The WP Minute

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Apple Journals & Day One | Matt MullenwegImportant Takeaways:Apple announced its own Journal app at WWDC, which competes with Automattic’s product, Day One.Day One has a few advantages over Apple’s Journal app. One of them is the upcoming feature of Shared Journals, which allows fully end-to-end encrypted shared private journals with friends and family.Another advantage of Day One is its cross-platform availability. Unlike Apple’s Journal app, which is limited to Apple devices, Day One works on all Apple devices, Android devices, and the web.Link: Original ArticleA Place of One’s Own, in Noho – Automattic DesignImportant Takeaways:Automattic has a unique office space in Noho, New York, which is described as a “magic space” with unobstructed views of lower Manhattan.The office design is inspired by the aesthetics of jazz clubs and features collections of mid-century vintage furniture, art and design books, and original art pieces.The office is designed to be a practical and elastic canvas for diverse uses, and it reflects the rich aesthetics of Automattic’s multiple creative tools.The office space is not just for work; it also serves as a socializing and connecting space for Automattic employees.Link: Original ArticleLinking to Supporting Orgs – Make WordPress.orgImportant Takeaways:The post discusses the need for a dedicated page on WordPress.org to link to independent organizations that support WordPress’s mission of democratizing publishing.These organizations are not officially part of WordPress but offer valuable resources and opportunities to get involved.The proposed structure for such a page includes an introduction, organization categories, organization listings, updates and announcements, and contact information.The organizations should align with the mission of WordPress, adhere to a code of conduct, and actively contribute to the WordPress community or the broader mission of democratizing publishing.A vetting process is suggested for adding organizations to this page, including initial screening, detailed review, contacting the organization, decision to list, and periodic review.Link: Original ArticleWordPress Accessibility Day Gains Nonprofit Status Through Partnership with Knowbility – WordPress Accessibility DayImportant Takeaways:WordPress Accessibility Day, a virtual 24-hour conference focused on accessibility best practices for WordPress websites, has gained 501(c)(3) nonprofit status through a partnership with Knowbility.The event was initially started in 2020 by the WordPress core Accessibility Team and was revived in 2022 by Amber Hinds and Joe Dolson as an independent event.The 2022 event was a success, with 11 organizers, 1604 attendees, and 20 volunteers from 52 countries. After all event expenses were paid, WordPress Accessibility Day donated $2,000 to Knowbility.The partnership with Knowbility allows WordPress Accessibility Day to gain nonprofit status, making donations tax-deductible in the United States. It also provides access to Knowbility’s accessible online event planning resources.The 2023 event will be held from 10:00 AM CDT (3:00 PM UTC) on Wednesday, September 27th, until 10:00 AM CDT (3:00 PM UTC) on Thursday, September 28th. The event will be live captioned and have sign language interpreters.Link: Original ArticleOne Equity Partners acquires cloud services provider Liquid Web and forms new holding company, CloudOne DigitalImportant Takeaways:One Equity Partners (OEP) has completed the acquisition of Liquid Web, a provider of managed cloud services, forming a new platform known as CloudOne Digital.The senior leadership team of Liquid Web will transition to expanded roles in the new, larger CloudOne platform with Jim Geiger as CEO, Carrie Wheeler as COO, and Joe Oesterling as CTO.Liquid Web, founded in 1997, operates 10 global data centers with more than 500,000 sites under management. With its brand acquisitions, CloudOne Digital will serve over 187,000 clients worldwide.CloudOne Digital will offer a broad portfolio of cloud products that meet the needs of web-dependent small and mid-sized businesses, cloud servers for developers and businesses with highly persistent, compute-intensive workloads, and managed private cloud for mid-market businesses that require enterprise-grade infrastructure and solutions.OEP plans an aggressive expansion strategy for CloudOne Digital, aiming to combine and integrate complementary businesses in the multi-cloud infrastructure segment.Link: Original ArticleWordCampers Demand Changes to Q&A Format – WP TavernImportant Takeaways:WordCamp attendees are calling for changes to the Q&A format at live events, citing issues with attendees abusing the format for self-promotion or not asking relevant questions.WordPress Core Committer Felix Arntz suggested that questions taking longer than a minute should be asked informal

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute We’re slapping the beta label on it!For the summer, we’re experimenting with a new format to the podcast and the newsletter. In the past, I’ve talked about the cost of curating and commenting on the weekly cycle of WordPress news. The cost is starting to catch up, sponsors want more, and the audience is falling out of interest.We’re experimenting with delivering your the links our team and members have curated throughout the week, with a podcast episode from contributing members. This doesn’t mean we’re totally off the old format, but need to experiment, in an effort to provide the content our readers/listeners want.“Demand for WordPress in 2023” – The blog post discusses the growing demand for WordPress in 2023, highlighting its dominance as a website platform and the increasing popularity of its ecosystem.YouTube video: “The Importance of Cybersecurity” – The video emphasizes the significance of cybersecurity in today’s digital landscape, providing insights into various threats and preventive measures to ensure online safety.“Introducing Jetpack AI Assistant” – Jetpack, a popular WordPress plugin, introduces an AI assistant that offers personalized recommendations and suggestions to help website owners improve their site’s performance and user experience.“Johannes WordPress Theme” – Johannes is a WordPress theme that boasts a minimalist design and robust features, providing users with a versatile and visually appealing option for building their websites.“Arbitrary Plugin Installation Vulnerability in Formidable Forms” – This blog post highlights a vulnerability in the Formidable Forms plugin for WordPress, emphasizing the importance of promptly updating plugins to mitigate security risks.“WordPress 6.4 Development Cycle” – The blog post provides an update on the development cycle of WordPress 6.4, giving insights into the features and improvements being worked on by the WordPress core team.“Newsletters Paid Subscriptions” – WordPress.com introduces paid subscriptions for newsletters, allowing content creators to monetize their newsletters and provide exclusive content to their subscribers.YouTube video: “10 Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing” – The video offers valuable tips and strategies for effectively utilizing social media platforms to enhance marketing efforts and reach a wider audience.“Underrepresented in Tech Webinars – Sponsorship Opportunities” – The webpage highlights sponsorship opportunities for webinars organized by Underrepresented in Tech, aiming to support diversity and inclusion initiatives in the tech industry.“Design Share May 22 – Jun 2” – This blog post on the WordPress Design Team’s website shares updates and discussions about design-related topics, offering insights into recent activities and collaborations within the WordPress design community.“Tim Ferris Podcast: Seth Godin Hints at Automattic’s Top-Secret AI Plugin” – The article on The WP Minute discusses a podcast episode featuring Seth Godin, where he hints at a top-secret AI plugin being developed by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.Classifieds listings buy yoursWPSlay 🎯 Get professional #WordPress support and maintenance services tailored to your website needs without breaking the bank!Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Eric KarkovackSam MunozMichelle FrechetteAlex Borto Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute We have to start this week’s news with coverage of WordPress’ 20th birthday. Our beloved CMS officially reached the milestone on Saturday, May 27. Dozens of celebratory events were held around the world. You can even sign an online birthday card as part of the #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks campaign.Meanwhile, there is some special content worth checking out. First, WordPress co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little joined Drupal founder Dries Buytaert for a conversation on open source, AI, and the future of the web.And if you’d like to read about the last 10 years of WordPress history, take a look at Building Blocks: The Evolution of WordPress. The online book serves as the second volume in a series.Not surprisingly, the WordPress community also shared their thoughts via blog posts. That’s how this whole thing got started, right?Among the highlights:WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shared an ode to the WordPress community’s role in the project’s success;Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reflected on the impact of WordPress and outlines future challenges;HeroPress founder Topher DeRosia looked back at his start in blogging and what WordPress has meant to him;For more coverage of the big celebration, check out the #WP20 hashtag on Twitter.Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg wrote a short post regarding his creation’s 20th anniversary. And he also announced the Audrey Scholars program. The aim is to provide 100% scholarships to selected members. There are currently 13 scholars in the program, which renews annually. All are encouraged to apply, although the focus will be on “children of parents or guardians who have contributed significantly to open source, or have been significant in our principal Matt Mullenweg’s life.” Audrey Scholars is run by Audrey Capital, Mullenweg’s angel investment and research company.Does Automattic have a top-secret AI plugin in the works? Author Seth Godin recently discussed such a tool on the Tim Ferris Podcast. The WP Minute’s Matt Medeiros took a closer look at how important AI will be to WordPress. He even makes a guess at this new item Godin referred to as the “single best use I have seen of Chat GPT or whatever they’re using.”European service provider group.one has acquired popular WordPress SEO plugin Rank Math. The free version of the plugin currently boasts over 2 million active installations. This a deeper dive into WordPress for group.one, as they also own web host one.com and the WP Rocket optimization plugin.A couple of well-known WordPress workflow solutions are teaming up. Sandbox site provider InstaWP has partnered with collaboration tool Atarim. There will be cross-product integration. Together, the aim is to make it easier to spin up test environments, collaborate, and track changes.From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.Automattic has pushed an automated update of the Jetpack plugin to patch a security hole. The vulnerability was found during an internal audit and would allow site authors to modify WordPress files. If you use Jetpack, make sure to update to the latest version immediately.There’s been lots of talk regarding diversity and inclusion related to the upcoming WordCamp Europe. With that in mind, Michelle Frechette has shared some thoughts on moving forward as a community.WordPress developer and accessibility expert Joe Dolson has announced the closure of the Access Monitor and WP Tweets Pro plugins. Both plugins will be shuttered due to complications with their third-party tie ins.The results of the WordPress Individual Learner Survey are in. A total of 583 people participated. An analysis shows that 321 respondents described themselves as ‘somewhat knowledgeable’ or ‘very knowledgeable’ of WordPress, while nearly 32% had more than 10 years of experience.The WordPress Performance Team has conducted an analysis of version 6.2. The goal was to identify opportunities for future enhancements. Based on their findings, performance upgrades for classic theme templates, block widgets, and translation loading are among the identified targets.There’s a new proposal to establish a WordPress Sustainability Team. The group would be responsible for promoting eco-friendly practices on the web and for in-person events. It would also include creating themes and plugins that serve this purpose.Developer Bill Erickson has released BE Starter, a hybrid starter theme. The package combines classic PHP templates with a theme.json file to control block styles.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: - Michelle Frechette- Mustaasam Saleem- Daniel SchutzsmithOutroThanks to you, dear listener, for tuning in to your favorite 5-minutes of WordPress news every Wednesday.You can support independent content like this by purchasing us a digital coffe

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The hot topic this week was diversity. More specifically, how it relates to the upcoming WordCamp Europe speaker lineup.After the event announced its fifth round of speakers, StellarWP’s Michelle Frechette took to Twitter with the following observation:“So far only 25% of the speakers announced for #WCEU are women (by name/photo), and only three appear to be non-white. Hoping to see some more inclusion in the next few rounds of announcements.”What followed were some heated comments - including one from event organizer Sjoerd Blom:“Please stop being prejudiced and wait until ALL speakers have been announced. Thanks.”It’s worth noting that subsequent announcements have included more women and people of color. However, the tenor of conversation in Frechette’s thread has raised eyebrows.To read more about the issues at hand, check out posts from Job Thomas, “Diversity in conference speaker line-up” and MasterWP’s Rob Howard, “For WordCamp, the challenge of diversifying tech takes center stage”.Links You Shouldn’t MissA new proposal aims to modernize WordCamps. In the near future, the events could be focused on a singular topic and a specific audience. The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack spoke with Angela Jin, WordPress Head of Programs & Contributor Experience, to learn more. They discussed the current state of WordCamps and how these community cornerstones might benefit from a change.This month marks the 20th anniversary of WordPress. As part of the celebration, The WP Minute+ released a panel discussion about the software’s biggest moments. Hosted by David Bisset, the panel features Rae Morey, Jeff Chandler, Ken Elliot, and The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack.WordPress 6.2.1 was released on May 16. This version includes 20 bug fixes to WordPress core, 10 for the block editor, and a handful of security patches. And it also introduced an issue that breaks shortcodes used within block theme templates. If this describes your site, think twice before updating. Meanwhile, a workaround has been created and a permanent solution is being discussed.Last week, we reported on a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that was recently patched in the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern reported that, within 24 hours of the vulnerability’s disclosure, attackers had begun attempts to exploit it. According to Ryan Barnett of Akamai Security Intelligence Group (SIG), malicious actors used code examples shared within the disclosure. It’s recommended that users of the plugin update their installs immediately.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.WordPress has accumulated 13 default themes since 2010. To cut down on maintenance requirements, there’s a proposal to retire some of the older themes.Cloud service provider WPCS announced that they’ve secured investment from Emilia Capital. Emilia is owned by Yoast founders Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt.Users of Essential Addons for Elementor should take note of a recently-patched security vulnerability. Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports that the unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability was rated as critical, and was patched in version 5.7.2 of the plugin.Speaking of security - ever wonder what it’s like to work in the field? Check out an interview with Alexander Concha, an Application Security Engineer at Automattic.The Kirki Customizer Framework plugin has found a new home. Founder David Vongries previously announced that he was sunsetting the product and looking to sell. WordPress development firm Themeum has acquired the plugin and plans to keep it in active development.Gravity Forms has launched a new podcast called “Breakdown”. The show explores different ways to use the popular plugin and will feature special guests. And it’s hosted by our very own Matt Medeiros.WordPress competitor Wix now offers support for “headless” website configurations. The service takes advantage of the growing popularity of headless installs, with the ability to manage content from the Wix site builder.There’s a difference between branding and marketing. Hazel Quimpo and Michelle Frechette discussed the topic on a recent episode of the Audacity Marketing podcast.Curious about the benefits of a 4-day workweek? Social media toolkit provider Buffer have released data regarding their three-year journey using the arrangement.New Members This WeekAdam Weeks Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Results from the WordPress 2022 Annual Survey have been released. WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy notes that this was a slimmed down version of the survey. It featured 29 questions - as opposed to nearly 100 in past editions. This led to a 26% increase in completion rate. However, there was also a 56% decrease in overall submissions.Among the highlights of this year’s results:53% of respondents say they’ve used the Block Editor. Meanwhile, the Classic Editor saw a 25% drop in use.76% of respondents install WordPress themselves.68% agree or strongly agree that WordPress is as good as, or better than, other site builders and CMSs.Ease of use, flexibility, and plugin options were rated as the top reasons to use WordPress.The most frustrating aspects of WordPress were Gutenberg’s unfinished status and the difficulty of learning full site editing.For more in-depth data, a slideshow is available for download.Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress turns 20 years old this month. And it has had a major impact on freelancers during its run. The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack took a look at how the software became the perfect tool for solo entrepreneurs and small agencies.Stacks, the first-ever community theme, is now available in the WordPress theme directory. The theme is geared towards creating slide decks that can be used in presentations. In the official announcement, core contributor Ben Dwyer writes that it’s part of a “new initiative to provide high quality themes for free.”Last week, WordCamp US announced a new approach to programming. The flagship event is looking for speakers outside of the WordPress community. However, the traditional call for speakers is still part of the plan. It’s now open to anyone interested in giving a presentation. WordCamp US will take place from August 24-26 in National Harbor, MD.Keeping with the WordCamp theme, the events may look different in the near future. WordPress Head of Programs & Contributor Experience Angela Jin laid out the vision for the Next Generation of WordCamps. The big change is in event programming. That includes a more clearly defined audience and a focus on specific topics. Community feedback is welcomed.From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.In acquisition news, WooCommerce multi-vendor plugin WC Vendors has been sold to Rymera Web Co. Rymera is known for building WooCommerce extensions, including Advanced Coupons and Wholesale Suite.MasterWP is providing $1,000 travel grants for WordCamp US speakers from underrepresented groups. The program is now accepting applications and sponsors.Security firm Patchstack reported a reflected XSS vulnerability in the free and pro versions of Advanced Custom Fields. The issue was patched in version 6.1.6, so make sure to update your installs.Speaking of Advanced Custom Fields, users will want to check out the ACF Annual Survey. The feedback received will help “guide the evolution” of the popular plugin.eCommerce platform Shopify has announced staffing cuts. In a letter to employees, founder and CEO Tobi Lütke said the platform’s workforce will be “smaller by about 20%”. Additionally, Shopify Logistics has been sold to supply chain management firm Flexport.Developers Aurooba Ahmed and Brian Coords have launched WordPress Icons Library. It’s a searchable index of all icons used within WordPress. Icons can be copied and pasted in various formats.You can hear Josepha Haden Chomphosy’s thoughts on WordPress’ 20th anniversary in the latest episode of the WordPress Briefing podcast.How do we navigate the future of WordPress? Bluehost will host a webinar on May 11 to discuss the latest trends and predictions. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute On May 27, 2023, WordPress will celebrate its 20th birthday. It’s hard to fathom that the software has been around for so long. Yet some of us may struggle to remember what the web was like without it.Just think of the designers, developers, and users that have come along during these past two decades. A whole generation has had easy access to content management and nearly-endless customization. Lucky them!As a more experienced (ahem, old) freelancer, I can recall the challenge of building advanced websites pre-WordPress. Thus, I believe the software has been transformative. It has impacted virtually every aspect of a web designer’s job.To celebrate this incredible milestone, let’s take a look at what WordPress means to freelancers. We’ll explore how its features and philosophy have empowered web professionals the world over.A Reliable Foundation for Any ProjectA typical WordPress project starts like this:Install WordPress.Add a theme and any necessary plugins.Optionally add custom code as needed.Add content.Launch!There’s more to it – but you get the idea. The amazing part of this process is that it doesn’t matter what type of website you are building. WordPress and its ecosystem make it possible.This wasn’t always the case. Previously, content management systems (CMS) had been either built for niche usage or were severely limited in capability.Themes existed for some systems, but nowhere near the breadth of what we see today. And the same goes for plugins.For freelancers, this often meant scouring the web for a suitable solution. If you were a particularly gifted coder, you could build a tool from scratch. But either way, there were obstacles at every turn.WordPress brought a new level of flexibility to the masses. We may spend time picking out the perfect plugins. But the foundations of what we need are already there.This doesn’t mean WordPress is the perfect fit for every project. But we can be confident that what we want to build is at least possible. That’s a big deal.Plenty of Opportunities for MonetizationWhen you think about it, the concept behind WordPress is revolutionary. It’s free, open-source software that can be used for any purpose.To put this into perspective: there’s no separate license for commercial use. You don’t need to buy anything. You don’t even have to send co-founders Mike Little or Matt Mullenweg a “thank you” note.When I first started using WordPress, I was taken aback by this ethos. I was even a bit suspicious of it. Surely, they would pull the rug out from under us at some point? The software will inevitably cost money, right?Well, that hasn’t happened. Quite the opposite. As people around the world have discovered, WordPress is a vehicle for making money.Freelancers can use it to build websites for clients – and charge whatever the market will allow. Developers can sell their creations as well. The past 20 years have seen the rise of a strong commercial plugin and theme market. And web hosts have tailored their services around it.This also means that starting a freelance web design business is incredibly affordable. Anyone willing to learn WordPress can begin serving clients with minimal (or even zero) monetary investment.It provides us with the opportunity to start small and evolve as needs change. How many other industries can say that?Advanced Features That Are Within Everyone’s ReachWordPress helped to resurrect my career. I began using it regularly around 2010. And I was in a major rut at the time.My specialty had been hand-coded HTML and CSS. I still consider them essential skills. But I was limited in the type of websites I could build. Implementing advanced features seemed impossible.I wasn’t sure where my business was going. Then I started experimenting with WordPress. In a way, it was like rediscovering my passion for web design.The software and its ecosystem allowed me to expand my capabilities. Complex functionality was no longer a pipe dream. I could enlist plugins like WooCommerce, Gravity Forms, and Advanced Custom Fields to help me build bigger and better.Suddenly, I didn’t need to be a senior-level PHP or JavaScript developer. And I didn’t need to turn down projects that seemed too dense. Plugins provided the main features I needed. From there, I could use the skills I had to add further customization.And my skill level also increased. Diving into more advanced projects made me curious. They put me on a path of learning that I still enjoy to this day. WordPress helped to make it possible.Part of WordPress’ mission is to democratize publishing. But one can argue that it has done the same with design and development.A Community To Share Knowledge and KinshipAs software, WordPress is wonderful. But the community it inspired is even more amazing. It’s something each of us benefit from.For freelancers, the WordPress community has been an invaluable

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute It looks like the days of automatically sharing WordPress.com content to Twitter are over. Automattic announced that customers will no longer be able to auto-publish to Twitter via the Jetpack Social plugin.You may recall that WordPress.com’s access to the Twitter API was suddenly suspended in April. While it eventually came back online, changes to Twitter’s policies have made the continued use too expensive.Automattic says that Twitter’s price increase is “prohibitive for us to absorb without passing a significant price increase along to you, and we don’t see that as an option.” Bye bye birdie.Links You Shouldn’t MissThe Beaver Builder page builder plugin has been on the market for 9 years. The WordPress landscape has changed dramatically in that time. For instance, page builders are now seen as competitors to the native Block Editor. What does that mean for the future? Matt Medeiros spoke with Robby McCullough of Beaver Builder for an in-depth discussion of the topic.There’s news to report regarding this summer’s WordCamp US. The first round of ticket sales started on May 1 and quickly sold out. Another round of sales will be coming soon. Meanwhile, there will be a different approach to event programming. Organizers are targeting “experienced, seasoned, professional speakers at the top of their industries who are not currently active members of our unique community.” They’ve put out a survey for suggested speakers and topics. A traditional call for speakers will also be announced in the near future. The event will take place from August 24-26th in National Harbor, MD.WordPress community member Michelle Frechette has launched WP Speakers. It’s a free resource that connects speakers and event organizers within the WordPress ecosystem. In a press release, Frechette notes that "As well-connected as I am in WordPress, I couldn’t even imagine how much more difficult it might be for someone who didn’t know a lot of speakers personally. So WP Speakers was born."WordPress agency Human Made has recently published articles detailing their experimentation with AI. Now they’re hosting a virtual event to examine how this technology will impact the content management system (CMS). Word on the Future is a virtual event and will take place on May 25. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Managed WooCommerce hosting is a growing segment within the WordPress ecosystem. And it has a new entrant: WooCommerce. The Automattic-owned eCommerce provider recently launched WooExpress.The service is hosted by WordPress.com. It aims to be a one-stop shop for building and maintaining an online store. Packages start at $40 per month with discounts for paying annually. A selection of pre-installed extensions and themes are included.Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports that WooExpress’ starting price is higher than entry-level products from GoDaddy and Bluehost. However, the most expensive package ($70 per month) comes in below GoDaddy’s premium tiers.Beyond its name recognition, WooExpress may enjoy a few advantages over competitors:As we reported last week, the price of WooCommerce extensions is going up. Bundling popular titles built by WooCommerce is likely to attract value-conscious store owners.Meanwhile, its beefed-up hosting infrastructure was already in place. WordPress.com has been offering packages that include WooCommerce for some time. That’s likely to cut down on growing pains.Lastly, ownership’s vast internal knowledge of WooCommerce and WordPress is a win for customers.How will WooExpress fare? How will its competitors respond? The WP Minute will keep you posted.Links You Shouldn’t MissSEO plugin maker Yoast announced the departure of former CEO Marieke van de Rakt. Under her watch, the company was acquired by Newfold Digital in 2021. van de Rakt will now turn her focus to investing in open source, sustainable, and female-led companies via Emilia Capital. In a related note, Yoast founder Joost de Valk announced that he too is stepping away from Newfold to focus on entrepreneurship.Security firm Sucuri published a detailed report regarding the abuse of an abandoned WordPress plugin. The Eval PHP plugin hasn’t seen an update in a decade, but it’s being leveraged by malicious actors to install malware. The report also questions the wisdom of leaving similar plugins in the official repository long after abandonment.WordPress.com launched a website building service back in 2021. It was a controversial topic at the time, with some freelancers wondering if their businesses would be impacted. The service initially aimed for the mid-range market, with prices starting at $4,900. Now they appear to be targeting the lower end of the market as well, with a $499 Built By WordPress.com "Express" package. The package promises a 5-page website built within 4 business days. Thanks to WP Minute Member Paul Lacey for reporting this development.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. CertifyWP has launched the WordPress Management and Design Credentialing Exam. The $150.00 exam aims to certify those knowledgeable in front-end WordPress development. The organization also offers an optional course to help learners prepare for the exam. There have long been calls for a well-organized notification system for WordPress. Project core contributor Joe Bailey-Roberts provided an update on such efforts over on the Make WordPress blog.How can WordPress developers leverage AI tools? WP Engine Builders will hold a virtual event on April 28 to discuss the possibilities.Big changes to Twitter’s verification system have been in the news. Users who haven’t purchased the Twitter Blue service are now missing those famous blue checks next to their name. WordPress co-founder and Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg recently explained why he’s now a Twitter Blue subscriber.Mark Westguard, founder of the WS Form plugin, shared some thoughts about the cost of sponsoring WordCamps. Westguard has questioned the affordability for small businesses.When it comes to SEO, page experience has been mentioned as a factor in recent years. However, Google recently removed it from their ranking systems page.What does a “power user” think of Gutenberg in its current form? Torque Magazine’s Nick Schäferhoff published a review that points out the good and bad.We’ve all seen software and services that use urgency as a marketing tool. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has offered advice pointing out what is and isn’t permissible. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute It’s the WP Minute! Support independent WordPress news like this, join the Slack membership, or purchase a classified listing in the weekly newsletter at thewpminute.com/support And now a word from our sponsor. You know how it goes, everything I mention here will be linked up in the newsletter and the blog post. Check out thewpminute.com for the links.Most ImpactfulThe uncertainty surrounding social media providers like Twitter has sparked interest in alternatives. Mastodon and other Fediverse networks have received a look. But longtime WordPress users may recall a self-hosted option: BuddyPress.The venerable plugin can turn any WordPress website into a social hub. It still boasts over 100,000 active installs. And even if you haven’t heard much about it lately, it’s still very much in development. Version 11.1 was released back in February.And as Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, a Virtual Contributor Day will be held on April 20. It coincides with French WordPress Community Contributor Day in Paris.Taking the current social media climate into account, BuddyPress may have an opportunity to grow. That’s not to say it will overtake Twitter or Facebook anytime soon. But it could become an attractive option for those who want to build smaller, tight-knit communities.Links You Shouldn’t MissIf you’ve purchased (or are planning to purchase) any commercial extensions from the WooCommerce Marketplace, you may notice some price increases. The WP Minute has confirmed that emails are being sent to customers announcing higher costs for yearly renewals. In an email exchange, a WooCommerce support representative stated that “Only a subset of extensions had their prices changed.” We’ve reached out to WooCommerce’s official press channels but have not yet received any comments. Have you been impacted by a price hike? Let us know on Twitter @thewpminute.WordCamp Europe is all about the kids! Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern reports that the event, held from June 8-10 in Athens, Greece, will feature free childcare. This will allow attendees of the conference and Contributor Day to bring their children along. And a special workshop for kids will take place on June 8.Last week, we told you about Joe Hoyle’s integration of AI within the WordPress block editor. The Human Made co-founder and CTO has posted a follow up that demonstrates some new features. Content streaming and content-aware editing add a new level of convenience to the tool. As Hoyle says, “small incremental improvements make a large difference to productivity and quality of life.” These experiments are worth keeping eye on.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.In acquisition news, WP Minute member Justin Ferriman reports that plugin developer SnapOrbital has been scooped up by writer and entrepreneur Andrei Tapalaga. SnapOribital is known for their premium add-ons for LearnDash.The 4th annual Atarim Web Agency Summit will take place from April 25-28. The virtual event will feature 40+ sessions aimed at helping agencies grow their business. WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy is listed among the presenters this year.If you’re a WordPress product maker seeking investment, Emilia Capital is encouraging you to make an in-person pitch at WordCamp Europe. The firm is run by Marieke van de Rakt and Joost de Valk of Yoast SEO.Developing WordPress plugins within the browser may soon become a reality. Automattic developer and WordPress Playground creator Adam Zielinski shared three examples of how it could work over on the Make WordPress blog.WordPress Playground relies in part on the SQLite database engine. Core contributor Ari Stathopoulos has posted an update on the proposal to add official support within WordPress.The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on in-person events - including WordPress Meetups. They’re slowly starting to come back. That now includes Boston, which will reconvene on April 24.