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




















































";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"Dev Blog: The Month in WordPress: August 2017";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=4899";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wordpress.org/news/2017/09/the-month-in-wordpress-august-2017/";s: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:6420:"<p>While there haven’t been any major events or big new developments in the WordPress world this past month, a lot of work has gone into developing a sustainable future for the project. Read on to find out more about this and other interesting news from around the WordPress world in August.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Global WordPress Translation Day Returns</h2>
<p>On September 30, the WordPress Polyglots team will be holding <a href="https://wptranslationday.org/">the third Global WordPress Translation Day</a>. This is a 24-hour global event dedicated to the translation of the WordPress ecosystem (core, themes, plugins), and is a mix of physical, in-person translation work with online streaming of talks from WordPress translators all over the world.</p>
<p>Meetup groups will be holding events where community members will come together to translate WordPress. To get involved in this worldwide event, <a href="https://www.meetup.com/pro/wordpress/">join your local meetup group</a> or, if one is not already taking place in your area, organize one for your community.</p>
<p>You can find out more information <a href="https://wptranslationday.org/global-wordpress-translation-day-3/">on the Translation Day blog</a> and in the #polyglots-events channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>
<h2>WordPress Foundation to Run Open Source Training Worldwide</h2>
<p>The WordPress Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to provide educational events and resources for hackathons, support of the open web, and promotion of diversity in the global open source community.</p>
<p>In an effort to push these goals forward, <a href="http://wordpressfoundation.org/2017/call-for-organizers-introduction-to-open-source/">the Foundation is going to be offering assistance</a> to communities who would like to run local open source training workshops. A number of organizers have applied to be a part of this initiative, and the Foundation will be selecting two communities in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Follow <a href="http://wordpressfoundation.org/news/">the WordPress Foundation blog</a> for updates.</p>
<h2>Next Steps in WordPress Core’s PHP Focus</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2017/08/the-month-in-wordpress-july-2017/">last month’s</a> push to focus on WordPress core’s PHP development, a number of new initiatives have been proposed and implemented. The first of these initiatives is a page on WordPress.org that will educate users on the benefits of upgrading PHP. The page and its implementation are still in development, so <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/servehappy">you can follow and contribute on GitHub</a>.</p>
<p>Along with this, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/">plugin developers are now able to specify</a> the minimum required PHP version for their plugins. This version will then be displayed on the Plugin Directory page, but it will not (yet) prevent users from installing it.</p>
<p>The next evolution of this is for the minimum PHP requirement to be enforced so that plugins will only work if that requirement is met. You can assist with this implementation by contributing your input or a patch on <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40934">the open ticket</a>.</p>
<p>As always, discussions around the implementation of PHP in WordPress core are done in the #core-php channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>
<h2>New Editor Development Continues</h2>
<p>For a few months now, the core team has been steadily working on Gutenberg, the new editor for WordPress core. While Gutenberg is still in development and is some time away from being ready, a huge amount of progress has already been made. In fact, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/29/whats-new-in-gutenberg-august-29/">v1.0.0 of Gutenberg</a> was released this week.</p>
<p>The new editor is available as a plugin <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/call-for-testing/gutenberg-testing/">for testing</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/revised-suggested-roadmap-for-gutenberg-and-customization/">the proposed roadmap</a> is for it to be merged into core in early 2018. You can get involved in the development of Gutenberg by joining the #core-editor channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a> and following the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">WordPress Core development blog</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Further reading:</h2>
<ul>
<li>On the topic of Gutenberg, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/">Matt Mullenweg wrote a post</a> to address some of the concerns that the community has expressed about the new editor.</li>
<li><a href="http://hookrefineandtinker.com/2017/08/jaiwp-an-alternative-project-to-wordcamp-india/">A new movement has started</a> in the Indian WordPress community named JaiWP — the organizers are seeking to unite and motivate the country’s many local communities.</li>
<li><a href="https://richtabor.com/merlin-wp/">Merlin WP</a> is a new plugin offering theme developers an easy way to onboard their users.</li>
<li>Ryan McCue posted <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/23/rest-api-roadmap/">an ambitious roadmap</a> for the future of the WordPress REST API — many contributions from the community will be needed in order to reach these goals.</li>
<li>Want to know what you can expect in the next major release of WordPress? <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/wordpress-4-9-goals/">Here’s a look</a> at what the core team is planning for v4.9.</li>
<li>To help combat the difficulties that Trac presents to WordPress Core contributors, Ryan McCue built an alternative platform dubbed <a href="https://github.com/rmccue/not-trac">Not Trac</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/2017/08/08/version-1-3-0-released/">v1.3.0 of WP-CLI was released</a> earlier in the month, adding a whole lot of great new features to the useful tool.</li>
</ul>
<p><i><span>If you have a story we should consider including in the next &#8220;Month in WordPress&#8221; post, please </span></i><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><i><span>submit it here</span></i></a><i><span>.</span></i></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 01 Sep 2017 10:02:16 +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:15:"Hugh Lashbrooke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"WPTavern: WordCamp Grand Rapids 2017 Sells Out, Organizers On Board for 2018 Event";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74039";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event";s: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:8631:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wordcamp-grandrapids.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The 4th edition of <a href="http://2017.grandrapids.wordcamp.org" target="_blank">WordCamp Grand Rapids</a> was held last weekend at Grand Valley State University’s downtown Pew Campus. After a brief hiatus following previous events in 2012, 2013, and 2014, the WordCamp is back in action with first-time lead organizer <a href="https://twitter.com/mysweetcate" target="_blank">Cate DeRosia</a> at the helm.</p>
<p>Tickets sold out shortly before the event and the vast majority of them were local to Michigan. DeRosia estimates that 40% came from Grand Rapids and 60% of attendees were within an hour radius. She published the camp&#8217;s details with a local events webpage and set up a Facebook page to increase local awareness. Organizers also received contacts from the WordPress dashboard events widget and the local MeetUp announcement.</p>
<p>Despite being a relatively small WordCamp with 144 attendees, organizers had enough speaker submissions to fill three tracks with topics ranging from development and design to freelance best practices and scaling a business. Attendees characterized the organizers as &#8220;connectors&#8221; who have a natural gift for helping people and businesses get to know each other. DeRosia said one of the unique things about the lower Michigan WordPress community is its dedication to helping each other succeed with WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;The core group in Grand Rapids, and really across the lower half of Michigan, is highly experienced and sincerely dedicated to helping people,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;No one is fighting to be top dog on the pile. No one&#8217;s gloating. Meetups and WordCamps are ways to give back, to encourage and grow others in the community. The focus is on the opportunities that WordPress can provide anyone and a willingness to share their years of hard earned experience to help others succeed.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeRosia said the organizing team&#8217;s goal was to provide a little something for everyone and &#8220;an opportunity to learn what can be done and take that home to foster and grow at each individual&#8217;s own pace.&#8221; The event was marked by the friendliness and enthusiasm of the volunteers and provided several breaks and social times for attendees to exchange ideas and build relationships with others in the industry.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">4yrs ago I attended <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcgr?src=hash">#wcgr</a> and knew no one. Attended yesterday and it's all handshakes, high fives and hugs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/community?src=hash">#community</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcfamily?src=hash">#wcfamily</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f604.png" alt="😄" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>&mdash; Kyle Maurer (@MrKyleMaurer) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrKyleMaurer/status/901914242626007040">August 27, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>WordCamp Grand Rapids had 13 volunteers who gave up their Saturday, including all of the organizers, and all of them were hands on the day of event. DeRosia&#8217;s teenage daughter Sophia, who has been volunteering at camps for years, also joined by contributing the event&#8217;s wapuu design and helping with operations. In the short interview below she describes how she came up with the idea for the wapuu and why she enjoys getting involved in WordPress events.</p>
<p></p>
<p>DeRosia had just four months to get the event organized and said she relied heavily on information and resources from other WordCamp organizers in Michigan. She stayed with the same venue from previous camps, which she said met her criteria for making things convenient for attendees: lunch was easily available, parking was easy to find (and free), and it was within a reasonable walking distance of hotels and the after party. The camp had no issues getting local sponsorships.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our sponsors were amazing,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;We came in late to the schedule and still had the sponsorship we needed with out any problems. It helps that as an organizing group we&#8217;ve created friendships in the community, but most of our sponsorship was local or regional which really helped cement the idea that another WordCamp in the area has value.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeRosia said with the number of people who left talking about the next event, she anticipates there will be another WordCamp Grand Rapids in 2018 and she hopes to help again as lead organizer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I knew tackling the &#8216;unknowns&#8217; of this first one (and doing it in a short time frame) was going to be emotionally difficult for me personally, but I also realized that most of what I was planning for this year would simply be able to move over into next year,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;In a sense, I was planning much of the next camp while planning the first.&#8221;</p>
<p>As a first-time organizer, DeRosia said she was impressed by the volunteers, speakers, and attendees&#8217; positive attitudes and their willingness to help given the short time frame.</p>
<p>&#8220;Aside from being terrified of what I didn&#8217;t know, it was actually a very positive experience,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;I had tons of encouragement from our organizing team and the community at large. I was really able to build on the success of the first three Grand Rapids WordCamps, WordCamp Ann Arbor, and the newest area WordCamp in Jackson (MI). I had serious doubts that the community would even care about having another WordCamp (Was I just wasting my time?), but they proved that it&#8217;s a wanted commodity.&#8221;</p>

<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-155129"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-155129.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-sara"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-sara.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-br"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-br.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-stickers"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-stickers.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-jjj"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-jjj.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-stickers2"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-stickers2.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-154730"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-154730.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-154854"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-154854.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-155040"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-155040.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 31 Aug 2017 21:08:33 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 1.0.0 Introduces Drag and Drop for Adding Image Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74447";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/gutenberg-1-0-0-introduces-drag-and-drop-for-adding-image-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3151:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/29/whats-new-in-gutenberg-august-29/" target="_blank">Gutenberg 1.0.0</a> was released this week as another iteration in the beta period that will continue on with 1.1 next week. Design lead Tammie Lister said the team decided &#8220;not let numbers set expectations&#8221; and will carry on at the same pace with weekly releases.</p>
<p>One of the most visible UI updates in version 1.0 is the new ability to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2447" target="_blank">add image blocks by dragging and dropping them into the editor</a>. They can be placed directly within the content (between blocks) and also onto the image block placeholder. Gutenberg includes a blue line indicator for dropzones where users can place an image.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gutenberg-image-upload.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>After testing I found this feature works smoothly but is a little slow. The slight delay of uploading the image after placing it may leave the user confused about what is happening. However, feedback on this particular pull request indicates that the team is working on displaying an immediate reaction to the image having been dropped, instead of waiting for the upload to finish.</p>
<p>This release also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2452" target="_blank">merges the paragraph and cover text blocks</a>. Contributors agreed that the two blocks could be easily combined and the colors and font size options from the previous cover block have now been added to the block settings sidebar.</p>
<p>A few other improvements in this release include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reworked color palette picker with a “clear” and a “custom color” option</li>
<li>Further improvements to inline pasting and fixing errant empty blocks</li>
<li>Added thumbnail size selector to image blocks</li>
<li>Added support for url input and align and edit buttons to audio block</li>
<li>Restored keyboard navigation with more robust implementation, addressing previous browser issues</li>
<li>Added align and edit buttons to video block</li>
<li>Show “add new term” in hierarchical taxonomies (including categories)</li>
</ul>
<p>Overall, the experience of writing within Gutenberg is improving, and the 1.0 release announcement includes an animated gif to demonstrate a user typing in the paragraph block:</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/typing.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The editor is getting better at staying out of the way when a user is writing, but the slightest mouse move within the paragraph block will slide all of the block&#8217;s surrounding controls into view. This experience can be a bit jarring, but it may be inevitable unless more of the UI can be buried under the inspector. The paragraph blocks currently display the most commonly used controls for writing text content, but I could see plugins hooking into this to create different types of writing experiences that either add more controls or pare it back to something more minimalist.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 30 Aug 2017 20:42:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"WPTavern: WordPress.org Now Allows Plugin Authors to Specify a Minimum PHP Version Requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74438";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-now-allows-plugin-authors-to-specify-a-minimum-php-version-requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2585:"<p>Although WordPress core currently maintains backwards compatibility with PHP 5.2.4+, plugin and theme authors are not required to do so. When developers include features that require more recent versions of PHP, it can break sites or cause otherwise unexpected behavior. As part of a larger effort to encourage users to upgrade their PHP versions, WordPress.org now allows plugin authors to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/" target="_blank">specify a minimum PHP version requirement</a> in the <code>readme.txt</code> file with a new Requires PHP header. It is displayed to users in the sidebar of the plugin&#8217;s description:</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/requires-php-version.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>This addition to the readme.txt file has been well-received by developers who are already updating their plugins in the directory with minimum PHP version requirements. It also complements WordPress’ Core PHP team&#8217;s recent efforts to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php" target="_blank">educate users about the benefits of upgrading PHP</a>, as the minimum supported version was released 10 years ago and hasn&#8217;t received security patches for nearly seven years.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a plugin developer (who maintains my plugins in my spare time), it is becoming increasingly difficult to build new functionality that works in older versions of PHP,&#8221; Paul Gilzow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/#comment-43314" target="_blank">commented</a> on the announcement. &#8220;There are some things that simply cannot be done in the older versions, and in those cases, I have to build out functionality to check PHP versions and disable those features. That takes time and energy away from building out other new features.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress Core Committer Sergey Biryukov said the next step is exploring the possibility of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40934" target="_blank">displaying a notice to users when they cannot install a theme or plugin</a> due to their installations not meeting the required criteria. Ideally, these notices would include host-specific instructions to assist users in getting their sites upgraded to a newer PHP version. This particular move could make a significant impact on the wider WordPress community, if popular plugins start triggering notices requiring newer versions of PHP.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 30 Aug 2017 18:13:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"HeroPress: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2064";s:7:"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:158:"https://heropress.com/essays/retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-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:59157:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/083017-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: You can't always win. You have to learn from the journey and move on." /><p><span>When you are reading this, I am very near to celebrate my 33rd Birthday. I don’t know how this number &#8217;33&#8217; sounds to you, but in some ways, I feel it’s a big number. I know many of you would argue that 33 is not an age to be considered old. In this article I will share about my career with <strong>WordPress</strong> lasting over 13 years, and how I am planning to retire within a year, more or less. And if you are an <strong>Entrepreneur</strong> yourself or self-establisher person, I think this will be an intriguing discussion, I will add some key pointers from my life that lead me to this decision.</span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/edit_IMG_1358.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2067 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/edit_IMG_1358-1024x819.jpg" alt="Me Enjoying the Sun & Jetpack Tees after a long drive to Key West!" width="960" height="768" /></a>Me Enjoying the Sun &amp; Jetpack Tees after a long drive to Key West, FL!
<h3><b>What do I mean by &#8216;retire&#8217;?</b></h3>
<p><span>So, may be you are shocked to just see the title. The word ‘retire’ could be little confusing. Does that mean I am going to take leave from all of my ventures permanently? Will not be involved with anything day to day basis. And will be walking out in my beach-shorts in broad daylight, or vacationing endlessly anywhere in the world? </span></p>
<p><span>In some sense, Yes, in some sense, No. The kind of office I have I could literally go in shorts though, and my life has given me the opportunity to vacation as I want, almost!</span></p>
<p><span>But, yes, I am talking about taking leave from most of my ventures, at least not being involved day to day. And kind of taking a break to reflect more into life. I have been working tirelessly for a decade. I need some kind of breathing space, it&#8217;s not exactly what you think though. It’s kind of reboot. I will keep expanding the idea throughout the article. If you are really into, sadly you have to keep reading.</span></p>
<h2><b>So, who am I?</b></h2>
<p><span>I am not sure how boring this might get, but still, let me introduce myself. My name is <a href="https://asif.im"><strong>Asif</strong></a>, I am the CEO of <a href="https://wedevs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weDevs</a>, a large WordPress product company (in WordPress Ecosystem) with a team of over 45 people. I am also the Founder of <a href="https://arcom.com.bd">ARCom</a>, a decade old WordPress focused Media Company. I am involved with WordPress community since 2004 and been very actively involved ever since. </span></p>
<p><span>I have founded many startups in my Entrepreneurial career, including but not limited to (those are the successful one, but I obviously have fair share of failures as well)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://thetechjournal.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>The Tech Journal</b></a><span> &#8211; A Tech Magazine with a peak monthly user base of 10.2 Million.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://thedhakatimes.com/"><b>The Dhaka Times</b></a><span> &#8211; The Biggest Lifestyle Magazine in Bangla language (</span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers"><span>seventh most spoken native language in the world</span></a><span> by population) with average monthly 15-35 Million user base.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://wpdeveloper.net"><b>WPDeveloper.net</b></a><span> &#8211; A (half-baked) WordPress Product Marketplace, focused to solve simple problems in WordPress, connecting User with Developer.</span></p>
<p><b><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-analytify/">Analytify</a> &#8211; </b><span>A very advanced and highlighted Free WordPress Plugin that makes Google Analytics easy inside WordPress, and helps ecommerce brands.</span></p>
<p><span>I am also involved heavily in either as Founder or Investor, or many weird capacities at</span></p>
<p><a href="https://geekysocial.com/"><b>Geeky Social</b></a><span> &#8211; A progressive digital agency in Bangladesh, focused on Knowledge Leadership! </span></p>
<p><a href="http://aamarpay.com/"><b>AamarPay</b></a><span> &#8211; A Payment Processor</span></p>
<p><b>Alo Venture</b><span> &#8211; Once very active, now semi-dead venture capital wing, invested mainly in mobile and game industry.</span></p>
<p><span>And ARCom is always rocking with several projects, for past few year we have a wing to handle Enterprise WordPress Support, and serving even Fortune 500 company, who rely on us entirely, and we manage their entire stack, month by month, for years.</span></p>
<h2><b>Enough of me!</b></h2>
<p><span>Is it? As this article is entirely about me, you have to tolerate a lot more. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" /></span></p>
<p><span>This is going to be the biggest ever article published in HeroPress!</span></p>
<p><b>So, I always wanted to do WordPress?</b></p>
<p><span>No, obviously not. In my childhood I always wanted to be a scientist, a Physicist to be exact. And it&#8217;s not just like an aim-in-life, I was literally very serious. I was always into Space Science. Later it grew more into Physics. To give you an idea how seriously I was let me tell you something. While going into some old boxes I found out some paper-cutting from back in 1993(I was in 3rd Grade), about coverage of different space exploration, news about Pioneer, upcoming plan on a Probe in Saturn. I literally had a file to collect those. Back in that day, that&#8217;s what you could do most, without any internet, and from a remote part of Bangladesh.</span></p>
<p><span>I was not extremely good in school, it&#8217;s not like what you read in the story, never stood 2nd type! It&#8217;s more like I never stood 1st type! But I was good in math, I was always progressing, and the main blessing I had in my life was support of my parents, like most parents in our time, they never pushed me into things, never tried to push their judgment into my life. When I advanced from one Class to another making some progress, they were happy with it, and I always made progress. So, they were happy, I was happy being a mediocre-student. But the issue was, in my mind, I was best. I know how childish it sounds, but I was really a child back then! I always thought that I am best if I try enough if I was given enough opportunity. So, Instead of trying to do best in the Class, I focused on many things, like starting a Detective Company to Secret R&amp;D Team, and none of those were joke, we were serious. </span></p>
<h2><b>Reading!</b></h2>
<p><span>I always loved reading, and I was extremely lucky to have so much opportunity to read. My house has some collection of children’s book, some cheap but interesting translation, my parents always brought me books on every possible occasion, as that&#8217;s what would make me happy. When that was not enough, I practically sneaked into most houses in the neighborhood. I was in 7th Grade at that time, and if a neighbor had an older kid they would have more books, and good part was if you show interest on reading books, and return it carefully, they would not mind to open up their bookshelf door for you, and most of them even loved me for this. Later on, I also finished up most of my relatives collection in the same town. Later on when in high-school everyone around knew I love books. Later on, this grew on my friends as well. I was lucky to have good childhood friends, who also enjoyed books as well. So, we would gift books to each others birthday, so we could read it ourselves. And few of my friend was very good students, and they always got some scholarship money, so we spend everything in our school life on books. </span></p>
<p><b>So, what was I was reading? Everything!</b></p>
<p><span>Starting from Children’s story later grew into Detective Story, Science Fiction, and later into the adventure story, literature, whatever comes into my hand. One interesting thing I also did from the very early stage, keeps track on what I am reading. It probably came from my hobby of collecting Stamps. We used to make notes and categorize our collection. So, I started doing the same for Books. I made a notebook, started noting and making a list of what I am reading, later on, I started to make some remarks, note, what I liked, what not. </span></p>
<h2><b>Writing!</b></h2>
<p><span>In my teenage life writing took even more meaning in my life. I was always good at expressing myself, and creative writing. But when one of our best friends left the country, and the only way to communicate was to write letters, so, we started to do that. It took different meaning very soon. We were enjoying writing letters so much, few of us in the same class who we see every day also started writing a letter to each other. However, it was nothing like a love letter or anything related to the affair, we were writing about anything, everything. At one point we were in a competition who could write the longest letter. In this competition, one of my friends wrote a letter to me (again from the same class, sitting almost on my next desk! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" /> ) over 50 pages, and to defeat her I wrote an over <strong>100-page long letter</strong>! </span></p>
<p><span>*If you are wondering what I wrote in those 100 pages &#8211; I have a very large family, where my relatives of great-great-grandfather’s cousin’s and their family are still very connected and if you saw me talking with any of them you would think they are my 1st Uncle or Aunt. So, what I did is wrote about my whole family tree, describing family history and later on describing each and every member I could remember! In my house we had a very old “Family Birth Register” (জন্ম কষ্টি খাতা), dating back in the early 1900s, I even took help from it!</span></p>
<p><b>Dramatic changes in my Educational life!</b></p>
<p><span>As described earlier </span><span>I was average in studies</span><span> but not extremely good. And I was happy about it! All my </span><span>close friends were very good students and would achieve the first or second position in class every time. Whereas, I was happy being in the 8th or 10th position. But as said in my mind I was the best. </span></p>
<p><span>Our educational system requires you to memorize and write as it is. But I was driven into reading books, and other things (also including play Cricket seriously). I would try to focus on memorizing everything. And from childhood, teachers grow an impression of what to expect from a particular student. So, for an example, my social science teacher knew for years what to expect from me, and it&#8217;s very hard to get past that impression. </span></p>
<p><span>When I was advancing from Grade 8 to 9, I took part in a Scholarship exam. </span><span>We prepared for a year. Only a handful of us was participating from our school, I was among those few, but I had literally zero chance to get the scholarship. I was not very bothered. But during the exam, we had to travel to another town to take exam, and it was in the month of Ramadan, and I did not break my fast. It was hard, I had 2 exams in a single day. When I came back home one day with my father, my mom was sad seeing me so tired and drained out. But was happy that I was still fasting. Then she told me something very simply, which started a chain-reaction in my life. She told me, &#8220;You think of yourself so highly, you spend all of your time with those same kids, who are doing so good in school. But if you really think of yourself so highly, why not try to reflect that in your grade?&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span>Maybe it&#8217;s very normal for parents to talk like that. But as my parents never compared me with anybody or let me do in my way, I kept on thinking about this. </span><span>What clicked in my mind was that, i</span><span>f I am really good, I should be able to do good in any circumstances, if this requires me to memorize everything I could do that. If I want to be really that good, and be a good scientist, I need to learn to cope up and fight in any situation. </span></p>
<p><b>So, I changed myself, was even memorizing books, that I absolutely did not like!</b></p>
<p><span>In grade 9 &amp; 10, I studied very hard. I changed my lifestyle a lot. I changed the way I write in exam paper to change the impression of my teacher. Before I was always like studying in my mind, not writing what I just read, I forced myself in writing those answer I just read, it was very hard and boring at the beginning. But I had a very good private tutor, who guided me in every way. Later on my teachers in school helped in every way possible. In Bangladesh student have to take a part in a Certification Exam after 10th Grade, to advance in College, its called SSC, Secondary School Certificate Exam. I prepared for that. At the end of 10th Grade, I almost had the book fully memorized, I could write as it is, correct to each and every comma and space. I improved my english a lot. I learned some calculous which was not part of our curriculum, just to advance myself for college, and I knew if I had to do better in Physics I need to learn math and Calculous better. </span></p>
<p><span>Everything was perfect, we took part in the big exam!</span></p>
<p><b>And I did not get the grade I expected!</b></p>
<p><span>Interestingly our batch did not get good grades in SSC</span><span>, we were the first batch in a new grading system, and we did not know that even before the exam, so none got perfect grade of 5.0, I got a very average grade(not bad, but not very good either). I was extremely disappointed, broken, but later learned to cope up.</span><span> I realized a good lesson of life that </span><b>&#8211; Even though you may work hard and go to great lengths to do everything possible, still you might have to deal with failures and disappointments.</b></p>
<p><span>Another good thing also happened in my life too. I moved from the small town I grew up, <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishwardi_Upazila">Ishurdi</a></strong>, to the Capitol of the Nation, <strong>Dhaka</strong>, and was able to get a chance in the entrance exam of all big colleges in the country where I tried. This gave me a huge boost in confidence. I selected to study in Notre Dame College, in English Medium of Science. It was another controversial decision I made, for me a kid coming from rather a small town, and from Bangla Medium it was a tough decision, but I stick to it for the future, because I still wanted to be a Physicist, wanted to study further in my life, I knew I had to be in English Medium.</span></p>
<p><b>I had very hard time at the beginning of College!</b></p>
<p><span>At the start it was very hard, our whole group suffered a lot to cope up with new curriculum, our first semester in College was the worst. But later we learned to cope up, we were 130 students in our Group (famous Group 8 in Notre Dame College), we all were helpful to each other, not everyone had private teacher in this point, we shared our notes, I was living first time without my parents, I was also dealing with occasional sickness due to not eating properly. So, there was a lot of struggle, but by the end of 1st year, I was dealing with everything properly. I got a good friend circle, I was not only doing well in college, I was also enjoying my freedom and mostly dealing with anything life throws at me!</span></p>
<h2><b>My Introduction to Computer &amp; Programming!</b></h2>
<p><span>Actually, I always loved programming, before entering University I already knew some basic programming, like qBasic, FORTRAN, even some level of Pascal. The kind of society I grew up, a computer was extremely rare before the year 2000. I was kind of lucky to be able to learn basic computer usage starting from the year 1998, got my first computer in 1999. It was so rare to own a computer in that time for that part of the word, that I was not only the first kid in my class to own a computer, but only a handful of people in my town knew how to use a computer. So, though I am not from a very rich or privileged family, extremely lucky that my parents understood the importance in that time. </span></p>
<p><span>Another interesting aspect was unlike most people, I was not fully taken over by Computer Games. I am not saying gaming is bad, but most of the people I later see own a computer, the main thing they do with it was playing the game all the time. And you have to understand that almost pre-internet period in Bangladesh. I use the internet first in my life back in 2001. I was more into tweaking things, trying to create or modify the software or create very basic type tools. I am super amazed by internet from first interaction. The search engine was in its peak time, discovering new resource was easy. I tried creating my first webpage in Yahoo Geocities back in 2001, wap page generator was also taking shape in coming years. </span></p>
<p><b>Say Hi to WordPress in my life!</b></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Asif-R1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2068 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Asif-R1-1024x863.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="809" /></a>M Asif Rahman &#8211; Wearing Tees by WordPressian Group!
