


<p>So, yes. Um, but I mean, you can go all the way up to, you know, sort of, uh, enterprise esque, uh, CloudFlare, and uh, you know, that's pretty cool. I</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> should have asked this earlier, but a lot of the, it seems like a lot of the, uh, customers you have, or at least the contact points with cloud ways or they're using the platform, might be more developer, technical minded people too.</p>



<p>So can you speak? So that really speaks to them in the sense of get in there and play around. [00:33:00] They might not, okay, I'm thinking solution and I just need this fixed. But there's also other things that they can get in, explore. Anything, particularly if we put on that developer and agency type role and like, what else would you say to</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> them?</p>



<p>Uh, well, a lot of that developer-centric nature comes from being a completely self-service. You know, provider for a long time. Uh, you know, we're expanding how we reach out, how we communicate, how we, uh, expose offerings. But, you know, make sure you use, you know, a lot of the basics. Make sure you're using , the staging environments.</p>



<p>They're already there. They're not gonna anything extra. Uh, take advantage of. You know, evaluating, you know, potentially different servers or how you, uh, load up on, you know, droplets or something like that. Uh, you may find that, uh, one application is really, you know, kind of, [00:34:00] uh, what's the, uh, impacting, that's the word I wanna look.</p>



<p>sometimes hard find these, these seven letter words, um, impacting, you know, other applications. You know, never thought about it before, but you can actually tell now the difference. And so yeah, move that over to another, uh, you know, add an extra droplet into the, uh, mix and, and also play around with, uh, how you might split up that architecture.</p>



<p>Again, I'm, I get, I get geeky on this, but you know, no geek geeky. We, we, uh, uh, we have a customer. Yeah, put their entire database on a really high performant droplet, because that was getting hammered all the time by the type of applications that they were running, but their front end wasn't really that busy, so they could, you know.</p>



<p>Put multiple versions and variations of that front end on a much more, uh, cost efficient, you know, value based, uh, package. So you can do [00:35:00] cool things like that without having to, uh, go crazy and worry about, you know, third party, you know, database as a service, things. I mean, it's already there. Um, so you can kind of take advantage.</p>



<p>Right. Get</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> in and look around the API and, uh, you play with the tools. Okay. Thanks for that, Robert. Now let's talk about, I want the, the part that I can talk better about is where is WordPress now in the open web, in the web in general? Um, where's the position, what are you seeing in WordPress? What are you excited about with WordPress as we kind of move forward and continue to like help democratize publish?</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> Uh, well, WordPress is the defacto content management system platform right now. I, I, I don't think there's any way just by the sheer volume, the ubiquity, the types of traffic. Uh, there are probably a hundred million people on a WordPress site right now. They don't even realize it, [00:36:00] so it, it, it, there, there's a ubiquity to it.</p>



<p>Uh, that's not gonna disappear overnight. Uh, My assumption is it'll continue growing. It's, it's, there are a lot of things that have been done right with WordPress. There's a lot of, you know, quarreling, cobbling, squabbling, um, sometimes about how things get deployed and rolled out. But, uh, on the whole of, for a community driven project, it's pretty amazing.</p>



<p>How far it's come, how far it's going to go, and, uh, the breadth of, of adoption. It's, it's, is it the easiest thing the universe to use? No, but it's not the hardest, uh, is, is, is it the most flexible thing? It's up there. I mean, there may be things, you know, if you really wanna just hand code everything from scratch, I guess that's the most flexible.</p>



<p>But this allows a level of [00:37:00] consistency, uh, comfort. I know it's not a word we typically use with open source projects, but I can go from one word press site to another for completely different applications, and there's a comfort in knowing where all the pieces are and that there's documentation and training and all these things that help continue to grow an ecosystem.</p>



<p>That at some point everyone knows at least enough about WordPress to be dangerous and people can build careers and companies out of it, uh, quite easily.</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Absolutely. Is there anything about in the project too that you like that's getting you excited? Uh, whether it's, um, a particular market that's able to really crush or, you know, cont not crush, crush in a good way, um, really expand into, and I think of enterprise here, so I'm baiting you on that.</p>



<p>But um, also specific features. Do you know we got good word, the code editor. Or the block editor always. We've got side editor coming out now, changed from full side editing, but anything, anything that [00:38:00] you, you're excited about specifically related to the project that</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> it's doing? I think there's, uh, small stuff being done and you kind of, you know, um, lob the pitch at me, uh, to, to get enterprise just sort of, uh, happy.</p>



<p>I mean, there's a. Performance work being done all the time on WordPress there, you know, there's, uh, you know, WordPress learnings now, I mean, these are the things the enterprise cares about. They wanna be performant, they wanna be secure, and they wanna know that there's a knowledge repository that they can go back to, uh, either for reference or for training their workers or being able to evaluate their workers against, or contractors, uh, vendors or whatnot that kind of.</p>



<p>That's risk mitigation. And the enterprise cares about mitigating this kind of risk. And that's why open source had such a hard time in the beginning, and new projects have such a hard time getting traction. There's a lot of risk, you know, who's running the project. Uh, [00:39:00] you know, are they awake? What happens if something is horribly broken?</p>



<p>What if there's a, a core vulnerability that destroys everything? You know, these corporations don't, the enterprises not wanna worry about those things. They do, but you know, let's not make it even scarier than it already is for them. And I think what you know, the project has done very well is try to cover some of these aspects and, uh, provide that faith and security.</p>



<p>Yeah, I,</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> I, I have no enterprise experience, um, but I love that WordPress is, seems to be really doing well on an enterprise. And I hear from a lot of marketing types in those companies that love WordPress, cuz it's. Faster, cheaper, and oh, we can actually make side changes on the side. Like they can actually use Gutenberg block editor to roll out things.</p>



<p>And that's exciting for me. I, I came in from more the, here's your $80 theme, but to [00:40:00] see WordPress release, start to take. Take a lot of ground up there and help a lot of people, particularly at the enterprise is exciting. Talking with a lot of our agency owners. Same. Same thing is like, that was music to my ears.</p>



<p>That's what you want to hear WordPress is doing, um, is continue to grow in the new markets and help with that expansion of the.</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> Of the open web and even things like headless. I mean, so again, you have all that consistency and reliability for from cord WordPress, but now I can just spit out my whole site via APIs.</p>



<p>I mean, you could always kind of do that, but now it just gets better and more robust and, uh, again, uh, mitigates risk by being able to have the worker's stuff on one end and then sort of the display part on the other end. All right. Well,</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> thank you for that. Anything else you're excited about, uh, the work you're doing at Cloud Ways, the work in WordPress?</p>



<p>Anything else that we left out that you want to share? Oh,</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> there's so many things I'd love to share. , uh, it's, it's, it's [00:41:00] a busy good time for WordPress. I know there's a lot of concern about, in the tech Mark about what's going on with this or what's going on with that. One of the amazing things about, you know, successful open source project, Is that the opportunities exist.</p>



<p>I mean, if you're, if you're a Linux geek, you, you, there are so many millions of opportunities If you're a WordPress developer, implementer, you know, uh, editor, content creator, you know, those opportunities are all over the place. And, and it's, it's, you know, nice from. You know, working in this space now that, okay, the, you know, this is not just a one trick pony, this isn't the, you know, some kind of project, which may, may be fantastic or may just drop dead tomorrow.</p>



<p>Uh, WordPress is, uh, It's solid and we should really take an immense amount of pleasure in the fact that it's solid. Yes, we're not getting things always done as quickly [00:42:00] or, you know, can't make everyone happy. But that's, that's not the worst problem to have in the universe. Uh, it's the project. And the platform is flexible enough to accommodate well third party solutions that can integrate with WordPress.</p>



<p>You know, why not? And that kind of stability helps everyone from the enterprise on. Yeah, that's</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> a good way to end it. Well, thank you my friend Robert, and also the cloud ways for continuing to support business award press at post status. And I love what you're doing over there. Keep it up and keep sharing, uh, what you and your team are doing.</p>



<p>Will you be you and the team? Um, where will you be next? I know Word Camp are coming around, but, uh, where will you be?</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> Yeah, a deploy, depending when this gets pushed out, there's a digital Deploy, digital Ocean Deploy conference, uh, virtual conference that that'll probably pass by the time this, uh, airs, uh, recurring revenue summit.</p>



<p>Uh, all the Black Friday, cyber Monday madness that we, uh, are [00:43:00] already kicking off. Um, I, I think that'll, I think that'll finish out the year. I think the, uh, we'll, we'll all take a needed, uh, break at, you know, for at least a week or two at the end of December,</p>



<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> break and kick into 2023. Well, thanks, Robert.</p>



<p>Again, we appreciate you sharing the story and what you're doing, uh, with the product, WordPress product specifically over at Cloud Waste. We'll talk to you next time.</p>



<p><strong>Robert Jacobi:</strong> Thanks so much, Corey.</p>
<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Dec 2022 03:24:12 +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:"Olivia Bisset";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:91:"WPTavern: New WordPress Sandbox Project Demos: Test-Drive Themes and Plugins in the Browser";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140222";s: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/new-wordpress-sandbox-project-demos-test-drive-themes-and-plugins-in-the-browser";s: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:4025:"<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-sandbox">WordPress Sandbox</a>, an experimental project that uses WebAssembly (WASM) to <a href="https://wptavern.com/new-prototype-runs-wordpress-in-the-browser-with-no-php-server">run WordPress in the browser without a PHP server</a>, has been chugging along steadily since Automattic-sponsored core contributor Adam Zieliński introduced it earlier this year in September.</p>



<p>Zieliński published three new updates to Twitter this week, demonstrating the project&#8217;s potential to provide an in-browser IDE for plugin development along with a quick way to spin up a test environment for themes and plugins. </p>



<p>In the first example, he shows how the project could be used to test-drive themes from WordPress&#8217; Themes Directory right in the browser. Clicking the <a href="https://t.co/nYDjXUAwLv">demo URL</a> will launch a site with the Pendant theme active, but the theme can be changed to another from the directory by appending a different theme name to the end of the URL. All your changes made on the demo are private and disappear after a page refresh. With a few improvements, this could be transformative for previewing themes on WordPress.org.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With WordPress Sandbox, you can test-drive themes from the directory right in your browser.<br /><br />For example, click here to try Pendant theme:<a href="https://t.co/nYDjXUAwLv">https://t.co/nYDjXUAwLv</a><br /><br />You can replace "pendant" in the URL with another theme from the directory. <a href="https://t.co/OFGqimFd6c">pic.twitter.com/OFGqimFd6c</a></p>&mdash; Adam Zieliński (@adamzielin) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamzielin/status/1600484342588997634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Zieliński also showed WordPress Sandbox&#8217;s potential for test-driving plugins directly in the browser. The example uses CoBlocks but can be changed to any other plugin from the directory by replacing the plugin name. Having this available to WordPress users would greatly speed up the plugin selection process in cases where it&#8217;s not clear if a plugin will do what you hope it will do. It would also be handy if you could append multiple plugin slugs to the URL to install more than one.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With WordPress Sandbox, you can test-drive plugins from the directory right in your browser.<br /><br />For example, click here to try CoBlocks:<a href="https://t.co/18jTGosPW7">https://t.co/18jTGosPW7</a><br /><br />You can replace "coblocks" with another plugin from the directory. <a href="https://t.co/zzelQNtzK2">pic.twitter.com/zzelQNtzK2</a></p>&mdash; Adam Zieliński (@adamzielin) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamzielin/status/1600482887710789635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>The most recent demo is a video showing how the project can be used to create an in-browser IDE for plugin development, where changes are displayed live.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The future of WordPress development?<br /><br />Build plugins in your browser and see the results live.<br /><br />Here's an early demo with WordPress Sandbox – there is no WordPress running on the backend! <a href="https://t.co/yIhRoNW5IK">pic.twitter.com/yIhRoNW5IK</a></p>&mdash; Adam Zieliński (@adamzielin) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamzielin/status/1600837230779580416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>For more examples of WordPress Sandbox&#8217;s capabilities, check out the quick <a href="https://adamziel.github.io/tutorial.html">showcase</a> Zieliński built and play around with a <a href="https://adamziel.github.io/index.html">live in-browser WordPress instance</a> to see the site updated instantly as you code. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 09 Dec 2022 01:41:21 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:67:"WPTavern: Course: A New Free Block Theme Compatible with Sensei LMS";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140201";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"https://wptavern.com/course-a-new-free-block-theme-compatible-with-sensei-lms";s: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:2136:"<p>Sensei LMS, Automattic&#8217;s teaching and learning management plugin, has released a new free block theme called <a href="https://senseilms.com/meet-course-a-new-free-block-theme-by-sensei/">Course</a>.  In February 2022, <a href="https://wptavern.com/sensei-lms-4-0-includes-new-block-based-learning-mode-course-theme">version 4.0</a> of the plugin introduced support for full-site editing with its bundled &#8220;Learning Mode&#8221; theme. Course features a new bold design made to be customized in the Site Editor.</p>



<img />



<p>Although Sensei works with neaerly any WordPress theme, the plugin looks its best with themes designed specifically for Sensei compatibility. Course includes styles for Sensei functionality to perfectly display course lists, sales pages, and the &#8220;Learning Mode&#8221; course templates. It integrates with the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/sensei-lms/">free Sensei LMS plugin</a> as well as the <a href="https://senseilms.com/pricing/">pro version</a>. Sensei&#8217;s <a href="https://senseilms.com/new-course-list-block/">new Course List</a> block will also inherit all the theme&#8217;s styles seamlessly.</p>



<img />



<p>If green is not your jam, Course includes four style variations suitable as a starting point with blue, dark, and gold as the accent colors and multiple font combinations.</p>



<img />



<p>In addition to the various styles, Course brings all the power of the Site Editor for customizing for Sensei templates, as seen in the Lesson template below.</p>



<img />



<img />



<p>Although Course is ideal for website owners who are selling courses, the theme is also flexible to be used without Sensei for other purposes like blogging, coaching, and small businesses. Course isn&#8217;t easy to find if you&#8217;re hunting for block themes, as it doesn&#8217;t seem to be tagged as a block theme on WordPress.org. It&#8217;s <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/course/">free to download</a> in the official Themes Directory or <a href="https://senseilms.com/meet-course-a-new-free-block-theme-by-sensei/">via the Sensei LMS website</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 08 Dec 2022 20:44:37 +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: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:87:"Do The Woo Community: Post-Black Friday with Katie Keith, Lesley Sim and Mark Westguard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73959";s: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:85:"https://dothewoo.io/post-black-friday-with-katie-keith-lesley-sim-and-mark-westguard/";s: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:472:"<p>We chat with three WordPress plugin developers and ask them how Black Friday turned out this year including some great insights and perspectives.</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/post-black-friday-with-katie-keith-lesley-sim-and-mark-westguard/">Post-Black Friday with Katie Keith, Lesley Sim and Mark Westguard</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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, 08 Dec 2022 10:18:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:67:"WPTavern: The Block Editor Is Coming to WordPress’ Support Forums";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140172";s: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:75:"https://wptavern.com/the-block-editor-is-coming-to-wordpress-support-forums";s: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:2880:"<p>The block editor was introduced to WordPress in 2018 and has matured into a more user-friendly tool for expression over the past four years. WordPress.org&#8217;s Meta Team is now experimenting with how they can <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/12/introducing-the-block-editor-in-the-support-forums/">bring the block editor into the support forums</a>. That they are even considering this is a testament to how far the block editor has come, as the support forums provide a critical lifeline for WordPress users who are struggling with their websites and wouldn&#8217;t benefit from adopting a buggy editor.</p>



<p>&#8220;The support forums have a long history in WordPress,&#8221; Automattic-sponsored contributor Alvaro Gómez said. &#8220;So much so that the current forum editor predates TinyMCE. By introducing blocks, the support forum will make use of the modern WordPress editor to improve user experience. Users will be able to easily insert links, share code or embed screenshots. Using Blocks will also enable new possibilities, such as using patterns for common responses to allow for faster answers.&#8221;</p>



<p>Due to the technical difficulty of how the forums currently work, the block editor would need to be rolled out to all users on all forums, precluding the possibility of rolling it out on a per-user, per-language, or per-forum basis.</p>



<p>In a <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6608">ticket</a> opened six days ago, Meta contributors discussed bringing the block editor to the support forums using the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-everywhere/">Blocks Everywhere</a> plugin by Automattic. This plugin switches the default WordPress editor for comments, bbPress, BuddyPress, and admin moderation to use Gutenberg, giving users access to blocks. Instead of bundling Gutenberg, it side-loads the editor from WordPress.</p>



<p>The Meta and Support teams intend to start with just four blocks available to forum users: paragraph, list, quote, and code.</p>



<p>Gómez shared a few GIFs from a test site, demonstrating a user responding on a thread using the block editor:</p>



<img />



<p>Another item on the roadmap is creating an &#8220;add via URL&#8221; image block that would allow users to embed from various image hosting services.</p>



