srosiers\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3681:\"\n<p>This security release features four security fixes. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. All versions since WordPress 3.7 have also been updated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.8.3 is a short-cycle security release. The next major release will be version <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/\">5.9</a>, which is already in the Release Candidate stage.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can update to WordPress 5.8.3 by downloading from WordPress.org or visiting your Dashboard → Updates and clicking Update Now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have sites that support automatic background updates, they’ve already started the update process.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"security-updates\">Security Updates</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Four security issues affect WordPress versions between 3.7 and 5.8. If you haven’t yet updated to 5.8, all WordPress versions since 3.7 have also been updated to fix the following security issue (except where noted otherwise):</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Props to Karim El Ouerghemmi and Simon Scannell of <a href=\"https://www.sonarsource.com/\">SonarSource</a> for disclosing an issue with stored XSS through post slugs.</li><li>Props to Simon Scannell of <a href=\"https://www.sonarsource.com/\">SonarSource</a> for reporting an issue with Object injection in some multisite installations.</li><li>Props to ngocnb and khuyenn from <a href=\"https://giaohangtietkiem.vn/\">GiaoHangTietKiem JSC</a> for working with <a href=\"https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/\">Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative</a> on reporting a SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Query.</li><li>Props to Ben Bidner from the WordPress security team for reporting a SQL injection vulnerability in WP_Meta_Query (only relevant to versions 4.1-5.8). </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all of the reporters above for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/\">privately disclosing the vulnerabilities</a>. This gave the security team time to fix the vulnerabilities before WordPress sites could be attacked. Thank you to the members of the WordPress security team for implementing these fixes in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, check out the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-8-3/\">5.8.3 HelpHub documentation page</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"thanks-and-props\">Thanks and props!</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 5.8.3 release was led by <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>desrosj</a> and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/circlecube/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>circlecube</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the security researchers and release squad members mentioned above, thank you to everyone who helped make WordPress 5.8.3 happen:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/xknown/\">Alex Concha</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32/\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ocean90/\">Dominik Schilling</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ehtis/\">ehtis</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/circlecube/\">Evan Mullins</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/whyisjake/\">Jake Spurlock</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/iandunn/\">Ian Dunn</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vortfu/\">vortfu</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/zieladam/\">zieladam</a>.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11999\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"The Month in WordPress – December 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2021/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Jan 2022 19:03:59 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Month in WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"month in wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11972\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:335:\"December was a busy month for the WordPress community. In the latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares a carol of thanks and shows her gratitude to all the people who make the WordPress project a success. (&#8230;) I know that we have gotten so much done together [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"rmartinezduque\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13065:\"\n<p>December was a busy month for the WordPress community. In the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/episode-22-a-carol-of-thanks/\"> latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast</a>, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares a carol of thanks and shows her gratitude to all the people who make the WordPress project a success.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>(&#8230;) I know that we have gotten so much done together in the last few years. And I am equally sure that we’re going to get so much done in the years to come. And so thank you all so much for your continued work with WordPress and the way that you just bring your best at all times.</p><cite>Josepha Haden, Executive Director of the WordPress project</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>We said goodbye to 2021 with the annual State of the Word, along with the release of WordPress 5.9 Beta 4, among many other exciting updates. Read on to learn more about the latest community achievements.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-5-9-the-first-release-candidate-just-landed\">WordPress 5.9: The first release candidate just landed</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Following the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-3/\"> Beta 3</a> and<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-4/\"> Beta 4</a> releases in December, the first <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-9-rc-1/\">release candidate for WordPress 5.9</a> is now out and available for testing.</li><li>With less than three weeks to go until the final release, this version continues the work from last year and marks the hard<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze\"> string freeze point</a> of the 5.9 release schedule.</li><li>Follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">5.9 developer notes</a> to learn more about the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/04/miscellaneous-core-changes-in-wordpress-5-9/\">changes</a> and updates coming with this release.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Are you interested in contributing to WordPress core?</strong> Join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a> channel, follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Core Team blog</a>, and check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/\">team handbook</a>. Also, don&#8217;t miss the Core Team’s weekly developer chat on Wednesdays at <a href=\"https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=20&amp;min=00&amp;sec=0\">8 PM</a> UTC.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"gutenberg-releases-versions-12-1-and-12-2-are-here\">Gutenberg releases: Versions 12.1 and 12.2 are here</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Core Team launched two new versions of Gutenberg last month. Both come with new features, code quality improvements, and bug fixes.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-1-8-december/\">Gutenberg 12.1</a> marks the return of the template List View and includes several Navigation block enhancements, new global styles features, an improved developer experience for block themes, and more.</li><li>The<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december/\"> Gutenberg 12.2</a> release focuses on user experience improvements and brings the block styles preview to the Widgets Editor, among other new features.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Want to get involved in developing Gutenberg?</strong> Follow <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">the Core Team blog</a>, contribute to Gutenberg on <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/\">GitHub</a>, and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB2JS7\">#core-editor</a> channel in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\">Make WordPress Slack</a>. Follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\">#gutenberg-new</a> tag for details on the latest updates.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021\">Highlights from State of the Word 2021</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021/\">State of the Word 2021</a>, the annual keynote address delivered by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, was livestreamed from New York City on December 14, 2021. The event gathered WordPress enthusiasts at 29 watch parties around the world.</li><li>Matt shared his thoughts on the progress of the WordPress project and made announcements regarding its future in 2022. The presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>If you missed the event’s livestream, you could watch the </strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word/\"><strong>State of the Word recording</strong></a><strong> and the </strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2021-qa/\"><strong>Q&amp;A session</strong></a><strong> on WordPress.tv.</strong></p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"team-updates-2022-major-release-timings-new-team-rep-announcements-and-more\">Team updates: 2022 major release timings, new team rep announcements, and more</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The Core Team opened a discussion on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/17/discussion-2022-major-release-timing/\">the release dates for 2022</a> and the possibility of having four major WordPress releases this year.</li><li>The following teams announced their team representatives for 2022: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/12/03/introducing-new-themes-team-representatives/\">Themes</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2021/12/agenda-for-the-december-9-support-meeting/\">Support</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/11/08/call-for-polyglots-team-representatives/#comment-293358\">Polyglots</a>, and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/03/announcement-team-representatives-for-2022/\">Community</a>.</li><li>In 2021, 2572 people contributed to WordPress source code using Trac, including 305 first-timers. Check out <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/12/29/a-year-in-core-2021/\">A Year in Core – 2021</a> for more interesting stats on WordPress Core contributions.</li><li>The Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) shared its accomplishments from last year in this<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/14/diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-2021-year-end-report/\"> 2021 year-end report</a>.</li><li>The Training Team<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/12/07/december-2021-team-sprint/\"> planned a sprint</a> to audit and revisit the Learn WordPress content for the WordPress 5.9 release.</li><li>The Design Team summarized some of the key changes behind the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/12/17/redesign-of-openverse/\"> Openverse redesign</a>.</li><li>The December 2021 editions of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/12/20/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-december-2021/\">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter</a> and the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/14/meetup-organizer-newsletter-december-2021/\"> Meetup Organizer Newsletter</a> are out.</li><li>The latest edition of<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\"> </a>People of WordPress features <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\">Collins Agbonghama</a> from Nigeria.</li><li>The Core Team <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/05/proposal-changes-to-javascript-coding-standards-for-full-prettier-compatibility/\">announced a proposal</a> to change the JavaScript coding standards for complete Prettier compatibility.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Are you looking for some 5.9 resources to share with your local community? </strong>Check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/12/10/wordpress-5-9-talking-points/\">WordPress 5.9 Talking Points for Meetup Organizers</a> post.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"feedback-testing-requests-contribute-by-testing-or-translating-wordpress-5-9\">Feedback/Testing requests: Contribute by testing or translating WordPress 5.9</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Your feedback on WordPress 5.9 release candidates is still needed and appreciated! If you haven’t tried this version yet, you can find instructions on testing 5.9 features <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">in this post</a>.</li><li>Do you speak a language other than English? The Polyglots Team announced that <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/12/16/wordpress-5-9-ready-to-be-translated/\">WordPress 5.9 is also ready to be translated</a>.</li><li>Version 18.9 of WordPress for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2021/12/14/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-18-9/\"> Android</a> is available for testing.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\"><strong>Share your feedback</strong></a><strong> on WordPress 5.9.</strong></p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"apply-to-speak-or-host-a-workshop-at-wordcamp-europe-2022\">Apply to speak or host a workshop at WordCamp Europe 2022</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>WordCamp US 2022 is currently looking for<a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/are-you-ready-to-be-a-2022-organizer/\"> organizers</a>.</li><li>The WordPress community celebrated its first in-person WordCamp after 21 months in<a href=\"https://sevilla.wordcamp.org/2021/\"> Sevilla (Spain)</a> on December 11-12, 2021.<a href=\"https://taiwan.wordcamp.org/2021/\"> WordCamp Taiwan</a> was held online the same weekend.</li><li>The Test Team organized the Hallway Hangout titled <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/12/21/hallway-hangout-lets-talk-about-wordpress-6-0/\">Let’s talk about WordPress 6.0</a> on December 21, 2021. The team also shared a wrap-up of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/12/16/fse-program-site-editing-safari-summary/\">Site Editing Safari</a> as part of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/full-site-editing-outreach-experiment/\">FSE Outreach Program</a>.</li><li>The Training Team hosted several WordPress Social Learning Meetups last month, and there will be many more in <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/\">January 2022</a>.</li><li>Last year the WordPress Foundation made significant progress in its mission to educate the public about open source software. Learn more about it in this <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/looking-back-at-2021/\">2021 recap</a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don’t miss the following upcoming WordCamps: <a href=\"https://birmingham.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama 2022</a>,<a href=\"https://vienna.wordcamp.org/2022/\"> </a><a href=\"https://geneve.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Genève 2022</a><a href=\"https://vienna.wordcamp.org/2022/\">, WordCamp Vienna 2022</a>, and <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Europe 2022</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>The</strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-sponsors/\"><strong> Call For Sponsors</strong></a><strong> and </strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\"><strong>Call For Speakers</strong></a><strong> for WordCamp Europe 2022 are open! </strong>Read <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/a-sneak-peek-at-wceu2022/\">this post</a> to learn more about the Organizing Team&#8217;s plans for the first in-person WordCamp Europe in three years.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know by filling out </em></strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this form</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following folks contributed to December 2021’s Month in WordPress: <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/anjanavasan/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>anjanavasan</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/harishanker/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>harishanker</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/lmurillom/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>lmurillom</a>  <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>meher</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a></em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11972\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"WordPress 5.9 RC 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-9-rc-1/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:43:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"5.9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11948\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:101:\"The WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate 1 is available. The final release is slated for January 25, 2022.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5481:\"\n<p>The first Release Candidate (RC1) for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/\">WordPress 5.9</a> is now available!&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to everyone who has contributed to reach this important milestone in the community’s progress towards a WordPress 5.9 release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Release Candidate” means the new version of the software is ready for release. It helps the community check that nothing is missed, given the thousands of plugins and themes and differences in how millions of people use the software.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 is slated for release on January 25, 2022. This is just three weeks to go&nbsp; &#8211; and there’s still time to help!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"testing-the-release\">Testing the release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 release candidate in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Install and activate the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"><strong>WordPress Beta Tester</strong></a><strong> </strong>plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 2:</strong> Direct download the beta version here (<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-RC1.zip\"><strong>zip</strong></a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, 3 or 4 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Command One:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-RC1</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Command Two:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-RC1 --force</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Your help to test the RC1 is vital: the more testing that happens, the more stable the release, and the better the experience for users and developers—and the entire WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all of the contributors who tested the Beta releases and gave feedback. Testing for bugs is not just a critical part of polishing every release; it is also a great way to contribute to WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">Help test WordPress 5.9 features</a> &#8211; a guide to how you can take part.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"what-is-in-wordpress-5-9-release-candidate\">What is in WordPress 5.9 release candidate?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This will be the first release of 2022 and continues the work towards 5.9 from last year. It features the latest advances of the block editor and is the first version of full site editing in Core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 also brings more refinements to the developer experience. To keep up with the latest updates and discover more about how the community works to continually improve the software, please subscribe to the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a>. In particular, the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">developer notes tag</a> will keep you up to date on changes that might affect your products or how you use the software.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"plugin-and-theme-developers\">Plugin and Theme Developers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.9 and update the <em>Tested up to</em> version&nbsp; to 5.9 in your readme file. If you find compatibility problems, please post to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">support forums</a>, so volunteers and developers can help you figure them out before the final release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress 5.9 Field Guide will be out very shortly. It will give you a deeper dive into the major changes.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-to-help\">How to Help</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you speak a language that is not English? You can <a href=\"https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev\">help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!</a> Release Candidate 1 marks the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze\">hard string freeze</a> point of the 5.9 release schedule. Thanks to every locale that is already involved with translations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>If you think you have found a bug</em></strong><em>, you can post to the </em><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta\"><em>Alpha/Beta area</em></a><em> in the support forums.&nbsp; If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can </em><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"><em>file one on WordPress Trac</em></a><em>, where you can also check the issue against </em><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"><em>a list of known bugs</em></a><em>.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a> for the post and to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>marybaum</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>hellofromtonya</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>davidbaumwald</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/estelaris/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>estelaris</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>cbringmann</a> for final review. </p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11948\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"People of WordPress: Collins Agbonghama\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 30 Dec 2021 22:45:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:5:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Features\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Interviews\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Contributor Story\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"People of WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11923\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:130:\"Collins Agbonghama, a web developer from Nigeria, Africa, shares how WordPress gives him a sustainable income and a better future.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9203:\"\n<p>In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people’s lives for the better. This month we feature a website builder from Nigeria, who uses the open source WordPress platform to support his family and to share learning with others in his home country and beyond.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?resize=768%2C386&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Collins Agbonghama\" class=\"wp-image-11919\" width=\"768\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?resize=1024%2C515&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?resize=300%2C151&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?resize=768%2C386&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/fimg_collins-agbonghama.jpg?w=1247&amp;ssl=1 1247w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"creating-a-life-in-the-wordpress-ecosystem\"><strong>Creating a life in the WordPress Ecosystem</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins Agbonghama started his journey to becoming a web developer by reading the football news headlines on a friend’s mobile phone. His fascination with development and learning continued to grow, and he now makes a living using WordPress and the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to discover his story, which shows with creativity and determination you can create products and make a living using WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"starting-web-building-on-a-phone\"><strong>Starting web building on a phone</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"350\" height=\"426\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/collins-agbonghama1.jpg?resize=350%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Collins Agbonghama headshot photo\" class=\"wp-image-11920\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/collins-agbonghama1.jpg?w=350&amp;ssl=1 350w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/collins-agbonghama1.jpg?resize=246%2C300&amp;ssl=1 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins began his exploration of the internet while attending Secondary School in Nigeria, or High School as it is known in some other countries.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A friend at the school had a simple mobile phone which could browse the internet. Collins had his first introduction to the World Wide Web through access to this device. He became hooked by reading headlines on a sports site about a famous English Premier League Football Club, Chelsea, a soccer team which he has long supported.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Being a very inquisitive person, I wanted to learn how the web works as well as have my own website. I was able to buy a classic mobile phone through the menial jobs I did after school,” he said.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>His first website was a wapsite or Wireless Application Protocol site optimized for mobile devices.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He took to Google to learn how to actually build a site. He discovered he needed something called an ‘email address’ to sign-up for site builders. Google Search came to the rescue again, and he created the first email account for his first website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A desire for a website was the catalyst for further learning, starting with HTML and CSS from an online provider. His interest in building sites with more advanced tools grew, and then he came across WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using his savings, he bought the cheapest hosting plan from a local Nigerian web host. He installed WordPress and started writing tutorials for a mobile device platform. He built the site, created the lessons, and started his entry into WordPress all on a mobile phone.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This led to him having the confidence to start building sites for others, and he was able to earn a small income from that.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins said: “I couldn’t go to the university because of my precarious financial situation. I continued to do menial jobs during the day and started learning PHP in the evenings and at night using my mobile phone via online learning platforms.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was later able to get an old laptop, which helped him access ebooks to learn more and practice his coding.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keen to share this learning, he started blogging about what he was learning on his website.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins said: “I later took up a job teaching children at a school primarily because I got tired of the menial jobs and wanted to earn enough to take care of my internet data plan. After a while, I became fairly proficient in PHP and even took up a job to build a school management system.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"using-wordpress-to-make-a-living\"><strong>Using WordPress to make a living</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins’ blog wasn’t making money through advertisements, but he discovered opportunities to write tutorials for other platforms.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I started writing PHP and WordPress development tutorials and got paid a few hundred dollars per article. In Nigeria, that’s quite a lot of money. I was able to improve the life and wellbeing of my family and myself,” he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After getting into a higher education program to study computer science, his life dramatically changed. He decided to stop writing and began to focus on building and selling WordPress plugins.&nbsp;His first one was a user and profile plugin for WordPress sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Thankfully, after a year, it started making enough revenue for me to live pretty comfortably here in Nigeria because the cost of living here is relatively low,” he said</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Collins has several plugins which have given him a sustainable source of income. He’s also a Core and Translation volunteer contributor to the WordPress.org Open Source project. </p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>I am thankful for WordPress because without it, I’m really not sure I would have been able to live a decent quality life. <br>Who knows what would have become of me?</p><cite>Collins Agbonghama</cite></blockquote></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>“I am also thankful for the community. I have made lots of friends that have been very supportive and helpful in my journey.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: “I tell people, life won’t give you what you want. You demand from life what you want. You make these demands by being determined and never giving up on your dreams and aspirations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“If you are poor, perhaps because you came from a humble and poor background, it is not your fault. You can’t go back in time to change things. I implore you to be strong, determined, and work hard.” </p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Meet more WordPress community members in our <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/category/interviews/\">People of WordPress series</a>.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"contributors\">Contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Michael Geheren (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/geheren/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>geheren</a>), Abha Thakor (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a>), for writing this feature, to MeherBala (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>meher</a>) for follow-ups and photo-editing, and to Chloe Bringmann (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>cbringmann</a>) and Nalini Thakor (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a>) for the final proofing. Thank you to Collins Agbonghama (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/collizo4sky/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>collizo4sky</a>) for sharing his Contributor Story.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thanks to Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp;(@<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">chanthaboune</a>), Topher DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/\">@topher1kenobe</a>) and others for their support </em>of this initiative. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\" style=\"grid-template-columns:29% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"180\" height=\"135\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2020/03/heropress_logo_180.png?resize=180%2C135&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"HeroPress logo\" class=\"wp-image-8409 size-full\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on </em><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. </em>#HeroPress </p>\n</div></div>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11923\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 4\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-4/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:17:58 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"5.9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"beta\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11876\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 released on 21 December 2021 and is available for testing. \";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Jonathan Bossenger\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5052:\"\n<p>WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 is now available for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This software version is still under development.</strong> Please do not run this software on a production site; install it on a test site, where you can try out the newest features and get a feel for how they will work on your site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 4 in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Install and activate the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"> <strong>WordPress Beta Tester</strong></a><strong> </strong>plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 2:</strong> Direct download the beta version here (<strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-beta4.zip\">zip</a></strong>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1, 2, or 3 to Beta 4 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Command One:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta4</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Command Two:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta4 --force</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>The current target for the final release of 5.9 is January 25, 2022, which is only five weeks away. Your help testing this beta is vital: the more testing that happens, the more stable the release, and the better the experience for users and developers—and the entire WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"some-highlights\"><strong>Some Highlights</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-3/\">Beta 3</a>, 20 bugs have been fixed. Here are a few of the changes you will find in Beta 4:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Bundled Theme: Fixed duplicate CSS rules in Twenty Twenty-One theme (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/53605\">#53605</a>).</li><li>Customizer: It&#8217;s possible to switch to a block theme from within Customizer (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54549\">#54549</a>).</li><li>Themes: Provide guidance to users seeking to preview block themes on WordPress versions below 5.9 (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54575\">#54575</a>).</li><li>REST API: The get_theme_item method should respect fields param (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54595\">#54595</a>).</li><li>Editor: Block Patterns: &#8220;Featured&#8221; category &amp; patterns missing from inserter (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54623\">#54623</a>).</li><li>Login and registration: Add a filter to allow to disable the Login screen language dropdown – (#54675).</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-you-can-help\"><strong>How You Can Help</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do some testing!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/beta-testing/\">Testing for bugs</a> is vital for polishing the release in the beta stage and a great way to contribute.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please post to the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\"> Alpha/Beta</a> area in the support forums if you find a bug. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/reports/\"> bug report</a>, file one on<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"> WordPress Trac</a>, where you can also find a list of<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"> known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"got-questions-here-are-some-answers\"><strong>Got questions? Here are some answers</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming weeks, follow the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\"> Make WordPress Core blog</a> for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\"> 5.9-related developer notes</a> that will cover these items in detail.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, contributors have fixed <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;group=component&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;resolution=fixed\">326 tickets and 108 new features and enhancements</a> in WordPress 5.9. More bug fixes are on the way with your help through testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>cbringmann</a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/psykro/\" target=\"_blank\">@psykro</a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\" target=\"_blank\">@hellofromtonya</a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" target=\"_blank\">@marybaum</a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" target=\"_blank\">@webcommsat</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/costdev/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>costdev</a> and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>meher</a> for contributions to this post.</strong></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11876\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:42:\"WP Briefing: Episode 22: A Carol of Thanks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/episode-22-a-carol-of-thanks/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:22:11 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"Podcast\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"wp-briefing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=11880\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:404:\"In this last episode of 2021, Josepha Haden Chomphosy takes the time to appreciate those who make the WordPress project a success and offers a carol of thanks. Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to wpbriefing@wordpress.org, either written or as a voice recording. Credits Editor:&#160;Dustin Hartzler Logo:&#160;Beatriz Fialho Production:&#160;Chloé Bringmann Song: [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:9:\"enclosure\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:60:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/WP-Briefing-022.mp3\";s:6:\"length\";s:1:\"0\";s:4:\"type\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Chloe Bringmann\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5720:\"\n<p>In this last episode of 2021, Josepha Haden Chomphosy takes the time to appreciate those who make the WordPress project a success and offers a carol of thanks. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to <a href=\"mailto:wpbriefing@wordpress.org\">wpbriefing@wordpress.org</a>, either written or as a voice recording.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"credits\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/\">Beatriz Fialho</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\">Chloé Bringmann</a></li><li>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"references\">References </h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Yourself_a_Merry_Little_Christmas\">Have yourself A Merry Little Christmas </a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"transcript\">Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-11880\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp; </strong>00:10</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing. The podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project. Some insight into the community that supports it and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I&#8217;m your host Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp; </strong>00:39</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, ages and ages ago, when I first started this podcast, someone basically requested that Matt and I do a duet for the last podcast of the year. A Christmas carol duet; him on the saxophone and me on voice. I obviously did not get that coordinated I don&#8217;t even know why I said obviously. I&#8217;ll tell you right now I did not get that coordinated. I was a very busy lady this year. So I don&#8217;t have a Matt on saxophone. Still, I did think that maybe it might be nice just for me to sing a teensy little Christmas carol for you all just because it seems especially poignant the words this year, especially after the 2020, 2021 COVID, all the things and trying to get back in person. So I&#8217;m going to sing you all one little verse from <em>Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy </strong>01:35 <em>Singing</em>  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have yourself a merry little Christmas</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let your heart be light</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From now on our troubles</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will be out of sight</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have yourself a merry little Christmas</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make the Yuletide gay</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From now on our troubles</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will be miles away</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we are as in olden days</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy golden days of yore</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faithful friends who are dear to us</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gather near to us, once more</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the years we all will be together</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the fates allow</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hang a shining star upon the highest bough</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And have yourself a merry little Christmas now</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we are as in olden days</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy golden days of yore</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faithful friends who are dear to us</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gather near to us, once more</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the years we all will be together</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the fates allow</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hang a shining star upon the highest bough</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And have yourself a merry little Christmas now</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp; </strong>03:34</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alright, my friends, that was from my heart to yours if you happened to listen. If you skipped a few seconds to get through it, which I would totally understand, that is also fine. But I did want to just kind of wrap up the year to let you all know that I am so incredibly grateful for all of the people who show up for the WordPress project to make it a success. I have made so many friends and wonderful acquaintances throughout my time here with the WordPress project. And especially in my three years as the project&#8217;s Executive Director. You all have put a lot of trust in me and a lot of faith. And I know that we have gotten so much done together in the last few years. And I am equally sure that we&#8217;re going to get so much done in the years to come. And so thank you all so much for your continued work with WordPress and the way that you just bring your best at all times. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp; </strong>04:32</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One other little thanks I want to give. Over the course of this year, I&#8217;ve had an excellent team that works with me on this podcast. I have editing and design folks and people who&#8217;ve joined me here and there, folks who helped me with my production. So big thank you to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/\">Bea</a>, I realize your name is Beatriz in the actual credits, but I call you Bea, and so thank you. Also, a huge thank you to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\">Chloé</a>, who does all of our production and wrangling every couple of weeks. A big round of applause and kudos to that tiny but tough team that helps me get this all done.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp; </strong>05:10</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s to go on top of the general thanks to the WordPress project. And if you all are celebrators, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. If you are not celebrators, I hope that you have a wonderful end to your year and that everything you wanted to get done, you did get done, and that you can start 2022 with a fresh slate. Again, this is the WP Briefing. Thank you so much for listening. I&#8217;m your host Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I&#8217;ll see you again in 2022.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11880\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38:\"Highlights from State of the Word 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 16 Dec 2021 01:04:17 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11869\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"Highlights and the official video for State of the Word 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Anjana Vasan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3653:\"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/OpiH_P9aGhQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>State of the Word 2021, the annual keynote from WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, happened on December 14. The hybrid event took place in New York City with a small audience (proof of vaccination required). As Matt said, &#8220;we had people join by plane, train, and automobile.&#8221; Those who didn’t make the trek to the live event watched the livestream from wherever they call home, all around the world.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was an exciting moment for the WordPress community which also celebrated its first in-person WordCamp in Sevilla, Spain, after a lengthy hiatus for in-person events.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word/\">view the full recording</a>, complete with captions and transcripts on WordPress.tv.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was thrilling to see so many meetup organizers host watch parties worldwide. Twenty-eight watch parties were held across eleven countries, with more than 300 RSVPs.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar to past State of the Word events, Matt covered a broad range of topics. This year was no different. WordPress’ past, present, and future were in the spotlight, with highlights on the growth of the contributors, language translations, recent release milestones, and educational initiatives, to name a few.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Audience members and livestreamers alike viewed product demos showcasing upcoming features that will be the hallmark of WordPress 5.9, such as full site editing, block patterns, global styling options, and enhanced image controls.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt took the opportunity to remind everyone of the WordPress roadmap which includes native multi-lingual support and real-time collaborative site editing. He also pointed out that anyone can contribute to WordPress’ progress through a number of different initiatives ranging from creating new features and testing to helping spread the word and educate others.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt emphasized the way that open source software gets better by reminding everyone that “The more people that use a program like WordPress, the better it gets.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Broader topics covering the tech landscape including web3, merger and acquisition activity, as well as the growth and support of open source software, rounded out the energetic presentation.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The one-hour multimedia presentation was followed by an interactive <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2021-qa/\">question and answer</a> session where Matt fielded questions that were submitted ahead of the event, as well as questions from the livestream and studio audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Discover everything that was covered by <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2021/12/15/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word/\">watching the official event recording</a> and join the ongoing <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ILoveWP\">#ILoveWP conversation on Twitter</a>!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Special thanks to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/dansoschin/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>dansoschin</a> for review and edits! </em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11869\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 3\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-3/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 14 Dec 2021 20:19:29 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:5:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"5.9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"beta\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11835\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 3 is now available for testing. Help test to make the release as good as it can be.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Jonathan Bossenger\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6087:\"\n<p>WordPress 5.9 Beta 3 is now available for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This software version is still under development.</strong> Please do not run this software on a production site; install it on a test site, where you can try out the newest features and get a feel for how they will work on your site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 3 in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Install and activate the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"> <strong>WordPress Beta Tester</strong></a><strong> </strong>plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 2:</strong> Direct download <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-beta3.zip\">the beta version</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> If you use WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1 or Beta 2 to Beta 3 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Command One:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta2</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Command Two:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta3 --force</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>The current target for the final release of 5.9 is January 25, 2022, which gets closer every minute. Your help testing this beta is vital: the more testing that happens, the more stable the release, and the better the experience for users and developers—and the entire WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"some-highlights\"><strong>Some Highlights</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-2/\">Beta 2</a>,<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=11%2F30%2F2021..12%2F07%2F2021&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;max=500&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=component&amp;col=version&amp;order=priority\"> </a><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=12%2F08%2F2021..12%2F14%2F2021&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;max=500&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=component&amp;col=version&amp;order=priority\">14</a> bugs have been fixed. Here are a few of the changes you will find in Beta 3:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Editor: Add FSE infrastructure from Gutenberg plugin into Core (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54335\">#54335</a>).</li><li>Formatting: Allow PDFs to embedded as objects (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54261\">#54261</a>)</li><li>Language switcher on the login screen (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43700\">#43700</a>)</li><li>REST API: Add navigation areas REST API endpoint from Gutenberg plugin (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54393\">#54393</a>)</li><li>Themes: Live Preview button bug (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54578\">#54578</a>)</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-you-can-help\"><strong>How You Can Help</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do some testing!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/beta-testing/\">Testing for bugs</a> is vital for polishing the release in the beta stage and a great way to contribute.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\"> Alpha/Beta</a> area in the support forums. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/reports/\"> bug report</a>, file one on<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"> WordPress Trac</a>. That’s also where you can find a list of<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"> known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For even more ways to test, you can also refer to<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\"> this official Full Site Editing post from @annezazu</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"got-questions-here-are-some-answers\"><strong>Got questions? Here are some answers</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming weeks, follow the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\"> Make WordPress Core blog</a> for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\"> 5.9-related developer notes</a> that cover these items in detail. So far, contributors have fixed<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;group=component&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;resolution=fixed\"> 316 tickets in WordPress 5.9</a>, including<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;status=reopened&amp;changetime=..12%2F07%2F2021&amp;type=enhancement&amp;type=feature+request&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=type&amp;col=status&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=changetime&amp;col=owner&amp;col=priority&amp;col=keywords&amp;order=changetime\"> 100 new features and enhancements</a>. More bug fixes are on the way with your help through testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Props to<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;</a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/psykro/\" target=\"_blank\">@psykro</a>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/estelaris/\" target=\"_blank\">@estelaris</a>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\" target=\"_blank\">@hellofromtonya</a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" target=\"_blank\">@marybaum</a>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" target=\"_blank\">@webcommsat</a>,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\" target=\"_blank\">@cbringmann</a>,&nbsp;<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/costdev/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>costdev</a>,</em> <em>and&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\" target=\"_blank\">@audrasjb</a></em>&nbsp;<em>for contributions to this post.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Filed under #release, #5.9, #beta</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11835\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 2\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/wordpress-5-9-beta-2/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 07 Dec 2021 22:02:19 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:7:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"5.9\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"beta\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Beta 2\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"block editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"WP releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11794\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:125:\"Can you help test the latest software version of WordPress? 5.9 Beta 2 was published on 7 December 2021, help find any bugs. \";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Jonathan Bossenger\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6225:\"\n<p>WordPress 5.9 Beta 2 is now available for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This software version is still under development.