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Justin FerrimanOutroThanks to you, dear listener, for tuning in to your favorite 5-minutes of WordPress news every Wednesday.You can support independent content like this by purchasing us a digital coffee at thewpminute.com/supportOr join the #linksquad membership for $79/year to support the show and become a producer of the WP Minute at thewpminute.com/supportThat’s it for today’s episode, if you enjoyed it, please share it wherever you do social media and jump on the mailing list at thewpminute.com. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Do you remember what made WordPress 5.6 so historic? It was the first version of the software produced by an all-woman and non-binary release squad. And it looks like history is about to repeat itself.WordPress 6.3 is scheduled to be released in July and will once again feature an all-women and non-binary squad. Project Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy made the announcement and shared an outline for those interested in contributing.The momentum for this reprisal can be traced back to Matt Mullenweg’s 2022 State of the Word. During the Q&A portion, project contributor Laura Byrne asked Mullenweg to commit to another such release. The result is another step forward for inclusion and diversity in the WordPress community.Next up (listen to the podcast for more): Michelle Frechette with the Community Minute!Links You Shouldn’t MissAI experimentation continues in the WordPress community. This time around, Human Made’s Joe Hoyle has demonstrated a generative AI plugin that’s natively integrated into the block editor. The plugin works with ChatGPT and allows users to enter prompts. Content is then generated based on that input. But there’s more to the story. The WP Tavern’s Sarah Gooding took a deeper look at this and other AI experiments currently taking place.Block Visibility is a WordPress plugin with over 9,000 active installs. Developer Nick Diego recently made the decision to convert his freemium product into a free one. He spoke with The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack about the change and his WordPress journey so far.Guildenberg, a new organization geared towards WordPress product founders, is up and running. The aim is to help with product monetization, accelerate adoption, and standardize compatibility. CEO Jonathan Wold has put out a call to founders who are interested in learning more.What’s the state of workplace culture within the WordPress ecosystem? The Team Experience Index aims to find out. It’s an anonymous survey for employees designed to gather feedback that can be shared with emplo Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute After a time formatting bug caused a 24-hour delay, WordPress 6.2, code-named “Dolphy”, was released on March 29th. According to core contributor Jean-Baptiste Audras, 607 people from at least 50 countries were part of the release squad.Perhaps the biggest development in 6.2 is that the “beta” label has been removed from the Site Editor. The feature was first added in WordPress 5.9 and has undergone steady improvements. A new interface has been implemented this time around.Other enhancements include a revamped UI for both the Block Inserter and individual block controls. Direct access to Openverse media has also been added, allowing users to search, download, and insert openly-licensed content into their sites.For a rundown of key features, check out a handy guide from GoDaddy’s Courtney Robertson. Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress.com alerted users that its access to the Twitter API was suspended on April 4. No specific reason was provided by Twitter. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the API powers Jetpack’s Social Sharing feature. The situation was in limbo for a few hours, but service was eventually restored. During the outage, users couldn’t automatically tweet out new content from their websites. Ironically (or not), Twitter recently announced a “new era of transparency” at the company.WordPress core contributor Mario Santos recently posted a proposal outlining the Interactivity API. This would enable developers to build blocks that are interactive on the front end. Santos notes examples including the ability to “heart” a post and performing an instant search. The project is currently experimental. A plugin is available for testing.The makers of Beaver Builder have announced the launch of Assistant Pro. It’s a cloud storage and community template platform. Free page builder templates available for download. In addition, a marketplace allows users to both buy and sell. Templates can also be stored in the cloud and shared with team members.A couple of popular commercial plugins have released critical security fixes. Elementor Pro patched a vulnerability that impacted sites running the page builder in conjunction with WooCommerce. Meanwhile, Advanced Custom Fields PRO patched a PHP object injection vulnerability. If you use either plugin, be sure to update to the latest version.The name iThemes has long been recognizable in the WordPress ecosystem. The maker of popular plugins like BackupBuddy and iThemes Security Pro has undergone a name change. In order to better reflect their products, the company has announced a rebrand to SolidWP. iThemes customers shouldn’t notice any pricing changes or support disruption during the transition.Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress.com alerted users that its access to the Twitter API was suspended on April 4. No specific reason was provided by Twitter. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the API powers Jetpack’s Social Sharing feature. The situation was in limbo for a few hours, but service was eventually restored. During the outage, users couldn’t automatically tweet out new content from their websites. Ironically (or not), Twitter recently announced a “new era of transparency” at the company.WordPress core contributor Mario Santos recently posted a proposal outlining the Interactivity API. This would enable developers to build blocks that are interactive on the front end. Santos notes examples including the ability to “heart” a post and performing an instant search. The project is currently experimental. A plugin is available for testing.The makers of Beaver Builder have announced the launch of Assistant Pro. It’s a cloud storage and community template platform. Free page builder templates available for download. In addition, a marketplace allows users to both buy and sell. Templates can also be stored in the cloud and shared with team members.A couple of popular commercial plugins have released critical security fixes. Elementor Pro patched a vulnerability that impacted sites running the page builder in conjunction with WooCommerce. Meanwhile, Advanced Custom Fields PRO patched a PHP object injection vulnerability. If you use either plugin, be sure to update to the latest version.The name iThemes has long been recognizable in the WordPress ecosystem. The maker of popular plugins like BackupBuddy and iThemes Security Pro has undergone a name change. In order to better reflect their products, the company has announced a rebrand to SolidWP. iThemes customers shouldn’t notice any pricing changes or support disruption during the transition. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute March 28th was supposed to mark the release of WordPress 6.2. But a date formatting bug has delayed release for a day. The new target is Wednesday, March 29 at 1pm EST.The issue could potentially impact core features like date-based permalinks. But it might also negatively affect other functionality that relies on the correct date – think event bookings and eCommerce transactions. Over at WP Tavern, Sarah Gooding provided a summary of the issue and the ensuing discussion it stirred among developers.When WordPress 6.2 is released, you’ll find plenty of new features to experiment with. The Block and Site Editors will receive a boost with the Style Book, support for sticky blocks, and an easier to use Navigation block.For more details on WordPress 6.2, check out the official Field Guide, and a handy reference provided by Dan Knauss over at iThemes.Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress developers are starting to implement artificial intelligence (AI) into their products and using it to write code. That has raised a few concerns. Last week, we reported on the WordPress Plugin Review Team’s reminder that AI-generated code must be GPL compatible. Sarah Gooding recently dove further into the subject at WP Tavern. Even though we’re in the early stages of this AI revolution, Gooding says “it’s not too early to establish some best practices for using code generators.”The ever-popular Yoast SEO plugin is looking to reduce the web’s carbon footprint. This week they integrated their crawl optimization feature into the free version of the plugin. The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack spoke with Yoast’s Taco Verdonschot about the feature and how bot traffic negatively impacts the environment.MasterWP’s Rob Howard published a look at WordPress plugin pricing over a six month period. Howard tracked a handful of popular plugins by taking daily screenshots of their pricing pages. The report shows that some plugins may be using deceptive pricing practices. For instance, stating that a product is on sale when it may have never been sold at the quoted “regular” price. Howard also shared some disagreement with The WP Minute’s recent editorial regarding tactics used by development firm Awesome Motive.WordPress Developer and core contributor Nick Diego recently announced that his Block Visibility plugin is now completely free. As of version 3.0, all premium features have been merged into the free version. Be on the lookout for more coverage of this story from The WP Minute.Classifieds listings buy yoursBuddyBoss Brace yourself for an exciting update to WordPress! Big changes are coming, and you won’t want to miss it. Stay tuned for the big reveal!CastAsync Too Busy to produce audiobooks, podcasts, or any audio content? With CastAsync, you can do it by spending only 5 minutes per day.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.Gutenberg project head Matias Ventura has outlined the next phase of development: collaboration.Development firm iThemes is set for a rebrand. They recently posted a teaser video on Twitter and are set to make an announcement in the near future.The WordPress Community Team has shared highlights from its Contributor Working Group Inaugural Mentorship Chat. The group’s focus is to develop a project-wide mentorship program.Looking for a new block theme to experiment with? Mike McAlister of tutorial site Ollie has released a free theme of the same name.New Members This WeekAnne-Mieke Bovelett, follow @BovelettIf you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Jeff ChandlerCourtney Robertson Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute In this episode Matt shares his opinion on the recent Awesome Motive irritation witnessed within the vocal minority of the WordPress community. Click here for the full article. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute well-represented. Over at WP Tavern, Sarah Gooding reports that a Hackathon event has led to some innovative WordPress projects.For instance, there’s an in-browser development environment that uses the VS Code editor and allows developers to see changes in real-time. Meanwhile, the Wapuugotchi project uses the familiar Wapuu character to display notifications and unlock features. On the more serious side, Eco-mode for WordPress aims to reduce outgoing server traffic, thus saving energy.But that’s not all. March 20 saw the first-ever WordPress Day event. Several presentations were given on topics ranging from security and performance, to “The Automattic advantage”.Links You Shouldn’t MissOrganizational changes are underway at SEO development firm Yoast. CEO Thijs de Valk announced that he has stepped down from the role, effective March 16. de Valk has been with the company since 2012 and is leaving to pursue “other dreams”. The search for the next CEO has begun.A few weeks ago, we reported on ThemeKraft's open letter critiquing the WordPress plugin review process. This time around, WordPress developer Alan Fuller has posted a letter thanking plugin reviewers for their “hard work and dedication in reviewing new plugins and ensuring the security of WordPress websites”. Fuller also points out steps that plugin developers can take to ensure a smoother process, while acknowledging the challenges reviewers face.Mika Epstein of the WordPress Plugins team posted a reminder regarding the use of AI-generated code. Any code hosted on the official plugin repository, regardless of how it was written, still needs to be GPL compatible. As more developers are using tools like ChatGPT to generate plugins, this is becoming a relevant issue. Epstein noted that AI tools may simply be copying code from an existing plugin without crediting the original author.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.The final countdown to WordPress 6.2 is underway. The last scheduled Release Candidate (#3) is now available for testing.Congratulations to WordPress community member Michelle Frechette on being named as a finalist for the RochesterFirst.com Remarkable Women awards. Frechette holds many roles, including the Director of Community Engagement at StellarWP, along with co-founder of Underrepresented in Tech.As part of WordPress’ 20th anniversary celebration, volunteers have been busy triaging old Trac tickets. You’re invited to take part in the next session, happening on Thursday, March 23.The WordPress Documentation team needs your help writing docs for WordPress 6.2. A call for volunteers has been published that details how to get involved.Talent recruitment website The Org recently published its list of the 50 Most Transparent Companies. WordPress.com owner Automattic was included at #27.Developer Nico Mercado wrote an opinion piece on the complex relationship between WordPress and PHP. Mercado opines that WordPress is a driver of PHP’s market share, but may not be providing the best developer experience.How hard should it be to cancel a WordPress plugin subscription? WebDevStudios CEO Brad Williams tweeted a product flowchart that might just blow your mind.Is WordPress giving too much layout control to end-users? There’s a lively debate on Reddit worth checking out.Building a successful WordPress product team is challenging. TeamWP’s James Giroux joined the Do the Woo podcast to discuss the subject.ChatGPT's new GPT-4 model can pass standardized tests. But does that make it any closer to replacing human professionals? Not so fast, says one essay.The WP Minute+ Interview: Zack KatzSubscribe at https://thewpminute.com/plusZack Katz of GravityKit & TrustedLogin joins the show to talk about running multiple products in the WordPress space. The conversation explores the ups-and-downs of doing a product rebrand, plus, what it's like to build a business in the Gravity Forms (and WordPress!) ecosystem.Listen at:https://wpminuteplus.transistor.fm/episodes/gravitykit-rebranding-a-wordpress-product Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Blocks are now a key part of the WordPress experience. But what if they were platform-agnostic? That’s the idea behind the Block Protocol. Founded in 2022, the organization recently released a WordPress plugin.In its initial release, the Block Protocol plugin adds over a dozen new blocks to WordPress. Included in the package you’ll find blocks to display common items such as addresses, how-to lists, and countdown timers. There are also AI-powered blocks for generating images and text.The blocks work on any platform that supports the Block Protocol. And additional blocks are in the works.To learn more, The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack sat down with HASH CEO David Wilkinson to discuss the project, along with its potential to enhance WordPress and other platforms. https://youtu.be/oY2-lBUrz9o Next up (listen to the podcast for more): Amber Hinds of Equalize Digital discusses the pre-seed investment her company received from Emilia Capital and what it means for their Accessibility Checker plugin.Links You Shouldn’t MissArtificial Intelligence is increasing its presence within WordPress. Last week, we reported that OpenAI has made its API available to developers wanting to integrate ChatGPT into their applications. It didn’t take long for the WordPress community to dive in. One example: the recent launch of DocsBot AI. The product allows you to create a custom chatbot based on your website’s content and documentation. It’s free to try, with paid plans also available.Meanwhile, an open-source alternative called OpenChatKit has also been announced.Speaking of ChatGPT, The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack recently used the AI tool to build a simple WordPress plugin. He wrote about the experience and the unexpected lesson he learned.WordPress security is getting better. According to Patchstack’s State of WordPress Security In 2022 report, 328% more security bugs were reported year over year. The firm opines that, because more vulnerabilities are being reported and patched, the ecosystem is becoming more secure. They also note that 93% of security flaws originate from plugins. Thus, keeping your installs up to date is as important as ever.Automattic is increasing its presence in the Fediverse. The company has purchased the ActivityPub plugin, which allows WordPress websites to integrate with Mastodon and other decentralized platforms. Sarah Goo Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute If you’re a WordPress professional, it can be hard to know where you fit into the bigger picture. Online community The Admin Bar aims to provide a glimpse into the market with its annual WordPress Professional Survey. Web designer Kyle Van Deusen interviewed 667 professionals and reported on a range of topics.Among the highlights:77% of respondents consider themselves to be full-time;Over half of respondents have been in business for 10 years or less, while the majority have started up within the past 5;Solo freelancing is still popular, as 59% of respondents work alone;WordPress professionals are generally optimistic about the future of the software and agencies;The average hourly rate charged by respondents is $96.00;That’s just a small sampling of what’s included. There’s plenty more to explore and the full data set is also available for download. https://youtu.be/1axiJSTDmK4 Links You Shouldn’t MissOpenAI has announced that APIs for their Chat GPT and Whisper products are now available. This step will allow developers to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their own products. Expect the WordPress community to take advantage.Development agency ThemeKraft have published an open letter describing their concerns with the WordPress plugin review team. The letter details their experience when collaborating to fix a security issue with one of their products. With that being said, it’s also worth mentioning that the plugin review team consists of volunteers and has noted a backlog of work. This letter details one developer’s view and we’re sharing it as such.With the upcoming release of WordPress 6.2, project core contributor Anne McCarthy has published an extensive guide to what’s new. If you’re looking for all the details regarding new features and important changes, this is a one-stop resource.To get a first-hand look at WordPress 6.2, you’ll also want to check out the live demo hosted by McCarthy, Rich Tabor, and Nathan Wrigely. The video highlights new features and includes a Q&A session.