a few custom blocks can enable users to create beautiful, complex layouts without having to use a heavy, over-engineered page builder plugin.</p>
<p>&#8220;I took a leap of faith in Gutenberg when it was first released and started developing for it since I&#8217;m also a user and hate many things about page builder plugins,&#8221; Oztaskiran said. &#8220;I love to hate Gutenberg as well, but right now I can&#8217;t stop using it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Oztaskiran used page builder plugins in the past and even created extensions for some of them, but ultimately his frustrations inspired him to go all in on Gutenberg block development.</p>
<p>&#8220;With page builders, what took me away from them most was the MBs of resources they add to my sites, and the complexity of content editing in the editor, the long learning curve for some of them, and most importantly you need to be a &#8216;pro&#8217; to create complex layouts and engaging, rich content,&#8221; Oztaskiran said.</p>
<p>As a result of these frustrations, he decided to focus on speed and usability in Kioken Blocks. Oztaskiran said he is satisfied to have developed a product that allows users to create animated, complex layouts in minutes, much faster than he was able to do in other platforms. Kioken&#8217;s predefined block presets allow users to insert elements like background hero sections, product intros, sliding testimonials, and other page elements, making it easy to quickly design a site. These types of elements further blur the line between predefined block templates and themes.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-10-at-4.57.56-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;What amazes me with Gutenberg is you only need a lightweight unbloated GB compatible theme and nothing else,&#8221; Oztaskira said. &#8220;You can create amazing things.&#8221;</p>
<p>He is currently maintaining the plugin by himself without a team but the project is very time consuming. He sells commercial block templates through the plugin&#8217;s upgrade page and the user base is growing, so is considering making some partnerships in the future. Kioken Blocks only has approximately 100+ active installs at the moment, but Oztaskiran reports that his conversion rate is about 6-7% on selling Pro licenses, which include priority support and commercial block templates and layouts.</p>
<p>Despite identifying himself as just &#8220;a designer and a crappy developer,&#8221; Oztaskiran&#8217;s investment in learning Gutenberg block development is starting to pay off.</p>
<p>&#8220;You don’t need to be a pro dev to understand the logic, and with having an average JS knowledge you can get on board to GB development in a short time,&#8221; he said.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I indeed had ups and downs with Gutenberg, and Kioken Blocks aims to cover for those &#8216;downs.&#8217; I’ve been trying to build a tool for the editor so that some day you will only need Gutenberg and no other page building tools to create engaging and beautiful content.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 10 Sep 2019 22:53:51 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta2";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=307715";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://buddypress.org/2019/09/buddypress-5-0-0-beta2/";s: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:2888:"<p>Hello BuddyPress contributors!</p>



<p><strong>5.0.0-beta2</strong> is available for testing, you can&nbsp;<a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta2.zip">download it here</a>&nbsp;or get a copy via our Subversion repository. This is really important for us to have your feedback and testing help.</p>



<p>Since <a href="https://buddypress.org/2019/08/buddypress-5-0-0-beta1/">5.0.0-beta1</a>:</p>



<ul><li>We&#8217;ve brought some improvements to string i18n into the BP REST API code.</li><li>We&#8217;ve also improved the JavaScript function we are making available in this release to ease your clients BP REST API Requests.</li></ul>



<h2>5.0.0 final release is approaching!</h2>



<p>The <strong>Release Candidate (RC) is scheduled on September 16</strong>: at this time BuddyPress 5.0.0 will be in a string freeze. It means we won&#8217;t change i18n strings anymore for this release to leave enough time to our beloved polyglot contributors to <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/buddypress/">translate BuddyPress</a> into their native languages. If you&#8217;re a good english writer or copywriter you can still help us to <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8132#comment:5">polish the text</a> we plan to use to inform about the 5.0.0 new features.</p>



<p>If you are still using our Legacy Template Pack and think it&#8217;s important to include a Twenty Nineteen companion stylesheet into this release, <strong>September 16 is also the deadline to make it happen</strong>. Please test, contribute and improve the patch attached to this <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8103">ticket</a>.</p>



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



<p>Let&#8217;s use the coming days to make sure your BuddyPress plugins or your theme or your specific WordPress configuration are ready for BuddyPress 5.0.0 : <strong>we need you to help us help you</strong>: please <a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta2.zip">download and test 5.0.0-beta2</a>!</p>



<div class="wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-squared"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-background" href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta2.zip">Download and test 5.0.0-beta2</a></div>



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



<p>5.0.0 is almost ready (Targeted release date is <a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/bp-dev-chat-summary-september-4/">September 30, 2019</a>), but please do not run this Beta 2 release in a production environment just yet. Let us know of any issues you find in <a href="https://buddypress.org/support">the support forums</a> and/or on <a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/">our development tracker</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, 10 Sep 2019 17:45:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"imath";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"WPTavern: Creative Commons Releases New WordPress Plugin for Attributing Content with Gutenberg Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93506";s: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:113:"https://wptavern.com/creative-commons-releases-new-wordpress-plugin-for-attributing-content-with-gutenberg-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2484:"<p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a> has released an <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/creative-commons/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">official WordPress plugin</a> for attributing and licensing content. It is an updated and revamped version of the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://github.com/tarmot/wp-cc-plugin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPLicense</a> plugin. It is also loosely based on an old plugin called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/license/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">License</a>, which seems to have been abandoned after not receiving any updates for six years.</p>
<p>The new Creative Commons plugin is an attribution tool that is compatible with the block editor. It comes with eight different blocks for licensing any post, page, image, or other type of media.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/creative-commons-gutenberg-blocks.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The block settings allow the user to specify the Attribution text, add additional text after the license, and customize the block&#8217;s background and text colors.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/creative-commons-block-customization.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The plugin also retains several features from the older versions, including the ability to set a default license and display it as a widget or in the footer. Users can license their entire sites or license some posts, pages, or images differently on a per-content basis using the CC Gutenberg blocks. It is also multisite compatible, where network admins can license the entire network with a default license or allow site admins to choose their own. License information can be displayed with &#8220;One Click Attribution&#8221; for images.</p>
<p>Software developer <a href="https://ahmadbilal.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ahmad Bilal</a> worked on the Creative Commons plugin with help from a mentor as part of his Google Summer of Code project. This update is long overdue, as the older version of the plugin was not compatible with newer versions of WordPress beyond 3.8.1. The new plugin is compatible with the latest version of WordPress (5.2.2) and is now <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/creative-commons/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">available in the official plugin directory</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, 10 Sep 2019 03:58:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: Gutenberg Team Explores the Future of Full-Site Editing with New Prototype";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93512";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-team-explores-the-future-of-full-site-editing-with-new-prototype";s: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:6839:"<p>From its inception, the block editor was always intended to be more than just an editor for the main content area. Gutenberg phase 2 brings the block editor to other parts of the site, including widgets, menus, and other aspects of site customization. Matias Ventura, one of the lead engineers on the project, has offered a glimpse of the team&#8217;s vision for how the block editor will tackle full-site editing with an intriguing new <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/05/defining-content-block-areas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">prototype</a>.</p>
<p>Ventura shared a video demo, introducing the concept of &#8220;block areas,&#8221; which he said would include headers, footers, sidebars, and any other meaningful template part outside of the post content that contains blocks. In the example below, every element on the page is made of blocks and can be directly manipulated by the user.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The prototype wasn&#8217;t necessarily created to prescribe a specific implementation but rather shows some of the possibilities of how block areas could be organized within the page. Each block area is saved separately and any of the template parts can have a distinct name. Ventura suggested they might be saved as individual posts in an internal custom post type, which can be isolated and edited individually or within the scope of the whole page. This would allow for different view modes and possibly even a design mode with a grid overlay:</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-09-at-9.25.03-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The prototype demonstrates the possibility of drilling down into the individual blocks nested within theme templates and post content. This offers users a better understanding of the page structure and allows them to easily navigate nested blocks.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-09-at-9.21.27-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Ventura&#8217;s writeup is somewhat technical and implementation details are still being actively discussed across several tickets on GitHub, but initial community reactions to the prototype have been positive overall.</p>
<h3>A Closer Look at How Block Areas Could Replace the Customizer</h3>
<p>With WordPress closing in on the one year anniversary of having the block editor in core, the interface presented in the block areas prototype seems immediately more familiar than the Customizer. Full-site editing in the Gutenberg era will fundamentally change how users approach their site designs. The block editor stands to unify customization and content interfaces that were previously unable to make the jump into full-on frontend editing.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s too early to say for sure, but in a world where everything is a block, there isn&#8217;t much need for the Customizer&#8217;s current interface where the preview is disconnected from the controls in a separate window,&#8221; Customizer component maintainer Weston Ruter said. &#8220;If theme templates are built entirely with blocks which support direct manipulation, then it&#8217;s essentially a frontend editing paradigm.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ruter, who was instrumental in architecting a great deal of the Customizer, said the current interface, which splits the design and controls into separate windows, was necessary because so many of the controls required full-page reloads. The split interface ensures that the controls don&#8217;t constantly disappear while the page reloads to display the changes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The better Customizer integrations are the live &#8216;postMessage&#8217; updating-controls which didn&#8217;t require reloads (e.g. color picker),&#8221; Ruter said. &#8220;More recently the &#8216;selective refresh&#8217; capability also facilitated themes and plugins to re-generate partial templates without having to reload the entire page. In theory, those capabilities did allow for <a href="https://github.com/xwp/wp-customize-inline-editing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inline editing</a> without having to reload the page.&#8221;</p>
<p>While the Customizer gave users more control over their site designs, the component has always struggled to provide powerful controls and live refreshing in the same interface with a limited amount of page real estate. Ruter highlighted a few of the advantages of making the block editor the primary vehicle for customization in WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;Blocks bring a common interface to be able to do such inline editing for any part of the page, not just special areas in the Customizer preview that get the extra user interface goodies added,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And so with this common block interface with direct manipulation paradigm, there&#8217;s no need for a separate controls panel and there is no need to do full page reloads to do preview changes. So there would be no need for the current Customizer interface.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although much of the Customizer is likely to become obsolete in the new era of Gutenberg-powered full-site editing, the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/10/12/customize-changesets-technical-design-decisions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Customizer changeset</a> is one key concept that Ruter thinks could be preserved. This is the code that enables users to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/11/03/new-features-and-enhancements-with-customizer-changesets-in-4-9/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stage and schedule sitewide design changes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is independent of the current Customizer interface and relates to the underlying data model of WordPress,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If changes made to Gutenberg blocks were put into such a changeset prior to being published, then the changes could be previewed across a site before going live. The need for this has not been so apparent until now because the changes have been scoped to post content. But once the block data being manipulated across various entities of a site, then it becomes important to have some place to stage those changes prior to going live.&#8221;</p>
<p>Plugin and theme developers will want to monitor the conversations surrounding the implementation of block areas for full site editing. When this prototype become a reality, it will have a significant impact on themes and plugins that are currently extending the Customizer. Many product developers will need to re-architect their solutions to be better suited to site customization that is powered by the block editor. Ventura lists all the relevant GitHub issues in his post <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/05/defining-content-block-areas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">introducing content-block areas</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, 09 Sep 2019 19:48:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: First Look at Twenty Twenty: New WordPress Default Theme based on Chaplin";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93474";s: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/first-look-at-twenty-twenty-new-wordpress-default-theme-based-on-chaplain";s: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:3576:"<p>Anders Norén unveiled the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/06/introducing-twenty-twenty/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">designs for the new Twenty Twenty theme</a> today. As speculated earlier this week, <a href="https://wptavern.com/anders-noren-to-design-twenty-twenty-default-theme-shipping-in-wordpress-5-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress will repurpose Noren&#8217;s Chaplin theme</a> in order to expedite shipping the new default theme on the constrained <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-3/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">5.3 release timeline</a>.</p>
<p>Although the new default theme will be based on Chaplin, it will not retain the same style.</p>
<p>&#8220;Using an existing theme as a base will help us get going on development faster,&#8221; Norén said. &#8220;Very little of the style of Chaplin will remain though, so it will still look and feel very much like its own thing.&#8221;</p>
<p>The screenshots he shared in the announcement look like a completely different theme. With just a few color and typography changes, along with a centered column for content, Twenty Twenty has its own distinct character.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/first-look-at-twenty-twenty-new-wordpress-default-theme-based-on-chaplain/twenty-twenty-sub-page"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/twenty-twenty-sub-page.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/first-look-at-twenty-twenty-new-wordpress-default-theme-based-on-chaplain/twenty-twenty-single-post"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/twenty-twenty-single-post.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
</p>
<p>Norén said he designed it to be a flexible, all-purpose theme suitable for businesses, organizations, and blogs, depending on the combination of blocks.</p>
<p>&#8220;The promise of the block editor is to give users the freedom to design and structure their sites as they see fit,&#8221; he said in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/06/introducing-twenty-twenty/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> introducing Twenty Twenty. &#8220;The responsibility of a theme is to empower users to create their inspired vision by making the end result look as good, and work as well, as the user intended.&#8221;</p>
<p>The theme uses <a href="https://rsms.me/inter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Inter</a> for the typeface, selected for its legibility and bold personality when used in headings. It also comes in a Variable Font version, which Norén said will be a first for WordPress default themes. The benefits are that it reduces the number of requests and decreases the page size.</p>
<p>Those who are adventurous can <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwenty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">download Twenty Twenty right now from GitHub</a> and play around with the theme in its current state. Once it is stable, Norén and his team plan to merge it into core and continue development on Trac. There will be weekly meetings held in the #core-themes Slack channel for those who want to contribute to the design and development. The first one is scheduled for <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20190909T1900" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Monday, September 9, 2019, 02:00 PM CDT</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:"Sat, 07 Sep 2019 03:16:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"WPTavern: Google Releases Native Lazyload Plugin for WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93443";s: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:73:"https://wptavern.com/google-releases-native-lazyload-plugin-for-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5493:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-06-at-10.26.38-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The most recent release of Chrome (76) added a new “loading” attribute that supports <a href="https://wptavern.com/chrome-76-adds-native-lazy-loading-wordpress-contributors-continue-discussion-regarding-core-support" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">native lazy loading in the browser</a>. An implementation for WordPress core is still under discussion. In the meantime, plugins that enable this for WordPress sites are starting to pop up, and Google has just released one of its own.</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/native-lazyload/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Native Lazyload</a> was created by Google engineer Felix Arntz and the team behind the official AMP and PWA plugins for WordPress. It lazy loads images and iframes with the new loading attribute for browsers that support it. It also includes a fallback mechanism for browsers that do not yet support it, but this can be disabled with a filter. The plugin has no settings &#8211; users simply activate it and it works.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://felix-arntz.me/blog/native-lazy-loading-wordpress/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> introducing the new plugin, Arntz explains why current lazy loading options, which require custom JavaScript, are not always good for performance:</p>
<blockquote><p>Lazy-loading has for a long time not been a switch you can just toggle to make it work. It was not a browser feature, so it typically required loading and running custom JavaScript logic to make it work. Unfortunately, JavaScript itself is an expensive resource, so lazy-loading as it’s been done so far might in certain cases actually have a negative impact on performance (e.g. if a page doesn’t contain any images or only contains a single image that’s immediately visible). Furthermore, if a user had disabled JavaScript in their browsers, lazy-loading wouldn’t work at all.</p></blockquote>
<p>The plugin uses a similar implementation that is being discussed in the core ticket. Arntz described it as a &#8220;progressive enhancement,&#8221; where a user&#8217;s website performance will &#8220;magically improve without intervention,&#8221; as more browsers add support for the loading attribute.</p>
<p>With the release of this plugin, and Google&#8217;s input on the related trac ticket, it&#8217;s clear that the company is interested in seeing WordPress core support the new loading attribute. Chrome Engineering Manager <a href="https://addyosmani.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Addy Osmani</a> <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/44427#comment:38" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> on the ticket 10 days ago to lend his support for the effort and make a few recommendations.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very supportive of core getting support for native lazy-loading in a non-destructive manner,&#8221; Osmani said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The ideal change I would love to see in lazy-load plugins is deferring to native lazy-loading where supported and applying their fallback where it is not.&#8221; Osmani estimates that more than 17K origins are already using loading=lazy, according to Google&#8217;s telemetry.</p>
<p>Andy Potts, a software engineer at the BBC <a href="https://medium.com/bbc-design-engineering/native-lazy-loading-has-arrived-c37a165d70a5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> seeing major performance improvements after adopting native lazy loading. He implemented it on one of the company&#8217;s internal products, a site with approximately 3,000 active users per day:</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the most common actions on the site involves running a query which renders a list of up to 100 images — which I thought seemed like the ideal place to experiment with native lazy loading,&#8221; Potts said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Adding the loading attribute to the images <strong>decreased the load time on a fast network connection by ~50% — it went from ~1 second to &lt; 0.5 seconds, as well as saving up to 40 requests to the server</strong>. All of those performance enhancements just from adding one attribute to a bunch of images!&#8221;</p>
<p>Kris Gunnars, who operates <a href="http://searchfacts.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">searchfacts.com</a>, added Google&#8217;s new Native Lazyload plugin to his site and <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-powerful-lazy-loading-plugin/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> remarkable performance improvements, especially on mobile.</p>
<p>&#8220;After I installed this, my mobile PageSpeed score went from 92 to 96 and it also shaved a whopping 1.5 seconds off of my Time to Interactive score,&#8221; Gunnars said.</p>
<p>With WordPress powering <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress/all/all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">34.5%</a> of the top 10 million websites, core support for native lazy loading stands to make a huge impact on the overall performance of the web. Progress on the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/44427" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket</a> has been slow, as contributors continue discussing the best approach. In the meantime, users who are anxious to implement it on their sites can install any one of a number of plugins that are already available.</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, 06 Sep 2019 19:14:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Abdullah Ramzan";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7086";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/people-of-wordpress-abdullah-ramzan/";s: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:5588:"<p><em>You’ve probably heard that WordPress is open-source software, and may know that it’s created and run by volunteers. WordPress enthusiasts share many examples of how WordPress changed people’s lives for the better. This monthly series shares some of those lesser-known, amazing stories.</em></p>