<p>A live testing site is available at <a href="https://test.wordpress.org/support/">https://test.wordpress.org/support/</a> and anyone who wants to join in the testing can leave a comment on the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/12/introducing-the-block-editor-in-the-support-forums/">announcement post</a>. Bugs can be filed on the meta trac <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6608">ticket</a> for the improvement to the forums. The Meta and Support teams are looking for feedback before Monday, December 12.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 07 Dec 2022 23:40:56 +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: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:153:"Post Status: Annual Survey • State of the Word 2022 • LearnWP Site Updates • Block Editor in Support Forums • Dev Guide to Block Theme Course Pt2";s: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://poststatus.com/?p=145643";s: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:148:"https://poststatus.com/annual-survey-state-of-the-word-2022-learnwp-site-updates-block-editor-in-support-forums-dev-guide-to-block-theme-course-pt2/";s: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:13813:"<h2 id="h-this-week-at-wordpress-org-december-5-2022">This Week at WordPress.org (December 5, 2022)</h2>


<div class="has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt"><p class="wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt">It's time once again to share your feedback about all things WordPress in the 2022 survey. Tune in next week to hear Matt Mullenweg during is annual address: State of the Word. When submitting issues in the WordPress forums, you'll soon find several blocks to use in the editor. #LearnWP has site updates and a new block theme course for developers. </p></div>


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



<div id="kt-info-box_68609b-a8" class="wp-block-kadence-infobox"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap kt-blocks-info-box-media-align-left kt-info-halign-left"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-media-container"><div class="kt-blocks-info-box-media kt-info-media-animate-none"><div class="kadence-info-box-icon-container kt-info-icon-animate-none"><div class="kadence-info-box-icon-inner-container"><span class="kt-info-svg-icon kt-info-svg-icon-fe_checkSquare"></span></div></div></div></div><div class="kt-infobox-textcontent"><h2 class="kt-blocks-info-box-title">2022 Survey, SotW, LearnWP Updates</h2><p class="kt-blocks-info-box-text"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png" alt="📝" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="🎙" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word 2022</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f469-1f3fb-200d-1f3eb.png" alt="👩🏻‍🏫" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/05/learn-wordpress-site-updates-december-2022/">Learn WordPress Site Updates – December 2022</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f9d1-1f3ff-200d-1f4bb.png" alt="🧑🏿‍💻" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-2/">A Developers Guide to Block Themes – Part 2</a><br /><br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f64b-1f3fd-200d-2642-fe0f.png" alt="🙋🏽‍♂️" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/12/introducing-the-block-editor-in-the-support-forums/">Introducing the Block Editor in the Support Forums</a><br />><br /></a><br /><br />><br /></a><br /><br /></p></div></div></div>



<h2 id="h-news">News<a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/10/wordpress-6-1-release-candidate-3/"></a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/people-of-wordpress-huanyi-chuang/">People of WordPress: Huanyi Chuang</a></li>
</ul>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_121b9e-cb"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>



<div class="is-layout-flex wp-container-41 wp-block-columns">
<div class="is-layout-flow wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-accessibility"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2022/12/02/call-for-team-rep-nomination-december-2022/">Call for Team Rep Nomination – December 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-community">Community</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/12/06/wordcamp-mentors-december-check-in/">WordCamp Mentors’ December check-in!</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/12/05/proposed-2023-global-community-sponsorship-program/">Proposed 2023 Global Community Sponsorship Program</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-core"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core">Core</a> </h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/05/a-week-in-core-december-5-2022/">A Week in Core – December 5, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/02/core-team-reps-for-2023-submit-your-votes/">Core Team Reps for 2023: Submit Your Votes</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-meetings">Meetings</h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/07/devchat-agenda-december-7-2022/">Devchat agenda, December 7, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/06/editor-chat-agenda-december-7-2022/">Editor Chat Agenda: December 7, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/06/editor-chat-summary-wednesday-november-30-2022/">Editor chat summary: Wednesday, November 30 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/30/dev-chat-summary-wednesday-november-30-2022/">Dev Chat summary: Wednesday, November 30, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-dev-blog"><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/">Dev Blog</a></h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/12/07/leveraging-theme-json-and-per-block-styles-for-more-performant-themes/">Leveraging theme.json and per-block styles for more performant themes</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-docs"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs">Docs</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/12/05/documentation-team-update-december-5-2022/">Documentation Team Update – December 5, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-marketing"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing">Marketing</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/12/07/agenda-global-wordpress-marketing-team-meeting-december-7-2022/">Agenda: global WordPress marketing team meeting, December 7, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-mobile"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile">Mobile</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/12/06/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-21-3/">Call for Testing: WordPress for Android 21.3</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-openverse"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/openverse">Openverse</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2022/12/07/community-meeting-recap-7-december-2022/">Community Meeting Recap (7 December 2022)</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-performance"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/performance/">Performance</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/12/06/performance-team-meeting-summary-6-december-2022/">Performance Chat Summary: 6 December 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/11/30/core-performance-team-update-november-30-2022/">Core Performance Team Update – November 30, 2022</a></li>
</ul>
</div>



<div class="is-layout-flow wp-block-column">
<h2 id="h-polyglots">Polyglots</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/12/06/agenda-weekly-polyglots-chat-dec-07-2022-1300-utc/">Agenda: Weekly Polyglots Chat – Dec. 07, 2022 (13:00 UTC)</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-support"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support">Support</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/12/introducing-the-block-editor-in-the-support-forums/">Introducing the Block Editor in the Support Forums</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-test"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test">Test</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/12/05/test-team-update-5-december-2022/">Test Team Update: 5 December 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-themes"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes">Themes</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/12/06/themes-team-update-december-06-2022/">Themes team update December 06, 2022</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-training"><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training">Training</a></h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/individual-learner-survey/">How did you learn WordPress?</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/06/vote-for-training-team-rep-2023/">Vote for Training Team Rep 2023</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/05/learn-wordpress-site-updates-december-2022/">Learn WordPress Site Updates – December 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/05/meeting-agenda-for-december-6-2022/">Meeting Agenda for December 6, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/05/training-team-meeting-recap-for-november-29-2022/">Training Team Meeting Recap for November 29, 2022</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/12/05/november-month-retrospective/">November Month Retrospective</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-courses"><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/courses">Courses</a></h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-2/">A Developers Guide to Block Themes – Part 2</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 id="h-online-workshops">Online Workshops</h3>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=creating-a-theme-with-the-create-block-theme-plugin-session-1">Creating a Theme with the Create Block Theme Plugin Session 1</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=creating-a-theme-with-the-create-block-theme-plugin-session-2">Creating a Theme with the Create Block Theme Plugin Session 2</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=exploring-category-templates-and-the-query-loop-block-session-2">Exploring Category Templates and the Query Loop Block Session 2</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=exploring-category-templates-and-the-query-loop-block-session-1">Exploring Category Templates and the Query Loop Block Session 1</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-block-supports">Let’s code: Developing Blocks without React! – Block Supports</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=wordpress-development-live-stream-developing-blocks-without-react-block-supports">WordPress development live stream: Developing Blocks without React – Block Supports</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=how-to-test-with-report-a-core-trac-ticket-bangla">How to Test (with Report) a Core Trac Ticket | Bangla</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=how-to-own-your-expertise-start-speaking-at-wordpress-events-wpdiversity">How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events #WPDiversity</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-wptv">WPTV</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/category/year/2022/">Latest WordPress TV videos</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<h2 id="h-related-news">Related News:</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://phpconference.com/berlin-en/">International PHP Conference Berlin 2023</a></li>
</ul>



<p class="has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background">Thanks for reading our WP dot .org roundup! Each week we are highlighting the news and discussions coming from the good folks making WordPress possible. If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, you need to be engaged with them and their work. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers. <br /><br /><strong>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org?</strong> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f64f.png" alt="🙏" class="wp-smiley" /> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/">Start Here ›</a><br /><br /><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status' <a href="https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/">Week in Review</a> — covering the WP/Woo news plus significant writing and podcasts. It's also available in <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter">our newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f48c.png" alt="💌" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



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



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background"><a href="https://poststatus.com/"><img src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vertical-post-status-logo-250.png" alt="Post Status" class="wp-image-85823 size-full" /></a><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<p class="has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size" id="h-get-ready-for-remote-work">You — and <a href="https://poststatus.com/#Agency">your whole team</a> can <a href="https://poststatus.com/#choose-membership">Join Post Status</a> too!</p>



<p class="has-text-align-left has-small-font-size"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire.</strong> Read the <strong>Post Status</strong> <a href="https://poststatus.com/newsletter/">newsletter</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2709.png" alt="✉" class="wp-smiley" /> Listen to <a href="https://poststatus.com/podcasts/">podcasts</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f399.png" alt="🎙" class="wp-smiley" /> Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/post_status/">@Post_Status</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f426.png" alt="🐦" class="wp-smiley" /> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/post-status-llc/">LinkedIn</a>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4bc.png" alt="💼" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 07 Dec 2022 18:17:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Courtney Robertson";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:94:"WPTavern: #54 – Steve Burge on Where We’re at With Multi-Author Collaboration in 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:48:"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=140125";s: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/podcast/54-steve-burge-on-where-were-at-with-multi-author-collaboration-in-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:44172:"Transcript<div>
<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, multi-author collaboration in WordPress.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast, player of choice, or by going to WPTavern.com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>



<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, well, I&#8217;m very keen to hear from you. And hopefully get you, or your idea, featured on the show. Head over to WPTavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox. And use the form there.</p>



<p>So on the podcast today we have Steve Burge. Although Steve is originally from England, he now lives in Sarasota, Florida. He leads the team at PublishedPress, which is a plugin company focusing on improving the publishing experience for WordPress users. The topic of today&#8217;s podcast is very much in his wheelhouse.</p>



<p>Several years ago, the block editor was brought into WordPress core. It was a dramatic change from the classic editor. Pages and posts could be created and edited with a growing variety of blocks. Blocks for paragraphs blocks for images, in fact blocks for everything.</p>



<p>This ability to edit content with blocks was just one of four phases of the Gutenberg project. The other three phases being site editing, multi-author collaboration and multi-lingual support.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve been following recent developments, then you&#8217;ll know that we&#8217;re currently in the site editing phase. And when that&#8217;s done, it will be time to turn our collective attention to multi-author collaboration.</p>



<p>But what is that? And what does it mean? I think that the best way to think about this would be to imagine Google docs. For years, you&#8217;ve been able to open up a document, click a button and share that document with others. Those with the correct permissions can interact with you in real time. And you can see the amendments they&#8217;re making as and when they&#8217;re making them. It&#8217;s utterly brilliant, and how most people would prefer to work with their content. One document. One source of truth.</p>



<p>Compare that to how WordPress currently works. Only one person can edit a piece of content at the same time. If you want to edit a post or a page at the same time as someone else, you can&#8217;t.</p>



<p>Phase three of the Gutenberg project aims to bring into WordPress the ability for multiple users to interact with content at the same time. Steve talks today about why this is an elegant and necessary update to WordPress. But also why it&#8217;s a difficult feat of engineering to pull off.</p>



<p>WordPress has a history of working with all manner of hosting configurations, and it&#8217;s one of the reasons that it&#8217;s so successful. Will it be possible to run WordPress on more affordable tech stacks given the burden that multi author collaboration will require?</p>



<p>We also get into the projects that Steve has found from community members, which try to lay some of the foundations of how this might be implemented, as well as talking about how Steve&#8217;s finding it hard to discover new information concerning this important topic.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more. You can find all the links in the show notes by heading over to WPTavern.com forward slash podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>



<p>And so without further delay, I bring you Steve Burge.</p>



<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Steve Burge. Hello Steve.</p>



<p>[00:04:29] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Hey, Nathan.</p>



<p>[00:04:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Steve and I met not that long ago. It was WordCamp US. We met for the very first time. Because he was at WordCamp US, you can pretty much guarantee that he&#8217;s into WordPress. But as we always do at the beginning of the podcast episode, just to orientate the listeners, Steve, about who you are and what your relationship is with WordPress. You can go back as far as you like, could be last year, could be 10 years ago. Tell us a bit about your WordPress journey, and then we&#8217;ll get into the subject of today&#8217;s podcast.</p>



<p>[00:04:57] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Sure thing. I&#8217;m from England. I live in Florida in the US, and I&#8217;ve been dabbling in open source since about 2003, 2004 or so. And ran a training company for a long time called OS Training, and we were involved in publishing. We published a lot of videos and also a whole series of books on WordPress, Drupal, Magento, php. And about five years ago flipped into developing plugins, and so we went right into the publishing side of WordPress plugins.</p>



<p>So we run three different plugin brands now, all focused on publishing. One is PublishPress, one is TaxoPress and one is Meta Slider. And that&#8217;s really kind of what led me to this interest in Gutenberg phase three. We work with a lot of publishers and to have the kind of collaborative editing that should be coming in phase three is really exciting for a lot of them.</p>



<p>[00:05:55] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Can I just pause the podcast general subject, which is, as you&#8217;ve just described the Gutenberg editor and phase three in particular, collaborative editing. Can I ask, because you ran OS Training, which I&#8217;m sure many people will have heard of, they might have books on their shelf or content on the computer and used it in the past. I certainly did. When you came into WordPress, was it your experience from having a real deep background in publishing that made you interested in publishing inside of WordPress? Because obviously your career now is very much tied up with publishing content, collaborative publishing permissions, and so on.</p>



<p>[00:06:31] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Yes, partly. We had to do a lot of co-authoring of books. I wrote initially the first three or four books in our series, and then we started to work with authors. We had to do a lot of co-authoring. We worked with some big publishers like Pearson, and often collaboration involved, sending Word documents back and forth endlessly.</p>



<p>And so you are working on chapter three. The first draft would be chapter_2.1 .doc. You&#8217;d edit it, send the Word document back, word document back and forth, and collaborative editing in those days would mean you got to like 250 Word documents for chapter two, and the name would be confused and you&#8217;d make an edit and your editor would say, oh, which document are we working on?</p>



<p>I think I worked on the wrong document. I imagine now if we were able to do that kind of book publishing, but collaboratively online in something like a Google Docs style environment, my life would&#8217;ve been much, much easier.</p>



<p>[00:07:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;m kind of imagining that literally anybody under the age of 25, is probably completely unfamiliar with a world in which technology wasn&#8217;t synchronous. So I don&#8217;t exactly remember the date it happened, but the first time I ever saw synchronous editing on a screen was, I guess I was sitting in my house and Google came out with a product called Google Wave.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t know if you remember that? Much like a lot of Google properties it&#8217;s now been mothballed and no longer in existence. But essentially for the very first time, you could open a document in a browser and you were able to see other people&#8217;s edits in real time. The cursor would appear and it would&#8217;ve a different color, and you could see that Joseph over here was writing text and Pauline over here, she was writing texts and it was all happening on the screen at the same time.</p>



<p>And I remember at that point feeling that it was sublimely clever. I genuinely mean that. I&#8217;m not just saying that for the purposes of this podcast. I really did have a moment where breathed in and thought, boy, we&#8217;re not going back from here. This is the way it&#8217;s always going to be done from now on. It&#8217;s completely normal. Just about everybody, I would imagine, like I say, under the age of 25 is probably, this is the only way to do things.</p>



<p>You can hand documents in online easily, and your tutors or peers or whoever it might be, your boss, can give you realtime feedback. And there&#8217;s one canonical version of the document, so you don&#8217;t have to keep sending it via email and adding .1, .2, .3 to the end of it, and so on. And it just seems that&#8217;s so straightforwardly the way it should be done.</p>



<p>[00:09:05] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> You end up with a, an undo and a back and forward button and everything is just, there&#8217;s no revisions. There&#8217;s, well, technically there are revisions, I guess, but so much easier to handle. I guess the big difference is all of those are often done on one central platform. Google Drive, Google Wave, back in the day. Just yesterday my kid was doing her homework with a friend and they were doing this collaborative editing online.</p>



<p>This was Microsoft, because that&#8217;s what the school gives them. They&#8217;re on FaceTime, happily chatting back and forth while working on the shared document. But all of that was done on a big central shared server, on the Microsoft server or the Google servers. And it does get more complicated when it comes down to doing that.</p>



<p>[00:09:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah so, we&#8217;ve got all of this positivity around collaborative editing, and the fact that more or less, everybody now understands that paradigm, and it basically is the way to edit documents, for most people at least anyway. You may have instances where you just want something to be completely private and you don&#8217;t want it to be in the cloud, and so it is still done in a, an old fashioned document, which is saved away, and you edit it yourself, that&#8217;s fine.</p>



<p>But then you open up a WordPress website and you are confronted with a completely different paradigm. You&#8217;ve got the option to create content of whatever type you like, text and images may be the, the most common use case. But you are utterly constrained in your collaborations. The best that you&#8217;ve got at the moment is, you go to edit a document, if somebody else is editing it, you get a little warning telling you that somebody else is editing and you can either back out or you can take over. In other words, you can kick them out, and they&#8217;re your two choices. And so it must seem to people coming to WordPress, like I say, under the age of 25, let&#8217;s keep going with that paradigm.</p>



<p>It must seem that WordPress is something from like a time machine. What do you mean I can&#8217;t edit it at the same time? Of course I must be, I&#8217;m doing something wrong. But it cannot be done at the moment, but it is in the pipeline. And maybe Steve, you could just lay out the four phases of the Gutenberg project so that we can see where this fits into that jigsaw puzzle.</p>



