can start.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 0:26<strong> \n</strong>Why not? The recording has started. So let\'s get, let\'s get cracking.\n\nHello, welcome everybody to the WP 6.2 Live Demo outline. I\'m Nathan Wrigley. I do a few things around the WordPress community, mainly to do with video and podcasting and things like that. But it\'s not about me.\n\nToday, we\'ve got two fabulous guests. We\'ve got Anne McCarthy and Rich Tabor, and they\'re going to do a full on Product Demo. It\'s a little bit unlike things that you may have seen, because in the more recent past, lots of new features have been added. And so Rich, and Anne are going to spend the time on the screen in a moment, and they\'re going to show you all of the bits and pieces that you may find dropping into a WordPress install near you. Let\'s hope. There\'s been a lot that\'s been happening, so there really will be probably 20 or 30 minutes of live demos, so look forward to that. I\'ve got to get them to introduce themselves in a couple of moments.\n\nJust before that, though, a little bit of housekeeping. This is going to be recorded, so if you have to drop out halfway through and go elsewhere, completely fine. It\'s going to be posted at the Make/Core website, but it will also come fully complete with a transcript as well. So, if that\'s something that you\'re looking for, that will all be there. Also to say that if you want to post any questions, we\'d love that. In fact, there\'s a whole portion at the end when Rich and Anne have finished speaking, where we\'re going to field questions toward them. Now there\'s really two places to do that. If you\'re live with us on Zoom, then if you hit the Q&amp;A button at the bottom of the screen and post your questions in there, I guess specifity... specific... Whatever that word is, be specific. Help us out. Tell us exactly what you want to know and we\'ll get the questions to them. The other way to do that is to go into Slack. And there is a channel in there, #walkthrough. And if you want to post any questions in there as well, that would be great. So yeah, just to recap, Q&amp;A button if you\'re in Zoom, and use the Slack #walkthrough channel, if you are in the Making WordPress Slack. Okay, right. I think we\'ll take you guys one at a time if that\'s alright. First off a little bit of an introduction from both of you. Let\'s begin with with Anne McCarthy, shall we? Hello, Anne!\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>2:42<strong>\n</strong>Hello, hello. It\'s so good to be back on literally any sort of live stream with you.\n\nI appreciate that you\'re a part of this\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 2:48<strong> \n</strong>Yeah, that\'s really nice.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>2:49<strong>\n</strong>Well, I\'m Anne McCarthy. I\'m a product wrangler at Automattic. I live in Seattle. I also run the FSE Outreach Program, which is basically dedicated to testing all the latest and greatest of WordPress, which is part of why I\'m so excited to be part of this demo, is because so much neat stuff has come through this that I\'ve had the privilege of going through a little bit early on with the ever growing calls for testing. So that\'s a little bit about me, I\'ll pop it over to Rich.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>3:17<strong>\n</strong>Yeah. So Rich, if you want to take the baton there.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>3:21<strong>\n</strong>Yeah. Hey, everyone. I\'m Rich Tabor. I\'m a product manager at Automattic. And I work on WordPress and Gutenberg, in particular. From a little bit south of Atlanta, Georgia, in the US, and been building and tinkering with WordPress for I think, close to 11 years now. So it\'s, it\'s been a good run, and I\'m super stoked about where things are heading.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>3:43<strong>\n</strong>Yeah, and things definitely have been moving in a very much a forward direction, WordPress, 6.1. And WordPress 6.2. There\'s so much clear blue sky between the two of them. I think probably the best thing at this point is if we can have it, I don\'t know what whose screen is coming on. I think it might be Rich\'s, or maybe it\'s Anne\'s, I don\'t know.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>4:00<strong>\n</strong>Yeah.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>4:01<strong>\n</strong>If we can get that screen shared, then I will slide my way out of this call and say, Rich and Anne, it\'s... it\'s over to you. I\'ll be back soon as you\'re finished for any Q&amp;As.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>4:14<strong>\n</strong>Awesome. Thank you.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>4:17<strong>\n</strong>Alright, everybody can see my screen right now?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>4:19 <strong>\n</strong>Yes. Rich did an excellent job designing this. I do want to call this out that I love, absolutely love this.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>4:26<strong>\n</strong>Thanks, Anne. Yeah, this is actually running Twenty Twenty-Three. So it\'s kind of showcasing some of the things you can do just with the core theme. And some of the design tooling that we are, that has been built into 6.2. So this view here is the site editor. So I\'m going to orient you here. There\'s one big change here in particular, I want to call out visually, is this idea of the frame here on the right, and this will pull up the local template. So I\'m looking at my homepage of the site right now. If I navigate into other templates, I can pull those up here on the right as well. And then you can also navigate template parts. So this part\'s not very new to 6.2. But the idea of zooming in on different template parts and templates and having them appear here in the frame is. And that\'s important because of this concept of browse mode. And this is where you could dive into an actual page from the site editor. So here, I just pulled up the about page of the site, and I can click into it and actually start making changes. Now, the changes here within the post content block are going to be relative to this about page. But I can also modify the template which then changes the about, or changes the page on any instance of this particular template. So it\'s a new concept and how we can browse the site. But it\'s a very powerful, and really the first iteration of that way of managing a site.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>5:50<strong>\n</strong>And also lightly introduced content editing in the site editor, as you mentioned. So it\'s a kind of a neat merging of the two worlds, which I know folks have long been wanting to see that unified. And same with the frame, it kind of adds a nice layer where instead of just being dropped in, like before, you kind of are given a more zoomed out view, which I think helps address a lot of the feedback that we saw around the orientation when you\'re entering the site editor.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>6:12 <strong>\n</strong>Yeah, exactly. And really, if we think a little bit further out than 6.2, this could also house setting to use. So we do have, you know, one view here that that is relative to 6.1, where you can see all of your different templates. But imagine if we had any other different types of settings and controls and different pages loaded within here, doesn\'t have to be just the front end templates and renders of your site.\n\nAlright, so we\'re gonna dive into this here. So you can go into it just by clicking on the frame. I\'ll do that one more time just to show, you just click on it. And now you entered right into it. You can edit it right off, so we can make changes, just as if we zoomed into it in the other way in 6.1. And then we have a bunch of styling tools that have been added to 6.2, so I want to kind of hone in on these. Like, this panel itself is not new. We have style variations, you can zoom in here, we\'ve got this new zoomed out view, where you can apply different ones at a time. And then we also have this icon here, which triggers the style book. Now the style book is a very interesting tool here that really lets you customize the theme\'s style guide, essentially. So I can go through each of these tabs, which are relative to the block categories, and see all of the blocks loaded on this particular site. So right here, I\'ve got like Button blocks and Columns block and whatnot. So if I click on one of these, it\'ll pull up the Style panel of that particular block. And then when I make changes over here, these are applied globally throughout my entire site. So if I want to change the way this button looks, let\'s say we do some smaller tags, maybe we\'ll add a little bit of letter spacing, and maybe make it capitalized. See, it\'s getting applied everywhere that the button is used. Also do some changes here to padding, perhaps. We\'ll do something custom here. I think that looks nice. And now...\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 8:13\nReal quick while you\'re doing this, I wanted to note that like this is something that folks have really struggled with previously with the site editor, where if you\'re editing a block that isn\'t in the template already, you\'re not able to see this. So as Rich is showing, you can actually look at any block that\'s being used in your theme and see how the change that you\'re making in styles will impact that. Where before, if the block wasn\'t present in that template that you were editing, it was hard to know exactly what was happening. And so now you have both the style book and this inline preview that you see in the Style section to rely upon, which is pretty neat.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  8:43\nYeah, exactly. And really, you could theoretically go in and design your entire theme with the style book. Now, I know there\'s some advantage to design in context of pages and whatnot. And I\'ll go into that in a bit. But the idea is that you really can quickly browse through all of the different blocks and tighten up what you want to within these controls. And it\'s not limited to the standard variation as well. There\'s also these style variations of each block that you can now manipulate as well. So we\'re gonna go in, say, we\'ll change the radius of this one. So we want it to be sharp like our other button. But we have these new controls. Like, this is a shadow control we\'ve added in 6.2, where you can apply, say, like this shadow here might be nice. This one here, and so some fallback shadows, within core that a theme can provide as well, its own values. But this now will apply for every single variation of the outline on my site here.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>9:39 \nAnd you\'ll notice that it\'s not in the style book right now. And that\'s just part of the future feature development is showing the variations of blocks as well.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 9:47\nExactly, yes, I would imagine that this would this would show up the variations of the button block, yeah. Which is a nice way to really customize these, like it used to be only CSS would be used to manipulate these variations here. And now it kind of abstracts that away and you can do it within the editing experience. That\'s really nice. It really is. There\'s also this idea of block CSS, so you can add custom CSS that is scoped to a particular block. So if I add CSS here, it\'ll be applied for the button block wherever it\'s used. Now, I wouldn\'t recommend using additional CSS in most cases. I would, I would suggest using all the different controls that we\'ve built, that are built into 6.2. But the idea of using CSS to add a little pizzazz to this particular button block is fine. But just with that caveat that you wouldn\'t want to use it exclusively. Like I wouldn\'t apply a background color via CSS, I would rather use the background elements color here. There\'s also additional CSS, which emulates what was previously in the customizer. So we do have site wide CSS that can be applied within the site editor and also on the front end of your site. Again, I wouldn\'t emphasize using this exclusively, as there are a lot of new design tools that I would explore first, from the top level styles here where you can apply colors to the background, text and buttons. But if there was anything extra you wanted to add, you could do so within the stylesheet here.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 11:21\nAnd I\'ll note we\'d love to hear feedback if there are certain things that you\'re repeatedly adding custom CSS for. So either commenting on a currently open issue, or if you don\'t find one, opening an issue would be super helpful, because it\'s neat to see what folks are using for CSS so we can fill those gaps.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 11:36\nYeah, exactly. So that\'s the global Style panel here. But there are some quite a few other improvements along with styling. So the first is the idea of pushing styles globally. So if I\'m in here, and I\'m designing, let\'s say I want to add a radius, I want to do some different typography as to appearance like this, like bold, italic look. And then we\'ll also...\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>12:07\nThat\'s cool.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>12:07\nThanks. Also, let me make the letter spacing, maybe we\'ll make it a little bit bigger, actually, and then, I think that\'ll work. Do these changes here and see I\'ve just styled this one particular block this button up here. And this button down here is still using the global styles that we designed earlier. But now I can go through my settings panel here and hit Apply globally. And I\'m going to here so we can see that happen. The styles are now pushed globally to all the other blocks. So this is really helpful for when you\'re designing in flow. And you don\'t necessarily want to abstract out into the style book and you want to push your changes that you just did here, because you like the way the button looks and want those applied everywhere, all at once. I think this is really powerful way to to quickly design within the editor. Another tool that is quite useful, I\'m going to take this heading here and manipulate this. It\'s the idea of copying and pasting styling. So we\'re going to use that same bold italic look, maybe we\'ll make that a little smaller, we can even manipulate this size to be a little bigger. Now we go here to copy styles. And then I can come all the way down here to this other heading that\'s very similar, and paste it in. And there we have that style applied just to these two headers. And you would do this when you don\'t necessarily want every single heading to have this effect. But perhaps there are like elements on this page that you want to push those changes to, specifically. So copying and pasting allows you to be very granular, whereas applying styling globally, lets you be more of a holistic design experience for pushing styles. Another neat...\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>13:57 \nOh, real quick, I just wanted to know like I think one of the things that\'s interesting is, as we\'ve added more design options to blocks like this is part of the experience of scaling things and making it easier to use. So when we think about like intuitive and delightful. Some of these tools coming into 6.2 really take you know, the tons of design tools that we\'ve added over the last couple releases and makes it easy so you can actually tweak things and then reuse. So I think that\'s one of the things I want to call out is it\'s kind of this crescendo. Where now the tools that are coming to 6.2 to really ease the experience and allow you to do a lot of neat stuff where rather than having to re-tweak everything through every single heading block. A lot of stuff is used. So...\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>14:34\nYeah, exactly. WordPress is moving towards a design tool and less of like, what you see is what you can only have. It\'s more of an expression of creativity and it really does open up the doors for for designing beautiful pages on the web. I think it\'s really powerful.\n\nAnother cool bit that we\'ve added is the idea of sticky positioning. So headers would be nice sometimes if they stick to the top, so for top level group blocks, this is a group block here, there\'s this new position attribute where you can assign it to sticky. And as you can see, right in the editor, it\'s already showing me that this is sticky on the front end. And also here as well. It\'s only available for top level blocks for now, there\'s still some some odd stuff to figure out on how we communicate when something is not going to stick due to the the parent height of the elements around it. But for top level, it\'s still fine. So we have it here. But there are some iterations that are already happening for the next release that will kind of bring this into more, bring some more capabilities to this particular feature.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>15:44 \nYeah, and I\'m very excited because one of the things I wanted to briefly call out was the how the header, the template part has that purple. So another neat thing coming to this release, that was a big part of feedback for the outreach program was having to look parts and reusable blocks having a different coloring, because there are different kinds of blocks are synced across the site, when you make little changes and impacts everything everywhere. So that\'s another neat thing that\'s coming with this release, is that you can kind of see those a bit differently in the List view as well as when you\'re in the editor. I see Nathan has his hand raised. Is that intentional? Oh, it\'s removed. Okay.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 16:23 \nIt was not intentional. That\'s my mistake. I\'m sorry.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 16:28 \nYeah, it helps you see quickly too like, what is the template part, particularly for headers and footers, it makes it easier to browse quickly.\n\nSo speaking of template parts, and patterns in particular, so headers and footers, are new patterns added within WordPress 6.2. And now that they\'re loaded, actually from the pattern directory, which is kind of neat. And I\'m going to show you how to replace a footer with one of those other patterns. So if you have your footer template parts selected, you can go to replace footer. Now this flow is not new to 6.2, but it\'s going to call out these other improvements. And then you just click one there, and you have it loaded here, that\'s the site logo that I\'m using up here as well. And you can modify this text without having to do any any funky PHP filters or moving actual templates. And if you want to change it again, you go back to replace say, let\'s pick this other one, let\'s try this one. It\'s kind of nice. And there\'s this focus view, or you can zoom in to just the footer itself. You can even check the responsiveness of it and see how it, how it reacts on mobile, and make any of your changes here and have those persist over to the actual template whenever you close it out. It\'s a nice way to really kind of clean up the editing experience. So you\'re not seeing this entire group of groups and instead kind of focusing on what you\'re actually wanting to complete. You can do the same for the header as well.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>18:01\nYeah, and as Rich mentioned, there are some new patterns that are being bundled from the directory, which I think are really extensive. Regardless of what theme you\'re using, there\'s going to be some pattern for group patterns that help democratize design where you can use them in anything.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>18:15\nYes, that\'s right. All right. So navigation. Navigation has gone under a... quite a bit of work in the last a couple of months. And really, this is all about trying to make it easier to manage your site\'s navigation and also add pages and links and then even styling. So there\'s this new dedicated list view for the navigation block. So it\'s essentially emulating a little bit of what\'s available over here except for you had to kind of get down to it. Now it brings it top of mine and the surface area here. You can drag them around, move them up and down, even add submenu links and remove them as well. And then you can style it like normal. And now apply different styles via the styles tab to the block itself, or even individual page links and whatnot, you can dive into them and manage them all from here, instead of having to only manage them from up here. This really kind of abstracts the complexity from from this particular canvas interface into a more familiar interface here on the sidebar. It\'s really a great effort. And it\'s it\'s taken some time to refine but it\'s getting there and it\'s feels a lot nicer.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>19:30 \nYeah, there\'s been a lot of good feedback about this as well just because it kind of is meant to marry the classic experience with bringing blocks into it. So it is in addition to being edit, editing on canvas, so if you really want to continue to edit as a block you still, you can continue to do that. But it does add a nice interface and the block settings where you\'re able to do it. And I\'ll briefly call out here the split settings, which we\'ll probably talk about later. But you\'ll see here for more complex blocks, there\'s some nice split settings making it a little bit easier, more intuitive to go through.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 20:02\nYeah, that\'s right. And if you take a look at navigation here, this is very similar to this component added here. And, and that\'s, that\'s purposeful, we want it to look and feel familiar. Either way you\'re managing navigation. So you can also add some menu items here, remove them and drag them around and reset them here, as well as browse into the individual pages. So that\'s what I have for the site editor portion of the demo. And did you have anything else you wanted to add to this, Anne?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>20:37\nOh, could you resize the Browse mode for me? I just love the resizing. I think it\'s kind of cool. This is just like a fun, you know, thing to call out. But maybe you won\'t noticem but you can resize it. So as you\'re quickly going through your site, if you want to see how it looks in different ways, you can also do that. So that\'s the final thing I\'ll shout out.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>20:56\nYeah. So then, yeah, exactly. It\'s... there\'s a lot of fine, fine touches like that. Well, we can\'t obviously can\'t call them all out today. But it is really getting tightened up overall as an admin experience for the site.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>21:12\nIt\'s such a great foundation in the future, for sure.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 21:15\nExactly, exactly. Alright, so if we press this back button here, it goes right back to the dashboard, I\'m gonna go and leave...\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 21:25\nThat back button was a big piece of feedback people had they would get into the site or not know how to get back out. So I appreciate you calling that out.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>21:32\nYeah, exactly. It\'s been through a number of iterations. And I think we\'ve settled on something that feels feels nice; it does feel nice.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>21:41\nI agree.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>21:43\nSo...\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>21:44\nAh yes, the removal of the beta label.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>21:46\nYou want to talk to this, Anne?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>21:48\nYeah, I would love to jump in on this actually. So you\'ll notice that the beta label is removed for this release. And part of why we wanted to show it now is to see how all the features, how the experience has changed, how much more you can do. And all of that has led to the removal of the beta label. And that doesn\'t mean that feature development is done that it\'s like, you know, gonna stay this way forever, it just means it\'s in a place where we invite you all to try to the site editor, it is out of beta. And a lot of development work has gone into testing this. So we\'ve had almost, I think, 20 calls for testing with the outreach program. It\'s been through multiple major WordPress release cycles, there is still more work to be done. But I\'m very excited to see the beta label removed, I think the features that are coming to 6.2. And the foundation that is set with 6.2 really marks a level of maturity. That is pretty exciting. So consider this an invitation to try out modern WordPress, and to check it out.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  22:43\nA hundred percent, I couldn\'t have said it better.\n\nAlright, so another neat part that\'s added recently for 6.2 is this idea of distraction free mode. So it\'s not turned on by default, but I have it on so we can see the results here. So you can go in and type right here. And then actually, I\'m gonna throw in some Lorem here. So you can see it in action. So this feels more like a text editor and less like a Block Editor. Whenever distraction free mode is on even the the multi block selection, it feels really nice. It doesn\'t there\'s not this idea of blocks, even it\'s kind of abstracted from here, there\'s less noise, there\'s less distraction. And just think that the idea is that it\'s just you and your words, it\'s just writing and publishing. And if you want to publish, you can hover over here, you\'ll see the toolbar come down, you can hit Publish or draft. And then this is how you would turn it off and back on here. And then you still have control of all the existing tool. And it\'s just a much simpler, streamlined interface. And you do have access to blocks, you can still add them if you\'d like to, but the idea is just being able to write without the distractions is really powerful. And a really nice publishing experience overall.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>24:08 \nAnd this is for everyone. So this is like a lot of stuff we\'re coming to say it or using a block theme. This is available for anyone who\'s using the Block Editor. And to be honest, I use this for basically all my writing now. Especially for any post or page, I typically will go into this mode. So I\'m very excited about this. And I hope folks feel the same way.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>24:28\nYeah, exactly. I\'ve been using that too for quite a bit. But the thing is, is also not only for post editing, so I have a page here that I\'ve created. And I have distraction free mode turned on, which kind of removes all the extraneous tooling and it really lets me focus in on the actual blocks here so I can manipulate them to an extent. I can even drop in different imagery for these images here and modify the buttons and whatnot and even add more blocks but the idea is it\'s almost like a simplified editing experience for pages as well, not only for posts. And here, I\'ll come up here and turn off distraction free mode to see it all in real time.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>25:13  \nAnd this isn\'t yet available for the site editor, but I have a feeling a number of folks are going to be keen to see that put in there as well.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 25:20  \nExactly, yeah, I don\'t see why it wouldn\'t work in the site editor as well. I think it\'d be very nice. Yeah. So we have some other improvements here that are fun. So this inserter here has gotten a couple of changes here. So blocks looks familiar, it\'s still the same, but patterns is where we started seeing some changes. Instead of having some featured patterns loaded in a block category selector, we\'ve split them out individually as their categories here, you\'re gonna load up some of the different header patterns that are loaded in WordPress 6.2. So you can load them here and see them in this tray, and then click to add them to your site. Which is really nice, it\'s a nice way to kind of go through them quickly and see a bunch of different ones. We also have the media tab up here, which is new, which splits out the images from your Media Library, videos, and audio as well, including the Openverse library. So this is a catalogue of, I believe, over 600 million free, openly licensed stock imagery. And you could search from right here in the inserter. So let\'s type in birds. And click on one, and it will add an image block with the image already added to it, we have got the caption down here. If you don\'t want the caption, you just turn it off right here, this little control that was added. And now you can manipulate it right off. So let\'s say this, drop it into here. Maybe we\'ll make these about the same size and move it over to something interesting.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>26:53\nAnd I\'ll note that there was a GDPR concern around the images being properly uploaded rather than hotlinked. And I wanted to just note that that\'s been addressed. So the images are uploaded to your Media Library. That\'s why. So in case anyone has that question. Sorry, continue.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>27:08\nYeah, no, that\'s a good point. It\'s very important. A key benefit to have this flow here is that instead of instead of having to add an image block, and then open your Media Library, and then pick an image, and then you have it here, it\'s really this one flow of searching visually, and searching here, as well. And then having it added as an image block already. So it kind of skipping all the extra steps that you always have to do anyhow, it\'s really nice. And we have a couple of interface changes. So there\'s the settings icon up here that used to be a cog, and now it represents the sidebar itself. So when you open it, the sidebar is triggered, if that\'s closed. And that\'s changed for a couple of reasons. But one of the bigger reasons is, as I mentioned earlier, this idea of split tabs, so we have the cog for settings. And that\'s when a block has additional settings that are not per the norm of the styles that are available within WordPress, then you\'ll have a new settings tab pulled out here. And that\'s to keep the density nice whenever you\'re editing and it feels good instead of having everything kind of in your face all at once. Now for other blocks, like the paragraph block, there\'s not additional settings, so automatically not included. The tabs up top and just be everything top level. But  when a third party plugin adds like a different settings panel, or even if you extend one of these core blocks that does not have one, and a detects one should be auto added as well. So it\'s kind of just like a nice, fluid way to continue improving the experience of editing within WordPress.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 28:49\nYeah, so plugin authors can also kind of make sure where they want settings and styles to show that it shows up correctly. And there\'s a dev note about that as well.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>28:58\nYes, that\'s right, you can you can decide as when you\'re extending or adding your own inspector controls. That\'s what these are called here, whether or not they\'re included within styles or settings as well. Yeah.\n\nThen another smaller change that\'s kind of nice is this idea of pulling the outline from its own toolbar item up here into the list view. It\'s because they\'re very relative, you know, a list of all the blocks on your page, also an outline of what\'s going on. So they\'re combined now into this one view. We also have time to read word count and character count here, which is nice. And then this is a little guide here that just helps you understand the structure of the importance of the structure of the document and making sure that it is properly structured. All right, was there anything else that we wanted to add you think, Anne?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>29:51\nI\'ll add one last call out just because I\'m trying to think about like little dev tidbits if you want to disable it prefers there is a way to disable Openverse as well I know that\'s always a concern. We add something it\'s like, okay, how do we get rid of because I don\'t want a client getting into it, there is a way to disable that is documented as well. The other thing is the pattern. So there\'s new categories, the patterns. And so query is now posts, a couple of things were merged, there\'s no call to action. And there\'s also some lovely, which I\'m gonna brag on Rich, again, some new text based, query patterns. We have a lot of visual patterns for the query loop, and now there\'s wonderful, more text focused ones, which I think is really exciting. And just another great way where patterns have evolved and patterns is obviously a huge part of the future building with WordPress. So I\'m very excited about those and keen to see just more variation with query loop, I think it\'s really powerful block to make easier to use. So I\'m excited to see it. Otherwise, I think that\'s, I think that covers a lot of what we were trying to go through.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 30:57\nYeah, and there\'s certainly more. There\'s a lot of interesting, minute details that are, you know, quality of life improvements around editing and designing. And we can\'t cover them all today. But it\'s just, there\'s a lot of exploratory ideas and cool, interesting pieces that have been the result of lots of feedback and lots of testing, like I mentioned earlier. And, you know, it\'s really a testament to open source and contributing and really working together as a team to make this thing we call WordPress ours and making it a brilliant publishing experience. So just thank you to everyone who\'s put in time ideas, effort, code, design, marketing, copy, all of that, and more to making this what it is. It wouldn\'t be possible without you.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>31:46\nTotally agree. And thank you, Rich, for doing such an excellent job building this site and demoing all this.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>31:51  \nYeah, indeed. Thank you, Rich. Thank you, Anne. Just to let you know that, in theory, there\'s possibly up to about 25 minutes left. If anybody wishes to pose a question, we\'re going to do our best to get the answer directly from Rich and Anne. Whether that means putting the screen back on, I don\'t really know. But we\'ve got a few that have come in. The place to put those, it would appear that some people have figured out how to do that in Zoom. But if you go to the walkthrough channel, in the making WordPress Slack, you can post some questions in there and all things being equal, we\'ll get them raised as quickly as we can. So we\'ve got a few. In all honesty, because they\'ve been copied and pasted from various different places, I can\'t necessarily say who the name of the person is that sent them. But first question I\'ve got over here for either of you. It says when you save globally, under the Advanced tab, does this change the stylesheet? Interesting.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>32:54 \nSo this will change the attributes of the blocks. So if I throw in that example, there, I pushed the attributes of that one block globally. So they\'re applied to every block. So it does affect some styles, but not writing any style sheet or writing to the core style sheets.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>33:11\nCan I ask the question? It\'s not something that\'s been submitted by anybody else, but it just occurred to me that as you were clicking the global button, I just wondered if there was a \"get out\" from there. In other words, if you inadvertently click the global button, is there an undo option in there? In other words, can you back away from all of the buttons suddenly changing or all of the H1s? \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>33:32 \nYou do have to hit save after. You can\'t just hit Apply globally. You have to hit save, and that\'s where the multi-entity saving pops up. The multi-entity saving is kind of strange in that it\'s not good at discarding changes. So you basically would just have to like leave. Like it would be like, Whoops, I hit that. You probably also have to hit the undo. Like there\'s - those are the two kind of options. So, yeah.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor </strong> 33:54 \nYeah. The undo is like a global thing. It works there as well. Yes.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>  33:58 \nAnd there\'s a reason that feature is hidden, like under Advanced and collapsed. That\'s not necessarily for everyone. But for folks who do like to tinker, it is available.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>34:08  \nRight. And it\'s also only available in the site editor as well. So it\'s the more the global view of editing your site is where you can access that. \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>34:17  \nPerfect.\n\nOkay, so I have a question from Zoom. Is copying and pasting styles as demonstrated just for core blocks? They go on to say more, which I\'ll read out. Some blocks collect, some block collections have their own C&amp;P, and I\'m curious what might carry over, if anything? And then there\'s a follow up. Also, if CSS classes are assigned to a block, will applying global styles to a block be to all of the same block, i.e. H2? Or, hopefully, will a custom class allow for a more granular global CSS? There\'s a lot in that question, but if we start with the: is copying and pasting styles demonstrated just for core blocks?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>34:56  \nSo it works for blocks that have leveraged the block support system within core. So if you have opted your block into using background color, and text color, link color, any of the layout settings, anything that was in the styles tab, then all of those would get pushed to or get copied or pasted or even pushed to the global application of styles as well. Now, if there\'s, if a block has done its own sort of background color attributes, I don\'t know that those would persist as well. But if you use what\'s available in core, it\'s really one or two lines of JSON will get you the background color support that you need. \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>  35:35\nAnything to add to that, Anne?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>35:37  \nNo, just another reason to rely on what core is building. So it\'s a another great example of how these features will work together and how adoption helps whenever these new things come out.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>35:49  \nOkay, so we\'ll go on to the next question then. So this is from Zoom, and apologies, I don\'t know your name. Can we have this as a feature request? Can we have sticky sidebar block for some groups next release, please? \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 36:05 \nProbably would do a separate block, I\'m guessing. Yeah, do you have anything to add to that?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  36:11\nYeah, I would say we wouldn\'t need a sticky sidebar block. Right now that group lock in top level-only does support position sticky. And the only reason it was turned off like we did have it on for one of the Gutenberg releases for everything - for every group block - but it was turned off just because there was too much confusion around if you had a sticky element that wasn\'t didn\'t have enough space to stick for and enough height to stick. So it wouldn\'t actually be sticking. You wouldn\'t see a result of you applying a sticky position to it. So I think we can figure that out with some some UX to really clean that experience up so that you do expect and understand what\'s going on. When you apply that to a block. That\'s not the root level of the document. So it\'ll be there. It just takes a little bit more iteration.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>  37:00\nOkay, another question. This time from Slack. When there are changes made in the site editor, are the templates still marked with the blue dots to indicate that the changes are in the database?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>37:14\nYes, from that Manage Templates view that I shared in the canvas, it will show up just like it did previously, when there are changes to one of the templates provided by the theme.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 37:25\nYou can revert the changes, as well, as you\'re used to doing.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 37:30\nOkay, thank you. Anne\'s shared a link related to the question that we just posted. I don\'t know how Zoom works well enough to whether or not we can share the screen. \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>37:40\nI can briefly share my screen. \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>37:42\nYeah, that\'d be great. Show us the GitHub.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 37:43\nLet me try that. I just wanted to mention this in case people want to follow along in the follow up tasks related to this. I love to look at links. I\'m a nerd like that. So in case anyone else is, this is a lot of the follow up tasks and a great issue to chime in on or just follow if you\'re interested in this because there are some improvements to be made. But this is a neat report for now. So it\'s - oh, I just copied and pasted. So it\'s issue number 47043 in the GitHub repo.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 38:11\nSo 47043 related to the question that we just had. Okay, so another one from Zoom. This is Robin, who asked the question, can you show? It\'s just moved on my screen. There we go. Can you show us how to trigger the focus mode to view, say, for example, the footer on its own? So I guess we\'re back on the screen again.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>38:34\nSure. Everyone can see? Yep. So when you have a template part selected, you just hit the Edit button here and then it\'s focused into that as well. And then you have, again, the responsive controls here. All the existing controls, it\'s just localized to this template part.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>38:54\nHopefully that answers your question. Thank you, Robin. Just for anybody who\'s kind of lurking who has a question but hasn\'t yet posted it, please do. What are the chances that you\'re going to get Rich and Anne on the on the phone in the next few weeks? Pretty minimal, I\'d say, so make use of them while they\'re here. Ellen has done just that. She\'s in Slack. Ellen says, is there a plan to allow no title templates in the block editor as they are still included even in header and footer-only templates?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  39:28\nNo title templates. Like templates without a title? I\'m not quite.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 39:35\nYou can just remove that block. \n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>39:36\nYeah, you can you can remove the post title block from a template. I\'m not quite sure if that\'s if that\'s what the question is asking.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>39:46\nEllen, if you\'re still in Slack and watching this, if you heard Rich and Anne queerying that, then if you can give some more clarity, we\'ll endeavor to get that answered.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>  39:57\nKnowing Ellen she knows exactly how to remove things. So I\'m like, I\'m curious. I\'m definitely - we\'re misinterpreting something because she\'s very - Not showing the title in the editor...?\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>40:07\nYeah. Not showing the title in the editor. She says she\'s here. \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>40:12  \nI\'m like, \"Say more.\" \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 40:14 \nYeah. Give us more. Give us more Ellen, and we\'ll get right back to you.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>40:17\nLet\'s follow back up on that, because Ellen always has some good questions and good feedback.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>  40:21\nAll right. We\'ll do just that. Again, another question from Zoom. This is posed by some anonymous person. Will the list views icon get the same treatment as settings?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>40:33\nI don\'t think it\'s in the plans. I don\'t think there are plans to change that. But list view icon, it\'s always the list view. So when you toggle it on and off, it\'s relative to what it is. Whereas on the other side, the settings can be block settings, page settings, template settings. Global styles is in that same area. So it\'s a little bit more context for the list view to stay a list view item.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>40:58\nAnd I know that the question came up because the settings icon looks like there\'s that sidebar. And so there are who people have been asking like, will the same thing happened over here? Just for context. That was part of a discussion in a different GitHub issue.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 41:12\nOkay, thank you very much. I appreciate very much those people who are posing questions. That\'s really great. Again, just to prod you once more, feel free to add your own questions in no matter how big or small they are. We\'re here to help. So now we have a question on Zoom from Abdullah. And he coincides beautifully with a question I\'ve written down. Any good resources to learn FSE theme-based development? Can either of you point to a particularly good resource that you know of?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>41:41\nYeah, Learn WordPress. There\'s tons of stuff on Learn WordPress that I would recommend. I also, Daisy Olson, who\'s Developer Relations at Automattic, has a Twitch stream going and some YouTube videos around block theme development. But I would recommend going to Learn WordPress. There\'s also some contributor-led initiatives. Carolina, who\'s one of the theme folks has, I think, it\'s fullsiteediting.com. And that was kind of like the original, go-to resource. And she\'s done an incredible job working on that and keeping it up to date. So yeah, there\'s tons of tons of resources. I will spare you from from sharing more, I don\'t know, Rich, you have more hands-on experience there. What\'s the most helpful for you?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  42:22\nYeah, there\'s some really great tutorials and guides on Learn that are relatively new, that are really helpful. And I see that the team there has been really cranking it out on the last year or two, like really putting a lot of effort into this. So I would, I would start there.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>42:38\nSo if you\'re not familiar with that, I guess it would be apropos to say go to your browser of choice and type in learn.wordpress.org and go and explore. Basically, there\'s a ton of materials that are getting updated on what feels like a daily basis at the moment. So, once more, learn.wordpress.org. Go and check that out. But also, Anne in the chat that we\'ve got going on here has linked to Daisy Olsen\'s Twitch channel, which - I\'m just going to read it out but hopefully I\'ll make it into the transcript. twitch.tv/DaisyonWP. And it\'s all one word. D-A-I-S-Y-O-N-W-P. Daisy on WP. So there\'s two great places to go. But the learn.wordpress.org is perfect.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 43:24  \nI have to add one more thing, which is if you\'re not fully ready for block themes, one of the big things that I feel like needs to be emphasized more is you can gradually adopt. So all these features are being done. But maybe you want to only give access to a client to edit the header. You can do that. Maybe you want to leverage theme.json in your classic theme, you can do that. If you want to expose the template editor.\n\nBut use the rest of your themes across them, you can do that. So I want to also encourage folks to look into resources around gradual adoption, because it makes sense that this stuff isn\'t - From day one, there has been a focus on that. Adopt what you what you want, when you want and it\'s going to make sense to different people at different times. Matías once said that to me, and I think it rings really true. And so now that we\'re at this level of maturity, I think we\'re looking again and revisiting again, like okay, what can I use? What do I want to use? I think it\'s really important to mention. So if you\'re not ready to go all in, I encourage you not to just wipe it all away, but to think about how you can gradually adopt and also what would help you gradually adopt. So there is actually a label on GitHub started a couple months ago around - It\'s called blocks adoption. So if there\'s something that you see that you\'re trying to adopt the site editor, and it\'s preventing you from doing so, like we want to know about that. And you\'re welcome - I\'m going to just put this out here - @annezazu is my GitHub username, feel free to just like @ annezazu, \". This is blocking me from using the site editor.\" We want to know these things. Open issues. Please share, because that is also part of the phase of this work is making sure people can adopt as they can and that the tools are robust. There\'s a ton of resources as well. There\'s a page in the Theme Handbook around gradually adopting to block themes. So I just wanted to call that out.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 45:06 \nAnd just one more time, what was that? Give us, the give us the username.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>45:11<strong>\n</strong>A-N-N-E-Z-A-Z-U. So like Zazu from The Lion King. It\'s an inside joke from middle school.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 45:19\nOkay, possibly the shortest question. This is from Sandy, I should say, Can Lotties be added to 6.2?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor</strong>  45:28\nI would say that I did a quick search a few minutes ago and there are various blocks built by the community, which do allow you to add or embed LottieFiles to your site. I haven\'t tested any myself but feel free to dig into those. And if they\'re open source, they can contribute ideas or feedback on on those GitHub repos.