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Join Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy for all this, plus a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Host:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a><br>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a><br>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/\">Javier Arce</a><br>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/\">Brett McSherry</a><br>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Notes</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/07/03/real-time-collaboration/\">Real-Time Collaboration</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/\">Make WordPress Plugins</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">WordCamp Events</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small List of Big Things</strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/overflow-questions-from-state-of-the-word-2023/\">Overflow Questions from State of the Word 2023 in Madrid, Spain</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Annual Meetup Survey</a>&nbsp;&#8211; This is the final chance to share your feedback on WordPress meetups for 2024 and how we can improve the program in the future.&nbsp;</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcripts</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-16677\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> 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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:28] (Intro music)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:40] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Hello, my dears, and welcome to 2024. I hope you&#8217;ve had a lovely break. At the top of the year, I like to look around and gather the projects that the community is interested in. We can&#8217;t always commit to everything, and sometimes even the things we plan to do can&#8217;t make it across the finish line. In the next few weeks, I&#8217;ll be publishing kind of the big picture goals for the year, but I wanted to share a little bit about what I&#8217;ve collected so far.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:01:05] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Firstly, we&#8217;ve got Phase 3. This has been called a few things over the years: collaborative editing, multiplayer, co-editing. But whatever it&#8217;s been called, the biggest changes to writing and design workflows are likely to happen in this phase. A redesigned workflow can be a bit of a shock. But fortunately, we already have a prototype out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll include a link to some resources in the show notes, or of course, you can always stop by make.WordPress.org/core for some insights. But I would encourage you to, at the very least, get your hands on that prototype to see what it looks like is coming in Phase 3 so that you can be aware and provide your feedback.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next thing on our list is Data Liberation. This is a new-to-us project that was introduced at State of the Word. Fortunately, though, it&#8217;s not a new concept overall. Data Liberation is actually one of the earliest ideas that sold me on WordPress. The idea that you could set up a site for a client, or yourself, and that hard work wasn&#8217;t lost if something went wrong, was really important to me. It&#8217;s been a long time since we put any effort into our importers and exporters, and I think this will be a good focus for the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:02:14] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The next thing that I&#8217;ve picked up, kind of a list of three things, but there are three mid-sized areas that I want us to pay attention to this year: plugins, old tickets, and new meetups.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plugins, because they really have turned a corner on where they ended 2023. A lot of work has been done to make sure that they&#8217;ve streamlined some efforts, gotten some better onboarding for folks as they&#8217;re going in, and we could really use a hand to keep that momentum going.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old tickets, because it&#8217;s something that we hope for year after year when we&#8217;re talking to people about what they want in new releases. So often, part of what they say is some way to work through all of these old things that have been around forever, some with patches. And why not, after all?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then new meetups, because I really still think that meetups are the best intro to WordPress. No matter whether you&#8217;re wanting to become a developer eventually or, like, the community-building aspect is the thing that hooks you forever. Meetups are the place to encourage those and discover those.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:20] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The next thing on my list is also two things. It&#8217;s two things, but kind of a guess at the moment. There are two summit items that I want us to try to consider this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the first one is contributor recognition. Acknowledgment and recognition, I think, are two different things, and there was an entire series of sessions at the summit where we talked about it. And so I think that it&#8217;s worth us digging in on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other thing from the summit that I would really like us to all kind of dig in on is accessibility, how we do it, how we confirm it, what we think we should do versus what we actually do, and see what we can move on the needle there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the last thing is sort of a personal wish. I think it&#8217;s about time that we take a look at the way that we kind of manage ourselves as a project, the way that we do our meetings and report on our successes, things like that. And I realize that this is a big thing, and it might be a little bit scary. But, I mean, we&#8217;ve been doing this for a really long time, and it&#8217;s probably as good a time as any, frankly, to look at what we&#8217;re doing by habit or tradition and see if it still suits us.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that&#8217;s my back of the napkin set of notes so far. Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for the annual Big Picture post so you can get some context, notes, and discussion opportunities. And, of course, anything that has shown up that&#8217;s a bit bigger, a bit more final will be in there as well.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, our small list of big things. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:52] (Music interlude)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Firstly, State of the Word had nearly 200 questions submitted, and Matt has been answering the overflow on make.WordPress.org/project. So, I&#8217;ll include a link, but head on over there to that post if you would like to catch up on those.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the second item, and last item, is that you&#8217;ve got a few more days left to give us feedback on WordPress meetups in 2023, and give us an idea of what we can do to improve those. I believe those close on January 14th. I really love my local meetup, and I hope that we can get some of that same sort of feeling going in all of yours, too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:33] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You&#8217;ll get a friendly reminder whenever there&#8217;s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser, or if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at wpbriefing@WordPress.org.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thanks again for tuning in for the WordPress Briefing, and I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:02] (Music outro)&nbsp;</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:\"16677\";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: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 2023\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/01/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:10:00 +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: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=16680\";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:331:\"As 2023 came to a close, WordPress bid farewell with the much-anticipated annual State of the Word and the 6.5 roadmap, among other exciting updates. Read on to learn more about the community’s end-of-year celebrations and catch a sneak peek of what’s in store for the year ahead. Highlights from State of the Word On [&#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:\"Reyes Martínez\";s: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:11236:\"\n<p>As 2023 came to a close, WordPress bid farewell with the much-anticipated annual State of the Word and the 6.5 roadmap, among other exciting updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to learn more about the community’s end-of-year celebrations and catch a sneak peek of what’s in store for the year ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Highlights from State of the Word</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On December 11, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg delivered his annual <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/state-of-the-word/\">State of the Word</a> keynote in Madrid, Spain</strong>, marking the first international edition of the event. Nearly 200 WordPress enthusiasts and tech industry leaders gathered in person to hear what’s next for WordPress—with a large audience joining online or from one of the 47 watch parties held across 18 countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The keynote <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/state-of-the-word-2023-recap/\">highlighted</a> last year’s milestones and showcased compelling demos, providing a glimpse into the upcoming developments for the Site Editor, Collaboration phase, and Admin redesign. Matt also introduced 2024’s focus on <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a>, aiming to unlock digital barriers and frictionless migrations into WordPress for a more open web.</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 class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/c7M4mBVgP3Y?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 allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The event concluded with a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01uBD2pyQY\">Q&amp;A session</a> and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/overflow-questions-from-state-of-the-word-2023/\">this follow-up post</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Roadmap to WordPress 6.5</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.5 is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-5/\">scheduled</a> for release on <strong>March 26, 2024</strong>. This major release is set to introduce a new Font Library for easy global font management, support for Appearance Tools in Classic Themes, Data Views for templates and patterns, and more robust revisions across the editing experience, among other highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>6.5 will also include new APIs like Interactivity, Custom Fields, and Block Binding that expand block capabilities and underpin features like Synced Pattern Overrides.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about the features planned for WordPress 6.5 in <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/07/roadmap-to-6-5/\">this roadmap post</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p>Don’t wait for the next release to optimize your creative workflows with <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/leap-into-2024-with-these-site-editor-tools/\">these powerful Site Editor tools</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New in the Gutenberg plugin</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new versions of Gutenberg shipped in December:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/06/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-2-6-december/\"><strong>Gutenberg 17.2</strong></a> introduced improvements to the site editing experience, including the ability to drag and drop blocks to the top and bottom of documents and sticky table headers. The update also enhanced the Interactivity API docs and addressed numerous bug fixes.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/\"><strong>Gutenberg 17.3</strong></a> featured a summary of changes in the global styles revision history, an updated preferences panel, and a new social icon for the Gravatar service, along with the ongoing development of Phase 3 features.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Team updates</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Openverse <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/12/11/introducing-enhanced-content-safety-features-on-openverse/\">introduced new features to filter sensitive content</a>, aiming for a more accessible and safer browsing experience. This update marks the beginning of a significant initiative to enhance content safety tools.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matrix contributors <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/update-on-matrix-migration-pausing-the-transition/\">announced</a> the decision to pause the Making WordPress Slack migration to Matrix and the factors contributing to it.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/12/15/developer-resources-gets-a-refresh/\">redesign of the Developer Resources section</a> went live last month.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are you searching for events in your local community? Explore the recently launched <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/12/13/announcing-the-new-wordpress-events-page/\">WordPress.org Events page</a>—your new central hub for discovering upcoming events or applying to organize one.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2023, WordPress significantly <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/19/wordpress-performance-impact-on-core-web-vitals-in-2023/\">improved Core Web Vitals (CWV) across sites</a>. The overall passing rates went up from 28.31% to 36.44% on mobile and from 32.55% to 40.80% on desktop, making both WordPress and the whole web perform better.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/22/call-to-action-2024-major-releases-call-for-volunteers/\">Volunteers are needed</a> for 2024’s WordPress major releases. If you’re interested, now’s the time to get involved!</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out all the community <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/22/wordpress-end-of-year-celebrations/\">achievements and contributions</a> that moved the WordPress project closer to its goals in 2023.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Requests for feedback &amp; testing</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Complete the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\">2023 Annual Meetup Survey</a> before January 14, 2024, and help strengthen WordPress meetups in the future.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress events</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f9-1f1fc.png\" alt=\"🇹🇼\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> WordCamp Asia has opened <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/contributor-day-registration/\">registrations for its Contributor Day</a>. The conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 7-9, 2024.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1fa.png\" alt=\"🇪🇺\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> WordCamp Europe’s <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/speakers/call-for-speakers/\">call for speakers</a> is open until January 15, 2024. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this event by either submitting your speaking proposals or <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/call-for-sponsors/\">supporting it as a sponsor</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mark your calendars! <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp US 2024</a> is headed to Portland, Oregon, from September 17 to 20, as revealed during the State of the Word.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out these WordPress events happening soon:\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1f3.png\" alt=\"🇮🇳\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/kolkata/2024/careercamp/\">Kolkata CareerCamp</a>, India on January 6, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f3-1f1f5.png\" alt=\"🇳🇵\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://nepal.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Nepal</a> on January 12-13, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1f8.png\" alt=\"🇪🇸\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://zaragoza.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Zaragoza</a>, Spain on January 19-20, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1e9.png\" alt=\"🇮🇩\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/jakarta/2024/web-challenge/\">WordPress Web Challenge</a>, Indonesia on January 27, 2024</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out </strong></em><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this quick form</em></strong></a><em><strong> to let us know.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bernard0omnisend/\">Bernard Meyer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/\">Nicholas Garofalo</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/\">Lauren Stein</a></em> <em>for contributing to this edition of The Month in WordPress.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subscribe to WordPress News</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Join other subscribers and receive WordPress news directly in your inbox.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__supports-newline is-style-split wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions\">\n		<div>\n			<div>\n				<div>\n					<p >\n						<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=post&#038;p=16680\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-size: 16px;padding: 15px 23px 15px 23px;margin: 0px; margin-left: 10px;border-radius: 0px;border-width: 1px; background-color: #113AF5; color: #FFFFFF;\">Subscribe</a>\n					</p>\n				</div>\n			</div>\n		</div>\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:\"16680\";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:75:\"\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:4:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"Leap into 2024 with these Site Editor Tools\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/leap-into-2024-with-these-site-editor-tools/\";s: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, 28 Dec 2023 18:35:53 +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:6:\"Design\";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:\"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:2;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:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Gutenberg\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"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:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=16658\";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:297:\"The Site Editor gives you a powerful way to visually create every part of your site and tell your story. It lets you handle everything from big stylistic changes to simple copy updates all in a single place. To help you make the most of this new way to WordPress, here are a few standout [&#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:6:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:70:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Command-Palette-news-post.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:7:\"5553759\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:70:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Style-book-news-post-demo.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:8:\"30842905\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:75:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Styling-options-news-post-demo.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:8:\"27873396\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:88:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Distraction-free-and-preview-news-post-demo.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:8:\"24659305\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:68:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Patterns-news-post-demo.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:7:\"3617911\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:69:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/List-View-news-post-demo.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:7:\"2163970\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}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:\"annezazu\";s: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:9352:\"\n<p>The Site Editor gives you a powerful way to visually create every part of your site and tell your story. 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It’s built into the Styles section and can be toggled on/off as you’d like. This is especially useful when you’re aiming for design consistency for a client, trying to see how a change might impact a block that might not be visible, or wanting to get a different look at how a style variation will switch things up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Work is also underway for the next WordPress release to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/56800\">integrate the Style Book into Style revisions</a> to allow for an at-a-glance view of changes made. </p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Style-book-news-post-demo.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/tutorial/how-to-use-the-wordpress-stylebook-with-your-block-theme/\"><em>Learn more</em></a><em> about how best to use the Style Book.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Styling shortcuts</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes you get a design just right—the color contrast, the perfect padding, the exact font size. Instead of needing to manually recreate the design or copy/paste the block to fill in with new content, you have two powerful options built into the editing experience: copy/paste styles and apply styles globally for all instances of the desired block.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Copying and pasting styles is perfect for more nuanced and smaller changes, like headings on a landing page that you intentionally want to be distinct. Applying changes globally is best for blocks like buttons and for changes that are likely to work well across layouts, like setting a specific border radius and color. This helps keep the creativity flowing and makes achieving design consistency across your site much easier.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Styling-options-news-post-demo.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/01/core-editor-improvement-strengthening-style-options/\"><em>Read more</em></a><em> about the various styling options available.&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Distraction free mode</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just like an artist might need to take a few steps back to view their in-progress artwork, sometimes we need to get a different view of our site before diving back in. Distraction free offers you that alternate perspective with a pared-down experience that lets you focus purely on creating, like:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Hiding the top toolbar until one intentionally hovers over where it typically sits.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Removing many of the top toolbar buttons.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automatically closing any open sidebars, like block settings and list view.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hiding the insertion point indicator, reducing visual clutter.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hiding the block toolbar for individual blocks.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s worth noting that this mode can be used when writing posts and pages too! For an added bonus and more views of your site, you can use the preview options to see how your site might look across different devices.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Distraction-free-and-preview-news-post-demo.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/distraction-free-mode/\"><em>Learn more</em></a><em> about making the most out of Distraction free mode.&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Patterns</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Patterns are a collection of blocks that make it simple to add complex layouts and designs to any WordPress site without starting from scratch. They save time by reducing duplication and ensuring consistency. You can create your own, use theme-provided patterns, or <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/patterns/\">lean on the Pattern Directory</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also specify whether to sync your patterns so that one change applies to all parts of your site, or to keep them unsynced so you can customize each instance. For any patterns you create, you can assign categories to make them easy to find and organize. Use the Inserter with easy filtering options to add patterns to your content, and head to the dedicated Patterns section in the Site Editor to create or edit patterns to your liking.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/Patterns-news-post-demo.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/tutorial/creating-your-own-custom-synced-or-non-synced-patterns/\"><em>Learn more</em></a><em> about creating patterns.&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">List View</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>List View is the go-to tool for navigating between layers of your content, selecting exactly what you need, and getting a sense of how everything fits together. Similar to the Style Book and Distraction free mode, you can toggle it on/off as you’d like. It’s currently visible in the Top Toolbar and will remain open as you navigate through your site. Beyond providing a simple view of the layers of your site, there are more recent additions to List View that makes the tool even more powerful:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>See previews of your images for Image and Gallery blocks reflected in List View to make it easier to find what you need.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Escape key deselects blocks to make it easier to purely preview your content without any blocks selected.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lean on a keyboard shortcut for duplicating blocks quickly: CMD+Shift+D for Mac or Control + Shift + D for Windows.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Drag and drop blocks at any level directly within List View.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rename Group blocks and have the custom name reflected in List View for improved organization.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here’s how a few of these improvements come together:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/List-View-news-post-demo.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/list-view/\"><em>Learn more</em></a><em> about using List View. </em></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p>As you explore these tools, remember that, except for the Style Book, you can use these features when writing posts and pages too. Expect the Site Editor and other tools to evolve with each release. To get a sneak peek at what’s planned for the next major WordPress release in March, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/07/roadmap-to-6-5/\">check out the roadmap</a> and stay tuned. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subscribe to WordPress News</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Join other subscribers and receive WordPress news directly in your inbox. </p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__supports-newline wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions\">\n		<div>\n			<div>\n				<div>\n					<p >\n						<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=post&#038;p=16658\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-size: 16px;padding: 15px 23px 15px 23px;margin: 0px; margin-left: 10px;border-radius: 0px;border-width: 1px; background-color: #113AF5; color: #FFFFFF;\">Subscribe</a>\n					</p>\n				</div>\n			</div>\n		</div>\n	</div>\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to the contributors who collaborated on this post: <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/\">Nicholas Garofalo</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/\">Lauren Stein</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joen/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joen/\">Joen Asmussen</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:\"16658\";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: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:57:\"WP Briefing: Episode 69: Reflections on State of the Word\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/episode-69-reflections-on-state-of-the-word/\";s: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, 26 Dec 2023 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: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=16654\";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:232:\"In this episode, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy reflects on the recent 2023 State of the Word, which took place in Madrid, Spain, and some of the highlights of the work across the WordPress open source project.\";s: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:51:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/WPB069.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:14:\"Brett McSherry\";s: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:10686:\"\n<p>In this episode, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy reflects on the recent 2023 State of the Word, which took place in Madrid, Spain, and some of the highlights of the work across the WordPress open source project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to&nbsp;<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 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Host:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a><br>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a><br>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/\">Javier Arce</a><br>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/\">Brett McSherry</a><br>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Notes</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/state-of-the-word-2023-recap/\">State of the Word Recap</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/05/17/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program-pilot-program-proposal/\">WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program: Pilot Program Proposal</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/\">WordPress Developer Blog</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/22/wordpress-end-of-year-celebrations/\">WordPress End of Year Celebrations!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small List of Big Things</strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/12/11/introducing-enhanced-content-safety-features-on-openverse/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Introducing Enhanced Content Safety Features on Openverse</a>&nbsp;&#8211; Introducing new features for enhanced content safety on Openverse. </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/alert-wordpress-security-team-impersonation-scams/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alert: WordPress Security Team Impersonation Scams</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2023/12/02/join-the-plugin-review-team/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join the Plugin Review Team!</a> &#8211; The Plugin Review Team is looking for new members; the deadline to apply is on December 31, 2023.</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcripts</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-16654\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> 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’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:28] (Intro music)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:40]&nbsp;<strong>Josepha:</strong> We wrapped up State of the Word earlier this month, and while I was sitting there being the only person to clap for the love of cake, I realized just how much we have been able to accomplish this year. And on the one hand, I shouldn&#8217;t be surprised.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After all, progress is radical over time yet incremental in time. But all told, 2023 has been a big year for WordPress. There&#8217;s been some radical progress in a few places. There are the things you know because you&#8217;ve heard them all year. You heard them in State of the Word.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We turned 20, for instance. We shipped three on-time releases. We had three well-organized flagship events, and we prototyped essential parts of phase 3. But there&#8217;s a lot of work that happens outside of flagship events and software releases, and I&#8217;d like to highlight a few examples of operational excellence in our community and ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:01:31] <strong>Josepha:</strong> First highlight goes to the contributors who are building community. Going back to 2021, we&#8217;ve been working to bring people back together in person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in that year, we had 19 events. In 2022, we had 24 events, so a modest increase of just over 30%. But then, in 2023, the WordPress community banded together on a campaign to reignite passion in our Meetup groups and encourage playfulness in our WordCamp planning. And not only did we see a 57% increase in active Meetup groups, But we also saw a 116% increase in WordCamps, 54 WordCamps in all. That&#8217;s about a third of the way to our all-time annual high of 142.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And to complement these in-person opportunities, Learn also shipped 104 pieces of new content and hosted 258 online workshops because location should never be a barrier to entry for joining WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:02:32] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Second highlight goes to the contributors who are managing our directories. We do have a lot of directories. We have Plugins, Themes, Photos, Block plugins. We got a lot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;m sure that everyone saw the consistent and borderline pleading calls to join the Plugin team this year. And for folks who&#8217;ve been around a bit, you probably recall a similar set of consistent and pleading calls to join the Theme team a few years back. Concurrent with the work to refill that contribution pipeline, folks over in Meta and across the project generally, were working on automating as many checks as possible, loosening guidelines where it was reasonable, and modernizing as many processes as we could.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m happy to share that the theme wait time is at a historic low, with their longest wait sometimes just at a week. And as anxious as I am about the plugin wait times, we&#8217;re actually seeing a lot of progress there as well. As we follow a process similar to the one that we did on themes, I imagine it&#8217;s only gonna get better. So, in 2023, we&#8217;ve onboarded six new team members. And since September, the number of plugins awaiting initial review has been cut in half.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then coming up in Q1 of 2024, we&#8217;ll have a project focused entirely on automating as many checks as possible. So I still need you, but I also need you to know that your work there matters and is having an impact.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:55] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The third highlight goes to the contributors who are doing outreach. This year, we launched a mentorship program with an 89% completion rate because we&#8217;ve seen time and again that our most prolific contributors had someone at the start that they felt safe asking dumb questions with. We launched and nurtured the developer blog, which was a need identified by the community because there was no place for intermediate and advanced developers to get excited about their cool explorations. And there were 53 posts there this year with thirteen thousand views, which is a 251% increase for the record, which is a ridiculous increase, but it&#8217;s a lot. Thirteen thousand views is a lot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have focused on documentation as we suggested in Porto of 2022. And marketing, I know not always our favorite topic, but marketing, our ability to talk about ourselves to more than just ourselves, has increased dramatically this year.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only have we started rolling out a modern design across our website, but we also are present and engaged on eight different platforms with 20-plus episodes of this very podcast and also video content that netted us seven and a half million views this year. That&#8217;s a lot of numbers, and there&#8217;s a post that goes with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:10] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Check out the show notes. But if you&#8217;re not gonna check out the show notes because you listen to this on Pocket Casts or Google or something, go to make.WordPress.org/project, and it&#8217;ll be over there. But the point is, it&#8217;s been a banner year for the software, and I am grateful for every tester, designer, and developer that showed up for it. But I also know that what makes WordPress truly irreplaceable is our ecosystem, and it&#8217;s contributions like this and the contributors who do them that make our ecosystem vibrant and responsive and thriving on into the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, thank you all for the contributions you make to WordPress. Thank you for the shining example of how to do open source at scale, and thank you for another great year together.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:04] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Which brings us now to our small list of big things. It is indeed a small this time. First up, I would like to introduce our enhanced content safety features on Openverse. By default, search results now exclude openly licensed media containing sensitive textual content. But this new feature adds additional filtering based on titles, tags, and descriptions of the work as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:27] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The second thing on our small list of big things is that there is just a general alert. There&#8217;s a WordPress security team impersonation scam that&#8217;s going on out there. The team is aware of multiple ongoing phishing scams impersonating both the WordPress team and the WordPress security team in an attempt to convince administrators to install a plugin on their website which contains malware. I&#8217;ll include a link to that post just in case you have anyone that you think might need to be aware of that, but also all of our site administrators know. Like, WordPress is not gonna email you asking for passwords or anything ever. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:02] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And item number three, I would like you to join the Plugin review team. I know I just said it in the body of the episode. But, the Plugin review team is looking for new members still who believe in our mission of guiding plugin authors in responsibly transforming their innovative ideas into reality and ensuring a great WordPress plugin experience for end users. There is a deadline to apply; it&#8217;s December 31st. And so you can get that done over the holidays, over a glass of eggnog if that&#8217;s how you choose to celebrate whatever it is that you do. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s it for your small list of big things.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You&#8217;ll get a friendly reminder whenever there&#8217;s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at wpbriefing@WordPress.org. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. See you again in a couple of weeks.&nbsp;</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:\"16654\";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: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:28:\"State of the Word 2023 Recap\";s:7:\"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/2023/12/state-of-the-word-2023-recap/\";s: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, 11 Dec 2023 22:55:46 +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:8:\"category\";a:2:{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:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"state of the word\";s:7:\"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=16617\";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:384:\"On December 11, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg traveled to beautiful Madrid, Spain, to deliver his annual State of the Word keynote. It was the first time this event took place outside the United States. Against the backdrop of Palacio Neptuno—an iconic architectural gem and UNESCO World Heritage site—nearly 200 contributors, developers, extenders, and friends of [&#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:17:\"Nicholas Garofalo\";s: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:20461:\"\n<p>On December 11, WordPress co-founder <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/\">Matt Mullenweg</a> traveled to beautiful Madrid, Spain, to deliver his annual <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/state-of-the-word/\">State of the Word</a> keynote. It was the first time this event took place outside the United States. Against the backdrop of <a href=\"https://www.palacioneptuno.com/\">Palacio Neptuno</a>—an iconic architectural gem and UNESCO World Heritage site—nearly 200 contributors, developers, extenders, and friends of the project came together to hear from Matt, with millions more joining online.</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 class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/c7M4mBVgP3Y?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 allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An introduction from the Executive Director</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kicking off the event, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a>, Executive Director of the WordPress project, spoke about the community’s heart and spirit as what fuels hope for the future, ensuring the freedoms of the open web for all. She invited Matt on stage with a closing statement of confidence that such values and characteristics will move the project forward into the next 20 years as it has for the last 20.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_35.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of the WordPress project, speaking at a podium \" class=\"wp-image-16627\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_35.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_35.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_35.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_35.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking back at 2023</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking the stage, Matt shared his excitement about the event being the first international State of the Word. He honored the Spanish WordPress community for hosting, citing their past WordCamp accomplishments. From there, Matt jumped right into a reflection of this year’s notable moments. He recalled the project’s 20th-anniversary celebrations, how the software has evolved, and how much more the community came together this year—doubling the number of WordCamps to 70, taking place in 33 countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-2-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-right:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">We’re always aiming to learn and improve. Tell us how to make meetups better.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/2023-meetup-annual-survey?p=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Take the 2023 Meetup Survey</a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt continued with callouts to several resources on <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/\">WordPress.org</a>: the all-new <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">Events</a> page, the redesigned <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/showcase/\">Showcase</a>, a new <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/remembers/\">WordPress Remembers memorial</a>, and the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/09/openverse-wins-the-2023-oeg-open-infrastructure-award/\">award-winning Openverse</a>. He also demoed <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/\">WordPress Playground</a>, a tool allowing users to experiment with WordPress directly in their browsers, as well as the versatile <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentyfour/\">Twenty Twenty-Four default theme</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_53.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Matías Ventura, Lead Architect of Gutenberg, speaking on stage at State of the Word\" class=\"wp-image-16621\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_53.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_53.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_53.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_53.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Collaborative editing and more</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt recapped the four phases of the Gutenberg project, noting that work has begun on Phase 3: Collaboration before passing the microphone to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matveb/\">Matías Ventura</a>, Lead Architect of Gutenberg.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a quick interlude in Spanish, Matías acknowledged how much progress had been made on the software this year. He spoke about the aim of the Site Editor to become both an exemplary writing environment and a superior design tool while noting improvements to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/footnotes-block/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Footnotes Block</a>&nbsp;and the ease of&nbsp;<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/distraction-free-mode/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Distraction Free mode</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there was no set timeline for collaboration and workflows, Matías was excited to share a working prototype in the Editor. He showcased some of the most interesting aspects of collaborative editing, including establishing a sync engine that allows real-time edits to be visible across sessions. He invited contributors to test the prototype in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg plugin</a> and <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/52593\">share their feedback in Github</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From there, Matías highlighted other exciting developments, including the emphasis on Patterns and their continued evolution as a powerful tool for workflows, and the ability to connect blocks to custom fields. He was thrilled to speak about performance improvements, noting that work is in progress to make the Editor <a href=\"https://www.codevitals.run/project/gutenberg\">at least twice as fast</a>. Speaking about front-end performance, he shared what’s to come with a <a href=\"https://wpmovies.dev/\">demo of the Interactivity API</a>, showcasing how it can make transitions, search, and other interactions instant—all with standard WordPress blocks and features.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matías concluded with a look at how the Admin redesign will take cues from the Site Editor, eventually allowing users to shape their WordPress Admin experience based on their unique needs.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_09.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg speaking at a podium\" class=\"wp-image-16624\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_09.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_09.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_09.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_36_09.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI and Data Liberation</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt returned to the stage to expand on the future of WordPress, reinforcing his past advice to <em>learn AI deeply</em>. He expressed his excitement about what can be accomplished with the wealth of AI tools available, how contributors are already experimenting with natural language processing and WordPress Playground to create and build.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, Matt introduced an additional focus for the project in 2024: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a>, with the goal to make importing from other platforms into WordPress as frictionless as possible. He spoke about the tendency of content management systems to keep users locked in as part of his motivation to <em>unlock digital barriers</em>. The Data Liberation initiative will work on one-click migration and the export format from WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than just tools, Data Liberation reflects the project’s ethos to allow seamless contributions. With that, Matt invited anyone interested to jump into the action, noting a new <a href=\"https://github.com/wordpress/data-liberation\">Data Liberation GitHub repository</a> and forthcoming <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\">Making WordPress Slack</a> channels as places to get started.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Questions and answers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the presentation, Matt fielded questions from the live-stream and in-person audiences during an interactive question-and-answer session hosted by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/monchomad/\">Jose Ramón Padrón (Moncho)</a>.</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/S01uBD2pyQY?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 allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional questions from the live session will be answered in a follow-up post on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project\">make.WordPress.org/project</a>. Subscribe to our blog notifications to be sure you don’t miss it. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for next year’s <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Asia</a> (Taipei, Taiwan), <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Europe</a> (Torino, Italy), and WordCamp US (Portland, Oregon, United States).</p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery aligncenter is-style-rectangular\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__gallery\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:34.98661%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_37_04-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_37_04-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 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style=\"flex-basis:63.00314%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1200&#038;ssl=1 1200w,https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1280&#038;ssl=1 1280w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"853\" data-id=\"16620\" data-link=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?attachment_id=16620\" data-url=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg\" data-width=\"1280\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_35_11-1024x682.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" /></figure></div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:36.99686%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1200&#038;ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1280&#038;ssl=1 1280w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"720\" data-id=\"16619\" data-link=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?attachment_id=16619\" data-url=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg\" data-width=\"1280\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_34_45-1024x576.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" /></figure><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1200&#038;ssl=1 1200w,https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1280&#038;ssl=1 1280w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"720\" data-id=\"16629\" data-link=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?attachment_id=16629\" data-url=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg\" data-width=\"1280\" src=\"https://i1.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-11-13_38_08-1024x576.