<h2><strong>Meet Abdullah Ramzan, from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.</strong></h2>



<p>Abdullah Ramzan was born and brought up in the under-developed city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layyah"><strong>​Layyah​</strong></a>, which is situated in Southern Punjab, Pakistan and surrounded by desert and the river ​Sindh​.</p>



<p>He graduated from college in his home town and started using a computer in ​2010​ when he joined <a href="https://gcuf.edu.pk/"><strong>​Government College University Faisalabad​</strong></a>. Abdullah’s introduction to WordPress happened while he was finishing the last semester of his degree. His final project was based in WordPress.</p>



<p>Ramzan’s late mother was the real hero in his life, helping him with his Kindergarten homework and seeing him off to school every day.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Before her heart surgery, Ramzan visited her in the hospital ICU, where she hugged him and said: ​“<strong>Don’t worry, everything will be good</strong>.” Sadly, his mother died during her surgery. However, her influence on Ramzan’s life continues.</p>



<h3><strong>Start of Ramzan’s Career:</strong></h3>



<p>After graduation, Ramzan struggled to get his first job. He first joined PressTigers<strong>​</strong> as a Software Engineer and met Khawaja Fahad Shakeel<a href="https://twitter.com/FahadShakeel"><strong>​</strong></a>, his first mentor. Shakeel provided Ramzan with endless support. Something had always felt missing in his life, but he felt like he was on the right track for the first time in his life when he joined the WordPress community.&nbsp;</p>



<h3><strong>Community – WordCamps and Meetups:</strong></h3>



<p>Although Ramzan had used WordPress since ​2015​, attending WordPress meetups and open source contributions turned out to be a game-changer for him. He learned a lot from the WordPress community and platform, and developed strong relationships with several individuals. One of them is <a href="https://twitter.com/jainnidhi03"><strong>​</strong></a>Nidhi Jain​ from Udaipur India who he works with on WordPress development. The second is <a href="https://twitter.com/desrosj"><strong>​</strong></a>Jonathan Desrosiers​ who he continues to learn a lot from.</p>



<p>In addition, Usman Khalid<a href="https://twitter.com/Usman__Khalid"><strong>​</strong></a>, the lead organizer of WC Karachi, mentored Ramzan, helping him to develop his community skills.&nbsp;</p>



<p>With the mentorship of these contributors, Ramzan is confident supporting local WordPress groups and helped to organize ​WordCamp Karachi​, where he spoke for the first time at an international level event. He believes that WordPress has contributed much to his personal identity.&nbsp;</p>



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2019/09/AbdullahRamzan.jpeg?resize=632%2C422&ssl=1" alt="Abdullah Ramzan among a group of community members at WordCamp Karachi 2018" class="wp-image-7088" />Abdullah Ramzan at WordCamp Karachi 2018



<h3><strong>WordPress and the Future:</strong></h3>



<p>As a <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Lahore/members/?op=leaders&sort=name"><strong>​co-organizer of WordPress Meetup Lahore,​</strong></a> he would love to involve more people in the community leadership team, to provide a platform for people to gather under one roof, to learn and share something with each other. </p>



<p>But he has loftier ambitions. Impressed by <a href="https://walktowc.eu/">Walk to WordCamp Europe</a>, Abdullah is seriously considering walking to WordCamp Asia. He also one day hopes for the opportunity to serve his country as a senator of Pakistan<a href="http://www.senate.gov.pk/"><strong>​</strong></a> and intends to enter the next senate election.</p>



<h3><strong>Words of Encouragement</strong></h3>



<p>Abdullah Ramzan knows there is no shortcut to success. “You have to work hard to achieve your goals,” explained Ramzan. He still has much he wishes to accomplish and hopes to be remembered for his impact on the project.</p>



<p>Abdullah believes WordPress can never die as long as people don’t stop innovating to meet new demands. The beauty of WordPress is that it is made for everyone.</p>



<p>Ramzan encouraged, “If you seriously want to do something for yourself, do something for others first. Go for open source, you’ll surely learn how to code. You’ll learn how to work in a team. Join local meetups, meet with the folks: help them, learn from them, and share ideas.”</p>



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



<div class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2019/07/heropress_large_white_logo.jpg?resize=109%2C82&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-7025" width="109" height="82" /></div>