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. There’s another WordPress-related acquisition to report. This time around, ad revenue optimization service MonitizeMore announced that it has acquired the Advanced Ads WordPress plugin. The plugin has free and commercial versions, with over 100,00 active installations.Meanwhile, plugin developer SnapOrbital has been put up for sale. The shop specializes in premium add-ons for LearnDash.With tightening privacy regulations, it’s recommended that WordPress themes host Google Fonts locally. Several WordPress legacy default themes (from Twenty Twelve to Twenty Seventeen) are following suit, thanks to the efforts of contributors.The first-ever WordCamp Asia has left a lasting impression on attendees. Hidekazu Ishikawa spoke at the event and also launched a website detailing his experience.It’s no secret that AI tool ChatGPT is seeing a lot of use. But what does that mean in terms of its environmental impact? One estimator says that, in January 2023, it may have used as much electricity as 175,000 homes.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Justin FerrimanCourtney Robertson Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute WordPress 6.2 is slated for release on March 28. Among its most impactful new features will be the integration of the Openverse media search. This will allow users to add images, audio, and video that are available via a Creative Commons license.While Openverse integration adds a layer of convenience, there was some debate about how the feature initially worked. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the first iteration (released in version 15.1 of the Gutenberg plugin) simply hotlinked to images, rather than uploading files to the user’s website by default.Users had the option to upload the image via the WordPress Media Library. However, the default hotlinking behavior meant that some users would inevitably leave things as they are. This could run afoul of privacy regulations like GDPR in the European Union.Meanwhile, WordPress core contributor Jeremy Herve created a ticket that called attention to the potential issue. Others have since raised questions regarding usage rights - including the right to crop or otherwise modify media.The debate has led to a change in plans. WordPress contributors reacted swiftly and now the feature will upload Openverse images by default. A fallback has also been implemented that warns users when an image couldn’t be uploaded. Check out WP Tavern’s follow up for more details on how things evolved.Links You Shouldn’t MissThere are more acquisitions to report in the WordPress space. First, Caseproof, makers of the MemberPress plugin, have acquired rival MemberMouse. In the announcement, MemberPress Creator and CEO Blair Williams says both products have different audiences and thus will remain separate offerings.Next up, Syed Balkhi announced that tutorial service WP101 has been acquired by Awesome Motive. Balkhi notes that the acquisition furthers his goal of creating the “best class-room style WordPress training videos to help WordPress grow in enterprise, government agencies, as well as at the school and collegiate level.”The democratization of publishing is a stated goal of WordPress. To see proof of it in action, look no further than the Prison Journalism Project. Sarah Gooding profiled the organization and its use of WordPress to help incarcerated writers to connect with the outside world.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.The popular All in One SEO plugin recently patched two security vulnerabilities. It’s recommended that users upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible. Security firm Wordfence provided further detail on their blog.Back in July 2022, we reported that WordPress blog WPLift was sold to an undisclosed buyer. It’s been revealed to The WP Minute that Boston-based agency UnlimitedWP is the new owner.A new proposal aims to display more topic-based meetups in the WordPress News & Events dashboard widget.Take in the sights of the recent WordCamp Asia with BobWP’s recap of the event.With so many recent changes to WordPress content creation and theming, web designers need to adjust. Justin Tadlock explored the topic on the WordPress Developer Blog.Speaking of themes, developer Anders Norén announced that his collection of free block themes are now compatible with features added in WordPress 6.1.If you’re looking for some inspirational stories, People of WordPress has you covered. Recent profiles Hauwa Abashiya and Daniel Kossmann are worth a read.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Jeff ChandlerAmber HindsAbha Thakor Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute It’s the WP Minute!Support independent WordPress news like this, join the Slack membership, or purchase a classified listing in the weekly newsletter at thewpminute.com/support And now a word from our sponsor. You know how it goes, everything I mention here will be linked up in the newsletter and the blog post. Check out thewpminute.com for the links.Most ImpactfulThe first-ever WordCamp Asia wrapped up on February 19. The event took place in Bangkok, Thailand and brought together attendees from all over the globe, along with a live streaming audience.Global Lead Naoko Takano posted a thank you to attendees and volunteers. And there’s also an attendee survey available to help organizers gain feedback.Among the highlighted events was a Q&A with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. If you missed the session, the video is available on YouTube. You can also check out a recap of the session written by David Bisset.Next year’s event is already being planned. It’s scheduled to be held in Taipei, Taiwan in March 2024.Links You Shouldn’t MissThe glut of layoffs in the tech industry has started to impact WordPress professionals. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, the trend has hit companies of varying sizes. Large companies like GoDaddy and DigitalOcean have made cuts, as have smaller firms like Human Made and XWP.Back in November 2022, the WordPress community raised concerns about meeting platform Meetup.com’s use of an accessibility overlay. The company pledged to work with advocates to improve their user experience. They recently released an assessment that lists 700+ improvements to be made and shared a plan for action. The WordPress Accessibility Team posted more details on the process, while WP Tavern provides more background regarding the issue.Should Gutenberg-related features be treated differently when it comes to how they’re merged into beta versions of WordPress? Project Lead Developer Andrew Ozz has proposed a method to make it easier to merge these changes after a WordPress beta 1 version “feature freeze”. The idea has generated a robust debate in the proposal’s comment section.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is now available for your WordPress.org account. Access can be verified via a third-party app on a mobile device, such as Authy or Google Authenticator.Developers Olivia and David Bisset have launched wpfront.page, a curated collection of WordPress news, opinions, and social media posts.The team behind WordCamp London have announced that the event is in the early planning stages and will take place in September 2023. They’ve also posted a survey to collect attendee input.As WordPress becomes more focused on JavaScript development, some developers are feeling left out. Jamie Reevior wrote a short essay on why he’s feeling “betrayed” by the project.The WordPress mobile app is changing, and some features are being moved over to Jetpack’s new app. WordPress.com has published a guide to help users understand the differences.Hey.com CEO and Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson says his company will save money by exiting the cloud and building their own data centers.If you’re a content creator interested in how a “headless” WordPress configuration might benefit you, WP Engine is hosting a webinar on February 23.New Members This WeekRemkus de Vries, follow @remkusdevriesIf you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join.Video of the weekSubscribe at https://www.youtube.com/@wpminuteThis week, The WP Minute takes InstaWP for a spin. This service allows you to create a new WordPress install with just a few clicks.https://youtu.be/oNVHjYJwf3MThanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Jeff ChandlerSam MunozCourtney RobertsonDaniel SchutzsmithAbha ThakorOutroThanks to you, dear listener, for tuning in to your favorite 5-minutes of WordPress news every Wednesday.You can support independent content like this by purchasing us a digital coffee at thewpminute.com/supportOr join the #linksquad membership for $79/year to support the show and become a producer of the WP Minute at thewpminute.com/supportThat’s it for today’s episode, if you enjoyed it, please share it wherever you do social media and jump on the mailing list at thewpminute.com. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute It’s no secret that tools boasting Artificial Intelligence are popping up all over the place. That most certainly includes WordPress. And now Auttomattic’s WordPress.com is running an experiment to see how the technology might benefit users.As reported by blogger JenT at WPcomMaven, the managed hosting service quietly added two AI-powered blocks to the Block Editor. The AI Image and AI Paragraph blocks are aimed at helping content creators.As the name suggests, the AI Image block allows users to generate an image that can be inserted into a post. And the AI Paragraph block will “read” your post’s content and generate follow up text.Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg confirmed the new features on Twitter, but made no promises regarding how long they’ll stick around.Meanwhile, Automattic engineer Artur Piszek published a brief post introducing the blocks and answering questions in the WordPress.com support forums. Based on the conversation, it looks as though this could be a commercial add-on in the future.The technology is being branded as “Jetpack AI”, and was built in conjunction with OpenAI.Links You Shouldn’t MissThe first-ever WordCamp Asia is set to take place from February 17-19 in Bangkok, Thailand. If you’re not able to attend in person, you can still watch a live stream of the event. Recordings of each session will also be posted on WordPress.tv at a later date.WordPress.org has kicked off a monthly feature called “What’s new for developers?” Written by Justin Tadlock, February’s post outlines several key changes that impact theme and plugin authors. You’ll also find links to the site’s latest educational materials. This resource looks like a win for the WordPress developer community.Cost cutting measures have continued to hit the tech industry hard. Domain registrar and hosting giant GoDaddy is among the latest to announce staff cuts. In a February 8 letter to employees, CEO Aman Bhutani said the company would cut approximately 8% of its workforce. The devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have impacted millions - including members of the WordPress community. Developer Baris Ünver shared his story of survival on HeroPress and provided several ways to help those in need. The WP Minute would like to take this opportunity to share our support for everyone who has been affected.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.WordPress 6.2 Beta 2 has been released. This version includes 292 enhancements and 354 bug fixes.According to security firm Sucuri, nearly 11,000 WordPress websites have been infected by malware that redirects users to scam sites. At last report, no specific vulnerability had been found.The team behind popular plugin iThemes Security have announced that they’re teaming up with security research firm Patchstack. The company will provide vulnerability details within the plugin’s site scan feature.Matt Cromwell has announced that new episodes of the WP Product Talk podcast will be starting up again this week. Katie Keith of Barn2 Plugins will join on as a co-host.What would WordPress’ 20th birthday celebration be without an appearance from Wapuu? A commemorative version of the virtual mascot is now available for download.The WordPress Design Team has released mockups for a planned redesign of the Block Pattern Library. It’s the latest in a series of design revamps for the site.Internet Explorer is dead again, sort of. An update to Windows 10 will finally disable access to the since-retired browser. But not so fast - a few versions of the OS will still keep the app around for the time being.Video of the weekSubscribe at https://www.youtube.com/@wpminuteJoin The WP Minute as we take you on a tour of the new AI-powered Image and Paragraph blocks at WordPress.com.https://youtu.be/D9LYfjnHMdwThanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Matt CromwellBirgit Pauli-Haack Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for release on March 28, 2023. But it’s never too early to start preparations. Therefore, you may want to check out the first beta release, which is now available for testing.The first major release of 2023 brings a plethora of enhancements to the Site and Block Editors. Some features, such as color coded template parts within the Site Editor, focus on improved usability. But there are a few big picture changes as well.For one, the ability to search and download Openverse images will be included in the Block Editor. This allows anyone to grab Creative Commons licensed media from within their website. Also included are a revamped Navigation block, a Style Book feature for creating custom styles, and sticky blocks.To see what else is new, GoDaddy Pro's Courtney Robertson has published a detailed guide on WordPress 6.2.Links You Shouldn’t MissWhen it comes to WordPress core, newer doesn’t always mean faster. Core committer Adam Silverstein has submitted a proposal to change that. According to a report from WP Tavern, Silverstein’s proposal calls for automated performance monitoring. The goal is to catch potential problems before they reach the average user.Last December, we reported on the WP Community Collective (WPCC). The not-for-profit organization aims to financially support contributions to the WordPress project. This week it was announced that Alex Stine has been selected as the first WPCC Fellow. Stine is currently a member of the WordPress Accessibility team and will continue in that role. The WPCC is still looking for donations in order to fully fund Stine’s fellowship.Twitter recently announced that free access to its API will no longer be available as of February 9, 2023. That’s likely to impact both WordPress plugin developers and end users. Core contributor Mika Epstein posted a notice about the change and asked developers to investigate what this new policy means for their products.