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" /></figure></div></div></div></div>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>Thank you to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>laurlittle</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>eidolonnight</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/nilovelez/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>nilovelez</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/fepr/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>fepr</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>cbringmann</a>, and the many others who made this event and post possible.</em></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:\"16617\";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: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:57:\"WP Briefing: Episode 68: Toward a More Interconnected Web\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/episode-68-toward-a-more-interconnected-web/\";s: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, 11 Dec 2023 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: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=16569\";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:235:\"In this episode, WordPress Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy articulates the vision for a collaborative ecosystem where knowledge sharing and contributions to open source tools lead to a more interconnected and empowered web.\";s: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:51:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2023/12/WPB068.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:14:\"Brett McSherry\";s: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:14552:\"\n<p>In this episode, WordPress Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy articulates the vision for a collaborative ecosystem where knowledge sharing and contributions to open source tools lead to a more interconnected and empowered web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to&nbsp;<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 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Host:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a><br>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a><br>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/\">Javier Arce</a><br>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/\">Brett McSherry</a><br>Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Notes</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2022/11/state-of-the-word-2022/\">State of the Word 2022</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://thephp.foundation/\">PHP Foundation</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Josepha&#8217;s <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2022/01/21/big-picture-goals-2022/\">Big Picture Goals 2022</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small List of Big Things</strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/11/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-1-22-november/\">Gutenberg 17.1</a> has been released and is <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">available for download</a>! The latest release includes new enhancements, bug fixes, and continued work on Phase 3 features.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Announcing the 2023 Annual Meetup Survey</a> &#8211; The Community team proposed a survey for all meetup members and organizers. Please complete the <a href=\"https://wordpressdotorg.survey.fm/2023-meetup-annual-survey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Annual Meetup Survey</a>  by January 14, 2024– even if you haven&#8217;t participated in a meetup recently!</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/11/29/request-for-feedback-lesson-handbook-pages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Request for feedback: Lesson Handbook pages</a> &#8211; As the Training team progresses towards the 2024 launch of <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/07/07/project-thread-learning-pathways-on-learn-wordpress/\">Learning Pathways</a>, they&#8217;re developing a set of content creation guidelines to streamline and scale the process. These guidelines will focus on efficient methods for developing, reviewing, and updating content. To gather input, a <a href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twvDGmVZsyjBZbi9abiqoA_a2G7O_WNis_iGL2Sccg0/edit#heading=h.srkdcrt4k0v8\">Google Doc</a> has been created where you can share your ideas. Please provide your feedback and comments on this document by Tuesday, December 19, 2023.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/\">WordPress Playground</a> makes WordPress instantly accessible for users, learners, extenders, and contributors.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/11/30/embracing-matrix-for-enhanced-communication/\">Embracing Matrix for Enhanced Communication</a></li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcripts</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-16569\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> 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>[00:00:28] (Intro music)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:40] <strong>Josepha:</strong> If you&#8217;re already familiar with the WordPress project, and if you&#8217;re listening to this podcast, I feel like it&#8217;s a safe assumption that you&#8217;re probably also familiar with the fact that we are what&#8217;s considered a free and open source software project. We adhere to the four freedoms of open source. We track bugs in the open, and we believe that knowledge sharing can only improve our products. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you might not be aware of the other open source projects that are foundational to ours and otherwise are integral to our commitment to the open web. At last year&#8217;s State of the Word, Matt mentioned that one of the coolest things about being a plugin or theme author in WordPress is that you get to run your open source project on the same infrastructure that WordPress runs on. So, no matter whether you have five installs or five thousand, you&#8217;re getting the benefits of our bug trackers, messaging, and network of project sites. But beyond those, which are, of course, near and dear to us, we also support projects like PHP and its foundation. Openverse and its founding organization Creative Commons, and of course, the two that we&#8217;re hearing a lot about this year and next, Playground and Matrix.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:01:52] <strong>Josepha:</strong> That&#8217;s a lot of projects and not even a comprehensive list. And honestly, it can seem, I don&#8217;t know, a little weird. Like, we&#8217;re a FOSS CMS, right? You probably know why we contribute back to PHP. It&#8217;s the same reason we ask people to contribute to WordPress. But why are we giving so much time to a media search engine, or a Web Assembly implementation, or even a messaging protocol?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first glance, there are, of course, a lot of quick and easy answers. For instance, like, open source is open source. Any open source contribution is going to be a good contribution. All open source in the world increases good and freedom in the world. Like, open source is open source. Makes sense, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another quick and easy answer is, you know, they&#8217;re part of us. And that&#8217;s true, definitely, for PHP, like, they&#8217;re part of us, and so we should be contributing back to them. Because we rely on them so much. And then a third quick and easy answer is that we, as the biggest open source CMS on the planet, basically, we can, spare a lending hand. We can offer a little bit of help to those around us.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:03] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And those are all true. I don&#8217;t think that anyone would disagree with any of that. But the thing that ties it all together for me is something that&#8217;s a little harder to see. In the 2022 goals that I posted, I said that my second goal for our year was to support open source alternatives for all site-building necessities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time, I was primarily talking about Openverse and the directory of photos that was being created as a CC-first source. But that also applies to all of our directories. It did then, just as it does now. And Trac, and our vast network of WordPress sites. All the tools we use in order to collaborate with, and lead for, and learn from each other.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want us to be able to do everything it takes to build an online presence using open source tools and methods because WordPress is just a glorious little microcosm of the interconnected web. It reminds me of this art installation I had the privilege of experiencing. It&#8217;s called Meow Wolf. I went to the one in Denver, but there are a few different installations across the U.S.&nbsp;The one that I went to is this massive art installation, and it is designed to be interactive, but it wasn&#8217;t until you started sharing your experience sharing your knowledge with other people that you realized it was also collaborative, a set of buttons you pushed in one room would cause a light show in some other room.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:34] <strong>Josepha:</strong> So you were enhancing the experience of strangers in some completely disconnected room to yours, and they couldn&#8217;t distinguish it from an automation or something they did, or just plain old magic. And that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re doing by supporting these other open source tools. Yes, every new open source contribution results in more freedom in the world. Yes, we owe support to the components that got us where we are today. And yes, we absolutely can and should pay it forward. But more importantly than all that, we&#8217;re creating the opportunity for new interactions, new brilliance, and new defenders of the open web every time that we work on these open source products.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:20] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And it doesn&#8217;t matter if we will ever see any of those people. And it doesn&#8217;t matter if they will ever thank us. What matters is that we see that knowledge like this is worth preserving and worth sharing. Because knowledge shared, information shared is like light. The more you share it, the more there is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I want you to be able to take that sharing and use it to light the world. I want you to be able to go out and tell people how open source has changed your life, how WordPress has opened doors for you, or how much these tools have empowered your clients. I want you to remember why you came to WordPress in the first place, and I need you to hear me when I say that I need you here in WordPress today because every little ripple of good that we create makes the world a little more good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:12] (Music interlude)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:20] <strong>Josepha:</strong> (SLBT) And now, my friends, that brings us to our time for the small list of big things. I&#8217;ve got a kind of a big list because I always kind of have a big list anymore, but the first thing on my list is Gutenberg 17.1. That has been released and is available for download. It includes several new enhancements, loads of bug fixes, and continues that work on phase three features that we are starting to see come through. If you don&#8217;t have it already, go out and grab it, test it, break it, and tell us what you tested and how it broke things.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:52] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The second thing on my small list of big things is that there is currently an annual meetup survey out. So, we&#8217;ve had an increase in our meetup events, and certainly an increase in the active number of meetup groups that we have, but the community team is proposing a unified survey for all meetup members and organizers, and if you haven&#8217;t participated in it yet go and fill it out. You don&#8217;t have to have actually gone to a meetup event recently in order to take it, but, you know, it might be helpful. Either way, you have until January 14, 2024, to fill that out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:30] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The third thing on my small list of big things is a request for feedback. The training team is working toward launching Learning Pathways in 2024. They&#8217;re looking to create a new set of content creation guidelines that enables the learning pathways to scale with a straightforward process for developing, reviewing, and updating that content. There&#8217;s a Google doc for you where you can contribute your ideas, and that doc will be open for feedback through this week and into next week. I believe it closes on Tuesday, the 19th of December, 2023.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:08:04] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And then the final thing on my small list of big things is actually, it&#8217;s a dual call-in. I already said with my first one about the Gutenberg plugin: get in there and test it and break it, and then tell us how it broke and what you were doing when you were testing it and broke it. And I encourage you to do that also for Matrix and Playground.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Playground has been a really big deal all year long. It was a big deal at the end of last year. It showed up for us in November 2022 and has been really just growing in surprising ways all the way through 2023. So if you have not yet seen it, you haven&#8217;t gotten your hands on it yet, it&#8217;s a WordPress installation that is loaded entirely in the browser, totally server-free, and we&#8217;re looking at a couple of new implementations that make it easier for users who are trying to, like, kick the tires of WordPress before they decide, and developers who are wanting to test new pull requests and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So keep an eye out if it sounds interesting; it is interesting. And wander over and figure out how that&#8217;s working. And the other thing in that last call for collective testing is Matrix. So Matrix is an open source federated messaging protocol, and like so many technology projects out there at the moment, we are trying to make sure that we are preparing ourselves for the future arrival of Web 3 and all of the things that are coming along with current advancements in federated everything and AI and etc., etc.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, Matrix is an open source messaging protocol. There are a lot of different ways to get connected. I&#8217;ll share a link to one of the posts in the show notes over on WordPress.org/news. But if you&#8217;re interested in learning a bit about it and you don&#8217;t really want to like figure out what sort of client is comfortable for you to use. There&#8217;s also on-site chat implementations for, I want to say, like 10 or 12 of our largest or most regularly meeting groups that we have. You can go to parts of the website like make.WordPress.org/core/chat and check those out. If you have a WordPress.org account, then you can have access to that on-site chat, and that is it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the whole low barrier to entryway of figuring that out with us. Come and break stuff with us, everyone, and tell us how to make it better.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:33] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You&#8217;ll get a friendly reminder whenever there&#8217;s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at wpbriefing@WordPress.org. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing, and I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:00] (Music outro)&nbsp;</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:\"16569\";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: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 – November 2023\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/the-month-in-wordpress-november-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:20:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s: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=16575\";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:251:\"November is usually a busy month for the WordPress project, and this year is no different. Following the empowering release of WordPress 6.4, the energy continues to build, setting the stage for the anticipated State of the Word and upcoming 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:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Reyes Martínez\";s: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:11827:\"\n<p>November is usually a busy month for the WordPress project, and this year is no different. Following the empowering release of WordPress 6.4, the energy continues to build, setting the stage for the anticipated State of the Word and upcoming projects.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on for all the exciting updates that marked the past month.</p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get ready for State of the Word</h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"State of the Word 2023\" class=\"wp-image-16438\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/11/SOTW-Blue.png?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mark your calendars—State of the Word 2023 is approaching fast. In this annual keynote, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg celebrates the progress of the open source project and offers a glimpse into its future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the first time in WordPress history, the event will be held outside North America, in the vibrant city of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/11/state-of-the-word-2023-madrid-spain/\">Madrid, Spain, on December 11, 2023</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re unable to attend the State of the Word in person, you can watch it live on the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/1MwT9EEkguE?si=TYwAe5qnKA3DlRMX\">WordPress YouTube channel</a> or join one of the many community-led watch parties. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/state-of-the-word\">Find one near you</a> or <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/event-formats/state-of-the-word-watch-parties/\">organize one</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-4 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-dark-strokes-grey-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/state-of-the-word/\">Learn more about State of the Word 2023</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Meet Twenty Twenty-Four</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with the release of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-4/\">WordPress 6.4</a> “Shirley,” the new default <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/11/introducing-twenty-twenty-four/\">Twenty Twenty-Four theme was introduced</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This theme breaks away from the tradition of previous default themes that focused on a specific topic or style. Instead, Twenty Twenty-Four was created to fit any website and explore different use cases for entrepreneurs, artists, and writers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You’ll find more than 35 beautiful patterns, including full-page patterns for templates like homepage, search, and more. Twenty Twenty-Four boasts the latest site editing capabilities and a sophisticated aesthetic inspired by contemporary design trends.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-5 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-dark-strokes-grey-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?theme=twentytwentyfour\">Check out Twenty Twenty-Four now</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New in the Gutenberg plugin</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/11/10/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-0-9-november/\">Gutenberg 17.0</a> was released on November 9, 2023. It introduced improvements to the Command Palette, an alternative implementation of the DropdownMenu component, additional visual cues for LinkControl, and various accessibility and performance iterations.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/11/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-1-22-november/\">Gutenberg 17.1</a> shipped on November 22, 2023. In addition to several accessibility and writing flow enhancements, this version brought a new block spacing control in the Quote block.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Team updates</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/11/30/embracing-matrix-for-enhanced-communication/\">WordPress is switching to Matrix</a> in replacement of the Making WordPress Slack. The move stems from the project&#8217;s commitment to implementing a new chat system aligned with WordPress&#8217;s open source values. If you haven&#8217;t already, now is the time to explore Matrix and share your questions.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>With phishing scams on the rise, the WordPress Security team is actively monitoring the current threat and has posted <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/alert-wordpress-security-team-impersonation-scams/\">an advisory to help you protect your site</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Plugin Review team is now <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2023/12/02/join-the-plugin-review-team/\">reopening applications to join their team</a>. They’re looking for three new members who can improve the state of the plugin review queue and help create a diverse and inclusive team.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over the past few months, contributors have been working on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/11/22/redesigning-developer-resources-and-a-call-for-testing/\">redesigning the WordPress.org Developer Resources</a> section.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/11/06/proposal-2024-major-release-timing/\">This post</a> outlines proposed dates for major WordPress releases in 2024.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Meta team shared an <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/11/22/plugin-directory-preview-button-revisited/\">improved version of the plugin preview feature</a>. This version builds on feedback and allows plugin developers to safely test the preview experience for their plugins in a <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/playground/\">WordPress Playground</a> environment.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Polyglots and Meta contributors introduced <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/11/29/create-tours-for-make-p2s/\">a new plugin called Tour</a>, which enables the creation of tours to guide contributors through a Make WordPress blog.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are you looking to broaden your knowledge and improve your WordPress skills? See <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/12/01/whats-new-on-learn-wordpress-in-november-2023/\">what’s new on Learn WordPress in November 2023</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The latest edition of People of WordPress features back-end web developer <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/people-of-wordpress-artemy-kaydash/\">Artemy Kaydash</a> from Ukraine.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Requests for feedback &amp; testing</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The Community team announced the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\">2023 Annual Meetup Survey</a>. Both event attendees and organizers are encouraged to provide feedback in this 5-minute survey to help strengthen WordPress meetups in the future.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/11/23/mobile-team-update-november-22nd/\">Version 23.7</a> of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress events</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f9-1f1fc.png\" alt=\"🇹🇼\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> WordCamp Asia opened the <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/the-third-batch-of-tickets-on-sale-now/\">third round of ticket sales</a> and announced that <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/announcing-our-first-speaker-matt-mullenweg/\">their first speaker is WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg</a>. The conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 7-9, 2024.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1fa.png\" alt=\"🇪🇺\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> WordCamp Europe <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/call-for-sponsors/\">opened its call for sponsors</a> and <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/speakers/call-for-speakers/\">speakers</a> for their conference slated to take place in Torino, Italy, on June 13-15, 2024.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don’t miss these upcoming WordCamps:\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1f3.png\" alt=\"🇮🇳\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://ahmedabad.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Ahmedabad 2023</a>, India on December 9, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f5-1f1f0.png\" alt=\"🇵🇰\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /> <a href=\"https://lahore.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Lahore 2023</a>, Pakistan on December 9-10, 2023</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out </strong></em><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this quick form</em></strong></a><em><strong> to let us know.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bernard0omnisend/\">Bernard Meyer</a> for contributing to this edition of The Month in WordPress.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subscribe to WordPress News</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Join other subscribers and receive WordPress news directly in your inbox.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__supports-newline is-style-split wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions\">\n		<div>\n			<div>\n				<div>\n					<p >\n						<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=post&#038;p=16575\" style=\"text-decoration: none; font-size: 16px;padding: 15px 23px 15px 23px;margin: 0px; margin-left: 10px;border-radius: 0px;border-width: 1px; background-color: #113AF5; color: #FFFFFF;\">Subscribe</a>\n					</p>\n				</div>\n			</div>\n		</div>\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:\"16575\";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: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:50:\"WordPress 6.4.2 Maintenance &amp; Security Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/wordpress-6-4-2-maintenance-security-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:03:48 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;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:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"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:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=16562\";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:352:\"WordPress 6.4.2 is now available! This minor release features 7 bug fixes in Core. The fixes include a bug fix for an issue causing stylesheet and theme directories to sometimes return incorrect results. This release also features one security fix. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. [&#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:\"Aaron Jorbin\";s: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:6255:\"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress 6.4.2 is now available!</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This minor release features <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;milestone=6.4.2&amp;groupdesc=1&amp;group=resolution&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=status&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=keywords&amp;order=priority\">7 bug fixes</a> in Core. The fixes include a bug fix for an issue causing stylesheet and theme directories to sometimes return incorrect results.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This release also features one security fix. Because this is a security release, <strong>it is recommended that you update your sites immediately</strong><strong>.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.4.2.zip\">download WordPress 6.4.2 from WordPress.org</a>, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click “Updates”, and then click “Update Now”. If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.4.2 is a short-cycle release. The next major release will be version 6.5 released in early 2024.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on this release, please visit the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-6-4-2/\">HelpHub site</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Security updates included in this release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The security team addressed the following vulnerability in this release.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>A Remote Code Execution vulnerability that is not directly exploitable in core, however the security team feels that there is a potential for high severity when combined with some plugins, especially in multisite installs.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To help the security team and WordPressers around the world, you are encouraged to <a href=\"https://hackerone.com/wordpress?type=team\">responsibly report vulnerabilities</a>. This allows vulnerabilities to be fixed in future releases.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thank you to these WordPress contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This release was led by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\">Aaron Jorbin</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.4.2 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance and security fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-wporg-props-long\"><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin\">Aaron Jorbin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wildworks\">Aki Hamano</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/atachibana\">Akira Tachibana</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/xknown\">Alex Concha</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/angelasjin\">Angela Jin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/antonvlasenko\">Anton Vlasenko</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/barry\">Barry</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/Bernhard%20Reiter\">bernhard-reiter</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/icaleb\">Caleb Burks</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/coreyw\">Corey Worrell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/crstauf\">crstauf</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nerrad\">Darren Ethier (nerrad)</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/\">David Baumwald</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dmsnell\">Dennis Snell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/kebbet\">Erik</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/gaambo\">Fabian Todt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/flixos90\">Felix Arntz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/priethor\">Héctor Prieto</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ironprogrammer\">ironprogrammer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/isabel_brison\">Isabel Brison</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul\">Jeffrey Paul</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/luminuu\">Jessica Lyschik</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill\">Joe McGill</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnbillion\">John Blackbourn</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/kharisblank\">Kharis Sulistiyono</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/krupalpanchal\">Krupal Panchal</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/kdowns\">Kylen Downs</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meta4\">meta4</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikeschroder\">Mike Schroder</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27\">Mukesh Panchal</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/partyfrikadelle\">partyfrikadelle</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/NekoJonez\">Pieterjan Deneys</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rawrly\">rawrly</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rebasaurus\">rebasaurus</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/SergeyBiryukov\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromTonya\">Tonya Mork</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vortfu\">vortfu</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to contribute</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/report/6\">pick a ticket</a>, and join the conversation in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a>. Need help? Check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/tutorials/faq-for-new-contributors/\">Core Contributor Handbook</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a final reminder, The WordPress Security Team will never email you requesting that you install a plugin or theme on your site, and will never ask for an administrator username and password. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/alert-wordpress-security-team-impersonation-scams/\">Please stay vigilant against phishing attacks</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thanks to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/angelasjin/\">@angelasjin</a> and <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/team/U02SVSW3U\">@desrosj</a> for proofreading.</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:\"16562\";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: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:50:\"Alert: WordPress Security Team Impersonation Scams\";s:7:\"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://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/alert-wordpress-security-team-impersonation-scams/\";s: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 Dec 2023 23:13:35 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"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:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"Updates\";s:7:\"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=16547\";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:368:\"The WordPress Security Team is aware of multiple ongoing phishing scams impersonating both the “WordPress team” and the “WordPress Security Team“ in an attempt to convince administrators to install a plugin on their website which contains malware. The WordPress Security Team will never email you requesting that you install a plugin or theme on your [&#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:\"Peter Wilson\";s: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:4939:\"\n<p>The WordPress Security Team is aware of multiple ongoing phishing scams impersonating both the “WordPress team” and the “WordPress Security Team“ in an attempt to convince administrators to install a plugin on their website which contains malware.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The WordPress Security Team will never email you requesting that you install a plugin or theme on your site, and will never ask for an administrator username and password.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you receive an unsolicited email claiming to be from WordPress with instructions similar to those described above, please disregard the emails and indicate that the email is a scam to your email provider.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These emails link to a phishing site that appears to be the WordPress plugin repository on a domain that is not owned by WordPress or an associated entity. 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My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, the challenges posed by multi collaboration in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you could do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice. Or by going to WPTavern.com forward slash feed forward slash podcast, and you can use that URL in 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 keen to hear from you, and hopefully get you, or your idea featured on the show. Head to WPTavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Anil Gupta. Anil is the CEO and co-founder of Multidots, Multicollab, and DotStore. His companies serve a wide range of customers, from large publishers and news companies to WordPress users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of specific interest to this episode of the podcast is Multicollab, which offers a WordPress plugin that allows for Google docs style collaboration, including commenting, suggestions, and real time editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Google docs was first brought to the market, it was a pretty big deal. Perhaps not the first to offer a real time collaborative interface, it was certainly the first to gain widespread adoption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast-forward to today, and it&#8217;s more or less inconceivable that you&#8217;d create documents which were not editable by multiple people at the same time. Most modern online software ships with this built in. The extraordinary became the norm and the expectation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what&#8217;s about WordPress? As the largest CMS, WordPress still lacks this functionality, but hopefully not for long.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phase three of the Gutenberg project, the phase that we&#8217;re in at the moment, aims to make it possible for many users to amend content at the same time. The beguiling simplicity of the Google docs interface makes it seem like this would be a trivial feature to add into WordPress, but this is not the case. Unlike proprietary software, in which the vendor owns and manages the whole stack, WordPress is used by many different people, in many different ways. They might have a shared server, or a range of plugins, and this all complicates the picture.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anil talks about how his team decided to tackle this problem for their own plugin, and he explains some of the hurdles that they&#8217;ve experienced along the way. 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Hello Anil.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:56] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Hey Nathan, how are you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:58] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, great. It is an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. Anil and I have spoken on various occasions before, but we&#8217;ve never had a one-to-one conversation, certainly not about this subject. But we&#8217;re going to be talking today about phase three of the Gutenberg project, and in particular, about the ability to collaborate on documents inside of WordPress. How that might come about. What some of the technical barriers might be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in order for Anil to be a credible person on this podcast, it&#8217;s probably a good idea to give him the opportunity to introduce himself, and let him talk briefly about the projects that he&#8217;s working on, or worked on which overlap what we&#8217;re going to talk about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Anil, this is just an opportunity really to give your bio, so that our audience know that you know what you&#8217;re talking about. So over to you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:42] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Absolutely. So I&#8217;m a CEO and co-founder of Multidots, Multicollab and Dotstore. So these three brands serve very different group of customers. Multidots is more like our WordPress agency side of the business, where we help large publishers, news and media companies for their WordPress migration. So whatever CMS they&#8217;re using, we help them to migrate to WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our second brand Multicollab, which is a WordPress plugin, a Google Doc style collaboration, that doesn&#8217;t exist at this moment in WordPress. But with this plugin, you can use commenting, suggestions and real time editing. And that&#8217;s one of the topics that we are going to talk about today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third brand is called Dotstore, which serves small e-commerce business owners. So if you have a WooCommerce store, we provide bunch of different WooCommerce plugins that helps you to get more sales and better performance, and all those good stuff.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from these three brands, I also have a podcast called Peaceful Growth, where we talk about some of the strategies on how to grow in life and business, in a more peaceful and balanced way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:43] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Well, thank you so much. That&#8217;s great. So now we know all about you, well, not all about you, but some things about you. Let&#8217;s get into the subject at hand, which is going to be multi collaboration inside of WordPress. And I think really, to begin with, let&#8217;s imagine in the conversation that we&#8217;re going to have, that we are just creating posts and pages. Let&#8217;s leave it at that for now, because that will mean that the conversation is easier to understand. And I guess I&#8217;m just going to hand it over to you to ask why we need this kind of feature inside of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And just before you begin answering that, I&#8217;ll say, if you&#8217;ve never used Google Docs or Office 365, then it may be that you don&#8217;t even know what we&#8217;re talking about. So this is the ability for a variety of people to log into something at the same time, the same document, and be editing it synchronously. So if you were to edit something, I would see your edits the moment that you made them, and in that way we can collaborate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is still a mystery to me how this actually happens on the backend, but it certainly isn&#8217;t a part of WordPress. At the moment if somebody&#8217;s editing something, you are locked out, if it&#8217;s not you. And you have to wait until they&#8217;re finished, and that might even mean a phone call or an email to tell them, are you finished yet? And this all seems a little bit Victorian, you might say. It&#8217;s really from a different era, now that everybody&#8217;s got collaborative editing. But, why do we need it in WordPress? What&#8217;s wrong with what we&#8217;ve got right now?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:04] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Good question. I would say there are multiple reasons, as well as benefits, of collaboration. But let&#8217;s start with the reasons. Traditionally if we go back, when WordPress was launched 18, 20 years ago, the sole purpose of the WordPress was to provide a platform where content creators, publishers, or bloggers, they can create the content easily and quickly, right? And it solved the purpose.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, in the last 10 years we have observed that anything that we do digitally now, it&#8217;s not a single or solo creation. You collaborate, we collaborate with others in regards to creating and producing stuff. Now, if you look at the content publishing, content creation applications, I think Google Docs or Microsoft Word, or any application for that sake, you know, if you look, they kind of like already saw this need, as the internet bandwidth and infrastructure got better. The need to collaborate together and create content together, actually increased, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So 10 years ago, when Google Doc and all other content creation app, they already kind of started working on adding the collaboration as a part of their content creation platform. And in last five years, all the modern content creation platform, whether it&#8217;s Canva or Notion, they kind of all also have started introducing the collaboration.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And unfortunately, WordPress doesn&#8217;t have collaboration. And why we need a collaboration, you know, the one reason I see is like, now we are not creating the content alone. You know, like even if you are a blogger, you have at least someone you know, that you would like to share your piece of content before you publish it. And then they will share some of the ideas like, okay, you know we should add some graphics here. And just that collaborative communication.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, yes, there are other apps that we use, maybe Slack, Zoom, Loom. Like a lot of different other communication apps that we might be using, in order to achieve this feature. But because all other content creation apps has all these features inbuilt, now it has become an expectation for anyone who is either using WordPress or switching to WordPress, that I would have the same collaborative tools that I was using in my previous content creation apps.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last thing I would say is since pandemic, you know, that like earlier a lot of people were kind of like working from the same office, so they will be more collaborating over the floor, and just like, you know, or the tea and coffee conversation. Now, as we all are virtual, working from remote places and all that. So then it&#8217;s not real time, where like, you know, two people can be available. The time zone differences, and a lot of things actually creates that space, where the need for async communication has also been increased. And that is where also, if we have all the collaboration features in the WordPress, that will be helpful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:54] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s interesting because I am of a certain age, and I started using WordPress at a time when, well, not necessarily WordPress, but I started using CMSs at a time where there was absolutely no expectation that anything was collaborative. And so I&#8217;m kind of okay with it. It&#8217;s not perfect, I would love for collaboration to be in there, but I&#8217;m used to it, and this is just how WordPress works. I understand that if somebody&#8217;s editing something, I have to wait a little bit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I&#8217;m thinking in particular about my children, and the fact that they&#8217;ve been brought up in an era where this is the bare minimum of what a document workflow would be like. You begin creating it, you put a title in, and then maybe even the next step, rather than writing the content, is to click the share icon, wherever that may be, and to get your fellow collaborators in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I know, for example, that schools throughout the UK are using all the different suites that you mentioned, to enable them to hand homework in. And their staff can edit things, and modify things, and correct their work and all of that. And it&#8217;s just the bare essentials. And so somebody like me, it&#8217;s fine. I&#8217;m used to it. But the next generation, the people that are growing up, the people who are, let&#8217;s say, I don&#8217;t know, 20 or below, there&#8217;s no way that it&#8217;s acceptable to not have collaborative editing. It&#8217;s just too strange, alien. And if that&#8217;s the case, it will probably not be used.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, you log into WordPress for the first time, see it cannot do that, and then think, well, I&#8217;ll go to somewhere that can. And as we know, WordPress is in a competitive landscape. We&#8217;ve got the SaaS apps out there, the Wixs and the Squarespaces, and I don&#8217;t actually know if they can do these features.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:36] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> I think Wix does, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Right, okay. So we think that some of them do, and the fact that they&#8217;ve got their own architecture, you know, they own all of the infrastructure, and they can put the resources into place for that. It&#8217;s probably more straightforward to them to do that. So that leads us to the next thing really, which is, when we&#8217;re talking about this, are you able to just flesh out the landscape a little bit?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you have any insight into what specifically is in the proposal for sharing within WordPress? Because Google Docs, you share a doc. Google spreadsheets, you share a spreadsheet, and it&#8217;s fairly constrained. We&#8217;d be sharing something, which can be filled up with a myriad of different things, little blocks. You know, it might be a paragraph block, or a YouTube block, or a image block, or goodness knows what array of blocks you may put in. Do you have some insight into exactly what&#8217;s inside the spec for Gutenberg phase three, this collaborative era?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:30] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Yeah. So Matías, lead architecture of Gutenberg, he kind of shared a full roadmap of what we can expect in phase three, which is a collaboration phase of Gutenberg. It has workflows. So the one thing is, as soon as you have this, all the collaboration features, you know, we need to also control the workflow. Like who will approve, who will publish, because multiple people are on the document. You know, where we want to control, or design a workflow in a way so that, if somebody&#8217;s still drafting, someone else doesn&#8217;t just publish it accidentally, right? So there are like a lot of, I would say, some workflows.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then second I would say, which is their async communication. So async is where multiple people can update, contribute to a piece of content, without need of being online. All the changes are synced. And then, it also has some inline commenting. So we can provide some, select any piece of content, a block, a text, table or image, and leave some comments that like, hey, I don&#8217;t like this image. Can we change that? Or, what do you think? Like, ask someone else&#8217;s opinion.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, specifically talking about the phase three, I think they also have the whole admin panel. So I think they&#8217;re working on the admin panel. I&#8217;m not sure if directly related to collaboration, but as a part of the phase three, they are working on revamping the admin interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at the focus only on the collaboration, I would say async communication, inline commenting, and some level of workflows. You know, those are the three big things that I see will be there in phase three.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, there&#8217;s an awful lot packaged into that, isn&#8217;t there? Just as you were speaking there, a whole myriad of things were coming into my head. And I should probably rewind and say, if this is achieved, it will be in a vanilla version of WordPress. I know that you have a solution where you can add a plugin, and we&#8217;ll come to that later. You can talk about some of the hurdles that you&#8217;ve had to overcome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in a vanilla version of WordPress, everybody will have this functionality, should it be achieved. And at the moment, in a vanilla version of WordPress, the publishing flow is really, pretty straightforward. You log in, and you basically click publish. But you&#8217;ve just introduced a whole raft of different things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So workflows, let&#8217;s take that. You know, if you&#8217;ve got seven people, eight people, a hundred, who knows. Any number of people who are editing in there, there may be a myriad of different permissions. This person is able to do this, and this person is able to do that. But finally, only these three people can publish things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we need to come up with a visual way of surfacing that inside the UI so that, I don&#8217;t know, if six people have been in, and they&#8217;ve edited this, is everything that they&#8217;ve done okay? Can we just have a quick scan through it? None of that exists, really, at the moment. Third party solutions can bring that to bear, but none of that really exists.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The whole async thing, well, that&#8217;s removed entirely at the moment, because you just click either update or, you know, you click publish, and whatever you&#8217;ve got on the page or the post is what is saved. And it&#8217;s as simple as that. Where, you&#8217;re saying that maybe if somebody, I don&#8217;t know, it goes offline temporarily. We have to have some way to keep their content, so that when they come back online, it somehow gets synced.