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 45:49\nThank you very much. And Eagle has posted a question. When there are changes made in the site editor, are the templates still marked up - Did we have that one? We have, right? We\'ve done that. \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 46:01\nWe answered that one. Yeah.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>  46:02\nI think we did. Okay, moving on directly then to Ian, what is - oh! Okay, what is the philosophy for mobile in the editor? Are there any plans to have a mobile view?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 46:16\nThat\'s part of the dragging and resizing. And there\'s a lot of work being done around intrinsic design. And you can see on the developer.wordpress.org? What is the blog? I think it\'s /news. Do you hear audio?\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>46:35\nI hear only your audio. I don\'t hear anything I don\'t wish.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>  46:36\nOkay, sorry. Something just started playing in the background out of nowhere and that just scared me. It\'s like all of a sudden, I was like, woah! Where was I?\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 46:50\nSo we were talking about mobile views?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 46:53\nYes, intrinsic design. There is a developer blog that if you\'re not following that, you definitely should, that addresses this around, basically showing that the mobile view points have exploded over time. It\'s now really not sustainable to try and have CSS and all this sort of stuff, mobile queries allowing for each view. So instead, how can we think about intrinsic design? And so that\'s like the best answer I can give. And for now, there is this nice resizing that you can do to kind of see how things scale. 6.1 introduced fluid typography, which was really exciting and part of this larger, intrinsic design set up. And I think we\'ll expect to see more of that over time. Sorry, for the brief mental break.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>47:36\nJust a quick reminder, we probably got 5, 6, 7 minutes or something like that before we start to wrap things up. So if you\'ve got any questions, please, please do post them in here. We have one from Paul who asks, is there any more work planned for pattern management in the future? And then WP Engine has released a plugin allowing easier management of patterns recently, I believe that was yesterday, it would be good to know if we should wait for core or assume that nothing else is coming soon.\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>48:07\nYeah, I would say that pattern management is an important part of this new WordPress experience and having a way to create and manage local patterns, but also maybe push them to the pattern directory. And then on top of that, having a functionality built in where - it\'s kind of like a component based system where you have patterns where the design is the same across patterns, but content can change. All of that kind of falls into the same category of work. And that is something I believe WordPress will eventually do as well.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>  48:41\nOkay, we\'ve got no more questions on the screen. So I\'m going to ask a question, if that\'s all right. You were demonstrating the distraction-free mode there where you could move things up, move things down, and resize pictures and images and so on. I was just wondering what the constraints on that are. So in the case of images, I could see that you could resize things. And with the text, I could see that you could, you know, highlight things and start typing wherever you wish. But I just wondered how the decisions had been made to set those parameters and those only. So yeah, around that, what\'s available in distraction-free mode? What limitations are there?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>49:17<strong>\n</strong>I would say, generally, it\'s what\'s available is what happens when you click on a block. The tooling is there available on the canvas before so resizing was available on the image but not the toolbar. So the resizing is still available when you\'re in distraction-free, but maybe not adding the caption piece or you know, those other toolings. It\'s almost like the content locking or content only locking API. It\'s very similar to that in a sense, but a little bit more tightened up.  Where just text and dropping in images - you can\'t necessarily open the Media Library from there unless you dive out of it. But you can drop another image onto that existing image to replace it. Some things like that.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>49:59<strong>\n</strong>It looks like a really excellent interface for people who just, well, want to concentrate on their writing. It sounds like Anne\'s all in on it.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>  50:05\nI use it every single day. It\'s amazing.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 50:09  \nIt almost felt like a Google doc minus all the bits and pieces at the top. Yeah, really, really nice. Okay, so we have some more questions. Weston is asking, what about optimizing the experience of editing using a mobile device on the web? So I guess that\'s a little bit maybe the question that we had earlier. How can... we how can we do things on a actual mobile device? \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 50:30\nThat\'s a great question. There are mobile apps. So there is the mobile team and using the mobile apps. I personally don\'t use mobile apps and sometimes will edit things from Safari on my iPhone SE 2.\n\nI actually was talking to someone - their username is Nomad Skateboarding. And from what I understand, he only builds client sites from his phone. And so one of the things I said to him, I was like, \"Give us your feedback. That\'s really cool. It\'s really unique. That\'s fantastic. Like, what pain points you\'re running into, what can we improve?\" Because there is obviously like, we are in a mobile first world. My phone is sitting right next to me. I would love to hear particular pain points folks have when trying to edit in that way. You can obviously use the apps. There are some quirks with the site editor, and that I know is partially being looked into and resolved. But yeah, I think there are probably - what we\'re building now should always translate back and there are teams trying to sync back and forth. And there was a recent post from the mobile team talking about what\'s the future of mobile editing. And so I would recommend - it\'s somewhere on Make/Core. I recommend digging that up and getting involved and honestly sharing your feedback. Because I don\'t think that is an experience that we talked about enough personally.\n\nIt\'s a great question. \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>51:40\nRich, anything or should we move on?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>51:42 \nI think that was great.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 51:44 \nOkay, perfect. Um, um, um. Okay, we have an anonymous question. It says as page speed is a big challenge, how are we optimizing the blocks for better LCP score?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>  52:00 \nThere are, some interesting - sorry, Rich, I don\'t know if you wanted to jump in. I was going to start link dropping. \n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>52:05 \nYeah, you go ahead. Yeah. \n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>52:07  \nYeah, there\'s some interesting work from André. Part of it involves actually adding tracking and making sure there\'s really good front end metrics. So there\'s kind of a twofer going on. In one fell swoop, we\'re focusing on better tracking and improving the tracking that we have for performance, particularly the front end. And then at the same time, also work is being done to optimize like style sheets. There\'s been some really neat stuff in previous releases that I bet I can pull up if you\'ll give me one moment.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>52:36\nYeah, whilst you try to find that, Anne, I think it\'s probably important to say that, if there are any questions which you wish to have answered which don\'t somehow get answered in the next few moments, then there will be posts created around this piece. So anything that goes missing, any question that is unanswered, there will be endeavours to get them answered. Right? Okay, show us what you got, Anne.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>53:00  \nYeah. So this was a post I did for 5.9, in conjunction with a whole ton of folks who contributed and actually did this work, I just was kind of gathering it up. But you\'ll see sections here around block style sheets and CSS loading. And honestly, a lot of the work with the styles engine, which is part of the global styles project, can help give a lot of opportunity to actually improve this, I recommend checking out this post to see some of what\'s already been done. And then in the future, one of the discussions that we had recently with some folks across the community from Google, from Automattic, 10up, all over the place, including our lovely performance lead, Felix. We talked about some of this stuff and about how to talk about particularly themes and also just blocks in general. And thinking about some performance improvements and developer education and automated testing and all sorts of stuff. So I won\'t go too far into this. But I think a lot of work can be done. And some of it is being done around measuring more front end metrics and very recently, LCP was added and started to be tracked here, which I think is pretty exciting. \n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>54:05 \nI think following the performance team and Felix Arntz, in particular, would possibly get you quite a long way towards your answers there. Okay, a couple more. Firstly, there\'s a few people helping out in the Slack channel. So, appreciate that. We\'ve got Matías answering questions, and so on. So that\'s really amazing. Thank you. Another anonymous question, any plans to support CSS Grid?\n\n<strong>Rich Tabor  </strong>54:33 \nI think it\'s something worth exploring. Probably not the major priority coming up. But definitely some interesting aspects that we\'ve seen other... other building applications do that we can learn from for sure.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley  </strong>54:47  \nOkay, we\'re very short on time now. I think we\'ve got to round it off at the top of the hour. So we\'ve got about four minutes left. I\'ve got to wrap it up a little bit. So try to get these last two done if we can. This is from Mary. What are the typography options as of 6.2? we have Google fonts and self-hosted. Any plans for solutions like Adobe Type and Monotype?\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy  </strong>55:11 <strong>\n</strong>There\'s a Fonts API that got booted from 6.2 and is hopefully planned for 6.3. So I would just follow that effort. So right now, 6.2 is not introducing anything new or different there. Things are as they were. There\'s a private API that folks can can use with anything JSON. That\'s as concise as I can be.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 55:31\nNo, that\'s perfect. I think we\'re three minutes to go. That\'s probably the best time to wrap up the Q&amp;A. Apologies if you had a question and it didn\'t get answered. As I said, there will be a whole load of things created off the back of this. We will make sure that there\'s a transcript available and - just read something in the comment. Hopefully, any questions that have been asked but unanswered will be answered approaching that. Just very, very quickly, I have to say thank you to Anne and Rich in particular, for taking the time out of their busy schedules and demoing what 6.2 can do. It really looks like a transformational release. But also, thanks to Chloé and Jonathan and Lauren and Mary who are on the call, but, you know, you haven\'t necessarily seen them right now. So, appreciate them. That\'s really great. Following up off this, I\'ve got three points to mention. Following the 6.2 release on Make/Core for development updates and calls, there\'s going to be a post. It\'s make.wordpress.org/core/6-2. Also, if you\'ve been keeping a close eye on the Beta releases - I say beta, I know it\'s hysterical. The beta releases, we\'ve got version beta four has just been released. And anybody who wants to test that out would be most welcome. The URL for that is far too long for me to say out loud, but you can Google it, I\'m sure, and find out how to test for that. And also, if you are keen to follow WordPress, it\'s all over the social networks. And you can follow - basically, if you try to just follow @WordPress, then you\'ll get somewhere. So for example, on Twitter, it\'s WordPress - @WordPress. On LinkedIn, it\'s /company/WordPress. Instagram is @WordPress. And guess what? On Facebook, it\'s - what do you think it would be? It\'s @WordPress. So it\'s available all over there. And I think that\'s it. I think that\'s everything that we\'ve got to say. We\'re about one minute away from closing. So particular thanks to Rich and Anne, but thanks to everybody in the background making all of this happen. Thanks for showing up. If people don\'t show up, the work never gets done and the project never moves forward. So fully appreciate anybody who\'s given up their time to ask questions today and watch this presentation.\n\n<strong>Anne McCarthy </strong> 57:51 \nAnd thank you, Nathan. I want to call you out as being an excellent moderator and creating a safe space for us.\n\n<strong>Nathan Wrigley </strong> 57:57  \nVery, very welcome. I enjoyed doing it. I would gladly do it again. All right. I don\'t know how to end this call. So I\'m just gonna wave. Bye, everyone.\n</pre>\";s: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, 06 Mar 2023 17:11:38 +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:16:\"Jonathan Pantani\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:115:\"Gutenberg Times: WordPress 6.2 Product Demo, shortcodes to blocks – Are PHP Themes dead? –  Weekend Edition 245\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=23530\";s:7:\"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://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-2-product-demo-shortcodes-to-blocks-are-php-themes-dead-weekend-edition-245/\";s: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:14984:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy March! The last month of the first quarter is already upon us and Spring can come soon enough! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week I spent a considerable amount of time wrangling and reviewing developer notes for the upcoming <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6.2/\">WordPress 6.2 release</a>. The Release candidate 1 will be published on March 7th, and that&#8217;s also the published date for the Field Guide that accompanies each major WordPress release. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been very excited about the <strong>next all-women release squad</strong>, planned for 6.4, ever since Josepha Haden Chomphosy <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JosephaHaden/status/1620904918675767297\">tweeted about it</a>. If you are interested in learning more about how WordPress releases work, watch the Make Core Blog for updates about the upcoming releases. The <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/\">WordPress Roadmap page</a> was recently updated and shows that the 6.3 release is planned for August and 6.4 for November 2023.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For myself, I will have a few distractions from my WordPress work and the Gutenberg Times the next two months. After almost a quarter of a century living in Florida, my husband and I are <strong>moving back to Germany; Munich</strong> to be more precise. It&#8217;s time to go home and spend more time with our families.  Both our employers, Automattic and Oracle, and our fellow teammates are supporting us generously and wholeheartedly in our change of residence. We are forever grateful. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am eagerly awaiting to connect more with the German WordPress community, the communities in Africa and the rest of Europe. Speaking of which, <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2023/\"><strong>WordCamp Europe</strong></a> is coming up in June (8-10). I already have my ticket. <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2023/tickets/\">How about you?</a> I hope to see you in Athens. <a href=\"https://calendly.com/pauli-haack/wordcamp-europe\">Use this link</a> if you want to put an in-person meeting in Athens on our schedules. The venue looks marvelous! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, without further ado, the news. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be well! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information\">WordPress 6.2 </a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ul></div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">WordPress 6.2 </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned, the WordPress 6.2 is coming together nicely. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week, <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> and <strong>Rich Tabor</strong> provided a <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2023/03/03/6-2-live-product-demo/\"><strong>Product Demo of WordPress 6.2.</strong></a> The recording is already available on WordPressTV. At the end, you can also listen to the Q &amp; A with questions from the live-audience. <strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong>, host of the WPTavern Jukebox and WPbuild podcasts, moderated the event. The post with, captions, transcript and shared resources will be published early next week. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2023/03/03/6-2-live-product-demo/\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>The first dev notes for WordPress 6.2  have been published to go into the Field Guide.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Marco Ciampini</strong> wrote about all the <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/03/editor-components-updates-in-wordpress-6-2/\">Editor Components updates in WordPress 6.2</a>.</strong> A round-up post of notable changes to the components package in WordPress 6.2. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> posted about the <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/02/wordpress-6-2-accessibility-improvements/\">WordPress 6.2 Accessibility Improvements</a> </strong>providing an overview of the many&nbsp;accessibility&nbsp;improvements and fixes coming to the next major WordPress release.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are more to come on Monday and Tuesday. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>🎙️ </strong> New episode:  <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-80-wordpress-6-2-preview-gutenberg-15-2-and-15-3/\">Gutenberg Changelog #80 – WordPress 6.2 Preview, Gutenberg 15.2 and 15.3</a> with Birgit Pauli-Haack and special guest Rich Tabor  </p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are a content creator and planning on writing about the WordPress 6.2 release, <strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> just published a <a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2023/03/01/wordpress-6-2-source-of-truth/\"><strong>WordPress 6.2 Source of Truth</strong></a> on her personal blog, with the caution that you don&#8217;t just copy/paste things, but us it as place to get your research started. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Feeling the limitations of WordPress design? Get creative with Elementor and Gutenberg! Join <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/joyofwp\">Bud Kraus</a> </strong>for the virtual event <a href=\"https://events.godaddy.com/events/details/godaddy-events-godaddy-pro-online-presents-elementor-or-gutenberg-why-not-the-best-of-both/\"><strong>Elementor or Gutenberg? Why Not Both?</strong></a>  hosted by GoDaddy Pro on March 8th at 1pm ET / 18:00 UTC and learn how to create stunning custom layouts and designs.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/one_maggie\"><strong>Maggie Cabrera</strong></a> invites theme builders to the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2023/03/03/hallway-hangout-community-themes-initiative/\"><strong>Hallway Hangout: Community Themes Initiative</strong></a> on March 7th, 2023, to discuss the next steps for the collaborative theme building. &#8220;This announcement is the proposal of a new community themes project. The goal is to bring together a squad of people to build&nbsp;block&nbsp;themes all year around the same way the default themes are built.&#8221; Cabrera wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his post, <a href=\"https://chriscoyier.net/2023/02/16/noodling-on-wordpress-in-2023/\"><strong>Noodling on WordPress in 2023</strong></a>, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/chriscoyier\">Chris Coyier</a> </strong>wrote down his thoughts about WordPress. He took a broad look at the changes WordPress experienced in the last few years, the block editor for content, and in other contexts, and Block Themes. He wrote: &#8220;<em>WordPress needs to spend a year working on DX.&nbsp;</em>There needs to be a clear message about how people should be thinking about building themes and how to do so with productivity keeping extensibility in mind.&#8221; and then he continues: &#8220;maybe that’s exactly what they just did with Block Themes&#8221; &#8211; and calls it a component model. The four words in his posts were &#8220;PHP themes are dead. 🤷‍♀️&#8221;.  </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/retlehs\">Ben Word</a></strong> wouldn&#8217;t have any of it, though. He posted a rebuttal: <a href=\"https://roots.io/php-themes-arent-dead/\"><strong>PHP Themes Aren’t Dead</strong></a>. <strong>Ben Word</strong> is the part of the team around the Roots project. He makes a strong case for using and developing for the block editor.  &#8220;If you’re a modern PHP developer, you will have a worse experience developing FSE themes versus building a hybrid theme that uses both PHP along with the block editor.&#8221; Word wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>And to stay within it for a moment, in his post <strong>Brian Coords</strong> is <a href=\"https://www.briancoords.com/embracing-theme-json-kicking-and-screaming/\"><strong>embracing theme.json, kicking and screaming</strong></a>, and he has many questions. &#8220;Its still up to plugin developers to include their own styles for things, or use fancy tooling to try to pull from <code>theme.json</code> where appropriate- neither being an optimal solution. This also becomes a documentation problem.&#8221; He wrote and continues: &#8220;When you read any docs about <code>theme.json</code>, it’s usually in the context of full site editing, which means that almost all the documentation for it assumes you’re styling blocks and building a block theme. Even parsing what features work in block themes and which ones work in hybrid themes is difficult.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In her debut post on the WordPress Developer Blog,<strong> Joni Halabi, </strong>Senior JavaScript Front-End Developer&nbsp;at<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Georgetown University explains <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/static-vs-dynamic-blocks-whats-the-difference/\"><strong>The difference between Static and dynamic blocks</strong></a>. The difference between these two types of blocks comes down to how they are rendered on the front-end. Read on to learn more about the details, advantages, and disadvantages of each.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Also on the WordPress Developer blog, <strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> published his tutorial on <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/03/creating-a-custom-block-that-stores-post-meta/\"><strong>Creating a custom block that stores post meta</strong></a>. Learn how to create a custom dynamic block that saves information to custom <code>post_meta</code> and creates a one-to-one experience in both the block editor and on the front end. You will see an example of how to to use <code>@wordpress/create-block</code> package to scaffold a block.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jonathan Bossenger</strong>, developer educator on the WordPress training team,  takes his readers along on his experience <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/03/converting-your-shortcodes-to-blocks/\"><strong>Converting Shortcodes to blocks</strong></a> and has tips and tricks for creating blocks from existing Shortcodes, based on real-world examples. You learn to understand when a Shortcode should be converted to a block, processes to follow to convert blocks, and useful block development practices.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tom de Visser</strong>, developer from the Netherlands and core contributor, shared how he has fun learning new things by looking at someone else&#8217;s code. It&#8217;s alittle harder now to do was with React in the mix there is a build step that hides the source code. In his post, <a href=\"https://tomdevisser.blog/how-to-learn-about-wordpress-block-development-by-playing-with-core-blocks/\"><strong>WordPress block development, hacking core blocks</strong></a>, De Visser shows you how to get the Gutenberg source code on your local machine, how to run the development and build processes from the project with Webpack and how to use <code>wp-env</code> to spin up a local environment where you don’t have to worry about breaking anything.</p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt=\"GitHub all releases\" src=\"https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge\" /></p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image: &#8220;<a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/131286397@N03/17223321258\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Printer&#8217;s Wooden Letter Blocks 1</a>&#8221; by <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/131286397@N03\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sean-B</a> is licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button type=\"submit\" class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 04 Mar 2023 20:55:23 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"WPTavern: WordPress Themes Team Proposes Community Themes Initiative\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142443\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-themes-team-proposes-community-themes-initiative\";s: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:3052:\"<p>Representatives of the WordPress Themes Team are looking to carry forward the momentum contributors found in creating the Twenty Twenty-Three theme’s style variations by <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2023/03/03/hallway-hangout-community-themes-initiative/\">launching a new Community Themes initiative</a>. Leading up to WordPress 6.1’s release, 19 designers from eight countries built 38 unique style variations, and <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-announces-10-style-variation-selections-for-twenty-twenty-three-theme\">10 were selected</a> to ship with the release. At that time, contributors <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentythree/issues/73\">discussed</a> a spinoff child theme project with additional style variations for Twenty Twenty-Three.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Automattic-sponsored core contributor Maggie Cabrera <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2023/03/03/hallway-hangout-community-themes-initiative/\">published</a> a proposal that seeks to extend this new era of increased design contribution through a Community Themes project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The goal is to bring together a squad of people to build block themes all year around the same way the default themes are built,” Cabrera said. She cited other reasons for the proposal, including the need to increase the number and the variety of quality block themes in the directory, and capitalize on community momentum during times when no default theme is being actively developed. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reality is there simply are not enough block themes available to the community yet with the current count at 247. Last year, the WordPress project fell short of its <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-ramps-up-social-learning-events-on-full-site-editing-project-aims-for-500-block-themes-in-2022\">goal to get 500 block themes in the repository</a> by the end of 2022. The world of patterns and the ease of inserting blocks into templates gives users more design flexibility than ever before, so the landscape of themes is slowly changing, but there is no replacement for finding a theme design that just works and enabling it with one click. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Community Themes initiative may offer an easier onramp for theme developers who are still getting into block theming, as well as a supportive community of builders who spur each other on to create themes that are compatible with the latest and greatest features of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Themes Team&#8217;s next hallway hangout discussion will focus on the goals and purpose of this initiative. Contribution opportunities will be available for all skill levels, including designing, coding, testing, and reviewing themes. If you are interested to help on this project, the team is inviting people to join the next hangout on <a href=\"https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20230307T15&p1=1440\">Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 10:00 AM EST</a>. <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/291851732/\">RSVP</a> is required to attend online.</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, 03 Mar 2023 20:46:18 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:152:\"Post Status: Brian Gardner On WordPress Now And Today, Talking Design And Workflows, Full Site Editing, Gutenberg And Beyond  — Post Status Draft 143\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=147822\";s:7:\"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:154:\"https://poststatus.com/brian-gardner-on-wordpress-now-and-today-talking-design-and-workflows-full-site-editing-gutenberg-and-beyond-post-status-draft-143/\";s: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:60433:\"<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-group eplus-wrapper has-theme-palette-2-color has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-text-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">In this episode, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bgardner?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">Brian Gardner</a>, Principal Developer Advocate at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WPEngine\">WPEngine</a>, joins <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> to discuss the solid foundation WordPress established and how it might continue to expand into the future. </p></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer eplus-wrapper\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"yoast-reading-time__wrapper\"><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__icon\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__spacer\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__descriptive-text\">Estimated reading time:  </span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__reading-time\">65</span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__time-unit\"> minutes</span></p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#h-transcript\">Transcript</a> ↓</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/bgardner?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">Brian Gardner</a> initially found WordPress as a blogger. His journey led him to found Studio Press which eventually became part of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WPEngine\">WPEngine</a>. Brian and Cory flashback into what was and lean into the potential future of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><strong>Top Takeaways:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul type=\"video\" class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<li><strong>Workflow Education.</strong> Getting adoption for workflows can be challenging. Agencies may resist changes to their workflow even if the change may bring significant benefits. Investing in education is key. Contributing to WordPress education by testing things and hosting workshops and demonstrations can ensure the project as a whole succeeds.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scaling is the Safety of WordPress.</strong> Many of the page builder softwares are not built for much beyond brochure-type sites. The extensibility of WordPress makes so much possible for businesses looking to deliver excellent customer experience or expand their site capabilities.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Competition vs. Cooperation.</strong> Today there is far more competition in WordPress. In the early days, competition existed alongside cooperation. We were competing while we shared, learned, and grew together. This cooperation led to innovation within WordPress and cultivated a vibrant, growing ecosystem. A shift towards community innovation can remind us that a rising tide lifts all boats.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-22 wp-block-columns sponsor has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-background\" id=\"StellarWP\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\">\n<h3 class=\"StellarWP has-theme-palette-1-color has-text-color\" id=\"Sponsor\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Sponsor: <span><a href=\"https://poststat.us/elementor\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow\">Elementor</a></span></h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elementor </strong>enables web creators to build professional, pixel-perfect websites with an intuitive visual builder. Quickly create amazing websites for your clients or your business with complete control over every piece, without writing a single line of code. Join <a href=\"https://elementor.com/community/\">a vast community of web creators</a> from all around the world who deliver exceptional websites using Elementor.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top\"><div class=\"wp-block-image elementor-logo\">\n<img src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Elementor-Logo-Symbol-Blue-150x150.png\" alt=\"Elementor\" class=\"wp-image-104033\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" title=\"Elementor Logo\" />Elementor</div></div>\n</div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show<strong>:</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.blogger.com/\">Blogspot</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.studiopress.com/themes/revolution/\">Revolution</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.studiopress.com/\">Studio Press</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/nathanrice\">Nathan Rice</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/\">WP Tavern</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/justintadlock\">Justin Tadlock</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://webflow.com/\">Webflow</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.figma.com/\">Figma</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/ajmorris\">AJ Morris</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/RafalTomal\">Rafal Tomal</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.designkit.org/\">Design Kit</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://frostwp.com/\">Frost</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/\">WordPress Learn</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/\">GoDaddy</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://automattic.com/\">Automattic</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.squarespace.com/\">Squarespace</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wix.com/\">Wix</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.weebly.com/\">Weebly</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.shopify.com/\">Shopify</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Sara11D\">Sarah Dunn</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.gravityforms.com/\">Gravity Forms</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://pagely.com/\">Pagely</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/\">Beaver Builder</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://elementor.com/\">Elementor</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-you-can-follow-post-status-and-our-guests-on-twitter\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f426.png\" alt=\"🐦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"eplus-wrapper\">\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/bgardner?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">Brian Gardner</a> (Developer Advocate, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WPEngine\">WPEngine</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> (CEO, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/lemonadecode\">Olivia Bisset</a> (Intern, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper has-background\">The <strong>Post Status Draft</strong> podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png\" alt=\"📝\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br /><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Browse our archives</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe via <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Simplecast</a>, or <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> [00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome back to post draft. Um, I don\'t even know what to characterize this, uh, this se, this interview, Brian. Um, but I\'ve got a very old longtime friend, not that he\'s old, just that we go way back. Um, to, when I started with WordPress, I found this guy named Brian Gardner. And so I thought, um, who better to talk about with WordPress being 20th this year, our 20th anniversary, um, Brian, who was instrumental in a lot of things that helped, um, Build and grow this cool ecosystem we call the business of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But anyway, um, Brian, welcome back. I think you\'ve been interviewed before, probably like by Brian or somebody. Yeah. But welcome, welcome to the post draft podcast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Uh, thank you for having me. Uh, one point of clarification. I am old. I\'m 48. Um, nearing, nearing 50. And in, you know, today\'s terms and. Even as it relates to [00:01:00] WordPress and people who are in this ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m old and I\'m okay with that. Cause, uh, with, with that comes wisdom and experience and, uh, the ability to shepherd. So, uh, I embrace the stage of life that I\'m in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yeah. That\'s awesome. Well, you know, when we first started and met, we were in our thirties . Now we\'re in our forties, and it\'s like, uh, I thought there\'s a nostalgic fact to that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Absolutely. But also, yeah, you\'ve, you\'ve been there and seen things evolve over the years. Um, okay. So thank you for that. Thank you for being on, being on today. Um, I, uh, I wanted to talk a little bit about the past. Um, and tell me how you found WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> I don\'t even know if I know the story, by the way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. You know, like it\'s been a while since I\'ve told the story. Um, and, and a lot of things I talk about, people still don\'t even understand what, what it was or what it was back in the day because it just, you know, they\'re [00:02:00] newer and stuff like that. Um, but I was working as a project manager at an architectural firm, and I just wanted to start writing and blogging.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blogging at that point was sort of in its infancy and there were, you know, things like movable type and Google\'s, Google\'s blog spot and, you know, WordPress was a thing back then. But I started with, uh, Google\'s blog spot, which is their blogger platform now. Uh, and some, somewhere along the way, I ran into somebody online who said, Hey, you should check out WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s you. It\'s a little bit more sophisticated, you could do more stuff with it. And I\'m like, yeah, sure. Okay. So I tried to install it, couldn\'t figure it out. So I did the whole, you know, Google my way through all of it. Uh, and I was like, okay, now that I get this, this is kind of cool. I\'m kind of glad that I learned how this works and whatnot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s all, it\'s all new internet stuff from back then. And, uh, I remember trying to go through, and I don\'t remember WP themes.net or something like that, wherever the at, at the time the free, uh, theme directory was hosted and I couldn\'t really find [00:03:00] anything I liked. Um, and so I just took some, one of the themes down and I\'m like, well, maybe I can try to change some things inside these files.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Didn\'t know anything about HTML or CSS , but I was like, well, let me just try right? Uh, and I just started hacking my way through the theme, sort of reformatted it. My O c d uh, didn\'t like the, the, the line breaks and the indentation haphazardly that, that were in the theme file. So I started there. Um, that hasn\'t changed to date.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, the tendency to be obsessive around, uh, formatting of code, but, um, just learning, you know, what a hex code was and how to change a color or spacing, uh, through the theme and the theme style sheet, um, kind of gave me to a point where I was like, okay, well I created something and now I feel like this is mine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right? It was sort of like forking something, but I didn\'t even know what that meant at the time, right? Because open source didn\'t mean anything to me. I was just doing a thing. And so, um, you know, the, the fast forwarded version was I, I started developing free themes, giving them out for distribution, and [00:04:00] then customizing them as a moonlighting sort of gig.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And from there, uh, revolution, the theme the design came about. And, uh, when that was rejected by a real estate agent in Boston, uh, it was an opportunity that probably changed for certain the trajectory of my life, but likely that of others as.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yeah, so, uh, uh, we were talking before we started recording that maybe there\'s a lot of people in WordPress today that don\'t remember those, but I think it\'s important to reflect back that time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back then, Brian was the wild, wild west, uh mm-hmm. like, you know, movable type had had done their thing and there was this mass exodus over to WordPress, which. I think one of the biggest, you know, parts of, uh, WordPress\'s success was they, uh, the leaders at that community made kind of a misstep and it mm-hmm.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>it was an access over here, but that produced this. There was cool code coming in and that, you know, things in WordPress and, but there [00:05:00] was this, that\'s what I remember finding as this desert of good themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yep. That was rock.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> And that\'s where you were rocking, man. That\'s how I found you. I think I found you through a free theme, um, and was like, wait, who\'s this guy?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like his design. And then we struck up a friendship that was on this thing called Talk. Yep. Uh, okay. So fast forward then you started Studio Press. Mm-hmm. 2008. Um, and then tell us a snippet of that. I think many people know that, but let\'s make sure we cover that. Uh, and then you started what became Studio Press, correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you wanna share that little snippet of story?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yeah. So originally it was all called Revolution. And at the time I didn\'t know anything about intellectual property and so I just named something what I wanted to name it. And unfortunately, the product of having it become successful is it gets put on the radar of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology and software companies. And so the short of it is we rebranded to studio. [00:06:00] Uh, as a result of a cease and desist letter I received from a a t uh, a company in the United Kingdom, it, it probably would never have gone anywhere, but it was not worth my hassle to fight it. So, so we rebranded a studio press.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, not too long into that is when, um, we made some hires. Nathan Rice, who, you know, is, was one of them. And we sort of built this framework called Genesis, uh, together. Um, was a theme framework, child, parent theme system that essentially ran the, the tenure of studio press\'s, uh, glory days and, uh, you know, for the better part of 10 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, uh, it\'s, well, five years, gosh, hard to believe Five years in June will mark, uh, the anniversary of the acquisition of Studio Press from WP Engine. So, uh, there\'s a lot of in between all of that for sure. Um, but yeah, it\'s, uh, it\'s still. It\'s hard to believe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Well, I wanna set that too, just in case to show how far you back and what you\'ve done and part of that, um, but then I want to catch up too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:00] What are you doing today? Mm-hmm and what\'s interesting, I know I\'ve seen some things you put out, uh, with full-size ed editing. I\'m like, Brian\'s geeking out over there doing this thing. But tell me what you\'re doing now and what you\'re interested in. With WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yeah. So before I get to that point, one of the reasons we sold studio press was at the time our, our partnership team didn\'t wanna necessarily, or because we had other things in our, on our agenda, we didn\'t wanna figure out what this Gutenberg thing was coming.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. It was at the time, it was just announced this, this editor thing. And I told our team, I\'m like, look, either we need to like lean in and like really like double down and invest into where WordPress is going with this and what that means for our product and what we\'re working on. Or we need to just, you know, kind of call it a day and uh, focus on our other projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of us were already doing personal things and it was time we kind of wanted to go do our own thing anyways, individuals, And so we\'re, we set out to find some, some people to see if there was interest in acquiring studio press. And so [00:08:00] we sold Studio Press in summer of 2018. And I was like, Hmm, maybe that was it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe that was the extent of my WordPress tenure. And, uh, I was gonna try to do other things and I was interested in just trying, just different stuff. Cuz at that point for what, 10 or 12 years, I\'d been just doing WordPress theme design, um, pretty much every day. And so, um, yeah, you know, like. So a couple years went on, I did some agency work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I messed around with some real estate tech ideas and whatnot. Uh, certainly never forgot about WordPress. Continued to always use WordPress, followed along with, you know, the developments of Gutenberg and the editor and all of that. And it was about two summers ago, I came across a, an article on WP Tavern, um, from Justin Tadlock kind of showing a, showing what block patterns were and, uh, how they work and sort of the, and I just literally tweeted this a few minutes ago.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, one of my favorite parts of it all is sort of the, um, The replication [00:09:00] aspect where you can copy and paste and, you know, things happen so much easier and quicker now. And when I saw and understood what patterns were, uh, sort of immediately stopped me in my tracks and sort of was the, um, the seed that was planted for Frost, which is a, a WordPress theme now that WP Engine owns.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we\'re using that on our developer relations team to sort of showcase, uh, the possibilities of the editor and use it for educational purposes. And so, you know, Love WordPress. Probably never been as excited about what it is and what it can do. Uh, as you know, I\'m more excited today than I\'ve ever been.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, I get to do design related things around it. And I just really, you know, the landscape has changed the competitive landscape, right? You\'ve got Webflow and Figma and all of those types of tools that now sort of, and we can get to that sort of pose, existential threats as we try to work our way through sort of all these phasing, um, that I\'m still bullish and I, [00:10:00] I think, you know, 43% of the internet still uses it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on some level there\'s some security involved, but, uh, you know, we wanna be the change. That\'s why we exist. Our team at, uh, WP Engine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Yeah, I\'m glad, I\'m glad to hear, uh, someone else say that cuz I\'m, I\'m right with you. There are existential threats. Two WordPress, you, you mentioned Webflow and . I talk about that a lot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We, we, AJ Morrison and I looked at it a couple weeks and I was like, wow. Um, when you look out the landscape today, so much tech just accelerates an impossible pace. And I\'ve looked at it. Gone. Okay. WordPress needs to kind reestablish ourselves, but I\'m so happy to hear though that you see opportu. And hope, um, with, and, and, and I hear it from what you just said is like full side editing, Gutenberg, and I\'m curious your thoughts about that, where we are now, where we\'re going.