</strong> Please do not run this software on a production site. Instead, install it on a test site, where you can try out the newest features to get a feel for how they will work on your site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 2 in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Install and activate the <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\">WordPress Beta Tester</a> </strong>plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 2:</strong> Direct download the beta version here (<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-beta2.zip\"><strong>zip</strong></a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Option 3:</strong> When using WP-CLI to upgrade from Beta 1 to Beta 2 on a case-insensitive filesystem, please use the following command sequence:<br></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Command One: </p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta1 </code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Command Two: </p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code> wp core update --version=5.9-beta2 --force </code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>The current target for the final release of 5.9 is January 25, 2022, which is just seven weeks away. Your help testing this version is a vital part of making this release as good as it can be.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"some-highlights\"><strong>Some Highlights</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-beta-1/\"> </a><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/wordpress-5-9-beta-1/\">Beta 1</a>, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=11%2F30%2F2021..12%2F07%2F2021&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;max=500&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=component&amp;col=version&amp;order=priority\">24</a> bugs have been fixed. Here are a few of the changes you will find in Beta 2:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Block Editor: Remove navigation areas (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54506\">#54506</a>)</li><li>Block Editor: Navigation block view JavaScript error (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54456\">#54456</a>)</li><li>Block Editor: Block template theme error related to child themes (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54515\">#54515</a>)</li><li>General: Fixing existing links to Customizer when the Site Editor is enabled (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54460\">#54460</a>)</li><li>Media: Media library showing only the selected image (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/53765\">#53765</a>)</li><li>Media: Fatal error uploading media on PHP8 (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54385\">#54385</a>)</li><li>REST API: Add Global Styles REST API endpoints from Gutenberg into Core (<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54336\">#54336</a>)</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, note that some users testing 5.9 Beta 1 faced some fatal errors upon upgrade. In turn, these errors revealed the need for some extra work on the filesystem and upgrader.&nbsp;Those fatal errors are no longer a problem, and the enhancements will be part of version 6.0.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-you-can-help\"><strong>How You Can Help</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do some testing!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/beta-testing/\">Testing for bugs</a> is vital for polishing the release in the beta stage and a great way to contribute.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta</a> area in the support forums. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/reports/\">bug report</a>, file one on <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">WordPress Trac</a>. That’s also where you can find a list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"where-can-i-get-more-information\">Where can I get more information?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming weeks, follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">5.9-related developer notes</a> that cover these items in detail.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, contributors have fixed <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;group=component&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;resolution=fixed\">305 tickets in WordPress 5.9</a>, including <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;status=reopened&amp;changetime=..12%2F07%2F2021&amp;type=enhancement&amp;type=feature+request&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=type&amp;col=status&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=changetime&amp;col=owner&amp;col=priority&amp;col=keywords&amp;order=changetime\">110 new features and enhancements</a>. More bug fixes are on the way with your help through testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Props to</em><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\"><em> </em></a><em><a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/psykro/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>psykro</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/estelaris/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>estelaris</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>hellofromtonya</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>marybaum</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>cbringmann</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>davidb</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a>, and </em><a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/pbiron/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>pbiron</a><em> for contributions to this post.</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11794\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"The Month in WordPress – November 2021\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/12/month-in-wordpress-november-2021/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 02 Dec 2021 11:30:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Month in WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"month in wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"the month in wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11763\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:334:\"Despite the holiday season being around the corner, the WordPress project didn’t slow down. In a recent episode of WP Briefing, Executive Director Josepha Haden shares the first thing she wants people to notice about WordPress, which is also the heart of this open source project: Now, the first thing I want people to see [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Anjana Vasan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18182:\"\n<p>Despite the holiday season being around the corner, the WordPress project didn’t slow down. In a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/episode-20-wordpressblogging/\">recent episode</a> of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/podcast/\">WP Briefing</a>, Executive Director <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">Josepha Haden</a> shares the first thing she wants people to notice about WordPress, which is also the heart of this open source project:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Now, the first thing I want people to see on that site is that WordPress has not only 18 years of learned knowledge that every single new user benefits from, but that it also has thousands of really smart people making sure it works and gets better every day.</p><cite>Josepha Haden, Executive Director of the WordPress project</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, contributors across various teams are working hard to ensure the upcoming release of WordPress 5.9 doesn’t disappoint. With State of the Word 2021 coming up soon, there are many exciting things in the works. Read the November 2021 edition of the Month in WordPress to learn more about what’s happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-5-9-expected-to-release-on-january-25-2022\">WordPress 5.9: Expected to release on January 25, 2022</h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"501\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?resize=1024%2C501&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11764\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?resize=1024%2C501&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?resize=300%2C147&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?resize=768%2C376&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?resize=1536%2C752&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/5.9.png?w=1830&amp;ssl=1 1830w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The Core Team announced the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/22/wordpress-5-9-revised-release-schedule/\">WordPress 5.9 Revised Release Schedule</a>, and the release is now planned for January 25, 2022.</li><li><strong>WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 was recently released and is available for testing.</strong> This version of the WordPress software is under development. Check out the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/wordpress-5-9-beta-1/\">release post</a> to learn more about what’s new in version 5.9 and how you can help testing.&nbsp;</li><li>Check out “<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/a-look-at-wordpress-5-9/\">A Look at WordPress 5.9</a>” for a first peek into the exciting features included in this major release.</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/wordpress-5-8-2-security-and-maintenance-release/\">WordPress 5.8.2</a>, a security and maintenance release, was out on November 10, 2021. This release includes two bug fixes and one security fix.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong><strong>Are you interested in contributing to WordPress core?</strong> Join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a> channel, follow the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Core Team blog</a>, and check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/\">team handbook</a>. Also, don&#8217;t miss the Core Team’s weekly developer chat on Wednesdays at <a href=\"https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=20&amp;min=00&amp;sec=0\">8 PM</a> UTC.</strong></p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"gutenberg-releases-11-9-and-12-0-are-out\">Gutenberg releases: 11.9 and 12.0 are out</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new Gutenberg versions have been released!</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-9-0-10-november/\">Version 11.9.0</a> brings new Gutenberg blocks for working with post comments, a fullscreen pattern explorer modal, further iterations on the Navigation block, and many other improvements.</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/29/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-0-0-24-november/\">Gutenberg 12.0.0</a>, released on November 24, improves the Block Styles preview and includes featured image block visual enhancements, a site Editor welcome guide, official JSON schema updates, and much more.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Want to get involved in developing Gutenberg? </strong>Follow <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">the Core Team blog</a>, contribute to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg on GitHub</a>, and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB2JS7\">#core-editor</a> channel in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\">Make WordPress Slack</a>. Follow <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\">#gutenberg-new</a> for details on the latest updates.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"state-of-the-word-2021-join-a-watch-party-in-your-local-community\">State of the Word 2021: Join a watch party in your local community</h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/Web-—-Matt.png?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"State of the Word 2021 Announcement, which will take place on December 14 between 5 pm and 7 pm ET (22 - 00 UTC).\" class=\"wp-image-11766\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/Web-—-Matt.png?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/Web-—-Matt.png?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/Web-—-Matt.png?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/12/Web-—-Matt.png?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/state-of-the-word-2021/\">State of the Word 2021</a>, the annual keynote address delivered by the WordPress project’s co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, will be held on December 14, 2021 <a href=\"https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r/eventedit?text=State+of+the+Word+2021+livestream&amp;dates=20211214T220000Z/20211215T000000Z&amp;details=State+of+the+Word+is+the+annual+keynote+address+delivered+by+the+WordPress+project%27s+co-founder,+Matt+Mullenweg.%0AJoin+Matt+as+he+provides+a+retrospective+of+2021,+celebrates+the+community%27s+amazing+wins,+discusses+the+latest+trends+he%27s+seeing,+and+explores+the+future+of+open+source.%0AState+of+the+Word+will+be+live+streamed+from+New+York+City,+and+is+free+for+all+to+watch.%0Ahttps://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/state-of-the-word-2021/\">between 5 and 7 pm ET/10 pm – 12 am (December 15) UTC</a>. The event will be <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/join-us-for-state-of-the-word-2021-in-person-or-online/\">livestreamed from New York City</a>, and include a Question and Answer session.&nbsp;</li><li>Host or join a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/watch-state-of-the-word-at-a-watch-party-with-your-wordpress-friends/\">State of the Word watch party</a> to enjoy the event with your WordPress friends. Check <a href=\"https://meetup.com/pro/wordpress\">Meetup</a> to see if a watch party is scheduled to be held in your local community!</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><a href=\"https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r/eventedit?text=State+of+the+Word+2021+livestream&amp;dates=20211214T220000Z/20211215T000000Z&amp;details=State+of+the+Word+is+the+annual+keynote+address+delivered+by+the+WordPress+project%27s+co-founder,+Matt+Mullenweg.%0AJoin+Matt+as+he+provides+a+retrospective+of+2021,+celebrates+the+community%27s+amazing+wins,+discusses+the+latest+trends+he%27s+seeing,+and+explores+the+future+of+open+source.%0AState+of+the+Word+will+be+live+streamed+from+New+York+City,+and+is+free+for+all+to+watch.%0Ahttps://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/state-of-the-word-2021/\"><strong>Add the event to your calendar</strong></a><strong> so you don’t miss State of the Word 2021!</strong> Want to ask Matt a question during State of the Word? Please send your questions ahead of time to <a>ask-matt@wordcamp.org</a> or ask them live during the event via YouTube chat.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"team-updates-nominations-for-some-team-representatives-are-still-underway\">Team updates: Nominations for some team representatives are still underway</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/Requests/releases/tag/v2.0.0\">Requests 2.0.0 has been released</a>. This release is fully compatible with PHP 8.0 and 8.1, indicating that a legacy codebase can be modernized, made more stable and secure <em>without</em> breaking backward-compatibility. The Requests project is a dependency of WordPress core, which was adopted into the WordPress organization earlier this year.&nbsp;</li><li>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/WordPress.org-2020-Annual-Survey.pdf\">2020 WordPress Annual Survey</a> results are available to be viewed.&nbsp;</li><li>The Core Team added <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/08/new-committers-2021/\">six new committers</a>.</li><li>Last month, the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2021/11/22/2022-team-nominations-for-marketing/\">Marketing Team</a> opened its call for team representatives, joining <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/26/nominations-for-core-team-reps-2022/\">Core</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2021/10/27/nominations-call-for-the-themes-team-representatives/\">Themes</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2021/10/30/call-for-team-rep-nominations-3/\">Accessibility</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2021/10/team-representative-nominations/\">Support</a>, and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2021/10/30/nominations-for-hosting-team-reps-2022/\">Hosting</a> from October 2021.</li><li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/24/core-team-reps-for-2020-and-beyond-2/\">Core Team announced its new Team Rep for 2022</a> (and beyond).</li><li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/10/08/moving-to-bi-weekly-meetings/\">Design Team</a> and the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2021/11/19/accessibility-team-meeting-notes-november-19-2021/\">Accessibility Team’s</a> meetings will be held bi-weekly moving forward.</li><li>The Marketing Team published the latest edition of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/people-of-wordpress-devin-maeztri/\">People of WordPress, featuring Devin Maeztri</a> from Indonesia.</li><li>There’s an open call for suggestions for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/11/05/2022-goals-for-the-community-team-suggestions-invited/\">Global Community Team</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2021/11/16/team-goal-setting-2022/\">Training Team</a>, and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/11/11/2022-polyglots-planning/\">Polyglots</a> goals for 2022. Please drop your ideas by December 6, 2021.</li><li>The Accessibility Team has opened 1-2 <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C037W5S7X/p1637775719355600\">volunteer positions</a> for the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/diverse-speaker-support/\">#diverse-speaker-support</a> channel.</li><li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2021/11/22/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-november-2021/\">November 2021 edition</a> of the Polyglots monthly newsletter is out.&nbsp;</li><li>The Marketing Team welcomes any help to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2021/11/17/help-promote-wordpress-meetups-each-week/\">promote WordPress Meetups</a> on a weekly basis and thus keep the community connected.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>We want to hear from you!</strong> Suggest your 2022 goals for the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2021/11/05/2022-goals-for-the-community-team-suggestions-invited/\">Global Community Team</a> by December 6, 2021.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"feedback-testing-requests-test-wordpress-5-9-beta-1-take-the-2021-annual-wordpress-survey-to-share-your-experience\">Feedback/Testing requests: Test WordPress 5.9 Beta 1; Take the 2021 Annual WordPress Survey to share your experience</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 is now available for testing and we’d like to hear from you! Testing is vital to ensure the release is as good as it can be—it’s also a great way to contribute. Read the comprehensive guide, “<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">Help test WordPress 5.9 Features</a>,” to learn how to test WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 and report any bugs.</li><li>There’s an open call for testing for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2021/11/16/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-18-7/\">WordPress iOS 18.7</a> and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2021/11/16/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-18-7/\">Android 18.7</a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>The </strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/take-the-2021-wordpress-annual-survey-and-view-the-2020-results/\"><strong>2021 WordPress Annual Survey</strong></a><strong> is out! </strong>Please respond to the survey, so <em>your</em> WordPress experience is reflected in the results.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"keep-an-eye-out-for-wordcamp-taiwan-and-sevilla-along-with-several-wordpress-workshops-in-december-2021\">Keep an eye out for WordCamp Taiwan and Sevilla, along with several WordPress workshops in December 2021</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Several <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/\">WordPress Social Learning Meetups</a> were held in November by the Training Team, and there will be more in December 2021.</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/tag/tuesdaytrainings/\">Tuesday Training</a> sessions are paused until 2022.</li><li><a href=\"https://saopaulo.wordcamp.org/2021/\">WordCamp São Paulo</a> was held online on November 27, 2021.</li><li>Get excited for <a href=\"https://sevilla.wordcamp.org/2021/\">WordCamp Sevilla 2021</a>, coming up on December 11-12! Sevilla is the first in-person WordCamp happening in over 18 months, since WordCamps moved online in March 2020 due to COVID-19.</li><li>Don’t miss the following upcoming WordCamps: <a href=\"https://taiwan.wordcamp.org/2021/\">WordCamp Taiwan 2021</a>, <a href=\"https://birmingham.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Birmingham 2022</a>, and <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Europe 2022</a>!</li><li>Check out the latest episodes of WordPress Briefing with Josepha Haden on<ul><li>“<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/episode-21-all-things-block-themes/\">All Things Block Themes!</a>”</li><li>“<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/episode-20-wordpressblogging/\">WordPress=Blogging+</a>”</li><li>“<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/episode-19-the-people-of-wordpress/\">The People of WordPress</a>”</li></ul></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p><strong>Give back to open source. </strong>Please donate to<a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/news/2021/give-back-to-open-source-this-giving-tuesday/\"> the WordPress Foundation</a>’s mission this holiday season.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know&nbsp; by filling out </em></strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this form</em></strong></a><strong><em>.&nbsp;</em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following folks contributed to November 2021’s Month in WordPress: <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/anjanavasan/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>anjanavasan</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/harishanker/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>harishanker</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>rmartinezduque</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/callye/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>callye</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/jrf/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>jrf</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a>, and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a></em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11763\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/wordpress-5-9-beta-1/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 Nov 2021 23:35:51 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11584\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:307:\"WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 is now available for testing! This version of the WordPress software is under development. You don’t want to run this version on a production site. Instead, it is recommended that you run this on a test site. This will allow you to test out the new version. You can test the [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Chloe Bringmann\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10992:\"\n<p>WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 is now available for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. You don’t want to run this version on a production site. Instead, it is recommended that you run this on a test site. This will allow you to test out the new version.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test the WordPress 5.9 Beta 1 in three ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Option 1: Install and activate the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"> WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</li><li>Option 2: Direct download the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.9-beta1.zip\">beta version here (zip)</a>.</li><li>Option 3: Use WP-CLI to test: <code>wp core update --version=5.9-beta1</code>. <strong><em>Do not use this option if your filesystem is case-insensitive.</em></strong></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The current target for the final release is January 25, 2022, which is just eight weeks away. Your help testing this version is vital to make sure the release is as good as it can be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-9+dev-notes/\">5.9-related developer notes</a> in the coming weeks which will break down all upcoming changes in greater detail.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"how-you-can-help-testing\"><strong>How You Can Help – Testing!</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing for bugs is a critical part of polishing the release in the beta stage. It is also a great way to contribute. If you’ve never tested a beta release before, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/11/30/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features/\">this detailed guide will help</a> walk you through what and how to test.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think you’ve found a bug, please report it to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta area</a> in the support forums. If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">file one on WordPress Trac</a>. That’s also where you can find a list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see every feature in the Gutenberg releases since WordPress 5.8, check out the What’s New In Gutenberg posts for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/06/10/whats-new-in-gutenberg-10-8-9-june/\">10.8</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/06/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-10-9-23-june/\">10.9</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/07/09/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-0-0-9-july/\">11.0</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/07/21/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-1-0-21-july/\">11.1</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-2-0-4-august/\">11.2</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/18/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-3-18-august/\">11.3</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/09/01/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-4-1-september/\">11.4</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/09/17/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-5-16-september/\">11.5</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/01/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-6-29-september/\">11.6</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-7-october-13th/\">11.7</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/28/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-8-0-27-october/\">11.8</a>, and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/11/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-9-0-10-november/\">11.9</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond the noted changes, which include 580 enhancements and nearly 450 bug fixes, contributors have fixed <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;group=component&amp;max=500&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=component&amp;col=version&amp;order=priority\">297 tickets for WordPress 5.9</a>, including <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;status=reopened&amp;type=enhancement&amp;type=feature+request&amp;milestone=5.9&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=type&amp;col=status&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=priority&amp;col=changetime&amp;col=keywords&amp;order=changetime\">110 new features and enhancements</a>. More fixes are on the way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Want to know what’s new in version 5.9? Read on for some highlights.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"full-site-editing\"><strong><strong>Full Site Editing</strong></strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"styles-interface\">The <strong>Styles Interface</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Combine all the features that went live in 5.8 with those making their entrance in 5.9, and you get <strong>Full Site Editing.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Formerly known as Global Styles, the Styles Interface lets you interact directly with your blocks and elements right in the WordPress Admin. From typography to color palettes, this cohesive design interface means a design change—even a dramatic one—can happen without a theme switch. <strong>No code needed.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"theme-json\"><strong>Theme.json</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Introduced in WordPress 5.8, theme.json has been improved to enable features and default styles for your site and its blocks. With 5.9, theme.json can support child themes and the duotone treatment. Coordinate layers of style with theme.json, taking the weight off of your theme’s required CSS.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other features supported by theme.json include: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Border:</strong> color, style, and width augment the border-radius property that landed in 5.8.</li><li><strong>Flex layouts:</strong> Block Gap support, courtesy of spacing.blockGap.</li><li><strong>Typography:</strong> font families, font style, font weight, text decoration, and text transform.</li><li><strong>Images</strong>: Duotones.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"a-new-navigation-block\"><strong>A New Navigation Block</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Welcome to the most intuitive way to build navigation: the Navigation Block.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the features that need testing the most:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Responsive menu options you can turn off, have always on, or opt to use only for small screens.</li><li>Built-in keyboard accessibility.&nbsp; For accessibility, for speed, or both.</li><li>Add extra blocks like Search and Site Icon blocks (and customize them to your liking).</li><li>Submenu items with styling options.</li><li>Horizontal or vertical alignment.</li><li>Reusable navigation? Even across themes? Yes. Because the Navigation Block you build gets saved as a custom post type.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"a-better-gallery-block\"><strong>A Better Gallery Block</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What if you could treat single images in your Gallery Block the same way you treat the Image Block? <strong>Now you can.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p> Make every image in your gallery different from the next, with inline cropping or a duotone and change layouts with the ease of drag and drop. With the improved gallery block, every image is its own Image block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One thing to note: </strong>Have you built a plugin or theme on the Gallery Block functionality?<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/20/gallery-block-refactor-dev-note/\"> Be sure to review this Dev Note, which details what you need to do for compatibility</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"focused-template-part-mode\"><strong>Focused Template Part Mode</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Building template parts can take a level of focus all its own because you’re making decisions for the entire site. So WordPress 5.9 adds a focus mode that shows you only the part you’re working on right now (and you can get back to the regular view with a keystroke).&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"block-pattern-directory\"><strong>Block Pattern Directory</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">Pattern Directory</a> offers a range of prebuilt block patterns, from a couple of blocks that show an image and text, to an entire page layout with columns and sections. Since the 5.8 release, the directory has become a hub for exploratory UI and patterns, taking submissions and offering them to the community. So now, your creation can help other people build out their perfect site.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"twenty-twenty-two-default-theme\"><strong>Twenty Twenty-Two Default Theme</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A whole new way of building WordPress themes.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 5.9 introduces features that make Full Site Editing possible, including <strong>the first default block theme</strong>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using minimal CSS, theme styles reside in theme.json so that you can configure them in the Styles interface of the WordPress Admin. Make this theme take on its own personality site-wide, with a wide array of color schemes, type combinations, page templates, premade components (forms), and image treatments to choose from.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"more-improvements-and-updates\"><strong>More Improvements and Updates</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Do you love to blog? New tweaks to the publishing flow let you add new posts just seconds after hitting Publish on your latest post.</li><li>List View lets you drag and drop content as easily as you could always cruise through it – and collapse entire sections – so you can concentrate on a task or get the bigger picture.</li><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33955\">The Buttons and Social icons blocks now absorb</a> and display their parent block’s toolbar controls.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43700\">Choose your language</a> on the login screen.</li><li>More <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33868\">performance improvements</a> (i.e., speed).</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>chanthaboune</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/priethor/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>priethor</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/psykro/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>psykro</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>annezazu</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>webcommsat</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>marybaum</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromtonya/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>hellofromtonya</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>davidbaumwald</a>, and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>rmartinezduque</a> for their research and copy.</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"11584\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"People of WordPress: Devin Maeztri\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/people-of-wordpress-devin-maeztri/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 Nov 2021 22:21:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:6:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Interviews\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Contributor Story\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Indonesia\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"People of WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"Polyglot Contributor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=11678\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:111:\"Devin Maeztri, a campaigner from Indonesia talks about the difference WordPress makes in her life and her work.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17025:\"\n<p>In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people&#8217;s lives for the better. This month we feature a translator and campaigner who uses WordPress to highlight good causes and helps people in her area benefit from the open source platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Devin pictured with one of her cats\" class=\"wp-image-11690\" srcset=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat-scaled.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat-scaled.jpg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-with-her-cat-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<p>Going to a WordCamp can be a life-changing experience, as Devin Maeztri discovered. Every event she attends is a further step on a journey of discovering the WordPress community and its many opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>“It is not that hard to fall for WordPress if you have a chance to experience WordPress. For me, it took a WordCamp.”</p><cite>Devin Maeztri</cite></blockquote></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Devin&#8217;s first experience with camps came when she volunteered impromptu at an Indonesian event, WordCamp Denpasar, Bali in 2016.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, she made a profound discovery: “WordCamps can bring people who will give back to the community, even if they don’t get anything from WordPress directly.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With every WordCamp after that first experience, she became more interested in WordPress and the community.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over time, Devin found she wanted to be part of WordPress events more often. She became a regular at Meetups in Ubud and Jakarta, joining as a co-organizer at WordCamp Jakarta in 2017 and 2019. Later, she took on the role of co-organizer for Meetups in Jakarta and Ubud.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smitten by what WordCamps can offer and how they can bring people together across national borders, she joined the organizing team for WordCamp Asia 2020. Sadly, this event was to become the first major WordPress event to be cancelled in the COVID-19 pandemic.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, Devin hopes WordCamp Asia will happen someday very soon. Beyond the expected WordPress learning and sharing that event will promote, she believes its very scale will showcase how WordCamps add international tourism and cultural understanding everywhere they take place.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/wcasia_2020_organizers_in_wceu_2019.jpeg?resize=1024%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Devin pictured with other WordCamp Asia organizers who attended WordCamp Europe in 2019\" class=\"wp-image-11692\" srcset=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/wcasia_2020_organizers_in_wceu_2019.jpeg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/wcasia_2020_organizers_in_wceu_2019.jpeg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/wcasia_2020_organizers_in_wceu_2019.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/wcasia_2020_organizers_in_wceu_2019.jpeg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /><figcaption>WordCamp Asia 2020 Organizers at WordCamp Europe 2019. Devin is pictured in the front row, second from left. Photo Credit: Abha Thakor</figcaption></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"showing-how-wordpress-can-be-used-locally\">Showing how WordPress can be used locally</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After experiencing several events, Devin had questions: “At WordCamps and Meetups, you hear stories about how WordPress powers the web. How it changes the lives of so many people, how it helps dreams come true. It made me think, considering WordPress is that powerful, why are there not even more people in Indonesia using websites, and more using WordPress? Why aren’t more talented Indonesian WordPress users, developers, designers, and business owners taking part in WordPress.org projects? Language, for me, was the main answer.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution Devin felt was to make WordPress available in the main local language. She said: “I believe, the more content translated into Indonesian, the more Indonesian WordPress users see WordPress as more than just a blogging platform or a content management system. They will realize it’s a huge open source community that works together to make the web a better place. The more plugins and themes translated, the easier the work of the developer and designer will be. The more people see how WordPress can enhance their life, the better the ecosystem for business owners becomes.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"encouraging-others-to-translate-wordpress\">Encouraging others to translate WordPress</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After talking with others about how WordPress could be even more useful in Indonesia, Devin felt she had to make a personal commitment to reviving the polyglot project in Indonesia. With another volunteer contributor and through promotion, the local polyglot team got bigger and the interest in translation grew. She also took on the responsibility of a General Translation Editor for the language.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/featured-img-used-for-devin-pow2.jpg?resize=1024%2C515&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Polyglot nominatee - Devin Maeztri\" class=\"wp-image-11706\" srcset=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/featured-img-used-for-devin-pow2.jpg?resize=1024%2C515&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/featured-img-used-for-devin-pow2.jpg?resize=300%2C151&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/featured-img-used-for-devin-pow2.jpg?resize=768%2C386&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/featured-img-used-for-devin-pow2.jpg?w=1247&amp;ssl=1 1247w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the efforts of Devin and the other translation editors, Indonesia took part in <a href=\"https://wptranslationday.org/\">WordPress Translation Day</a> in 2020, and in 2021 held sprints and learning sessions spanning the whole 30 days of the event. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her enthusiasm and dedication to helping others translate WordPress locally and promoting the global community were recognized in the Polyglot Appreciation Nominations for 2021. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"helping-to-give-access-to-more-diverse-audiences\">Helping to give access to more diverse audiences</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Through her involvement in translation, Devin noticed there were not many women involved in the WordPress community in Indonesia. Often, she found herself the only woman at an event.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, along with a couple of community members, she started Perempuan WordPress, a local initiative. This group is open for everyone to join, but prioritizes women as event speakers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Devin has gone on to support the work of the Diversity Speaker Training group in the Community Team, translating materials and promoting initiatives in Indonesia.&nbsp;She is keen to encourage others to get involved with this initiative which helps increase the diversity of presenters at Meetups and WordCamps. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"534\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-at-wc-jakarta2019.png?resize=600%2C534&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11689\" srcset=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-at-wc-jakarta2019.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/devin-at-wc-jakarta2019.png?resize=300%2C267&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /><figcaption><em>Organizing at WordCamp Jakarta 2019</em></figcaption></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<p>In her professional roles, Devin is an advocate for WordPress as a tool for people with a wide variety of skill sets. She does not code, but uses the platform extensively for her projects. In 2014, she signed up for a free account on WordPress.com to keep and share notes about what she saw or was thinking about as she commuted on public transport to work. This site did not turn into a blog, but instead introduced her to other opportunities and the vast capabilities of the platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-can-support-your-skills-and-passions\">WordPress can support your skills and passions</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With a background in environmental activism, Devin has worked for international development organizations on everything from policymaking to campaigning.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind the desk, she worked with policymakers and organized conferences and meetings. 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As a global movement, it developed its resources in English, so she also reviewed the work of the translators she worked with.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"One of Devin\'s cats watches the WPTranslationDay 2021 livestreamed events.\" class=\"wp-image-11688\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2021/11/cat-watching-translation-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /><figcaption>Devin&#8217;s cat became a regular on social media posts about #WPTranslationDay 2021</figcaption></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<p>She left her job as a campaigner at the end of 2018 to concentrate on freelancing – and to spend more of her free time contributing to the WordPress community. She also took up the initiative to help street cats in Jakarta.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Devin said: “So, I am busy helping these cats but also learning how to fundraise using a website. I’m learning to use online forms, set up a payment service provider, work on SEO, and do other new things I need to learn to grow my initiative. I do have the privilege to learn directly from a personal guru. The same person who convinced me to volunteer at WordCamp Denpasar, and who I married in 2018.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"wordpress-gives-everyone-a-chance-to-learn\">WordPress gives everyone a chance to learn</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Devin was so enthused by being a contributor for WordPress, she took part in the video shorts following the Translation Day events.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/VsiQzdmAz8g?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"></iframe>\n</div><figcaption>Devin talks about translating in this short <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsiQzdmAz8g\" target=\"_blank\">video</a> (opens in a new tab on YouTube)</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>She is also active in other Contributor Teams and decided to become a Community Team Deputy to support meetups in new cities across Indonesia and perhaps future WordCamps.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said: “One of the things that I like about WordPress is that it is very welcoming and open to people like me, who don’t code at all. At the same time, it shows me a different way of looking at the world.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Devin believes in the power of WordPress to give ‘everyone a chance to learn new things’ and allows her to contribute and share her knowledge and experience. “By contributing, I hope to make a difference in someone’s life. I hope they feel the benefit of using WordPress and want to give back to create a healthier WordPress community.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"share-the-stories\">Share the stories</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Help share these stories of open source contributors and continue to grow the community. Meet more WordPressers in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/category/newsletter/interviews/\">People of WordPress series.</a> #ContributorStory.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"contributors\">Contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to Abha Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\">@</a><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\">webcommsat</a>) and Mary Baum (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>marybaum</a>) for the interviews and writing this feature, and to Devin Maeztri (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/devinmaeztri/\">@devinmaeztri</a>) for sharing her story. Thanks to Meher Bala (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\">@meher</a>) for work on the images, and to Chloé Bringmann (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\">@cbringmann</a>) and Collieth Clarke (<a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/callye/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>callye</a>) for proofing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp;(@<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">chanthaboune</a>) and Topher DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/\">@topher1kenobe</a>) for their support for the series.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\" style=\"grid-template-columns:29% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"180\" height=\"135\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2020/03/heropress_logo_180.png?resize=180%2C135&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"HeroPress logo\" class=\"wp-image-8409 size-full\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on </em><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. 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INSERT INTO `wp_options` VALUES (271575,'_transient_feed_d117b5738fbd35bd8c0391cda1f2b5d9','a:4:{s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:3:\"rss\";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"\n\n\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:7:\"version\";s:3:\"2.0\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:7:\"channel\";a:1:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"WordPress Planet\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"http://planet.wordpress.org/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"language\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"en\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:47:\"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"item\";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress – March 2022\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12583\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/the-month-in-wordpress-march-2022/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12488:\"<p>We hope that you and your beloved ones are staying safe during these difficult times. 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This new tool allows anyone with a WordPress.org user account to build, edit and submit their best block patterns to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">Pattern Directory</a>.<br /><br />If you&#8217;ve used patterns in WordPress, you&#8217;ll know that they make it easy to add unique layouts to your website, such as galleries, call-to-action sections, testimonials, pricing tables, and more. 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Conclusions and next steps will be shared soon.</li><li>On a similar note, Cate DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mysweetcate/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>mysweetcate</a>) is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/23/return-to-events-blue-sky-thinking/\">looking for ideas</a> on how the Community team can support organizers who are trying to restart in-person events in their communities. Share yours by April 13, 2022.</li><li>The Training team published new lesson plans, workshops, and social learning spaces on Learn WordPress. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/04/01/whats-new-on-learnwp-in-march-2022/\">Check out what’s new in March 2022.</a></li><li>How has WordPress helped grow your story? The Make Marketing team <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2022/04/01/grow-your-story-on-wordpress/\">wants to hear about your experience</a>!</li><li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/07/the-performance-lab-plugin-has-been-released/\">Performance Lab plugin</a>, a set of modules that aim to improve performance in WordPress, was released last month.</li><li>Openverse released <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2022/03/10/openverse-frontend-v3-1-1-release/\">new updates</a> in March, including a redesigned content reporting flow and new image detail pages.</li><li>WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy posted a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/03/23/removal-of-the-zamir-plugin/\">public statement</a> on the removal of the Zamir plugin a few weeks ago.</li><li>The March 2022 editions of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/14/meetup-organizer-newsletter-march-2022/\">Meetup Organizer Newsletter</a> and the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/03/22/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-march-2022/\">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter</a> were published.</li><li>The latest edition of People of WordPress features the contributor story of the Argentinian web developer and product manager <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/people-of-wordpress-juanfra-aldasoro/\">Juanfra Aldasoro</a>.</li><li>WordPress community members launched the <a href=\"https://block-museum.com/\">Museum of Block Art (MOBA)</a>, a new initiative that seeks to inspire creativity and push the limits around what can be done with WordPress. All of the art curated in this virtual museum is built using the block editor.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-5 wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/30/proposal-steps-to-integrate-wpdiversity-into-wordpress-event-organizing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Help us build a thriving and inclusive community. Share your thoughts on this </strong><strong>proposal</strong><strong> to introduce WordCamp and Meetup organizers to #WPDiversity programs by April 8, 2022.</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Testing requests: WebP feature, template for author pages</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The Performance Team has published a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/28/enabling-webp-by-default/\">proposal</a> to integrate the WebP image format by default into WordPress core. Your feedback on this feature is appreciated.</li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2022/04/04/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-ios-19-6/\">Version 19.6</a> of WordPress for iOS is available for testing.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-6 wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/03/31/fse-program-testing-call-13-authoring-an-author-template/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong> There&#8217;s a new call for testing as part of the Full Site Editing Outreach Program: Authoring an Author Template. The deadline to participate is April 21, 2022.</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2>The first flagship in-person WordCamp Asia is looking for organizers</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>After two years since the WordCamp Asia organizing team announced that the first flagship WordCamp Asia was canceled due to the pandemic, they are back together and <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-organisers/\">looking for more members</a> to join them in planning the event tentatively scheduled for February 2023.</li><li>The <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/apply-to-speak-at-wcus/\">Call for Speakers</a> for WordCamp US 2022 is now open. You can submit your application by April 17, 2022.</li><li>Three in-person WordCamps are happening this month:<ul><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1e8-1f1ed.png\" alt=\"🇨🇭\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://geneve.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Genève</a>, Switzerland on April 9, 2022</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1ec-1f1f7.png\" alt=\"🇬🇷\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://athens.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Athens</a>, Greece on April 9-10, 2022</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1e6-1f1f9.png\" alt=\"🇦🇹\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://vienna.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Vienna</a>, Austria on April 23-24, 2022</li></ul></li><li>Check out the latest episodes of WordPress Briefing with Josepha Haden:<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/episode-28-coming-to-a-wordcamp-near-you-a-return-to-in-person-wp-events/\">Coming to a WordCamp Near You: A Return to In-Person WP Events</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/episode-27-is-wordpress-made-for-me/\">Is WordPress Made for Me?</a></li></ul></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-7 wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-volunteers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><strong>The </strong><strong>Call for Volunteers</strong><strong> for WordCamp Europe 2022 is still open. If you want to get involved with the WordPress community and have a lot of fun, this is your chance!