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And anybody that&#8217;s been involved in building or developing realises, you know, if things get outta sync pretty quickly, it&#8217;s a hot mess. And trying to untangle, well, when did that happen? Who put that in, and when did they do it? That&#8217;s going to be interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then yes, of course, the whole inline commenting thing. You forget, don&#8217;t you? If you don&#8217;t use the comments in a, let&#8217;s say a Google Doc again, you forget that there&#8217;s that whole interface, which doesn&#8217;t come to bear unless you use it, which enables you to give commentary on things. To say, I think you should modify this, this is fine. And you can tick things off, and it&#8217;s almost like a little task management system.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then it sends out a slew of emails to say, oh, somebody&#8217;s edited this, that, and the other thing. And, you know, it makes decisions about how many emails to send out based upon the rapidity of the changes going on. So there really, really is a lot in there that needs to be, first of all, figured out, and then made visible to us in a way which is intuitive, and that the next generation can understand without having to think too hard. That&#8217;s a lot, isn&#8217;t it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:16:42] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> It is, yeah. And I think, all these little things, if we keep it into account, like email notification that you mentioned, and if somebody&#8217;s already editing a document, there are some changes which are not approved, you know, whether we should be able to publish it or not. There are a lot of little things that we need to think about when we are creating this solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But most importantly, people who used to use WordPress, you know, the way as we talked about, you know, you go on a post and start drafting the content, and select some blocks here and there, and then you go ahead and publish it. So now when multiple people are collaborating, yeah, you need to pay attention to all those different things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Permissions that you mentioned, yeah, I think that&#8217;s something that, even in our plugin, we are kind of getting a lot. That the default WordPress roles, we kind of think a little bit more about on that too, in regards to like, hey, I don&#8217;t want this person to approve any changes, you know. It should be this person. Though that person can edit anything, but they will not be able to accept any changes, or close the comments.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So those are like a lot of little things that need to be there. And user experience, I think will be a very big thing that we need to pay attention to as well, so that we don&#8217;t overwhelm the people who love WordPress, simplicity of the WordPress, and when they see all this stuff, is like, why? What&#8217;s going on?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:55] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I do wonder on what level the granularity of permissions works. So, is it all done by the role-based system? So, you know, if you have a certain role, you can go in and edit any post or any page. Or, would it be nice to have it on a more granular level? So, okay, although this person has this particular role, which would preclude them from editing this, I want to allow them to edit this one special thing, because it&#8217;s right in their wheelhouse. So, okay, even though they&#8217;ve got this role, I want them to adopt a different role, just for this one post.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then maybe even delving deeper inside the post or the page itself. What about the ability to just edit certain blocks? So paragraph blocks, yes, go for it. But the YouTube block, no, no, no, that&#8217;s not for you to be editing. Or the images, no, you can&#8217;t do that. You know what I mean? You can get really granular. And I guess it&#8217;s a question of how granular we want that to be, and how do you surface that in a way which is easy to understand?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then you mentioned also, the visual cues that you&#8217;re getting inside of these third party solutions, like Google Docs. You can really see what somebody is doing. So you get this little icon, which is within the document, it kind of stays out the way a little bit. You know, it&#8217;s a very thin, little couple of pixels wide icon with a color. But you can see, okay, that&#8217;s where somebody&#8217;s cursor is, and if they highlight a portion of text, because they want to delete it or something, you can see that that&#8217;s highlighted.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In WordPress that might span several blocks. Whereas in a Google Doc it&#8217;s just, it&#8217;s all one thing so it doesn&#8217;t really matter. But it may be that it highlights, you know, you highlight two paragraph blocks and a heading block, then you&#8217;re going to delete those. How does that all get done? How does it get saved? How can you revert changes that are made? Boy, there really is a lot going on in here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:34] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> It&#8217;s a massive technical problem that we need to solve, in order to provide this feature, as well as offer that in a way so that it still is helpful. You know, to help them to create and published content faster, not slowing them down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:47] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> The thing about this is, you can&#8217;t really release something that isn&#8217;t working perfectly, in the scenario that it&#8217;s been created for. I don&#8217;t know, we tackle, user permissions first. That has to be perfect before it&#8217;s released. It can&#8217;t be kind of, okay, just test this out a little bit and see how it goes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has to be bulletproof, the moment it ships into WordPress Core. And I think that some of the things that came into Gutenberg, and went out of Gutenberg, and got changed in Gutenberg, that was more or less okay, because it didn&#8217;t interrupt the publishing workflow. It just, maybe things surfaced on the front end slightly differently. Or there was a block that was suddenly now available, which wasn&#8217;t available there before. And all of that was okay. But if we&#8217;ve suddenly got things which mean, well, no I can&#8217;t publish anymore, that&#8217;s not working for me. Oh, okay, that&#8217;s not so good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in the background, what are you thinking ought to be in view here? You know, are you thinking that it should just be core blocks at the beginning, the blocks which WordPress ships with? Should they be the things that are tackled? Should it be attached to just posts and pages and custom post types, leave all of that. Templates, leave all of that. Patterns, leave all of that. Do you have any intuition as to how deep it should go at the beginning, to make it even feasible to get off the ground?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:00] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Yeah, so I think that&#8217;s a really good question. The reason is, as we talked about, like collaboration is a massive problem. And you can&#8217;t try to change everything in one go, you know. So you need to take a different part of the collaboration, and slowly build it in a way so that, yeah, you don&#8217;t basically put the whole house down, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure what&#8217;s the WordPress Core&#8217;s approach is, but when we started working on Multicollab, our approach was, let&#8217;s focus on the one feature at that time. So what we did is, we first launched only inline commenting, so no real time editing, so we don&#8217;t have to worry about the permissions and all that. No real time editing, just inline commenting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in any piece of content, you can select it, whether it&#8217;s a blog, whether it&#8217;s media, whether it&#8217;s a text. You select it, and it&#8217;ll give you little comment box, where you can add a comment like, hey, I need some feedback on this, or changes here. And you can also mention anyone who is a WordPress user. So you type in at, then you can select a user, and they will be notified, and they can see and come back to the WordPress post. And they will see like, oh, somebody wants my feedback and opinion on that, and they can reply there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that was the first thing we launched. And we perfected that inline commenting almost for like a two years. So we focused on that, to make sure that works. And what you mentioned, one of the big challenge with the WordPress is, everyone has themes, plugins, and blocks, right? So, what sort of blocks are they using in Gutenberg setup, or what sort of plugins are they using?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like Yoast SEO also manipulates the page editing interface and workflow. So that&#8217;s why we decided like, alright, we&#8217;ll just start with the inline commenting. We slowly increased it. We still have a compatibility metrics where we continue to tell them like, hey, at this moment, this 20, 25, or 30, or 60, however many blocks are like, this is what it supports.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then we slowly started focusing on more popular plugins, and their blocks. So then, slowly, we are increasing the compatibility to more blocks. But that&#8217;s something that it&#8217;s very hard to do it in a day one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:22:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Do you mind if I just interrupt there? So, that&#8217;s really interesting. So, did you have to take each of the Core blocks one at a time, and provide some engineering in the background that made it so that that block was available to be editable in a Multicollab setup? So you had to do the paragraph block, and then the heading block and then, okay, aspects of the group block, which might break something else, we had to deal with that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you had to do that first. And then, because all the third party vendors who&#8217;ve got the blocks and the block suites and, you know, there&#8217;s a lot of those now. You&#8217;re having to tackle those because they don&#8217;t necessarily work. So immediately my head is this multiplying problem of, how do we reign that back in? How do we get it so that everything is engineered, so that it will be collaborative? So let me just ask that question again. Did you have to do the blocks one at a time, is basically what I&#8217;m asking?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:51] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> So the approach that we took, first, we actually, instead of blocks, we were focusing on the type of content. So whether it&#8217;s a text, whether it&#8217;s media, you know, or whether it&#8217;s a dynamic content. Dynamic content is, you know, where you are not typing it in, but it&#8217;s just pulling in from, let&#8217;s say, from the database, and pulling in like featured post, right? Or let&#8217;s say testimonials. So you don&#8217;t type in and it&#8217;s already coming in from somewhere else like, you know, and then you just curating that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we kind of started that like, okay, how should we actually treat a text? And it doesn&#8217;t matter whether it&#8217;s a custom block, native block, or someone else&#8217;s block. As long as there is a text in that, how we should treat that. If there is a media, how we should treat that. We kind of started that. And that was our phase one. So it doesn&#8217;t matter what block you have, as long as you have text media and like couple of things, it will work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later on, once we achieved that, the second phase was how we make sure that we don&#8217;t have to edit anything in the code, but still our inline commenting works for whatever the blocks are. Our developer observed that, if blocks are custom blocks, are designed and developed based on following the Gutenberg&#8217;s guideline then our plugin was working. But if they don&#8217;t follow the Gutenberg guideline, if you just kind of, you know, do on your own thing, that&#8217;s where our inline commenting, and some of the things that we were doing was not functioning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So now in our phase three. So right now we have, as long as your Gutenberg blocks is following, custom blocks, they&#8217;re following Gutenberg guideline, doesn&#8217;t matter what kind of blocks you have, it will work. And we also did an approach where, if for some reason your block is very complex, then instead of the content inside the block, you can highlight the entire block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s where we started with like, okay, we can&#8217;t actually do much about what is in the block, but you can still give a comment on entire block. It&#8217;s working, like most of the blocks where we doesn&#8217;t support, you can still select the entire block, and leave a comment on the block. Like, hey, there&#8217;s something needs to look in there. But they will not be able to select a particular text, or image inside the block and highlight that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our phase three, that is where we are working on. Doesn&#8217;t matter what blocks you have, but how we can manipulate the HTML DOM model. So it&#8217;s called Document Object Model, right? So the entire page is basically a DOM structure. So now we are working on how we can use the DOM JavaScript and HTML manipulation, so that you don&#8217;t need to worry about any block compatibility, it will automatically work with all the blocks. That&#8217;s our phase three.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:20] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It does sound like there is going to be a lot of work for the Core WordPress team, to tackle this from some of the experiences that you&#8217;ve just highlighted. It is very much an iterative approach. And I guess time will tell how they decide to tackle that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you have any intuition on the, backend I guess is the wrong word. But there are some people who are able to afford really complicated server setups and, you know, they&#8217;ve got powerful hosting and all of that. And you kind of get the impression that a lot of this is going to be calling back and forth to the server, constantly. Because if you imagine that there&#8217;s seven people editing a document at once, that&#8217;s seven bits of information that needs to be flying, more or less in real time, the entire time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst that might be possible to have, if you&#8217;ve got an expensive hosting set up, which is configured for this. Do you have any intuitions that if you&#8217;re on more affordable hosting, like a shared host and you&#8217;ve just got a basic plan, do you see this becoming a problem, because of the amount of data that&#8217;s going to be flying back and forth, and the power of that computer, acting as a server? What do you think?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:21] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> So when it comes to collaboration, and as we talked about, inline commenting, suggestions, like any edits that you make becomes suggestion, and then the real time editing. So I feel like these three are the big pillars of collaboration. Now when we launched Multicollab, you know, we launched with inline commenting, and then we launched suggestion mode, and now recently we launched the real time editing. The third piece of the collaboration.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>First two piece, inline commenting and suggestion mode. So that&#8217;s something that we tested, and we found that it doesn&#8217;t require any fancy server configuration. Whatever server or hosting that you&#8217;re using right now, that will be sufficient. Because in that we are not using any peer to peer connection, because we haven&#8217;t introduced the real time editing yet. As long as you&#8217;re using those two features for the collaboration, you&#8217;ll be good with pretty much whatever server you have right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the moment you introduce real time editing, that is where the server and the whole performance thing actually becomes very critical. And that&#8217;s where the challenge with the WordPress is, that all other content creation apps, and the platform, they are cloud. They&#8217;re hosted in cloud, so they have a control on the computing power, and the cloud infrastructure. They can scale the cloud infrastructure because everyone sign in and access the same cloud. One other way, they don&#8217;t go and take a piece of source code and install and use it on their own server, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So for that, especially this real time editing, where multiple users simultaneously can edit, and all those things that we talked about. That you highlight the cursor where other users are in the post, and if they make any changes, the changes also sync with the other people who are editing, or working on right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is where a server comes into the picture, and our team actually put together a server requirement. Like, what&#8217;s the minimum level of server configuration that we need in order for real time editing to work? And that is actually a challenge that we are still working on, and finding a way to see that, what are those major hosting companies, like managed hosting, the big hosting companies. And if their current server infrastructure meets the realtime editing or not.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s why we launched the realtime editing, at this moment. But it&#8217;s still on a beta and it&#8217;s by default off. One way we are handling this problem, is we are giving them an option like, hey, if you want to use the realtime editing, it requires certain level of server performance and power. If you have it, then here is the instruction that you can follow, and then you can use the real time editing. If you don&#8217;t have it, then you can use our server. So we have created our own server, you know, a massive server where all these async communication happens. The data is encrypted and all of that, but yes, we are giving the choice that, hey, if your server doesn&#8217;t support it, then you can use our server. So it&#8217;s kind of like cloud, so we have created our own little cloud, which they can use for this async communication.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So, is that a fairly seamless experience? So firstly, that answer is fascinating. So there is a roadblock, there is a server configuration, at least in your experience, which renders the whole enterprise of synchronous editing painful, impossible, perhaps. And if you are prepared to read the documentation, and get yourself onto a server which you have determined is suitable, then it&#8217;ll work. Otherwise, here&#8217;s a button for you to press.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it as straightforward as that? You just sort of click a button and you are taking over that heavy lifting on the server. But it&#8217;s purely just for those sync transactions. It&#8217;s not for anything else. It&#8217;s not for keeping the content of the post, it&#8217;s just the bits and pieces that are firing to do the synchronous work, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:00] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> That&#8217;s very true, yeah. So the way we have done is, right now, if you download multi collab, it&#8217;s default, set it to our server, because we want to have them try it and test it. And then they can change it like, no, I don&#8217;t want to use your server, I want to, let&#8217;s say, configure my own server. Then you just turn that feature off, and you can take over.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you want to use our server, you don&#8217;t have to do anything. It&#8217;s just built in, and it&#8217;s already all the server variables, and everything we have already put into the plugin. So when you go, you just turn on the real time editing, and you can start using the real time editing without making any changes in your server.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s kind of an interesting idea because, on the one hand, it creates a marketplace for people such as yourself to offer that service. You know, if you want to have synchronous editing for a hundred people, and for it to be absolutely bulletproof, here&#8217;s a plugin which connects to a service, which will give you the horsepower in order to do that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But at the same time, the way that it&#8217;s been described, phase three feels like the enterprise is to get this working for everybody, out of the box. And from what you are saying, obviously, you know, maybe technology will improve, and browser capabilities will improve, and all sorts of things will improve. Maybe this will be possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it does feel like the offering is, this is going to be available to everybody. And it would be strange for a Core feature like that to have some kind of paywall attached to it. Now, I know that we&#8217;ve got examples throughout the ecosystem of obviously extra things that you can add in. But if it&#8217;s going to be available in Core, it seems odd to then be saying, well actually, your version of Core on that server isn&#8217;t going to cut it. I&#8217;m sorry, you&#8217;re going to have to part with some money.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That feels almost like straying away from what the promise of it is. Do you understand what I&#8217;m trying to say? It feels odd to offer something in Core, which then you have to pay for because your server doesn&#8217;t live up to it. But then again, that&#8217;s just the way it might have to be, I suppose.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:57] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Yeah. I think that&#8217;s where I&#8217;m also curious to see how WordPress Core is going to address this problem. Because, based on our research, for last one and a half year we have been working on async and real time editing. We tried WebSocket, WebRTC, pretty much like bunch of different, all of the protocols, we tested it out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And one thing that we are seeing repeatedly is that, yeah, the server plays a very, very big role, hosting, specifically plays a big role. And the WebSocket needs to be enabled, and also depending on how many requests, and all of that. So there are like a lot of things that needs to be happen, before even you can turn on and use the real time editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if WordPress Core is targeting that it will work seamlessly out of the box as you install the plugin. And especially like, you know, if you don&#8217;t have all this WebRTC, WebSocket, or whatever the server infrastructure is required. It&#8217;s a big question for me, how they&#8217;re going to tackle that problem, because at this moment we don&#8217;t have a solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s why we created this. Like we bought this massive server computing power so that it can support that. The people who are using our plugin, they&#8217;re paying for that services, and they&#8217;re aware about it. But WordPress Core, I think the goal is to kind of like have that for free, so that you can use and install it. And I&#8217;m not sure how they&#8217;re going to solve this problem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:13] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah and, what does graceful failure look like in that scenario? So if a modest server can cope with one or two people, what happens when you reach the limit of that? So you&#8217;ve added in another five people, and suddenly everything&#8217;s under strain, it&#8217;s no longer working. How do you inform, or how do you encourage the user to do things differently?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the last thing you want to do is lock people out of the editor, or something goes wrong in the editor, and it all becomes a problem, I can no longer publish things. Three of us are locked out, and now we can no longer get back in, or we couldn&#8217;t collaborate in the way that we thought we could. It was working better yesterday than it&#8217;s working today. Those kind of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that seems an almost insurmountable technical challenge to at the moment anyway. We&#8217;re recording this at the end of 2023. It seems like an almost insurmountable challenge to be able to do that and provide it for everybody out of the box, even on the most straightforward, modest hosting package. So, yeah, I guess only time will tell.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are there any other things that you&#8217;ve had to tackle, trying to get this done, that you would like to share? Is there any technical challenges that you&#8217;ve faced, or quirky experiences that you&#8217;ve had and things that you didn&#8217;t anticipate on the road that you now look back and think, oh, oh boy, I wish we&#8217;d thought of that in advance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:32] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Yeah, I think the big piece, what I see is the inline commenting, suggestion, and real time editing like beside this server configuration for the real time editing. I think one is, it&#8217;s whole new learning curve. You know, so let&#8217;s say when you&#8217;re using the WordPress and now when you introduce all these features, there is a learning curve for the content creators.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s not a technical challenge, but I think it&#8217;s more like adaptation challenge. And one thing that I think we did good and it was a decision, like a very deliberate decision that we want to keep the interface as close to Google Doc. Because Google Doc, I believe, is something that has already set a bar, you know. So when people are very familiar with like how to use the share button, how to invite someone, and leave the inline commenting. And if you kind of like try to introduce completely new interface for the collaboration, then that will also be a big learning curve.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s kind of like feedback that we got initially, when we try to be a little bit more innovative, like, let&#8217;s try to, you know, provide the best collaboration interface. It didn&#8217;t go well. We were like no, we want Google Doc. We want Google Doc style and that kind of like become our roadmap.. So if you are using MultiCollab right now, using the share button, the sidebar activities, inline commenting, suggestion mode, pretty much like all those features works very similar to how you use the Google Doc.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you will not see that big difference when you come to WordPress, that you will feel like it&#8217;s Google doc style interface. And challenge for us was to build that on the top of Gutenberg. I think that was a big, both technical, as well as a UI and user experience challenge.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:13] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Given that this is coming down the road and, let&#8217;s imagine a future where everything works and the team that are behind this managed to pull everything off, and it&#8217;s absolutely perfectly working and everything&#8217;s fine. How did you decide that you wanted to get into this business?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because before we hit record, I asked you that question. I said, did you decide to have this business knowing that it was coming into Core? And if that&#8217;s the case, why did you do that? Because it seems almost like you&#8217;re setting yourself up to have a business which is going to be replaced by something that&#8217;s free.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you&#8217;ve got intuitions around that. I guess it&#8217;s around what you can package, which may exceed what the endeavor of Core is. We&#8217;ve been assuming that it would try to do everything all at once for everybody, and of course that may not be the case. It may be a very, a slim implementation. So just talk us through that. How anxious are you about phase three eating your company&#8217;s lunch?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:11] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> So when we started working on MultiCollab, I already was aware the phase three was already announced. They already mentioned that we are going to focus on collaboration. So it wasn&#8217;t a surprise in the beginning. The way I saw that as an opportunity, I feel like even where we know that when WordPress Core built or design anything, they try to focus on the 48% of the web. You know, it&#8217;s like a lot of small, medium businesses, bloggers. So basically they have to kind of like put it to together, something that&#8217;s targeting for a very wide audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other side, we focus, a lot of our features, like real time editing, inline commenting, these are all free, so you don&#8217;t have to pay for using those features. There are some pro level features while custom roles and permissions is concerned, Slack integration. So some of our publishers who use collaboration, they also like integrate that with their Slack and some enterprise tools they use.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s where we see an opportunity that we can provide the tailored, custom solutions, to this 20, 30% of the pro users who wants things a little bit differently and more customizations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also by design, you know, the WordPress Core is going to be slow because, you know, everything they have to build, they have to do. It&#8217;s a massive force. And on the other side, like we have only one thing, this is the only project that we have. We don&#8217;t have like bunch of other phases that we have to worry about. So, that&#8217;s something that we, in last two years, we had made a new release every month. You know, so every month we have a new release, fix a bunch of different things, improve different things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think that turn around is something that we were able to do much faster than probably WordPress Core can do. And the support is something that I feel like that is the only focus that we have. And I think we have seen that again and again in the WordPress and all other economy where, we have so many page builders, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like still they&#8217;re thriving, despite Gutenberg is free. It&#8217;s in built and all that, but still, Elementor. And same goes for the bunch of other features like commenting for example. There are like bunch of different commenting solutions because what WordPress offer, post commenting is not enough, or not the way other people wants it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:40:20] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I think it&#8217;s really interesting, and my guess is that the conversation in the WordPress space for the next 18 months at least will be highly focused on this topic. And the fact that people are talking about it, and the fact that you&#8217;ve already done a lot of work inside that space. Actually, when I think about it a little bit more, maybe it puts you in a kind of a pole position to have those conversations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And also you can build on top of what Core produces. And it may be that there&#8217;s parts of the code that you&#8217;ve already written that can be removed or replaced by what&#8217;s in Core, and you can build on top of that. So yeah, that&#8217;s an interesting approach, and WordPress&#8217; history does show that, doesn&#8217;t it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the page builder example is perfect. There isn&#8217;t just space for one. The audience inside the WordPress community is so vast that you can have myriad different solutions to the same problem. And although WordPress might be tackling collaboration in some form, it may be that other people wish to have a different form of collaboration, or an extended feature set in the collaboration space. So yeah, that&#8217;s a nice answer and it, certainly implies that you&#8217;ll be around for the foreseeable future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anil, before we wrap it up, I just want to give you an opportunity to tell us where people can find you if they want to reach out to you, where would be the best place to do that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:41:41] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> For me personally, I have a newsletter slash blog, where I write a lot about different things that I&#8217;m experimenting, and talk a lot about my businesses and podcast and all that. So that place would be my blog, that is anilg.substack.com. But for MultiCollab, it&#8217;s very simple, we have actually very good advantage if you search for WordPress collaboration or just multi collab, you&#8217;ll see a lot of resources that we have published and our website comes because we don&#8217;t have a competition at this moment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:10] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Google is your best friend, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. So Anil, thank you so much for sharing your insights into multi collaboration in the WordPress space. We&#8217;ll see how this all develops, but thank you so much for chatting to me today, I really appreciate it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:24] <strong>Anil Gupta:</strong> Thanks for having me. And uh, yeah, it was a blast.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today we have <a href=\"https://anilg.substack.com/\">Anil Gupta</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anil is the CEO and co-founder of <a href=\"https://www.multidots.com/\">Multidots</a>, <a href=\"https://www.multicollab.com/\">Multicollab</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.thedotstore.com/\">DotStore</a>. His companies serve a wide range of customers, from large publishers and news companies to WordPress users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of specific interest to this episode of the podcast is Multicollab, which offers a WordPress plugin that allows for Google Doc-style collaboration, including commenting, suggestions, and real-time editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Google Docs was first brought to the market, it was a pretty big deal. Perhaps not the first to offer a real time collaborative interface, it was certainly the first to gain widespread adoption. Fast forward to today and it’s more or less inconceivable that you’d create documents which were not editable by multiple people at the same time. Most modern online software ships with this built in. The extraordinary became the norm, and the expectation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By what about WordPress? As the largest CMS, WordPress still lacks this functionality, but hopefully not for long. Phase 3 of the Gutenberg project, the phase that we are in at the moment, aims to make it possible for many users to amend content at the same time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The beguiling simplicity of the Google Docs interface makes it seem that this would be a trivial feature to add into WordPress, but this is not the case. Unlike proprietary software in which the vendor owns and manages the whole stack, WordPress is used by many different people, in many different ways. They might have a shared server, or a range of plugins, and this all complicates the picture.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anil talks about how his team decided to tackle this problem for their own plugin, and he explains some of the hurdles they’ve experienced along the way. They’ve taken a cautious approach, developing different features one at a time, working through the technical challenges with commenting, before moving onto real time editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anil paints a picture of a bright future for WordPress, once this new feature set is completed, but it’s also interesting to see how many challenges the developers will need to overcome before it can be shipped in a future WordPress update.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re interested in finding out about the future of editing content in WordPress, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful links</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.peacefulgrowth.com/\">Peaceful Growth podcast</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://anilg.substack.com/\">Anil&#8217;s blog</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.multidots.com/\">Multidots</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.multicollab.com/\">Multicollab</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.thedotstore.com/\">DotStore</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, 17 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:86:\"Do The Woo Community: Gutenberg, the Beginning to the Present with Tammie and Jonathan\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=78854\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:52:\"https://dothewoo.io/gutenberg-present-to-beginnings/\";s: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:371:\"<p>Hosts Jonathan and Tammie reflect on their experiences with the Gutenberg project in WordPress. </p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/gutenberg-present-to-beginnings/\">Gutenberg, the Beginning to the Present with Tammie and Jonathan</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce and WordPress Builder Podcast</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, 17 Jan 2024 09:23:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:89:\"HeroPress: With WordPress Another Life Is Possible – Con WordPress otra vida es posible\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=6397\";s:7:\"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:152:\"https://heropress.com/essays/with-wordpress-another-life-is-possible/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=with-wordpress-another-life-is-possible\";s: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:19748:\"<img width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/011624.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: I came for the software and stayed for the people.\" /><p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/feed/#espanol\">Este ensayo también está disponible en español.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>December 11, 2023, Palacio Neptuno (Madrid). I am sitting, surrounded by many people, we are all looking towards a stage with a screen that reads &#8220;State of the Word 2023&#8221;. I look at the clock, it reads 16:05, and two thoughts come to my mind: the first one is &#8220;It seems that Matt is late&#8221;; the second one is caused by having seen the date that read &#8220;11 Dec&#8221;, my brain wants to remind me something&#8230; &#8220;Holy moly! It was 15 years ago today that I read my doctoral thesis in neuroscience&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope this resource of starting &#8220;in media res&#8221; has caught your attention and you have some interest in knowing how I got there.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_494ea8-e7 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>My life before WordPress</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I have always been a curious person and a career in biology seemed like a good candidate where I could apply that trait. During my college years I got pretty good grades that allowed me to apply for a fellowship to develop a doctoral thesis.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the years I spent on that thesis, among other things, I became an expert in the molecular mechanisms involved in programmed cell death in cerebral ischemia. You didn&#8217;t think you were going to read that combination of words in a post related to WordPress, did you? And I didn&#8217;t want to use more technical words like &#8220;apoptosis&#8221;, which is the &#8220;cool&#8221; way we scientists refer to programmed cell death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After submitting the thesis (yes, indeed, on December 11, 2008, I like you to keep your attention) I continued researching neurodegenerative diseases in several postdocs. My trajectory was not aiming for Nobel (nor was it my intention), but I was &#8220;progressing adequately&#8221; within the &#8220;scientific career&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what happened, Nahuai?&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What went wrong to make you stop practicing as a scientist and start building websites with WordPress?</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_b4c5cc-21 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Looking for a kinder lifestyle</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What happened is that I had an unpleasant work experience in the postdoc I was doing in a research center in Italy (back in 2014).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason is not as important as the reflection it forced me to make. I realized that, although I loved doing research, the researcher&#8217;s lifestyle was not aligned with how I wanted to live.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus began another investigation, one in which I intended to find a job that would allow me to have more freedom of schedule and location.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_7be7c0-c5 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Finding WordPress</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can imagine that the start of that new research, which meant putting aside around 15 years of training as a neuroscientist, was not easy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The general concept was to be a freelance and work on something online. Indeed, it was very general, but it fulfilled the requirements to achieve the freedom I was looking for. Luckily, WordPress came fairly early into the equation (in the same 2014) and I immediately felt comfortable with the tool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I started training myself in the CMS. I created a technology website and a travel website to apply what I was learning. I did part of this process while I was still working as a scientist and another with unemployment benefits and the support of my partner.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years later, when I felt able to create websites for clients and I managed to shake off the &#8220;imposter syndrome&#8221;, I started to offer my services on my personal website (created with WordPress, logically). The first clients were &#8220;friends, fools and family&#8221; and then I started to get clients thanks to the articles about WordPress and photography that I wrote in my blog.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_8c1ba5-d6 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Discovering the community (&#8220;the secret ingredient&#8221; of WordPress)</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When I was in Italy I started following WordPress news, mainly through podcasts, and I was surprised to hear how many events were taking place in Spain. So, as soon as I returned to Spain I started attending Meetups in and around Barcelona.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was followed by several WordCamps around the peninsula and by the time I realized it I was totally in love with the community. I soon realized that it was the &#8220;secret ingredient&#8221; behind the popularity of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking advantage of the &#8220;falling in love phase&#8221;, I started participating in the community by giving talks, volunteering and later creating a WordPress Meetup in Terrassa, the city where I live now, and where I will soon celebrate 5 years as an organizer.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At WordCamp Barcelona 2018 I met Esther Solà, a web developer I was following online (because she had a fantastic blog about WordPress) and we quickly made friends. A few months later we launched the podcast <a href=\"https://freelandev.com/\">Freelandev</a>, where we have been telling for almost 5 years how we make a living as WordPress developers (and many more things). The podcast served as an incubator to launch another common project, <a href=\"https://osompress.com/\">OsomPress</a>, where we have been creating plugins and themes for WordPress for more than 3 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once I realized my love for the Spanish WordPress community, I also wanted to get to know the international community better (part of which I read and listened to), and that&#8217;s why I went to WordCamp Europe 2019 as a volunteer. The experience was so good that since then it&#8217;s an annual appointment that I don&#8217;t miss (conditions permitting).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could go on for hours writing about the goodness of the community, but if I had to sum it up, I would say that it has given me many intangible things, but others that are tangible:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Friends (and good ones)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>A network of professionals to trust</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clients</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The creation of a podcast</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The creation of a plugin and theme development company</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aligning my work with my life purpose</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I think this sentiment, with personal variations, is shared by quite a few members of the WordPress community. There&#8217;s a phrase that gets repeated quite a bit, with different variations, but it goes something like &#8220;I came for the software and stayed for the people.&#8221;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_ec1e50-72 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Towards a way of life more aligned with my principles</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once I proved to myself that I could make a living as a freelance WordPress developer, I put the focus on how I could contribute to &#8220;a better world&#8221;, within my modest means, of course.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the one hand, I started to be more selective with the projects I accepted, prioritizing those that were going to have a positive impact, and on the other hand I started to create content about web sustainability.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I owe the inspiration for the latter to <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2019/09/22/roberto-vazquez-desarrollo-sostenible/\">a talk by Roberto Vazquez at WordCamp Pontevedra 2019</a>, in which he talked about the environmental impact of websites. Another example of the &#8220;snowball&#8221; effect that comes driven by being part of the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And speaking of snowballs. Thanks to meeting Hannah Smith at WordCamp Europe 2019, I discovered the Green Web Foundation fellowship I got last year. Thanks to it I was able to create the limited series podcast <a href=\"https://sustainwp.com/\">Sustain WP</a>, which is all about digital sustainability and WordPress, which allowed me to interview a lot of interesting people in the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hannah was also involved in the creation of the WordPress sustainability initiative which months later became the official Sustainability Team. If you&#8217;re interested in learning more about the process and what we&#8217;re doing on the team I invite you to listen to <a href=\"https://sustainwp.com/podcast/episode-7-wordpress-sustainability-team/\">the episode where we explain it in detail</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a culmination of 2023, I was honored to be elected, along with 3 other fantastic colleagues, as a representative of the Sustainability Team.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_c911a5-a5 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Disclaimer</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>These types of articles are always difficult for me to write (I don&#8217;t do it often either). The intention is to inspire others, but I am also aware that we all start from different circumstances. In that sense, I feel privileged and can&#8217;t help but worry that the small personal &#8220;successes&#8221; I share will have the opposite effect to the one I&#8217;m looking for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s an unfounded fear and I&#8217;ve managed to convey my enthusiasm for life in general and the WordPress community in particular. Hopefully it inspires you to apply it in your own way.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether I&#8217;ve achieved one thing or the other, I&#8217;ll be happy to read you in the comments. :)</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<h1 id=\"espanol\" class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_5884c3-b1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\">Con WordPress otra vida es posible</h1>\n\n\n\n<p>11 de diciembre de 2023, Palacio Neptuno (Madrid). Estoy sentado, rodeado de mucha gente, todos estamos mirando hacia un escenario con una pantalla donde se lee &#8220;State of the Word 2023&#8221;. Miro el reloj, marca las 16:05, y me vienen dos pensamientos a la cabeza: el primero es &#8220;Parece que Matt llega tarde&#8221;; el segundo viene provocado por haber visto la fecha que indicaba &#8220;11 dic&#8221;,&nbsp; mi cerebro quiere recordarme algo&#8230; &#8220;¡Leche! Que hoy hace justo 15 años que leí mi tesis doctoral en neurociencia&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Espero que este recurso de empezar &#8220;in media res&#8221; haya captado tu atención y tengas cierto interés en saber cómo he llegado hasta ahí.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_fea921-46 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Mi vida antes de WordPress</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Siempre he sido una persona curiosa y la carrera de biología me pareció una buena candidata donde poder aplicar ese rasgo. Durante los años de universidad obtuve calificaciones bastante buenas que me permitieron optar a una beca para desarrollar una tesis doctoral.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Durante los años que dediqué a esa tesis, entre otras cosas, me convertí en un experto en los mecanismos moleculares implicados en la muerte celular programada en la isquemia cerebral. ¿A que no pensabas que ibas a leer esa combinación de palabras en un post relacionado con WordPress, eh? Y eso que no he querido usar palabras más técnicas como &#8220;apoptosis&#8221;, que es la forma &#8220;cool&#8221; con la que nos referimos los científicos a la muerte celular programada.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Después de presentar la tesis (sí, efectivamente, el 11 de diciembre de 2008, me gusta que mantengas la atención) continué investigando enfermedades neurodegenerativas en varios postdocs. Mi trayectoria no apuntaba al Nobel (ni era mi intención), pero sí &#8220;progresaba adecuadamente&#8221; dentro de la &#8220;carrera científica&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Entonces ¿qué pasó, Nahuai?&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>¿Qué se torció para que dejaras de ejercer como científico y empezaras a montar webs con WordPress?</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_0ae430-d4 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Buscando un modo de vida más amable</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Lo que ocurrió es que tuve una experiencia laboral desagradable en el postdoc que estaba realizando en un centro de investigación en Italia (allá por 2014).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>El motivo no es tan importante como lo es la reflexión que me obligó a realizar. Me di cuenta de que, aunque me encantaba investigar, el modo de vida del investigador no estaba alineado con cómo quería vivir.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Así empezó otra investigación, una en la que pretendía encontrar un trabajo que me permitiera tener más libertad de horario y ubicación.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_e0c3be-03 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Encontrando WordPress</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Te puedes imaginar que el comienzo de esa nueva investigación, que suponía dejar de lado unos 15 años de formación como neurocientífico, no fue fácil.