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



<p><em>Meet more WordPress community members over at </em><a href="https://heropress.com/"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>!</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 06 Sep 2019 18:21:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"Yvette Sonneveld";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"WPTavern: WordSesh EMEA Schedule Published, Registration Opens September 9";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93428";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"https://wptavern.com/wordsesh-emea-schedule-published-registration-opens-september-9";s: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:3153:"<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordsesh-emea-coming-september-25-a-new-virtual-wordpress-event-for-europe-middle-east-and-africa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordSesh EMEA</a>, a 12-hour virtual conference designed for the WordPress community in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, has <a href="https://wordsesh.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">published the full schedule</a> for the upcoming event. The lineup includes speakers from the UK to Cape Town to Sri Lanka, and other parts of the wider world of WordPress. Approximately 8 of the 11 speakers selected are from the targeted regions for this event. The remaining three are located in the U.S.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wordsesh-emea-speakers.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WordSesh EMEA&#8217;s schedule features a healthy mix of topics, including multiple sessions on using Gatsby with WordPress, image optimization, webops, managing a business with mental illness, building SaaS apps with WordPress and Laravel, and Jetpack.</p>
<p><a href="https://muhammad.dev/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Muhammad Muhsin</a>, a Sri Lanka-based React developer at <a href="https://rtcamp.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rtCamp</a>, will be presenting a session on using WordPress as a headless CMS with Gatsby. After Gatsby introduced themes, he started converting WordPress themes to Gatsby and experimenting with using WPGraphQL to get the content. He is also the lead developer for the <a href="http://GatsbyWPThemes.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GatsbyWPThemes.com</a> project.</p>
<p>If you have ever heard the marketing term &#8220;digital experience platform&#8221; (DXP) and wondered what all the buzz is about, Karim Marucchi, CEO of <a href="https://crowdfavorite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Crowd Favorite</a>, has a session titled &#8220;What&#8217;s All The Fuss About DXPs, and Why Should I Care?&#8221; He will explore a recent trend where enterprise clients are moving away from content management towards DXP&#8217;s that integrate online marketing tools.</p>
<p><a href="https://ahmadbilal.dev" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ahmad Bilal</a>, a developer based in Pakistan and 2019 Google Summer of Code student, will be presenting a session on GitHub Actions and how to automatically deploy a plugin to WordPress.org when tagging a new version on GitHub.</p>
<p>WordSesh EMEA provides an opportunity for viewers in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa to see virtual conference sessions during regular daytime hours, but it also gives viewers in the Western hemisphere a chance to hear speakers who they may never meet at a local WordCamp. It is scheduled for Wednesday, September 25, 2019, from 7:00-19:00 UTC. A handy dropdown on the schedule allows viewers to select their own timezone for the schedule display. Sessions will be conducted in English for this first EMEA event and will also be live captioned.</p>
<p>WordSesh EMEA is free for all to attend online and registration for tickets will be open Monday, September 9.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 05 Sep 2019 20:30:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"WPTavern: Anders Norén to Design Twenty Twenty Default Theme, Shipping in WordPress 5.3";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93395";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"https://wptavern.com/anders-noren-to-design-twenty-twenty-default-theme-shipping-in-wordpress-5-3";s: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:4093:"<p>WordPress 5.3&#8217;s release lead coordinators <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/04/dev-chat-summary-september-4/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announced a new batch of focus leads</a> during yesterday&#8217;s core dev chat.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.andersnoren.se/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anders Norén</a>, one of the most well-respected theme authors in the community and an early adopter of Gutenberg, will be leading the design of the upcoming Twenty Twenty default theme. He is working alongside team Theme Wrangler <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ianbelanger/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ian Belanger</a>, a developer who is currently sponsored by Bluehost as a core contributor. <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/poena/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Carolina Nymark</a> is also collaborating as a rep from the Theme Review team.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/andersnoren/status/1169368819095224320" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reactions to the news</a> were overwhelmingly positive. I have never seen the WordPress community more excited about a  default theme. Those who have followed Norén&#8217;s work for a long time are hopeful that Twenty Twenty will be a theme they can actually use to build websites.</p>
<h3>Will WordPress Repurpose the Chaplin Theme for Twenty Twenty or Start from Scratch?</h3>
<p>Norén has released <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/author/anlino/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">20 free themes on WordPress.org</a> with <a href="http://wptally.com/?wpusername=anlino" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2.85 million downloads</a> and a cumulative rating of 4.98 out of 5 stars. <a href="https://wptavern.com/anders-noren-release-free-chaplin-theme-designed-for-block-editor-theme-authors-discuss-better-ways-to-promote-truly-free-themes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chaplin</a>, his most recent release, is a beautiful example of the possibilities that the block editor opens up for users who want to design their own sites without having to search through dozens of panels of Customizer options. It provides the bones for an agency or business style theme but the block editor enables users to create advanced page layouts that would suit many different types of websites.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/chaplin.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>Chaplin would make a good candidate for WordPress&#8217; next default theme, since it showcases the block editor as the main vehicle for editing the home page layout. Users can easily create unique customizations with different combinations of blocks that won&#8217;t look just like every other site using the same default theme.</p>
<p>Norén would not confirm whether WordPress will be re-purposing Chaplin for Twenty Twenty or if he will be starting from scratch, as the team is not ready to make the announcement yet. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-3/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress 5.3</a> is expected November 12, so the timeline may be somewhat constrained for creating an entirely new theme, but it&#8217;s not entirely outside the range of possibility.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is probably (yes, most definitely) the best thing that&#8217;s going to happen for WP + Gutenberg adoption since the 5.0 release,&#8221; Matt Medeiros <a href="https://twitter.com/mattmedeiros/status/1169367750424313856" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> on the news about Norén designing Twenty Twenty. &#8220;His Chaplin theme has been a joy to use and provoked me to embrace using Gutenberg with his theme.</p>
<p>&#8220;Right now, Gutenberg feels like an early version of iOS stuffed into a Blackberry Bold when you don&#8217;t get the right theme. I hope he can give us something as enjoyable as Chaplin.&#8221;</p>
<p>With WordPress 5.3 beta 1 expected September 23, an announcement with more details regarding Twenty Twenty&#8217;s design and scope should be available soon.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 05 Sep 2019 19:24:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:68:"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 5.2.3 Security and Maintenance Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7064";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/wordpress-5-2-3-security-and-maintenance-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7631:"<p>WordPress 5.2.3 is now available! </p>



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



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



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



<h3>Security Updates</h3>



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



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



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



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



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



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



<h2>Thanks and props!</h2>



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



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



<img />



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



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



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



<p>In the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/09/02/changes-to-prevent-search-engines-indexing-sites/">dev note</a> announcing the change, Peter Wilson recommends that developers wanting to exclude development sites from being indexed by search engines should include the HTTP Header <code>X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow</code> when serving all assets for the site, including images, PDFs, video, and other assets.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 04 Sep 2019 03:19:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: Toolbelt: A New Jetpack-Inspired Plugin with a Focus on Speed and Privacy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92814";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/toolbelt-a-new-jetpack-inspired-plugin-with-a-focus-on-speed-and-privacy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6830:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-09-02-at-11.16.22-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress theme and plugin developer <a href="https://www.binarymoon.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ben Gillbanks</a> is building a <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a> alternative with an emphasis on speed, simplicity, and privacy. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-toolbelt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Toolbelt</a> is a new, lightweight plugin that offers a collection of functionality that is commonly-used on WordPress sites. Currently available modules include features like breadcrumbs, browser native lazy loading, a Portfolio custom post type, related posts with images, responsive video, static social sharing, and more.</p>
<p>Gillbanks runs <a href="https://prothemedesign.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pro Theme Design</a>, a commercial WordPress theme shop, and has sold themes on WordPress.com for the past seven years. He likes the idea of Jetpack and all of his commercial themes support it, but a desire to deliver more performant and sustainable sites drove him to create Toolbelt. He&#8217;s working on a new free theme called <a href="https://github.com/BinaryMoon/jarvis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jarvis</a> that will be released on WordPress.org with full Toolbelt compatibility.</p>
<p>&#8220;With my new theme I wanted to make something that was fast, private, and accessible. Inspired by people like Jack Lenox with <a href="https://sustywp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Susty</a> (and <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2019/08/27/jack-lenox-how-better-performing-websites-can-help-save-the-planet-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">his talk at WordCamp Europe</a>), I wanted to make something more sustainable. In testing my theme on my personal site I found that Jetpack was slowing it down. So I started rebuilding the features I wanted to use as an optimized plugin.&#8221;</p>
<p>Toolbelt currently includes more than a dozen modules, offered in a format similar to Jetpack but with a dramatically stripped down management interface in the admin. All modules are disabled by default so users can turn on only the ones they need.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-09-02-at-11.01.15-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The settings page includes a column that transparently displays the page impact for several of the modules, as high performance is one of Gillbanks&#8217; chief goals for the plugin.</p>
<p>&#8220;I had been testing my theme on a dev server and it was getting a score of 99 or 100 &#8211; but when I added it to my personal site the score dropped,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It took me a while to realize the problem was Jetpack, and once I had disabled Jetpack my score went up to 99 or 100 again. So now, each time I add a feature, I test the site to make sure I am maintaining the performance I am testing my site, with each feature and &#8211; hopefully &#8211; keeping the score nice and high.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although Toolbelt borrows a lot of code from both <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a> and the <a href="https://github.com/nilovelez/machete/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Machete</a> plugin, Gillbanks made some deliberate choices in favor of performance when loading the code for the modules:</p>
<ul>
<li>Doesn’t use jQuery or any other javascript framework. All javascript is vanilla js, and minified.</li>
<li>Minifies all assets (JS and CSS)</li>
<li>Loads all assets inline. They are already small, and loading them directly on the page means there are no server requests.</li>
<li>Only loads things when they are needed. JS and CSS are only loaded for activated modules.</li>
<li>No options. There’s only one database option, and that’s an array that stores what modules are active.</li>
<li>Uses the minimum code possible. Minimum Javascript and PHP. Less code means more speed, and fewer bugs.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Toolbelt&#8217;s Approach to Privacy: No Phoning Out, No User Tracking</h3>
<p>Privacy is one of the most important aspects of the plugin for Gillbanks, who is English and has to deal with GDPR and EU cookie laws. Toolbelt does not phone out for any of its features, nor does the plugin share data with third parties or use standard social sharing JavaScripts. It also does not track usage or add any comments to the site&#8217;s HTML.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the downsides of Jetpack is that it relies on the wordpress.com servers, including hosting images and content on their site,&#8221; Gillbanks said. &#8220;Things like Related Posts sync the blog post data to their servers so it can be searched and filtered.&#8221;</p>
<p>The privacy choices built into Toolbelt may limit Gillbanks&#8217; ability to reproduce certain features that rely on third-party servers, such as visitor stats, downtime monitoring, and image CDN.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure if I&#8217;ll add these features, or partner with privacy focused third party services,&#8221; Gillbanks said. &#8220;I must admit I&#8217;d really like to add the stats so I&#8217;m hoping I can find someone to work with.&#8221;</p>
<p>Toolbelt is heavily inspired by Jetpack but Gillbanks said he doesn&#8217;t plan to rebuild all of its features. He is starting with the easier ones and focusing on the ones he wants to use. He also doesn&#8217;t have plans to monetize it anytime soon.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m open to adding premium features in the future, but if I do I won&#8217;t start charging for anything that is currently free,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For the time being I just want to keep adding more modules and making something that I find useful.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gillbanks is currently working on improving Toolbelt&#8217;s cookie consent bar to build a method for having it allow an &#8216;accept&#8217; and &#8216;decline&#8217; option, so that tracking is only enabled when users press the accept button. This assists those who want to follow GDPR guidelines more strictly. The current implementation automatically links to the site&#8217;s privacy policy page if the user has it setup in their site settings.</p>
<p>Toolbelt doesn&#8217;t have any settings, besides what modules are active on the site, but Gillbanks has created a collection of actions and filters that allow developers to customize things for clients/ themes. The <a href="https://github.com/BinaryMoon/wp-toolbelt/wiki" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">documentation</a> is available on GitHub, where users can also submit issues and feature requests.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 03 Sep 2019 20:13:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress: August 2019";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=7059";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wordpress.org/news/2019/09/the-month-in-wordpress-august-2019/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9644:"<p>This has been a particularly busy month, with a number of interesting and ambitious proposals for the WordPress project along with active progress across the entire community. </p>



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



<h2>Core Development and Schedule</h2>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<h2>Core Notification System Proposal</h2>



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



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



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



<h2>Local WordPress Development Environment</h2>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<h2>Further Reading:</h2>