</strong></strong></a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know by filling out </em></strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this form</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: </em><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>rmartinezduque</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mysweetcate/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>mysweetcate</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/anjanavasan/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>anjanavasan</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"rmartinezduque\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:86:\"WPTavern: FSE Outreach #13: Building an Author Template from the WordPress Site Editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132478\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:95:\"https://wptavern.com/fse-outreach-13-building-an-author-template-from-the-wordpress-site-editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6707:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Anne McCarthy <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/03/31/fse-program-testing-call-13-authoring-an-author-template/\">announced round #13 of the FSE Outreach Program</a> on March 31. This call for testing focuses on creating an author template via the site editor. Several of the new features used during this round were only added in <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-9-adds-block-locking-ui-automatic-pattern-registration-and-full-theme-exports\">Gutenberg 12.9</a> last week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The call asks volunteers to test and provide feedback on features related to Full Site Editing before they land in WordPress. Anyone can participate, and the deadline is April 21.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this round of testing, I used the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo\">Archeo block theme</a>. It is a recent favorite, and I have been working with it <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the-archeo-wordpress-theme-blends-mayan-history-with-magazine-style-block-patterns\">since I first reviewed it</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following is a screenshot of my final author template design:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>I read through the testing instructions and forged my own path. I still managed to cover everything except block locking. I had already extensively tested it with Gutenberg 12.9&#8217;s launch and wanted to focus on the other features.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside of the user-experience issues noted below, everything went well. No editor crashes. No problems saving. And the front-end matched what I was seeing in the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Building an Author Template</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The most immediate issue when creating a new author template is that it was devoid of default blocks. Where was the&#8212;at minimum&#8212;header and footer?</p>\n\n\n\n<img />A blank canvas to start from.\n\n\n\n<p>The empty template would make sense if I was building something from scratch. However, this is not a from-scratch project. It was built from a theme with existing <code>archive.html</code> and <code>index.html</code> files, ancestors in the template hierarchy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the author template is merely a more specific version of the archive template, it should be a copy of its &#8220;parent&#8221; in the hierarchy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users will most likely want to make modifications rather than start from scratch. Using an ancestor template as a base means that they are less likely to unnecessarily deviate from the existing layout, especially with more complex designs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second set of actions I took was to go back to the Templates panel, open the archive template, copy all content, and paste it into the new author template.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Copying the content of the author template.\n\n\n\n<p>This is &#8212; while a bit irritating &#8212; easy enough to do, at least from a developer perspective. However, it is a massive boulder sitting in the middle of a user&#8217;s path to success.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the design, I fell back on the ever-trustworthy Cover block. I snagged an image that worked with the theme&#8217;s style. Then, I placed the Avatar, Archives Title, and Post Author Biography blocks in two columns.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Creating a custom author archive page header.\n\n\n\n<p>I spent some time pondering the idea of featured images for authors, categories, and tags. <em>How awesome would it be if the Cover block background was contextually displayed based on the current author?</em> Unfortunately, such a feature does not exist.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was surprised that the Avatar and Post Author Bio blocks worked. I tested these both inside of the Query Loop and outside of it. When an author has published posts, the two blocks appear as they should.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, if the author has not published any posts, the avatar reverts to the site default, and the bio disappears. I have not performed a deep dive into the code, but I am guessing they pick up on WordPress&#8217;s global <code>$post</code> variable, which is why it works in the first scenario.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Missing avatar and author bio for unpublished author.\n\n\n\n<p>This limitation means that the block system is still not up to par with what is currently possible with classic, PHP-based themes. Avatar, Post Author Biography, and similar blocks should rely on the queried author variable as a fallback when viewing an author archive.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One part of this FSE testing round was using the new No Results block from Gutenberg 12.9. It is a conditional block that appears when there are no posts to show. WordPress creates &#8220;author views&#8221; for every user on the site, regardless of whether they have written posts. The No Results block will likely be the most useful in this context.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with the block felt odd at first. <em>Where does it go? After the Post Template? Before?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out that you can actually stick it in anywhere inside of the Query Loop parent block. I even tested before and after pagination. Basically, it just works.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UI left something to be desired. It simply reads:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Add a text or blocks that will display when a query returns no results.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Aside from the glaring grammatical error</em>, displaying the message is necessary, but I expected it to look and feel more like the Group block. After all, it is essentially a container for other blocks, and WordPress already has an existing UI for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was also odd to visually edit a feature that is conditionally displayed. There should be an indicator that its contents may or may not be shown on the front end. I am not aware of any precedent for such a block in core WordPress, but we should look at other projects and how they handle this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-visibility/\">Block Visibility</a> plugin by Nick Diego might be a plugin to borrow from. It adds an overlay, border, and icon for contextual blocks:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Overlay design from Block Visibility plugin.\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, I decided to copy McCarthy&#8217;s original message from her test and paste it into the No Results block. Then, I took things one step more and put a Query Loop inside of it &#8212; <em>yes, a Query Loop inside of a Query Loop</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It worked without issue:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Querying latest posts when no results are found.\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the No Results block is a welcome addition to the theme-blocks toolset. I would like to see the UI fleshed out a bit. Theme authors will likely start using this more when 6.0 lands, and I could see users inadvertently trying to delete it, thinking it is part of the default output. This would make it a candidate for block-level locking.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:46:31 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:92:\"WPTavern: WordPress.com Makes Major Unannounced Pricing Changes, Slashes Free Storage Limits\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132482\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-makes-major-unannounced-pricing-changes-slashes-free-storage-limits\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8128:\"<p>Over the weekend, a post regarding WordPress.com&#8217;s as yet unannounced pricing changes went viral on Hacker News. In a post titled &#8220;<a href=\"https://rootprivileges.net/2022/04/03/what-are-you-doing-wordpress-com/\">What are you doing, WordPress.com?</a>&#8221; one user identified as &#8220;VM&#8221; expressed concerns about the <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/pricing/\">pricing</a>, which has changed from five plans to two plans, and slashed storage on the free tier from 3GB to 500MB.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;At some point late last week, WordPress replaced all of the paid plans with a single ‘Pro’ plan and reduced the storage on the free plan 6x, from 3 GB to 500 MB,&#8221; VM wrote. &#8220;It also imposed a traffic ceiling on both plans where none existed: 10,000 visits a month and 100,000 visits a month (and it hasn’t said anything about overages – so far).&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other WordPress.com users took to the forums to express <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/reason-behind-plan-upgrades/\">frustrations with the new pricing</a>. Although WordPress.com representatives have confirmed that the storage and traffic limits should only affect new sites, many long-time users have reported that their storage has been cut back to 500MB. This may be a bug in the rollout but at the time of publication, WordPress.com has not published a public notice the price changes beyond updating the pricing page.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the absence of communication about the change, VM speculated that it may be a cascading effect of the block editor changing how well commercial themes can be monetized:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps we should have seen this coming: the new full-site editing option has rendered premium themes, and thus the premium and business plans redundant; the Gutenberg upgrade allowed users on free as well as personal plans to do some of the things that were previously only possible with premium or business plans. But to be honest, the hindsight doesn’t explain why WordPress.com – whose free plan, pro-open-source stance and focus on making publishing technology more democratic made it many a modern (non-technical) blogger’s host of choice – would pull the rug out like this.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress.com CEO Dave Martin <a href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30896807\">responded</a> to these concerns on Hacker News, apologizing for the lack of communication in the rollout:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>You&#8217;re right to call us out. I did a poor job of sharing context around why we are making change, so I can see how they could come as a shock. I&#8217;m sorry! That&#8217;s on me.</p><p>Yes, as of this week we&#8217;ve gone from 5 plans down to just 2. That said, we&#8217;re not done making changes. This was the first of a couple of phases of changes.</p><p>Those 5 older plans that you mentioned were the culmination of like 10 years worth of plans and features sort of haphazardly being added to WordPress.com with no real strategy. With those older plans, it was really hard for customers to see at-a-glance why they should choose one plan over another.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin said WordPress.com generally adjusts its subscription plan pricing to make it affordable in different regions of the world but neglected to do so for the new Pro plan. The company is working on updating that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also said the traffic limits will &#8220;only be enforced on the honor system.&#8221; Users who consistently go over the monthly cap will be prodded with notices to pay more, but their sites will not be shut off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Pro plan you see now (at $15/mo) is essentially the the exact same plan as the old Business plan (which used to cost $25/mo),&#8221; Martin said. &#8220;The only difference being the default storage that is available and a cost savings to customers of $10/mo.&#8221; This plan currently has no option for monthly billing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cost savings only affects users who were already paying. New users on the free plan will need to work within the confines of the 500MB storage limit or pay $180/year for the upgrade. This is surprising, given how many people use WordPress.com simply to blog with no business interests.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Again, this may be great for businesses – but it’s a shit move for bloggers,&#8221; VM said in his post. &#8220;Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic, which runs WordPress.com, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/15/22977857/wordpress-tumblr-simplenote-internet-automattic-matt-mullenweg-interview\" target=\"_blank\">recently said in an interview</a>: &#8216;I’ll tell you a stat most people don’t realize. Half of all users who sign up for WordPress.com every day are there to blog.&#8217; I’ll tell you that for all of <em>these</em> people as well as the people who are using WordPress.com to blog (including me), the new plan is a betrayal of our interests.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One Hacker News commenter @username223 <a href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30896980\">noted</a> how easy it will be for users to max out the free tier in a short amount of time:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Cutting the free tier from 3 GB to 500 MB makes it useless for many people: that&#8217;s 500 images at okay resolution, and lots of people like to put photos on their blogs. And 300 &#8220;visits&#8221; (page hits?) per day is almost as bad, as a runaway crawler or minor spike in interest can blow through that in no time.</p><p>I moved away from WP.com when they started putting ads on the free tier. I thought their business model was upselling some people, so monetizing the free version felt scummy. The fact that they&#8217;re crippling the free version now makes me even more glad I moved away.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin said WordPress.com has plans to offer some à la carte features that may help new free users avoid having to pay $180/year just to increase storage.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We will be announcing affordable add-ons for both the free plan and the Pro plan to extend both your traffic and your storage as needed,&#8221; Martin said. &#8220;In fact, we plan to also add a handful of affordable add-ons to the free plan to make it easy for customers to pick and choose which additional functionality they want, without needing to upgrade to the Pro plan.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin&#8217;s responses were reassuring to some users, including the author of the original post. Other found the changes to the free plan to be discouraging,  <a href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30895947\">saying</a> &#8220;the internet has become gentrified.&#8221; The comments on the <a href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30894980&p=1\">Hacker News</a> post are a gold mine of feedback from a demographic that has developed strong expectations about blogging for free.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The point is here that &#8216;just here to blog&#8217; bloggers like me have been able to pay WP to have a custom domain, some storage, some SEO and some SM tools managed by WP – and nothing else,&#8221; user <a href=\"https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=panicpanicpanic\">panicpanicpanic</a> said. &#8220;But now, to point a custom domain at my WP site, I need to cough up $180/yr. It&#8217;s not just the free plan shrinking further, a fact you&#8217;re commenting on, but that the sole alternative plan lies at the other extreme.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s not yet clear whether WordPress.com will offer custom domains as an add-on to the free plan or force users to upgrade to the Pro plan. At the time of publishing, no public announcement has been made about the full range of add-ons that will be available. WordPress.com has published a page to its support forums with <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/pricing-feedback/\">FAQ&#8217;s regarding pricing feedback.</a> The post indicates an announcement may be coming in the next few days after the team has the chance to work out any remaining issues.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:02:32 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:107:\"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 28: Coming to a WordCamp Near You: A Return to In-Person WP Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=12506\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:108:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/04/episode-28-coming-to-a-wordcamp-near-you-a-return-to-in-person-wp-events/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11926:\"<p>In the twenty-eighth episode of the WordPress Briefing, Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy discusses returning to in-person WordPress events.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to <a href=\"mailto:wpbriefing@wordpress.org\">wpbriefing@wordpress.org</a>, either written or as a voice recording.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"credits\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/beafialho/\">Beatriz Fialho</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\">Chloé Bringmann</a> &amp; <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/santanainniss/\">Santana Inniss</a> </li><li>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</li><li>Special thanks to: <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/angelasjin/\">Angela Jin</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>References</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordcampcentral.survey.fm/2022-host-in-person-wordpress-event-checklist\">Event Safety Checklist</a></li><li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-organisers/\">WordCamp Asia Call for Organizers</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/23/return-to-events-blue-sky-thinking/\">Open Discussion: Returning to In-Person Events</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/17/discussion-revisiting-in-person-regional-wordcamps/\">Open Discussion: Returning to Regional Events</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-12506\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:00:00] </strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello everyone! And welcome to the WordPress Briefing: the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project, some insight into the community that supports it and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:00:40]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was checking the list of upcoming events recently as part of just my regular work and saw that the call for organizers for WordCamp Asia is open. On the one hand, it made my heart skip a beat with excitement. That event is six years or so in the making. And on the other hand, it reminded me of February 10th, 2020, the day that Matt told me that we had to proactively cancel WordCamp Asia. That week was truly heartbreaking for me as well as I think the entire organizing team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it also, fortunately, was prescient. As I think back over the two years since then, I&#8217;m grateful for our community wranglers and deputies who have consistently hosted important discussions about how to return to in-person events safely. And with two of our major flagship events returning this year, I&#8217;m here to summarize, sort of, what the rules and guidelines are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But certainly I hope that you come away from this with an idea of what&#8217;s being done to keep everyone safe as we are best able.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:01:44]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, before we dig into specifics, I want to be clear upfront that the guidelines for COVID-aware events are mandatory, unless otherwise stated. For folks who&#8217;ve been attending WordPress events, or participating in the community for a long time, this is a change. As a program, we have always done our best to be flexible with guidelines so that we can prioritize local knowledge. But our responsibility is to the long-term success of this community and this program. So moving forward with in-person events that risk the health of our community members poses risks to the program itself. So with that in mind, let&#8217;s learn what we&#8217;re going to see at events for the rest of the.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:02:28]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>For any WordPress event that is gathering more than 50 people, the new mandatory guidelines are:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Number one, follow local laws and guidelines. If your area has suggested guidelines on top of the mandatory ones, follow those.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, is if you are in a location where laws or guidelines require or permit venues to limit admission based on a person&#8217;s vaccination status and masking, then events can only happen in venues that are willing to provide staff to check for vaccination status at the door. And then also to remind participants to wear masks during the event.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third thing is if your area or venue legally cannot check vaccination status, your area must pass the in-person checklist, which I will link in the show notes below. But that in-person checklist has to be passed at the time of the application and then again at the time of the event. And in addition to that, the venue must be willing to provide staff who will remind participants to wear masks and check for temperature during the event.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:03:33]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organizers in these areas must be prepared to move online or cancel if the region fails the safety checklist, which again, will be linked in the show notes below. So those are the three things and they are pretty dense, but also I think allow for a fair amount of flexibility. There is also a tidy flow chart linked in the sidebar of make.wordpress.org/community that will help you to decide what sort of event your own area can support right now.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So those are the mandatory guidelines for WordPress events in general right now, but you probably also have a few specific questions. So I&#8217;ve got the three most common questions ready to go with answers from Angela Jin who helped me to kind of pull together the information for this particular podcast props to Angela. Thank you.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:04:25]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, first question, anything specific to know about WordCamp Europe? WordCamp Europe will be following these guidelines as well. All attendees and participants are expected to wear a mask while they are at the event and catering will be offered outside so people can remove their masks to eat.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second common question is how will these guidelines change as countries and local governments begin deescalating restrictions and safety measures? We should consider these guidelines to be subject to evolution based on what the team is hearing and seeing from the community. But right now we intend to keep these stricter guidelines in place until we see how the loosened rules play out elsewhere.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then a third frequent question is what&#8217;s going to happen to all these online events?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The community team will continue to support online events right now. So if your community doesn&#8217;t feel ready to have an in-person event, but still wants to kind of get everyone together that is still allowed, and still&nbsp; encouraged. And finally the community team will continue to keep a close eye on situations around the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it becomes safe to do so, and your community is interested, they of course will be happy to chat with you about a WordCamp. There is an application that I will share the link to in the show notes below as well. In case that is something that your community is wanting to look into.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:05:54]</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, and I have a little postscript also. I know I was like finally, and now I&#8217;m doing a finally, finally. That&#8217;s what postscripts are about. P.S. If you have not stopped by the community team’s site or any of their meetings, they&#8217;ve been doing a really great job of keeping things moving through two years of unpredictable changes. If you are a community team member, I want to offer you a huge thanks. Thank you so much for helping us to stay aware and able to move forward.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are an organizer, pat yourself on the back. I want to thank you for pivoting with us, moving through online events, even though they are not at all the same as in-person events and certainly they don&#8217;t share the reasons that we get people together sometimes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally, if you are an end to end attendee, if you go to WordPress meetups or you go to any sort of WordPress online events or WordCamps, anything like that, thank your local organizer. They have been doing this probably for a while, and I&#8217;m sure that they are looking forward to getting back to in-person events themselves, but even, so they have been putting in a lot of volunteer hours to help make sure that we all know how to use WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so find them, thank them, and I&#8217;m sure that they&#8217;ll appreciate it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:07:20]</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>And with that, it is time for our small list of big things. Number one, WordCamp Asia has a call for organizers open! This event will be in 2023. And I think that we all simply cannot wait. So I&#8217;ll link the call for organizers in the show notes. And then of course you can follow that whole site to stay up to date on what&#8217;s happening there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thing is, while we&#8217;re on the topic of events, there&#8217;s also an open discussion about how we can best support organizers who are getting back to in-person events. We&#8217;d like thoughts from both organizers and attendees. So feel free to drop by and leave a note in the comments section. And while you&#8217;re over there, the third thing in my small list of big things, there&#8217;s also an open discussion about regional events. So go over there, get all your thoughts about WordPress events together. Get them all sorted out in one go. Just leave comments, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All over the place.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that my friends is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I&#8217;m your host Josepha Haden Chomphosy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy [00:08:54]</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>So my most embarrassing WordCamp story actually has to do with where I was supposed to be versus where people thought I was supposed to be. This was early on in my time with WordPress, with Automattic. And I had convinced someone, I had convinced a colleague and friend of mine to go to my home WordCamp, WordCamp Fayetteville over there in Arkansas.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I didn&#8217;t go. But I knew I wasn&#8217;t going, I knew I was going to WordCamp Boston, but he did not know that I was not going to go. And so he arrived at WordCamp Fayetteville, WordCamp Northwest Arkansas. I can&#8217;t remember what it was called at the time. And immediately was confused about where I was and why I wasn&#8217;t there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so there was this excellent moment of mass confusion among states where the folks at WordCamp Fayetteville started tweeting about how I had convinced this contributor to go to that event and then didn&#8217;t show up. And then the folks at WordCamp Boston, we&#8217;re looking at all of those tweets, because if you are a WordCamp organizer, you are always looking at the tweets from all the other WordCamps happening in your weekend.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And people got very confused about why I was in Boston while they were thinking that I was in Fayetteville, even though the tweets were talking about how, like, I wasn&#8217;t in Fayetteville. They probably didn&#8217;t say that it was probably more along the lines of like, “Hey, let&#8217;s share a photo with Josepha” to, like, make fun of the fact that I wasn&#8217;t there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I caused mass confusion in multiple states. That&#8217;s probably my most embarrassing WordCamp story. You&#8217;re welcome. Bye!</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 04 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Santana Inniss\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:92:\"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #64 – Gutenberg 12.9, Example Repo, and Inline Tokens\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=20855\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:87:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-64-gutenberg-12-9-inline-tokens/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31210:\"<p>Birgit Pauli-Haack and Mary Job talked about Gutenberg 12.9 new features and enhancements, updates to the Gutenberg Example Repo and share a post  on how to implement inline tokens for Rich Text. And so much more.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Music:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://soundcloud.com/xirclebox\">Homer Gaines</a></li><li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/\">Sandy Reed</a></li><li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://markuraine.com/\">Mark Uraine</a></li><li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://icodeforapurpose.com\">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-20855\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-64-gutenberg-12-9-inline-tokens#shownotes\">Show Notes</a> / <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-64-gutenberg-12-9-inline-tokens/#transcript\">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"shownotes\"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Announcements</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wpafrica.org\">WPAfrica Community</a></li><li>Call for testing through the FSE program. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/03/31/fse-program-testing-call-13-authoring-an-author-template/\">Authoring an Author Template</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>WordPress Pattern Directory</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul id=\"block-674b70a5-45e2-4595-89ed-48e1ab5bed15\"><li>Browse the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">Pattern Directory</a></li><li>Create a new patter via the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/\">Pattern Creator Page</a> (needs login)</li><li>Study the <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/pattern-directory/\">Code Repo of the Pattern Directory</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>What&#8217;s Released? </h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/wordpress-5-9-3-rc-1/\">WordPress 5.9.3 RC1  </a>Security and Maintenance Update. Final release April 6, 2022</li><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg-examples/releases/tag/v1.1.0\">Gutenberg Examples Repo 1.1</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Gutenberg 12.9 </h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-9-30-march/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.9? (30 March)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-9-adds-block-locking-ui-automatic-pattern-registration-and-full-theme-exports\">Gutenberg 12.9 Adds Block Locking UI, Automatic Pattern Registration, and Full Theme Exports</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Work in Progress and Discussed</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/39831\">Dynamic replacement of server-provided content in blocks and in HTML attributes</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/03/28/design-share-mar-14-25/\">Design Share: Mar&nbsp;14–25</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-1 wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<ul><li>Did you like this episode? <a href=\"https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog\"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li><li>Ping us on Twitter or send DMs with questions. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/maryojob\">@maryojob </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bph\">@bph</a>.</li><li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li><li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/\">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li></ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Hello, and welcome to our 64th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. In today&#8217;s episode, we will talk about Gutenberg 12.9, WordPress 5.9.3 and the Gutenberg Examples repository, the walkthrough WordPress 6.0 and so much more. I&#8217;m Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and WordPress developer advocate. I&#8217;m here with co-host, Mary Job, also a WordPress advocate, support engineer at Paid Membership Pro and organizer of the WP Africa community. Good evening, Mary, how are you today?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: I&#8217;m doing very good, Birgit. Hi everyone, hope everyone is doing awesome today in the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, the WP Africa community, tell me more about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yeah, that was born out of the needs to be able to connect with more WordPressers on our continent, and to also be able to get more people to be interested in contributing to the WordPress open source project, because &#8230; So, there&#8217;s a colleague of mine named from Benin, but it&#8217;s pronounced Benin over here. It&#8217;s the country right next to ours and there was a survey they did one time to see where the contributors to the open source project were from. When it came to our continent, the percentage was quite very, very, very low. So, we thought to ourselves a good way to get started would be to get to know who and who are using WordPress, doing WordPress on our continent. If we&#8217;re able to connect with more people outside our respective countries, then we can get going from there. Maybe in 2024, 2025, we&#8217;ll get to have a WordCamp Africa, I don&#8217;t know, but we want to have one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: That&#8217;s awesome. So, how can people connect with WP Africa community?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: If you go to the website, wpafrica.org, you can see the directory there. You can join the directory. You can also join the Slack channel. There&#8217;s a Slack channel, Slack workspace for their community. You can also join that, the information is also on the website. Everything you need to know about the project is on wpafrica.org, yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Wonderful, wonderful. You can use your WordPress login information to actually register with the Slack, I found. So, that&#8217;s very good, yeah. Thank you.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Announcements</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, so we have some announcements and there&#8217;s the all-new Pattern Creator, is live now, so on wordpress.org and it was taken online or opened up for public submissions last week and within a few days, 90 patterns, by about 30 plus designers have been submitted since March 25th. So Mary, did you get a chance to browse the pattern directory? What did you see?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Oh, yes. I got a chance to look at it, it is amazing. I mean, literally, if you wanted to build your site as a newbie, or as a business owner, you can simply take the designs from there and then use them on your site and modify them to your own advantage. You don&#8217;t have to start thinking, &#8220;Oh, how do I get creative with building blocks?&#8221; You can simply take the patterns and use them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I particularly like that they have like buttons and the fact that you can submit your own pattern to the directory. I mean, that&#8217;s perfect. You could create a block pattern and then submit it right there on the page. I think it also opens up a chance to contribute. People would think that WordPress is maybe too technical for them, this is something good they could play with and they could see maybe it would bring out a creative spirit in them, you know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah and I tested that block Pattern Creator and it&#8217;s actually a block editor, that is standalone. It&#8217;s quite an interesting experience and then you submit it and then there is no curation for that matter. There are certain things that you can see on the about page, like the dos and don&#8217;ts, and then it&#8217;s going to be online and people can &#8230; there&#8217;s a little hard, so what you say is a like button, they&#8217;re their favorites. So if you have 90 patterns, or now 160 patterns with the ones that were already in there, or 170 actually, I feel a little bit decision paralysis, where you say, &#8220;Oh, I like them all.&#8221; So yeah, when I look for a price list or column blocks or something like that, I don&#8217;t know. So, you can browse them at your leisure. Put some hearts or check the hearts on it and then you have a separate page that says, &#8220;My favorites,&#8221; and that&#8217;s a really good way to curate the whole directory.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes. I just actually thought of something, this is something that teenagers would also want to play with. I&#8217;m just thinking off the top of my head. I mean, a teen would want to play with something like this. There&#8217;s always been discussion in the community about how to get next generation into WordPress, get them using WordPress because they seem to like the newer social media channels. Because I know my daughter is always telling me, &#8220;Oh you&#8217;re not on TikTok, you don&#8217;t know what Snapchat is.&#8221; I&#8217;m like, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what those are.&#8221; So, I think this would also be a very good way to get them interested in WordPress, and if they like what they see, which I&#8217;m sure a lot of them would, that could also spur them to become WordPressers. I mean, that&#8217;s good, to get a future generation interested.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, and I like what you said as well, that it&#8217;s another way for people that don&#8217;t code to contribute. Yeah, it&#8217;s a second place. The first one was actually the WordPress Photos Directory where you can submit your photos that then could end up in one of the panels because the WordPress Photos Directory is also fed into the Openverse directory and Openverse is actually driving the media library in the patterns submission or pattern creator. So when you say, &#8220;Okay, I need an image.&#8221; You go to the Openverse and you can punch in a keyword like forest, or mountains, or blocks. Then you get a series of pictures that you can use on your block pattern. So, you don&#8217;t have to upload them, you don&#8217;t have to manage them. The people who use the pattern actually can also see the pictures without having to download them because they&#8217;re available on the internet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, it&#8217;s really a great integration on multiple levels. The repositories code is actually available on GitHub and you can see how you can learn or experiment with it, how the Openverse directory is added to the media library, also how block custom post types are actually handled by the block pattern directory, because any block pattern is a custom post type. So, if you want to learn that, you can look at the code and figure out how they deal with the custom post types. It&#8217;s actually a great tool on so many levels.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: &#8230; take a shout out on that. Or speaking of testing and new features, Anne McCarthy just posted a new call for testing through the FSE, the Full Site Editing program. It&#8217;s all about authoring an author template, but she also writes that you create a template for your author pages, you learn how the locking UI for blocks works and it allows a site builder to prevent an editor to remove or move locked blocks. You also get to test the new design options and the new, no result block. If you have half an hour or so, spin up a new test site with local WP and follow Anne&#8217;s meticulous instructions. You have until April 21st to leave your feedback on the experience. So, I think I&#8217;m going to carve out a few minutes, well the half an hour, and participate in that because it&#8217;s a great way to learn the new features and also contribute by thinking through, &#8220;Okay, what do I feel? What do I see? Is there something that crashes my computer?&#8221; Or these kind of questions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it&#8217;s ahead of WordPress 6.0 release, that&#8217;s the best way to &#8230; or one of the few ways, to walk through some of the new features that will come to a WordPress instance near you soon. You have until April 21st to leave your feedback on the experience for the call for testing on FSE. If you&#8217;re more interested in watching other people walking through the current stage of WordPress 6.0, then join a panel on April 5th at 11:00 Eastern, 15:00 UTC, and you will hear from Channing Ritter, she&#8217;s a designer on the WordPress project, Hector Prieto and Matias Ventura, both developers on the Gutenberg plugin and the event will be moderated by Daisy Olsen and Dan Sulchin on April 5th, put it in your calendars. We have the link to the announcement post on May Core in the show notes. That&#8217;s also because the Zoom link where it&#8217;s going to happen will be shared on the Make blog, but it&#8217;s on Tuesday, April 5th.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are listening to this episode after April 5th, I&#8217;m sure there will be a recording and it will be also shared on the post where that recording will live. So, going through the link will also benefit you who have not listened to this in time to get to the live show. So, that&#8217;s for you too.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>What’s Released &#8211; WordPress 5.9.3 and Gutenberg 12.9</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now we come to the section of what&#8217;s released and a 5.9.3 security maintenance update is coming to you. The release candidate is out and the scheduled release is on Tuesday, also April 5th. There are nine bug fixes on Core and nine bug fixes from the block editor that come to your 5.9 instance, and of course, the security features that are coming as well. Now it&#8217;s your turn.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Features</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: So, now we can talk about the features, the new features that are coming in this release, yes?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: This is Gutenberg 12.9 release. Yes, yes, we are. Gutenberg 12.9 is out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Okay, awesome. So, the Block Editor has introduced what they call the block lock in UI, which allows the admin to have more control over the blocks, if you don&#8217;t want &#8230; maybe if you have built a site and you don&#8217;t want the editor, or the other to be to move around the blocks or rearrange your design, you can now lock those blocks. The post-date block now allows the user to pick a site default. So, the post-date block also now allows the users to pick their date format. This is great because you can now pick a date format for that post-block that is independent of the site&#8217;s defaults. You can select this and create your own individual format string. For instance, I&#8217;ve noticed most, I think the US date format is the day, the month and the year, I think. Whenever I look at these dates, I know that I get confused, because for us, it&#8217;s the other way round.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s certainly one thing. It&#8217;s actually quite nifty because the person who creates the post can actually select the date, so it could &#8230; even outside of the site default, or you have an individual format. So, that&#8217;s quite helpful. And yeah, I know what you&#8217;re saying. I confuse everybody with dates, especially when I&#8217;m talking to Europe. So, most of the time I start with the year, month, and day, just to be sure, or I use the month and then the day and the year, so put the month and like April 5th, or not 4/5 because it could also be 5/4, especially &#8230; So, only in October, November, December, it&#8217;s relatively clear that it&#8217;s &#8230; or what is it? No, after the 12th of the month, it&#8217;s relatively clear what format is here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right and there is a no results block container now available for the query block. It&#8217;s the first iteration and it follows the idea that if there are no posts available for a certain criteria that the template has, that it should show some notification and that the site owner could modify that notification, or that saying, there are no blocks with that kind of criteria. It&#8217;s a first iteration but try it out. It might help with the theme development quite a bit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In with 12.9, there are some great enhancements on the list view. So now, you can actually &#8230; multiple select on the list view is now available and it supports the shift plus for Home and the End keys. So you can navigate through it by using the keyboard shortcuts that you know also from &#8230; Page Down, Page Up, from earlier days in the computer as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Enhancements</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of us actually have muscle memory for those and now it&#8217;s great that we can use it in the list view. But even more helpful is the collapsed list view by default of the editor. So if you have, I don&#8217;t know, 30 blocks in your post or page and you open the list view, it also is now &#8230; everything is collapsed. So, if you have a group block, it only shows the group block, but when you click on it to extend, you&#8217;ll see what blocks are inside the group block or same with a cover block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, you get a compressed version on the list view, and you can easily and better navigate that. So, all nodes are collapsed and the initial impact on heavy nested pages is reduced, reducing the cognitive load, so to speak.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, there was a nice feature and I don&#8217;t know how critical that is, but when you have a color palette and as a user, you create a new color that you want to make available through all the color selectors throughout the site, so you can add a blue and you can change actually the label that is displayed in the list of which color is selected. So, that&#8217;s quite nifty to actually put in, because then as a theme developer or a site owner, you can make clear it&#8217;s not a blue, it&#8217;s the brand blue, or it&#8217;s the sale-able blue, or whatever your lingo is in your own company to identify the colors of your brand. So, I think that&#8217;s a nice quality of life kind of feature, and it helps reduce the worry of which color is it that we want to do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of controls, there&#8217;s also now to the number control in this release was added the minimal and maximum font size for the tag cloud block. So now you can say, so the smaller size is six and the largest size is 25, or something like that through all your tag cloud. That is now pretty precise. Yeah, that wasn&#8217;t available before, but people knew it from the classic editor or the classic widget section, when you selected a tag cloud, those choices were actually available. It&#8217;s glad that this is back and on feature parity with the previous versions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So then, the gallery block got a little easier now because you can control the gutter, or the space between the images. You can make them all together, or have a nice little space in between, and from zero white space to a large art gallery, kind of style gaps. With that, you also can have different layouts for your gallery images. I&#8217;m thinking that would be actually quite a nice experiment for block patterns to figure out additional ways to style the gallery block and have different ideas on how to make it work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The separator block received a refactor on the color support. So, now you can have different colors, but also with different views. For designers, that&#8217;s very important to make sure that the separator block is also within the design. Back to you, Mary.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Thank you for that, Birgit. So, the post editor also got some enhancement. First is the show view per view link for drafts saved on snackbar notice. This aims to make previewing a post, more visible and more consistent so that the auto always drafts and a post can easily preview their posts as the link to preview their posts in the snackbar notice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: The snackbar notices are the black little notices that are on the bottom of the screen when you save things. So you would say, &#8220;Okay, post is saved,&#8221; and then you had to go up and preview. So now, you can do it from the bottom of the screen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes. Do you know sometimes I have to click twice just because I want to quickly go down to click on the links?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: So, this is a good one. Thank you for your time for this. The site editor also now, you can add more template types as the site editor. Previously, when creating new templates in the site editor, we linked that to a more site of template types. Now you&#8217;re able to create a template for many different types of pages as you would need on your website. So, the theme exports, so now you can also export the whole theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, what kind of pages I can do category pages and I can do author pages, taxonomy, dates, tags.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Tags.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: &#8230; and attachment pages? Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes, yes, great. Still on the site editor, you can also now export the old theme. I believe there is second feedback for this, to see if this is going to be a helpful tool or not. So, it&#8217;ll be good if more people can test this out and comment and let them know if this is a tool that would be helpful for site builders or not, okay?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: So, you can also export a theme using the name for this ZIP file. This is done so that it makes it easier to add a theme to your WordPress install. So, this is also a good one because I know that in the past when I export themes, it usually has these random numbers on it and then you have to the name, if you plan to import that or install that on the site. There&#8217;s a concern that supporting the old theme might mean that the size would be bigger, but like I said, it&#8217;ll be great to have people test out these features and comment to let the builders know if this is something that would be very useful for them to add or not.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, if you find something quirky, definitely file an issue on the GitHub repository, or just ping me and I&#8217;ll walk you through it, if there&#8217;s something happening. Even if it&#8217;s not part of the call for testing for FSE, there is a Slack channel in WordPress Slack, that is the FSE outreach dash experiment. Yeah, experiment. That&#8217;s where site builders actually come together to discuss certain things. Now there will be some more traffic and some more conversation happening, now that another call for testing is out. It will also be additional information coming out because the call for questions that Anne had put out four weeks ago, I think, just closed the week. So, she&#8217;s working on getting answers to your questions and she will post that also at the Full Site Editing program Slack channel probably, and of course also in the Make blog of the site.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>New APIs</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the block library, there are new APIs in this release for the block patterns, is one that it automatically loads the file with headers, from a theme pattern directory. So, as a theme developer, you can, now &#8230; You don&#8217;t have to create a PHP file with all the patterns in there. Now, you just copy and paste the pattern that you built and put it into an HTML file and just store it in the directory called patterns and the editor will pick it up. So, it will show up in the inserter. If you use it a block template, it will also show up there for that. So, that&#8217;s certainly another way to simplify the whole theme production workflow. It&#8217;s similar to templates and template parts, the directory structure, where you pick up the templates and whether the editor picks up the templates list and the list of template parts from the directory and now you can do it with patterns, so really easy to follow along.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Experiments</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there were some, two &#8230; we didn&#8217;t have a whole lot of experiments lately in the Gutenberg plugin, but now there are a few, again &#8230; Well, two, actually. One is a generic avatar block for authors. So, if the author, like the comment or the editor that created a post, doesn&#8217;t have an avatar on site, or in Gravatar, you actually control what the generic avatar is going to be. Then there&#8217;s also a new version of the list block implemented as a nested block and transformed, and also has a few PRs in there that are all around the refactor of the list block, because it&#8217;s been said quite a bit, that there is no inner block, so you couldn&#8217;t have an image in a list block where you couldn&#8217;t have quote in a list block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, this is going to change and you can enable those by going through the experiment section and click on the list block there. Yeah, so it&#8217;s implement the nested block behavior, transform the list for the list block. And then also change the start number, the order and the reverse list block attributes, also for a nested block list. Yeah, those are the things in the experiments.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were also some great changes in the documentation. You can read up about them in the release documentation. There was quite a few things for code quality and the tools, but I don&#8217;t see anything that I would want to point out, except that they&#8217;re adding now the infrastructure for writing end-to-end tests in a different library or different format. It&#8217;s called Playwright instead of &#8230; what&#8217;s the other one? Puppeteer, yeah. Justin Anyon had a Make blog about that, so I&#8217;ll share the note in the show notes.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Gutenberg Block Examples Repo 1.1</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that concludes the Gutenberg plugin 12.9 change log for today. There was also another release. So 5.9.3 release candidate, and then Gutenberg 12.9. Ryan Welcher released a new version of the Gutenberg Examples repo and it&#8217;s now in version 1.1. That Examples repo has examples for a lot of different blocks, with a lot of different settings and controls. You can really learn from that how the various items work, so you can replicate it in your blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was quite a bit behind because the blocks haven&#8217;t been migrated to the new API that uses the block JSON. So it was not really teaching the best practices or the newer way to do this, but now that has changed. This is definitely a major update, so this plugin includes completely updated block examples, as well as new non-block examples, comprises of 40 PRs by eight contributors, and it&#8217;s actually were the first release since the start of the repo in 2018. How to use it, you the instructions are in the README file. So yeah, go ahead and learn and check it out. Of course, if you have any questions, send them our way. We try to all answer that.