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>El concepto general era hacerme freelance y trabajar en algo online. Efectivamente, era muy general, pero cumplía los requisitos para ganar esa libertad que buscaba. Por suerte, WordPress apareció bastante pronto en la ecuación (el mismo 2014) y en seguida me sentí cómodo con la herramienta.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Empecé a formarme en el CMS. Creé una web de tecnología y otra de viajes para aplicar lo que iba aprendiendo. Parte de este proceso lo hice mientras seguía trabajando como científico y otro con la prestación de desempleo y el apoyo de mi pareja.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Años más tarde, cuando me sentí capaz de crear webs para clientes y conseguí sacudirme un poco el &#8220;síndrome del impostor&#8221;, empecé a ofrecer mis servicios en mi web personal (creada con WordPress, lógicamente). Los primeros clientes fueron &#8220;friends, fools and family&#8221; y después me empezaron a llegar clientes gracias a los artículos sobre WordPress y fotografía que escribía en mi blog.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_577274-80 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Descubriendo la comunidad (&#8220;el ingrediente secreto&#8221; de WordPress)</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cuando estaba en Italia empecé a seguir noticias sobre WordPress, principalmente a través de podcasts, y me sorprendía escuchar la cantidad de eventos que tenían lugar en España. Por eso, en cuanto regresé a España empecé a acudir a las Meetups de Barcelona y sus alrededores.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A eso le siguieron varias WordCamps por la península y para cuando me quise dar cuenta ya estaba totalmente enamorado de la comunidad. Pronto me di cuenta de que era el &#8220;ingrediente secreto&#8221; detrás de la popularidad de WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aprovechando la &#8220;fase de enamoramiento&#8221;, empecé a participar en la comunidad dando ponencias, acudiendo como voluntario y más adelante creando la Meetup Terrassa, cuidad donde resido ahora, y donde pronto cumpliré 5 años como organizador.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>En la WordCamp Barcelona de 2018 conocí a Esther Solà, una desarrolladora web que seguía online (porque tenía un fantástico blog sobre WordPress) y rápidamente hicimos migas. Pocos meses después lanzamos el podcast <a href=\"https://freelandev.com/\">Freelandev</a>, en el que llevamos casi 5 años contando cómo nos ganamos la vida como desarrolladores WordPress (y muchas más cosas). El podcast sirvió de incubadora para sacar otro proyecto común, <a href=\"https://osompress.com/\">OsomPress</a>, donde creamos plugins y temas para WordPress desde hace más de 3 años.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Una vez constatado mi amor por la comunidad española de WordPress, quise conocer mejor también a la comunidad internacional (parte de la cual leía y escuchaba), y por eso fui a la WordCamp Europe 2019 como voluntario. La experiencia fue tan buena que desde entonces es una cita anual que no me pierdo (siempre que las condiciones lo permitan).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Podría, seguir durante horas escribiendo sobre las bondades de la comunidad, pero&nbsp;si tuviera que resumirlo diría que me ha aportado muchas cosas intangibles, pero otras que sí lo son:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Amigos (y de los buenos)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Una red de profesionales en los que confiar</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clientes</li>\n\n\n\n<li>La creación de un podcast</li>\n\n\n\n<li>La creación de un empresa de desarrollo de plugins y temas</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Alinear mi trabajo con mi propósito vital</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Creo que este sentimiento, con variaciones personales, lo comparten bastantes miembros de la comunidad de WordPress. Hay una frase que se repite bastante, con distintas variaciones, pero dice algo así como &#8220;Llegué por el software y me quedé por la gente&#8221;.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_dcbc41-c7 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Hacia un modo de vida más alineado con mis principios</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Una vez que me demostré a mí mismo que podía ganarme la vida como desarrollador WordPress freelance, puse el foco en cómo podía contribuir a &#8220;un mundo mejor&#8221;, dentro de mis modestas posibilidades, claro.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Por un lado, empecé a ser más selectivo con los proyectos que aceptaba, priorizando los que iban a tener un impacto positivo, y por otro empecé a crear contenido sobre sostenibilidad web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>La inspiración de esto último se lo debo a <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2019/09/22/roberto-vazquez-desarrollo-sostenible/\">una charla de Roberto Vazquez en la WordCamp de Pontevedra 2019</a>, en la que habló del impacto medioambiental de las páginas web. Otro ejemplo del efecto &#8220;bola de nieve&#8221; que viene impulsada por ser parte de la comunidad.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Y hablando de bolas de nieve. Gracias a haber conocido a Hannah Smith en la WordCamp Europe 2019, descubrí la beca de Green Web Foundation que obtuve el año pasado. Gracias a ella pude crear el podcast de serie limitada <a href=\"https://sustainwp.com/\">Sustain WP</a>, que trata sobre sostenibilidad digital y WordPress, el cual me permitió entrevistar a un montón de personas interesantes de la comunidad.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hannah también estuvo involucrada en la creación de la iniciativa de sostenibilidad de WordPress que meses más tarde se convirtió en el equipo oficial de sostenibilidad. Si estás interesado en conocer más sobre el proceso y lo que estamos haciendo en el equipo te invito a escuchar <a href=\"https://sustainwp.com/podcast/episode-7-wordpress-sustainability-team/\">el episodio donde lo explicamos con detalle.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Como colofón de 2023, tuve el honor de ser elegido, junto a otros 3 fantásticos compañeros, como representante del equipo de sostenibilidad. &nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6397_ffe359-dd wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><strong>Disclaimer</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Este tipo de artículos siempre me resultan difíciles de escribir (tampoco lo hago a menudo). La intención es inspirar a otras personas, pero también soy consciente de que todos partimos de circunstancias distintas. En ese sentido, me siento un privilegiado y no puedo evitar preocuparme de que los pequeños &#8220;éxitos&#8221; personales que comparto tengan el efecto contrario al que busco.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Igual es un temor infundado y he conseguido trasmitir mi entusiasmo por la vida en general y la comunidad WordPress en particular. Ojalá te inspire para aplicarlo a tu manera.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tanto si he conseguido una cosa como otra, estaré encantado de leerte en los comentarios. :)</p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/with-wordpress-another-life-is-possible/\">With WordPress Another Life Is Possible &#8211; Con WordPress otra vida es posible</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 17 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}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:\"Nahuai Badiola\";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:64:\"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 12.1.1 Maintenance &amp; Security release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://buddypress.org/?p=332779\";s:7:\"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://buddypress.org/2024/01/buddypress-12-1-1-maintenance-security-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2603:\"<p><a href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.12.1.1.zip\">BuddyPress 12.1.1</a> is now available. This is a security and maintenance release. <strong>Please update your BuddyPress as soon as possible</strong>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 12.1.1 release addresses the following minor security issue:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Using the Cover Image group&#8217;s REST API Endpoints, it was possible to a non member of private/hidden group to get the corresponding group Cover Image URL. Discovered by <a href=\"https://au.linkedin.com/in/colin-xu-31a547134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Colin Xu</a>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This vulnerability was reported privately to the BuddyPress team, in accordance with&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/\">WordPress’s security policies</a>. Our thanks to the reporter for practicing coordinated disclosure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>BuddyPress 12.1.1 also fixes 10 bugs. For complete details, visit the <a href=\"https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/version-12.1.1/\">12.1.1 changelog</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background no-border-radius wp-element-button\" href=\"https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.12.1.1.zip\">Get BuddyPress 12.1.1</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can get the latest version by clicking on the above button, downloading it from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress/\">WordPress.org plugin directory</a>&nbsp;or checking it out from our&nbsp;<a href=\"https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/browser/branches/11.0\">Subversion repository.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"many-thanks-to-11-1-0-contributors\">Many thanks to 12.1.1 contributors <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-heart\"></span></h2>\n\n\n\n<p> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sabernhardt\">sabernhardt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/emaralive\">emaralive</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/shawfactor\">shawfactor</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/strategio\">strategio</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vapvarun/\">vapvarun</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/perchenet\">perchenet</a> &amp; <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/imath/\">imath</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, 16 Jan 2024 23:43:59 +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:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mathieu Viet\";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:93:\"WordCamp Central: WPBeginner joins the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2024\";s:7:\"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=5109967\";s:7:\"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:118:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2024/01/wpbeginner-joins-the-wordpress-global-community-sponsorship-program-in-2024/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3704:\"<p>Please join us in welcoming WPBeginner to the <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/\">2024 WordPress global community sponsorship program</a>! WPBeginner’s pledge to sponsor all official WordPress community events (WordCamps, Meetups, and more) all around the world provides support and stability to our hardworking crew of volunteer event organizers. Thanks for everything, WPBeginner!</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2024/01/wpbeginner-logo-wpcentral.png\"><img width=\"900\" height=\"312\" src=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2024/01/wpbeginner-logo-wpcentral.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5109968\" /></a>WPBeginner logo</div>\n\n\n<p>At <a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/\">WPBeginner</a>, we provide cutting-edge, helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand for small businesses, bloggers, and non-techy WordPress website owners. Since 2009, our <a href=\"https://videos.wpbeginner.com/\">free WordPress video courses</a> and tutorials are watched by over 56 millions WordPress users worldwide.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re looking to learn how to build a WordPress website, decide which WordPress plugins to pick, or just learn the WordPress best practices to grow your website, WPBeginner&#8217;s free resources can help:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/blog/\">WPBeginner Blog</a> – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/solutions/\">WPBeginner Solution Center</a> – Detailed reviews of recommended WordPress plugins, tools, themes, agencies, and more curated by our WordPress experts.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/glossary/\">WPBeginner Dictionary</a> – WordPress lingo and terminology explained in plain english for non-techy users.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://videos.wpbeginner.com/\">WPBeginner Videos</a> – Learn from our free WordPress video courses including <a href=\"https://videos.wpbeginner.com/courses/wordpress-101/\">WordPress 101</a>, <a href=\"https://videos.wpbeginner.com/courses/wordpress-seo-for-beginners/\">WordPress SEO for Beginners</a>, and hundreds more.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/deals/\">WPBeginner Deals</a> – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/tools/\">WPBeginner Tools</a> &#8211; Free business tools created by the WPBeginner team for small business owners.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last 14 years working closely with WordPress users and listening to their feedback, we have also created some of the most popular WordPress plugins including <a href=\"https://wpforms.com/\">WPForms</a>, <a href=\"https://aioseo.com/\">AIOSEO</a> (All in One SEO for WordPress), <a href=\"https://optinmonster.com/\">OptinMonster</a>, <a href=\"https://www.monsterinsights.com/\">MonsterInsights</a>, and dozens more. Collectively over 25 million websites are using our free and <a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-plugins/\">premium WordPress plugins</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WPBeginner is part of the <a href=\"https://awesomemotive.com/\">Awesome Motive</a> family, and we&#8217;re on a mission to help small businesses grow &amp; compete with the big guys using the power of open source.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re a WordPress professional looking for a remote role, <a href=\"https://awesomemotive.com/careers/\">we&#8217;re hiring</a>. Come join our team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re a WordPress product owner looking for an investment or selling your WordPress business, check out the <a href=\"https://www.wpbeginner.com/wpbeginner-growth-fund/\">WPBeginner Growth Fund</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, 16 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Isotta\";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:70:\"Do The Woo Community: The Future of SEO, Content and AI with Alex Moss\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=78837\";s:7:\"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:42:\"https://dothewoo.io/future-seo-content-ai/\";s: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:370:\"<p>Discover how AI SEO and content creation impacts the future of WordPress and WooCommerce with Dave Lockie and Alex Moss. </p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/future-seo-content-ai/\">The Future of SEO, Content and AI with Alex Moss</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce and WordPress Builder Podcast</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, 16 Jan 2024 09:46:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:71:\"WordCamp Central: GoDaddy sponsors WordPress community events worldwide\";s:7:\"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=5109971\";s:7:\"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://central.wordcamp.org/news/2024/01/godaddy-sponsors-wordpress-community-events-worldwide/\";s: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:3636:\"<p>What would we do without our sponsors? We&#8217;re so grateful to <a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/pro?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy</a> for <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/sponsor-multiple-wordcamps/\">sponsoring WordPress community events all around the globe</a> at the Gold level in 2024! GoDaddy&#8217;s support enhances local community events, such as WordPress meetup and WordCamps, improving the experience for WordPress enthusiasts and simplifying the organization process for our dedicated team of volunteers.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2023/02/Copy-of-gd-logo-480x360-1.png\"><img width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2023/02/Copy-of-gd-logo-480x360-1.png\" alt=\"GoDaddy logo global sponsorship \" class=\"wp-image-3160920\" /></a>GoDaddy logo</div>\n\n\n<p>At&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/pro?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy</a>, our&nbsp;mission&nbsp;is&nbsp;to empower&nbsp;a&nbsp;worldwide community of&nbsp;entrepreneurs&nbsp;by giving them all the help and tools they need to grow online&nbsp;— including a simpler, safer WordPress experience.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We champion&nbsp;our&nbsp;Makers of the Web&nbsp;by delivering&nbsp;a suite of WordPress solutions that enable fast and easy setup and then&nbsp;enables users&nbsp;to&nbsp;harness all the power of the world’s most popular CMS.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://community.godaddy.com/s/group/0F93t000000I7EfCAK/godaddy-pro?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy Pro Community</a> was built by and for website designers and developers.&nbsp;Whether you’re new to web design or growing your existing business, you’ll find free tools, products, education, and expert support to help you more efficiently create and maintain beautiful sites — and wow clients.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We provide a&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/wordpress-hosting?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">Managed WordPress experience</a> that is as easy as it is effective. The latest version of WordPress comes pre-installed with exclusive themes, plugins, and tools to get you up and running quickly, with automated backups, updates, and malware removal so our Pros can spend less time on monotonous maintenance, and more time building their businesses.GoDaddy Pro works tirelessly to foster an active, nurturing community, with initiatives including the sponsorship of WordCamps globally, weekly <a href=\"https://events.godaddy.com/godaddy-pro-online?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy Pro Meetups</a>, our free <a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/pro/academy?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy Pro Academy</a> courses, and our <a href=\"https://community.godaddy.com/s/group/0F93t000000I7EfCAK/godaddy-pro?utm_source=wcglobal_2023_sponsorship&utm_medium=events&utm_campaign=en-us_events_prg_awa_partners_part_wcsponsordesc_001\">GoDaddy Pro Discussions Group</a>. We’re proud to be a partner of the WordPress community and look forward to witnessing all the individual greatness that our efforts help support.</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, 15 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Isotta\";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:94:\"Gutenberg Times: Quick Tip: How to use a classic menu in the navigation block of a block theme\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=27030\";s:7:\"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:104:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/quick-tip-how-to-use-a-classic-menu-in-the-navigation-block-of-a-block-theme/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1883:\"<p>There was a question in the forums, if one needs to rebuild all the menus when switching from a classic theme to a block theme. In other words, how can you add an existing menu to the Navigation block. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is only one classic menu, it will be displayed in the navigation block. But if there are multiple classic menus on the site, it doesn&#8217;t automatically convert it to a navigation block. In that case, it takes a manual step after you switched the theme, but you don&#8217;t have to recreate the menus. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the steps to follow along with a separate test environment. </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Open a new website via <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?theme=twentytwentyone\">WordPress Playground and included the Twenty-Twenty-One Theme. </a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Unit_Test\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Imported the theme test data file</a>&nbsp;(more specifically,&nbsp;<a href=\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WPTT/theme-unit-test/master/themeunittestdata.wordpress.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set Display Location of imported menu to Primary Menu to ensure Twenty Twenty One has a menu on top of the landing page</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Switch to Twenty Twenty-Four</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The menu disappeared, only the social link menu showed. </li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now the steps on how to get the classic menu back into the template? </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Click on the Template header, </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the Navigation block</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The sidebar with the setting for the navigation block should open. </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use the 3-dot menu to select the classic menu &#8220;All pages&#8221; </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the Save button. </li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And here is the video of the whole process: </p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to JuanMa Garrido for the testing instructions. </em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 15 Jan 2024 12:13:59 +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: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: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:122:\"Gutenberg Times: Call for testing WordPress 6.5, page builders yes or no, Data Liberation and more — Weekend Edition 280\";s:7:\"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=26964\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:127:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/call-for-testing-wordpress-6-5-page-builders-yes-or-no-data-liberation-and-more-weekend-edition-280/\";s: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:13922:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are 31 days away from WordPress 6.5 Beta 1, the version that closes the new version for new features. In so far it&#8217;s early, lots of work can still go into the next major upgrade. On the other hand, we are only three Gutenberg plugin versions away from WordPress beta 1.  Gutenberg 17.5 RC is available for testing. If you have some time, it would be wonderful if you can use <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>&#8216;s instructions to take <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/01/13/early-opportunities-to-test-wordpress-6-5/\">early opportunities to test WordPress 6.5</a>. If you would rather not set up a local test site, you can also use the <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\">Gutenberg Nightly via WordPress playground</a> for your early test. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Munich is again powered by snow and it freezing once more. Hubby and I are getting used to it; somewhat. Definitely longing for warmer weather. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you stay warm and have a joyful weekend! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>PS: If you intend to go to WordCamp Asia, I again <a href=\"https://calendly.com/pauli-haack/wcasia\"><strong>opened up my calendar so we can schedule a 1:1 meeting</strong></a>, to chat about your products, what you need to be successful as a developer or how to contribute to WordPress or just catch up on life. And if you are not going to make it to WordCamp Asia, we can always get together at WordCamp Europe in June. 🤗</p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-p\">Page builders discussions</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ul></div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress co-founder, <strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong>, elaborated on the WordPress blog the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/01/data-liberation-in-2024/\"><strong>Data Liberation in 2024</strong></a> project, he announced during State of the Word in Madrid. &#8220;Migrating your site to WordPress, or exporting all your content from WordPress, should be possible in one click. I want WordPress’ export format to become the lingua franca of CMSs, whether coming to WordPress or moving within WordPress. &#8220;, he wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> has again compiles the list of changes in Core and Gutenberg in <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/01/10/whats-new-for-developers-january-2024/\"><strong>What’s new for developers? (January 2024)</strong></a>. &#8220;It’s a new year and time for exciting new things happening in the WordPress world. Catch the latest monthly roundup aimed at extenders.&#8221; he wrote. It&#8217;s a list of updates interesting for plugin, and theme authors as well as freelance and agency developers. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-accent-color has-light-background-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-b21294d93d10468b5f9c6136fdd74073\">🎙️ Latest episode:  <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-94-state-of-the-word-gutenberg-17-2-17-3-and-17-4-wordpress-6-5-migrating-from-classic-theme-to-block-theme/\">Gutenberg Changelog #94 – State of the Word, Gutenberg 17.2, 17.3 and 17.4, WordPress 6.5, Migrating from Classic Theme to Block Theme</a> with Sarah Norris</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Joen Asmussen</strong>, summarize the work of the WordPress design team in his post: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/design/2024/01/02/design-share-dec-1-dec-29/\"><strong>Design Share: Dec 1-Dec 29</strong></a>. The team worked on</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>WP.org Data Liberation</li>\n\n\n\n<li>WP.org: Learning Pathways</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thumbnail design</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Missing Fonts</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Safari Text-Selection Fix</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Responsive tables for Openverse’s source page</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-p\">Page builders discussions</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/karks88\">Eric Karkovack</a></strong> wondered in his post <strong><a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/can-gutenberg-and-wordpress-page-builders-coexist/\">Can Gutenberg and WordPress Page Builders Coexist?</a></strong> </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/mattmedeiros\">Matt Medeiros</a></strong> asks: <a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/is-2024-the-year-of-page-builders/\"><strong>Is 2024 the Year of Page Builders?</strong></a> on the WPMinute episode 198. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his post, <a href=\"https://geary.co/wordpress-block-editor-first-look/\"><strong>I Tried Building a Layout With the WordPress Block Editor And it Didn’t Go Very Well,</strong></a> <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/thekevingeary\">Kevin Geary</a></strong> walks us through his learnings, trying the site editor for the first time. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>On YouTube, <a href=\"https://geary.co/wordpress-block-editor-first-look/#comment-593\"><strong>Anne McCarth</strong>y</a> and <a href=\"https://geary.co/wordpress-block-editor-first-look/#comment-590\"><strong>Riad Benguella</strong></a>, Gutenberg Core Developer,  chimed in with additional links and information</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Using Geary&#8217;s video and post as inspiration, <strong>Brian Coords</strong> walks us through how he would solve the layout problem Geary struggled with. <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWUaLc7gvM&t=5s\">Building an example layout in Gutenberg (response video)</a>. He covers this &#8220;demo layout using core blocks and a few lines of CSS (via register_block_style). Along the way, I discuss alignments and widths in Gutenberg, semantic elements, flex box tools for layout, custom CSS, and whether the block editor is a &#8220;page builder&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jamie Marsland</strong>, PootlePress, created a tutorial to help Beginners understand  the core concept around  WordPress Block Themes:  <a href=\"https://www.pootlepress.com/2024/01/mastering-wordpress-block-themes-3-key-principles-for-beginners/\"><strong>Three Key Principles for Beginners</strong></a>. &#8220;WordPress block themes revolutionize the way websites are built and designed, simplifying the process down to three core elements: <strong>Blocks Templates and Styles</strong>.&#8221; he wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For the WordPress themes team, Justin Tadlock updated the community of contributors on <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2024/01/11/new-block-focused-theme-handbook-docs-and-whats-coming-in-2024/\">New Block-Focused Theme Handbook Docs and What’s Coming in 2024</a>.</strong> After the revamp of the theme handbook, and publishing five new chapters, with eight still in draft. The next steps are the documentation of Patterns, Advanced topics and Classic Themes. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jacob Martella</strong> has some sound advice when you are on the quest of Converting<a href=\"https://crosswindsframework.com/blog/2023/12/18/converting-your-website-to-the-block-editor/\"><strong> Your Website to the Block Editor</strong></a>. &#8220;The biggest thing is that the site editor gives you so much control over how your website looks. You can customize the fonts and colors, change how your header and footer look and edit any template you want right from your dashboard. You don’t need to know CSS or PHP or have to worry about editing any files to do it&#8221; he wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong> <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> </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 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Reminder! You are invited to the January <strong>Developers Hours for January 16th, 2024 at 15:00 UTC (10 am EDT)</strong> to <strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/298191982/\">Build your first WordPress block</a></strong>. In this online event, you’ll be on a walk-through <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/tutorial/\">the new tutorial in the Block editor handbook</a>, and you will also learn more about the<a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/block-development-examples\"> block development examples</a> on GitHub.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/298191982/\"><img width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/build-your-first-block.webp?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26925\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>The page in the Block Editor Handbook experienced a rewrite: &#8220;<a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/fundamentals/static-dynamic-rendering/\"><strong>Static or Dynamic rendering of a block</strong></a>&#8221; With the help of diagrams and new code examples, developers learn the main differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each approach of block development.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"652\" height=\"379\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/static-rendering.webp?resize=652%2C379&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27006\" />\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> released a new version  of his <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-query-loop/\"><strong>Advance Query Loop</strong></a> plugin. Now ACF developer will see their meta keys in the auto-complete list for Post Meta queries. </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<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">them via email</a> or send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\">For questions to be answered on the <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image: Building blocks game. Free public domain CC0 image.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button type=\"submit\" class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too, and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone 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 has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 13 Jan 2024 13:00:32 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"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: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:43:\"WordPress.org blog: Data Liberation in 2024\";s:7:\"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=16736\";s:7:\"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:59:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/01/data-liberation-in-2024/\";s: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:2883:\"<p>Imagine a more open web where people can switch between any platform of their choosing. A web where being locked into a system is a thing of the past. This is the web I’ve always wanted to see. That’s why I announced a new initiative called <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data Liberation</a> for 2024. Migrating your site to WordPress, or exporting all your content from WordPress, should be possible in one click. I want WordPress’ export format to become the lingua franca of CMSes, whether coming to WordPress or moving within WordPress. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I often hear about folks across the WordPress community duplicating efforts when creating scripts and workflows to move users to WordPress. Imagine if we shared those resources instead and built community-owned plugins that anyone could use! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it should be more than plugins; workflows, tutorials, and helper scripts should be shared, too. I want this resource to have space to include moving from social networks, moving from a page builder to core blocks, switching from classic to blocks, and improving WordPress current canonical plugins for importing. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">You can help!</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the heart of any open source project is the community that shows up to build it. My hope is that this marks the start of a new contribution pathway, separate from core teams, that allows folks to contribute what they’ve learned and what they’ve created to help others move to WordPress. I expect this emphasis on migration will also influence future development, both in core and with recommended community or canonical plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a few things that I think will be key to making this project a success:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>A dedicated landing page on WordPress.org following a WordPress.org/and/[platform-name] format.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>A forum used for non-review user feedback and general discussion.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>A dedicated Slack channel.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moderation within hours rather than days.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Listed on <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress\">WordPress GitHub</a> with syncing for individual commits to SVN for history in both places.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>By complementing the community’s existing efforts—the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/\">Five for the Future program</a>, the <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/\">Learn WordPress initiative</a>, a focus on internationalization, etc.—my hope is that this will help even more people see themselves in the WordPress project, providing fresh momentum for <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">WordCamps and meetups</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s never been more crucial to champion openness on the web. Bringing focused attention to improved portability will untether users and increase their freedom like never before.</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, 12 Jan 2024 16:58:53 +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:\"Matt Mullenweg\";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:11:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:42:\"HeroPress: Foundational Pillars From Tokyo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://heropress.com/?p=6380\";s:7:\"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:129:\"https://heropress.com/foundational-pillars-from-tokyo/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=foundational-pillars-from-tokyo\";s: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:11551:\"<img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/90465a09dc845c615.66816362-1024x768.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Floral delight with a scenic snowy Annapurna panorama\" /><div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6380_650854-0a alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6380_445699-93 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6380_f58919-63 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2023/12/26/what-parts-of-wordpress-would-you-like-to-explore-more-if-you-could/\">What parts of WordPress would you like to explore more if you could?</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2023/12/26/what-parts-of-wordpress-would-you-like-to-explore-more-if-you-could/\"><img width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/pexels-photo-296324-300x199.jpeg\" alt=\"Old time lightbulb\" class=\"wp-image-6382\" /></a></div>\n\n\n\n<p>HeroPresser <a href=\"https://heropress.com/contributors/anne-mccarthy/\">Anne McCarthy</a> wrote an excellent <a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2023/12/26/what-parts-of-wordpress-would-you-like-to-explore-more-if-you-could/\">article</a> pointing out how much is different in WordPress these days, and asks the question above.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s your answer?</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6380_e8718e-f3\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6380_82bd3f-6e alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6380_f9eb45-43 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6380_656922-69 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\">HeroPress.com</a> &#8211; <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/reflecting-on-my-3-foundational-pillars/\">Reflecting on My 3 Foundational Pillars</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/reflecting-on-my-3-foundational-pillars/\"><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Destiny-Fox-Kanno-scaled-1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Destiny Kanno\" class=\"wp-image-5035\" /></a></div>\n\n\n\n<p>Destiny Kanno is from Tokyo, Japan, and works in Education about WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As a Community Education Manager I work to break down perceived barriers for folks who want to contribute to the Make WordPress Training Team’s goals, and work as a close partner with the Training Team Representatives and members to empower them to excel in their leadership, goals, and strategy.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Destiny&#8217;s essay is <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/reflecting-on-my-3-foundational-pillars/\">available</a> on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress.com</a>.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6380_ed362f-f9\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6380_9e53fd-e2 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6380_1b8a39-b9 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6380_108792-6f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\">WP Podcasts</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\"><img src=\"https://heropressnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/pocket_casts_single_315.png\" alt=\"Pocket Casts image\" class=\"wp-image-4316\" /></a>\n\n\n\n\n<p>There were <em>twenty-three</em> WordPress podcast episodes released this week!</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://potencia.pro/274-como-mejorar-la-seguridad-de-wordpress-con-cloudflare/#new_tab\">Potencia Pro 274: Cómo mejorar la seguridad de WordPress con CloudFlare</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/potencia-pro-wordpress-y-cozas/\">Potencia Pro, WordPress y cozas</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/make-wordpress-happy/#new_tab\">Make. WordPress. Happy.</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/do-the-woo-a-woocommerce-podcast/\">Do the Woo &#8211; A WooCommerce Podcast</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://share.transistor.fm/s/94234c51#new_tab\">3 Predictions for WordPress in 2024</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/the-wp-minute/\">The WP Minute</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://accessibilitycraft.com/048#new_tab\">$2 Million Settlement Against Web Developer for Failing to Deliver Accessible Website | Surely Sparkling Rose</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/accessibility-craft/\">Accessibility Craft</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wpbuilds.com/2024/01/11/356-whats-the-state-of-teams-in-the-wordpress-space/#new_tab\">356 – What’s the state of teams in the WordPress space?</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/wp-builds/\">WP Builds</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://share.transistor.fm/s/64cca4dd#new_tab\">Is 2024 the Year of Page Builders?</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/the-wp-minute/\">The WP Minute</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are new episodes every single day, so be sure to stop by <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\">WPPodcasts.com</a> and search for things that interest you!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6380_1b11d4-1a\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6380_053b78-6f alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6380_7faa55-92 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 id=\"wpphotos\" class=\"kt-adv-heading6380_59bee3-ee wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos\">WP Photos</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some of the great photos submitted to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos\">WPPhotos</a> project this week!</p>\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/35865a105148eab35.43520179-scaled.jpg\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/35865a105148eab35.43520179-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Old house at nuwakot, an ancient house sits nestled in the middle of rolling hills, its timeworn facade telling tales of years gone by. Surrounded by nature\'s embrace, the old structure exudes a quiet charm, standing as a silent witness to the passage of time.\" class=\"wp-image-6383\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/35865a1051/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/theanupambista/\">Anupam Bista</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/48965a0bad9c44bc9.64532989-scaled.jpg\"><img width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/48965a0bad9c44bc9.64532989-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Green leafs\" class=\"wp-image-6384\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/48965a0bad/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/sharankrishna/\">Sharankrishna VP</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/63065a0d26/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/63065a0d2692a7860.59169135-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Crocodile in royal chitwan national park, Nepal\" class=\"wp-image-6385\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/63065a0d26/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/keshavsamarpan/\">keshavsamarpan</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/91765a001e/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/91765a001ef1ac553.14603097-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"A wide angle shot from the very top of Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece.\" class=\"wp-image-6386\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/91765a001e/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/desrosj/\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/97659fc0c4dac781.13250590-scaled.jpeg\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"803\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/97659fc0c4dac781.13250590-1024x803.jpeg\" alt=\"Black dog napping in the morning sun with snowy mountains as a backdrop!\" class=\"wp-image-6387\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/97659fc0c4/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/bhuwanroka/\">Bhuwan Bdr. Rokaha</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/894659fd7e/\"><img width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/894659fd7e22ee227.42435147-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Beautiful yellow blossom\" class=\"wp-image-6388\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/894659fd7e/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/sharankrishna/\">Sharankrishna VP</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n\n<p>Be sure to check out the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">hundreds of other great photos</a>!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The header photo for this post is a <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/90465a09dc/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/bhuwanroka/\">Bhuwan Bdr. Rokaha</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s it for this week! If you&#8217;d like to get this post in your email every week, <a href=\"https://heropressnetwork.com/newsletter\">make sure you sign up</a>!</p>\n\n<p>The post <a href=\"https://heropress.com/foundational-pillars-from-tokyo/\">Foundational Pillars From Tokyo</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:39:25 +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:\"\";}}}}}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:12:\"Matt: Forty!\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110348\";s:7:\"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:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/forty/\";s: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:5122:\"<p>Birthdays are so great because they&#8217;re about generosity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The act of giving, helping, is so generative.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s what we can all do for ourselves and each other.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But accepting is really hard, too! Gosh! Let it in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes we don&#8217;t let the gifts in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Approaching forty has felt impossibly light and heavy at the same time for me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s so cool to be typing this into something <strong>we made together</strong>. I want you to <em>really</em> think about that. Ponder the enormity of all that came before that allowed you to be here today, and I want you to get a little bit excited, in that sacred hidden part of your heart that yearns for more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s keep doing that. And let&#8217;s make it better and share it so everyone can enjoy it. We make the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve been enjoying <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/birthday-gift/\">so much all the posts coming in for the birthday gift</a>. I&#8217;m reading them as fast as I can.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, my failure mode is I share too much. I&#8217;m too generous. I like to err on the side of open. <em>Here&#8217;s some amazing code I wrote that you have a legal license to use however you like</em>. If you ask those closest to me how I mess up, it&#8217;s that I over-extend myself and try to do too much.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve never shared this publicly, but when the Bay Lights wasn&#8217;t going to make it the first time, I mortgaged my apartment and used that money to get it over the line. My personal finances were messy for years after that. I think a lot about being <a href=\"https://www.thefouragreements.com/the-first-agreement-be-impeccable-with-your-word/\">impeccable with my word</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want people <a href=\"https://crowdfundr.com/TheBayLights360\">to give the smallest $10 donation to the Bay Lights</a> and encourage others to do the same so that we can all share in feeling that together, we can build things. And every time you see the light or bridge or think of San Francisco, you&#8217;ll think of that sacred hidden part of your heart that yearns for more, wants to leave everything better than you found it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Add some light.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let the gift in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the part where the sounds come in and you hear <em>it&#8217;s the remix</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I find myself returning, again and again, to the <a href=\"https://automattic.com/creed/\">Automattic Creed</a>, especially the first line:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I will never stop learning. I won’t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there’s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that’s&nbsp;insurmountable.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m having the most amazing day reading everything that people are sharing. I want to re-share the quote I shared on <a href=\"https://tim.blog/2023/12/29/matt-mullenweg-2/\">Tim&#8217;s podcast</a> from Will Durant: </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Health lies in action, and so it graces youth. To be busy is the secret of grace, and half the secret of content. Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>All birthday posts: <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2003/01/bday/\">19</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2004/01/so-im-20/\">20</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2005/01/hot-barely-legal-matt/\">21</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2006/01/matt-22/\">22</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2007/01/twenty-three/\">23</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2008/01/twenty-four/\">24</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2009/01/twenty-five/\">25</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2010/01/twenty-six/\">26</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2011/01/twenty-seven/\">27</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2012/01/twenty-eight/\">28</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2013/01/twenty-nine/\">29</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2014/01/matt-3-0/\">30</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2015/01/thirty-one/\">31</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2016/01/thirty-two/\">32</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/01/thirty-three/\">33</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2018/01/thirty-four/\">34</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2019/01/thirty-five/\">35</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2020/01/thirty-six/\">36</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2021/01/thirty-seven/\">37</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2022/01/thirty-eight/\">38</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2023/01/thirty-nine/\">39</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/forty/\">40</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:57:31 +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:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:90:\"Do The Woo Community: Share Your Do the Woo Experience with a Guest Post on the BobWP Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=78794\";s:7:\"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:89:\"https://dothewoo.io/share-your-do-the-woo-experience-with-a-guest-post-on-the-bobwp-blog/\";s: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:438:\"<p>If you have been a past sponsor, guest or guest host on our shows, consider a follow-up guest blog post on BobWP.com blog.