<p>[00:11:19] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Sure thing. So this dates back to about 2018 or so, when, I think that was when Matt said we&#8217;re not just doing Gutenberg, but Gutenberg is going to be a big four phase product. We&#8217;re going to have one, the actual Gutenberg editor inside the posts. And that one shipped in WordPress 5.0. Then we would tackle full site editing, which I think has just been renamed to the site editor.</p>



<p>[00:11:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s right.</p>



<p>[00:11:52] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> And that one shipped at the beginning of this year I think, in 5.9.</p>



<p>[00:11:57] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think 5.9 was what&#8217;s in my head.</p>



<p>[00:11:59] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> And we are in that stage two, which is customization. And then they&#8217;re going to be two more phases. And one we&#8217;re talking about is the next one up, phase three, called collaboration, which has the Google Doc style editing.</p>



<p>And then the fourth and final one is going to be multilingual, where inside the core you&#8217;re going to be able to translate every element of WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:12:23] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, so phase three is going to be the main thrust of this podcast. So this is basically what we&#8217;ve just talked about. The ability for multiple people to concurrently edit and leave comments and you visually see on the screen what other people are doing as they&#8217;re doing it. So, I guess the question to begin with is why hasn&#8217;t this been done already? And I don&#8217;t mean that in a cantankerous way. I literally mean to serve that on a plate. Are you able to give an explanation of why this hasn&#8217;t been done already?</p>



<p>[00:12:57] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> There are limited resources, and Gutenberg itself was a big project, a big changeover. We still see probably equal usage between Gutenberg and classic editor in the support tickets we get. And then there&#8217;s all the other page builders too. And then an even bigger project was the full site editing, which is still ongoing now.</p>



<p>So the resources have been constrained. It takes a very big team, working very hard, simply to ship what we&#8217;ve been able to ship so far. So that&#8217;s part of it. And also the collaborative editing is just going to be a, quite a difficult challenge I think. Technically, it&#8217;s one thing to run collaborative editing on your Google servers with Google Docs, where you are in control of just about everything.</p>



<p>But, if you try and do something similar on a $2 a month hosting company, which WordPress is going to have to do, because almost any WordPress feature you ship has to work on any WordPress site anywhere. That&#8217;s when the challenge comes in. If everyone was hosted on WP Engine or WordPress VIP, we probably would&#8217;ve had this already. But actually rolling it out to 50% of the web, and all the different hosting configurations, it&#8217;s going to be a challenge, a technical challenge.</p>



<p>[00:14:17] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So two reasons there. The first one is the amount of time it&#8217;s taken to get through the first, well, the first stage. And then we&#8217;re, as you said, we&#8217;re in the second stage, the full site editing. I&#8217;m going to link in the show notes to an article that you wrote over on Publish Press several years ago, actually it was 2019. In fact it was almost exactly three years ago. It was written in November, 2019.</p>



<p>And at that point you were talking about getting through full site editing, getting through stage one and two, customization, full site editing, and then eventually landing on the collaborative side of things. It was interesting because back then, much more, probably confident in the ability to get through those first two stages because you were pointing to perhaps a date of 2020.</p>



<p>[00:15:03] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Oh yeah. Blame me. Those are my guesses.</p>



<p>[00:15:05] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s right. But it just goes to show, doesn&#8217;t it, especially the full sight editing is taking a lot longer. And there was never a flag in the sand which said, this is going to be the date that we&#8217;re going to begin. It was very much, these are the things that we want to achieve, but there&#8217;s no date in mind. So it took a lot longer.</p>



<p>And then you mentioned the fact that yes, it&#8217;s all very well working on Microsoft products or Google products, but they own all of that. They&#8217;ve got the infrastructure and it&#8217;s probably, let&#8217;s be honest, pretty impressive infrastructure. And they own the full tech stack, so they can make sure that everything works, and your Google Doc is going to work seamlessly, no matter what level of computing you have at home. You don&#8217;t need a particularly fast computer. It&#8217;s all handled on their end.</p>



<p>WordPress has a completely different problem. Some people spend a fortune on their hosting because they need it and they&#8217;re happy to do that. Other people spend very little. Sometimes, really, it can be incredibly affordable.</p>



<p>Are you able to, I don&#8217;t know if you are, but are you able to go into the technicalities of why cheap hosting wouldn&#8217;t be suitable for, let&#8217;s say something like Google Docs at the moment? In other words, what&#8217;s actually happening when a page is open that two or more people are trying to edit on. And does the problem scale?</p>



<p>If there&#8217;s five people editing, is it more resource heavy than if there&#8217;s two people editing or 10 people editing, what have you? So are you able to discuss what the problems are from a technical point of view a little bit?</p>



<p>[00:16:40] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I&#8217;m not a hardcore developer enough to dig too deep into this without embarrassing myself, but it is very process heavy, and you need some kind of a central server or perhaps a peer-to-peer network that is able to be a central source of truth for what is the latest update and to connect the two together.</p>



<p>I&#8217;ve looked at different approaches that people have taken to doing this. One of the most common ways is web sockets. Which are able to update the content on the screen without refreshing the whole page. Which is a key part of this because both people need to see their page refreshing in real time.</p>



<p>A few years ago that was impressive to do with Ajax. We&#8217;re doing a much more advanced version of that now with both people seeing live updates on the content without refreshing their page. So you need some way to connect the two or three or four or five people who are doing those updates.</p>



<p>And web sockets is perhaps the most popular way to do it. It&#8217;s basically an API to send messages and responses back and forth. But the limitation there is, some of the low budget hosting companies are not able to do it. And you do need some kind of a central service.</p>



<p>Part of me wonders whether, I don&#8217;t know if they would do this, but if they&#8217;ve thought about perhaps running it through the WordPress.com or WordPress.org infrastructure, in order to make this work for low end hosts. Because they do need some kind of, like Google servers or Microsoft servers, some kind of centralized server would be a massive benefit to this.</p>



<p>The alternative, which I&#8217;ve dug into most, is from a company called Tag One in Europe. They&#8217;re like a big, a big agency and they&#8217;ve been developing a script called YJS, which allows you to do collaborative editing through a peer to peer network.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a pretty different solution to web sockets, but it seems to be, and I&#8217;m guessing here, the one that the Gutenberg team have taken on board. There seems to have been a bit of radio silence on the technical side of things. We&#8217;ve seen Matt mention phase three at a couple of State of the Words. He talked about it in Europe a little bit, in Lisbon.</p>



<p>But I&#8217;ve been trying to pull the strings on the technical side of things on GitHub, and there&#8217;s not much there at the moment. I think from what I&#8217;ve been told, that there&#8217;s action going on in private. They&#8217;re working on it in the background and perhaps on some private repositories. But the only real thing that&#8217;s emerged, at least, someone feel free to correct me on this, is a script called an Isolated Block Editor, which basically takes Gutenberg as a kind of standalone product that I think could be used in Tumblr, or the Day one app, or Drupal or anywhere else. And it&#8217;s kind of building in collaborative editing into that isolated block editor, which is a version of Gutenberg.</p>



<p>So really the technical hints that I&#8217;ve heard about this, are two or three years old. We did a big interview on the PublishPress blog with the YJS team, where they dig into some of the technical challenges around this. But from everything I&#8217;ve been able to read or talk about with people, it&#8217;s a real technical challenge.</p>



<p>The CK Editor team, WordPress uses TinyMCE. CK Editor is kind of an alternative to TinyMCE. They have a really long and detailed blog post about how they tried to build collaborative editing into their, into their editor editor. It took four plus years, and I think ended up with lots of them tearing their hair out and growing prematurely gray. And there&#8217;s a Twitter thread from a guy who tried to do this with Microsoft Office. He basically says the same thing. Just an enormous technical challenge is particularly in retrospect, to try and take existing software and add collaborative editing to it. But, and this is one of the reasons why I wonder if they&#8217;re thinking about some kind of a central server, for example, WordPress.com.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re finally starting to see the possibility of collaborative editing coming soon. Automattic have a product called P2, which is I think used for their internal blogs, their internal networking. And just in the last month or so, they have an update on the P two blog. They&#8217;ve been rolling out collaborative editing to some of their P2 users. I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m on a blacklist or something, but I&#8217;ve been sending several messages to the WordPress.com staff seeing if I can get in on the beta invite list. But no luck so far. So collaborative editing is actually live on WordPress.com for some users at the moment, and I can share the link that you can put in the show notes.</p>



<p>But down in their, in the documentation they have about it, they say that it&#8217;s a work in progress, it&#8217;s a beta. It can become unstable under some circumstances. If you are running a VPN or some kind of a proxy, often if you&#8217;re using Safari, it can become unstable.</p>



<p>It is kind of a long winded answer to your original question. The technical side is a little bit of a mystery still. I suspect that YJS will play a part. I suspect they may be working on some kind of a central server to make it stable to run on those $2 a month hosting companies. And if you go over to the P2 area on WordPress.com, there&#8217;s a little video of it emerging, and collaborative, editing, we may start to see a lot more of it in the next few months suspect.</p>



<p>[00:22:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> There was a lot in there, wasn&#8217;t there? And I&#8217;m just going to go through some of the thoughts that were coming into my head as you were saying it. So the first one is obviously people like Google, they&#8217;ve completely cracked this nut. I cannot remember a time at any point where my Google doc froze, for example. Or I was editing it with somebody else, and they seemed to sort of blip out of existence. Suddenly 20 lines got updated when it looked like they weren&#8217;t even editing the document. In other words, they were always typing. I could see them typing. It was as if they were right next to me in many senses. No problems in other words.</p>



<p>[00:23:04] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Is a beautiful experience when it works well, right?</p>



<p>[00:23:06] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But I&#8217;m guessing that could be the problem, couldn&#8217;t it? You know, if somebody has infrastructure running their WordPress website, and it simply isn&#8217;t up to the task. I don&#8217;t fully understand what that means, but we all know that computers given a certain volume of things to do, tend to grind down and prioritize some things over others, and in some cases just cease to function and collapse. But if you were editing a document, you mentioned a source of truth. You have to know, don&#8217;t you? You really have to be confident that what you are seeing on the screen now, is what the final version is looking like.</p>



<p>You can&#8217;t be in a situation where, I&#8217;ve got you Steve over there. You are editing, I&#8217;m editing this document, and it looks to me like you finished because you are no longer contributing. And it turns out you&#8217;d written another couple of hundred words, which never made it into the document because your system collapsed in the background. And I didn&#8217;t know about that, and that would truly be a calamity.</p>



<p>You can also imagine collisions in terms of things getting overwritten or me saving a document in some way that then removes the possibility of your a hundred words ever making it in there in the first place. So there&#8217;s all these really big problems and as you say, the very fact that we are all using different qualities of hardware, different computers, different versions of Linux, all sorts of different engines going on in the background, powering our websites.</p>



<p>There has to be some way of figuring out what the source of truth is at this moment. And I really do, kind of understand a little bit more now that that really is genuinely a tricky challenge and one that perhaps hasn&#8217;t been faced by another company. Also, your idea of it being a dot com type thing. In other words, this capability is offloaded to, let&#8217;s say, some sort of Automattic property.</p>



<p>[00:24:59] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I would put a caveat in there that that is entirely my guess. I have no, no evidence to that at all. I&#8217;ve just been thinking through possible solutions to the problem.</p>



<p>[00:25:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But I find that to be quite an interesting solution. So again, let&#8217;s assume that this collaborative editing is something that everybody aspires to. But we can also agree that if you have incredibly modest hosting, it may be something that your aspirations aren&#8217;t living up to.</p>



<p>Well, maybe there is a sort of commercial angle for having that capability built on top of affordable hosting, if you know what I mean. In other words, WordPress.com, whichever company it may be, I don&#8217;t know. There&#8217;s some kind of upgrade. You have a WordPress website, but you would like the collaborative editing capability to be added in, simply because you know that your infrastructure can&#8217;t cope with it.</p>



<p>Now, that&#8217;s less than ideal. I think it would be the ideal that any architecture can cope with it. That would be obviously ideal. But it was an interesting thought, and it just sort of prompted me to think, I wonder if even a company as large as Automattic, I wonder if they could saddle the burden of all of that given that there wouldn&#8217;t be any commercial side to paying off that debt, if you know what I mean.</p>



<p>If there&#8217;s 40% of the web, let&#8217;s say 20% of those websites can&#8217;t manage it, and so they&#8217;re doing their collaborative editing on Automattic&#8217;s hardware. Presumably there&#8217;s a bill for that, which would need to be paid.</p>



<p>[00:26:33] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I mean, that&#8217;s part of the problem of being WordPress, right? You&#8217;re trying to solve problems at a scale that no one else has ever solved it. We talked about CK Editor for example, Well, CK Editor has collaborative editing. It took them four years and just about burned out some of the best developers. But there were tiny fraction of the size of WordPress, and what WordPress needs to do. I guess until we, until more of this starts to emerge, perhaps when the full site editing winds down, we&#8217;re not going to know too much.</p>



<p>But I think the two options available are either to build a peer to peer network, using something like YJS or to go through the centralized option of WordPress.com .org or an other service.</p>



<p>[00:27:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I wonder if there&#8217;s other options that could be explored. And forgive me, my technical ignorance here might be screaming loudly at you as I say these words, but I wonder if it might be possible to have a scenario in which you are alerted to the fact that changes have been made, but you have to, I don&#8217;t know, maybe click a button or.</p>



<p>[00:27:42] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> We have lost a connection. There&#8217;d be some kind of mess. I guess the most common point of failure for collaborative editing will probably be, the connection is lost, and each person goes back to editing their own separate version of the document. You just lose the collaboration aspect, and there could be some kind of message saying you have disconnected from the collaborative editing, you have disconnected from the network.</p>



<p>[00:28:03] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yes. And of course that throws up all sorts of enormously difficult problems on its own. Because then, let&#8217;s say there&#8217;s four people editing the document, do they then carry on? And then those four people have to combine their efforts after the fact to figure out, okay, well what did you do? Which bit did you?</p>



<p>Can we just copy and paste that in here now? In other words, it makes more of a mess than the old asynchronous way of doing things, where I edit it, hand it to you, you edit it, hand it to person three, they edit it, and it finally comes back to me. And at least I know that those three edits have been made. And that&#8217;s in the scenario of collapse that we just described, we&#8217;d be back to that basically. And obviously if we&#8217;re offering the promise of collaborative editing, you have to trust it.</p>



<p>Another thought occurred to me is, does it need to be as beautiful, let&#8217;s say as Google Docs? And what I mean by that is, I can literally watch you type letter by letter. I&#8217;ll see each letter coming in one at a time. Does it need to refresh quite as often as that? Is a two second delay, a three second delay, a five second delay. I don&#8217;t know if this adds complexity. I don&#8217;t know if it solves any problems or creates others?</p>



<p>[00:29:13] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Well, there is a video on the P2 site. Just a little five second video showing how this works. And it is just like Google Docs to be honest. It has the avatars of the people editing in the top right corner. Each person gets assigned the color. So, if there&#8217;s a little Nathan avatar on the top right, you might have red around your avatar, and any changes you make are being highlighted in red. I might have purple. Any changes I make are being highlighted in purple. It is, at least in this video, aiming right for the Google Drive, Google Docs experience.</p>



<p>[00:29:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s interesting. In your article, I will link to it, and people can go and find it and there&#8217;s a couple of them in fact, and I&#8217;ll make sure to link to both of those. There was raised, and I can&#8217;t remember whether this was raised and then has now been put to bed, or if it was raised and is still a possibility. In order to try and do this, people are coming up with interesting and clever solutions to sidestep maybe some problems that were becoming obvious.</p>



<p>The idea of being able to only edit the block that you are currently editing by yourself. So in other words, let&#8217;s say for example, if we&#8217;ve got a page and it&#8217;s got 50 paragraphs and a couple of images. I could edit one paragraph, but that paragraph would be locked to you. But all the other 49 paragraphs would be open to anybody. And the first person that gets in there, gets to edit it until they are in effect booted out.</p>



<p>So we&#8217;d have a, an option, very similar to what we have now, on a page basis where I can&#8217;t get into the page if somebody else is editing it. We&#8217;d have that on a block by block basis. And I think in many cases that might satisfy 90%, 95% of the problems. What are the chances that I want to edit an image at the same time as you? What are the chances that I want to edit a paragraph at the same time as you? Maybe there&#8217;s a high chance of collision. I&#8217;m not sure.</p>



<p>[00:31:05] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> No, no, I think that kind of thing makes sense. And certainly, while we&#8217;re talking, I have the, the demo video playing on my screen in front of me. And that seems to be what they&#8217;re doing. That it is a block by block approach. I may be wrong. They may have something else in the background.</p>



<p>But in the video that I&#8217;m watching, one person is editing the header, one person is editing a table, one person is editing a paragraph, and they&#8217;re working on the same document, but on different blocks.</p>