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



<p><em>Have a story that we should include in the next “Month in WordPress” post? Please </em><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><em>submit it here</em></a><em>.</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 02 Sep 2019 10:00:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Hugh Lashbrooke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"WPTavern: NetNewsWire 5.0 RSS Reader Rebuilt from Scratch, Now Free and Open Source";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93240";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"https://wptavern.com/netnewswire-5-0-rss-reader-rebuilt-from-scratch-now-free-and-open-source";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4964:"<p><a href="https://inessential.com/2019/08/26/netnewswire_5_0_now_available" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NetNewsWire 5.0</a> was released this week as a completely rebuilt, free and open source Mac app. Back in its earlier days, the 17-year old RSS reader was widely regarded as the best available. Since its creation, the app has changed hands multiple times through two acquisitions, finally <a href="https://inessential.com/2018/08/31/netnewswire_comes_home" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">landing back home with its creator, Brent Simmons</a>, in August 2018.</p>
<p>NetNewsWire 5.0 retains much of its original character while incorporating modern features like JSON Feed support, Dark Mode, a “Today” smart feed, syncing via Feedbin, starred articles, and more. It is a brand new app that doesn&#8217;t use any code from previous versions. Users who are updating from older commercial versions can export OPML from the old app and import it into the NetNewsWire 5.0 app.</p>
<p>Notably lacking from the app is the ability to sync data across devices. Right now this is only possible if users hook up Feedbin. Simmons said he is working with contributors on an iOS version of the app.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NNW5Light.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Although it may not yet have as many features as some of its contemporaries, NetNewsWire&#8217;s return was celebrated by those who are hopeful that RSS can be one of the key technologies for unshackling web users from social media silos. NetNewsWire is back in support of this mission, which is highlighted on the app&#8217;s homepage:</p>
<blockquote><p>We support the open web. The big social networking sites are damaging society and eroding democracy — and we believe one of the ways out of this is to get our news via the open web rather than from Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p>NetNewsWire is part of repairing the web we lost, and it’s part of building the web we want. That future web should not include viral hate speech, abuse, massive corporate surveillance, or successful influence operations by hostile governments and entities opposed to democracy.</p></blockquote>
<p>NetNewsWire is no longer owned or sponsored by any corporation. In fact, the app&#8217;s GitHub repo has a <a href="https://github.com/brentsimmons/NetNewsWire/blob/master/Technotes/HowToSupportNetNewsWire.markdown" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support document</a> that says: &#8220;First thing: don’t send money. This app is written for love, not money.&#8221; It outlines the project&#8217;s values:</p>
<blockquote><p>NetNewsWire is all about three things:</p>
<p>The open web<br />
High-quality open source Mac and iOS apps<br />
The community that loves both of the above</p></blockquote>
<p>In contrast to recent <a href="https://wptavern.com/standardjs-ends-controversial-funding-experiment" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">experiments and conversations around sustaining open source infrastructure</a>, NetNewsWire&#8217;s approach gives the project the <a href="https://inessential.com/2015/06/30/love" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">creative freedom to take risks</a> and ship software at their own pace.</p>
<p>When one commenter asked on Twitter about NetNewsWire&#8217;s business model, Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1167445558534914048" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">commented</a> in defense of the project&#8217;s lack of a plan for making a profit.</p>
<p>&#8220;Not everything needs a business model,&#8221; Hansson said. &#8220;Writing open source software for fun, for the intellectual challenge, for the expression of creativity, are valid reasons. Same too goes for writing and sharing. Filtering everything through WHERE’S THE MONEY is a disease of the soul.</p>
<p>&#8220;An open source RSS reader that does not operate a service does not need a business model. An individual publisher paying a pittance to host a blog with RSS does not need a business model.&#8221;</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a new RSS reader to aggregate your news in a more calm environment than Twitter or Facebook can provide, NetNewsWire is a strong open source option with an exciting future ahead. Few apps have this kind of longevity, and it will be interesting to see how it evolves as an open source Mac app. As of <a href="https://ranchero.com/netnewswire/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">version 5.0</a>, it&#8217;s still fairly minimalist in terms of features but has a lot of momentum and <a href="https://netnewswire.slack.com/join/shared_invite/enQtNjM4MDA1MjQzMDkzLTNlNjBhOWVhYzdhYjA4ZWFhMzQ1MTUxYjU0NTE5ZGY0YzYwZWJhNjYwNTNmNTg2NjIwYWY4YzhlYzk5NmU3ZTc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a passionate community</a> behind it, which in this case has proven more valuable towards ensuring its future.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 31 Aug 2019 03:10:51 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"WPTavern: StandardJS Ends Controversial Funding Experiment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93212";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://wptavern.com/standardjs-ends-controversial-funding-experiment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4851:"<p>Feross Aboukhadijeh, maintainer of StandardJS, has formally <a href="https://feross.org/funding-experiment-recap/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ended the funding experiment</a> he started lasted week, which <a href="https://wptavern.com/standardjs-pauses-experiment-with-ads-in-the-terminal-after-linode-pulls-sponsorship" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inserted ads in the terminal</a> whenever Standard 14 is installed.</p>
<p>Although the experiment met widespread aversion, it successfully captured public attention and put a spotlight on the critical need for a viable model of funding open source infrastructure. It also uncovered some intense presuppositions that developers have when it comes to protecting their workflow in the terminal.</p>
<p>&#8220;If nothing else, it’s nice that funding forced open source &#8216;consumers&#8217; – folks who enjoy the benefits of open source software without ever contributing anything back – to reconsider their relationship with open source,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;I think we successfully pushed back against the entitlement to free labor that is pervasive in the interactions that open source consumers have with maintainers.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">glob bless <a href="https://twitter.com/feross?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@feross</a> for poking the hornet’s nest tho</p>
<p>&mdash; Forrest L Norvell (@othiym23) <a href="https://twitter.com/othiym23/status/1165709255967510528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Supporting work with advertising is nothing new, but the shock of seeing ads in the terminal activated an urgency in the open source community to collectively brainstorm and consider new approaches.</p>
<p>&#8220;While I didn’t like the approach, I understood the goal,&#8221; <a href="https://eslint.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ESLint</a> creator Nicholas C. Zakas <a href="https://twitter.com/slicknet/status/1167154854298411008" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;There is little involved in mindlessly typing &#8216;npm i&#8217; and getting something for free. This experiment at least broke people out of that mode, even if only momentarily.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google Chrome engineer Chris Palmer <a href="https://twitter.com/fugueish/status/1166192728603914241" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> he saw Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s experiment as &#8220;a live demonstration of the fact that it’s very very hard to get people to pay, in any way, for information goods, which are indeed scarce. It has been as delightful and as bracing as it always is.&#8221;</p>
<p>In his recap of the <code>funding</code> experiment, Aboukhadijeh contends that the phrase &#8220;open source sustainability&#8221; isn&#8217;t ideal, because maintainers are often simply subsisting, as opposed to thriving, on the few donations they receive, despite creating millions of dollars of value for the companies that use their work.</p>
<p>&#8220;The dirty secret of open source is that much of it is powered by maintainer guilt,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;A lucky few manage to land day jobs that allow them to work on open source. But most folks have to be more creative – squeezing in time after work, secretly doing open source maintenance at work, or opting out of normal society completely.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh is particularly concerned about finding solutions for the &#8220;invisible&#8221; maintainers of transitive open source dependencies, packages that no one installs directly:</p>
<blockquote><p>But reliable, error-free transitive dependencies are invisible. Therefore, the maintainers are invisible, too. And, the better these maintainers do their job, the more invisible they are. No one ever visits a GitHub repository for a transitive dependency that works perfectly – there’s no reason to do so. But a developer investigating an error stack trace might visit the repository if for no other reason than to file an issue. At least then there’s a small chance they’ll see the maintainer’s plea in the README.</p>
<p>We need solutions that work for these folks too.</p></blockquote>
<p>Although this particular funding experiment did not prove to be successful, Aboukhadijeh said he has more sponsors who are interested and more experiments in the works that he is excited about.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe ads aren’t the answer – fine,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But telling maintainers to bury their appeals where no one bothers to look is not the answer, either.</p>
<p>&#8220;Approximately 100% of the Fortune 500 use open source code. Maintainers are just starting to wake up to our own power. Expect to be surprised. This certainly won’t be the last open source funding experiment.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:02:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 6.4 Adds New Typewriter Experience, Cover Block Resizing, and Block Inserter Help Panel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93172";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:116:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-6-4-adds-new-typewriter-experience-cover-block-resizing-and-block-inserter-help-panel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5662:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-28-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gutenberg 6.4 </a>arrived this week with two more improvements to the Cover block. The background can now be set to a solid color (in addition to images and videos). Users can also easily <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/17143" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">resize the block</a>, making it far more useful for those who are designing their own pages.</p>
<p>One notable change to Image block in this release is the addition of a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16475" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">circle mask variation</a>. Gutenberg designer Joen Asmussen described how it works with various image aspect ratios:</p>
<blockquote><p>This PR adds a variation to the Image block, &#8220;Circle Crop&#8221;. What that means is you can choose a style variation for the image, which rounds all 4 corners. When this is applied to a square image, that means a perfect circle. When it is applied to a rectangle, it means a pill-shape.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.55.40-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>A new &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16460" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Typewriter experience</a>&#8221; landed in this release, providing a smoother writing flow that is especially beneficial when writing on mobile. It keeps the users&#8217;s place while typing, maintaining a margin at the bottom of the screen. This prevents typing from overflowing outside the viewport and allows the user&#8217;s eyes to stay in the same place.</p>
<p>This video demo from the release post explains how the Typewriter experience improves writing in the editor:</p>
<p><div class="wp-video"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');</script><![endif]-->
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/typewriter.mp4">https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/typewriter.mp4</a></div></p>
<h3>New Help Panel in the Block Inserter Offers More Real Estate for Contextual Help and Tips</h3>
<p>After another round of <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/tag/usability-testing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">usability testing in July 2019</a>, Gutenberg designers found that most participants were not interacting with the new user help tips, preferring to jump right into editing. The floating tips also obscured essential UI and the placement of the tips was <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16225" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">even worse on mobile</a>.</p>
<p>As part of an ongoing effort to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16315" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bring all tips inline</a>, Gutenberg 6.4 <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16813" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">adds a new help panel to the block inserter</a>, designed to provide contextual help and education for users. As the user mouses over different blocks, the panel displays the icon, title, a brief explanation of what the block does, along with space for an image preview.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.01.21-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Contributors entertained quite a bit of discussion regarding how the block hovering interactions should behave, and this is likely to go through more iterations as users start testing it in the plugin. Some users may not like that it makes the block inserter take up more space on the screen, so there is a checkbox setting to turn it off under the vertical ellipses menu > Options:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-29-at-2.34.40-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The new help panel might be a good solution for helping users <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16521" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">identify the source of a block</a>, since branding in the block icon doesn&#8217;t always provide enough information. It could also be useful in providing a space where plugins authors could indicate if the block is only available with a paid upgrade. This would go a long way towards solving controversial issues related to monetizing plugins. Jetpack is currently <a href="https://wptavern.com/jetpack-7-6-improves-amp-compatibility-adds-preview-and-upgrade-nudge-for-blocks-only-available-on-paid-plans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">beta testing a preview and upgrade nudge for blocks only available on paid plans</a>. Using the help panel to indicate that the block is a non-functional preview might prevent users from getting frustrated by inserting the block only to discover the upsell in the editor.</p>
<p>In a related ticket, Matias Ventura has also floated the idea of implementing <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16866" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">block collections</a>, which would initially function in the same way block categories do now. This would allow developers to register a collection as another way to help users identify blocks coming from a single source.</p>
<p>Gutenberg 6.4 includes several new APIs and more than two dozen enhancements and bug fixes. Check out the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-28-august/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">release post</a> for a full list of all the changes.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 29 Aug 2019 20:14:35 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta1";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=307494";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://buddypress.org/2019/08/buddypress-5-0-0-beta1/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3126:"<p>BuddyPress 5.0.0-beta1 is available for testing. You can <a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.5.0.0-beta1.zip">download it here</a> or get a copy via our Subversion repository. We’d love to have your feedback and testing help.</p>