<p><span>      I created my first blog back in 2003 in Blogger, but while trying to add a sidebar and customizing home page look, I find it&#8217;s very difficult for me to do anything in ASP.net, then I found WordPress, back in the year 2004. I still remember reading Matt’s blog and write up about how the whole project is moving ahead from b2 cafelog. WordPress was so easy, I hardly knew any PHP in that time, but my HTML and CSS knowledge was well enough for me being able to edit my personal blog. At the start hosting was one issue, but again I was lucky to manage one. Later when WordPress.com came, I migrated my blog over there and was happy at the beginning, as less hassle. I was also heavily involved with forum community. There was some very large community for webmaster and developer, I loved PHPbb and other solution for forums as well. But after experiencing some massive vulnerabilities, which lead to a major data breach, I focused more on personal blogging and soon into web development. Wth WordPress it was extremely easy to create a website, plugin and theming turn out to be not a complex task. The community and developers contributing in this ecosystem were another main factors. I feel very connected with the whole ecosystem, eventually became habituated with this, and started to feel it&#8217;s my comfort zone.</span></p>
<p><b>How I started my career and company!</b></p>
<p><span>I was using the name A. R. Communication, an as an acronym of my initials (Asif Rahman) back in 2001 as well, but it was nothing serious, no particular business. When in college, to support myself I first started a Marketing Trainee job in a Multi-international company. It was convenient with my college time and location, and they were literally paying to learn things. I started it just the as need of money, but later I enjoyed marketing, corporate training, and even enjoyed sales training as well. But I never took that job a as career choice.</span></p>
<h3><b>My first venture!</b></h3>
<p><span>In the year 2003, before even going to Universities I started a full 4 color magazine, printed publication with a close friend of mine. It was a fun ride. The name of the magazine was “</span><b>Fortnightly Tumi</b><span>”, the Bangla word “Tumi” means “</span><b>You</b><span>”! It was a lifestyle Magazine. My family already had a history with the printing business, so I had some experience. We did this business very thoroughly if you consider this as our first venture. We did a proper market study, interviewed potential readers, organized group discussion, and got good funding. And we also started with bang! Hired renowned journalist and writer. I was barely <strong>19 years old</strong> that time, have very experienced people in my team over 50 years old, and managing them was good lesson. All together we published 3 edition, with good marketing trick we were able to sell 10,000 copy nationwide for that last edition, we had over 20 big brands in the country advertising with us. But still, that business did not work out. We had to shut down, as our investor (my friend’s family) want us to focus on our education instead of this, and we were probably way ahead of our time.</span></p>
<p><b>Too many choices after college!</b></p>
<p><span>I did fairly good in college, despite being in English medium. I applied for the various scholarship in different university all around the world, and was in a process of ISSB for Airforce as GD Pilot, the whole process was lengthy, and I was only doing it for 2 reasons.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span>One of my friends asked me to collect the form, as it was close from my house, and I thought why not fill up together.</span></li>
<li><span>GD Pilots also get the chance of studying Aeronautical Engineering and even switch to Engineering in future, and they will have a chance to study higher in that subject, which could open up my door for getting into Space Science. All for free, paid by Govt.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span>Interestingly I get past all the test and selected finally. But they informed me, I have to stay in GD Pilot as a cadet and will be commissioned in 2 years, but have to think Pilot as a career, I was confused, I never enjoyed or felt the passion for speed before in my life. And we had few months time before joining the Force.</span></p>
<p><span>In the meantime, I got so many opportunities in various universities. And one of my dream to study further in Physics was too close, as I got a chance in Uni Penn, and got a scholarship there as well. I had few other opportunities at Canada and Australia. I even applied for Visa for Australia as well, but later had to decide against all of those for some family and personal reason. </span></p>
<p><span>I ultimately left Air Force as well, me &amp; my parents agree that&#8217;sts not a good career choice for me, given the option I had. I got a scholarship at North South University in Electrical &amp; Telecommunications Engineering. And as I started my company seriously at beginning of 2004, then a University that offers Open Credit, where I am able to choose my workload, it was just convenient. So, out of all promising option, I almost chose the risky one, to make my own company and study in Bangladesh, at least for the Bachelor.</span></p>
<h2><b>The inception of ARCom:</b></h2>
<p><span>Actually, ARCom is the short version of A. R. Communications. As I found making website too easy with WordPress, and a new found talent was helping me as well. </span></p>
<p><span>Just as I never waste time on gaming, rather enjoyed my time to tweak things, creating new application. Instead of most people, when they visit a new website, they look at the shiny look, or how good or better information it provides, whenever I visit a good site, I was always thinking how they are making money, how is this built and sustained. This quest has helped me making our first successful business. It took years, it did not turn into something very big in a night. During University years I did make many different kinds of websites, in that time I started earning first from selling websites. That was during the year 2005 or 2006, it was long before Sitepoint turn into Flippa, back in the shining days of DigitalPoint! I used that money to buy more domain. I hired my university classmate to work with me. The first outsider I hired in my company was a designer, as I needed help in there. Later it kept growing over the year.</span></p>
<h3><b>First Big Success:</b></h3>
<p><span>Though I already enjoyed some good (if not very big) payday by selling a website, point to note here, I was selling website as a business, not like you design a site and sell, its more about creating a business, create a process and sell it for a 2X &#8211; 5X yearly profit. But my big success came after 2008. Everything was turning so well, I was done with my University. My company was already a Team of over 20 people, with an office of 2500 square feet space. We started </span><a href="https://thetechjournal.com"><b>The Tech Journal</b></a><span>, it worked so well in every aspect. As I was into writing blogs and also into the gadget. After the first iPhone release I was involved in many ways, from working with the secret group who were Jailbreaking each and every firmware, also new kind of responsive websites, I was also into News &amp; those kinds of stuff. And because of my quest to understand how a thing works, I had a good grasp already into Content Distribution. Facebook and other Social Media are playing a role in content and distribution already. It all helped.</span></p>
<p><b>The Tech Journal became very big!</b></p>
<p><span>Within 6 months of start, we ranked within top 20k website. I was enjoying the ride to play with monetization and taking things into next phase. At one pick point, we were ranked even within top 4000 websites in Alexa. I had a good team with me. I finished my university already, 3 of my University friend was working with me full time. We all shared same vision for The Tech Journal, and it kept on growing. Because of our experience with WordPress we kept on innovating, for us we could build anything in WordPress, I had a solid Development team as well.</span></p>
<h3><b>Marriage &amp; Beyond!</b></h3>
<p><span>I got married at 2009, I was 25 years old back then. I don’t know if there is any perfect age for marriage, but I felt that was the right time, I was doing good in business, was looking for more stability in emotional life as well. I suddenly found my long lost childhood friend, <strong>Bipasha</strong>, whom I did not have any communication for past 13 years, but suddenly fall in love and we decide to get married. <strong>Just like that!</strong> I will not go into details here(it&#8217;s already too big) how we studied together since 1st grade and got detached when we were in 7th Grade, but still got married 13 years later. We started a new life, life was never better!</span></p>
<p><b>Moving Further with WordPress:</b></p>
<p><span>Over the year WordPress kept growing so was I. I was writing, blogging, building things with WordPress. WordCamp was already something, but I was not able to attend or participate as I was still in Universities, but after finishing up, I decide to get more involved. I spoke in my first WordCamp in WordCamp Melbourne. For many years I was also very vocal about security and optimization, so I started to get so many opportunities into speaking and participating in various things. I still remember I spent one crazy summer in the US, participating 6 WordCamps, visiting 9 States and 13 cities in the process, starting from Boston and finishing at San Francisco! </span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asif-Speaking-At-WordCamp-SF-2014-V1.1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-2069" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asif-Speaking-At-WordCamp-SF-2014-V1.1-1024x514.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="482" /></a>WordCamp SF 2014 &#8211; Mission Bay Conference Center
<p><span>I was very lucky to be able to speak at last ever WordCamp San Francisco.</span></p>
<p><b>Pursuing more into Investment!</b></p>
<p><span>It&#8217;s mainly because of <strong>The Tech Journal</strong>, I was involved in many tech conferences, and always getting the pitch from various startups. And my new grown circle of friends from WordPress and various other tech scenes, I already established a good connection in Silicon Valley. It was in the year 2009 when I made my first Angel investment, the credit must go to my friend circle, it was years before Angel List, there was offline syndicate where folks will share investment opportunity. But I really loved talking with young entrepreneur and seeing how new business works. I kept my focus in my sector, the field I understand. So, I mainly invested in tech. Out of several investments, one of my lucky ones was Facebook, I was able to invest in <strong>Facebook</strong> before their IPO, not very early, but still Pre-IPO stage, it was one of my lucky breaks. As I was already doing good in my business I tried to utilize it. I did not start investing because I had too much cash laying around, I started because I liked those opportunities, I wanted to help those ideas or startups.</span></p>
<h2><b>Moving into the US:</b></h2>
<p><span>I started another business in US, where my partner was from Orlando, I spent one Thanksgiving with my Wife in Orlando, really loved the place, people, and we already got a long term Visa, and had full opportunity to live anywhere we want. My company in Bangladesh was already in a stable phase, and as I was traveling heavily for years, my team was used to being managed remotely, so it was not a hard decision. But staying far from parents was hard. So, what we started maintaining both houses in Bangladesh and Florida. For years we spend some part of the year in US, rest in Bangladesh. </span></p>
<h3><b>Child &amp; Changes in Life!</b></h3>
<p><span>Like everybody else our life was bound to change when we had baby. In year 2014 we were getting for our first baby. We decide to stay in US, because of better medical facility and my involvement in different things. Just a month after speaking at WordCamp San Francisco in November we were blessed with <strong>Aaniyah</strong>. Actually, our life already changed when we were planning and waiting for the baby. I was feeling the work routine I have would never let me spend the time I want to have with my baby.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Laugh.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2070" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Laugh-1024x691.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="648" /></a></p>
<h2><b>Analytify &amp; A New friendship!</b></h2>
<p><span>I became friends with </span><a href="http://www.adnan.pk/"><span>Muhammad Adnan</span></a><span> online back in 2014, he was working with his premium Plugin <a href="https://analytify.io/"><strong>Analytify</strong></a> back then. I found this as a real good project and started talking with him, giving him various advice, and we later decided to team up, and we released the first free version of Analytify WordPress plugin on 1st January 2015. It was a success, it completely revolutionizes how people use Google Analytics in WordPress. Later Adnan visited me in the US in 2015, and together we attended WordCamp Miami and had a good trip and drive to Key West! The most interesting part of the friendship lies somewhere else. I am a Bangladeshi, and Adnan is Pakistani. Both of our nation has a very bad past. Bangladesh was once part of Pakistan, back in 1971 we fought for about 9 months, and millions of people died in the process before we got Freedom and Declared Independence from Pakistan. But it creates a life long enmity between two countries. I know for an outsider it does not make sense to keep some feelings for that long, but for its very personal for us. Our country lost so much in that war, even if you speak about just my family, My Grandmother lost half of her family in that war, Bangladeshi especially have a very strong opinion about any Pakistani. But meeting Adnan, becoming friends, and working together made me realize few interesting thing, this feeling, this agony against any Pakistani was one-way. Most of the Pakistani did not have any idea what their Government or Army did, they hardly have idea about their Ancestors’ doing. They rather still consider us Brother! Some of the history he never knew, they never read in their history book. I would never know this if it&#8217;s not for </span><b>WordPress</b><span>, we would never meet, this change in understanding for both of us never happened.</span></p>
<p><span>And we together kept on growing <strong>Analytify</strong>, as the best Google Analytics Plugin in WordPress, and planning many interesting things together.</span></p>
<h2><b>Coming Back to Bangladesh!</b></h2>
<p><span>While I was staying and mostly investing in the US, I started investing in some interesting Teams in Bangladesh from the year 2012. Over the year, a few failed, but some really kept on growing. In the year 2016, in Pre-Trump period we were expecting our 2nd Baby, and it was too hard for us to manage alone in the US, and we both were missing our family. I want my kids to grow up having their family close to them, the way I grew up. I want my parents to feel close to them. Occasionally when we visited Bangladesh with our first child, I was quite blown away the way they loved and took care of the baby. It all made sense if we spend some more time in Bangladesh, and have the Baby in here. And the weird things going on with the US also motivated my decision. The kind of craziness we are seeing in the US, actually did not start just by having Trump elected. It goes way back. We were living in a  very peaceful neighborhood in Florida, a small town called Orange City, near Daytona Beach! But we could still feel the change in air. Our parents have a pending Immigration Application for near a decade, they are on the que to become US citizen anyway. We first tried to have them with us, but US Embassy in Bangladesh rejected that application, for absolutely no reason. And my other venture was already growing in Bangladesh. So, all together we decide to stay in Bangladesh for awhile, we moved in mid-2016.</span></p>
<h3><b>Welcoming Aadiyah into the Family!</b></h3>
<p><span>We had our 2nd Baby <strong>Aadiyah</strong> in September 2016, a bit ahead of time, my wife got little too sick, but we were able to handle everything because of having family together. We moved into a large Duplex house, to have enough space for the baby. We feel we are complete as family and never been this happy before.</span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_1610.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-2071" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_1610-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a>Complete Family!
<h1><b>weDevs &amp; My Legacy!</b></h1>
<p><span>I will discuss later my involvement in Bangladeshi WordPress Eco-system. But back in 2013 I first met <a href="https://tareq.co/">Tareq</a>, a very talented Bangladeshi Programmer, running a successful WordPress product company. He and his Partner <strong>Nizam</strong> built an amazing company, and they had few very interesting and super successful products for WordPress. I started helping as possible from my end, I want them to succeed and pushing them to move forward. I became an official partner and board member of <a href="https://wedevs.com"><strong>weDevs</strong></a> back in 2015. I was helping them to grow internationally and advising them as part of the board. We established a US company and kept on growing. Though I was in WordPress for very long time, my main company <strong>ARCom</strong> was never serious into WordPress Product. I released some of <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/asif2bd">our work</a> in Open Source via WordPress.org Plugin Directory, and with my growing experience with <strong>Analytify</strong> made me dig more into WordPress products.</span></p>
<p><span>Somehow at the end of 2016, <strong>Tareq</strong> and I was looking at our numbers for <strong>weDevs</strong> in 2016, we noticed something very important. Three of us spend more time digging deep into the numbers and re-analyzed our process and priorities. Soon we all came into understanding we have to take things forward with <strong>weDevs</strong>, the growth of the industry is very important if we want to be big in future this is the right time. They proposed to me if I could take over as <strong>CEO</strong>. Nizam was running weDevs successfully as CEO for years, and I never thought seriously about running another company, and my retirement plan was already in place. But we found this could be the best thing we could do in the year 2017, where I have little over 1.5 years before my planned retirement. </span></p>
<p><span>So, I jumped into the ship. I always dreamed to make a rocking and successful company in WordPress product space, and it was my chance. And as it&#8217;s already a running successful company, my goal here to build a legacy, instead of just making a profitable company, built a sustainable company, and proper team, a fine management, that could grow into future, that could </span><b>outgrow us</b><span>, something even bigger than us combined. </span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5190R.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2073 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5190R-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a>weDevs new office &#8211; Reception Area from inside &#8211; WordPress Flavoured!
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>So, I took over <strong>weDevs of CEO</strong> in January 2017, I took 2 months as the transition period and blend fully into the day to day system. We announced this officially in the month of March. Dhaka is a very jam packed city with the highest number of people living in per square miles in the world. We were already a Team of about 25 people. I still had few other business that I have to take care. So, we moved to a new large space. A total of 5000 square feet space, fully open, we built a unique office that could sustain us for next few year. I moved my house and office in the same area, called <strong>Mirpur DOHS</strong>. Me, my partners, and almost 12 of us together moved into this area together. As we now live within 2 min distance from the office, the Traffic could not bother us at all. We gave the option for our employees to move into too. We paid the moving cost, we even adjusted salary if they faced any increase of cost for housing or anything. We took time, but now our new office is complete, it&#8217;s one very interesting WordPress themed workplace.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5240R.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2074" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5240R-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>We are growing further, our team of 25 people will soon <strong>become a team of  50+</strong>. We are working on new stunning products, we just launched a brand new super fast Form Builder plugin named <a href="https://wedevs.com/weforms/"><strong>weForms</strong></a>. It will revolutionize the way people build forms and create anything from just a simple contact form to organize a quiz. Our team built it entirely on Vue.JS, as a single page app. It&#8217;s unbelievably fast, almost nothing we have seen so far inside WordPress.</span></p>
<p><span>Our Team internally working very hard to update our existing product and we are working on some new things that I am incredibly looking forward to. Before I join, weDevs did not have a marketing team, we ran entirely autonomous. In last 6 months, we have built a sustainable Content &amp; Marketing Team. I am working tirelessly with my CTO &amp; COO to build a new culture. We have a two-way feedback evaluation process. I created a kind of unique in its way, a grading system where the company could give feedback to an employee, on exact point, and inform directly where they need to improve. It&#8217;s a kind of algorithm I have developed over the years and really helps you to make a happy and working team. In the same way, Employee also have the opportunity to give feedback to the company directly &#8211; about what makes them happy, how a company could help him grow more, or if the company is addressing every concern properly. We do this quarterly basis, and review in each quarter, so the improvement could always be tracked, graphed and addressed properly.</span></p>
<h2><b>Bangladeshi WordPress Community!</b></h2>
<p><span>This is another very proud thing I would like to talk about. When I first had a very detail conversation with Matt Mullenweg, back in 2011, he was very happy that I attending so many WordCamp, and be that much involved with the community, he asked me about WP community back my country, and told me if we are able to have a good group, a nice meetup and eventually a WordCamp, he will try to attend. I found a new role for myself, over the year we grew Bangladeshi WordPress community. Locally we have very growing and engaging WordPress Group, called WordPressians, we have over 21,000 Members in Facebook. We are a team of 15 Admin/Organizer who maintains everything, and it&#8217;s an open group so always evolving. Over the year, we 15 became very close to each other, and we all consider each other as best friend. We contribute in Open Source together, we hangout together, attend various WordCamps around together now, we plan day out together as well. This is another blessing happened to our life mainly because of WordPress.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_9881.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2075" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_9881-1024x417.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="391" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Starting from 2013 we are official meetup chapter in Dhaka. We organized over 15 meetup, where each and every meetup of our could be considered little WordCamp, with 4-6 session, and had 150-300 attendees. We organized all of our meetup in our own platform, a WordPress plugin we created, so everything happened at &#8211; WPressians.net, not at Meetup.com, we did it with direct permission from WordPress Foundation. We have made WordCamp Application starting from 2013. And I even faced Organizer interview twice in 2014.</span></p>
<h3><b>But the sadness!</b></h3>
<p><span>There is one thing that hurt me a lot. Though me and our organizing team worked so hard to grow Bangladeshi WordPress community, but due to some miscommunication, we still don&#8217;t have any WordCamp yet. The foundation failed to take timely measures to proceed with our WordCamp application, we faced repeated issues in getting the proper timely response from them. Out of frustration and years of waiting back in 2015, we organized a CMS Conference in Dhaka, where we had over 10 speakers, and there were over 1500 attendees. So our team has proven their position, but things took so long from the Foundation. I wrote to foundation much time, there is one on-going conversation, still, we hope for the best, this the way Foundation handled our communication, shows the lack-of-attention clearly. I am almost devastated in this and very hurt! When I first attended and spoke in WordCamp Melbourne in 2011, I was the first Bangladeshi to ever do so. I but I kept on pushing. Now there is over 10 from even just our organizing team where they attended in various <strong>WordCamps around the World</strong>. Last year we attended WordCamp Singapore with a team of 9 people from Bangladesh. We are gaining experience, we are driven, but still lacking behind because of Foundation, sadly! I attended over <strong>50 WordCamps</strong> worldwide, I helped to organize over 10 WordCamps in various cities, but could not organize a single one in my home country for 6 years, this keeps bugging me all the time!</span></p>
<h1><b>My Future Plan!</b></h1>
<h2><b>Plan to retire by my next Birthday!</b></h2>
<h3><b>weDevs to keep on Growing!</b></h3>
<p><span>I am here at weDevs to create and fine tune the process and build the vision. I already described what&#8217;s happening in there. From my start as CEO we are seeing about 15% month to month growth in revenue and about 20% in market reach, We will keep on doing so and beyond. And we will probably get more result in long term, and building team, forming up a new culture and getting result certainly take more than 6 months.</span></p>
<p><span>So far the plan is to me stay in Day to Day involve up until June 2018. This is not an exact day plan, could change with time. But possibly by September!</span></p>
<h2><b>ARCom being Autonomous!</b></h2>
<p><span>I am running ARCom without much of daily maintenance for awhile now. I have Team Lead, Editors, Managers in place, that&#8217;s running their wing successfully for awhile now. There are few new plans and things my Team working, but all team has a lead, which they ran with ownership, and mostly sustainable. There are some places where we need some work, I hope it will be done by that projected time.</span></p>
<h2><b>Geeky Social, 3rdBell and my other venture!</b></h2>
<p><b>Geeky Social</b><span> has a solid team, and they are running amazingly. I am very proud of our team. I am part of the board and now serving as Chairman, and probably will continue to do so. I hope by next 6-9 months we will be even stronger financially, our month to month growth is already steady and growing, we are clear it will grow a lot from there. One of our core success is to grow beyond a cash-hungry business, which is incredibly hard if you are involved in Digital Media, and buying. But we got past that and now everything taking shape. I am very confident in the team and looking forward.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://3rdbell.co"><b>3rdBell</b></a><span> faced so much issues over the year, but now we have a solid platform, the founders are incredibly motivated. Me and other investors are looking forward. I am still involved as Technical Director, this role could extend for the time being when we go through some changes, but we have solid plan to move forward, and by mid-next year, it should be i a  different height.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>Me &amp; WordPress &#8211; going forward! </b></h2>
<p><span>I will have people to maintain my plugin, and provide even better support, and few of them are even joining next month, so it will be well taken care of. I will shift the community role mostly to new people and others. Next 9 months I will dedicate to have more Contributor from my community and circle. I will literally incubate contributor,  from Core contribution to Docs and Community team. I will drive more into sharing my experience and finding over the decade. Besides writing, which I think is my superpower(!), but still under used, I will drive more into Speaking. Those are my next upcoming  Session, if you are happened to any of those WordCamp, please say Hi!</span></p>
<ol>
<li><strong>WordCamp Colombo, Sri Lanka &#8211; 23rd September</strong></li>
</ol>
<p><b>Topic &#8211;</b><a href="https://2017.colombo.wordcamp.org/speaker/m-asif-rahman/"><span> Making Million in WordPress Plugin But Not Being Evil!</span></a></p>
<p><span>      2)  <strong>WordCamp Ahmedabad, India &#8211; 7th October</strong></span></p>
<p><b>Topic &#8211;</b> <a href="https://2017.ahmedabad.wordcamp.org/"><span>You heard content is the king, but are you paying attention to Content Distribution?</span></a></p>
<p><span>If you read so far, you should understand how relevant both topic to my life! </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>How could I financially sustain this?</b></h2>
<p><span>I am thinking, planning and working on this retirement plan for awhile now. The main question I got asked how could I financially sustain. I don’t know what kind of impression you have got so far by reading about my life. Yes, I own several successful ventures, running a very growing and profitable business, I also invested in the 20+ venture and was extremely lucky to enjoy some exit from the investment. But not in very big scale. Some of my investment looks promising, but that does not make me very rich in cash. So this plan further is not about having tons of cash in hand laying around, it&#8217;s more about having sustainable and ongoing earning. I do certainly have some exit I am looking forward to but my plan will not depend on it. I am confident now I could easily go beyond this month-to-month type calculation! </span></p>
<h2><b>The Hardest Part!</b></h2>
<p><span>When you grow business for over a decade, the main challenges are people. Like some successful venture, I also have businesses that are not cash-positive but has people involved with it for years. When you run a business, you become responsible for those people, their family depends on your decision, that type of responsibilities will limit you sometimes taking logical business decision. And really relying so much into people, and the fear of let going control could be hard dilemma any Entrepreneur could feel. </span></p>
<p><span>But over the year I learned,<strong> sometimes you have to let go to get things done for future, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith</strong>. So, I practiced that for some time now. I am positive that things will work out, and won&#8217;t break apart.</span></p>
<h1><b>Reason: Why I am doing this?</b></h1>
<p><span>In some ways I feel I am doing this for very long time. I have built team, product, faced hard time, and also enjoyed when things work out, I have gone through this circle so many times. There is always hard time and I have seen how it all ultimately always worked out. I kind of want to get out of this circle. Sometimes I feel tired. Though for a person like me who single handily started everything, broke so many barriers, it&#8217;s hard to get me tensed. I know how to deal with pressure, hard time, shitty situation. In some ways I am resistant to those. But when I reflect everything in my life I am very proud what I have done, what I have Achieved.</span></p>
<p><b>Monetary wealth did not make me rich! </b><span>But the experience and relation that I cultivated did. I feel rich because of this. </span></p>
<p><span>When I was still a teenager, dreaming to be a physicist, I had a very thorough vision of my future, I wanted to finish my PhD by age 25. Later in the course of life I became Entrepreneur. Then my goal was to become a millionaire  by age 25 and have a stable family. I was successful in that. I have the vision to built amazing WordPress team and product, I am doing that right now. </span></p>
<p><b>I want to move on, I would like to see greater meaning of life. </b><span>That does not mean what I am doing is great, it&#8217;s just going beyond. I always thought life has a bigger meaning for me, I always felt privileged, the kind of life I had, most people from my demography could not have, so I have bigger responsibilities! </span></p>
<h2><b>How &#8216;Big&#8217; is WordPress?</b></h2>
<p><span>WordPress is biggest CMS and No.1 solution to make Website, but how many businesses do you see worth over a $100M in WordPress Ecosystem? Or over $50M? Not much. And because of so much recent #WPDrama, one thing is very clear, we have a long way to grow. I kind of feel to make it too big, we even limited ourself as well. I do see the power struggle inside the community as well. The most respected person in the community, now have very large number of haters, and for few semi-valid reasons.<strong> That is sad, maybe we all need to rethink!</strong></span></p>
<h1><b>What will I do in future?</b></h1>
<p>Maybe I will <strong>drive deep into science</strong>, I will be still 34, even enough time to study something new! <span>Maybe I will just enjoy the break for awhile. Maybe I will try to find the better meaning of life. Or maybe will write a book, I don’t know, I want to keep the option open, have an open heart. I do certainly earn this freedom myself, I am very grateful to the list of endless great people that helped me throughout the decade of my career.</span></p>
<h2><b>Your kids to reflect You!</b></h2>
<p><span>We all want our kids to be like us, we want them to reflect us in a good way, and go beyond. But If we are not involved in every process of their life how could this happen? If you let your family, mainly wife to entirely take care of your kid how they are going to learn from you? Do you really believe just giving 1-2 hours a day will do the trick? It&#8217;s way more than that. I want to be an integral part of my kids’ life. I want to be fully involved in their process of growing up. In this whole thing, there is nothing related of deciding fate of their life. I have no expectation of making my kids something, I am fully open, they will decide their destiny, their own venture. I just want to help them understand this World, </span><b>be their Dad</b><span>, be the friend they could play with, be the teacher they need, as long as they need.</span></p>
<p><span>I will spend more time with my family, my 2 young daughters really need more of me, they will be 4 &amp; 2 by next year. They will go into school, perfect time for me to jump in.</span></p>
<h1><strong>Conclusion: For You!</strong></h1>
<p>If you came this far reading this, you could probably tell I enjoyed writing! My routine hardly gives me more option to do it regularly. I was meant to write this HeroPress article last year but was too busy, and the timing was too near of the 2nd baby&#8217;s birth!</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t expect others to try to retire early, but having a choice in life is important. Try to look back. Why do you work? Is it because of earning money? Just to survive, just to sustain your family? This should not be the purpose of human life. I believe our Creator created us for a reason, <strong>we are not meant to live and die selfishly like an animal. There should be more meaning of life other than trying to buy luxury!</strong></p>
<p>There is a Ted talk describing Humans, how evaluated to be Human, one of the core reason was we cooked, and gathered and stored food, so we spent less time like other Gorillas to try to find food and spend most of the days for that purpose. We cooked, it was easy to chew, and it gave us more free time, so we were able to innovate! Interesting theory, but surely intriguing.</p>
<p><strong>Life is not always about achieving it all. It&#8217;s sometimes about the journey. You can&#8217;t always win. You have to learn from the journey and move on.</strong></p>
<p>When I look back I do see, my decision to invest worked out many ways. <strong>As I diversified my venture it was a good move.</strong> I made many mistakes and described in details here as well, but I tried to learn and reflect that in my further life. I am who I am, because of the journey. I don&#8217;t regret any part of it. If I had the chance would I have done it differently? I don&#8217;t know, maybe that could be a different journey. My life is wrapped up entirely with WordPress, I am and will always be proud of that. But maybe I need to give myself a fair chance to see the world clearly. For past 13-14 years, I have worked every day on an average 14 hours of more, I still stay at the office for over 12 hours. But I don&#8217;t do it because I have to, I do it because I enjoy it. But this is taking too much of my life, I am too swamped up. This break is necessary.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><strong>Note:</strong> I really like to thank Topher &amp; HeroPress for giving me this opportunity and pushing me on writing this. I was very confused as it turns out this BIG. I thought it was just 2500-3000 words, I wrote almost on the fly, so was not looking at word count. Probably this is kind of my thing, if an idea is clear in my head, I don&#8217;t have issues putting it into letters.</em></p>
<p><em>Topher told me this is twice the size of the previous longest essay in HeroPress. <strong>I am glad if you read it completely! That&#8217;s also an achievement!</strong> Then why not spent few second more to say Hi in the comments, so I could know who read this far!</em></p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Retiring%20Young%20From%20Bangladesh%2C%20Thanks%20To%20WordPress&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fretiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fretiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fretiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress%2F&title=Retiring+Young+From+Bangladesh%2C+Thanks+To+WordPress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/083017-150x150.jpg&description=Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress/" title="Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress/">Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 30 Aug 2017 00:00:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"M Asif Rahman";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43:"Akismet: Akismet and Drupal, Together Again";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=1960";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://blog.akismet.com/2017/08/29/akismet-and-drupal-together-again/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1569:"<p>Akismet is used on millions of WordPress sites, but it isn&#8217;t only used with WordPress. In fact, Akismet can be integrated with any CMS, and <a href="https://akismet.com/development/api/#use-a-library">more than 30 Akismet libraries and plugins are available for non-WordPress systems</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.drupal.org/">Drupal CMS</a> has had an unofficial Akismet integration available via the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/antispam">AntiSpam module</a> since 2009, but it hadn&#8217;t been updated since 2012, and thousands of sites were still using it despite some significant bugs. In the interest of providing the best experience possible for Akismet customers, we&#8217;ve contributed some time and code, and <strong>we&#8217;re happy to announce that a new stable version of AntiSpam for Drupal is available.</strong></p>