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, you\'ve had a big presence obviously in design and theme work within WordPress and been a champion for that for a long time. [00:11:00] But I want to hear what you\'re excited about and passionate. And why, why, why this full set editing, why set frost, for instance, the patterns, how, what you\'re working on, what you\'re thinking about, what you\'re dreaming of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> You know, like we all live in a, a no code, easy click, drag and drop sort of society. And like all of the stuff that you and I built like back in the day right? Like was all hard coded. And, and even the PHP files, the text, it was all hard coded. And, and I. To update your website, you\'d have to go into a file and change text in a PHP file, which nobody ever wants to do unless you built some sort of gooey for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so like, like throughout the years, even as I look back on what we did with Genesis, there were still elements, you know, it was not ideal to, um, I mean, at the time it, I guess it was the only option, but it, looking back on it, it was not ideal to, uh, create a front page file with a bunch of widget areas and you managed your homepage by way of like eight different widgets.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, You know, inevitably somebody would say, well, I wanna replicate this [00:12:00] page and use it for like an inner page. I\'m like, well, okay, you gotta recreate the file, re-register eight more widget. It just, it was a mess. And so where we\'re at today and why it excites me so much is that it\'s so easy to do all of the things that have been historically hard or difficult in WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course when you compare them to some of these other software technologies like Webflow, which are even easier than WordPress has ever been and may ever will be. That\'s kind of where you\'re like, okay, this is great that WordPress can do this, but like there\'s a, a ton of other companies and, and of course we haven\'t even talked about the page builders yet, with which within the WordPress ecosystem sort of precursor where we\'re at now with the capabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, it just, it. I\'m a framework kind of person, and when I understand how something works and kind of can work within and build product around, like I, that really excites me. That brings me joy. It allows me to like, um, exercise and flex some of the design muscles because I\'ve got a system that can accommodate, [00:13:00] like changing and, and modifications so quickly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, and just that, that\'s part of, I think what excites me the most, just having the ability to deliver something to an end user who. You know, make it their own and, and have a demo, like without having to like, spend an hour recreating it. Um, so just looking within the WordPress kind of product system itself, just where we\'re at now is, is so much more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\'s, the capabilities are so much more than they\'ve ever been.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> So full side editing. I haven\'t dug in fully to it, but I see the promise that it holds. Um, and then you mentioned like Gutenberg with blocks and patterns. So much potential there. Yes. But it kind of harkens back to when we started. You know, there\'s opportunity here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>People need to come in, like you and others, I think at Rich, rich Tabor and mm-hmm. you and different people in the design space and go, here\'s what could be of this. Here are practical applications of that. [00:14:00] Um, tell me a little bit about your work with Frost in, in that. Is Frost kind of that, um, your r and d lab for doing this kind of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yeah, it is. Uh, a lot of people who followed me in studio press back in the day know of a gentleman, a very talented designer named Rafa Tamal. Uh, he was our lead designer at Studio Press for a long time. He is on his own now. Uh, he actually created a thing called Design Kit. It\'s a Figma. Product that allows sort of like a wire frame system inside of it where, you know, he\'s got a library of various components of a website, headers, footers, featured section hero sections, testimonials, all that kind of stuff.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the idea behind that was um, through Figma you can create files and do mock-ups for clients and stuff like that very quickly cuz you have a library of these sections to work with. Well, when I realized what block patterns. Which are essentially the same thing to sort of the WordPress coded version of these things in Figma.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was like, wouldn\'t it be really cool if you could set up a system that basically had like [00:15:00] a library to choose from, where you could insert into WordPress\'s dashboard, like, I want to insert this header with this section and that section, and just like top to bottom, build a page out within a matter of a few clicks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so in its infancy, that\'s what Frost set out to be. Frost was a very vanilla sort. Not opinionated design, black and white wire frame setup, which has a bunch of patterns in there, several headers, several footers, all the kinds of sections that you could think of building. And the idea behind that was just to, if anything, help us inform ourselves on how this all works, how it can be used to like build sites and then.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WP Engine brought that in when I was hired, and so it\'s been sort of like our, our toy within developer relations to sort of showcase things and build things. We\'re gonna hopefully move that into a little bit more production ready, um, staging here pretty soon, uh, so that people just can use it, um, beyond its current capabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah, so Frost is, is [00:16:00] just sort of our experimental thing. We, we stay up to date with all of the latest updates that Gutenberg the plugin brings. So once Gutenberg ships, frost has a dependency on it. So we can like leverage all of the things that are coming so we can show people how it works, how it\'s built, how it can be used.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so it\'s just, it\'s been sort of like an anchor in inside our. You know, I</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> think back about, I still create WordPress websites this way, but of course the Gutenberg tools has gotten really good and yeah. And, uh, I\'m fully embraced Gutenberg. Um, but you know, back in the day, you know, you had a theme. You were talking about changing CSS and stuff like that, and, um, as I\'ve talked to a number of agencies doing client work, you know, I always think about</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> workflow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Um, Not to contrast it necessarily, but how, how do you envision the designer developer\'s workflow in WordPress with, with site editing? What, how do you [00:17:00] approach, I guess, might be a better way to ask it about building a WordPress website today? In 20th anniversary in 2023, you know, building a website project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m, I\'m just curious, uh, I learned a lot of the theme stuff that I know from you mm-hmm. , um, in the early days. So I\'m curious, I\'m gonna ask the same question. 16, 17 years later,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> much of what I do is sort of a do as I say, not as I do thing, just cuz I, I understand how things work so well behind the scenes that I, I shortcut a lot of things I think other folks have the ability to do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s not a flex necessarily and it\'s probably a drawback. Um, just a sort of a fly in the way. I, I like to do things. Personally, I just, you know, frost is a, is a blank slate theme and so generally, like I take it and fork it anytime I want to do anything with it. Um, You know, like if I\'m doing a client site, I\'ll take frost.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>First thing I\'ll do is rename everything for the client site. Similar to what we would do, you know, you rename the theme folder, rename the functions thing so that you know, it, it feels like, um, [00:18:00] it\'s a pro, it\'s something that\'s being custom built for, for a customer. Now you talk about agencies and, and that\'s sort of like what we\'ve encountered here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, obviously agencies matter a lot to our business at WP Engine. And it\'s actually the, the subset of people who\'ve probably pushed back the most on Gutenberg and this block editor because of workflow. Because they\'ve got established workflows where teams have to sort of adhere to certain policies and certain standards and practices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so it\'s harder, uh, many agencies just are built off of page builders, right? They, or not built off of, but they leverage page builders. So you\'re asking them to effect. Change their entire workflow, regardless of how cool and how easy it is, it\'s still a change, it\'s still a time investment. And so for the most part, in our experience with our, our developer relations efforts, we\'re, we\'re realizing that agencies are the ones that sort of resist the most.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s okay. It\'s understandable. Um, but we\'re also sort of slowly just demonstrating, hey, the things that you\'re doing now can also [00:19:00] be done with word. Core capabilities, it can also be done quicker. And so while yes, there\'s an investment to learn how it works, but you know, the expedition of the expedition of workflow is I think what excites me the most.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sort of having library of patterns and things to draw from. Uh, you know, what used to take us, uh, 10 hours to build a site can take us two. Right. And so these are the kinds of things that I get excited about, not only for myself, but like for other people to say, Hey, here\'s, here\'s a new workflow that could actually be advantageous to your business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'ll help you scale, things like that. What I</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> admire about what you did with you and your team did with Innocence is you created a workflow. Mm-hmm. , you know, for people to, and they\'re still fanatics about Genesis and for good reason. And, and I\'m curious, like, what do we need to do as a community? To help that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We want WordPress to still be the primary tool that people build. Yeah. Web projects on, um, what do you, what are the things [00:20:00] that need to happen? And I gather a lot of it\'s the work you\'re doing today. Sure. But I\'m curious, what are those hallmarks to make? You all did it once. WordPress is really good, like, you know, has that workflow established, but we need some new workflows to embrace WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full side editing. Good word, yada, yada. And what do you think those elements that need to happen?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Uh, a lot of it\'s educate, go ahead</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> for, for those agencies, because I think about they\'re the people. Mm-hmm. , um, out there helping create that growth we\'re talking about with WordPress that\'s sustaining this for so long.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yeah, a lot of it\'s education. I mean, learn, the WordPress Learn team is doing quite a bit like as the project itself, there are, we see them now, GoDaddy, automatic, WP Engine, you know, these developer relations teams that are starting to form really are, are sort of a demonstration of giving back to the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. Five for the future. Uh, cuz a lot of the work, at least that we\'re doing is contributions to WordPress testing things, helping make it better so that just the, [00:21:00] the project as a whole can, can succeed. Um, so education demonstrations, workshops, uh, the WordPress online, uh, at Meetup is, is a very big thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, a lot of the people who are doing that stuff are community members, people, you know, some, some sponsored, some, some not. I mean, we obviously get to do some of that as part of our job. Uh, Just demonstrating in just various forms, right? Because there\'s, there\'s all kinds of flavors of WordPress. There\'s people who are just using it as like end users, and there are people who are building Nassau websites with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we\'ve got, you know, to serve different subsets of people and to educate and show in different ways. I think, um, one of the biggest pushbacks, I think it was WordPress six point. Or at least this is maybe when it was shipping, was the sort of ability to lock blocks this whole block locking a p i, which was an agency pushback like, Hey, I, this is great for people who are like, tinkering around, but we don\'t.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last thing we wanna do is sort of, uh, equip our end user, our, our client with the ability to break their [00:22:00] site by just toying with, you know, settings. Things like that and buttons, and so WordPress added and they\'re still adding more capabilities for block locking, which basically means you can set up a whole section of a website and just.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Block, block locking them out of being able to manipulate it. Like, hey, can\'t, like move the columns around, but you can change the text. Right? And that\'s something that, that would be very appropriate to turn over to a client. Um, sort of protects the integrity of the site, but allows them to sort of maintain and manage it themselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there\'s just a lot of flavors of that. And I, I, documentation is probably the one thing that lacks the most because everything is moving so quickly, like things are changing mid-flight and all of that. So it\'s hard. Even do some of this stuff because by the time you cite, you know, the, the joke, the Golden Gate Bridge, once you get done painting the Golden Bri Gate Bridge, you\'d have to go back and start again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause it takes so long to do it. It, it\'s similar with documentation. By the time you like produce something and show someone how to do that, like the site editor screen or the u the user interface changes and so [00:23:00] therefore, like you gotta update it and things like that. So, I think we\'re at a really good point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>6.2 should deliver and sort of level off a lot of this stuff that\'s been kind of coming so quickly, uh, which I\'m really excited about. Cuz now it\'s more about, okay now, now that things are stabilizing a lot, now we can convince people it\'s trustworthy software to use. We can feel better educating people and showcasing how things work cuz sort of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The, uh, the screenshots don\'t tend to change as much, and so now it\'s more just a matter of kind of rolling up our sleeves and doing the work and showing people how it can be used, how it could be beneficial to their company or business, and effectively help them change their workflows to, to leverage inevitably what\'s here and what\'s still coming.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Well, I know back in when we started out, you know, anybody, the beauty WordPress is anybody could pretty much with that five minute install mm-hmm. , um, create something on the web and have it in this database and [00:24:00] all these tools there and over time and um, I think I\'ve seen, I know you\'ve seen it too, but it\'s just the Squarespace, wick, Weebly effect.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. this tool underneath these tools, sets of tools underneath like a webflow. and, um, gosh, start to, to really, I, I would say a road, but like, That market, even though I still prefer to do it here, I\'m not gonna go to Squarespace weekly. I know that, like you said, I know the, I know what I\'m dealing with here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. . Um, the unfortunate thing is sad for me is that I don\'t, I wonder about that market, but your work at WP Engine, you all do great project work and um, with the hosting that you all provide, but your clients are doing really cool projects. Mm-hmm. , and I\'ve seen this like section out of. Client work side of things, uh, this, this do it yourself or still there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, you know, somebody preferred just to use Squarespace and Weebly and that. They go to WordPress. But then I see two things, particularly in [00:25:00] Postes, kind of what I call a boutique agency. They\'re doing 25, 50, 70 $5,000 projects with a kind of size of business. You know that someone is hiring someone to do it with more complexity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep. And then I see another, and I don\'t have these perfectly out, but I see these broad strokes of enterprise. At scale project, which is awesome. Like, I can\'t imagine someone trying to deliver an enterprise project and going, wait, there\'s 50 people that could touch this. 500 people. I don\'t know. You know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. Um, that\'s one thing I\'ve seen that I kind of, um, I\'ll, I\'ll just tell you as we go. Way back is sad. Yeah. This bottom market\'s going on. But I\'m curious what you\'re seeing, particularly with your work at WP Engine too, is the kinda. That\'s being done on this scales up from the, I have an idea. I can roll my website out With this thing called WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. To more complex type organizations and things like that. What are you seeing with in, in [00:26:00] those realms?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> I see. Well, WP Engine for sure. And I think just WordPress in general. Um, generally gravitating, even though Guttenberg itself, the editor\'s intent was really to accommodate sort of the DIYers, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tinkerers and the, the Wicks and Squarespace types. WordPress\'s Bread and butter has primarily been, even though it started as a plugin platform, really, it\'s a really good c m s and there\'s a lot, just all because of it\'s open source nature, all of the plugins that exist, the ecosystem and the extensibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, I don\'t think that that is the, the, the, the market that I think will be able to sustain sort of all of what\'s going on the most because Squarespace and Wick and Webflow, these are all. Catering more towards like the single user, small, very small boutique, you know, brochure type sites of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anything beyond that. Those, those, uh, those softwares can\'t even come close. Shopify\'s about like the only exception. I mean, it\'s very specifically built for [00:27:00] e-commerce and, and to scale with e-commerce, but there\'s not a lot beyond that. And I think that\'s where WordPress will kind of ultimately stay safe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which doesn\'t necessarily feel good for the boutique agency who\'s now losing out to people, building their own sites on some of this other stuff. But, uh, and so I think there, there needs to be sort of a mind shift to some degree. Um, I\'m not saying a boutique agency has to like all of a sudden become 10 up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, But just there, there is a change and I, I think for better or worse, it\'s gonna sort of hinge on who, who responds to what\'s here and, and all of that. Uh, cause I think at some point people will, a, a client will come along and say, I\'ve heard of WordPress in this new block thing. I need a site built that way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, and what we tell everybody we talk to, um, which, which is quite a bit of people. At some point you need to be, that\'s your value add that you could build with, we call it modern WordPress. Right. Um, and if you say, well, I, I could build it in classic press, like that\'s not gonna ultimately be a great plan of action.[00:28:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> I\'m curious what you\'re seeing at the enterprise. It\'s a space I. We\'ve, we\'ve, we both have friends that have played on that level for the longest time, and I always, when I hear enterprise, I get excited about WordPress, but I know there\'s challenges there too, but, mm-hmm. , what are you seeing with your enterprise?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, Agency clients, um, at WP Engine ,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> I personally don\'t interact that much with like enterprise at that level, mainly because, you know, my, my heart and uh, affection generally kind of like lends itself towards like the, the small town , you know, you know, less Walmart and more, you know, Joe\'s. Grocery store sort of thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I just generally like to work with people who are on smaller scale. Um, I know we\'ve got all kinds of, several, you know, just talented people and, you know, client services and things like that around our enterprise business. Uh, and I know we do a lot of, lot of great bit things. We\'ve got huge contracts and stuff like that, so obviously we\'re very invested in WordPress and [00:29:00] where it goes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re very, you know, yeah. Interested in trying to like, make the, the hosting and sort of the website experience altogether better. Um, so I, I can\'t speak specifically to like what we\'re seeing. Sure. Right. Like that\'s probably for someone else to answer. Um, yeah. But I know that people, you know, there\'s, people are starting to ask questions like, Hey, what is, what does all this mean for us?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right? And it\'s, yeah. Not necessarily our team at developer relations to answer those questions, but like, as a company, we need to say, Hey, this is what WordPress\'s trajectory means for enterprise type. Yeah, well a</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> lot of those boutique agencies I\'ve talked to at, in, in the post status community doing so cool things, I\'ve carved out these cool niches.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. , I didn\'t envision, um, you know, doing membership sites and e-commerce. With WordPress Pandemic took a lot of in-person, um, physical location businesses and they had to figure out how do we do web? And I thought, I didn\'t [00:30:00] like what they, everybody had to go through, but I, I like the fact that now a lot of these physical in-person businesses have, web presence, that ads, they have something that kind of extends their business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I love hearing those stories. And I imagine that\'s a lot of the people you\'re talking about that you work with too, showing how they can, um, use this awesome tool called WordPress to really deliver excellent client work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> Yeah, I, I haven\'t been asked a lot lately, like how, where do I see the successes happening sort of with people within WordPress and, and from a product side, but also from like a service side.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think, you know, we\'ve started to see this over the last five years or so, sort of this nicheing of sort of, uh, ca, you know, capabilities. Sarah Dunn, she\'s a, a WordPress person that a lot of people know. She sort of niched down into like the wedding industry and she like completely owns it there. And she was one of the first people that I really was like, you know, like intellectually you\'re like, oh, don\'t niche down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like be, you know, jack of all trades, [00:31:00] right? And so when I started to like really understand like where WordPress is going and I feel. Wholeheartedly that right now, like the people who are gonna rise above are the people who say, I, I don\'t wanna just build WordPress websites. I want to build education WordPress websites, or I want to, you know, be the e-commerce guru, or I want to become the l m S Ninja.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, like where you become known for like, and be an expert in. Providing a solution and with all of what WordPress can do, and this is sort of like talking about like blocks and plug-ins and things like that, is people who will go into a certain market and provide and just take WordPress beyond its sort of general capabilities and say, I\'m going to either build, you know, a plug-in suite or a block suite that caters to a very sub specific subset of people, and then that that\'s where the value truly comes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> So the, and, and I love that too. It\'s uh, 500 flavors times exponential of cool stuff that\'s happening that, [00:32:00] that I didn\'t even know was possible. But it is possible cuz they showed, they showed that you can do it. So I want to kind of turn our attention now as, so you\'ve seen a lot in WordPress over the time you\'ve been involved.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are some of the things, looking back, the hallmark. Things that have happened that, um, showcase who we are as a community and who this, what the software is in the world. As you reflect back, what are the things that come to mind? It can totally be theme and design related, or they can be general, but I\'m, I\'m asking these questions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of people that have been around Sure. For a long time because I think it\'s very important to reflect back and go, this, this was. Now the second part would be re-imagining the future, right? So as you reflect back, what are those, what are a couple of those key things that moments in our WordPress history or whatever that really, um, made the difference?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> As you know, I have an 18 year old son and so a lot [00:33:00] of our time as a family can\'t believe it. By the way. I know it\'s talking about like how life used to be for us as you know, gen Xers and what life is like, you know, for kids nowadays. Right. Zach and I were just talking about like social media and how he just doesn\'t like the pressures that it brings, and I was like, well, back in our day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. We didn\'t have to worry about that, even though there\'s benefits to it. Right. And so I think WordPress similar has some similar elements. Right. Like back when we started. There was a lot of true co competition, right? We talked about that word, sort of the co-opetition part of. We were all helping each other.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You and I were competiting competing, but like we\'re on Google Chat, like comparing notes on how we\'re succeeding and what we\'re doing and what works. And I feel like to some degree life was simpler back then, right? Sort of cliche. Um, it just, yeah, the complexities were lower. There were, there was, it was a smaller market, you know, obviously it wasn\'t 43% of the internet, but it was certainly enough, uh, you know, a handful of people doing things and.[00:34:00]</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the success of the premium theme industry sort of sparked sort of the, the sort of like a, a marker here, sort of the, the initial growth of then the plugin market, right? Uh, gravity forms a good example. WooCommerce kinda like the early plugins that\'d say, Hey, you guys do themes, we\'re gonna do functionality, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re gonna sort of find our niche. With, with providing, uh, functionality for people who are using WordPress. And so you kind of go into like the growth and the explosion of the, the plug-in market, which arguably could have dwarfed the theme market because there\'s just so many use cases for it. And so like, that\'s like the first thing I was like, okay, that\'s kind of like when we all started to grow up, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We kind of like, we graduated college and we\'re like, we\'re in the real world now. We\'ve all got real world businesses, like companies making millions of dollars doing things. This is not just like a. Software anymore that the, an ecosystem was formed. Um, and from that, like companies like WP Engine, you know, you know, uh, GoDaddy Page, Lee, all of the people, you know, you [00:35:00] see these acquisitions that so-and-so sold for a hundred million dollars.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think people start to realize, okay, and that\'s when. Um, like a lot of stuff like that\'s when like sort of the greed comes into it, like the V C E O, there\'s real money to be made here, and so it starts to sort of taint the innocent ness of what we got to experience. I often tell Zach, I\'m like, man, life in the eighties was great and y\'all missed out, and I feel bad for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know? And I, I feel the same way with WordPress that some people who are like, I just started like three years ago and you know, like you jump in and it\'s like living in Tokyo. There\'s like ev people like bustling and like cars everywhere and like transportation and it\'s like, You know, the good old days like hope floats.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that movie, you know? Mm-hmm. , like small town Americana. Like, I, I miss that. I, I still miss it. Even now, like, again, one of the reasons we sold studio press, I didn\'t know we could compete, and that was from a person who effectively created the market that he was trying to compete in. And so, [00:36:00] you know, Lots, lots of stuff that come into play and, and this dovetails into all of the, the iceberg and mental health stuff, which certainly is a real thing, but, uh, maybe for another, another podcast, but lots to deal with there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> I, I love the emphasis on cooperation that Spirit, WordPress and Open Source and those of us that were starting product companies back in then as a real spirit of cooperation and, um, I think we need a return to that today. Um, for sure. So I\'m so glad you mentioned that, um, because that, that\'s the, the software\'s cool community is what lights it up and makes it magic and.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>People going, I think the subpart of what I take from yours too. Innovation, an idea to do something that solves a problem that\'s really good for the business that has made the business of WordPress what it is today. Mm-hmm. . And I think there\'s challenges we [00:37:00] talked about with WordPress and um, and, and the web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that, I\'m excited because I think there\'s always somebody new coming into the community that has an idea, has something that\'s gonna break the innovation wall down. Um, I think about page builders like you mentioned earlier, beaver Builder and Elementor, and going, when I, when I left Ithe was trying to build, rebuild my site, and I went and used one of those tools and I thought, holy cow, this is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We wanted what we tried to do. Yeah. But they did it really well, obviously by their success. Um, and you go, that\'s the cool stuff we need now a return back to that cooperation with innovation. Mm-hmm. and why I, what we do at post status is, I wanna always make sure we have a healthy, vibrant growing business ecosystem, which means we do want WordPress to be successful anyway, cuz we love it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re zealots, you know, of open source software. Okay, so I, I [00:38:00] take first is cooperation. What</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> else? Ah, Sometimes it, it feels like a blur, you know? Yeah. , yeah. You know, community innovation, just a, a lot of that sort of dovetails in and around, you know, you know, it\'s an ebb and flow in just the, the product life cycle and the community life cycle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, I\'m trying to think if there\'s any, anything specific. Um, I mean, Genesis for us was obviously a big thing. It really formulated the whole idea of an ecosystem of developers and builders rallying around a, a project, um, who themselves found, you know, co-opt. Petition to help. You know, rising tide lifts all boats, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You had a bunch of people who were developing with the same software, effectively competitors against one another, yet they were the ones who were like referring business to one another and helping answer questions in a forum on how to do stuff because. It really, and, and I\'ve really tried to operate this personally, is the sort of [00:39:00] pay it forward mentality, which is someone was there before you and they wrote about how to do it, and you learn from that and you figured out how to do it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so like the next person who comes along, um, should have some artifact of, of what you learn so that they can then learn how to do it and then, you know, sort of the, the chain goes on. Um, but yeah, I, you know,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> What about with the software in particular? Um, obviously we were Drew, we, we, we met and we did this thing cause we were drawn to the software that was enabling us to do things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are there from the software side, um, things you look back and go, you know what that point. Was a critical shift for, you know, for the core software that enabled something. And I, I have my own thoughts, but I\'m curious yours particularly because you, you\'ve always come at it with a design perspective and how do we, this workflow side of like, how do we produce these things that are maybe in our head with this software?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> [00:40:00] So I would say Genesis was one for me personally. And then obviously Gutenberg has been like the second big one. Genesis Al enabled me to do a lot of the things that were sort of pain points. Um, Specifically around beams and designs and websites, stuff like that. Um, so Genesis was like the first like extension of WordPress that said, oh, I can now do all these things that like, I felt were limitations, even though there were several, several things that were like suboptimal about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, at the time it was all we could do. Why I\'m so excited now is because like all of those things that I thought were difficult, even though we could work our way through them, Is now possible, uh, to do, uh, there are things I wish I could do better, right? I wish I could build blocks. I wish I could build plugins.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so like, I have personally a lot of ideas that I wanna execute on. Um, but I\'m like, all I could do is mock \'em up in Figma, and that\'s the extent of it. And so I wish, I wish, yeah, I, I wish I knew how to build stuff better. Um, and I\'m sure a lot of [00:41:00] other people are, are sort of in the same. Well,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> okay, so you mentioned Gutenberg with, I think it\'s critical.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was curious if you would mention Gutenberg, but um, talk to me a little bit about Gutenberg and what you\'re seeing, particularly with that part of the project and into the future. What are your hopes and dreams for that, that the software goes to enable people like you, other designers, and even me, I would say still benefiting from all this, um, thoughts about Gutenberg now and into the.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> So Gutenberg for me, really helped make product building and product delivery a better and more delightful experience, right? Like I could build something that looked good, but telling somebody how to do it in the way it had to be done was really problematic. Documentation back in the, like, gotta open these files and do all these things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is really not great for somebody who\'s not versed in WordPress or PHP or anything like that, even though it was the only way to do it. And I, I some I sometimes, I, I have a local copy of the [00:42:00] Revolution, original Revolution theme, and every once in a while I just pop it open for nostalgic purposes and I\'m like, oh my God, how did we even live or thrive off of this software?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which is extremely embarrassing to think about . Um, and so, What Gutenberg, when I say Gutenberg, we\'re talking, you know, what originally started out as, um, sort of the whole thing. Now it\'s actually the experimental plugin, but the whole idea of the, the black editing experience and full site editing really allows us as product builders to do things that we can turn over to people that they can then easily work with themselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s the part I think, That excites me the most is not only can I sort of work within the system and design something that that just kind of looks really well, you empower people who otherwise have not been able to sort of do that for themselves by saying, Hey, you could change colors like in the WordPress dashboard with like one click versus like, Having to open a style sheet, but then you gotta go through ftp, [00:43:00] right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cuz maybe some, you know, hosts shut down the ability to edit fol, like all of this stuff that was like, I don\'t, I still don\'t understand how we got to where we did because there were so many ju uh, hoops to jump through. But what excites me the most though is, is just the ability to. And now the pattern stuff and the, uh, the harmonization of the post and page editor screens, like the traditional WP admin and the site editor, which is essentially the, the merging of them just makes it feel like you\'re doing one thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause I think a lot of people were like, oh, well Squarespace is so good cuz it\'s like there\'s, there\'s parody, visual parody between front end and backend. Like I just go to my thing and I type. Hit save and it just looks the way it does on the web. WordPress is not like that, right? The classic editor was like literally just a Google doc, but like on the front end it was like this beautiful design.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That separation is now closing, and we\'re getting to a point now where, um, at some point people are gonna be like, they won\'t know the front end from the back end, and it\'ll all be just like an experience and they\'ll be [00:44:00] empowered significantly more than they\'ve ever been. That\'s cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> I, yeah, I, I love hearing about things like, uh, block locking for instance.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. , that, that\'s showing responsiveness to the community that\'s really leveraging this as a tool. And, uh, the game over for me, for Gutenberg was I was trying to create a button and, you know, I mm-hmm. barely knew how to create HTML back in the day, and I went to look for a plugin only to realize Gutenberg does those things now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep. In natively. And then that was the point I was like, okay, this, now I\'m, I\'m stepping in gonna embrace, um, this thing called Gutenberg. And I\'m really curious to see, I know Frost and some of the work you\'ve done particularly was we need a base to start those workflows. Mm-hmm. to use some of these tools and uh, it\'ll be cool to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of that be fleshed out, creatively innovated, you know, along the way to keep, [00:45:00] to keep this thing called WordPress growing. All right, Brian. Thanks man. This was really good nostalgia, but I really wanted to get your perspectives on the, these things. I think it\'s important for us at the 20 year mark, I mean, 20 years on the internet is ancient.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. You know, and, and so, you know, the question I keep going is how do we. Doing the good work of democratizing publishing on the web, some of these things, I, I not just because of nostalgia. I love the fact that WordPress could be used from a blogger all the way up to a Fortune 500 company. Mm-hmm. and, um, across the world to, to free f Web.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, uh, I, I think now is the time for us to kind of remember some of these hallmarks that made us who we. And, um, and then reimagine what, what that looks like in the next phase. And I\'m excited for the WordPress community and that you\'re still here doing cool work, trying to cutting the edge, trying to like break things and push \'em past where they [00:46:00] want to be and show others that it can be done too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So anyway, thanks Brian for being on today at Post Status draft. And uh, by the way, so what is the role at WP Engine that you do specifically ? Now,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Gardner:</strong> yes, I am a developer advocate on the developer relations team, which basically as it stands now, we have two different developer relations team. One is for headless WordPress, which is a little bit more on like the product side at WP Engine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And our, our subset, which is uh, Nick Diego, Damon Cooken, myself, uh, Sam Munos is our community manager. We are. Essentially focused on the adoption of full site editing and the block editor. We use Frost as a way to sort of demonstrate that stuff. Uh, we\'re, we\'re supporting our, some of our product teams internally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, but you know, when I was hired by Heather, uh, Bruner, our c e o, she, you know, asked if I would be energized, you know, in a, in a, a role of this sort. And I said, Heather, I love WordPress. I love design and I love community. So if this role sort of [00:47:00] touches all three of those in various forms, I\'m all for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And. You know, it\'s been a great fit. I love working here and, um, really look forward to all the work we have ahead of us. Cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory Miller:</strong> Thanks Ryan for being here today. And thanks everybody else for listening in to another episode of the post status draft. And we\'re gonna press this 20. Um, this is a really good story and one I\'d like to, uh, hear again and again and, uh, it\'s still possible within WordPress in the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep.</p>\n<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:15:32 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Olivia Bisset\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"Post Status: Launching a WordPress Product in Public: Session 3\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=147828\";s:7:\"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://poststatus.com/launching-a-wordpress-product-in-public-session-3/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81304:\"<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-group eplus-wrapper has-theme-palette-2-color has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-text-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hirethere\">Corey Maass</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> have been working to build a WordPress product live. Their plugin, <a href=\"https://crop.express/#welcome\">Crop.Express</a>, has been submitted to the repo. They discuss the outcome of their submission and continue to develop features. In addition, they discuss building brand identity, cultivating awareness, and developing authority as a needed business. </p></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer eplus-wrapper\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"yoast-reading-time__wrapper\"><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__icon\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__spacer\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__descriptive-text\">Estimated reading time:  </span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__reading-time\">65</span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__time-unit\"> minutes</span></p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#h-transcript\">Transcript</a> ↓</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hirethere\">Corey Maass</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> share the results of submitting their WordPress plugin, <a href=\"https://crop.express/#welcome\">Crop.Express</a> to the repo. As they continue to build their product live, they develop branding, messaging, and strategy to validate their business and cultivate an audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top Takeaways:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Expanding Outwards.</strong> Repo offers inherent discoverability for WordPress products, but cultivating broader awareness is necessary for a product to succeed. Creating brand assets, a website, and a newsletter create conduits for growth.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Feel Out Your Brand. </strong>Be cautious not to box yourself in with branding. Consider what feeling you want people to get when using your product. Go a little deeper and have a little fun exploring the solutions and feelings you hope to offer as you create your branding. Move from literal to conception to better understand what defines your business.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ring the Bell. </strong>Identify your customer’s problem and keep talking about it. Invite ideal users to talk about it. Leverage your personal platforms to highlight the pain point and how your product improves it. By telling that story and having others do the same, you start to build a case for your business.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://crop.express/\">Crop.Express</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.billoreilly.com/\">Bill O’Reilly</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://generatewp.com/\">Generate WP</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.canva.com/\">Canva</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://minesweeperonline.com/\">Minesweeper</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html\">Photoshop</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.stockunlimited.com/\">Stock Unlimited</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.fiverr.com/?source=top_nav\">Fiver</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/\">Instagram</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://unsplash.com/\">Unsplash</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/\">YouTube</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.paypal.com/us/home\">PayPal</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://contentjourney.com/\">Content Journey</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://zoom.us/\">Zoom</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-you-can-follow-post-status-and-our-guests-on-twitter\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f426.png\" alt=\"🐦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"eplus-wrapper\">\n<li><a href=\"http://twitter.com/coreymaass\">Corey Maass</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> (CEO, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/lemonadecode\">Olivia Bisset</a> (Intern, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper has-background\">The <strong>Post Status Draft</strong> podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png\" alt=\"📝\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br /><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Browse our archives</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe via <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Simplecast</a>, or <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<h2>Session 3 Corey & Cory Launch a WordPress Product Live &nbsp; </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: [00:00:00] Oh yeah, of course. He, he gets so pissed off and, oh man, we, we<br />watched that a hundred times. Um, yeah, we\'re doing our live reference and stuff.<br />Cory Maass: Still reference it somewhat regularly. Yeah. , bill O\'Reilly, I guess.<br />Cory Miller: Bill O\'Reilly. That\'s it. Oh man.<br />Cory Maass: I couldn\'t have told you who it was, but,<br />yep. Classic, classic meme, classic quote, classic sample<br />Cory Miller: Okay. Tweak that out.<br />Yeah. Um, we were sound like 2009 when we started live streaming with you stream back in the<br />day and it was just sit on the green IKEA type couch. Put the laptop. And then one of the devs<br />were like, you ever seen the Billow rally clip? And I\'m [00:01:00] like, no. Now, I mean, I need to<br />see it. And then I was like, , just do it live.