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.The “freemium” product model is a popular one within the WordPress ecosystem. MasterWP’s Nyasha Green and Rob Howard discussed their experiences with building freemium products on a recent episode of the Press the Issue podcast.Applications to attend the 2023 WordPress Community Summit are now being accepted. The invitation-only event for project contributors will take place from August 22-23 in National Harbor, MD, prior to WordCamp US.Is there anything ChatGPT can’t do? ZDNet’s David Gewirtz recently wrote about his successful attempt at using the AI tool to build a WordPress plugin.Speaking of AI, Microsoft has announced that its Bing search engine and Edge browser will be enhanced by OpenAI technology. A limited preview is underway for Bing, with an expansion due in the coming weeks.The WordPress Training team is looking for feedback regarding user learning preferences. Fill out their individual learner survey to let the team know your thoughts.Video of the weekSubscribe at youtube.com/@wpminuteThe WP Minute takes a closer look at Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Should WordPress move away from Slack and towards the fediverse for project communication? Automattic-sponsored Meta team contributor Alex Kirk thinks so. Kirk has proposed a project to explore switching to the free Matrix open-source federated chat system.The potential benefits are compelling. For one, there’s something to be said for open-source projects supporting each other. Beyond that, easier onboarding and a variety of available chat clients were also touted. https://youtu.be/dq23lJBYtpM Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern demonstrated some of these advantages in a recent article. And Kirk’s team has also created a Gutenberg block, Chatrix, that embeds a Matrix chat client directly into any WordPress website.Slack, meanwhile, has long been the chosen platform for project communication. A move to Matrix will certainly face both technical and philosophical hurdles. We’ll keep you updated as the discussion progresses.Introducing The WP Minute +The WP Minute’s goal is to bring you the latest WordPress news in just 5 minutes a week. But we also see the value in going in-depth with newsmakers and discussing important issues.With that in mind, we’d like to introduce you to The WP Minute +. It’s our new podcast dedicated to longform content. You’ll find exclusive interviews and conversations, bringing you even closer to what’s going on with WordPress.To kick things off, we spoke with Awesome Motive’s Syed Balkhi regarding the recent acquisition of Thrive Themes.Be sure to add The WP Minute+ to your podcast apps to get 3 additional episodes featuring Miriam Schwab, Chris Badgett, and Chris Lubkert.Links You Shouldn’t MissWordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy recently outlined the project’s goals for 2023. The list included finishing up Phase 2 of the Gutenberg project, which focuses on customization. But what does “concluding” a phase really mean? Haden Chomphosy provided details on the WordPress Briefing podcast.Not every WordPress bug gets resolved in a timely fashion. In fact, there are currently 19 Trac tickets that are over 15 years old. But as WP Tavern reports, a new monthly triage session aims to take on these long standing issues. More insight on the project’s goals are available on the Make WordPress blog.WordPress turns 20 this year. As part of the celebration, a collection of commemorative 20th anniversary logos are available to download. Also look for them to appear on special swag that is scheduled for release in February.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.WooCommerce is looking for developer feedback. On February 13, 2023, they’ll hold the first of three monthly chats on Slack regarding WooCommerce Blocks Extensibility.On a similar note, the team behind Advanced Custom Fields will hold their first “ACF Chat Friday” session on Friday, February 3, 2023 at 3pm UTC. It’s a chance to ask questions and provide feedback regarding the plugin.WordPress developers Aurooba Ahmed and Brian Coords have released the first episode of their viewSource podcast. The episode looks at their experiences with GitHub Copilot.As artificial intelligence is becoming more prevalent, its shortcomings are also becoming apparent. A look at how OpenAI’s Whisper tool is struggling with an indigenous language is but one example.If you’re looking for a job in the WordPress space, Michelle Frechette hosts a weekly Twitter thread of open positions every Wednesday. Check it out and you may find a great opportunity.New Members This WeekCarl Hancock, follow @carlhancock and @GravityFormsIf you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join.Video of the weekSubscribe at youtube.com/@wpminuteThe WP Minute takes a look at the current state content marketing strategy for WordPress products. https://youtu.be/zyutM-DLUv4 Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today:Michelle FrechetteJohn LockeAbha Thakor Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute In today's episode, Matt is talking about the new WP Minute+ podcast and why he started it. The WP Minute, which is a five-minute weekly podcast on WordPress news, continues to be produced with the intention of providing busy WordPress professionals with short-form content. The WP Minute+, will feature longer form conversations and interviews, while the original WP Minute will continue to offer short form news. Matt Report will live on, focusing on the career side of the digital workforce, through the lens of "blue collar digital workers" who do good work and want to be paid for it. https://twitter.com/syedbalkhihttps://thrivethemes.com/https://awesomemotive.com/https://thewpminute.com/support Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute What’s on tap for WordPress core in 2023? Project executive director Josepha Haden Chomphosy recently outlined some big picture goals. By design, the post is light on detail. Haden Chomphosy says the list represents a view from “10,000 feet”.Perhaps the biggest item mentioned is the completion Phase 2 of the Gutenberg project, which focuses on the customization of the Block and Site editors. From there, the project will begin exploring Phase 3, where collaborative functionality will be on the table.Other areas of interest include improvements to media management, adding Openverse search in WordPress core, and the return of the WordPress Community Summit.The goals are ambitious and there is a lot of work to be done. With that, Haden Chomphosy also put out a call for volunteers.Links You Shouldn’t MissFor WordPress product makers, identifying a target audience can be challenging. There is often difficulty in balancing new features, support, and marketing. After a few years of catering to publishers of all sizes, Newsletter Glue’s Lesley Sim has decided to train her product’s focus on newsrooms and media companies. In a blog post, Sim explained the reasons behind the shift and what it means for current customers.The folks at Awesome Motive have made their second major acquisition this month. This time around, they’ve purchased Thrive Themes. Known for the Thrive Architect and Thrive Theme Builder products, the company also touches on the LMS, automation, and marketing niches.Wordfence has released their annual State of WordPress Security report. Takeaways include a higher number of reported vulnerabilities, while fewer of them were categorized as “critical unauthenticated”. One constant is the need to keep your WordPress installation up-to-date. Neglect is still a huge factor when it comes to security. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The lines between the open-source WordPress.org and its commercial counterpart WordPress.com (owned by Automattic) have long been blurred and confusing. So much that commercial offerings from Automattic’s suite of tools were integrated into the official WordPress mobile app.That’s about to change. As Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports, features that rely on Automattic products are moving to the latest version of the free Jetpack app.This means that users will need the Jetpack app to access site statistics, comment notifications, and the Reader content discovery feature. https://youtu.be/i8t1KRbsvzQ In a blog post announcing the change, WordPress.com says that site data can be automatically migrated from the WordPress app to Jetpack, provided you have the latest version of both installed on your device. Meanwhile, the WordPress app will become more focused on the core functionality of the content management system.Links You Shouldn’t MissMailchimp have disclosed a recent security breach - and an account belonging to Automattic appears to have been affected. WooCommerce has sent an email informing users of the situation, but says that “No payment data, passwords, or other sensitive security information is part of this breach.”The WordPress Theme Directory is in the early stages of a refresh. A post on the Make WordPress blog shared mockup images, with the design looking similar to the recently upgraded News and Showcase sections. Stated goals include improved usability, along with implementing the recently-introduced theme taxonomies.If you’ve ever wanted to contribute to WordPress core, here’s your chance. WordPress 6.2 is tentatively scheduled to become available on March 28, 2023. The project is currently looking for volunteers to lead various aspects of the release and become a part of the “squad”.Artwork generated via artificial intelligence is generating lots of buzz - and a high-profile lawsuit. Getty Images is suing Stability AI, maker of the Stability Diffusion artwork generator, for copyright infringement. The outcome could alter the way these tools scrape content, not to mention a user’s ability to safely publish AI images.From the Grab BagNow it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors.MasterWP’s Rob Howard and Allie Nimmons recapped the annual State of the Word event and looked at the biggest challenges facing WordPress.WordPress theme and plugin sales platform Freemius have posted a year in review that highlights interesting notes from 2022, as well as plans for 2023.WordPress developer Brian Coords wonders why creating an email newsletter within WordPress is still so hard.LearnDash product manager Jack Kitterhing opines that it's time to fix the WordPress user experience.Brin Wilson recently published a guide to placing ads on Blaze, the new advertising platform for WordPess.com and Tumblr.In an effort to support its authors and publications, online publishing platform Medium has created its own Mastodon instance.2023 will see six new privacy laws take effect in North America. MainWP has a rundown of each law and tips for how to prepare for them.Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Dennis DornonJustin FerrimanJohn LockeCourtney RobertsonBrin Wilson Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute When it comes to adding features to a WordPress plugin, how many are too many? That’s the question facing the WordPress Performance Team with regard to the Performance Lab plugin.Recent additions of SQLite and WebP image conversion functionality have resulted in some constructive criticism from WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. As Sarah Gooding reports at WP Tavern, Mullenweg has asked that these items be spun off into individual plugins.This jibes with Mullenweg’s previous call to revive canonical plugins. That is, a plugin that's community supported and adds niche functionality.On the other side of the coin, Performance Team members expressed concern that separate plugins may mean less visibility. As it stands, Performance Lab has over 30,000 active installs. A new niche plugin will have to start from ground zero in terms of publicity.Multiple options are being discussed and the results could mean big changes for similar community-driven plugins.Links You Shouldn’t MissAs WordPress has grown to power over 40% of the web, the need for knowledgeable experts has increased. But how can we determine who qualifies? The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack looks at the potential impact of a WordPress certification program.The first major WordPress plugin acquisition of 2023 belongs to Awesome Motive, as they’ve scooped up Duplicator. A website backup and migration plugin, Duplicator currently has over 1 million active installs of its free version. The deal was announced via separate blog posts at WP Beginner and former owner, Snap Creek.WordPress.com has announced Blaze, a tool that enables site owners to advertise their content on WordPress.com and Tumblr. Websites hosted on WordPress.com have a dedicated page to create their personalized ads, in addition to direct links on their site’s dashboard. Self-hosted WordPress sites can access similar functionality via the Jetpack plugin.Make sure your installations are up-to-date, as backdoor malware targeting WordPress is on the loose. WP Tavern reports that the software runs on Linux and looks for vulnerabilities across several plugins and themes. Security researcher Dr. Web has the full list of vulnerable software. The WordPress Five for the Future initiative is looking for feedback. A recent blog post examines the current “contributor journey” for both individuals and companies. Community members are encouraged to suggest improvements and share opinions.ClassicPress, the open-source CMS forked from WordPress 4.9, has been contemplating its future of late. The project recently asked community members to vote on a path forward. By a narrow margin, members voted in favor of re-forking based on WordPress 6.0. Because the margin was so slim, project director Viktor Nagornyy is suggesting a hybrid approach to retaining compatibility with WordPress themes and plugins. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute During the 2022 State of the Word event, Matt Mullenweg announced that the WordPress.org theme and plugin repositories would allow authors to categorize their entries as “Commercial” or “Community” products. Not long after, the feature became active. As Sarah Gooding reports for WP Tavern, authors are starting to opt-in. Examples include Automattic’s Akismet and Jetpack plugins, which are designated as “Commercial”. Meanwhile, default themes such as Twenty Twenty-Three are designated as “Community”. WordPress developer Ronald Huereca has written a summary of the feature, including the differences between the available categories. Also included is a guide for developers who’d like to opt-in. Next up (listen to the podcast for more): WordPress Maintenance Minute by Austin Ginder! Links You Shouldn’t Miss As one of the oldest WordPress form plugins, Contact Form 7 boasts over 5 million active installs. But it has tended to lag behind competitors when it comes to user interface. Developer Munir Kamal recently announced a third-party extension, CF7 Blocks, that adds block-based functionality. Longtime users will finally have an easy way to integrate their forms into the Block Editor. StellarWP’s Matt Cromwell has developed a Zapier automation that will provide the daily number of downloads for a plugin residing in the WordPress.org repository. The stats are compiled in a Google Sheet document. Cromwell also breaks down the value of this data in a separate blog post. 2022 was a busy year for WordPress core. Core team representative Jb Audras shared a plethora of relevant data on Twitter to prove the point. For example, there were 2,597 commits made by a total of 988 contributors during the year. The thread features several charts that demonstrate how much work goes into building and maintaining the project. The complete review is available over on make.wordpress.org. That’s not the only year-in-review worth mentioning. Several other WordPress community members have shared their own wrap-ups, including: Syed Balkhi (Founder and CEO of Awesome Motive) Carrie Dils (WordPress developer and LinkedIn Learning instructor) Katie Keith (Barn2 Plugins) Alex Standiford & Family (WordPress developer) Wombat Plugins Classifieds listings buy yours See your ad in this space! From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. Which AI platform is better at writing a WordPress plugin? Keanan Koppenhaver pitted GitHub CoPilot and ChatGPT against each other to find out. Justin Ferriman looks at why blocks may play a key role in the next WordPress gold rush. With many WordPress community members moving to Mastodon, Antonio Cambronero has written a guide for integrating with the decentralized social platform. Over at The Verge, Monique Judge asks for a return to the days of personal blogging. WordCamp US will take place from August 24-26, 2023 in National Harbor, MD. The event has recently posted an open call for organizers. Video of the week Subscribe at youtube.com/@wpminute Social media is a mess and walled gardens are a risk. Given the current situation, The WP Minute breaks down why WordPress is the most important piece of software for 2023. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Matt Cromwell Justin Ferriman Keanan Koppenhaver Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Attn: Creators and small brands Buy a domain. Get some hosting. Install WordPress. Don’t bemoan about bloated software, legacy code, or that WordPress is too complicated. Start learning the software all over again. Invest time into it. Play with it in the browser before you do anything else if you want to see what you’re getting into. We’re watching another social media platform burn. Ashes comprised of our followers and years of content. My business of publishing WordPress news is getting hit with a steady decline of referral traffic from, what was, a major source of readers. I’m forced to be on Mastodon, LinkedIn, and Facebook — again. How many lessons must we learn about rented land? Feeding platforms that want our content to run a cash machine for advertising profits. No more excuses. It’s time to learn WordPress, invest in open source, and become part of the community. We took open source for granted It’s easy to look back at the last 5 years and point fingers at Gutenberg or FSE for piloting us all in a direction we originally didn’t want to go in. Or to be cautions when there’s only one VERY influential person calling the shots. Especially when he’s also the CEO of two large tech companies, and responsible for a dozen other products. Josepha Haden Chomphosy recently restated the Four Freedoms of WordPress, in the 2022 State of the Word: “the freedom to run the program for any purpose, the freedom to study how the program works and change it so that it does your computing, as you wish. The freedom to redistribute copies so that you can help your neighbor and the freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions, giving the community a chance to benefit from those changes.” Josepha Haden Chomposy Read our recap of State of the Word 2022. Name a bigger piece of open source software that has the presence of WordPress, with a more diverse set of users. From engineers, to mom-and-pop pizza shops, WordPress touches a lot of humans. A community-driven effort, that for the most part, is 99% made in public accessible channels. Slack, GitHub, WordPress.org, meetups, WordCamps, etc. When was the last time you rang Tim Cook about your struggles with iOS? Elon about Twitter Blue? Not perfect, but It’s the closest thing humanity has to a town meeting for a “utility app” that empowers us to broadcast to the world. Twitter exodus should be the last warning you need to invest in a blog, a podcast, a newsletter, and RSS. The flaws you don’t like Yes, WordPress is complex for a large percentage of the user base. It costs money in licenses, hosting, and professional services. On the other hand, thousands of people contribute to it, make awesome stuff for it, and create educational material to support it. An amalgamation of plugins & themes to solve one problem, a thousand different ways. Everyone has a way of doing WordPress. It’s no different than getting a second opinion on a bathroom remodel. “That’s not the way I’d do it!” the contractor would shout. The messiness is the beauty we share in WordPress. Adopting change If I could only reclaim all of the hours I spent trying some shiny new CMS only to come back to WordPress because of Gravity Forms, the baked-in user management, or the flexibility of content management. There’s a comfort in this app. What’s old is new again, except for maybe the users. The next two years will cement a place for the blue collar digital workers. The “handy person” of WordPress. Elite programmers and RISD design graduates aren’t going to be happy, but we are the next generation of builders in the WordPress space. This new generation might not love the software or the community like us, but they will look at WordPress as a necessary tool to build an online presence decentralized from the legacy social media sites. Like QR codes in the last few years, RSS feeds will have a massive resurgence in educating a group of people on how your content can be accessed across the web, on a protocol level. The key to escaping the walled gardens. Why I love WordPress (and you should too!) This isn’t a competition over which blogging experience is better or which code base uses less compute power. It’s about a piece of software, when invested in, shields you from the downfall of the social silos scrambling to absorb our art for profit. Build a blog, a portfolio, or a web app for free. Head to a WordCamp and meet others. Take part in open slack meetings. This community is the best part of WordPress. Your investment will be in the most important piece of software for humanity throughout the next decade. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Matt Mullenweg held court at the annual State of the Word event on December 15. Several topics were touched, including the use of Gutenberg outside of WordPress, the return of in-person Meetups and WordCamps, and the announcement of a Community Summit set to take place in 2023. Mullenweg also detailed a change to the WordPress.org Plugin and Theme repositories. Taxonomies have been added that allow authors to categorize their products as “commercial” or “community” - among other labels. The goal is to help users better understand the purpose of and level of support provided by theme and plugin authors. The feature is opt-in, and it’s already being put to use by some products. As usual, the event was packed with insight and information. The WP Minute has a handy summary of key moments, along with a full transcript. It’s accompanied by a video highlight package that condenses the entire event down to just over 16 minutes. You’ll also want to check out State of the Word recaps from both Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern and Courtney Robertson at GoDaddy. Links You Shouldn’t Miss There’s a new competitor in the WordPress email newsletter space. WordPress.com Newsletter was announced this week. The feature allows users to publish new posts as email newsletters, collect subscribers, and design a template. Monetization features are in the works with details forthcoming. Meanwhile, our own Matt Medeiros offers his analysis of the product via a new video. The subject of WordPress nostalgia seems to be popular these days. The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack looks at why that is and how it could help us shape the future of the community. Security firm Wordfence has released a free vulnerability database API. Hosting companies, security researchers, and individual users will have access to a continuously updated repository of vulnerabilities. The company hopes that the community “will turn this data into free and commercial security products that will improve the security of the WordPress community.” What does the future look like for ClassicPress? The open source project is a fork of WordPress that retains the TinyMCE-based Classic Editor. A new poll asks users whether the content management system should be “re-forked” to WordPress 6.0 or continue along its current path, based on WordPress 4.9. Classifieds listings buy yours TweetGrab crawls your site and turns any embedded Tweets into screenshots with the click of a button. ZipMessage Record and swap messages asynchronously with clients and others using video, screen, audio or text + Embed video intake forms in WordPress. MainWP 4.3 includes Client Management, a new default theme, and an easy way to organize clients & sites from a single dashboard. Corey Maass is selling his Social Link Pages WP plugin It creates social landing pages a la linktr.ee or carrd. 1000 active installs. $200 MRR. 30 active subscriptions. 45 lifetime licenses. Asking $5000. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. Block Protocol is a project aimed at creating a universal block system. And although there is no official collaboration with WordPress, the project has announced plans for a WordPress plugin to be released in 2023. As users continue to wrestle with leaving Twitter, the subject of what happens to embedded tweets has become a hot topic. Developer Keanan Koppenhaver has launched TweetGrab, a WordPress plugin that will turn embedded tweets into images. Gutenberg is continuing to branch out beyond WordPress. Drupal Gutenberg 2.6 was recently released, improving block-based content building for the open-source CMS. The WordPress Training team has posted an Individual Learner Survey and is asking for public feedback. The results will help to shape the materials provided on the Learn WordPress website. Video of the week Subscribe at youtube.com/@wpminute The WP Minute explores the new WordPress.com newsletter offering, which looks very Jetpack-ish. Because it is. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Justin Ferriman Courtney Robertson Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute State of the Word 2022 has just completed another hybrid presentation. A mix of livestream on the official WordPress YouTube channel and in-person attendees traveled to NYC to watch Matt Mullenweg and others update us on all things WordPress. We'll cover some of the highlights in today's post. Tune in to listen to the complete recording of the event on our podcast or in the player above. Thanks for being a WP Minute reader/listener/viewer! Consider supporting us through a virtual coffee or joining our membership. Video highlights Key takeaways Gutenberg will be bigger than WordPress itself. To mobile apps and the web. bbPress forms now have Gutenberg Using Blocks Everywhere plugin. Will be embedded in BuddyPress. PEW Research using Gutenberg Day One App using Gutenberg in web app Mobile Gutenberg is dual-licensed GPL & MPL Tumblr using Gutenberg 500 meetups doubled their events in 2022 1 WordCamp in 2021 to 22 in 2022 Community Summit is coming back WordPress is turning 20 next year Doing a new 10 year update to the "Milestones Book" 12,000 People took a Learn.WordPress course New blog and showcase pages on WordPress.org bringing Jazz design languages over 22 million images. 1.1 million audio files. OpenVerse scours the web for Creative Commons images & other media. Now launched audio."Not fully embedded into WordPress yet" Create themes just using blocks & style variations We're at the end of Phase 2 of Gutenberg initial development Create block theme "plugin" allows you to make themes from blocks Zen mode is a new writing experience Showing off "locked-in patterns." A way for consultants to pass sites off to clients. 1399 Release contributors New core contributors to WordPress. "Think of them like the Wikipedia super-editors" WordPress is what it is because of community "Think of WordPress.org as an App Store for WordPress" Matt likes to think of the community as fractal Allow theme & plugin developers to self-identify as what their project goals are through a new taxonomy. Will be launching this month. Phase 3 Gutenberg: Collaboration. Improvements for editorial workflows. Also bringing in OpenVerse. Share your experience with the WordPress 2022 survey Matt was excited about OpenAI and Stable Diffusion WordPress Playground. A way to experience the entirety of the WordPress stack in the browser, without installing dependencies. 100% in the browser using web assembly. How can we make WordPress that is a gift to the world for decades to come? "WordPress belongs to all of us, but really we're taking care of it for the next generation." Important links wordpress.tumblr.com Engineawesome.com using Gutenberg communitysummit.wordpress.org/2023 WP20.wordpress.net learn.wordpress.org wordpress.org/openverse https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/ Make.wordpress.org https://developer.wordpress.org/playground photomatt.tumblr.com https://distributed.blog Future Predictions Gutenberg will be bigger than WordPress (Said in 2021) OpenVerse will make its way in to WordPress app Create entire "themes" with blocks. See: "Create Block Theme" plugin WordPress Playground. Opportunities to test WP, plugins, and themes in a browser without installing Questions from the Q&A round Last year at SoTW you announced the photo directory. 5,500+ photos. Where do we go from here? Can we provide stats to creators? What do you think our biggest challenge WordPress is facing right now? What can we do as a community to lovingly address those challenges? Can we do another all-female release squad in 2023? What's the plan to full support of WordPress 8 (at least on the charts of .org)? Will WordPress be a thing in the future? Why are certifications on the roadmap for Learn? Are we going to get to one universal theme? Any thoughts on integrating GPT AI models into WordPress? How do we keep the younger generation interested in WordPress? Will WordPress have backwards compatibility for PHP Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute What’s a web hosting provider’s role in content moderation? WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg recently weighed in. Mullenweg was a guest on The Verge’s Decoder podcast and discussed the issue as it relates to WordPress VIP hosting. Specifically, he commented on a controversial story that was published in 2020 on the New York Post website. The Post is a WordPress VIP client. The story covered material allegedly recovered from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden. Debate over the origins of the material saw both Facebook and Twitter temporarily restrict links to the story. Mullenweg says Automattic reviewed the matter but ultimately decided not to take action. Automattic has policies in place for content moderation, and Mullenweg referred to them as a “starting point” for looking deeper into a specific case. Links You Shouldn’t Miss Theme developer ILOVEWP published a report on the most popular WordPress plugins released in 2022. The report uses publicly available data for plugins in the official WordPress.org repository. In all, nearly 4,200 plugins have been added so far this year. Out of that, only 7 have achieved at least 50,000 active installations. Did publishing platform Substack use unattributed code from open source competitor Ghost? Ghost’s founder and CEO John O’Nolan makes a case in a recent Twitter thread. In a response thread, Substack co-founder and CEO Chris Best says the whole thing is a misunderstanding. Rather, Substack’s custom theming API is merely compatible with Ghost. There’s a lot here to digest. Therefore, reading the threads from both parties is recommended to see where each side is coming from. What will WordPress freelancers face in 2023? The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack offered some predictions. Upgrading to PHP 8 and navigating an uncertain economic environment are among them. Development firm Awesome Motive has introduced SendLayer, an email delivery service aimed at WordPress website owners. It requires a free API key and works in conjunction with the WP Mail SMTP plugin. Paid plans are being offered. Classifieds listings buy yours TweetGrab crawls your site and turns any embedded Tweets into screenshots with the click of a button. ZipMessage Record and swap messages asynchronously with clients and others using video, screen, audio or text + Embed video intake forms in WordPress. MainWP 4.3 includes Client Management, a new default theme, and an easy way to organize clients & sites from a single dashboard. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. The Block Editor is coming to the WordPress.org support forums. According to Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern, the WordPress.org Meta Team is experimenting with a basic implementation. Popular form plugin Gravity Forms announced a release candidate for version 2.7. The new version includes a form template library, theme and block styling, along with improved spam protection. Have an extra €1.6M to spend? Then you might be a candidate to purchase the Mailchimp for WordPress plugin. WP Tavern reports that plugin founder Danny van Kooten has expressed interest in selling via a post on Hacker News. The plugin is not officially affiliated with Mailchimp, but has over 2 million active installations. Looking to improve the performance of your theme? The WordPress Developer Blog details how using theme.json and per-block styles can help. The latest release of Gutenberg features a color coding for the WordPress Site Editor and an experimental split control UI for individual block settings. Twitter recently announced plans to shut down its newsletter tool aimed at journalists, Revue, just one year after acquiring it. Users are set to lose access on January 18, 2023. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Birgit Pauli-Haack Justin Ferriman Courtney Robertson Daniel Schutzsmith Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute It’s a familiar refrain: the WordPress project needs contributors. But getting involved can be difficult for individuals who aren’t corporately sponsored. A new nonprofit organization is hoping to address this ongoing challenge. The WP Community Collective looks to offer community-funded fellowships to financially support contributions to WordPress. Founded by Sé Reed, Katie Adams Farrell, and Courtney Robertson, the WPCC seeks both individual donations and corporate partnerships. In its official announcement, the organization vows to promote transparency, community representation, and governance. Its first initiative involves the creation of an Accessibility Fellowship. The WPCC says it plans to create a formalized organizational structure within the next year. Next up (listen to the podcast for more): Michelle Frechette with the Community Minute! Links You Shouldn’t Miss The latest episode of WP Product Talk covers what happens when your business starts to scale. Matt Cromwell spoke with Jason and Kim Coleman about the process of budgeting and forecasting for WordPress products. It’s time once again for the annual WordPress Survey. You are encouraged to share your thoughts and let the WordPress team know how you use the software. The survey will remain open throughout the rest of 2022. ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, has surpassed 1 million users. The app claims the ability to answer follow-up questions and take instructions from humans. And, as WP Tavern reports, it also generated a WordPress plugin on demand. Web developer Johnathon Williams shared a recording of the process in action. A proposed bill before the United States Congress has Facebook’s parent company Meta threatening to pull news-oriented content from its platform. The bill would allow news outlets to collectively bargain with social media companies for a larger percentage of ad revenue. A similar bill was passed last year in Australia. Another WordPress-related acquisition is in the books. Development firm Strategy11 has acquired the WP Tasty and Nutrifox suite of plugins. The company also owns Formidable Forms, among other popular plugins. Classifieds listings buy yours TweetGrab crawls your site and turns any embedded Tweets into screenshots with the click of a button. ZipMessage Record and swap messages asynchronously with clients and others using video, screen, audio or text + Embed video intake forms in WordPress. MainWP 4.3 includes Client Management, a new default theme, and an easy way to organize clients & sites from a single dashboard. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. No-code tool Brizy announced that it has raised $2.4 million seed investment to create a multi-platform website builder. WordPress developer Jos Velasco has proposed an option that would allow users to opt into security-related automatic theme and plugin updates. Not sure if Black Friday sales are right for your WordPress company? A recent Twitter thread has emerged that features arguments both for and against them. Google and parent company Alphabet are the target of a lawsuit filed by a group of 130,000 businesses in the United Kingdom. The claim alleges anti-competitive practices relating to its online advertising model. Some social media users continue to migrate from Twitter to open platforms like Mastadon. Recently, tech philosopher Dr. Johnathan Flowers pointed out potential barriers for communities of color to make the move on the Tech Policy Press podcast. Want to give back this holiday season? Then check out #WPGivesAHand and the WebDevStudios Charity Challenge for some initiatives involving the WordPress community. Keeping with that generous spirit, website translation tool Weglot announced that they raised €52,000 for charity during their recent Giving Tuesday effort. New Members This Week Dennis Dornon, follow @dennisdornon, @MyMainWP WPMarmite, follow @wpmarmite_en If you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Justin Ferriman John Locke Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Could you run your entire WordPress product business from a single spreadsheet? Today's WP Product Talk covers what happens when your business starts to scale. From a few hundred dollars, to a few hundred-thousand dollars, this conversation is jam-packed with a wealth of. bean counting knowledge. Links Kim Coleman Jason Coleman Matt Cromwell Paid Memberships Pro GiveWP Support the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Welcome to a special edition of the WP Minute! Rather than our usual five minute roundup of WordPress news, we’ve recorded an expanded episode this week. Matt Medeiros and Eric Karkovack got together to discuss their picks for November’s most interesting and impactful stories. Here’s a rundown of links mentioned in the show: The new WordPress Developer Blog seeks to bridge the information gap between developers and changes to core. Hopefully it proves to be a one-stop shop to learn about new features, deprecated code, and more. Elegant Themes announced that their Divi page builder will undergo some major changes under the hood. Version 5.0 will eschew shortcodes and become more tightly integrated with Gutenberg. WordPress 6.1 said goodbye to the venerable “Just Another WordPress Site” tagline. New installs will feature an empty tagline, though the phrase will live on as placeholder text. Mike McAlister’s concept for an OpenPress plugin sparked a lot of discussion. It would turn WordPress into a microblogging platform and allow other websites to subscribe to your content. When it comes to WordPress, Eric Karkovack has a few simple hopes for 2023. Hint: they’re more about community than fancy new features. The WordPress community spoke up, and Meetup.com listened to concerns about its use of an accessibility overlay. Now, they’re working together in an effort to make the platform accessible by tackling problems at their roots. If you’re a fan of the puzzle game Wordle, check out WordlePress. Ross Wintle’s creation mixes the fun of the original and challenges your knowledge of core WordPress PHP functions. Classifieds listings buy yours TweetGrab crawls your site and turns any embedded Tweets into screenshots with the click of a button. ZipMessage Record and swap messages asynchronously with clients and others using video, screen, audio or text + Embed video intake forms in WordPress. New Members This Week Dennis Dornon, follow @dennisdornon, @MyMainWP WPMarmite, follow @wpmarmite_en If you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The annual State of the Word event has been scheduled for December 15, 2022 from 1:00 - 2:30pm EST. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg will take to the microphone to discuss the year that was and what lies ahead. The event will take place in New York City and will also be live streamed. If you’d like to attend in-person, there’s a survey available to fill out. Meanwhile, you can also submit questions to Mullenweg ahead of time by emailing [email protected] or during the event via YouTube’s chat feature. Links You Shouldn’t Miss The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack has a wish list of things he’d love to see from WordPress in 2023. More than any technical enhancements, his hopes include better communication, collaboration, and more opportunities to get together for in-person events. Tom McFarlin contributed to The WP Minute with an in-depth tutorial on working with multiple user metadata queries. He takes us step-by-step through the process of retrieving a custom set of user records. WordPress.org is launching a blog aimed at developers. Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports that the project is currently in beta testing. The focus will be on new features that impact theme and plugin developers. According to WP Tavern, the Divi page builder will undergo some major changes in 2023. Version 5.0 isn’t slated to see new features, rather a complete rewrite of its underlying framework. The revamp will be built using React and aims to improve compatibility with the Gutenberg Block Editor. Last week, we reported on Mike McAlister's concept for OpenPress, a plugin that would turn a WordPress install into a syndicated microblogging platform. This week, Alex Standiford expands on the idea and wonders if WordPress might one day have a bidirectional relationship with social media platforms. Classifieds listings buy yours Equalized Digital Get 50% off Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker November 20-30 with coupon code BlackFriday22 and start making your website accessible. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg announced that Tumblr will soon add support for ActivityPub, an open and decentralized protocol for connecting to Mastodon and other social media platforms. The announcement comes as more users are contemplating Twitter alternatives. Speaking of Tumblr, Nyasha Green at MasterWP looks at the platform’s recent resurgence. Sell Courses Online have published a study of 240,000 WordPress websites that run a learning management system (LMS). The data shows the most popular LMS plugins, average monthly tech spending, and more. Automattic’s Jetpack has announced its “Build your own Jetpack” offering, which consists of 7 individual plugins. Functionality includes backup, security, performance, and a CRM. Storipress, a competitor to Automattic’s Newspack platform, has secured a $500,000 investment. Jean Galea breaks down the current state of WordPress and wonders what comes next. New Members This Week David Bell, follow @Cape_Dave Jess Frick, follow @renewabelle If you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Cameron Jones Justin Ferriman Raquel Landefeld Jeff Chandler Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Lots has changed for the WordPress website building experience over the last 4 years and today's WP Product Talk has been on the frontlines of it. Richard Tabor joins the podcast to talk about the major changes in Gutenberg, Site Editing, and the future of WordPress. Looking for a healthy dose of what's under the hood of your favorite CMS? Don't miss this episode. Links Kim Coleman Richard Tabor Matt Cromwell Paid Memberships Pro GiveWP Support the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Hiring is probably the hardest thing to do in any business. There's so much that needs to go into the interview process, onboarding, and we haven't even begun to think about the actual job description! Lucky for us, Kim Lipari joins WP Product talk to give us all the advice we need to become better employers in the WordPress ecosystem. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it on social media and say thanks to the hosts! Links Kim Coleman Kim Lipari Matt Cromwell Paid Memberships Pro GiveWP Support the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The 6th episode of WP Product Talk featuring Zach Tirell of WP Events Calendar. Listen in to find out how to hire and manage contractors for your WordPress product (or agency!) business. If you're a WordPress freelancer, this is a fantastic episode to listen to and reverse engineer to better position yourself with employers. If you enjoyed this episode, please say thanks to the hosts and consider sharing this on social media! Links Kim Coleman Zach Tirrell Matt Cromwell Paid Memberships Pro GiveWP Support the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The idea of using WordPress to power a social networking site isn’t new. The BuddyPress plugin has offered this functionality since 2009. But Elon Musk’s recent takeover of Twitter (and the ensuing chaos) has WordPress community members taking another look at what’s possible. Mike McAlister recently shared a concept for OpenPress, a plugin that would turn your WordPress install into a microblogging platform. Your site’s content can then be connected with, and followed by, other sites using OpenPress. The aim is to build a network of related content that allows creators to maintain ownership. As McAlister puts it, the network “is powered by individuals, but connected as a community.” Who knows where the OpenPress concept will go. But it’s an interesting proposition for those looking to ditch Twitter and other corporately-owned communities. Links You Shouldn’t Miss The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack is intrigued by the potential of managed WooCommerce hosting. He took a look at what it can and can’t do to simplify the eCommerce platform. In an effort to decrease the barriers to contributing to WordPress core, project lead developer Helen Hou-Sandí has proposed using GitHub Codespaces. The tool allows for the rapid setup of a development environment. Sarah Gooding has the details at WP Tavern. In a tongue-and-cheek effort to compete with Twitter’s new account verification system, Tumblr is selling two “useless” checkmarks for a one-time fee of $7.99. Yes, that’s one penny less than Twitter’s service. The microblogging platform is owned by Automattic. To paraphrase CEO (and WordPress co-founder) Matt Mullenweg’s tweet, two checkmarks are cooler than one. What’s your top WordPress-related story for 2022? The WP Minute wants to know! Share your thoughts with us on Twitter. Classifieds listings buy yours Equalized Digital Get 50% off Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker November 20-30 with coupon code BlackFriday22 and start making your website accessible. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. WordPress 6.1.1 was released on November 15 and fixes a total of 50 bugs. If you missed out on WordCamp Italia 2022, a nearly 9-hour recording of the event is available for viewing. How would you like the WordPress Site Editor to work? What pain points would you like to see resolved? The project has put out a call for user feedback. It’s been a long time coming, but WooCommerce 7.1 is finally adding the ability to store orders in a custom database table. Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern reports that it’s currently an experimental feature, but should become the default sometime in 2023. Podcasters using Automattic’s Pocket Casts platform can now embed their episodes on WordPress.com via a custom block. WordPress marketing firm Ellipsis has announced a new web tool from their SEO product FALCON AI. It aims to help content creators conduct more accurate keyword research through machine learning. WordPress.org’s Showcase section is undergoing a redesign and you can take a peek at what’s in store. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Birgit Pauli-Haack Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Feed drop time! Feed drop is when an entirely new podcast shows up in a podcast feed...just like this one! I'm sharing my friend, Matthew Bliss' Dead Drop podcast with you. It's just like the WP Minute, short form news, but for the video game industry. From the casual gamer to the sweaty l33t, this podcast has it all for your gaming needs. Links Matthew Bliss on Twitter Dead Drop Podcast Want to feed drop your podcast? Contact us. Support The WP Minute: Donate or get a classified listing Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The advent of WordPress Full Site Editing (FSE) has sparked plenty of discussion within the community. But it’s not just the technical aspects that have received attention. Giving the feature a more user-friendly name has also been a hot topic. On November 4, 2022, WordPress project Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy announced that the feature will be simply referred to as the “Site Editor”. Simplicity was only one consideration, however. Haden Chomphosy notes that the term can also be effectively translated into hundreds of languages. Given WordPress’ considerable international user base, a consistent name is desirable. Paired with the Block Editor, the Site Editor name should provide users with a clearer distinction between editing environments. Links You Shouldn’t Miss When we discuss the challenges facing WordPress, we often focus on WordPress core. However, The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack says that the WordPress Ecosystem Needs Closer Scrutiny. He opines that what happens in the world of themes and plugins can be just as consequential. The phrase “Just another WordPress site” should be familiar to anyone who has installed the software. It’s been the default setting for the Site Tagline for years - but no more. Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern reports that, as of WordPress 6.1, the tagline is now blank. For the sake of nostalgia, the phrase does stick around in the form of placeholder text. In the wake of WordPress.org’s removal of active install growth data from the plugin repository, developers are still looking for relevant information. In response, the folks at AyeCode have launched wp-rankings.com. The site scrapes the repository’s popular plugin data and shows historical comparisons for active installations. WP Tavern has more details on the project. If you couldn’t make it to Spain for WordCamp Sevilla this past weekend, the event has published a virtual tour using the Spatial metaverse platform. Visitors can create an avatar, walk around the space, and access a stream of the event. Classifieds listings buy yours See your ad in this space! From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. Designer Anders Norén has released Oaknut, a WordPress block theme that lets users create a profile page similar to that of Linktree. Big Orange Heart have announced that their WordFest Live event has been rescheduled to Friday, December 16, 2022. If you run a WooCommerce store and use Stripe for payment processing, be on the lookout for fraudulent orders. Wordfence takes a look at a security flaw in the Blog2Social WordPress plugin. New Members This Week Jamie Marsland, follow @pootlepress If you’re not a member yet, go to thewpminute.com/support/ to join. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Birgit Pauli-Haack Michelle Frechette Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute WordPress 6.1, “Misha”, was released on November 1. The new version features more than 120 enhancements and fixes over 240 bugs. Performance was a focus in this release, including increased efficiencies within WP_Query and the REST API. Query caching is said to provide a significant speed boost. WordPress core contributor Jonny Harris has tweeted test results to back up the claim. Also of note are multiple accessibility enhancements, a myriad of improvements to the block editor, the ability to use block-based template parts within “Classic” themes, the introduction of the Twenty Twenty-Three default theme, and a whole lot more. Check out the WordPress 6.1 Field Guide for a full rundown of what’s new. And if you’re interested in who contributed to the release, Jean-Baptiste Audras has put together some detailed contribution statistics. Links You Shouldn’t Miss The 2022 Web Almanac reports that 72% of WordPress-powered mobile pages may be overusing native lazy loading on images, resulting in a negative impact on performance. Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern offers more details and some possible reasons for this surprising number. Gutenberg project lead Matías Ventura recently highlighted some improvements to the block editor’s writing experience. Meanwhile, a blog post at Make WordPress Core has further details and demos to check out. eCommerce platform (and WooCommerce rival) Shopify saw rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the online stores opened during that time didn’t last. Classifieds listings buy yours See your ad in this space! From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. Eric Karkovack and Dan Knauss discussed ideas for improving the WordPress user experience on the Post Status Excerpt. The Bertha AI Writing Assistant has introduced the ability to generate images based on artificial intelligence (AI) from within WordPress. Elon Musk’s controversial purchase of Twitter has been finalized. And while some people have vowed to leave the platform, Sarah Gooding reports that many WordPress community members are planning to stick around. The new Missing Menu Items plugin adds hard-to-find block and site editor links to the WordPress Appearance menu. WP Tavern recently took a look at what it does. Matt Mullenweg shared thoughts on why Tumblr’s previous policy on adult content no longer works on the modern web. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Andrew Palmer Birgit Pauli-Haack Eric Karkovack Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The saga of WordPress.org active install data continues as more details trickle out. At WP Tavern, Sarah Gooding reported on an appearance by WordPress contributor Samuel Otto Wood on the WPwatercooler podcast. Wood says the decision to remove the data originated from a private Slack conversation amongst contributors that was started by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg back in May. It has also been revealed that the removal was not due to security or privacy issues, as previously indicated. According to Wood, the data chart was removed because “by and large, nobody was using them”. Regardless of the reasoning behind the decision or worthiness of the data, no official outreach appears to have been made by project leadership to the developer community. Meanwhile, WordPress community members continue to voice concerns via a Trac ticket started by RebelCode CEO Mark Zahra. The ticket was created on September 30 and has over 100 comments. Links You Shouldn’t Miss The first ever WordPress Documentation team Contributor Day took place on Tuesday, October 25. The virtual event was held to help team members catch up on tasks and onboard new contributors. Development agency Human Made has published 1001 ways to implement Gutenberg blocks. The guide includes a handy flowchart for determining what blocks to use and when to use them. The inaugural WPWealthBuilder Summit has put a call out for speakers and sponsors. The virtual event focuses on building personal wealth through WordPress and takes place on February 3, 2023. Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports that the Openverse Audio Catalog now boasts 800,000 files that are available free of charge. Formerly known as Creative Commons Search, Openverse is now part of the WordPress project. Classifieds listings buy yours WebDevStudios WebDevStudios is seeking a full time, remote Engineering Manager candidate interested in joining our growing team.Sitewide Sales Are you literally losing sleep on Black Friday? Schedule your WordPress site's Black Friday sale so you can sleep off Thanksgiving dinner.GapScout Sign-Up for Early Access - AI that scans reviews (on WordPress.org or elsewhere), revealing to you the most profitable opportunities!WP Mayor Reach a larger, targeted audience of WordPress users with your Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers. Get them listed on WP Mayor. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. Automattic’s Pocket Casts podcasting platform has announced that their mobile apps are now open-source.Gutenberg project contributors released a video of a streamlined “browse mode” concept for the WordPress Site Editor.WordPress Accessibility Day takes place from November 2-3 and has released its speaker lineup.The WordPress.org support portal, dubbed the “HelpHub”, is set to be redesigned. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Birgit Pauli-HaackMichelle FrechetteEric Karkovack Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute In today's episode of WP Product Talk, we'll explore the methods organizations go through to level up entry-level WordPress developers on their team. This is a fantastic discussion with your weekly hosts Kim Colemen & Matt Cromwell. Today's guest is Courtney Robertson, Web Design Dev Advocate at GoDaddy Pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please re-share it on social media and follow the hashtag #wpproducttalk on Twitter. Links Kim ColemanMatt CromwellCourtney RobertsonPaid Memberships ProGiveWPSupport the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Discussion rolls on within the WordPress community regarding the removal of active install growth data from the WordPress.org plugin repository - but still no firm resolution is in sight. As we reported last week, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg said that adding some form of stats for plugin developers is “doable”. We’ll have to wait and see where the discussion goes from here. Meanwhile, The WP Minute’s Eric Karkovack wrote about what plugin developers should realistically expect from the WordPress project and its leadership. It might be that the project simply isn’t there to help developers make money. Instead, their focus is likely trained on providing us with a platform to build upon. How a developer monetizes their product is ultimately up to them. And Alex Denning of Ellipsis argues that WordPress.org is an ineffective place to distribute plugins. He provides some key data to back up this point. On the other side of the coin, Liquid Web’s Matt Cromwell respectfully disagrees. Next up (listen to the podcast for more): Matt Cromwell discusses distributing plugins via WordPress.org Links You Shouldn’t Miss Security is the focus of WordPress 6.0.3, which was released on October 17. Be sure to update your websites, as this release patches several vulnerabilities. If you’d like a rundown of the vulnerabilities involved in WordPress 6.0.3, Patchstack offers a full analysis. Users of the Shortcodes Ultimate plugin will also want to update to the latest version. Sarah Gooding of WP Tavern reports that a fix for an undisclosed security issue was recently added. Registration is now open for WordPress Accessibility Day. The 24-hour virtual event will take place from November 2-3 and will feature a bevy of presentations that aim to demystify the subject. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. WordPress 6.1 Release Candidate 2 is now available for testing.Designer and software engineer Mike McAlister announced his new project, Ollie - an educational hub for WordPress creators.Development agency 10up has published a guide to Gutenberg Best Practices.Sarah Gooding provides details on the new Plugin Dependencies feature plugin that is available for testing. It’s an effort to help developers specify plugin dependencies via WordPress core.Devin Walker introduces himself as the new General Manager of iThemes, and hints at some changes coming to the longtime WordPress development company.Jetpack Social has added a paid tier to their automated social media sharing function. Free users will now be limited to 30 shares per month. Classifieds listings buy yours WebDevStudios WebDevStudios is seeking a full time, remote Engineering Manager candidate interested in joining our growing team.Sitewide Sales Are you literally losing sleep on Black Friday? Schedule your WordPress site's Black Friday sale so you can sleep off Thanksgiving dinner.GapScout Sign-Up for Early Access - AI that scans reviews (on WordPress.org or elsewhere), revealing to you the most profitable opportunities!WP Mayor Reach a larger, targeted audience of WordPress users with your Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers. Get them listed on WP Mayor. New Members This Week Nate Finch, follow @n8finch Zack Katz, follow @zackkatz If you’re not a member yet, go to buymeacoffee.com/mattreport to join. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Amber HindsEric KarkovackJustin FerrimanMatt Cromwell Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Have you started a WordPress theme or plugin that didn't quite succeed like you had hoped it would? It might be time to sunset your WordPress product. There's 2 major things to consider: your mental health & your existing customers/users. When I spun down my first go at WordPress themes, it was embarrassing. The crazy thing was, the embarrassment was only in my head. I didn't want to give up, I wanted to keep going. Shutting it down felt like a failure. It took me years to realize that shutting down, provided me more clarity and the best lessons in marketing I've ever learned. But how do you relay this to your customers? Especially if the recently paid you? Today's episode of Product Talk featuring Kim Coleman, Devin Walker, and Matt Cromwell will touch on all the points I just mentioned. Be sure to follow them and tune in to their Twitter Space every week! Links Kim ColemanDevin WalkerMatt CromwellPaid Memberships ProGiveWPSupport the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The recent pushback regarding WordPress.org’s removal of active install growth data shouldn’t be too surprising. It’s not the first time that a decision made by WordPress leadership has ruffled some feathers. But perhaps the people most directly impacted by the move – plugin developers – were a bit unexpected. After all, a thriving plugin ecosystem is key to keeping WordPress growing and relevant. It’s fair to wonder why anyone would want to upset this particular apple cart. Logic tells me that you’d want to do everything possible to keep this group happy. That in turn encourages developers to continue to invest in the platform. By contributing their products, and perhaps being part of the Five for the Future program, there are numerous opportunities to make a positive impact. However, it’s not quite that simple. The above assumes that: a) everyone’s on the same page, and b) all involved parties have purely altruistic motives. That’s just not the reality of WordPress – or any other community on this planet. There’s always going to be some push-and-pull between plugin developers and WordPress. The question is: what should plugin developers realistically expect from the platform and its leadership? The Limited Partnership between Developers and Leadership On the surface, the partnership between plugin developers and WordPress leadership is mutually beneficial. At their best, these entities can help each other thrive. And each deserves gratitude for the role they play. But there are limits. Even though the WordPress project is open-source and not-for-profit, money is still at stake. Many plugin developers and service providers (including Matt Mullenweg’s Automattic) are for-profit businesses. And while most want to provide benefit to others, they’re still obliged to consider their needs first. This brings us to the issue of active install growth data for plugins. In a competitive landscape, entrepreneurs will undoubtedly use available data to their advantage. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s just the way business works. Yet sometimes how that data is leveraged will go against the grain. It could impact the WordPress community and project in ways that leadership isn’t comfortable with. Not everyone is interested in a level playing field. And we’ve seen instances where companies have used dark patterns and questionable marketing tactics to get ahead. Meanwhile, WordPress.org has made these stats publicly available for years. Plugin authors have made it clear that the data is useful to them. However, no rule says WordPress must continue doing so. Fair or not, they can add or subtract metrics as they see fit. The optics of the decision were decidedly unflattering. And there has been plenty of debate on whether removing the data was justified. Still, this friction is a prime example of the relationship’s limitations. WordPress Doesn’t Have to Help Developers Make Money Whether you’re a plugin developer or a freelancer serving clients, it’s possible to make a good living with WordPress. The software provides a solid foundation on which to build your business. Odds are that this narrative describes many people’s journeys to some degree. We can also admire the WordPress community’s history of being relatively open and its willingness to share knowledge. It’s something we see at WordCamps, on social media, and within walled gardens such as Post Status and The WP Minute. Indeed, the software is wonderful and so are many of the people involved. But we shouldn’t confuse them with the goals of the WordPress project and its leadership. The project provides us with a tool and documentation that demonstrates how to use it. It encourages us to add customizations to the mix. It also asks that we give back to keep the lights on and the software relevant. But maybe that’s as far as it goes. Perhaps WordPress leadership wishes us well while maintaining its distance. They’re not necessarily concerned with what business owners want. Could it be that we’re in this together – but only to a certain point? For someone who was attracted to WordPress because of its “everything is free” vibe, I think that’s disappointing. At the same time, it may also explain why leadership doesn’t seem eager to communicate its reasoning behind controversial decisions. WordPress Plugin Developers Must Make Their Own Way In a perfect world, both the WordPress project and plugin developers would walk hand-in-hand. But their interests diverge at some point along the way. Thus, there’s an inevitable parting. That doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for collaboration. It’s still in everyone’s best interest to get along and make WordPress the best it can be. But perhaps we shouldn’t have any false illusions about this relationship. For what it’s worth, I’d love to see leadership step out of its comfort zone and provide in-depth detail

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The conversation regarding the removal of WordPress plugin active install growth data has continued this week. The data chart was officially removed from the WordPress.org plugin repository back on September 29, 2022. Even as plugin authors and other community members have asked for the chart’s return, no formal reason has been given for its removal. The possibilities of privacy and security issues have been brought up, but there’s been no official announcement from WordPress leadership. Over at WP Tavern, Sarah Gooding reports on a Trac ticket discussion started by Mark Zahra. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg has chimed in and said that adding relevant statistics for plugin authors “...will take some work but it’s doable.” Mullenweg also responded to a tweet from Zahra stating, “We’ll add something new for small plug-in devs.” Meanwhile, the community continues to express concern. Investor and artist Jean Galea wondered if WordPress is entering a “death spiral”. And MasterWP’s Rob Howard says WordPress may be turning away its biggest fans. Next up (listen to the podcast for more): Michelle Frechette with the Community Minute! Links You Shouldn’t Miss MasterWP’s WordCamp travel sponsorship program plans to keep on rolling in 2023. It aims to enable a diverse group of people to attend events by defraying travel costs. This year, the program helped seven recipients head to WordCamp US in San Diego, California. Rob Howard wrote about the reasoning behind and the impact of the program. There’s also a form for anyone interested in receiving a travel stipend to attend WordCamp US 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. Howard also put out a call for potential sponsors. For our part, the WP Minute has made a $1,500 contribution. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. A hosted WooCommerce package will be coming to WordPress.com in 2023.Carl Alexander took a look at the ups and downs of contributing to WordPress outside of the official project.Matt Cromwell and Kim Coleman sat down with AccessAlly founder Nathalie Lussier to discuss outlining a WordPress product roadmap.WordPress 6.1 will see a performance boost, thanks to the addition of database query caching.A familiar name is listed in Newsweek’s “America's 100 Most Loved Workplaces 2022” rankings. Automattic, owner of WordPress.com and founded by Matt Mullenweg, came in at #31 this year.Open source search engine Meilisearch recently announced $15 million Series A round funding. Classifieds listings buy yours WebDevStudios WebDevStudios is seeking a full time, remote Engineering Manager candidate interested in joining our growing team.Sitewide Sales Are you literally losing sleep on Black Friday? Schedule your WordPress site's Black Friday sale so you can sleep off Thanksgiving dinner.GapScout Sign-Up for Early Access - AI that scans reviews (on WordPress.org or elsewhere), revealing to you the most profitable opportunities! New Members This Week Dominyka Mikšenaite Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Lesley SimDave RodenbaughJohn LockeAngela Bowman Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute WP Product talk is back with co-hosts Matt Cromwell and Kim Coleman sitting down to discuss outlining a WordPress product roadmap. Nathalie Lussier joins the crew to chat about how she and her team plan the AccessAlly course software development. Follow Matt & Kim on Twitter to participate in the weekly WP Product talk Spaces. Stay subscribed here to catch the edited recording! Links Kim ColemanNathalie LussierMatt CromwellPaid Memberships ProAccessAllyGiveWPSupport the WP Minute Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute The WordPress plugin ecosystem has been a big topic of discussion recently. WP Mayor’s Mark Zahra started things off with an in-depth article regarding deceptive marketing practices. Zahra provides specific examples of questionable tactics used by WordPress plugin developers. He also calls on the community - himself included - to think about the potential harm to WordPress’ reputation. Zahra didn’t stop there. He also noted that the WordPress.org plugin repository has removed the active install growth chart. This feature allowed plugin developers to gauge how their products performed over time. Over at WP Tavern, Sarah Gooding reports that there’s been no clear indication of why the metric was pulled. Zahra also expanded on the topic over at MasterWP. And if you’re interested in learning how to monetize your own WordPress product, be sure to listen to Kim Coleman and Matt Cromwell’s WP Product Talk Twitter Space. Links You Shouldn’t Miss The WordPress themes team has decided to delay the inclusion of locally-hosted Google fonts in legacy default themes until version 6.2. As Sarah Gooding reports at WP Tavern, the move was originally scheduled for version 6.1. This has some community members concerned, as a German court recently ruled that remotely-hosted fonts are a violation of the European Union’s GDPR laws. The 2022 Web Almanac was released by HTTP Archive. The report aims to point out trends in the industry. As you may have guessed, WordPress once again has the top spot in CMS usage, with a reported 35% market share. Last week’s story covering the controversial, racially-tinged remarks on a now-removed episode of the WP-Tonic podcast continues to spark discussion. WP Watercool took on the topic of microagression, while Allie Nimmons and Michelle Frechette of Underrepresented in Tech looked at the idea of reverse racism. From the Grab Bag Now it’s time to take a look at some other interesting topics shared by our contributors. WordPress 6.1 Beta 3 is now available for testing.WordCamp Phoenix has been scheduled for March 24-25, 2023. Outside of WordCamp US, it's the only stateside camp confirmed for 2023.Jonathan Wold discusses Using The Loop To Grow A WordPress Product CompanyDan Knauss at Post Status asks WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Why Do We Make It So Hard?WP Motivate explores Finding Inspiration in the CompostThe WP Trends newsletter makes a triumphant comebackGoDaddy Pro hosted a Twitter Space on the Future of Contributing to WordPress New Members This Week Nev Harris, follow @thenevharris If you’re not a member yet, go to buymeacoffee.com/mattreport to join. Thanks to all of the members who shared these links today: Mark ZahraCameron JonesEric KarkovackDaniel SchutzsmithPaul LaceyMichelle FrechetteRaquel LandefeldAbha Thakor Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Matt Cromwell and Kim Coleman are back with their second episode of WP Product Talk! They're joined by Lesley Sim, of Newsletter Glue, to discuss the decision-making around building a new product. You could be at the crossroads of launching a new major feature or pivoting your whole WordPress product business. Don't miss this episode! Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★