<p>Version 7.x-1.6 can be downloaded from the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/antispam">AntiSpam project page</a> on Drupal.org. Please let us know about any issues you may encounter by leaving a comment below or by opening a ticket at <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/antispam">the issue tracker for the AntiSpam module</a>.</p><br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/akismet.wordpress.com/1960/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/akismet.wordpress.com/1960/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=blog.akismet.com&blog=116920&post=1960&subd=akismet&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 29 Aug 2017 19:16:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Christopher Finke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Dougal Campbell: Bugs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"http://dougal.gunters.org/?p=81413";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"http://dougal.gunters.org/blog/2017/08/29/81413/";s: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:550:"<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I seem to have a knack for finding obscure edge-case bugs in WordPress. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wordpress?src=hash">#wordpress</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/oembed?src=hash">#oembed</a> <a href="https://t.co/aucCSDb76H">https://t.co/aucCSDb76H</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Dougal Campbell (@dougal) <a href="https://twitter.com/dougal/status/902299942701674497">August 28, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="yarpp-related-rss yarpp-related-none">
</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:"Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:53:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Dougal Campbell";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: Matt Mullenweg Addresses Concerns About Gutenberg, Confirms New Editor to Ship with WordPress 5.0";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74414";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-addresses-concerns-about-gutenberg-confirms-new-editor-to-ship-with-wordpress-5-0";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6828:"<p>Matt Mullenweg published an appeal to WordPress users over the weekend in a post titled &#8220;<a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/" target="_blank">We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason</a>.&#8221; In it he offers a better look at his vision for Gutenberg, which he contends will be as transformative for WordPress&#8217; future as the first movable type printing was for Europe&#8217;s printing revolution.</p>
<p>Mullenweg identified the new Gutenberg editor as the tool that will enable WordPress to meet its competition and the opportunities available in the small business sector:</p>
<blockquote><p>WordPress’s growth is impressive (28.5% and counting) but it’s not limitless — at least not in its current state. We have challenges (user frustrations with publishing and customizing, competition from site builders like Squarespace and Wix) and opportunities (the 157 million small businesses without sites, aka the next big market we should be serving). It’s time for WordPress’ next big thing, the thing that helps us deal with our challenges and opportunities. The thing that changes the world.</p></blockquote>
<p>Automattic has been moving towards offering better support for small businesses with its 2015 <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-woocommerce" target="_blank">acquisition of WooCommerce</a> and steady commercialization of Jetpack, with plans targeted at business owners. The company is poised to capture even more of the self-hosted small business market by allowing customers to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem" target="_blank">tap into WordPress&#8217; third-party ecosystem</a>.</p>
<p>However, many vocal opponents to Gutenberg (and the changes that will come along with it) are concerned that the project is being developed chiefly to serve Automattic&#8217;s customers and corporate interests.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg has been mainly introduced by one particular company which seems to be in urgent need to compete with other SaaS businesses,&#8221; WordPress theme development company owner <a href="https://www.mhthemes.com/" target="_blank">Michael Hebenstreit</a> said. &#8220;That’s fine, but then keep it as a plugin for at least 1-2 years, put it on WordPress.com (to gather real live feedback and usage data) and nobody will have any issues with that approach.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mullenweg addressed concerns that Gutenberg is being developed for Automattic&#8217;s customers in a <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587598" target="_blank">reply</a> to a similar comment on his post.</p>
<p>&#8220;There definitely is a contingent that seems to think that, but if you think through it logically it doesn’t make sense: if it were just to benefit Automattic it would be far easier and more advantageous to just do Gutenberg unilaterally in Calypso, where it would primarily benefit WordPress.com,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;Doing it in wp-admin and core first involves a lot more discussion, public feedback, backwards compatibility concerns, and breaking a lot of new ground for how core uses Javascript, and because it’s in core the benefits will accrue to all hosts of WordPress, many of which directly or indirectly compete with Automattic. We are reading and trying to learn from all the negative feedback though, even when it’s from people who haven’t used Gutenberg much yet.&#8221;</p>
<p>Those who build websites for clients have voiced concerns about how Gutenberg will affect their businesses, whether the brand new interface will drive users away from WordPress. Developers and product owners are eagerly awaiting more answers on what it means for existing plugins and themes in the ecosystem, as the project has yet to iron out some of the more technical details regarding extensibility and support for metaboxes. This naturally raises concerns about Gutenberg&#8217;s timeline.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg will ship with WordPress 5.0, but the release will come out when Gutenberg is ready, not vice versa,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;We still have target dates to help us think about scope and plan for all the supporting documentation, translation, and marketing efforts, but we’re not going to release anything until Gutenberg is something the team working on it agrees is ready.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress users have been conditioned to anticipate releases on a regular schedule but the new approach to core development will allow for the next major release to wait until the targeted features are ready. Mullenweg confirmed in the comments of his post that Gutenberg will ship with a legacy interface to offer backwards compatibility for PHP metaboxes that have not yet updated to be JS-powered.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some things like toolbar buttons will definitely need to be updated to work with Gutenberg, other things like Metaboxes there will be no problem to provide a legacy interface for a few releases,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;But I would say that plugin authors should start updating their plugins in late September if they want to benefit from Gutenberg’s launch.&#8221;</p>
<p>One of the most prevalent concerns that remains is React&#8217;s licensing issues, which came to a head after the Apache Software Foundation added Facebook’s BSD+Patents license to its Category X list of disallowed licenses for Apache PMC members. Facebook&#8217;s engineering directors considered re-licensing the project but <a href="https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license" target="_blank">decided against it</a>, citing &#8220;meritless patent litigation&#8221; as the reason behind adopting the BSD + patents license. The WordPress project has yet to announce its stance on the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;We anticipated a decision on React around the Apache deadline (closer to now), will have more to announce about WP and Gutenberg’s approach here in the next few weeks,&#8221; Mullenweg said.</p>
<p>He also reiterated how invested he is in the WordPress project and ecosystem as a whole. His post elaborated on the many benefits he anticipates for plugin, theme, and core developers, agencies, users, and hosting companies. He challenged the WordPress community to see Gutenberg in the same light.</p>
<p>&#8220;My life’s work is improving WordPress,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;I firmly believe that Gutenberg is the direction that will provide the most benefit to the maximum number of people while being totally in line with core WordPress’s philosophies and commitment to user freedom. So keep giving us your feedback, and let’s push through the fear together. It’s worth a little discomfort to change the world.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:01:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"Matt: We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=47503";s:7:"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:58:"https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/";s: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:9263:"<p>Movable type was about books, but it wasn’t just about books. Ideas spread. Literacy spiked. The elite monopoly on education and government started to crack. Luther’s <em>95 Theses</em> were printed on a press, rocking Europe, and he issued &#8220;broadsheets.&#8221; Broadsheets became newspapers; newspapers enabled democracy. The printing press ushered in social, political, and economic sea changes. Gutenberg changed everything.</p>
<p>WordPress has always been about websites, but it’s not just about websites. It’s about freedom, about possibility, and about carving out your own livelihood, whether it’s by making a living through your site or by working in the WordPress ecosystem itself. We’re democratizing publishing — and democratizing work — for everyone, regardless of language, ability, or economic wherewithal.</p>
<p>WordPress’s growth is impressive (<a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/y">28.5% and counting</a>) but it’s not limitless — at least not in its current state. We have challenges (user frustrations with publishing and customizing, competition from site builders like Squarespace and Wix) and opportunities (the 157 million small businesses without sites, aka the next big market we should be serving). It’s time for WordPress’ next big thing, the thing that helps us deal with our challenges and opportunities. The thing that changes the world.</p>
<p>Gutenberg.</p>
<p>For those who don’t know we kicked off the Gutenberg project around the beginning of the year, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/06/4-8-and-whats-coming/">I talked about it and we did our first public releases in June</a>, and the team has been doing <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/core-editor/">weekly updates</a> of the public beta plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/">that&#8217;s available for anyone to try out in their wp-admin</a>.</p>
<p>When Johannes Gutenberg’s press came out, people mostly used it to print the same religious text monks had been copying. It wasn’t until ten or fifteen years later that people started innovating and trying their hands at new kinds of writing, and the wheels of change started to spin faster. Now it’s WordPress’ turn to do the same. Gutenberg meets our challenges and opportunities head on while simultaneously benefitting everyone who makes a living working in the WP ecosystem. It’s about a lot more than just blocks. Our Gutenberg moves every part of the WordPress ecosystem forward:</p>
<p><strong>Developers and agencies</strong> will be able to create interactive templates that clients can easily update without breaking things or dealing with custom post types: Imagine a custom “employee” block that you can add to an About page that includes a picture, name, and bio. They’ll be able to replace most meta boxes, and they’ll get a chance to update old code or clients to work in this new paradigm.</p>
<p><strong>Plugin developers</strong> will be able to completely integrate into every part of WordPress, including posts, pages, custom post types, and sidebars without having to hack TinyMCE or squeeze their entire feature behind a toolbar button. Today, every plugin that extends WordPress does it in a different way; Gutenberg’s blocks provide a single, easy-to-learn entry point for an incredible variety of extensions. Some folks have already begun to port their plugins over, and are finding that they&#8217;re easier to build and have a much improved UI. I&#8217;m looking forward to highlighting those stories as we get further along and more people write about them.</p>
<p><strong>Theme developers</strong> won’t need to bundle tons of plugins or create their own page builders. There’ll be a standard, portable way to create rich layouts for posts and guide people through setup right in the interface, no 20-step tutorials or long videos needed. Every theme will be able to compete with multi-functional premium themes without locking users into a single theme or compromising their experience.</p>
<p><strong>Core developers</strong> will be able to work in modern technologies and not worry about 15 years of backwards compatibility. We’ll be able to simplify how menus, widgets, and the editor work to use a common set of code and concepts. The interface will be instantly responsive.</p>
<p><strong>Web hosts</strong> will have better signup rates, as Gutenberg opens up WordPress to an entirely new set of people for whom WordPress was too complex and hard to set up before. (Remember our goal: to democratize publishing.) Their churn rates will go down: they’ll stop bleeding customers to Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, and fewer people will abandon their sites because it was too hard to make things look they way they wanted.</p>
<p><strong>Users</strong> will finally be able to build the sites they see in their imaginations. They’ll be able to do things on mobile they’ve never been able to before. They’ll never have to see a shortcode again. Text pasted from Word will get cleaned up and converted to blocks automatically and instantly. (I pasted the first version of this post from Google Docs and it worked <em>great</em>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f44c.png" alt="👌" class="wp-smiley" />) They’ll start manipulating their sites in ways that would have taken a developer. They’ll be able to move from blogging to using WordPress as a CMS without missing a beat. Editing posts will just work; they’ll write more. They’ll learn blocks once, and then be able to instantly use and understand 90%+ of plugins.</p>
<p>I could go on about how photographers will be able to create rich galleries, parallax images, and better portfolios, or how poets will finally be able to preserve whitespace as they write, but you get the idea. It’s big. It moves the WordPress ecosystem forward, but it also moves the whole web forward.</p>
<p>Which is scary! Because change always is, and this is a big one. But a scary thing is usually a thing that leads to growth, if you can push through it. Ten years ago, agencies and developers worried that software like WordPress would ruin their business because clients wouldn’t need help updating their sites any more, and would maybe even just start building their own sites. But their worse fears didn’t come true — instead, it created new opportunities for everyone.</p>
<p>(People were worried when the printing press was invented, too. A Swiss biologist warned against the “confusing and harmful abundance of books,” but I’d say it all worked out in the end.)</p>
<p>This is not to say that nothing will go sideways with Gutenberg, or that people’s concerns about it are unfounded. Making something people want is really hard to do and easy to mess up — we definitely have in the past. I share many of the concerns or worries with today’s version of Gutenberg, and we’re working to mitigate them. Gutenberg will ship with WordPress 5.0, but the release will come out when Gutenberg is ready, not vice versa. We still have target dates to help us think about scope and plan for all the supporting documentation, translation, and marketing efforts, but we’re not going to release anything until Gutenberg is something the team working on it agrees is ready.</p>
<p>And as we work, we’re listening: feedback on core and feature plugins gets read, heard, and considered. Every review of Gutenberg, even the rude ones, has a response. Seven months of vigorous and public debate, chats, tickets, and code changesets brought us to where we are today, and there will be  a fair amount more before we can present the Gutenberg vision in a mostly-complete state. I welcome it; apathy would worry me a lot more than disagreement or controversy.</p>
<p>Creating great software will never make every person happy. We’re not creating The Perfect Product, we’re choosing a path between many good options, weighing all of the inevitable trade-offs that come from a change, listening, shipping, and then doing it all over again. Iterating. My life’s work is improving WordPress. I firmly believe that Gutenberg is the direction that will provide the most benefit to the maximum number of people while being totally in line with core WordPress’s philosophies and commitment to user freedom. So keep giving us your feedback, and let’s push through the fear together. It’s worth a little discomfort to change the world.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote blocks-quote-style-1"><p><em>Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men.</em></p>
<em>Johannes Gutenberg</em>
</blockquote>
<img src="https://i1.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2017/08/metalmovabletypeedit1.jpg?w=604&ssl=1" />
<p><em>Thank you to the <a href="https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress">WP Tavern conversation</a> that helped me write down many of these ideas, and <a href="https://kingofstates.com/">Michelle Weber</a>. This post started in Google Docs then revised in Gutenberg 0.9.</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, 28 Aug 2017 02:23:40 +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:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:11:"
	
	
	
	
	
";s: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:30:"HeroPress: HeroPress Downloads";s:7:"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=2060";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heropress-downloads";s: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:2606:"<img width="960" height="600" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/heropress-large-grey-brick-1024x640.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="HeroPress logo on a grey brick wall" /><p>Did you know that HeroPress has stuff you can download?  For a while now we&#8217;ve had a <a href="https://heropress.com/plugin/">plugin</a> available, but this evening I posted some <a href="https://heropress.com/downloads/">cool wallpapers</a>.  I made them about a year ago, but had them only on my personal site.</p>
<p>Now they&#8217;re available on this site as well. I&#8217;m interested to know if you like them, if you&#8217;d like more, and perhaps even see what you can make.  Please let me know in the comments.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: HeroPress Downloads" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=HeroPress%20Downloads&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: HeroPress Downloads" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F&title=HeroPress+Downloads" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: HeroPress Downloads"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/heropress-large-grey-brick-150x150.png&description=HeroPress Downloads" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: HeroPress Downloads"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/" title="HeroPress Downloads"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/">HeroPress Downloads</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 27 Aug 2017 23:59:32 +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:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: Core Team Explores Idea to Automatically Upgrade Sites Running WordPress 3.7 to 3.8";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74408";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/core-team-explores-idea-to-automatically-upgrade-sites-running-wordpress-3-7-to-3-8";s: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:2571:"<p>WordPress 3.7 &#8216;Basie&#8217; <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2013/10/basie/">was released</a> on October 24, 2013 and introduced automatic updates for minor releases to the masses. Although it&#8217;s not labeled as such, WordPress 3.7 has effectively acted as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_support">LTS version</a> or Long-term support. Security updates and crucial bug fixes have been <a href="https://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/">ported back</a> to previous branches up to 3.7.</p>
<p>In this week&#8217;s WordPress developer chat, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin">Aaron Jorbin</a>, WordPress core developer, <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503519922000557">asked</a> if it&#8217;s time to stop back porting fixes to 3.7-4.0 and instead, update those sites directly to 4.1.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/stats/">version statistics</a> on WordPress.org, 0.4% of tracked sites are using WordPress 3.7. &#8220;I would like to see a published proposal outlining reasons, usage data, and any tradeoffs/considerations and leave a bit of time for feedback before definitely doing this,&#8221; <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill">Joe McGill</a>, Core contributor <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503519968000494">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s unclear to me what are the things that <em>must</em> happen and what are the things that <em>should</em> happen before we take this step.&#8221;</p>
<p>Developers noted that WordPress automatically updates minor versions and that if protections are not built-in to automatically upgrading major versions, it could cause users to lose trust in the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to make sure all users with outdated installs get warned one way or the other. Then if they decide to turn updates off&#8230;,&#8221; <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz/">Andrew Ozz</a>, Core developer <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503520516000632">said</a>.</p>
<p>After further discussion, the team agreed that upgrading sites from 3.7 to 3.8 would be a good stepping stone towards getting those sites up to 4.1. &#8220;It can also be done in the API so that we only do a small percentage at first and then stop and analyze and then increase the percentage,&#8221; Jorbin said.</p>
<p>A proposal will be crafted by members of the core team and published on the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core</a> site for further discussion.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 25 Aug 2017 21:20:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"WPTavern: Locating Restored Comments in WordPress Requires Detective Skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74406";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"https://wptavern.com/locating-restored-comments-in-wordpress-requires-detective-skills";s: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:1836:"<p>Every now and then, I&#8217;ll come across a user experience in WordPress that makes me scratch my head. Earlier today, I needed to edit a comment&#8217;s details before restoring it from the Trash. However, WordPress doesn&#8217;t allow this without restoring it first.</p>
<p>After restoring the comment, it disappeared from the trash and nothing happened. This is not the user experience I expected and needless to say, I was annoyed.</p>
<p>Since restored comments do not appear at the top of the approved list because of their original published date, I searched the WordPress backend for comments by the author&#8217;s first name and found it after the sixth page of results.</p>
<p>At first, I thought about how it would be nice to be able to edit a comment&#8217;s details while it&#8217;s in the trash so I don&#8217;t have to search for the post or author to edit it. However, Mika Epstein raised a good point.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Think of that like computers. You can’t edit a document in the trash.</p>
<p>&mdash; ipstenu (((Mika E))) (@Ipstenu) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ipstenu/status/901152068534022144">August 25, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The other idea is that after restoring a comment, WordPress redirects me to the post where it was restored. It would be even better if it took me directly to the comment in the discussions meta box. However, users can hide these meta boxes from view via Screen Options, so I&#8217;m not sure how to account for that. Perhaps redirecting users to the post is enough?</p>
<p>After searching WordPress Trac and not finding a ticket related to this issue, <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41731">I created one</a>. Please leave your feedback and suggestions either in the comments or on that Trac ticket.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 25 Aug 2017 19:37:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WPTavern: Playing the Role of Online Reputation Manager";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74400";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"https://wptavern.com/playing-the-role-of-online-reputation-manager";s: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:3505:"<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve received requests from people wanting their comments removed from the site. I recently received a request from a reader that I remove a comment they made three years ago because it was showing up in Google search results for their name.</p>
<p>Normally, I ignore these requests as it makes me feel like I&#8217;m their online reputation manager. I asked my followers on Twitter what they would do if they received the same request.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">What are your terms of derive/ privacy policy? I probably wouldn’t delete but I would stop indexing comments.</p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Wiegman (@ChrisWiegman) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisWiegman/status/900117231979421696">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">yeah, probably. unless there’s a real good reason not to.</p>
<p>that said, your comments shouldn’t be indexing</p>
<p>&mdash; skin-covered coffee (@norcross) <a href="https://twitter.com/norcross/status/900112112395091968">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">depends on context. if it's spam &#8211; happy to. if it's standalone maybe. if I have to adjust whole conversation around removal &#8211; probably not.</p>
<p>&mdash; Andrey Savchenko (@Rarst) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rarst/status/900259136507711488">August 23, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Depends. Is it essential for preserving that persons privacy? Had other people responded to the comment? I’d have to weigh pros &amp; cons.</p>
<p>&mdash; Elpie (@elpie) <a href="https://twitter.com/elpie/status/900112216053231616">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The Tavern doesn&#8217;t have a privacy policy. It&#8217;s a blog that allows commenting where readers can choose to provide their name, email address, and URL. I don&#8217;t like deleting comments as it alters history and can make conversations look awkward.</p>
<p>Although there are privacy policies such as, the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_data_protection_en.pdf">Right To Be Forgotten</a> and <a href="http://www.eugdpr.org">GDRP</a>, there are other things to consider that can help determine if removing a comment is the right thing to do.</p>
<ol>
<li>Is the comment spammy?</li>
<li>Would removing it alter the conversation?</li>
<li>Is removing the comment the only way to maintain their privacy?</li>
</ol>
<p>I initially decided to trash their comment but discovered that removing a parent comment with replies also removes the replies. While this makes sense, this means that removing one comment can turn into removing many comments or an entire conversation.</p>
<p>Instead, I recovered the comment and removed their name, email address, and URL. This keeps the conversation in tact while giving back their privacy.</p>
<p>Many people who responded to my question suggested that comments shouldn&#8217;t be indexed by search engines. After giving it some thought, I&#8217;m conflicted. We&#8217;ve never had an issue before and we don&#8217;t receive so many requests that it&#8217;s a problem. We also highly value our comments and feel they should be discoverable like our content.</p>
<p>What are the pros and cons to blocking comments from search engines? What would you do if you were running the Tavern?</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, 24 Aug 2017 21:12:53 +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:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 286 – Upgrading PHP, Facebook Not Budging, and Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard";s:7:"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:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74394&preview=true&preview_id=74394";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-286-upgrading-php-facebook-not-budging-and-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard";s: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:2477:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I discuss a new initiative that will help educate users on the benefits of upgrading PHP. We share our thoughts on Facebook denying a request to remove its Patent clause from REACT&#8217;s license. We highlight a new onboarding wizard aimed at themes and discuss what Gutenberg means for the future of WordPress.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php">WordPress.org to Add New Page Educating Users on Benefits of Upgrading PHP</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license">Facebook Isn’t Budging on React’s BSD + Patents License</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/new-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard-makes-wordpress-theme-installation-and-setup-effortless">New Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard Makes WordPress Theme Installation and Setup Effortless</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/user-experience-tests-show-gutenbergs-ui-elements-can-benefit-from-better-timing">User Experience Tests Show Gutenberg’s UI Elements Can Benefit From Better Timing</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress">Morten Rand-Hendriksen on What Gutenberg Means For the Future of WordPress</a></p>
<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>
<p><a href="https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge">HomeBridge</a> is a lightweight NodeJS server you can run on your home network that emulates the iOS HomeKit API. It supports Plugins, which are community-contributed modules that provide a basic bridge from HomeKit to various 3rd-party APIs provided by manufacturers of &#8216;smart home&#8217; devices.</p>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 30th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
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<p><strong>Listen To Episode #286:</strong><br />
</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, 24 Aug 2017 00:12:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"HeroPress: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?";s:7:"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=2046";s:7:"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:128:"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-good-indian-women";s: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:12158:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/082317-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: Nothing is better than a girl who writes code." /><p><a href="http://heropress.com/feed/#gujarati">આ નિબંધ ગુજરાતીમાં પણ ઉપલબ્ધ છે</a></p>
<p>Why has computing always been a boys’ club? I live in a society where women are not allowed to work in an office. People in my society think that all women have to do is take care of her family and stay at home. Narrow minded society. But I feel proud to say that I am not part of that narrow minded society.</p>
<p>I am so engaged in the world of the Computer and Technology since school time. I started learning about basic computer languages HTML, CSS and C. And believe me I was so good at it! Later on I choose Computer Engineering for my further study and completed Bachelor of Computer Applications. But I didn’t stop studying after that. I completed my Masters in Computer Applications.</p>
<p>I fell in love with the programming and working as freelancer. What is most interesting is that the platform I am associated with. WordPress! Everyday I woke up with a new task and go to sleep with a new idea. And that still goes on. I am a WordPress developer at the Elsner Technology and I am so proud of whatever work I do everyday.</p>
<p>With WordPress it feels like home, a part of my soul. And hey! it’s not the house of boys, there are so many girls associated with WordPress. In case if you don’t know WordPress theme review team is led by women. And since my society is not filled with the open-minded people I suggest “Girls, why don’t you learn/work/code from home?” After all, all you need is just a computer and an internet connection. Right? There are billions of things that you can do with this platform and you don’t even need to pay a penny.</p>
<p>WordPress is easy and designers like that. And who knows the better color combination and design better? You got the point. There are thousands of self-employed developers and designers using WordPress. In addition the rapid female created themes on platform can itself testify to the fact that women want to make websites too, and organizations like Women Who WP are so useful and makes the process more easy. WordPress is creating more and more for business owners and women are really good at tech businesses. And India is the house of the Startup business. Even the government is also making huge efforts behind it.</p>
<p>The Internet is saturated with WordPress. 27 percent of the entire internet relies on WordPress. From small startup to gigantic companies. Since my society is willing to keep women in the house, I would like to say that’s great. I am okay! I can work from home. But there is no excuse to sit back and let the boys have all the fun. There are plenty of ways to get involved in the WordPress community. And nothing is better than a girl who writes code.</p>
<hr />
<h1 id="gujarati">ભારતીય મહિલાઓ માટે વર્ડપ્રેસ સારું છે?</h1>
<p>શા માટે કમ્પ્યુટિંગ હંમેશા &#8216;છોકરાઓ નું ક્લબ છે? હું એવા સમાજમાં રહુ છે જ્યાં સ્ત્રીઓને ઓફિસમાં કામ કરવાની મંજૂરી નથી. મારા સમાજના ઘણા લોકો એવું વિચારે છે કે બધી જ મહિલાઓએ તેના પરિવારની સંભાળ રાખવી અને ઘરમાં રહેવું. રૂઢિચુસ્ત મનનું સમાજ છે પરંતુ મને ગર્વ લાગે છે કે હું સાંકડા વિચારોવાળી સમાજનો ભાગ નથી.</p>
<p>હું સ્કૂલના સમયથી કમ્પ્યુટર અને ટેકનોલોજીના વિશ્વ સાથે સંકળાયેલી છું. તે સમયે મેં કોમ્પ્યુટર ની ભાષાઓ એચટીએમએલ, સી.એસ.એસ. અને સી વિશે શીખવાનું શરૂ કર્યું. અને મારો વિશ્વાસ કરો હું તેના પર ઘણી સારી હતી. પછીથી મેં મારા આગળના અભ્યાસ માટે કમ્પ્યુટર એન્જિનિયરિંગ પસંદ કર્યું અને બેચલર ઓફ કમ્પ્યુટર એપ્લિકેશન્સમાં અભ્યાસ પૂર્ણ કર્યો. પરંતુ તે પછી મેં અભ્યાસ કરવાનું બંધ કર્યું નથી. મેં કમ્પ્યુટર એપ્લિકેશન્સમાં માસ્ટર્સ પૂર્ણ કર્યું.</p>
<p>હું પ્રોગ્રામિંગમાં ખૂબ ખોવાયેલી રહેતી હતી અને સાથે ફ્રીલાન્સર તરીકે કામ કરતી હતી. સૌથી રસપ્રદ બાબત એ છે કે જે પ્લેટફોર્મ સાથે હું સંકળાયેલી છું તે વર્ડપ્રેસ છે. દરરોજ હું એક નવા કાર્ય સાથે જાગું છું અને નવા વિચાર સાથે સૂઈ જઉ છું. અને તે હજુ પણ ચાલુ છે. હું એલ્સ્નર ટેક્નોલોજીમાં વર્ડપ્રેસ ડેવલપર છું અને દરરોજ મેં જે કંઈ કર્યું છે તેના પર મને ગર્વ છે.</p>
<p>વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે ઘરની જેમ લાગે છે, મારા આત્માનો એક ભાગ. અને હા! તે છોકરાઓનું જ ઘર નથી, વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ પણ સંકળાયેલી છે. એક વિષયમાં જો તમને ખબર ન હોય તો વર્ડપ્રેસ થીમની પરીક્ષણ ટીમની આગેવાની મહિલાઓ દ્વારા કરવામાં આવે છે. અને કારણ કે મારું સમાજ ખુલ્લા લોકોથી ભરેલું નથી તેથી હું સૂચવે છે કે, &#8220;સ્ત્રીઓ, તમે શા માટે ઘરેથી શિખવાનું/કામ કરવાનું /કોડ કરવાનું ચાલુ નથી કરતાં?&#8221; છેવટે, તમને જરૂર ફક્ત એક કમ્પ્યુટર અને ઇન્ટરનેટ કનેક્શનની છે. સાચું ને ? અબજો વસ્તુઓ છે કે જે તમે આ પ્લેટફોર્મ સાથે કરી શકો છો અને તમારે એક આની પણ ચૂકવવાની જરૂર નથી.</p>
<p>વર્ડપ્રેસ સરળ છે અને ડિઝાઇનર્સ તેને પસંદ કરે છે . અને કોણ સારી રંગ સંયોજના જાણે છે અને વધુ સારી ડિઝાઇન કરે છે? તો તમને લહાવો મળ્યો. હજારો સ્વરોજગાર ડેવલોપર્સ અને ડિઝાઇનર્સ વર્ડપ્રેસ નો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. આ ઉપરાંત પ્લેટફોર્મ પર ઝડપી થીમ્સ સ્ત્રીઓ એ બનાવી છે જે સ્વયંને એ હકીકતનું સમર્થન આપે છે કે સ્ત્રીઓ વેબસાઇટ્સ પણ બનાવવા માંગે છે, અને સંસ્થાઓ જેમ કે Women Who WP ઘણી ઉપયોગી છે અને આ પ્રક્રિયાને વધુ સરળ બનાવે છે. વર્ડપ્રેસ બિઝનેસ માલિકો માટે વધુ અને વધુ બનાવી રહ્યું છે અને સ્ત્રીઓ ખરેખર ટેકનીકલમાં વ્યવસાયોમાં સારી છે. ભારત એક સ્ટાર્ટઅપ વ્યવસાયનું ઘર છે. સરકાર તેની પાછળ પણ વિશાળ પ્રયત્નો કરી રહી છે.</p>
<p>ઇન્ટરનેટ વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે સંતૃપ્ત છે સમગ્ર ઇન્ટરનેટનો 27% હિસ્સો વર્ડપ્રેસ પર છે. નાની શરૂઆત ની કંપની થી માંડી ને મોટી કંપીનીઓ . મારો સમાજ સ્ત્રીઓને ઘરમાં રાખવા માટે તૈયાર છે, તેથી હું કહીશ કે મહાન છે. હું ઠીક છું! હું ઘરેથી કામ કરી શકું છું પરંતુ પરંતુ પાછા બેસવાનો અને છોકરાઓને બધી જ મજા કરવાની કોઈ બહાનું નથી. વર્ડપ્રેસ કમ્યૂનિટીમાં શામેલ થવાની ઘણી બધી રીતો છે. અને જે છોકરી કોડ લખે છે તેના થી વધારે કંઈ સારું નથી.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Is%20WordPress%20Good%20for%20Indian%20Women%3F&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F&title=Is+WordPress+Good+for+Indian+Women%3F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/082317-150x150.jpg&description=Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/" title="Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/">Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Aug 2017 12:00:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Juhi Patel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 2.9.1 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=267671";s:7:"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://buddypress.org/2017/08/buddypress-2-9-1-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:944:"<p>BuddyPress 2.9.1 is now available. This is a security and maintenance release. We strongly encourage all BuddyPress sites to upgrade as soon as possible.</p>
<p>We fixed two regressions introduced in 2.9:</p>
<ul>
<li>Groups: fix group description truncation length on group screen.</li>
<li>Profiles: fix avatar quality when requesting avatar sizes larger than the user&#8217;s uploaded avatar.</li>
</ul>
<p>Importantly, BuddyPress 2.9.1 and earlier versions were affected by the following security issue:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) in the XProfile administration Dashboard panel.</li>
</ul>