<p>[00:31:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> One of the things that you introduced to me just before we hit the record button, was there&#8217;s a developer called Riad Benguella, and I&#8217;m sorry, Riad if that is in fact not how you say your name, I do apologize, but I&#8217;ll link to a website that you mentioned in a tweet. I&#8217;ll mention the tweet, and I&#8217;ll post the website URL as well. It&#8217;s Gutenberg with collaborative editing built into it. And you and I were editing on it, ala Google Docs. And it all seemed to work. So obviously there are people who are tackling this problem, but I&#8217;m sure the problem that, that we have here is that we don&#8217;t know what the tech stack is behind it that&#8217;s making it possible.</p>



<p>We&#8217;re both looking at asblocks.com, a s b l o c k s .com, and you can go there. I suspect it&#8217;s going to be there for years to come, and share. The first person that logs in can share the link, assign themselves a name, and then presumably that shared link looks the same to you. You have to assign yourself a name and we can both see each other editing and it works as far as I can see perfectly.</p>



<p>[00:32:32] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Yeah, Riad solved this problem two plus years ago with as blocks, and the demo is still live and still working now. It&#8217;s the, the scale out to every WordPress site that is the big stumbling block I presume.</p>



<p>[00:32:47] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, we just simply don&#8217;t know how many people are using this at the same time. And so the collapse of it might not be a problem. Do you have any insight or any kind of spidey sense of when things may start to move in this direction? So obviously we really have to get to the point where full site editing or site editing is more or less complete to the satisfaction of the majority of people, at least anyway. Then we&#8217;ll be working on this thorny problem. Do you have any conception of when the work on this will begin properly?</p>



<p>[00:33:20] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> I wish I did. To be honest, I&#8217;m a little geeky about this stuff and, our customers want it, and I really wanted it. It would be a wonderful feature for WordPress. So I&#8217;ve probably been following this as closely as anyone that isn&#8217;t actually involved on the technical side. Every time I Google Gutenberg phase three, I seem to come across something I wrote myself, because there&#8217;s not much written about it.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s been done a little bit, not entirely under a veil of secrecy, but maybe they don&#8217;t want to distract from the focus on full site editing. But it has been hard to find information. And so I was happy to see something emerge on the P2 blog that this is in progress still. If I had to guess, we&#8217;ll start to see more next year. We&#8217;ve had a couple of mentions of it from Matt, I mentioned at different WordCamps, and Matias, who is one of the lead developers of Gutenberg since the beginning, has a blog post from June this year on WordPress.org talking about phase three, but really only tangentially.</p>



<p>It was more about the ending of phase two and full site editing. And so there really has been a lot of radio silence. Quite a lot of the active GitHub repos have gone quiet. I hope next year. But as someone who follows this closely, I&#8217;ve not been able to find that anymore.</p>



<p>[00:34:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Everything that I&#8217;ve heard has stuck rigidly to the four phases of Gutenberg. I haven&#8217;t heard of anybody discounting phase three. So collaborative editing I think is definitely destined to be tackled, and hopefully succeeding in tackling. But you&#8217;re right, it&#8217;s been very, very quiet.</p>



<p>Normally, there&#8217;s a lot of speculation. There might be more proofs of concept or people popping up, giving their insight into it. But as you say, you followed it really, really closely, and it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s almost like a veil of secrecy, as you said. So hopefully that doesn&#8217;t indicate anything negative. It just means that people are concentrating their efforts on other things and trying to get those things tackled.</p>



<p>Steve, I&#8217;ve probably used up more of your time than I intended to. I&#8217;m sorry about that. Just before we go, if people want to talk to you about this whole proposition, collaborative editing, where&#8217;s the best place to reach out?</p>



<p>[00:35:32] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> steve@publishpress.com. And actually one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this topic with you was I hoped I might be able to shake a bit more information out of the tree. Someone hears this and has information about it, wants to talk about it, happy to do a video podcast or share the information.</p>



<p>I would love to see this in WordPress. I&#8217;m happy to help. I&#8217;m sure they have the reasons for keeping it, for keeping it quiet to the moment. But, this would be a killer feature for WordPress, and if anyone has more information, I&#8217;d love to hear it.</p>



<p>[00:36:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I really think you are right. I think the realization of this in Gutenberg and if we had an implementation which worked basically effectively for everybody, the day it was released into WordPress core. I think it will really, would dramatically change the prospects of what people would wish to do with WordPress. At the moment it&#8217;s largely for websites.</p>



<p>It really genuinely could be a tool for all sorts of internal communications and publishing things that just are for your close network, your job, your industry, whatever it might be. There&#8217;s a, there&#8217;s a whole lot that could happen that at the minute is probably left to the likes of Microsoft Teams and Google Docs and all of that kind of stuff, so.</p>



<p>[00:36:43] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Well, it did pop up on P2 initially, which is the kind of WordPress versions of Google Docs, the kind of internal, Automattic, documentation system.</p>



<p>[00:36:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, thank you Steve for chatting to me today. I really appreciate it.</p>



<p>[00:36:55] <strong>Steve Burge:</strong> Thanks, Nathan.</p>
</div>



<p>On the podcast today we have <a href="https://steveburge.com/">Steve Burge</a>.</p>



<p>Although Steve is originally from England, he now lives in Sarasota, Florida. He leads the team at <a href="https://publishpress.com/">PublishPress</a>, which is a plugin company focusing on improving the publishing experience for WordPress users. The topic of today&#8217;s podcast is very much in his wheelhouse.</p>



<p>Several years ago, the block editor was brought into WordPress Core. It was a dramatic change from the classic editor. Pages and posts could be created and edited with a growing variety of blocks. Blocks for paragraphs, blocks for images, in fact, blocks for everything.</p>



<p>This ability to edit content with blocks was just one of four phases of the Gutenberg project, the other three phases being, site editing, multi-author collaboration, and multilingual support.</p>



<p>If you’ve been following recent developments, then you’ll know that we’re currently in the site editing phase. When that’s done, it will be time to turn our collective attention to multi-author collaboration. But what is that and what does it mean?</p>



<p>I think that the best way to think about this would be to imagine Google Docs. For years, you’ve been able to open up a document, click a button and share that document with others. Those with the correct permissions can interact with you in real time, and you can see the amendments they’re making as and when they’re making them. It’s utterly brilliant, and how most people would prefer to work with their content. One document. One source of truth.</p>



<p>Compare that to how WordPress currently works. Only one person can edit a piece of content at the same time. If you want to edit a post or a page at the same time as someone else, you can’t.</p>



<p>Phase three of the Gutenberg project aims to bring into WordPress the ability for multiple users to interact with content at the same time.</p>



<p>Steve talks today about why this is an elegant and necessary update to WordPress, but also why it’s a difficult feat of engineering to pull off. WordPress has a history of working with all manner of hosting configurations, and it’s one of the reasons that it’s so successful. Will it be possible to run WordPress on more affordable tech stacks given the burden that multi-author collaboration will require?</p>



<p>We also get into the projects that Steve has found from community members which try to lay some of the foundations of how this might be implemented, as well as talking about how Steve’s finding it hard to discover new information concerning this important topic.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Useful links.</h2>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/google-docs-editing-gutenberg/">Collaborative Editing is a Really Difficult Challenge in WordPress</a></p>



<p><a href="https://p2help.wordpress.com/using-p2/the-editor/collaboration/">P2 Beta launch and video</a></p>



<p><a href="https://asblocks.com/">AsBlocks</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/youknowriad/asblocks">AsBlocks project on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/Automattic/isolated-block-editor">Automattic&#8217;s Isolated Block Editor on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://yjs.dev/#intro">YJS website</a></p>



<p><a href="https://github.com/yjs/yjs">YJS project on GitHub</a></p>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/yjs/">Steve&#8217;s podcast with the Tag1 team about YJS</a></p>



<p><a href="https://publishpress.com/blog/google-docs-editing-gutenberg/">Steve&#8217;s post about why collaborative editing in Gutenberg is hard</a></p>



<p><a href="https://ckeditor.com/blog/Lessons-learned-from-creating-a-rich-text-editor-with-real-time-collaboration/">CKEditor post about lessons learned from creating a rich-text editor with real-time collaboration</a></p>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/06/13/thinking-through-the-wordpress-admin-experience/">Matias Ventura&#8217;s post about thinking through the WordPress admin experience</a></p>



<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-1-to-focus-on-refining-full-site-editing-next-phase-collaboration-and-multilingual-features-anticipated-in-2023-2025">WordPress 6.1 to Focus On Refining Full-Site Editing, Next Phase Collaboration and Multilingual Features Anticipated in 2023-2025</a></p>



<p><a href="https://ostraining.com/">OSTraining</a></p>



<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave">Google Wave</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, 07 Dec 2022 15:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Nathan Wrigley";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"Do The Woo Community: Do the Woo is Headed to the State of the Word, NYC, Again";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73992";s: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:76:"https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-headed-to-the-state-of-the-word-nyc-again/";s: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:440:"<p>I am lucky to be able to attend the event again and looking forward to connections, reflections and optimism around the community.</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-headed-to-the-state-of-the-word-nyc-again/">Do the Woo is Headed to the State of the Word, NYC, Again</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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, 07 Dec 2022 12:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s: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:149:"HeroPress: Blessings and curses of turning your hobby into a career – Välsignelser och förbannelser med att förvandla sin hobby till en karriär";s: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=4948";s: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:186:"https://heropress.com/essays/blessings-and-curses-of-turning-your-hobby-into-a-career/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=blessings-and-curses-of-turning-your-hobby-into-a-career";s: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:32039:"<img width="1024" height="512" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/120622-min.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: Balance. That’s what I lost when I turned my hobby into a career." />
<p><a href="https://heropress.com/feed/#svenska">Den här essän finns även på svenska.</a></p>



<p>Back in 2012, I was a media and communications student at Umeå University in northern Sweden. The overall state of the newspaper business had convinced me not to pursue a career in journalism, and I had figured the second best thing would be to work with media relations for a business or organization I’d feel passionate about. That’s about how much thought I put into my choice of education. With each lecture I attended and essay I handed in, I realized that I enjoyed studying media and communications, but I wasn’t overly excited about making it my career.</p>



<p>Fortunately, the lectures and essays left me enough time to pursue other things as well. Girls, friends, parties – things you’re keen on when you’ve moved to a city 500 kilometers from home – but also side projects. Money is always tight when you’re a student. I had started to consider different ways of making money from the web tinkering I’d had as a hobby from an early age.</p>



<p>I was aware that the business for selling premium WordPress themes was growing rapidly, with themes on websites like ThemeForest making immense amounts of money. Could that be a way to help pay the bills?</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_564506-1f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Finding WordPress</h2>



<p>I have a very clear memory of the first time I wrote HTML. I was eleven years old, and I was browsing a popular link directory called Annas Länkburkar (”Annas link jars”) on one of the computers at school. The front page consisted of rows of jars, bottles, boxes and tea bags, each labeled with the type of links they contained. Somewhere in the dark blue bottle labeled ”Data”, I found a tutorial for writing simple web pages in HTML. My desktop was soon littered with .html files exploring the basics of coding web pages, all carefully written in Notepad. I learned that the email accounts my parents had at the web portal Spray came with member pages with HTML support, and I quickly planted a flag on my first plot of land on the World Wide Web. If I remember correctly, it had the memorable URL of http://medlem.spray.se followed by a random number sequence.</p>



<p>I kept tinkering with web development over the next few years, learning CSS from a book in the library and trying and failing to wrap my head around JavaScript. I was aware of Content Management Systems, but since I couldn’t afford a host on my weekly allowance, I was limited to what I could accomplish on the free web hosts available at the time. I started to play around with other programming languages as well. I found C++ too complicated and Visual Basic dull, but QBasic struck the right balance for me and I built simple ASCII games with it for a while. As you can tell, I was a very cool kid.</p>



<p>I switched schools when I was 15, and my interest in computers dipped for a while. Instead, I discovered Photoshop. Most of my output consisted of moody illustrations captioned with song lyrics – the main form of expression for 15-year-olds. I was also tricked into working with the school paper, which lit the spark for my interest in journalism and introduced me to InDesign.</p>



<p>When I started high school, back in 2006, the blog phenomenon was just starting to take off in Sweden, and I was eager to jump on the bandwagon. I had gotten it in my head that I was going to develop indie games, and rather than actually spend my time developing games, I decided that the sensible thing to do was to create a blog about indie game development. This would mark the start of a lifelong habit of creating websites about my interests instead of practicing them. A Google search for after free blog services took me to WordPress.com. The service was only a little more than a year old at the time.</p>



<p>I published my first blog post with WordPress on January 14, 2007. I can tell you the date with certainty because I’m looking at the post right now, but no, I won’t share it here. I have already told you about my moody Photoshop illustrations, and there are limits to how much I will embarrass myself in public. Despite the WordPress.com domain name and bad English, I somehow managed to trick a handful of game developers to be interviewed for the blog. Most notably, Doom and Quake co-creator John Romero. My final question was ”Pizza or hamburger?”. Maybe it’s for the best that I didn&#8217;t end up a journalist.</p>



<p>My delusions about indie game development soon faded, but I hadn’t lost my interest in blogging. I had grown used to working with WordPress from my WordPress.com blog, so when it came time to register my own domain name and sign up for a proper host, the choice of CMS was an easy one. I dusted off my old HTML and CSS skills to make some small visual tweaks to the theme I was running, and I started to pick up a little bit of PHP as well. I soon realized that tinkering with the code was as much fun as writing blog posts.</p>



<p>More sites quickly followed. One with news about Nintendo, one with news about Apple, one link directory, one with tutorials about blogging, one about the murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, and so on. The last one is the only one of them <a href="https://palmemordet.se/">online</a> today, although it has received a couple of visual updates since then. I still get emails from conspiracy loonies every month or so. Almost all of the sites were built with WordPress, usually with a tweaked free or premium theme. I kept updating them through my high school graduation, and after high school, a part time job at a small IT company led to me getting paid to write code for the first time. I still didn’t think of it as a possible career path. I had my eyes set on college.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_5ca9f6-a1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">A career built on themes</h2>



<p>Two years later, I was sitting in my student apartment in Umeå, thinking about building premium WordPress themes to help pay the bills. Having nothing to lose and spare time on my hands, I decided to give it a go. My first theme was a simple blog theme called Lasseter, named after former Pixar director John Lasseter, and it was released on Mojo Themes in August 2013 for $49. Realizing I needed some way to market my premium themes, I decided to develop free themes for the WordPress.org theme directory as well. Visitors would come to my site for the free themes, and hopefully decide to pay a couple of bucks for a premium theme instead. That was the plan. Things didn’t work out that way.</p>



<p>I released my first free theme, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/lingonberry-wordpress-theme/">Lingonberry</a>, the same month as Lasseter. The Trac ticket for the theme is still <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558">live</a>, and the list of issues I had to fix before the theme was approved is a mile long. <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/challenge-gladly-accepted/">Carolina Nymark</a> of the WordPress.org Theme Review Team reviewed the theme, and she was very patient with me. I had no idea how little I knew about WordPress theme development before I submitted my first theme to WordPress.org. Seven years later, Carolina and I would be co-leads on the &lt;a href="http://&lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&gt; &lt;p&gt;I released my first free theme, &lt;a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/lingonberry-wordpress-theme/"&gt;Lingonberry&lt;/a&gt;, the same month as Lasseter. The Trac ticket for the theme is still &lt;a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558"&gt;live&lt;/a&gt;, and the list of issues I had to fix before the theme was approved is a mile long. Carolina Nymark of the WordPress.org Theme Review Team reviewed the theme, and she was very patient with me. I had no idea how little I knew about WordPress theme development before I submitted my first theme to WordPress.org. Seven years later, Carolina and I would be co-leads on the [Twenty Twenty](&lt;a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/"&gt;https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/&lt;/a&gt;) default theme in WordPress 5.3. I owe her and the other WordPress.org theme reviewers a lot.&lt;/p&gt; <!-- /wp:paragraph -&gt;"&gt;-->Twenty Twenty</a> default theme in WordPress 5.3. I owe her and the other WordPress.org theme reviewers a lot.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lingonberry-1680x1680-1.jpg"><img /></a>Lingonberry, my first free WordPress theme.