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>What’s in Active Development and Discussed</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This brings us to the section of what&#8217;s an active development and discussed. Dennis Snell, and he&#8217;s one of the core contributors on Gutenberg development since the beginning. He had a proposal on a concept of dynamic token in Core, and the GitHub discussion link will be in the show notes. But this goes back to the preliminary roadmap of Gutenberg phase two for 6.0, that Matius Ventura published on the Make Core blog. He wrote, “As one of those things that are supposed to come, is explore the viability of inline tokens.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“This has come up repeatedly in the content of rendering dynamic strings, such as the current date in rich text blocks.” Snell wrote then on that proposal, &#8220;One area the block model has been deficient however, is in establishing more granular semantic types of inline content that carry meaning, not associated with a block. These inline semantic parts represent content or metadata that comes from outside the document being edited and may be relatively static or highly dynamic.&#8221; He continues to outline the character of the token concept. He offers us code examples of possible how this going to work with in different context with the block JSON example, a save and edit example, and then the token execution, maybe in a PHP file. Dear listeners, if you feel that this all rings like Shortcodes, you are not wrong. It definitely would be the Shortcode 2.0, which are much better interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Okay. So, still on active development and what&#8217;s discussed in a newest design share Channing Ritter highlights a merit of design the team is working on. This could use your input and critique. Under the headline, &#8220;Status and visibility panel improvements,&#8221; she links to a prototype you can browse the aspirations to improve, the publish and posts matter in panel. Birgit, you noted here that you enjoy the various views of how the panels could look, as much cleaner and clearer too and so you can….</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: So, you can browse the prototype. We&#8217;re going to put a link to that in the show notes. There are other highlights that are also interesting, such as adding the post-category templates, the page start options, star version, over animation, icons for groups through and stack, new blocks, comment query loops design, default design. All of this is work in progress and soon to come to a Gutenberg plug-in near you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, I&#8217;m really looking forward to the stack new block, because it should give control on how your group block behaves with different screen sizes.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right, so thank you everyone. I think that is the end of our show. No, I know so. Yeah, before we end the show, I want to remind everybody, April 5th is the walk-through on the features, where the three Channing Ritter, Hector Prieto, Matias Ventura walk through all the features and figure out, &#8220;Okay, is this good enough or is it &#8230; &#8221; Yeah, &#8220;What&#8217;s coming in and do we find still bugs?&#8221; So, there will also be a note taker, April 1st, 11:00 AM Eastern and 15:00 UTC.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, the show notes will be published on the gutenbergtimes.com/podcast. This is episode 64. If you have questions, or suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. That&#8217;s <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. Well, it&#8217;s so great to see you again, Mary, and thank you for having this conversation with me. Well, until the next time, dear listeners, thank you for staying with us through the show.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary Job</em>: Yes, thank you everyone. And thank you for bearing with my audio.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: wpafrica.org, if you are on the continent and want to meet more WordPressers. Yeah, check out the site. That&#8217;s it, thank you for listening. Goodbye.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sun, 03 Apr 2022 08:42:29 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"Gutenberg Changelog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"WPTavern: How To Build Book and Book Review Cards with WordPress Blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132408\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:82:\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-book-and-book-review-cards-with-wordpress-blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9652:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I was neck-deep into the block system during the months leading up to its debut in 2018. This also just happened to coincide with the first November I had ever completed <a href=\"https://nanowrimo.org/\">National Novel Writing Month</a>, a 30-day challenge to write a 50,000-word first draft of a novel. I have since won a second time in 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a starry-eyed, wanna-be novelist, one of the first things that excited me about the block system was how writers could show off their books with WordPress. Of course, I had no choice but to create a custom grouping of blocks to show off the manuscript I had somehow managed to hammer out in a month.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Homepage design of theme for novelists.\n\n\n\n<p>This was the pre-pattern era of WordPress. The interface was clunky. Things seemed to break at random. Design tools were almost non-existent, but there was a bit of magic in the air. At no point in the platform&#8217;s history could users visually build such a simple layout with stock WordPress. For all its faults during the beta run, this was the moment that I became a block fanboy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was not until months later that I released the theme for novelists &#8212; it was a child of another project that had yet to launch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this entry in the <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/category/building-with-blocks\">Building with Blocks series</a>, I wanted to walk readers through creating one of the patterns that inspired me to continue designing and developing with the block system. As a bonus, I will also show how to create a book review pattern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am using the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo/\">Archeo theme</a> by Automattic throughout this tutorial. However, it should work with any theme that supports blocks. You will also get more mileage out of a block theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Book Card</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This card is meant to be a starting point for authors who want to showcase one of their books, but it could be applied to any product. There are 1,000s of ways you could alter this, and I encourage everyone to customize it once they have walked through the steps. The end result should look similar to the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Final book card design.\n\n\n\n<p>The final block HTML code is <a href=\"https://gist.github.com/justintadlock/fc776ca766fe789dcc317e83c6b5f15f\">available via Gist</a>. You can copy and paste it into the editor, but I encourage you to try building from scratch the first go-round. This series is all about learning to build with blocks. The copy-ready code is there just in case you get stuck.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Step 1: Container Group (optional)</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Group block with padding and colors.\n\n\n\n<p>Almost as a rule, I start with a Group block when building patterns or sections of blocks. I chose to add it this time because I wanted a dark background with some padding around the card&#8217;s content. You may opt-out of this if you prefer.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the block is in place, add text color, background color, and padding to the block. I chose <code>2rem</code> for the padding because my active theme&#8217;s default is not consistent on all sides.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Step 2: Adding Media</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Media &amp; Text block inside of a Group.\n\n\n\n<p>One of my favorite blocks in WordPress is Media &amp; Text. It has so many use cases, and it is sort of like a mini pattern all on its own. On one side, you drop in your media. On the other, you add whatever content you want.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside the Group block from Step 1, insert Media &amp; Text. Go ahead and grab an image of your choosing. The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress photo directory</a> has plenty if you do not have one on hand.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only alteration I made to this block is to set the &#8220;Media width&#8221; option to <code>35</code> in the block options sidebar. Depending on the dimensions of your image, you may choose another option. Just be sure to give room for your content.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Step 3: Group (optional)</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Adding an inner Group block.\n\n\n\n<p>Inside of the Media &amp; Text block, I added another Group. It enables consistent spacing, which WordPress does not apply to the &#8220;content&#8221; area of the Media &amp; Text block for some reason. This is an optional step, but it provides more control over the design.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you do not feel good with the spacing of your theme, you can change the &#8220;Block spacing&#8221; option in the block options sidebar. I adjusted this to <code>2rem</code>, but it will depend on the active theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an aside, these are details I rarely see mentioned in other tutorials&#8212;the &#8220;gotchas&#8221; and other problems that you might encounter. I feel like they are helpful inclusions but can be a bit of a bore. Feel free to let me know in the comments if you want me to continue covering this level of detail.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Step 4: Card Content</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Adding Heading, Paragraph, and Buttons blocks.\n\n\n\n<p>The final step in creating the book card should be relatively straightforward. I included a Heading, two Paragraphs, and a Buttons block. I encourage experimentation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I made no changes to the Heading and Paragraph blocks. However, I selected the &#8220;Outline&#8221; style for the lone Button.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, that is it! The inclusion of the built-in Media &amp; Text block made it easier than building with others. Continue reading if you prefer reviewing books to writing and selling them.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Book Review Intro Card</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This walkthrough will take you through creating a book review (or review intro) card. Like before, you can snag the full <a href=\"https://gist.github.com/justintadlock/86f0a4d532dfd420d1c198d967c18408\">block HTML from Gist</a>. The result should look a little something like the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Final book review card intro design.\n\n\n\n<p>With all the fuss over the previous <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-recipe-card-via-the-wordpress-block-editor\">recipe card tutorial</a>, let me preface this section with a quick note. This tutorial series is about learning to build with blocks, not creating fleshed-out solutions for every possible scenario.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those folks who want more, there are existing solutions. Donna Peplinskie&#8217;s <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/book-review-block/\">Book Review Block</a> is an excellent choice. It has ISBN integration, review Schema, and plenty of other bells and whistles. I even <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/diving-into-the-book-review-block-plugin\">wrote about it back in 2020</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is for the <em>sometimes</em> book reviewers, people not starting a review site, or those who just want to pick up a tip.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Steps 1-3: Rinse and Repeat</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Adding a Group, Media &amp; Text, and another Group block.\n\n\n\n<p>These steps are literally the same as the book card above: add a Group block, add Media &amp; Text, and nest another Group inside the content area. The only change I made was to widen the Media section to <code>40</code> (it was <code>35</code> before).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Feel free to mix this up and try new things. Skip the initial Group block if you do not want the padded background.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Step 4: Card Content</h3>\n\n\n\n<img />Adding a Heading, List, and Quote block.\n\n\n\n<p>Like the earlier book card, add a Heading block for the book title. This goes within the Group nested inside of the Media &amp; Text block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next part of the content is where things divert. For the book &#8220;info,&#8221; you must insert a List block. Then, fill in the details that you think are relevant, like so:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/270d.png\" alt=\"✍\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Written by Justin Tadlock</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f516.png\" alt=\"🔖\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Tagged Adult Fiction</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4da.png\" alt=\"📚\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Published by Words &amp; Press</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4c5.png\" alt=\"📅\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Published on May 01, 2099</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4c3.png\" alt=\"📃\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> 599 Pages</li><li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2b50.png\" alt=\"⭐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2b50.png\" alt=\"⭐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2b50.png\" alt=\"⭐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2b50.png\" alt=\"⭐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2b50.png\" alt=\"⭐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> / 5 Stars</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to spice things up with a few emoji. If that is not your thing, there is no need to include them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a real-world project, I would also include a &#8220;no marker&#8221; style for the List block, allowing the emoji to act as <em>faux</em> bullet points. However, the theme I was testing with did not have a style for this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That brings us to the final section. I like to kick off book reviews by including a favorite quote. It gets me in the mood for writing about the book and lets me share something from the author. Therefore, I opted for placing a Quote block as the final piece.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>An alternative might be a quick summary. You might even simply dive right into the review from there or leave the space empty. It is your card, and you can do what you want with it.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 02 Apr 2022 03:41:23 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:109:\"Gutenberg Times: Future of Themes is here, Block Examples updated and a Walk-Through – Weekend Edition #209\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=20826\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:114:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/future-of-themes-is-here-block-examples-updated-and-a-walk-through-weekend-edition-209/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15355:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week went fast, didn&#8217;t it?  How has your week been? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am excited about next week&#8217;s <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/6-0-product-walk-through/\">WordPress 6.0 Product Walk-through</a>, identifying the features, that might or might not be ready for the release.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a ton of updates, discussions, and tutorials below. Enjoy! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br />Birgit </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy </strong>just posted a new call for testing through the FSE program. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/03/31/fse-program-testing-call-13-authoring-an-author-template/\">Authoring an Author Template</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The meticulous testinstructions walk you through creating a template for your author pages, learn how to the locking UI for blocks works. It allows a site builder to prevent and editor to remove or move locked blocks. You’ll also get to test new design options and the new No Results block. If you have a half an hour or so spin up a new test site with LocalWP and follow the instructions. You have until April 21st to leave your feedback on your experience.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Gutenberg Development &amp; Design</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/andraganescu\">Andrei Draganescu</a></strong>, was the release wrangler for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-9-30-march/\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.9. </strong></a>It is a feature packed release. The highlights are:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Block locking UI. Prevent editors from moving or removing blocks.</li><li>Better galleries are possible the gutter controls </li><li>New Block themes features</li><li>Easier management of deeply nested block structures</li><li>Better defaults and more intuitive controls</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>56 people contributed to this feature set, 8 of which were first time contributors.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong>, WPTavern has a taken a closer look: <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-9-adds-block-locking-ui-automatic-pattern-registration-and-full-theme-exports\"><strong>Gutenberg 12.9 Adds Block Locking UI, Automatic Pattern Registration, and Full Theme Exports</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mary Job </strong>and I also discussed all the new features on the <strong>64th Gutenberg Changelog</strong> podcast, but we also talk about so much more!  The episode will come out later this weekend and land in your favorite podcast app. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In her newest <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/03/28/design-share-mar-14-25/\"><strong>Design Share</strong></a>, <strong>Channing Ritter</strong>, highlights a myriad of design updates the team is working on and that could use your input and critique. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the headline <strong>Status &amp; visibility&nbsp;panel&nbsp;improvements</strong> ,she links to a prototype you can browse the explorations to improve the Publish and Post meta in panel in the post editor. I really enjoyed the various views of how the panel could look. A much cleaner look and so much clearer, too. <a href=\"https://www.figma.com/proto/8vEDwRwmzWhxvcvhc6yaQk/Status-%26-visibility?page-id=1%3A2&node-id=1%3A2&scaling=min-zoom&starting-point-node-id=343%3A2605&show-proto-sidebar=1\"><strong>Browse the prototype on Figma</strong></a>. Other highlight are not less interesting: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Adding post&nbsp;category&nbsp;templates</li><li>Page start options</li><li>Style variation hover animation</li><li>Icons for Group, Row and Stack (new) blocks</li><li>Comments&nbsp;query&nbsp;loop, default design mockups</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All work in progress, and soon to come to a Gutenberg plugin near you! </p>\n\n\n\n<img />Screenshot from the Prototype: Exploring Status &amp; visibility&nbsp;panel&nbsp;improvements\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dave Smith</strong> and <strong>Ben Dwyer</strong> walkthrough covers a new variation of a popular block <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-1kwfDzZXg\">Using the Featured Image with the Cover Block</a>. It&#8217;s spectacular, and a long awaited enhancement for the post template. Now you can add a cover block to your post template, used the featured image as background, and display the post title on top of it. Smith and Dwyer demonstrate the usage with the new block theme by Automattcians called <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo/\">Archeo</a>  </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Block related News on the WPTavern</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/webman-design-launches-abs-additional-styles-for-native-wordpress-blocks\">WebMan Design Launches Abs, Additional Styles for Native WordPress Blocks</a> by Justin Tadlock</li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/snow-monkey-editor-plugin-adds-custom-styles-to-wordpress-core-blocks\">Snow Monkey Editor Plugin Adds Custom Styles to WordPress Core Blocks</a> by Sarah Gooding</li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/text-selection-across-multiple-blocks-is-coming-to-wordpress\">Text Selection Across Multiple Blocks Is Coming to WordPress</a> by Justin Tadlock </li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-book-and-book-review-cards-with-wordpress-blocks\">How To Build Book and Book Review Cards with WordPress Blocks</a> by Justin Tadlock</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ivan Messina</strong>, Support Host, published <a href=\"https://supporthost.com/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg: the complete guide at the WordPress editor</a>. It&#8217;s a walk-through the differences to classic editor, and the various interfaces that come with the block editor. It&#8217;s also a great link to point people, too, that just want to  learn more before they make the jump from Classic Editor to the Block Editor. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Building Themes for the block editor and Full-site editing</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rich Tabor</strong>, product manager at Extendify, thinks &#8220;<a href=\"https://richtabor.com/a-new-era/\">A new era of WordPress themes is finally here</a>&#8220;. In his post he explains the four concepts, what makes a block theme different from classic themes. He continues to ouline the Future of Theme development: &#8220;It’s more apparent than ever to me that the barriers of theme development are slowly becoming smaller and smaller. There may always be some level of technical skillset required to produce phenomenal block themes, but generally speaking designing, assembling and launching a theme has never been easier.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Developing for the Block Editor and Gutenberg</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On GitHub Discussions, <strong>Dennis Snell</strong> posted a proposal on <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/39831\"><strong>concept of dynamic Token in Core</strong></a> in a the GitHub discussion post.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This goes back to the preliminary roadmap for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/26/preliminary-roadmap-for-6-0/\">Gutenberg phase 2 post for 6.0</a> by <strong>Matias Ventura</strong> when he wrote: “Explore the viability of inline tokens. This has come up repeatedly in the context of rendering dynamic strings (such as current date) in rich text blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snell wrote: “One area the block model has been deficient, however, is in establishing more granular semantic types of &#8220;inline&#8221; content that carry meaning not associated with a block. These inline semantic parts represent content or metadata that comes from outside the document being edited and may be relatively static or highly dynamic.”&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He then outlines the Token concept, followed by code examples.  He shows the usage in different context, for in block.json, save and edit space and the token execution in a PHP file. And if you feel this all rings like Shortcodes, you are not wrong. It definitely would be Shortcode 2.0 with a much better interface.  <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/39831\">Check it out and let your opinion known.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rich Tabor</strong> released <a href=\"https://richtabor.com/blocks-on-github/\">all his personal plugins on GitHub</a>. In the spirit of the second open-source principle: scratching a personal itch,  he wrote: &#8220;Every single block I’ve added, I built out of a need of my own.&#8221; You will find:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://richtabor.com/todo-list-block/\">Todo List block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://richtabor.com/markdown-comments/\">Markdown comment block</a>,</li><li><a href=\"https://github.com/richtabor/share-on-twitter-block\">Share on Twitter block</a></li><li>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://github.com/richtabor/post-reading-time-block\">Post Reading Time</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><a href=\"https://github.com/richtabor/post-modified-time-block\">Post Modified Time</a>&nbsp;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Rich Tabor has been a very early adopter of the block editor, so his plugins are also great teaching tools, to solve common block builiding problems. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> released <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg-examples/releases/tag/v1.1.0\"><strong>Gutenberg Examples Repo 1.1.</strong></a> &#8220;This release marks a major update to this plugin that includes completely updated block examples as well as new non-block examples.&#8221; he wrote.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The release contains around 40 PRs by eight contributors.&nbsp;It’s the first new release in over two years.&nbsp;The instructions on how to use it have been updated, too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, Ryan <strong>Welcher</strong> held his weekly live programming session on <a href=\"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1442143491\"><strong>&#8220;Creating a custom admin screen using Gutenberg packages and components.&#8221;</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"4-upcoming-word-press-events\">Upcoming WordPress Events</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"5-social-learning-and-other-events\">8 Social Learning Meetups</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 6, 2022, 12 pm EDT / 16:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284752435/\"><strong>Creating A Sidebar For Your Posts Using The Full Site Editing Blank Template</strong></a> with Bud Kraus, JoyofWP</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 6, 2022, 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700789/\"><strong>Builder Basics: Designing with Columns, Group, and Row Blocks (Part 2)</strong></a> with Nick Diego</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 8, 2022, 11 am EDT / 15:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284701015/\"><strong>Block Theme Discussions: Supports in theme.json</strong></a> with Daisy Olsen </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 12, 2022 2pm EDT 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700822/\">Builder Basics: Headers and Footers in Full Site Editing</a></strong> w/ Nick Diego</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 13, 2022, 10 am EDT / 14:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284753523/\"><strong>Create a Magazine Layout with the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor</strong></a> with Wes Theron</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 15, 2022, 11 am EDT / 15:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284701295/\">Block Theme Discussions: Presets in theme.json</a></strong> with Daisy Olsen</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 19, 2022 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700867/\">Builder Basics: Exploring Block Layout, Alignment, and Dimensions </a>(Part 2)</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 21, 2022 3 am EDT / 7 am UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284753652/\"><strong>Using Block Patterns</strong></a> with Wes Theron</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"6-w\">WordCamps and other events</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>More and more WordCamps are being scheduled! <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/\">On WordCamp Central you can view the whole calendar.</a></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 8, 2022 9 am &#8211; 5 pm CDT / 14:00 &#8211; 20:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href=\"http://wpcareersummit.com/\"><strong>WP Career Summit</strong></a>&nbsp;conference for Careers in WordPress, organized by team at Post Status </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 20th, 2022 &#8211; 10 am &#8211; 4 pm CST</strong><br /><a href=\"https://events.wpengine.com/event/61de3570-be6a-4182-a365-c12d5236cef3/websitePage:645d57e4-75eb-4769-b2c0-f201a0bfc6ce?rp=db966373-a266-42c7-a3f2-434f409cfd8c\"><strong>DE{CODE} 2022</strong></a><br />a virtual developer conference by WPEngine</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>May 16-20, 2022 </strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://wordsesh.com/\">WordSesh</a></strong><br />A virtual conference. <a href=\"https://wordsesh.com/speak/\">Call for Speaker is open</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>June 2 &#8211; 4th, 2022</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Europe</a></strong><br />Sign up for updates to get notifications about speakers, sessions, and schedule.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>June 25, 2022 </strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://montclair.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Montclair, NJ</a></strong><br />The <a href=\"https://montclair.wordcamp.org/2022/call-for-speakers/\">call for speakers</a> is open only until April 15th, 2022</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>June 20 &#8211; 24, 2022</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://pagebuildersummit.com/\">Page Builder Summit </a></strong>will take place June 20th to June 24, 2022. <a href=\"https://pagebuildersummit.com/sponsors/\"><em>The call for sponsors is still open</em></a>. Sign-up for the VIP list to learn first when tickets are available and the schedule is published. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>September 9 &#8211; 11, 2022</strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp US</a></strong> <br />in-person conference in San Diego. <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/apply-to-speak-at-wcus/\">Call for Speakers is open</a>, deadline April 17th, 2022</p>\n\n\n\n<p><br /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n\n<p> </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 23:06:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:116:\"WPTavern: WordPress Product Launches Roundup: APPExperts, WP Wallet, Block Styles, and Stock Control for WooCommerce\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132359\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:123:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-product-launches-roundup-appexperts-wp-wallet-block-styles-and-stock-control-for-woocommerce\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5162:\"<p>Despite the flurry of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/karks88/status/1509906509395865627\">April</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gravityforms/status/1509923985152221185\">Fools</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/scottkclark/status/1509885233918849039\">day</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GiveWP/status/1509877186014109701\">jokes</a> circulating today, the WordPress product market has been heating up in the past couple weeks with new entrants that we are highlighting in a roundup. These products range from newly in beta to fully launched. Some are banking on the freemium model and others are fully commercial products.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>APPExperts Mobile Application Builder Plugin Now in Beta</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://appexperts.io/\">APPExperts</a> is a new mobile application builder plugin that is now in beta, developed by the WPExperts team. It turns WordPress and WooCommerce websites into fully functional apps for  iOS and Android phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/appexperts/\">plugin on WordPress.org</a> functions as a connector to the APPExperts platform, which is powered by <a href=\"https://flutter.dev/\">Flutter</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Users can create their first app for free and the commercial version includes additional features like push notifications, ads integration, and plugin integrations.  APPExperts is going up against more established competitors like <a href=\"https://apppresser.com/\">AppPresser</a>, which bills annually for the use of its platform. During its pre-beta period, APPExperts added 500 users on its connector plugin who generated more than 1,000 apps for iOS and Android.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>WP Wallet Organizes Commercial Theme and Plugin Licenses Into a Single Dashboard</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wpwallet.com/\">WP Wallet</a> is a new product, created by the team behind MasterWP, that helps WordPress site owners keep track of their license keys for commercial themes and plugins. The idea is to prevent users from missing license renewals, losing license keys, and struggling with invoicing. The service scans each website added to the account and retrieves any commercial license subscription fees, capturing any administrative details. It can also send invoices for payment via PayPal or Stripe with no transaction fees. Everything related to commercial licenses is organized into a single dashboard.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>WP Wallet is free forever for up to three websites and is supported by ads. Free users can share access with unlimited team members and connect to Stripe or PayPal. <a href=\"https://wpwallet.com/pricing/\">Upgrading to Pro</a> is less than $10 per month and allows users to add unlimited sites, connect multiple payment gateways, and will soon include a Chrome Extension and API.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Block Styles Plugin Now in Beta, Brings Advanced Styles to the Block Editor</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://blockstyles.com/\">Block Styles</a> is a new plugin now in beta that lets users further customize core blocks with unique styles. It <a href=\"https://blockstyles.com/compatibility/\">works with many popular block collection plugins</a> and boasts &#8220;fully responsive block-level design control.&#8221; This allows users to change style attributes based on desktop, tablet, and mobile sizes, and eventually customer device sizes, hover/action states and pseudo elements. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The Block Styles plugin has advanced layout controls with visibility settings that can be set based on user role, device size, and login status. It also adds the ability to customize the background of every Gutenberg block with colors, gradient options, and linear and radial settings. The team is working on adding multiple backgrounds and video backgrounds. The plugin has support for advanced border styles, typography controls, special effects, animations, and custom CSS for every block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pricing for the Block Styles plugin ranges from $69/year for one site to $499/year for unlimited sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Stock Control for WooCommerce Makes It Easier to Manage Inventory</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://scwstockcontrol.com/\">Stock Control for WooCommerce</a> is a new plugin that launched this week, created by plugin developer Edith Allison. It makes it easier to manage WooCommerce inventory and make quick adjustments. Store owners can manipulate stock, and change descriptions, images, attributes, and categories all on one page. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Product changes can be published immediately or saved for review later. The plugin also logs who made the changes and when. It uses the Heartbeat API to monitor the shop and will notify if there is an editing conflict with another site manager. It will also notify if stock quantities change while the site owner is working on the products.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stock Control for WooCommerce starts at €29,90/year for single site licenses and goes up to €149,90/year for agencies. The roadmap for future updates includes more translations, an attribute manager, bulk actions, scheduled publication of changes, compatibility with Woo Product Bundles, and a way to show &#8220;held&#8221; stock.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:22:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:59:\"Post Status: BobWP’s Woo Snippet for the Week of March 27\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95330\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"https://poststatus.com/bobwps-woo-snippet-for-the-week-of-march-27/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6168:\"<div class=\"has-background has-theme-palette-8-background-color wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">WooCommerce 6.4 RC 1 <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4e6.png\" alt=\"📦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Blocks and Admin <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f50c.png\" alt=\"🔌\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Time to Retire ZeroClipboard <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a0.png\" alt=\"⚠\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Clients in a Candy Store <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f36c.png\" alt=\"🍬\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sustainable Woo? <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1fab4.png\" alt=\"🪴\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Zach Stepek, Carl Alexander, Till Krüss, and JJJ <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> </p></div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-s-new-in-woocommerce-6-4-rc1-blocks-and-admin-feature-plugins\">What\'s New in WooCommerce 6.4 RC1 + Blocks and Admin Feature Plugins <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f50c.png\" alt=\"🔌\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This week saw some updates from core and <a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/29/woocommerce-6-4-rc/\">the release</a> of <strong>WooCommerce 6.4 RC 1</strong>. We\'re still headed for an April 12th final release. <strong>WooCommerce Admin</strong> (3.3.0 RC 2) and <strong>WooCommerce Blocks</strong> (7.2.1) are both included in this release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to install it separately as a feature plugin, <strong>WooCommerce Blocks 7.3</strong> <a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/28/woocommerce-blocks-7-3-0-release-notes/\">is available now</a>. The <strong>Mini Cart</strong> block has been added to it, and all instances of the “Legacy Block” have been renamed — it\'s now the “Classic Block.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Time to Retire ZeroClipboard <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a0.png\" alt=\"⚠\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have bundled the <strong>ZeroClipboard</strong> library with plugins, themes, or other projects that still rely on it as a dependency, <a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/30/removal-of-zeroclipboard/\">you will need to find another solution</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4cb.png\" alt=\"📋\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p>ZeroClipboard is a <strong>JQuery</strong> plugin used to manage clipboard interactions, and it\'s being removed from WooCommerce because it uses obsolete, potentially insecure, Flash-based methods to do what all browsers can do natively now. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many years now, it\'s been possible to do what ZeroClipBoard does without JQuery. <strong>Marcus Burnette</strong> has <a href=\"https://twitter.com/marcusdburnette/status/1509214884327825415\">suggested</a> a fine <a href=\"https://css-tricks.com/native-browser-copy-clipboard/\">solution</a> from <strong>Chris Coyier</strong> back in 2016 at <strong>CSS Tricks</strong>. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Like Clients in a Candy Store <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f36c.png\" alt=\"🍬\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For those who are starting to build sites in the Woo ecosystem, <strong>Eric Karkovack</strong> has  <a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/overcoming-the-challenge-of-selling-clients-on-woocommerce/\">some advice for selling clients on WooCommerce</a>. It can be difficult, due to the wide array of features and add-ons. Eric offers his own experience and insights. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Woo and Sustainability <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1fab4.png\" alt=\"🪴\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you given any thought to sustainable design for the web? Or how eCommerce sites using WooCommerce might have their own unique challenges? It’s probably not something most site builders are thinking about, or even most hosting companies. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listening to <strong>Tom Greenwood</strong> from <strong>Wholegrain Digital</strong> will certainly <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/sustainable-web-design-now-and-in-the-future/\">open your eyes and make you more aware of the importance of sustainable websites</a>, both now and in the future. <strong>Kathy Zant</strong> and <strong>Ronal Gijsel</strong> sat down to talk with Tom in the latest <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/series/woocommerce/\">Do the Woo</a> podcast episode.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Four Developers and a Microphone <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>And last but not least, there is that nagging question — <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/woocommerce-dev-chat-with-jjj/\">What happens when you get four developers together on a podcast?</a> Well, it depends. If you want to truly dive into the depths of code and geek out, <strong>Zach Stepek</strong>, <strong>Carl Alexander</strong>, and <strong>Till Krüss</strong> had a lively conversation with <strong>John James Jacoby</strong> this week on Do the Woo too.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-624c6e8fbe25f wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background\"><a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/post-status-members/\"><img width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/hg1C04vb_400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Do the Woo\" class=\"wp-image-93517 size-full\" /></a><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" id=\"h-get-ready-for-remote-work\"><strong><strong>Do the Wo</strong>o!</strong> <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Get the Podcast</a>. <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Subscribe to the Newsletter</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn from others. Grow your business. Connect with a community of like-minded developers and builders who freelance, run agencies, and build really cool products and sites in the <strong>WooCommerce</strong> ecosystem.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 18:45:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"Post Status: Post Status Notes #492\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95218\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"https://poststatus.com/post-status-notes-492/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14400:\"<p class=\"has-theme-palette-5-color has-text-color\">The first-ever core preview walkthru with contribs for WP 6.0. Lots of Gutenberg news, big WordCamp comebacks, and other cool things!</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-624c6e8fb6f2b wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p>Don\'t miss <strong>David</strong>&#8216;s fresh <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-march-27/\">podcast picks for the week</a>! <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> As usual, <strong>Courtney</strong> has <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-march-28-2022/\">the week\'s news</a> from the people making WordPress at .org. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3d7.png\" alt=\"🏗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> </p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_0a42b9-10 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_0a42b9-10 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_0a42b9-10\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-core-and-block-editor-updates\">Core and Block Editor Updates <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4e6.png\" alt=\"📦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Join contributors to WordPress core and other teams on <strong>April 5th</strong> for a first-of-it\'s-kind <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/6-0-product-walk-through/\">video product walk-through</a> of the major features coming in <strong>WordPress 6.0</strong>.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_e5c05c-a8 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_e5c05c-a8 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_e5c05c-a8\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>The newly released <strong>Gutenberg 12.9</strong> has a new block locking UI. It\'s also easier as of this release to build block themes, and manage deeply nested block structures. There are performance improvements <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-9-30-march/\">and several more goodies</a>.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_81118f-f7 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_81118f-f7 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_81118f-f7\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s time! The WordPress <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">pattern directory</a> is <em>live</em>. Now you can log into your WordPress.org user account to build, edit, and submit <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/\">block patterns to the Pattern Directory</a>. J<strong>ustin Tadlock</strong> <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the-wordpress-org-pattern-creator-now-open-to-the-public\">shares his day one experience</a>.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_ca97c0-67 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_ca97c0-67 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_ca97c0-67\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <strong>Matías Ventura</strong>, soon <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matias_ventura/status/1508386768864911372\">you\'ll be able to select text across blocks</a> in the WordPress editor while retaining the fundamental mechanics of content blocks.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_8745d6-3a .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_8745d6-3a .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_8745d6-3a\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-proposal-for-webp-by-default\">Proposal for WebP by Default <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26a1.png\" alt=\"⚡\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adam Silverstein</strong> has proposed adopting <strong>WebP</strong> as <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/28/enabling-webp-by-default/\">the default image format in WordPress core</a> for uploads in the Media Library. If Adam\'s proposal is adopted as he describes, “WebP images [would be] generated by default for new JPEG uploads&#8221; and &#8220;used by default for the website content.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test this proposed feature with the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/performance-lab/\">Performance Lab plugin</a>&#8216;s <strong>WebP Uploads</strong> module.&nbsp; Developers can review code and give technical feedback on the&nbsp;latest patch on the associated <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55443\">Trac ticket</a> or <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/2393\">Pull Request</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_6a50f5-e6 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_6a50f5-e6 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_6a50f5-e6\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-big-wordcamp-comebacks\">Big WordCamp Comebacks! <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/26fa.png\" alt=\"⛺\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Large <strong>WordCamps</strong> are making their return. In addition to <strong>WordCamp Europe</strong> on <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">June 2-4</a>, <strong>WordCamp US</strong> is happening on <strong>September 9-1</strong>. The <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/\">call for speakers</a> closes on April 17th.) <strong>WordCamp Asia</strong> has <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/\">recently announced</a> it\'s going to take place early next year on <strong>February 17-19, 2023</strong>, in <strong>Bangkok</strong>, <strong>Thailand</strong>.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_a00d15-71 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_a00d15-71\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-shiny-new-things-shared\">Shiny New Things Shared <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2728.png\" alt=\"✨\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rich Tabor</strong> has placed <a href=\"https://richtabor.com/blocks-on-github/\">all his blocks</a> on <strong>Github</strong>, including a new <strong>Share to Twitter</strong> block. He also explains in another post <a href=\"https://richtabor.com/a-new-era/\">why the &#8220;new era&#8221; of WordPress themes is finally here</a>. The future of publishing happens in a block editor, not a code editor. Rich also shares an important block development tip:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>An important concept to grasp is that <strong>when you do make changes to a template, or part, within the Template editor, those changes will immediately take precedence</strong> over the theme’s bundled template files.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_e1e93f-9d .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_e1e93f-9d .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_e1e93f-9d\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner</strong> <a href=\"https://briangardner.com/border-block-style/\">shows a simple way</a> of adding &#8220;a bit of pizzazz&#8221; to images in the block editor.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_5e747d-01 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_5e747d-01 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_5e747d-01\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\'s a brilliant WordPress plugin from <strong>Brian Henry</strong> that creates <a href=\"https://github.com/BrianHenryIE/bh-wp-autologin-urls\">single-use passwords in the URLs in WordPress login emails</a> for a &#8220;frictionless login&#8221; experience.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_72f35a-46 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_72f35a-46 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_72f35a-46\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Developer Happiness <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f6aa.png\" alt=\"🚪\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f6b6-1f3ff-200d-2640-fe0f.png\" alt=\"🚶🏿‍♀️\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Tech has one of <a href=\"https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation\">the highest resignation rates in any industry</a>. Why? <strong>David Gibson</strong> at <strong>Stack Overflow</strong> <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/03/17/new-data-what-makes-developers-happy-at-work/\">examines survey results</a> to find out what makes developers happy at work. While about 70% say they are happy, 20% of developers are looking for new opportunities. On a global scale that adds up.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_3a39b2-3d .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_3a39b2-3d .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_3a39b2-3d\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>John Hughes</strong> from <strong>CodeInWP</strong> looks <a href=\"https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/web-developer-salary/\">at the average wages for web developers</a> across different development fields. From the data, John concludes that backend developers should expect $67k-$116k with frontend developers making a bit less. Of course, location and experience are big factors, so the details in this post are worth digging into.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_fc6181-31 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_fc6181-31 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_fc6181-31\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Good to Know <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4a1.png\" alt=\"💡\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Eric Karkovack</strong> examines <a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/overcoming-the-challenge-of-selling-clients-on-woocommerce/\">some pain points</a> when it comes to selling <strong>WooCommerce</strong>, like the dizzying array of features and extensions available. Eric has some good advice for getting past that potential barrier by accurately assessing project needs and communicating them to clients.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_aaf202-5a .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_aaf202-5a .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_aaf202-5a\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>I liked this <a href=\"https://bkardell.com/blog/UAGottaBeKidding.html\">review of the history of the UA string</a> from <strong>Brian Kardell. </strong>It\'s amazing how complex it is with the &#8220;lies&#8221; and workarounds — not to mention the money and time — that have gone into the evolution of a string.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_483925-62 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_483925-62 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_483925-62\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\'re looking for an educational <strong>Twitter</strong> thread, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JosephHHoward/status/1508838529924837382\">the responses</a> to <strong>Joe Howard\'s</strong> questions about a minimalist WordPress blog are worth a look.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_31a606-1e .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_31a606-1e .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_31a606-1e\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Upgrades <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f199.png\" alt=\"🆙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you use <strong>PHPStorm</strong>, check out <a href=\"https://blog.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/2022/03/phpstorm-2022-1-eap-7/#improvements_for_wordpress\">its latest improvements for WordPress development</a>.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_18795b-b2 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_18795b-b2 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_18795b-b2\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WP Migrate DB Pro</strong> has been capable of migrating much more than databases for quite some time. Understandably, they\'ve shortened this indispensable plugin\'s name to <strong>WP Migrate</strong>. The simpler brand is official as of <a href=\"https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro-2-3-released/\">the latest 2.3 version</a>. This release also offers a UI for including or excluding the database in a migration, making version comparisons, and some other enhancements.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_0a153b-c7 .