<p>These vulnerabilities were reported privately by <a href="https://dk.linkedin.com/in/skansing">Ronnie Skansing</a>. Our thanks to Ronnie for reporting security issues in accordance with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/">WordPress&#8217; security policies</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, 23 Aug 2017 11:44:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Paul Gibbs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: Morten Rand-Hendriksen on What Gutenberg Means For the Future of WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74359&preview=true&preview_id=74359";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2507:"<p>As work continues on <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/">Gutenberg</a>, members of the community are discussing its impacts on WordPress&#8217; future. Morten Rand-Hendriksen <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gutenberg-morten-rand-hendriksen">considers Gutenberg</a> to be a watershed moment, &#8220;This is a revolution,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a watershed moment for WordPress. This is entirely new and fundamentally different from how WordPress works and how we work with it today. I cannot overstate it enough when I say this changes everything.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen suggests that Gutenberg will allow WordPress to graduate from being a blogging platform to a platform for managing views. If Gutenberg adds complexity to the user interface, he predicts many users will migrate to simpler, hosted publishing systems.</p>
<p>He also predicts that due to the REST API and Gutenberg, permanent fractures may develop between different segments of the community and user base.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s exciting to think about what could happen to WordPress and the web in general if Rand-Hendriksen&#8217;s optimism comes to fruition. &#8220;Whatever happens to WordPress’ user base, once Gutenberg is implemented fully, WordPress’ role in the wider web and internet community will change,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all these things actually work, and people find them useful, WordPress will herald in a new age of UI and UX exploration. Applications have followed WordPress’ lead before and will do it again if the new solution works.&#8221;</p>
<p>As for the future of WordPress, Rand-Hendriksen says:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote blocks-quote-style-1"><p>With the REST API in core and Gutenberg on the horizon, I am starting to see a new future for WordPress, one that looks nothing like where we are today. But this is true for the web as a whole as well.</p>
<p>Non-pointer interactions, AR/VR/MR, AI, content beyond the screen, all these things are already within sight and the web as we know it is on the cusp of its own wave of revolutionary changes.</p>
<p>The question I’m left to ponder is whether Gutenberg is what brings WordPress into that future.</p></blockquote>
<p>I encourage you to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gutenberg-morten-rand-hendriksen">read the entire post</a> as it provides a lot of food for thought. What do you think about his predictions and the impacts Gutenberg might have on the web as a whole?</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, 22 Aug 2017 01:41:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"WPTavern: Facebook Isn’t Budging on React’s BSD + Patents License";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74333";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license";s: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:7456:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/react.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Last month <a href="https://wptavern.com/react-users-petition-facebook-to-re-license-react-js-after-apache-software-foundation-bans-bsdpatents-license-in-dependencies" target="_blank">React users petitioned Facebook to relicense the project</a> (and its other open source projects) after the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) added Facebook’s BSD+Patents license to its <a href="https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved#category-x" target="_blank">Category X list of disallowed licenses</a> for Apache PMC members. Participants and subscribers to the <a href="https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/10191" target="_blank">GitHub thread</a> waited weeks for a decision on re-licensing while Facebook&#8217;s engineering directors discussed the matter internally. The request has now formally been <a href="https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-react-s-license/" target="_blank">denied</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to apologize for the amount of thrash, confusion, and uncertainty this has caused the React and open source communities,&#8221; Facebook engineer Adam Wolff said. &#8220;We know this is painful, especially for teams that feel like they&#8217;re going to need to rewrite large parts of their project to remove React or other dependencies. We&#8217;ve been looking for ways around this and have reached out to ASF to see if we could try to work with them, but have come up empty.&#8221;</p>
<p>The request for re-licensing had received 851 &#8220;thumbs-up&#8221; reactions on GitHub and many developers commented to say that the ASF&#8217;s policy disallowing the BSD+Patents license <a href="https://wptavern.com/petition-to-re-license-react-has-been-escalated-to-facebooks-engineering-directors" target="_blank">affects their organizations&#8217; ability to continue using React</a> and other open source projects from Facebook. Others said they would like to use React but the licensing makes it impossible for their companies.</p>
<h3>Facebook Cites &#8220;Meritless Patent Litigation&#8221; as the Reason Behind Adopting the BSD + Patents License</h3>
<p>Wolff&#8217;s <a href="https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-react-s-license/" target="_blank">post</a> announcing Facebook&#8217;s decision said that the team has not done a good job of communicating the reasons behind its BSD + Patents license and offered a more in-depth explanation:</p>
<blockquote><p>As our business has become successful, we&#8217;ve become a larger target for meritless patent litigation. This type of litigation can be extremely costly in terms of both resources and attention. It would have been easy for us to stop contributing to open source, or to do what some other large companies do and only release software that isn&#8217;t used in our most successful products, but we decided to take a different approach. We decided to add a clear patent grant when we release software under the 3-clause BSD license, creating what has come to be known as the BSD + Patents license. The patent grant says that if you&#8217;re going to use the software we&#8217;ve released under it, you lose the patent license from us if you sue us for patent infringement. We believe that if this license were widely adopted, it could actually reduce meritless litigation for all adopters, and we want to work with others to explore this possibility.</p></blockquote>
<p>The ASF&#8217;s decision to disallow the BSD+Patents license was for policy reasons, not a legal decision based on incompatibility. Greg Stein, commenting on behalf of ASF on a separate GitHub issue, <a href="https://github.com/omcljs/om/issues/882" target="_blank">said</a> that the ASF didn&#8217;t want downstream users of Apache code to be surprised by the PATENTS grant that was previously in RocksDB and is still in React. The organization wanted users to have no further constraints other than following the ALv2.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we respect this decision, it hurts to see so many great ASF projects get churned for policy reasons after using this license for years,&#8221; Wolff said in Facebook&#8217;s announcement. The company made it clear that they will not be re-licensing React or any other projects simply to satisfy ASF&#8217;s policy requirements.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have considered possible changes carefully, but we won&#8217;t be changing our default license or React&#8217;s license at this time,&#8221; Wolff said. &#8220;We recognize that we may lose some React community members because of this decision. We are sorry for that, but we need to balance our desire to participate in open source with our desire to protect ourselves from costly litigation. We think changing our approach would inhibit our ability to continue releasing meaningful open source software and increase the amount of time and money we have to spend fighting meritless lawsuits.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many from the OSS community expressed disappointment and frustration in their initial reactions on Twitter:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">“People like to sue us,” is a poor rationalization. This is weaponizing OSS under the guise of sharing. The whole post is disingenuous.</p>
<p>&mdash; Nicholas C. Zakas (@slicknet) <a href="https://twitter.com/slicknet/status/898732045442011136">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Facebook is often the ideal open source partner &#8211; but their patent stance here makes React use untenable to me. <a href="https://t.co/97VIR0le36">https://t.co/97VIR0le36</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Adam Jacob (@adamhjk) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamhjk/status/898734487718121472">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The React license allows Facebook to violate patents of companies that use React, and those companies can't sue to stop Facebook</p>
<p>&mdash; Feross (@feross) <a href="https://twitter.com/feross/status/898730336082776064">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yep, my team's required to pull all use of React because of the license. It's a corporate wide issue.</p>
<p>&mdash; Tyler Fitch (@tfitch) <a href="https://twitter.com/tfitch/status/898742063738494976">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The issue requesting re-licensing has been <a href="https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/10191#issuecomment-323486580" target="_blank">closed on GitHub</a> and is now locked and limited to collaborators.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear how this decision will affect WordPress, as the project has yet to announce which JS framework it will be adopting for core. Automattic is heavily invested in React, having built Calypso and Jetpack&#8217;s admin interface with it. WordPress&#8217; new Gutenberg editor is also built using React, as the project&#8217;s chief contributors are employed by Automattic. The company&#8217;s legal counsel has said in the past that they are <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-will-continue-to-use-react-js-in-calypso-despite-patent-clause" target="_blank">comfortable using React for its products under the current license</a>, but other companies in the WordPress ecosystem may not be as amenable to having the framework included in core.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 19 Aug 2017 03:52:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: WordPress.org to Add New Page Educating Users on Benefits of Upgrading PHP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74303";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php";s: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:3456:"<p>WordPress&#8217; Core PHP team has created a new <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php" target="_blank">GitHub organization</a> for initiatives focused on improving the use of PHP in the project. The first one they are tackling is <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy/" target="_blank">a new page on WordPress.org</a> dedicated to educating users about the benefits of upgrading PHP. Contributors are <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy-resources" target="_blank">collecting third-party articles and tutorials on PHP upgrades</a> to find inspiration for the project, which is temporarily codenamed &#8220;servehappy.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress&#8217; <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/stats/" target="_blank">stats</a> page shows that 14.2% of the all the sites it is tracking are running on PHP 7.0+. 40.6% of sites are on PHP 5.6, which is no longer actively supported but will receive security fixes until January 2019. This leaves 45.2% of all WordPress sites running on older, insecure PHP versions that have already reached end of life and are no longer receiving security updates.</p>
<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wp-php-versions-8-18-2017.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>WordPress PHP Versions &#8211; 8.18.2017
<p>Contributors are using the <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy/issues" target="_blank">issues queue of the servehappy repository</a> to collect benefits and statistical data they can use to sell the &#8220;update PHP&#8221; proposition to users. The project is currently in the brainstorming phase, but the team will eventually whittle the ideas down to present the most effective benefits.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/servehappy-issues-e1503086149333.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;The primary task for the &#8216;servehappy&#8217; repository will be to open issues for the benefits we’ve come up with over the past few weeks, and discuss them one by one, whether they qualify for the page and how they can be framed in the most convincing way,&#8221; Felix Arntz said.</p>
<p>In addition to proposing the benefits of upgrading PHP, the page will also include a call to action and information about how to upgrade or how to approach your host for an upgrade. Contributors are discussing the page&#8217;s outline and are aiming to tackle the project in a friendly and sensitive way that doesn&#8217;t put stress on users.</p>
<p>&#8220;The section &#8216;<em>What should you need to know before doing an update?</em>&#8216; must not unnecessarily make the user worry,&#8221; Arntz said, recapping the thoughts contributors expressed during the team&#8217;s most recent meeting. &#8220;Let’s highlight possible issues, but not overestimate them. People should see upgrading as a good thing, and we should point them to how they can determine whether their sites are ready.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Core PHP Team will be getting in touch with WordPress&#8217; marketing team to request their expertise on refining the page&#8217;s approach. Anyone is welcome to contribute third-party resources or ideas to the <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy" target="_blank">servehappy project on GitHub</a>. Check out the most recent <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/17/php-meeting-recap-august-14th/" target="_blank">meeting notes</a> for a full summary of the project and its needs.</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, 18 Aug 2017 20:37:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"WPTavern: Chrome Version 62 to Show Security Warnings on HTTP Pages Starting in October 2017";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74301";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"https://wptavern.com/chrome-version-62-to-show-security-warnings-on-http-pages-starting-in-october-2017";s: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:2444:"<p>Google Search Console has started sending out notices to sites that have not yet migrated to HTTPS. Chrome 61 is now in beta and version 62 is on track to begin marking HTTP pages as &#8220;NOT SECURE&#8221; beginning in October. It will show the warning if it detects any forms on the page that transmit passwords, credit cards, or any text input fields that the browser deems are in need of HTTPS protection. All HTTP pages in incognito mode will trigger the warning.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/chrome-warning.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>In January 2017, Chrome version 56 began marking sites that transmit passwords or credit cards as non-secure as part of its long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure. The warning will become more prominent as time goes on.</p>
<p>&#8220;Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS,&#8221; Chrome Security Team Emily Schechter said.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/eventual-chrome-warning-for-http-pages.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The email sent out from the Google Search Console urges site owners to fix the problem by <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6073543?utm_source=wnc_10038795&utm_medium=gamma&utm_campaign=wnc_10038795&utm_content=msg_100078324&hl=en" target="_blank">migrating to HTTPS</a>. Hosting companies that specialize in WordPress are making it easier than ever to make the switch. Many of them have added Let’s Encrypt integration to offer free certificates to customers. As of 2017, WordPress now only recommends <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-will-only-recommend-hosting-companies-offering-ssl-by-default-in-2017" target="_blank">hosting partners that provide SSL certificates by default</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks to the push towards HTTPS from Google, web browsers, hosting companies, and the <a href="https://wptavern.com/lets-encrypt-passes-100-million-certificates-issued-will-offer-wildcard-certificates-in-january-2018" target="_blank">100+ million certificates issued by Let&#8217;s Encrypt</a>, the <a href="https://ipv.sx/telemetry/general-v2.html?channels=release&measure=HTTP_PAGELOAD_IS_SSL&target=1&absolute=0&relative=1" target="_blank">percentage of pageloads over HTTPS is now approaching 60%</a>, according to Firefox Telemetry.</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, 18 Aug 2017 17:14:31 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43:"Lorelle on WP: WordPress School: Shortcodes";s:7:"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:37:"http://lorelle.wordpress.com/?p=14325";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/wordpress-school-shortcodes/";s: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:15281:"<p><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School taught by Lorelle VanFossen."><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress shortcodes are abbreviated code placed into the WordPress Visual or Text Editors that expands into a larger code structure. As we continue with <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School free online course</a>, it&#8217;s time to explore the basics of WordPress shortcodes.</p>
<p>The following is the embed code for a Google Map, pointing to one of my favorite local museums, <a href="http://ricenorthwestmuseum.com/">The Rice Northwest Rocks and Minerals Museum</a> in Hillsboro, Oregon:</p>
<p><code>&lt;a href="https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052"&gt;https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052&lt;/a&gt;</code></p>
<p>When the post or Page is saved, WordPress.com automatically converts it to the embed code for Google Maps like this:</p>
<p><code>&#091;googlemaps https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google&#046;com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052&amp;w=600&amp;h=450]</code></p>
<p>This is what you see in your Visual or Text/HTML editors. Doesn&#8217;t look like a map, yet, does it? </p>
<p>When the post is previewed or published, you will see the map like this:</p>
<div class="googlemaps"></div>
<p>The map is not a screenshot. It is interactive. Zoom in and out and move around on the map. The <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/google-maps/" title="Google Maps — Support — WordPress.com">Google Maps shortcode</a> taps into the Google Maps API allowing a live section of the map to be embedded on your site to help people find locations and directions. </p>
<p>Google Maps are a great way of providing instructions to the location of a store or company on a Contact web page. They are also fun to embed in a post about a favorite park, hike, fishing hole, vacation spot, or even create a custom map that charts your travels, hikes, or a specific route for shopping or exploring. </p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> <em>Google Map embeds are tricky. You need to search for the exact address and use that embed code. If you search for a business name, you may get an invalid server request from Google Maps. Also note that WordPress.com has made it easier to use shortcodes by skipping the extra code and converting links and embed codes automatically to shortcodes. This may require saving your post as a draft twice before you can see the results on the front end preview of the post or Page.</em></p>
<p>Shortcodes allow the user to add content and functionality to a WordPress site without knowing extensive code or digging into the programming of a WordPress Theme or Plugin. With the shortcut of a shortcode, WordPress users may add all sorts of customization features to their site.</p>
<p>There are a variety of shortcodes in the core of WordPress. WordPress Themes have the ability to enable or disable these, and add more, as do WordPress Plugins.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s experiment with the <a title="Archives Shortcode &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/">Archives Shortcode</a>.</p>
<ol>
<li>Add a New Page to your site. Title it &#8220;Site Map&#8221; or &#8220;Archives.&#8221;</li>
<li>Type in <code>&#091;archives]</code>.</li>
<li>Preview, then publish the post when ready to see a listing of all of the published posts on your site in a list.</li>
</ol>
<p>Check out my <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/site-map/" title="Site Map « Lorelle on WordPress">site map</a> as an example of what&#8217;s possible. </p>
<h3>What You Need to Know About WordPress Shortcodes</h3>
<p>Shortcodes come with WordPress out of the box, and also with WordPress Themes and Plugins. These snippets of code allow the user to add functionality to their site without touching the code. </p>
<p>The PHP code that enables the functionality, and adds the ability to use the abbreviated code to generate that functionality on the site, is called a <code>function</code>. </p>
<p>At its core, this is the function found to generate all WordPress Shortcodes:</p>
<pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate">//[foobar]
function foobar_func( $atts ){
	return "foo and bar";
}
add_shortcode( 'foobar', 'foobar_func' );</pre>
<p>The attributes, represented in this abbreviated version by <code>$atts</code>, are the instructions as to what the shortcode is to do.</p>
<p>In the expanded form with functionality, I&#8217;ve called the shortcode &#8220;elephant&#8221; and set up two attribute values, &#8220;trumpet loudly&#8221; and &#8220;stomp.&#8221; </p>
<pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate">// [elephant foo="foo-value"]
function elephant_func( $atts ) {
    $a = shortcode_atts( array(
        'foo' =&gt; 'trumpet loudly',
        'bar' =&gt; 'stomp',
    ), $atts );

    return "foo = {$a['foo']}";
}
add_shortcode( 'elephant', 'elephant_func' );</pre>
<p>Depending upon what &#8220;foo&#8221; and &#8220;bar&#8221; represent, the results would be &#8220;trumpet loudly&#8221; and &#8220;stomp.&#8221; What these represent are HTML code, modifications to HTML code, and initiates the programming such as generating a list of all the posts you&#8217;ve published as an archive list.</p>
<p>Right now, you aren&#8217;t at the stage where you can program shortcodes and add them to WordPress Themes or create WordPress Plugins, so I&#8217;m not going to dive into these much deeper. You need to learn how these work and how to use them on your site, and the more you use them, the better feel you will have for what a shortcode can do on your site. </p>
<p>WordPress.com offers a <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/" title="Support — WordPress.com">wide range of shortcodes</a> to add functionality to your site. To learn about how to use these, see <a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">Shortcodes &mdash; Support</a>. </p>
<p>Here are some examples of shortcodes to experiment with on WordPress.com.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/" title="YouTube — Support — WordPress.com">YouTube Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/" title="Audio — Support — WordPress.com">Audio Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/soundcloud-audio-player/">SoundCloud Audio Player Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/gallery/" title="Galleries and Slideshows — Support — WordPress.com">Galleries and Slideshows Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/instagram/" title="Instagram — Support — WordPress.com">Instagram Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/" title="Create an Archive using the Archives Shortcode — Support — WordPress.com">Archives Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/blog-subscription-shortcode/" title="Blog Subscription Shortcode — Support — WordPress.com">Blog Subscription Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/forms/contact-form/" title="Contact Form — Support — WordPress.com">Contact Form Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/google-maps/" title="Google Maps — Support — WordPress.com">Google Maps Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/recipes/" title="Recipes — Support — WordPress.com">Recipes Shortcode</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>More Information on WordPress Shortcodes</h4>
<ul>
<li><a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">Shortcodes &#8211; Support &#8211; WordPress.com</a></li>
<li><a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">List of Shortcodes available for WordPress.com sites</a></li>
<li><a title="Shortcode &laquo; WordPress Codex" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode">Shortcode &#8211; WordPress Codex</a></li>
<li><a title="Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/">Shortcodes for WordPress.com</a></li>
<li><a title="Gallery Shortcode &laquo; WordPress Codex" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Gallery_Shortcode">Gallery Shortcode &#8211; WordPress Codex</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/wordpress-shortcodes-complete-guide/" title="WordPress Shortcodes: A Complete Guide – Smashing Magazine">WordPress Shortcodes: A Complete Guide – Smashing Magazine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-add-a-shortcode-in-wordpress/" title="How to Add A Shortcode in WordPress?">How to Add A Shortcode in WordPress? &#8211; WPBeginner</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/7-essential-tips-for-using-shortcodes-in-wordpress/" title="7 Essential Tips for Using Shortcodes in WordPress">7 Essential Tips for Using Shortcodes in WordPress &#8211; WPBeginner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/getting-started-with-wordpress-shortcodes--wp-21197" title="Getting Started With WordPress Shortcodes">Getting Started With WordPress Shortcodes &#8211; Envatotuts+</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Assignment</h3>
<p><img />Your assignment in these WordPress School exercises is to experiment with WordPress shortcodes, specifically the ones available on WordPress.com. </p>
<p>I&#8217;ve listed some examples of shortcodes on WordPress.com above, and you may find more in the <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/" title="Support — WordPress.com">WordPress.com list of Shortcodes</a>.</p>
<p>Your assignment is to use shortcodes to add features to your site. </p>
<ul>
<li>Create a Page called &#8220;Site Map&#8221; or &#8220;Archives&#8221; and add an archive list shortcode.</li>
<li>Add a Google Map to a post or Page using the Google Maps shortcode.</li>
<li>Add a gallery to a post or Page with the gallery shortcode, testing the various options (parameters) to get the look and feel you like best.</li>
<li>Add a recipe to a post using the recipe shortcode.</li>
<li>Find another shortcode with a variety of features to experiment with. See how many ways you can change the look and feel of the content. If you wish, blog about your discoveries with screenshots or examples in the post. Let us know about it in the comments below so we can come inspect your work.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>This is a tutorial from <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School</a>. For more information, and to join this free, year-long, online WordPress School, see:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/welcome-to-lorelles-wordpress-school/" title="Welcome to Lorelle’s WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School Description</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/tutorials/" title="Tutorials « Lorelle on WordPress">WordPress School Tutorials List</a></li>
<li><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/115251582756616355670" title="WordPress School Google+ Community">WordPress School Google+ Community</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/wordpress-publishing-checklist/" title="WordPress Publishing Checklist">WordPress Publishing Checklist</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/feedback-and-criticism/" title="How to Give Feedback and Criticism - Lorelle's WordPress School.">How to Give Feedback and Criticism</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="sig">
<p><img src="https://lorelle.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/sig.gif" alt="" /></p>
<hr /> </div><br />Filed under: <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/">WordPress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/wordpress-school-wordpress/">WordPress School</a> Tagged: <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/learn-wordpress/">learn wordpress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/shortcodes/">shortcodes</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-2/">wordpress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-guide/">wordpress guide</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-help/">wordpress help</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-news/">WordPress News</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-school/">wordpress school</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-shortcodes/">wordpress shortcodes</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-tips/">WordPress Tips</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-tutorials/">wordpress tutorials</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=lorelle.wordpress.com&blog=72&post=14325&subd=lorelle&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 11:02:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Lorelle VanFossen";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"WPTavern: New Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard Makes WordPress Theme Installation and Setup Effortless";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74230";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"https://wptavern.com/new-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard-makes-wordpress-theme-installation-and-setup-effortless";s: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:5189:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/merlin-wp.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://themebeans.com/" target="_blank">ThemeBeans</a> founder Rich Tabor released <a href="https://richtabor.com/merlin-wp/" target="_blank">Merlin WP</a> on <a href="https://github.com/richtabor/MerlinWP" target="_blank">GitHub</a> in public beta this week. The project provides a beautiful experience for installing and setting up WordPress themes with all of their plugin dependencies, Customizer settings, widgets, demo content, and more.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was inspired by David Baker’s <a href="https://github.com/dtbaker/envato-wp-theme-setup-wizard" target="_blank">Envato Theme Setup Wizard</a> and was working to add it to my own themes but pivoted after realizing I was just putting a band-aid on the onboarding issues surrounding themes in particular,&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;It wasn’t a particularly grand experience and didn’t take care of the essentials the way I was looking for.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tabor said he wanted to make the onboarding experience much friendlier than what WordPress products are typically known for and needed a way to get his customers started on the right foot.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the years I’ve had countless &#8216;how do I get this page like your demo&#8217; and &#8216;where do I even start&#8217; questions — and my themes aren’t even particularly confusing/difficult to use.&#8221; Tabor said.</p>
<p>Ordinarily, users have to hop from screen to screen to install a theme, recommended plugins, and apply Customizer settings. Even an experienced WordPress user often has to refer to documentation to get a theme set up with the right customizations to match the demo. The video below shows an example of Merlin WP in action as it guides a user through setting up <a href="https://themebeans.com/themes/york-pro" target="_blank">York Pro</a>, a fork of one of ThemeBeans&#8217; commercial themes that is included in Merlin WP&#8217;s GitHub repo.</p>
<div class="embed-vimeo"></div>
<p>Merlin WP makes the process of setting up a theme nearly effortless for users. It also leaves less room for error or confusion.</p>
<p>Developers can add Merlin WP directly to their theme files. It includes a configuration file that allows for customization of any text string in the wizard. Theme developers add the Merlin class (merlin/merlin.php) and the merlin-config.php file, along with any demo content (included in the demo directory location specified in the merlin-config.php file):</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>content.xml</strong> — Exported demo content using the WordPress Exporter</li>
<li><strong>widgets.wie</strong> — Exported widgets using Widget Importer and Exporter</li>
<li><strong>customizer.dat</strong> — Exported Customizer settings using Customizer Export/Import</li>
</ul>
<p>Merlin WP was also developed to work seamlessly with <a href="http://tgmpluginactivation.com/" target="_blank">TGMPA</a>, a PHP library that many WordPress developers use to require or recommend plugins for their themes and plugins. It will automatically pull the recommended plugins into the wizard.</p>
<p>Tabor said his targeted distribution channel is commercial themes, though he believes Merlin WP could also be useful for themes hosted on WordPress.org.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m honestly not sure if it would be allowed,&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;I guess that’s where getting more eyes on the project and more input from the Theme Review team comes in handy. I have had a lot of feedback from authors who are eventually considering adding Merlin WP as an &#8216;up-sell feature&#8217; for their lite offerings currently on .org.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tabor estimates that Merlin WP will be in beta for another two weeks. There are a few issues he wants to resolve before bringing it out of beta. He is testing the wizard in his own products at ThemeBeans, which is what he built it for originally. The shop has more than 40,000 customers and Tabor plans to push the wizard live across his entire theme collection once the last few issues are resolved.</p>
<p>Merlin WP is GPL-licensed and <a href="https://github.com/richtabor/MerlinWP" target="_blank">available on GitHub</a> for any developer to use in open source projects. Tabor said he is considering creating a pro version but is not currently interested in pursuing an add-on model.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m considering having an advanced version, with different developer-level capabilities, such as EDD Software Licensing support (where theme users can enter their license key issued from the developer in the onboarding process),&#8221; Tabor said.</p>
<p>Tabor anticipates one of the main benefits for theme shops using Merlin WP will be a decreased support load where questions about initial setup and &#8220;how do I do this like the demo&#8221; become less common.</p>
<p>&#8220;Customers will have what they’ve purchased right off the bat (instead of installing plugins, installing a child theme, importing content, setting menus, widgets, etc),&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;They will likely appreciate the ease-of-use and share that experience with others.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:19:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"Post Status: Building a healthy remote company, with Tom Willmot — Draft 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:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38655";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://poststatus.com/building-healthy-remote-company-tom-willmot-draft-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:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1876:"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/draft">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">on iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, and <a href="http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.</p>
<p>In this episode, Brian is joined by Tom Willmot, the CEO of Human Made. Human Made recently released <a href="https://handbook.hmn.md/">an employee handbook</a> as an open source document for anyone to use, copy, or learn from. Tom and Brian discuss several elements of the handbook, and how they approach these things at Human Made:</p>
<ul>
<li>Employee onboarding</li>
<li>Remote work processes</li>
<li>Communication</li>
<li>Employee feedback and mentorship</li>
<li>HR policies</li>
<li>And more!</li>
</ul>
<p>This was a fun episode. Human Made has some of the lowest turnover in our industry and it was educational to hear from Tom.</p>
<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');</script><![endif]-->
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<p><a href="https://audio.simplecast.com/a0dd5349.mp3">Direct Download</a></p>
<h3>Sponsor: OptinMonster</h3>
<p><a href="http://optinmonster.com">OptinMonster</a> allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create &amp; A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new <a href="http://optinmonster.com/announcing-the-inactivitysensor-activity-logs-and-more/">Inactivity Sensor</a> 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:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:19:30 +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:14:"Katie Richards";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: User Experience Tests Show Gutenberg’s UI Elements Can Benefit From Better Timing";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74274";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:101:"https://wptavern.com/user-experience-tests-show-gutenbergs-ui-elements-can-benefit-from-better-timing";s: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:2703:"<p>Over the past few months, <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gutenberg/reviews/">reviews for Gutenberg</a> have trended towards a love/hate relationship without much in between. To figure out why this is, Millie Macdonald and Anna Harrison of Ephox, the company behind TinyMCE, <a href="https://go.tinymce.com/blog/gutenberg-editor-success-lies-timing/">analyzed the feedback</a> and concluded that many of the issues likely stem from timing.</p>
<p>&#8220;In short, the nuances in the micro-interactions and timing of UI elements in Gutenberg are a little out of sync with what the user is doing at a point in time,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;For example, a user typing in a new paragraph is distracted when the decoration of the previous paragraph turns on.&#8221;</p>
<p>A common piece of feedback is that Gutenberg&#8217;s UI is clean but also cluttered. Harrison recorded a video of users copying and pasting paragraphs into Gutenberg and Medium.</p>
<p>In the video, toolbars and UI elements are displayed in Gutenberg during the writing process creating a cluttered look and disrupting the writing flow. In Medium, the formatting toolbar doesn&#8217;t display until text is highlighted and the + symbol disappears if it&#8217;s not interacted with.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Based on user testing, Harrison suggests refining the timing of when visual elements pop up in Gutenberg. &#8220;Right now, menus pop up when we are trying to type,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;They ought to pop up when we are trying to do something to words that have already been typed.&#8221;</p>