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



<h2>BP Invitations API</h2>



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



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



<h2>BuddyPress Site Health section</h2>



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



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



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



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



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



<p>Thanks everyone for all your contributions so far; please help us test and polish the 5.0.0 release so it can be as awesome as possible!</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 28 Aug 2019 22:30:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"imath";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"WPTavern: StandardJS Pauses Experiment with Ads in the Terminal after Linode Pulls Sponsorship";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93124";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/standardjs-pauses-experiment-with-ads-in-the-terminal-after-linode-pulls-sponsorship";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10594:"<p><a href="https://feross.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Feross Aboukhadijeh</a>, maintainer of the <a href="https://github.com/standard/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">StandardJS</a> library, a JavaScript style guide, linter, and automatic code fixer, <a href="https://github.com/standard/standard/issues/1381" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">launched an experiment</a> last week that places ads in the terminal in order to fund development. The experiment has since been paused after receiving negative feedback from the developer community, causing Linode, one of the initial sponsors, to remove its advertisement.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that the current model of sustaining open source is not working and we need more experimentation,&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;This is one such experiment.&#8221; He developed a <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">module</a> that inserts an ad whenever Standard 14 is installed. Sponsorship funds are designated to pay for maintainer time, which he defined as &#8220;writing new features, fixing bugs, answering user questions, and improving documentation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh is a prolific developer who has authored more than <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/~feross" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">100 packages on npm</a> that are downloaded 100+ million times per month. Standard is his most popular open source project and is used by high profile projects and companies, including Node.js, npm, GitHub, Automattic, and many more.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-10.26.50-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Aboukhadijeh said his goal with the experiment is to make Standard and other open source projects healthier.</p>
<p>&#8220;For complex reasons, companies are generally hesitant or unwilling to fund OSS directly,&#8221; he said. &#8220;When it does happen, it&#8217;s never enough and it never reaches packages which are transitive dependencies (i.e. packages that no one installs explicitly and therefore no one knows exists). Essentially, we have a public good which is consumed by huge numbers of users, but which almost no one pays for. Fortunately, there exists a funding model that usually works for public goods like this – ads.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here is an example of the LogRocket ad that was part of the initial experiment:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/logrocket-ad.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>While some developers communicated support for open source maintainers to monetize their projects in whatever way they choose, the majority of feedback on GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, and social media strongly criticized this particular approach.</p>
<p>William Hilton, developer at Stoplight, speculated on the consequences of this type of advertising becoming a popular funding model:</p>
<blockquote><p>I do worry that npm install will just become a long trail of banner ads though eventually and it won&#8217;t scale. Because if every npm package adds ads, the noticeability of each ad will diminish. (Interestingly, the most valuable &#8220;realestate&#8221; will be packages whose banner is displayed last, so if it becomes a literal &#8220;race-to-the-bottom&#8221; people might add sleep statements to their post-install scripts so they are displayed nearest the bottom. What a dystopian installation experience!)</p></blockquote>
<p>He also noted that Yarn blocks the output of post-install scripts, which in this case would serve as built-in ad-blocking. Yarn&#8217;s maintainer chimed in on the thread with more context.</p>
<p>&#8220;As maintainer of Yarn, I&#8217;m strongly against this pattern, although not for the reasons you might think,&#8221; Maël Nison <a href="https://github.com/standard/standard/issues/1381#issuecomment-524276499" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Post-install scripts deoptimize packages and break workflows.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yarn already doesn&#8217;t print the build logs unless they make the installs crash, so this post-install script wouldn&#8217;t have any visible effect for our users. Still, I value the health of the ecosystem a lot, both from the point of view of maintainers and users, and I would be happy to discuss how we could satisfy this use case in a more integrated and less intrusive way.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since this is a newer experiment and hasn&#8217;t gone mainstream, it&#8217;s not clear whether npm may decide to block all methods of serving advertisements through the terminal in the future. A new module called <a href="https://github.com/kethinov/no-cli-ads" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">No CLI Ads</a> was created in response to Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s funding module. It blocks ads from appearing in console output. <a href="https://github.com/mkg20001/npm-adblock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">npm-adblock</a> is an alternative that functions in a different way. The existence of simple, albeit inconvenient, ways of blocking these types of ads may be all that is necessary to dry up any potential revenue stream.</p>
<p>Feedback on this experiment demonstrates that there is wide support for finding a solution to the problem of open source funding, but most agree that terminal ads is not a viable option. In fact, many commenters identified this approach as the most annoying thing that a package maintainer can do, apart from removing the package. Developers do not wish to be spammed while installing a dependency. One commenter describes his terminal as &#8220;the one last stronghold&#8221; and &#8220;haven of peace&#8221; that doesn&#8217;t serve ads from corporate overlords.</p>
<p>&#8220;Selling ad-space is not innovative,&#8221; developer Matthias Hogerheijde said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s particularly unhelpful in my logs. For me, the issue is more that I don&#8217;t want stuff that doesn&#8217;t help me in my logs. I wholeheartedly agree with putting your &#8216;supported by company X&#8217; in the readme. That helps me understand, it does resonate with me when I see certain companies donating money to OSS. I, too, want to live in a perfect world where every developer can live, pay rent and only work on projects they like. That perfect world for me does not include ads in my terminal.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reddit commenters took humorous jabs at the idea, penning sample ads that interrupt the build process:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-6.18.13-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<h3>Linode Pulls Sponsorship from Standard&#8217;s Terminal Ads Experiment</h3>
<p>Standard.js users who were unhappy with the ads in their terminals complained to the sponsors and Linode decided to remove its ad from the experiment.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We hear you loud and clear. We've reconsidered and have removed the ad.</p>
<p>&mdash; Linode (@linode) <a href="https://twitter.com/linode/status/1165421512633016322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>&#8220;We reconsidered after reflecting on the developer community&#8217;s reaction,&#8221; a Linode representative said on Twitter. &#8220;We still passionately support open source software along with @feross, but we&#8217;ll be more careful about experimenting in the future while continuing to innovate.&#8221;</p>
<p>Prior to pausing the experiment, Aboukhadijeh reported he had raised $2,000, enough to fund five days worth of his time to release Standard 14.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we are able to raise additional funds, the next thing I&#8217;d like to focus on is out-of-the-box TypeScript support in StandardJS (one of the most common feature requests!) and modernizing the various text editor plugins (many of which are currently unmaintained),&#8221; Aboukhadijeh said. &#8220;If others in the community are interested in taking the lead on any of these issues, I&#8217;d like to direct some funds to you.&#8221;</p>
<p>The experiment isn&#8217;t entirely off the table, since it seems to have met one of Aboukhadijeh&#8217;s immediate objectives, despite annoying (and in some cases infuriating) the developer community.</p>
<p>Four days ago, Standard locked the GitHub thread discussing the new funding model after it became too heated. The project&#8217;s maintainers are now <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">evaluating this iteration of the experiment</a>, but the discussion extends beyond the simple question of whether developers like ads in their terminals. A new thread on the project&#8217;s repo, titled &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What&#8217;s wrong with Open Source right now?</a>&#8221; has diverted some of the negative feedback into a broader, more productive discussion.</p>
<p>The experiment has reignited important conversations about the sustainability of open source and <a href="https://github.com/feross/funding/issues/11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">where project maintainers want to see it go in the future.</a> In a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/feross/status/1163553976937304065" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweet</a>, Aboukhadijeh shared a <a href="http://softwaremaniacs.org/blog/2019/02/25/misconception-about-oss-support/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">link</a> to particular situation that one maintainer faced in supporting a free syntax highlighting library.</p>
<p>After receiving urgent comments and emails following a release that had errors causing dependencies to break, Ivan Sagalaev, the original author of highlight.js, aptly summarized the current state of the relationship between businesses and open source projects:</p>
<blockquote><p>Dear fellow engineers, please take this build hiccup as an opportunity to explain to your particular business people that their entire intellectual property is a thin layer on top of a shaky foundation of open-source code lazily maintained by hobbyists or paid for by other businesses having their own goals in mind. </p>
<p>If they really want stability they have to invest in it by, for example, hiring engineers to deal with myriad of dependencies, maintain local stable forks, contribute patches upstream, or whatever — the key point is that it should not look like it &#8216;just works&#8217; on fairy dust.</p></blockquote>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 28 Aug 2019 20:14:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"WPTavern: Top Fifty WP: New Website Ranks Plugins by Downloads per Day";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93005";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"https://wptavern.com/top-fifty-wp-new-website-ranks-plugins-by-downloads-per-day";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3117:"<p>The team behind <a href="https://www.pootlepress.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pootlepress</a> has launched a new website that displays the <a href="https://topfiftywp.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">top 50 WordPress plugins</a> by downloads per day. It uses the <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress.org_API#Plugins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress.org Plugin API</a> to pull the previous day&#8217;s download stats from plugins hosted in the directory. The site also shows the average rating as a percent in the right-hand column.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-10.33.41-AM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>As one might expect, the most popular plugins with more than a million active installs dominate the top 50 spots. There are a few surprising plugins in the mix, with 500,000 installs or less, where these daily download stats might be an indication of their potential growth: <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ocean-extra/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ocean Extra</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wps-hide-login/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WPS Hide Login</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/amp/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AMP</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-file-manager/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">File Manager</a>, and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-statistics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP Statistics</a>. It&#8217;s something to monitor over time, as there may be quite a bit of turnover in the top 50.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also interesting to see a few plugins among the top 50 that provide utilities frequently used when working with WordPress but not necessary to have installed all the time. It looks like users are installing plugins like WordPress Importer, Maintenance, All-in-One WP Migration, and Coming Soon Page, and then leaving them active on their sites.</p>
<h3>Top Fifty WP Is Now Available as a Plugin with Gutenberg Blocks for Top Plugins and Themes</h3>
<p>Pootlepress has <a href="https://www.pootlepress.com/2019/08/introducing-topfiftywp-com-our-new-website-that-shows-the-most-downloaded-wordpress-plugins-per-day/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">packaged up Top 50 WP as a plugin</a> so that other publishers can use it to display the same data on their own websites. It includes two Gutenberg blocks &#8211; one for plugins and the other for themes. They are listed under Layout Elements.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-27-at-2.00.12-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Pootlepress founder Jamie Marsland said the plugin is coming soon to WordPress.org but for now it can be downloaded from his website. It requires the Caxton plugin to be installed, which provides Pootlepress&#8217; base framework for new blocks. Marsland&#8217;s team is working on adding more blocks with plugin and theme data, as well as customization options for each block.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 27 Aug 2019 19:15:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"WPTavern: Micro.blog Adds Tumblr Cross-Posting";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93064";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:57:"https://wptavern.com/micro-blog-adds-tumblr-cross-posting";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4304:"<p>Over the weekend, <a href="https://micro.blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Micro.blog</a> added <a href="https://www.manton.org/2019/08/23/tumblr-crossposting.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tumblr cross-posting</a> to its service in response to <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-tumblr-plans-to-rebuild-the-backend-powered-by-wordpress" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Automattic&#8217;s acquisition of the company</a>. Micro.blog users can now elect to have their blog posts automatically syndicated to Tumblr.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/tumblr-cross-posting.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Although Tumblr is somewhat of a competitor to Micro.blog&#8217;s social networking and microblogging service, founder Manton Reece said he sees Tumblr as more of a social network:</p>
<blockquote><p>I usually avoid adding blog hosting services to Micro.blog’s available cross-posting destinations. After all, if it’s a good blog host that I could recommend as your primary blog, why not just post everything there instead of using Micro.blog’s own blog hosting? But the more I’ve used Tumblr in the last couple of weeks, the more I think about Tumblr as a community first and a blog host second.</p></blockquote>
<p>Micro.blog may bear some similarities to Tumblr but the service has an entirely different flavor. It has become an alternative watering hole for indie web enthusiasts with its support for Webmention and Micropub protocols. Many who use the service seem to already be convinced of the value of hosting a blog that is independent from the major social media silos.</p>
<p>Micro.blog already had several Tumblr-related features built in to the platform. Users can follow Tumblr blogs on Micro.blog by visiting the Discover feed and plugging in any Tumblr domain name. Micro.blog users can also add their own Tumblr feeds to their accounts so followers can see posts from both their main microblog and the Tumblr blog.</p>