</p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/share-your-do-the-woo-experience-with-a-guest-post-on-the-bobwp-blog/\">Share Your Do the Woo Experience with a Guest Post on the BobWP Blog</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce and WordPress Builder Podcast</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 11 Jan 2024 10:28:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:70:\"Akismet: The Top Six CAPTCHA Alternatives That Won’t Frustrate Users\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"http://akismet.com/?p=283673\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://akismet.com/blog/the-top-six-captcha-alternatives-that-wont-frustrate-users/\";s: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:16458:\"<p>You know the drill. You’re super excited about a new purchase, commenting on a thrilling discussion in a forum, or providing feedback to an organization. You spend your time completing forms, writing thoughtful comments, or customizing your order only to find yourself trying to “check all the boxes with a stoplight in them” before actually submitting your&nbsp;information.</p>\n\n<p>Everyone hates CAPTCHA puzzles, yet businesses continue to use them to filter out spam. Today, we’re going to explore the six best alternatives to CAPTCHA, all of which can protect you from spam activities without frustrating your prospects and customers. Finally, we’ll show you how <a href=\"https://akismet.com/features/\">Akismet</a> uses machine learning to get progressively smarter about permanent spam&nbsp;removal.</p>\n\n\n<span id=\"more-283673\"></span>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The downsides of CAPTCHA and why alternatives are&nbsp;needed</h2>\n\n<p>For years, users have been patient with CAPTCHA, which was one of the first solutions that helped pave the way to spam&#8209;free websites. It stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” But like all solutions, there’s always room for improvement, and in today’s day and age, we need to find a better way to fight&nbsp;spam.</p>\n\n<p>First, CAPTCHA puzzles are problematic for those with visual impairments, requiring not only the ability to see the CAPTCHA challenge but often to decipher extremely nuanced details within the images. Tests that require the user to type a string of characters can be difficult for dyslexic individuals, and some may be unfamiliar with cultural icons or graphics in visual&nbsp;ones.</p>\n\n\n<p>Second, with so many technologies focused on enhancing user experience, frustrations like the inability to solve a CAPTCHA puzzle will stand out more, negatively affecting your conversion and engagement rates. Typically, CAPTCHA puzzles can take ten seconds or more to solve and interrupt your user at a critical point in their engagement journey — right before they check out, submit a comment, or request more information.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One <a href=\"https://moz.com/blog/captchas-affect-on-conversion-rates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study by SEO software company, Moz</a>, found that many users abandon forms when they encounter a CAPTCHA —&nbsp;resulting in an overall conversion rate drop of three percent. Another <a href=\"https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/burszstein_2010_captcha.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study by Stanford</a> found that only 71 percent of users even attempt to solve a CAPTCHA before abandoning the page altogether.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that’s not enough, a CAPTCHA may incorrectly identify a real human being as a bot, blocking further interaction with a site, while allowing more sophisticated, advanced bots through.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Researchers at the University of California in Irvine recently conducted <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12108\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a study testing both humans and bots</a> on popular CAPTCHA puzzles. The study found that bots solved distorted&#8209;text CAPTCHA tests almost perfectly in less than a second, while human beings had an accuracy rate of between 50 percent and 84 percent, spending up to 15 seconds per&nbsp;puzzle.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, it takes some significant computing power for CAPTCHAs to work properly, slowing down load times for web pages and adding to user&nbsp;frustration.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, efforts to improve CAPTCHA puzzles are still lacking. Audio versions were supposed to be a solid solution, but <a href=\"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5504799\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">analysis</a> shows that they’re more time intensive and significantly more difficult for certain users depending on their native language. <a href=\"https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/burszstein_2010_captcha.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Another study</a> noted a 50 percent failure rate with audio&nbsp;options.</p>\n\n\n<p>Forcing people to complete any kind of test is simply not the best option if you want to maximize engagement and conversions.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to look for in bot and spam&nbsp;protection</h2>\n\n<p>Before jumping into the six alternatives to CAPTCHA puzzles, here are some key things you’ll want to look for when choosing your bot&#8209;detecting&nbsp;solution.</p>\n\n<p>First, you’ll want to be sure that your solution can successfully block bots and spam while allowing prospects and customers easy access to your site and offerings. Unfortunately, a static software solution won’t work, as bad actors are continuously trying to up their game with more sophisticated, human&#8209;like bots all the time. Be sure your selected alternative can stay ahead of the bot&nbsp;creators.</p>\n\n<p>Second, be sure your alternative is either much easier to complete, or, better yet, invisible to your prospects, customers, and visitors. Your goal is to reduce or eliminate friction to create a more positive overall user&nbsp;experience.</p>\n\n\n<p>Along the same lines, look for a cloud-based solution so that your page load times are unaffected by the bot-catching activities.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you must ensure that your solution complies with global and local government data privacy rules and regulations. Remember that CAPTCHA alternatives cannot protect your site alone; instead, they must be one component of an <a href=\"https://jetpack.com/features/security/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overall security program</a> to protect your site from malicious activity and threats.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the best alternatives to&nbsp;CAPTCHA?</h2>\n\n<p>Fortunately, several alternatives to CAPTCHA are available on the market today, working to block spam effectively, without negatively affecting your user experience. Here are the top six to&nbsp;consider:</p>\n\n\n<img width=\"1600\" height=\"733\" src=\"https://akismet455732288.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-283675\" />\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <a href=\"https://akismet.com/\">Akismet</a></h3>\n\n\n<p>Founded in 2005, Akismet has been on a mission to rid the world of spam for nearly two decades. Its solution is different from CAPTCHA, primarily because it works completely in the background of a website and does not rely on user input to identify bot or spam attacks. As a result, it protects sites from unwanted bot activity without relying on prospects, customers, or visitors to prove they’re&nbsp;human.</p>\n\n<p>More than 100 million <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/convertkit-customerstory/\">customer websites</a> rely on Akismet, which has successfully removed more than 500 billion pieces of online spam from the web. Used by both WordPress sites and others, Akismet has generated one of the largest databases of spam activity in the&nbsp;world.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, the solution relies on advanced machine learning technology to continuously improve, staying ahead of the bad actors who are always looking for new ways to break through site&nbsp;protections.</p>\n\n<p>Self&#8209;hosted spam&#8209;fighting solutions can negatively affect the performance of the site itself, slowing down page load speeds. Akismet is a cloud&#8209;based solution, removing the operating activity from your site while delivering the protection you&nbsp;desire.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. A&nbsp;honeypot</h3>\n\n<p>A honeypot anti&#8209;spam trap is designed to trick harmful bots and spam generation programs into identifying themselves as spam. Like a real honeypot that attracts various people, animals, and insects, a honeypot anti&#8209;spam trap lures bots and spam programs with something that’s not visible to human&nbsp;beings.</p>\n\n<p>One of the most common honeypot anti&#8209;spam traps is to incorporate a field within the code that is not required or even seen by a human completing the real contact, order, or comment form. A bot, however, will scan that field and complete it, revealing its identity as a robot&nbsp;spammer.</p>\n\n<p>The honeypot then filters out and deletes that submission. While this method of spam detection can be effective for some basic bots, the honeypot anti&#8209;spam trap can be circumvented by more sophisticated spam&nbsp;efforts.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Time&#8209;based form&nbsp;submissions</h3>\n\n<p>Another CAPTCHA alternative is time&#8209;based form submissions. The idea is that humans will take a certain amount of time to complete a form, submit an order, or write a comment, while bots typically submit spam responses much&nbsp;faster.</p>\n\n<p>Although time&#8209;based form submissions can work in theory to weed out the most basic bots, bad actors who are set on spam attacks can easily program a bot to slow down its activity. So companies that use this method are hoping that spammers targeting their site will be too unsophisticated to slow down their bot submissions and will just move on to other targets. This is, frankly, a fairly weak form of&nbsp;protection.</p>\n\n\n<img width=\"1600\" height=\"744\" src=\"https://akismet455732288.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/image-1.png\" alt=\"Google reCAPTCHA landing page\" class=\"wp-image-283677\" />\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. reCAPTCHA&nbsp;v3</h3>\n\n<p>reCAPTCHA v3 is a more advanced bot detection solution, helping site owners identify spam activity on their website and customize the level of protection to suit their risk&nbsp;tolerance.</p>\n\n\n<p>Like the other CAPTCHA alternatives, version three doesn’t rely on user interaction to make the bot or spam determination, but works in the background of a website. It uses adaptive risk analysis to alert site owners of suspicious behaviors and should be placed on multiple pages so that patterns of abusive activities are more accurate.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>While this sounds pretty lovely, there are a fair number of downsides to using reCAPTCHA v3. First, though it allows for more customized control by site owners, it also requires advanced setup and integration with Google’s API, which could be difficult for the average site&nbsp;owner.</p>\n\n<p>There’s some <a href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90369697/googles-new-recaptcha-has-a-dark-side\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pushback around privacy</a>, as it provides Google with <em>a lot</em> of data, and it can also prevent the functioning of certain positive bots, like SEO&nbsp;crawlers.</p>\n\n\n<p>And while it’s good at detecting spammers, it’s known to falsely label real user interactions as spam without providing recourse for these individuals.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Reimagined CAPTCHA&nbsp;puzzles</h3>\n\n<p>With reducing friction is the number one reason businesses want to find a CAPTCHA alternative, there have been developments in simplifying the puzzles themselves. For example, instead of presenting blurry pictures and asking users to identify some random item in each of them, organizations have added a field at the end of their form asking for the solution to a simple math&nbsp;problem.</p>\n\n<p>Similar solutions require checking a box to indicate that visitors are human, using a slider bar before completing the submission, or playing a short drag&#8209;and&#8209;drop game to&nbsp;continue.</p>\n\n\n<p>All of these function very much like popular CAPTCHA puzzles, but may be less frustrating for the user. Unfortunately, more sophisticated bots may be able to find ways to complete these tasks as easily or better than human beings. And any barrier, even if it’s quick to get through, will deter some positive activity.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. General web security&nbsp;protections</h3>\n\n<p>If you run a site, you already know the importance of site security and probably have some general protections like <a href=\"https://jetpack.com/features/security/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">firewalls</a>, <a href=\"https://jetpack.com/features/security/secure-authentication/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">multifactor authentication</a>, and <a href=\"https://jetpack.com/upgrade/scan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">malware detection</a> in place.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>While these can protect your site from a wide variety of cybersecurity threats and may prevent some spammy behavior in the process, they aren’t really designed to specifically address spam.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>It’s important for every website to find a solution for this specific problem to keep your comment sections, form submissions, and order process free from spam and bot&nbsp;activity.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Akismet is the best CAPTCHA&nbsp;alternative</h2>\n\n<p>Whether you’re a WordPress user or rely on another website platform, Akismet is the best alternative to CAPTCHA. First and foremost, its ability to work completely behind the scenes means that your website visitors are released from the task of solving time&#8209;consuming, frustrating puzzles before completing an order, leaving a comment, or filling out a&nbsp;form.</p>\n\n<p>This fact alone means that you’ll improve your user experience, reduce friction in engaging with your organization, and increase conversions. All of those benefits ultimately lead to higher profits and long&#8209;term&nbsp;success.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, because Akismet has been on a mission to remove spam from the web for nearly 20 years, it has amassed a significant database of spam information and taken advantage of machine learning technology to stay ahead of spam creators. This experience and massive database means that Akismet is incredibly effective at identifying spam and is continuously improving its&nbsp;performance.</p>\n\n<p>With 99.9% accuracy, though, it’s already at the top of the&nbsp;game.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, Akismet doesn’t negatively affect the performance of your website because it operates in the cloud. This means that page load times don’t decrease, even as Akismet is busy protecting your organization from bot attacks and&nbsp;spam.</p>\n\n<p>To learn more about how <a href=\"https://akismet.com/enterprise/\">Akismet can protect your business</a>, reach out&nbsp;today.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked&nbsp;questions</h2>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is&nbsp;CAPTCHA?</h3>\n\n<p>A CAPTCHA is a computer&#8209;generated test used to differentiate humans from bots. It became a popular way to block spam attacks automatically in the early 2000s. CAPTCHA tests may include checking a box, typing a series of characters, or solving a visual puzzle before comments, forms, or orders are&nbsp;submitted.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is there a need to find alternatives to&nbsp;CAPTCHA?</h3>\n\n<p>CAPTCHA tasks can be extremely frustrating to users, especially when they’re difficult to solve or incorrectly identify a human as a bot. They create a poor user experience, reduce conversions, and can leave a negative brand impression. They also limit engagement with visually impaired&nbsp;visitors.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is it possible to stop spam without&nbsp;CAPTCHA?</h3>\n\n<p>Yes, fortunately, there are alternatives to fight spam effectively without using CAPTCHA puzzles. The most effective is <a href=\"https://akismet.com/pricing/\">Akismet</a>, which not only successfully removes and blocks spam from websites, but continuously improves its performance through machine&nbsp;learning.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is&nbsp;Akismet?</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet is a cloud&#8209;based, spam&#8209;fighting solution that works completely in the background to rid your site of malicious activity. It requires no interaction from your users, which means no added friction in your user experience. Akismet has successfully removed more than 500 billion pieces of spam from the&nbsp;web.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is Akismet the best alternative to&nbsp;CAPTCHA?</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet is the best alternative to CAPTCHA because it successfully blocks spam by working behind the scenes, freeing your visitors from frustrating puzzles. With nearly two decades of experience, Akismet has one of the largest spam databases available and continues to improve its detection capabilities through machine learning&nbsp;technology.</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, 10 Jan 2024 15:16:59 +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:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Jen Swisher\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:97:\"WPTavern: #105 – Pascal Birchler on Revolutionizing Image and Video Processing Within WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=152160\";s:7:\"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/podcast/105-pascal-birchler-on-revolutionizing-image-and-video-processing-within-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:45214:\"Transcript<div>\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, new ways to interact with your media within WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or by going to WPTavern.com 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 keen to hear from you and hopefully get you, or your idea, featured on the show. Head to WPTavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Pascal Birchler. Pascal is a longstanding WordPress community member, and Core committer, with a focus on internationalization, WP-CLI, and performance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s been working on a project for the past six months to enhance the media capabilities of the WordPress block editor. His work includes client side image optimization, image compression, video enhancements, and speech to text features such as subtitle generation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s unlike anything that I&#8217;ve ever seen, you upload media into the block editor and it&#8217;s manipulated right there inside the editor, by the browser, not by some remote server.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is all achieved by harnessing the power of WebAssembly, and we discover what Pascal has managed to achieve thus far, and how he thinks that there&#8217;s going to be so much more to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how you can change images from legacy formats, like JPEG and GIF, into other, more modern formats, such as WebP and AVIF. Pascal explains how this is actually achieved, and why the new format so desirable. It&#8217;s all about reducing file sizes, server resource consumption, and the speed boost your site will gain as a result.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also get into the conversion of animated GIFs into videos, and creating videos with transcripts on the fly. And remember, this is all done in the block editor, with the browser itself as the workhorse.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pascal seems to be onto something here, and it&#8217;s really compelling listening to him argue that something like his plugin might be worthy of inclusion into WordPress Core at some point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained some other projects, which he&#8217;s been working on inspired by the high volume of feedback he received after releasing his plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in pushing the boundaries of user experience, performance optimization, and compliance with evolving web standards this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to find out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to WPTavern.com forward slash podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well. And so without further delay, I bring you Pascal Birchler.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Pascal Birchler. Hello, Pascal.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:42] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Hello. Hi there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:43] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Very, very nice to have you with us. We&#8217;re going to talk today, well, I think it&#8217;s broadly, we&#8217;re going to be talking about images. But there&#8217;s an awful lot of different technologies that Pascal has been working on over the, well, I don&#8217;t know how long. But I&#8217;ve only recently caught sight of the projects that you&#8217;ve been working on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pascal, just before we begin that, would you just tell us a little bit about yourself? Perhaps what your day job is, what your relationship is with WordPress, and so on. Just a little bio time really.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:10] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Sure, yeah. So my name is Pascal, and I&#8217;ve been a WordPress community member for, I don&#8217;t know, 15 years now or so. So I&#8217;ve been doing a lot of contributions around internationalisation, so like anything multilingual. But recently also performance, and day-to-day, that&#8217;s really what I&#8217;m focusing on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I started as a WordPress contributor. Then I joined Google, as part of a team that is trying to make the web faster, that includes making WordPress faster.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:36] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, the performance team have been doing great work over the last, well, I&#8217;m going to say about 18 months it feels like they&#8217;ve been in existence. But WordPress itself has been made significantly quicker, over the various iterations of the project recently.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I know that the browsers themselves have become better at doing an awful lot of things. And so I think what we&#8217;re going to talk about today will probably involve conversations around what the browsers can handle, and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s very rare, Pascal, that I watch something online to do with WordPress, or technology, and I am actually having to lift my jaw away from the floor. But a little video that Pascal posted onto Twitter, not that long ago, maybe 10 days ago or something like that, really did make my jaw hit the floor. Because you were showing things that you&#8217;ve been working on that I had never seen before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not just that, I had no intuition that it was even possible. It&#8217;s going to make your WordPress life much better in the future, let&#8217;s hope.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you want to tell us a little bit about the project that you&#8217;ve been working on? And then we&#8217;ll get into the weeds of all of the different things that it can do, and yeah, just tell us how long you&#8217;ve been working on it, and what it really does.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:42] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Sure. Absolutely. First of all, that&#8217;s exactly the reaction that I hoped to get from people, as I&#8217;ve been working on this project, or these media experiments, how I would like to call them, for maybe half a year or so. Like I occasionally started working on it and didn&#8217;t stop, and start again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s basically a collection of things that enhance the media capabilities of WordPress, or specifically the block editor. Most of the things are around like client side image optimisation, image compression. But also anything related to videos or speech to text, like subtitle generation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So you just swept it to one side, really, how impressive it is. But the key component there, that was so amazing to me, was the fact that it&#8217;s all done client side. So perhaps, dear listener, the best thing to do would be to pause this episode, go and search for it over on WP Tavern, and watch from the links, the two little Twitter videos that Pascal put together, and you&#8217;ll be in a much better position.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what you&#8217;re going to see is truly remarkable. So it&#8217;s block editor based, so you&#8217;re in the Gutenberg editor. I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;ll work in any other scenario of WordPress, with page builders or what have you. But that&#8217;s the paradigm that we&#8217;re talking about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Pascal is sitting there, and he decides that he wants to have an image which is currently a jpeg, and he doesn&#8217;t want it to be a jpeg. He wants to reduce the size of it, so that it consumes less resources on the server, but also can be served up to the end user. He wants to pass Core Web Vitals, because he&#8217;s a good Googler.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so he throws it into Gutenberg, and Gutenberg seemingly converts it. Now I&#8217;m obviously doing it injustice. Please tell me what&#8217;s happening, because I haven&#8217;t the faintest idea how you&#8217;ve achieved this. So you put an image directly onto the Gutenberg canvas, and it&#8217;s no longer a jpeg. It&#8217;s been converted in some way, in the background, disconnected from the internet. This could be on a computer, completely disconnected from the internet. So it&#8217;s happening in the browser. How is it happening?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:40] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> So first of all, browsers are extremely capable of doing image compression, or even image conversion. But they&#8217;re also a little bit limited in like to what extent they can do that. So to overcome those limits, I&#8217;m using a technology called WebAssembly. Which allows basically like regular software that you would otherwise install on a computer, and bring that to the browser.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in this case, this is an image processing library that I&#8217;m using. For example, I&#8217;m using the VIPS, or libvips image library. And using WebAssembly I can do all sorts of image rotation, thumbnail generation, directly in the browser. And then from there I will upload it to WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:08:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So is this, therefore a plugin, that you have pre-installed into the version of WordPress that you were using for the demo there. So this is a plugin that you&#8217;ve built, you&#8217;ve installed it, and I don&#8217;t if there are any settings in there. But even if you just activate it, as soon as you begin throwing images, there is the option to convert them to different formats, right out of the box. You don&#8217;t have to do anything else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:08:42] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Correct. It&#8217;s a plugin that I started. It works without any additional configuration, but of course, if you prefer not changing the image format, but just want to compress images. Or if you prefer, let&#8217;s say WebP or AVIF over jpeg, you can say so as well. And there are a few more settings that I added, but mostly for like testing and like, trying different things out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. I mean, it&#8217;s a first run at this project, so maybe we&#8217;ll see some things in the future. We&#8217;re recording this at the end of 2023, so it&#8217;s still really hot off the press.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But just to digress a little bit, and move away from the technology. Why have you done this? What is the purpose of it? Now I&#8217;m guessing that there&#8217;s maybe some sort of environmental impact here. There&#8217;s the cost of storage, and all of those kind of things. What&#8217;s the point? Why would you even want to convert images from one format to another? After all, it looks the same, broadly, once you&#8217;re viewing it. What&#8217;s the purpose?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:36] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Doing this has many advantages. So one is that if you want to do this, but you&#8217;re limited in server resources, now this allows anyone to use this technology and compress their images. And compressing images, or using a different file format, as you say, has like good impact on file size. Which means less bandwidth used, has a nice side effect of like images loading faster on your website, which is great for passing all these Core Web Vitals.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s also a user experience benefit. Your visitors will see the images faster. And I think that&#8217;s the nice thing about this project, is that it has some performance aspects, but in the end it&#8217;s a lot about user experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So the modern versions of image formats, it may be that some of the listeners aren&#8217;t really familiar with those. I&#8217;m pretty sure that if you&#8217;ve been on the internet for any length of time, you&#8217;re familiar with jpegs, and pngs, and GIFs, or GIFs, however you wish to pronounce it. But you&#8217;re trying, well, in the video at least, you are converting them into an image format, which maybe people haven&#8217;t heard of before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s called AVIF, but also I think you mentioned WebP as well. I know it&#8217;s maybe not in your wheelhouse directly, but can you just give us an idea of what&#8217;s going on there? What kind of reduction could we have? Let&#8217;s say if we took a, I don&#8217;t know, a two megabyte jpeg and pushed it through to be an AVIF. Roughly speaking, and I know it&#8217;s dependent upon what is in the image, but broadly speaking, what kind of benefits can you get in terms of percentages that are cut away?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:04] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Oh, that&#8217;s a great question. I think in my test video, I saw a reduction of like maybe 40% or so in file size.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:11] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Good grief. Right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:12] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> And there was like no noticeable differences to the eye. But there are like quality settings that you can change. Depending on the level of quality that you like for your use case, you can get it even further down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So really significant amounts of data. You know, if your website is image heavy, then doing this, and there&#8217;s no noticeable loss to the viewer. Perhaps there is some sort of degradation, if you were to expand it, and you were a professional photographer, who knows? But something in the region of a 40% decrease.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you know if, at this point, so again we&#8217;re in December 2023. Is it possible for all browsers to be able to show these images back to us? So it&#8217;d be fabulous to be able to use AVIFs, but then obviously if a significant proportion of the internet out there can&#8217;t actually see them, because their browsers don&#8217;t support that, that would be troublesome. So do you have any inclination as to what the compatibility is with browsers, displaying WebPs and AVIFs?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:08] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> I think last I checked, WebP is supported by all browsers. So that includes Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and so on. And AVIF is not currently supported by default in Edge. All the other browsers support it. And in Edge, it needs to be enabled with a flag.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:25] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Oh, so there is support, it just merely isn&#8217;t enabled. So if you&#8217;re an Edge user, you can make it available.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So really there&#8217;s no reason not to do this if pretty much every browser is able to support this, why wouldn&#8217;t you do this? And I guess the beauty of your system that you&#8217;ve built, is that there&#8217;s no, there&#8217;s literally no thing to do. You just put the image onto the page, or the post, or whatever it may be, in the same way that you would always do, and it just happens on the fly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is there a little bit of a wait there? So let&#8217;s say, again, my image of two megabytes, something like that, jpeg uploaded. Is this happening more or less instantly in a typical modern computer, or do I have to sit there and twiddle my thumbs for a little while, as I might have done in the past if I was using a server side technology to do this?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:13] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> It&#8217;s pretty much instantly, but only because you don&#8217;t see what&#8217;s going on in the background. So when you drop the image in the editor, you can already see it, you can already, you know, add some gradients in the block editor, or continue writing your post. And in the background, the image is compressed, and all the thumbnails are being generated, and finally uploaded to WordPress. But you can already continue editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay. So really you can just carry on with your day, keep editing as normal, and in the background this will happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what&#8217;s the flow in terms of where this is getting saved? So, again, we&#8217;ll use my example, I&#8217;m using a jpeg. Will the jpeg be saved in the media library, ultimately, as well? Or will just the converted image get kept? Because I know that a lot of the other server side solutions, some commercial solutions and what have you, which compress images, they have loads of options and many of them are, for example, keep the original. We&#8217;ll convert it for you, we&#8217;ll compress it for you, but we&#8217;ll also keep the original. And it may not be that that&#8217;s what your plugin does. So how does it handle the original? Where does it put that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:15] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Right now it keeps uploading the original to WordPress, in case you want to restore that or use that for, I don&#8217;t know, downloads or something. But this can be made optional, because everyone has different needs. For example, photographers prefer to have the full size images available, just in case, maybe for their clients. But this can be turned off if you prefer to save resources.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:37] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay. So that, I guess, brings me to the next question. What are the settings that you have at the moment? So, you&#8217;ve mentioned that you know, you can keep the original, or delete the original, or what have you. Are you able to specify, okay, every time I upload a jpeg, turn it into an AVIF, every time I upload a WebP, turn it into an AVIF? Are there different settings in the backend there that I can configure, so that it just meets my exact requirements?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:58] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> You pretty much nailed it. Right now the setting is limited, like you can choose your preferred format, and it uses that. But the next step is to provide a setting per file type, so that you can really specify what you want to be for every type of file that you upload.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The settings are really fine grained in that regard. I hope them to be fine grained. There are also more settings, for example, for thumbnail generation. You can choose whether the thumbnail should be generated on the server, or in the browser as well, which is the default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third option is to have the client side thumbnail generation, but make it smarter. So for example, if you have a photo of a person somewhere, right now WordPress just crops like these 150 by 150 thumbnails from the center of the image. But with the smart option, it will focus on the person&#8217;s face to be in the center, just so much more useful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:15:50] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Wait, it makes a decision about what to crop, based upon the content of the picture. So it&#8217;s intelligent enough to know that there&#8217;s an object over here which is of significance, crop around that. That&#8217;s great.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How would that work for other things? This is going to go off in a strange direction. Let&#8217;s say I had a, I don&#8217;t know, a cat or something like that in the picture, but there was nothing else. There was just this singular cat, and it was top right. Is it able to intuit that there&#8217;s an object in this picture which needs focus?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:16:16] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Yeah, so the image library that I&#8217;m using tries to detect the most prominent object in a photo. So there could be an animal, or something else. Of course it&#8217;s not perfect when it&#8217;s, I don&#8217;t know, a photo of like a group of people or something, but it&#8217;s better than nothing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:16:30] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it has to make a decision about which person is more important in that picture. But again, just to emphasise, if you&#8217;re listening to this, we&#8217;re not talking about this data leaving your computer, getting crunched on somebody else&#8217;s machine, and then being sent back. This is all happening inside the browser, right before your eyes, or not before your eyes. It&#8217;s really just happening, and the result comes out before your eyes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may not know the answer to this, I hope that you do. But, why do browsers have all of this technology baked into them? What&#8217;s the reason for that? I mean, I could guess what some of the reasons would be, but I&#8217;m interested to know if you&#8217;ve got more concrete data on that. Why would a browser ship with all of these image conversion, formatting options, all the other things you&#8217;ve described?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:14] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Well, as I said, the browser does have some image formatting or conversion options, but they&#8217;re limited. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m able to use external libraries, through Web Assembly. And the reason that Web Assembly is a thing is it just, it makes the web so much more powerful. It allows things like Photoshop to run on the web, which previously wasn&#8217;t possible. I think for the web to still matter in years to come, browsers and websites and web technologies need to evolve, support use cases like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, I have this intuition, I could be wrong. But I have this intuition that in a decade from now, more and more of the things that I&#8217;m still holding out on my computer at home, will have gone over to the browser. And it feels like video and images are still in the domain of the desktop computer often, just because of, well, the amount of data that has to fly around for a start.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also, if you&#8217;ve got an hour long video and you&#8217;re trying to edit little bits, it does seem that online solutions don&#8217;t quite make the grade yet boy, it&#8217;s changing quickly. And if we stare into our crystal ball, a year into the future, two years, five years, I feel that a lot of this will have been taken over by online tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we talked about the fact that you can upload an image, but it goes a lot further than that, because you can take a bunch of images. Now I don&#8217;t know how much you&#8217;ve battle tested this, whether or not you&#8217;ve put in 500, 1,000, 10,000 images. But in the example you used, I think you put three images in, and it did the same thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you were a photographer, or you had a post that was heavy with images, this can all be done. You don&#8217;t have to do one at a time, wait for it to happen. It&#8217;ll just put them all into a queue, I&#8217;m guessing, and tackle them one at a time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:43] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> That&#8217;s exactly right. Yeah, I have this sort of queuing system that I built. It can do multiple images at a time, or only one. That depends on a lot of factors. For example, like how many CPU cores that you have on your machine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good thing is that everything happens in the background in so-called Web Workers. And these are separate threads from the main website, which means even if you throw more than one image at it, it will be separate from the main thread, so you&#8217;re not blocked from writing any more content. I don&#8217;t have 10,000 images on my computer to test it with, but maybe I should.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:15] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But it will cue them, and so we&#8217;re expecting it to work in the normal way. But certainly for a normal amount of images, it&#8217;s going to handle it correctly. Let&#8217;s say though, that I did throw 100 images at it, which is going to consume a little bit of time. I&#8217;m imagining, you know, there would be some human noticeable amount of time for that to happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I was to stray away from that post. Close it down, for example, or go to a different screen inside a WordPress. Does the browser continue that operation? What is the connection? How is it bound? Does the post need to be open for all of this to happen? And also, what about just failure? If something fails to happen, do we get a notification to say, whoops, it didn&#8217;t do what it was anticipating to do?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:55] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> So yes, you definitely need to stay in the editor while the upload is in progress. There will be a warning if you try to navigate away. Of course, if this were like a single page application, where you&#8217;re not actually like changing origins, going to another website that could continue to upload. But for the upload to finish, you need to stay in the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If an upload errors, there will be notifications of course. Thanks to this queuing system, it&#8217;s even possible to change your mind and cancel uploads, if you prefer. For example, if you notice, oh dang, I uploaded wrong image. You don&#8217;t have to wait for the upload to finish to fix that mistake, so you can just cancel it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:20:29] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s great. Now, it&#8217;s not just images though, it will handle a whole load of other things. And there&#8217;s a couple that you demonstrate. The first one is something which is, obviously something that irritates you a little bit. Animated GIFs or GIFs, however you wish to pronounce them. You&#8217;d rather that they were made into videos, and so it will do that as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you were to throw an animated GIF into it, it will recycle that as an actual image, with a play and stop button, so that you&#8217;ve got some agency about what&#8217;s actually happening on the screen there. Again, so that&#8217;s presumably just for GIFs. I can&#8217;t think of any other image format off the top of my head, which has that animation possibility. But that will create a video of the same dimensions or, what&#8217;s it doing there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:11] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> So yeah, animated GIFs or GIFs are painful. WebP also supports animation, but it&#8217;s not that common. But for animated GIFs, they&#8217;re really bad for, not just performance, but also user experience, because you can&#8217;t stop them. They just autoplay, they&#8217;re super heavy in file size usually. And if you, for example, prefer reduced motion, which is like a setting in most operating systems and browsers. A GIF won&#8217;t stop. But a video can be stopped, but it can also be preloaded, can have a poster image. So it&#8217;s just way better from a user experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the plugin converts GIF or GIF to a video with the same size. Creates a poster image as well. So if the video is stopped, or still being loaded, you will see a preview image as well. You can have either the controls to play, pause, or it just loops and autoplays, like a GIF. You don&#8217;t see the difference.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It&#8217;s what we need. Agency over animated GIFs, that&#8217;s for sure. And it just all happens seamlessly. But again, another jaw off the floor moment was when I saw that you were creating video content inside the post editor. So, you know, imagine, dear listener, that you are in a post, you&#8217;ve clicked add new post, and there you are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shoot video from the webcam, or I&#8217;m guessing any camera that might be attached to the machine. Shoot it, save it into the media library inside the post. As if that wasn&#8217;t enough, also transcribe it in real time. Now, I don&#8217;t know if that transcription gets burned onto the video, or if it&#8217;s just something that&#8217;s happening as you are watching it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that&#8217;s truly remarkable as well. And it leads me to all sorts of thoughts about being able to, I don&#8217;t know, communicate with other people, with synchronous video, a bit like we have with Zoom, or something like that, inside of a post. I&#8217;m not entirely sure why you would wish to do that, but those kind of possibilities becoming available. How did you do that? How does that work?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:05] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> You bring something interesting up, because there&#8217;s like this collaboration feature being worked on in the block editor. So just imagine having a video call, and maybe saving that video afterwards, who knows?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So for this particular feature I&#8217;m again, using the powers of Web Assembly to use the FFmpeg video library in the browser. So FFmpeg is a really powerful tool set. It can do video conversion, all sort of things. And I use that in a browser to basically record the video, or take the recorded video and convert it to like a MP4, whatever is a good format for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for the subtitles, I&#8217;m using a different solution, which is based on an open source machine learning models, that do transcription, like speech to text. And that generates a vtt captions file. Similar to srt, it&#8217;s a separate file, it&#8217;s not burned into the video. And you can use other tools to then edit the captions, or you could even build a caption editor directly in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:24:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Most video solutions allow you to upload and combine the two, don&#8217;t they? So it&#8217;s got timestamping in, so it knows when a particular word is about to appear on the screen. And so it can handle all of that. But it creates that file on the fly. So it not only creates the video file, stores that into the media library, but if you have the option set for the vtt file, it will also save that. And presumably, because of the time that they were saved, there&#8217;s a very high probability they&#8217;ll end up right next to each other in the media library. So you could associate the two.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is truly impressive. I can only imagine what could be possible with that. Because all you are doing is showing that it can be done, and it can be saved right there. But yeah, I kind of feel that once that gets out into the wild, other developers will have intuitions as to what to do with that, aside from you, and may well wish to do something.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you&#8217;re right, you know, can you imagine a scenario where, I don&#8217;t know, a graphic designer wants to talk to another graphic designer about a particular post, or a particular page that they&#8217;re working on and, well, let&#8217;s just hop in, and actually work on it together whilst we&#8217;re in the page. We don&#8217;t need another third party solution. I don&#8217;t know, maybe that&#8217;s a bit extreme. But absolutely fascinating how you&#8217;ve managed to pull all of this off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You mentioned the libraries that you were using there to do the video transcoding. Again, is all of that bundled in with the plugin, or is any of this going out of our computer, out of our browser somewhere, and getting converted, and then being sent back? Or is it all happening on our machine?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:27] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> It&#8217;s all happening on your machine. I know it&#8217;s sometimes crazy to believe, but yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I mean, really, truly crazy. One thing that you own that I don&#8217;t own is you have an iPhone, which it turns out also has an unusual, well not unusual because there&#8217;s a lot of iPhones out there. But it&#8217;s not a web friendly image format. I didn&#8217;t even know what it was called until you showed it on the screen, it&#8217;s HEIC or HEIF. And it&#8217;s simply for Apple devices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;m guessing if you&#8217;ve got a Mac or an iPhone, it will show it just fine. But if you&#8217;re trying to upload that to the media library, you&#8217;re going to have a problem. So conversion has to happen there. And you&#8217;ve got a nice, another nice little option there. If you throw that in, that will also get converted, again to your preferred one. So it could be, I don&#8217;t know, AVIF or WebP, whatever you&#8217;d like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:13] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Yeah. So it&#8217;s a super annoying format to use on the web. Right now, it will convert to WebP or AVIF, whatever you have set. The file format itself also supports like multiple frames, because on iPhone, you have this feature called live photos, where the photo is sort of like a video. So you could technically even convert this image to a video when you upload it. So you have this live photo effect also on the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:36] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But it&#8217;ll do all of that out of the box. So all of that is absolutely fascinating, and we&#8217;ll get to something else that you showed in a slightly different video in a moment. The purpose of this, obviously, you&#8217;re scratching your own itch, you&#8217;ve done something which will definitely be helpful in the future. It does strike me that a lot of this is definitely within the scope of being put into core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I know that an awful lot of stuff comes through the news outlets each and every week about amazing WordPress products, and some of it clearly is really out of the scope of core. But do you have an intuition that some of this really could be baked into core, would be useful in core? Is that something you are going to be trying to push for in 2024?