<p>Harrison <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/2279">presented their findings</a> and suggestions to Gutenberg&#8217;s development team. Tammie Lister, design lead for Gutenberg, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/2279#issuecomment-321379994">agreed</a> that getting micro-transactions right is important. &#8220;I see this as the type of refinement post version 0.9/1 can bring,&#8221; Lister said.</p>
<p>&#8220;A few things I am slightly obsessed with is having an animation pace, story and consistency to interactions. Just something to throw in when looking at micro-interactions. I&#8217;ve also been doing some self thinking about what the &#8216;feel&#8217; of emotion of Gutenberg should be. The one I keep coming back to is &#8216;calm&#8217; and &#8216;supporting&#8217;. Just another thing to throw in when looking at these smaller details.&#8221;</p>
<p>Developers thanked Harrison and Macdonald for collecting, analyzing, and sharing data with the team. Does Gutenberg feel heavy to you? Let us know what your experience is like writing content in Gutenberg.</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, 17 Aug 2017 23:06:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: WordPress Support Team to Host Free Workshop August 23 on Supporting Themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74257";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-support-team-to-host-free-workshop-august-23-on-supporting-themes";s: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:3074:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/colored-pencils.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Over the past few months the WordPress Support Team has been brainstorming ways to improve support across various aspects of the community. One new idea they are pursuing is <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2017/07/the-developers-guide-to-supporting-your-themes-a-support-workshop/" target="_blank">hosting workshops</a> where WordPress.org theme and plugin authors can present how they approach supporting their free, open source products that have been released to the community.</p>
<p>Some users approach WordPress.org plugins and themes with realistic expectations regarding the support they might receive on tickets. Others approach these free products as if they were all built with large teams of professional support behind them, which is rarely the case. This often results in frustration, one-star reviews, and ultimately a bad reputation for products hosted in the official directories. It is also one of the primary reasons developers forgo putting products on WordPress.org and simply opt to host them on GitHub.</p>
<p>The new workshops will offer concrete strategies for bridging the chasm of expectation regarding support that exists between developers and users. WordPress.org theme and plugin authors will share the tools and ideas they have implemented to offer support while creating a positive experience for everyone involved.</p>
<p><a href="https://kpresner.com/" target="_blank">Kathryn Presner</a>, who supports hundreds of themes at Automattic, will be leading the first workshop titled &#8220;The Developers Guide to Supporting Your Themes:&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>Providing support for your themes offers tremendous opportunities to educate WordPress users, from explaining how to make a child theme to offering simple CSS customisations. It also presents challenges, like figuring out how to help people who aren’t tech-savvy or need support beyond the scope of what you can provide. While many developers dread doing support, with some concrete strategies and techniques in hand, helping users doesn’t have to be a chore – and can even be fun! This session looks at how to make your themes’ users happy while feeling a sense of satisfaction from your own support efforts – a winning combination in the world of theme development.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress.org theme authors will want to mark their calendars for <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20170823T1600" target="_blank">Wednesday, August 23 at 11 AM CDT</a>. The workshop will be broadcast live as a Zoom teleconference and will last for an hour, including time for a Q&amp;A at the end. Zoom can <a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-Mac-and-Linux" target="_blank">run on desktop</a> and also offers <a href="https://zoom.us/download" target="_blank">apps for mobile devices</a>. The session will be recorded and available on WordPress.tv at a later date.</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, 17 Aug 2017 19:19:26 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 285 – Not Every WordPress Is the Same";s:7:"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:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74233&preview=true&preview_id=74233";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-285-not-every-wordpress-is-the-same";s: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:2894:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I open the show by discussing our observations of social media lately. Our feeds are filled with anger and for me personally, Twitter is becoming less useful.</p>
<p>We discussed the news of the week, including a lengthy conversation about Automattic opening up the WordPress.org ecosystem of plugins and themes to Business plan customers. Near the end of the episode, we share the features we&#8217;d like to see in a syntax highlighter for the built-in plugin and theme editors.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-foundation-to-sponsor-open-source-educational-events">WordPress Foundation to Sponsor Open Source Educational Events</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-forks-select2-releases-selectwoo-as-a-drop-in-replacement-with-improved-accessibility">WooCommerce Forks select2, Releases selectWoo as a Drop-In Replacement with Improved Accessibility</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-8-0-introduces-5-new-blocks-categories-text-columns-shortcode-audio-and-video">Gutenberg 0.8.0 Introduces 5 New Blocks: Categories, Text Columns, Shortcode, Audio, and Video</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem">WordPress.com’s Business Plan Gives Subscribers a Way to Tap into WordPress.org’s Third-party Ecosystem</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-to-focus-on-code-editing-and-customization-improvements-targeted-for-november-14">WordPress 4.9 to Focus on Code Editing and Customization Improvements, Targeted for November 14</a></p>
<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wpisnotwp.com/">WPisNotWP</a> by Caspar Hübinger, is a tiny progressive web app that outlines the differences between WordPress the open-source project and WordPress.com. Contributions to the app can be made on the <a href="https://github.com/glueckpress/wpistnotwp.com">project&#8217;s GitHub page</a>.</p>
<p>A deep dive into the WordPress user roles and capabilities API by John Blackbourn.</p>
<div class="embed-wrap"></div>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 23rd 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: </strong><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via RSS: </strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/feed/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Stitcher Radio: </strong><a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Listen To Episode #285:</strong><br />
</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, 16 Aug 2017 23:55:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: Gravity Forms Stop Entries Plugin Aims to Help Sites Comply with the EU’s GDPR";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74189";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"https://wptavern.com/gravity-forms-stop-entries-plugin-aims-to-help-sites-comply-with-the-eus-gdpr";s: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:10232:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/steaming-mailbox.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/NRB5T25KRG">AJ Montpetit</a>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wider-gravity-forms-stop-entries/" target="_blank">Wider Gravity Forms Stop Entries</a> is a new plugin that helps website owners protect the privacy of form submissions by preventing entries from being stored in the database. The plugin was created by UK-based web developer <a href="https://jonnya.net/" target="_blank">Jonny Allbut</a> for internal use at <a href="https://wider.co.uk/" target="_blank">Wider</a>, a company he set up for handling WordPress clients&#8217; needs.</p>
<p>One aspect of complying with the EU&#8217;s <a href="http://www.eugdpr.org/" target="_blank">General Data Protection Regulation</a> (GDPR) is ensuring that contact forms do not store any personally identifiable data on the server. The regulation becomes enforceable in May 2018 and sites that serve EU citizens are preparing for the deadline with audits and changes to how they handle privacy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gravityforms.com/" target="_blank">Gravity Forms</a> doesn&#8217;t offer a built-in option to stop entries from being stored on the server but GF co-founder Carl Hancock says there are a variety of ways to accomplish this.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all you want to do is simply email the contents of the form and not store the data in the database as part of the route you&#8217;d like to take for GDPR compliance, this plugin would be one method of doing so,&#8221; Hancock said. He also referenced Gravity Wiz&#8217;s commercial <a href="https://gravitywiz.com/documentation/gravity-forms-disable-entry-creation/" target="_blank">Disable Entry Creation</a> plugin. Developers can also <a href="https://www.gravityhelp.com/documentation/article/delete-entry-data-after-submission/" target="_blank">delete entry data after submission</a> via a hook.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, the GDPR doesn&#8217;t preclude storing form entries in a database and is entirely dependent on the type of data you are storing and the other safeguards and functionality you have put in place,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a complex issue and I&#8217;m not entirely sure the EU fully understands the burden and implications that may come with it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ultimately, the requirement of compliance falls upon website administrators who are the ones collecting the data. It is their responsibility to select tools that will protect their users&#8217; privacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;While it won’t provide GDPR compliance on its own, Jonny’s extension is a much-needed step in the right direction,&#8221; digital law specialist <a href="https://webdevlaw.uk" target="_blank">Heather Burns</a> said. Burns consults with companies that need assistance in getting their sites GDPR compliant. &#8220;GDPR requires adherence to the <a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/07/privacy-by-design-framework/" target="_blank">principles of privacy by design</a> and part of that is data minimization and deletion.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress has dozens of popular contact form plugins, both free and commercial. Many of them store entries in the database in case the recipient&#8217;s email has problems, preventing the communication from becoming lost. Site administrators who are concerned about GDPR compliance will want to examine the solution they have selected for forms. Burns advised that contact form plugins need to do the following three things:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensure that personal and sensitive personal data from form entries is not stored in the database;</li>
<li>Provide configuration options to allow contact form entries to be automatically deleted after a certain period of time;</li>
<li>Ensure that all contact form data is deleted when the plugin is deactivated or deleted.</li>
</ul>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately the direction of travel has been the exact opposite: contact form entries tend to be stored in perpetuity on the database regardless of content or necessity,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;Contact form plugins with options to automatically delete form submissions after a certain period of time are rare. I&#8217;ve even seen contact form extensions which duplicate entries to a separate table, which, all things considered, is madness. We need to be developing towards data minimization and deletion, not retention and duplication.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last month JJ Jay <a href="https://tharshetests.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/wp-contact-form-remnants/" target="_blank">published</a> an analysis of how and where popular WordPress contact forms plugins store data. This is a useful reference for site administrators who are not sure how their chosen solution handles data collection and storage. She suggested a few questions for users to ask when examining contact forms:</p>
<ul>
<li>Can the option to store data be turned on and off?</li>
<li>At what granularity?</li>
<li>Can the data be deleted when the plugin is deleted?</li>
<li>What personally identifiable data, other than the data from each form, is stored? (i.e. <a href="https://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/10/eu-dynamic-static-ip-personal-data/" target="_blank">a user’s IP address</a>)</li>
<li>Is it possible to delete the submissions on an ad-hoc or scheduled basis?</li>
</ul>
<p>If you&#8217;re not sure what could be leftover in your database from other plugins, Jay has also created a &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/tharsheblows/mjj-whats-in-my-database" target="_blank">What&#8217;s in my database?</a>&#8221; plugin that administrators can install and access under the Tools menu. It is read-only and lists every table and its columns, so users can see if there are any surprises.</p>
<h3>British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) Hack Highlights the Danger of Storing Contact Form Entries in the Database</h3>
<p>In educating website owners about the dangers of storing sensitive personal data, Heather Burns often cites the 2012 British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) hack as one of the worst examples of the consequences of storing contact form entries in databases. The hacker, who was later jailed, stole thousands of records from the charity, which was running on an unknown outdated CMS with weak passwords. The site had not undergone a privacy impact assessment on its personal data collection and storage methods.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the services BPAS offers is access to abortions,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;Many of their service users come over from Ireland, where abortion is banned under nearly all circumstances. The site had a contact form where women could enquire about abortions. BPAS thought that messages were merely passing through the site; no one within the organization had any clue that a copy of each contact form submission was stored on the database. Somewhat inevitably, the site was easily hacked by an anti-abortion activist who downloaded the database. He found himself in possession over 5,000 contact form submissions going back over five years containing women’s names, email addresses, phone numbers, and the fact that they were enquiring about abortions. He then announced his intention to publish the womens’ data on an anti-abortion forum.&#8221;</p>
<p>The hacker was caught and arrested before he had the opportunity to publish the list. He received 32 months of jail time and BPAS was fined £200k for the data protection breaches.</p>
<p>&#8220;As well as criticizing the charity for their technical failures, the regulator called attention to the fact that no one on the staff had thought to ask the proper questions about the tools they were using; they were also angry that the site had a legalistic privacy policy which was clearly not worth the pixels it was printed on,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;All of these failures were deemed inadmissible and inexcusable by the data protection regulator. It is no exaggeration to say that women could have been killed because of a contact form.&#8221;</p>
<p>Auditing contact forms is just one piece of the puzzle for those working towards GDPR compliance. Burns recommends that site administrators conduct a privacy impact assessment of personal and sensitive data that is submitted through forms. Privacy notices should also be clear about how this data is handled and how long it is retained before it is deleted.</p>
<p>The GDPR was written to be extraterritorial and states that the regulations apply to any site or service that has European users. These sites are expected to protect EU users&#8217; data according to European regulations. Many American company owners are not yet convinced that this is enforceable outside of EU borders and have not invested in getting their online entities to be compliant.</p>
<p>&#8220;GDPR provides a very useful framework for user protection, which is now more important than ever,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;I&#8217;m encouraging Americans to work to GDPR because it&#8217;s a constructive accountable framework that&#8217;s a hell of a lot better than nothing.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wider-gravity-forms-stop-entries/" target="_blank">Wider Gravity Forms Stop Entries</a> is currently the only plugin in the official WordPress directory that addresses GDPR concerns for a specific contact form plugin. Others may become available as the May 2018 deadline approaches. Jonny Allbut warns users in the FAQ to test the plugin with third-party GF extensions before adding it to a live site, as some extensions may rely on referencing data entries stored in form submissions.</p>
<p>I asked Carl Hancock if Gravity Forms might make storing form entries in the database an optional feature and he confirmed they are considering it.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, this is certainly possible,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;We try to avoid conflicts with available 3rd party add-ons for Gravity Forms to encourage their development,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;But unfortunately it is not always avoidable. It is a feature that has been requested numerous times in the past and I suspect with the GDPR it will be a feature that will be requested even more going forward.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 23:03:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"Post Status: Free speech, privacy, and the 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:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38615";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:51:"https://poststatus.com/free-speech-privacy-and-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:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7492:"<p>Politics and the web are intersecting more and more. In recent news, at least three WordPress related companies have been getting broad media attention.</p>
<p>In just a few days, we&#8217;ve seen GoDaddy <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/14/16143820/godaddy-and-google-wont-host-daily-stormer-domain">shut down a site</a> for violating terms and conditions, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40454089/wordpress-bans-website-of-fascist-group-linked-to-alleged-charlottesville-killer">as well as</a> Automattic. DreamHost received significant attention for <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/we-fight-for-the-users/">refusing to release site visitor information</a> to the US Department of Justice.</p>
<p>I think the most relevant angle for this website is to note that it&#8217;s important for web-based services to be prepared for the unexpected news cycles that revolve around web-based properties.</p>
<p>How well does your PR team know your terms and conditions? What&#8217;s your stance on free speech, and when can that cross a line into speech or content that your service is ready to limit? The definitions can be narrow; let&#8217;s look at Automattic&#8217;s decision to shut down a site called Blood and Soil.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a despicable site, and it has been for a while. Automattic is aware of the sites that exist on WordPress.com, and this isn&#8217;t their first rodeo with objectionable sites receiving lots of backlash from advocacy groups. For instance, the Guccifer 2.0 person or group that hacked the Democratic National Committee was on WordPress.com, and they still are. There are countless others, some hacking related, some simply vile or hate-filled.</p>
<p>So what makes a site cross the line for a particular service? GoDaddy&#8217;s Ben Butler <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40411086/activists-push-back-against-the-platforms-that-quietly-empower-hate-groups">described to Fast Company</a> that they draw the line between speech and violence:</p>
<blockquote><p>GoDaddy&#8217;s Ben Butler described to Fast Company that they draw the line between speech and violence:</p>
<p>“We strongly support the First Amendment and are very much against censorship on the internet,” writes Ben Butler, director of the Digital Crimes Unit for <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/">GoDaddy</a>, in an email. He adds that, “if a site promotes, encourages, or engages in violence against people, we will take action.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The GoDaddy decision (which Google followed up with as well) was especially interesting because they made the decision as the domain registrar, not a content host. In that case they weren&#8217;t actually providing the hosting service.</p>
<p>Automattic has similar policies. Specifically, they link to <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/user-guidelines/">user guidelines</a> within their <a href="https://en.wordpress.com/tos/">ToS</a>, which has a clause for &#8220;directly threatening material.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>Do not post direct and realistic threats of violence. That is, you cannot post a genuine call for violence—or death—against an individual person, or groups of persons. This doesn’t mean that we’ll remove all hyperbole or offensive language.</p></blockquote>
<p>They also have a specific policy (not directly linked from their ToS) for <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/terrorist-activity/">terrorist activity</a>, and a provision to allow them to remove content or users for any reason.</p>
<p>The terrorist in Charlottesville aligned himself with Blood And Soil, prompting Automattic to pull the plug —  as the line was crossed.</p>
<p>DreamHost&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/we-fight-for-the-users/">pushback to the government</a> was about First Amendment concerns as well, primarily with visitors:</p>
<blockquote><p>The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 <em>million</em> visitor IP addresses — in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of <strong>thousands</strong> of people — in an effort to determine who simply <em>visited</em> the website. (Our customer has also been notified of the pending warrant on the account.)</p>
<p>That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.</p></blockquote>
<p>Every host deals with requests that may not require visitor information but definitely do require account information. Automattic&#8217;s Paul Sieminski provided a helpful post on the <a href="https://transparency.automattic.com/2017/07/25/shining-light-on-national-security-letters/">types of requests they get</a>, and how they handle them.</p>
<p>The US has broad protections built into the First Amendment covering free speech. Platforms are not required to meet those protections; however, many are strident supporters of the First Amendment. Those protections are often for some of the most unpopular types of content. The Supreme Court has ruled there&#8217;s <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/08/14/there-hate-speech-exception-first-amendment/q9m4IqfQvbo24nnlnPor1O/story.html">no hate speech exception in the First Amendment</a>, and this ruling has been cited recently in a trademark case.</p>
<p>I think the author of the above-cited op-ed makes a good point:</p>
<blockquote><p>We can and should speak up against hate. As the Supreme Court makes clear, there’s no hate speech exception to the First Amendment. With that freedom comes a heavy burden for government officials like Baker and Walsh, who must try to keep protected speech from turning into acts of violence.</p></blockquote>
<p>The burden is also heavy for platforms who are dedicated to providing a place for unpopular opinions. There are many times when the unpopular opinion, or anti-government opinion, is incredibly important to protect. But when speech stems over into violence, then I believe platforms have not only a right, but also a responsibility to take a stand.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important for organizations to be educated about and consistent with their own terms of service, company-wide. I&#8217;m afraid these hard questions about speech, rights, and responsibility will be pretty common for a while to come. And as fast as information spreads — for instance, the calls for GoDaddy to shut down a hate site this week came in a fury, part of a quickly viral Twitter post — acting quickly and consistently will be incredibly important.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve talked about platforms and services with some control over their user base. The obvious other side of this is that there is a whole segment of our community with no control over their users. Your theme, plugin, and WordPress itself can be used without permission by absolutely anyone, and of course that&#8217;s by design. WordPress or a WordPress-related product could be identified and criticized virally for enabling objectionable users and content</p>
<p>As a community, are we prepared to respond to that?</p>
<p>PS: If you&#8217;re a journalist writing about WordPress.com and issues like these, please understand the difference between WordPress.com, owned by Automattic, and WordPress the software. <a href="https://poststatus.com/resources/wordpress-versus-automattic/">I wrote a handy guide for you</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, 16 Aug 2017 18:38:54 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"HeroPress: The Greatest Screenplay Writer";s:7:"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=2033";s:7:"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:126:"https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=greatest-screenplay-writer";s: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:14463:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/081617-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: WordPress is not like any other open source communityI saw before." /><p>My upbringing was not quite usual Serbian upbringing. I was almost forbidden to do things I didn&#8217;t really love. My parents insisted on trying things and finding that deep passion. But I didn&#8217;t have to search and try. I always knew what I&#8217;d be when I grow up. As long as I remember, there was no doubt.</p>
<h3>A classical musician</h3>
<p>When I was 8 my mom took me to local music school for entrance examination. I was in! Oh, joy! Finally I was learning to play and sing, to read and write this new language. Italian. Oh, music scores too! There was a whole new world that my parents, or anyone in my family, didn&#8217;t know anything about and I was stepping into it. I was doing just fine in it.. and I couldn&#8217;t live outside of it.</p>
<p>As time passed, I finished elementary and high music school, went to music Academy, almost finished it and then my mother died. It was 2003. Two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. There was no time for grief and I couldn&#8217;t feel the joy. I just switched off and turned to the facts: I became a mom and a wife and I needed a job.</p>
<p>And what a job did I found. An opera prompter. Opera Prompter! God, I love that job. Every second of it for ten years. I was yelling at singers, singing, conducting, traveling, laughing and crying. My Italian was significantly improved. Working time was great &#8211; so much free time to be a mom, study for Academy, get a hobby&#8230;</p>
<h3>Opera prompter&#8217;s hobby</h3>
<p>In 2007 I was administrator in one English speaking forum with focus on software and hardware topics. It helped me to significantly improve my English. And my tech knowledge. Which was close to none when I registered. As one of administrators, occasionally I had to tweak site here and there. It was great! There was this code and when I would change something in code it would show on the site. Neat! I loved reading those files, finding patterns and parts written in humanly understandable forms. Later I learned those were called loops and conditionals. Also later I learned that this language is called PHP and that many other languages for building websites exist. Forum script was phpBB3.</p>
<p>I was never a gamer. Never understood the point of game, besides finishing it. I guess PHP was to me what games are to passionate gamers. Like a puzzle or sudoku.</p>
<p>At the same time my marriage was turning from bad into worse and in the beginning of 2008 I finally decided it was enough. We were working on Mozart&#8217;s “Don Giovanni” in Theater. I remember this so clearly because my divorce was just turning from bad into worse. Those few months lasted for centuries after which I still needed a lot of time to recover what&#8217;s left of my self-esteem. My complete mental and emotional health was destroyed after years of domestic violence.</p>
<p>2009 was important year for me. The cognition of possibility to have local server on my own machine and test everything before executing it on live site turned out to be very helpful.</p>
<p>In October I needed a blog script and friend recommended WordPress. It was 2.9 version. It didn&#8217;t really work well but everyone was writing about it. There were at least 5 new tutorials on various blogs every day. I was digesting them every morning with my first coffee. The ones I really liked I even reproduced in my shiny new localhost. Soon enough I developed a local monster with different widgets on each page, future posts archive, post series done with custom fields and God knows whatnot. This WordPress was slowly taking over my free time. Every second of it.</p>
<h3>So, the WordPress it is</h3>
<p>One day a friend of mine asked me to build him a website for his ensemble. And for money. Money? I never thought of getting money for this. This was too good of a hobby. But he&#8217;s a friend so I did it. Then another friend showed up with the same request. And another.. I became freelance WordPress developer before I could even understand what was happening. It wasn&#8217;t really a favor to friends any more. I was a single mom with mortgage. My daughter was in primary school, life costs became serious while the art-and-culture salary was silently and regularly reduced.</p>
<blockquote><p>I was freelancing every single minute I could. Sleeping was luxury I could afford on weekends.</p></blockquote>
<p>My dad was helping me tremendously. He was babysitting during theater&#8217;s rehearsals and performances in the evenings. When I&#8217;d get home, my daughter was sleeping, tomorrow&#8217;s meals cooked, dishes done and shining. I could go on like this but it was uncertain for how long.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013 I was recovering from what was supposed to be routine gallbladder surgery and what nearly cost me life. Almost fully operational, I was getting ready for next roller coaster known as a mix of school year, freelancing and theater&#8217;s season. Then my father died. Suddenly. In an accident.</p>
<p>Oh, this screaming silence..</p>
<p>I couldn&#8217;t think. Or breathe. For months. I needed someone to put the roller coaster on pause. Just.. Just a short one. To take a breathe. But there was no one. I was all alone with a 9 years old child who had to grow up fast. I had to grow up fast.</p>
<blockquote><p>All of a sudden I realized that I can not afford a single mistake any more. I can not be ill, get in debts, lose job. Or mind. I was the only one I could count on.</p></blockquote>
<p>In 2014 my theater salary got reduced once again. And again in following year. 30% in total. For ten years it never covered all of my monthly expenses but this was ridiculous. It was a time for me to stop playing it safe and see what I&#8217;m made of. That was probably the most difficult decision I have ever made. A heart breaking one. Stop being musician. So I quit being Opera Prompter and started working as a full time WordPress developer.</p>
<h3>Well, hello, World!</h3>
<p>I didn&#8217;t really know for which wage level my knowledge was. For years I was the only WordPress developer I knew in person. The rest were all online superstars I was learning from. So I started as a shy medior and the only WordPress developer in agency. It turns out that, for this agency needs, I was senior and soon enough I was organizing and leading development processes for new projects.</p>
<p>From the business point of view repeating similar projects makes you &#8220;niche expert&#8221;. I do understand that. But, as many other developers out there, I don&#8217;t like repeating the same tasks or projects. Not even once. I missed variety which led me to become more active contributor on wordpress.org.</p>
<blockquote><p>For years I was just contributing to codex here and there and never really thought about all the people behind WordPress.</p></blockquote>
<p>In my vague image, they were a bunch of really great developers and they were doing just fine. I was learning from them so I could not possibly help them. I would just be on their way.</p>
<p>However, in my attempt to find something interesting to keep my mind amused with, I came upon <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Slack url</a> for communication between contributors on WordPress project. What a crowd! And not just developers &#8211; everyone! Doing all kinds of different bits, and all important. How odd. WordPress is not like any other open source community I saw before. So much more open and inviting! I remember reading through channels and thinking: &#8220;I could do this&#8221;, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;d love to learn that&#8221;, &#8220;This person is funny&#8221;.. I&#8217;m gonna stick.</p>
<h3>Antisocial extrovert in a more open open source community</h3>
<p>No matter how I tried, and I did try, I&#8217;m just not a people person. Among other antisocial treats, over the years I have developed a heavy dark humor which, more often than not, due to lack of social interactions I reveal in a completely wrong way. But these people seem not to mind so I thought to give it a try with them. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/planning-details/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a> is extremely important in WordPress community. No community wants bullies. But rare communities accept social weirdos and misfits. And this one doesn&#8217;t just accept them, it makes them feel like fits. That was a nice change.</p>
<p>I started attending local <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WP-Meetup-NS/">Meetups</a>, even gave <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WP-Meetup-NS/events/235186967/">a talk</a> on contributing to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/get-involved/become-a-reviewer/">Theme Review team</a> after which I was invited to join <a href="https://www.toptal.com/">Toptal platform</a> as a freelance developer. My social adventure got me volunteering on <a href="https://2017.belgrade.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Belgrade</a> and <a href="https://2017.europe.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Europe in Paris</a>. I must admit there were &#8220;too many people at the same time&#8221; moments but there were lots of ways to stay involved with controlled dose of human interactions. I chose volunteering at Experts bar and it worked out just great. I really loved all the hugs though.</p>
<p>Today I try to keep my focus on just a few channels in make WordPress slack and my contribution wish list regularly updated. One can have only so many hours in a day. Most often you&#8217;ll find me in <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/?redir=%2Fmessages%2Fdocs">#docs</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/?redir=%2Fmessages%2Fcore-docs">#core-docs</a> channels, doing various stuff with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs/handbook/about-the-docs-team/get-involved/">Documentation</a> team.</p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/milana-cap_wcbgd.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2036 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/milana-cap_wcbgd-1024x683.jpg" alt="Milana, on a rooftop baclony with some other people looking at her phone" width="960" height="640" /></a></p>
<h3>The Questions</h3>
<p>Among all the questions I get about my professional path, the most commons are &#8220;<strong>How come you made such a huge change from music to web development?</strong>&#8220;, &#8220;<strong>Did you go to school to become a developer</strong>?&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>Do you miss being musician?</strong>&#8220;. Answer to the first question is quite easy:</p>
<p>&#8220;Being musician and writing code are pretty much the same. They both require the same parts of your mental struggle and make you go through the same emotional tortures and enlightenments.&#8221;</p>
<p>The second question, however, is a bit more difficult to answer. In the light of the first answer, I could say that I was exposed to the required way of thinking. Practicing an instrument 6 hours per day for over a decade does teach you a couple of things about commitment. World of classical music is a world of magnificent talents and varieties which touches you all the way to the humble self where you find appreciation for being able to feel this way. Personally, I believe this is extremely important for developer &#8211; to be humble and grateful to person who helped them find this humbleness.</p>
<p>No, I don&#8217;t have a formal developer&#8217;s education. It doesn&#8217;t seem to prevent me from being developer. And no, I don&#8217;t miss being musician. Because I never stopped being one. I listen to classical music while I code and play piano when I have a difficult programming problem to solve. Feels so natural.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d like to say that everything turned out pretty good at the end but, as my father used to say: &#8220;Life is the greatest screenplay writer&#8221; and my life seems to be the witty one too. In expectation of future turns I&#8217;d recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4788Tmz9Zo&t=884s">Beethoven&#8217;s Symphony No.7, II movement</a>, some very loud laughs and lots of WordPress loops.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: The Greatest Screenplay Writer" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=The%20Greatest%20Screenplay%20Writer&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: The Greatest Screenplay Writer" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F&title=The+Greatest+Screenplay+Writer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/081617-150x150.jpg&description=The Greatest Screenplay Writer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/" title="The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/">The Greatest Screenplay Writer</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:00:44 +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:10:"Milana Cap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"WPTavern: WordPress Mobile Apps Updated with a New Login Experience";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74197";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-mobile-apps-updated-with-a-new-login-experience";s: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:4732:"<p>The WordPress mobile apps are sporting <a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/an-updated-login-coming-to-the-wordpress-mobile-apps/" target="_blank">a new login experience</a> that Automattic&#8217;s mobile designers and developers released in the latest versions. The login flow has been completely redesigned to provide a more unified experience for connecting both self-hosted and WordPress.com-hosted sites. These flows were completely separate in the past and users were often confused about which one to select. The new design provides fewer opportunities for friction when logging in, an experience that likely determines many users&#8217; first impressions of the app.</p>