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_0a153b-c7 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_0a153b-c7\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Support Ukraine! <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f1fa-1f1e6.png\" alt=\"🇺🇦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tetiana Pryhorovska</strong> from <strong>Crocoblock</strong> offers <a href=\"https://crocoblock.com/blog/wordpress-community-supports-ukraine/\">a perspective</a> as an employee of a WordPress company based in <strong>Ukraine</strong>. Learn how some members of the WordPress community are offering support.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_7146af-ef .kt-block-spacer{height:30px;}.kt-block-spacer-_7146af-ef .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_7146af-ef\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 16:45:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Dan Knauss\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"Post Status: WordPress Podcast Picks for the Week of March 27\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95183\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:86:\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wordpress-podcast-and-video-picks-for-the-week-of-march-27/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3660:\"<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Here\'s David\'s weekly roundup of recent WP and web biz/tech podcasts worth listening to. Also: Ukrainian startup Lemon.io on work in wartime and Sherry Walling on grief. </p></div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-my-podcast-picks\">My Podcast Picks</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Matt Report:</strong> <strong>Rob Howard</strong> <a href=\"https://mattreport.com/buying-a-wordpress-media-property-plugin-business-ecosystem/\">talks about</a> building an agency, hiring, and purchasing <a href=\"https://masterwp.com/\">MasterWP</a>.</li><li><strong>Reverse Engineered:</strong> Jon <a href=\"https://kinsta.com/podcast/frontend-developer-seo-specialist/\">has a conversation</a> with <strong>Aleyda Solis</strong>, an international SEO consultant and founder of <strong>Orainti</strong>, a boutique SEO consultancy specialized in international, mobile, technical, and strategic SEO processes audits, advice and training. </li><li><strong>Syntax.fm</strong>: Developer-related discussions focused on <a href=\"https://syntax.fm/show/440/potluck-handling-auth-are-web-dev-real-developers-handling-git-conflicts-converting-png-to-box-shadow-bad-docs-vs-no-docs-making-shopify-headless\">&#8220;real&#8221; web developers</a>, handling Git conflicts, bad docs vs no docs, and more.</li><li><strong>Make Lemonade:</strong> <strong>Mark Zahar</strong> <a href=\"https://make-lemonade.simplecast.com/episodes/wp-mayor-8v6bLJE6\">talks about the WordPress ecosystem</a>, <strong>WP Mayor</strong>, <strong>SpotlightWP</strong>, and <strong>WP RSS Aggregator</strong>.</li><li><strong>That Talking Thing:</strong> <strong>Jason Coleman</strong> and <strong>Kim Coleman</strong> discuss whether <a href=\"https://www.strangerstudios.com/podcast/that-talking-thing-season-2-episode-13/\">the freemium model</a> is the best way to monetize membership sites.</li><li><strong>Leading To Fulfillment:</strong> <strong>Dr. Sherry Walling</strong> explains <a href=\"https://ciircles.com/podcast/leading-to-fulfillment/fulfillment-in-the-face-of-transition-loss-and-grief-with-dr-sherry-walling/\">how to find fulfillment</a> in the face of grief, loss, and transition — all things happening daily in the WordPress community.</li><li><strong>Techmeme Ride Home:</strong> Not WordPress-related, but an interesting story nonetheless — how a tech startup in <strong>Ukraine</strong> is <a href=\"https://www.ridehome.info/show/techmeme-ride-home/profile-of-ukrainian-startup-lemonio/\">managing it\'s employees in the middle of a war</a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-624c6e8fb37e5 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status\' <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/\">Week in Review</a> — also available in <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/newsletter\">our newsletter</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f48c.png\" alt=\"💌\" class=\"wp-smiley\" />  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And don\'t miss the latest updates from the people making WordPress. We\'ve got you covered with <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/make-wordpress/\">This Week at WordPress.org</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2699.png\" alt=\"⚙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org? <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/\">Start Here ›</a></p>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 16:00:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"WordCamp Central: Represent Your Community: Join the WordCamp Asia 2023 Team\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3146748\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:100:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2022/04/represent-your-community-join-the-wordcamp-asia-2023-team/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1449:\"<p>It&#8217;s hard to believe over 2 years have passed since we <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2020/cancellation/\">announced the cancellation</a> of our first flagship WordCamp in the region, WordCamp Asia 2020.</p>\n<p>Now, I&#8217;m happy to announce the organising team is back together and ready to plan our event in February 2023! While the majority of the team is coming back, we are <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-organisers/\">looking for some additional members to join us</a>.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><p><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-organisers/\">Call for Organisers</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<p>To make WordCamp Asia a truly diverse and inclusive event, <strong>we need your help</strong>. If you are someone who is passionate about WordPress and want to help shape the future of it in Asia, please consider joining us on this new journey.</p>\n<p>And even if that&#8217;s not an option for you right at the moment, I hope you can take a few minutes to help spread the word. We&#8217;d love to reach as many active members of Asian WordPress communities as possible. Please share this news with your friends, colleagues, or anyone who may be interested.</p>\n<p>Over the years, the support from the WordPress community for our event has been overwhelmingly warm and kind. Thanks again for trusting us to stay strong. We can&#8217;t wait to meet you in Bangkok.</p>\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:47:04 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Naoko Takano\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"Akismet: The Pros and Cons of Enabling Comments on Your WordPress Website\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=2365\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"https://blog.akismet.com/2022/04/01/wordpress-pros-and-cons-of-enabling-comments/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14147:\"<p>For many bloggers, having comments is the best part of their blog ownership experience. They enjoy interacting with readers, getting real-time feedback, and seeing their community grow. However, while there are a lot of benefits to enabling comments on your WordPress website, you might run into a few problems along the way.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re on the fence about enabling comments, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll cover the pros and cons and discuss how you can protect your site from unwanted spam.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-2365\"></span>\n\n\n\n<h2>The pros of enabling comments on WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With the potential risks comments pose, why do so many bloggers keep them around? Here are a few benefits to enabling comments on your site:</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>1. They build a strong community&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind every successful WordPress website is a group of loyal followers. Enabling comments on your website allows people to share stories, connect with like-minded readers, and gain a sense of ownership and pride.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you can’t respond to every comment, your audience members will feel acknowledged and appreciated when they see that you’re reading and engaging with fellow followers.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>2. You can receive valuable feedback</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The comments section of your website gives visitors an easy way to leave feedback on your site. Much of this will come naturally. If a post sees substantially more comments than normal and a plethora of positive responses, it’s a good indication that the subject matter really resonated with your audience.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asking the following questions could help solicit feedback from your readers:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Do you like this style of post? Do you want to see more or less?</li><li>What other topics would you like me to cover?&nbsp;</li><li>What are the most common problems you encounter with (the subject matter of your site)?&nbsp;</li><li>What’s the most helpful advice you’ve seen on this site?&nbsp;</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>By asking direct questions, you can better gauge if you’re serving your audience well. And when readers feel acknowledged and see that you take action based on their feedback, they’ll have a greater sense of loyalty and ownership. This is a key part of developing brand advocates that will proactively share your site with their friends and family.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>3. You can increase views and conversions</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When a person leaves a comment on your website and you or another reader replies, they’ll come back to view that response. Imagine if every commenter visited your website multiple times to reply to comments. Your page views would go through the roof!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With commenters regularly returning to your site, the increase in page views could bump up ad revenue or improve the chances that they take a desired action —&nbsp;register for your email list, purchase a product, leave you a tip, follow you on social media, and more.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>The cons of enabling comments on WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While enabling comments on your website seems to be a great choice, remember that everything has two sides. Now that we’ve covered the benefits of comments, let’s examine the&nbsp;potential downsides.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>1. Moderating comments is time-consuming&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While getting feedback and connecting with your audience is great, moderating comments is a time-consuming process. You’ll need to read each comment, formulate a response, and do your best to keep spam comments at bay. You might be able to handle it when your blog has a few readers, but as your audience grows, comments can quickly get out of hand.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>2. You may attract unwanted spam&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the moment you enable comments on your website, spambots will come running. You can get hit with a wave of bot-generated comments&nbsp;even if your audience is small. While there are ways to <a href=\"https://blog.akismet.com/2022/01/12/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/\">protect your WordPress site from comment spam</a>, dealing with spam is one of the many responsibilities that fall under site management.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>3. They could negatively affect your brand&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>No matter how hard you try, you can’t make everyone happy. There will always be people who disagree with you or aren’t big fans of your content. This can be emotionally exhausting, but also make others wonder about the validity of your work.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malicious comments with links that lead to viruses or other nefarious traps could harm your visitors and cause distrust and frustration.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a comment section that’s filled with gibberish spam remarks, lewd or obscene comments, or even no comments at all can make readers associate your site with bad feelings. Allowing each and every comment with no moderation is an express lane to a tarnished reputation.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>The SEO benefits of enabling comments on WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bloggers put a lot of work into search engine optimization (SEO). With all the hours that go into creating content, it’s natural that they want people to see and read the fruits of their labor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google has made it clear that <a href=\"https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-removing-blog-comments-may-impact-search-rankings/395400/#close\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comments can have a positive impact on search rankings</a>. Let’s look at three SEO benefits of enabling comments on your website:</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>1. Increased natural keyword density&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When search engines crawl your site, they’re looking, in part, to understand what each page is about, based on the content it contains. When your readers comment and mention the keywords you’re trying to rank your blog post for, search engines will take notice and may give your rankings a boost.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is especially true when it comes to semantically similar keywords. These are search terms closely related to the keywords you’re targeting. Imagine you wrote a blog post on chocolate cake. While “chocolate cake” is your main keyword, words like “icing,” “gluten-free,” “recipe,” and “ingredients” are all semantically similar keywords that help improve your content’s relevance.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While search engines don’t appreciate, and will even penalize, stuffing your page full of keywords, organic comments can do the work for you while staying on search engines’ ‘good side.’</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>2. More webpage content</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To Google and other search engines, the comment section of your website is simply additional content. Your blog post could only be 600 words long, but if you have 800 words worth of comments, you now have 1,400 words of content on your page.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, these comments need to add to the value of your blog post. On the other hand, long comments unrelated to the post could have the opposite effect. This is why comment moderation, although time-consuming, is essential.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>3. More linking opportunities</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Comments on a WordPress website increase linking opportunities — both internal and external. Answering questions in your comment section gives you the chance to link to relevant articles on your website, giving visitors a reason to stay on your site longer.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even referring to third-party sites when a question goes beyond the scope of your expertise can help search engines better understand the full context of your site and where it fits in the online ecosystem. Plus, honest referrals to other experts is a great way to build a relationship with sites who may return the favor in the future.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How to disable WordPress comments&nbsp;</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can choose to either disable comments on individual pages of your WordPress site or disable them across the entire site.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>How to disable comments on your entire WordPress website</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To completely disable comments on your site, navigate to your dashboard and go to <strong>Settings</strong> → <strong>Discussion</strong>. Look for <strong>Default post settings</strong> at the top of your screen. Uncheck the box that says <strong>Allow people to comment on new posts</strong>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<h3>How to disable comments on individual pages&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What if you want to disable comments only on specific pages? You might notice that some blog topics or articles are more prone to spam than others. To disable those comment sections, go to the <strong>Posts</strong> or <strong>Pages</strong> tab. Find the post or page you’re looking for and click on <strong>Quick edit</strong> below its name. Next, you’ll see a box that reads <strong>Allow Comments</strong>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>If the box is checked, disable it. You can repeat this process across your website for all the pages and posts where you want to turn off comments.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep in mind that depending on the nature of your blog, disabling comments on your website could cost you valuable engagement. Thankfully, you can take steps to avoid spam comments on your website without sacrificing your comment section entirely.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>An overview of comment spam</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want the benefits of robust reader engagement without the annoyance of dangerous spam, there are some steps you can take to prevent comment spam.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>What spam comments look like</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Spam comments are often easy to spot. Since bots behave according to how they’re programmed, they tend to follow a few general guidelines. Here are warning signs a comment might be spam:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The message leads readers to a third-party website that’s unrelated to the subject matter of the post</li><li>The comment comes from a guest account or one with no name&nbsp;</li><li>There is no user avatar/profile picture&nbsp;</li><li>There are direct mentions of products and services</li><li>The comment is unrelated to the blog topic or comment discussion&nbsp;</li><li>The comment is rife with grammatical errors or gibberish that doesn’t contribute to meaningful discussion</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let’s say you run a blog that caters to dessert recipes. A spam comment posted by a bot might look something like this:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>“Find out how to keep your Air conditioners clean all year round here!!! → (insert link)”</strong> &#8211; <strong>Guest 0123r67</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vague name and unrelated comment are clear signs of spam, so the comment should be removed as soon as possible.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Why spam comments are harmful</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>From the moment you allow comments on your site, you’re bound to attract some spam. As your content and audience grow, this spam can become overwhelming to manage while the number of people who could be impacted increases. Let’s review a few of the reasons why spam comments are harmful.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>1. Spam comments foster distrust with your readers&nbsp;</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only do spam comments make your site look unprofessional, they foster distrust with your readers. No matter how credible a website looks, a comment section riddled with spam will raise red flags among visitors.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While some people may understand that spam comments are a natural occurrence, others may not be so understanding. This is especially true if they fall prey to following a link from one of these comments.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, if you choose to enable comments on your site, it’s your job to monitor them and keep your followers safe.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>2. Spam comments ruin the user experience&nbsp;</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Followers looking to have real, meaningful conversations with other readers will be put off by bots taking over the comment section.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you sit back and let spam comments wreak havoc across your website, you miss out on valuable feedback, suggestions, and potential connections with your audience.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>3. Spam comments impact your SEO</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Failing to delete low-quality comments could severely harm your site’s search engine rankings. You’ve put months, maybe even years of hard work into your website, but letting comments build up with links to malicious sites can undo much of your progress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>How to avoid spam comments</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you decide that it’s worth it to have comments on your WordPress website, remember that the best defense is a good offense. Don’t wait for your website to become overrun with spam comments before investing in a <a href=\"https://akismet.com/\">spam-fighting plugin like Akismet</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Akismet can automatically detect spam on your website by sifting through comments and separating the good from the bad. Within seconds, Akismet analyzes the comments submitted to your site and runs them through their global database. If a comment is flagged, it won’t get posted — plain and simple.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One major benefit of Akismet is the time it saves you when moderating comments. Instead of viewing every comment submission manually, you only need to check the ones that Akismet flags as potential spam. Or, you can just let it get rid of the worst spam without having to review it at all!&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Should you allow comments on your website?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We can’t make the decision for you, so you’ll need to weigh the risks and benefits of comments on your website yourself. While building a rapport with your audience and using comments to improve SEO may be worth it for some, the need to constantly moderate comments for spam may put others off.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re really on the fence about enabling comments on your site, you can always try it out with a spam-fighting plugin like <a href=\"https://akismet.com/\">Akismet</a>. This way, you can prevent harmful comments from appearing on your site without missing out on real, meaningful comments and engagement. If you find that they do more harm than good, you can always disable them and try again in the future.&nbsp;</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:16:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Simon Keating\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"WPTavern: WebMan Design Launches Abs, Additional Styles for Native WordPress Blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132209\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:93:\"https://wptavern.com/webman-design-launches-abs-additional-styles-for-native-wordpress-blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4505:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">WebMan Design owner Oliver Juhas released the first version of the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/additional-block-styles/\">Abs &#8211; Additional block styles plugin</a> on Monday. Unlike many block-related extensions, it does not offer any blocks of its own. Instead, it registers custom styles to enhance those packaged with core WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In total, the plugin adds 18 styles. Some are specific to a single block, such as Accessibility Hidden, which creates invisible Headings, making them available to screen readers. Others, such as the Drop Shadow style, are registered for multiple blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the whole, it is a well-rounded set that often leans into more practical use cases. The Overlap Above and Overlap Below styles fit into this scenario. The former allows users to bump Image, Cover, and other blocks up, overlapping the section above them. The latter goes in the opposite direction.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Image overlapping section above it.\n\n\n\n<p>The downside to such overlaps is that the user cannot control how far up or down the block shifts. <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/32644\">Negative vertical margin controls</a> are a sought-after feature in WordPress, often necessary to create specialized layouts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juhas provided a <code>--abs_overlap_value</code> CSS custom property. DIY users could control this via CSS. At the very least, theme authors could integrate directly with the plugin. However, they may simply want to register the styles for their own themes if going through all the trouble.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the plugin styles may be practical in many ways, Juhas also threw a bit of whimsy in the mix. Almost as a signature, nearly every similar plugin offers at least one SVG mask for image-related blocks. Abs follows the same path with its Paint Brush style:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Paint Brush style applied to an image.\n\n\n\n<p>That is the only such SVG mask in the plugin, a style that has almost been overdone. At least the Paint Brush option breaks from the mold of &#8220;blob shapes&#8221; that have become commonplace.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juhas has several example screenshots and GIFs on the plugin page that explore what the plugin is capable of, many of them mixing and matching different blocks and styles. It is unlikely that I will do it justice here. However, I did try my hand at several layouts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my favorite creations was mixing the Wavy style for the Media &amp; Text block with Zigzag for Separator:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Wavy style for Media &amp; Text with mix of Zigzag Separator blocks.\n\n\n\n<p>Abs also includes a Double Line option for the Separator block. But, the plugin shines the most with Media &amp; Text. I can only assume that Juhas looked at it and realized that not enough designers were doing anything interesting with it, taking the responsibility upon himself. <em>That is merely a guess, anyway.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin adds a Paint Brush style for Media &amp; Text as it does for other image-type blocks. It also has a Media on Top option for stacking the block&#8217;s contents on both desktop and mobile displays and a similar stacking option for tablets. It supports both the previously-mentioned overlapping styles. Plus, users can get some mileage from its Gradient variation, as shown in the following screenshot:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Gradient style used for the Media &amp; Text block.\n\n\n\n<p>I am merely scratching the surface of possibilities with the plugin&#8217;s out-of-the-box styles. With time and creativity, users can create some unique layouts with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I tested Abs against several block-based themes, and it held up well. The only issues I ran into were likely related to running the latest Gutenberg plugin. After selecting a custom color when using the Zigzag style for the Separator block, the background color overtakes the shape. And, the alignment styles for the Column block do not align left or right in the editor. However, they do work on the front end.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am a fan of plugins that offer custom styles, and Abs is a welcome departure from the carousel of block libraries. It has just enough variety to please those looking for business-friendly design options while not neglecting users who just want to have a little fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/additional-block-styles/\">Abs &#8211; Additional block styles</a></blockquote>\n</div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 02:41:15 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:46:\"WPTavern: WP Migrate DB Rebrands to WP Migrate\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132290\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"https://wptavern.com/wp-migrate-db-rebrands-to-wp-migrate\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2782:\"<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-migrate-db/\">WP Migrate DB</a>, a popular WordPress site migration plugin by Delicious Brains, has rebranded to WP Migrate with its latest <a href=\"https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro-2-3-released/\">version 2.3 release</a>. The original name was always a bit of a mouthful but also became a less accurate representation of the plugin&#8217;s full capabilities as they grew over time. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This plugin has been capable of migrating more than just the database for a long time, so it&#8217;s nice to officially rebrand with an emphasis on full site WordPress migrations,&#8221; Delicious Brains Product Manager Kevin Hoffman said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Database-less migrations is one of the major features of the 2.3 release. No database tables are required anymore to migrate media, theme, and plugin files. The plugin added a new checkbox in the Database panel of users&#8217; migration profiles so they can choose if they want to include the database in the migration, just the files, or both.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With the introduction of database-less migrations in version 2.3, the time is right to officially &#8216;drop the DB&#8217; from our name and move forward as <em>WP Migrate</em>,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;This new name better suits the plugin that is now capable of migrating any combination of WordPress database tables, media files, uploads, themes, and plugins.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WP Migrate Pro 2.3 also introduces the ability to migrate from one multisite to another, making it easy to migrate from subsite-to-subsite. The interface now has new indicators showing theme and plugin version differences. Users will find the plugin installation workflow much easier, as version 2.3 moves addon functionality into the core plugin. Separate plugins, such as the Media Files and Multisite Tools addons, will automatically deactivate because they are now included in the core plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-migrate-db/\">free version of WP Migrate</a>, which has 300,000 active installs on WordPress.org, has also been updated and includes the following changes for version 2.3: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>New: “WP Migrate DB” is now “WP Migrate Lite”</li><li>New: CLI commands now support <code>migrate</code> base command as an alias of <code>migratedb</code></li><li>Improvement: CLI exports no longer require find/replace arguments</li><li>Improvement: Notices are now styled to reflect their state (success, error, warning, or information)</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The WP Migrate team plans to release an expansion of these features in the next release, including the ability to migrate must-use plugins, languages, and third-party directories found within <code>wp-content</code>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:56:25 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Juan Aldasoro\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12512\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/people-of-wordpress-juanfra-aldasoro/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16649:\"<p><strong>In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people’s lives for the better. This month we feature a website developer and product manager from Argentina, who found in the software a way to live his life in the way he dreamed.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/Juanfra_2333.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1\" alt=\"Juan standing in front of a mural\" class=\"wp-image-12525\" />\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress offers something to everyone. For Juan Aldasoro, a developer and product manager for a large distributed company, it provides an opportunity to combine his different interests and skills to live the type of life he wanted.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I like visual, creative and technical things. The joy of WordPress is that you can do all of these things, you don’t have to limit yourself to any one aspect . You can also do this from almost anywhere in the world!”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From working in products since 2012, Juan sees WordPress as a major part of his skillset and toolbox. He said: “It gives you an opportunity to be part of building a product which could potentially be used by thousands of people and more on your site. It encourages you to think about different languages and how you can make it accessible. It allows you to work on different platforms. Working in WordPress gives you this broad approach. Working this way on products ended up pushing me into learning about all these different things. Only in open source can you really do this and use your creative side to find solutions.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Learning about being part of a community</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1024\" height=\"924\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/Juanfra_2813.jpeg?resize=1024%2C924&ssl=1\" alt=\"Juan standing in a astreet with murals behind him\" class=\"wp-image-12529\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Born in a mid-sized city in Argentina, Juan was raised in a family in which music, arts and sports were always an essential part of everyday life.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“These activities encourage human beings to be creative and participative, and at the same time they are highly formative when it comes to mould people in order to become part of a group, a team, a community.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The youngest of five siblings, Juan became highly motivated, trying to follow the steps of his siblings. Having a computer at home, he started to make connections that laid the foundation for his career as a developer. His interest in computers grew through that access to a machine running MS-DOS &#8211; the one with the black screen command line! Mastering this became a challenge to him and something to share with others. Through doing this, he found a way to more social interaction and new friendships.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Without being conscious of it, my friends and I were sharing pieces of code.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: “I started learning some super easy stuff that made me feel like Houdini at that time. I could save a game play, something intangible, on a floppy disk and carry that piece of plastic and magnetic material back home. I was saving the play or game in a square object and then loading that back at home. I now realize, those were my first interactions with computer commands. Without being conscious of it, my friends and I were sharing pieces of code in a unique way.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This interest grew further through computer magazines and experimenting as &#8220;there was always something new to learn.” Although sport became a big part of Juan’s life in his teens, he kept up his computer learning. Taking a new direction, he found online tutorials enabling him to learn how to play the guitar. This led to setting up a punk rock band with his friends.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Education has always been important in my family, and thanks to my parent’s efforts, I attended a school where I learned to express myself in another language.” The school had hired a satellite internet connection in the mid-nineties and had HTML on the computer studies program. These facilities were not that common in Argentina or many other countries either at that time. Also, his parents had the foresight to secure a rare internet connection at the house in 1997. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juan recalled: “Browsing around the Internet opened a new universe in my mind. This new universe was extremely fantastic but also extremely expensive. I needed to make the most of every second online.”<br /><br />“It was a whole new world and one thing led to the other. I started learning a bit of everything, editing graphics, scripting and so on. I still remember my first website in the fantastic sunset strip, Geocities.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Trying to go pro</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After high school, Juan moved to the city along with his brother and began to study IT at University. When he was asked by a friend to work at a software company, he decided to try that whilst continuing his studies. Through his job he had the chance to explore web-related opportunities, and with a friend from university, they started managing teams and projects across Latin America and Spain.<br /><br />Juan describes this experience as one of the most fulfilling in his life. He was able to travel abroad for work, experience remote working, manage teams, present projects and speak formally in front of senior people. As the company grew at a fast pace, they learned how to set up and run a large organization. Eventually, he decided to drop out of his university program and focus on the opportunity of learning first hand.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/juanfra.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1\" alt=\"Juan riding a bicycle in a historical city during his travels\" class=\"wp-image-12509\" />\n\n\n\n<p>One of the key early learning from working internationally was that business and web development could be just as fast-moving and successful in Argentina as in other places. “I realized there’s no such thing as a secret sauce for success. Projects are backed by people’s talent and time, and you can find that in any latitude.”<br /><br />By his mid-20s, Juan decided he wanted to try building something from scratch. He created a social network for photo sharing in Latin America, which was used by more than 30,000 people across Latin America and Spain in its time. Through this, he discovered that other people had a blog and he did not want to be left behind. The discovery of WordPress was to change the focus of his life.<br /></p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Hello to WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Spending some time traveling around Europe, Juan found himself ‘surrounded by uncertainty’ and worried about what the future could bring. “I had some clues, but under uncertainty, the more you ask the less you answer. I started thinking about embracing the following philosophy: I didn’t want to be part of a large company, I didn’t want to continue studying and I wanted to travel as much as I could.” He did not realize at that time how this vision for his life was to mirror what he would find in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He started using WordPress for a few sites in 2005. By 2007 he was using it for almost everything. He was struck by the magnitude and range of what the software could do, from a simple tool used to create a blog in the blink of an eye through to complex projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>His first problem-solving project was simple and saved data received through a contact form plugin. “To complete this project I discovered the Codex and I learned how easy and intuitive it is to create a plugin. I had fallen in love with WordPress.”</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>I was truly amazed by how I could learn from others.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As he explored the options with the software, Juan was unsure of how intellectual property worked and wanted to be respectful of other people’s work. “I didn’t understand open source yet, and I wasn’t sure if I was stealing from others. That was my first interaction with GPL and open source. I was truly amazed by how I could learn from others and improve things created by others or by myself.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He realized: “WordPress was the way to go if I wanted to pursue a dream of traveling, skipping winter, and working at the same time; what we now call a digital nomad. I already knew how to work remotely, I could work for companies located anywhere, as long as they could communicate in English or Spanish.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juan started his own web agency, where he provided services to small and medium-sized companies abroad in the USA, UK, and Australia. He built his reputation and developed strong relationships in WordPress. “The experience couldn’t be better. I was learning, having fun, making a living out of it, and at the same time exploring the world.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In mid-2012, he discovered the full power of the WordPress community firsthand. In his spare time he started developing themes and from all he heard, wanted to attend a major event with lots of others in WordPress, a WordCamp. He took the plunge and booked for WordCamp in Edinburgh, in the UK. He said: “I got to meet many super talented people, and the atmosphere of the event was awesome. A place where competitors were also colleagues. Seeing the humility of somebody like Mike Little, the co-founder of WordPress, was amazing.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: “While there, unconsciously, I started dreaming of holding something like that in Argentina &#8211; the joy of hosting the WordPress community in my home country.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back home, while browsing the Codex, he happened to see that WordPress was turning 10. A lot of meetups were going to be organized worldwide to celebrate the birthday. But there was nothing organized in Argentina. This was a catalyst for starting a local meetup. Together with a colleague, he&nbsp; organized an Argentinian 10th birthday meetup. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 20 people showed up. “There was a common denominator. We all loved WordPress, it was part of our day-to-day life. We wanted to share experiences, make new friends and continue growing from what we could learn from others. That day we were a group of people with shared interests. That’s the simplest way to define a community, isn’t it?” This early meetup led to the formation of what is now called <a href=\"http://wpargentina.org/\">WordPress Argentina</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his desire to skip winters and do more traveling, his next adventure was to take him to visit family working in the US and attend one of the biggest WordCamps in the world in San Francisco. His interest kept growing and he traveled across Europe to be part of the first edition of WordCamp Europe in the Netherlands in 2013.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: “There’s almost nothing I could write to fully express what you experience in such events. They are the main WordPress events worldwide. The best part: I made a lot of good friends from many different places. I’m glad I have more excuses to continue traveling.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once again in Argentina, our organization started growing thanks to the energy of the whole group, we started hosting formal meetups. In May 2015, we crowned all these efforts with a new <a href=\"https://buenosaires.wordcamp.org/2015/\">WordCamp in Buenos Aires</a>, Argentina.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/Juanfra-WCBA15-51.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\" alt=\"Juan speaking at WordCamp Buenos Aires\" class=\"wp-image-12528\" />\n\n\n\n<p>“Organizing such an event in my home country with many of the contributors I had met from the very first meetup was an experience I will always keep with me.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juan believes one of his biggest contributions to open source was as part of being able to expand the community in Argentina and to share this with other Latin American and Spanish speaking countries. He also contributes as a volunteer translator in the Polyglots Team, to the Make WordPress Support team, and contributes to code blocks and Gutenberg. “I am really excited about seeing the future of Gutenberg as it is the future of WordPress.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout his time contributing, Juan believes in helping to set the foundations and encouraging others to give their time and talents. He is keen to share that contributing does not have to be the same all the time and that you can have breaks and focus on one area in a particular period too. He gives the example of how in his spare time he watches Trac, where tickets about the software are logged, and looks where he might be able to help or think of solutions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: “Anytime I find I can contribute to or make improvements in code-related areas, I will do as it is important to keep giving to the community. I enjoy crawling over meta, trac, GitHub and the different places that are requesting help. There is always somewhere you can help. At the moment, my focus is code and translations. I always try to save time to help these two areas. It is like you give and you get, you learn things. You meet amazing people and opportunities arrive.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Finding your path in WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/Juanfra_1505.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1\" alt=\"Juan sat in a street cafe surrounded by parked motorcycles\" class=\"wp-image-12527\" />\n\n\n\n<p>“Life is about experiences, it is about the people you surround yourself with and trying to do what you love. What you can find in an open source project like WordPress is an environment full of people who work with a tool they love. An environment that is ready to help and to give advice. Follow what makes you happy, try to be surrounded by people who make you better, try to empower others, try to give back. Try. Make your own path.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"share-the-stories\">Share the stories</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Help share these stories of open source contributors and continue to grow the community. Meet more WordPressers in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/category/newsletter/interviews/\">People of WordPress series</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"contributors-to-this-feature\">Contributors to this feature</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to Juan Aldasoro (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/juanfra/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>juanfra</a>) for sharing his story.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interviews and feature by Abha Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>webcommsat</a>) and Surendra Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sthakor/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>sthakor</a>). Reviews by Mary Baum (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>marybaum</a>), Chloe Bringmann (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>cbringmann</a>), Meher Bala (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>meher</a>), Anjana Vasan (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/anjanavasan/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>anjanavasan</a>) and Yvette Sonneveld (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/yvettesonneveld/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>yvettesonneveld</a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thanks to Josepha Haden Chomphosy&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>chanthaboune</a>) and Topher DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>topher1kenobe</a>) and others for their support&nbsp;</em>of this initiative.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\"><img width=\"180\" height=\"135\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2020/03/heropress_logo_180.png?resize=180%2C135&ssl=1\" alt=\"HeroPress logo\" class=\"wp-image-8409 size-full\" /><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on </em><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. </em>#HeroPress </p>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 31 Mar 2022 21:42:10 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"webcommsat AbhaNonStopNewsUK\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"Post Status: WooCommerce Function of the Week: get_european_union_countries\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=94980\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:85:\"https://poststatus.com/woocommerce-function-of-the-week-get_european_union_countries/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11493:\"<p class=\"has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\">You can use <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> for currency switching, to display conditional notices, content, or fields. Basically, whenever there is a country dropdown, <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> may be what you need.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Before we dive into WooCommerce again, here\'s a little historical context for the function we\'re going to look at this week: <code>get_european_union_countries</code>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community. The European Union was formally established with the Maastricht Treaty on 1 November 1993. There are now 27 EU members, yet <em>the list is always subject to change</em>. With Brexit, the United Kingdom left the EU. There is talk currently about Ukraine joining.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully, WooCommerce developers coded a function called <code>get_european_union_countries()</code>, which returns an array of &#8230; countries in the EU! (Did you see that coming?) Once again, we can rely on a lazy WooCommerce function and stop worrying about who is and who is not in the EU.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But why would you ever need to use <code>get_european_union_countries()</code>? Let\'s look at its syntax, its arguments, and some possible uses. </p>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-94980\"></span>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-function-syntax\">Function Syntax</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find the <code>european_union_countries()</code> function under <code>\\woocommerce\\includes\\class-wc-countries.php</code>:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>/**\n * Gets an array of countries in the EU.\n *\n * @param  string $type Type of countries to retrieve. Blank for EU member countries. eu_vat for EU VAT countries.\n * @return string&#91;]\n */\npublic function get_european_union_countries( $type = \'\' ) {\n	$countries = array( \'AT\', \'BE\', \'BG\', \'CY\', \'CZ\', \'DE\', \'DK\', \'EE\', \'ES\', \'FI\', \'FR\', \'GR\', \'HR\', \'HU\', \'IE\', \'IT\', \'LT\', \'LU\', \'LV\', \'MT\', \'NL\', \'PL\', \'PT\', \'RO\', \'SE\', \'SI\', \'SK\' );\n\n	if ( \'eu_vat\' === $type ) {\n		$countries&#91;] = \'MC\';\n	}\n\n	return apply_filters( \'woocommerce_european_union_countries\', $countries, $type );\n}</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>There\'s nothing very complex here — a hard-coded list of EU member country codes, and the function returns this array. Simple!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of important notes:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The function accepts a parameter, <code>$type</code>. This can either be left blank or set to <code>\"eu_vat\"</code>, in which case <code>MC</code> would also be included in the returned list of countries for Monaco, which is not a EU member, but it <em>is</em> subject to European VAT/tax.</li><li>The function provides a filter hook, <code>woocommerce_european_union_countries</code>, which you can use in your customization should you need to remove or add countries to the list.  </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\'s imagine you need to get a list of European countries — you\'d notice many are not in the list as they don\'t belong to the EU. This includes Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City. With the <code>woocommerce_european_union_countries</code> filter you can add them and return the full list of European countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you wondering if this is a political history post or a WooCommerce development tutorial? I don\'t blame you. Let\'s look at the case studies I promised to show how <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> might be used in a real-world scenario.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Case Studies</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> useful to WooCommerce devleopers? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, first of all it\'s important to understand why WooCommerce has this function and what it uses it for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By doing a quick file search through the WooCommerce plugin, we can see <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> is called at least 3 times:</p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>The <code>get_vat_countries()</code> function merges the <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> array with another manual array of countries that use &#8220;VAT.&#8221; This is used in the WooCommerce back end and front end to call taxes either VAT or TAX, based on the country code.</li><li><code>get_automated_support_countries()</code> merges the list of EU countries with &#8216;US\', &#8216;CA\', and &#8216;AU\' in order to return the list of countries that support automated tax calculations within WooCommerce.</li><li><code>get_note()</code> uses <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> to check if your store\'s country belongs to the EU. If it is and the WooCommerce AvaTax plugin is active, a banner ad is displayed to ask the store manager to install the EU VAT Number extension.</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first looked into <code>get_european_union_countries()</code>, I was expecting it to be used more extensively within WooCommerce itself, but that\'s it. It\'s still useful for developers of course because we can come up with additional ways to use the function and save on development time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> for currency switching, to display conditional notices, content, or fields. Basically, whenever there is a country dropdown, <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> may be what you need.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\'s analyze two more detailed scenarios for using this function.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Set Currency to EUR if the Order Billing Country is in the EU</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I issue a lot of manual orders on Business Bloomer, where my main currency is USD, like most of the WordPress ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While that is a great currency to sell memberships, plugins, and online courses, EUR is the currency I actually use myself.  If I\'m on the receiving end of transactions form<strong> countries within the EU where EUR is the main currency</strong>, I pay lower fees, have greater trust, and my PayPal/Stripe accounts are filled with euros, so I pay no conversion fees. Naturally I want my customers to at least have the option to pay in EUR!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The way I coded this is fairly simple — this is straight out of my own <code>functions.php</code>:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>/**\n * @snippet       Set new manual order currency | WooCommerce Admin\n * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE\n * @author        Rodolfo Melogli\n * @compatible    WooCommerce 6\n * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/\n */\n \nadd_action( \'woocommerce_new_order\', \'bbloomer_update_order_currency_on_creation\', 9999, 2 );\n\nfunction bbloomer_update_order_currency_on_creation( $order_id, $order ){\n    if ( $order && $order-&gt;is_created_via( \'admin\' ) ) { \n		if ( get_post_meta( $order_id, \'_billing_country\', true ) && in_array( get_post_meta( $order_id, \'_billing_country\', true ), WC()-&gt;countries-&gt;get_european_union_countries( \'eu_vat\' ) ) ) {	\n			$order-&gt;set_currency( \'EUR\' );\n			$order-&gt;save();\n		}\n	}\n}</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>W<strong>hat It Does:</strong> When I create and save a new order from the WooCommerce backend and the billing country belongs to the EU, the order currency is set to EUR by default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is another piece to this. If the order is manually set to the status of <em>pending</em> and the customer still needs to pay online, I also need to make EUR the default currency on the payment screen. Here\'s how I do that:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>/**\n * @snippet       Set currency | WooCommerce Order Pay page\n * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE\n * @author        Rodolfo Melogli\n * @compatible    WooCommerce 6\n * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/\n */\n \nadd_filter( \'woocommerce_currency\', \'bbloomer_switch_currency\' );\n\nfunction bbloomer_switch_currency( $currency ) {\n	if ( is_wc_endpoint_url( \'order-pay\' ) && in_array( WC()-&gt;customer-&gt;get_billing_country(), WC()-&gt;countries-&gt;get_european_union_countries( \'eu_vat\' ) ) ) {\n		return \'EUR\';\n	}\n	return $currency;\n}</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>In this way I\'ve created a multi-currency setup <em>without any plugins!