<p>There’s something special about seeing people take something you’ve built and do creative things with it, and when Lingonberry went live, it was exciting in a way I have a hard time putting into words. It made me realize I was a lot more eager to see my themes being used than I was making money from them. My next theme, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/hemingway-wordpress-theme">Hemingway</a>, was free as well. As was my next one, and the one after that, and all the themes that followed. After a year or two, I decided to remove Lasseter from sale. It had sold maybe ten copies at that point.&nbsp;</p>



<p>During that same time, my free themes had been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. I was starting to get requests about making paid adjustments to them, and in some cases, building completely custom themes. When I was a couple of months away from graduating college, I received an offer from Smashing WordPress author <a href="https://tdh.se">Thord D. Hedengren</a> to come to Stockholm for a job interview at Odd Alice, his web agency. After 15 years of building web sites as a hobby, the offer was on the table to turn it into a career. I took it.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_74b792-05 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">The blessing and the curse</h2>



<p>In the years that followed, I worked remotely for two years before I moved to Stockholm, went through a breakup, made friends for life and grew both as a person and as a theme developer, experienced a company merger and the implosion of said company, and became a freelancer in November 2019 just months before the pandemic hit. All the while, I kept on releasing free WordPress themes.</p>



<p>I also felt lost. Anyone who has been allowed to turn their hobby into a career – and there are a lot of us in the WordPress community – know that it is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because you’re allowed to spend your nine to five working on something that you’re truly passionate about. A curse because working on your passion from nine to five will result in that passion wearing out and, in periods, be extinguished altogether. This is when a hobby comes in handy. It’s a shame you’ve turned your hobby into a job, isn’t it?</p>



<p>The pandemic was a turning point for me, as it was for so many others. I had increasingly started to feel like a WordPress website generator with legs, and after months of isolation in my studio apartment in Stockholm, I realized I needed a change. I needed something that could give me a sense of purpose and sense of self that isn’t rendered with pixels on a screen.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_8e86d0-af wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Hike your own hike</h2>



<p>The seed was planted during a family trip to Scotland in August 2019. Me, my parents and my siblings were exploring the country by train, and our first stop after leaving Edinburgh was a little town in the Scottish Highlands called Fort William. Fort William lies at the foot of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It is the end point for the West Highland Way hiking trail to the south and the starting point for the Great Glen Way hiking trail to the north. Early August is peak hiking season, and Fort William was filled with long-distance hikers either finishing their hike or just about to start it. The sight of excited hikers getting ready to head out on the trail stuck with me.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When I got back to Sweden, I saw that I had received an email asking me whether I’d like to take part in designing the Twenty Twenty default theme in WordPress 5.3. It’s the sort of offer you would kick yourself for life for turning down, so I swallowed all of my anxieties and said yes. The next couple of months were intense. In addition to a hectic work schedule and contributing to Twenty Twenty in the evenings and weekends, me and my partner were separating, I was buying an apartment, and I was transitioning from full-time employment to freelance work. I would watch hiking videos on YouTube to decompress. I watched a lot of hiking videos that fall.</p>



<p>The next spring, as the pandemic shutdown began, I put on my hiking backpack for the first time and headed out for my first night in the wild. Despite a heavy backpack, aching muscles and chafing in all the wrong places, it was love at first sight. That August, a year after the Scotland trip, I did my first long-distance hike in the Swedish mountains. Nine days on the Dag Hammarskjöld trail from Abisko to Nikkaluokta. Hiking had me properly hooked.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/anders-noren-dag-hammarskjoldsleden.jpg"><img /></a>One of my tent sites on Dag Hammarskjöldsleden, between the Sälka and Singi cabins.



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_b10867-03 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">The missing puzzle piece</h2>



<p>Balance. That’s what I lost when I turned my hobby into a career. When I was a student, I could turn to side projects and theme development for a creative outlet and a change of pace. When I started to work full-time as a theme developer, I still tried to use my themes as that creative outlet, and it only worked to a point. When I finally reached that point, I came very close to burning out on theme development altogether. I started to question my decisions at every fork in the road that had brought me to that chapter in my life. Maybe I should have been a media relations person after all?</p>



<p>None of us can be all work, all of the time. Finding something that we’re passionate about outside of our day job is key to maintaining balance in our lives. I think that’s especially true for those of us lucky enough to get to turn our hobby into a career. For me, that something turned out to be hiking. Every time I come back from a hike I feel rejuvenated and inspired, with my passion for theme development burning a little bit brighter than when I left. None would have been more surprised than my twelve year old self, with his nose buried in books about C++ and QBasic.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grona-bandet-map.jpg"><img /></a>My planned route on Gröna bandet.</div>


<p>Next summer, I’ll head out on my biggest adventure yet: A two month hike of the entire Swedish mountain chain, from Grövelsjön in the south to the point where the borders of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet in the north. About 1 300 kilometers in all. The hike is called Gröna bandet, and unlike most long-distance trails, you have to chart your own path from the starting point to the end. A fitting metaphor for a career in WordPress. All of it will be documented in excruciating detail on my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andersnoren1/">Instagram</a>, if you’re interested in tagging along.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It is an immense privilege to be able to go on adventures like this one, and I likely wouldn’t have had that opportunity without the strange career path the WordPress community has given me. For that, I’m incredibly grateful.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<h1 id="svenska">Välsignelser och förbannelser med att förvandla sin hobby till en karriär</h1>



<p>År 2012 var jag en medie- och kommunikationsstudent på Umeå universitet. Mediebranschens nedåtgående kurva hade övertygat mig om att inte satsa på en karrär som journalist, och jag intalade mig själv att det näst bästa var att jobba som kommunikatör på en spännande arbetsplats. Det var ungefär så mycket tanke jag hade lagt bakom mitt val av utbildning. För varje föreläsning jag gick på och uppgift jag lämnade in insåg jag att jag tyckte om att studera kommunikation, men jag var inte särskilt pepp på att göra en karriär av det.</p>



<p>Som tur är gav föreläsningarna och uppgifterna mig tillräckligt tid över för att ta mig an andra saker. Att ändra på min civilstatus, träffa nya vänner, gå på fester – saker man prioriterar när man flyttar till en stad 500 kilometer bort – men också sidoprojekt. Det är tufft att få ihop hushållsbudgeten som student. Jag började överväga olika sätt att tjäna pengar på det webbfixandde jag hade haft som hobby sedan jag var liten.</p>



<p>Jag var medveten om att marknaden för premiumteman för WordPress växte snabbt, och att teman på marknadsplatser som ThemeForest drog in enorma summor. Det kunde kanske vara ett sätt att dryga ut hushållsbudgeten.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_a25f3f-c1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Mitt möte med WordPress</h2>



<p>Jag har ett väldigt tydligt minne av när jag skrev HTML för första gången. Jag var elva år gammal, och jag utforskade en länksamling som hette Annas Länkburkar i skolans datorsal. I och med att du läser det här på svenska kanske du minns den själv, beroende på när du gick i skolan. Om inte så bestod startsidan på Annas länkburkar av rader med burkar, flaskor, lådor och tepåsar, märkta med den typ av länkar kategorisidorna innehöll. Någonstans i den mörkblåa flaskan märkt ”Data” hittade jag en guide till att skriva enkla webbsidor i HTML. Mitt skrivbord var snart helt belamrat med .html-filer i vilka jag utforskade grunderna i att koda webbsidor. Jag fick veta att e-postkontot som mina föräldrar hade hos webbportalen Spray kom med medlemssidor med HTML-support, och jag planterade snart flaggan i mitt första lilla utrymme på WWW. Om jag minns rätt hade medlemsidan den minnesvärda webbadressen http://medlem.spray.se, följt av en slumpmässig nummersekvens.</p>



<p>Jag fortsatte att experimentera med webbutveckling under de närmaste åren. En bok på Sandvikens folkbibliotek introducerade mig till CSS, och jag försökte och misslyckades också med att lära mig JavaScript. Jag var medveten om att det fanns innehållshanteringssystem redan då, men i och med att det inte fanns utrymme för en serveravgift i min veckopeng fick jag nöja med med vad jag kunde göra med .tk-domännamn och gratis webbhotell. Jag började experimentera med andra programmeringsspråk också. C++ var för komplicerat och Visual Basic för tråkigt, men QBasic träffade rätt och jag byggde enkla ASCII-spel i QBasic under en tid. Som du märker var jag en väldigt cool och populär kille.</p>



<p>Jag bytte skola när jag var 15 år gammal, och mitt intresse för datorer svalnade under en period. Istället upptäckte jag Photoshop. Mina alster bestod främst av lågmälda illustrationer med utdrag från sångtexter i bildtexten – 15-åringens främsta uttrycksform. Jag blev också lurad att jobba med skoltidningen, vilket väckte mitt intresse för journalistik och introducerade mig till InDesign.</p>



<p>Bloggfenomenet var precis på väg att ta fart i Sverige när jag började gymnasiet år 2006, och jag var ivrig att haka på. Jag hade fått för mig att jag skulle utveckla indiespel, och istället för att ägna min tid åt att lära mig spelutveckling bestämde jag mig för att starta en blogg om indie-spelutveckling. Det utgjorde starten för en livslång vana av att bygga webbplatser om mina intressen istället för att utöva dem. Efter en snabb Google-sökning efter olika bloggtjänster hamnade jag på WordPress.com. Tjänsten vara bara drygt ett år gammal då.</p>



<p>Jag publicerade mitt första blogginlägg med WordPress den 14 januari 2007. Jag kan säga datumet med säkerhet för att jag tittar på blogginlägget i detta ögonblick, men nej, jag kommer inte att publicera länken till det här. Jag har redan berättat om mina lågmälda Photoshop-illustrationer, och det finns gränser för hur mycket jag är villig att göra mig till åtlöje i ett publikt forum. Trots WordPress.com-domännamnet och min knackiga engelska lyckades jag övertala en handfull spelutvecklare att bli intervjuade för bloggen. Den mest kända var John Romero, designer av Wolfenstein 3D, Doom och Quake. Min sista fråga var ”Pizza eller hamburgare?”. Det är nog lika bra att jag inte blev journalist.</p>



<p>Mina dagdrömmar om indie-spelutveckling svalnade snabbt, men jag hade inte förlorat mitt intresse för bloggande. Jag var van vid WordPress efter att använt WordPress.com, så när det blev dags att registrera ett domännamn och bli kund hos ett webbhotell var valet av innehållssystem enkelt. Jag dammade av mina gamla HTML och CSS-kunskaper för att göra mindre justeringar i temat jag använde, och jag började lära mig lite PHP också. Jag insåg snart att det var lika roligt att experimentera med koden som att skriva blogginlägg.</p>



<p>Fler sajter följde snabbt. En med nyheter om Nintendo, en med nyheter om Apple, ett länkarkiv, en med guider till hur man bloggar, en om mordet på Olof Palme, och så vidare. Den sista är den enda av dem som fortfarande <a href="https://palmemordet.se/">ligger uppe</a>, men dess utseende har uppdaterats flera gånger sedan jag först la upp den 2010. Jag får fortfarande e-postmeddelanden från konspirationsteoretiker några gånger per år. Nästan alla av webbplatserna var byggda med WordPress, vanligtvis med ett gratis- eller premiumtema med mindre modifikationer. Jag fortsatte uppdatera dem efter att jag gick ut gymnasiet, och något år efter min examen fick jag ett jobb på ett litet IT-företag där jag fick betalt för att skriva kod för första gången. Jag såg det fortfarande inte som en möjlig karriärväg. Mitt sikte var inställt på universitetet.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_8f7792-b0 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">En karriär byggd på teman</h2>



<p>Två år senare satt jag i min studentlägenhet i Umeå och övervägde att dryga ut hushållsbudgeten genom att bygga premiumteman. Jag hade fritid till övers och inget att förlora, så jag bestämde mig för att ge det ett försök. Mitt första tema var ett enkelt bloggtema vid namn Lasseter, döpt efter den tidigare Pixar-regissören John Lasseter, och jag släppte det på marknadsplatsen Mojo Themes i augusti 2013 för 49 dollar. Jag visste att jag behövde marknadsföra mina premiumteman på något sätt, och jag bestämde mig för att utveckla gratisteman för WordPress.orgs temabibliotek också. Besökare skulle komma till min webbplats för gratisteman och förhoppningsvis bestämma sig för att betala en slant för ett premiumtema istället. Det var planen. Det blev inte riktigt så.</p>



<p>Jag släppte mitt första gratistema, Lingonberry, samma månad som Lasseter. Trac-ticketen för temat är fortfarande <a href="https://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13558">live</a>, och listan på buggar jag behövde åtgärda innan temat godkändes är en kilometer lång. Carolina Nymark från WordPress.orgs Theme Review Team granskade temat, och hon var väldigt tålmodig. Jag hade inte en aning om hur lite jag visste om temautveckling innan jag skickade in mitt första tema till WordPress.org. Sju år senare var jag och Carolina co-leads för <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwenty/">Twenty Twenty</a>-standardtemat i WordPress 5.3. Jag är skyldig henne och de andra temagranskarna på WordPress.org väldigt mycket.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lingonberry-1680x1680-1.jpg"><img /></a>Lingonberry, mitt första gratis WordPress-tema.



<p>Det är något speciellt med att se människor ta något som du har skapat och göra något kreativt med det, och när Lingonberry släpptes var det spännande på ett sätt som jag har svårt att sätta ord på. Det fick mig att inse att jag var mycket mer intresserad av att se mina teman bli använda än jag var av att tjäna pengar på dem. Mitt nästa tema, <a href="https://andersnoren.se/teman/hemingway-wordpress-theme">Hemingway</a>, var gratis. Det var temat efter det också, och temat efter, och alla teman som följde. Efter något år bestämde jag mig för att sluta sälja Lasseter. Det hade kanske sålts&nbsp; i tio exemplar vid det laget.</p>



<p>Under samma period hade mina gratisteman laddats ned hundratusentals gånger. Folk började fråga mig om jag kunde göra mindre justeringar av dem mot betalning, och så småningom började jag också få frågor om att bygga nya teman från grunden. När jag hade ett par månader kvar av min utbildning frågade Smashing WordPress-författaren <a href="https://tdh.se">Thord D. Hedengren</a> om jag ville komma ner till Stockholm för en jobbintervju på hans webbyrå: Odd Alice. Efter att ha byggt webbplatser som en hobby i 15 år hade jag nu ett konkret erbjudande om att göra det till min karriär. Jag tog det.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_e569ed-3c wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Välsignelsen och förbannelsen</h2>



<p>Under åren som följde jobbade jag på distans från Umeå i två år innan jag flyttade till Stockholm, separerade från min flickvän, fick vänner för livet och växte både som person och som temautvecklare, fick uppleva en företagssammanslagning och kollapsen av det företaget, och blev frilansare i november 2019 bara månader innan pandemin började. Under hela den tiden fortsatte jag att släppa gratisteman.</p>



<p>Jag kände mig också vilse. Alla som har fått möjlighet att göra en karriär av deras hobby – och det finns många av oss i WordPress-sfären – vet att det är både en välsignelse och en förbannelse. En välsignelse för att du får ägna dina nio till fem åt något som du verkligen är passionerad för. En förbannelse för att om du jobbar på din passion varje dag så kommer det att leda till att din passion falnar och, i perioder, slocknar helt och hållet. Det är då det är bra att ha en hobby. Trist att du har gjort din hobby till ditt födkrok, eller hur?</p>



<p>Pandemin var en vändpunkt för mig, precis som den var för många andra. Jag hade mer och mer börjat känna mig som en WordPress-maskin på två ben, och efter månader av isolering i min etta i Stockholm insåg jag att jag behövde en förändring. Jag behövde något som gav mitt liv en mening som inte renderades med pixlar på en skärm.</p>



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_170e02-94 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Vandra din egen vandring</h2>



<p>Fröet såddes i augusti 2019 under en familjesemester i Skottland. Jag, mina föräldrar och mina syskon ägnade två veckor åt att utforska landet med tåg, och vårt första stopp efter Edinburgh var en liten by i de skotska högländerna som heter Fort William. Fort William ligger vid foten av Ben Nevis, Storbritanniens högsta berg, och det är slutpunkten för vandringsleden West Highland Way åt söder och startpunkten för vandringsleden Great Glen Way åt norr. Början av augusti var högsäsong för vandring i området, och Fort William var fyllt av långdistansvandrare som antingen precis hade avslutat sin vandring eller precis skulle påbörja den. Det var något med synen av exalterade vandrare på väg ut i naturen med sina överfulla ryggsäckar som jag inte kunde släppa.</p>



<p>När jag var tillbaka i Sverige såg jag att jag hade blivit tillfrågad om jag ville vara med och designa Twenty Twenty-standardtemat i WordPress 5.3. Jag visste att jag aldrig skulle förlåta mig själv om jag sa nej, så jag svalde alla mina farhågor och sa ja. Månaderna som följde var intensiva. Utöver en hektisk period på jobbet och arbete med Twenty Twenty på kvällar och helger så separerade jag och min flickvän, jag köpte en lägenhet, och jag började övergången från heltidsanställning till livet som frilansare. Jag tittade på vandringsfilmer på YouTube för att slappna av. Jag tittade på mycket vandringsfilmer den hösten.</p>



<p>Nästa vår, när pandemin hade börjat och samhället stängdes ner, tog jag på mig vandringsryggan för första gången och gav mig ut på min första övernattning i naturen. Trots en tung ryggsäck, ömma muskler och skavsår på helt fel ställen var det kärlek vid första ögonkastet. Ett år efter resan till Skottland gjorde jag min första långvandring i de svenska bergen. Nio dagar på Dag Hammarskjöldsleden från Abisko till Nikkaluokta. Jag var fast.</p>



<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/anders-noren-dag-hammarskjoldsleden.jpg"><img /></a>En av mina tältplatser på Dag Hammarskjöldsleden, mellan Sälka- och Singistugorna.