<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/self-hosted-login-wp-mobile-apps.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>Self-hosted login on mobile apps
<p>&#8220;As we reimagined the login experience, there were a few key principles guiding us: keep it simple, minimize the distinction between a site hosted at WordPress.com versus somewhere else, and avoid anything that might be too clever,&#8221; Automattic mobile lead Eric Johnson said.</p>
<p>Users can now connect new sites by entering the URL and the mobile apps will automatically detect if the site is hosted on WordPress.com or not. The new login flow ferries users on to the next step based on what kind of site is being connected. This is available in version 8.0 of WordPress for Android and version 8.2 of WordPress for iOS.</p>
<p>The new login experience emphasizes the ease of using magic links for logging into WordPress.com. If the user enters and email address, the app will generate an authentication link and send it via email. This allows users to login without having to remember or enter a password.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/new-login-experience-wp-mobile-apps.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>If a user is entering the world of WordPress for the first time through the mobile apps, the new login experience also offers a short tour of the some of the features included in the app. These include WordPress.com features such as notifications, Stats, and the Reader. The apps, despite being marketed as the official WordPress mobile apps, are a product of Automattic and include a commercial upgrade path for WordPress.com services.</p>
<p>The idea of the apps functioning as a gateway to help the greater WordPress ecosystem gain more users (and eventually see some graduate to self-hosted sites), no longer seems credible now that WordPress.com has <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem" target="_blank">entered the hosting space by allowing its customers to tap into third-party plugins and themes</a>.</p>
<p>The updated login experience, while more convenient for users, continues to blur the line between self-hosted and WordPress.com-hosted sites. WordPress for Android and iOS used to have their own separate blogs but all of the news is now funneled through WordPress.com&#8217;s news blog and the @WordPressiOS and @WPAndroid Twitter accounts seemed to have been abandoned in favor of marketing updates through WordPress.com.</p>
<p>In the past, many in the WordPress community have asked why the apps are not called the WordPress.com mobile apps, since they include features that are not central to the core publishing experience for self-hosted users. Last year when I <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-for-android-5-7-adds-path-to-upgrade-wordpress-com-plan" target="_blank">interviewed</a> Maxime Biais, one of Automattic’s mobile engineers, he said the team had considered splitting the product into two apps.</p>
<p>“We considered having both WordPress and WordPress.com apps, but we rejected this because it doesn’t make it more clear,” Bias said. “It’s probably even more ambiguous when someone searches the Play Store for &#8216;WordPress&#8217; or &#8216;Blog&#8217; and finds both WordPress and WordPress.com apps.”</p>
<p>Now that that mobile apps have become a direct pipeline for new WordPress.com hosting customers, it may be time to re-visit the consideration of splitting the apps into two distinct products: one for WordPress.com&#8217;s commercial interests and one that officially represents the open source WordPress project for self-hosted users without any corporate interests. If the project&#8217;s official mobile apps are a key part of new users&#8217; onboarding experience, they should accurately represent the software as an independent platform that can be hosted with and extended by any number of free and commercial products in the WordPress ecosystem.</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, 16 Aug 2017 06:33:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"WPTavern: WordCamp US to Experiment With A Community Bazaar";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74138";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-us-to-experiment-with-a-community-bazaar";s: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:2237:"<p>In addition to taking place in a new location this year, <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp US</a> will have a <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/attendee-information/community-bazaar/">Community Bazaar</a>. An area will be set aside in the venue allowing those chosen to showcase their WordPress communities. Raquel Landefeld, Randy Hicks, and Dustin Meza are organizing the Bazaar.</p>
<p>Landefeld says the idea was inspired by the people who make up the WordPress Community. &#8220;We recognize that some local WordPress communities are thriving and some are just getting started,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>&#8220;What better way to help build community then by showcasing our local communities to the world. The thought is that smaller, newer, and communities just in their infancy, will be inspired with fresh ideas and or how-tos from the bigger and more established WordPress communities.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea is similar to that of a science fair where each community chosen will have a space to highlight why theirs is awesome.</p>
<p>The purpose of the event is to inspire growth while providing an opportunity for communities to learn from each other. There will also be metrics shared such as, number of meetup and WordCamp attendees, meetups per month, and unique qualities pertaining to the local groups.</p>
<p>The organizing team is looking for the inside scoop on local communities. &#8220;This is all about you and your local WordPress community,&#8221; Landefeld said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is your time to shine. Why is your community different, special, or amazing? Be showy! Forget modesty. Let your community’s awesomeness be a tool to inspire other WP communities just getting started or striving.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last year saw record growth for WordPress community events. In 2016, more than 62,566 people attended a local meetup in 58 countries and about one-third of those were new members. A total of 115 WordCamps were hosted in 41 different countries.</p>
<p>Those interested in participating in the Bazaar are encouraged to fill out the following <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/attendee-information/community-bazaar/">submission form</a> and provide as many details as possible.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:45:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"WPTavern: maekit Acquires WP Remote, Plans to Add Cloud-Based Backup Services";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74100";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:87:"https://wptavern.com/maekit-acquires-wp-remote-plans-to-add-cloud-based-backup-services";s: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:3661:"<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/maekit-wpremote.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://maek.it/" target="_blank">maekit</a>, a cloud-based platform that handles the business aspect of web design, has <a href="https://hmn.md/2017/08/10/wp-remote-finds-home-maekit/" target="_blank">acquired WP Remote from Human Made</a>. Two years after Human Made began searching for a buyer, maekit purchased WP Remote to integrate it with the company&#8217;s existing platform that caters to designers managing multiple clients.</p>
<p>&#8220;WP Remote had remained a much-loved product with its users and despite receiving no ongoing development it had remained an iconic plugin in the WordPress community,&#8221; Human Made CEO Tom Willmot said.</p>
<p>maekit took over WP Remote operations in March after closing the deal. According to maekit CEO Matt Holme, the company inherited 20,000 users with 120,000 WordPress websites. His team has maintained WP Remote in its original platform for the past few months before integrating it into maekit last week.</p>
<p><a href="https://wpremote.com/" target="_blank">WP Remote</a> has offered unlimited, free WordPress site management (updating core, plugins, and themes with a single click) since 2010. It hasn&#8217;t received ongoing development for several years, but maekit plans to add backup features that will make bring it more up to speed with competitors like MangeWP, MainWP, and InfiniteWP.</p>
<p>&#8220;We definitely plan to keep WP Remote free and expand its features,&#8221; Holme said. &#8220;Specifically we are looking at offering easy-to-manage cloud-based backup services. For example, hook up your Dropbox (or any other popular cloud based storage system) and schedule regular backups of your WP websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>maekit&#8217;s acquisition of WP Remote gives the company&#8217;s customers the ability to deploy WordPress sites with one click and manage client sites and domains through a unified, white-labeled invoicing and payment system. The company has rolled out a few long-overdue bug fixes to WP Remote and Holme says the rest of maekit is functional but still technically in a closed beta mode.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our revenue model revolves around direct sale hosting plans and also reselling integrated hosting plans for other leading global hosting providers,&#8221; Holme said. &#8220;We are refining the free invoicing and payment processing system built into maekit so that a maekit / WP Remote user can deploy a new hosted WP and charge their client a recurring monthly fee and retain the mark up they add on top of our base hosting prices as profit. This means literally no out of pocket expense for maekit / WP Remote users.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although maekit&#8217;s one-click deployment service supports many popular CMS&#8217;s and e-commmerce platforms, including WordPress, Opencart, Drupal, Magento, and Joomla, Holme said the vast majority of the company&#8217;s customers are running on WordPress. Acquiring WP Remote brings a host of valuable new features to maekit&#8217;s customer base. maekit&#8217;s built-in client billing features, customized for freelancers and agencies, are what Holme says will differentiate the company from its competitors in the WordPress space.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have a great deal of respect for these other WP management platforms and feel the size of the WP market means there is opportunity for all to succeed,&#8221; Holme said. &#8220;With the features of maekit also including new website deployment, invoicing, payment processing and client management, our platform is unique from the others.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:50:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 0.8.0 Introduces 5 New Blocks: Categories, Text Columns, Shortcode, Audio, and Video";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74090";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:110:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-8-0-introduces-5-new-blocks-categories-text-columns-shortcode-audio-and-video";s: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:5712:"<p>Gutenberg <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11th-august/" target="_blank">0.8.0</a> was released over the weekend with five new blocks, major improvements to existing blocks, and support for more publishing features that have been missing from the new editor&#8217;s sidebar. The release also carries out the controversial decision to <a href="https://wptavern.com/user-tracking-to-be-removed-from-gutenberg-in-upcoming-0-8-0-release" target="_blank">remove the opt-in usage tracking code from the plugin</a>.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2102" target="_blank">Categories block</a> can be found under the Widgets section, as it&#8217;s output is based on the existing categories widget. The default display is an alphabetized list of categories, but the block settings include options to display as a dropdown, show post counts, and show hierarchy.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/categories-block.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>A new Text Columns block allows users to split text content into multiple columns. The settings include a sliding scale for selecting 2-4 columns.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/text-columns-block-e1502741151590.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Contributors are calling the Text Block &#8220;an initial exploration&#8221; of multiple columns for text-only content. Depending on testing, it may not be the implementation that ends up landing in the plugin permanently.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been over how difficult it is to get columns right, and also how already today third parties can build this,&#8221; Joen Asmussen <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2117#issuecomment-319347010" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;We may very well want an entirely different implementation than this one. But perhaps it&#8217;s good to get this in now and test it. Perhaps this can help inform how a better column implementation can work down the road. In fact we might want to merge this block in now, only to take it back out later again, same as the Cover Text block. For that reason, I think it&#8217;d be good to test this.&#8221;</p>
<p>The new Video and Audio blocks are geared towards inserting files that have already been uploaded to the media library. However, I found the text on the video block to be confusing. If I was new to WordPress and didn&#8217;t understand how oEmbed works, I would be clicking inside the video block to figure out where to paste the URL.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/video-block.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The new Audio and Video blocks mirror the same kind of functionality that users have experienced when adding images to their sites. In the future, contributors may introduce more features to the audio block, such as additional playback types and looping, but the first iteration includes just the basics.</p>
<p>Gutenberg 0.8.0 adds resizing handlers to the existing Image Block, making it easy for users to insert and quickly resize an image. If you review the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2213" target="_blank">GitHub ticket</a> for this feature, it&#8217;s clear that it was not easy to implement. Image resizing has gone through several changes and may have more down the road, especially as it pertains to the behavior of the caption. Ultimately, the caption field should not be wider than the image so that the two are placed together.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/image-resizing-gutenberg.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>This release introduces a post formats selector to the post settings sidebar. It includes a suggestion based on what blocks are in use in the post. One participant on the ticket noted that the suggestion gives too much importance to the post formats selection and might be confusing to users. The suggestion persists, despite a user switching the format to the one suggested. This is because Gutenberg cannot detect if it was explicitly set by the user or if the user selected the suggestion.</p>
<p>&#8220;I happen to agree with you: post formats should go away,&#8221; Joen Asmussen <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2307#issuecomment-321232074" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;In fact part of the genesis of blocks as a concept is to provide a better interface than what post formats did. So the post format selector here is strictly a back-compat thing.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/post-format-selector.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Gutenberg contributors have also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2288" target="_blank">updated</a> the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/blob/master/docs/design.md" target="_blank">design document</a> for the project, offering more clarity on their goals and concepts they are using to build the editor:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ultimately, the vision for Gutenberg is to make it much easier to author rich content. Through ensuring good defaults, wrapping and bundling advanced layout options blocks, and making the most important actions immediately available, authoring content with WordPress should be accessible to anyone.</p></blockquote>
<p>The idea is to simplify content creation for users so that they only have to learn one interface &#8211; the block interface. The design document adds several new sections that elaborate on the concept of &#8220;everything is a block&#8221; and includes best practices that developers can reference when designing their own blocks.</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, 14 Aug 2017 22:18:21 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:115:"WPTavern: Early Results from NRKbeta’s Comment Quiz Plugin Show Readers Enjoy the Quiz but Rarely Leave a Comment";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74105";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:123:"https://wptavern.com/early-results-from-nrkbetas-comment-quiz-plugin-show-readers-enjoy-the-quiz-but-rarely-leave-a-comment";s: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:3492:"<p>Earlier this year, <a href="https://nrkbeta.no/" target="_blank">NRKbeta</a>, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s media and technology site, <a href="https://wptavern.com/nrkbeta-open-sources-comment-quiz-plugin-for-wordpress" target="_blank">open sourced its comment quiz plugin for WordPress</a>. The site&#8217;s publishers have been experimenting with requiring their readers to complete a short, three-question quiz before giving access to the comment form on certain articles. The goal of the plugin was to prevent rants and off-topic responses by ensuring that commenters have read the article.</p>
<p>NRKbeta has <a href="https://nrkbeta.no/2017/08/10/with-a-quiz-to-comment-readers-test-their-article-comprehension/" target="_blank">published some preliminary results</a> after six months of experimenting with a mandatory quiz before commenting.</p>
<p>&#8220;On average, there are a lot more attempts – both correct and wrong – than actual comments,&#8221; NRKbeta journalist Ståle Grut said. &#8220;It seems many take the quiz to check how much they remember from the story – and not necessarily to leave a comment. Almost as a fun little game after reading.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/nkrbeta-comments.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Grut reported that on average the quiz has an error rate of 72%. His team suspects that the bulk of the wrong answers are coming site&#8217;s international readership, as most of the articles are posted in Norwegian, which can be difficult to translate.</p>
<p>The sample is still relatively small, because the team hasn&#8217;t yet created any set rules for when authors should enable the quiz.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea was to test it on stories that had potential for a gloomy comments section,&#8221; Grut said. &#8220;It is something we are proud to rarely have here at NRKbeta.&#8221;</p>
<p>On one story, NRKbeta staff made an error where it was impossible to submit the correct answer to the quiz, because it wasn&#8217;t listed. As a result, this article&#8217;s quiz received more than 1,000 wrong answers.</p>
<p>One unexpected benefit of the plugin is that it makes it more of a hurdle for readers to leave short comments, such as &#8220;nice post&#8221; that don&#8217;t add much to the conversation.</p>
<p>&#8220;This favors the most eager with the most time on their hands,&#8221; Grut said. &#8220;From time to time this has led to a decline in quality and tone, causing him to often abandon the quiz module.&#8221;</p>
<p>These initial conclusions are in line with what we predicted when the plugin was released: the most motivated ranters are not significantly inconvenienced by a short quiz. Keeping comment sections free of trolls is not yet something that is easy to automate. It still requires time spent in the moderation queue.</p>
<p>After the comment quiz plugin was enabled on the site, NRKbeta counted more than 300 articles around the web that had been published about the experiment. Quizzing commenters was hailed as one of the best new ideas for warding off trolls. However, the NRKbeta team cannot yet conclude whether the plugin is a success or not.</p>
<p>&#8220;The numbers seem to show that the quiz has worked like a little game for many readers,&#8221; Grut said. &#8220;They like to take the quiz, but not to leave a comment. Being tested on how much they remember from the article seems to be the most popular use of our quiz.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Aug 2017 02:54:02 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"WPTavern: In Case You Missed It – Issue 23";s:7:"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:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74121&preview=true&preview_id=74121";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:51:"https://wptavern.com/in-case-you-missed-it-issue-23";s: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:6478:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ICYMIFeaturedImage.png?ssl=1" rel="attachment wp-att-50955"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/112901923@N07/16153818039">Night Moves</a> &#8211; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(license)</a>
<p>There’s a lot of great WordPress content published in the community but not all of it is featured on the Tavern. This post is an assortment of items related to WordPress that caught my eye but didn’t make it into a full post.</p>
<h2>Using WordPress to Publish Law Reviews</h2>
<p>Kevin O&#8217;Keefe of Above the Law, <a href="http://abovethelaw.com/2017/08/kim-jong-un-has-much-to-teach-pentagon-about-speed-gen-hyten/">explains why</a> WordPress should be used to publish law reviews instead of printing them.</p>
<blockquote><p>Ten years ago it would not have been as easy to set up, or license, a WordPress publishing platform by each law school. Most law professors were, and still are, publishing blogs on <a href="http://www.typepad.com/">TypePad</a>, an outdated and little used publishing software, originally produced by Six Apart.</p>
<p>Today, WordPress is running almost 70 percent of the content management systems in the world. WordPress is regularly updated and enables a multi-user platform with multiple individual sites, all of which would be needed by a law school’s &#8216;printing press&#8217;.</p></blockquote>
<h2>Glutenberg Free</h2>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/glutenburg-free/">Gluternberg Free</a> is a WordPress plugin developed by Adam Silverstein that restores and maintains the post editing experience from WordPress 4.8.</p>
<h2>Open Source Candy Bar Labels for WordCamps</h2>
<p>If you&#8217;re organizing a WordCamp and want to give out Happiness bars, check out this <a href="https://github.com/dimensionmedia/WordCamp-Happiness-Bars">custom label design</a> used at WordCamp Miami 2016. The assets are open sourced and available for free for other WordCamp organizers to use.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">WordCamps: have “Happiness Bars” for your next event. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcmia?src=hash">#wcmia</a> open-sourced the wrappers: <a href="https://t.co/LvtG3JlhAw">https://t.co/LvtG3JlhAw</a> <a href="https://t.co/hailcQCsXg">pic.twitter.com/hailcQCsXg</a></p>
<p>&mdash; David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) <a href="https://twitter.com/dimensionmedia/status/896060900410445825">August 11, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>Instead of Threading Tweets, Consider Blogging Instead</h2>
<p>Amanda Rush <a href="https://www.customerservant.com/next-time-youre-thinking-threading-twitter-write-blog-post-instead/">explains</a> the drawbacks of threading messages on Twitter and why blogging is a better option. Blog posts are easier to archive and link to, are not lost in the noise as quickly, and are a better user experience for consuming content.</p>
<p>By the way, if you&#8217;ve already threaded a message on Twitter, Rush shares links to tools that can help capture a thread and turn it into a blog post.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://www.customerservant.com/next-time-youre-thinking-threading-twitter-write-blog-post-instead/">The Next Time You&#8217;re Thinking About Threading On Twitter, Write A Blog Post Instead</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>The Story of HelloSales</h2>
<p>iThemes published a <a href="https://ithemes.com/2017/08/10/story-of-our-newest-ithemes-product-hellosales/">detailed article</a> on how their newest product, <a href="https://ithemes.com/hellosales">HelloSales</a>, came to be. Cory Miller explains the product&#8217;s logo, name, and who the people are that are building it.</p>
<blockquote><p>The rooster is essentially the symbol or emblem of Portugal. You’ll see it everywhere there when you go there (and I strongly encourage you to do so, even if I want to keep the place all to myself).</p>
<p>It became obvious we wanted to include a rooster in the logo of HelloSales as a hat tip to Portugal and our team there. We also think it’s a great symbol for what we hope to help our customers do — make more money through their WooCommerce stores.</p>
<p>Through several iterations of a name, we landed on HelloSales as a name, as yet another hat tip to the story — their company’s name, HelloDev — that led us here.</p></blockquote>
<p>It&#8217;s a cool story and one I&#8217;d like to see more CEO and founders share when they acquire a product or business.</p>
<h2>WordPress Telemetry Part Two</h2>
<p>Morten Rand-Hendriksen <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-telemetry-wordpress-morten-rand-hendriksen">updated his article</a> on the case for WordPress telemetry after a <a href="https://twitter.com/mor10/status/895299336375902209">lengthy conversation</a> on Twitter.</p>
<blockquote><p>What WordPress needs is an open debate on this topic. What are the arguments for and against? What can be gained and what is lost? Should we do this? And if so, how do we do it in an open, transparent, and responsible way that helps inform and elevate the conversation while looking after the interests of <em>all</em> WordPress users?</p></blockquote>
<p>These are interesting questions and although the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38418">ticket</a><a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38418"> is closed</a> on Trac, users are encouraged to continue the discussion. In the future, I&#8217;d like to see data and other research published that explains <strong>why</strong> a major User Interface changing feature is necessary in core before so much energy is devoted to it.</p>
<h2>Cowboy Wapuu!</h2>
<p>In what is a traditional part of this series, I end each issue by featuring a Wapuu design. For those who don&#8217;t know, Wapuu is the <a href="http://wapuu.jp/2015/12/12/wapuu-origins/">unofficial mascot</a> of the WordPress project. Cowboy Wappu is the official mascot of <a href="https://2017.dfw.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Dallas/Fort Worth 2017</a> that takes place on November 11-12. Tickets are still available and include admission to the event and after-party, lunch on Saturday, and swag. Yee-Haw!</p>
<img />Cowboy Wapuu for WordCamp Dallas/Fort Worth 2017
<p>That&#8217;s it for issue twenty-three. If you recently discovered a cool resource or post related to WordPress, please share it with us in the comments.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 12 Aug 2017 01:47:43 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"WPTavern: WordPress 4.9 to Focus on Code Editing and Customization Improvements, Targeted for November 14";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74086";s:7:"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:115:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-to-focus-on-code-editing-and-customization-improvements-targeted-for-november-14";s: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:3929:"<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/planning.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/Q3X736G951">Sophie Ollis</a>
<p>WordPress core contributors have set a tentative <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/4.9/" target="_blank">schedule for the upcoming 4.9 release</a>, which will be co-led by Mel Choyce and Weston Ruter. The development cycle kicked off in early August with Beta 1 scheduled for early October and the official release targeted for November 14.</p>
<p>Choyce published a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/wordpress-4-9-goals/" target="_blank">list of goals</a> today that outlines what they will be aiming for in 4.9. WordPress users can expect to see some existing features polished up to be more user-friendly, including some long-awaited updates to the experience of editing theme and plugin files in the admin.</p>
<p>Contributors are looking at <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6531" target="_blank">adding a nested folder structure</a> that will offer access to files deeper than two levels. They are also aiming to <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/31779" target="_blank">add better warnings</a> for users who are editing themes and plugins, an improvement which Choyce described as &#8220;graduating from cowboy coding school.&#8221; This could help prevent users from unknowingly making small errors that could have a negative impact on their sites.</p>
<p>Another goal for 4.9 is to improve the code editing experience by adding syntax highlighting. Contributors are examining the possibility of incorporating CodeMirror functionality into the Customizer&#8217;s custom CSS box as well as the plugin and theme file editors. An experimental <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/codemirror-wp" target="_blank">Syntax Highlighting Code Editor for WordPress Core</a> plugin is currently being developed on GitHub as a potential solution for a seven-year-old trac <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12423" target="_blank">ticket</a> for code editor improvements.</p>
<p>Customizer improvements are also one of the main focuses for 4.9. Contributors to the Customize Snapshots feature plugin have been <a href="https://wptavern.com/customize-snapshots-0-6-0-adds-the-ability-to-name-and-merge-changesets" target="_blank">steadily refining</a> the ability to <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/39896" target="_blank">draft</a> and <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28721" target="_blank">schedule</a> changesets in the Customizer. They are also looking at providing a better experience for <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/39693" target="_blank">widget</a> and <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/39692" target="_blank">menu mapping</a> when switching between themes, improving homepage settings (&#8220;<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/16379" target="_blank">Page on Front</a>&#8220;), and displaying responsive images in the Customizer sidebar.</p>
<p>This list of goals for 4.9 includes many more items and the release leads are approaching it with the understanding that some features and improvements may not be ready in time. One item on the list is getting in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22Core+REST+API+Task%22" target="_blank">API endpoints that Gutenberg requires</a>.</p>
<p>Looking ahead to WordPress 5.0, new Gutenberg design lead Tammie Lister has <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/revised-suggested-roadmap-for-gutenberg-and-customization/" target="_blank">proposed a revised, tentative roadmap</a> that anticipates having the new editor ready for a merge proposal in December 2017. Lister said the outline is not set in stone and Gutenberg&#8217;s path to 5.0 would be dependent on the success of the merge proposal.</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, 11 Aug 2017 19:19:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"WPTavern: WordPress.com’s Business Plan Gives Subscribers a Way to Tap into WordPress.org’s Third-party Ecosystem";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74048";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:122:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem";s: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:8395:"<p>Earlier this year, WordPress.com <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-experiments-with-allowing-business-plan-customers-to-install-third-party-plugins-and-themes">launched an experiment</a> giving <a href="https://wordpress.com/business/">Business plan subscribers</a> the ability to install third-party plugins and themes. Automattic<a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/wordpress-com-business-now-supports-plugins-and-third-party-themes/"> concluded the experiment</a> earlier this week and officially made the features part of the subscription plan.</p>
<p>&#8220;With support for plugins and third-party themes, WordPress.com Business users will be able to connect their sites to great email and social media tools, e-commerce solutions, publishing and subscription services, and more,&#8221; Mark Armstrong said.</p>
<p>This change is twelve years in the making. With the exception of WordPress VIP, customers have not had the ability to install third-party themes and plugins on WordPress.com.</p>
<h2>Customers Can Only Install Custom Plugins Through The WP-Admin Interface</h2>
<p>Customers can install plugins or themes from the WordPress.org directories or they can upload custom themes and plugins. WordPress.com has two user interfaces, one that resembles Calypso and the other is WP-Admin.</p>
<p>Here is what adding plugins looks like using the Calypso interface. Plugins are displayed from the WordPress.org plugin directory with no way to upload a custom plugin.</p>
<img />Adding Plugins on WordPress.com Through The Calypso Interface
<p>This is what adding plugins looks like using the WP-Admin interface. This interface has a button that allows customers to upload a custom plugin. Automattic is aware of the discrepancy and says they&#8217;re working on streamlining both interfaces.</p>
<img />Adding Plugins Through WP-Admin on WordPress.com
<h2>Customers Can Upload Non 100% GPL Licensed Code to WordPress.com</h2>
<p>The ability to upload a custom theme or plugin truly opens the door for subscribers to customize their sites. But it also allows customers to use themes and plugins that are not 100% GPL licensed. Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, has <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2009/07/themes-are-gpl-too/">made it clear</a> in the past that he will only support plugins and themes that are 100% GPL.</p>
<blockquote><p>Even though graphics and CSS aren’t <em>required</em> to be GPL legally, the lack thereof is pretty limiting. Can you imagine WordPress without any CSS or JavaScript? So as before, we will only promote and host things on WordPress.org that are 100% GPL <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_compatibility">or compatible</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p>Mullenweg has used his <a href="http://designcrumbs.com/automatically-blackballed">influence in the past</a> to provoke marketplaces such as Envato to provide a 100% GPL license option to its authors. Authors who choose not to sell their items with the 100% GPL license are excluded from being able to sponsor or speak at WordCamps.</p>
<p>Although the above quote references WordPress.org, WordPress.com is a platform that Mullenweg controls. It&#8217;s odd that the ability to upload a theme or plugin that is not 100% GPL exists on WordPress.com. I believe the feature is an oversight and will be removed in the immediate future ensuring that only themes and plugins from the official directories are allowed to be used.</p>
<h2>Managed WordPress Hosts Have Reasons to Be Concerned</h2>
<p>Responses to the news from members of the WordPress community are mixed. Phil Crumm, Director of Strategic Opportunities at 10up, <a href="https://medium.com/@philcrumm/the-curious-conundrum-of-the-new-wordpress-com-business-plan-b0044ad57acd">published a great article</a> that examines the potential impacts this move will have on the managed WordPress hosting ecosystem and its community:</p>
<blockquote>
<p id="8b34" class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3">Within the WordPress community, there’s long been a notion that &#8216;more users on WordPress&#8217; is universally good. Until now, that’s been difficult to argue: an expansive ecosystem has developed over the last decade, and many now make their living off of WordPress.</p>
<p id="2813" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing">Despite that, WordPress.com’s Business Plan now feels like it’s oriented towards cannibalizing users from elsewhere within that ecosystem — from sites that may have &#8216;grown up&#8217; and moved to another hosting provider to those that now may not know that the broader ecosystem even exists — which is objectively a step backwards for the WordPress community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://perezbox.com/">Tony Perez</a>, co-founder and CEO of Sucuri, says the <a href="https://perezbox.com/2017/08/automattics-push-managed-wordpress-potential-impacts-hosting-ecosystem/">implications are gravest</a> to managed WordPress hosts. &#8220;The biggest impacts however are likely to be towards those hosting companies that have invested resources (both people and dollars) into creating a vibrant Managed WordPress hosting business ecosystem,&#8221; Perez said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Long are the days when the market was defined by Page.ly and WPEngine. Today I would consider the space to be saturated, with more flavors of Managed WordPress than ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://chrislema.com/">Chris Lema</a>, a member of Liquid Web&#8217;s Leadership team, <a href="https://perezbox.com/2017/08/automattics-push-managed-wordpress-potential-impacts-hosting-ecosystem/#comment-3456606874">responded to the article</a> saying it&#8217;s rare for manufactures to enter the same market as their distributors or partners.</p>
<p>&#8220;While not impossible, we rarely see manufacturers get into the same business as their distributors or retail partners,&#8221; Lema said.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s because it can create a lot of unwanted, unplanned for, unintended secondary consequences. But to inexpensive hosts, this is one of those head-turners, because they were assured, for oh so long, that this wasn&#8217;t the game Automattic was getting into.</p>
<p>&#8220;But Automattic is not just a nice community player. They&#8217;re a business. With investors. And they have to think about their own bottom line. So while it&#8217;s not surprising, I think you&#8217;re right that hosts have the most to be thinking about.&#8221;</p>