</em> Cool, ha?!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Show Conditional Content if the Order Billing Country is in the EU</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I use <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> in my PDF invoices as well. </p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>If the billing country is Italy, I need to show certain messages in Italian by law.</li><li>On the other hand, if the <strong>billing country belongs to the EU </strong>array, I need to display a notice called &#8220;Reverse Charge.&#8221; (This is for intra-EU transactions when the VAT is recorded by the buyer instead of the seller.)</li><li>Otherwise, the function will show a message for extra-EU transactions.</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\'s my code:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>/**\n * @snippet       Display VAT notices | WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing slips\n * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE\n * @author        Rodolfo Melogli\n * @compatible    WooCommerce 6\n * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/\n */\n\nadd_action( \'wpo_wcpdf_after_order_details\', \'bbloomer_invoice_dpr_info\', 9999, 2 );\n\nfunction bbloomer_invoice_dpr_info( $template_type, $order ) {\n	if ( $order-&gt;get_billing_country() == \"IT\" ) {\n		?&gt;\n		&lt;?php if ( $order-&gt;get_total() &gt; 77.47 ) echo \'&lt;p&gt;(*) Imposta di bollo assolta ai sensi dell\\\'art. 13 della Tariffa allegata al DPR 26.10.72, n. 642&lt;/p&gt;\'; ?&gt;\n		&lt;p&gt;Operazione fuori campo IVA ai sensi dell\'art. 1, commi 54-89, L. 23/12/2014, n. 190&lt;/p&gt;\n		&lt;p&gt;Prestazione non soggetta a ritenuta d\'acconto ai sensi del comma 5.2 del Provvedimento Agenzia delle entrate del 22.12.2011 n. 185820&lt;/p&gt;		\n		&lt;?php\n	} elseif ( in_array( $order-&gt;get_billing_country(), WC()-&gt;countries-&gt;get_european_union_countries( \'eu_vat\' ) ) && ! empty( get_post_meta( $order-&gt;get_id(), \'_billing_vat_number_eu\', true ) ) ) {\n		// Intra EU Service\n		?&gt;\n		&lt;p&gt;Invoice subject to Reverse Charge rule in the country of receipt according to Italian law art. 7-TER, D.P.R. n. 633/1972&lt;/p&gt;	\n		&lt;?php\n	} else {\n		// Extra EU Service\n		// print_r($order);\n		?&gt;\n		&lt;?php /* if ( $order-&gt;get_total() &gt; 77.47 ) echo \'&lt;p&gt;(*) Cost of &euro;2 Italian stamp duty included in payment according to the Tariffa attachment, art. 13, DPR 26.10.72, n. 642&lt;/p&gt;\'; */ ?&gt;\n		&lt;p&gt;Invoice exempt from VAT/TAX according to Italian law art. 7, D.P.R. n. 633/1972&lt;/p&gt;		\n		&lt;?php\n	}\n}</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Wherever you have access to <code>$order-&gt;get_billing_country()</code>, you may use <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> for conditional content. I\'ve seen an example for using it in PDF invoices. It could also apply to the &#8220;Thank You&#8221; screen, customer account pages, order admin pages, and more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\"><strong>We hope this guide has been educational and useful for you!</strong> <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#comment\">Tell us in the comments</a> how you\'re using <code>get_european_union_countries()</code> and dealing with multi-currency situations in WooCommerce in your own code. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f4b6.png\" alt=\"💶\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:00:08 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Rodolfo Melogli\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"WPTavern: Gutenberg 12.9 Adds Block Locking UI, Automatic Pattern Registration, and Full Theme Exports\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132214\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:111:\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-9-adds-block-locking-ui-automatic-pattern-registration-and-full-theme-exports\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10266:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Gutenberg 12.9 landed in the WordPress.org plugin directory today, and it is a beefy release, packed with a little something for everyone. Even after tinkering with new features over the last few days, I have yet to explore everything as much as I would like. Given the practical limitation of time, I will not be able to dive into everything in this post, but I will attempt to introduce you all to some of the highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following are some selected items that I was unable to dive into, but I still encourage readers to check out:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The selected <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39386\">color&#8217;s name now appears</a> in the color picker.</li><li>Users can now <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39209\">choose from a suggested list</a> of date formats or add a custom one for the Post Date block. These are internationalized, so the suggestions will be locale-specific.</li><li>Themes can add blocks to a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38806\">No Results container block</a> when a Query returns no posts.</li><li>The Tag Cloud block now has <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/37311\">minimum and maximum size controls</a>.</li><li>The Separator block <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38428\">supports the newer color control</a>, allowing users to select transparent colors.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Block Locking UI</h2>\n\n\n\n<img />Customizing a locked block.\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg 12.9 introduces a new <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39183\">UI for locking blocks</a>. Under the &#8220;more options&#8221; dropdown in the toolbar, users can select the lock option, which will bring up a screen with two options:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Disable movement:</strong> Disallows moving the block itself. However, sibling blocks can be moved around it.</li><li><strong>Prevent removal:</strong> Prevents the block from being deleted.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Andrei Draganescu noted the following in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-9-30-march/\">12.9 announcement post</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>When a block is locked, users are either unable to move it, remove it, or both. This is particularly useful with site level blocks like Post Content which many themes will want to lock down.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>However, that definition does not entirely explain block-level locking. There is a caveat: this new UI hands end-users the key to the lock. Technically, they already had this capability via the code editor, but it is now available through the interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From a theme dev perspective, block-level locking merely requires additional steps of the user to move and/or remove blocks. It is not a &#8220;forced&#8221; or &#8220;permanent&#8221; lock. It is a welcome feature, but themers should understand its limits and that this new UI offers more power to users, not less.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update:</strong> there is a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39566\">hook for site builders to overwrite this</a>.  See <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-12-9-adds-block-locking-ui-automatic-pattern-registration-and-full-theme-exports#comment-421351\">more in the comments</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Block Gap Support for Galleries…<em>Sort Of</em></h2>\n\n\n\n<img />Block spacing for the Gallery block.\n\n\n\n<p>One of the features I was most excited about with this release was the addition of support for <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38164\">spacing between Gallery images</a>. Theme authors have relied on specialized block styles to give users choices, usually limited to default and a &#8220;no gap&#8221; options. The latter would remove any spacing between the images.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the feature is broken in 12.9 when users manually set a gap. Checking the source code, it is outputting an <code>Array</code> instead of valid CSS. On the front end, the following warning displays:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Warning: preg_match() expects parameter 2 to be string, array given in ...wp-content/plugins/gutenberg/build/block-library/blocks/gallery.php on line 51</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>I am sure this will be corrected in 12.9.1. Until then, I suggest not using the &#8220;Block Spacing&#8221; control.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Theme author warning:</strong> This is a breaking change for themes that target the <code>--gallery-block--gutter-size</code> to control the default gap for galleries. This previously-reliable CSS custom property no longer exists in the code. It is unclear why this variable was removed altogether, and there was no mention of it in the ticket.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new <code>--wp--style--unstable-gallery-gap</code> variable seems to do a similar job. However, as the <code>unstable</code> part of its name suggests, it may not always be around. It is also defined on the <code>.wp-container-*</code> class instead of the gallery itself. I have yet to do enough CSS testing to figure out how to overwrite it for the default gap. If anyone has a solution, please post it in the comments for others.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Children Collapsed by Default in List View</h2>\n\n\n\n<img />Opening a collapsed set of nested blocks in the list view.\n\n\n\n<p>I have often shied away from the list view in the editor for most real-world scenarios, at least for pages with many nested blocks. With every level open by default, it was a bit of a nightmare to browse through and locate a specific block. It was easier to take my chances clicking around in the content canvas.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the latest Gutenberg release may just change my usage of it. Version 12.9 <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39611\">collapses all child blocks by default</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Automatic Pattern Registration for Themes</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Theme authors can now let Gutenberg <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/36751\">handle pattern registration for them</a>. They only need to follow a few rules:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Add block patterns inside PHP files in a <code>/patterns</code> folder.</li><li>Add pattern data to the file header.</li><li>Add pattern content, of course.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Individual pattern files should look like the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>&lt;?php\n/**\n * Title: A Pattern Title\n * Slug: namespace/slug\n * Description: A human-friendly description.\n * Viewport Width: 1024\n * Categories: comma, separated, values\n * Keywords: comma, separated, values\n * Block Types: comma, separated, values\n * Inserter: yes|no\n */\n ?&gt;\n &lt;!-- some-block-content /--&gt;</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Only the <code>Title</code> and <code>Slug</code> header fields are required. Each option matches a <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/register_block_pattern/\"><code>register_block_pattern()</code> function argument</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theme authors who want to use this feature now but provide backward compatibility with WordPress 5.9 can check for the existence of the <code>gutenberg_register_theme_block_patterns()</code> function. That is the function name for the moment, at least.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This change further builds on top of the existing standards for block themes. Authors now have clear-cut guidelines on registering most features via standard files and folders:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><code>/parts</code> &#8211; Block template parts</li><li><code>/patterns</code> &#8211; Block patterns</li><li><code>/styles</code> &#8211; Global style variations</li><li><code>/templates</code> &#8211; Block templates</li><li><code>theme.json</code> &#8211; Global settings and styles</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from custom block styles and variations (not to be confused with global style variations), nearly everything is covered. This well-rounded set lowers the barrier to entry for future theme authors. Even seasoned developers should appreciate the simplicity of what to name things and where to put them. It is one less thing to worry about. It will also continue simplifying the WordPress.org theme review system.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Theme Exporting and Template Building</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of lowering barriers, creators can now build an entire theme from the site editor. Well, assuming they start from an existing block theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg 12.9 introduces two vital features to the site-building process. The first allows users to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39202\">export a copy of their active theme</a> directly from the editor:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Exporting the active theme with customizations.\n\n\n\n<p>The downloaded ZIP file from this export is a fully-functioning theme. It includes all user customizations alongside every file that already exists in the original.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are still a few things that are not yet possible from the editor, and these will need to be manually adjusted before public release. The theme name and other data in <code>style.css</code> will remain the same as the original theme. There is also no method for snagging a screenshot of the customized version and bundling it in the ZIP.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a leap forward for democratizing design, but other flows will need to be considered. Users should be able to export as a child theme with only their customizations or even as a <code>*.json</code> file (global style variation).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, there is a more immediate and practical use case. Users can download their customized themes and upload them to another site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second crucial update for development within the site editor is <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/39353\">support for more templates</a>. Users can now create the following from the templates management panel in addition to the existing ones;</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Author</li><li>Category</li><li>Date</li><li>Tag</li><li>Taxonomy</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<img />Adding a new Author template.\n\n\n\n<p>The new templates are welcome additions, but the template-creation feature still has limits. There is no way to create variations on those templates via the UI, such as <code>category-wordpress</code>, <code>taxonomy-genre</code>, or the dozens of other possibilities. However, it will happen one day.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 31 Mar 2022 03:38:57 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"Post Status: Post Status Excerpt (No. 52) — Improving Your Live Video Self\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=94877\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-52-improving-your-live-video-self/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4689:\"<h2 id=\"more-important-than-being-responsive-is-setting-expectations-dave-rodenbaugh\">“Embrace Progress Over Perfection” — Roshanda Pratt</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David meets <strong>Roshanda Pratt</strong> and welcomes her to the WordPress community. Soon, Roshanda will be speaking at the upcoming <a href=\"https://wpcareersummit.com/\">WP Career Summit</a> on “<a href=\"https://wpcareersummit.com/roshanda-pratt/\">Secrets to Being on Camera in Live Video</a>.” Roshanda has been a television producer for a number of years and shares some tips to improve your image and confidence in video calls or at conferences and job interviews. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to stand out <em>and</em> express yourself professionally, you\'ll want to hear Roshanda\'s advice and attend <a href=\"https://wpcareersummit.com/roshanda-pratt/\">her WP Career Summit talk</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why This Is Important: </strong>Many companies in the WordPress space are distributed or have a remote workforce. This means they\'re likely to interview job candidates remotely too, via live video. </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\">Every week <strong><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">Post Status Excerpt</a></strong> brings you insightful guests and timely conversations about WordPress, the WordPress community, and the WordPress business ecosystem. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f310.png\" alt=\"🌐\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br />You can listen to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/\">past episodes</a> of <strong>The Excerpt</strong>, <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\">browse all our podcasts</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe on <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/1m3xwXbe0MG5BzFVPtB0A7\">Spotify</a>, Amazon Music, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://castro.fm/podcast/c53552c6-1ee0-4fc4-9de4-08ed6bf1ee4d\">Castro</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://player.fm/series/wordpress-post-status-podcasts\">Player.fm</a>, <a href=\"https://pca.st/05rR\">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\">Simplecast</a>, or by <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wpcareersummit.com/\">WP Career Summit</a></li><li><a href=\"http://www.therepnetwork.com\">REP NETWORK</a></li><li>Follow Roshanda on <a href=\"http://wwww.linkedin.com/roshandaepratt\">Linkedin</a>, <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/therosholive/\">Instagram</a>, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/therosholive\">Twitter</a>.</li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Bisset</a> (Twitter)</li><li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Post Status</a> (Twitter)</li></ul>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_138506-a0 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_138506-a0\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"sponsor\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sponsor: <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/stellarwp\">StellarWP</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We are a collective of WordPress innovators, empowering business owners and creators with plugins and tools to help them thrive. We build great plugins, but we don’t stop there; we continually challenge ourselves to keep innovating and improving.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our solutions include the most trusted names in WordPress, with more than 2.5 Million installs. Since 2021, we’ve grown to encompass seven brands and dozens of plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>StellarWP is part of the Liquid Web family of brands.</p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_ad0578-69 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_ad0578-69\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>(coming soon)</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 23:30:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"WPTavern: Snow Monkey Editor Plugin Adds Custom Styles to WordPress Core Blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132205\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:90:\"https://wptavern.com/snow-monkey-editor-plugin-adds-custom-styles-to-wordpress-core-blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3709:\"<p>In the early days after the block editor landed in WordPress, block collection plugins exploded on the scene and were quick to rack up hundreds of thousands of users. Plugins like <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/coblocks/\">CoBlocks</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/kadence-blocks/\">Kadence Blocks</a>, and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-addons-for-gutenberg/\">Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg</a> offer dozens of blocks in one package, focusing mostly on blocks not offered in core. WordPress.org&#8217;s Block Directory gave some incentive for creating single-block plugins, allowing users to search for and install them inside the block editor. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https://richtabor.com/a-new-era/\">block themes generally include less custom CSS than traditional themes</a>, some plugin developers are experimenting with applying interesting styles to WordPress&#8217; core blocks. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/snow-monkey-editor/\">Snow Monkey Editor</a>, created by developer Takashi Kitajima, is one such plugin that doesn&#8217;t include any custom blocks. Instead, it extends the block editor to give unique styles to core blocks, giving them the appearance of custom blocks. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, Snow Monkey Editor will take a simple paragraph and transform it into various alert styles, post-it, speech, etc. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to paragraphs, the plugin has extra styles for image blocks, including different fluid shapes and shadowed.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The List block also includes several different pre-set styles to make lists more interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin puts a monkey icon inside the block toolbar that offers more formatting options for text, including background color, badge, font size, highlighter, letter spacing, line height, and text color.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Snow Monkey Editor also includes some utility and display settings for all blocks, including the following:  </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Hide on smartphone size or tablet size or PC size. (Using media query)</li><li>Hide by user roles. (Using <code>render_block</code> filter hook. If it does not pass this filter, it is ignored)</li><li>Scroll animation</li><li>Publish date time settings</li><li>Unpublish date time settings</li><li>Edit lock by user roles. (Only administrators can set it)</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These settings essentially allow editors to do things like disappear selected blocks on a set date, hide content depending on device display size, and lock content from being edited by different user roles. Some of these could be helpful when building websites for clients.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collection of styles for different blocks reminds me of the old days before the block editor when users would create similar formatted text using shortcodes. This new block-based approach is far less clunky and allows users to quickly preview the styles as they are working in the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/snow-monkey-editor/\">Snow Monkey Editor</a> plugin is available on WordPress.org, and has more than 10,000 active installs. It can be used with any theme, as the styles are mostly subtle and harmonious. If the plugin is deactivated, the block styles revert to the default core styles. Takashi Kitajima has also created a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/snow-monkey-blocks/\">Snow Monkey Blocks</a> plugin with ~3 dozen custom blocks, a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/snow-monkey-forms/\">Snow Monkey Forms</a> plugin with 13 blocks, and a <a href=\"https://snow-monkey.2inc.org/\">Snow Monkey theme</a> for those who want more complimentary extensions designed to work with Snow Monkey Editor.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 22:32:34 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"Post Status: This Week at WordPress.org (March 28, 2022)\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95192\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"https://poststatus.com/this-week-at-wordpress-org-march-28-2022/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9619:\"<p>Each week we are highlighting the news from WordPress.org that you don\'t want to miss.  If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, we\'ve got the news you need to know. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-news\">News</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/wordpress-5-9-3-rc-1/\">WordPress 5.9.3 RC 1</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/6-0-product-walk-through/\">6.0 Product Walk-Through</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2022/03/31/fse-program-testing-call-13-authoring-an-author-template/\">FSE Program Testing Call #13: Authoring an Author Template</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/people-of-wordpress-juanfra-aldasoro/\">People of WordPress: Juan Aldasoro</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/\">Get Creative with the All-New Pattern Creator</a></li></ul>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_a98156-c2 .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_a98156-c2\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h2 id=\"h-central\">Central</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/represent-your-community-join-the-wordcamp-asia-2023-team/\">Represent Your Community: Join the WordCamp Asia 2023 Team</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-core\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core\">Core</a> </h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/30/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-9-30-march/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 12.9? (30 March)</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/28/enabling-webp-by-default/\">Enabling WebP by default</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/23/migrating-wordpress-e2e-tests-to-playwright/\">Migrating WordPress E2E tests to Playwright</a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/07/the-performance-lab-plugin-has-been-released/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/07/a-week-in-core-march-7-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/14/a-week-in-core-march-14-2022/\"></a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-community\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community\">Community</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/03/2022-community-team-goals-summary/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/14/meetup-organizer-newsletter-march-2022/\">Meetup Organizer Newsletter: March 2022</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/23/return-to-events-blue-sky-thinking/\">Return to In-Person Events: Blue Sky Thinking</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/03/17/discussion-revisiting-in-person-regional-wordcamps/\">Discussion: Revisiting In-person Regional WordCamps</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-design\">Design</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2022/03/28/design-share-mar-14-25/\">Design Share: Mar&nbsp;14–25</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-docs\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs\">Docs</a>:</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2022/03/23/working-on-wordpress-release-6-0-selecting-trac-tickets-for-devnotes/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2022/03/28/onboarding-sessions-live/\">Onboarding sessions – live!</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-support-articles\">Support Articles:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/submit-your-block-pattern-to-the-directory/\"></a><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/post-content-block/\">Post Content Block</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/submit-your-block-pattern-to-the-directory/\"></a><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/pinterest-embed/\">Pinterest Embed</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-developer-articles\">Developer Articles:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/components/toggle-group-control-option-base/\">ToggleGroupControlOptionBase</a></li><li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/components/toggle-group-control-option-icon/\">ToggleGroupControlOptionIcon</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-hosting\">Hosting</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2022/03/30/wordpress-hosting-and-webp-support/\">WordPress Hosting and WebP support</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-photos\">Photos</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/photos/2022/03/23/announcement-photo-directory-team-reps-2022/\">Announcement: Photo Directory Team Reps 2022</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-polyglots\">Polyglots</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2022/03/22/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-march-2022/\">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter: March 2022</a></li></ul>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h2 id=\"h-plugins\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins\">Plugins</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/22/plugin-review-team-21-february-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/28/plugin-review-team-update-28-feb-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/15/plugin-review-team-14-march-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/22/plugin-review-team-21-march-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/28/plugin-review-team-28-march-2022/\">Plugin Review Team: 28 March 2022</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-project\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project\">Project</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/03/16/proposal-to-remove-spam-dormant-five-for-the-future-pledges/\">Proposal to remove spam/dormant Five for the Future pledges</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-themes\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes\">Themes</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/29/themes-team-update-march-29-2022/\">Themes team update March 29, 2022</a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/02/themes-team-update-march-02-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/03/15/themes-team-update-march-15-2022/\"></a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-training\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training\">Training</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2022/02/28/whats-new-on-learnwp-in-february-2022/\"></a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/03/03/march-2022-team-sprint/\">March 2022 Team Sprint</a></li><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2022/01/31/faculty-program-structure-proposal/\">Faculty Program: Structure Proposal</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"h-lesson-plans\">Lesson Plans</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/how-to-add-and-remove-logo-and-site-icon-in-site-editor/\">How To Add and Remove Logo And Site Icon in Site Editor</a></li><li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/how-to-use-and-contribute-to-the-wordpress-photo-directory-and-openverse/\">How to Use and Contribute to the WordPress Photo Directory and Openverse</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"h-workshops\">Workshops</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/adding-a-site-tagline-to-block-themes/\"></a><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/taking-advantage-of-query-loops/\">Taking Advantage of Query Loops</a></li><li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/adding-a-site-tagline-to-block-themes/\"></a><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/using-plugin-favorites-on-wordpress-org/\">Using Plugin Favorites on WordPress.org</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"h-social-learning-spaces\">Social Learning Spaces:</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/social-learning/\">Calendar</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-support\">Support</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2022/03/health-check-troubleshooting-upcoming-release-of-version-1-5-0/\">Health Check & Troubleshooting – Upcoming release of version 1.5.0</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-openverse\">Openverse</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2022/03/10/openverse-frontend-v3-1-1-release/\">Openverse Frontend v3.1.1 Release</a></li></ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background\"><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/\"><img src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vertical-post-status-logo-250.png\" alt=\"Post Status\" class=\"wp-image-85823 size-full\" /></a><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size\" id=\"h-get-ready-for-remote-work\">You — and <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/business-membership/\">your whole team</a> can <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/post-status-membership-club/\">Join Post Status</a> too!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-small-font-size\"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire.</strong> Read the <strong>Post Status</strong> <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/newsletter/\">newsletter</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2709.png\" alt=\"✉\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Listen to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcasts/\">podcasts</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Follow <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status/\">@Post_Status</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f426.png\" alt=\"🐦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 14:32:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"WPTavern: #20 – Oliver Sild on the State of WordPress Security\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=131983\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:78:\"https://wptavern.com/podcast/20-oliver-sild-on-the-state-of-wordpress-security\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62232:\"<p>On the podcast today we have <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OliverSild\">Oliver Sild</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oliver has been working in the WordPress space for many years, and specifically with WordPress security, as one of the founders of Patchstack, formerly called WebARX.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patchstack is a product which is designed to help you identify plugin vulnerabilities in your WordPress sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past couple of years Patchstack has released an annual report about the state of WordPress security. The report for 2021 has just been released, and the podcast today is concerned with what they found out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about why they produce this report, and who the intended audience is. What are the main takeaways in terms of the overall security of WordPress Core, plugins and themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We then get into more specific details of what types of vulnerabilities and attacks seem to be prevalent in the WordPress space. Are there any trends which are useful to think about, and how WordPress security is managed by the community as a whole; are budgets and time typically allocated for prevention and restoration of websites?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towards the end we talk about how some people have pushed back on the usefulness of the report. They’ve questioned the motivations of security companies to write such reports and the use of the language which they contain. Do they paint more of a negative picture in order to drive sales of their commercial solutions?</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Useful links.</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://patchstack.com/whitepaper/the-state-of-wordpress-security-in-2021\">State of WordPress Security in 2021 Report</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://patchstack.com/\">Patchstack website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://masterwp.com/is-wordpress-security-getting-better-or-worse/\">Is WordPress security getting better or worse?</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://masterwp.com/rebuttal-how-patchstack-is-improving-wordpress-security/\">Rebuttal: How Patchstack is improving WordPress security</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/OliverSild\">Oliver&#8217;s Twitter</a></p>\n\n\n\nTranscript<div>\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, the security of WordPress. If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or by going to WP Tavern dot com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, I&#8217;m very keen to hear from you and hopefully get you or your idea on the show. Head over to WP Tavern dot com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the contact form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Oliver Sild. Oliver has been working in the WordPress space for many years, and specifically with WordPress security, as one of the founders of Patchstack, formerly called WebARX. Patchstack is a product which is designed to help you identify plugin vulnerabilities in your WordPress sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past couple of years, Patchstack has released an annual report about the state of WordPress security. The report for 2021 has just been released, and the podcast today is concerned with what they found out. We talk about why they produce this report. Who the intended audience is. What are the main takeaways in terms of the overall security of WordPress Core plugins and themes?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We then get into more specific details about what types of vulnerabilities and attacks seem to be prevalent in the WordPress space. Are there any trends which are useful to think about, and how WordPress security is managed by the community as a whole. Are budgets and time typically allocated for prevention and restoration of websites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towards the end we talk about how some people have pushed back on the usefulness of the report. They&#8217;ve questioned the motivations of security companies to write such reports and the use of language which they contain. Do they paint a more negative picture in order to drive sales of their commercial solutions?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links and the show notes by heading over to. WP Tavern dot com forward slash podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all of the other episodes. And so without further delay, I bring you all Oliver Sild.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Oliver Sild. Hello Oliver.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:16] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Hello Nathan, how are you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:17] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;m very well, thank you for joining us today. Oliver Sild will no doubt be able to introduce himself, but I&#8217;ll just do a very quick job. Oliver is, I believe, one of the founders, if not the founder of Patchstack, formerly WebARX, which is a security solution for WordPress websites amongst other things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So my first question to you all about, just give us a little bit of background, certainly more than I just provided. Tell us about your history with WordPress and how you came to be involved with WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:47] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. So in 20, 20 13, 20 14, around that time I was actually running a web development company we were mostly back then building websites in Joomla and then I remember just at one point, the demand on the market changed pretty much everyone wanted to WordPress site. So that kind of naturally moved us from Joomla to WordPress, and because our company was, we were calling our services like a secure web development. So what we wanted to do is that if we are building you something we&#8217;ll also make sure that the security side of that is covered as well. So we already had some level of internal tools built which were helping us to track what kind of software we were using on our different kind of customer&#8217;s websites. And that eventually, well, by now has turned into what Patchstack is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:40] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you very much, indeed. So security is your thing. And very recently there was a piece on the WP Tavern website, which I will link to a little bit later, which was highlighting the fact that you had released one of your annual reports.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe we&#8217;re on possibly the second iteration now. It&#8217;s called the state of WordPress security. And in this case it was 2021. So it&#8217;s a look back over the last year in WordPress security. And we&#8217;ll go into that. And that really is the point of the podcast today. We&#8217;re just going to appraise all of the different bits and pieces that you highlighted there because I&#8217;m imagining that most people listening to this podcast are deeply into WordPress. And this is obviously a seriously important side of any WordPress website, keeping it updated and secure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then towards the end of the podcast, we&#8217;ll go into a little bit of an exchange that happened over on a website where somebody called into question the language that you&#8217;re using over here, but, okay, so first thing I&#8217;m going to suggest then is that if you&#8217;re listening to this, you may like to go to Patchstack dot com forward slash white paper forward slash the state of WordPress security in 2021. All of those words are separated by hyphens. And you&#8217;re going to find the article that we&#8217;re talking about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s broken up into lots of different sections. But first question is why are you making the efforts to write this report? And we know that you have a WordPress security company. That is your job. That&#8217;s what you do, but why go to the lengths of illustrating what&#8217;s going on in the WordPress space so that people like me, the general public can consume it? It must require quite a lot of resources and effort.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:14] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Indeed yeah. I think we put that report together for three months. So it&#8217;s quite in depth by the way. If you want to quickly open up the white paper, you can just go to Patchstack dot com, we have with the banner on our front page that&#8217;s actually linking to that, but that&#8217;s a side note.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We actually did that first, last year. So we last year released one about the previous year and we started doing that on the point where as a company, we decided to switch into a very specific focus on security vulnerabilities found in the software that is built for and around the WordPress ecosystem, which is the WordPress Core, the plugins and themes and the wordpress.org repository.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also the WordPress plugins and themes that are built as a premium ones that are not in the WordPress repository or the ones that are actually built or like being provided, some other marketplaces like Envato and so on. And by doing that, we switch the, like we have a SaaS product that is providing, we have a free version of a SaaS product where you can like, just connect like 99 websites, for example, and have a central overview if any of the plugins on any of your websites is becoming vulnerable. And at the same time, we started, looking into those different kinds of popular plugins and if they are vulnerable or not, then for years we&#8217;ve been providing code review and security auditing services for plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By doing that over the time, what we&#8217;ve collected together is like a quite big database, so security issues around the WordPress ecosystem. So if you go to Patchstack dot com slash database, you actually see a full-blown list of all of the security vulnerabilities that are in the plugins, themes, WordPress Core, and so on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And last year, what we did is that we figured, we understood already by doing surveys and so on that actually plugin vulnerabilities and theme vulnerabilities, and like anything that you are running on your website that becomes vulnerable, is pretty much the number one security threat to the website. And then we started a thing that we call it today Patchstack Alliance, where we just decided to start building a community of ethical hackers, who then submit vulnerabilities that they find in any WordPress plugins in the ecosystem to us. We make sure that we help the plugin developer to fix those issues. And then we actually pay to those ethical hackers for the contribution that they make to the WordPress security.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s on the other hand, generates a lot of data for us. So a lot of data about new vulnerabilities. A lot of data about, what is actually happening in that ecosystem. And we just decided to pull all that information and data that we have collected over this time and make it into a kind of annual report or a white paper.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. It&#8217;s really definitely worth having a look at, because it portrays, obviously now that you&#8217;re in the second iteration of this, you&#8217;re able to compare the way that things were last year. And in many ways, this is a comparison piece based upon last year. And so we often hear the phrases, such and such a thing is up such and such a thing as down, you&#8217;re looking for trends basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main gist is three sections. As you described, we&#8217;re talking about WordPress Core, WordPress themes and finally WordPress plugins. There&#8217;s obviously a little bit of nuance in there. Do you want to illustrate for us what you&#8217;ve found to be the big highlight bullet items, if you&#8217;d like for those three areas.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So should we start with Core? Let&#8217;s discuss what it is that you found over the last year in terms of the security or otherwise of WordPress Core. To paraphrase, it seems pretty good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:02] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. Like WordPress has quite mature software development cycle. WordPress the core, also has the bug bounty program.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have the bounty program on hacker one. And who doesn&#8217;t know what backcountry program is? It&#8217;s basically, like you say to hackers, come hack my software. If you find something report it directly to me so I can fix it, then they will pay to you. So this is the approach that is being, is becoming very popular.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the same thing, what we do to plugins, but WordPress has its for it&#8217;s own core. So they do that, which is nice because that is actually getting much more security attention on the WordPress Core. And at the same time we see less major security vulnerabilities being discovered in the Core itself. And something that we also saw this year, which was a little bit different was the dependency confusion attacks, where there was like a high risk of being maybe like a custom plugin being updated from the wrong source. I think the Core had an interesting year, but what we see is in general that the Core has a matured development kind of processes and cycle in place. So it&#8217;s getting better each year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:14] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think in the year 2017, I believe it was, the bug bounty program began with hacker one and it would appear, it seems to have worked because over the years after that, there&#8217;s been a fairly precipitous drop in the amount of concern with WordPress Core. In fact of the four security updates that were released in 2021. And again, we&#8217;re talking about Core it would appear that only one of them had a critical vulnerability, which wasn&#8217;t actually concerning something that was Core. It was an insecure component. It was PHP mailer library if I remember rightly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that points to the idea that anybody these days is saying that WordPress itself is an insecure platform, which I&#8217;m sure we&#8217;ve all encountered when we&#8217;ve been building client websites and so on, people have this fear that WordPress itself is pretty insecure and your document seems to imply exactly the opposite. It&#8217;s very robust and very secure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:13] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, and if you read our white paper, we actually say that, we are saying that WordPress has done a very good job at that. WordPress is getting more and more security attention, obviously, as it&#8217;s running, soon, almost like the half of web, basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It makes sense that it gets more attention. More attention means more stuff is being found, more stuff being found means more stuff is fixed. And this is a good thing. And in terms of like the whole mature way of how there&#8217;s regular security updates and regular updates for the core itself. It shows that the core is doing really well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Do you want to illustrate for those people who perhaps aren&#8217;t familiar, one of the headline paragraphs that you&#8217;ve got right near the top is, the dependency confusion attacks. Now this may be something that people are very familiar with. I suspect maybe not. Do you just want to outline what those are and why you&#8217;ve illustrated it in the report this year?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:09] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, we call it the fear of dependency confusion attacks, because we didn&#8217;t really see any dependency confusion attacks specifically. Like I was mentioning before, there was a risk where if you have a custom plugin that is not on the wordpress.org repo. And if you are adding a new plugin to the repo with the same slug that this custom plugin was using, then you could pretty much overwrite the custom plugin on the websites that it was running at.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this was like, a risk where if there is like a plugin made by someone, maybe installed on like very high profile websites. This plugin is not known to the WP dot org, or it is not on the WordPress dot org repo, but someone made a plugin for, with the same slug and it went past it. And then the auto-update mechanism in the WordPress Core would basically update this plugin, now, which was a core, which was a custom plugin into the plugin that is now in the WordPress repository.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So basically replacing someone else&#8217;s plugin with a plugin made by another author. The content can be checked by the wordpress.org, like what actually this new plugin would do. But at the same time, of course a bit of a fear, I think a lot of people were afraid that this is going to affect everyone, but it was more of a theoretical thing that was a risk, but we didn&#8217;t really see any of such effects happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah in software, in general, nothing to do with WordPress, this kind of supply chain attack is potentially a real problem, isn&#8217;t it? Because if you can somehow become the official canonical source of the software, even though you are not the official canonical source of the software, you could in theory, get to many, many places very, very quickly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And and it&#8217;s nice to see that you&#8217;ve not really found too much evidence of that over the last year. So WordPress core itself, I think it&#8217;s fair to say, you feel is in very good shape. The problem is really for WordPress and I&#8217;m sure this is something that many people can relate to if they&#8217;ve been using the software for any length of time, we&#8217;re going to get into themes and plugins. This is where I guess the problems begin to arise. Let&#8217;s tackle them in turn. Let&#8217;s go for themes first. What were the broad sweeping outlines that you that you discovered in your exploration of themes this year?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:15:32] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> I think this has been happening over the time, but basically what we see is that the line between themes and plugins is getting blurrier and blurrier Themes now use a lot of PHP code for, site builders are also, people considered as themes in a way, but then at the same time they actually a plugin. Yeah, so the line is getting blurrier and more PHP code is being introduced into the functionality of the themes, which basically brings the same kind of threats to the themes that we have with plugins, where there can be a kind of vulnerable PHP code that can be a trick doing something that was not meant to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what you saw is that there are vulnerabilities within themes that are as critical as you could expect from the plugins. It isn&#8217;t from this report, but I think a good example is. It was just recently with Freemius library, which was used by a lot of themes. And this is like exactly the supply chain issue where, there&#8217;s thousands of websites that are using one theme, and if this one theme becomes vulnerable, then all these thousands of websites are vulnerable. But now we&#8217;re also seeing where there&#8217;s thousands of themes on these themes use a library, and if this library gets vulnerable, then all these thousands of themes become vulnerable. And all those, I don&#8217;t know, hundreds of thousands of websites that use these thousands of themes become vulnerable as well. So this, you can see how this is coming, like from top to the bottom and eventually affecting a lot of websites. So as an example, I think two or three weeks ago when the Freemius thing happened, I think we, I believe we added 1,800 different vulnerabilities or vulnerable components to the Patchstack database in a single day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So next year is going to be definitely more, we have more data that&#8217;s definitely from this year about theme vulnerabilities than we have from the past year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> There were a fair number of what you might describe as critical vulnerabilities. There&#8217;s a list that you&#8217;ve described, depending on how interested you are in security.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The names of these things may be of interest or otherwise, but things like unauthenticated, arbitrary file upload and option deletion, that would appear to have been found at least in your case, 10 times in 10 different themes. Unauthenticated upload vulnerability, leading to remote code execution, which you&#8217;ve found in one theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arbitrary file upload vulnerability, 42 themes were affected. So it&#8217;s fairly widespread. And I guess if any of those themes are incredibly popular, that can quickly get out of hand.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:16] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Absolutely. If a single plugin that has, especially those unauthenticated vulnerabilities are the scariest ones because they require no access to the website, like any permissions to your websites and someone could basically, the malicious hacker could potentially upload file to your site without gaining access to the website. So this kind of vulnerabilities are very scary as they can be abused automatically and on scale. So indeed, like if a single plugin would have a hundred thousand installations and it would have just one, this one vulnerability, especially for unauthenticated one, then what we are seeing is that hackers very quickly build custom tools to start finding all the websites on the internet that use that theme and then start exploiting them automatically to inject backdoors or redirect traffic from the website, change the search engine results for your website. So if you watch, if you look at the website everything seems to be okay. But if you Google your website, for example, then it would give completely different results and redirect your site to somewhere else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So, is the trend in terms of themes, is your experience that there was more concern over the last year than there was in the previous 12 months? Or is it essentially the same quantity of vulnerabilities?