<h2 class="kt-adv-heading_6ae430-01 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Den saknade pusselbiten</h2>



<p>Balans. Det är vad jag förlorade när jag gjorde min hobby till min karriär. När jag var student kunde jag vända mig till sidoprojekt och temautveckling för att få ett kreativt utlopp och en paus från vardagen. När jag började jobba som temautvecklare på heltid försökte jag fortfarande använda mina gratisteman som ett kreativt utlopp, och det fungerade tills det inte fungerade längre. När jag till slut nådde den punkten var jag på gränsen till att bli utbränd och tappa lusten för temautveckling helt och hållet. Jag började ifrågasätta varje vägval jag hade gjort i mitt liv. Jag kanske skulle ha blivit kommunikatör ändå?</p>



<p>Ingen av oss kan vara hundra procent jobb, hundra procent av tiden. Vi behöver alla hitta något annat än våra jobb att vara passionerade för om vi ska kunna leva balanserade liv. Jag tror att det är extra sant för oss som var haft turen att få bygga en karriär på våra fritidsintressen. För mig visade sig vandring vara den saknade pusselbiten. Jag känner mig utvilad och inspirerad varje gång jag kommer tillbaka från en vandring, och jag är redo att ta mig an både kundjobb och gratisteman med förnyad passion. Ingen hade blivit mer överraskad än mitt tolvåriga jag, med näsan begravd i böcker om C++ och QBasic.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/grona-bandet-map.jpg"><img /></a>Min planerade rutt på Gröna bandet.</div>


<p>Nästa sommar ska jag ge mig ut på mitt största äventyr hittills: en två månader lång vandring genom hela den svenska fjällkedjan, från Grövelsjön i söder till Treriksröset i norr. Drygt 130 mil totalt. Vandringen heter Gröna bandet, och till skillnad från de flesta vandringsleder måste man välja sin egen väg från starten till slutet. En passande metafor för en karriär i WordPress. Hela vandringen kommer att dokumenteras i olidlig detalj på min <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andersnoren1/">Instagram</a>, om du är nyfiken.</p>



<p>Det är ett enormt privilegium att kunna ge sig ut på såna äventyr, och jag skulle sannolikt inte ha haft den möjligheten utan den underliga karriärväg som WordPress-communityt har gett mig. För det är jag oändligt tacksam.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/blessings-and-curses-of-turning-your-hobby-into-a-career/">Blessings and curses of turning your hobby into a career &#8211; Välsignelser och förbannelser med att förvandla sin hobby till en karriär</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, 07 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}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:"Anders Norén";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:69:"WPTavern: Google Rolls Out December 2022 “Helpful Content” Update";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140146";s: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/google-rolls-out-december-2022-helpful-content-update";s: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:3164:"<p>Google is in the process of rolling out its <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking">December 2022</a> &#8220;helpful content&#8221; system update, which started on the 5th and is becoming more visible in search results. The company estimates it will take approximately two weeks to fully roll out.</p>



<p>The helpful content system generates a signal that is used by Google&#8217;s <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide">automated ranking systems</a> to provide people with what it deems to be more original and helpful content &#8220;written by people, for people&#8221; in search results. This particular update improves the system&#8217;s classifier and works across content in all languages. </p>



<p>The system was designed to reward content where Google determines that visitors have had a satisfying experience and, conversely, where visitors do not find what they are looking for, the content will not perform as well. This is distilled into a site-wide signal where Google&#8217;s systems automatically identify &#8220;content that seems to have little value, low-added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful to those doing searches.&#8221; </p>



<p>If Google finds relatively high amounts of unhelpful content on a site, the rest of the site&#8217;s content is not as likely to perform well in Search. With this application of the system, unhelpful content is like a poison for the rest of the website. Google said removing it could boost the rankings for the rest of the site&#8217;s content. It can take months for Google to reclassify a site&#8217;s content as helpful after unhelpful content has been removed.</p>



<p>Google published more information on how the classifier works and what it means for rankings:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>This classifier process is entirely automated, using a machine-learning model. It works globally across all languages. It is not a&nbsp;<a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175">manual action</a>&nbsp;nor a spam action. Instead, it&#8217;s just one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/">many signals Google evaluates</a>&nbsp;to rank content.</p>



<p>This means that some people-first content on sites classified as having unhelpful content could still rank well, if there are other signals identifying that people-first content as helpful and relevant to a query. The signal is also weighted; sites with lots of unhelpful content may notice a stronger effect.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>This is the first major update to helpful content since August 2022. At that time Google encouraged site owners to focus on creating &#8220;people-first content,&#8221; as opposed to search engine-first content. Site owners are encouraged to reference Google&#8217;s guide to &#8220;<a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content">Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content,</a>&#8221; which includes dozens of questions for evaluating whether content will be deemed helpful or not.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 07 Dec 2022 04:04:23 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s: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:58:"WPTavern: Jetpack 11.6 Adds Block Pattern Support to Forms";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140131";s: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/jetpack-11-6-adds-block-pattern-support-to-forms";s: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:2090:"<p>Jetpack has introduced a major update to its Form block in the latest version <a href="https://jetpack.com/blog/jetpack-11-6-update-to-the-form-block-and-more/">11.6 release</a>. Users can now interact with the various form templates as patterns. </p>



<p>A new quick start placeholder appears anytime users invoke a new form block. It displays a selection of the most commonly used form types as icons. Clicking on any one of the form templates will instantly add it to the block. From there, users can further customize the form fields and labels. It also displays a link to documentation on customizing forms and a link to view and export form responses.</p>



<img />



<p>Version 11.6 also introduces a patterns explorer, similar to the one found in the block inserter. Here users can see all available patterns fully expanded to better inform their decisions during the form creation process.</p>



<img />



<p>After testing, I found the pattern explorer to be a somewhat clunky way to view available form templates. In the default view they appear one at a time and expand to fit the explorer&#8217;s viewport. They are also difficult to scroll. Clicking on the grid style view, the patterns are easier to see but the design could be improved to better differentiate each pattern, as they all seem to run right into the next with faint borders around each.</p>



<p>Although I&#8217;m eager to see Jetpack iterate on the execution of these new ways to build forms, the placeholder and pattern explorer undoubtedly help users get started faster than trying to build a form from scratch in the block editor.</p>



<p>Other notable updates in this release include SEO improvements that allow users to have more granular control over how their content is presented (or not presented) to search engines. In the Jetpack SEO panel, users can now exclude that specific post or page from being indexed, while allowing the content to remain publicly accessible. Users can also now set a custom SEO title for posts and pages that will show in the search snippet and browser tab.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 07 Dec 2022 02:13:30 +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: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:63:"Do The Woo Community: A Product Builders Journey with Eran Shor";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73747";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"https://dothewoo.io/a-product-builders-journey-with-eran-shor/";s: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:408:"<p>Eran has a history with both WooCommerce and WordPress and shares his story on building Zorem and his latest product, TrackShip.</p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/a-product-builders-journey-with-eran-shor/">A Product Builders Journey with Eran Shor</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</a>	.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 06 Dec 2022 10:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:73:"WPTavern: ChatGPT Creates a Working WordPress Plugin – On the First Try";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140097";s: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/chatgpt-creates-a-working-wordpress-plugin-on-the-first-try";s: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:3742:"<p>ChatGPT <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1599668808285028353">passed 1 million users</a> today and Twitter is brimming with a steady stream of creative questions and applications for the AI-powered chatbot. The language model, <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">created by OpenAI</a>, is powered by GPT-3.5, a series of models trained on text and code from before Q4 2021. The model features a dialogue format that gives ChatGPT the ability to &#8220;answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.&#8221;</p>



<p>While some are busy predicting the <a href="https://twitter.com/jdjkelly/status/1598021488795586561">end of search engines</a> and sounding the death knell for human-generated writing, others are fascinated by the potential of AI systems to fundamentally reshape the process of creation. WordPress developer Johnathon Williams brought this close to home when he asked ChatGPT to spin up a WordPress plugin.</p>



<p>Ordinarily, plugin creation is a task that requires a certain level of technical proficiency. Williams demonstrated that, with a little bit of expert guidance, ChatGPT can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to extend WordPress.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ChatGPT wrote a working WordPress plugin for me today on the first try. <br /><br />Custom menu item, custom admin screen, saving a custom options value, validating the field before saving &#8230;<br /><br />Holy hell.</p>&mdash; Johnathon Williams (@johnofhousejohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnofhousejohn/status/1599858839771176960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Williams installed the plugin and found that it worked on the first try. Although he didn&#8217;t save the prompt for this first try, he <a href="https://gist.github.com/oddjar/54bd63399e2e27b15a25d10b6edd4ec2">published a gist on GitHub</a> of the generated code.</p>



<p>On a second attempt of creating a different plugin, he used the following prompt:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>Create a custom WordPress plugin called &#8220;Big Daddy Media&#8221; that deletes images older than one year from the media library. OOP. Custom admin screen. one button delete. log the full URL of all deleted media files.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>He published a screen recording of ChatGPT at work creating the plugin:</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Open AI's ChatGPT can generate an entire WordPress plugin based on a simple description.<br /><br />Watch it work: <a href="https://t.co/LZQbxFq0aP">pic.twitter.com/LZQbxFq0aP</a></p>&mdash; Johnathon Williams (@johnofhousejohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnofhousejohn/status/1599932681076473856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>Williams said that although he&#8217;s had mixed results with his prompts, he has gotten the best results from asking ChatGPI to generate entire functions versus specific filters or actions.</p>



<p>Theoretically, with additional training on plugin best practices and common architecture, ChatGPT could be used by people of all skill levels to extend WordPress in creative ways.</p>



<p>&#8220;Very soon, describing the WordPress plugin you need to ChatGPT will generate a new one faster than searching for an existing one in the plugin directory,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;This won&#8217;t be true for all types of plugins, of course. But for relatively simple plugins performing established tricks &#8230; well *very soon* should probably read &#8216;right now.'&#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, 06 Dec 2022 04:14:35 +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: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:125:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg 14.6, Divi builder’s future,Block and Theme development courses and more – Weekend Edition 237";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=22812";s: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:127:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/gutenberg-14-6-divi-builders-futureblock-and-theme-development-courses-and-more-weekend-edition-237/";s: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:29783:"<p>Howdy, </p>



<p>It has been a whirlwind year for me, and now 2022 is coming to an end. Two more Weekend Editions, one more Gutenberg Changelog episode and our vacation around the Holidays and New Year&#8217;s will start. I can hardly wait, to be honest. I have a few personal projects, I finally need to get going on them. </p>



<p>In this week&#8217;s <a href="https://www.therepository.email/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=WzE3NCwiMjAxZTExZjMzOTNjIiw1NTYsIjFqb2g0ZGtiNnZmbzh3NG9vb3dnNG9zODhnazA0czR3Iiw0NzMsMF0">The Repository</a> newsletter (150) I read the community profile of Ryan Sullivan who identified <em>Entropy</em> as the one concept that is worth understanding. He shared a link to a blog post by James Clear (<em>Atomic Habits</em>) &#8220;<a href="https://jamesclear.com/entropy">Entropy: Why Life Always Seems to Get More Complicated</a>&#8220;. I found some solace in the fact that chaos seems to be our natural state of things. </p>



<p>In a GitHub discussion about Custom-CSS coming to the Block editor, I  also learned about Cumming&#8217;s Law: &#8220;Law that affirms that the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer&#8221; Wisdom of the crowd. </p>



<p>Well, WordPress problem-solving is a holistic experience.  It takes the whole person. It&#8217;s not all about bits, bytes, servers, PHP and JavaScript. It&#8217;s about people, too. 🤦‍♀️ 😜</p>



<p>For a more down to Earth developers, you&#8217;ll find below two posts linked that tell use of the journey of backend or PHP developer to learn working with blocks. </p>



<p>I<s>f you haven&#8217;t yet, browse through the <strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/november/schedule/">schedule of WordFest Live</a> </strong>&#8211; a 24-hour virtual conference and celebration of WordPress around Transformation.  It will take place on <strong>December 16, 2022</strong>, </s>  I was sorry to learn, that <em>WordFest Live was cancelled</em>. (12/4 &#8211; Thank you, DJ for letting me know)</p>



<p>The day before, <strong>December 15, 2022</strong> Matt Mullenweg will will give his annual keynote address called <strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/"> State of the Word</a></strong>, when he shares reflections on the project’s progress and the future of open source. </p>



<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>






<div class="wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost"><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#5-s">Upcoming WordPress events</a><ul><li><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-l">Learn WordPress Online Meetups</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
</div></div>




<h2 id="0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>



<p><strong>Gutenberg 14.6 </strong>was release on November 23rd, 2022. <strong>Fabian Kägy</strong> highlighted in his release post <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/">What’s new in Gutenberg 14.6? (23 November)</a></strong> the following features:</p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#add-a-variation-picker-to-the-group-block-placeholder">Add a Variation Picker to the Group Block Placeholder</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#add-list-based-editing-to-navigation-block">Add List-Based Editing to Navigation Block</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#hide-block-toolbar-when-spacing-visualizer-is-shown">Hide Block Toolbar when Spacing Visualizer is Shown</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#transform-paragraph-into-heading">Transform Paragraph into Heading via Keyboard Shortcut</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#update-the-design-of-the-focal-point-handle">Update the Design of the Focal Point Handle</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#fluid-typography-adjust-font-size-min-and-max-rules">Fluid typography: Adjust font size min and max rules</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#define-a-min-height">Define a Minimum Height</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/11/23/whats-new-in-gutenberg-14-6-23-november/#generate-new-color-palets-automatically">Generate New Color Pallets Automatically</a></li>
</ul>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on the release as well: <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-14-6-adds-list-view-for-editing-navigation-block-introduces-new-automatic-color-palette-generator">Gutenberg 14.6 Adds List View for Editing Navigation Block, Introduces New Automatic Color Palette Generator</a>. She wrote: &#8220;One of the most creative features introduced in this release is the new&nbsp;<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/40988">“Randomize colors” feature</a>&nbsp;that will automatically generate color palettes on the fly. It utilizes hue rotations based on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~dag/CUBEHELIX/">Cubehelix color scheme</a>.&#8221;</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>If you are a subscriber to the <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-76-the-new-developer-blogs-public-beta-gutenberg-14-5-and-14-6-and-whats-coming-up-in-6-2/">Gutenberg Changelog podcast</a>, your favorite podcast app probably made the latest episode available to you. To my absolute delight, <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong>, Twitch streamer and developer advocate joined me again for this show. It was great fun! </p>



<img />



<p>Welcher&nbsp;was quoted in the the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.therepository.email/?mailpoet_router&endpoint=view_in_browser&action=view&data=WzE3NCwiMjAxZTExZjMzOTNjIiw1NTYsIjFqb2g0ZGtiNnZmbzh3NG9vb3dnNG9zODhnazA0czR3Iiw0NzMsMF0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Repository Newsletter #150</a>&nbsp;&#8220;In the&nbsp;<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-76-the-new-developer-blogs-public-beta-gutenberg-14-5-and-14-6-and-whats-coming-up-in-6-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest episode</a>&nbsp;of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast, Ryan Welcher, a Developer Relations Advocate at Automattic, some &#8220;quality of life&#8221; updates in Gutenberg 14.6 that make using it a more pleasant experience: &#8220;It’s nice there&#8217;s this level of refinement happening to these existing tools,&#8221; he says.&#8221; TY to <a href="https://twitter.com/raemoreywrites">Rae Morey</a>, editor of the newsletter. </p>



<div class="wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container">
<p><strong>🎙️ </strong> New episode:  <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-77-gutenberg-14-7-whats-new-for-block-themes-an-upcoming-live-qa-in-january/">Gutenberg Changelog #77 – Gutenberg 14.7, what’s new for Block Themes, an upcoming Live Q&amp;A in January</a> with special guest, Daisy Olsen and host Birgit Pauli-Haack. </p>
</div></div>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>If you’re all about the words, be it blogging for yourself or as a content author for your clients, WordPress 6.1 has a number of writing and editing improvements you’ll want to take advantage of. <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published another post in the series of Core editor improvements. In <strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/28/core-editor-improvement-advancing-the-writing-experience/">Advancing the writing experience</a></strong> they wrote: <em>&#8220;The experience of writing your latest post, whether as part of your weekly routine or out of excitement from a recent adventure, just got easier in&nbsp;many&nbsp;different ways. From a new mode that helps you focus on just writing to more keyboard shortcuts for quickly navigating content, there’s something for everyone, no matter how you approach writing your posts.&#8221;</em></p>



<h2 id="0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>



<p>In the last edition, I shared with you the <a href="https://poststatus.com/the-future-of-givewp-and-the-block-editor/">story that GiveWP is revamping their plugin to use Gutenberg as a framework</a> for their Donations plugin and use the interface components, and scripts already built into WordPress to modernize and standardize the plugin page and settings. </p>



<p>Last month,  <strong>Nick Roach</strong>&nbsp;CEO Elegant Themes, the company that built the Divi Builder, announced the start of the Divi 5.0 release process in the post <strong><a href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/general-news/the-future-of-divi">Let’s Talk About Divi 5.0 And The Future Of Divi</a></strong>.  &#8220;In fact, developers familiar with creating blocks for WordPress will find a lot of similarities in the Divi 5.0 module API. WordPress blocks will be more easily adapted to Divi and WordPress developers will be able to jump head first into building things for our community. We are building this new version of Divi to work in harmony with WordPress.&#8221; he wrote. As time of the writing the post has around 190 comments. I haven&#8217;t started to read yet. </p>