<p>Others like Scott Bolinger, have expressed cautious optimism regarding the change.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">3rd party plugins and themes can now be used on <a href="https://t.co/eNa4NCrrPO">https://t.co/eNa4NCrrPO</a>. This is great news, although how great remains to be seen. <a href="https://t.co/TntfJJ9sLD">https://t.co/TntfJJ9sLD</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Scott Bolinger (@scottbolinger) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottbolinger/status/894627296648114176">August 7, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Some theme and plugin authors see it as a growth opportunity. Josh Pollock, founder of <a href="https://calderaforms.com/">CalderaWP,</a> is excited to see WordPress.com become a quality hosting option for his users.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a plugin author, I like not just more places for my plug-in to be used, but more quality hosting options,&#8221; Pollock said. &#8220;Dealing with sub-optimal environments is the hardest part of being a plug-in author. I&#8217;m excited about more users and having those users be on a quality platform.&#8221;</p>
<h2>How Much Pie Does Automattic Want?</h2>
<p>WordPress.com offering a subset of customers the ability to access the incredible third-party WordPress plugin and theme ecosystem is a huge development, but it leaves me with a few questions. First, why is WordPress.com only now offering this feature? Why wasn&#8217;t it available years ago?</p>
<p>WordPress.com is now competing head-to-head with managed hosts. As <a href="https://ma.tt/2016/12/wp-growth-council/">initiatives are established</a> to grow the WordPress pie for all, how much of that pie does Automattic want for itself? Considering Automattic is a business backed by investors, does it matter how much they want or get?</p>
<p>How do you feel about WordPress.com allowing subscribers to tap into the WordPress.org ecosystem?</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, 11 Aug 2017 07:12:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WPTavern: User Tracking to be Removed from Gutenberg in Upcoming 0.8.0 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:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74044";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/user-tracking-to-be-removed-from-gutenberg-in-upcoming-0-8-0-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:9564:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/asystole.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.savingchicagocpr.com/termination-resuscitation-efforts/">Saving Chicago CPR</a>
<p>The opt-in user tracking that was <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-7-0-adds-opt-in-usage-tracking" target="_blank">added to Gutenberg 0.7.0</a> will be pulled from the plugin in the upcoming 0.8.0 release. The data collection included in last week&#8217;s release reignited the <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38418" target="_blank">discussion regarding adding telemetry to WordPress</a>.</p>
<p>James Nylen and an Automattic engineers involved in Gutenberg added the feature with the goal of improving the editor based on usage patterns. Nylen said the approach they used was very similar to Calypso&#8217;s event tracking code and that it would provide &#8220;a very useful technique to collect user experience data.&#8221; They had planned to use the data to inform various decisions, such as default order for blocks and whether some blocks are less suitable for core. Gutenberg contributors were looking into making the tracking its own module so it could be useful for other WP feature plugins and core.</p>
<p>Shortly after the feature was added to Gutenberg, contributors began to revisit the Telemetry discussion on WordPress Trac. The topic of telemetry for core had been tabled earlier this year, as it did not fall within the three core focus areas for WordPress development in 2017. Participants requested the ticket be reopened for discussion looking toward 2018 in light of Gutenberg adding opt-in tracking.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a terrible idea for Gutenberg, too,&#8221; Matt Mullenweg commented on the ticket. &#8220;I doubt that anything actionable or useful will come of it that couldn&#8217;t be obtained by non-data-collecting means.&#8221;</p>
<p>Twelve hours later, James Nylen <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/06/opt-in-usage-tracking-in-gutenberg/#comment-32882" target="_blank">commented</a> on his original announcement to notify the community that tracking will be removed from Gutenberg in the 0.8.0 release:</p>
<blockquote><p>There’s been quite a lot of discussion on this topic across the community, much of which stems from earlier discussions like <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38418" target="_blank">#38418</a>, which I wasn’t aware of.</p>
<p>Usage tracking in Core and feature projects is a much bigger topic than fits into the scope of Gutenberg right now, so I’ve removed it from the GitHub repo, and it will be removed in the 0.8 Gutenberg release.</p>
<p>The data that it was tracking, while interesting, probably wouldn’t have been a significant factor in the long-term growth and development of Gutenberg. The discussion surrounding the data collection, however, would take up a disproportionate amount of the team’s time.</p></blockquote>
<p>Nylen said the data collected by the plugin thus far will be deleted after 0.8 rolls out and that since it&#8217;s so early in Gutenberg&#8217;s development there was &#8220;not enough data collected to provide any sort of picture of usage.&#8221;</p>
<h3>WordPress Telemetry Advocates Continue Lobbying for Opt-In Data Collection</h3>
<p>The discussion about whether or not WordPress needs telemetry has continued in the form of tweetstorms, as data collection advocates make the case for data-driven decision making.</p>
<p>&#8220;The decision not to capture metrics (telemetry) from WordPress is one that continues to have a large impact on what we (don&#8217;t) know,&#8221; Liquid Web VP of Product Chris Lema <a href="https://twitter.com/chrislema/status/895136427977068544" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;As we&#8217;re trying to make decisions about Gutenberg and metaboxes, we might ask, how big a problem is this, by number of plugins or sites. But we don&#8217;t know because we decided that we can always iterate WordPress, like we&#8217;ve always done. It&#8217;s true that we&#8217;ve done that before, but that doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s either the wisest approach, nor the least risky. With so many options today, will people necessarily return? The more logical approach, in my mind, is to capture as much data as possible and to make it as public as possible, so we can all review.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">If the problem were lack of data, we could easily produce terabytes per day.</p>
<p>&mdash; Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/895506034533453825">August 10, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">seconded with the power of 1000 suns</p>
<p>&mdash; joe guilmette <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f1f9-1f1ed.png" alt="🇹🇭" class="wp-smiley" /> (@travlbum) <a href="https://twitter.com/travlbum/status/895539950933782528">August 10, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://mor10.com/the-case-for-wordpress-telemetry/" target="_blank">WordPress Telemetry proposal</a> author Morten Rand-Hendriksen joined in the discussion with another <a href="https://twitter.com/mor10/status/895299336375902209" target="_blank">tweetstorm</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>WordPress needs a core method for collecting quantitative user data through telemetry (metrics). One of the biggest challenges WordPress faces is the lack of reliable data about global day-to-day use. Like most Open Source projects, WordPress has relied on community feedback as its primary data source, which is fine for a small project. The problem is WordPress is a Very Big Project with global reach and the majority of its users never interface with the community. </p>
<p>I like to say we, the people who talk about, provide feedback for, and design/develop WordPress are the 1%. It might be more like 0.1%. Making decisions based on the traditional community feedback model is making decisions without knowing anything about the majority of users. Some will argue this is fine, that WordPress is developed by those who show up. That&#8217;s not a workable or responsible model for a project. We, the people who build WordPress, have a duty of care to the people we build it for. And those people are not us. &#8216;We can just do user testing,&#8217; you say? Sure. Let&#8217;s do proper qualitative user testing. That requires staffing, funding, and infrastructure. User testing for a project like WordPress is non-trivial. It requires professional analysis.</p></blockquote>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen&#8217;s tweetstorm continued with a summary of his telemetry proposal which would be opt-in based on a plugin prompted from core. The plugin would anonymize all collected data and allow for targeted data collection based on research needs. He proposes that the data be stored on servers owned by the community, separate from corporate interests, so the data can be shared openly to ensure transparency. The <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38418" target="_blank">ticket</a> for this feature request is currently closed.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This discussion belongs in Trac in an open ticket. Closing it down because one person disagrees is not the Open Source way.</p>
<p>&mdash; MortenRandHendriksen (@mor10) <a href="https://twitter.com/mor10/status/895307240122368001">August 9, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>&#8220;There’s a ton going on, and it’s far more important than built-in big brother centralized tracking,&#8221; Mullenweg <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/895678580935491588" target="_blank">said</a> in response to Rand-Hendriksen&#8217;s tweetstorm. &#8220;Do it as a plugin or with a host and show it informs a decision that we wouldn’t have taken otherwise. And remember that past usage is not a good predictor of future success, or what the world needs. We need to build iPhones not Blackberries.&#8221;</p>
<p>During the <a href="https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2016-mullenweg-pushes-calypso-as-future-of-wordpress-interface-proposes-major-changes-to-release-cycle" target="_blank">2016 State of the Word</a> address, Mullenweg proposed a new structure for core releases in 2017 where he would be putting on the &#8216;product lead&#8217; hat and have design and user testing lead the way. As feature requests have popped up outside of the three core focus areas, Mullenweg has had to systematically shut them down or put them on hold for later in order to keep Gutenberg on track.</p>
<p>However, it&#8217;s not surprising that the engineers leading the Gutenberg project, most of whom are employed by Automattic, wouldn&#8217;t think twice about adding user tracking. The company has <a href="https://data.blog/" target="_blank">a blog entirely devoted to data</a> where its data scientists write about the data pipelines they have built to help the company create a sustainable business. Historically, Automattic has strongly embraced using data in making decisions, which is why Calypso has event tracking built into it. Mullenweg is taking a different product leadership approach with the open source WordPress project.</p>
<p>&#8220;For people unhappy with our direction, no amount of data will change their minds,&#8221; Mullenweg said in response to critics on Twitter. &#8220;The results will tell. I’m happy to stand by them the past 14 years, and believe the next 14 will validate our approach.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 11 Aug 2017 02:08:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"WPTavern: WooCommerce Forks select2, Releases selectWoo as a Drop-In Replacement with Improved Accessibility";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73999";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/woocommerce-forks-select2-releases-selectwoo-as-a-drop-in-replacement-with-improved-accessibility";s: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:4160:"<p>The WooCommerce development team has <a href="https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2017/08/08/selectwoo-an-accessible-replacement-for-select2/" target="_blank">forked select2</a> to create a more accessible, drop-in replacement library called selectWoo. <a href="https://select2.github.io/" target="_blank">select2</a> is a widely used jQuery-based library for making custom drop down menus. Many users are wondering if the project has been abandoned, because the repository hasn&#8217;t seen any activity since February and 115 pull requests have piled up.</p>
<p>In the interest of fixing some long-standing accessibility issues with the library, WooCommerce opted to fork it and has merged in some of the PRs that were submitted to the original project. SelectWoo is backwards-compatible and can be used the same way as select2 by simply replacing the select2.js file. It has been optimized for WordPress plugin development and can optionally be initialized with .selectWoo() in order to run alongside other versions of select2 that may be used by other plugins on the site.</p>
<p>SelectWoo makes many improvements for those who are using screen readers, but it needs more accessibility testing. <a href="https://github.com/woocommerce/selectWoo/releases/tag/woo-1.0.0-beta.1" target="_blank">Beta 1</a> is availabe on GitHub. The WooCommerce team has even created a <a href="https://woocommerce.github.io/selectWoo/accessibility-testing/" target="_blank">testing page</a> with different example pages so those using screen-reading software can easily test for bugs.</p>
<p>Forking is usually a last resort scenario for extending popular open source libraries, but the WooCommerce team wanted the flexibility of improving the project on their own timeline. One concerned developer asked the team what will happen in the future if select2 gets back on track and why they didn&#8217;t just submit pull requests to the select2 repository.</p>
<p>&#8220;With a fork we can at least get things merged in to meet our own schedule, rather than waiting/relying on others or running custom versions,&#8221; WooCommerce lead developer Mike Jolley said. &#8220;There are other benefits, too, such as allowing our version to be namespaced to avoid conflicts in WP admin. The fork is public. Our changes can be merged back, when/if the project picks up again.&#8221;</p>
<p>Both WordPress and Drupal core contributors have been working to <a href="https://github.com/select2/select2/issues/3744" target="_blank">address accessibility issues in select2</a> since 2015 when the WP Accessibility Team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2015/09/07/accessibility-usertest-select2/" target="_blank">performed extensive testing on the library</a> to see if it was fit for use in core. Some initial planning work happened but work on these issues stalled out as select2&#8217;s maintainers became unavailable.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d do it with PRs if I thought they would get merged in, but I doubt they will,&#8221; WooCommerce developer Claudiu Lodromanean <a href="https://github.com/select2/select2/issues/3744#issuecomment-320464534" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;There&#8217;s been no action in this repo in about six months and the fork contains some PRs that have been waiting to get merged here for a very long time.&#8221;</p>
<p>Forking a project can needlessly fragment its contributors by causing them to have to choose one or the other, especially as the projects diverge down the line. Motivated contributors may submit multiple PRs across both projects for improvements but most will simply contribute back to the project they use. Select2&#8217;s maintainers have not published any news about why the project has gone dormant.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are <a href="https://github.com/select2/select2/pulls" target="_blank">over 100 PRs in the select2 repo</a> unmerged,&#8221; Jolley said in response to commenters asking about the necessity of the fork. &#8220;Some of these we actually need, so with the fork we’re free to merge these as needed. The accessibility issues are hurting users today, so we cannot really afford to wait.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 10 Aug 2017 03:54:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:65:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 284 – Catching Up with David Peralty";s:7:"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:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74024&preview=true&preview_id=74024";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-284-catching-up-with-david-peralty";s: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:2867:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by <a href="https://peralty.com/">David Peralty</a>. Peralty is a prolific writer with more than 30K articles published online for various media outlets. He also co-hosted WordPress Weekly episodes 41-75 in 2009.</p>
<p>We discuss the rise and evolution of blog networks over the years, the current state of WordPress development, and what he thinks of Gutenberg.</p>
<p>We have a great conversation about working remotely and how working in an office with great people focused on the same goal can be an energizing experience. Later in the show, Jacoby and I discuss the news of the week, including the idea of opt-in usage data tracking in WordPress.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/publishers-are-moving-back-to-wordpress-after-short-experiments-with-medium">Publishers Are Moving Back to WordPress After Short Experiments with Medium</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-dismisses-automattics-trademark-dispute-against-chris-pearson">Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Dismisses Automattic’s Trademark Dispute Against Chris Pearson</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-7-0-adds-opt-in-usage-tracking">Gutenberg 0.7.0 Adds Opt-In Usage Tracking</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-development-team-confirms-meta-box-api-will-not-be-formally-deprecated">Gutenberg Development Team Confirms Meta Box API Will Not be Formally Deprecated</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-core-fields-api-project-sees-renewed-interest">WordPress Core Fields API Project Sees Renewed Interest</a></p>
<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>
<p>Comment moderation is not the same as censorship, or is it?</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://halfelf.org/2013/censorship-in-moderation/">Censorship in Moderation</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/rmccue/not-trac">Not Trac</a> by Ryan McCue, connects to WordPress.org&#8217;s Trac instance via XML-RPC. Before using, please read McCue&#8217;s warnings about usernames and passwords.</p>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 16th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
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<p><strong>Listen To Episode #284:</strong><br />
</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, 10 Aug 2017 00:43:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"WPTavern: WordPress Foundation to Sponsor Open Source Educational Events";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73970";s:7:"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://wptavern.com/wordpress-foundation-to-sponsor-open-source-educational-events";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3313:"<a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/open-source.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/79777096@N00/6866996865">16th st</a> &#8211; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license)</a>
<p>The WordPress Foundation is <a href="http://wordpressfoundation.org/2017/call-for-organizers-introduction-to-open-source/" target="_blank">sponsoring a new series of workshops and training events</a> that will introduce people to WordPress and related open source software. The program targets communities in Latin and South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia.</p>
<p>&#8220;Specifically, we want to shine more light on the potential of open source software in countries where there is less participation in OSS projects,&#8221; WordPress Community Team leader Andrea Middleton said. &#8220;To help spread the word about the potential that open source has to offer, we’d like to provide financial support for two educational events this year, to be organized in parts of the world with less participation in open source.&#8221;</p>
<p>After the success of the <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-incubator-program-to-launch-in-indonesia-zimbabwe-and-columbia" target="_blank">WordCamp Incubator Program</a>, which brought three new camps to Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and Colombia, there is some evidence that initiatives to bring WordPress to other parts of the world can have valuable returns. <a href="https://wptavern.com/harare-zimbabwe-to-host-its-2nd-wordcamp-november-4-2017" target="_blank">Harare is hosting its second WordCamp</a> in November and the local meetup group has nearly doubled over the past year. The other camps had similarly successful events and growth in meetup numbers.</p>
<p>WordCamp Harare organizer Thabo Tswana said that one of the biggest impacts that the first WordCamp had was to introduce local attendees to the WordPress community. WordPress software is well-known across the world but many do not know that there is a strong community behind the project that they can connect with.</p>
<p>The WordPress Foundation is looking for organizers to host &#8220;Introduction to Open Source&#8221; events that will be structured as two-hour workshops using <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/user-lessons/what-is-open-source/" target="_blank">training</a> <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/handbook/user-lessons/what-can-you-do-with-wordpress/" target="_blank">materials</a> available in the WordPress handbook. The goal is to introduce attendees to the world of open source software, the GPL license, and how it is important for WordPress as an open source project.</p>
<p>The Foundation is subsidizing the events (up to $500) so they will be free for anyone to attend. A <a href="http://wordcampcentral.polldaddy.com/s/open-source-training-organizer-application" target="_blank">10-question application</a> is open for those who want to organize an event in 2017. The call for organizers says that preference will be given to organizers who are already members of a group that is part of WordPress&#8217; meetup chapter program and areas where no WordCamp has previously been organized. Applications close August 21 and successful applicants will be notified by September 8.</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, 09 Aug 2017 19:19:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"Post Status: Publish Conference, in pictures";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38424";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:51:"https://poststatus.com/publish-conference-pictures/";s: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:34326:"<p>Pictures from <a href="https://poststatus.com/publish">Post Status Publish</a> were almost all taken by <a href="https://poststatus.com/people/brian-richards/">Brian Richards</a>, unless they are pictures of Brian Richards. I took those.</p>
<p>We had a great time learning and networking in Atlanta, and here&#8217;s a snippet of our time together. The event consisted of two full days of talks from some pretty amazing speakers.</p>
<p>Special thanks to <a href="https://www.liquidweb.com/managedwordpress/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads">Liquid Web</a> for being our platinum sponsor, and to <a href="https://jetpack.com/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads">Jetpack</a>, <a href="https://pantheon.io/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads">Pantheon</a>, and <a href="https://www.siteground.com/wordpress-hosting.htm/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads">SiteGround</a> for being gold sponsors. Without them, and our wonderful attendees of course, none of this would be possible.</p>
<p>Video is being processed and will be available to all attendees, and we&#8217;re working out how exactly to make them available for other folks who may want to see the sessions.</p>

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<a href="https://poststatus.com/publish-conference-pictures/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-106/"><img width="150" height="100" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-106-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://poststatus.com/publish-conference-pictures/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-107/"><img width="150" height="100" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-107-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://poststatus.com/publish-conference-pictures/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-108/"><img width="150" height="100" src="https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/publish-conference-atlanta-post-status-108-150x100.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>";s: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, 09 Aug 2017 18:39:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"HeroPress: WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way";s:7:"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=2016";s:7:"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:128:"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-ate-life-good-way/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-ate-life-good-way";s: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:11502:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/080917-min-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: Thanks to the WordPress meetup, I found focus, fun, friends, and what passes for fame." /><p>I did not spend my childhood wanting to grow up to be a WordPress consultant. Given that I was born in 1967, long before the World Wide Web even existed, I would have had to be clairvoyant to aspire to any kind of web development. I was intrigued by computers when I first encountered the TRS-80 at the age of 12, but other than learning a few lines of BASIC, I didn’t pursue programming.</p>
<p>Parenthetically, I don’t think it was because girls weren’t encouraged to become programmers. This was even before the days of the Control Data Institute commercials on TV. Programming as a career for anyone at all was not in the minds of the general public, at least not in Ohio. And although I thought computers were cool (being a science fiction fan and all), I didn’t have any clear sense of what you could do with them. I never made the mental connection between writing a 10-line program in BASIC and eventually creating something like a video game or a word-processing program.</p>
<p>During my freshman year in college, I fell into the Classics Vortex, and ended up going to graduate school to study Greek and Latin drama. I expected to get my degree and a university teaching job.</p>
<blockquote><p>I spoke at a few conferences and published a few papers. And I discovered the World Wide Web.</p></blockquote>
<p>I’d gotten online in 1985, also in my freshman year at Brown. We were on BITNET and someone in the computer center showed me how to get onto Relay when I was down their using the mainframe to write essays with. (Fly, sledgehammer, boom.) The Internet came into being about the time I got to graduate school in 1989, and someone showed me the Web in 1994. It blew me away, because a visual medium of communication is vastly superior to a text-based medium when you’re talking about theatrical productions.</p>
<p>By the end of 1994 I’d moved to England and created my first web page. (We didn’t have websites in those days, just ‘pages.’ Even if there were lots of pages. And wow, I just wrote that in inverted commas rather than quotation marks, as if my brain shifted itself back to Britain just thinking about it.)</p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DIDASKALIA-1998-min.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-2017" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DIDASKALIA-1998-min-1024x506.png" alt="Sallie’s first website, Didaskalia, as it was in 1998" width="960" height="474" /></a>Sallie’s first website, Didaskalia, as it was in 1998
<p>So you’d think that maybe, from there, I would have gotten into a career in web development whether or not WordPress had ever existed, but that wasn’t what actually happened.</p>
<h3>When Your Body Isn&#8217;t Your Friend</h3>
<p>While I was still in graduate school, I developed a debilitating chronic illness that prevented me from finishing my PhD due to a combination of physical and cognitive problems, and although I started to get better at first, by the end of 1998, when I had to return to the US, my condition had worsened to the point where I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to work. I spent about 18 months just going to doctors and therapists and support groups. When I did start working, it was as a caregiver, doing extremely simple tasks, because my confidence in my ability to do knowledge work of any kind was so badly damaged.</p>
<p>I eventually started doing more kinds of things to earn money: clerical work, basic tech support, writing. Somewhere in there, I helped a couple of people with their websites, even though I’d missed a whole lot of the evolution of the Web. (I’m not at all sorry to have skipped Flash.) I was feeling considerably better thanks to new medication, and easing my way toward being self-supporting, but at the time I discovered WordPress in 2005, I was suffering from a bad case of Multiple Business Personality Disorder. I had a number of useful skills, but no clear focus or unifying principle.</p>
<p>I had started my first blog on Blogger in January 2005, but within a few months I found myself hanging out with a lot of podcasters, and almost all of them used WordPress because the PodPress plugin (RIP) made it so easy to publish feeds with enclosures. I started to explore WordPress further, and within a few years had migrated my blog from Blogger because they stopped allowing you to self-host your blog. WordPress had meanwhile introduced pages, making it possible to build an entire website rather than having an HTML website and a WordPress blog.</p>
<h3>Finding Community</h3>
<p>But WordPress would probably have remained a sideline if I hadn’t started going to WordPress meetups. I was at a podcasting meetup in San Francisco in late 2008 when someone mentioned a WordPress meetup in SF. I went to a meeting (I think in January 2009) and someone THERE mentioned that there was a WordPress meetup starting in the East Bay, closer to where I lived. I went to that meeting in February 2009…and the rest is history.</p>
<blockquote><p>It wasn’t that the first meetup was such an amazing experience. The organizer was new at running a meetup and we were all strangers to each other. But somehow talking about our shared interest in WordPress just made us more interested.</p></blockquote>
<p>I’ve always been a service junkie, and I’d been involved with other networking groups for years, so it wasn’t long before I found myself co-organizer, helping to plan and run the meetup and welcoming new members as they joined. Through the meetup, I started to learn more about the WordPress community and open source software. A group of us went to WordCamp SF 2009.</p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WordCampSF-2010-min.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2019" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/WordCampSF-2010-min.jpg" alt="East Bay WordPress Meetup members at WCSF 2010" width="1776" height="2336" /></a>East Bay WordPress Meetup members at WCSF 2010
<p>Because of the meetup, I made more and more connections in the wider WordPress community. Because of the meetup, I learned a lot more about WordPress than I would have on my own, in part because I often had to teach it. Because of the meetup, more WordPress-related work came to me. I started to learn more code, little bits and fragments at a time. WordPress drew me in deeper and deeper as time progressed. In 2012, I officially registered WP Fangirl, and since that time, almost all my income has come from WordPress work.</p>
<h3>All the WordCamps</h3>
<p>I went to all the San Francisco WordCamps between 2009 and 2014, after which WordCamp US was instituted. By the time the first WordCamp Sacramento was announced in 2015, all the meetup presentations I’d done gave me the confidence to submit a talk. It was accepted. I’ve since spoken at WCLAX 2016 and WCSAC 2016. I’m working on my presentation for WCSAC 2017. (I’d love to travel for more meetups, but it’s not in the budget.)</p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sallie_Goetsch-min.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2021" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sallie_Goetsch-min.jpg" alt="Speaking at WordCamp LAX 2016" width="1920" height="1086" /></a>Speaking at WordCamp LAX 2016
<p>The experience I had with the Meetup made me want to connect more and more with other WordPress people, and to help out where I could. As I said, I’m a service junkie, so I readily embraced the idea of giving back to the community. I’m not a good enough developer (yet, anyway) to be a core contributor, but there are lots of ways to contribute. The main one, in my case, is organizing the meetup, though it took me until 2016 to join the official WordPress Community meetup program.</p>
<p>I was also very active in the main WordPress LinkedIn group for several years, which led to O’Reilly hiring me as the technical reviewer for WordPress: The Missing Manual. (It may also have contributed to the gig I had in 2011 making WordPress videos for Peachpit Press and the one in 2012 and 2013 teaching WordPress for Mediabistro.)</p>
<p>I started listening to WordPress podcasts in about 2006, though WP Weekly is the only one of those early shows that’s still around. There are tons of new WP podcasts now, more than I can keep up with. I got invited to participate in one, the WP-Tonic panel, starting in 2015. You can hear me being mouthy and opinionated there almost every week. I follow WordPress people on Twitter, belong to WordPress Slack teams, and have been known to dream about WordPress.</p>
<p>Thanks to the WordPress meetup, I found focus, fun, friends, and what passes for fame. I’m still working on fortune, but I can tell you that the secret to the many great referrals I’ve gotten from my extensive network of WordPress connections is this: don’t go into it looking for what you can get. Just concentrate on what you can give, and never stop learning.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=WordPress%20Ate%20My%20Life%E2%80%94In%20a%20Good%20Way&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-ate-life-good-way%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-ate-life-good-way%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-ate-life-good-way%2F&title=WordPress+Ate+My+Life%E2%80%94In+a+Good+Way" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-ate-life-good-way/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/080917-min-150x150.jpg&description=WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-ate-life-good-way/" title="WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-ate-life-good-way/">WordPress Ate My Life—In a Good Way</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 09 Aug 2017 12:00:21 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Sallie Goetsch";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:89:"Post Status: Live from Publish: Challenges facing the WordPress Economy — Draft 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:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38415";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"https://poststatus.com/live-publish-challenges-facing-wordpress-economy-draft-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:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1640:"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/draft">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">on iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, and <a href="http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle &#8212; the CTO of Human Made &#8212; and Brian Krogsgard.</p>
<p>In this episode, Brian and Joe are live at Post Status Publish and answer questions from the conference audience. They are asked about mistakes they think the WordPress product ecosystem is making, the challenges of working remotely, and many more existential questions.</p>
<a href="https://audio.simplecast.com/0550d90d.mp3">https://audio.simplecast.com/0550d90d.mp3</a>
<p><a href="https://audio.simplecast.com/0550d90d.mp3">Direct Download</a></p>
<p>Publish was a lot of fun, and we’ll have more audio, video, and pictures available over the coming weeks.</p>
<h3>Sponsor: Liquid Web</h3>
<p><span><a href="https://www.liquidweb.com/managedwordpress/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads">Liquid Web</a> was the platinum sponsor of the Publish podcast, and therefore this episode of the podcast as well. If you haven’t tried Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress product, it’s time. They are doing awesome work in this space for mission critical sites.</span></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, 09 Aug 2017 00:29:20 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Katie Richards";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:65:"WPTavern: WordPress Core Fields API Project Sees Renewed Interest";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73965";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-core-fields-api-project-sees-renewed-interest";s: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:5551:"<p>As work continues at a feverish pace <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/08/discovering-gutenberg-and-next-steps/">on Gutenberg</a>, many developers throughout the community are <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952">engaging in discussions</a> on how <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-development-team-confirms-meta-box-api-will-not-be-formally-deprecated">meta boxes will be handled</a> in the new editor. The team is <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320644682">considering various solutions</a> and <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320638392">some </a>have <a href="https://twitter.com/scottkclark/status/894488147966517248">suggested</a> that a Fields API in core would have made the future of meta boxes less of an issue.</p>
<p>I reached out to <a href="https://www.scottkclark.com/">Scott Kingsley Clark</a>, lead developer of the <a title="Pods Framework for WordPress" href="http://pods.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pods Framework</a> and one of the main contributors to the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/fields-api/">Fields API project</a>. Clark explains what the Fields API is, its current status, its relationship to the meta box discussions, and how to contribute.</p>
<p><strong>For those who don&#8217;t know, what is the Fields API project? How would it impact users?</strong></p>
<p>It’s a <a href="https://github.com/sc0ttkclark/wordpress-fields-api">feature proposal</a> for WordPress core to allow registering fields to different screens in the admin area through a single API. For posts, this would add new meta boxes and fields within them. For users, it would add new sections and fields to the profile screen. The goal is to integrate with all of the different admin screens including, Posts, Terms, Users, Media, and Comments.</p>
<p>Typical users would notice that the fields added by plugins they are using all have a similar look and feel. That’s really an oversimplification of what’s going on behind the scenes, but it’s one of the big benefits as well, since it shouldn’t really affect end-users beyond improving consistency of different screens and potential redesigns.</p>