<p>On a recent episode of the Core Intuition podcast titled &#8220;<a href="https://coreint.org/2019/08/episode-384-a-much-bigger-megaphone/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Much Bigger Megaphone</a>,&#8221; Reece and co-host Daniel Jalkut, the developer of <a href="https://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MarsEdit</a>, speculate on the future of Tumblr and discuss some key differences from Micro.blog&#8217;s service and social network. Micro.blog acts more as an aggregate of blogs from around the web, whereas Tumblr&#8217;s blogging aspect is limited to Tumblr accounts only.</p>
<p>Both networks aim to make blogging easier and seem to focus on shorter-style posts. However, Micro.blog is more of a social network for independent microbloggers who want to connect their content to a stream of blogs. Tumblr is a blogging service that has a symbiotic relationship with the communities its publishing capabilities enable. It has the potential to become the most important social network on the open web, given its active user base and Automattic&#8217;s commitment to independent publishing.</p>
<p>Both Reece and Jalkut said they were optimistic that Automattic&#8217;s acquisition of Tumblr will introduce more opportunities for both Micro.blog and MarsEdit, as the company&#8217;s influence makes it easier to market the value of owning your own blog. For a long time, Tumblr&#8217;s API hasn&#8217;t supported some of the key features of MarsEdit and Jlkut said he is hopeful that with Automattic at the helm the API may change to support the types of things his customers need.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.manton.org/2019/08/13/tumblr-and-appnet.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">post</a> published shortly after the acquisition, Reece said he believes Tumblr has a lot of overlap with Micro.blog and views Automattic as having a &#8220;shared vision of the future that embraces content ownership, supports healthy communities, and deemphasizes massive social networks.&#8221; Those who value blogs and blogging are hopeful that Tumblr&#8217;s new ownership will rekindle some of the social magic that was present in the early days of the web but has since become more scarce.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 27 Aug 2019 03:59:56 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"WPTavern: php Central Europe Conference Canceled Due to Lack of Speaker Diversity";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=93012";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://wptavern.com/php-central-europe-conference-canceled-due-to-lack-of-speaker-diversity";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8679:"<p><a href="https://2019.phpce.eu/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">phpCE</a>, a central European PHP conference that was previously scheduled for October 4-6, has been cancelled due to a public fiasco resulting from a lack of gender diversity in the speaker lineup. The event, previously known as PHPCon Poland, was set to be held in Dresden, Germany, after the concept changed last year to rotate host cities and include a larger region of the PHP community.</p>
<p>After phpCE had <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1156646682114830336" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">boasted</a> a &#8220;rich and diverse lineup,&#8221; the published schedule was criticized for including zero women, while several speakers were given two sessions apiece. The <a href="https://2018.phpce.eu/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">2018 event</a> had a similar lack of diversity among speakers. <a href="https://www.cfpland.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CFP Land</a> founder Karl Hughes&#8217; tweet precipitated a flood of critical feedback.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This year's <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@phpce_eu</a> conference seems to have gone with the "White Males Only" conference lineup <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/72x72/1f62c.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>Shame. It's 2019, we can do better.</p>
<p>&mdash; Karl L Hughes (@KarlLHughes) <a href="https://twitter.com/KarlLHughes/status/1151525811616387073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Organizers received the public criticisms as an attack, a response that disappointed many who were previously considering attending the event. Speakers started to withdraw from the conference and <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1165381240922484743" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket sales dried up</a>, as organizers demonstrated an unwillingness to do further diversity outreach beyond their initial call for proposals.</p>
<p>Mark Baker, one of the speakers who decided to <a href="https://markbakeruk.net/2019/07/24/withdrawal-from-speaking-at-phpce-2019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cancel his engagement</a>, said organizers attempted to persuade him not to withdraw by offering to put the sole female speaker applicant on the schedule. Baker said he was uncomfortable, as that would put &#8220;a lot of pressure on the woman, knowingly being invited to speak after an all-male speaker list has already been announced, making her a &#8216;token&#8217; to diversity.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It wasn’t an easy decision to make, because I do enjoy sharing my coding passion; but having advocated for diversity at PHP developer conferences for the last several years, I have to follow my beliefs that diversity should be a cornerstone of the PHP developer community,&#8221; Baker said. &#8220;Diversity matters more to me than speaking.&#8221;</p>
<p>Larry Garfield (<a href="https://twitter.com/crell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@crell</a>), who is active in the Drupal community, <a href="https://steemit.com/php/@crell/skipping-php-ce-this-year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> that he also tried to work with phpCE&#8217;s organizers to diversify the lineup before being forced by his personal convictions to withdraw.</p>
<p>&#8220;I messaged the organizers, asking them to drop some of our double-sessions in favor of more female participation,&#8221; Garfield said. &#8220;We also offered to work with them to figure out ways to reduce the cost of bringing us in (a number of us were transatlantic, and Dresden is not the cheapest city to get to) so they could afford to cover more speakers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the organizers indicated they were not open to such an arrangement. According to them, they had only a single woman submit a session proposal this year despite having women present in previous years, and hers was a repeat from a local conference last year. They were also firm that the Call For Papers was done and over and they&#8217;re not open to reaching out to new people now. Sadly, from what the organizers told me, they actively don&#8217;t want to do outreach.&#8221;</p>
<p>A situation that has gone this far is often irreparable once it reaches the point of becoming an international debacle. If a diverse speaker selection hasn&#8217;t been established before the schedule announcement goes out, backpedaling to arrive at inclusion inevitably sends a signal to potential attendees that this might not be a welcoming event.</p>
<p>Due to the way it was handled, phpCE&#8217;s cancellation became a spectacular failure of inclusion that played out in a public way over the past several weeks. phpCE&#8217;s organizers remained <a href="https://twitter.com/phpce_eu/status/1151606520406257664" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">defensive in their replies</a> to critics on social media, clinging instead to what the community has deemed to be an outmoded and ineffective approach to organizing more diverse events.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">D&amp;I is okay as long as it means the equalization of chances. If you place D&amp;I in a stronger position than substantive content of the agenda, you destroy the event. The "prioritize" sounds exactly in that way.</p>
<p>&mdash; Dariusz Grzesista (@DarGrze) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarGrze/status/1151923365269127168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>phpCE did not publish a post regarding why the event was cancelled but rather cited several blog posts and exchanges on social media as factors in the decision.</p>
<h3>How WordPress Is Equipping Event Organizers to Create more Diverse Speaker Lineups</h3>
<p>Many organizers of large tech events are making proactive attempts at getting more diverse speakers and the web is full of countless resources from those who have shared their processes and tips on the topic. In the WordPress world specifically, the Community team has created a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/diversity-speaker-training-workshop/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diversity Speaker Training Workshop</a> to help meetup and WordCamp organizers cultivate better representation from different groups in their communities.</p>
<p>This particular workshop, which was created by Jill Binder and <a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/want-to-see-a-more-diverse-wordpress-contributor-community-so-do-we/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sponsored by Automattic</a>, has produced positive results in 55 WordPress communities in 26 different countries.</p>
<p>“All of the communities that held this workshop experienced a real change in the speaker roster for their annual conferences; many of their WordCamps went from having 10% women speakers to having 50% or more women speakers in less than a year,&#8221; community organizer Andrea Middleton said. &#8220;In 2017, Seattle had 60% women speakers and in 2018, Vancouver had 63%.” Organizers of large events like WordCamp US and WordCamp Miami have also created more diverse lineups in recent years with their own proactive strategies.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another great year of amazing, diverse speakers! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCMIA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WCMIA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WordPress</a> <a href="https://t.co/e2smmCpPAF">pic.twitter.com/e2smmCpPAF</a></p>
<p>&mdash; WordCamp Miami (@wordcampmiami) <a href="https://twitter.com/wordcampmiami/status/1107383222453833728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2019/07/30/jill-binder-what-is-the-diverse-speaker-workshop/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Diversity Speaker Training Workshop</a> seems to be particularly effective because it focuses on actively creating and equipping future speakers in a more organic way at the local level. Any WordPress event organizers who feel they have no options for increasing the diversity of their events can get help from the Community team. Relying on the call for speakers to deliver a diverse lineup is not always the most effective strategy. In many cases, it takes a great deal of work to bring in diverse speakers, but the Community Team has worked for years to pioneer new resources that help organizers succeed in these efforts.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 26 Aug 2019 19:35:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"WPTavern: Chrome 76 Adds Native Lazy-Loading, WordPress Contributors Continue Discussion Regarding Core Support";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92958";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:121:"https://wptavern.com/chrome-76-adds-native-lazy-loading-wordpress-contributors-continue-discussion-regarding-core-support";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5009:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/lazy-cat.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>lazy cat &#8211; photo credit: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/uy5t-CJuIK4">Kate Stone Matheson</a></p>
<p>The latest version of Chrome (76) shipped with a new &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute that allows developers to specify resources, such as images and iframes, to defer loading until the user scrolls nearer to them. In the past, developers have used third-party libraries to achieve lazy loading but soon this will no longer be necessary, as more browsers adopt the loading attribute. Chrome developers <a href="https://web.dev/native-lazy-loading" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">published</a> a compelling, in-depth explanation of how browser-level native lazy-loading can improve performance.</p>
<p>Given Chrome&#8217;s seemingly unshakeable, staggering <a href="https://www.w3counter.com/trends" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">market dominance</a>, it will not be long before the loading attribute is supported for the vast majority of the web&#8217;s users. Firefox has an open <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542784" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket</a> for implementing lazy loading using this syntax and the feature is also supported in Chromium 76-based browsers. It even works when the user has disabled JavaScript. In the meantime, Chrome recommends developers continue to use a third-party library along with loading=&#8221;lazy&#8221; is to provide a polyfill for browsers that do not yet support the attribute.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.w3counter.com/trends"><img /></a></p>
<p>Morten Rand-Hendriksen filed a trac <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/44427" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ticket</a> 14 months ago, recommending WordPress introduce a lazy-loading API for media and other elements. Millions of WordPress users already have have some form of lazy loading on their sites using popular plugins like <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jetpack</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Autoptimize</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Smush</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP-Optimize</a>, and others.</p>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen contends that lazy-loading should be added to core because it is a <a href="https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/lazy-loading-guidance/images-and-video/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">performance best practice</a> that WordPress should not require site owners to implement on their own. Without a core standard for lazy-loading, themes and plugins are all taking different approaches to solve this problem, which can cause conflicts and unexpected behavior. Contributors working on the ticket are still discussing the specifics of how WordPress core can best support lazy loading.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, WordPress developers who are excited about taking advantage of native lazy-loading are sharing their their own functions and custom plugins on GitHub, WordPress.org, and in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/permalink/2575482092513989/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Advanced WordPress Facebook</a> group.</p>
<p>Peter Shaw created a plugin called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lh-native-lazy-loading/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LH Native Lazy Loading</a> that adds the &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute to IMG and IFRAME tags detected when filtering the_content(), post thumbnails, and oembed. It does not add any extra CSS or JavaScript and is compatible with JavaScript-based image lazy loaders, in case you want to use one as a fallback for browsers that don&#8217;t support the attribute.</p>
<p>Chris Franchetti shared a <a href="https://gist.github.com/Enaldi/ca7b7ab6108ce293365f380d5e99b6b2?fbclid=IwAR0fKgrkHCtTBswPU-i5d5HV0MH_DjdPpEFEvQIEv7CCNboxYQ0bMihrUU0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gist</a> for a function that adds lazy loading to it to anything with a src. Chris Zähller published a set of functions on GitHub called <a href="https://github.com/seezee/wp-lazy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WP Lazy</a> that work in a different way. It adds the <code>loading=“lazy”</code> attribute when inserting new media or displaying a gallery via the WordPress gallery shortcode.</p>
<p>If there is a long delay on the core trac ticket, there will inevitably be a proliferation of native lazy-loading solutions that allow WordPress users to implement what several major browsers are already supporting. Existing lazy load plugins may also change to add support for the &#8220;loading&#8221; attribute, with their previous solutions as a backup for browsers that don&#8217;t yet support it.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 23 Aug 2019 20:27:19 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:111:"WPTavern: Popular WordPress Themes Remove Obtrusive Admin Notices to Conform to New Theme Directory Requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92962";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:122:"https://wptavern.com/popular-wordpress-themes-remove-obtrusive-admin-notices-to-conform-to-new-theme-directory-requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2018:"<p>Last month the WordPress Theme Review Team took action to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-theme-review-team-seeks-to-curb-obtrusive-admin-notices-with-new-requirement-to-follow-core-design-patterns">curb obtrusive admin notices</a>, requiring all themes to use the admin_notices API and follow the core design pattern. Prior to this rule going into effect, many themes would commonly display a large, branded notice upon activation. Sometimes these came with a prompt to install more plugins or instructions for getting started. </p>