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah. I, uh, for a long time, cared a lot and still would try to, like, for probably five<br />years ago I was still doing like live DJ streaming DJ sets, which I\'m hoping to start doing again<br />soon. But like, was very meticulous about where I put the camera and the lighting and all that<br />stuff. And at some point it was like, you know what?<br />I need to just, I need to remove the friction from this and just make it easy. So it\'s like I just hit<br />like we\'re doing here, hit record, hit stream and go, and whatever happens, happens, you know,<br />but it\'s, it removed all hesitation to be like, you know what, it\'s four o\'clock. I, I don\'t wanna work<br />for the next hour.<br />Let me, you know, let me do something. So I\'ll bang out a DJ set and if people watch, [00:02:00]<br />they watch and they\'ll catch it later, you know? And it was just more fun that way.<br />Cory Miller: I, I love that you\'re open to this because I, it\'s weird, this weird thing. It\'s like<br />whether I\'m riding or trying to write something or do a start a new habit or whatever, it\'s just, I<br />like one having a partner to collaborate with, but two is kinda like putting it out there, you know?<br />Mm-hmm. just putting your stuff out there as raw as it might be. And I\'m really happy that you<br />were open and interested in doing this cause I, I think it\'s fun, you know, not a lot of Lindsay and<br />I did a podcast several years ago and it was just a time remember? And Oh yeah, we had some<br />friends over a couple weeks ago and they\'re like, yeah, we, we did that because, um, we, we<br />listened to a couple episodes and I thought, um, How maybe refreshing it is to hear other<br />people, you know, not that it\'s [00:03:00] comparing, but you\'re just like, oh, you and I doing this<br />Friday,<br />Cory Maass: it\'s not a big deal.<br />It\'s not super polished. Yeah. Yeah. I\'ve always been, I\'ve always been a DIY person and<br />unfortunately it, it is a bit of a bad habit, um, at points. It, it takes the fun out of things for me, but<br />I, I\'ve always been a doer and I\'ve always seen things, and then I think it, I think it\'s sort of the,<br />the way that I\'m an extrovert is, or part of the way that I\'m an extrovert is the, like I learn by<br />doing or I, I learned by replicating or whatever.<br />So it was like, but when I start, like I, I love, mostly what I listen to is electronic music, but a lot<br />of it is now ruined for me because I sit there and dissect it. Um, and, and try to figure out how I<br />would emulate it. And I\'ve, I\'ve managed to sort of untangle some of that, but a lot of it for a long<br />time was like, I can\'t, I can\'t just go to a party and enjoy, [00:04:00] like, I\'m sitting there trying to<br />figure out how I would, you know, create, recreate it or, or, you know, do make something<br />similar.<br />And same with most Art on the wall sculpture, things like that. Like, I struggle with that, you<br />know?<br />Cory Miller: Yeah. It, I love the music side, what we, and for everybody listening. We talked<br />yesterday, uh, Corey had a, came on to talk through something I was working on not related to<br />this product, and gave some incredible experience shares and some advice.<br />And when you were talking about music yesterday, I was like, I\'ve never been that type. I\'ve got<br />the most eclectic music fan, but recently I\'ve been getting into. , um, sound bowls in<br />frequencies, you know? Mm-hmm. . And, uh, it\'s been really fun. Um, and I just feel like, like I<br />want to ban, I want to do my sound bowl cause it\'s kind of my sort of meditation [00:05:00] Nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where my crazy monkey mind\'s going on. And so when he talked about music, I was like, all<br />right, now we\'re gonna jam about music at some point.<br />Cory Maass: So. Well, and this is where we start, uh, with make the obvious joke of like, oh,<br />what\'s, what\'s your favorite key? What, what\'s your favorite note? You know? Yeah. Because all<br />I can picture is the sound bowl.<br />Like I\'ve got an a minor, but I really, or a, an a, a sharp, but I really like the a, you know?<br />Cory Miller: Yes. So, okay, geeking out for just a second on this. So the, I don\'t know the better<br />term right now to talk about, but the internal and the spiritual side to mm-hmm. frequencies and<br />vibrations. Um, I went to a, I had it over the summer, I got to do a sound bath.<br />Cory Maass: Nice .<br />Cory Miller: And I was like, oh my God, this is the best thing, best thing on earth. I want more of<br />it. So the, these samples, um, and stuff, it\'s just like, so when you said and then mapping them,<br />because my music [00:06:00] education is like eighth grade, uh, you know, and so mapping<br />those to key notes and stuff, cause I\'ve been trying to figure out, okay.<br />I, I will digress. I\'m sorry, , I shouldn\'t digress anymore, but<br />Cory Maass: No, it\'s fine.<br />Cory Miller: Um, no, I\'ll take the rest of the hour and we\'re supposed to be talking about the<br />product, so , I\'ll keep, I\'ll help keep, meet myself in rain, in check here. Um, okay, session<br />number three.<br />Session number three is going. Um, okay, so here\'s the update. We, yesterday you, we, you<br />submitted the plugin to the repo.<br />We\'ve got that episode on, uh, YouTube and, um, so we\'re kind of in the waiting. For what<br />comes back from the approval processes, maybe? Or are we or are we ho ho.<br />Cory Maass: Um, so I, I want to call you out a little bit cause I think that again, the, you know,<br />in, in the, at the 10,000 foot level [00:07:00] or the transparency level or whatever, like you had<br />set a deadline for yourself for the read me last week and I could tell you were struggling with<br />like, the perfectionism, perfectionism of it or the, you know, I don\'t, I\'m not sure what I should do<br />here.<br />And so when you pinged me yesterday with, we were, we were going over some ideas, um, and<br />doing revisions and stuff, again, I could, I got a sense that you were not totally stuck because<br />you were working on it, but that we could be more productive by doing it together. And so we<br />jumped on a call and that was why.<br />You know, we\'re, we\'ve been trying to do this regularly, Wednesdays at noon, but we were<br />joking that that was, if this is session three, that was session 2.9 because it was, you know, not<br />our regularly scheduled program slot, but we got, it was another very productive hour. And,<br />[00:08:00] and another way that we helped each other through a process, because then it was,<br />you know, we did some really good brainstorming.<br />I, all of which I think is on film, that\'s, wow, I\'m aging myself. All of that is on YouTube. Um, but<br />talking through, just sort of brainstorming general ideas, distilling it down to a, a few sentences<br />enough so that we could just get it out the door. And at which point we were like, okay, it\'s,<br />we\'re, we\'re good enough.<br />Let\'s just do this. Um, so. Yes. Um, I actually read, uh, you tweeted, you know, we submitted the<br />plugin and I said, and we heard back, you know, what did they say? I tried to build a little<br />suspense, so, you know, for the thousands of people watching and listening right now, um, you<br />know, on the edge of their seats.<br />So, uh, we heard back within the same day, uh oh, okay. Which is really impressive. Um, and,<br />uh, the [00:09:00] only thing they needed us to change was we used Generate WP to create<br />that readme. And in so doing generate, WP created, um, one of the plugin tags or, you know,<br />line items at the top, um, was. One called Update URI and they don\'t want that included in<br />plugins that are included in the repo.<br />Cory Miller: Hmm.<br />Cory Maass: So the only, if I\'m reading the email correctly, the only thing we needed to do was<br />remove that one header and then resubmit it. .<br />Cory Miller: Okay.<br />Cory Maass: Which is, which is, there are a couple of things that I wanna say about that. One<br />is, uh, you know, we did a good job, uh, of writing simple enough code or whatever, but more<br />importantly to me, We, I\'ve never, so I\'ve, I\'ve submitted I think like three or four plugins, not a</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:00] lot, but I\'ve never had them come back and not say like, oh, you missed a place<br />where you need to sanitize or use anot or some, you know, usually, usually it\'s some little bit of<br />security, um, type stuff that I, I miss cause I\'m just kind of banging through.<br />I think in terms of MVP, like, I will, you know, clean this up later. Um, but we, by submitting<br />basically an MVP, a single more or less simple version, uh, I think is, you know, it, it limits the<br />likelihood that they\'re gonna go, oh, well, you know, there\'s, there are these big problems or<br />there\'s a hundred problems.<br />So, um, so fingers crossed they do say, um, do, do, do we believe this to be the complete<br />review of all issues found in your plugin. So make the corrections, review the, in the code,<br />resubmit it. I threw it up on, um, [00:11:00] my P cloud for them to download. And then, cause I<br />know that they run the code through some automated stuff, but I do know that a human also<br />looks at it, so there\'s a chance that they come back.<br />I might be, I\'m jinxing myself that we did so well because maybe they, they discovered<br />something on the second review or something like that. But, um, but yeah, so within a day did a,<br />uh, one line revision and sent it back. And so maybe this week we\'ll have this thing up in the<br />repo.<br />Cory Miller: That\'s great. That\'s great news.<br />Um, you know, I think yesterday you mentioned like first time I\'ve, or first time in a long time<br />since I\'ve submitted a plugin and I was like, I\'ve never done that process. I don\'t even think I<br />knew, you know, Never done a read me, never submitted it myself. Team did, of course. But um,<br />no. So all that, so that was really interesting seeing it behind the scenes.<br />And I gotta say over 15 years I\'ve been doing WordPress is, uh, we\'ve [00:12:00] come a long<br />way, you know? Yeah. Um, uh, a lot of things have, you know, there\'s always things we got, you<br />know, people grab about and we got things that, you know, aren\'t the great, the best, but I love<br />the spirit of like, we continue to move forward as a community.<br />And so, but it was interesting doing the Readme file because, um, I can\'t imagine as a<br />developer, you spend all this time just trying to write code, get the functions, you know, to do<br />what she wanted to do. And then you have this read me stuff and I was like, okay, if I\'m not a<br />developer and I\'m having a block about this, I can\'t imagine others. But you made the process<br />awesome, and I really appreciate that. That was one thing. I do like co-working sessions like<br />that. I really have found in the last couple years just coworking if somebody\'s like, Hey, could<br />you do this? I get in my own head space and blocked mm-hmm. , and I\'m like, sometimes I\'m<br />like, could you just be there?<br />Right. Uh, but yesterday you [00:13:00] were given good directio n.<br />Cory Maass: Well, and, and I\'ve, I\'ve had a little bit of experience with it, but it\'s also like, it was,<br />I found it easier than I often do because it was, I wasn\'t context switching. Like what I often am<br />doing is I\'m banging out code and then I\'m like, okay, I\'m ready to submit this.<br />And I\'m like, crap, there\'s a whole laundry list of other things that I need to do or, or want to do a<br />logo, uh, the support link that we set up, like all that kind of stuff. And, and it\'s, that\'s, that\'s the<br />hardest part of being a solopreneur, which is usually my situation of like, okay. And I was even<br />doing this this morning for some, for a different product of like, I needed to do a little code<br />update, but then I needed to tweak the logo, but then I needed to, you know, update the email<br />that gets sent when somebody purchases.<br />But then I need to, and it\'s like, man, you\'re just, it\'s tough being all over the place. And so you<br />and I sitting down and [00:14:00] going, we\'re gonna do the Read Me, you know, and, and went<br />a little deep on like the beginning of, um, what is our wording? What is our message? What is<br />our pro, um, uh, our problem statement?<br />What is our, you know, I, I was actually able to do that, which I\'m not always, isn\'t always the<br />case. Yeah.<br />Cory Miller: It\'s like we\'re a two person mastermind.<br />Well, um, okay, so. We\'re there, I mean, very close final stages of getting the plugin. Um, we<br />talked a little bit about this, but what\'s our list of things we got next? Um, I, so we have the<br />website and that\'s one part of it. Mm-hmm. , um, we, we talked about that. We need to have,<br />we\'ll do some changes like there, there\'s the SaaS side of it, you know, just being able to<br />[00:15:00] crop it online. Um, but now we\'re gonna potentially get people coming to the website.<br />We got the email newsletter set up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actually, I should check that. I forget our list. But, um, what\'s on, what\'s on your mind for next<br />steps? I, I tend to think in the marketing is website and email list. So to me it\'s<br />Cory Maass: yeah, well, expanding outwards, right? So starting with the plugin in the repo,<br />which we talked about a couple, like last week, I think of like, because of the inherent<br />discoverability, and obviously because we are talking about it, we\'re gonna start to get a trickle<br />of users.<br />Um, and so we want to be able to, so, so in order to make the best impression inside the,<br />[00:16:00] the.org plugin repo or plugin directory, they want to, want us to call that, call it now.<br />Um, we need images, like banners, and so, uh, I can, I can create those pretty easily, easily in<br />Canva. Um, we don\'t actually need a logo yet.<br />We, I, it\'s more fun if we, you know, it\'s kinda like buying a domain, like creating a logo to me is<br />really fun. Um, or, or having one made or ha whatever process we wanna do. But for the time<br />being like we just, you know, there\'s a mast head essentially, and so we can just literally write<br />the words crop express in our, in.<br />Um, you know, whatever tagline we, we wanna start with. Um, but I feel like that, because the,<br />by default, if you don\'t do that, then you get, um, the, the repo will do these sort of plaid, you<br />know, just sort of placeholder [00:17:00] images and um, you know, some of the best plugins out<br />there created 10 years ago still have those.<br />But where we\'re starting and we we\'re essentially starting to create a brand, now is the time to<br />already create something. And again, we can swap them out as often as we want. Yeah. Um,<br />but to have a little square icon or image or something, and then that masthead, I think is, we<br />wanna do sooner than later.<br />Cory Miller: Mm-hmm. ,<br />Cory Maass: um, which I think, you know, this is always the. You know, there\'s no, what was it<br />back with Windows? Like you couldn\'t delete, um, Minesweeper because it was somehow<br />connected to the Notes app or something, you know, this kind of thing. Like there\'s this, all this<br />interconnectivity, but it\'s like by create, also by creating the Masthead Indoor, starting to think<br />about a logo that\'s gonna help us continue to refine some of the marketing language.<br />Um, [00:18:00] so to me that\'s the, all that stuff is kind of on my mind. cause I think that some<br />people are going, going to, fewer people are gonna be going to crop.express the website right<br />now because we\'re not selling anything. We\'re not doing, we\'re not pushing anybody towards it<br />kind of thing yet, you know?<br />Cory Miller: Mm-hmm.<br />the only thing I want to just emphasize from the marketing side is, uh, as soon as we can<br />having, um, conduits to get people to sign up for our newsletter. Yeah. Um, just so we have a<br />base, it\'s what I. For sure is a center point strategy. Um, so when we talk about logo and<br />masthead and the brand, one of the things maybe for discussion for us is what do we think the<br />minimum?<br />And it may just be those two, right? But minimum things we need for someone to be able to go,<br />I\'m gonna try that out. And then we\'ve talked [00:19:00] heavily about like, the intention for this<br />first is to get feedback. Mm-hmm. , um, in what they want next. Like give them enough of a<br />spark to go, I want more. Yeah. Um, and we\'ve, we\'ve got that in plugin.<br />Um, the request a feature type thing. Mm-hmm. . So I\'m thinking of what\'s our next step?<br />Minimums. So we\'ve got logo and masthead. We need, we need that. Um, We already got email<br />newsletter. We talked a little bit about website, the initial promotion I have down here. Anything<br />else on your mind about next steps that we missed?<br />Not yet. Nope.<br />Cory Maass: Okay. Again, I think it\'s just, yeah, starting to fill out. It\'s like we, we have the<br />engine now, you know, what is, what does the car look like? And we don\'t have to build all the<br />other models of car and we don\'t have to build the [00:20:00] dealership and we, you know, all<br />that\'s down the road. But to get started, like, yeah, we need, you know, just, just sort of to start<br />expanding outwards.<br />Cory Miller: Okay. So from logo and mass head standpoint, um, I try to fancy myself as design<br />and it\'s more like I can design taste. I\'m not, if I fancy myself a designer at some point in my life<br />now I\'m like, Nope, not a designer anymore. just one with hopefully good taste. Um, I do have<br />an outlet. Like you, you did mention Camba.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I do have an outlet to get something designed. Um, so what\'s your preferences and everything<br />on design? From a brand standpoint? I like personally clean, modern. Yeah. You know, I, I think<br />about the iconic cropping, you know, right. Cropping.<br />Cory Maass: I did try to get away from, um, like, so, [00:21:00] so what I\'ve been doing lately is,<br />um, like I, I started in the late nineties, you know, when you would literally design a website in<br />Photoshop and then cut it up.<br />Um, and so I still have, uh, the technical chops just like you. At one point considered myself a<br />designer. I still care a lot about it, but I, I know I do not begin to, it\'s a muscle and I, that muscle<br />has atrophied. So, um, but what I, what I will often do now, because again, I, I can tweak<br />something pretty readily as like the, the scissors icon that I have on the website now was clip art<br />that I found.<br />Like I have a lifetime license to Stock Unlimited. So I went in there and I was like, you know,<br />what is cropping? Um, You know, scissors or something like that. I found a vector graphic that I<br />like, I tweaked it slightly so that it looked [00:22:00] more the way I wanted it. A little friendlier,<br />like I rounded the edges and stuff, and that was, you know, that was V1 of the logo.<br />Um, I, I got to have fun choosing some colors and, you know, playing in, um, illustrator or, I<br />guess at this point I use Affinity Designer, but you know, it\'s not, um, not much more than that<br />because I honestly, I now consider pretty much everything an MVP including logos until they\'re<br />not, you know, if, if once it\'s very important that we have brand recognition, then, then we lock it<br />down.<br />But until then, um, okay. I also frequently will use fiber. Like I\'ll go on and, um, hire multiple<br />people. and then take all the, I usually think of it more as like a, a brainstorming session and I\'ll<br />take all the concepts. I very rarely have had somebody come back with something that I\'m like,<br />that\'s it. Done.<br />Mm-hmm. . Um, [00:23:00] so I\'m, you know, that gives you an idea of sort of my, my usual<br />method. The only other thing that, that I have cared about lately is, oh, well, two things. One, I<br />did try intentionally to get away from the iconic cropping icon. Um, just I think as much as an<br />exercise of like, can we go beyond that or, or can we allude lightly to that without it being the<br />obvious, um, you know, icon that everybody expects.<br />And then the other thing is, I\'ve been trying very hard to use color palettes that are a little<br />outrageous, especially on the web. Um, and so like I\'ve been, lately, I\'ve been googling eighties<br />color palette, , eighties colors, and then using those, so it\'s like hot pink, magenta or, you know,<br />um, neon colors or, yeah.<br />And, or, um, another app, I, I, same sort of thing. I googled seventies and it\'s, so, it\'s like the<br />[00:24:00] burnt orange, you know, but it\'s just like, I don\'t want the, the standard, like the<br />WordPress blue hurts me right at this point. Like, it, it is what it is and it, it is what it should be,<br />but how do we stand out, you know?<br />Yeah. So, um, and I think, you know, we\'ll, we\'ll pick and choose how much we, if we go totally<br />outrageous, how much we actually put that into the plugin, but at least for logo branding, stuff<br />like that. Like how do we. Stand out.<br />Cory Miller: So, yeah. Hey, I\'m good with that. I mean, you go hot pink. I\'m, I\'m fine with that<br />too, you know?<br />Yeah. Um, it\'s just fun. Do you want to take the, the lead then on, on the logo and masted<br />sounds like you got some energy and kind of vision for<br />Cory Maass: Yeah, I, I have fun. I have fun doing it. I think the, I could use help with, um, I<br />mean if we\'re [00:25:00] content with the scissors and we just want to change the colors or<br />maybe we don\'t even want to change the colors, like then we just run with what we\'ve got.<br />It definitely could use some punching up and I\'d love another pair of eyes. Um, if not that, then<br />I\'d, you know, I think it would be great if we. 15 minutes together or some time apart just going,<br />what are conceptually, what do we wanna do or what, what would be fun and unique or what<br />would be weird and outrageous or, you know, more concepts.<br />Yeah. Because again, like, I just wanted something. Yeah,<br />Cory Miller: absolutely. Um, I, I mean, I like the eighties thing you\'re talking about, and you<br />know, I was trying to think like, what are the modern kind of thoughts when you think about<br />cropping? Uh, and I, I think about, um, Instagram, like their version of cropping is not the, the<br />crop symbol.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s more like a square with the rule of [00:26:00] thirds in there. Mm-hmm. . And so I tend to<br />think like, how do people today, what are they familiar with? And Instagram seems like, you<br />know, most I would. Think most people have used Instagram and know what that cropping tool<br />is. Um, how that\'s like, it\'s, isn\'t it, let me like, real quick.<br />Cory Maass: It seems like I, I like what you\'re saying because it\'s, it\'s also Instagram sort of set<br />the standard for we accept squares and now they accept other, other things rectangles. But um,<br />it\'s, it is the modern version of, or the updated concept of like, you know, initially it was like, it is<br />a square, it is whatever it was initially, you know, it\'s 800 pixels full stop.<br />Cory Miller: Yeah. And now I\'m trying to like, yeah, it\'s, it\'s kind of the rule of thirds and you<br />[00:27:00] just pinch in out, I thought, how does Camba do it? Or does Camba do Camba does<br />cropping in there somewhere?<br />Cory Maass: They do. I mean, but it\'s to me, It\'s this, it\'s very sim it\'s the same concept as like<br />Photoshop or Illustrator or whatever, where you\'ve got the four circles.<br />And so you can grab a corner and, and you can, you can move the mask or you can resize the<br />whole thing. But it\'s, it\'s very free. And, and I think I, you bringing up Instagram I think is a really<br />interesting, it\'s not a metaphor, but a comparison in some ways because we are crop express<br />sort of. The point is that we don\'t let you just free form crop.<br />We like lock you down to correct image size and aspect ratio. So<br />Cory Miller: yeah, we, we [00:28:00] guide you in the best, right? So you don\'t have to make<br />mistakes. But we keep, I think we keep betting, our first feature request is gonna be a custom<br />dimension.<br />Cory Maass: Which is fine, but because again, it\'s like you plug in something and then lock it<br />down.<br />So it\'s, um, having fun running with the concepts of, you know, in the eighties, I think you and I<br />were both, uh, in elementary school, um, which brings to mind, um, uh, safety scissors, like the<br />little kid safety, scissors. Um, which is also a thing that was like, it locked you down, like you<br />couldn\'t stab your friend.<br />Um, not that we didn\'t try, um, no running with scissors. Um, I\'m picturing like cutting out<br />cardboard, um, construction paper. Um, and so it\'s like that leads me to the thinking of like, what<br />is the result we\'re talking about of cropping, which is obviously an image, but it\'s like, is there<br />something [00:29:00] with um, uh, shapes or, um, What\'s that, that game where you have, you<br />know, it\'s like telegram or something, a gram where you\'ve, you know, you put the triangle and<br />the square together and make a house kind of thing.<br />Cory Miller: Um, oh yeah. It\'s funny, I just googled this and I saw one of these up here and I<br />can\'t find it, but I had like kind of a safety scissors, if you can see that right there. Oh,<br />Cory Maass: yep, yep. Right there. Yeah. See, I like that to me is already a little cuter than the<br />ones that I initially<br />Cory Miller: grabbed. This is, see how that, see how this little thing right here?<br />That\'s what I was thinking Instagram was, but I couldn\'t find it on my phone. But this is what I<br />was thinking. It\'s like, this is pretty familiar, you know? Yep. However it needs to match. I think<br />probably something in there, but I almost, I don\'t know. I, I don\'t want to get too, uh, particular<br />about it because I think you, [00:30:00] you got the grass.<br />I will say, we know we have a bigger. Vision than just this, in this realm of photo manipulation,<br />editing, getting the right thing in the design. Um, so I, you know, I\'m pretty open. It\'s like, I feel<br />like the feeling we want, this is maybe what we could talk about, the feeling we want is I rely on<br />that. Oh, that made that easier.<br />You know, the relief, the being able to kind of get to the finished pr, their finished outcome, that<br />our thing is just one part of that. But you know what I mean, we talked a lot about this with our,<br />uh, e-commerce product back in the day, is what\'s the feeling we want for people to get? And<br />we want a e-commerce to be fun and feel lighter than just like, oh my God, it\'s like I\'m filling out<br />a tax form, you know, , that\'s what it kind of feels like.<br />Um, so any thoughts? Any thoughts there? [00:31:00] And, and we\'re going a little deeper than<br />we probably normally would to, but kind of fun to me to, to talk about these things.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah, agreed. Like, I mean, conceptually, this is, this is definitely some of the fun<br />part. Um, I liked what you said about, so we were, we talked a lot yesterday about workflow, and<br />you said just now the, the feeling of making things simpler.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\'m like, okay, so if you\'ve got a laundry list of things you have to do, however that\'s<br />represented, a list of things vertically or blocks side by side, and then like somehow<br />representing the, the removal of items in the middle so that it\'s, you go from A to B or you know,<br />A to Z. In four steps instead of 20.<br />How, how many letters are there in the alphabet? 26, I think. But anyway, you get the idea, you<br />know, so I\'m, um, and that [00:32:00] what you just showed with the, um, the grid, the cropping<br />grid, um, I\'m picturing, you know, two squares with the cropping grid in the middle. That kind of<br />represents like we re we removed something from, you know, from this line of blocks, but you<br />also get the sense of like, oh, you\'re cropping a thing in the middle.<br />Um, you know, so some of these visual concepts. The other thing that came to mind was on<br />that, with that grid, like the first masthead we do, I think should have the cropping grid on it. Just<br />because that way, like you said, it\'s a visual visually, you immediately go, oh, that\'s we\'re<br />cropping image.<br />Cory Miller: This is a version of what we were doing yesterday with the read me files.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'re trying to paint a picture. Right. And I think you just nailed it. Is that some signal, image-<br />wise on masthead of like, that\'s, this is what that does. Like there\'s not even words. It\'s like</p>\n\n\n\n<p>recognition. Mm-hmm. . And I think that\'s pulling it in and you know, I [00:33:00] was thinking if<br />we step up a second, we go, it seems like a lot of the things we\'re talking about with this product<br />in the future direction is um, big category banner is content production or content.<br />Content production. And then we step down and we drill down to that. And it\'s like you talked<br />about expanding out. I got expand way out then to come back in is content, content production,<br />workflow, images, that seems like everything we\'ve talked about is like in that image category.<br />So that. Some visual display to connect.<br />I\'m in the visual, like I just Googled, uh, affinity Designer. Cause I was like, well if you, I wanna<br />see this. I\'ve, I was a early Photoshop user. Yeah. But it\'s like that feeling of, it\'s a tool for<br />creation. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. or mani manipulation is not the right board, but, you<br />know, um, I think connects it down.[00:34:00]<br />So I, I dig that.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah. And I, I like what you\'re saying about, I think the top conceptual, like where<br />you go from literal to conceptual is there\'s a line above image, photo or image images. It\'s like, I<br />don\'t think we we\'re going to apply the word crop to text or something else. And so it\'s like<br />literally we are going to be.<br />Cropping images expand that we\'re manipulating images, expand that dealing with images,<br />expand that you get conceptual of content creation or something. So yeah, I like the idea of<br />buying in now to something that, that draws a, draws that line that says we\'re talking about<br />photo or image images and that get, that lets us, you [00:35:00] know, then we can do anything<br />we want down the road.<br />Because like we\'ve also talked about, we don\'t wanna lock ourselves into features. We want our<br />users to lock us into features or inversely let us expand other things. But it\'s like, I don\'t, if we<br />end up talking about. AI words, then to me that\'s, we, we then go, okay, are we starting another<br />plugin? Um, you know, but we could do AI images and that would still be in the con maybe in<br />the concept context of Crop Express.<br />Cory Miller: Holy crap. Dude. Now you\'re gonna get my mind like buzzing. But the AI images<br />thing, future roadmap mm-hmm. for discussion there. Because what just I, I like anchoring this<br />back on this, just like you\'re doing different ways. Um, when we originally talked, we were like,<br />what could this be in flow as you\'re going [00:36:00] down mm-hmm.<br />um, you know, and be like, okay, there it is. Um, I click an image in Gutenberg code editor and<br />then I get to upload media and the cropping tools are right there, and I think. Native. I think that<br />is a good experience. That\'s how I do content production. People have bigger teams, of course<br />they\'re gonna have other sophisticated tool Sure.<br />Tools, but we\'re kind of in this almost everyday content producer, you know, which is a lot of<br />buckets. Yeah. But gosh, that\'s compelling. The AI image side is like, that\'s how we started this.<br />And we decided our big critical decision was to pull it out just to the featured image, to start<br />there, see where our demand went.<br />But if we go back to that original kind of thought was, put it in the flow. You know, I start with a<br />headline, then I start writing and I add my, you know, images as I go [00:37:00] thing. That AI</p>\n\n\n\n<p>potential could really be cool. Oh yeah. Um, with all the open AI talk and the channel we have in<br />Slack, I\'m, I\'m really.<br />Curious, like I wanna run into this whole new field and see what\'s there, . Um, so like this image<br />side of that is really compelling because I don\'t know about you, this is about the product<br />experience, but finding an image is a terrible experience. That\'s why I don\'t do it. So<br />downstream, if we think about this image AI thing, it\'s like how can we help someone get the<br />image effect, the visual placeholder guide, part of the story you\'re writing in your post content? I<br />think that really fits to put on the future discussion side.<br />Absolutely. But, but this is my process and I\'d like to hear yours cause I want to hear, I want to<br />hear more user stories about how they do it. cause if we can get in [00:38:00] line with enough<br />people and understand how they do it, then we got innovation ideas all day, then we can just<br />help them with their workflow. So, I don\'t do this regularly, but I\'m like, okay, I want an image.<br />I\'ve, to me, I write and that\'s an exploration. Oftentimes, I don\'t have a formula or a framework. I<br />think a lot of PE other people do, specifically like Lindsay at Content Journey, they have a whole<br />workflow. But finding something in there. This would be interesting, Corey. Don\'t let me<br />daydream too much.<br />Okay. This is conceptual. I have no idea how it would get done necessarily, but imagine you<br />write, you write your post and you\'re like, you want the featured image crop express, click the<br />button, it looks at some keywords. Oh, for sure. And then develop something for that, you know,<br />featured image thing. That would be, I mean, I know we\'re still early in all the M N J I stuff, but<br />like finding the right prompt for that, that [00:39:00] comes out with something interesting.<br />Oh yeah. Saves a ton of time, like, oh yeah, you mentioned your service. I, I\'ve used Unsplash<br />in the part and I always get frustrated cause I\'m like, nothing matches my style. Nothing. It just<br />feels hokey, you know? Yeah.<br />Cory Maass: And that\'s, so, yeah, it\'s, it\'s definitely something I think would be fun to explore<br />down the road and, and certainly fits in the, the overall, the problems we\'re trying to solve of<br />making content creation easy and filling out, you know, that last mile, the last mile is the hardest<br />mile kind of thing.<br />Writing the blog post, I won\'t say is the easy part, but it\'s the part that I think you\'re absolutely<br />right, Most people don\'t go and find a picture. They wanna, they wanna write about, you know, I<br />don\'t know, house plants or something. They don\'t go find a picture of a house plant and then<br />write the blog post.<br />They come to WordPress to write a blog post about house plants and then are like, okay, I<br />better put an [00:40:00] image in here of a house plant. And then, Just as you said, like there\'s,<br />there\'s endless scrolling and discovery of find, trying to find the fir the, the perfect image. Um,<br />that could go in a lot of different directions and, and could, could be huge, could be a really big<br />lift or a tiny lift depending on what we wanted to do.<br />Like there are already services that will, that take advantage of like Unsplash and some of the<br />other open free ones that do basic keyword matching. Um, so I think we just kind of keep an eye<br />on that space or that functionality. Um, cause it, cause yeah, combine discoverability or um, uh,<br />finding images, but with the way that AI is manipulating images.<br />So you\'re like, you know, go look at all the images of house plants on Unsplash and, and<br />whatever other public ones, but now generate something in the style of da Vinci boom. You<br />[00:41:00] know? And, and keep regenerating until you get one you like, and then, you know,<br />so, but that\'s, you know, the, the lift of that is not something we can do for free.<br />I\'ll say .<br />Cory Miller: Yeah, exactly. We need somebody to pay us. Okay.<br />Cory Maass: But yeah, but I do, I, you know, all of this exercise, it\'s like, okay, yes, I won\'t let<br />you daydream for the next two hours, but all of this, you know, us mentioning different random<br />things, I think helps dictate, like, at the beginning of this conversation, I was like, oh, scissors<br />are fine, let\'s run with it.<br />But, you know, if our hope is down the road, we\'re expanding way beyond literally making an<br />image from this size to this size, then a then scissors is probably not the, the metaphor, the<br />visual metaphor that we want. It\'s not inclusive enough, so, you know, [00:42:00] What, what<br />other visuals, what other icons or objects represent the visual, you know, an eyeball or glasses<br />or, um, I don\'t, you know, a camera.<br />Yeah, I mean, that\'s Instagram.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Yeah. So just segue in for a second to prep our conversations. We\'re making<br />incremental progress and a lot of this stuff. So we got one Lego and mast head. You\'re gonna<br />start with that. We\'ll go, come back and forth. What things can I be working on? Um, two,<br />Cory Maass: I I would love you to start thinking about a first, a couple of things.<br />One, um, this is the stuff that I, I understand conceptually, but cannot. Ever wrap my head<br />around is like, how do we, is the, what is it? The, there are two [00:43:00] dimensions. There\'s<br />three dimensions of, of space, but the fourth dimension is time, right? So I have a real hard time<br />with time with, uh, we get, we get to the point where we\'ve got a logo that\'s fine, a masthead.<br />That\'s fine. A read me, we\'ve, we\'ve, you know, some people are trying out, you know, then, like<br />you said, um, promotion and what does that look like and what does that look like over time?<br />Um, if we\'re gonna start emailing people as, as people join the mailing list, um, you know, what<br />is the monthly newsletter or whatever the cadence we decide on, what, what is, what does six<br />months of that content look like?<br />I mean, obviously like, I\'m not expecting paragraphs, but just like conceptually, you know? Um,<br />and then, and then also I think, um, How do you envision the evolution of the website?<br />[00:44:00] Where again, right now it is a single purpose, you know, single page app, but that still<br />needs to be on the site somewhere. But obviously we wanna start migrating the website to be a<br />landing page to hold hands with the plugin.<br />Um, you know, and again, we\'re not, I\'m not talking huge major redesign tomorrow, but it\'s the<br />like, cause it\'s, it\'s you saying, okay, if, if the goal is, you know, we\'re ramping up content output<br />within the next couple of months, then, then you need a place to put that content. So within the<br />next couple of months, we need the website.<br />you know, roughly to have these five things, a blog so that I could put blog posts or a<br />documentation, um, section so that we can start writing documentation or whatever. Um, so that<br />kind of thing, because I think there\'s, there\'s going to be a point where we [00:45:00] need to<br />put, um, railroad cars in order mm-hmm. so that we\'re not, we\'re, you know, not getting in our<br />own way.<br />And you are empowered because there\'s, you know, I think part of the, the arc of this kind of<br />situation that often happens is, you and I have fun brainstorming, but upfront I\'m gonna do most<br />of the work of development and that kind of thing. But then at some point, the roles switch<br />where it\'s like, okay, I\'ve delivered, I\'ve given you something to sell.<br />Now go sell it. Mm. And so I wanna make sure that I\'m not just adding features. And then you\'re<br />like, okay, great, I\'ll now go sell this thing. I need to start writing blog posts. We need a blog. And<br />I\'m like, oh crap. Like we are not set up for that at all.<br />Cory Miller: Um, okay, let me talk, talk that out. That\'s, uh, that\'s great framing for me.<br />Um, so promotion. So product is out. We need [00:46:00] some eyeballs, we need somebody<br />testing it. We need somebody using it. Um, so I think my first step to me is how do we talk about<br />it personally? Use our own platforms cause we don\'t have a platform on crop express. So right<br />now we\'re depending on, uh, repost. Um, our audience, which I think is great.<br />We have audience, we have people that do this stuff. Um, then we have a conduit to talk about<br />it. cause a lot of the agency, the builders, people are in Post Us, which is great. So we can be<br />like mm-hmm hit us up on Slack, um, to to, to talk and give us feedback and stuff. I think what<br />we\'re trying to, trying to validate, I guess in the more scientific way is where\'s the interest?<br />You know, have we hit something? Are we there? Have we hit gold yet? [00:47:00] Um, so to<br />me, how do we get enough eyeballs is the question on the plugin. Like, use it and get some<br />response. And I think we\'ve got something here that either negative or positive, we\'re gonna get<br />something to gauge. , what\'s the next critical thing?<br />And as we\'ve said before, like I think the feature request side of this is the key right now is<br />somebody using it, going, I want this, I like this, but I want this. And then we gotta, we start to<br />build that business case for, okay, well if we built that, you and I can make those, those<br />decisions. Mm-hmm. . So just talking this out loud, without really processing it, I go use our<br />personal platforms to get some burst.<br />I think it would be interesting, I, I go to some of these outlandish things only to calibrate a little<br />bit. So when I say this, I wanna get that disclaimer. [00:48:00] It\'s like, you want a banner, you<br />wanna ring a bell and say, this sucks. We made it better. Like, doesn\'t this suck? Mm-hmm. ,<br />you know, so I almost. Cropping images sucks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, there\'s this thought of like, I, I come back a lot to cause you know, cause is the<br />customer\'s problem. And so I go, okay. I mean that was what I told you initially, like months ago.<br />I go, this, this process sucks, right? Like, I don\'t like it and I\'m not trying to throw shade on any<br />of the core contributors at all.<br />Just this is a part in the process that really sucks. Yep. We\'ve made a step to make it better. But<br />big enough bell where it\'s not just that cause we have, we have plans and potential for more. So<br />I almost think like there\'s something in that. You were really good to come up with ideas and edit<br />some stuff.<br />It\'s like content. Something to the effect of [00:49:00] image editing sucks. Content, you know,<br />something in the realm, but it\'s just a little enough bigger than just the one thing we talked about<br />is like, finding images sucks. We know we wanna be careful with saying finding, so we don\'t<br />want them to think they\'re gonna find an image.<br />Right. Um, but I kind of think like some bell to ring, um, in that regard. And what\'s interesting to<br />me, there\'s con and, and so I just naturally go to content and what we do and what comes out of<br />us and what we\'re passionate about. And I\'m like, I\'d never heard of, I probably maybe have<br />heard of Affinity Designer, but talking about all the tools and how it\'s a pain in the butt on the<br />web to do images, like get what you want.<br />This whole conversation about fitting in to the post, like our process of going and finding an<br />image. So I go, core thing is this, but there\'s a lot of space around this to talk about [00:50:00]<br />images. Sure. And they\'re rolling that,<br />Cory Maass: Yeah, images are worth a thousand words. You\'ve already written a thousand<br />word blog post.<br />You have to go find an image now. Now pairing it with your a thousand words should not be<br />difficult. Um, and so definitely like the tools that people are using, the sites that people are<br />using, I think that there\'s, I, you know, I\'m a, I have subscriptions to at least half a dozen<br />newsletters that just recommend little power tools, little utility apps, cause that\'s, I love them.<br />They\'re fun. They spark ideas like crop express. Um, and so I think talking to some of those, Or<br />getting, obviously getting a, getting listed everywhere we can. That\'s, that\'s a no-brainer, but<br />specifically not only us putting out content, but but starting to talk to the people who are talking<br />to the content [00:51:00] creators.<br />So it\'s like, you know, there are blog po blog, excuse me, there are newsletters that are for<br />content creators and, you know, getting them to talk about here\'s a way to, um, you know, a<br />better, you, you\'ve written, you, you\'ve used a AI to write the, the blog post, or you\'ve written it<br />yourself or you\'ve hired somebody to write it yourself.<br />Here\'s a, here\'s a, you know, speed up the rest of the workflow. Um, there was something else<br />that just popped into my head too, but anyway, you know, but something like that.<br />Cory Miller: Yeah. So I was thinking like hyper users, cause the hyper users that like, do you<br />pay for affinity designer? Uh,<br />Cory Maass: I did once and that\'s why it\'s okay.<br />Cory Miller: So it was enough of a tool for you to pay for cause you use it in your everyday life,<br />you know? So I wonder, like, I\'m thinking hyper users, who are those? And this is the business<br />case too. So I think about Lindsey at Content Journey. They\'re, they\'re writing and posting and<br />publishing content for, [00:52:00] um, cut their clients all day, every day.<br />And I go, I should talk to Emily over there, um, about her process and get her be one of it. Um,<br />when it\'s in the repo, ask her to use it on one site and give us some feedback. Who, who else in<br />the hyper user that we know of that we could potentially get in their hands?<br />Cory Maass: Describe like what, how are you using the phrase hyper user? Okay.<br />Cory Miller: Well, somebody that does professional content production. Okay. Um, so that<br />could also, I mean, there\'s a ton of blog, you know Sure. What we formally call bloggers, but<br />using content, doing content every day, particularly in WordPress. Mm-hmm. . So there is that<br />pro blogger type content machine, you know?<br />Yep. Yeah. Um, we\'ll be using it at Post Status of course.<br />Cory Maass: [00:53:00] I mean, my clients will definitely use it cause they already, like I I said<br />early on, like I\'ve already, I have them going to the website to do cropping and so to remove that<br />step where they can just do it in WordPress, they\'re gonna do back flips, which will be fun to<br />watch.<br />Um,</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Yeah, I\'m, but I was also thinking for me, but that raw feedback you get Oh yeah.<br />When somebody\'s using it is so gold. So, oh yeah. I will love to hear what your clients say and<br />then I\'ll, I\'ll, I\'ll do a demo or something, or I\'ll do a screen share with Emily and ask her to look<br />at it. And first I\'ll te I\'ll first of all ask her for, I\'ll say, tell me how you, show me how you do a<br />typical blog.<br />And then I\'ll be like, okay, install this plugin here and tell me what you\'re thinking.<br />Cory Maass: Yep. Um, and this might be a little further down the road. Um, but the other thing<br />that jumps into my mind is like plugins, like Yost, where you have to upload a, an image. Um, so<br />this [00:54:00] isn\'t necessarily a featured image, but it\'s the, the image that that ends up being<br />the open graph image associated with each post.<br />Also, I\'m, I\'m, I\'m sure is supposed to be of specific dimensions. Um, and so I picture. Um,<br />they\'d be happy to write about like once, once we are even loosely integrated. But if it\'s useful to<br />their users, um, then they\'re gonna love our tool, right? So, um, getting, getting content or other<br />tools that interact with that, make their, that whose users interact with images, we\'re gonna also<br />make their customers happier.<br />Um, even if we are not immediately inter, you know, um, integrated, like will we, will we sell a<br />Yost add-on? I have no idea. But even upfront, well, if we, the minute we expand beyond<br />[00:55:00] featured images, we\'re like, here\'s how you, you know, in your media library, upload<br />an image, crop it for Yost, and then you go over to Yost and say, select this image to be your<br />open graph image for socials.<br />You know, basically connecting that, um, closing that circle, I\'m sure they\'d be happy to talk<br />about it. And that\'s an example, right? So it\'s like what other, um, big plugins or big systems<br />services that interact with WordPress that primarily or even curly, interact with images that we<br />can help make their customers\' lives easier than they\'re gonna want to talk about us.<br />Cory Miller: Okay, so right there, two things. Stand out. Besides Yoast, Yoast Is one of those, of<br />course. Um, but membership sites and e-commerce and I draw to that category because they\'re<br />making money with it. So they\'re the ability to spend money on it. So, question with<br />WooCommerce, [00:56:00] man, it\'s been forever, but when they upload a product image, are<br />they using default WordPress?<br />Stuff.<br />Cory Maass: And I\'ll tell you tomorrow,<br />Cory Miller: right there, there\'s an inroads. Oh yeah. Um, oh yeah. I think about the<br />membership sites, an LMS from Learn Dash to Lifter to Paid Membership Pro and everything.<br />And starting to talk about them, about that stuff. So there\'s code promotion stuff we could do. So<br />that, that would be like Kim Coleman.