<p><strong>What has caused progress on the project to slow down?</strong></p>
<p>I was out-of-town for a all-hands company meetup, lead organized WordCamp Dallas-Fort Worth 2016, and ran PodsCamp 2016 in Austin, TX, all in the span of about a month and a half. It was intense, but somehow last summer I thought I could manage moving too.</p>
<p>We were in the process of showing our house, almost all of the time, so that we could sell it. The buying process was full of thorns, with a move that was pretty fun. I also started a new job at Modern Tribe in February, 2017.</p>
<p>In retrospect, yes that was way too much but the challenge was met and the only thing that suffered was the Fields API project, which was no easy feat. It’s unfortunate, but I’m glad to be getting back into things again this month.</p>
<p><strong>Are new contributors showing a renewed interest in the project?</strong></p>
<p>Yes. We recently had a few people become interested in helping. When I’ve got help, I’m 300% more productive. It’s much easier to bounce ideas off of others with shared experience than it is going alone.</p>
<p><strong>How does the API relate to how meta boxes could be handled in Gutenberg? If the API were in core, how would it influence the discussion?</strong></p>
<p>Here’s where the irony sets in. If we were successful in getting a Fields API into WordPress before Gutenberg was a thing, the ability for Gutenberg to revamp as much as it has planned to revamp in the post editor, would not be as hindered as it is now.</p>
<p>The biggest problem I see facing Gutenberg is reining in the scope that covers meta boxes. They need to get things working for meta boxes that are already being registered and used by plugin developers.</p>
<p>If Fields API were a part of WordPress, they would still need to keep backwards compatibility but I could easily add a meta box with my fields into the proposed Gutenberg meta boxes (still in discussion) with just a few lines of code. Plus, my fields and meta boxes registered using the Fields API would work just fine on pre-Gutenberg sites.</p>
<p>Another parallel here would be the User edit screen, which has had <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/08/03/fields-api-request-for-review-of-direction/">much discussion</a> about revamping the way it looks. It’s very difficult to revamp it and give it consistency without a Fields API already in place. It&#8217;s not impossible, but many problems come to the surface during any approach to &#8216;React-ify&#8217; it, utilize meta boxes, or whatever it would use.</p>
<p><strong>How can people get involved/contribute to the Fields API project?</strong></p>
<p>I’m very excited to have others interested in moving the project along. I’m eager to gain more interest. They can join us in <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/C04MWK7PZ/">#core-fields</a> on <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/">WordPress Slack</a> if anyone is interested. They can also follow the <a href="https://github.com/sc0ttkclark/wordpress-fields-api">project on GitHub</a> where pull requests are welcomed.</p>
<p>Clark also says that the GitHub repository will be revamped soon to provide more focus on making the project a feature-plugin first instead of a core proposal.</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, 08 Aug 2017 21:47:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: Gutenberg Development Team Confirms Meta Box API Will Not be Formally Deprecated";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73939";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:101:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-development-team-confirms-meta-box-api-will-not-be-formally-deprecated";s: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:8674:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/boxes.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25716750@N06/2527068003">Doors Open Toronto 2008 &#8211; Toronto Archives</a> &#8211; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>
<p>The discussion surrounding <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952" target="_blank">how Gutenberg will handle meta boxes</a> heated up over the weekend after a participant <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320230104" target="_blank">commented</a> on the GitHub issue with concern regarding meta box support being removed from the most recent milestone.</p>
<p>&#8220;I see this vital issue has been removed from any milestone,&#8221; @steveangstrom said. &#8220;It has been de-prioritized again while bells and whistles for blog editing get lots of work and are added to betas. This is very worrying for the future of WordPress as a CMS.&#8221;</p>
<p>James Nylen, one of the lead developers on the project, reassured followers of the topic that the Gutenberg team has not forgotten about the issue but rather that it is &#8220;an extremely complicated issue that we are only beginning to look into, along with many, many other priorities for getting the editor working well.&#8221; He also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320523428" target="_blank">asked</a> for help from the community in planning and testing implementations for supporting meta boxes.</p>
<p>This response left many things unclear. Participants in the discussion, many of whom are developers concerned about about the prospect of having to rewrite all of their meta boxes as React components, are wondering why meta boxes cannot work alongside the new Gutenberg editor and why the team chose to include meta boxes in the scope of the project.</p>
<p>&#8220;Is it possible to replace the existing TinyMCE post editor with Gutenberg while leaving the rest of the interface, including meta boxes and existing hooks, unchanged?&#8221; Kevin Hoffman asked. When Nylen clarified that Gutenberg, as written today, is intended to be a <code>post_content</code> editor, Hoffman summarized the concerns that many developers have expressed:</p>
<blockquote><p>If Gutenberg is truly intended to be a <code>post_content</code> editor, then meta boxes should be left alone as they are not concerned with <code>post_content</code>.</p>
<p>Furthermore the need for an API to translate PHP meta boxes into React meta boxes is a manufactured problem. It does not have to be a problem, but it has become a problem because somewhere along the line it was decided that rewriting the <code>post_content</code> editor should also completely change how meta boxes work.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ve outlined the tremendous challenge of writing such an API in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2251" target="_blank">#2251</a>. Translating PHP meta boxes into React for a popular custom fields solution like ACF is challenging enough, let alone trying to do so for every meta box implementation that exists today, popular or not. It does not scale.</p></blockquote>
<p>As the Gutenberg contributors shared that they have only just begun to look into the meta box issue, it&#8217;s now clear why there is no roadmap for how the project will handle &#8220;legacy&#8221; PHP meta boxes. In July, Nylen said, &#8220;If I had to guess where we will end up here: current metaboxes will be moved to a &#8220;legacy&#8221; area and we will provide APIs, documentation, and examples for registering &#8216;new-style&#8217; metabox-block-thingies.&#8221;</p>
<p>Plugin developers who manage meta box libraries, agencies, and other concerned parties are following the ticket to find out how to plan for the WordPress 5.0, which has been targeted as the Gutenberg release. Andrey Savchenko <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320574699" target="_blank">asked</a> if WordPress plans to formally deprecate the meta box API, which finally drew a clear answer from the team. Matias Ventura <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320644682" target="_blank">responded</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;Does WordPress intend to formally deprecate Metabox API?&#8221;</strong><br />
No.</p>
<p>The question that is not fully answered yet is how do meta-boxes work in the context of the Gutenberg editor. Should they remain the same or evolve? How can we move towards the design goals with the least amount of disruption possible?</p>
<p>This issue has been lingering not due to a lack of desire, but lack of resources. The primary focus for this project is to offer a rich content editing interface that optimizes for direct manipulation of user content through the notion of blocks. (Having used meta-boxes extensively for various projects, I believe blocks can offer a better step forwards for many of those needs while providing a better user experience.)&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Ventura listed several options the team has considered for handling meta boxes and requested help from the community to build the best solution:</p>
<ul>
<li>If we detect a meta-box is registered we can fallback to the old interface, nothing changes.</li>
<li>We could split editing the content and modifying meta information into two screens or stages.</li>
<li>We can try to see how feasible it is to render these as they are (PHP) below the content: <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2251" target="_blank">#2251</a>.</li>
<li>A theme/plugin/CPT could unregister the new interface as needed.</li>
<li>Various items that relied on meta boxes could be converted to blocks for UI (still storing data separately).</li>
<li>We could implement API based meta boxes extensibility like the Fields API.</li>
</ul>
<p>When pressed to answer the question of why meta boxes are being included in the context of the new editor, Gutenberg design lead Joen Asmussen clarified how the team decided to include meta boxes in the scope of the project:</p>
<blockquote><p>Gutenberg did start just with the editor box. The kickoff goal was to unify multiple disparate interfaces under a single unified block interface. It quickly become apparent that in order for us to create a compelling experience revolving around this unified block interface, we had to consider the full writing flow, including settings and publishing.</p>
<p>If the key strength of WordPress is to make it easy for anyone to create rich posts, then we can&#8217;t just design for those of us who already know how to use the editor. We have to consider users who&#8217;ve never used WordPress before, and what they expect in a modern publishing interface. Otherwise we&#8217;d just be adding cognitive load to an already heavy interface.</p></blockquote>
<p>The question of how meta boxes will fit into the context of the Gutenberg editor is still open. Participants in the discussion are eager to have this question answered for the sake of backwards compatibility and also because it affects ongoing decisions regarding Gutenberg development and screen design.</p>
<p>&#8220;I completely get how much work has been done towards the &#8216;screen&#8217; replacement approach,&#8221; Xavi Ivars <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/952#issuecomment-320771891" target="_blank">commented</a> on the issue. &#8220;But shouldn&#8217;t a project that started with the goal of a &#8216;post content editor&#8217; replacement, have gone back to the community before deciding unilaterally that it would replace the whole editor screen?&#8221;</p>
<p>The meta box API isn&#8217;t being deprecated but there&#8217;s also no clear path forward for how Gutenberg will support &#8220;legacy&#8221; PHP meta boxes. The Gutenberg team said the issue has not been solved due to lack of resources. The project needs community input and better communication if the team is going to land on a solution that will seamlessly usher the majority of WordPress sites into the Gutenberg era with the least amount of breakage.</p>
<p>Currently, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2251" target="_blank">the feasibility of rendering legacy PHP meta boxes below the content</a> is fraught with challenges and still up for debate. If there isn&#8217;t enough time or client resources for developers to rewrite their work into JS-driven meta boxes, then a clear path for opting out of the Gutenberg interface may be necessary for sites that need to preserve the legacy &#8220;PHP&#8221; meta boxes.</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, 08 Aug 2017 19:54:38 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:52:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 0.7.0 Adds Opt-In Usage Tracking";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73912";s:7:"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:63:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-7-0-adds-opt-in-usage-tracking";s: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:6286:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-4th-august/" target="_blank">Gutenberg 0.7.0</a> was released just before the weekend with improvements to the writing flow and greater flexibility for theme authors to add their own customizations. Last week&#8217;s version 0.6.0 release made significant changes to the way paragraphs are created within text blocks, allowing for blocks to split when pressing enter. However, it inserted a &#8220;New Paragraph&#8221; placeholder that was distracting for users trying to stay in the flow of writing.</p>
<p>Version 0.7.0 <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2161" target="_blank">hides placeholders on focus</a>, providing a cleaner experience of starting a new paragraph. After a user has already intuitively initiated a new paragraph by pressing enter, the &#8220;New Paragraph&#8221; placeholder holds little value. Removing the placeholder is a minor improvement that brings Gutenberg closer to providing a better experience for long-form writing.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/new-paragraph-gutenberg-0-7-0.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>This release also introduces <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2186" target="_blank">theme support for customized color palettes and a shared component</a>, such as cover text and button blocks. The sample code below shows how easy it would be for theme authors to implement their own color palettes.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/theme-support-color-palette.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Gutenberg contributors have also added <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2021" target="_blank">theme support for wide images</a>. According to the inline docs, this allows for some blocks, such as the image block, to define a &#8220;wide&#8221; or &#8220;full&#8221; alignment by adding the corresponding classname to the block&#8217;s wrapper ( <code>alignwide</code> or <code>alignfull</code> ).</p>
<p>These additions offer theme developers a better picture of where Gutenberg is headed in regards to themes. The plugin&#8217;s contributors are slowly building in more points of customization so that theme authors can add or override Gutenberg&#8217;s styles and provide additional opt-in features to their users.</p>
<p>Theme support for wide images has already been committed to Tammie Lister&#8217;s experimental <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg-theme" target="_blank">Gutenberg Theme</a>. The project was created to showcase how Gutenberg will interact with WordPress themes and is still a work in progress.</p>
<h3>Gutenberg Adds Opt-In Data Collection</h3>
<p>After updating the Gutenberg plugin to 0.7.0 and navigating to the editor, users are presented with the option to opt into data collection about their usage of the editor. The usage data, which is anonymous and does not include post content, is sent to WordPress.com for future analysis. Gutenberg contributor James Nylen explained how the data tracking works in a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/06/opt-in-usage-tracking-in-gutenberg/" target="_blank">post</a> on Make.WordPress.org.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Gutenberg plugin contains a mechanism to count how often specific actions occur over time,&#8221; Nylen said. &#8220;If the user has previously clicked &#8216;Yes&#8217; on this screen, and an event occurs that has an associated <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=bumpStat&type=" target="_blank">bumpStat call</a> in the Gutenberg code, then this event is sent to WordPress.com servers by loading a special &#8216;pixel&#8217; image.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gutenberg&#8217;s tracking code stores the “group” and “name” sent with the bumpStat call (short strings of text), along with the time the event was recorded. Nylen said the team will use the data to improve the editor based on usage patterns. This data collection information is currently only available to those with access to WordPress.com servers.</p>
<p>&#8220;As Gutenberg is an open-source community project, we view this data as belonging to the WordPress community, so we also plan to make this data available via a public dashboard,&#8221; Nylen said.</p>
<p>He shared an example of the data that has been collected from the plugin over the past few days since 0.7.0 was released. This chart is a preview of the number and types of blocks that users have added to posts while testing the editor.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gutenberg-add-block-total-e1502130689795.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;The approach taken here is very similar to Calypso&#8217;s event tracking code,&#8221; Nylen said in the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2140" target="_blank">pull request for adding the data collection</a>. &#8220;We can use the data added in this PR to inform various decisions such as default order for blocks and whether some blocks are less suitable for core, and more generally this is a very useful technique to collect user experience data.&#8221;</p>
<p>The majority of Gutenberg&#8217;s chief contributors are Automattic employees, so it makes sense that they would use the options and infrastructure available to them to quickly get data collection going in Gutenberg. However, the data from these tests needs to be shared with the greater WordPress community as soon as possible, since it is being collected in the name of the WordPress project. Ideally, it would have been set up to be displayed publicly before asking users to opt into the collection.</p>
<p>Gutenberg contributors are also considering making the data collection more modular so that it could be used with other WordPress feature plugins or existing features in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe the tracking could be its own module, it could be useful outside of the editor (and other WP feature plugins later),&#8221; Riad Benguella <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2140#discussion_r130839438" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Longer term (or not), WP.org needs its own tracking infrastructure and this could be very useful to enhance WordPress.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 07 Aug 2017 20:05:04 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Dismisses Automattic’s Trademark Dispute Against Chris Pearson";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73899";s:7:"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:115:"https://wptavern.com/trademark-trial-and-appeal-board-dismisses-automattics-trademark-dispute-against-chris-pearson";s: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:4102:"<p>In July 2015, Automattic <a href="http://www.adrforum.com/domaindecisions/1613723.htm">won its <span class="_Tgc"> Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy</span> (UDRP) case</a> against <a href="http://www.pearsonified.com/">Chris Pearson</a> regarding Thesis.com after the <a href="http://www.adrforum.com/domaindecisions/1613723.htm">panel determined</a> that he failed to establish all three elements required under the ICANN Policy.</p>
<blockquote><p>A party must satisfy all three of the burdens imposed under the Policy in order for the Panel to order transfer of a domain name from the entity registering it. Here, Complainant failed to establish that Respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith.</p>
<p><em>See Starwood Hotels &amp; Resorts Worldwide, Inc. v. Samjo CellTech.Ltd</em>, FA 406512 (Nat. Arb. Forum Mar. 9, 2005) (finding that the complainant failed to establish that respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith because mere assertions of bad faith are insufficient for a complainant to establish Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii)). Therefore, the Panel finds that Complainant failed to support its allegations under Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii) and finds for Respondent.</p></blockquote>
<p>This allowed Automattic to maintain ownership of <a href="https://themeshaper.com/">Thesis.com</a>. Automattic retaliated by <a href="http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92061714&pty=CAN&eno=1">filing a petition</a> for cancellation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In the petition, Automattic argued that the three trademarks owned by Pearson, DIYTHEMES, THESIS THEME, and THESIS, should be cancelled.</p>
<p>For the past two years, legal teams for both parties have gone back and forth filing briefs, requests for extensions, and other documents. Earlier this year on April 20th, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board <a href="http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92061714&pty=CAN&eno=19">dismissed the case</a> citing a lack of evidence and testimony from Automattic that establishes real interest and a reasonable belief in damages.</p>
<blockquote><p>The record is devoid of any evidence concerning the nature of Petitioner’s (Automattic) commercial activities and its interest in Respondent’s (Chris Pearson) registered marks. Proof of standing in a Board proceeding is a low threshold.</p>
<p>For example, Petitioner could have submitted testimony or competent documentary evidence as to its asserted need to use the terms comprising the marks and nature of its business activities to establish its standing.</p>
<p>Petitioner neglected to do so. Thus, on the record before us, Petitioner has failed to establish a &#8216;real interest&#8217; and &#8216;reasonable belief in damage.&#8217; Accordingly, the cancellation proceeding is dismissed for Petitioner’s lack of standing.</p></blockquote>
<p>On May 22nd,<a href="http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92061714&pty=CAN&eno=20"> Automattic filed a motion</a> for the board to reconsider its decision. On June 1st, the <a href="http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=92061714&pty=CAN&eno=21">board denied the request</a> making its decision final.</p>
<blockquote><p>Petitioner has failed to establish any error in the Final Decision. Rather, Petitioner expresses disagreement with the result reached and argues, for the first time on reconsideration, positions it should have alleged in its petition to cancel, supported with testimony and/or competent evidence, and raised in its trial brief.</p>
<p>We will not infer from Petitioner’s scant allegations and evidence, and silence in its brief, proof of its standing to bring this cancellation proceeding. Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration is denied.</p></blockquote>
<p>The decision allows Pearson to retain ownership of the DIYTHEMES, THESIS THEME, and THESIS trademarks. It&#8217;s unclear if this outcome will lead to more legal actions from either party. At the time of publishing, Pearson did not return a request for comment regarding the outcome and what his plans are for the Trademarks.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:56:12 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:44:"WPTavern: In Case You Missed It – Issue 22";s:7:"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:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=73917&preview=true&preview_id=73917";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:51:"https://wptavern.com/in-case-you-missed-it-issue-22";s: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:6881:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ICYMIFeaturedImage.png?ssl=1" rel="attachment wp-att-50955"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/112901923@N07/16153818039">Night Moves</a> &#8211; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(license)</a>
<p>There’s a lot of great WordPress content published in the community but not all of it is featured on the Tavern. This post is an assortment of items related to WordPress that caught my eye but didn’t make it into a full post.</p>
<h2>WordPress Foundation is Taking Submissions for The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship</h2>
<p>For the third year in a row, the WordPress Foundation will award a woman contributor with financial need who has never attended WordCamp US the <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/kim-parsell-memorial-scholarship-2017/">Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship</a>. The scholarship was created in memory of Kim Parsell who <a href="https://wptavern.com/kim-parsell-affectionately-known-as-wpmom-passes-away">passed away in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>The scholarship covers the cost of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Travel to and from Nashville from the recipient’s home city,</li>
<li>Hotel stay for the duration of the event,</li>
<li>A ticket to WordCamp US 2017.</li>
</ul>
<p>The deadline to apply for the scholarship is Tuesday, August 15th at 12a.m. Pacific.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/kim-parsell-memorial-scholarship-2017/">Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>The WordPress Economy is Fine</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://poststatus.com/future-wordpress-economy-im-not-worried/">guest post</a> for Post Status, Joshua Strebel, founder of Pagely, explains why he&#8217;s not worried about the WordPress economy.</p>
<blockquote><p>In all channels, new market entrants or existing small shops are being out-gunned by the established players, or the buyers needs are being met upon install.</p>
<p>So is the WordPress ecosystem shrinking? Yes, segments of it are and will continue to do so. It’s like in any industry: the car replaced the horse and the robot replaced the factory worker. What was successful in the New Market phase may not work in the more mature, &#8216;Existing Market&#8217; phase we are in.</p></blockquote>
<p>It&#8217;s a good read and it&#8217;s interesting to think about what new segments will be created that don&#8217;t exist.</p>
<h2>WPCampus 2017 Videos Are Now Available</h2>
<p>WPCampus has published <a href="https://wpcampus.org/videos/">all of the videos</a> from its 2017 conference. They&#8217;re available to watch for free either on the site or the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/wpcampusorg">YouTube channel</a>. If you attended WPCampus 2017 or watched the livestream, please consider taking <a href="https://2017.wpcampus.org/conference-survey/">the following survey</a> that will help organizers plan for future events.</p>
<h2>WordPress Case Studies Needed</h2>
<p>The WordPress marketing team has published a survey seeking case studies from agencies, enterprises, and clients who use WordPress. The team has provided a sample <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/files/2017/08/WordPress-Marketing-Sample-Case-Study.pdf">Case Study</a> that can be used as a template. The case studies will help determine how WordPress is being used and help focus future marketing efforts.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2017/08/02/calling-all-wordpress-agencies/">Calling all WordPress Agencies</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>New Preferred Languages Prototype</h2>
<p>Pascal Birchler unveiled an updated prototype of the preferred languages project. The project adds UI to the WordPress backend that allows users to select multiple preferred languages. WordPress will try to load the translations for the first language that’s available. If it&#8217;s not available, it will fall back to the next language in the list.</p>
<p>Birchler is seeking feedback on the newest <a href="https://github.com/swissspidy/preferred-languages">version of the plugin</a> and is working towards it being a merge candidate for WordPress 4.9.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/05/20/preferred-languages-the-prototype/">Preferred Languages: The Prototype</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>WordPress&#8217; Emerging Dominance as a CMS of Choice for Law Firms</h2>
<p>Kevin O&#8217; Keefe <a href="http://abovethelaw.com/2017/08/wordpress-to-dominate-as-content-management-system-for-all-law-firms/">explains why</a> WordPress is likely to become the dominant CMS of choice for law firms.</p>
<blockquote><p>Just as Word has replaced WordPerfect as the word processing solution of choice for law firms, WordPress is likely to replace other content management systems for law firms, both large and small.</p></blockquote>
<h2>WordPress 4.9 Expected This November</h2>
<p>In the last developer&#8217;s chat, WordPress 4.9 development kicked off and is expected to be released in November. This release will focus on editing code, managing plugins and themes, a user-centric way to customize a site, and improvements to features recently added. Mel Choyce and Weston Ruter are co-release leads.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/03/dev-chat-summary-august-2nd-4-9-week-1/">Dev Chat Summary: August 2nd (4.9 week 1)</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>Volunteers Needed for WordCamp US</h2>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><p><a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/2017/08/01/wcus-needs-you-volunteer-applications-are-now-open/">WCUS Needs You: Volunteer Applications Are Now Open</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<h2>A Visit From St. Gutenberg</h2>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/catastophe-how-to-destroy-wordpress-in-2-weeks/">Perhaps the greatest one-star review on the WordPress plugin directory. </a></p>
<h2>Minniepuu and Wapauul!</h2>
<p>In what is a traditional part of this series, I end each issue by featuring a Wapuu design. For those who don&#8217;t know, Wapuu is the <a href="http://wapuu.jp/2015/12/12/wapuu-origins/">unofficial mascot</a> of the WordPress project. Minniepuu and Wapauul, designed by <a href="http://marktimemedia.com/">Michelle Schulp</a>, are the mascots of WordCamp Minneapolis 2017 that&#8217;s taking place this weekend.</p>
<p>Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN are commonly referred to as the Twin Cities and the city&#8217;s Major League Baseball team is the Minnesota Twins.</p>
<img />WordCamp Minneapolis 2017 Wapuus
<p>That&#8217;s it for issue twenty-two. If you recently discovered a cool resource or post related to WordPress, please share it with us in the comments.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:18:44 +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:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: Publishers Are Moving Back to WordPress After Short Experiments with Medium";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=73902";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"https://wptavern.com/publishers-are-moving-back-to-wordpress-after-short-experiments-with-medium";s: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:8358:"<a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/migration.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/2267820888/">hyku</a> &#8211; <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
<p><a href="https://www.theawl.com/" target="_blank">The Awl</a>, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/" target="_blank">ThinkProgress</a>, <a href="https://filmschoolrejects.com/" target="_blank">Film School Rejects</a>, and several other publishers have moved back to WordPress after short experiments on Medium. In early 2016, Medium convinced a collection of small, independent publications to move to its platform but shortly thereafter discontinued its unsuccessful ad-driven publishing model <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/when-you-launch-your-publication-the-same-day-medium-changes" target="_blank">without notifying publishers</a>.</p>
<p>In March 2017, Medium CEO Ev Williams announced that his solution to fix the broken, ad-driven media industry was to fire up <a href="https://wptavern.com/medium-aims-to-fix-broken-media-with-new-5-subscription-program" target="_blank">a new $5 subscription program</a> that would put articles behind a paywall inside of the Medium network.</p>
<p>Today The Awl, The Hairpin, and The Billfold announced the publications have <a href="https://www.theawl.com/2017/08/somethings-different/" target="_blank">moved back to WordPress</a> after switching to Medium in April 2016.</p>
<p>&#8220;The move to Medium was a cool experiment, in my opinion, but the year is up and personally I missed the ads,&#8221; The Awl Editor Silvia Killingsworth said. <a href="https://www.thebillfold.com/2017/08/change-is-the-only-constant-in-life/" target="_blank">The Billfold&#8217;s announcement</a> cited Mediums&#8217; recent changes as the reason for the move back to WordPress:</p>
<blockquote><p>Our move to Medium was an experiment to explore a different kind of business model, and that experiment is over now that the platform has moved in a different direction (<a href="https://www.axios.com/publishers-flee-medium-amid-business-model-changes-2440471520.html" target="_blank">you can read more in-depth about those changes here</a>).</p>
<p>Adapting to change is all part of the many joys of being a small, independent publisher.</p></blockquote>
<h3>Film School Rejects Returns to WordPress After 1-Year Experiment with Medium</h3>
<p><a href="https://filmschoolrejects.com/what-happened-with-medium/" target="_blank">Film School Rejects (FSR) also returned to WordPress in May</a> after a year-long, rocky experiment with Medium. The publication was one of Medium&#8217;s first 12 premium publishers.</p>
<p>&#8220;To be honest, I can&#8217;t afford, nor would my heart hold up for, a move back to a private server and WordPress,&#8221; FSR founder Neil Miller <a href="https://www.poynter.org/2017/why-publishers-are-sticking-with-medium-for-now/444507/" target="_blank">told Poynter in January</a> after Medium announced it was pivoting away from ad-driven media. &#8220;So, barring a miracle, my site will live and die on Medium. I&#8217;m optimistic that I&#8217;ll find some sort of solution and be able to remain on Medium.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ultimately, Medium&#8217;s goals as a publisher of subscription content were at odds with FSR&#8217;s ability to sustain the publication. Miller said they had ported 10 years of content over to the platform after being promised a beautiful user experience and a way forward that would allow FSR to grown the business, continue to pay its writers, and keep the publication on the cutting edge.</p>
<p>&#8220;What we were sold when we joined their platform is very different from what they&#8217;re offering as a way forward,&#8221; Miller told Poynter. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost as if Ev Williams wasn&#8217;t concerned that he was pulling out the rug from underneath publishers who had placed their trust in his vision for the future of journalism.&#8221;</p>
<p>After moving FSR back to WordPress, Miller said the partnership with Medium was great until the company changed course to become a different type of platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;As time went on, it became clear that Medium’s priorities had shifted from being a platform for independent publishers to being itself a publisher of premium, subscription-based content,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As we learned more about their future plans for the now-existent Medium ‘Members Only’ program, it became clear that our site wouldn’t be able to continue to operate the way we always had.&#8221;</p>
<p>Miller said the process of trying a new platform and returning to WordPress made him realize that he &#8220;missed some of the customizable features of WordPress,&#8221; which led his team to work on some new features they will be launching in the future. The site has reinstated its banner advertising on pages.</p>
<p>&#8220;We’d love to be able to do this all without any ads, but there’s no money in that,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;And guess who doesn’t get paid if the site can’t make any money? The people who write articles, edit the site, make video essays, curate One Perfect Shot, and host podcasts.&#8221;</p>
<h3>ThinkProgress Exits Medium, Founder Says Platform is No Longer Developed with Publishers in Mind</h3>
<p><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/" target="_blank">ThinkProgress</a> was one of the largest publications to make the move to Medium last August. After less than a year, the site has moved back to WordPress, its previous publishing platform. ThinkProgress founder Judd Legum told <a href="http://www.poynter.org/2017/with-big-plans-to-staff-up-thinkprogress-is-leaving-medium-behind-update/465424/" target="_blank">Poynter</a> that the lack of advertising capabilities was not the reason his publication left the platform but rather because Medium no longer serves the best interests of publishers.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m certainly not eager to have a bunch of ads on the site — and we&#8217;re not going to,&#8221; Legum said. &#8220;I&#8217;d love to have none. And if it were possible, I&#8217;d be interested in figuring out a model where we don&#8217;t have to have any. But if it&#8217;s connected to a platform that&#8217;s not going to be developed with publishers in mind, it doesn&#8217;t really make sense to think through that as a platform. That sealed it for me.&#8221;</p>
<p>ThinkProgress is taking its 8 to 10 million unique pageviews per month back into the independent publishing space. It is the latest of several other publishers leaving Medium after having been persuaded in 2016 to jump into Ev Williams&#8217; experiment with initial promises of free hosting, more traffic, and advertising money. Not all of the sites are moving back to WordPress, but most are looking to free themselves from Medium&#8217;s experiment on publishers and regain the ability to sell advertising and/or subscriptions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.axios.com/bill-simmons-moves-the-ringer-from-medium-to-vox-media-2426770782.html" target="_blank">The Ringer moved to Vox Media</a> at the end of May after Medium discontinued its advertising model. <a href="https://www.poynter.org/2017/after-being-wooed-by-medium-some-publishers-are-beginning-to-leave/459998/" target="_blank">The Pacific Standard left Medium</a> to focus on building custom features to drive subscription growth.</p>
<p>Backchannel also moved its site off of the platform and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/backchannel-is-moving-to-wired" target="_blank">is now publishing on Wired.com</a>. &#8220;In the time since Backchannel launched, Medium has shifted its business strategy, and it’s no longer as focused on helping publications like ours profit,&#8221; BackChannel Editor Jessi Hempel said.</p>
<p>Medium&#8217;s new <a href="https://medium.com/membership" target="_blank">subscription revenue model</a> and partner program are still in beta but the returns have not been enough to convince publishers to stay, even with costly migrations back to tried and proven platforms like WordPress. Ad-driven publishing may not be the most ideal way to keep a publication afloat, but publishers moving away from Medium are not willing to stay on for the the startup&#8217;s experiment at the expense of their writers and staff.</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, 04 Aug 2017 23:09:07 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:04:04 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:00:12 GMT";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:4:"x-nc";s:11:"HIT lax 249";s:16:"content-encoding";s:4:"gzip";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20170811103232";}