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:39] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> I guess the trend is the fact that the vulnerabilities are just becoming a little bit more critical. I wouldn&#8217;t say that there is a big trend in terms of that there is like a massive increase in the vulnerabilities in themes, but I think the fact that so much more functionality is being shipped with the themes in terms of the PHP code in general than they are just more and more prone to being introduced or introducing that kind of critical vulnerabilities into the code.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:20:07] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Let&#8217;s move on to WordPress plugins and this, as one might expect, has possibly greater numbers attached to it. There&#8217;s more plugins out there, and I would imagine that most websites have got one, possibly two themes, whereas they might have 15, 18 20, whatever the average number now is plugins. So there&#8217;s probably a bit of a larger target painted on plugins back than there is on themes back. Give us the overarching findings in terms of WordPress plugins for 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:20:40] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. Plugins are the ones that we&#8217;ve been focusing the most on. And these are the ones that our Alliance members or like the community of the ethical hackers that are reporting new vulnerabilities to us. Majority of the vulnerabilities that are being reported to us are about the plugins. If we&#8217;re looking about the total number of new vulnerabilities that we&#8217;ve added to the database of vulnerabilities that effect the WordPress Core, plugins and themes, then there has been quite heavy increase in if we compare it to the last year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that means that is actually very good news because that means that these are vulnerabilities that the developer has been able to get fixed because these vulnerabilities didn&#8217;t appear this year. These vulnerabilities probably in many cases at least they were sitting in those plugins for quite some time already. What just happened, why there is an increase in new identified vulnerabilities is just the fact that there&#8217;s more people looking at those, and reporting them to the developers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:49] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> There was a couple of plugins, and I guess this is the difference with plugins is that really the sky is the limit in terms of the numbers of installs. I don&#8217;t know what the largest install base of any particular theme is, but I&#8217;m guessing it is nowhere near the install base of the largest WordPress plugins. And so there was a couple that you mentioned in one case, one of the plugins that had a critical vulnerability this year was over 3 million website installs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there was another one with over a million. The seriousness of that is pretty obvious I&#8217;m sure. The quantity of people that are affected. You seem to be saying that in terms of the conscientiousness of the developers, you seem to be fairly happy with that, in that a lot of vulnerabilities got patched fairly quickly and disclosed in the appropriate way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, we&#8217;ve still got this legacy of older plugins. In fact, you mentioned nine that have been removed from the repository, completely gone from the repository and yet have vulnerabilities, which essentially are going to stick around for ever.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:22:56] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, these are the most scariest ones. Like in, in most cases what we see is that developers, once a security report is being delivered to them, they look into it and they release a patch. So they fix it in most cases, the vulnerability doesn&#8217;t become publicly disclosed before that happens. Like, we also have our own disclosure policy where we just don&#8217;t like, we let the developer know about the vulnerability that was reported to us about, his, or her plugin, but at the same time, we keep it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don&#8217;t publish that before we make sure that the developer had enough time to fix that. And also after that, that they have time to let their own users know that there is a security update and they should basically, update the sites as fast as possible. Just to make sure that we don&#8217;t cause any unwanted damage where this information might get in front of the wrong person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we, what we wanted to do this year is we counted all the critical vulnerabilities and by critical, we mean the ones that are actually being, are actually the vulnerabilities that have the characteristics that hackers would want to automate exploitation attempts. So that means that it&#8217;s usually unauthenticated vulnerability, that basically you can either inject something to the website, add a back door or something, and you can fully automate that. And there was, yeah, like I think we counted, I think it was 35 different plugins that had that kind of vulnerabilities in last year. The scary part was that many of them didn&#8217;t really receive a fix at all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So these are plugins where the developer was either, had abandoned the plugin, was not active anymore. So in that sense, if you were running this plugin for example, if you were part of those plugins that didn&#8217;t ever receive a patch for this critical vulnerability. In your WordPress website, you would just see that everything is up to date.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You would never see that there is an issue with this plugin unless you are being notified by like some security product or something that would say that, Hey, there is a vulnerability in this plugin. So this is a bit scary.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. This, I think we should dwell on this actually, because it seems like this is a real failing, or at least an area of possible improvement in the future. So let&#8217;s just reiterate what we&#8217;ve just said. So we&#8217;ve got a plugin, which has discontinued support. There are no ongoing updates for whatever reason, this plugin, which is in the repository is stalled. Nobody&#8217;s going to update it in the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, at some point in the future, a vulnerability is discovered in it. It could be severe, it could be minor. It doesn&#8217;t really matter, but the point being that any WordPress user would never be alerted to the fact that something here is awry and something needs updating, because the only mechanism we&#8217;ve got in the WordPress admin area is to see when things need updating.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so we update them. And if there&#8217;s no update, the assumption would be everything must be fine. How on earth do we overcome this problem in the future? Do you have any thoughts on a process that we could adopt or some direction of travel that we might move in to make this go away?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:15] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Oh yeah, it requires a lot of awareness building around the ecosystem in general. We need to talk even more about the security in the WordPress ecosystem. We need to make sure that developers are also the ones that are not afraid to talk about security, because over the years, what we&#8217;ve seen is a lot of developers, like the plugin developers, specifically have been worried about like even dealing with security issues because they don&#8217;t want to be highlighted as, oh, this plugin had the vulnerability.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So they see this as a negative kind of attention. In fact, for me, for example, completely from the opposite side see it as a very good sign that this developer actually takes attention on security. But that&#8217;s obviously because, from my end, I just see that there are so many vulnerabilities in different plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the fact that there&#8217;s just increasing numbers of them now being reported from the last year, in our white paper, for example, that just the fact that more of them are being identified and being reacted on. It&#8217;s not the fact that there&#8217;s now, more of them, but they are at the same time what they see constantly is that the developers don&#8217;t need to be afraid of the security issues in a sense where they try to avoid those issues. And I think there should be even more and more open discussion about, hey, let&#8217;s together make the security in the plugins and in the software better.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I guess in terms of the core, I guess at one point core would need to have some level of security incorporated to basically give an insight on the plugins that are being used on the websites. For that specific reason, for example, because there&#8217;s been so much people saying, even from people that worked in the wordpress.org, we&#8217;ve seen people saying that, yeah, basically you just need to enable auto updates and you would be fine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s not true. It&#8217;s just not true because in many cases like that, you can have auto updates enabled, but this there&#8217;s no update, if there is no update for the plugin, basically you don&#8217;t even know about issue. So I guess, yeah, this is definitely something that needs attention over the years. We are doing our best, like our product is actually literally covering that area of letting the users know if there&#8217;s a vulnerability, even if this plugin is being removed from the repo, or even if this plugin didn&#8217;t even receive a patch. So we are letting our customer know about that. Then we are also providing a patch to protect against the attacks against these plugins. But at the same time, yeah, I think this is clearly a issue that needs more and more attention.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:28:58] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it would be nice to come up with some kind of system which didn&#8217;t break things, which enabled, I don&#8217;t know, perhaps these particular plugins to be disabled. In some way removed, but then that of course has all sorts of implications in terms of the ownership of the site and whether you actually want people to have the capacity to be able to remove things from your website. People flock to WordPress because you get to own everything. It&#8217;s yours, and you can modify it as you like. And the idea that some plugin could be removed, disabled without your say so, is one that I&#8217;m sure the community would definitely want to have a long and deep conversation about. But interesting. You found nine that had these problems this year and there seemingly is no way of automating that problem to go away, as yet.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, so we&#8217;ve dealt with core, we&#8217;ve dealt with themes and plugins and what I&#8217;ve just described as orphaned plugins. Let&#8217;s just talk about the broad bits and pieces that your report highlighted this year. Some of it is good. Some of it is less good, but the first sort of headline pieces that you&#8217;ve definitely found that there was a rise in vulnerabilities found compared to 2022. On the face of it that sounds like a bad thing, but you&#8217;re saying that there were many more in the previous year than in the year prior to that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:24] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s the best news of the white paper, to be honest, because that means that there was 150% more vulnerabilities being identified. Imagine if there was zero vulnerabilities being identified and only, and all those vulnerabilities would be sitting there, still doing that, and just nobody would know about those, until someone who with malicious intention could just take advantage of them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if this year we are going to see even a bigger increase because there&#8217;s just so much more attention being put into identifying those vulnerabilities and helping the plugin developers to make their code even more secure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are for sure investing a lot into it with Patchstack Alliance. Like last year we paid out like 13 K in the bounties for like individual ethical hackers who just let us know about vulnerabilities that they found in any plugins in the WordPress ecosystem, and we just paid them for that effort. So we&#8217;re definitely going to double down this year on that as well. So we&#8217;ll see how that will affect this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s interesting because on the face of it, if the number of vulnerabilities is larger, the immediate instinct around that is to assume that things have got worse. And of course the statistics could be for all sorts of reasons. As you&#8217;ve just described, there&#8217;s perhaps more eyeballs looking to discover these things. There&#8217;s initiatives like your own and the bug bounty, which have enabled people to actually feel that they&#8217;re getting remunerated for that. And so they&#8217;re more serious in the endeavor to search for them. But also, maybe it&#8217;s a product of the fact that WordPress itself is just growing, and as it grows, there&#8217;s going to be more eyeballs looking for these things, but also possibly it becomes a bigger target. And so there are more of these things out there. There&#8217;s more plugins, there&#8217;s more themes, there&#8217;s more code and it&#8217;s just a sort of byproduct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But anyway, interesting take on it. Definitely worth looking at. That was the rise in vulnerabilities now onto more sort of specific details about what these types of vulnerabilities are. A significant proportion of the things that you concerned yourself this year with were XSS vulnerabilities, which is cross site scripting. For those people who are not really familiar with that, would you just paint a picture of what cross site scripting vulnerabilities are, and any thoughts on why it represents almost 50% of everything that you&#8217;re seeing?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:54] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> I think cross site scripting is just one of the easiest things to find the web. See, cross-site scripting, for example, you take like a website search bar, if you go to a WordPress site and there&#8217;s like a search bar. And if you, for example, write inside of this search bar, like HTML code, for example, and then what happens is that this, the functionality that is searching this information from the site for example, is going to show you the results, and this HTML code that you put there would then basically be meshed together with the kind of code of the website and it would just basically load it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think actually even a better example would be with comments. Wherever you have, like WordPress don&#8217;t have that issue, but for example, or earlier days, there was a lot of websites with commenting sections. And then if there was an issue where if you basically post any HTML code with some, maybe Java script, something that was maybe popping up like an alert for you and you post that comment there, then what would happen is that the site would then basically render that into as part of the code of the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So when it was even saved in that case, then the siet would basically load the code that was posted there as actual comment. So this is like a sanitation thing as well. So you want to make sure that you make a difference between actual code and what the content is that is being submitted to the website or the input in that sense.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So it represents almost the majority, 49.8 something percent of everything that you find. But I guess that is as you describe, it&#8217;s because it&#8217;s relatively straightforward to pull off. Possibly at least from my perspective, the vulnerabilities then shrink in terms of percentage and towards the very bottom, I guess the worst really that you could have is remote code execution. And that number is not 0.94% of everything that you were looking at. So I guess there&#8217;s some positive message to come out with that. Less than 1% of all the things were truly very serious indeed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:02] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, indeed. As always easiest stuff comes out the first. So these are the ones that are usually reported the most, that are mostly visible and accessible in terms of, for even a simple thing can just submit something into a comment form, and see if it&#8217;s going to load something in a weird way. So this kind of vulnerability is going to be found very easily.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. Now moving on to plugins. Curious thing that you&#8217;ve discovered again from the data that you&#8217;ve managed to gather is that there are actually fewer plugins in use, which, you would imagine, would reduce the attack surface. And so you would equally think that the number of things that you were having to clean up regularly or that you were discovering had been broken, would go down. But it seems that there&#8217;s a sting in the tail. So there&#8217;s fewer plugins, but more of them are being left without being updated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:56] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Indeed. Yeah. This was an interesting find. I expect that, I do still expect that the number of plugins, we&#8217;re going to see this number dropping more and more, even in the upcoming years, as people are getting more and more aware around the security implications when you&#8217;re just, using a lot of plugins on the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think it&#8217;s also about the kind of hygiene thing where users are also not so prone anymore to leave like deactivated plugins standing there on the website. So they&#8217;re starting to delete those things. And I think people are seeing more and more that plugins, like each of the plugin that you install to your website can be like a link, can be like an entry point for a hacker if there is a vulnerability found in that specific plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So basically the less buttons you have, you reduce the risk significantly. So it was interesting yes, to see that even though the number of plugins installed per website is actually dropping. But at the same time, the amount of plugins out of those that were outdated was actually higher. I&#8217;m not a hundred percent sure that what is like the actual cause of that, or if it&#8217;s just like something that we see this year, but I think next year we&#8217;re going to have more data to see more into why that could be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:21] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s curious on the 50,000 websites that you were analyzing in order to generate this report down from 23 plugins and themes, now residing at about 18. 18 different plugins and themes installed. Yeah, that&#8217;s interesting. We&#8217;ll revisit that next year and see where we&#8217;re at. I guess this is a fairly obvious thing to say, but it was worth pointing out, the seventh point on your list of things was that the easy to exploit vulnerabilities remain the main targets, like I said, that&#8217;s fairly straightforward.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:52] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Anything that is unauthenticated and basically that can be automated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:57] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So it&#8217;s old tried and tested things that the hackers know can be achieved. They&#8217;re going to go after the low hanging fruit. And sadly, the eight point that you make is that old vulnerabilities remain as great big targets. So things which could have been fixed from last year, still are hanging out there and being exploited.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:19] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, indeed. I think a big reason for that, there are all these automated hacking tools. I mean that people don&#8217;t load from Github or from hacking forums and places like that, where guys who, you know, sometimes kids who get into, like looking into hacking, trying to maybe yeah getting into that field. They are basically downloading software that is prebuilt by someone and there&#8217;s someone made it at the point where there was specific vulnerabilities just introduced. So they have hard-coded the exploitations into those tools and these tools are still available, and people who are getting into the kind of dark side, I&#8217;d say, are then starting to play with those tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this is one of the reasons why we see that happening. We&#8217;ve seen a few of those tools as well. This kind of proves the point. But then in terms of that, like there isn&#8217;t a lot of hits that these tools are probably getting, because most of those websites that running those plugins have already been either patched or either hacked already and then patched.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. An interesting thing that comes up later is really around the personnel who are responsible for updating things. And you&#8217;ve got a couple of points on this, but we&#8217;ll try to tackle them in one go. Whilst there&#8217;s an increase in awareness of security on WordPress websites, no doubt because of publications such as your own, it would appear that there&#8217;s not a lot of time, space, money provided. So who is responsible for updating things could be really crucial. And it says on your report that 53% of respondents stated that they updated their components weekly. Some, perhaps as many as 20% did things daily. 18% possibly monthly updates happening. So that&#8217;s quite an important blend in the picture. That the frequency of updates, crucial I suppose. If you&#8217;re leaving things for an entire month and a not keeping yourself up to date with the news, I&#8217;m sure that there&#8217;s many websites where monthly is just off the charts. It would probably be more like every six months or possibly not at all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then also, the difficulty in actually finding a budget to do these things. And you make the point that many, many websites be they run by an agency or an individual, or just a solopreneur. They have no budget for this kind of thing. They&#8217;re just crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. So do you want to talk around that? The people involved, the time that they&#8217;ve got, the frequency of updates and the budget that they&#8217;ve got?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:40:59] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. The frequency is an interesting take because in terms of how fast we are often seeing attacks happen against websites when a new vulnerability, or let&#8217;s say a critical vulnerability is being found in a plugin that the website is using. These like when we are not even talking about zero days in this case. Zero days are the ones that nobody knows the vulnerability before it&#8217;s already being attacked.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for example, sometimes the vulnerability is being discovered, disclosed. And after that, hackers learn about that and then they are going to basically exploit that. So there&#8217;s like a cat and mouse game. Who patches first? Is it the hacker or, sorry, who uses the vulnerability first? Is it like the website owner who was going to update this and patches it, or is it the hacker who manages to exploit this before to website owner managers to update it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this time period is actually somewhere around one hour.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:41:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Wow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:41:54] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. So this is something that has to be kept in mind that, daily updates sounds good as well. And from there on, the longer time to take for updating, the more risk there is for the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the interesting thing is like the auto updates. Have you put like WordPress autoupdate into Google search and look that into what kind of articles are popping up?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:21] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> No, but I can imagine you&#8217;ve got some interesting insights there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:25] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Basically the majority of the articles are about how to turn off WordPress auto updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:33] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> I remember when WordPress auto updates came for the plugins, and basically like most of the kinds of articles or like how-to&#8217;s use we&#8217;re about to come to turn it off. Because people are still scared the websites are going to break down if there&#8217;s some feature breaking update coming for a plugin. So this is something interesting about the updating side of things that we&#8217;ve been seeing over the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:43:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. That&#8217;s a really interesting, difficult seesaw to think about. The idea of being, if you switch off auto updates, which of course is available for multitude of things in WordPress, including plugins, you can just have click a button next to the plugin and it will just automatically update it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of people concerned that the update might break the site. So in terms of them having to do some additional work to un-break it, or re-install from a backup or whatever it is that they need to do. That concern in many cases overrides the possibility that there could be some vulnerable software there, a plugin, which is vulnerable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I guess it&#8217;s a difficult one to decide which way to go. But it&#8217;s curious that a lot of people have decided to not implement automatic updates because presumably of the fear of things going astray in the way it looks or a plugin breaking. And of course that is a legitimate concern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just seen over the last week that a couple of major plugins had problems where they broke significant parts of the websites, and they had to roll back those updates and then ultimately figure out a patch and then release that as the new update, which then got automatically updated. So I can see where people&#8217;s concerns come from there. I guess your advice would be switch on automatic updates because having a hacked website is probably better than having a modestly broken website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:44:23] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. And actually the other way around. I heard you were saying that the hacked website is better than broken website. So I was saying the other way around, so it&#8217;s better to have a broken website than a hacked website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:44:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s what I intended to say if I got that wrong. I apologize. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:44:40] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> But yeah, basically, yeah, it&#8217;s better to have a broken website because you can at least put the maintenance mode on and do something about that and fix it. And usually like how WordPress is behaving right now is that it also lets you know if something was breaking down and it doesn&#8217;t like, the site doesn&#8217;t throw you a bunch of errors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It isn&#8217;t like that anymore. So it isn&#8217;t that much of a risk at that point anymore to be completely afraid of plugin auto updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:45:09] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yes. Then that&#8217;s a good point. And you will also hopefully receive an email with some kind of information about the problem that may have brought your site down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay. Turning then to the budget. This is really interesting, the data that you&#8217;ve gathered, as much as 28% of people who responded said that they basically had zero budget to protect their websites. In other words, 28% of those people were just hoping for the best and crossing their fingers. And a further 27% said that they had a monthly budget of between $1 and $3.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The numbers vary. There are people who had significantly more and people who were somewhere in between, but quite an interesting spread there from zero to quite a lot. And the majority of these numbers are tending towards a very small budget I guess that you would argue that, it ultimately, it would be better to have something than nothing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:46:01] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> For sure. Yeah. I guess the zero budget also means free plugins right? In a way of using like free security plugins and then it doesn&#8217;t mean a hundred percent that don&#8217;t use anything or they don&#8217;t have any measures in place. But at the same time, what we are also seeing is that security is still a hard sell.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Especially when we talk to agencies where the customers are like, aren&#8217;t you supposed to take care of it? Not understanding that the security is a thing that needs to be taken care of separately. That is a part of ongoing process and that you should basically prevent them rather than just deal with the consequences later on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was another good point where we also asked from the same people about how much they have paid for malware cleanups within the past year. And that was like, there was one, I think the highest responder was like, who said he spent 4.8 K dollars on cleanups last year. That&#8217;s a lot of websites that you can secure or protect.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And basically we even get some sort of service on top of it, or like incident response assistance that like we offer where, specialists are jumping in and fixing everything if something should happen, even though we had security in place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:47:21] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Now, obviously you&#8217;re here representing Patchstack, and Patchstack is a commercial company. You&#8217;re in the business of securing websites, but you&#8217;re also in the business of paying your employees. So you need to pay to use the service. There was an interesting piece which got written over on the Master WP website, and I will make sure to link to it in the show notes. And there&#8217;s a further piece which we&#8217;ll get to in a minute.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was written by Rob Howard on March the 14th and it was called, is WordPress security getting better or worse. In this piece, he takes your report to task and largely it&#8217;s around the kind of language that you use. There&#8217;s definitely merit in going and reading it, but you then, one of your team members issued a non rebuttal rebuttal of that piece.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But just for a couple of minutes, let&#8217;s just delve into that. I think his concern is that the way that you portray the report is, let&#8217;s use the word sensational. His argument would be that it&#8217;s in your interest as a provider of security solutions to paint a picture, which is, let&#8217;s say somewhat alarming, there&#8217;s all of these problems, and look at the enormous array of different vulnerabilities that there are out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And therefore you bring the statistics to bear that best represent the fact that there are problems. So just wanted to give you a chance to talk about that. And I will also mention. The rebuttal piece, again on the same website, interestingly, Master WP it&#8217;s by Robert Rowley, they&#8217;re both Robs, so you&#8217;ll probably have to read them one at a time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this is called, rebuttal, how Patchstack is improving WordPress security. So I&#8217;m just giving you a platform here to reply to Rob Howard&#8217;s piece, where he takes you to task for using sensational language and massaging the figures so that they, he accuses you of using sloppy statistics.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:49:08] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, to be honest, I&#8217;m not a hundred percent sure like what is really sensational about that? But in a way, when we put together the whole white paper, we just basically looked at the numbers. We look at the numbers and we are presenting what it is. I understood that one of the things that may be what he thinks about is sensational is the, that there is 150% increase in vulnerabilities being discovered.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is something that we can just say, and it&#8217;s a fact. The question how do you interpret that, whether negative or positive? That needs more context. And the context we do give. The context is that just means that there is more vulnerabilities being identified, which is a good thing because to WordPress is getting more secure because of that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So when this post was published by Rob, we actually went over it, then we were like, oh, actually there&#8217;s like a lot of good points because obviously we are also a little bit tunnel visioned when we are dealing with that much of data and hooking into the problem that we are trying to solve. And then we&#8217;re obviously talking about that, how we&#8217;re talking in house, in a way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we should, I get his in terms of like a criticism that we probably should also be more specific in terms of how we are, or like what our intentions behind that are, like whether we see in a negative way or in a positive way. But yeah, like I, we were really happy about the piece that he wrote. We even shared his piece, which wrote criticism about Patchstack on the Patchstack Facebook page, on the Patchstack Twitter. We were like, hey, see what he wrote. There were really good points. And then later on we obviously responded to that with our take on what we actually meant by that and where we thought he may be, in some cases, wrong and where he was right as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:51:11] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. It&#8217;s interesting. Obviously statistics can be in every walk of life, statistics can be looked at in a variety of different ways. And you only have to look at virtually any parliamentary system on earth to realize that the opposition can present the same statistics in an entirely different fashion and it&#8217;s completely plausible and the numbers are correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, I think some of the things that he was saying was it would just be nice to have some sort of background, some insight into, so for example, does the increase, this 150% figure that was mentioned, is that because there are more plugins that are out there? How serious are these vulnerabilities that we&#8217;re talking about? If there&#8217;s an increase, but 99% of those were benign and did virtually nothing, could they be lumped in as 150% increase? Has the total number of plugins in the entire market changed? And what are your reporting methodologies in terms of what is it that you&#8217;re actually trying to do from the report? Are you just trying to be a purveyor of information? Or is there a hope from the Patchstack piece that some customers will come your way as well? So just those pieces really?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:52:18] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah. I guess if the statistics didn&#8217;t come from like some internal data that we are not showing anyone, it&#8217;s the public CVE&#8217;s that we are one of the authorities to generate the publicly or like the internationally kind of standard vulnerability identification IDs. There&#8217;s three companies in the space which can do that in the WordPress ecosystem. And we&#8217;re one of them. So like this vulnerability information, it&#8217;s all public to the, to everyone, we are just showing that&#8217;s how much there was in 2020. That&#8217;s how much there is in 2021.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no kind of translation whether if it was actually not that much of an increase or not. The question isn&#8217;t about about like increase, I guess in general, I think the question is about why it was increasing. And the increase isn&#8217;t because, at this point the increase isn&#8217;t because the WordPress is getting more plugins to the wordpress.org.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We actually, even, I think in the rebuttal piece have shown how much percentage the wordpress.org repo has grown over the year compared to the same period. The thing literally is, there&#8217;s just more eyes. There&#8217;s more people looking for the vulnerabilities in the plugins and they&#8217;re identifying more vulnerabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These vulnerabilities may or may not be in there already for years. It&#8217;s the number of vulnerabilities that the 150% of increasing vulnerabilities found in WordPress ecosystem means that there was just 150% more vulnerabilities found in WordPress ecosystem. Basically, it means just that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, if you want to give that positive or negative meaning, it is definitely up to you. Of course we could have tried probably present that in a better way and maybe, I&#8217;m not sure if we actually wrote in our white paper that we find this a good thing. I need to double check it really quickly, but we usually like anywhere we talk, we always say that it&#8217;s a good thing. It is what it is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:54:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. It&#8217;s interesting because the language that Rob would like is definitely more on the sort of optimistic side, isn&#8217;t it? So instead of bringing out the things that are going wrong, he would like to emphasize the things that are going right, so for example, he rewrites something where the illustration is that there&#8217;s problems, and he says that a possible alternative headline would be not 0.65% of WordPress sites get an important update. So I guess it&#8217;s stressing the negative.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:54:59] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Would you read that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:55:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. And that&#8217;s an interesting thing about human nature, isn&#8217;t it? Because you only have to look at newspapers for example, or headlines in articles on the web to realize that well, people are, they&#8217;re drawn to controversy to some extent aren&#8217;t they? They like the sort of sensational aspect. And so yes, interesting point. Yeah, really interesting point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:55:19] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> And in our case, if, when we released the white paper as well, we even saw in some cases where journalists were, we didn&#8217;t tell them what, we didn&#8217;t actually even send it out in that way that all you need to use, like some sort of headlines, but we did see the journalists just take out some piece of data and they would just make their own kind of headline based on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a way, I think people need to also think. I understand that, okay, let&#8217;s then talk about this issue in a so positive way that like nobody would even understand that there is like a problem at all. But is that our goal? If we want to make WordPress ecosystem more secure, we need to talk about those issues.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are issues and these issues are being solved, and we are showing that there is like increased effort in solving those. Let&#8217;s talk about those things. We shouldn&#8217;t just let&#8217;s try to somehow sugar coat it in a way or</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:56:17] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Thank you. I will definitely mention both of those articles in the show notes. We&#8217;re going to have to round it up because we&#8217;re approaching the amount of time that we&#8217;ve got. Before we go though, obviously we know that you&#8217;re at Patchstack, which is at patchstack.com. But should anybody wish to reach out to you personally, are there any good ways for people to do that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:56:38] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Yeah, anyone can reach out to me on Twitter. I think that&#8217;s the easiest way to reach out either DM or just tag me. It&#8217;s @oliversild. And then yeah, if you want to look at what we are doing. If you&#8217;re a plugin developer, you can always get like security testing for you&#8217;re plugin through Patchstack. If you&#8217;re an agency and you want to have security overview and a vulnerability overview, every single website that you have across your portfolio, then you can use Patchstack for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for hosting companies, we also have so they would always know if new vulnerabilities are being reported to us by the ethical hackers community. Or if we are adding new items to the database from any other sources. So Patchstack database, Patchstack audits. We&#8217;re basically doing anything around WordPress plugins and trying to make the whole ecosystem more secure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:57:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Oliver Sild, thank you very much for joining me on the podcast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:57:35] <strong>Oliver Sild:</strong> Thanks Nathan.</p>\n</div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 14:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"WPTavern: Performance Team Proposes Enabling WebP by Default in WordPress 6.0\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132138\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:88:\"https://wptavern.com/performance-team-proposes-enabling-webp-by-default-in-wordpress-6-0\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3570:\"<p>WordPress&#8217; Performance Team has published a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/03/28/enabling-webp-by-default/\">feature proposal</a> that would enable WebP images by default, expanding core support for the modern image format. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July, 2021, WordPress 5.8 <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-8-introduces-support-for-webp-images\">introduced WebP support</a>, allowing users to upload and use WebP images in their content. If the proposal is approved, version 6.0 will generate WebP images by default for new JPEG uploads and will use WebP images by default for website content.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;WebP was developed as a modern image format that provides superior compression on the web,&#8221; WordPress core contributor Adam Silverstein said in the feature proposal. &#8220;Images are often some of the largest resources used by websites, and using WebP creates websites that are lighter and faster. Compared to JPEG images, WebP images generated by WordPress are almost always smaller, with a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/7#issuecomment-1080901577\">~30% file size reduction</a> on average (with the same visual quality).&#8221;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>With WebP enabled by default, WordPress users would not experience any changes to their usual image upload workflow. WordPress would automatically convert JPEG uploads to WebP in the background and use them on the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https://caniuse.com/webp\">Can I Use</a>, the WebP image format is supported by 94.25% of web browsers. A very small number of browsers, such as Internet Explorer 11 or Safari on MacOS &lt; v11 Big Sur, do not support WebP. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed feature would ship with two filters to control or disable WebP uploads, and a user-friendly plugin would be created to do the same.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the significant performance benefits, support for the feature proposal is not unopposed. Several contributors participating in the discussion expressed concerns about email clients and social media platforms not supporting WebP.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I feel like WebP is not yet ready to become a &#8216;hardcoded default&#8217; in the <code>post_content</code> due to all the reasons mentioned in the previous comments,&#8221; Kaspars Dambis said. &#8220;Many web clients (which are not just browsers) don’t support WebP formats — RSS clients, email clients, smart TVs, ebook readers, open graph parsers, desktop image viewers, etc. These are all important users of the web.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Silverstein answered these concerns, confirming that WordPress will continue generating the JPEG image sub sizes as it always has.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;One important note about what this feature doesn’t change: JPEG sub sizes are still generated and stored in the same meta fields,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For that reason, consumers of RSS feeds or REST media endpoints or OG tags for example will continue to use the JPEG sub sized versions.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Performance Team contributors are targeting WordPress 6.0 for enabling WebP by default and are seeking approval from maintainers of the image component. Anyone is welcome to test the feature by installing the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/performance-lab/\">Performance Lab plugin</a> with the “WebP Uploads” module activated. Testers are encouraged to leave feedback on the <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/55443\">Trac ticket</a> or <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/2393\">Pull Request</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 02:41:46 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70:\"WPTavern: Text Selection Across Multiple Blocks Is Coming to WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132141\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"https://wptavern.com/text-selection-across-multiple-blocks-is-coming-to-wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5371:\"<p>Yesterday, Ella van Durpe merged a long-awaited feature into the Gutenberg plugin that allows users to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38892\">select and modify text across multiple Rich Text blocks</a>. It should land in version 13.0 of the plugin and WordPress 6.0 in May.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users can currently select text across multiple blocks, but the editor automatically adjusts that selection to all of the blocks themselves, essentially creating a group. The change will allow users to highlight the specific text. This ability should work with any Rich Text block, such as Paragraph, Heading, List, and Quote.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Selecting text across two blocks.\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone who wants to test this feature early can grab a development copy of <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/38892/checks\">Gutenberg from the ticket.</a> Click on the &#8220;Build Gutenberg Plugin ZIP&#8221; tab.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is one thing that any text-based editor should do well, it should be to allow users to manipulate text according to standard conventions. Users should be able to select, copy, cut, paste, and generally move characters and words around as they please.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When WordPress 5.0 launched its new block-based editor in late 2018, some of the tools that writers had expected were non-existent. Every paragraph, list, heading, and blockquote was a separate entity and not simply a continuation of the text. Blocks were the sludge that plugged the editing flow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The block system solved a ton of problems that needed solutions. The new post editor even looked sleeker than its classic predecessor. But, those things did not matter much when stuff under the hood did not meet the demands users needed of an editor. Every missing feature that had become a standard to any particular user or another was a blight, another one-star review, on the revolution the block system was meant to bring about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If a user could not do something as simple as select and delete text across two paragraphs, what good were all the other bells and whistles?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is now over three years since the launch of the block editor. Perhaps it is too late to win back some who have chosen a different path for their websites. For others, maybe their writing flows have changed so drastically that the news is inconsequential. For those who have been patiently waiting, knowing that WordPress would one day make this right, it is a moment to rejoice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judging by the response to Matías Ventura&#8217;s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matias_ventura/status/1508386768864911372\">tweet yesterday</a>, it is a reminder of just how much people have wanted this feature:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Soon you\'d be able to select text across blocks in WordPress while retaining the fundamental mechanics of content blocks. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/2604.png\" alt=\"☄\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br />Major kudos to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ellatrx?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ellatrx</a> for the steady work that lead us here! <a href=\"https://t.co/e6tL7r434j\">pic.twitter.com/e6tL7r434j</a></p>&mdash; Matías Ventura (@matias_ventura) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matias_ventura/status/1508386768864911372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>The implementation does not yet offer complete coverage of capabilities when selecting text across Rich Text blocks. It currently includes the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Enter:</strong> Hitting the <code>Enter</code> key will delete the selected text and create a new paragraph.</li><li><strong>Backspace:</strong> Hitting the <code>Backspace</code> key removes the selected text and merges anything left of the latter block with the former.</li><li><strong>Delete:</strong> Hitting the <code>Del</code> key removes the selected text and forward merges the previous text.</li><li><strong>Input:</strong> Typing will replace the selected text with new input.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference between <code>Backspace</code> and <code>Del</code> is relevant when dealing with different block types. For example, when highlighting text from a list followed by a paragraph, backspacing will merge the remainder of the paragraph text as a list item. When deleting, the list items become paragraphs.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Backspacing selected text across List and Paragraph blocks.\n\n\n\n<p>I did notice a bug when backspacing into a list.  It leaves an empty list item, as shown in the above screenshot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is still no current method of selecting text from two or more blocks and copying or cutting it. Attempting this falls back to the previous behavior. The copy/cut action grabs the entire block code instead of the text itself.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Copy action when selecting partial text.\n\n\n\n<p>The new feature does not do away with the ability to partially select text across multiple blocks and manipulate them as a group. Users can still shift their position, copy them, and modify them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, the text-selection feature is an enhancement to the current tools, and it is one that many will be happy to see land in WordPress.  It is not a complete set of capabilities, but this is a win for the project and a necessary step forward.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 30 Mar 2022 01:38:43 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"WPTavern: WordCamp Asia 2023 Tentatively Set For February 17-19 in Bangkok, Thailand\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132098\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:94:\"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-asia-2023-tentatively-set-for-february-17-19-in-bangkok-thailand\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2996:\"<p><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Asia</a> is tentatively back on the schedule of in-person WordPress events with new dates: February 17-19, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. It will begin with a Contributor day, followed by two conference days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asia&#8217;s inaugural flagship WordCamp was originally scheduled for March 2020 but was the first international WordPress event to be <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-asia-2020-canceled-over-covid-19-concerns\">cancelled due to the pandemic</a>. It was cancelled just nine days before it was scheduled to happen, a difficult but necessary decision, despite all the hard work volunteers had invested. At that time, organizers hoped to push the event to the next year, but the pandemic forced it to be put on hold again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress community in Asia is quite large and spans across a wide land area with many diverse cultures. Prior to the pandemic, Asia was home to 127 WordPress meetup chapters with 73,000 members across 23 countries. The region had hosted 137 WordCamps in 18 Asian countries and 52 cities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Asia organizers <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordsesh-asia-now-in-planning-for-2018-wordcamp-asia-targeted-for-2019\">began preliminary planning in 2017</a>, inspired by other successful regional camps. Five years later, they have once again <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-organisers/\">opened the call for organizers</a>. They are aiming to build a team of 15 local (Thai) organizers and 30-35 organizers from other parts of Asia. This group will be broken up into teams that will lead audio/visual tech, design, speakers, volunteers, and other practical aspects of event planning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prospective organizers must reside in Asia and have experience organizing meetups or WordCamps. They must also be willing to commit at least three hours per week for planning and meetings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Because the main venue will be the same place as originally planned, we will be able to reuse some work from 2020,&#8221; organizer Naoko Takano said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We will comply with any COVID-19 guidelines provided by the local government and WordPress Community Team (<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/01/24/updated-guidelines-for-in-person-wordcamps-and-meetups-2022/\">such as this one</a>) to ensure the safety of the attendees.