<br />We can reach out probably Bob Dunn to start with WooCommerce, but we\'ve got a whole<br />channel in, in, uh, Post Status. We could talk there. And then just WooCommerce is the big,<br />huge , you know, thing. Yeah. But, and I just went there directly cause you\'re like a little free<br />utility tool that helps them do one [00:57:00] thing.<br />There\'s a great. Oh yeah. To, uh, to scratch. Okay. So I\'ve got a couple of those, um, to think<br />about that I could be pinging people and asking. Um, okay. On email, I\'ll be think I tried to stay, I<br />started with promotion and go down and go, okay, what do we need from the website and the<br />email? I think, um, I, I love that the website itself is, is, is the tool.<br />Is a tool and it\'s a great tool and there\'s opportunities there. Um, it\'s not in the WordPress flow,<br />but I love it from a, let\'s, if we just called it a lead magnet<br />Cory Maass: mm-hmm. , which is, you know, how would what we\'re talking about. Yep. Yeah.<br />Cory Miller: Um, and like have the link to want better image, whatever our phrase is in<br />WordPress over there.<br />Then we\'ll have the pro version, um, So I\'m [00:58:00] hesitant to say to do anything right now<br />with the website other than those things because I still love, we\'re gonna get some trickle in and<br />they go and they got used and they can bookmark those and go back like I do with it. So we\'re<br />in their workflow too.<br />Cory Maass: So here\'s one other thing that I really want you to do.<br />Um, yeah, because, and this goes back to one of our first conversations is, um, you know, I, uh,<br />I showed you yesterday, I made some updates to the ui. Um, do a quick review of the new<br />version, the newest version. Um, look for any e easy wins. Oh, don\'t have this box on the left or<br />this button on the left. Have it on the right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\'s more intuitive, whatever easy wins like that. Um, because I think. So the, the code for the<br />plugin, because it\'s built into [00:59:00] Gutenberg, is not a one-to-one to get it working on the<br />website, but obvi, but we want the website to look the same as the product. And so I wanna<br />start looking at how to marry those two.<br />Um, even if they\'re, they might be separate code bases, you know, but, or they might be the, I<br />might be able to use the same one, but it\'s like, I don\'t want to, I don\'t wanna do more work than<br />I have to. So if you do a quick review and say, Nope, everything\'s fine, or make this button<br />bigger, or whatever, then I can also, like, I, I liked what you just said of like, the website doesn\'t<br />have to change altogether, but I do think we want to change the crop on the website to be the<br />same as our product.<br />So that it\'s the best kind of lead magnet. Like the tool you are using is literally do this with<br />Cory Miller: WordPress. Insert into WordPress. Yeah, exactly. Do this in WordPress. There you<br />go. Yeah. .<br />Cory Maass: Okay. So, oh, so product feedback would be the other thing. [01:00:00] And I\'m<br />not talking, you know, like, let\'s, let\'s grab a, a color scheme and we can, you know, inject a little<br />bit of that into the plugin just so that we start to build brand recognition that way.<br />Hot pink everywhere or whatever. Um, not really, but, you know, something. Um, but beyond<br />that, you know, we\'ll keep it simple, but we can start to sort of massage the website to look more<br />like the, the plugin we\'re building.<br />Cory Miller: Okay. Okay. So I have start kind of doing next steps for promotion, thinking about<br />the website and, uh, monthly, whatever the cadence is for the email.<br />Uh, and then to review the latest version of the plugin. Okay. Can. I\'m out the next couple of<br />days, uh, on a trip with some buddies of mine, but, uh, I\'ll be back in the settle and, um, that\'s,<br />that\'s a pretty easy lift for me. [01:01:00] I, I want to think about like, we\'re gonna put it out there.<br />We want to chase, we want to get it in some hands, like your clients.<br />I think our ideal and then, uh, content journey, getting feedback from them are ideal. Um, but I<br />want to think about some sort of, some topical thing, and maybe it\'s something we just talk<br />about live. Like just hearing your workflow is different from mine. I always love talking to<br />developers and go, how do you get these things done?<br />And they\'re like, this is, and I go, can you slow down and show me again? Because I want to do<br />that for myself. So there\'s like, like that workflow conversation about mm-hmm. content<br />production. And we could kind of have a little, you know, I mean, maybe. I don\'t know what your,<br />your relationship is with your clients, but like, just talking about this thing that sucks how we do<br />it.<br />Like you give your tip, I give my tip, they give their tip, you know, content journey, whoever else,<br />professional blogger out there, um, [01:02:00] group or whatever that I, so I just wanna spin<br />those ideas a little bit about something that we can get to like ring the, ring the bell of like, this,<br />this, this is an issue and this is how people do it better and we\'ve got one too.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah. Well, and I like the old trick of, you know, how often the best marketing<br />phrases, word, sentences come from clients talking about their problem. Totally. Um, and so I<br />also, and am of course envisioning like, I don\'t know if a poll would capture what we want.<br />Creating. If, if we can figure out the, the right questions to ask, we can put questions up in<br />MegaMaker in Post Status.<br />The couple of other, um, slack communities that I\'m in, we can both put them on our Twitter and<br />it\'s like, I don\'t expect thousands of responses, but even a handful. And there\'s people that I<br />know you can pull on this tug on the [01:03:00] sleeve of, and there\'s people I can tug on the<br />sleeve of and be like, do me a favor and go answer these three questions.<br />You know, take five minutes, do you know, and I owe you a beer the next time I see you at a<br />WordCamp kind of thing. Um, yeah know, but just to start capturing the words that people are<br />using, um, the workflow that people are, you know, in three steps, how would you des or in, in<br />10 steps or less, how would you describe how you finish off a blog?<br />You\'ve written all the words. What are the next, you know, what are the steps between that and<br />hitting publish, or. Whatever, to just again, start to capture that, that thinking, the workflows that<br />you\'re talking about. So, ,<br />Cory Miller: I went to YouTube and we got some good comments actually in there. I need to<br />have this up every single time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, they, they were making comments as we were talking about, like, we\'re riffing. I was<br />like, oh, we got collaborators out there. Um, but ve said, I think, yeah, I will, I will buy [01:04:00]<br />that. So like, Hey , I\'ll try to say we\'re our first customer, first perspective customer. Um,<br />Cory Maass: quick get a credit card number.<br />Cory Miller: Yeah, yeah. Here\'s our, here\'s our PayPal address. Um, Zach said something, I<br />wanna come back real quick. Art direction with resized and crop thumbnails sucks. With the<br />core feature set. Keeping the focal point in the image matters, that would be a killer feature. So,<br />, you know, resonance. How do we keep attention?<br />I think we got some good next steps. And for all this, sorry, I just happened to go over here and<br />look real quick. And it was like, we\'ve got, we\'ve got some comments coming in, so add to our<br />awesome conversation.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah, that\'s cool. Oh, and well, and, and how fun is this? So I just went over to<br />YouTube as well, um, which I had not been watching the comment.<br />I\'ve been watching comments in four comments in Zoom, but not YouTube. So yeah, from now<br />[01:05:00] on I\'ll open this, but they have a, um, clip a crop icon under our video of a pair of<br />scissors.<br />Cory Miller: Oh yeah. Oh, that\'s interesting. Okay.<br />Cory Maass: So anyway, I just, you know, and, but more and more, yeah, I\'m thinking we want<br />to get away from that or the obviousness of that or something.<br />Anyway.<br />Cory Miller: I do think up, I do think on that note opinions and even strong for the right, strong<br />opinions for the right things really matter in a product. Um, where, you know, WordPress is a<br />great example of this, of like opinions about certain things that I didn\'t always like, but they were<br />good for the overall thing.<br />And I think we\'re developing some opinions and then we\'ll get some validation from customers<br />and really strengthen that opinion going Yeah. But like the first opinion is we say image cropping<br />[01:06:00] sucks. Yeah. So we can start with that base. Oh, sorry.<br />Cory Maass: No, but I, I, I really like. I, I hope this is, I hope you take this as the compliment.<br />I mean it, so there\'s, there\'s some, to me as a northeastern American, there is a Midwestern<br />charm in that, in the phrase, in that phrase, like sucks is very brash, you know, and I think it\'s<br />fine to use these days, but it, but the is a chore. Because it, it works as a phrase like, this sucks,<br />but it\'s also literally, it\'s a chore.<br />It\'s a thing you have to do and don\'t wanna do, but it\'s part of the workflow. So I re I still, I, I want<br />to keep coming. I, I want to keep coming back to that phrase.<br />Cory Miller: Well, let\'s take that for a second. I love that, that kind of refocus on, it\'s a chore<br />because you think about [01:07:00] you\'re trying to do this creative act.<br />You\'re trying to makes… when you push publish, you get something out into the world and you,<br />it\'s not all art and design, but you want it to be a nice product that\'s received well, that people do<br />something with. You know? And when you said chore made me think about the workflow, like,<br />you know, okay, I paint the beautiful painting on the canvas.<br />Now I gotta find a frame. Hmm. Like the read me file. And I think that chore coming to like, this<br />should not be a chore. That\'s our opinion. You should be. Focusing and using all your resources<br />on the creative act, not on the chores. We\'re gonna take the chores out for you. Love it. That\'s a<br />strong opinion that we could say like, yeah.<br />That there\'s something there. But I like your refocus. I tend to go there, calibrate in a little bit.<br />Okay. And, you know, if we\'re just doing this privately, you\'d be like, yeah. It\'s, it\'s probably a<br />little strong. Okay. Tour\'s better.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah. [01:08:00] This is, I like, this is, you know, this is the battle we\'re fighting is<br />Yeah.<br />Against the awfulness. That is the process of Yes. Dealing with images. Like, that\'s our, that\'s<br />our, you know, 6 million annual company. What we\'re starting with today is the cropping of an<br />image. Cropping of a featured image.<br />Cory Miller: Yeah. Reduce creative chores like the, the bell we ring is, Yeah, we\'re getting onto<br />the cause the bigger thing and we\'re just a part of it, and I use this all the time cause I\'m like,<br />when you find that core thing enough, people are irritated about you just ring it.<br />But then we get into, cause when we\'re like, stay in the creative lane, reduce this chore, friction.<br />Our job is to reduce your, your, your creative [01:09:00] chore. Yep. Your, I don\'t know, I\'m</p>\n\n\n\n<p>rehearsing this out loud, but like reduce your creative chores and then like, it should be about<br />the magic of beautiful images and fits with your story and syncs. Or if it\'s an e-commerce store,<br />like, Hey, I want you spending more time trying to make sure the lighting is perfect and your<br />product, like exudes what it does in the world and we\'re gonna, then when you get into show it<br />off to everybody, you don\'t have, we don\'t want you to go through a slog of mud to get there.<br />That slog of mud. Is there our opportunity right there? So<br />Cory Maass: we are, we are the bridge over the troubled water<br />You\'re speechless. My terrible joke. Shut him down. No,<br />Cory Miller: you can\'t do things like this because then my weird mind starts go. So we can go to<br />fiber and get a little like montage, , um, video . I think the [01:10:00] quirky stuff, I think things<br />like that. It\'s all on the table. It\'s just like authenticity. Hey, we\'re two dudes that like, don\'t like<br />this thing.<br />We solve this. We\'re, we\'re solved this little problem, but we think it might go on and if you want<br />to continue to support us to do it, we\'re gonna do it. Um, but the quirky , yeah, we did some<br />outlandish, quirky stuff, by the way, the themes. And I just found one the other day and I was<br />like, Ooh, you know, that\'s still out there.<br />Um, had years ago. Oh, go ahead. It\'s, it\'s, it\'s this outlandish, okay. So builder, I think Builder<br />was turning one year old and we wanted to celebrate it. So we had a birthday cake, birthday<br />cake, birthday party for it. And we had the image of the, the hat that we had made into it.<br />Lindsay had it made into a 3D cake.<br />And I\'m like, you know what? It\'s just those quirky things of like, it\'s a chore. We\'ll try to make it<br />funner, you know? Yeah. Kind of thing. So, oh, for sure. By the way, this is part of my process.<br />It\'s just like, you know, us talking through this and we get clarity of like, [01:11:00] oh, cause I<br />wrote chore and cause I wrote chore and I put a box around it, little crop box around it, and I\'m<br />like, yeah, let\'s destroy chores, destroy, create.<br />Oh, this is where I, uh, initially started that whole thing, Corey, I think in business in particular<br />with products and stuff, it\'s really good to have a villain. And I don\'t like to make people, I never<br />like to make people the villain. Sure. But the creative chores are the villain. So we are the<br />crusaders that fight against the creative chores.<br />So I\'m just, you know, but I, I just go like an enemy always helps a villain, always helps, kind of,<br />you know, push us, help our clients go, you\'re fighting for us and if we make chores, the<br />creative, the content chores, the, the villain, we\'re not fighting a person. We don\'t wanna do that.<br />Sorry. We wanna fight this concept that gets in the way of you doing magic on the web.<br />So, yeah. [01:12:00] Okay. I love that , because you know me, I\'m gonna try to find. Or if you<br />don\'t know , uh, any reason to do swag is a good hundred reason. And if business can help pay<br />for it. I\'m like,<br />Cory Maass: oh God, you and I are best in trouble then because we\'re in trouble. I am nonstop.<br />Like I, for everything I\'ve ever made, I at least had one, uh, sticker made or one t-shirt made or,<br />uh, cause swag is, is everything.<br />It\'s starting from, we keep coming back to me as a musician, but like in, when I first started, like<br />before I even had music, Out released. I had t-shirts, I had designed t-shirts and I, now I\'m mad<br />at myself cause I\'ve, I spent hours and hours and hours designing album artwork, designing<br />swag that nobody ever bought because the music wasn\'t good enough,<br />And so I wish I had spent the hours making the music good enough, uh, to [01:13:00] actually<br />like, warrant the swag. But it made me better as a designer. And, and it\'s, and it\'s fun. I don\'t<br />really regret it as far as, you know, like the fun I had in my life. But, um, yeah, so I\'m excited to<br />see what ridiculous things we come up with.<br />Cory Miller: So Corey, here\'s something that would be a low lift for us, but would be fun and hit<br />in this ring The bell we\'re fighting this villain, you know, um, is have a printful shop and all these<br />little stupid, you know, quirky ideas. We have. Shirt sticker. We\'re not trying to make money off<br />it, but it it, that\'s content that\'s like these pe you know, it\'s back to the Seth Good and Tribes<br />thing.<br />It\'s like, these people get me, they get what I\'m doing. And like this, we could turn that swag<br />concept. Cause Printful you can do everything from stickers. We could create, like imagine the<br />random shit we could do, but like, it\'s ringing the bell, chores suck.<br />Cory Maass: We need to, [01:14:00] we, we we\'re gonna make crop, um, crop t-shirts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\'re gonna cut off just below the nipples . And you and I are gonna get on this call week after<br />week with our bellies hanging out because our t-shirts have been cropped or, you know, or, or a<br />square cutout, uh, here, you know, Terrible, terrible. We\'re gonna, we\'re gonna have to shave<br />patches into our heads because we\'ve cropped, uh, you know, cropped our hair like dumb stuff.<br />Like we will take the dad joke too far. Yeah.<br />Cory Miller: So we talk about out the truly outlandish stuff. Nobody wants to see me in a crop<br />top, but like truly out lunch stuff and we kind of calibrate it in. But an example of this is, um, oh<br />get tushy. It\'s the kinda like $79, uh, bk. So I bought, we have one and we bought others and my<br />friend Jason Scher told me about it.<br />But their marketing is so on brand. They [01:15:00] take this concept that isn\'t talked about in<br />polite company potentially, or we call it a bday, you know? Okay. Yeah. But their marketing, they<br />make poop jokes, you know, all the time. Like they infuse that. And I\'m not saying we can, you<br />know, but the spirit of it is, yeah, make it fun.<br />You know, and so I think like we\'re in the outlandish phase and we\'ll figure out these others that<br />are just kind of fun and quirky. We\'re not gonna get anybody buying them, but it\'s like, that\'s our<br />content marketing potentially. Yeah. You know?<br />Cory Maass: Well, and it\'s because it\'s, it\'s what keep it. If nothing else, it would, it\'s what, it\'s,<br />you and I are gonna have fun and it\'s gonna keep us excited to, to do this kind of stuff.<br />And like, um, the example I wanted to share earlier was, my first moderate success of a product<br />was I built a, um, personal finance tracker 20 years ago now. No, 15 years ago [01:16:00] now.<br />Um, And, and some people didn\'t. If there was a day where you didn\'t spend something, I was<br />like, this, this needs a celebration. And so I built a little Easter egg.<br />So if on a day when you were tracking your finances, if you, if you took the time to enter zero,<br />you got a, um, an email that was like, you know, congratulations. We got, we we got a video for<br />you. And I had gone on Fiver, and this is back when Fiver was, you know, truly anything for $5.<br />And I got a video made of a guy, um, beatboxing.<br />And he is like, what? You didn\'t spend anything? That\'s awesome. And then he starts<br />beatboxing money, money, money, money. And it like, but really good. And it was like just this<br />quirky weird thing that people lost their minds over. Yeah. And it took me, it was five bucks and<br />20 minutes to find somebody to do something outrageous.<br />But that\'s like, [01:17:00] You know, I live for that kind of stuff, you know, it doesn\'t necessarily<br />have to be Easter eggs, but like, you know, fun little weird things that, cause it\'s, you can also<br />defeat villains with joy, right? Like, we\'re we\'re, oh yeah. The, but like, you know, the goal is to<br />make it fun. Forget, you know, the, the chore wheel is what makes it fun or you make a game<br />out of it or whatever.<br />You know, that kind of thinking.<br />Cory Miller: You just read my notes. Okay, make creative chores fun. Like, okay, so you, you,<br />you were talking about music and I was like, oh, you have a soundtrack. When you create<br />posts, when you do that, like you were talking earlier, you use, uh, electronic music, it\'s like<br />there\'s a question.<br />So like, our email content could be like, you know what? Our email banner could be, make<br />creative chores fun. And it\'s like, what\'s your [01:18:00] favorite soundtrack? We made a shirt<br />over. Um, the spinning, I don\'t know. You know? Right. That could be some of that content that<br />we\'re like, elicit people\'s creative chore.<br />How they make creative chores fun cause they\'re necessity. I like your angle. Not everybody<br />has to be defeated. We could like hug the villain.<br />uh, Santa Claus put makeup on the villain.<br />Cory Maass: Santa Claus three where you know they, eventually the bad guy. Um, the spoiler<br />alert everybody, if you haven\'t seen Santa Claus three, plug your ears. But, you know, at the<br />end, the villain who is Jack Frost is vanquished because a little girl hugs him and thaws him out.<br />Finally. So this is the goal is, uh, you know, warm hugs that will make chores not as evil.<br />Cory Miller: There you go. Yeah. I love it. Grinch. You know, like there\'s [01:19:00] the Yeah,<br />we\'re gonna be the playful. I like that. Um, I think we should keep this on top of our mind. Yeah.<br />Like, I just try to find the bell. You keep ringing, you know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. . Um, and it\'s make to me from our time as like, make creative chores fun. Yep. And<br />then the question is how do you do it? You know, making creative chores fun by carpet<br />Express.<br />Cory Maass: Yep. Things, yeah. Just broadly speaking, what, yeah, these are all things we can<br />talk about, things we can promote, things we can encourage in other, in others.<br />So again, like how do we get other people to talk about us as well? And it\'s like, here is this con,<br />this concept that we are owning and, you know, so we\'re, we\'re. Yes, we solve it very specifically<br />with, with the product we\'re building, but broadly speaking, you know, where in the world are<br />their creative chores and what are other clever ways that they [01:20:00] are being vanquished<br />or being hugged to death or being, uh, you know, uh, how, how can we, uh, spoonful of sugar<br />kind of concepts.<br />You know,<br />Cory Miller: how do you make your creative chores fun? Yeah. You know, well, whatever they<br />may be. Yeah. Whatever. Not even, like, it doesn\'t even necessarily have to be WordPress, you<br />know? Right. It could be just, you\'re doing art and this is the chore part. So how do you make it<br />fun? Well, I dress up at Santa Claus when I go pick out my frames or I, I don\'t know.<br />You know what I mean? But that, but the questions you\'re, you\'re sharing is like, that\'s just<br />ongoing cool content. Okay. All right, dude. Okay. I got my stuff. Continue on these. Review the,<br />uh, on the promotional side. Next steps for that. Um, review the, the updates you\'ve done to the<br />product. You\'ve got logo and masthead.<br />I\'m sure we\'ll be talking betwe between now and next week.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah. Masthead is easy. Logo. [01:21:00] We, we need to keep going back and<br />forth because it\'s, I, I, I\'m happy to own it, but we need to do some, do lots of thinking around it.<br />Cory Miller: Okay. You wanna show some logos next week and get our, uh, audience\'s<br />opinion? I gotta tell you though, when you said the eighties pink and black, I go, I mean, why<br />does it have to be boring?<br />Why does it have to be serious and monotonous? Pink kind of screams that corporate. Yeah.<br />Cory Maass: No, no more internet, corporate blue.<br />Cory Miller: So I\'ll, I\'ll leave it to your, uh, uh, inspiration and we\'ll, we\'ll, we can, we\'ll, we\'ll talk<br />about that next week in between. Nice. Thanks dude.<br />Cory Maass: Yeah, man. I\'ll talk soon. Okay.</p>\n<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 03 Mar 2023 12:03:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Cory Miller\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"WordPress.org blog: The Month in WordPress – February 2023\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=14550\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/03/the-month-in-wordpress-february-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13213:\"<p>February has been an exciting month for the WordPress community, with the celebration of the first-ever WordCamp Asia bringing friends and contributors back together in person. But that&#8217;s not all; read on for the latest project updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-light-grey-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-light-grey-background-color has-background\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get ready for WordPress 6.2</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordPress 6.2 Beta 4</strong> arrived earlier this week and is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/01/wordpress-6-2-beta-4/\">ready for download and testing</a>. Work continues on track, with the first release candidate (RC1) due next week and the target for the final release on <strong>March 28, 2023</strong>—less than four weeks away!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.2 is one of the last major releases planned for Phase 2 of Gutenberg, taking the Site Editor out of beta with a more polished user experience and refreshed interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On March 2, members of the release squad hosted the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\">6.2 live product demo</a>. The recording and transcript will be available soon. In the meantime, these resources will give you a taste of what&#8217;s to come:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/06/roadmap-to-6-2/\">Roadmap to 6.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/04/phase-2-finale/\">Phase 2, Finale</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/02/wordpress-6-2-accessibility-improvements/\">WordPress 6.2 Accessibility Improvements</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2023/02/07/help-test-wordpress-6-2/\">Help test WordPress 6.2</a>. Your feedback is key to ensuring everything in this release is the best it can be.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Join WordPress&#8217; 20th anniversary celebrations</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress is turning 20, and the community is getting ready to celebrate!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the festivities, the project has released a <a href=\"https://wp20.wordpress.net/wordpresss-wapuu-joins-the-wp20-celebration/\">20th anniversary Wapuu</a>, a <a href=\"https://wp20.wordpress.net/download-the-wp20-commemorative-logos/\">set of commemorative logos</a>, and a <a href=\"https://wp20.wordpress.net/20-years-of-wordpress-jazz/\">special playlist with 46 tracks</a> from the jazz artists selected to represent WordPress releases. Official WP20 swag will also be available soon.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, the Museum of Block Art (MOBA) is <a href=\"https://block-museum.com/2023/02/21/lets-celebrate-20-years-of-wordpress/\">calling all artists</a> to submit block art themed on “20 years of WordPress.”</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/03/lets-party-organize-your-wp20-celebration/\">Find out how to organize and participate in the WP20 celebrations</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s new in Gutenberg</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/10/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-1-8-february/\"><strong>Gutenberg 15.1</strong></a> was released on February 8, 2023, with access to the Openverse library of openly-licensed media from the Editor. Other highlights include the ability to add custom CSS on a per-block basis and support for shadow presets in Global Styles. This is the last version of Gutenberg that will be <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/contributors/versions-in-wordpress/\">included in WordPress 6.2</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\"><strong>Gutenberg 15.2</strong></a><strong> </strong>is available for download as of February 22, 2023. Besides continued accessibility improvements, this release adds support for revisions when editing templates and template parts, and refines the navigation experience in the Site Editor.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/01/core-editor-improvement-strengthening-style-options/\"></a>Follow the “<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\">What’s new in Gutenberg</a>” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Team updates: Global community sponsors for 2023, contributor mentorship program, and more</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The Community Team announced the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/08/2023-global-sponsors-announcement/\">global sponsors</a> that will support the WordPress community programs in 2023.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>A few months ago, Meetup.com removed an accessibility overlay in response to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2022/11/23/meetup-com-accessibility-overlay-update/\">some concerns</a> from the WordPress community. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/17/meetup-com-accessibility-overlay-february-update/\">A recent update</a> reports that the company has conducted an assessment and plans to address the issues identified.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Training Team launched a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/02/10/training-teams-new-onboarding-program-is-now-live/\">new onboarding program</a> for contributors. In addition, they worked on numerous lesson plans, online workshops, and tutorials last month. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/03/01/whats-new-on-learnwp-in-february-2023/\">Check out what&#8217;s new on Learn WordPress</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Documentation Team shared <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2023/02/07/future-plans-for-helphub/\">future plans for HelpHub</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Openverse moved to a standalone domain, <a href=\"https://openverse.org/\">openverse.org</a>, with improvements to the site’s homepage, header, and footer.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Plugin Review Team posted a notice to inform about <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2023/02/03/twitter-api-changes/\">the latest Twitter API changes</a> and the types of plugins that might be affected.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2023/02/16/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-february-2023/\">February edition of the Polyglots monthly newsletter</a> highlights some recent enhancements to GlotPress’ functionality and the <a href=\"https://translate.wordpress.org/\">translate.wordpress.org</a> platform.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The latest <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/15/meetup-organizer-newsletter-february-2023/\">Meetup Organizer newsletter</a> shares tips on how to help your meetup group stay connected and engaged between events.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/whats-new-for-developers-february-2023/\">What’s new for developers? (February 2023)</a>, the first edition of a new monthly series with features and resources developers should know about.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The latest edition of People of WordPress features <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/people-of-wordpress-hauwa-abashiya/\">Hauwa Abashiya</a>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p>Following discussions on <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/01/09/request-for-feedback-how-can-we-improve-the-five-for-the-future-contributor-journey/\">improving the contributor journey</a>, a new <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/02/06/proposal-creating-a-wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program/\">WordPress contributor mentorship program</a> has been proposed to roll out this year.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Feedback &amp; testing requests</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>A new proposal from the Community Team seeks to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/27/proposal-modify-the-events-and-news-widget-to-show-topic-based-meetups-worldwide/\">modify the Events and News dashboard widget</a> to show topic-based meetups worldwide.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Members of the Core Team suggested some <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/18/proposal-updates-to-the-wordpress-release-cycle/\">updates to the WordPress release cycle</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/03/03/mobile-team-update-march-2nd/\">Version 21.8</a> of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is available for testing.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p>Redesign work is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/02/10/theme-directory-redesign-update/\">well underway</a> on the WordPress Theme Directory. Contributors can follow along on <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-theme-directory/\">the GitHub repository</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress events updates</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Bangkok, Thailand, hosted a successful inaugural <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/we-did-it/\">WordCamp Asia</a> on February 17-19. The event welcomed 1,299 attendees, and more than 600 participants joined the Contributor Day. At the event&#8217;s closure, organizers announced that <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2024/\">WordCamp Asia 2024</a> will take place in Taipei, Taiwan!</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The application to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/08/apply-to-attend-the-2023-community-summit/\">attend the 2023 Community Summit</a> is now open to WordPress contributors. Learn more about the ins and outs of this working event in <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/episode-49-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-community-summit/\">Episode 49 of WP Briefing</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>WordCamp Europe 2023 is looking for <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-media-partners-and-supporters/\">media partners and supporters</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Want to create diverse and inclusive WordPress events? Don’t miss <a href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/organizing-diverse-inclusive-wordpress-events-ameremea-tickets-561034247537\">this free #WPDiversity workshop</a> happening March 16, 2023.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many WordCamps are coming up in the next weeks:\n<ul>\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1fa-1f1ec.png\" alt=\"🇺🇬\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://entebbe.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Entebbe</a>, Uganda, on March 10-11, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ea-1f1f8.png\" alt=\"🇪🇸\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://torrelodones.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Torrelodones</a>, Madrid, Spain, on March 11-12, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1fa-1f1f8.png\" alt=\"🇺🇸\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://phoenix.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Phoenix</a>, Arizona, USA, on March 24-25, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1ee-1f1f3.png\" alt=\"🇮🇳\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Kerala</a>, India, on March 25, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1e8-1f1f4.png\" alt=\"🇨🇴\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://bogota.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Bogotá</a>, Colombia, on March 31-April 1, 2023 (Online)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f1e8-1f1ed.png\" alt=\"🇨🇭\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><a href=\"https://switzerland.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Switzerland</a> on April 1, 2023</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-extra-large-font-size\">\n<p>Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy as she explores <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/episode-50-3-interesting-trends-from-wordcamp-asia/\">three interesting trends from WordCamp Asia</a>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-light-grey-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-light-grey-background-color has-background\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><strong><em><strong><em>Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? <strong><em>Fill out </em></strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\"><strong><em>this quick form</em></strong></a><strong><em> to let us know.</em></strong></em></strong></em></strong></em></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ninianepress/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>ninianepress</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jpantani/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>jpantani</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rmartinezduque/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>rmartinezduque</a>.</em></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:\"Fri, 03 Mar 2023 11:30:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"rmartinezduque\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"WPTavern: WordPress Community on Mastodon Launches “Toot the Word” Survey\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142425\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:82:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-on-mastodon-launches-toot-the-word-survey\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2805:\"<p>Last month&#8217;s <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/twitter-outage-uncovers-more-details-on-upcoming-api-access-changes-giving-the-fediverse-a-shot-in-the-arm\">Twitter outage</a> gave Mastodon a boost, as the company also announced <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-plugin-developers-alerted-ahead-of-twitter-api-changes\">unpopular changes to its API access</a>. People from the WordPress community continue to trickle into the fediverse, with many going so far as to shutter their Twitter accounts. A fledgling community of WordPress users on Mastodon has made the network home and are reporting more quality interactions than they experience on other platforms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel Auener, who runs a WordPress agency based in Sweden, curates and maintains <a href=\"https://wp-community-on-mastodon.wptoots.social/\">a list of WordPress community members’ Mastodon accounts</a> that anyone can follow by downloading a CSV file and importing it into Mastodon. He and the other admins of the five largest WordPress-related Mastodon instances have joined together to create a <a href=\"https://forms.gle/a2c7BAibVPfEjXQ19\">survey</a> for WordPress users. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The survey is being organized by the following admins: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wptoots.social/\">wptoots.social</a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://wptoots.social/@danielauener\">@danielauener</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wpmastodon.es/\">wpmastodon.es</a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://wpmastodon.es/@javiercasares\">@javiercasares</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wp-social.net/\">wp-social.net</a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://wp-social.net/@praetorverlag\">@praetorverlag</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://dewp.space/\">dewp.space</a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://dewp.space/@simon\">@simon</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wpbuilds.social/\">wpbuild.social</a>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https://wpbuilds.social/@nathan\">@nathan</a>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The goal of this two-minute survey is to help us improve the WordPress-related Mastodon instances and Mastodon as a meeting place for the WordPress Community in general,&#8221; Auener said. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We want to know your needs and challenges and how you think we – as WordPress-related instances – can strengthen the WordPress community on Mastodon.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Respondents will be asked how frequently they use Mastodon and how important it is to their overall WordPress-related social media activity. They will also be asked about the quality of communication with the community and what they would like to see more of on Mastodon. So far the survey has received 112 responses. If you have embraced the fediverse, take two minutes to leave your feedback on the &#8220;<a href=\"https://forms.gle/a2c7BAibVPfEjXQ19\">Toot the Word Survey</a>&#8221; before it closes on March 5, 2023. </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, 02 Mar 2023 22:09:32 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"WPTavern: MonetizeMore Acquires Advanced Ads Plugin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142414\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"https://wptavern.com/monetizemore-acquires-advanced-ads-plugin\";s: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:3404:\"<p><a href=\"https://www.monetizemore.com/\">MonetizeMore</a>, an ad revenue optimization company, has <a href=\"https://wpadvancedads.com/monetizemore-acquires-advanced-ads/\">acquired the Advanced Ads plugin</a> and will be hiring the team behind the products. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin&#8217;s ad management tools are used by more than 150,000 websites to create, display, and rotate ad units, as well as schedule and target ads based on preset conditions. It integrates with many other popular plugins like BuddyPress, bbPress, Elementor, MailPoet, Paid Memberships Pro, and more. The plugin is <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-ads/\">distributed on WordPress.org</a> with commercial upgrades and add-ons available.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advanced Ads creator Thomas Maier launched the plugin 2014 after finding that most WordPress ad plugins didn&#8217;t support responsive ads, cached websites, or split testing for better performance. Over the past nine years his team has grown to 12 people supporting 40 million impressions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maier said he &#8220;never found much joy in fulfilling the executive and administrative roles in such a successful project&#8221; and will be returning to working on a team with Advanced Ads&#8217; customers as part of MonetizeMore.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I haven’t felt comfortable with a managing (aka &#8216;boss&#8217;) position for a while and wanted to get out of it before losing fun working with my team, product, and customers,&#8221; Maier said. &#8220;It was more a process than a specific turning point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Luckily, I built relationships with potential buyers long before thinking about selling. This helped me last year to get multiple qualified offers in a short period of time. I also asked people who have sold their WordPress [businesses] for advice, which was often very honest and open.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maier said the administrative burden wasn&#8217;t the problem, as his team did most of the daily tasks already. In selling Advanced Ads he was looking to move into a new role by passing the ownership on to a company that he believes to be a &#8220;sensible market participant.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;My energy was drained by me feeling responsible for everyone, the team, customers, and partners, to be happy,&#8221; Maier said. &#8220;I couldn’t shut up thinking about that even when everything was running smoothly. After 13 years running my own companies, I am looking forward to stepping away from the driver’s seat.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This acquisition allows MonetizeMore to expand its ad optimization tools with Advanced Ads&#8217; features, which allow users to manage and target their ads without coding skills.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Their expertise complements our existing programmatic advertising tools and products suite, keeping our publishers at the forefront of the industry,&#8221; MonetizeMore CEO and founder Kean Graham said. &#8220;As we are set for exponential growth this year and on track to cross the $100M ARR mark this year, we will remain selective in making strategic acquisitions and partnerships with organizations that also empower ad-monetized publishers.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maier said he doesn&#8217;t expect any changes with the plugin&#8217;s pricing as the result of the acquisition. There are currently no changes planned for active subscriptions, existing product features, or service levels. </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, 02 Mar 2023 20:46:28 +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:23;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"WordPress.org blog: Let’s Party: Organize your WP20 Celebration!\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=14546\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/03/lets-party-organize-your-wp20-celebration/\";s: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:2714:\"<p>Join WordPress enthusiasts from across the globe on May 27, 2023, as they come together to celebrate its 20th anniversary!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of how you use WordPress or where you call home, you are invited to celebrate this great milestone. Plan a larger party that includes your entire meetup, spend the day coworking with a group of friends, or hang out virtually online.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever your style, celebrate in your time zone, your way. WordPress has some resources to help you party.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/\">Meetup Organizer handbook</a> has a section dedicated to helping you plan your meetup’s <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/anniversary-celebrations/\">anniversary celebration</a>. You’ll find email and Meetup.com templates that make sending your announcements and creating your events simple, as well as tips for planning a fun, safe, and inclusive event, in-person or online.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://wp20.wordpress.net/\">20th anniversary website</a> will list events as they are announced and scheduled by organizers, so check back regularly to see if there’s one in your area you’d like to join or help organize.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meetup organizers, once your meetup’s WP20 Celebration is scheduled, email <a href=\"mailto:support@wordcamp.org\">support@wordcamp.org</a> using the subject <strong>WP20 Celebration</strong> and include a link to your meetup event. Events will be reviewed to ensure they have all the necessary details before inclusion on wp20.wordpress.net. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And don’t forget the new swag!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting in April, meetup organizers can <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/anniversary-celebrations/request-swag-for-in-person-anniversary-celebrations/\">order complimentary kits of official anniversary swag</a>, including limited-edition stickers, buttons, and pencils that can be shipped to your meetup at no cost to you. Additional items, such as pennants, shirts, hoodies, keychains, and more, are also available for purchase at the <a href=\"https://mercantile.wordpress.org/\">official WordPress store</a> while supplies last, beginning in early March.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, whether you’re sporting new anniversary swag or your old favorites from your closet, join WordPress enthusiasts on Saturday, May 27, for a globe-spanning WordPress celebration. Use hashtag #WP20 to share your passion for WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don’t have an active meetup in your area? It’s not too late to <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/meetup-organizer/getting-started/interest-form/\">start one</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 02 Mar 2023 20:21:44 +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:12:\"Cate DeRosia\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"Do The Woo Community: Do the Woo, Version 4.0\";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:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=74585\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-version-4-0/\";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:300:\"<p>Well, this is it. Learn all about Do the Woo version 4.0.</p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-version-4-0/\">Do the Woo, Version 4.0</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 02 Mar 2023 11:30:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"HeroPress: WordPress helps me unwind – story of a part-time developer\";s:7:\"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=5298\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:186:\"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-helps-me-unwind-story-of-a-part-time-developer/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-helps-me-unwind-story-of-a-part-time-developer\";s: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:13606:\"<img width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/030123-min.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ajay D\'Souza\" />\nHere is Ajay reading his own story aloud.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2023, I will complete 20 years of my association with WordPress. What started as an experiment soon became an integral part of my life.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi! I am Ajay D&#8217;Souza. I am the author of several completely free WordPress plugins, and this is my WordPress story.