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:19] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Well based on the reactions of people to the demos I&#8217;ve shared, there&#8217;s definitely interest. Seems to be useful for many people. Be that the HEIC conversion or the thumbnail generation. So I definitely see potential for this to be in core, and it&#8217;s something that I want to strive for in the next year. But it will be definitely limited in scope. Like, you won&#8217;t see fancy video recording or something in core, I would say. So I would want to start small, focus on like an M.V.P. solution, and bring that into core and then we can go from there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah. That&#8217;ll be an interesting thing to see. One last thing, just before we move on to your upload an image with your friend idea. Another thing which you do is, and this is curious because we had a chat about this before we clicked record. If you upload an image and that image is going to take a few moments, an opaque, hazy version of the image is shown. And it almost looks like you&#8217;re squinting your eye or something, you know, it&#8217;s gone a little bit blurred.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the technical side of how you&#8217;ve done that is really interesting, because I was anticipating it was just another image, but it&#8217;s not, there&#8217;s some really interesting work going in the background there, and gradients and CSS. Just explain what&#8217;s going on whilst we have the image load. You show us something, which kind of looks like a faded out version of the image. What&#8217;s happening?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:28:33] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> So the itch that I wanted to scratch there, is that the experience when you have to wait for images to load is really not great. Let&#8217;s say if you&#8217;re on a 3G connection on a train, or something. So what I wanted to do is have like a blurred version of the image showing. So as soon as you open the page you immediately see something. You know, oh, there&#8217;s an image that might be loaded here, and it looks interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what I&#8217;m using for that is a technology, or an algorithm called BlurHash, which generates these blurry placeholders. And usually to display that placeholder on the website, you would need JavaScript. But I&#8217;m converting this blurriness to simple CSS gradients instead. So that when you load the page, you&#8217;re not seeing another image while the main image is loaded, it&#8217;s just all CSS gradients.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So no JavaScript in sight, it&#8217;s just CSS, which obviously has its benefits. So upon successful completion of that image, what are you doing with the CSS that you&#8217;ve created there? Where is that data going when it&#8217;s no longer needed? Do you just expunge it and get rid of it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:33] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Well, you will still need it for like the next page load, right? So it&#8217;s always there, it&#8217;s always in the database. And it&#8217;s super small, like even for a larger image. The amount of gradients is not that big, so it doesn&#8217;t really impact performance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:47] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah it&#8217;s a really nice experience, because it just gives you, well, you&#8217;ve all been there where an image hasn&#8217;t even begun to load, and you get all this cumulative layout shift where things are being pushed around, and buttons go further down and everything moves. It kind of gets rid of that, because right away you get this block, which is going to be the same size and shape as the image, which will eventually load.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think in most cases these days, certainly in the part of the world where I live, we&#8217;re really not faced with those problems too much these days. But as you said, if you&#8217;re in a place where there&#8217;s a slower network or a, let&#8217;s say a 3G network or something like that, then having that as an option is great. So yeah, fascinating solution to that problem, I really like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I think you probably got a little bit of interest, and I don&#8217;t know if the second Twitter video came along after the first one that I saw. So we&#8217;ve just discussed what I believe is probably the first one, and we&#8217;ll discuss the second one. And I&#8217;m hoping, Pascal, in the days and weeks to come, we&#8217;ve got Christmas in the way, I realise that. But in the days and weeks to come we&#8217;re going to see many more such videos.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ve got this really interesting idea of being able to upload images into a post, with a link, or a QR code, which I guess is a link of a different kind. But you could send it to a friend, who could then upload an image into a post, without being logged into the WordPress website. Where did that need arise? What was the scenario that you were thinking, okay, I need people to upload images into my posts, which they don&#8217;t have access to edit, and so on? What&#8217;s going on there? It&#8217;s fascinating.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:13] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> I have to admit, I did not come up with this idea actually. So after I published the first demo on Twitter, John Blackburn, I actually opened an issue on GitHub and he was like, hey, you know, on apps like eBay or online banking apps, for example. There&#8217;s the option to upload your receipts or something from your phone. So why not make that possible in WordPress? And I was like, oh, that&#8217;s interesting. So I built it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s really cool because, I think the scenario is, you&#8217;re editing a blog post, you want to add this nice picture and you realise, oh, it&#8217;s on the phone. Maybe it&#8217;s on your friend&#8217;s phone, or like colleague&#8217;s phone. So you can scan the QR code, or send the link for that code to someone else. And then they&#8217;re able to upload the image to WordPress. And after that is done, and you&#8217;re still in the editor, so once they&#8217;re done uploading the image, you&#8217;ll immediately see the image in your editor, you can continue editing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So you wouldn&#8217;t need to refresh that post and come back to it, it would just appear. So let&#8217;s say, for example, that I send you that link, and I&#8217;ve got my post, it&#8217;s half completed, but I just know that I need that image to finish it off. And I know that you, Pascal, have got your hands on it. I could send you the link. You click on the link, select the image in question, and there it is, right inside my post, immediately without a need for a refresh or anything.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s so great. That&#8217;s just such a curious thing. But now I get the point, and I guess the idea of being able to send it to somebody else is quite interesting. But the idea, certainly for me, you are right, there&#8217;s a lot which is held on my phone, there&#8217;s a lot which is held on other computers. I have a detachable hard disc over there, and quite often the computer that it&#8217;s attached to is, you know, in no way connected to this one. So being able to send myself another link over there, that&#8217;s really curious.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It feels to me, Pascal, as if you are just getting your feet wet here. You&#8217;ve just got yourself all excited about images and what you can do with them inside of WordPress. So that&#8217;s the next question. Do you have any intuition as to what&#8217;s coming next? What fun projects you might work on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:33:09] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Well, you know, just talking about this with you, gives me a lot of ideas. And sharing these demos with people also sparks ideas in them. And you mentioned that holidays are coming up, so maybe, I don&#8217;t know, over the holidays I&#8217;ll build something new. We&#8217;ll see.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:33:22] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Well, I would very much like to see the outcome of your endeavors. Yeah, I&#8217;ve definitely got a few ideas of what I would like. For example, being able to record a podcast directly inside the editor. I know that, obviously, video and audio are very similar, it may well already be possible with everything that you&#8217;ve done.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the ability to do things like that inside the post editor, and not have to save it elsewhere, would be kind of interesting. You know, what we&#8217;re doing right now, we&#8217;re using a third party SaaS app to record this. I can&#8217;t see any reason why all of this couldn&#8217;t potentially happen inside the block editor as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, exciting times. And Pascal, I do thank you for piquing my curiosity. It really was quite a moment when I saw that video.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If anybody wants to contact you, if anybody has been intrigued by what you&#8217;ve said, and they want to reach out, where are the best places? We know that you&#8217;re on Twitter, but tell us what your handle is, and where else we can find you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:10] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> So my Twitter handle, or WordPress.org, everywhere else is swissspidy with three S&#8217;s in the middle. That&#8217;s the best place to reach me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Alright. Well, thank you so much. And Pascal, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast and chatting to us today. Thank you so much.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:25] <strong>Pascal Birchler:</strong> Thanks for having me.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today we have <a href=\"https://twitter.com/swissspidy/\">Pascal Birchler</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pascal is a long-standing WordPress community member and Core committer, with a focus on internationalisation, WP-CLI, and performance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He’s been working on a project for the past six months to enhance the media capabilities of the WordPress block editor. His work includes client-side image optimisation, image compression, video enhancements, and speech-to-text features, such as subtitle generation. It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever seen. You upload media into the block editor, and it’s manipulated right there, inside the editor, by the browser, not by some remote server.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is all achieved by harnessing the power of WebAssembly, and we discover what Pascal has managed to achieve thus far, and how he thinks that there’s going to be so much more to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how you can change images from legacy formats like jpg and gif, into other, more modern formats such as WebP and Avif. Pascal explains how this is actually achieved, and why the new formats are desirable. It’s all about reducing file sizes, server resource consumption, and the speed boost your site will gain as a result.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also get into the conversion of animated Gifs into videos, and creating videos with transcripts on-the-fly, and remember, this is all done in the block editor with the browser itself as the workhorse.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pascal seems to be onto something here, and it’s really compelling listening to him argue that something like his plugin might be worthy of inclusion into WordPress Core at some point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explains some other projects which he’s been working on, inspired by the high volume of feedback he received after releasing his plugin.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’re interested in pushing the boundaries of user experience, performance optimisation, and compliance with evolving web standards, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful links</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/swissspidy/status/1733138082591912154\">Pascal&#8217;s Twitter video #1</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/swissspidy/status/1735019049686368342\">Pascal&#8217;s Twitter video #2</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://webassembly.org/\">WebAssembly website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/libvips/libvips\">libvips on GitHub</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://ffmpeg.org/\">FFmpeg website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://blurha.sh/\">BlurHash website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/swissspidy/\">Pascal&#8217;s Twitter</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, 10 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:15:\"Matt: Sonos Tip\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110280\";s:7:\"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:32:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/sonos-tip/\";s: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:1204:\"<p>If you&#8217;re obsessed with <a href=\"https://www.sonos.com/\">Sonos</a> like I am, a nice MacOS utility is the <a href=\"https://mbc-for-sonos.app/\">Menu Bar Controller</a>. <cite>Hat tip to <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketatum/\">Mike Tatum</a></cite>, who happened to be the gentleman who convinced my parents it was okay for me to drop out of college and move to San Francisco to take a job at <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNET\">CNET</a>. Mike&#8217;s now at Sonos and in October arranged for some top execs at <a href=\"https://automattic.com/\">Automattic</a> to go to Santa Barbara to meet with their peers at Sonos, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Patrick_Spence\">Patrick Spence</a> and I did a joint CEO town hall that was broadcast to both of our companies. It was I think fascinating for both sides because of a shared passion for craft, design, culture, and execution, but our companies are in no way competitive, so it allowed for a lot of transparency. I learned a ton, and I think that kind of sharing is what increases the mimetic evolutionary speed of companies. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://atoms.com/\">Atoms</a> are hard! I think I&#8217;ll stick mostly to bits.</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, 10 Jan 2024 01:50:34 +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:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:86:\"Do The Woo Community: Do the Woo is a Sponsor and Media Partner for WordCamp Asia 2024\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=78784\";s:7:\"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:65:\"https://dothewoo.io/sponsor-and-media-partner-wordcamp-asia-2024/\";s: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:402:\"<p>We are returning to WordCamp Asia again, and proud to be a Media Partner again as well as a sponsor for the event.</p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/sponsor-and-media-partner-wordcamp-asia-2024/\">Do the Woo is a Sponsor and Media Partner for WordCamp Asia 2024</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce and WordPress Builder Podcast</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, 09 Jan 2024 08:09:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:78:\"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 70: A Look Ahead at WordPress in 2024\";s:7:\"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=16677\";s:7:\"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://wordpress.org/news/2024/01/episode-70-a-look-ahead-at-wordpress-in-2024/\";s: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:8348:\"<p>Curious about WordPress&#8217;s big-picture items for 2024? Phase 3, Data Liberation, new meetups, and more, get the spotlight in this episode. Join Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy for all this, plus a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Host:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a><br />Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a><br />Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/\">Javier Arce</a><br />Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/\">Brett McSherry</a><br />Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Notes</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/07/03/real-time-collaboration/\">Real-Time Collaboration</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/\">Make WordPress Plugins</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">WordCamp Events</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small List of Big Things</strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/overflow-questions-from-state-of-the-word-2023/\">Overflow Questions from State of the Word 2023 in Madrid, Spain</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Annual Meetup Survey</a>&nbsp;&#8211; This is the final chance to share your feedback on WordPress meetups for 2024 and how we can improve the program in the future.&nbsp;</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcripts</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-16677\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> 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.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:28] (Intro music)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:00:40] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Hello, my dears, and welcome to 2024. I hope you&#8217;ve had a lovely break. At the top of the year, I like to look around and gather the projects that the community is interested in. We can&#8217;t always commit to everything, and sometimes even the things we plan to do can&#8217;t make it across the finish line. In the next few weeks, I&#8217;ll be publishing kind of the big picture goals for the year, but I wanted to share a little bit about what I&#8217;ve collected so far.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:01:05] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Firstly, we&#8217;ve got Phase 3. This has been called a few things over the years: collaborative editing, multiplayer, co-editing. But whatever it&#8217;s been called, the biggest changes to writing and design workflows are likely to happen in this phase. A redesigned workflow can be a bit of a shock. But fortunately, we already have a prototype out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll include a link to some resources in the show notes, or of course, you can always stop by make.WordPress.org/core for some insights. But I would encourage you to, at the very least, get your hands on that prototype to see what it looks like is coming in Phase 3 so that you can be aware and provide your feedback.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next thing on our list is Data Liberation. This is a new-to-us project that was introduced at State of the Word. Fortunately, though, it&#8217;s not a new concept overall. Data Liberation is actually one of the earliest ideas that sold me on WordPress. The idea that you could set up a site for a client, or yourself, and that hard work wasn&#8217;t lost if something went wrong, was really important to me. It&#8217;s been a long time since we put any effort into our importers and exporters, and I think this will be a good focus for the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:02:14] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The next thing that I&#8217;ve picked up, kind of a list of three things, but there are three mid-sized areas that I want us to pay attention to this year: plugins, old tickets, and new meetups.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plugins, because they really have turned a corner on where they ended 2023. A lot of work has been done to make sure that they&#8217;ve streamlined some efforts, gotten some better onboarding for folks as they&#8217;re going in, and we could really use a hand to keep that momentum going.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old tickets, because it&#8217;s something that we hope for year after year when we&#8217;re talking to people about what they want in new releases. So often, part of what they say is some way to work through all of these old things that have been around forever, some with patches. And why not, after all?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then new meetups, because I really still think that meetups are the best intro to WordPress. No matter whether you&#8217;re wanting to become a developer eventually or, like, the community-building aspect is the thing that hooks you forever. Meetups are the place to encourage those and discover those.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:20] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The next thing on my list is also two things. It&#8217;s two things, but kind of a guess at the moment. There are two summit items that I want us to try to consider this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the first one is contributor recognition. Acknowledgment and recognition, I think, are two different things, and there was an entire series of sessions at the summit where we talked about it. And so I think that it&#8217;s worth us digging in on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other thing from the summit that I would really like us to all kind of dig in on is accessibility, how we do it, how we confirm it, what we think we should do versus what we actually do, and see what we can move on the needle there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the last thing is sort of a personal wish. I think it&#8217;s about time that we take a look at the way that we kind of manage ourselves as a project, the way that we do our meetings and report on our successes, things like that. And I realize that this is a big thing, and it might be a little bit scary. But, I mean, we&#8217;ve been doing this for a really long time, and it&#8217;s probably as good a time as any, frankly, to look at what we&#8217;re doing by habit or tradition and see if it still suits us.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that&#8217;s my back of the napkin set of notes so far. Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for the annual Big Picture post so you can get some context, notes, and discussion opportunities. And, of course, anything that has shown up that&#8217;s a bit bigger, a bit more final will be in there as well.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, our small list of big things. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:52] (Music interlude)&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:00] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Firstly, State of the Word had nearly 200 questions submitted, and Matt has been answering the overflow on make.WordPress.org/project. So, I&#8217;ll include a link, but head on over there to that post if you would like to catch up on those.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the second item, and last item, is that you&#8217;ve got a few more days left to give us feedback on WordPress meetups in 2023, and give us an idea of what we can do to improve those. I believe those close on January 14th. I really love my local meetup, and I hope that we can get some of that same sort of feeling going in all of yours, too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:33] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You&#8217;ll get a friendly reminder whenever there&#8217;s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser, or if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at wpbriefing@WordPress.org.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thanks again for tuning in for the WordPress Briefing, and I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:02] (Music outro)&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:\"Mon, 08 Jan 2024 13:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Brett McSherry\";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:153:\"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #94 – State of the Word, Gutenberg 17.2, 17.3 and 17.4, WordPress 6.5, Migrating from Classic Theme to Block Theme\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=26968\";s:7:\"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:163:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-94-state-of-the-word-gutenberg-17-2-17-3-and-17-4-wordpress-6-5-migrating-from-classic-theme-to-block-theme/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61310:\"<p>In this episode, Sarah Norris and Birgit discuss State of the Word, Gutenberg 17.2, 17.3 and 17.4. They take a sneak peek at the WordPress 6.5 roadmap, and they discuss steps on migrating from a classic theme to a block theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-94-state-of-the-word-gutenberg-17-2-17-3-and-17-4-wordpress-6-5-migrating-from-classic-theme-to-block-theme/#shownotes\">Show Notes</a> / <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-69-gutenberg-releases-wordpress-6-0-1-the-create-block-theme/#transcript\">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Music:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://soundcloud.com/xirclebox\">Homer Gaines</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/\">Sandy Reed</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://markuraine.com/\">Mark Uraine</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://icodeforapurpose.com\">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-larger-font-size\" id=\"shownotes\"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Special Guest:&nbsp;<strong>Sarah Norris</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>JavaScript Developer 6.4 editor tech co-lead</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikachan/\">WordPress Profile @mikachan</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://sekai.co.uk/\">Personal website: sekai.co.uk</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/mikachan_\">Twitter: @mikachan_</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">State of the Word</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/state-of-the-word-redesign-developer-resources-block-theme-updates-weekend-edition-278/\">State of the Word, (and more) — Weekend Edition 278</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a> </strong>&#8211; <a href=\"https://github.com/wordpress/data-liberation\">GitHub repository</a>&nbsp;| Slack channel: <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C069AKUBPHB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">#data-liberation</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">New WordPress events page</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress 6.5 </h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/07/roadmap-to-6-5/\">Roadmap to 6.5</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tracking issues of features already in Gutenberg plugin and ready for testing\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/55277\">Font Library</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/53705\">Syncing specific blocks and attributes of patterns</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/55083\">New data views for templates, template parts, and patterns in the Site Editor</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/55776\">Robust revisions</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/54336\">background image support for the Group block</a>,</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/52632#top\">aligning page edit features in Site Editor and Post Editor</a></li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg plugin releases</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/06/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-2-6-december/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 17.2? (6 December)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 17.3? (20 December)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 17.4? (03 January)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Migrate classic to block theme</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/\">Health Check &amp; Troubleshooting</a>&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/\">Create a Block Theme</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul>\n<li>Did you like this episode? <a href=\"https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog\"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ping us on Twitter or send DMs with questions. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes\">@gutenbergtimes </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bph\">@bph</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/\">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li>\n</ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Hello, and welcome to our 94th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog Podcast and a happy New Year, dear listeners. I hope you all had a great time off during the holidays and a great start to the year 2024. I like the year 2024. 2023 wasn&#8217;t so good, but 2024 was good. In today&#8217;s episode, we will talk about State of the Word, Gutenberg 17.2, 3 and 4, and we take a sneak peek at the 6.5 WordPress roadmap, and we also discuss steps on migrating from a classic theme to a block theme.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and a full-time core contributor for WordPress open source project sponsored by Automattic&#8217;s Five for the Future program. And I&#8217;m thrilled to have as a guest today, Sarah Norris, JavaScript developer, theme builder and core contributor and editor core tech lead for WordPress 6.4, also sponsored by Automattic. Happy New Year to you too, Sarah. How are you today?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Happy New Year. I&#8217;m really good, thank you. I&#8217;m very ready to talk about all the work that&#8217;s been happening over the last few weeks, especially as we lead up to a fast approaching 6.5.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yes, it&#8217;s fast approaching and we are going to talk about that. But yeah, catching up on everything. The year-end vacation kind of always puts a little bit of a dent in being up-to-date with Gutenberg and the block editor and this is your chance to catch up on it. We have a big show, so it might go over the hour limit, but I hope we can get it brief.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Announcements &#8211; State of the Word</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So State of the Word, there was a lot of celebration around 2023 in the State of the Word and brought it to the WordPress community. And if you haven&#8217;t watched the keynote yet, there is a YouTube video. There&#8217;s also a YouTube video about the Q&amp;A afterwards and I&#8217;ll share the link to the Weekend Edition 228. That&#8217;s the last one on Good Work Times where I shared a ton of links, so this will be in the show notes, but it was the first State of the Word outside of US, a huge success with livestream on multiple channels. And is there anything that stood out for you, Sarah?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yes. Yeah, so much fun. It was such a good State of the Word. So it was discussed how many&#8230; the number of WordCamps that&#8217;s increased. So I think we&#8217;ve doubled the number of WordCamps and Meetups, and that has to come in more and more countries as well. I attended the first UK WordCamp, so the first UK WordCamp since the pandemic last September. It was so much fun. It was held in Whitley Bay, which is in the northeast of England, and I&#8217;d just love for everyone in the WordPress community to experience this, and as the number of meets and word camps grow, I hope everyone is able to attend. It&#8217;s almost like&#8230; unable to put it into words how good it is attending local events and being part of your local community as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, it&#8217;s the live, the person-to-person interaction. It&#8217;s kind of how relationships are built and it&#8217;s such a richer experience than just doing it online. And I just happened to think of it, but there is a new page on wordpress.org, it&#8217;s called Events, it&#8217;s <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">wordpress.org/events</a> and it has a big map with all the events happening and a list and you can filter down to location or what type of events. And so you learn about all the local Meetups, so if there isn&#8217;t one near you, there is the chance that you could actually start one. Yeah, it&#8217;s a lot of work and it&#8217;s a ton of fun. For about four years, I organized the meetup in Florida when I was still living there and I had so much fun with the local community, and I was always up-to-date on WordPress because I had to do a little intro every time and&#8230; Great speakers. So it&#8217;s a ton of fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you want to do that, the make.community&#8230; No, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/\">make.wordpress.org/community</a>, that&#8217;s a handbook for meetup organizers and work group organizers, and out of the small cell of a local meetup will grow the bigger one. That&#8217;s the WordCamp. Yeah, thank you for letting me rant on about this. I&#8217;m by heart a community organizer, so I&#8217;m kind of really happy about&#8230; That those come back. Although we doubled the number of WordCamps, there is still a lot of work to be done to get on the level of pre-pandemic. So 2018 and &#8217;19, we had about 140 WordCamps around the world, which is double the number that we had last year. So we are on the way because it&#8217;s going to be maybe a hockey stick growth rate there with all the local Meetups coming back. All right, so back to State of the Word, what else stood out for you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I&#8217;d also like to give Playground a shout-out. It&#8217;s become one of my absolute favorite tools to use when developing and testing for Gutenberg and also when building themes and plugins. I&#8217;m just so excited for what the future holds for this tool and just well done to everyone involved in building such an amazing tool as well. Yeah, I&#8217;d recommend everyone check it out if you haven&#8217;t already.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, check it out. WordPress Playground. It&#8217;s actually WordPress in a browser. You don&#8217;t need a local server and you can have a plugin, can use it for demos as can themes, but it&#8217;s also&#8230; Some of the tutorial educational content will have some Playground links as well so you can see how it actually works and&#8230; Without having you setting up all your local development and all that, so it&#8217;s really cool. Yeah. I think they&#8217;re also working on a VS Code extension, so you get a little WordPress button in your left taskbar and then you click on it, and then from the directory you can call up the Playground instance. So that would be really cool. It&#8217;s still in the works, but I think that&#8217;s the goal for it, yeah. Anything else that stood out from State of the Word?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yes. Yeah, I&#8217;m also excited about the admin redesign, so yeah, I&#8217;m just looking forward to&#8230; I think this is another maybe long anticipated feature. Yeah, like anything, any big redesign of any long-standing tool is always exciting and I think this is&#8230; Yeah, it&#8217;s just going to be incredible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, it is. Yeah. And that&#8217;s the unification of all the list views on&#8230; List of posts, list of pages, list of categories that I haven&#8217;t tackled yet, but the list of templates. So it&#8217;s all a unified kind of system. So I really excited about that too. And it looks so modern. It looks so&#8230; Like, &#8220;Oh, this is from the 21st century.&#8221; Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Exactly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Well, what stood out for me was kind of a little bit a higher level thing from State of the Word. There was a data liberation project that Matt Mullenweg announced. That&#8217;s a community initiative to bring all the tools that agencies and hosting companies put together for migration in and out of WordPress. So in and out of&#8230; From Wix to WordPress, from Squarespace to WordPress, from Google Docs to WordPress and all that. And I think that is a really good step forward to the open web, that a user or a site owner can take a hold of their own data and they&#8217;re not beholden to a centralized kind of system that doesn&#8217;t let you get out of it once you have signed up for it because the switching costs are too high or not possible at all and you have to start all over again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think that is a really good initiative. We&#8217;ll see how it plays out in the next year of course, but there are some&#8230; So I&#8217;ll share a few links in the show notes about that. And the other thing that stood out for me was everybody was waiting for the date of WordCamp US, which is September 20&#8230; No, what is it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: September 17th to September 20th. Yeah, September next&#8230; This year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: September was good. So September 17th through the 20th, and if you count the dates right, there are two days&#8230; Contributor day and two-day conference. So this is kind of a new format and I&#8217;m excited to see that and how that plays out. So that&#8217;s it from the State of the Word. Anything else?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: No, I think that&#8217;s it from the State of the Word.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Of course, we also have a lot of recap posts if you&#8217;re not into video watching, it&#8217;s also on the link then.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress 6.5</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So next up, WordPress 6.5, that&#8217;s the release coming now and it&#8217;s fast approaching. We have a schedule, so Beta 1 is scheduled for February 13th, 2024. That is feature freeze kind of thing. And I did a calculation, 38 days from today, and today&#8217;s January 5th. And the last Gutenberg release that&#8217;s going to make it new, feature-wise, will be 17.7, which is actually only three Gutenberg releases away. It&#8217;s fast approaching. After Beta 1 comes weekly Beta 2 and Beta 3 with bug fixes after testing and then brings us to release candidate one for March 5th, though in exactly two months, March 5th, 2024. That is the deadline for string freeze and also for developer notes to be published and collected in the field guide that accompanies every major release release candidate is actually right before WordCamp Asia, which takes place on March 7th through ninth.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this is great timing because everybody who wants to go to WordCamp Asia already has a release candidate. Whoever is on the release squad can&#8230; Oh, release candidate&#8217;s done. So the major work for the release is probably done by that time and that&#8217;s a good thing. You don&#8217;t want to be on a WordCamp and have to deal with releases at all. Yeah. Final release is scheduled for March 26th, 2024. So here is your schedule for that. That seems to be a pretty good schedule in terms of spacing out the betas and release candidate, that&#8217;s some kind of tradition with WordPress release. You were on 6.4. How is the weekly kind of updates and what goes into next beta and all that? Is it particularly important?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, yeah, the dates are important. It&#8217;s almost like time&#8230; If you didn&#8217;t think time went quick enough already, being part of a WordPress release. Yeah, I think one of my ways to deal with the release dates is usually I have a deadline for myself that&#8217;s just ahead of the important dates. So usually the Friday before a date, but also that reduces the time, because I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m stressing myself out more. No, it&#8217;s all good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> No, it&#8217;s all good. I think you need the Monday to do all the backboards and then&#8230; The beta releases and release candidates are all on Tuesdays because Wednesday is too late, and if you want to move it, you could move it to Wednesdays, but you don&#8217;t want to release anything on Thursday or Friday because then the whole weekend is kind of full with anxiety and communication and feedback, kind of that.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Roadmap 6.5</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, so early December, Anne McCarthy has published the roadmap for 6.4, and it&#8217;s a very long post and we are certainly not going to&#8230; We would need to have another two-hour show to go through it in detail, but let&#8217;s look at the highlights for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it has four major topics from the editor part, that&#8217;s design tools, that&#8217;s adoption pathways, the foundational experience, which is some of the redesign, and new APIs. And I think the first three are really interesting for users and those who build interfaces for others but not&#8230; Or do site builders that are no-code. So the fonts library, we are waiting for that for quite a while now, but I think it&#8217;s coming into 6.5 eventually, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yes. Yeah, a long anticipated feature coming to core. Yeah, so this brings font management directly to core, allowing users to edit and remove custom fonts all within the editor. It has been available from Gutenberg 16.7, so there&#8217;s some underlying changes currently going on, but if you do want to test it, you can already test it using the Gutenberg plugin. But yes, a brand new redesigned API and the UI will be coming to 6.5 and yes, it&#8217;s extremely exciting. I know I&#8217;ve spoken to so many users who are looking forward to this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And the waiting was really hard on those users that are looking forward to them because it got pulled from the 6.4 release at pretty much last minute, like Beta 2 or something like that, because it wasn&#8217;t ready for the REST API kind of thing. What&#8217;s also coming is sync specific blocks and patterns. We have sync patterns, but it&#8217;s the partially synced patterns where you can change layout and styling of a pattern, but not the content. Right now, synced patterns are when you change something on the pattern and it changes through all the instances that it was synced, but if you have partially synced, you can kind of have a little bit&#8230; You have a granular control on what should be synced, a role of the pattern instance that it was used, and what shouldn&#8217;t, and I think that is pretty much, as of this week, ready for testing. We probably need to wait for 17.5 to get it into Gutenberg plugin, but look out for that release to start testing on this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third item in the design tools was the section specific theme.json and Colorways. So you have multiple palettes that introduce some of the sections that you use in your theme and have a different color palette that you can style it with. I think that&#8217;s the idea there. I think the work is on the Group Block right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s right. Yeah, it&#8217;s like sectioning off the theme.json&#8230; Well, specifically at the moment just for colors, but I think this will be great. It&#8217;s kind of like a great gateway into expanding the design tools, especially for theme builders. And like you say, this is only going to apply to the Group Block, but it&#8217;s a good example, for instance, of a theme author being able to provide colors that work well together, but in a specific instance, so just for the Group Block. So you could make sure that text is accessible in that specific instance. I think it plays a really exciting future for splitting up theme.json, also because theme.json can get really long as well and that file can get big. So yeah, I think it&#8217;s heading in the right direction with this as well, to splitting it all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I think it also bridges the gaps between&#8230; I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s part of it, I need to test it out, but when you have styling for certain blocks or block styles, those don&#8217;t have the design tools to further style them later on. And I think this will be one that&#8217;s built out, not just for the group log or for a certain instance, it could help with the additional styles that theme developers offer their users to also give additional styling to them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: All right. And then on the roadmap, there&#8217;s a section adoption pathways, and that is to make certain features available for classic themes or make them easier to handle support for appearance tools and classic themes. So I think we have one of the change log items that we discussed further is about colors and dual tone and color settings, and then also improved pattern management for classic themes. Yeah. You wanted to say?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I was just saying yes to the features that are coming up in the Gutenberg releases we&#8217;re talking about. Yeah, I noticed there was a lot in relation to the appearance but also the classic themes. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And then for the foundational experience, that&#8217;s the part where the data views come in on the roadmap and they will come in for templates, template parts and patterns in the site editor. At least that&#8217;s on the roadmap, but they are also&#8230; You can already test those, but you need to open up the experiments tab for that to switch them on and then you can see them for pages, you can see them for&#8230; Patterns? No, not patterns. Patterns is the only one that doesn&#8217;t work yet, but for templates and template parts, and definitely a feature that needs feedback, that needs definitely testing and bug fixing, especially for backwards compatibility for the previous versions. That&#8217;s definitely something, if you want to dive into how things are going. The next one, it&#8217;s called robust revisions. Do you know what that is about, Sarah?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: So this is improving revisions but across multiple places. So I think we&#8217;ve started templates and template parts, so they&#8217;ll now show revisions alongside style revisions and you can also compare this revision side-by-side as well, which I think is brand new. And we&#8217;ve also added pagination. So yeah, a whole ton of improvements for revisions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Right. Yeah, definitely.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: We&#8217;re also integrated with the style book now. This may be coming up as well, I think in the change log, but yeah, we integrated with the style book.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s definitely something you need to test, you want to test and it&#8217;s a part of the bigger project also to have revisions for any post metadata, which hasn&#8217;t happened in WordPress before. So a lot of plugins probably will be happy to use those revisions screen when they&#8217;re ready and available for extensions as well. And then one thing I&#8217;m pretty excited about, but it has also seemed to be quite a complex issue to actually have a customizable Navigation Block for mobile headings or navigation, the little hamburger, what goes in and what goes out because it&#8217;s never going&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the time it&#8217;s not one-to-one with the normal site navigation, but there will be an overlay that you can switch in and out, but it seems to be quite complicated. I looked at some of the issues, one of the issues exactly, and it has a long discussion on which way to go on it. So it&#8217;s still in the design phase, I believe. Not sure if it&#8217;s going to make it to 6.5, but maybe it&#8217;s easy once the design questions are all answered to then dive into the development. But yeah, computers are involved, so nothing is really easy. I don&#8217;t know how you see that, if you have some insight into that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I know it&#8217;s a lot. So I think on the face of it, especially because it sounds like it&#8217;s a section of the Navigation Block, but I think when if&#8230; Anyone who&#8217;s built a responsive navigation knows it&#8217;s not simple, so then as soon as you start trying to do it, to cater for so many of the people to be able to build this kind of tool. Yeah, it&#8217;s pretty complicated, but there&#8217;s some really good work going into this, some good conversations. Yeah, we&#8217;ll get there. And I think all the discussions and a long design discussion, it always ends up with a good first pass.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And then there are three new APIs coming with different outlooks, kind of, or goals. The Interactivity API we have been talking about for about a year now, and some of the Core Blocks are using it in a private API, but for 6.5 it&#8217;s coming out of experimental and will be a public API for everybody who develops blocks to be able to use the custom fields API and binding API, I&#8217;m not quite sure how far along they are. They haven&#8217;t been released yet in a private API kind of setting. I&#8217;m not sure they&#8217;re actually going to make it. There will be underlying&#8230; They will support some of the new features but in a private API to see if they all work as they&#8217;re supposed to be working. I think that&#8217;s pretty much the high level idea about that. And then lastly there will be some&#8230; There&#8217;s PHB compatibility work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a rollback between plugin and themes, updates with automatic updates. That has been testing also for quite a few months and is supposed to come also a better handling of plugin dependencies. And of course, the performance team does a fantastic job in going after all those performance improvements that are possible with WordPress, be it for the block editor or for PHP or for the backend as well. So those are also coming to 6.5. But as Matias and Matt said, just because we say phase two is done, doesn&#8217;t mean the work is done. So there will be UX iterations and quite a few listview background image support for Group Block, some of it is already there. Then revisiting template versus content editing modes. That kind of confuses a lot of people. &#8220;Are we adding a template or am I adding a page or what am I doing here?&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those questions come up with testing quite a bit. And then what has been progressed quite a while is to align the edit features that are available in the site editor and the post editor. So it can be reused is pretty much&#8230; That&#8217;s one thing. And users, the advantage of it is that users don&#8217;t have to relearn what&#8217;s available in which editor because they&#8230; Maybe that&#8217;s also part of the confusion that we have on, are we editing templates or content. And so the background image support and the aligning the features are ready for testing. I think there has been some great progress made in the Gutenberg releases. And then the last point is adding box shadow component. There is box shadow support, but I think it&#8217;s only made available for theme.json level but not for user interfaces. Is that right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s right. Yeah. So the work for 6.5 will expose this to the UI as well, so end users can use the box shadow component as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. We&#8217;ll see how that all&#8230; And then the last thing that&#8217;s on the roadmap is that the minimum version for MySQL is going to be raised from 5.0 to 5.5.5. Very specific, but look out for it and talk to your hosting company to make sure that there is an upgrade path if you&#8217;re still on an older MySQL version. All right, so anything else about the roadmap that you want to add?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: No, I think that was everything. It&#8217;s a very long roadmap.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s ambitious. Yeah. Roadmaps are always quite ambitious. And then you see on Gutenberg 17.6, we&#8217;ll see how we wiggle down that ambition a little bit and kind of what&#8217;s realistic and then we&#8217;ll see what&#8217;s coming into 17.7. Yeah, that&#8217;s the last one.