&#8221; If for some reason the event needs to be postponed again, organizers have a much more structured approach to managing this risk and making decisions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After five years of planning and so many unavoidable delays, the persistence and resilience of WordCamp Asia&#8217;s organizers is admirable. The call to join their team is open until April 30, and selected organizers will be notified by mid-May. Follow <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wordcampasia\">@wordcampasia</a> on Twitter for the latest updates or <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/\">subscribe to the event&#8217;s website</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 28 Mar 2022 21:52:20 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:101:\"Gutenberg Times: 59 FSE Themes, WordPress for Writers, Automating Development – Weekend Edition 208\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=20789\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:106:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/59-fse-themes-wordpress-for-writers-automating-development-weekend-edition-208/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17378:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/\"><em>WordPress 6.0</em></a> is coming to a WordPress instance near you on May 24th, 2022. The teams are all working hard to get things finished, patched and updated by April 12 before Beta 1 is release. <strong>Save the date <em>April 5th, 2022</em></strong> for a first walk-through with the release team. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working on the release has been a great opportunity to reconnect with the WordPress documentation team. It&#8217;s a lot of work, and if you can spare a few hours before the release, there are a few pages of the End user documentation that would need updating. Connect with the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RP4WU5\">#docs team via WPSlack</a> (account required) or <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/Documentation-Issue-Tracker/labels/good%20first%20issue\">grab one of the Good First issues on the GitHub repo</a>, if you want to help. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a great weekend! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br />Birgit </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-2 wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-g\">Themes with blocks and Full-site Editing</a><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-5\">59 Themes </a></li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-block-building-and-developing-for-the-block-editor\">Block Building and Developing for the Block Editor</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-s\">Gutenberg tips for content creators and #nocde site builders</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#4-upcoming-word-press-events\">Upcoming WordPress Events</a><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#5-social-learning-and-other-events\">11 Social Learning Meetups</a></li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#6-w\">WordCamps and other events</a></li></ul></div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rFiFJ1nDp0\">3rd episode of the <strong>WordPress Gutenberg Block News</strong></a>, <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong> covers among other topics, the new pattern directory, Google&#8217;s <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/material-design-google/\">Material Design </a>theme<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/material-design-google/\"> </a>and Automattic&#8217;s newest Block theme, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo/\">Archeo</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"0-g\">Themes with blocks and Full-site Editing</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><br />In  the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2022/03/18/gutenberg-themes-week-of-march-14th-2022/\"><strong>77th round-up posts from the Themes Team</strong></a>, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/jcristpbking\">Jason Crist </a></strong>posted about theme-related discussions, fixes, and developments in&nbsp;Gutenberg. He highlighted the new features, with links to PRs </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Webfonts&nbsp;API: Font Configuration via theme.json</li><li>Included in the Zip: Global Styles and More</li><li>Pattern Registration with theme.json</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As active discussion, Crist links to the issues: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/39189\">Visual Theme Building Tracking Issue</a></li><li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/39586\">AppearanceTools in theme.json might not be the right idea.</a></li><li>Standardization of colors, themes and typography is discussed in multiple issues from different angles. </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll also find General Resource links to catch up on FSE and Themes. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In the new workshop, <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/workshop/taking-advantage-of-query-loops/\"><strong>Taking Advantage of Query&nbsp;Loops</strong></a>, <strong>Wes Theron</strong> explores how to use the Query Loop block to showcase blog posts, pages, categories, tags and more!&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"1-5\">59 Themes </h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress repository now sports <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/full-site-editing/\">59 themes made for full-site editing</a>.</strong> </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The newest Themes are</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/archeo/\">Archeo</a> by Automattic</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/grigora-blocks/\">Girgora Blocks</a> by Latracal Solutions</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/hello-gutenify/\">Hello Gutenify</a> by Gutenify Dev</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/ona-creative/\">Ona Creative</a> by Deo Themes</li><li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/oscura/\">Oscura </a>by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alexandrebuffet\">Alexandre Buffet</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Justin Tadlock gave Archeo Theme a whirl and posted his findings: <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the-archeo-wordpress-theme-blends-mayan-history-with-magazine-style-block-patterns\"><strong>The Archeo WordPress Theme Blends Mayan History With Magazine-Style Block Patterns</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WPTavern Review of the Ona Theme is available here: <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/deothemes-launches-ona-creative-another-well-designed-wordpress-block-theme\"><strong>DeoThemes Launches Ona Creative, Another Well-Designed WordPress Block Theme</strong></a>, also by Justin Tadclosk</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/alexandrebuffet\">Alexander Buffet</a></strong>, frontend developer from Nantes, France and translation contributor,  built his first theme as an FSE theme called &#8220;Oscura&#8221; (<a href=\"https://www.alexandrebuffet.com/themes/oscura/\">demo</a>) for photographers and creatives. It emphasizes white space and is visually subtle to not take attention away from the creations by its site owner. You can also look under the hood on <a href=\"https://github.com/alexandrebuffet/oscura\">its GitHub repository</a>. Buffet uses well-structured code with multiple template parts, and patterns in their respective directories. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"2-block-building-and-developing-for-the-block-editor\">Block Building and Developing for the Block Editor</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The recording of this week&#8217;s Webinar with <strong>Grzegorz Ziolkowski</strong> and <strong>Maciek Palmowski</strong> <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTficEgju7k\"><strong>How to automate Gutenberg block development in WP projects</strong></a> is now available on YouTube. On Twitter, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gziolo/status/1506967009921323014\">Ziolkowski shared</a> additional resources:  </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>A very comprehensive tutorial in the WordPress Block Editor Handbook that explains <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/create-block/\"><strong>how to create your first block.</strong></a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.npmjs.com/package/@wordpress/create-block\">The tool to scaffold blocks</a> you can run with a single `npx @wordpress/create-block` command from your terminal.</li><li>&#8220;All the commands tailored for block development can also run with continuous integration, and they get installed when scaffolding the project. You can also install [<a href=\"https://www.npmjs.com/package/@wordpress/scripts\">@wordpress/scripts</a>] without scaffolding by executing `npm install @wordpress/scripts`&#8221; Ziolkowski <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gziolo/status/1506970281767809027\"><em>continued</em></a>.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/leeshadle\">Lee Shadle</a> </strong>of creator of the <a href=\"https://blockhandbook.com/\">BlockHandbook </a>site, answered the question many developers have: &#8220;Is there a fun/easy/lightweight way to add frontend interactivity to custom Gutenberg blocks w/o using React or jQuery?&#8221; <a href=\"https://twitter.com/leeshadle/status/1506780446612332547\">with &#8220;Yes&#8221;</a>, and with yet another JavaScript tool:  <a href=\"https://alpinejs.dev/\">AlpineJS</a>. Shadle published his proof-of-concept code  on GitHub. <a href=\"https://github.com/blockhandbook/alpine\"><strong>Add Alpinejs to Custom Gutenberg Blocks</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/m_munirkamal\">Munir Kamal</a></strong>, creator of Gutenberg Hub and Editor Plus, published a tutorial on <a href=\"https://gutenberghub.com/how-to-create-gutenberg-unsplash-block/\"><strong>How to Create a WordPress Gutenberg block that displays an Unsplash image</strong></a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>After you follow this tutorial, you built a block that generates a random image from Unsplash to be used in a post. It&#8217;s an easy to follow along article with code examples and explanations. Personally, I would have favored a custom block that displays media from Openverse. Maybe I find the time to rewrite it for Openverse. Wanna race me? Just kidding. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/mikejolley\">Mike Jolley</a></strong>, WooCommerce, updated the developer this week that the <strong><a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/25/store-api-is-now-considered-stable/\">Store API is now considered&nbsp;stable</a>.</strong> &#8220;It not only powers the new Block-based Cart and Checkout experience, but also the various product Blocks as well.&#8221; he wrote. The API is now available for 3rd party tools and services, and the article provides use cases and code examples. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt=\"GitHub all releases\" src=\"https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge\" /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"3-s\">Gutenberg tips for content creators and #nocde site builders</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the recording of the recent WordPress Social Learning meetup, <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2022/03/21/wordpress-for-writers-launching-your-writer-website/\" rel=\"nofollow\">WordPress for Writers: Launching your Writer&nbsp;Website</a></strong>,  <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheeDestinyWP\"><strong>Destiny Kanno</strong></a>, fledgling writer and WordPress enthusiast, walked attendees  through setting up a writer’s website with a literature-focused theme.  By the end of this session, participants had the tools you need to </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>apply a theme, </li><li>create an engaging story publication, and </li><li>set up your about page and a contact form </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>using Full Site Editing, and the Block Editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>The writers at WPTavern, Sarah Gooding and Justin Tadlock created new articles for their <strong>&#8220;Building with Block Series&#8221;</strong> </p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-two-column-single-post-header-with-the-wordpress-site-editor\">How To Build a Two-Column Single Post Header with the WordPress Site Editor</a></li><li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-single-product-sales-page-with-blocks\">How to Build a Single-Product Sales Page with Blocks</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"4-upcoming-word-press-events\">Upcoming WordPress Events</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"5-social-learning-and-other-events\">11 Social Learning Meetups</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 28, 2022, at 11 am ET / 15:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284387767/\">Hello Blocks! Coding a custom block</a></strong>&nbsp;with Wes Theron and Ryan Welcher</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 29, 2022, at 3 pm ET / 20:00 UTC</strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284252760/\">Beginner’s Guide to Full Site Editing&nbsp;</a></strong>with Sarah Snow</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 1, 2022, 11 am EDT / 15:00 UTC </strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700941/\">Block Theme Discussions: JSON Schema</a></strong> with Daisy Olsen </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 6, 2022, 12 pm EDT / 16:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284752435/\"><strong>Creating A Sidebar For Your Posts Using The Full Site Editing Blank Template</strong></a> with Bud Kraus, JoyofWP</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 6, 2022, 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700789/\"><strong>Builder Basics: Designing with Columns, Group, and Row Blocks (Part 2)</strong></a> with Nick Diego</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 8, 2022, 11 am EDT / 15:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284701015/\"><strong>Block Theme Discussions: Supports in theme.json</strong></a> with Daisy Olsen </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 12, 2022 2pm EDT 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700822/\">Builder Basics: Headers and Footers in Full Site Editing</a></strong> w/ Nick Diego</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 13, 2022, 10 am EDT / 14:00 UTC </strong><br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284753523/\"><strong>Create a Magazine Layout with the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor</strong></a> with Wes Theron</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 15, 2022, 11 am EDT / 15:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284701295/\">Block Theme Discussions: Presets in theme.json</a></strong> with Daisy Olsen</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 19, 2022 2pm EDT / 18:00 UTC</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284700867/\">Builder Basics: Exploring Block Layout, Alignment, and Dimensions </a>(Part 2)</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 21, 2022 3 am EDT / 7 am UTC</strong> <br /><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/wordpress-social-learning/events/284753652/\"><strong>Using Block Patterns</strong></a> with Wes Theron</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"6-w\">WordCamps and other events</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 8, 2022 9 am &#8211; 5 pm CDT / 14:00 &#8211; 20:00 UTC</strong><br /><a href=\"http://wpcareersummit.com/\"><strong>WP Career Summit</strong></a>&nbsp;conference for Careers in WordPress, organized by team at Post Status </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>May 16-20, 2022 </strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://wordsesh.com/\">WordSesh</a></strong><br />A virtual conference. <a href=\"https://wordsesh.com/speak/\">Call for Speaker is open</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>June 2 &#8211; 4th, 2022</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp Europe</a></strong><br />Sign up for updates to get notifications about speakers, sessions, and schedule.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>June 20 &#8211; 24, 2022</strong> <br /><strong><a href=\"https://pagebuildersummit.com/\">Page Builder Summit </a></strong>will take place June 20th to June 24, 2022. <a href=\"https://pagebuildersummit.com/sponsors/\"><em>The call for sponsors is still open</em></a>. Sign-up for the VIP list to learn first when tickets are available and the schedule is published. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>September 9 &#8211; 11, 2022</strong><br /><strong><a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/\">WordCamp US</a></strong> <br />in-person conference in San Diego. <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/apply-to-speak-at-wcus/\">Call for Speakers is open</a>, deadline April 17th, 2022<br /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 26 Mar 2022 05:14:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"WPTavern: The WordPress.org Pattern Creator Now Open to the Public\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132032\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"https://wptavern.com/the-wordpress-org-pattern-creator-now-open-to-the-public\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5240:\"<img />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The WordPress <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">pattern directory</a> finally <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/\">opened its gates</a> to the entire community today. Anyone with a WordPress.org account can log in, go to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/\">pattern creator</a>, and start designing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some of us, this has felt like an unbearably long wait. In reality, it took the development team less than a year since the <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the-wordpress-org-block-pattern-directory-now-live\">directory launch</a> to put this together. It was no small feat to make it work and put in all the guardrails for such a system in that amount of time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some community members have already got a head start. Ana Segota of Anariel Design announced <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Ana_Segota/status/1507407534650445831\">via Twitter</a> that three of her patterns had already landed. &#8220;More coming soon,&#8221; she said.</p>\n\n\n\n<img /><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/author/anariel-design/\">Patterns by Anariel Design.</a>\n\n\n\n<p>The pattern directory has the potential to be an onramp for creators who want to contribute to the WordPress project but do not know where to start. The barrier to entry is one of the lowest in the community. There is no requirement to write code or understand all the intricacies of theme design. It is nowhere near as complex as plugin development. It is simply a visual builder that allows sharing art with the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have no idea where this thing is going. I hope to see 1,000s of patterns in the directory a year from now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I played a small role in building two of the initial patterns from last year. I was excited about the potential for the directory and happy to contribute in any way. However, I was not entirely satisfied with the process because I did not have the creative freedom I wanted.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, my vision for an &#8220;about me&#8221; columns pattern had <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/pattern/about-me-cards/\">morphed into something entirely different</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Final about me cards pattern.\n\n\n\n<p>By the time it was added to the directory, there was hardly any of myself in it. The first designs that launched were tightly curated, and that was OK. It was more about getting production-ready patterns out to users at the time, and I knew that WordPress.org would eventually open it up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, I started work anew, rebuilding my original &#8220;about me&#8221; pattern. I have made some alterations because we now have new spacing controls. And the built-in, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/openverse/\">Openverse</a>-powered search did not seem to locate some of my early images, despite being available via the Openverse site. Nevertheless, it is a work in progress:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Building with the new pattern creator.\n\n\n\n<p>Users can save draft patterns, too. So, if you want to try your hand at designing one but are unsure if you can finish it in one sitting or do not have a fully-fleshed-out idea, there is no need to worry about losing work. You can save it and pull it up later from <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/my-patterns/\">your patterns page</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pattern creator runs Twenty Twenty-One under the hood. The classic theme has a few quirks, CSS that often overrules the core WordPress styles. I would rather have seen Twenty Twenty-Two because it sticks much more closely to the global styles standard. At least people who want to try designing off-site will be able to test with a similar setup.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patterns should, ideally, be theme-agnostic. However, in practice, the theme that showcases those patterns &#8212; Twenty Twenty-One in this case &#8212; can make or break a design. Creators should not design specifically for it, but they should at least check its output.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using the pattern creator is straightforward. It is merely an instance of the block editor with some modifications specific to the directory. It also provides a quick welcome screen:</p>\n\n\n\n<img />Welcome screen to the pattern creator.\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, my experience with it went reasonably well for a Day 1 launch. Most of the hiccups that I encountered were with the image search. It timed out on occasion, and filtering images was not a perfect experience. Despite being powered by Openverse, it does not offer the same filtering tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope that the pattern creator will eventually tie into the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress photo directory</a>. The built-in search is a neat tool, but you sometimes have to wade through dozens or hundreds of outdated images to find something worth using. The photo directory feels fresh and modern. Plus, we should be prioritizing the work of those contributing to WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are still many <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/pattern-directory/issues\">open tickets</a> for the pattern directory, and it will undoubtedly evolve based on feedback and usage. However, this is a solid launch of the pattern creator. Well done to all the folks who made this happen.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 26 Mar 2022 03:16:34 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Justin Tadlock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:88:\"WPTavern: WooCommerce Store API Now Stable, Provides Better Support for Custom Frontends\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=132009\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:98:\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-store-api-now-stable-provides-better-support-for-custom-frontends\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5730:\"<p>WooCommerce <a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/25/store-api-is-now-considered-stable/\">announced</a> today that its new Store API is now stable after two years in development. It powers the plugin&#8217;s new block-based cart and checkout experience as well as all products blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Store API is a public, unauthenticated API, that provides REST API endpoints for cart, checkout, and product functionality. WooCommerce core developer Mike Jolley explained how the new API is different from the plugin&#8217;s REST API:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>The main difference between the Store API and WC REST API is that the Store API&nbsp;<strong>allows unauthenticated access</strong>&nbsp;to store data, for example, products. This makes it suitable for a variety of use-cases, including custom frontends.</p><p>This is an&nbsp;<strong>unauthenticated API</strong>. It does not require API keys or authentication tokens for access.</p><p>Another difference is that the Store API has support for&nbsp;<strong>Cart data.</strong>&nbsp;This allows for cart operations such as adding items to the cart, updating quantities, applying coupons, and submitting orders. Only the current customer’s cart can be accessed.</p><p>Data returned from the Store API is always reflective of the current user (cookie-based), whereas the WC REST API allows more extensive access to any data, should you have the correct access rights.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In an <a href=\"https://hollerwp.com/mike-jolley-interview/\">interview with HollerWP</a> last year, Jolley said it&#8217;s helpful to think of the Store API as for clients and the core REST API as the API for store management.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Keeping them separate like this makes it clear that one exposes data in a public context,&#8221; he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scott Bolinger, co-founder of <a href=\"https://apppresser.com/\">AppPresser</a>, explained how the Store API fixes a problem with the original WooCommerce REST API.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It [the WC REST API] was never meant for mobile, headless, or any other front end implementation,&#8221; Bolinger said. &#8220;It was only meant for back end admin stuff like inventory, adding/removing products, etc. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The problem is that there was no alternative, so headless/mobile apps used it for displaying products. With the WC REST API, everything requires authentication, which doesn’t make sense, because products are public on your website. You shouldn’t have to authenticate to see someone’s products.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Store API allows developers to get products, attributes, collections, and other data without authentication, and adds a cart API, making it possible to checkout. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think most implementations of the WC Rest API that are for the front end should switch to the Store API,&#8221; Bolinger said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WooCommerce team is still working on making this API suitable for headless and mobile apps. In an ideal world, the best cart API for headless WooCommerce apps would be made by WooCommerce. In the meantime, Bolinger recommended <a href=\"https://cocart.xyz/\">CoCart</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>CoCart is a customizable, WordPress REST API for WooCommerce that allows developers to build headless (or decoupled) e-commerce stores using their choice of frameworks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not using the Store API and I don&#8217;t see that I will,&#8221; Co-Cart founder Sébastien Dumont said. &#8220;Both API&#8217;s are unique for their individual purposes. WooCommerce&#8217;s Store API is designed for the Gutenberg blocks, which only requires a fixed format and is still prone to be used on native storefronts. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see today&#8217;s news affecting CoCart. Most of my users have already known about the Store API while it was still experiential and failed after trying it for headless purposes. It also requires tweaking while CoCart does not&#8221;. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dumont said the Store API is still missing a lot of valuable information that developers require and that using CoCart saves them considerable development time. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With the WC Rest API, there is no cart or checkout, so it’s cool they added that,&#8221; Bolinger said. &#8220;Nonces only work when you are on the site though, so for mobile apps or headless WP, you will run into issues. Unfortunately it’s not where it needs to be for headless (yet).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There is a filter to disable nonce authentication: <code>add_filter( \'woocommerce_store_api_disable_nonce_check\', \'__return_true\' );</code> Even changing this to use something like JWT won’t fully work for headless, at least in my testing. I hope they will address this in the future.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This particular <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce-gutenberg-products-block/issues/5683\">issue</a> is still open on the WooCommerce GitHub repository. Maintainers seem open to exploring how core can accommodate this. In the meantime, third-party solutions are available to developers building mobile apps. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a technical breakdown of what&#8217;s currently possible with the new Store API, check out Mike Jolley&#8217;s <a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2022/03/25/store-api-is-now-considered-stable/\">announcement</a> post. He demonstrated how you can go through the entire purchase flow using the Insomnia API client- without even visiting the store. The API&#8217;s <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce-gutenberg-products-block/tree/trunk/src/StoreApi\">technical documentation and guide to extensibility</a> is available on GitHub.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/scottbolinger\"></a></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 25 Mar 2022 21:42:12 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"Post Status: Fall of the Zamir: A Hate Symbol Enters and Exits WordPress.org\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95034\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:41:\"https://poststatus.com/fall-of-the-zamir/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11491:\"<p>How did a hate symbol get into WordPress.org\'s plugin repository? What can we learn from the community response? Will more transparent governance help us navigate <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/an-inside-job/\">the age of weaponized open source</a>?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the letter `Z` has been used as a symbol by the Russian government <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Rarst/status/1506685664242417665\">as a pro-war propaganda tool</a>. It\'s also being used by Russian civilians <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(military_symbol)\">as a sign of support for the ongoing invasion</a> of Ukraine. The colors and ribbon of St. George are often used with the &#8216;Z\', and the Lithuanian parliament has <a href=\"https://hromadske.radio/en/news/2022/03/24/in-lithuania-parliament-puts-up-proposal-to-equate-the-z-symbol-and-the-ribbon-of-st-george-with-the-nazi-symbols\">proposed banning and equating</a> them with Nazi and Communist images. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/z-is-the-symbol-of-the-new-russian-politics-of-aggression\">Earlier this month</a>, <strong>Masha Gessen</strong> described the &#8216;Z\' in <strong>The New Yorker</strong> as having come &#8220;to stand for devotion to the state, murderous rage, and unchecked power.&#8221; While Gessen\'s definition stopped short of calling &#8216;Z\' a hate symbol in early March, it has been affirmed as one since then — definitely in the view of many Ukrainians. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Russians have chosen the letter Z as the symbol for their invasion of Ukraine. It is marking the Russian military vehicles and is widely used by the supporters of the war in Russia.<br /><br />I don\'t understand why they didn\'t go for the full swastika.</p>&mdash; Olga Rudenko (@olya_rudenko) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/olya_rudenko/status/1500073792961400832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 5, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>At some point in the past few days, a <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vovasik/\">Russian developer</a> forked the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/stand-ukraine/\">&#8220;Stand with Ukraine&#8221;</a> plugin, as <strong>Nate Conley</strong> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NateConley123/status/1506713410599149568\">later pointed out</a>. (There are quite a few pro-Ukraine plugins in the .org repo.) The forked plugin\'s author called it <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/zamir/\">Zamir</a></strong> and made it &#8220;display the `Z` symbol in support of Russia.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin was submitted for review, and it was approved.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20220323182342/https://wordpress.org/plugins/zamir/\">how the Zamir plugin page looked</a> before it was taken down.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-first-reactions-on-twitter-and-post-status-slack\">First Reactions on Twitter and Post Status Slack</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When Zamir appeared in the WordPress plugin repository, it was very quickly noticed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Rarst/status/1506681883404472324\">with many</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ciorici/status/1506663406060851200\">negative reactions</a> on <strong>Twitter</strong>. Apart from complaints about the plugin being morally offensive, many people felt it violated the guidelines plugins must follow to be accepted in the WordPress.org repo. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>While reactions on Twitter exploded, a heated conversation opened in the main <code>#club</code> channel in <strong>Post Status Slack</strong>. Initially, there was shock and dismay that the Zamir plugin was appearing prominently on the new plugin list for all WordPress.com customers. One of the first to notice the plugin and recognize its significance, <strong>Carl Hancock</strong> fired off a terse takedown request to the plugin review team, which he shared in Post Status Slack. The request was denied, and Carl shared <a href=\"https://poststatus.slack.com/archives/CHNM7Q7T8/p1648053721931799\">the response he received</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among Post Status members, the discussion was focused on whether the plugin should (or could) be removed under current guidelines. There was no disagreement on it being offensive, although not everyone knew about the &#8216;Z\' symbol\'s emerging significance. The <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-as-a-commons/\">lack of protocols and governance</a> in place to handle a situation like this was noted by several people, including <strong>Lesley Sim</strong>:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>You know what would be cool? If the guidelines had examples or precedents so that we would have something more tangible to go on. Not just subject to everyone\'s interpretations which, clearly, we all seem to disagree on. Kinda like case law in the legal system.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-openness-of-making-wordpress-despite-unclear-decision-procedures\">The Openness of Making WordPress Despite Unclear Decision Procedures</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Making WordPress <code>#pluginreview</code> Slack channel had a Zamir discussion underway at the same time, including <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C1LBM36LC/p1648057102435389\">an initial response</a> from <strong>Mika Epstein</strong> to confirm that the plugin had been approved. (Anyone interested in how WordPress gets made should read the open and transparent discussion in the plugin review channel for context.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very quickly a number of people in the <strong>WordPress Foundation</strong> examined the situation and took some time to make a decision. The plugin was taken down, and <strong>Josepha Haden Chomphosy</strong> posted an explanation of <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/03/23/removal-of-the-zamir-plugin/\">why Zamir violated community guidelines</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While it is true that there is no current plugin guideline barring plugins that “support” political leanings, this icon symbolizes something more complicated than that. Contributors were right to report this and, with their help and the help of WordPress community members, the plugin has been removed from the directory.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Josepha, &#8220;The plugin’s description eluded initial plugin checks.&#8221; Even if it was an honest oversight, which appears to be the case, it still raises some important questions about review procedures and governance for WordPress.org. To Josepha\'s credit she does this address this:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>I am aware that this issue leads to natural questions about clarifying our plugin policies moving forward. I’ll work with the community to explore our guidelines and create a clearer framework for how plugins can be evaluated in the context of current events.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-don-t-assume-the-worst-of-others\">Don\'t Assume the Worst of Others</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong> also <a href=\"https://poststatus.slack.com/archives/CHNM7Q7T8/p1648089238895559\">shared some thoughts</a> in Post Status Slack after the Zamir plugin\'s takedown:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Thank you to everyone who raised this issue, regardless of how you did it&#8230; Extra thanks to people who did it in a way knowing there are humans on the other side of the screen, and sometimes it may take a few hours to respond to something. This moved pretty quickly, but if it had happened in the middle of the night on a holiday or something similar it could have taken longer.</p><p>100% promise there will be mistakes or things we reverse in the future. What\'s important isn\'t trying to avoid mistakes, as that\'s impossible, but responding to them in a thoughtful and hopefully fast way. Please don\'t bash people or teams for making a mistake, we\'re all human and fallible.</p><p>Thank you as well to those who didn\'t jump to conclusions based on this one plugin being up for a few hours.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\'t seem there was any ill-will from anyone involved in the plugin\'s entry into the repo or in the removal of some hostile &#8220;reviews&#8221; in the plugin support forum before its removal. I hope we can take a lesson from this and reexamine the plugin review policies, including how takedown requests work. The procedures and policies for removal need to be clear to everyone. </p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_bb762c-8f .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_bb762c-8f\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-624c6e8fcf250 wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-post-status-postscript\"><strong>Post Status Postscript</strong></h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The saddest and most concerning part of this story — and the part of it that is not likely to go away soon — is how anger and suspicion quickly focused a very prejudicial eye on contributors who might be Russian and/or sympathetic to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress Plugin Review team and a moderator in the Support Forum who is also on the Russian language Translation Team became the target of hasty scrutiny from the outside. Even within the Make WordPress Slack channels for those teams, there was some emotional and accusatory communication. <br /><br />That\'s understandable; I had similar suspicions myself. But the reality is the plugin review team is constantly making good-faith efforts as they carry out a very difficult and essential task. They will never please everyone all the time. They are targets of complaints, criticism, and even <a href=\"https://halfelf.org/2021/when-its-not-burnout/\">hateful, violent threats directed at individual members</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The suspicion and distrust that flared up in the Zamir controversy underscores the very serious risks facing all open source projects now. Loss of the trust and goodwill that makes open source possible could kill it. David and I emphasize this in <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/an-inside-job/\">our discussion</a> of &#8220;weaponized open-source code.&#8221; What a terrible phrase! Even using code as a form of political protest against a specific nation may harm open source by dividing us with deep distrust. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s probably good to have gotten through the Zamir plugin debacle as a relatively harmless learning experience. It could have been worse.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it may well get worse. It will definitely get more complicated. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other scenarios come to mind. What if instead of the &#8216;Z\' — a fairly explicit hate symbol — the flag of the Russian Federation had been used? <br /><br />So what\'s to be done, constructively? At a minimum, we need the greater transparency that\'s increasingly being called for in the WordPress community. Formal guidelines, processes, and roles will provide clarity about who decides, and how they decide to include or exclude plugins, themes, reviews, etc.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, it will always be messy, and there will always be mistakes. Project and community boundaries necessarily differ and disagree. That is exactly why everyone needs to know what the boundaries are and how they are negotiated. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><strong>— Dan Knauss</strong></p>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:47:17 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:65:\"WordPress.org blog: Get Creative with the All-New Pattern Creator\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=12460\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/03/get-creative-with-the-all-new-pattern-creator/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3130:\"<p>It’s been less than a year since the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\" target=\"_blank\">WordPress Pattern Directory</a> was launched, and we already have more exciting news to share. <strong>The <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/\" target=\"_blank\">Pattern Creator</a> is live! You can now build, edit, and submit your best block patterns to the Pattern Directory—submissions are open to all with a WordPress.org user account!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n\n<img width=\"2800\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/patterns.png?resize=2800%2C3000&ssl=1\" alt=\"Pattern Directory, showing gallery patterns.\" class=\"wp-image-12485\" />\n\n\n\n<img width=\"2800\" height=\"2841\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/community-pattern-3-1-1.png?resize=2800%2C2841&ssl=1\" alt=\"View of a user-submitted pattern.\" class=\"wp-image-12468\" />\nPattern Directory — List of patterns, and a single pattern detail.\n\n\n\n<p>The <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/block-pattern-directory/\" target=\"_blank\">WordPress Pattern Directory</a> includes attractive, handy patterns created by designers that can make your experience building a stunning site <em>much</em> easier. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/block-pattern/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Patterns</a> can save you a significant amount of time and also give you greater freedom when you’re building your site. With patterns, you can make or replicate complex layouts with just a few clicks, and using them is as simple as copy and paste.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Create Your Own Bold, Beautiful Patterns Built Entirely with Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/submission-2.png?ssl=1\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2022/03/submission-2.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\" alt=\"Pattern submission screen, successfully submitted pattern with a \" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>As the name implies, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/new-pattern/\" target=\"_blank\">Pattern Creator</a> allows anyone, from designers to content creators, to make custom patterns: a collection of blocks arranged in any way, for any purpose intended by the creator. Like most things in WordPress, these are available for public use once it’s submitted to the WordPress Pattern Directory. Have a look at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/about/\" target=\"_blank\">these guidelines</a> to learn more about what makes a pattern suitable for listing in the directory.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what are you waiting for? Check out <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">all the patterns</a> already available or better yet, make your own!</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-8 wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/about/\"><strong>Learn more about creating patterns</strong></a></div>\n</div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:34:42 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Anjana Vasan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"Post Status: An Inside Job: The Danger of Weaponized Open Source Projects\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=95001\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:37:\"https://poststatus.com/an-inside-job/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10690:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">In a widely circulated article this week, <strong>Gerald Benischke</strong> is making the open-source community take <a href=\"https://beny23.github.io/posts/on_weaponisation_of_open_source/\">a hard look at the possible consequences of weaponized code</a>. He\'s right to be concerned that everything &#8220;open source has achieved over the last 30 years &#8230; [is] now at risk of becom[ing] collateral damage.&#8221; Why?</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote><p>It’s not about sitting on the fence or taking sides in a war. It’s about what open source has achieved over the last 30 years and I think that’s now at risk of become collateral damage.</p><cite>Gerald Benischke</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-open-source-softwar-e\">Open Source Softwar(e)</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many western companies cut their services and sales to some or all Russian customers. Open-source <strong>NoSQL</strong> database <strong>MongoDB</strong> <a href=\"https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/15/mongodb_terminates_russian_saas/\">is among them</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MongoDB is terminating Russian accounts. Makes you wonder how your IT may look like if other IaaS, PaaS and SaaS providers will decide to shut you down. What if AWS decided to shut down your account? How business critical is your reliance on the cloud? <a href=\"https://t.co/UerJ4TGPMn\">pic.twitter.com/UerJ4TGPMn</a></p>&mdash; Oleg Brodt (@BrodtOleg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BrodtOleg/status/1502587827783098371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2022</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Benischke also looked at how <a href=\"https://github.com/RIAEvangelist/node-ipc/issues/233#issuecomment-1068182278\">a modified <strong>node</strong> library</a> now <a href=\"https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/18/protestware_javascript_node_ipc/\">tries to delete files on Russian IPs</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both of these actions are potentially destructive, albeit in different ways. Both turn open source into a weapon.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-is-this-even-open-source\">Is this even Open Source?</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Less damaging but more personally intrusive, a community <strong>Terraform AWS</strong> module changed its code and added requirements after its <strong>Apache</strong> license. These &#8220;<a href=\"https://github.com/terraform-aws-modules/terraform-aws-ec2-instance/commit/6867788411a202b61187f9935e9eaa72a18f0bbe\">Additional terms of use for users from Russia and Belarus</a>&#8221; require those users to agree with three statements. One of those statements is &#8220;Putin is a dickhead.&#8221; Benischke notes this violates part of the <strong>Open Source Initiative</strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"https://opensource.org/osd\">definition of open source</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large\"><p><strong>5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups. </strong><br />The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.</p><cite>OSI, The Open Source Definition</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>What does it even mean to target people who are &#8220;from&#8221; a certain country? You might be &#8220;from&#8221; a country you do not currently live in. And not everyone living or born in a country has citizenship there. How a person defines their origins is completely subjective. Nationality is a legal fiction. Ethnicity and race are socially constructed and imaginary. Currently, <a href=\"https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/statelessness-around-the-world/\">10 Million people are stateless</a> — without citizenship in any nation. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-protestware-or-malware\">Protestware or Malware?</h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote><p>Once our software can\'t be trusted, what will happen? </p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Benischke warns about the possible &#8220;unintended consequences&#8221; of weaponized and discriminatory code. He\'s right it goes beyond protest, especially in the case of the destructive Node library:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>&#8220;In my mind, the term &#8216;protestware\' is attempting to legitimize the malicious actions and very much turns open source libraries into weapons to be aimed and fired at your opponent&#8230; I do think that these actions are to be condemned — especially as the “delete files based on geofencing IP addresses” has got the potential of causing collateral damage.&#8221;</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-collateral-damage-to-trust-in-open-source-could-kill-it\">Collateral damage to trust in open source could kill it.</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The deeper (and probably the worst) unintended consequence is the loss of trust in the open-source community. Benischke asks if it\'s even open-source code if you can\'t trust it. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Open Source Initiative</strong> <strong>(OSI) </strong>has <a href=\"https://opensource.org/blog/open-source-protestware-harms-open-source\">a positive, agreeing response</a> to Benischke\'s post. OSI supports &#8220;creative&#8221; forms of &#8220;protestware&#8221; that are informational or symbolic, but they distinguish this from weaponized code, which they condemn. However, OSI does not mention trust at all or the consequences of losing it. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why does trust matter so much? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can\'t trust your dependencies, who is in a position to take ownership of them all to ensure their secure functioning? Benischke points out that only a few large companies allied with the most powerful nations could afford to do this. Exclusive multinational blocs using trusted but closed source software might emerge if we go down this path. And it\'s not as if we didn\'t already have enormous challenges with security, maintenance, project sustainability, and the &#8220;<a href=\"https://poststatus.com/missing-the-bus/\">bus factor</a>.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why Benischke\'s concerns about the death of trust as a lethal poison are not far-fetched or of secondary importance to WordPress and open source.  If anything, he understates the precarity of the moment we are in. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What about you?</strong> Let us know <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#comment\">in the comments</a>. </p>\n\n\n.kt-block-spacer-_31bf24-7a .kt-divider{width:80%;}\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_31bf24-7a\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-container-624c6e8fd287d wp-block-group has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-post-status-postscript\"><strong>Post Status Postscript</strong></h4>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"h-wordpress-may-not-be-interested-in-the-us-department-of-defense-but-the-dod-is-interested-in-wordpress\">WordPress may not be interested in the US Department of Defense, but the DoD is interested in WordPress</h5>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\'t hard to see the weaponization of open source coming long ago. I just thought it would be done by malign individuals and organizations outside the open-source community. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Government actors have been <a href=\"https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/the_nsa_is_brea.html\">exploiting open (and closed) source code to spy on and harm enemies</a> for a long time. I just didn\'t think it would be members of open source projects doing this themselves. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now we\'ve experienced this in the WordPress community, with the Zamir plugin. (See our related thoughts on that story <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/fall-of-the-zamir\">over here</a>.) </p>\n\n\n\n<p>These developments are all very concerning. I hope it\'s not as bad as <strong>Heather Burns</strong> says it is, but <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WebDevLaw/status/1506712423230849030\">she may be right</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-default has-small-font-size\"><p>&#8220;The .org OSS project is entirely legally controlled by a US company which could, at any time, fall under scrutiny for providing services to Russia, or be brought into the sanctions regime.&#8221;</p><cite><a href=\"https://twitter.com/WebDevLaw/status/1506712423230849030\">Heather Burns @WebDevLaw</a></cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Is this how we need to think now, of globalized, international, open-source projects and communities? In a somewhat paranoid, suspicious way?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagining the worst — the ways open source could be destroyed — reminds me of a conversation I had at the last <strong><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/partner-summit/\">Post Status Partners Retreat</a></strong>. I asked a WordPress OG why he thought there always seems to be a constant sense of anxiety in the WordPress community — as if a massive disaster is just around the corner. I haven\'t seen that in other projects that are healthy even if they have a much smaller market share — like <strong>Drupal</strong>, for instance. (Speaking of which, you should check out <strong>Amy June Hineline</strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-51-comparing-the-drupal-and-wordpress-communities-with-amy-june-hineline/\">comparison of the Drupal and WordPress communities</a> in her recent chat with David.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>My question led to the response that only WordPress can destroy WordPress, it\'s so big. Then we had some fun imagining &#8220;evil&#8221; self-sabotage scenarios that might realistically play out if things went sideways. Later I posed this as a thought experiment with other people — imagine a <em><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters\">Screwtape Letters</a></em> take on WordPress. What would a clever demon do to ruin the project by manipulating its insiders?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even in the worst-case scenarios, most people agreed that some massive corporations are so dependent on WordPress, they would take it over in their own — in-house (and likely as good as proprietary) distribution. WordPress would not die. The project as we know it might die. The community would die. The software, at the end of the day, is the most durable thing — but it\'s not worth much to us if it\'s torn away from open source freedoms and an open, cooperative community of contributors. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can an open-source community like ours survive abandoning a fully globalized, international openness — at least as a possibility and ideal? Would survival in that context be worth anything, or be truly open? I don\'t think so. But we\'re now looking at a darkening world where every open-source project has reason to worry about that as a non-zero possibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><strong>— Dan Knauss</strong></p>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:11:20 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"David Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:85:\"WPTavern: How To Build a Two-Column Single Post Header with the WordPress Site Editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=131951\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:96:\"https://wptavern.com/how-to-build-a-two-column-single-post-header-with-the-wordpress-site-editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8719:\"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">One of the features I liked about <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/the