<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on it on the WPTavern: <a href="https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/general-news/the-future-of-divi"><strong>Divi 5.0 Aims to Bring Greater Compatibility with Gutenberg</strong></a>. She talked to developer, Josh Ronk and quoted him: “On the block theme front, as a part of Divi 5.0, we are also transitioning into a Block-Based theme, and since Divi 5.0 is actually internally built using the same ‘packages’ that Gutenberg itself is composed of, Divi 5.0 has a lot of compatibility built in from the core,”.</p>



<p>In his video, <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong>, PootlePress, posed the question: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJUCzJYfzNQ"><strong>Is The Divi WordPress Theme Dying?</strong></a></p>



<p><em>Are you a Divi user? How do you feel about this announcement?  Share in the comments, or email me to <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">pauli@gutenbergtimes.com</a></em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Jean-Baptist Audras</strong>, Whodunit Agency and outgoing team rep of the WordPress Core team <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb/status/1598350878037221382">tweeted</a></strong> that his agency released two new plugins that help with creating accessible content. </p>



<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">&#8220;Lang Attribute for the Block Editor&#8221;</a></strong> provides a way to ensure language changes in the content of a page are properly indicated to assistive technologies, using the <code>lang</code> attribute. See <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/language-of-parts.html"><em>WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 “Language of Parts”</em></a></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">“Abbreviation Button for the Block Editor”</a></strong> helps you to provide definitions for abbreviations, using the &lt;abbr&gt; HTML element. See <em><a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/abbreviations.html">WCAG success criterion 3.1.4 “Abbreviations”</a></em></p>



<p>Audras also wrote: &#8220;Worth noting that indicating language changes in content is mandatory for WCAG compliance, and there is currently no way to do that in the Block Editor (except by editing the code manually). I think this feature should be implemented natively into Gutenberg&#8221;</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Marko Segota</strong> at Anariel Design wrote about <a href="https://www.anarieldesign.com/how-to-create-columns-in-wordpress/"><strong>How to Create Columns in WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg)</strong></a>? He covers the topic from adding columns to the editor canvas, and adding blocks to each column. Then Segota goes over all the various design options and how to add borders. Equipped with the full knowledge of available features, you now can channel your creativity to build enticing layouts and page sections. </p>



<p><em>Share your creation, if you&#8217;d like and send me your screenshots or links. Please don&#8217;t hesitate to also send your questions, and your bug reports, to my email address <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">pauli@gutenbergtimes.com</a></em></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>On WPEngine&#8217;s Builders Resouces site, <strong>Nick Diego</strong> wrote a tutorial on <a href="https://wpengine.com/builders/designing-with-column-blocks/"><strong>Designing with Column Blocks in WordPress</strong></a> and explored two block layouts that rely on the Columns block. &#8220;While both are relatively simple, they demonstrate how powerful and versatile this block can be. &#8221; He also included ways to add additional functionality using custom CSS classes.</p>



<h2 id="2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>



<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> and <strong>Damon Cook</strong> facilitated a conversation in a recent <strong>Hallway Hangout</strong> about <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/12/02/hallway-hangout-future-of-css-in-block-themes/"><strong>the future of CSS in block&nbsp;themes</strong></a>. In the more casual chat the group discussed some Block Theme development-related features that are under active development. I was sorry, that I missed it and I have this on my watch list once this newsletter is done 🙂 </p>



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<p>Speaking of WordPressTV: the recording of a recent Learn WordPress Builder Basics event was uploaded, too. <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/12/02/builder-basics-building-with-columns-groups-rows-and-stacks/"><strong>Builder basics: building with columns, groups, rows and&nbsp;stacks</strong></a> with <strong>Nick Diego</strong>, where he &#8220;explored how to design sophisticated layouts using Columns, Group, Row, and Stack blocks. These blocks represent the fundamental building blocks of every WordPress website. You’ll learn the nuances of each block type and how to configure them correctly, with a special focus on new features in WordPress 6.1.&#8221;</p>



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<p>In his post <strong><a href="https://themeshaper.com/2022/11/28/how-to-add-typographic-fonts-to-wordpress-block-themes/">How to add typographic fonts to WordPress block&nbsp;themes</a>, Matias Benedetto</strong> explains how to use the Create Block Theme plugins to bundle fonts to your theme with just a few clicks.</p>



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<p><strong>Ganesh Dahal</strong> published a tutorial on <a href="https://css-tricks.com/using-the-new-constrained-layout-in-wordpress-block-themes/"><strong>how to use the new constrained layout In WordPress block&nbsp;themes</strong></a>. &#8220;Now that we have JSON-ified styles for the margins and padding of layout containers, that opens us up to&nbsp;more flexible and robust ways to define spacing in our theme layouts.&#8221; Dahal wrote. </p>




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							<div class="ngl-article-featured"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" target="_self" rel=""><img src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/keyboard.jpeg?w=652&ssl=1" /></a></div><div class="ngl-article-title"><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" target="_self" rel=""><span>A Walk-Through of Layout Classes in WordPress 6.1</span></a></div><div class="ngl-article-excerpt">WordPress 6.1 introduced several necessary changes to its layout framework. Namely, core has now centralized its layout definitions, created semantic class names, and reduced code duplication on container blocks. Originally,&hellip; <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/a-walk-through-of-layout-classes-in-wordpress-6-1/" class="ngl-article-read-more" target="_self">Read more.</a></div>							</div>
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<p><strong>Isabel Brison </strong>published the Dev Note for the WordPress 6.1 release: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/10/updated-editor-layout-support-in-6-1-after-refactor/"><strong>Updated editor layout support in 6.1 after refactor</strong></a>. &#8220;A new layout type, “constrained”, was added to the already available Flow and Flex layouts types. In addition, layout refactor efforts bring new layout styles, new block level spacing, more semantic class name for layouts, root padding and a method to disable all layout styles altogether for themes.&#8221; Brison wrote.</p>






<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>




<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/briancoords/">Brian Coords</a></strong>,  <em>MasterWP</em>,  talked to <strong>Cory Hughart</strong> and <strong>Phil Hoyt</strong> on their podcast <em>In The Loop</em> about all things block editing, open-source theme frameworks, and creating media in the world of WordPress. To listen to the full podcast episode head on over to In The Loop: <strong><a href="https://anchor.fm/blackbird-digital/episodes/21-Mastering-Theme-Development-with-Brian-Coords-e1qonaa">Mastering Theme Development with Brian Coords</a></strong></p>



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<p>The second part of the new Block Theme building course  on Learn WordPress has gone live. You can now take both courses back to back. </p>



<p><strong><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-1/">Developers Guide to Block Themes (Part 1)</a> </strong>covers the fundamental aspects of developing a block theme, like </p>



<ul>
<li>The minimum requirements of a block theme</li>



<li>The primary elements of a block theme, and how that differs from a classic theme</li>



<li>Turning a design into a block theme</li>



<li>Different methods of creating block theme elements in the Site Editor, and then exporting them to theme files</li>
</ul>



<p><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/a-developers-guide-to-block-themes-part-2/"><strong>Developers Guide to Block Themes (Part 2)</strong></a> dives into more advanced block theme development topics: </p>



<ul>
<li>Adding custom fonts to your block theme</li>



<li>Adding custom functionality through block patterns</li>



<li>Creating Global Styles variations</li>



<li>Making your block theme translation ready</li>



<li>Locking down your theme settings and blocks</li>
</ul>



<p>A less code-heavy course to building a WordPress Theme is also in the works, It&#8217;s called <a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/develop-your-first-low-code-block-theme/"><strong>Develop Your First Low-Code Block Theme</strong></a> it&#8217;s in public preview, and not all advanced modules are done, but you get a fabulous introduction into WordPress block theme and how you can create them through the Site Editor. </p>



<h2 id="3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>



<p>Core contributor, <strong>Michael Burridge</strong> published <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/11/29/a-php-developers-guide-to-getting-started-with-block-development/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>a PHP developer’s guide to getting started with block development</strong></a> on the shiny new WordPress Developer Blog. &#8220;This post is intended to guide you through the murkiness and emerge blinking into the clear light of day. It has been written by someone who has followed the same path. Before learning about block development I was a PHP developer who started by creating custom themes and went on to develop plugins to implement custom functionality on WordPress/WooCommerce sites.&#8221; Burridge wrote from his experience.</p>



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<p><strong>Jonathan Bossenger </strong>held part 4 of his workshop series this week:  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rf0h14cANQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Developing Blocks without React &#8211;  Block Controls</strong></a>.  This series of workshops looks at building a WordPress block, without using React JSX. In the previous part, Bossenger built a WordPress block using plain JavaScript which supports custom styles via a stylesheet, and which uses block attributes and the RichText component to allow the user to edit the block content. In this iteration, he added a block control and an additional attribute to allow the user to edit the block alignment.</p>



<p>Catch up on the earlier workshops of the series <strong>Developing Blocks without React</strong></p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/25/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-part-2-take-2/">Attributes and&nbsp;RichText</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/18/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-all-about-attributes/">All about Attributes</a></li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2022/11/11/lets-code-developing-blocks-without-react-part-1/">Block&nbsp;Basics</a></li>
</ul>




<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>




<p>On his Twitch Stream, <strong>Ryan Welcher </strong>worked three weeks in a row on Query Block variations of all types. Here is the list of the shows on Twitch. A deep dive into the world of post lists. </p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1655281302"><strong>Working with Query Loop block variations</strong></a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1661574564"><strong>MOAR Query Loop block variations!</strong></a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1667449595"><strong>Building an Advanced Query Loop block variation plugin</strong></a></li>
</ul>



<p>And if you are a bit fuzzy on what the shows are about, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ntsekouras/">Nik Tsekouras</a> wrote the Dev Note on this topic for WordPress 6.1.  <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/10/extending-the-query-loop-block/"><strong>Extending the Query Loop block</strong></a>. He starts out with &#8220;Extenders required a way to present bespoke versions of the Query&nbsp;Loop&nbsp;block, with their presets, additional settings and disabled customization options when irrelevant to their use-case. With WordPress 6.1, the Query Loop block offers mighty ways to create such versions, through&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/block-api/block-variations/">Block Variations</a>.&#8221; </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Tom McFarlin</strong> published part 4 of his series <a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-4/"><strong>A Backend Engineer Learns to Build Block Editor Blocks</strong></a> in which he walks you through how to handle the process to save content from a block and how to control how it is rendered on the front end. If you are keen on learning block development, McFarlin recommends to start reading part one through three first: </p>



<ol>
<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-1/">Required Tools, Plugin Structure, Dependencies, Block Metadata</a></li>



<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-2/">The Backend, The Frontend, Functionality, Styles, a Working Demo</a></li>



<li><a href="https://tommcfarlin.com/learning-to-build-block-editor-blocks-3/">Block Attributes, Editable Content, Components, Editor Styles</a></li>
</ol>



<h2 id="5-s">Upcoming WordPress events</h2>



<p>December 15, 2022 &#8211;  1 pm ET  / 18:00 UTC <br /><strong><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word 2022</a></strong> &#8211; Matt Mullenweg&#8217;s annual keynote. </p>



<p>New Date!&nbsp;<strong>December 16, 2022</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.wordfest.live/2022/november/">WordFest Live Returns</a></strong>&nbsp;– the 24-hour Festival of WordPress</p>



<p>February 17 – 19, 2023<br /><a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/"><strong>WordCamp Asia 2023</strong></a>&nbsp;– the&nbsp;<a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/speakers-announcement-round-1/">first round of speakers was announced</a></p>



<p class="has-light-background-background-color has-background"><a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/"><strong>Have a look at the schedule of upcoming WordCamps</strong></a>&nbsp;to find one near you.</p>



<h3 id="1-l">Learn WordPress Online Meetups</h3>



<p><strong>December 5, 2022 &#8211; 2 am ET / 7am UTC </strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289957594/">Using the Navigation Block</a> </strong>with Ben Evans</p>



<p><strong>December 8, 2022 – 3 pm ET / 22:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289521234/">Builder Basics: Demystifying theme.json and Global Styles</a></strong>&nbsp;with Nick Diego</p>



<p>December 12, 2022 &#8211; 3 pm ET / 22:00 UTC  <br /><a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/289957641/"><strong>Creating a Call To Action with the Block Editor</strong></a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />




<p>Featured Image: Fantasy CityScape created with the Imajinn AI plugin</p>



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<p class="has-text-align-left"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>



<form class="wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait" action="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/" method="post"><div class="ngl-form-container"><div class="ngl-form-field"><label class="ngl-form-label" for="ngl_email"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class="ngl-form-input"><input type="email" class="ngl-form-input-text" name="ngl_email" id="ngl_email" /></div></div><button type="submit" class="ngl-form-button">Subscribe</button><p class="ngl-form-text">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay"><div class="ngl-message-svg-wrap"></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay-text">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type="hidden" name="ngl_list_id" id="ngl_list_id" value="26f81bd8ae" /><input type="hidden" name="ngl_double_optin" id="ngl_double_optin" value="yes" /></form>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 03 Dec 2022 16:02:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:120:"WPTavern: The WP Community Collective Launches Nonprofit to Fund Individual Contributors and Community-Based Initiatives";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140056";s: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/the-wp-community-collective-launches-nonprofit-to-fund-individual-contributors-and-community-based-initiatives";s: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:4917:"<p>The <a href="https://www.thewpcommunitycollective.com/">WP Community Collective</a> (WPCC) officially launched today as a new nonprofit organization dedicated to funding individual WordPress contributors and community-led initiatives. It was founded by Sé Reed, Katie Adams Farrell, and Courtney Robertson.</p>



<p>The organization was created to address some of the challenges of contribution, where larger companies tend to have more resources to sponsor contributors, while individuals and smaller companies may struggle to balance their ability to volunteer with the need to make ends meet.</p>



<p>One of the primary ways the WPCC aims to support contributors is through Fellowships. This is an agreement where individuals receive financial support for their contributions to WordPress with global pay parity. They will also engage in professional development and are encouraged to participate in regional WordCamps as attendees, speakers, and/or organizers with expenses covered by the fellowship.</p>



<p>The fellowships are an interesting concept, designed to incubate high quality contributors who are connected to the community with a well-rounded set of expectations that are not narrowly limited to the code produced. </p>



<p>WPCC aims to identify areas where the community is underrepresented or contribution is needed and fund Fellowships in those areas. The first fellowship they plan to fund is for <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/contribute/accessibility-fellowship-46812">an Accessibility contributor</a>, who will dedicate 5-10 hours a week to work on the Make WordPress Accessibility Team and its existing accessibility initiatives.</p>



<p>&#8220;The Accessibility Fellowship will be a bit of a test, in terms of fundraising and response from the community,&#8221; WPCC co-founder Sé Reed said. &#8220;Accessibility is an easy place to start because the community already knows it is important and we have contributors who are doing crucial work without any monetary support.&#8221;</p>



<p>WPCC is using Open Collective as the fiscal sponsor for its 501(c)3 status, enabling donations to be classified as charitable giving, which is in many cases tax-deductible. All transactions that run through the organization are transparent and publicly documented on the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/transactions">transactions page</a>.</p>



<p>Reed said the tipping point for her team to get organized to make this happen was a tweet from Matt Mullenweg shortly after the 2022 WordCamp US, where he responded to people calling for users of assistive technology to be paid for testing Gutenberg.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm not opposed to paying people for labor or people getting paid for their labor. It's just not something that <a href="https://t.co/0IkxYEeLJd">https://t.co/0IkxYEeLJd</a> or the WordPress Foundation are set up to do, nor will they be in the future. Individuals have sponsored paid user tests before, just directly.</p>&mdash; Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/1568789183413776385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>



<p>&#8220;His statement in that tweet really made two things clear to me,&#8221; Reed said. &#8220;One, that this funding concept would not be in conflict with the work of the WordPress Foundation or the official project, and two, that if we wanted something like this to happen it would have to be done as an independent entity.&#8221;</p>



<p>The WPCC founders joined in on a recent WPwatercooler podcast episode where they shared their contributor stories and why they started the organization. One of their commonalities was a sincere desire to contribute more but not enough time in the day. With very few sponsored contributor positions available, volunteering is not always possible, resulting in the project being led primarily by sponsored contributors.</p>



<p>“We hope that the WP Community Collective can help bridge the gap between the passion people feel for WordPress, and the very real and practical limits of volunteer contribution,” Reed said.</p>



<p>WPCC is starting out with a small governance team that consists of the three co-founders but plans to expand the organizational structure to include more community representation, including an Advisory Board with a permanent seat for the Executive Director of WordPress.&nbsp;</p>



<p>People who want to support the WPCC can join with an <a href="https://opencollective.com/thewpcc/contribute/individual-membership-47231">individual membership</a> for free to stay up to date with the organization&#8217;s activities. Check out the podcast episode below to meet the co-founders and learn more about the initiative.</p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">

</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:39:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:88:"WPTavern: UK Publishers File £13.6 Billion Lawsuit Against Google Alleging Market Abuse";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140040";s: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/uk-publishers-file-13-6-billion-lawsuit-against-google-alleging-market-abuse";s: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:3405:"<p>A group of 130,000 businesses publishing around 1,750,000 websites and applications in the UK have filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company, Alphabet. The claim is being managed by law firms Humphries Kerstetter and Geradin Partners, who allege that &#8220;Google abused its dominant position in the market for online advertising, earning super-profits for itself at the expense of the tens of thousands of publishers of websites and mobile apps in the UK.&#8221;</p>