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s Released &#8211; Gutenberg 17.2</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All right, so let&#8217;s go into the weeds. And we start with Gutenberg 17.2, it was released on December 6th. Wow, that&#8217;s a month ago. And there were a few things that stand out and one was the data views, and that added extra context to&#8230; So the data views are the ones that are in the admin section, the list of things, list of properties or entities or whatever you call it, I call them things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so there are quite a few features in the old admin screen that needed to come in a better way into the new admin screen. And there was kind of a filter row, the table header pagination and there&#8217;s extra&#8230; You can now scroll down and have the larger data sets. You don&#8217;t have to scroll up and down. So there&#8217;s a sticky table header that&#8217;s really good. That wasn&#8217;t available in the old one. So that&#8217;s the first&#8230; Yay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s very helpful, especially when the scroll bar is really long, so you don&#8217;t have to remember&#8230; The pagination is also sticky as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh yeah, that&#8217;s great.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Same with that, you don&#8217;t have to scroll&#8230; Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Good. And then one of the things is that drag and drop is now a little bit more refined. There was a problem to drag and drop to the beginning of a post or page and to the end, and contributors have figured out how to make this better and actually functioning. And so it kind of virtually enlarges the area. It was really irritating that you could do it in the second one. You can drag into between the first one and the second one, and then you had to move it up if you wanted to get a block to the beginning of something. So it&#8217;s really good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, yeah, it was really finicky. It was like you were fighting with the top on the blocks. It was just like it wants to drag you into this, but yeah, and now you don&#8217;t have to fight.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, yeah. I also think that the drop zones are better marked now than at the previous versions of the block editor. So I&#8217;m really grateful for that. I just it saw, that the list view&#8230; You can also now drag into a collapse block in the list view, which is really cool. So you don&#8217;t have to just first expand a block to put additional blocks into a Group Block or a Columns Block or something like that. So you can just drag it there. Of course, the order of that, that&#8217;s random. But yeah, once you get them in, you can organize it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s cool. It&#8217;s less clicks, it should be less clicks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Do you want to take the next one?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, what else have we got? So we&#8217;ve also got the adding the toolbar for distraction free mode. So distraction free mode removes all of the UI? All the UI. So you are only looking at your content and you&#8217;re only&#8230; So you can write a long blog post hopefully. The problem with this is that it could be hard to format some of the content. So this brings in the toolbar when you mouse over the top of the editor, it&#8217;ll bring in toolbar when you&#8217;re in distraction free mode. So yeah, I recommend checking that out as well, if you haven&#8217;t checked that distraction free one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, I really like it. And it should be actually a default setting for the writers of the users that still like the white box from the old classic block editor that&#8230; And there is no distraction, every time you move the mouse or you move the keyword, there&#8217;s something popping up and coming down and you don&#8217;t remember where it was and what it was and it kind of totally gets you out of the flow for your writing session. So distraction free mode is a really&#8230; Extension there, and refinement definitely helps with all the writing tools in the block editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the Gallery Block now has styled scroll bars for the image captions, which is really an additional design tool because the image captions were always a little bit randomly placed on the Gallery Block. Yeah. The Interactivity API, they add&#8230; Luis Herranz, I think, did the proposal to have the Interactivity API use modals instead of scripts on the front end, which kind of makes it native JavaScript&#8230; A little bit closer to native JavaScript. So I think that&#8217;s for the developers amongst us to check out. And do you have any thoughts about that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I&#8217;m really excited about the Interactivity API going out into the world. I think it really opens up&#8230; Well, so I&#8217;m from a front-end development background, so if I wasn&#8217;t already working at Gutenberg and I was building WordPress sites, I would be really excited about this. I&#8217;d be looking forward to using it so much. Yeah, it&#8217;s basically&#8230; I don&#8217;t want to say it&#8217;s React and you can look under the hood, what it actually is, but yeah, it basically surfaces so much functionality to the WordPress front end.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: There wasn&#8217;t before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Especially you&#8217;re building custom block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So check it out as it&#8217;s coming to 6.5 as a public API, so let&#8217;s definitely start checking it out. There are efforts to bring introductions to the Interactivity API as well as case studies to the developer blog. I&#8217;m not quite sure they will be ready by March, but definitely subscribe to the WordPress developer blog on developer.org&#8230; <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/\">wordpress.org/news</a>. So you get notifications when there&#8217;s a new post coming up, and it actually has some great additional tutorials in there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking about documentation, there was an initiative to put the fundamentals of block development, rewrite some of that or put it in a different order. So when you&#8217;re trying to learn more about block development, that the official documentation in the block editor handbook helps you get started and learn all the concepts about the file structure, registration of a block, the block wrapper, working with JavaScript and the block, what block.json can do for you, landing and first pages and the landing pages and all. And they&#8217;re all kind of getting a revamp.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, Riad, I think it&#8217;s mainly Riad Benguella who is also writing the documentation for using Gutenberg as a framework, as a platform outside the WordPress context. It hasn&#8217;t been published yet, but if you fork the Gutenberg repo and you can start reading it. And he has some great tutorials on attributes, definitions, transform pages and blocks, and also the block supports for the framework, which is a little bit&#8230; Works a little bit differently than in the WordPress context, of course. So this is pretty new on the&#8230; And then, of course, there&#8217;s always some work to be done on the documentation with the new components, theme.json, and also template names and web pack options and all that. So this is highly technical and I would suggest you read the change log on the documentation part, if you&#8217;re interested in that and learning about new things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think, yeah, it&#8217;s also the Create Block scaffolding. I don&#8217;t know if you have used it, Sarah, but I&#8217;m a big fan of that scaffolding tool since the beginning because I don&#8217;t have to remember all the things I need for a plugin that has a block. And you can also use an interactive template that makes the new block ready-to-use Interactivity API. And because there&#8217;s a new Store API for the Interactivity API, the Create Block scaffolding tool has already been updated to use that. So this is pretty cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s very cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Very cool. And I think that&#8217;s it from Gutenberg 17.2, and we go right headfirst into 17.3. Do you want to start us off?</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg 17.3</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, sure. So this also included many improvements to the revision changes like we highlighted before 6.5. So 17.3 included adding a brief summary of the revision changes to global styles. So when you view the revisions in global styles and you click on the dates, it&#8217;ll now give you a brief summary of the blocks that would change and the styles&#8230; Yeah, the blocks that would change with the style changes. Yeah, it&#8217;s very good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s excellent. And there&#8217;s also enhancement of the social icons that is now using or adding the Gravatar service and it&#8217;s also updated. Well, sometimes I&#8217;m really cool. I&#8217;m really excited when I see consistency be applied to all the controls. So the default typography controls are now consistent across all the blocks, because different contributors write the different pieces of it, and then once you have the pieces you kind of need to see, okay, how can it make this a little bit more consistent, because then it&#8217;s easier on the eye end. You don&#8217;t have to worry, why is that distance longer than the other one, or whatever. So that is really good work. It&#8217;s God&#8217;s work, but it&#8217;s not always appreciated or seen that much. So I wanted to point that out. The same is also&#8230; Or the color dimensions of the List items Block, I think that&#8217;s new. That&#8217;s an enhancement for the List Block. So you can do the margins and the padding around list items. You can also have controls over it. It&#8217;s really cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: The preference is modal as well. It&#8217;s also had a nice update, maybe something you wouldn&#8217;t expect to see updates for, but in 17.3, it&#8217;s had an organization update with the introduction of some new panels for appearance and accessibility settings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s really cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Nice UX enhancement.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh yeah, there were also some updates to the external&#8230; Have you ever noticed the external images panel in the Post publish sidebar?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yes. Yeah, right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: That&#8217;s such a cool feature. So what does it do? And it kind of seems to be unnoticed, but it helps you. So if you copy paste from a different webpage or from Google Docs into your block editor canvas, out of the box or automatically, it links the images from the original space. So once you publish it and you delete the Google doc where&#8230; Yeah, all of a sudden your images go away or if you migrated from a different webpage, those external images don&#8217;t come automatically over. So each of the images in the toolbar has an upload to your own media library. But if you have 10 images, you don&#8217;t want to do it one at a time. And when you publish the post, the pre-published view has kind of thumbnails of all the images that are external and gives you a button to upload them all at once into your media library before you publish your post. I think that&#8217;s genius.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: It is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Because in the preview you see the images because the original place still has them, and all of a sudden the post goes away. We actually have met the developer blog quite a bit when&#8230; So it&#8217;s a really cool feature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, it is. It&#8217;s something that&#8217;s maybe easily forgotten about as well because like you say, if you&#8217;re copying and pasting, like a lot of people do, and then you&#8217;re just like, &#8220;Yeah, they&#8217;re showing, they&#8217;re fine,&#8221; and you can just easily forget about them. Yeah, so really good feature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, really good. Well done, Ella. So was that all that we had? I think there wasn&#8217;t a whole lot of&#8230; In that release, but I like all the accessibility improvements that are listed in there and the performance as well. There&#8217;s quite a few performance improvements, just because improving the code quality and having not so many calls to the same feature or same store kind of reduces that load times and the reloading of things. The experiments, I&#8217;m pretty much done with that. Are we? 17.3?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I think there&#8217;s one about the update for matching the front-end layout class names between the editor and the front end. So it&#8217;s a minor change, but I think anyone who&#8217;s working with CSS, especially with WordPress, will appreciate any updates like this where the generated layout class name in the editor will now match to the front end.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: So yeah, it&#8217;s a nice little enhancement.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So those who have dealt with that before, they need to revisit the code to not&#8230; Are there compatibility issues with that or&#8230;?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: No, I don&#8217;t think so. I think just going forward the class names will match. So I guess previously there would be a lot more work involved, so things should be more simple going forward. So I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any backwards compatibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Good, good, good. Yeah, sometimes I wonder when CSS changes come. And we had a few hiccups with releases there as well. Yeah. All right, well, we are really good.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg 17.4</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We are through 17.3, and then this week Gutenberg 17.4 was released and also had a few highlights, and definitely the unification between site and post editor has progressed rapidly. So now we have Page Attributes panel, post taxonomies panel, the view link thing, panel. Discussion panel and feature image panels are now available also in the site editor. And that&#8217;s really good. So when you create pages and edit pages, you have all the tools that you need there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Next one, there&#8217;s so many improvements to the DataViews as well with this release. So we&#8217;ve stabilized the experience of the template screen, making it available outside the experiments flag and without the additional views options, but templates have been marked as stable. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So DataViews testing is now on. If you install, you can use the plugin also on the test site or on Playground and install it there and test those template pages. So the DataViews of that is really&#8230; You can start now. For the design tools, the 17.4 has the first iteration of support background image in the Group&#8230; Well, we had background image in the Group Block before, but now it also has some tools, controls for the background size and also for tiling or repeat feature on the background image. So there&#8217;s a cover option there that means it covers the whole size of the Group Block, or you could have a contains option that it contains the aspect ratio and the Group Block can display something on top or below. But with that you can also enable the repeat feature and then it would only repeat in one dimension.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if the block is longer than the image, then it would repeat in the height of it and if the Group Block is wider than the background image, then it would tile it in the width of it. And then there&#8217;s a custom size. So you can say, &#8220;Okay, use that background image but only in the size of 200 width and then repeat it.&#8221; And then it gives you the repetition over the full set of the Group Block. Did I explain this right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, expanding the background image options to include cover and contain, and then with all those options you just described. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And I think that&#8217;s pretty cool because then you can have some great&#8230; Well, some people say it reminds them of GeoCities, but that&#8217;s not a bad thing. Giving more controls to the user and to designers to make some interesting layouts and interesting designs for the websites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: And I think anything that reminds me of GeoCities can only be a good thing. Maybe that&#8217;s just my age showing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Or mine. I love it. Played quite a bit of a part. The next step?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: We&#8217;ve also got some updates&#8230; Yeah, the global Styles revision. So we mentioned these as part of the 6.5 roadmap, but as part of 17.4 we&#8217;ve got some updates to the revisions for adding pagination and the integration into the Style Book. So global Styles revisions, you can now navigate between lots of different revisions over multiple pages of revisions and you can also see them from the Style Book itself as well. And I think that that really highlights the Style Book as such a useful tool as well, especially for styling. It&#8217;s in the name, Style Book, but especially for styling many blocks, many blocks at a different&#8230; Sorry, at the same time, rather than&#8230; I don&#8217;t know if maybe some people who are new to the editor may feel that they have to edit certain sections in different places because things feel new and they&#8217;re all over the place. If you start with the style book and you can see all the blocks in one place, I think it may help understand how they all interact with the different styling and how they interact with each other as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And the Style Book is actually something that I, at the beginning of the block editor when I was trying to figure out if they&#8230; In 2018 actually, trying to figure out if we should enable the block editor for certain websites, and I was putting all the blocks in one post and then make them available for that particular site. And then we were able to look through it, how do the blocks behave? Whereas the styles need to be adjusted so they actually show the cover block and all that. And the Style Book is really replacing that totally. But it&#8217;s really helpful for&#8230; As you said, you have so many places where you can change the appearance of a block, of an element, more of a&#8230; That, or of a section, that it&#8230; Or in a post or globally on the style IU, you sometimes have a hard time figuring out, &#8220;Where did I change that or where is that red line coming from?&#8221; So the Style Book really helps you with that, to kind of track that down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: We&#8217;ve also got the right-click for blocks. So yeah. So in the list view, yeah. So you can now right-click blocks in the list view, so on the left-hand side when you&#8217;re in the editor, and it&#8217;ll open the block settings panel for that block. And I think this is super cool because it makes Gutenberg feel a lot more like an app. It already feels like an app. And then we&#8217;ve got the admin redesign coming as well, and now we&#8217;re going to have right-click menus. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, right-click menus. Yay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Right, yeah. Right-click menus, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And that&#8217;s the block settings menu that will come up. That&#8217;s where you have add, before and after, copy things, create patterns. Those are the menu items that are in the block settings menu that shows up when you right-click on a block in the list view. It also makes you streamline the whole process quite a bit because you only have one list view and you don&#8217;t have to scroll up and down the canvas, you can just kind of collapse and expand on the list view and do some fine-tuning there. What&#8217;s also quite interesting here is in 17.4, all the performance enhancements or improvements that people are working on as well, most of them, again, also store subscriptions and improvements that take down the load times and the reload times. So that is definitely yay to the performance improvements. There are quite&#8230; I don&#8217;t know, I haven&#8217;t counted them, but it might be 40 or so items that are concerning the data view.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that experiment is really progressing quite a bit. So even if that&#8217;s the template part, you can enable the experiment and then get all the other data views as well to test things. Yeah, list view, the sync patterns is kind of working. Yeah, the documentation updates, one is that there is a new build your first block tutorial in the Getting Started section of the block editor handbook. And I&#8217;m not quite sure how finished that is, but it&#8217;s definitely something to keep an eye out for that, as it made the start of your block development experience easier than before. At least, that&#8217;s the hope. And if it doesn&#8217;t, yell at us. It&#8217;s good to get your frustrations out because that&#8217;s how we learn, we&#8217;ve got to get over it, then we need to get back to it. I did one of the courses, the data layer introduction course on <a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/\">learn.wordpress.org</a>, and I&#8217;ve really found it quite interesting to go through that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I learned so much about using the components also for plugin outside the block editor context and a plugin settings page, and also how to interact with the WordPress data. And I shared my enthusiasm for that course on Twitter. And then someone who also went through that said, &#8220;Well, it&#8217;s not always quite clear which code examples need to be changed to get to the next step.&#8221; And I said, &#8220;Yeah, you&#8217;re not alone.&#8221; And I definitely have a set of notes for that, for the faculty member who created the course, but I also found it quite satisfying that I actually figured out what needs to happen. And that&#8217;s part of the learning piece, that you cement the learning so much better when you figure it out yourself than somebody spoon feeding that to you. So I&#8217;m in two minds about that. But yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: You can fall into the trap of just copying and pasting everything, if everything is there. But I also understand examples are amazing to be in docs. So yeah, we need a good balance of just enough examples to get people to figure out the next thing on their own so they feel like they&#8217;ve learned something too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And I think it&#8217;s also&#8230; It might be the experience of a web developer that we had to figure out so much before on our own that it&#8217;s kind of part of the habit, too. &#8220;Yeah, it&#8217;s not working the first time.&#8221; That expectation is not there, so we always have to figure it out. Same with using different scripts and all that. As I said, computers are involved, easy is not always easy as it seems. But if you are on the developer path and you&#8217;re listening and want to learn something, they have some great courses on the learn.wordpress.org site, and they&#8217;re relatively fast to get through. Not always easy, as we said, but yeah. And speaking of which, the easy part, I think we are through with Gutenberg 17.4, right? So this time you got it, three Gutenberg releases in one hour, just about.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s in Active Development or Discussed <strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. But I sat down on a quest during the holidays&#8230; Or between the holidays or between the year, as we say in Germany, between the year, I sat on a quest to migrate the Gutenberg Times to block theme, and I now take the opportunity to have discussed that with Sarah, who&#8217;s the professional theme developer and builder of tools, to see if I&#8217;m on the right track. So I migrated Gutenberg Times off to a different hosting to Pressable. They&#8217;re very impressive. It&#8217;s a really great hosting company, but that was the first part of it. So now I wanted to scope out what needs to change visibly, and I thought, &#8220;Okay, how can I look at 2024 without changing my front end and without getting all my site door mixed up?&#8221; And I remembered there is this site health and troubleshooting plugin from the WordPress community where you can kind of switch to a different theme for the admin, but the front end stays the same.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The visitor sees what they see and you don&#8217;t change it. So I enabled the 2024 and the necessary plugins that I needed for content, like the plugin&#8230; The podcast plugin or the blocks that I have from a different plugin. I use the Post Grid block from the Genesis Blocks for a long time. So I needed to enable that. And then I navigated the site like I was the visitor and took notes. I have a list of to-do items, and so I get the scope for that. And now, but how do I execute that? So I was thinking, and I wanted to check with you, Sarah, if that&#8217;s the right approach or if there&#8217;s a better way to do this. So I would create a clone of my site, then install the Create Block Theme plugin, which is in the repository. Then I would activate for real the 2024 theme and then make the changes to the template, create new templates, change the styles of things, and then, what? I export the new theme and then upload it to the live site? Would that be a good place? Good way to do it?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Yes, I think so. A really good shout out to the Site Health plugin as well, I never would&#8217;ve thought of it. Yeah, it&#8217;s a good starting point. Yes, I think&#8230; So you&#8217;ve already created a clone of the site, so you&#8217;ve isolated a copy of your site, you&#8217;re working on that as a separate theme and then you&#8217;re going to export that as the new theme in order to activate it on your live site. So yeah, I think that sounds like a perfect workflow. The only other option I was thinking was that&#8230; But I don&#8217;t think in your specific case&#8230; I&#8217;m not sure how much it&#8217;d help, but just to put another option out there, Create Block Theme also has the option to start from scratch, so create a blank theme rather than starting with an existing theme.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I definitely would recommend starting with 2024, but I know that some people, especially if you&#8217;re used to designing from scratch or a blank canvas, some people might like to start from a blank theme and you do have that option with Create Block Theme. So yeah, you&#8217;ll get completely empty templates, empty pages, but it will be a block theme starting point, so you don&#8217;t have to figure out how to actually get started.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh, good. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: In the theme technical terms. But yeah, you&#8217;re ready to start inserting things into the page templates and creating new menus. So yeah, probably if you&#8217;ve got an existing site. I guess it depends on the layout, and you could also choose another existing block theme that maybe matches the current classic theme more closely. But yeah, so it depends on your use case. I guess the biggest thing to decide is where your starting point is going to be, whether it&#8217;s an existing theme, a default theme, or the blank theme that comes with Create Block Theme. But yeah, the approach you suggested sounds perfect. Yeah, export a new theme and then you can upload it somewhere. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. Yeah, so I&#8217;m not missing any step and then be surprised, like, &#8220;Oh no, that doesn&#8217;t work.&#8221; And start from scratch again. No, I think I want to start from an existing theme. So with the step on the Site Health and troubleshooting plugin, you could install&#8230; Or before you enable the troubleshooting mode on the plugin, install other plug themes. So I would think maybe Brian Gardner has some&#8230; Two block themes, the Frost and the Powder. Then Ellen Bauer has two great themes. One is the AinoBlock and the other of the Aino theme, but I think it was an earlier block theme. And then the latest one is MOOC, which is actually for magazine sites, which I am going to review again to see if that matches up. It&#8217;s quite a nice theme. And then my classic theme is Excel from&#8230; And there&#8217;s Norén, who also has quite a few block themes, and is actually an early adopter of block themes. And he has, I think, four or five block themes in there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;m not yet quite sure on my decision on the 2024 theme, but Eat Your Own Dog Food is probably&#8230; That&#8217;s where I&#8217;m going to end up. But I like exploring the different themes. And the troubleshooting mode on the plugin, SiteHealth plugin, is definitely helping quite easily because you don&#8217;t have to set up a new site and all that to just test out some of the themes. And of course I could do Playground&#8230; No, I can&#8217;t. Well, there are ideas around Playground to actually create a copy of your site and then you can test things out. But I think that&#8217;s not that far yet. But keep out, watch out for Playground, it can really help you with things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: At the moment, with Playground, you could install the Create Block Theme plugin in a Playground instance and then build a theme in that instance and then export it from there. So again, maybe not a hundred percent for your use case, but just to know there&#8217;s another option, yet another option out there. It&#8217;s good for isolating the WordPress instance, and you don&#8217;t have to worry about all the other things that come with it, like hosting and setting up WordPress, obviously all the benefits of Playground. So you can just start from Create Block Theme, basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: That&#8217;s so true. So any designer could just use Playground, click on one button on the Playground site and then install the plugin. And then once you&#8230; The Create Block Theme and then create from scratch or use the 2024 one and then export it and use it on any other site. But it goes away, right? Playground goes away again, when you close the browser, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: You can now change the option so it will persist. So yeah, there are other options. So if you&#8217;re looking for these options, they&#8217;re in the top right when you visit the Playground site. But yeah, so not everything disappears now when you close the Playground, you can persist it in the browser, in the browser history.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Wow, that&#8217;s fantastic. You don&#8217;t even need anything, any websites. Yeah, you can just use Playground to persist it. All right, well, this has been such a great show to talk to you about and chat about. Thank you so much, Sarah. So when people want to reach you, where do they find you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: I am mikachan or mikachan underscore. Someone else has already taken my username on everywhere, basically, on wordpress.org and Twitter and yeah. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Please reach out. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And I will share the contact information in the show notes so you can follow up with them. Well, this was the first show of 2024. Thank you so much, Sarah, for being here and being my&#8230; Keep me straight on the straight and narrow here. And as always, the show notes will be published on the <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/\">gutenbergtimes.com/podcast</a>. This is episode 94, and if you have questions or suggestions or news, just 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>. So thank you all for listening. Hope you all have a great 2024, and until the next time. Bye. Bye, Sarah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sarah Norris</em>: Bye.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 08 Jan 2024 11:48:16 +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: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:119:\"Gutenberg Times: Happy New Year, WordPress Enterprise, Developer Hours and an Interactive Game –  Weekend Edition 279\";s:7:\"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=26820\";s:7:\"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:83:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/happy-new-year-wordpress-enterprise-weekend-edition-279/\";s: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:21801:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wishing you and yours a prosperous, happy and healthy 2024, with a lot of success, lots of laughter and a lot of love. &nbsp;🤗 </p>\n\n\n\n<p>After two weeks of vacation, it&#8217;s been inspiring to catch up. Many developers, freelancers, and site builders use the downtime around the holidays to work on their side projects or sit down to write about their learnings. What was your side or writing project? I want to know! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For me, it meant moving the Gutenberg Times to a new hosting space.  I feared it to be difficult going from a very opinionated hosting environment to <a href=\"https://pressable.com/\">Pressable</a>. I was pleasantly surprised how, with the help of customer service, we got it done in a matter of minutes. What took the longest was the propagation of the DNS server changes over the Internet, that took roughly an hour. The main reasons for the switch was that using <a href=\"https://wordpress.github.io/wordpress-playground/\">WordPress Playground</a> with <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Gutenberg Nightly</a> didn&#8217;t work at the old host. After testing various configuration also on other hosting spaces, I am excited that it worked out of the box on Pressable.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, let&#8217;s see what others published in the WordPress editor space in the past three weeks. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>PS: The sixth anniversary of the start of Gutenberg Times is coming up this week, and I just wanted to say, it has been a great pleasure curating all the things around Gutenberg for you. So glad you are here with me. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg plugin releases </a></li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ul></div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Updates on Gutenberg Times</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>🆕  As mentioned above, you can now use the <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\"><strong>Gutenberg Nightly</strong></a> plugin built with WordPress Playground and land right in the site editor screen. If you are interested in the blueprint, <a href=\"https://150387569.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">it&#8217;s available here</a></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click to launch WordPress Playground</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Anne McCarthy invites you to <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/leap-into-2024-with-these-site-editor-tools/\"><strong>Leap into 2024 with these&nbsp;Site Editor&nbsp;Tools</strong></a> and gives you a list of features and tools, that might have slipped your mind, or you haven&#8217;t had a chance to explore. This is an excellent run-down of use cases and update on the current state of the site editor.  Learn more about the Command Palette, the Style Book, styling short-cuts, Distraction-free mode, Patterns,  and the List view. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Once you are ready to dive deeper into any of the topics, the WordPress Developer Blog covered quite a few topics this year. <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> published <strong><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/01/05/2023-year-in-review/\">2023 Year in Review</a>,</strong> citing some numbers and listing all the articles in a sorted way. It&#8217;s the best way to catch-up on things you might have missed. And if you don&#8217;t want to miss any more articles on the Developer blog, it&#8217;s time to subscribe  to it. Scroll down on any post of page and enter your email address 🙂 Or <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/feed/\">subscribe to the RSS feed</a> with your favorite reader.  </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg plugin releases </h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In his post <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/\"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 17.3? (20 December</strong></a>),release lead <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/madhudollu\">Madhu Dollu</a></strong>, highlighted: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/#global-style-revision-change-summary\">Summary of changes in global styles revision history</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/#updated-preferences-panel\">Updated preferences panel</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/#integration-of-gravatar-service-for-social-icons\">Integration of Gravatar Service for Social Icons</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In total, the release included 184 merged PRs by 56 contributors, 6 of them contributed for the first time. Congratulations to the team. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Preferences.jpg?resize=652%2C315&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26829\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>On January 3rd, 2024, Gutenberg 17.4 was released. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/\"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 17.4? (03 January)</strong></a>. As release lead, I highlighted the following features: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/#data-views-list-of-templates-stable\">Data Views: List of Templates stable</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/#style-revisions-stylebook-integration-and-pagination\">Style revisions: Stylebook integration and pagination</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/#background-images-size-and-repeat-controls\">Background Images: size and repeat controls.</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/01/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-4-03-january/#list-view-right-click-access-to-block-setting\">List View: Right click access to Block Setting</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/mikachan_\">Sarah Norris</a></strong> joined me on the recording for the Gutenberg Changelog episode 94, and it was a lovely chat about the past three Gutenberg plugin releases and the upcoming roadmap for WordPress 6.5.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"652\" height=\"186\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-06-at-11.34.15.png?resize=652%2C186&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26916\" />\n\n\n\n<p>We also covered the process of how to migrate a site from a classic theme to a block theme, something, that&#8217;s on my to-do list for the Gutenberg Times in the upcoming weeks. Spoiler:  The plugin <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/\">Health Check &amp; Troubleshooting</a> and<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/\"> Create a Block Theme</a>  will play big roles. Did you move a site from a classic theme to a block theme? How did you go about it, and what were the greatest challenges? Please let us know in the comments or email me, <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">pauli@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The podcast episode will drop in your favorite podcast app over the weekend. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-accent-color has-light-background-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-b21294d93d10468b5f9c6136fdd74073\">🎙️ Latest episode:  <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-94-state-of-the-word-gutenberg-17-2-17-3-and-17-4-wordpress-6-5-migrating-from-classic-theme-to-block-theme/\">Gutenberg Changelog #94 – State of the Word, Gutenberg 17.2, 17.3 and 17.4, WordPress 6.5, Migrating from Classic Theme to Block Theme</a> with Sarah Norris</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HumanMade</strong> and <strong>BigBite</strong> invite you to a <em>WordPress for Enterprise</em> event on <strong>January 18th, 2024</strong> to <a href=\"https://hello.humanmade.com/wordpress-for-enterprise\"><strong>Hear from the global brands doing incredible things with WordPress</strong></a>. It&#8217;ll start at 16:00 UTC and will take until about 21:00 UTC &#8220;Over the course of 6 sessions, we’ll be sharing the stories behind these amazing projects. Expect case studies, deep dives, and behind-the-scenes access on topics such as security, performance, editorial optimization, AI, and how open source is making a difference in the enterprise setting.&#8221; with speaker such as Adam Silverstein, Google, Brian Alvey, WordPress VIP, or Luke Sikkema, The Times, and a few more. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://hello.humanmade.com/wordpress-for-enterprise\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"341\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/WordPress-Enterprise-1024x535.jpeg?resize=652%2C341&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26940\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In her post <a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2023/12/21/joyful-flow-state/\"><strong>joyful flow state</strong></a>, <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> shares her creative process and musing about creating block patterns for the <em>Museum of Block Art.</em> &#8220;Using the same software I spend my days toiling over in a creative, unserious way expands my relationship to the work, both energy and perspective wise.&#8221; she wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Munir Kamal</strong> did some research and shares with the world in this post: <a href=\"https://gutenberghub.com/discover-the-best-block-slider-plugins-for-wordpress/\"><strong>Discover the Best Block Slider Plugins for WordPress</strong></a>. A block that has been missing from the core blocks, several plugins offer their variation of the slider. It&#8217;s not always the best user experience and there is a school of web developer who like to dissuade site owners from using sliders and <a href=\"https://shouldiuseacarousel.com/\">even built a slider site</a> with some good reasons why you shouldn&#8217;t use a carousel, which is just another word for slider. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Lifter LMS updated their documentation and showcase their <a href=\"https://lifterlms.com/docs/lifterlms-blocks/\"><strong>Lifter LMS Blocks</strong></a> with videos and instructions on how to use them. Now one of the leading Learning Management systems, built on top of WordPress, enters the next product phase and allows for faster content creation with the already known Block interface built into WordPress. </p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"652\" height=\"324\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/LifterLMS-Courses-Block-Settings.png?resize=652%2C324&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26931\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\"></h2>\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 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Developer Hours in December, <strong>Nick Diego</strong> and <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> selected the topic: <a href=\"https://youtu.be/cakxgM2UgbE?si=sGIfKU7kLtpVEifM\"><strong>Modern WordPress development with the wp-scripts package</strong></a>. The recording is available on YouTube, and they shared the mentioned resources as <a href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GMKxjxdFqwCg3ESC337eNvA6FmaokW9Zlkjm-mhSroU/edit#heading=h.d22cu7925a4z\">a Google Doc. </a> They wrote: &#8220;We explored how the wp-scripts package has become an essential tool for modern WordPress development, such as when building blocks and block themes. If you are looking to streamline your development process, harness the power of build tools, and simplify tasks such as checking for compliance with WordPress coding standards, this session recording is for you.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>You are invited to the January <strong>Developers Hours for January 16th, 2024 at 15:00 UTC (10 am EDT)</strong> to <strong><a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/298191982/\">Build your first WordPress block</a></strong>. In this online event, you&#8217;ll be on a walk-through <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/tutorial/\">the new tutorial in the Block editor handbook</a>, and you will also learn more about the<a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/block-development-examples\"> block development examples</a> on GitHub. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/298191982/\"><img width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/build-your-first-block.webp?resize=600%2C338&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26925\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jonathan Desrosiers</strong> informed developers about <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/updating-wordpress-to-use-more-modern-versions-of-node-js-npm-2/\">Updating WordPress to use more modern versions of Node.js/npm: Part 2</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his tutorial, <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/12/22/extending-plugins-using-custom-slotfills/\"><strong>Extending plugins using custom SlotFills</strong></a>, <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> explains how you can use custom SlotFills to extend both an internal and external codebase.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jonathan Bossenger</strong> experimented with the Interactivity API and used  <a href=\"https://jonathanbossenger.com/2023/12/wordpress-as-a-game-development-platform/\"><strong>WordPress as a game development platform.</strong></a> It&#8217;s a fun game, where the logos of other web development platform chase after the WordPress logo. I lasted 25 seconds. How long did you last? &#8220;There is still a lot of work to be done to turn this into a working game, but I’m excited about the possibilities. Stay tuned because I can see this turning into a bit of a series of posts&#8221;. Bossenger wrote. If you would rather not wait so long, you can take a sneak peek at the code via the GitHub repository: <a href=\"https://github.com/jonathanbossenger/wp-interactive-game\">WP-Interactive Game</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/danielpost\">Daniel Post</a></strong> created a two-part tutorial on <strong><a href=\"https://danielpost.com/part-1-creating-a-wordpress-options-page-using-react-and-gutenberg/\">Creating a WordPress options page using React and Gutenberg</a></strong>. &#8220;This guide is primarily aimed at people who have some WordPress experience but have never tried “the React way”, but it should be useful for anyone trying to get into into modern WordPress development.” It&#8217;s a very thorough tutorial. Post explains all the basic pieces other tutorials might assume prior knowledge of, and steps through almost every line of the code, in PHP as well as in JavaScript, he uses to build this example. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>On YouTube, <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> posted his latest stream in the Block Developer Cookbook series, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnpy6vGObx4\"><strong>Block Developer Cookbook Recipe: Command Palette</strong></a>. &#8220;In this flavorful cooking demonstration, initially aired on November 16, we whip up a special culinary command for the all-new Command Palette. Our goal? To deftly toggle the custom fields meta box in the post editor, just like a chef skillfully adjusting the seasoning levels in a signature dish. Let&#8217;s embark on this culinary coding adventure together!&#8221; he wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Ny_The_Creator\"><strong>Nyasha Green</strong></a> just published her <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/learning/wordpress-introduction-to-custom-block-building/learning-custom-block-building-in-wordpress\"><strong>WordPress: Introduction to Custom Block Building</strong></a> on the LinkedIn Learning Network. The course starts with a brief introduction to the Block editor and how to add blocks to a post&#8217;s canvas and explain block attributes. In the second module you&#8217;ll learn to set up your local environment with LocalWP, 2021 default theme and Node.js. In the chapter Custom Blocks without code, Green explains how to create patterns and synched patterns, and you&#8217;ll learn about the Pattern Directory. The fourth chapter, Green, covers Custom Block Building with code, and introduces the learner to the <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-create-block/\">create-block scaffolding tool</a>. The topic covers creating a card with three blocks and some InnerBlocks rules and how to modify the styles for the custom block. It&#8217;s a great starting point. The LinkedIn Learning space is a subscription-based learning environment, but you can use a free trial for the first month. </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<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">them via email</a> or send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size\">For questions to be answered on the <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image:</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button type=\"submit\" class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too, and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone 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 has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 06 Jan 2024 15:15:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s: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:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"HeroPress: Is Open Source Good For WordPress? See Who Says Yes!\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://heropress.com/?p=6354\";s:7:\"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:167:\"https://heropress.com/is-open-source-good-for-wordpress-see-who-says-yes/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-open-source-good-for-wordpress-see-who-says-yes\";s: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:11290:\"<img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/165659692de83cc02.32224370-1024x768.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"A white cat sits on a wooden balcony porch.\" /><div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6354_6f1157-a8 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6354_f14888-a7 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6354_a667d9-c2 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\">HeroPress.com</a> &#8211; <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/the-good-and-the-bad-of-open-source-wordpress/\">The good and the bad of open source WordPress</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/the-good-and-the-bad-of-open-source-wordpress/\"><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/lesley_sim-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Lesley Sim\" class=\"wp-image-4881\" /></a></div>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley Sim is a WordPress product owner, and has navigated the waters of whether to offer a free version and has struggled with the idea of whether Open Source is even a good idea.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[WordPress] helps so many people grow their businesses, communicate, and simply share their thoughts with everyone on the internet. There is no such thing as only good without the bad. And I’m glad WordPress exists.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lesley&#8217;s essay is <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/the-good-and-the-bad-of-open-source-wordpress/\">available</a> on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress.com</a>.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6354_2bc5ad-a5\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6354_e8d5d7-78 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6354_fac933-6c inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6354_848a6f-1d wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://hallwaychats.com\">WPPhotos.Info</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<a href=\"https://wpphotos.info/ganjala-range/\"><img width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3665812bf57207d5.16252734-scaled-1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Langtang Trek, standing above the clouds looking at the mountains with a snowy summit\" class=\"wp-image-6356\" /></a></div>\n\n\n\n<p>This week&#8217;s <a href=\"https://wpphotos.info\">WPPhotos Info</a> is called &#8220;<a href=\"https://wpphotos.info/ganjala-range/\">The snowy peaks</a>&#8220;. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amazing view captured by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/trinisha/\">Trinisha</a>. This is Ganjala Range seen from Kyanjin Ri Peak (4773m/15655 ft).