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-in-the-beginning\">In the beginning&#8230;</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I vaguely recall always having a passion for computers during my school days. Then, it was <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)\">Logo</a>. It was only in mid-2000 that I discovered HTML. I had initially set out to learn C or C++ and got distracted by this language that allowed me to build webpages.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I created a site on Sherlock Holmes by hand on a free host. I learnt a bit of PHP, which helped me create dynamic portions of the site. But I still didn&#8217;t know what MySQL was.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In late 2003, when yet another free host closed its shutters, I finally bought <a href=\"https://ajaydsouza.com/\">ajaydsouza.com</a>. This site has remained my home on the web for nearly 20 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-finding-wordpress\">Finding WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After buying the domain, I <a href=\"https://ajaydsouza.com/my-new-blog/\">started blogging using WordPress in October 2003</a>. At that time, WordPress was still in its infancy, and I enjoyed playing with innovative technology. This was before the advent of Facebook, Twitter or any other forms of social media.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I blogged about my day-to-day experiences as a student and a part-time developer. My friends thought that I was crazy for sharing my personal life online. But I persevered because blogging helped me unwind and express myself.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-building-plugins-and-a-theme\">Building plugins and a theme</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I started developing WordPress plugins in 2005. My first plugin was Bad Behavior Stats, which displayed the number of blocked access attempts by the Bad Behavior plugin. WordPress plugin development was still new back then and Bad Behavior Stats soon became obsolete. I also created a theme called Connections Reloaded, based on the original Connections theme. I maintained it until 2009, when I decided to focus on plugins instead of themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2005, I have authored more than 15 WordPress plugins!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-a-full-time-wordpress-blogger\">A full-time WordPress blogger&#8230;</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I began blogging professionally about WordPress in November 2005, thanks to Mark Ghosh who ran <strong>Weblog Tools Collection</strong>. This gave me an opportunity to stay updated with new plugins and themes and share the latest news of the fast-growing WordPress world. I left my engineering job in mid-2006 and blogging for Mark helped me financially while I pursued my MBA.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-and-a-part-time-wordpress-developer\">&#8230;and a part-time WordPress developer</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2009, I completed my MBA and joined the finance sector as my day job. This reduced my time for blogging and coding. However, I did not want to let go of my WordPress passion. I had already created <a href=\"https://webberzone.com/plugins/contextual-related-posts/\">Contextual Related Posts</a> and <a href=\"https://webberzone.com/plugins/top-10/\">Top 10</a>, two popular plugins with loyal users. I continued to develop them and launched a few more plugins over the years.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-professional-rebrand\">The professional rebrand</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I moved my plugins to <a href=\"https://webberzone.com/\">WebberZone</a> in 2015. This became my professional brand for my existing and new plugins. It also allowed me to create a knowledge base, which I am still working on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WebberZone allowed me to split my personal blog from my WordPress development. It has also given me the possibility of premium plugins, should that be a path I pursue in the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-the-challenges-with-wordpress-development-today\">The challenges with WordPress development today</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress development has changed a lot in recent years, especially with the launch of the block editor. To be a developer today, you need to learn not only PHP and MySQL, but also JavaScript and React. You also need to use build tools before you can start coding.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This has been challenging, but fortunately, there are several online tutorials to help. I spent months learning how to add blocks to my plugins and I finally have a working repository on Github of these.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-what-have-i-learned\">What have I learned?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I have learned some valuable lessons from my WordPress journey. Here are some of them:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Persist.</strong> Not everyone will appreciate your work, but some will. Focus on them and ignore the rest.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Code. A lot.</strong> Reading tutorials is not enough. You need to practise, make mistakes and fix them.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Learn from others.</strong> The WordPress community has many amazing people who create great plugins and themes. Study their code, read their tutorials and follow their best practices.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contribute.</strong> There are many ways to contribute to WordPress besides core development. You can also contribute by creating plugins, themes, documentation, marketing, tutorials, etc.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t be afraid to say NO.</strong> This is very hard to do, but sometimes necessary. I recently decided to limit support for my free plugins because it was taking too much time from development.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Take time off.</strong> It could be a night, a day, a week or more. Working when exhausted is not productive or healthy. Spend some time with your family.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-how-does-wordpress-help-me-unwind\">How does WordPress help me unwind?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress is my way of relaxing. My job demands long hours and constant availability. I love what I do, but I need a break sometimes.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That’s why I enjoy coding plugins for WordPress in my spare time. It makes me happy to create something useful and share it with others.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-my-wordpress-future\">My WordPress Future</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My goals for 2023 and beyond are:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Redesign WebberZone, my website where I showcase my WordPress plugins and tutorials.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be more active on Twitter and network with other WordPress enthusiasts.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improve and update my existing plugins and maybe launch a pro version.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn new skills and keep up with the latest WordPress trends and developments.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Share my WordPress knowledge through tutorials on WebberZone.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress has given me a creative outlet for my ideas and skills. As a blogger, it has allowed me to share my stories and experiences. As a developer, it has challenged me to build many things that are useful that I can be proud of. As a community member, it has connected me to amazing people and opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id_2abfd1-ed alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column_5bfb8b-3c\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<h2 id=\"work-environment\" class=\"kt-adv-heading_c792ee-c4 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\">Ajay&#8217;s Work Environment</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We asked Ajay for a view into his development life and this is what he sent! 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rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-helps-me-unwind-story-of-a-part-time-developer/\">WordPress helps me unwind &#8211; story of a part-time developer</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, 01 Mar 2023 19:32:43 +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:18:\"Ajay D&#8217;Souza\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"Do The Woo Community: Thanks to These Supporters of Do the Woo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=74575\";s:7:\"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:61:\"https://dothewoo.io/thanks-to-these-supporters-of-do-the-woo/\";s: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:359:\"<p>A huge shoutout to these sponsors who have supported us over the last 12 months. </p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io/thanks-to-these-supporters-of-do-the-woo/\">Thanks to These Supporters of Do the Woo</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:21:47 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:95:\"Post Status: WordPress 6.2 Beta 4 &amp; Live Demo • Performance Roadmap • Static vs 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It\'s time to get testing with Beta 4.  Core Performance team has announced the roadmap for this year, including Gutenberg Phase 3 work and more. Do you know the difference between static vs dynamic blocks?  </p></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-infobox kt-info-box_94d1bd-77\"><div class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-link-wrap kt-blocks-info-box-media-align-left kt-info-halign-left\"><div class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-media-container\"><div class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-media kt-info-media-animate-none\"><div class=\"kadence-info-box-icon-container kt-info-icon-animate-none\"><div class=\"kadence-info-box-icon-inner-container\"><span class=\"kb-svg-icon-wrap kb-svg-icon-fe_arrowRightCircle kt-info-svg-icon\"></span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"kt-infobox-textcontent\"><h2 class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-title\">WP 6.2 Beta 4 & Demo, Performance Roadmap, Static vs Dynamic Blocks</h2><p class=\"kt-blocks-info-box-text\">β  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/01/wordpress-6-2-beta-4/\">WordPress 6.2 Beta 4</a><br /><br /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f5d3.png\" alt=\"🗓\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\">6.2 Live Product Demo</a><br /><br /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f64b-1f3fe.png\" alt=\"🙋🏾\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2023/02/07/help-test-wordpress-6-2/\">Help Test WordPress 6.2</a><br /><br /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f503.png\" alt=\"🔃\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/18/proposal-updates-to-the-wordpress-release-cycle/\">Proposal: Updates to the WordPress Release Cycle</a><br /><br /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f5fa.png\" alt=\"🗺\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/27/core-performance-team-roadmap-published/\">Core Performance Team Roadmap Published</a><br /><br /><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2753.png\" alt=\"❓\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/static-vs-dynamic-blocks-whats-the-difference/\">Static vs. dynamic blocks: What’s the difference?</a><br /><br /></p></div></div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_b57166-6e\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-news\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news\">News</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/03/the-month-in-wordpress-february-2023/\">The Month in WordPress – February 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/03/lets-party-organize-your-wp20-celebration/\">Let’s Party: Organize your WP20 Celebration!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/people-of-wordpress-hauwa-abashiya/\">People of WordPress: Hauwa Abashiya</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/episode-50-3-interesting-trends-from-wordcamp-asia/\">WP Briefing: Episode 50: 3 Interesting Trends from WordCamp Asia</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_8f6276-eb\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" /></div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-33 wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\">\n<h2 id=\"h-accessibility\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility\">Accessibility</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2023/02/28/accessibility-team-meeting-agenda-march-3-2023/\">Accessibility Team Meeting Agenda: March 3, 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-central\"><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org\">Central</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/get-your-tickets-for-wordcamp-kerala-2023-on-march-25th/\">Get your tickets for WordCamp Kerala 2023 on March 25th!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/woocommerce-sponsors-wordpress-community-events-worldwide/\">WooCommerce sponsors WordPress community events across the globe</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/bluehost-supports-wordpress-community-events-worldwide-3/\">Bluehost supports WordPress community events worldwide</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/thanks-to-automattic-for-sponsoring-community-events-worldwide/\">Thanks to Automattic for sponsoring community events worldwide</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/godaddy-joins-the-wordpress-global-community-sponsorship-program-in-2023/\">GoDaddy joins the WordPress global community sponsorship program in 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-community\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community\">Community</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/03/01/community-team-meeting-agenda-for-2-march-2023/\">​​Community Team Meeting Agenda for 2 March 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/03/01/wordcamp-mentors-march-check-in/\">WordCamp Mentors’ March check-in!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/27/proposal-modify-the-events-and-news-widget-to-show-topic-based-meetups-worldwide/\">Proposal: Modify the Events and News widget to show topic-based meetups worldwide</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/27/suggested-update-to-events-code-of-conduct/\">Suggested update to Events Code of Conduct</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2023/02/23/recap-of-the-diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-amer-emea-on-february-22-2023/\">Recap of the Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) AMER/EMEA on February 22, 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-core\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core\">Core</a> </h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/01/a-week-in-core-february-27-2023/\">A Week in Core – February 27, 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 15.2? (22 February)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/18/proposal-updates-to-the-wordpress-release-cycle/\">Proposal: Updates to the WordPress Release Cycle</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-wordpress-6-2\">WordPress 6.2</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/02/wordpress-6-2-accessibility-improvements/\">WordPress 6.2 Accessibility Improvements</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/28/wordpress-6-2-beta-4-postponed/\">WordPress 6.2 Beta 4 Postponed</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/wordpress-6-2-beta-3/\">WordPress 6.2 Beta 3</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\">6.2 Live Product Demo</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/04/phase-2-finale/\">Phase 2, Finale</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/03/hallway-hangout-performance-improvements-for-wordpress-6-2/\">Hallway Hangout: Performance Improvements for WordPress 6.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/06/roadmap-to-6-2/\">Roadmap to 6.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/01/18/bug-scrub-schedule-for-6-2/\">Bug Scrub Schedule for 6.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/01/11/early-bug-scrub-schedule-for-wp-6-2/\">Early bug scrub schedule for WP&nbsp;6.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/01/17/wordpress-6-2-planning-roundup/\">WordPress 6.2 Planning Roundup</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-meetings\">Meetings</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/01/dev-chat-summary-march-1-2023/\">Dev Chat Summary, March 1, 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/01/editor-chat-summary-wednesday-1st-march-2023/\">Editor chat summary: Wednesday, 1st March 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/27/editor-chat-summary-wednesday-22nd-february-2023/\">Editor chat summary: Wednesday, 22nd February 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-developer-blog\">Developer Blog</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/03/creating-a-custom-block-that-stores-post-meta/\">Creating a custom block that stores post meta</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/static-vs-dynamic-blocks-whats-the-difference/\">Static vs. dynamic blocks: What’s the difference?</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/intrinsic-design-theming-and-rethinking-how-to-design-with-wordpress/\">Intrinsic design, theming, and rethinking how to design with WordPress</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-docs\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs\">Docs</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2023/02/21/xpost-helphub-and-devdocs-redesign-request/\">HelpHub and DevDocs redesign request</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-hosting\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/hosting\">Hosting</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2023/02/28/hosting-team-meeting-agenda-2023-03-01/\">Hosting Team meeting agenda 2023-03-01</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-marketing\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing\">Marketing</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2023/03/01/notes-global-marketing-team-meeting-21-february-2023/\">Notes: Global Marketing Team meeting, 21 February 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/marketing/2023/03/01/notes-global-marketing-team-meeting-14-february-2023/\">Notes: Global Marketing Team meeting, 14 February 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-meta\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta\">Meta</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2023/02/10/theme-directory-redesign-update/\">Theme Directory redesign update</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-openverse\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse\">Openverse</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/02/22/openverse-is-now-a-monorepo/\">Openverse is now a monorepo</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/02/28/community-meeting-recap-28-february-2023/\">Community Meeting Recap (28 February 2023)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/openverse/2023/03/01/concurrency-resource-issues-on-monthly-runs/\">Concurrency/resource issues on monthly runs</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\">\n<h2 id=\"h-performance\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/performance/\">Performance</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/27/core-performance-team-roadmap-published/\">Core Performance Team Roadmap Published</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/28/performance-chat-summary-28-february-2023/\">Performance Chat Summary: 28 February 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/02/28/core-performance-team-update-february-28-2023/\">Core Performance Team Update – February 28, 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-plugins\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/plugins\">Plugins</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/03/01/plugin-review-team-27-feb-2023/\">Plugin Review Team: 27 Feb 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-polyglots\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots\">Polyglots</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2023/03/01/agenda-weekly-polyglots-chat-march-1-2023-1300-utc/\">Agenda: Weekly Polyglots Chat – March 1, 2023 (13:00 UTC)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/2023/02/21/xpost-helphub-and-devdocs-redesign-request/\">HelpHub and DevDocs redesign request</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-project\">Project</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/02/06/proposal-creating-a-wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program/\">Proposal: Creating a WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/project/2023/01/27/discussion-ending-the-eternal-september/\">Discussion: Ending the Eternal September</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-support\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support\">Support</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2023/03/support-ticket-triage-session-march-8th-2023-at-1600-utc/\">Support ticket triage session – March 8th 2023 at 16:00 UTC</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2023/03/agenda-for-march-2nd-support-meeting-2/\">Agenda for March 2nd Support Meeting</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/support/2023/02/summary-for-february-23rd-support-meeting/\">Summary for February 23rd Support Meeting</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-theme\">Theme</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2023/03/03/hallway-hangout-community-themes-initiative/\">Hallway Hangout: Community Themes Initiative</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2023/03/01/themes-team-meeting-notes-february-28-2023/\">Themes Team Meeting Notes –&nbsp;February 28, 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/02/28/themes-team-update-february-28-2023/\">Themes team update February 28, 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-test\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test\">Test</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2023/02/21/hallway-hangout-lets-chat-about-using-replay-io-in-the-fse-outreach-program/\">Hallway Hangout: Let’s chat about using Replay.io in the FSE Outreach Program</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2023/02/07/help-test-wordpress-6-2/\">Help Test WordPress 6.2</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-training\"><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training\">Training</a></h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/learn-wordpress-march-newsletter/\">Learn WordPress March Newslette</a>r</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/03/03/recap-wordpress-6-2-beta-4-release-party-ride-along/\">Recap: WordPress 6.2 Beta 4 Release Party Ride Along</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/03/03/recap-sensei-pro-lms-demo-for-learn-wordpress/\">Recap: Sensei Pro LMS Demo for Learn WordPress</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/03/03/become-a-welcome-committee-member-today/\">Become a Welcome Committee member today!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/03/02/training-team-goals-for-2023/\">Training Team Goals for 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/03/01/training-team-meeting-recap-for-february-28th-2023/\">Training Team Meeting Recap for February 28th, 2023</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/02/10/training-teams-new-onboarding-program-is-now-live/\">Training Team’s new onboarding program is now live!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/02/08/video-conferencing-options-for-online-workshops/\">Video conferencing options for Online Workshops</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/2023/02/06/training-team-2023-goals-setting/\">Training Team 2023 Goals Setting</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/updates/2023/03/01/whats-new-on-learnwp-in-february-2023/\">What’s new on LearnWP in February 2023</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-lesson-plans\"><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plans\">Lesson Plans</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/ta-dashboard-overview/\">டாஷ்போர்டு மேலோட்டம்</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/lesson-plan/ta-difference-between-reusable-blocks-block-pattern-templates-template-parts/\">மீண்டும் பயன்படுத்தக்கூடிய தொகுதிகள், பிளாக் பேட்டர்ன், டெம்ப்ளேட்க</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-online-workshops\">Online Workshops</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=block-themes-and-wordpress-live-stream-10\">Block Themes and WordPress: Live Stream</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=block-themes-and-wordpress-live-stream-9\">Block Themes and WordPress: Live Stream</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=hallway-hangout-community-themes-initiative\">Hallway Hangout: Community Themes Initiative</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=live-stream-reviewing-developer-focused-features-in-gutenberg-15-1-and-15-2\">Live stream: Reviewing developer-focused features in Gutenberg 15.1 and 15.2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=updating-a-blogs-design-informal-live-stream-part-2-2\">Updating a blog’s design (Informal live stream) – Part 2</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=lets-code-preventing-common-security-vulnerabilities\">Let’s code: Preventing Common Security Vulnerabilities</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=wp-dev-livestream-building-a-react-app-utilising-the-wp-rest-api-3\">WP dev livestream: Building a React app utilising the WP REST API</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/?meeting=how-to-create-a-website-on-mobile-part-1\">How to create a website on mobile (Part 1)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-tutorials\"><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/tutorials\">Tutorials</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/tutorial/how-to-add-and-remove-a-logo-and-site-icon-in-a-wordpress-block-theme/\">How to add and remove a logo and site icon in a WordPress block theme</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-courses\"><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/courses\">Courses</a></h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/course/develop-your-first-low-code-block-theme/\">Develop Your First Low-Code Block Theme</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-wptv\">WPTV</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/category/year/2022/\">Latest WordPress TV videos</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-related-news\">Related News:</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.php.net/archive/2023.php#2023-02-14-2\">PHP 8.2.3 Released!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.php.net/archive/2023.php#2023-02-14-3\">PHP 8.1.16 Released!</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://262.ecma-international.org/13.0/\">TC39</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/composer/composer/releases/tag/2.5.4\">Composer 2.5.4</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-theme-palette-7-background-color has-background\">Thanks for reading our WP dot .org roundup! Each week we are highlighting the news and discussions coming from the good folks making WordPress possible. If you or your company create products or services that use WordPress, you need to be engaged with them and their work. Be sure to share this resource with your product and project managers. <br /><br /><strong>Are you interested in giving back and contributing your time and skills to WordPress.org?</strong> <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/article/contributing-to-wordpress/\">Start Here ›</a><br /><br /><strong>Get our weekly WordPress community news digest</strong> — Post Status\' <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/news/week-in-review/\">Week in Review</a> — covering the WP/Woo news plus significant writing and podcasts. It\'s also available in <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/newsletter\">our newsletter</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f48c.png\" alt=\"💌\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-background\"><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/\"><img src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vertical-post-status-logo-250.png\" alt=\"Post Status\" class=\"wp-image-85823 size-full\" /></a><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-normal-font-size\" id=\"h-get-ready-for-remote-work\">You — and <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/#Agency\">your whole team</a> can <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/#choose-membership\">Join Post Status</a> too!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-small-font-size\"><strong>Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire.</strong> Read the <strong>Post Status</strong> <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/newsletter/\">newsletter</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2709.png\" alt=\"✉\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Listen to <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/podcasts/\">podcasts</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f399.png\" alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Follow <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status/\">@Post_Status</a> <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f426.png\" alt=\"🐦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> and <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/post-status-llc/\">LinkedIn</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4bc.png\" alt=\"💼\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 01 Mar 2023 18:28:03 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Courtney Robertson\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"WPTavern: #65 – Bob Dunn on Building a WooCommerce Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=142333\";s:7:\"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/podcast/65-bob-dunn-on-building-a-woocommerce-community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40419:\"Transcript<div>\n<p>[00:00:00] Nathan Wrigley: Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox has a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case building a WooCommerce community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or by going to WPTavern.com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. And you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the show, I&#8217;m very keen to hear from you, and hopefully get you all your idea on as soon as possible. Head over to WPTavern.com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Bob Dunn. If you&#8217;ve been using WordPress for any length of time, and you&#8217;ve been consuming content in the ecosystem, it&#8217;s highly likely that you&#8217;ve come across Bob before. He&#8217;s been using WordPress since 2006, WooCommerce since 2011, and has been podcasting since 2014. In another life before he discovered WordPress, Bob ran a marketing company, but now his endeavors are all about WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how Bob found WordPress back in the day, when he was creating websites with HTML and Flash. Bob branded himself as BobWP, and has never looked back. After several years of running an agency alongside his content creation, in 2014 Bob decided to go all in on his content and building a community around it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you&#8217;ll hear, he tried a variety of different formats, some of which worked, and others which fell by the wayside. But it was all a journey to where he is now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the size of the WordPress community, Bob was able to discover his niche within the greater whole and concentrate upon WoCommerce. His popular Do the Woo podcast was born, and he&#8217;s been working on it ever since.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how Bob has managed to keep the momentum going, and what he thinks are unique about his podcast and community. It&#8217;s not about growing a group or worrying about the number of listeners. For Bob, it&#8217;s about creating meaningful connections and working to make his community a worthwhile place to be for himself, his cohosts and consumers of his content.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how growing a community such as this can be financed, as well as the ways that Bob is trying to innovate in the near future to give value back to the WordPress project more generally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s an interesting conversation about how content creators can find a place in the WordPress ecosystem, and what impact they can have.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all the links in the show notes by heading to WPTavern.com forward slash podcast. Where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, without further delay, I bring you Bob Dunn.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Bob Dunn. Hello, Bob.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:05] Bob Dunn: Hey Nathan, thanks for having me on. I&#8217;m pretty excited to be here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:08] Nathan Wrigley: Yeah, you&#8217;re very welcome. Thank you. Bob is known to me because we&#8217;ve met in the real world, and I&#8217;ve been following his podcast for many, many years. But if you don&#8217;t know Bob, let&#8217;s give you the opportunity to introduce yourself. So it&#8217;s a fairly bland question. I&#8217;m sorry about that. But it&#8217;s the one that we usually start with. Just give us a bit of background, tell us who you are, what your relationship is with WordPress and so on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:32] Bob Dunn: Okay. Before WordPress, before I even got into WordPress, I ran a marketing company. My wife and I ran a marketing company, and these were the days of print design. So that&#8217;s kind of was my background for, for many, many years. And eventually moved into WordPress, which is another little story in itself, but was just looking for something simple and easy to segue into the web as far as our business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in 2006, I started playing with WordPress. Got into it more and more. My wife was blogging on Typepad, I believe, at the time. So I was thinking, well, maybe we should check out this blogging thing on WordPress. Got into that. That was what appealed to me first off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then secondly was the fact that I had spent, in my other business doing these horrible HTML websites with Flash, and they were just atrociously, they were a horror. And I thought, I&#8217;ve got to find something simpler that I can make a nice, clean website for clients. I don&#8217;t need anything fancy, and I found that with WordPress and actually did in, I think, 2018, my first WordPress site for our business. And from there it was history. In 2010, I branded BobWP. I&#8217;ve been training, I&#8217;ve done just about everything in WordPress, or at least tried everything except development. And I&#8217;m, where I&#8217;m at today with, Do The Woo, which is a WooCommerce builder community site. But yeah, it&#8217;s been an interesting and fun journey.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:06] Nathan Wrigley: How did you decide that you were going to turn your attention to what it is that you now do mostly, which is community building and podcasting? Was there a moment in time where you thought, I no longer wish to actually build sites and deal with clients? I want to concentrate on the content creation and the community building.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:25] Bob Dunn: Yeah, around 2014 was when I stopped doing service work, designing sites specifically. I just was burned out. It was to the point where I would almost dread if somebody contacted me to put a site together, and I think it&#8217;s just because I&#8217;d been doing, at that point, between that and our other business, I&#8217;ve been doing client services for a good, probably 23 years or 24 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I thought, man, this isn&#8217;t the way to work with clients. I&#8217;m not giving them what they deserve. If I have that kind of attitude and I&#8217;m just dreading the next project. Ever since the beginning of my involvement with WordPress, the community always played a part. That was a part that really, was always there and always moved me forward.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in 2007, 2008, I was on another online community, and it was very unique. I&#8217;m not going to get into the explanation of it, take a little bit too long, but that got me more involved in community, online and both in person. And that stuck with me, the community all the way through.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now the podcasting came along. I was a content maker. In 2007 I went to a workshop with some colleagues of mine, and it was on podcasting and they really wanted me to start a podcast. And I thought, well, this is very intriguing. I was looking at what I was doing. Uh, I don&#8217;t have the bandwidth for this. So I told them maybe someday, and that someday came like, I don&#8217;t know how many years later. 2014 is when I started the first podcast, and Matt Madeiros, which many of your listeners know from Matt Report and WP Minute. He was doing podcasting way back then too, and he kept poking at me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we had a pretty good relationship, we talked a lot. And again, since we were both content makers, he said, come on Bob, you got to try podcasting. So he was never like, down my throat, but every once in a while we&#8217;d be talking and he&#8217;d go, oh, when you going to start that podcast? So between his less than annoying poking at me, and then having waited, I thought this is prime time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in 2014, I said, I got to try this podcasting thing. And I did one for about a year and I called it WP Breakdown. And I thought it was very clever because I was essentially repeating what I did with tutorials and stuff. I was writing, breaking down WordPress. But then I also thought of the frustration of WordPress, somebody having a breakdown with WordPress. So I thought it was clever. I don&#8217;t know if anybody ever really got that from the title.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they were 10, 15 minute monologue podcasts that I did. And I wasn&#8217;t really thrilled with it. I think it was a format I had. So after a little over a year I said, I got to quit this. This is just me rambling, regurgitating what I&#8217;m writing down somewhere else. I need to wait till something hits me and then I&#8217;ll start up again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:38] Nathan Wrigley: That&#8217;s nice. I confess that I don&#8217;t think in all the years that I&#8217;ve been podcasting, I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve had the courage to do any monologue kind of thing. It&#8217;s always been an interview. So either with one person or multiple people. I don&#8217;t quite know why that is, but I&#8217;ve always found it much more easy to get conversation going, than to persuade myself to sit there and write something that I assume people would want to listen to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:05] Bob Dunn: Yeah, and I&#8217;d always been told, even in the early days of my other career, people always told me, you got to do something Bob. You either need to go into being a DJ or a minister, because of your voice. And I thought, well, you know, you don&#8217;t go into something just because of your voice. And that&#8217;s where a few people started poking me at podcasting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, you have a voice for podcasting. I said, well, that&#8217;s nice, but it would be better if I had the time and the resources and everything else that comes along with it. The voice alone isn&#8217;t going to do it. And I&#8217;ve had a, I&#8217;ve had a few monologue ones. I&#8217;ve had a few interview. I&#8217;ve actually done seven podcasts since 2014.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:44] Nathan Wrigley: That&#8217;s really rather a lot. It always amazes me that the community surrounding the WordPress project is big enough that it can have so many little niches. So, you know, if you&#8217;ve got a plugin that does one particular thing, that may well afford you a lifestyle, if you can sell it and upsell it and shift some licenses, then you can have a lifestyle there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also that extends to things like you and I both do. It&#8217;s amazing to me that there are enough people out there who are into WordPress that it can support multiple different podcast channels and YouTube channels and all sorts of content creation, tutorials, but also podcasts like you&#8217;re listening to now. I find that extraordinary.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:29] Bob Dunn: Yeah, it is amazing. And I think when I was doing it by myself, I realized that no, this isn&#8217;t right. This isn&#8217;t meant to be me just being here by myself doing some monologue. I&#8217;m not really enjoying it. And I think that was a community part of it, nagging at me, because when I started Do the Woo, I think I did one or two episodes and I said basically, screw this, I&#8217;ve got to get a co-host at least.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I reached out to Brad Williams from WebDevStudios. He said, would love to do it. We did a few by ourselves and then I thought even two people week after week or whatever the cadence was back then. Is it really what I want to do? Is it really what the listeners want to hear? The two of us talking week after week. So shortly after that we started bringing in guests.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:26] Nathan Wrigley: I&#8217;ve tried my hand at community building with things like Facebook groups and so on. Various different ways of getting the community going, but that feels like an area where you are really concentrating. So it&#8217;s not true to say that you do the podcast. You do the podcast plus you have these endeavors to build community. You&#8217;ve got a variety of different people helping you create the podcast, but also you are trying to create a community around the podcast. How&#8217;s that going and what&#8217;s the intention there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:00] Bob Dunn: I think that, I started with building community around BobWP. So the brand in 2010 that I started, that helped make the way for building other communities, because it&#8217;s real hard to build, have these other grandeur ideas and not have built your own community yourself. So I did that, and when I really sat down and started looking at building community and I read books and I listened to the people that were experts in building community and I saw a lot of things and I thought, this just doesn&#8217;t, there&#8217;s something that doesn&#8217;t jive with what I want to do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what I discovered was two things that I was looking at building a community. I call it without the noise and without the metrics. And what I mean by that is without the noise, when I first started the idea of Do the Woo and building a community for the WooCommerce builder. Everybody would ask me the question, so are you doing a Slack channel? Are you doing a Facebook group? Is this like a Discord? Where are you building this community? I said, I&#8217;m not doing any of those. And they were just kind of pause.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>My idea was that, and as painful as it sounds, that I would need to build community, basically one person at a time. That I didn&#8217;t need to prove that I have a community of thousands of people, or I have this group that has 10,000 people in it. Because the impact was more important to me than the number. Because as all of us know, you can have 20,000 followers on Twitter, and you engage with maybe 2% of them if you&#8217;re lucky.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there&#8217;s that metric that doesn&#8217;t mean that your community&#8217;s successful or not, I really feel that way. The metric is the communication you&#8217;re having with individuals. How you&#8217;re connecting people. And that tied into less noise.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn&#8217;t need a bunch of people in a group on Discord and have them all talking away to each other. We have plenty of opportunities to do that, and I didn&#8217;t need to add something to that pile. So taking that in mind and moving ahead with those two, I call them my goals or my mantras, I guess. It&#8217;s gone very well because, what I see is, when I have people on the podcast, I have a certain amount of hosts, and our podcast is a little unique to the space because I have like, I believe, nine or 10 co-hosts now that do the different shows.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I kind of mix them up. They all have their different personalities. They bring in a different perspective. And the connections that have been made between hosts and guests and guests and guests and hosts and hosts has been amazing. And it&#8217;s not this, like I said, huge number that I&#8217;m going to just worry about achieving and saying, join this community of 10,000 people, 20,000. Whatever I want it. Join this community where people are connecting with each other in different ways. And that&#8217;s what I think the podcasting has really brought to it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you, you have your weekly Monday podcast where you bring in three different people. With you, I&#8217;m sure that same thing is happening. You&#8217;re building the WP Builds community that way because they&#8217;re all connecting. You have the people that come in and listen to the chat. You have guests that maybe have listened to other guests, who knows, they may have reached out to each other. Sometimes we hear about those stories, sometimes we don&#8217;t.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And those are the things that are impactful to me. And I think that&#8217;s a way to really build community versus these steps that people go through. And there&#8217;s nothing wrong with having Facebook groups. There&#8217;s nothing wrong with having Discord groups. They all have their place. But personally for me, I knew the direction I needed to go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:05] Nathan Wrigley: Yeah. In order to allow yourself the time to put into this project. Whatever it is given the time that this podcast is released, wherever you&#8217;ve got to. But in order to give yourself the time, you obviously need to finance that. And I&#8217;m wondering how that works for you. Do you have relationships with companies? Are you sponsored in certain ways? How do you deal with paying the bills essentially?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:34] Bob Dunn: Yeah, it&#8217;s old sponsorships and it&#8217;s a tough row. You can get sponsors, no problem. You can get sponsors if you don&#8217;t have listeners. They put out all these things that maybe have worked for them. A lot of it is who you know. A lot of it is your own community build up. And a lot of it is luck, I think. So yes, I have currently 12 pod friends that are my major sponsors, and then I have some spots for smaller sponsors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I started my first podcast or one of my first, it was, Do the Woo actually, in the early years, changed to a podcast called WPeCommerce. When I started that podcast, out of the gate, I started with sponsors and I was able to get some people to come in and support me. Now, easier said than done. I had a lot of, as you mentioned, a lot of connections in the space. I had already built up a lot of relationships. I built up a brand, whatever that brand may convey, but it obviously was something that sponsors found value in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, you can only carry that so far. You have to really start delivering and you have to, you have to be honest with your sponsors. And how I do it is, a lot of times you will, how do I want to say this? Sponsors will have expectations, and those expectations might be metrics. How many listeners do you have? How many click-throughs am I going to have?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, if you don&#8217;t have that or that isn&#8217;t your main goal, as I said before, with my community, I&#8217;m not looking at so much the metrics. I&#8217;m looking at the impact it has. Then you&#8217;ve got to turn around, sell that. And that&#8217;s what I do is I sell the impact of what my sponsors are doing for the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s not an easy sell, let me tell you. And not everybody has a budget to spend the money on that. So I&#8217;m fortunate. It&#8217;s something that when time comes around to get sponsors, it&#8217;s not like I just sit back and send out 12 emails and I get 12 yeses. It does take work and it&#8217;s not something I recommend for everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, there&#8217;s a lot of other ways you can fund your efforts. But if you really are able to do it full-time and put into it all your blood, sweat, and tears. And also decide what else you can provide through those sponsorships. Let me kinda step back. I&#8217;m kind of going off on a weird tangent.