<p>The firms&#8217; economic analysis of Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior suggests that some companies may have had advertising revenues reduced by 40%. Although Google has been the subject of multiple regulatory investigations in the EU, UK, and USA, resulting in a €220m fine from French competition authorities, this claim aims to compensate publishers and recover losses through a competition class action lawsuit.</p>



<p>A <a href="https://www.humphrieskerstetter.com/category/news/">statement</a> published by Humphries Kerstetter details the focus of their investigations:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>These competition investigations all focus on the same core facts. Google dominates the markets for ad tech services in the UK and across the world controlling up to 90% of the market in certain sectors. This allows Google to dictate terms, control pricing and, in some scenarios, enables it to favour its own platforms in the process by which advertisements are selected to be published.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>The allegations of the competition claim are similar to the complaint brought by the US Department of Justice that alleges <a href="https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives">Google used AMP to impede header bidding and throttle the load time of non-AMP ads</a>. </p>



<p>&#8220;The marketplace for online advertising is sophisticated, technical and highly automated,&#8221; Claudio Pollack, who is heading the UK publishers&#8217; competition claim, said. &#8220;Advertising is sold in a fraction of a second in a process which is designed to match the product being advertised with the profile of an individual visiting a website. Third party platforms operate on both sides of the marketplace matching supply with demand and – in an ideal world – ensuring the market operates efficiently and effectively. Unfortunately, it is now well established that this market has developed in a way that is primarily serving Google.&#8221;</p>



<p>A separate multi-billion Euro claim will be running in parallel in the EU, handled by a Dutch law firm in cooperation with Geradin Partners. They are seeking compensation for the alleged damage to small, local publishers who have struggled to stay afloat amid decreased advertising revenue.</p>



<p>“While the value of the claim we are bringing is substantial, we believe this matter is about much more than money,&#8221; Geradin Partners founding partner Professor Geradin said. &#8220;For years Google has been denying companies in the UK and Europe and beyond, including the local press and the publishers of community focused websites, the chance to earn a proper income by way of advertising. As well as bringing Google to account the parties who have lost out need proper compensation, something a CAT claim can achieve at no cost to those parties.”</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Dec 2022 22:54:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}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:37:"Post Status: All the Things This Week";s: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://poststatus.com/?p=145392";s: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:48:"https://poststatus.com/all-the-things-this-week/";s: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:4995:"<h2 id="h-state-of-the-word">State of the Word</h2>



<p>For the second year, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> (SOTW) will be a small in-person event at the Tumblr offices in New York City on the afternoon of December 15 (1pm local time). Matt Mullenweg will deliver the annual address to a small in-person crowd, and the event will be live streamed over WordPress’ official social media streams. Meetups and other WordPress groups (businesses, etc.) are encouraged to have watch parties for their groups.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I will be attending in person again this year. If you’ll be there, say hello and let’s get a selfie to post on whatever social media we’re using. I’ll be tweeting using <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SOTW&src=typed_query">#SOTW</a>.</p>



<h2 id="h-wordpress-credentialing">WordPress Credentialing</h2>



<p>CertifyWP, a new organization, will soon launch a WordPress credentialing process. The organization, which is in the process of seeking non-profit/501(c)3 status in the US, will be the first of its kind for WordPress credentials.</p>



<p>“Part of developing a credential for WordPress is establishing a baseline of skills for those entering the WordPress job market, including the US Department of Defense, which requires a credential for entry,” says Talisha Lewallen, CEO of WPConnects, and founder of CertifyWP. “The beauty of a credential like this is that it can benefit any company that is hiring in WordPress. Along with the benefits it will bring for WordPress users and contractors.”</p>



<p>The next step for establishing such a credential is twofold: having a team begin working on a standardized exam for becoming credentialed, and gathering letters of endorsement from those hiring in WordPress and for WordPress roles within the community. To contribute a letter of endorsement, visit <a href="https://certifywp.com/endorse-certifywp/">https://certifywp.com/endorse-certifywp/</a> where you can view a sample letter and upload your completed endorsement.</p>



<p>(Full disclosure, I have joined the board of directors for this endeavor.)</p>



<h2 id="h-annual-wordpress-survey">Annual WordPress Survey</h2>



<p>While there’s always a lot of conversation about WordPress and the future of WordPress, if you have an opinion about the open source project, here’s your annual opportunity to weigh in and have your opinion quantified with others. <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/</a></p>



<p>It’s a great opportunity to have your experiences count!</p>



<h2 id="h-post-status-membership-deal">Post Status Membership Deal</h2>



<p>In the spirit of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Post Status is offering $100 off any <a href="https://poststatus.com/#choose-membership">annual membership</a> through December 31. Why? Because we love you! Membership gets you into our Slack community, too!</p>



<p>Use discount code <strong>BFCM</strong> for your best Post Status membership deal ever!</p>



<h2 id="h-in-the-spotlight">In the Spotlight</h2>



<p>Post Status member, <a href="https://poststatus.com/member-spotlight-nathan-ingram/">Nathan Ingram</a>. Nathan is the creator of MonsterContracts, battle-tested contracts for WordPress client work.</p>



<h2>Podcast Episodes Worth a Listen</h2>



<ul>
<li>WP Watercooler: <a href="https://wpwatercooler.com/wpwatercooler/ep437-funding-the-dream-with-the-wp-community-collective/">EP437 &#8211; Funding the Dream with the WP Community Collective</a></li>



<li>Kitchen Sink WP: <a class="" href="https://kitchensinkwp.com/podcast-e457-the-2022-holiday-gift-guide/">Podcast E457 – The 2022 Holiday Gift Guide</a></li>



<li>Do the Woo: <a class="" href="https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/">Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes</a></li>



<li>The Kadence Beat: <a href="https://www.kadencewp.com/blog/episode-20-the-kadence-community-and-influence-with-maestro-stevens/">Episode 20: The Kadence Community and Influence with Maestro Stevens</a></li>



<li>Underrepresented in Tech: <a href="https://www.underrepresentedintech.com/how-to-be-inclusive-with-holiday-marketing-messages/">How to Be Inclusive with Holiday Marketing Messages</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 id="h-upcoming-events">Upcoming Events:</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> December 15, 2022</li>



<li>Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/huddles/">Member Huddles </a>every week</li>



<li>Calls for Speakers and Sponsors are open at <a href="https://www.wpwealthbuilder.com/">WP Wealthbuilder Summit</a> May 12, 2023</li>



<li>WordCamps are back. <a href="https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/">Check the schedule online</a>!</li>
</ul>



<p></p>
<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Dec 2022 15:53:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Michelle Frechette";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:40:"WPTavern: Take the 2022 WordPress Survey";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140025";s: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/take-the-2022-wordpress-survey";s: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:1888:"<p>The <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/">2022 WordPress Survey</a> is now open to anyone using WordPress &#8211; from beginners to professional developers and everyone in between. This annual survey helps project leaders and contributors learn more about how and why the software is being used. </p>



<p>This year&#8217;s survey is available in the seven most frequently installed languages based on the number of WordPress downloads, including <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/fr-2022">French</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/de-2022">German</a>,&nbsp; <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/it-2022">Italian</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/jp-2022">Japanese</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/ru-2022">Russian</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/es-2022">Spanish</a>.</p>



<p>The survey begins with some questions about basic demographics and moves on to a mix of interesting questions that fall more under the topic of market research than previous years. It asks why you use WordPress instead of other tools/platforms, what you think are the most essential three plugins when building sites, and what are the best and most frustrating things about WordPress. The survey also asks whether respondents have used blocks in the new Site Editor and which Site Editor they prefer. It will be interesting to see the data from these questions.</p>



<p>The last eight questions are for contributors, and even with those it takes less than five minutes to complete. Although some information from the 2022 survey may be shared in the annual State of the Word address, the survey will be open through the end of 2022.</p>



<p>The analysis from the 2021 survey results will be shared in early 2023 and WordPress will publish the 2022 results sometime next year.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Dec 2022 04:28:48 +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: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:90:"WPTavern: Two New WordPress Plugins Improve Block Editor Accessibility and WCAG Compliance";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=140002";s: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/two-new-wordpress-plugins-improve-block-editor-accessibility-and-wcag-compliance";s: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:2988:"<p>WordPress Core Committer Jb Audras, CTO of the France-based <a href="https://www.whodunit.fr/">Whodunit</a> agency, has released two new accessibility plugins in cooperation with Guillaume Turpin, another developer on the Whodunit team. These are small &#8220;micro&#8221; plugins developed to fill gaps in the block editor&#8217;s accessible content creation experience.</p>



<p>The first plugin is called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">Lang Attribute for the Block Editor</a> and is important for content that is written in multiple languages. It allows content creators to indicate language changes using the lang attribute so that those using assistive technologies will get the correct presentation and pronunciation rules for the specified language. This plugin helps WordPress sites meet the requirements of the WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 “Language of Parts.&#8221;</p>



video source: Jb Audras



<p>With the plugin installed, content creators can highlight text and then find the language attribute in the block toolbar to edit it.</p>



<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s worth noting that indicating language changes in content is mandatory for WCAG compliance, and there is currently no way to do that in the Block Editor (except by editing the code manually),&#8221; Audras <a href="https://twitter.com/AudrasJb/status/1598353367138504704">said</a> when introducing the plugin on Twitter. &#8220;I think this feature should be implemented natively into Gutenberg.&#8221;</p>



<p>The second micro plugin is called <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">Abbreviation Button for the Block Editor</a>, which allows content authors to include definitions for abbreviations using the &lt;abbr> HTML element. This enables site visitors to access the expanded form of abbreviations, as outlined by <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/meaning-located.html">WCAG success criterion 3.1.4 “Abbreviations.&#8221;</a> </p>



<p>The WCAG identify a few types of visitors who may be helped by the Abbreviations, including those who have difficulty decoding words, those who rely on screen magnifiers, have a limited memory, and those who have difficulty using context to aid understanding.</p>



video source: Jb Audras



<p>The abbreviation tag can also be found in the block toolbar, so users can highlight any text for which they want to provide the expanded form of the abbreviation.</p>



<p>Both the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/abbreviation-button-for-the-block-editor/">Abbreviation Button</a> and the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/lang-attribute/">Language Attribute</a> plugins are available for free in the WordPress plugins directory. The plugins&#8217; creators hope that some of this functionality can eventually be added to the block editor, but in the meantime users can install the plugins to create more accessible content that meets accessibility guidelines. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 02 Dec 2022 03:12:34 +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: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:71:"Akismet: Version 5.0.2 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available";s: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:"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=2439";s: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:99:"https://blog.akismet.com/2022/12/01/version-5-0-2-of-the-akismet-wordpress-plugin-is-now-available/";s: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:753:"<p>Version 5.0.2 of <a href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/">the Akismet plugin for WordPress</a> is now available. This update contains the following improvements:</p>



<ul>
<li>Fixed a bug causing incompatibility with themes that hide dropdown menus after a set amount of time.</li>



<li>Moved away from using [api_key].rest.akismet.com subdomains in favor of sending the key in the request body in order to increase the privacy of Akismet API keys.</li>
</ul>



<p>To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in <a href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/">the WordPress plugins 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:"Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:20:06 +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:17:"Christopher Finke";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:76:"WordPress.org blog: Share Your Experience: The 2022 WordPress Survey is Open";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=14062";s: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://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/2022-wordpress-survey/";s: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:4507:"<p>Each year, members of the WordPress community (users, site builders, extenders, and contributors) provide valuable feedback through an annual survey. Key takeaways and trends that emerge from this survey often find their way into the annual <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/">State of the Word</a> address, are shared in the public project blogs, and can influence the direction and strategy for the WordPress project.</p>



<p>Simply put: this survey helps those who build WordPress understand more about how the software is used, and by whom. The survey also helps leaders in the WordPress open source project learn more about our contributors’ experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>To ensure that your WordPress experience is represented in the 2022 survey results, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/en-2022">take the 2022 annual survey now.</a></p>



<div class="wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link wp-element-button" href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/en-2022">Take the 2022 Survey (English)</a></div>
</div>



<p>You may also take the survey in <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/fr-2022">French</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/de-2022">German</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/it-2022">Italian</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/jp-2022">Japanese</a>, <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/ru-2022">Russian</a>, or <a href="https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/es-2022">Spanish</a>, thanks to the efforts of WordPress polyglot contributors. These are the most frequently installed languages based on the number of WordPress downloads. </p>



<p>The survey will be open through the end of 2022, and then WordPress plans to publish the results sometime in 2023. This year, the survey questions have been refreshed for more effortless survey flow, completion, and analysis. Some questions have been removed, while a few new ones are now present, reflecting the present and future of WordPress. If you’re looking for the analysis of the 2021 survey results, those will also be shared in early 2023.</p>



<h2>Spread the word</h2>



<p>Help spread the word about the survey by sharing it with your network, through Slack, or within your social media accounts. The more people who complete the survey and share their experience with WordPress, the more the project as a whole will benefit in the future.</p>



<h2>Security and privacy</h2>



<p>Data security and privacy are paramount to the WordPress project and community. With this in mind, all data will be anonymized: no email addresses nor IP addresses will be associated with published results. To learn more about WordPress.org’s privacy practices, view the <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/">privacy policy</a>.</p>



<h2>Thank you</h2>



<p>Thank you to the following WordPress contributors for assisting with the annual survey project, including question creation, strategy, survey build-out, and translation:</p>



<p><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/">dansoschin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/_dorsvenabili/">_dorsvenabili</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/angelasjin/">angelasjin</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/arkangel/">arkangel</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/">audrasjb</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/atachibana/">atachibana</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/">bjmcsherry</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/">chanthaboune</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/">eidolonnight</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fernandot/">fernandot</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fierevere/">fierevere</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/fxbenard/">fxbenard</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdy68/">jdy68</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jpantani/">jpantani</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/">laurlittle</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nao/">nao</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/nielslange/">nielslange</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/peiraisotta/">peiraisotta</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/piermario/">piermario</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/">rmartinezduque</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/santanainniss/">santanainniss</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, 01 Dec 2022 16:00:19 +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:15:"Chloe Bringmann";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:55:"Do The Woo Community: Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=73766";s: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:52:"https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/";s: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:355:"<p>There was no better way to celebrate episode 300 of the podcast than to celebrate our hosts. </p>
<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io/episode-300-the-hosts-my-heroes/">Episode 300: The Hosts, My Heroes</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://dothewoo.io">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</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, 01 Dec 2022 11:14:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i: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:99:"WPTavern: ElasticPress 4.4.0 Adds New Status Report Page and Instant Results Template Customization";s: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:30:"https://wptavern.com/?p=139973";s: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:110:"https://wptavern.com/elasticpress-4-4-0-adds-new-status-report-page-and-instant-results-template-customization";s: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:2708:"<p>10up has released <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/releases/tag/4.4.0">version 4.4.0</a> of <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/elasticpress/">ElasticPress</a>, its enhanced search plugin that speeds up searching while reducing the load on WordPress sites. The plugin is based on Elasticsearch and is used by customers of the ElasticPress.io service (a SaaS solution), as well as those who are hosting their own Elasticsearch instance.</p>



<p>This update adds a new &#8220;Status Report&#8221; page in the dashboard with information that can be helpful for troubleshooting ElasticPress and synced content. The UI uses Gutenberg components for the collapsible sections. Version 4.4.0 introduces a new query logger functionality that stores failed queries (up to 5 in the last 24 hours) and displays an admin notice if failed queries are detected. The failed queries are displayed on the new Status Report page.</p>



<img />



<p>Another highlight of this release is the ability to <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/pull/2959">customize the template for Instant Results</a>. It gives developers a JavaScript hook for replacing the component used to render search results in Instant Results. The Instant Results feature <a href="https://www.elasticpress.io/blog/2022/03/introducing-instant-results-wordpress-fastest-search-ever/">was introduced in March</a> with limited customization capabilities. It added a new search modal over the page content that inherits the site&#8217;s styles. Developers could adjust the appearance and expose facets, but this new update gives them control over the whole template.</p>



<p>Another small but useful update in this release is the ability to <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/pull/3100">exclude a specific post from Search</a>. This helps site owners further customize the search experience to deliver only the intended results. </p>



<p>Developers who are using the plugin should take note of the announcement included in this release regarding the migration of the Users feature to the ElasticPress Labs plugin, which houses more experimental features:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p>Note that starting from the ElasticPress 5.0.0 release the <code>Users</code> feature will be moved to the <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPressLabs">ElasticPress Labs</a> plugin. The <code>Terms</code> and <code>Comments</code> features will remain in ElasticPress but will be available only if enabled via code.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>Check out the full list of updates and bug fixes on GitHub in the <a href="https://github.com/10up/ElasticPress/releases/tag/4.4.0">changelog</a> for 4.4.0. </p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 01 Dec 2022 05:22:10 +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:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}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:"Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:14:46 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:00:30 GMT";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:16:"content-encoding";s:2:"br";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 2";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20211220193300";}