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



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



<img />



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



<img />



<img />



<p>Theme authors are still finding creative ways to brand their notices, but they are now much less obtrusive and confined to the expected area. They are still able to communicate the necessary information for getting started, without cluttering the admin by taking over half the screen. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 23 Aug 2019 04:21:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"WPTavern: WordPress 5.3 Development Kicks Off: UI Polishing, Editor Improvements, and New Twenty Twenty Default Theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=89726";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:125:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-3-development-kicks-off-ui-polishing-editor-improvements-and-new-twenty-twenty-default-theme";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3911:"<p>WordPress 5.3 release dates were <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/21/wordpress-5-3-schedule-and-scope/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">confirmed</a> this week. The timeline has the official release arriving November 12, 2019, with a decent margin of time to avoid WordCamp US (early November) and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday week at the end of November. Beta 1 is expected September 23 and a Release Candidate is scheduled to follow on October 15.</p>
<p>The scope for this release is squarely in line with Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s 2019 goal of tightening up the software to improve existing features.</p>
<p>&#8220;The focus will be polishing current interactions and making the UIs more user friendly,&#8221; WordPress 5.3 release coordinator Francesca Marano said in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/21/wordpress-5-3-schedule-and-scope/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">schedule announcement</a>.</p>
<p>Another major part of this release is the editor improvements that have already been pushed to the Gutenberg plugin over the past few months. Riad Benguella, WP 5.3 Editor Tech lead, said these improvements &#8220;go beyond &#8216;polishing things,'&#8221; and will include more than 10 previous releases of the plugin.</p>
<p>After speaking with component maintainers, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/07/wordpress-5-3-planning-roundup/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">posted</a> a summary of updates that could be included in the release during the proposed timeframe:</p>
<ul>
<li>Grouping: support for dividing your page into sections</li>
<li>Motion: support for visual motion when moving/arranging blocks</li>
<li>Column patterns and widths: support for fixed column widths, and predefined layouts</li>
<li>Big images: support for saving progress after a big image fails to upload</li>
<li>Media accessibility: some fixes and a lot of polish as a result of the a11y audit</li>
<li>PHP 7.4: support for the new version coming late in November</li>
<li>And also: Build/Test updates, better administration of emails, and a lot of under the hood improvements</li>
</ul>
<h3>WordPress 5.3 to Introduce Twenty Twenty Default Theme</h3>
<p>Earlier this month, Haden confirmed that WordPress 5.3 will include a new bundled default theme. Twenty Twenty development is taking a different route from previous default themes in that it will not be designed from scratch.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think something that would be cool is taking a theme from the community that is already doing cool stuff with the features we&#8217;ve been introducing, and modifying it to fit with the 5.3 release,&#8221; Haden said.</p>
<p>The lead for the default theme project has yet be announced, although Mark Uraine, a designer working on Gutenberg, will be facilitating the effort behind the scenes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I know people are looking at themes that make good use of Gutenberg and have theme developers that can dedicate some time to this,&#8221; Uraine said.</p>
<p>WordPress 5.3 will be the last major release of 2019. Contributors plan to land a minor release in the meantime. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/22/wordpress-5-2-3-rc-1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WordPress 5.2.3 RC 1</a> was released today. Jeffrey Paul, who is helping to coordinate this release, said the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/13/5-2-3-release-planning/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">focuses for 5.2.3</a> include the PHP version bump coming in 5.3, backporting some block editor features, and improving accessibility and RTL issues. The official 5.2.3 release is scheduled for <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20190904T1700" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wednesday, September 4, 2019, 10:00 AM PDT</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 22 Aug 2019 19:05:54 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"WPTavern: WordPress Poised to Begin Implementing Proposal to Auto-Update Older Sites to 4.7";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92908";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-poised-to-begin-implementing-proposal-to-auto-update-older-sites-to-4-7";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:11440:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dinocar.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/A0737DFF83">Ryan McGuire</a></p>
<p>WordPress contributors from around the world joined in a lively meeting yesterday to continue the discussion regarding the <a href="https://wptavern.com/proposal-to-auto-update-old-versions-of-wordpress-to-4-7-sparks-heated-debate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposal to auto-update old sites to version 4.7</a> in a controlled rollout. The idea is that sites would gradually update from one major version to the next (not all at once). The discussion was led by WordPress 3.7 release lead Andrew Nacin with help from Ian Dunn and security team lead Jake Spurlock.</p>
<p>Based on the participants&#8217; responses during the meeting, there were a handful of dissenters who are not comfortable with updating old sites without the site owner&#8217;s explicit consent, which is difficult to acquire when emails and admin notices will not reach everyone affected.</p>
<p>The majority of contributors are leaning towards finding the best implementation for moving forward with the proposal, which essentially makes a bold decision for regular users who may not know that they are not on the latest version of WordPress and those who have abandoned their sites. Site owners who are actively choosing to hang back on older versions have most likely already opted out of auto-updates, and those decisions will be respected by the update system.</p>
<p>Dunn said his goal for the discussion was to &#8220;listen for ideas, and hopefully move closer to some kind of decision.&#8221; At the beginning, it kicked off with more of a focus on marketing and implementation details, rather than the matter of whether or not WordPress should auto-update sites to major versions.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think that a major marketing push is needed around this,&#8221; Spurlock said. &#8220;We want to be ahead of any news about WordPress breaking sites, and in a position to frame this update as a major benefit for the millions of sites that are being updated.&#8221; After encouragement from WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden, those eager to discuss the rollout process pulled back to engage the more central matter of the auto updates themselves. Spurlock summarized the three options the security team has for older sites:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>1. Abandon security updates for older sites<br />
2. Continue security updates, at great cost<br />
3. Manually update sites, leaving older sites without updates.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;It’s worth pointing out that these site owners have already had up to six years of admin notices,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;The oldest sites likely received north of 30 emails. The way we might communicate a new feature (in say 5.3 or 5.4) to add support for major release auto updates might be drastically different than how we might handle an old site running 3.7 that we’d like to move to 3.8 and higher.&#8221;</p>
<h3>Contributors Weigh the Consequences of Leaving Older Sites Without Updates</h3>
<p>Core contributor Zebulan Stanphill was one of the more vocal opponents of auto-updating to major versions without consent.</p>
<p>&#8220;The auto-update feature in 3.7 was not advertised as including major updates, so it seems deceptive in my opinion to suddenly change it to include that,&#8221; Stanphill said. &#8220;It feels like assuming more control over a website than the owner had originally given to WordPress. I&#8217;m fine with auto-major-updates becoming the default in new versions of WordPress, but retroactively applying that to old versions seems wrong to me.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gary Pendergast, a full-time sponsored contributor to core, countered that the problem is potentially millions of site owners will not see the notice and will be stuck on old versions that will eventually become insecure. Stanphill argued that it&#8217;s not WordPress&#8217; responsibility to update people&#8217;s sites for them if they did not give permission.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is our responsibility to not lay the groundwork for a botnet of a sizeable portion of the internet,&#8221; Pendergast said.</p>
<p>WordPress has a much larger footprint on the web than it did in 2013 when the auto-update system was put in place in 3.7. The platform&#8217;s marketshare has grown to <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">34.5% of the the top 10 million websites</a> as of August 2019. Sites running 3.7 have been informally estimated at around 2 million but a definitive count has not been confirmed.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we unwittingly give someone a platform to do real evil, we’re big enough that could have consequences,&#8221; Core contributor Mary Baum said.</p>
<p>Lack of explicit consent and the possibility for breakage were the top two concerns for those opposed to the plan. Those in favor believe it can be done without breaking millions of websites. Former security team lead Aaron Campbell highlighted the advantages of a tiered update rollout:</p>
<blockquote><p>Speaking of starting at 3.7 users as a test base (which is part of the plan Ian proposed), one of the great things we can offer users that they have a hard time doing themselves, is a slow update from version to version. The button in the dashboard of a 3.7 site will update the site to 5.2, which is understandably scary. We&#8217;d be updating 3.7->3.8, then 3.8->3.9, etc etc until 4.6->4.7. It&#8217;ll offer a smoother path from 3.7 to 4.7 AND give us plenty of places to improve on the process along the way if it&#8217;s needed.</p>
<p>I think there are some benefits to rolling up. One of those is the DB changes, which would be rolled out in chunks the same as they happened over the last 6 years rather than batched all in one update. It seems like it would cause fewer memory and time limit errors as well.</p></blockquote>
<p>As he has stated in previous P2 discussions, Nacin reiterated that the core team&#8217;s plan has always been to bring auto updates for major versions:</p>
<blockquote><p>I want to share a bit of history and context: Only the latest version of WordPress is, of course, officially supported. Automatic background updates in 3.7 (October 2013) completely changed the calculus—for the first time, we were able to ship security releases to older branches. But we didn’t announce or document these older versions, offer them for regular download, or expose them to the Dashboard → Updates screen. There was no intention—and still isn’t—to change our often stated policy that only the latest version of WordPress is officially supported. What we realized, though, if we are building the ability to quickly push security fixes to older unsupported sites, we’d be out of our mind to not use that feature.</p>
<p>We expected to make quicker progress on automatic updates for major releases, improving the safety and resiliency of those updates. That would have then enabled us to update these older sites, all the way back to 3.7, to more recent versions of WordPress. That was always the plan. We just didn’t expect it’d take us six years to get there.</p></blockquote>
<p>Eventually, the long term goal is to change the default for major updates to &#8220;opt-out,&#8221; once they have proven stability. The proposal for auto-updating older versions to 4.7 would be the next step towards gradually moving in that direction. Nacin contends older sites &#8220;are already opted-in by virtue of being on an install of WordPress 3.7+.&#8221;</p>
<p>At a certain point in the meeting, the discussion surrounding the ethics of auto-updating older sites to 4.7, broke down into analogies involving car maintenance, vaccinations, rotting corpses, and anything contributors could pull from the real world to make their opinions more relatable to the topic at hand.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s hard to talk about &#8216;autonomy&#8217; for sites that have effectively been abandoned,&#8221; Mark Jaquith said. &#8220;Like, if you drop dead on the street, society doesn’t just let you rot there because you haven’t consented to burial.&#8221;</p>
<p>Core contributor John James Jacoby said he is not entirely comfortable with the implied consent of opt-out vs. opt-in but ultimately agreed that it is &#8220;something that needs to happen.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;But to paraphrase Mark from earlier, I guess I feel like WordPress shouldn’t be cleaning it’s own carcasses from the web unless it includes a big’ol meta-box in the Dashboard that says &#8216;Hey we had to do this for you and here is why,'&#8221; Jacoby said.</p>
<p>Others are more strongly opposed to WordPress changing files on users&#8217; servers, after having originally communicated that 3.7 would only perform automatic security updates unless they decided to opt into major updates.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am very much against pushing an unattended major update to any software,&#8221; Gabor Javorszky said. &#8220;WordPress Core does not have the authority to change code on my server without my explicit ask. I&#8217;m okay with it updating itself for minor versions, because that&#8217;s what I signed up for, and that&#8217;s how the current auto updater works by default. I can change it to allow major updates, and I can change it to not allow any updates at all, but WP overriding that choice is wrong.&#8221;</p>