</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wpphotos.info/ganjala-range/\">Read more of the story at WPPhotos.info!</a></p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6354_250a5b-91\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6354_665474-78 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6354_ac2882-92 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 class=\"kt-adv-heading6354_3db9b3-5f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\">WP Podcasts</a></h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\"><img src=\"https://heropressnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/pocket_casts_single_315.png\" alt=\"Pocket Casts image\" class=\"wp-image-4316\" /></a>\n\n\n\n\n<p>There were <em>fourteen</em> WordPress podcast episodes released this week!</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://potencia.pro/273-wordpress-no-esta-pensando-actualmente-para-webs-grandes/#new_tab\">Potencia Pro 273: ¿WordPress no está pensando actualmente para webs grandes?</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/potencia-pro-wordpress-y-cozas/\">Potencia Pro, WordPress y cozas</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://remkusdevries.com/podcast/understanding-tech-changes-and-agency-evolution-with-steve-zehngut/#new_tab\">Understanding Tech Changes and Agency Evolution with Steve Zehngut</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/within-wordpress/\">Within WordPress</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-37-stakeholder-relationships-and-ux-research-operations-with-jessica-ivins/#new_tab\">Episode 37: Stakeholder Relationships and UX Research Operations with Jessica Ivins</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/rethink-fm/\">rethink.fm</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://unbilleteachattanooga.com/episodio-243/#new_tab\">Episodio 243: Más de 100 proyectos en un año</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/un-billete-a-chattanooga/\">Un billete a Chattanooga</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wppodcast.cat/podcast/obrint-pas-al-2024/#new_tab\">9. Obrint pas al 2024</a> from <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com/podcast/wordpress-podcast-catala/\">WordPress Pòdcast (català)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are new episodes every single day, so be sure to stop by <a href=\"https://wppodcasts.com\">WPPodcasts.com</a> and search for things that interest you!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6354_a8a32f-bf\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id6354_b38388-00 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column6354_c96c47-b7 inner-column-1\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 id=\"wpphotos\" class=\"kt-adv-heading6354_5fa872-f7 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos\">WP Photos</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some of the great photos submitted to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos\">WPPhotos</a> project this week!</p>\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/2056596f50/\"><img width=\"570\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2056596f5029bef23.62087568-570x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Toy truck for kids.\" class=\"wp-image-6358\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/2056596f50/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/balub/\">Balu B</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/4186596d78/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"473\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/4186596d78833c5c9.61199387-1024x473.jpg\" alt=\"Jatayu rock sculpture - the world’s largest bird sculpture in Jatayu Earth Center at Chadayamangalam in Kollam district of Kerala, India.\" class=\"wp-image-6359\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/4186596d78/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/balub/\">Balu B</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/4516597a4a/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/4516597a4a668dc30.03720898-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"A lady enjoying the park, basking in beautiful sunlight, surrounded by vibrant stones!\" class=\"wp-image-6357\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/4516597a4a/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/bhuwanroka/\">Bhuwan Bdr. Rokaha</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/5236596f3e/\"><img width=\"567\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/5236596f3ee9b6317.37447566-567x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Thirteen Kannara Bridge - The Pathimoonnu Kannara Bridge, also called the \" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/5236596f3e/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/balub/\">Balu B</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/27765965bc/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/27765965bc4a79d04.54687103-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Frost covered fence post with clearly visible ice crystals, sky as a backdrop tinged with sunrise tones\" class=\"wp-image-6360\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/27765965bc/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/smhsmh/\">Sadie-Michaela Harris</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/62465965c3/\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/62465965c314f7ed4.60537373-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Female Blackbird standing on the edge of a frozen water filled wooden half barrel\" class=\"wp-image-6361\" /></a><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/62465965c3/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/smhsmh/\">Sadie-Michaela Harris</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.\n\n\n\n\n<p>Be sure to check out the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">hundreds of other great photos</a>!</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div>\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The header photo for this post is a <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/165659692d/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/mahfuznafi/\">mahfuznafi</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s it for this week! If you&#8217;d like to get this post in your email every week, <a href=\"https://heropressnetwork.com/newsletter\">make sure you sign up</a>!</p>\n\n<p>The post <a href=\"https://heropress.com/is-open-source-good-for-wordpress-see-who-says-yes/\">Is Open Source Good For WordPress? See Who Says Yes!</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 05 Jan 2024 18:25:37 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}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:60:\"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress – December 2023\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=16680\";s:7:\"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/2024/01/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9933:\"<p>As 2023 came to a close, WordPress bid farewell with the much-anticipated annual State of the Word and the 6.5 roadmap, among other exciting updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to learn more about the community’s end-of-year celebrations and catch a sneak peek of what’s in store for the year ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Highlights from State of the Word</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On December 11, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg delivered his annual <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/state-of-the-word/\">State of the Word</a> keynote in Madrid, Spain</strong>, marking the first international edition of the event. Nearly 200 WordPress enthusiasts and tech industry leaders gathered in person to hear what’s next for WordPress—with a large audience joining online or from one of the 47 watch parties held across 18 countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The keynote <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/state-of-the-word-2023-recap/\">highlighted</a> last year’s milestones and showcased compelling demos, providing a glimpse into the upcoming developments for the Site Editor, Collaboration phase, and Admin redesign. Matt also introduced 2024’s focus on <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a>, aiming to unlock digital barriers and frictionless migrations into WordPress for a more open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>The event concluded with a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01uBD2pyQY\">Q&amp;A session</a> and <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/overflow-questions-from-state-of-the-word-2023/\">this follow-up post</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Roadmap to WordPress 6.5</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.5 is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-5/\">scheduled</a> for release on <strong>March 26, 2024</strong>. This major release is set to introduce a new Font Library for easy global font management, support for Appearance Tools in Classic Themes, Data Views for templates and patterns, and more robust revisions across the editing experience, among other highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>6.5 will also include new APIs like Interactivity, Custom Fields, and Block Binding that expand block capabilities and underpin features like Synced Pattern Overrides.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about the features planned for WordPress 6.5 in <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/07/roadmap-to-6-5/\">this roadmap post</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p>Don’t wait for the next release to optimize your creative workflows with <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/leap-into-2024-with-these-site-editor-tools/\">these powerful Site Editor tools</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New in the Gutenberg plugin</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new versions of Gutenberg shipped in December:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/06/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-2-6-december/\"><strong>Gutenberg 17.2</strong></a> introduced improvements to the site editing experience, including the ability to drag and drop blocks to the top and bottom of documents and sticky table headers. The update also enhanced the Interactivity API docs and addressed numerous bug fixes.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-17-3-20-december/\"><strong>Gutenberg 17.3</strong></a> featured a summary of changes in the global styles revision history, an updated preferences panel, and a new social icon for the Gravatar service, along with the ongoing development of Phase 3 features.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Team updates</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Openverse <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/12/11/introducing-enhanced-content-safety-features-on-openverse/\">introduced new features to filter sensitive content</a>, aiming for a more accessible and safer browsing experience. This update marks the beginning of a significant initiative to enhance content safety tools.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matrix contributors <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/12/update-on-matrix-migration-pausing-the-transition/\">announced</a> the decision to pause the Making WordPress Slack migration to Matrix and the factors contributing to it.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/12/15/developer-resources-gets-a-refresh/\">redesign of the Developer Resources section</a> went live last month.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Are you searching for events in your local community? Explore the recently launched <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/12/13/announcing-the-new-wordpress-events-page/\">WordPress.org Events page</a>—your new central hub for discovering upcoming events or applying to organize one.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2023, WordPress significantly <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/19/wordpress-performance-impact-on-core-web-vitals-in-2023/\">improved Core Web Vitals (CWV) across sites</a>. The overall passing rates went up from 28.31% to 36.44% on mobile and from 32.55% to 40.80% on desktop, making both WordPress and the whole web perform better.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/12/22/call-to-action-2024-major-releases-call-for-volunteers/\">Volunteers are needed</a> for 2024’s WordPress major releases. If you’re interested, now’s the time to get involved!</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out all the community <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/12/22/wordpress-end-of-year-celebrations/\">achievements and contributions</a> that moved the WordPress project closer to its goals in 2023.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-podcast-player jetpack-podcast-player__direct-link\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/\">https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/</a>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Requests for feedback &amp; testing</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Complete the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/11/17/announcing-the-2023-annual-meetup-survey/\">2023 Annual Meetup Survey</a> before January 14, 2024, and help strengthen WordPress meetups in the future.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress events</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f9-1f1fc.png\" alt=\"🇹🇼\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> WordCamp Asia has opened <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/contributor-day-registration/\">registrations for its Contributor Day</a>. The conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 7-9, 2024.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1fa.png\" alt=\"🇪🇺\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> WordCamp Europe’s <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/speakers/call-for-speakers/\">call for speakers</a> is open until January 15, 2024. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this event by either submitting your speaking proposals or <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/sponsors/call-for-sponsors/\">supporting it as a sponsor</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mark your calendars! <a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp US 2024</a> is headed to Portland, Oregon, from September 17 to 20, as revealed during the State of the Word.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out these WordPress events happening soon:\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1f3.png\" alt=\"🇮🇳\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/kolkata/2024/careercamp/\">Kolkata CareerCamp</a>, India on January 6, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1f3-1f1f5.png\" alt=\"🇳🇵\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://nepal.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Nepal</a> on January 12-13, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1f8.png\" alt=\"🇪🇸\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://zaragoza.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Zaragoza</a>, Spain on January 19-20, 2024</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1e9.png\" alt=\"🇮🇩\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/jakarta/2024/web-challenge/\">WordPress Web Challenge</a>, Indonesia on January 27, 2024</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out </strong></em><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this quick form</em></strong></a><em><strong> to let us know.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thank you to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bernard0omnisend/\">Bernard Meyer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/eidolonnight/\">Nicholas Garofalo</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/laurlittle/\">Lauren Stein</a></em> <em>for contributing to this edition of The Month in WordPress.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subscribe to WordPress News</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Join other subscribers and receive WordPress news directly in your inbox.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions__supports-newline is-style-split wp-block-jetpack-subscriptions\">\n		<div>\n			<div>\n				<div>\n					<p>\n						<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=post&p=16680\">Subscribe</a>\n					</p>\n				</div>\n			</div>\n		</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, 05 Jan 2024 10:10:00 +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:15:\"Reyes Martínez\";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:45:\"Do The Woo Community: Make. WordPress. Happy.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=78771\";s:7:\"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://dothewoo.io/make-wordpress-happy/\";s: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:353:\"<p>Starting 2024 on an optimistic note as I noticed more of my fellow WordPressers feeling more optimistic and happy about WordPress.</p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/make-wordpress-happy/\">Make. WordPress. Happy.</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce and WordPress Builder Podcast</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 05 Jan 2024 09:31:55 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:26:\"Matt: Fred Again Tiny Desk\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110139\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/fred-again-tiny-desk/\";s: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:140:\"<p>You think you&#8217;ve seen Tiny Desk performances, but you haven&#8217;t seen this.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\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, 05 Jan 2024 06:50:44 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:17:\"Matt: On Mastodon\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110133\";s:7:\"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:34:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/on-mastodon/\";s: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:177:\"<p><a href=\"https://mastodon.social/@photomatt\" rel=\"me\">This is me on Mastodon</a>, it&#8217;s really me, also <a href=\"https://gravatar.com/matt\">added to my Gravatar</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 05 Jan 2024 02:31:01 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:\"Akismet: What is a Honeypot in Spam Protection and Cybersecurity?\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"http://akismet.com/?p=283657\";s:7:\"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:44:\"https://akismet.com/blog/what-is-a-honeypot/\";s: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:21927:\"<p>If your enterprise handles large volumes of sensitive content, cybersecurity should be a top priority. You likely already have measures in place to block hacking attempts. But did you know that you can also create honeypots to further protect your&nbsp;business?</p>\n\n\n<p>What is a honeypot? In a nutshell, this is a web app or system that mimics your company’s network. It’s designed to lure in hackers so that the security team can study their tactics and identify weak areas in your organization.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how honeypots work and the different ways you can implement them. We’ll also discuss the benefits of honeypots in cybersecurity and spam protection. So, let’s dive right&nbsp;in!</p>\n\n\n<span id=\"more-283657\"></span>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are&nbsp;honeypots?</h2>\n\n<p>Let’s start by answering the most important question: what is a&nbsp;honeypot?</p>\n\n\n<p>Essentially, a honeypot is a network that’s designed to serve as a decoy for hackers. It’s made to appear as part of an organization’s IT infrastructure, but in fact, it’s completely isolated from it.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The primary purpose of honeypots is to attract cyber threats. This way, security experts can get a close look at the attackers’ tactics and behavior in a safe and controlled environment. Using this information, they can then enhance the overall security of the actual infrastructure.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>This technique is usually deployed by enterprises that handle large amounts of data. By being proactive, your organization can identify vulnerabilities in its network before they’re discovered by hackers. This ultimately helps prevent serious hacking events that can negatively impact your revenue or damage your&nbsp;reputation.</p>\n\n<p>Plus, creating a honeypot can help you test the effectiveness of pre&#8209;existing security measures against cyber threats. Your enterprise can then use these findings to fortify its&nbsp;system.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The different types of&nbsp;honeypots</h2>\n\n<p>Now that we’ve answered the basic question on what a honeypot is, let’s look at the different types of decoys you can&nbsp;use:</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Form honeypot&nbsp;</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Bots will often fill out forms on your site to send spam or attempt to inject malicious code into your site. No, that fishy-sounding company didn’t really find “30 SEO errors on your site!” They used a bot to send spam to thousands of site owners hoping to catch someone off guard.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since bots typically fill out any available field, you can trick them into identifying themselves by essentially creating an invisible field that the bot can read in the code, but that won’t appear to users. If one fills it out, you know it’s a fake submission.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>While this is a decent way to catch spam, it’s not without its faults as bots can increasingly decipher these traps and work around them.&nbsp;</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Email or spam&nbsp;trap</h3>\n\n<p>As you might have guessed, email or spam trap honeypots are designed to catch malicious emails that are sent to your organization. The way they work is quite&nbsp;simple.</p>\n\n<p>A spam trap honeypot would consist of “fake” email addresses linked to your organization. You might place these contact details on your website or any other online platform to lure in&nbsp;spammers.</p>\n\n<p>Your security team can then review and examine any unsolicited emails that come into the honeypot. This will help them design effective filters and spam protection measures for the “real” email addresses, thus protecting employees against phishing attacks and other malicious&nbsp;activities.</p>\n\n\n<p>To avoid any confusion, we’d like to mention that you may have also heard about these in the context of email marketing or email deliverability. That’s because email <a href=\"https://www.mailgun.com/blog/deliverability/spam-traps/#subchapter-1\">spam trap honeypots</a> are also used by blocklists and inbox service providers to catch mass email senders who acquire email lists via unauthorized methods. However, this isn’t something the cybersecurity division of your organization typically needs to worry about.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Spider&nbsp;honeypot</h3>\n\n\n<p>You already know about web crawlers or “spiders” —&nbsp;the bots that scan the contents of a website. Google uses these web crawlers to index the pages of your website and display them in relevant search results.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>But web crawlers are also used by hackers to discover vulnerabilities in websites. Spider honeypots are therefore designed to attract these bots to identify weaknesses in a web application or&nbsp;website.</p>\n\n\n<p>By simulating your web application and inviting these crawlers to do their work, you can study their behavior as they try to find a way in. This will help your team identify any specific attack patterns or common exploits, and take the necessary measures to protect your enterprise against web-based attacks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Malware&nbsp;honeypot</h3>\n\n\n<p>If your organization has a malware problem, this type of honeypot can help you get to the bottom of it.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malware honeypots are designed to emulate systems or services that are usually affected by malicious software. Your security team can use this system to study the origins and workings of the malware in a controlled environment.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>This will enable them to implement effective measures against this threat. For example, they might develop a sturdier and more intelligent antivirus program for your&nbsp;enterprise.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Decoy&nbsp;database</h3>\n\n<p>One of the most common threats for enterprises is a data breach. If your company stores sensitive information, like customer details and financial records, it could be an attractive target among&nbsp;hackers.</p>\n\n\n<p>A decoy database is a type of honeypot that entices attackers who are looking to steal your data. It mimics your organization’s database but, of course, the information it contains would be fake.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>This type of honeypot can help you spot vulnerabilities in your database and study the techniques hackers use to access your data. This way, you’ll be able to implement stricter access controls in your database and develop more effective protection&nbsp;solutions.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Client&nbsp;honeypot</h3>\n\n<p>Client honeypots are another popular decoy. These mimic client&#8209;side applications and personal&nbsp;devices.</p>\n\n<p>For example, you might set up a client honeypot to find security flaws in your company’s applications and software. This can be particularly useful if you have a large number of employees or customers using an online app. For instance, you might create a client honeypot for a learning management system (LMS) or an ecommerce app for loyal&nbsp;shoppers.</p>\n\n\n<p>A client honeypot serves as a trap for hackers that target enterprise software or web applications. Plus, it enables you to find better ways to protect your users from potential exploits.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Honeynet</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is possibly the most advanced decoy you could opt for. Basically, a honeynet is a large network of interconnected honeypots. It’s meant to emulate a complete enterprise network.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honeynets can be very useful in studying sophisticated cyberattacks and testing your company’s overall security. By implementing this strategy, your security team can gain a deeper understanding of the evolving techniques used by cyber criminals.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>These insights will then help them develop a comprehensive security strategy for your&nbsp;enterprise.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The different tiers of honeypot&nbsp;deployment</h2>\n\n<p>Each type of honeypot that we outlined above can be implemented on different levels. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the main tiers of honeypot&nbsp;deployment.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Pure&nbsp;honeypots</h3>\n\n<p>Pure honeypots are designed to appear as real as possible, so they can attract highly skilled attackers. They are a form of high&#8209;interaction honeypots (which we’ll be looking at more closely in a minute) and are deployed with minimal interaction&nbsp;capabilities.</p>\n\n<p>Security professionals use pure honeypots to gather in&#8209;depth information about the strategies employed by sophisticated attackers. In particular, they&#8217;re concerned with tactics that can affect an organization’s entire system. For example, they can gain valuable insights into previously unknown vulnerabilities in your&nbsp;network.</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Low-interaction</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Low-interaction honeypots have limited interaction capabilities and only emulate specific parts of a real system. This makes them easier to deploy and manage compared to high-interaction honeypots. As such, they’re mostly ideal for analyzing common attacks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Low-interaction honeypots simulate services and applications at a basic level. This enables your security team to capture basic data without exposing your real (and potentially vulnerable) systems.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While these honeypots do not provide the same level of depth as more advanced systems, they can be quite effective in detecting known threats and preventing attacks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Mid-interaction</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Mid-interaction honeypots offer a moderate level of realism and interaction. They’re built to emulate different services and applications, providing more “exploit opportunities” for attackers.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>With these honeypots, your security team can observe malicious activities in a relatively realistic setting. This enables them to collect more detailed data and fine&#8209;tune your company’s existing security&nbsp;measures.</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. High-interaction</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>High-interaction honeypots provide the most authentic simulation of real-world systems and applications. Unlike low or mid-interaction honeypots, they allow attackers to interact with a full-fledged, genuine environment.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These honeypots are set up with real operating systems and applications. This makes them highly attractive to attackers seeking valuable targets.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>As you can probably tell, these high&#8209;interaction honeypots carry a higher risk as they use a legitimate environment, but they offer unparalleled insights into advanced attacks. Plus, they enable your team to study zero&#8209;day vulnerabilities (more on this in a minute) and develop effective strategies to counter these sophisticated&nbsp;threats.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The benefits of honeypots in&nbsp;cybersecurity</h2>\n\n\n<p>We’ve already touched upon the benefits of honeypots for your company’s cybersecurity. But let’s take a closer look at how they can help protect your organization.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Identifying zero&#8209;day exploits and&nbsp;vulnerabilities</h3>\n\n\n<p>A zero-day vulnerability is a flaw in software that is discovered by hackers before developers become aware of it. Therefore, attackers that target zero-day exploits do not give organizations or developers time to patch these vulnerabilities.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>As we have seen, honeypots (particularly high&#8209;interaction ones) create a controlled environment where attackers engage with authentic applications. By analyzing the tactics used in these attacks, you can uncover unknown vulnerabilities in your company’s software. This will enable you to develop patches proactively or reach out to the software’s developers for an immediate&nbsp;fix.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Early threat detection and&nbsp;identification</h3>\n\n\n<p>As we mentioned earlier, honeypots are completely isolated from the real system. This means that any attack on the simulated environment will not affect your company’s operations.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, since they have no legitimate purpose, any activity in these environments will immediately spark suspicion. This means that your security team can detect threats at an early stage and respond to them swiftly.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Early threat detection can prevent attacks from spreading to other parts of the&nbsp;network.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Real&#8209;time attack monitoring and&nbsp;visualization</h3>\n\n\n<p>Honeypots also provide real-time attack monitoring. This means security professionals can observe the hackers&#8217; movements and activities as they happen.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might use real-time visualization tools like graphs and heatmaps so that it’s easier to identify attack patterns and targets. Plus, these visualization tools can enable you to comprehend the scope and impact of the threats. This way, you can ensure that you implement a solution that encompasses all possible vulnerabilities.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Intruder profiling and&nbsp;attribution</h3>\n\n<p>When implemented effectively, honeypots can tell you a lot about the individuals behind the attack. This includes information about the attackers&#8217; methods, preferred targets, and geographic&nbsp;locations.</p>\n\n<p>Your security team can then use this data to create intruder profiles. Such information is essential for understanding the motives behind the&nbsp;attacks.</p>\n\n<p>If you have accurate intruder profiles, you can collaborate with law enforcement agencies or other security organizations to track down cyber&nbsp;criminals.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The benefits of honeypots in spam&nbsp;detection</h2>\n\n<p>Honeypots can also be an effective measure in identifying and blocking spam. Here are a few different ways to use them for spam&nbsp;detection:</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Combating contact form&nbsp;spam</h3>\n\n\n<p>Contact form spam affects many businesses and can be very annoying. When it occurs, emails from genuine customers can be easily lost in a sea of spammy ones.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Your organization can integrate honeypot fields within <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/how-to-add-wordpress-contact-form/\">contact forms</a> to trap automated bots. This way, you can automatically filter out spammy submissions and make it easier for your company’s administrators to manage their&nbsp;inboxes.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Preventing comment&nbsp;spam</h3>\n\n\n<p>Likewise, honeypots can be used to prevent comment spam. This can be particularly useful if you have a blog on your company website.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When bots attempt to fill out the honeypot fields, their submissions will instantly be recognized as spam. <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/how-to-stop-comment-spam-in-wordpress/\">Stopping comment spam</a> can help you maintain a professional community.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Blocking malicious user&nbsp;registrations</h3>\n\n\n<p>Bots can also take over your user registration process. If you have an online store or membership site, these fake and malicious entries can make it nearly impossible to effectively manage your users.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Honeypots can be integrated into <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/how-to-create-a-custom-wordpress-user-registration-form/\">user registration forms</a> to thwart malicious registrations. By taking a proactive approach, you can find an effective way to <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/how-to-stop-user-spam-registrations-in-wordpress/\">prevent fake accounts</a> and hackers from infiltrating your user&nbsp;database.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Preventing link spam and SEO&nbsp;manipulation</h3>\n\n\n<p>Spammers might also try to insert links into your content. Typically, they do this to <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/what-is-seo-spam-how-to-protect-your-wordpress-site/\">manipulate their search engine rankings</a> or drive users to harmful websites.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Honeypots can be instrumental in preventing link spam. You can use honeypots strategically to attract spammers, study their behavior, and design more effective security solutions that guard access to edit permissions for your&nbsp;content.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Strengthening CAPTCHA and challenge&#8209;response&nbsp;mechanisms</h3>\n\n\n<p>You might already be <a href=\"https://akismet.com/blog/wordpress-captcha/\">using CAPTCHA</a> and challenge-response mechanisms on your website. These make it more difficult for automated bots to submit spammy content, but they’re not always effective.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honeypots act as an additional layer of defense. They make it nearly impossible for malicious actors to interact with your forms undetected.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>But, you don’t need to implement CAPTCHAs to prevent spam on your website, and these kinds of tests are distracting for users and are likely negatively impacting your&nbsp;conversions.</p>\n\n<p>A comprehensive <a href=\"https://akismet.com/features/\">anti&#8209;spam solution like Akismet</a> can provide a better way to defend your site against&nbsp;spam.</p>\n\n\n<img width=\"1314\" height=\"630\" src=\"https://akismet455732288.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/image-19.png\" alt=\"Akismet homepage with the text \" />\n\n\n\n<p>This tool can identify spammy behavior without the need for a challenge-response mechanism. It does this with an AI-powered system that detects spam signals utilizing things like blocklists, IP addresses, names, and emails associated with suspicious activities.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it works with nearly 100% accuracy.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Additionally, Akismet offers a better user experience for visitors, as it doesn&#8217;t require them to solve any puzzles. Instead, it analyzes their behavior and blocks any suspicious&nbsp;entries.</p>\n\n<p>By combining honeypots with powerful tools like Akismet, you can ensure that only genuine human users can engage with your&nbsp;website.</p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Akismet: Taking spam protection to a new&nbsp;level</h2>\n\n\n<p>Akismet is a spam prevention plugin for WordPress websites. To date, it has blocked more than 525,000,000,000 spam comments. This is thanks to its powerful and advanced AI technology.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Akismet is free for personal use and affordable for every level of commercial organization. The improved user experience and resulting boost in conversion rates will more than justify the investment in this valuable tool. If you’re ready to try it out, you can <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">download it from the WordPress plugin directory</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"945\" height=\"423\" src=\"https://akismet455732288.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/image-20.png\" alt=\"Akismet plugin on WordPress.org \" class=\"wp-image-283660\" />\n\n\n<p>Alternatively, if you’re dealing with a larger volume of sensitive user data, you might want to request <a href=\"https://akismet.com/enterprise/\">a custom enterprise plan</a>. This will be tailored to your company’s needs and will give you access to personalized&nbsp;support.</p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the benefits of using&nbsp;Akismet?</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet offers an automated spam protection solution. It checks all submissions on your site and filters out spammy entries. This enables your admin team to handle queries more&nbsp;efficiently.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, Akismet is a cloud‑based solution. This means that it doesn’t store any data on your website. As a result, it won’t have any impact on your website’s speed and&nbsp;performance.</p>\n\n\n<p>But perhaps the best thing about Akismet is that it integrates with a wide variety of tools. These include popular plugins like <a href=\"https://jetpack.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jetpack</a>, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why choose Akismet over other spam protection&nbsp;solutions?</h3>\n\n\n<p>You might be wondering what makes Akismet a good alternative to other spam protection solutions.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<p>Unlike most anti&#8209;spam tools, Akismet does not use CAPTCHA to block bots. This is typically a puzzle or challenge that users must complete to submit their entries. Its purpose is to make it more difficult for automated bots to submit spammy&nbsp;content.</p>\n\n<p>But CAPTCHA can be off&#8209;putting for human users. It adds friction to the form submission process, and users with certain physical or cognitive disabilities might struggle to complete certain CAPTCHA prompts. This can cause people to abandon the entire process, and lead to fewer queries and conversions for your&nbsp;business.</p>\n\n\n<p>With Akismet, you won’t need to worry about CAPTCHAs creating a poor user experience for legitimate visitors. This plugin is powered by machine learning, which enables it to automatically spot spam through suspicious behavior. It does all of this in the background, without interfering with the experience of real users.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That means you’ll be able to provide a smoother user registration process. Plus, site visitors won’t need to complete a challenge just to send a quick message through your contact form or subscribe to your newsletter.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Try Akismet today. You’ll be in good&nbsp;company</h3>\n\n<p>Akismet is a leading spam protection tool, used across 100 million sites. These include popular companies like WordPress.com, Bluehost, and&nbsp;ConvertKit.</p>\n\n\n<p>Are you ready to block spam with Akismet? <a href=\"https://akismet.com/talk-to-sales/\">Get in touch today</a> for a tailored enterprise solution.&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:\"Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Jen Swisher\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:19:\"Matt: Back With Tim\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110059\";s:7:\"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:36:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/back-with-tim/\";s: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:1592:\"<p>I <a href=\"https://tim.blog/2023/12/29/matt-mullenweg-2/\">returned on the podcast with my good friend Tim Ferriss</a>, by my count the sixth time we&#8217;ve recorded together, but the very first time we did it in video! Tim asked me to bring five things I&#8217;m excited about, five things I&#8217;ve changed my mind on in the past few years, and five things that are absurd or ridiculous but I still do, and that ended up being a pretty fun anchor for a two-and-a-half hour conversation, which you can watch here:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Or listen to on <a href=\"https://pocketcasts.com/\">Pocket Casts</a> or any podcast player, thanks to open standards:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div>    <div></div>    </div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>I ended up having more than five things for each list, especially the excited one, but tried to edit it down. This was a very vulnerable and personal conversation for me, which I think was possible because we&#8217;ve known each other so long at this point and Tim made it really easy and fun to open up. We discuss everything from open source to kids to my upcoming sabbatical.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coincidentally, this was episode 713, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_codes_713,_281,_832,_and_346\">which is the original area code for Houston</a>! We didn&#8217;t plan that but I think that&#8217;s so cool. I&#8217;m also going to <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYXa5RCGLiM\">watch his episode with Kevin Rose</a> who he&#8217;s also very close with, I always learn new stuff from those two.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 03 Jan 2024 08:36:07 +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:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i: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:19:\"Matt: Birthday Gift\";s:7:\"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:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=110005\";s:7:\"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:36:\"https://ma.tt/2024/01/birthday-gift/\";s: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:1775:\"<p>It&#8217;s true, it&#8217;s true, I turn forty years old in ten days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you get the guy who has everything?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I admit I&#8217;m not the easiest to shop for, I can be quite particular in my preferences of <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2023/12/the-bag-post/\">this cable versus that one</a>, but the good news is the gift I most want for my 40<sup>th</sup> is something everyone can do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I want you to blog.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Publish a post. About anything! It can be long or short, a photo or a video, maybe a quote or a link to something you found interesting. Don&#8217;t sweat it. Just blog. Share something you created, or amplify something you enjoyed. It doesn&#8217;t take much. The act of publishing will be a gift for you and me. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s what I want for my birthday. If you link to this post and use <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/\">WordPress</a> the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingback\">Pingback</a> system will notify me about your post and it will show up in the comment stream, but I&#8217;m okay even if you don&#8217;t use WordPress, just post something and send me a link. You can start <a href=\"https://www.tumblr.com/\">a free site on Tumblr</a> or <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/\">get a domain that can be your home on the internet with WP.com</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ve got ten days! After the 11th I&#8217;ll close the comments and pingbacks on this post. But I&#8217;m so curious to read what people write.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s it! No wrapping paper or bows. Just blogs and blogs and blogs, each unique and beautiful in its own way. (Oh! <a href=\"https://crowdfundr.com/TheBayLights360\">And put $10 toward the Bay Lights so we can get the contributor number as high as possible</a>.)</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 02 Jan 2024 01:49:34 +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:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:32;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:23:\"Matt: Books 2020–2023\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=109958\";s:7:\"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:38:\"https://ma.tt/2023/12/books-2020-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6451:\"<p>I&#8217;m a few years behind in posting my book lists, and past few years a good amount of my book reading time shifted to other mediums. I have been rediscovering the joy of books so here&#8217;s what I read the past few years as a motivation to myself to pick it up more in 2024.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2020</h2>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DMZ9WW/\"><strong>The Gift by Hafiz</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078GTFGJN/\">I hope this reaches her in time by r.h. Sin</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1J1D28/\">Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GD46PQZ/\">Exhalation by Ted Chiang</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FZ683NB/\">Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China&#8217;s Drive for Global Supremacy</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QUEHLM/\">Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JHYRAO/\">Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DRPGGQ7/\"><strong>High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JHYRDQ/\">The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NVN4QCM/\">What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GL6KYHM/\">Gideon Falls 1: The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NDKTJJ2/\">Gideon Falls 2: Original Sins by Jeff Lemire</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W6KB77N/\">Gideon Falls 3: Stations of the Cross by Jeff Lemire</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NYCE44O/\">What if I Say the Wrong Thing? 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People by Vernā Myers</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U5Q1O0/\"><strong>The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0071XO8RA/\"><strong>Wool by Hugh Howey</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ZHG3H3/\">Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077Y4WVPT/\">Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385249373/\">Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029XFF6U/\">How to Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081Y3R657/\"><strong>No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer</strong></a></li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2021</h2>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C75GLGK/\">Broken Stars by Ken Liu</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3L1C2K/\"><strong>The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W7XN3C/\">Broadbandits by Om Malik</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D2364N5/\">How to be Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BVJG3CS/\"><strong>The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQCNN4N/\">Billionaire Wilderness by Justin Farrell</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NYT9F8L/\">Antarctica: What Everyone Needs to Know by David Day</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SMFSL5M/\">San Fransicko by Michael Shellenberger</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006R8PHW0/\">Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent by Gabrielle Walker</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WN354G/\">At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1885254008\">Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNG496J/\"><strong>This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IWTWLQC/\"><strong>Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God by Will Durant</strong></a></li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2022</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This year I ended up mostly reading AI and machine learning academic papers, attempting to &#8220;learn AI deeply&#8221; as I asked people at <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2023/01/state-of-the-word-2/\">the State of the Word that year</a>. Started a bunch of other books but these were the only two I finished.</p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FGV64B1/\">4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008T9L6AM/\">A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Guin</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2023</h2>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JBCGQB8/\"><strong>Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075G4W7MV/\">Belong by Radha Agrawal</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCF78T14/\"><strong>Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YDBJV2Q/\">On That Note by Michael Wolff</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B13W5GPT/\"><strong>Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077J7F78Z/\"><strong>Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FDWCPV2/\">Permutation City by Greg Egan</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z8VTMYG/\"><strong>Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli</strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSSH8MQ9/\"><strong>Damn Good Advice by George Lois</strong></a></li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<p>All book years: <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/12/books-in-2017/\">2017</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2019/01/39-books-in-2018/\">2018</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2020/01/29-books-in-2019/\">2019</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/?p=109958\">2020–2023</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 01 Jan 2024 05:58:24 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"HeroPress: Surfing In France, Podcasts, Photos, and Press 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:29:\"https://heropress.com/?p=6332\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:101:\"https://heropress.com/surfing-in-france/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=surfing-in-france\";s: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:11511:\"<img width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/99265232ded267133.95673942-683x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rock cairns in focus against a backdrop of the rocky, Oregon coast with giant logs.\" /><p>It was a quiet week this week, between Christmas and New Year, so this newsletter will be a little different.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had 23 es