<p>Michael Panaga contended that users would be more willing to understand that their old websites have been hacked, rather than find out that their sites have broken because of an unauthorized automatic update. Opponents of the proposal do not believe that it is WordPress&#8217; responsibility to keep people&#8217;s sites from being compromised, even if millions of sites get hacked. They see this as the user&#8217;s problem or something hosting companies should handle.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reasonable people can and will disagree on this, but our philosophy is that we do not think it is solely the user’s responsibility if their site is hacked,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;We feel that responsibility too, and we’re going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure their site stays updated and they are running the latest and greatest version of WordPress.&#8221;</p>
<p>No official decision has been announced but those who have the power to implement the plan are firmly decided and seem to have gained a consensus through yesterday&#8217;s meeting.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the end of the day there&#8217;s only a few people who have the ability to push the change to the auto-update server to make this opt-out instead of opt-in and sounds like their minds are made up, so no point in continuing P2 [discussions], might as well move into the implementation phase and try to minimize the destruction,&#8221; WordPress developer Earle Davies said.</p>
<p>Nacin thanked contributors for lending their voices to the discussion and said there will be some follow-up posts and possibly a roadmap published to make/core in the coming days, documenting previous decisions back to 2007.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m really glad you all showed up to talk about this topic,&#8221; Nacin said. &#8220;Even after 10 years, I remain deeply impressed with the WordPress community and how much it cares about its users. The web deserves it.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:07:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"HeroPress: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2951";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:166:"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6926:"<img width="960" height="480" src="https://s20094.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/081919-min-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="I don't have to commute to work and risk my life every day." /><p>My adventure with WordPress started back in the days, circa 2006, when I tried to use WordPress.com in a local area network at the company I was working for at the time. I soon realized WordPress.org was a better fit and began experimenting with setting up multiple sites for different purposes. Fast forward to 2015/2016, I decided I would no longer work for the company I was working with for the past 10 years and I started looking for opportunities to either work from home or create my own company. I tried to do both at the same time as neither would exclude the other and so I went the self-learning path with MeteorJS and WordPress.</p>
<p>As a little bit of background, I have worked in support for as long as I can remember. I was the school&#8217;s computer lab technician at the age of 10, and trust me all I did was dust-off computers, install MS-DOS and Prince of Persia. In 2005 I got my Computer Sc Engineer degree and since then I worked for Venezuela&#8217;s national oil company (PDVSA 2006-2016) as a Workflow Support Engineer helping engineers with oil drilling and completion engineering tools, but I also filled many temporary roles such as a PHP developing project as a contractor, creating extensive SQL queries to pull data out of Oracle databases and even led team members at different times for specifics developing projects, software implementations I developed myself, or for projects to help design a database model for a third party software.</p>
<blockquote><p>I was very stuck in an office with an every day commute time of 92 minutes.</p></blockquote>
<p>As the living conditions in Venezuela worsened, the job did not longer fit my needs. I decided I would no longer wait to secure another job or have established a running business to leave, so I left with the uncertainty of what I was going to do next. A year before I actually left, I resumed my journey with WordPress by building websites for a couple of local businesses and tried luck with a viral news website I eventually gave away to a friend of mine. The more I looked into moving to WordPress as my go-to developing tool for work, the more I realized I was still better at providing support, at helping colleagues develop better products or at helping business owners decide a route to have a successful online presence. I often found myself supporting web development rather than developing or building sites. But conditions in Venezuela started to deteriorate faster than one could adapt, businesses closed their doors and working with local clients was becoming harder and not the best option to support a large family.</p>
<h3>How WordPress Changed My Life</h3>
<p>I live in Venezuela and let&#8217;s say this is not the safest place in the world, among other things.</p>
<p>Millions has left the country looking for better work opportunities and to improve their living conditions, including most of my friends and my closest family relatives, so in a way WordPress changed my life for the better. Leaving a job in a country in crisis were personally difficult times and a tough decision to make. In the meantime, I kept submitting countless resumes to different distributed customer support positions, unsuccessfully. I also joined Support Driven in Slack to get familiar with current trends in customer support and to build relationships and even though I wasn&#8217;t as active as I wanted to, I was able to find an open position for a Happiness Engineer role at Automattic. It was at my second try with Automattic that I was able to secure an interview for the role. I did a 5-weeks trial and finally joined Automattic full-time by the end of 2016.</p>
<blockquote><p>I choose to work from home so I can be next to the people I care the most, my wife, my kids, my parents, but equally importantly to me and my immediate family is the fact that I don&#8217;t have to commute to work and risk my life every day as I did in the past.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress is as big as you want it to be, you are always learning and never stuck. Find your niche within WordPress, there are more work opportunities that I can count where you can insert yourself and continue doing what you are best at. If you are a software developer, a database administrator, a lawyer, a musician or an event organizer, it doesn&#8217;t matter: WordPress is still for you, it changed my life and it can change yours too!</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=WordPress%20and%20Customer%20Support%2C%20A%20Perfect%20Match&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match%2F&title=WordPress+and+Customer+Support%2C+A+Perfect+Match" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/081919-min-150x150.jpg&description=WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/" title="WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-and-customer-support-a-perfect-match/">WordPress and Customer Support, A Perfect Match</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 21 Aug 2019 12:00:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Aniello Forlini";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: University of Helsinki Publishes Free Intro Course on Modern JavaScript-based Web Development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92885";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:114:"https://wptavern.com/university-of-helsinki-publishes-free-intro-course-on-modern-javascript-based-web-development";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3097:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Screen-Shot-2019-08-20-at-5.41.06-PM.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The University of Helsinki is offering its &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deep Dive Into Modern Web Development</a>&#8221; course online for free. It provides an introduction to JavaScript-based web development with React, Redux, Node.js, MongoDB, and GraphQL. Participants will learn the basics of building single page applications with ReactJS. This course is the same as the <a href="https://fullstack-hy2019.github.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Full Stack course</a> that was offered at the university&#8217;s <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en/computer-science" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Department of Computer Science</a> in Spring 2019.</p>
<p>The material is available in both Finnish and English and is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0. It is structured into nine parts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Fundamentals of Web apps</li>
<li>Introduction to React</li>
<li>Communicating with the server</li>
<li>Programming a server with NodeJS and Express</li>
<li>Testing Express servers, user administration</li>
<li>Testing React apps, custom hooks</li>
<li>State management with Redux</li>
<li>React router, styling app with CSS and webpack</li>
<li>GraphQL</li>
</ul>
<p>The University partnered with seven companies to provide participants with an &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en/part0/general_info#interview-promise" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interview promise</a>&#8221; if they complete the course with full credits and the practical work. This offer, which is only available to those with a Finnish social security number, is similar to coding bootcamps that offer job interviews after completion.</p>
<p>The university issued a call for companies to join the &#8220;<a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en/challenge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Full Stack Challenge</a>,&#8221; encouraging their employees to take the course and build upon their expertise:</p>
<blockquote><p>Our objective is to encourage learning. We offer a fully-assembled and purposefully-scoped Full Stack course that lowers the barrier of entry for learning about new state-of-the-art and production grade technologies. The course is free of charge and you can participate from anywhere at anytime, at your leisure.</p>
<p>The course is built by coders for coders, and offers something for both newcomers and seasoned industry veterans alike.</p></blockquote>
<p>All participants who finish the course can download a certificate of completion. Those with a Finnish social security number can take an exam and get official credits from the University.</p>
<p>WordPress developers who have yet to jump into the world of React-based JavaScript development may find this course to be a useful, structured introduction. Participants should have a a basic understanding of programming and databases, as well as decent grasp of working with Git.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 20 Aug 2019 23:15:01 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:60:"WPTavern: A Nofollow Option for Links Is Coming to Gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=92873";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:71:"https://wptavern.com/a-nofollow-option-for-links-is-coming-to-gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3116:"<p>Gutenberg users are requesting an easy way to add a nofollow attribute to links in the block editor. Users can currently toggle a setting to designate a link to open in a new tab, but a similarly user-friendly option for adding a nofollow attribute is not yet available.</p>
<p>Requests have come in across multiple issues on GitHub, as well as in the WordPress Gutenberg Editor group on Facebook. For example, one blogger <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/161444577756897/permalink/488349518399733/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">asked</a> for advice today after not finding any Gutenberg-compatible nofollow plugins:</p>
<blockquote><p>Has anyone found an easy way to add a nofollow attribute to links using Gutenberg other than editing the HTML for every single link?</p>
<p>I used to have a checkbox for nofollow plugin but it seems that none of the plugins I&#8217;ve found are compatible with Gutenberg.</p>
<p>As a blogger, I need to add nofollows often to remain compliant with FTC requirements for sponsored/affiliate links.</p></blockquote>
<p>Others requesting the feature in issues filed on the Gutenberg repository are looking for an easier way to make their links compliant with Google and other major search engines&#8217; requests that marketers add nofollow to links that are part of an endorsement or commercial relationship.</p>
<p>&#8220;On behalf of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who make money with their website with affiliate programs and sponsored content: please, make it easy for us to add the nofollow rel attribute to a link,&#8221; Renee Dobbs <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/13542" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">requested</a> in her first ever issue opened on Github.</p>
<p>&#8220;I honestly don&#8217;t know why it isn&#8217;t a part of WordPress core. Every WordPress commercial I see lately is about having your business on WordPress, yet WP is making it difficult for business owners to be compliant with Google&#8217;s guidelines on paid/affiliate links. We shouldn&#8217;t have to add yet another plugin to handle something so basic and widely used. Just have a checkbox or similar (like open to new window) to add the nofollow rel attribute for a link.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gutenberg contributors have worked on a couple different solutions for getting this feature added to the editor. Alexander Botteram, a developer at Yoast, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/16609" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">opened a PR</a> that adds a new &#8220;nofollow&#8221; toggle setting to the core link modal. Gutenberg phase 2 lead Riad Benguella <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/13190#issuecomment-489580675" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recommended</a> this as a first step towards making links more extensible.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nofollow-link-option.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The PR is still undergoing review but it looks like a promising solution with the UI that users are requesting.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 20 Aug 2019 19:51:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Mon, 23 Sep 2019 07:08:27 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Mon, 23 Sep 2019 07:00:09 GMT";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 2";s:16:"content-encoding";s:4:"gzip";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20130911040210";}