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest things I can ask anybody if you&#8217;re going to do a sponsorship, whether it&#8217;s for a podcast for a community, is two things. Be creative and be flexible. If you send out and you say, hey, this is what you get, case closed, we&#8217;re done. Great. If that&#8217;s it, and it works, fine. But the only way you can grow a sponsorship, grow trust from sponsors is to throw in some creativity to really basically give them a little bit more of an open book than saying this is what we deliver during this period of time, and that&#8217;s it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that is what&#8217;s going to help you. And it helps them to understand more of what you&#8217;re actually doing with the podcast or the community, whatever it may be. Versus just saying, you get this and that&#8217;s it. If that makes sense. I kind of went off on a little tangent there and kind of got a little away from community, but the sponsorship is a real, I wish it was cut and dry is what I wish it was.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I could say, hey, you know, just do this and you&#8217;ll be happy, and life will go on and you can go out and smell the roses and live your life. But it can be frustrating, can be challenging, but if you work on it hard enough, you&#8217;ll find that sweet spot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:31] Nathan Wrigley: Yeah, you only have to go to events like WordCamps to see that WordPress has this giant commercial bit to it. There&#8217;s hundreds of companies at those events vying for your attention, and they may have booths, they may have great big areas of the exhibition hall if you like, devoted to their product or service. Or it may just be that they turn up and walk the halls and try to meet new people and forge relationships, set up meetings and what have you. So there&#8217;s a very large proportion of people in the WordPress space who want to sell into that space. And then along comes somebody like you who is directly talking to those people.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I can see that the match is really good. You are essentially a conduit. You&#8217;re a short circuit between people who&#8217;ve got a product that they wish to sell, and trying to find that audience and it&#8217;s hard to build that audience. And I would imagine in many cases, those companies, they really don&#8217;t have the resources to build their own independent audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the idea of piggybacking of the hard work that you&#8217;ve done over many years must seem very appealing. But also, yeah, I guess they&#8217;ve got their constraints in terms of whether they&#8217;ve got the budget, what their success criteria are and so on. But do you see yourself as that middle man, if you like? The person that sits between the community who want to listen to authentic people talking in authentic ways, and the companies who want to get their product and service to that audience, but possibly don&#8217;t know quite how to do it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:08] Bob Dunn: That&#8217;s exactly how I sell my sponsorships. I&#8217;m there to be an advisor. I&#8217;m there to be somebody that a sponsor can throw it against the wall and see if it sticks. I can give them my impressions of what&#8217;s going on in the community. For our new year with our sponsors, a big part of that is me being a conduit. I mean it&#8217;s like, I tell my sponsors it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s a horrible way to say this, but use and abuse me. I&#8217;m here to help you make connections. If you want to talk to somebody, if you want to meet somebody. If I see a potential conversation that I feel would be valuable to whoever and the sponsor, and neither one of them have had any inclination about this may be happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll come right to them and say, hey, I&#8217;ve talked to so-and-so and I really think you should connect with this person. And at the same time, connecting with the different guests we have, I&#8217;ve had some sponsors that have actually connected with guests. In the next 12 months, as a group, what our sponsors are doing as part of their sponsorships now, and this kind of brings a other piece of the community back in, certain percentage of their sponsorship will go right back in to fund some of the things that we&#8217;re seeing and doing in the space right now as far as sending people to WordCamps, sending contributors to contributor days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helping contributors basically finance all the hours and efforts they&#8217;re putting into things. So I thought, what better way, especially for sponsors that may not know where to put that money, where they&#8217;ll get the most value for it, putting it back into the community. I want to be that conduit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:04] Nathan Wrigley: So some of the sponsorship money that you&#8217;re receiving in this particular year, you are turning that round and recycling it back to people in your community to help them, as you described, get to WordCamp events. But also I would imagine there&#8217;s other things. But that&#8217;s the intention is to siphon off a certain proportion of your sponsorship revenue and repurpose it to help community members.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:28] Bob Dunn: Right. And that&#8217;s one of the things, I did it as, I increased my sponsorship and as a added benefit that yes, let&#8217;s put this pocket of money together. Again, you may not know where to put it. But I can find the best places. I can talk to the right people. I can make sure that I&#8217;m not reinventing the wheel because there&#8217;s several organizations being put together, the WP Community Collective, all these other ones that will be able to help with this, and I can partner with them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;m real big with partnerships, finding the right place to put the money. I&#8217;m just not going to put some form on my site and say, okay, apply to be sent here, or to fund your project or whatever. I want to strategically make sure the sponsors monies are going to the right place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:19] Nathan Wrigley: Yeah. That&#8217;s really interesting. So there&#8217;s that as part of your community, but I know you&#8217;ve got quite a few irons in the fire and ideas circulating around. Depending on the time that this podcast is released, maybe those ideas will have changed. But right now, as of when we&#8217;re recording this, what are the goals, if you like for Bob and Do the Woo and the community around that for this coming year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:43] Bob Dunn: I really want to get even more people involved, reach more of the underrepresented globally. One big thing is that we want to reach out a lot more global and some of the pockets, especially in the Woo Builder. And it&#8217;ll be WooCommerce, I mean WordPress as well. But, it&#8217;s getting into those communities and elevating their voices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Essentially that is what my whole podcast is about. No matter how I do it. I&#8217;ve got several different ideas aside from having somebody come in as a guest, I&#8217;m going to be doing some panels, some live feeds, and I&#8217;d like to define it as a podcast for the community by the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there&#8217;s some real interesting pieces we&#8217;re looking at. We&#8217;re looking at bringing in a few podcasts that will be in native languages, because a lot of my guests, English is not their first language. I feel they struggle a little bit with really expressing themselves, like they would want to express themselves. And I can&#8217;t do this a lot, but I thought how great would that be to have, let&#8217;s say I&#8217;m just going to pick out a country in Europe, France.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I get a couple guests, host. We get a couple guests for them and I basically give them a little bit of direction of what they want to talk about. Probably something WooCommerce, and let them do it in French, and go at it. And this is something that I want to do to give back to those little communities in all these different countries. At least saying, hey, you&#8217;re at least special enough and you&#8217;re part of this community that we want to at least give you this almost as a gift, and give you the opportunity to raise your voice, but in your own language.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m doing a Friday show that I call WooBits, and I&#8217;m going to open it up and have a guest co-host come in with me each week and I&#8217;ll pick out a topic or two and we&#8217;ll just have a conversation. Again, this will be very open. It&#8217;s just somebody that wants the opportunity to kind of talk on the level as a co-host, but not have the commitment of doing this on a regular basis or starting their own podcast.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And again, all around elevating their voices. Yeah, there&#8217;s several things I&#8217;m trying to think of what else is coming to mind, but I&#8217;m somebody that likes to think I have these things in place and these ideas in place, but I&#8217;m sure organically over the next however many months, other ideas will come and in other great possibilities. And a lot of those do come through the sponsors too. I constantly talk to them and say, do you have some unique idea you wanted to do with the community? Let&#8217;s see if we can do something under the guise that Do the Woo and make it happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:42] Nathan Wrigley: Given that you are now doing the Do the Woo podcast, and you&#8217;ve gone down the rabbit hole of WooCommerce exclusively really. Why did you decide to do that and not focus on WordPress as a whole? Because, obviously WordPress as a whole is much bigger. So why the fascination with Woo was it that you were just more interested in that when you began this journey, or did it just seem like a nice niche to be involved in? What was the thinking there?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:12] Bob Dunn: Boy, that&#8217;s a, that&#8217;s a good question. I wish I could say it&#8217;s as easy as I was drinking one night and decided to do it. But that would be too simple. The whole journey to Woo, I mean, I&#8217;ve been involved with WooCommerce since the beginning. I used to use their themes in their early days when their were WooThemes, so I knew them as a company.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I knew, I&#8217;ve known a lot of the people there. It was a product that just always impressed me from the time it was released. During my sprint of doing more tutorials and stuff on bobwp.com, a few years back, I decided to focus on WooCommerce only because I knew there was a market, because I was into affiliate marketing at that time. And I knew there was a need.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that was just general topics, writing about plugins, extensions, things like that. But then the more I got into it, and the more I talked to people at WooCommerce, and the more I talked to people involved with WooCommerce, I felt like the community was of builders who were a little fragmented. And I took upon myself, I thought, what if I was able to actually start bringing them together? Start raising their voices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, I realized that the Woo Builder community was very fragmented and they were all doing their own thing. And I, I just thought, okay, with as much experience that I&#8217;ve put into WooCommerce, and it just was a natural segue for me. Something just told me along the way to get into it more and more. I felt here&#8217;s an opportunity to do something more than just a podcast. Do something community wise. So I, I actually talked to a lot of people over a period of about seven or eight months before I even kicked off Do the Woo, to really get a feel of if this is something that is viable. And everything led me that way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, there was that initial interest always using WooCommerce, and it just built on it over the years. And the interesting thing about it is that as much as we talk about WooCommerce, I&#8217;m finding I talk just as much about WordPress, in conversations on the podcast and stuff, because obviously WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress. So it&#8217;s a slash, you know, Do the Woo, do the WordPress type of thing. Except that that&#8217;d be really cumbersome to call it that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the two overlap so much that the love and the interests I&#8217;ve had in WordPress for so many years fits in. And WooCommerce is a large, large piece of software. A lot of sites out there. And I was hoping by talking especially to people in other countries and their challenges and how they have built these little Woo communities, other places that none of us know about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I thought, well, it was sure it&#8217;d be nice to get them a little bit more noticed and hopefully active and do that in any way I can through the site. I&#8217;m kind of going back into community, but something that just grew over time and I just decided to run with it because I really knew that, I just saw the potential for that community. And just a side fact, when I started Do the Woo, I did several episodes of it and I actually flipped over then to a podcast called WPeCommerce Show. And I did that for almost two years, four years I think. And there was probably well over 2, 300 episodes. And that was a more generalized WordPress and e-commerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And towards the end of it, I was having this nagging feeling. I wanted to kick Do the Woo back into things. So I actually started to Do the Woo up again. Did both of them at the same time, and eventually decided to end the WPeCommerce and focus on WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:17] Nathan Wrigley: Do you, given that you are really keen on e-commerce and WooCommerce in particular, and probably keep your eye very closely on how it&#8217;s being developed. What&#8217;s your feelings for 2023, or indeed the last year? What have you enjoyed in the space? So I&#8217;m thinking particularly not about the community there, but some of the bits and pieces that have rolled out into WooCommerce. What&#8217;s been exciting, what&#8217;s been interesting? What products or services have you seen which you thought, ah, that&#8217;s one to watch, or that&#8217;s been good to see?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:49] Bob Dunn: You know, I hate to admit this, but I&#8217;ve gotten to a point in the last two, three years that I keep on top of WooCommerce by proxy. Because I feel like I&#8217;ve been put in a position to put all these other people on, a lot smarter than me, and get the people that really know what they&#8217;re talking about to talk about WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think what I&#8217;ve noticed most about WooCommerce, and this is maybe, I&#8217;m not a developer, I don&#8217;t build sites anymore, so sometimes my attention kind of weighs away from some of that stuff, and I get too maybe focused on the people. But I like the growth they&#8217;ve been doing. I feel like they&#8217;re not just going, you know, crazy. They&#8217;re not this like bam, bam, bam. Tons of features, tons of features, flipping this, flipping that. Adding stuff all the time. They, they are taking their time and they&#8217;re doing it right, even with blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How long that they&#8217;ve taken to bring in Woo Blocks and the discussion around the product page and will the product page stay as it is, or will it become entirely block based? They don&#8217;t rush into anything. And sometimes I know maybe for some people that&#8217;s frustrating, but for myself as a business person and somebody that&#8217;s been in tech for a while, and just having talked to a lot of people. I think the thing that I&#8217;ve noticed. Even though the progress is moving fast in a lot of ways, they keep up with the right things, but they don&#8217;t push the envelope so much that they overdo it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think that&#8217;s the thing I&#8217;ve seen the most. And when I have people talk about WooCommerce, I&#8217;ve recognized the most is that they&#8217;re doing it at a pace that&#8217;s good and they&#8217;re doing it right, and that&#8217;s, my takeaway is. And even when I listen to them talk about what they have in the future, it&#8217;s not like this, we have dozens of things we want to do. It&#8217;s more of a logical, step by step versus just piling it on. So I think that&#8217;s probably my biggest takeaway. And, it is from a bigger, maybe a more bird&#8217;s eye view.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:10] Nathan Wrigley: Given that you&#8217;ve changed your career several times, you&#8217;ve flipped between different jobs. If we cast your eye into the crystal ball over the next few years, do you see yourself still doing this? Do you have as much energy and passion for it now as you did, and do you intend to keep doing Do the Woo? Or do you suspect that the future might offer something else?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:37] Bob Dunn: Well, if anybody wants to buy Do the Woo, I&#8217;m always. No, I&#8217;m just kidding. We&#8217;re in the, age of acquisitions, no. Seriously, I&#8217;m at an age, I started WordPress at the age of, right before my 50th birthday, I started diving into WordPress. So I&#8217;m at an age where I&#8217;m not looking to come up with the next big and new thing for myself.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m really content with what I&#8217;m doing right now. So I&#8217;m think I&#8217;m in it for the long haul, because I think it&#8217;s going to be around. I don&#8217;t know how it will mold itself over the years. But my pivots that I&#8217;ve had over the years, and I&#8217;ve had several of them. They will be smaller pivots, but they&#8217;d still probably be within the realm of what I&#8217;m doing, versus just doing another whole swing. Now, I&#8217;m also somebody that says never say never, and you don&#8217;t know what the future holds. So don&#8217;t hold me to it. But I don&#8217;t have any, I have too many ideas for this still, and I think there&#8217;s still so much potential. I think I&#8217;m locked in for a while.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:48] Nathan Wrigley: If anybody&#8217;s listening to this Bob, and they&#8217;re keen on e-commerce and WooCommerce in particular, and they never knew that you were trying to grow communities and connect people and all of that. Whether they&#8217;re from a company that might like to be on the one hand or the community member on the other. Where do they find you? Where&#8217;s the best places to get in touch with you and what you do?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:09] Bob Dunn: Best place of course, you can always visit site, dothewoo.io. I do have a bobwp.com site. It&#8217;s a little bit lean right now. I&#8217;m kind of rebranding that. But dothewoo.io. And then on Twitter, I&#8217;m still hanging on Twitter. I mean, I&#8217;ll be there till they throw me off or something. You can find me @dothewoo, @bobwp. But basically look for BobWP on Mastodon, LinkedIn, all that stuff. You&#8217;ll find me there and that&#8217;ll connect you with Do the Woo.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:43] Nathan Wrigley: Bob Dunn, thank you for chatting to me on the podcast today. I really appreciate it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:47] Bob Dunn: Thank you, Nathan. It was a true pleasure.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today, we have <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BobWP\">Bob Dunn</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you’ve been using WordPress for any length of time, and you’ve been consuming content in the ecosystem, it’s highly likely that you’ve come across Bob before. He’s been using WordPress since 2006, WooCommerce since 2011, and has been podcasting since 2014. In another life before he discovered WordPress, Bob ran a marketing company, but now his endeavours are all about WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how Bob found WordPress back in the day when he was creating websites with HTML and Flash. Bob branded himself as <a href=\"https://bobwp.com/\">BobWP</a> and has never looked back.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After several years of running an agency alongside his content creation, in 2014 Bob decided to go all-in on his content and building a community around it. As you’ll hear, he tried a variety of different formats, some of which worked, and others which fell by the wayside, but it was all a journey to where he is now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the size of the WordPress community, Bob was able to discover his niche within the greater whole and concentrate on WooCommerce. His popular <a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/\">Do the Woo podcast</a> was born, and he’s been working on it ever since.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how Bob has managed to keep the momentum going, and what he thinks are unique about his podcast and community. It’s not about growing a group or worrying about the number of listeners. For Bob, it’s about creating meaningful connections and working to make his community a worthwhile place to be for himself, his co-hosts and consumers of the content.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We talk about how growing a community such as this can be financed, as well as the ways Bob is trying to innovate in the near future to give value back to the WordPress project more generally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s an interesting conversation about how content creators can find a place in the WordPress ecosystem and what impact they can have.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful links.</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/\">Do the Woo</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://mattreport.com/\">Matt Report</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://thewpminute.com/\">WP Minute</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://strangework.com/\">Brad Williams&#8217; website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/\">WooCommerce</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.thewpcommunitycollective.com/\">WP Community Collective</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/woo-bits-moving-forward/\">WooBits</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/DotheWoo\">@dothewoo Twitter</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://twitter.com/bobwp\">@bobwp Twitter</a></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:87:\"WPTavern: All In One SEO Patches Multiple Stored XSS Vulnerabilities in Version 4.3.0 \";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142373\";s:7:\"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/all-in-one-seo-patches-multiple-stored-xss-vulnerabilities-in-version-4-3-0\";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:2307:\"<p>Wordfence has <a href=\"https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2023/02/all-in-one-seo-pack-vulnerabilities-impacting-3-million-sites-patched/#:~:text=The%20All%20in%20One%20SEO,input%20sanitization%20and%20output%20escaping.\">published</a> the details of two stored XSS vulnerabilities the company responsibly disclosed to the developers of the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/\">All In One SEO plugin</a> in January 2023. The vulnerabilities potentially impacted more than 3 million users on versions 4.2.9 and earlier.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One vulnerability, which received a 6.4 (Medium) CVSS score, Wordfence attributes to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. Researchers found that this &#8220;makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second vulnerability was given a 4.4 (Medium) CVSS score and requires an authenticated attacker to have Administrator-level privileges. Wordfence outlined how attackers might exploit these vulnerabilities: </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Unfortunately, vulnerable versions of this plugin fail to escape submitted site titles, meta descriptions and other elements during post and page creation, and when changing plugin settings. This made it possible for users with access to the post editor, such as contributors, to insert malicious JavaScript into those fields, which would execute in the browser of any authenticated user, such as a site’s administrator, editing such a post or page.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a likely scenario to occur as posts written by contributors have to be reviewed and moderated prior to publication.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>All In One SEO has patched both vulnerabilities in version 4.3.0 but so far only 25.5% of the plugins 3+ million user base has updated to the latest version, leaving approximately 3/4 of the plugin&#8217;s users still vulnerable.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin&#8217;s changelog for version 4.3.0 includes a brief, vague note on the security fix included: &#8220;Updated: Additional security hardening.&#8221; There have been two more releases of the plugin since the vulnerabilities were patched in 4.3.0.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 28 Feb 2023 23:15:04 +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:30;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:55:\"WordPress.org blog: People of WordPress: Hauwa Abashiya\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=14450\";s:7:\"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/2023/02/people-of-wordpress-hauwa-abashiya/\";s: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:17524:\"<p><strong>This month we feature Hauwa Abashiya, a project manager in Nigeria and the UK, whose passion for community support led her to an adventure in open source.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The&nbsp;<em>People of WordPress</em>&nbsp;series features inspiring stories of how people’s lives can change for the better through WordPress and its global community of contributors.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1014\" height=\"627\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/feature-img-for-hauwa-powp.jpg?resize=1014%2C627&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa portrait picture \" class=\"wp-image-14437\" />\n\n\n\n<p>As we travel through life, sometimes we are drawn to a particular cause, one to which we can get behind and join in. This cause, in whatever field it may be, can help lift us beyond our everyday lives and can help us take stock. This is the journey that depicts Hauwa’s finding a global sense of place and a way to re-look at her life and plans.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That change agent was discovering and becoming part of open source through WordPress.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learning development and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, Hauwa was working full time as an experienced and successful project manager, but was becoming increasingly aware that she did not feel the same excitement for projects as she once had. She was starting to feel bored. “I knew I still loved working with and in project management, but I needed to do something different.” she said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa enrolled in a web development course and studied HTML, CSS and some JavaScript. One of the course options was WordPress, which she elected to take. It was then that a course tutor encouraged her to attend a WordCamp, an event focused on the open source software and its global community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>She felt that she needed to have a basic knowledge of the software before she arrived at the event, so started to learn WordPress. The first WordCamp she attended was in the seaside town of Brighton on the south coast of England. There she met people who would be friends and mentors for years to come. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;I was inspired by meeting people in the WordPress community.&#8221;</p>\n<cite>Hauwa Abashiya</cite></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>She said: “I was inspired by meeting people in the WordPress community. My life and my wish to support communities have been shaped for the better by some of the people I met, and I continue to be grateful for knowing them.”</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Global WordPress community: from Germany to Nigeria</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After discovering a WordPress community in the UK, Hauwa wanted to see first hand just what a global connection it had. She had heard that WordCamp Europe was a flagship event and brought thousands from across the world together. She wanted to be part of this, and its organization appealed to her project management training. She applied to be a volunteer at the three day conference, which in 2019 was held in Berlin, Germany. At this event, Hauwa discovered both a global movement and an active local WordPress community in her home country of Nigeria. She was able to connect with all the different parts of this vast community from wherever she was working through an instant messaging tool.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by people she met who were using WordPress to help improve people’s lives in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, Hauwa started to delve further into how this open source software and its global community could provide opportunities and improve understanding across cultures and continents.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"700\" height=\"937\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/hauwa-and-her-mom.jpg?resize=700%2C937&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa and her mother\" class=\"wp-image-14438\" /><em>Rosalind and Hauwa</em> <em>at an event in Nigeria.</em>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa’s father, Dr Audu Kwasau Abashiya and her mother Rosalind Zulai Abashiya, were both well known for their philanthropy, especially in giving practical support to people in Kaduna, in the north of Nigeria and Abuja in the center of the country. Hauwa explained: “My mum comes from a family who give and share their skills to give practical help. From friends I had got to know in WordPress, I saw that there were parts of the community that had this same ethos. This could be something I could be part of, and also take back to Nigeria in the future.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her parents had established a charitable foundation focused on helping widows, orphans and children get access to education skills, from finance to music. It connects those who need help and those who can give support. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa said: “Teaching people practical skills which can be used to raise an income or be re-shared with family and others in their local area is so important. Projects like this can help grow a community and keep it strong. Skills such as sewing and cookery are not just ones that can put clothing and food on the table, but also are about gaining independence and pride. They are examples of how micro-economies can grow and inspire others to have dreams that they can see becoming real. <br /><br />&#8220;I had seen through my work and studies that technology used with care and an understanding of different needs can make a difference in local communities too. Projects like WordPress can be part of this empowerment through localized translations and software which can give a way to share ideas.”</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"675\" height=\"900\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/hauwa-in-2022.jpg?resize=675%2C900&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa in Nigeria\" class=\"wp-image-14442\" />\n\n\n\n<p>With her project management and IT background, Hauwa is getting more involved with how IT skills can be used for not just instilling a sense of community belonging, but also the practical longer term input into the local infrastructure and introduction of fast changing technology.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said: “I would love to see many of the people who have been helped by the foundation my parents started be able to share their ideas and their achievements to encourage others. One of the routes could be through open source software that is free to access and can work on mobile phones.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As a previous volunteer team rep in the WordPress Training Team, I saw first-hand just how important it is for a non-technical end user to be able to use software to share their ideas, without having to become a developer. We can all help give people a voice, and if we are working in technology, we have a role to play in creating and pushing for genuine access of tools.”</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;If we are working in technology, we have a role to play in creating access to tools.&#8221;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>On Hauwa’s future wish list is to help African countries access software and technology in their local languages. She said: “This is part of identity, and respecting and valuing different cultures, and not expecting everything to be translated from the English as it is read. It makes it possible for older people to use the software or read content that&#8217;s published.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa learned Hausa (a language spoken across several African countries) and English at the same time as she grew up in Nigeria. She had a multi-location education, like her parents, studying and going on to work in different countries. At 16, she first studied computer science on what she describes as a ‘whim,’ not knowing it would be a significant part of her working life in the future.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"700\" height=\"974\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/hauwa-in-2015.jpg?resize=700%2C974&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa in a cafe in 2015\" class=\"wp-image-14441\" />\n\n\n\n<p>She intended to go to university to study finance and sociology. When she went to say goodbye to her computer studies class, the teacher asked what she was going to study. On hearing it was finance and sociology, the teacher said: “You don’t want to be doing that, you want to be doing something in computing.” This conversation proved to be a turning point for Hauwa. She went on to study Computing and Information Systems and Object Oriented Information Systems for her Master’s degree in the UK.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>During her second year of university, she also worked with data entry and related areas as she was determined to learn as much as she could about the moving parts of a project. After she completed her master’s, she chose jobs that enabled her to work on systems, out of hours support, project management, supply chain, and procurement. She is an advocate for learning as many aspects of your subject as you can to give you as many tools to really understand what both clients need and how to help them reach workable and timely solutions. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;By contributing to community projects you can share your skills and keep them fresh.&#8221;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>These skills proved to be transferable in later years to give her time to support WordCamps, meetups, and the Training Team. She said: “Contributors to open source come from so many different professional and cultural backgrounds. Contributing is a great way to share your skills and keep them fresh and open to new learning opportunities.”</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa fascination for project management and learning continued, and she gained qualifications in the field, including Prince 2 and PMP. She continues her commitment to ongoing learning in her work today with Agile and other methodologies and draws parallels with this and her interest in community learning. </p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"724\" height=\"399\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/hauwa-at-wc-london-2019-2.jpg?resize=724%2C399&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa at the reception desk at WordCamp London 2019\" class=\"wp-image-14440\" /><em>Hauwa welcomes attendees at WordCamp London in 2019</em>\n\n\n\n<p>Committed to supporting her local community in the UK too, Hauwa joined the London WordPress Meetup and in 2019 became an organizer for <a href=\"https://london.wordcamp.org/2019/\">WordCamp London</a> where she was able to use some of her project management expertise. During these events, she had many conversations to encourage others to develop their IT skills and share her own experiences.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This interest in driving up the skills levels of others naturally led her to become further involved in the Contributor Teams. Inspired to share her skills by another contributor to the project, she joined the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/\">Training Team</a> at a WordCamp Contributor Day. In this team, Hauwa found in it a group collaborating on easier online ways for people to keep up with the software, its features, and how they could grow the community in their own local area. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the heart of this, Hauwa felt accessibility should be key, and she gave time to better understand documentation. She felt this was essential to give people genuine access and identify where more work was needed. Her belief in this grew when she joined the WordPress <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/about/accessibility/\">Accessibility Team</a> for release 5.6, and she continued to contribute to the team in the area of documentation and training.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa devoted many hours to supporting the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/training/\">Training Team</a> for a number of years as part of her conviction that the right resources can really help communities globally use open source software. She also stressed the importance of materials being user-friendly and easy to translate as WordPress has such a large international usage.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Volunteering in open source can re-energize you </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the combination of volunteering efforts in UK and Nigeria, and supporting contributors globally, Hauwa began to re-find her love for helping people with their planning and to achieve their goals. She was able to share her 15 years of project management experience in her volunteering role and encouraged others to consider it as a career.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2023/02/Hauwa-WC-Europe-2019.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1\" alt=\"Hauwa at WordCamp Europe 2019\" class=\"wp-image-14443\" />\n\n\n\n<p>She said: “Through volunteering you work alongside people. Project management is about people. It is about helping people achieve. This can be the same through volunteering, and you can learn much through meeting people from different places.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“One of my drivers is using technology to solve problems. As a project manager, it is a privilege to help guide people and organizations to identify and reach goals. It is helping them gain that value. This is one of the reasons I was drawn to finding out tech communities and contributing to them. If this is something that drives people reading about my experience, there are vast opportunities to to share your skills. Find something that fits you for where you are now.”&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hauwa encourages anyone working in technology to further their understanding of managing projects and working with different teams. “Project management skills are so important in whatever kind of project you are in. With long working hours over many years, I felt I had lost the connection with the people element. I was stuck in what seemed to be a repeat cycle. With the people I met in the WordPress community and my professional skills being used, I was reminded of my own values and how as a project manager I can support help others reach new heights or make something of value and quality that others can benefit from and use.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Find an area that fits you and where you can make a difference.&#8221;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Hauwa returned to working full time for both national and international, medium and&nbsp; large scale projects. Though her volunteering time to global community building initiatives has reduced accordingly, she focuses on encouraging skills learning and on the community cultural side.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I will keep my interest in how open source like WordPress, working alongside other solutions, can help not-for-profit ground level and community building. For me, if there are technology-based solutions out there, we can all play some part in helping them grow and making a difference,&#8221; she said. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;How we give to wider communities does not have to be the same throughout time. It is important to keep relooking at what is needed and the difference it can make.&#8221;<br /><br />She added: &#8220;Find your central wish for the communities you are connected with, and there may be technologies that can support them. I am glad I started my journey.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Share the stories</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Help share these stories of open source contributors and continue to grow the community.&nbsp;Meet more WordPressers in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/category/newsletter/interviews/\">People of WordPress series</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Hauwa Abashiya (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/azhiyadev/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>azhiyadev</a>)&nbsp;for sharing her adventures in open source.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to Abha Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/webcommsat/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>webcommsat</a>) for interviews and writing the feature, and to Meher Bala (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/meher/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>meher</a>), Chloe Bringmann (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbringmann/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>cbringmann</a>), Mary Baum (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>marybaum</a>), Nalini Thakor (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nalininonstopnewsuk/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>nalininonstopnewsuk</a>) and Maja Loncar (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/majaloncar/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>majaloncar</a>) for work on photographs and review.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>People of WordPress</em>&nbsp;series thanks Josepha Haden (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>chanthaboune</a>) and Topher DeRosia (<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/topher1kenobe/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>topher1kenobe</a>) for their support.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\"><img width=\"180\" height=\"135\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2020/03/heropress_logo_180.png?resize=180%2C135&ssl=1\" alt=\"HeroPress logo\" class=\"wp-image-8409 size-full\" /><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on </em><a href=\"https://heropress.com/\"><em>HeroPress.com</em></a><em>, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. </em>#HeroPress </p>\n</div></div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 28 Feb 2023 21:30:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Abha Thakor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"WPTavern: WordPress 6.2 Openverse Integration Updated to Upload Inserted Images\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142353\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:90:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-openverse-integration-updated-to-upload-inserted-images\";s: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:4184:\"<p>WordPress 6.2&#8217;s Openverse integration is getting some last minute changes after contributors expressed concerns about it <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-openverse-integration-hotlinks-images-contributors-propose-uploading-to-media-library-as-a-better-default\">hotlinking images by default</a>. The new feature allows users to quickly insert free, openly-licensed media into their content. It also allows users to upload external images through a button in the block toolbar, but this creates an extra step in the process and is easy to miss in the UI.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several contributors cited GDPR and privacy concerns in the <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/48394\">ticket</a> that called for uploading the images by default. They also noted that hotlinked images can pose problems for users who want further manipulate the images by cropping, rotating, and filtering, and for developers managing site migrations. Some went as far as to say the feature belongs in a canonical plugin, which would likely have had a less rushed implementation and better testing prior to landing in core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am deeply uncomfortable with any integration of Openverse into core,&#8221; WordPress contributor Peter Shaw <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/48394#issuecomment-1445151654\">said</a>. &#8220;Philosophically WordPress is a personal publishing platform so it should be avoiding external APIs and dependencies. The only external calls it should make (by default) is to check for updates.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;No issue with the service itself though (I like it) but it should be a canonical plugin that site owners consciously install. Either way images must be on the local server though.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the hotlinking drew more attention, WordPress contributors chimed in on the ticket to call for the feature not to be shipped in its current implementation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This cannot ship this way, or it will get unknowing users sued,&#8221; Yoast founder Joost de Valk said. &#8220;Next to that it has negative performance implications, as you can&#8217;t do <code>srcset</code> or <code>loading</code> attributes on images loaded from remote. Sideload <em>really</em> should be the default, and in fact IMHO, only way.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg contributor Nik Tsekouras jumped in with a quick PR that changes the implementation to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/48501\">upload the Openverse images when they are inserted</a>, wherever possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We definitely want to upload to the site library for this flow and should treat this as a bug,&#8221; Gutenberg Lead Architect Matias Ventura <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/48394#issuecomment-1446883555\">said</a>. &#8220;There&#8217;s work going on in parallel to upload by default on other actions (like pasting) that are not as straightforward or general enough (hence the need for something like <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/46014\">#46014</a>) but this one should be straightforward.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tsekouras&#8217; PR ensures that any images inserted from Openverse are uploaded. If they cannot be uploaded to media library due to <a href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CORS\">CORS issues</a>, WordPress inserts the Image block with the external URL and a warning about legal compliance and privacy issues. Here&#8217;s an example of a successful upload:</p>\n\n\n\nvideo credit: James Koster in <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/48501#pullrequestreview-1317206726\">PR #48501</a>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.2 Beta 4 was <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/28/wordpress-6-2-beta-4-postponed/\">delayed</a> this morning until March 1, due to an unrelated <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB2JS7/p1677581267400419\">regression introduced in 6.2</a>. Tsekouras <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commit/fac5049a0b2544b27f4a3a1b29a4ae817ce9eaac\">cherry-picked the Openverse PR to the wp/6.2 branch</a> to get it included in the next release, so the next beta should ship with the updated implementation.</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, 28 Feb 2023 21:16:32 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"Do The Woo Community: What the WordPress Community Loved About WordCamp Asia Part 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=74563\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"https://dothewoo.io/community-love-wordcamp-asia-2023/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:415:\"<p>While at WordCamp Asia 2023 in Bangkok, I had the opportunity to ask a few attendees what they most liked about the event. </p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io/community-love-wordcamp-asia-2023/\">What the WordPress Community Loved About WordCamp Asia Part 1</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 28 Feb 2023 09:48:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"WPTavern: Gutenberg 15.2 Introduces Revisions for Template Editing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142287\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-15-2-introduces-revisions-for-template-editing\";s: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:2229:\"<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\">Gutenberg 15.2</a> is now available with support for revisions when editing templates and template parts. The Site Editor can be an intimidating place if you&#8217;re new to making changes there. A few clicks can make a drastic impact and some users won&#8217;t know how to return to where they started. Surfacing the revisions panel gives users a safety net. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The revisions panel works the same as the content editor, so it doesn&#8217;t yet provide a visual presentation of a user&#8217;s additions, deletions, and changes. Users can restore previous versions of the template if they are able to read the block markup.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg 15.2 also brings improvements to navigating the Site Editor. It&#8217;s now much easier to drill down to the exact template you want to edit in just a few clicks in the Site Editor sidebar, globally save edits across navigation, template, and template parts, and more easily return to the dashboard. These changes are best illustrated in the GIF published in the release post;</p>\n\n\n\n<img />image source: <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\">Gutenberg 15.2 Release Post</a>\n\n\n\n<p>Other highlights in this release include the following:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>New: CSS aspect-ratio controls to the Post Featured Image block</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New in the Button block: support for border color, style, and width </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accessibility improvements: improved labeling, optimizing the tab and arrow key navigation, and ensuring proper hierarchy of headings</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New in Post Excerpt block: a UI for controlling excerpt length</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Latest Comments block: Add typography support</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the full list of changes and bug fixes in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\">15.2 release post</a>. This version of Gutenberg will not be included in the upcoming WordPress 6.2 release. If you can&#8217;t wait until 6.3, you can get these features now by installing the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg plugin</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 27 Feb 2023 21:07:20 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"Donncha: Redirecting ?replytocom so bots go home\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://odd.blog/?p=89589554\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"https://odd.blog/2023/02/27/redirecting-replytocom-so-bots-go-home/\";s: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:2455:\"<p>Earlier this month I noticed that a particular bot that likes to visit my website, &#8220;MJ12bot/v1.4.8&#8221; seems to be particularly attracted to the &#8220;reply to comment&#8221; links generated by my blog. Those are links that bots see, but we see the &#8220;Reply&#8221; button that uses JavaScript to reply to a comment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be honest, it&#8217;s pretty annoying to see a bot constantly fetching those URLs from my website. Earlier this month, it was on a roll and grabbing several dozen at a time. While my server can handle the traffic without any issues, who wants a bot trampling over their server?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I decided to stop them in two ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Redirect them back to the post in a mod_rewrite rule.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Block them in robots.txt and hopefully the bots will go away.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming up with a mod_rewrite rule <a href=\"https://mastodon.ie/@donncha/109834002975042301\">was surprisingly hard</a>, but after mentioning this on Mastodon I received a reply from <a href=\"https://toot.re/@JosKleverWebSupport\">Jos Klever</a> who figured out I needed the QSD flag. So, to spare you the hassle of researching it, here are the mod_rewrite rules that worked for me. It causes a 301 permanent redirect to the anchor tag of the comment. Add this to your .htaccess file.</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} replytocom=(.*)$\nRewriteRule ^(.*)/          $1/#comment-%1 &#91;NE,QSD,L,R=301]</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Blocking requests like this in the robots.txt is much simpler. WordPress can generate the robots.txt file for you using the <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/robots_txt/\">robots_txt filter</a>. Add the following to a mu-plugin PHP script.</p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>function disallow_replycom_urls( $output, $public ) {\n    $output .= \'Disallow: ?replytocom\';\n    return $output;\n}\nadd_filter( \'robots_txt\', \'disallow_replycom_urls\', 10, 2 );</code></pre>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven&#8217;t received many comments on my posts lately. However, I stumbled upon some interesting posts by clicking the RANDOM link above, which I decided to examine as part of my research. During my search, I delved deep into the blogosphere of the past, almost like being an archaeologist, because some links were no longer available, and I had to search for them on archive.org. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that a link to a GIF from 2005 was still alive!</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, 27 Feb 2023 18:18:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"Donncha\";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:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 50: 3 Interesting Trends from WordCamp Asia\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=14434\";s:7:\"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://wordpress.org/news/2023/02/episode-50-3-interesting-trends-from-wordcamp-asia/\";s: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:13719:\"<p>On Episode fifty of the WordPress Briefing podcast, join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy as she explores the three big trends from the inaugural WordCamp Asia. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Have a question you&#8217;d like answered? You can submit them to <a href=\"mailto:wpbriefing@wordpress.org\">wpbriefing@wordpress.org</a>, either written or as a voice recording.</strong></em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/\">Dustin Hartzler</a><br />Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/\">Javier Arce</a><br />Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/santanainniss/\">Santana Inniss</a><br />Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Notes</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/\">Create Block Theme Plugin</a><br /><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2021/10/episode-17-wordpressing-your-way-to-digital-literacy/\">WordPressing Your Way to Digital Literacy</a><br /><a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303/status/1628422554972028933\">PostStatus Networking Opportunities</a><br /><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\">WordPress 6.2 Live Demo will be held 2 March, 2023 at 17:00h UTC</a><br /><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/docs/?p=23742\">Future Plans for the HelpHub </a><br /><a href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-own-your-expertise-start-speaking-at-wordpress-events-ameremea-tickets-549285827697\">How to Own Your Expertise &amp; Start Speaking at WordPress Events WP Diversity Training 1 March 2023</a><br /></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<span id=\"more-14434\"></span>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing, the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project, some insight into the community that supports it, and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:40]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inaugural WordCamp Asia happened a couple of weeks ago in Bangkok. There were almost 1300 people in attendance, and I was lucky to be able to talk with a lot of them about their thoughts around the WordPress project and community. So today, let&#8217;s talk about three of the most interesting trends that I heard from people: the future of themes, the future of work, and the future of contributions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:01:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>So first up, the future of themes. This one was not a surprise to me. Not only has it been on my mind lately, but every WordCamp I&#8217;ve ever attended in Asia or Australia has had themes as a central element. There are a lot of theme creators making a living in WordPress in this part of the world. So it&#8217;s natural that they want to know what to prepare for.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, it&#8217;s hard to predict the future, but there are a couple of things you can do to kind of get a leg up on it. Firstly, the theme review team, if you know how to make block themes but are still struggling to understand what might make them high value to your users, donating a little bit of time to review them can help.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I was at the contributor day, the team rep who happened to also be there to represent the table told me that reviewing block themes is way faster than reviewing classic themes. So if it&#8217;s been a bit since you stopped by, I would encourage you to give it a shot. It&#8217;s a lot easier than it used to be for a lot of reasons, and they can always use a little bit of help.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:02:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thing is this plugin called the Create Block Theme plugin. If you don&#8217;t know how to make block themes, you know how to make classic themes. You don&#8217;t know how to make block themes. This is a wordpress.org maintained plugin that will make theme creation simpler. It&#8217;s a relatively new plugin, though, so if you&#8217;re the type of contributor who likes to create good tools for good people, you can also feel free to grab a ticket or two from their repo and help get that moving.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thing that came up was the future of work. This was also not a surprise to me. There have been a lot of reports of layoffs in the tech industry and worries about the possibility of a recession.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since WordPress is not only a tool that folks use in their jobs but also a tool that empowers people to create jobs for themselves, it&#8217;s entirely expected for questions about career prospects to come up during a WordCamp. Here are a couple of thoughts on that. So I mentioned this briefly during the Q&amp;A session on that Sunday, but I&#8217;m gonna repeat it here because I believe it with every fiber of my being.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:03:06]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can learn every 21st century skill that you need while contributing to an open source project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I talked about it in episode 17 of this podcast. I&#8217;ve talked about it at WordCamps and major event series outside of WordPress for years. Like I really, really believe this, and it&#8217;s not just like a WordPress only thing. Although obviously, that is my primary perspective, that&#8217;s true for contributing to almost any open source project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that, if you are contributing to WordPress and you&#8217;re doing that in the way that we encourage folks to do, you&#8217;ve got public examples of proactive, asynchronous collaboration across cultures and time zones. And I don&#8217;t know about y&#8217;all, but sometimes it&#8217;s hard to explain what my job is. And so having examples of how the whatever it is that you were doing, however, you were collaborating or contributing or working on a project together, having concrete examples to be able to share with someone can never hurt.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:04]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m gonna give us a necessary side note here. I know that volunteering time is a privilege, and if you find yourself between jobs, the last thing you want to do is give up any more of your time for no money.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you have contributed to any team in the past, that benefit still exists for you. Your contributions are not taken away just because you&#8217;re no longer with your employer.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thought on that is actually one that Matt mentioned during the Q&amp;A on Sunday. He said in his experience that open source shines in recessionary times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll have to take his word for that one since I discovered WordPress in 2009 or so and so after the last recession that I would have experienced in the US. However, I have heard from a lot of people in the WordPress ecosystem and in tech in general who have shared their stories from the last time that we all experienced a recession.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:05:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>And certainly, when they suddenly found that they did not have a company to call the place that they were working, a company that they were working for, they were able to, at the very least, freelance until they found the next thing.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know that that&#8217;s cold comfort if you&#8217;re in the middle of things right now, but it certainly is something that people always have looked back to as like one of those turning points for them in the 2007-2008 era here in the US.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I know that is sometimes not what anybody wants to hear. And also like, who am I to be speaking about observed experiences from other people? I did want to let you know that the folks over at PostStatus have opened up some networking opportunities for anyone that&#8217;s been caught up in the current downsizing around the ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll link to that in the show notes here on wordpress.org/news, but also, if you&#8217;re a part of the PostStatus network, they&#8217;ve got it posted over there on their sites and things as well. So easy to find and definitely worthwhile if that&#8217;s a situation that you find yourself in right now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:06:02]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the third thing that I heard from a lot of folks about is the future of contributions. So 635 people attended the contributor day that happened ahead of WordCamp Asia, And at WordCamp Europe in Porto last June, it was 800 people or something, which was the biggest one on record. And so this is really close to that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a lot of people. And a lot of them were attending for the first time. Over the course of the day, I checked in with quite a few of the table leads and heard some pretty consistent feedback, both about what we&#8217;re doing to help onboard contributors now but also about how we can help to onboard contributors in the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, we all generally agree that documentation, which is our current problem to solve toward easier contributor onboarding, we all generally agree that that&#8217;s going pretty well. We now have a ton of our preferences and processes documented in various team handbooks, but with a ton of documentation comes the potential for overwhelm.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:07:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>So across the board table leads shared the need for sort of a quick start guide for each of their teams. Secondly, we also generally seem to agree that mentorship plays a big role in the success of many long-term contributors. I&#8217;ve talked about it before. I had some mentors as I was getting started, and I would never have made it past organizing meetup events if it hadn&#8217;t been for their help.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so a bonus item I heard about is actually Meetup events. Meetup groups are one of our most resilient ways to contribute to WordPress, and they also happen to be one of the hardest working. If you&#8217;ve never been to one of these events, you may not know that you can learn a skill that&#8217;s new to you or teach a skill that you&#8217;ve had for a long time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also network to find the jobs that you want or network to hire the people you need. It&#8217;s where people learn how to use the CMS or learn how to become an entrepreneur.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:08:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s also where they discover our community and eventually learn why we think that open source is an idea that will change our generation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you took nothing else away from this, I guess the takeaway is that you too can organize a Meetup event that will strengthen your local community and the world!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:08:27]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which brings us now to our small list of big things. So first up, we have a live product demo for WordPress 6.2 on March 2nd, that&#8217;s going to be at 17:00 UTC.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a post that has gone up about it, which I&#8217;ll include in the show notes. This is an opportunity for folks to watch a live walkthrough of the current release with a collection of people from the release squad as well as avid contributors and testers. It&#8217;ll give you an idea of upcoming changes, but also we&#8217;ll probably expose a bug or two along the way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:09:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come with your questions, and we will see you there.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Item number two is documentation. So apparently, that&#8217;s just half of what I wanna talk about today. Documentation, so wordpress.org, has docs that are specifically written for users and pulls in not only the documentation that we have but also information from the codex, the documentation space of yesteryear.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a bit more to do here, and I realize this project has been going on since 2015. It&#8217;s because there&#8217;s a lot of stuff we have to do. There&#8217;s a lot of documentation, and we have to kind of get it in order. But that is the area that we&#8217;re in now. We have launched the new documentation page, the new look and feel is out there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so the next question is making sure that we have it organized in a way that&#8217;s easy to find and easy to learn from as you go. There is a whole working group that meets about it, and I will share a link to that in case you find that to be of interest to you as well.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And last but not least, there is another speaker workshop coming up on March 1st.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:10:00]&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have not heard of these yet, it&#8217;s a workshop that helps speakers learn the process of presentation brainstorming and creation. It is a great workshop. It was created over the course of many years within the WordPress project by Jill Binder and crew. It is a wonderful opportunity.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s not a WordPress link that we&#8217;re on, but there is an event link that I will make sure that we all have access to here, in case that is something that you have always wanted to try, learning how to speak at WordPress events.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks!</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, 27 Feb 2023 14:58:43 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Santana Inniss\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Asia 2023, A Shining Star in the WordPress Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=74533\";s:7:\"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://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-asia-2023-a-shining-star-in-the-wordpress-community/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:443:\"<p>After returning from WordCamp Asia, I feel so grateful for those who support Do the Woo and the WordPress global community. </p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-asia-2023-a-shining-star-in-the-wordpress-community/\">WordCamp Asia 2023, A Shining Star in the WordPress Community</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://dothewoo.io\">Do the Woo - a WooCommerce Builder Community</a>	.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 27 Feb 2023 11:08:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:122:\"Gutenberg Times: 6.2 Live Demo, 20-Year anniversary, Intrinsic design HTML Tag Processor, #WCAsia – Weekend Edition #244\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=23467\";s:7:\"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:124:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/6-2-live-demo-20-year-anniversary-intrinsic-design-html-tag-processor-wcasia-weekend-edition-244/\";s: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:20310:\"<p>Howdy, </p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Asia was one of the best, if not the best flagship WordPress event.  I met quite a few subscribers to this newsletter in person. What a delight! I also made many new friends in the WordPress community.  Over the next week, I will add links to the live stream recordings and, if available, to the slidedecks to the post with <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordcamp-asia-2023-eight-gutenberg-related-talks/\">the list of talks about the block editor</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are quite a few posts to be shared over the last 20 days since the last newsletter. It was great to catch-up. I kept my comments short. Many good things happening. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wishing you a great weekend! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-sortabrilliant-guidepost\"><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ul><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#1-word-press-6-2\">WordPress 6.2</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg Plugin Updates</a></li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor </a></li></ul></div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>David Bisset </strong>posted the <a href=\"https://davidbisset.com/highlights-of-matts-qa-at-wordcamp-asia-2023/\"><strong>Highlights of Matt’s Q&amp;A At WordCamp Asia 2023</strong></a>. Read the answer to questions about sponsoring contributors for documentation,  how to take advantage of WordPress knowledge in time of economic downturn, or how to get the next generation of web creators involved in the project. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>On the <em>WordPress Developer Blog</em>,<strong> Justin Tadlock</strong> published <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/whats-new-for-developers-february-2023/\"><strong>What’s new for developers? (February 2023)</strong></a>. It&#8217;s the first edition of a round-up of upcoming changes relevant to developers of plugins and themes as well as agency/freelancers. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/azaozz\">Andrew  Ozz</a></strong> posted the <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/18/proposal-updates-to-the-wordpress-release-cycle/\">Proposal: Updates to the WordPress Release Cycle</a> </strong>regarding merging Gutenberg plugin code with WordPress. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matias Ventura </strong>shared in his post <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/04/phase-2-finale/\"><strong>Phase 2, Finale</strong></a>, what 6.2 will cover and what is still left for WordPress 6.3 and transition the project to Phase 3: Collaboration and workflows. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-word-press-6-2\">WordPress 6.2</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/wordpress-6-2-beta-3/\">WordPress 6.2 Beta 3</a> was released this week. <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/TahriAdel\">Adel Tahri,</a></strong> responsible for testing on the 6.2 release squad, posted a call to  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2023/02/07/help-test-wordpress-6-2/\"><strong>Help Test WordPress 6.2</strong></a> with helpful instructions on how to set up local test environment, with a list of things to test and places where to report your findings. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> posted the <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/06/roadmap-to-6-2/\">Roadmap to 6.2</a>&nbsp;</strong> with a run down of most features coming to a WordPress instance near you on March 28th, 2023. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The schedule until release: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Beta 4 on February 28, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Release Candidate (RC) 1 + Dev Notes on March 7th, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li>RC 2 on March 14, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li>RC 3 on March 21, 2023</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Final release March 28, 2023</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can join the release party in the #core channel, the release team coordinates the work in the #6-2-release-leads channel. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\"><strong>6.2 Live Product Demo</strong></a> is scheduled for March 2, 2023, at noon EST / 17:00 UTC. <strong>Jonathan Pantani</strong> shared the details in his post. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/21/6-2-live-product-demo/\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg Plugin Updates</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JuanMa Garrido</strong> published the release post <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/10/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-0-18-january-2/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 15.1? (8 February)</a>&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sarah Gooding </strong>covered Gutenberg 15.1 for the WP Tavern in <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-15-1-adds-openverse-integration\"><strong>Gutenberg 15.1 Adds Openverse Integration</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Daisy Olsen</strong> was release lead for the next version: <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/02/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-2-22-february/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 15.2? (22 February)</a>&nbsp;</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<p><strong>🎙️ </strong> New episode:  <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-80-wordpress-6-2-preview-gutenberg-15-2-and-15-3/\">Gutenberg Changelog #80 – WordPress 6.2 Preview, Gutenberg 15.2 and 15.3</a> with Birgit Pauli-Haack and special guest Rich Tabor  </p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The next recording for the Gutenberg Changelog podcast is scheduled for March 9th, 2023, which will cover the Gutenberg plugin releases 15.2 and 15.3 and the dev notes available for WordPress 6.2.  We will also answer questions from you and others.  Send your questions to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com.</a> </em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ben Ritter,</strong> founder of Kadence Themes, announced the release of <a href=\"https://www.kadencewp.com/blog/introducing-blocks-3/\"><strong>Kadence Blocks version 3</strong></a>. Kadence Blocks plugin has been around since the block editor arrived to WordPress in 2018, and with the rapid development of more design tools, and the site editor, the plugin needed a rewrite and a fresh coat of paint. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In this video, <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong>  revealed the <a href=\"https://www.pootlepress.com/2023/02/the-secrets-of-wordpress-site-editing-beginners-guide/\"><strong>Secrets of WordPress Site Editing</strong></a>, and answers common questions, like how to add fonts, why editor settings might be missing and how you can download good block themes. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his latest post, <strong>Mark Howells-Mead</strong> shared his thoughts on <a href=\"https://permanenttourist.ch/2023/02/block-patterns-and-block-variations-of-the-query-loop/\"><strong>Block Patterns and Block Variations of the Query Loop</strong></a> and explored the differences between the two and reusable blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sarah Gooding</strong> reported on the latest Theme published by Automattic:  <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/automattic-releases-bibimbap-a-free-block-theme-for-restaurants\"><strong>Automattic Releases Bibimbap, a Free Block Theme for Restaurants</strong></a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On the WordPress Developer Blog, <strong>Justin Tadlock</strong> published the article.  <strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/intrinsic-design-theming-and-rethinking-how-to-design-with-wordpress/\">Intrinsic design, theming, and rethinking how to design with WordPress</a></strong>. &nbsp;He wrote on Twitter: &#8220;This post explores some thinking behind why WordPress doesn&#8217;t have many block settings tied to specific device sizes and what the current approach is. It also provides theme authors with some techniques they can use to work within the system. There are tons of thoughts, techniques, and tools related to the subject, which is impossible to cover in a single post. But, I encourage continued exploration from the extender community and sharing what you learn.&#8221; You can follow more discussion in the comments of the post. </p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hendrik Lührsen</strong> and <strong>Jakob Trost</strong> also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hluehrsen/status/1628823761557368838\">discussed the topic on Twitter</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/intrinsic-design-theming-and-rethinking-how-to-design-with-wordpress/\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>For developers who want to get started or dive deeper into creating Block Themes, ready for the site editor, <strong>Daisy Olsen</strong> collected a great list of links covering all aspects for the Developer Blog: <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/02/block-theme-resources-roundup/\"><strong>Block theme resources roundup</strong></a>. She wrote: &#8220;Whether you build sites mostly from the site and styles editors or you develop bespoke and custom themes from the ground up, there are always new things to learn. Read on to learn all about block themes.&#8221; </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2022&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test and Meta team from Jan. 2021 on. Updated by yours truly.  <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\"><em>The index 2020 is here</em></a></p>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his latest post, <strong>James Koussertari,</strong> of Gutenberg Market asks <a href=\"https://gutenbergmarket.com/news/what-are-hybrid-wordpress-themes\"><strong>What are Hybrid WordPress themes?</strong></a> and gives you the answers, of course. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong>, instigator of the Block Museum of Art, posted <a href=\"https://block-museum.com/2023/02/21/lets-celebrate-20-years-of-wordpress/\"><strong>Let’s celebrate 20 years of WordPress</strong></a> &#8220;This is an opportunity for folks to showcase their creativity and imagination using the features of the WordPress block editor that make it a powerful creative platform. We invite artists from all backgrounds and experience levels to submit their own WP20-inspired blocks and join us in celebrating two decades of WordPress.&#8221; McCarthy wrote. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://block-museum.com/2023/02/21/lets-celebrate-20-years-of-wordpress/\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are curious, what is all in store for the milestone anniversary, celebration around the WordPress community, follow up on the special website: <a href=\"https://wp20.wordpress.net/\"><strong>wp20.wordpress.net</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, <strong><a href=\"https://twitter.com/donnapep\">Donna Peplinksie</a></strong> shared <strong><a href=\"https://senseilms.com/how-we-built-a-theme-for-sensei/\">How We Built a Block Theme for Sensei LMS</a> </strong>and explains key decisions, the breakdown of the work, and using the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/\">Create Block theme plugin</a> to built out the theme. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>On her website, fullsiteediting.com, <strong>Caroline Nymark</strong>  posted a new <strong><a href=\"https://fullsiteediting.com/lessons/child-themes/\">Lesson on Child Themes</a></strong>. &#8220;I am very happy with the progress we have made to support block and hybrid child themes in WordPress.&#8221; Nymark <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolinapoena/status/1626964953914638337\">tweeted</a>. You learn when you still need child theme, and the relationship between parent and child block theme. It&#8217;s a comprehensive guide for theme developers. She also answer frequently asked questions, you might have. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. <br />Have you been using it? Hit reply and let me know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt=\"GitHub all releases\" src=\"https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge\" /></p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ngl-articles colored ngl-articles-50_50 ngl-articles-frontend\">\n\n	\n	<div class=\"ngl-articles-wrap ngl-articles-webview\">\n	\n						\n			<div class=\"ngl-article-mobile\">\n				<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n					<tr>\n						<td valign=\"top\">\n							<div class=\"ngl-article-mob-wrap\">\n							<div class=\"ngl-article-featured\"><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/live-q-a-layout-layout-layout/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\"><img src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-05-at-11.21.47.png?w=652&ssl=1\" /></a></div><div class=\"ngl-article-labels\">gutenbergtimes.com</div><div class=\"ngl-article-title\"><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/live-q-a-layout-layout-layout/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\"><span>Live Q &#038; A: Layout. Layout. Layout</span></a></div><div class=\"ngl-article-excerpt\">Layouts are a fundamental part of how block themes work: Layout allows us to define the width of our post content, and arrange blocks horizontally or vertically, right or left&hellip; <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/live-q-a-layout-layout-layout/\" class=\"ngl-article-read-more\" target=\"_self\">Read more.</a></div>							</div>\n						</td>\n					</tr>\n				</table>\n			</div>\n			\n			\n			\n\n		\n		\n		</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ryan Welcher started to record YouTube Shorts. For the first one, we also created a blog post with the Quick Tip. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ngl-articles colored ngl-articles-50_50 ngl-articles-frontend\">\n\n	\n	<div class=\"ngl-articles-wrap ngl-articles-webview\">\n	\n						\n			<div class=\"ngl-article-mobile\">\n				<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n					<tr>\n						<td valign=\"top\">\n							<div class=\"ngl-article-mob-wrap\">\n							<div class=\"ngl-article-featured\"><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/quick-tip-creating-a-custom-webpack-configuration-file/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\"><img src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot-2023-02-04-at-10.56.27.png?w=652&ssl=1\" /></a></div><div class=\"ngl-article-labels\">gutenbergtimes.com</div><div class=\"ngl-article-title\"><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/quick-tip-creating-a-custom-webpack-configuration-file/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\"><span>Quick Tip: Creating a custom webpack configuration file</span></a></div><div class=\"ngl-article-excerpt\">https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VgK_Y9wAGXw Ryan Welcher on YouTube Shorts. &#8211; Also available on TikTok Ryan Welcher started a recording YouTube Shorts also available on TikTok. Here is a transcript and code example of&hellip; <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/quick-tip-creating-a-custom-webpack-configuration-file/\" class=\"ngl-article-read-more\" target=\"_self\">Read more.</a></div>							</div>\n						</td>\n					</tr>\n				</table>\n			</div>\n			\n			\n			\n\n		\n		\n		</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adam Zieliński </strong>created an interactive tutorial for the new HTML processor coming to WordPress with 6.2: <a href=\"https://adamadam.blog/2023/02/16/how-to-modify-html-in-a-php-wordpress-plugin-using-the-new-tag-processor-api/\"><strong>How to Modify HTML in a PHP WordPress Plugin Using The New Tag Processor API</strong></a>. &#8220;If you’ve ever struggled to add an HTML attribute using regular expressions, you know how big of an improvement this is! In fact, Tag Processor was born out of this exact struggle.&#8221; He wrote. You&#8217;ll find use cases and code snippets in his post. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brian Coords</strong> shared his experience of <a href=\"https://www.briancoords.com/hooking-into-the-block-editors-post-publish-panel-with-copilot/\"><strong>Hooking into the Block Editor’s Post Publish Panel (with Copilot)</strong></a>. Coords walks you through the steps of building a feature for his plugin that taps into the block editor. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, <strong>Mark Howells-Mead</strong> published a tutorial on <a href=\"https://permanenttourist.ch/2023/01/using-useselect-in-gutenberg-to-fetch-data-from-the-rest-api/\"><strong>Using useSelect in Gutenberg to fetch data from the REST API</strong></a>. The function <code>getEntityRecords</code> enters the stage, too. </p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image: Bangkok, Thailand  &#8211; View from the 31st floor. Phot by Birgit Pauli-Haack</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button type=\"submit\" class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 25 Feb 2023 20:22:45 +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:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"WordCamp Central: Get your tickets for WordCamp Kerala 2023 on March 25th!\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"https://central.wordcamp.org/?p=3161846\";s:7:\"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://central.wordcamp.org/news/2023/02/get-your-tickets-for-wordcamp-kerala-2023-on-march-25th/\";s: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:7396:\"<p>The southern state of Kerala in India is all set to host its first regional WordCamp &#8211; <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/\">WordCamp Kerala 2023</a> on March 25, 2023 (Saturday) at <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/location/\">IMA House, Kochi</a>! </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress community in Kerala is not new &#8211; it had its humble beginnings in 2014, when it <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/kochi-wordpress-meetup/events/206595912/\">kicked off with an informal local meetup in Kochi</a>. The love for WordPress grew the community slowly, but surely, which eventually spread out to multiple cities in the state. Together the community organized scores of local meetup events and three editions of WordCamp Kochi (<a href=\"https://kochi.wordcamp.org/2017/\">2017</a>, <a href=\"https://kochi.wordcamp.org/2018/\">2018</a>, and <a href=\"https://kochi.wordcamp.org/2019/\">2019</a>) before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down. Even during the pandemic, our community stayed active by organizing online events together under a &#8220;WordPress Kerala&#8221; banner. As the global health situation improved in 2022, our community started organizing in-person events again. A strong desire to organize a WordCamp united members the Kerala WordPress Community. As a result, the local WordPress Meetup groups of <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/trivandrum-wordpress-meetup/\">Trivandrum</a>, <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/kochi-wordpress-meetup/\">Kochi</a>, <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/Kozhikode-WordPress-Meetup/\">Kozhikode</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.meetup.com/Palakkad-WordPress-Meetup/\">Palakkad</a>, have decided to bounce back by organizing WordCamp Kerala 2023!</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2023/02/WordCamp_Kochi_2017_21.jpg\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What makes WordCamp Kerala unique</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our event promises to be as <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/10-amazing-things-you-didnt-know-about-kerala/\">unique</a> as our location and host state. Kerala is known as “<a href=\"https://www.keralatourism.org/video-gallery/life-in-god-s-own-country/\">God’s own country</a>” and was <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/travel/52-places-travel-2023.html\">selected by the New York Times</a> as one of the must-visit places in 2023. In 1999, Kerala made it to National Geographic’s list of <a href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/50_places_of_a_lifetime_1\">10 Paradises of the world</a> too. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At WordCamp Kerala, one of our main priorities is to ensure that every voice is heard. We are working hard to ensure that our event is as diverse and inclusive as possible, from our organizing team to our speaker roster, and every aspect of our event and its planning. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our aim is to present a speaker lineup that is as diverse as possible, by ensuring that non-male applicants and applicants from marginalized backgrounds have excellent representation in our roster. To facilitate the same,  we collaborated with the WP Diversity group of the Make/Community Team to hold a <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/announcement-free-speaker-workshop-for-wordcamp-kerala-speaker-applicants/\">successful diverse speaker workshop led by Jill Binder on January 28th</a> &#8211; the workshop had 25 attendees, and resulted in at least seven unique speaker applications!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, our event aims to have something for folks from all backgrounds &#8211; from advanced technical workshops to sessions aimed at every WordPress professional. For this WordCamp, we are also doing our best to facilitate excellent networking opportunities between attendees, which are one of the biggest strengths of WordCamps.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Eco-friendly WordCamp</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The event is planned as eco-friendly and adequate plans are in place to ensure that no harm is done to the environment at any stage of the event. It includes avoiding plastic items and using LED televisions for sponsor branding as opposed to banners to save our environment. We are even thinking of ways to reduce our environmental footprint in every aspect of event planning as well. </p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/files/2023/02/DSC_0498-1.jpg\"><img /></a>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get involved</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several ways to become a part of this exciting event! </p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/tickets/\"><strong>Grab your tickets</strong></a><strong> to attend this event!</strong><br />WordCamp Kerala tickets are priced at an affordable INR 500 (~USD $6) per attendee. As of late February 2023, we have sold more than half of our total tickets available for public (we are planning 500 total participants at our event including volunteers, speakers, and sponsors), and there is a high probability that we may sell out way before the event date. Get your tickets now! </li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Last chance to </strong><a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-speakers/\"><strong>apply to speak at WordCamp Kerala</strong></a><strong>!<br /></strong>Due to popular demand, we have extended our deadline for call for speakers. <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-speakers/\">Apply to speak at WordCamp Kerala 2023</a> before February 28th 2023, 11:59 PM IST.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-sponsors/#bronze-10-000-125\"><strong>Sponsor WordCamp Kerala<br /></strong></a>We received an unprecedented response to our call for sponsors, and most of our sponsorship tiers have sold out. A big thanks to our community for this warm response and support! Nonetheless, <a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-sponsors/#bronze-10-000-125\">we still have some available sponsorship options</a> for interested applicants. </li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/call-for-volunteers/\"><strong>Apply to be a Volunteer</strong></a><strong> </strong>and be a part of the team that helps organize WordCamp Kerala 2023.</strong> Deadline: February 28th 2023, 11:59 PM IST.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And don’t forget to post about this event on your social media handles for all WordPress enthusiasts. Feel free to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkerala.wordcamp.org%2F2023%2Ftickets%2F&text=\">Share about us on Twitter</a>, <a href=\"http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fkerala.wordcamp.org%2F2023%2Ftickets%2F&title=\">write about us on LinkedIn</a>, or<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fkerala.wordcamp.org%2F2023%2Ftickets%2F\"> post about us on Facebook</a>. Psst&#8230; You can also post about our event on your (WordPress-powered) blog or on Tumblr! Don&#8217;t forget to join the discussion on WordCamp Kerala 2023 using the hashtag <strong>#WCKerala</strong> hashtag on all social media platforms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking forward to seeing you at our lovely little event celebrating WordPress, at the beautiful coastal city of Kochi, on March 25th, 2023! </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://kerala.wordcamp.org/2023/\">Get your tickets for WordCamp Kerala 2023!</a></div>\n</div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 25 Feb 2023 14:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"jyolsna\";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:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:130:\"WPTavern: WordPress 6.2 Openverse Integration Hotlinks Images, Contributors Propose Uploading to Media Library as a Better Default\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142305\";s:7:\"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:140:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-openverse-integration-hotlinks-images-contributors-propose-uploading-to-media-library-as-a-better-default\";s: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:1911:\"<p>WordPress 6.2 is set to introduce an integration with Openverse that allows users to quickly insert free, openly-licensed media into their content. It was not readily apparent when the feature made its debut in version 15.1 of the Gutenberg plugin that the inserted images are hotlinked.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WP Engine developer Phil Johnston <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB2JS7/p1677269705274569\">brought up this issue</a> in the #core-editor channel on WordPress Slack today. WordPress core contributor Paul Biron confirmed images are hotlinked when first inserted but can be added to the site&#8217;s Media Library using the &#8220;Upload&#8221; tool, which is located in the Image block toolbar after Openverse inserts the image.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Hotlinking is generally considered a bad practice, as it uses another site&#8217;s bandwidth to display the asset. Hotlinked images can easily get renamed or removed from the source site, which can negatively impact the sites that are displaying them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress core contributor Jeremy Herve opened a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/48394\">ticket</a> yesterday with concerns about the hotlinking and suggested it would be better to upload the images by default.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I would suggest uploading the image to one&#8217;s site once picked and inserted,&#8221; Herve said. &#8220;This way it would remain available on the site, whatever may happen to the service or the original image. Of course, the image attribution should remain in the caption.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnston also suggested hotlinking the images might be a privacy concern if it allows the host to gather data about the device loading the image.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress may end up changing the default behavior for Openverse inserts, but in the meantime, users should be aware of how this feature works and where to find the Upload tool. </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, 25 Feb 2023 04:48:33 +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:40;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:82:\"WPTavern: Prison Journalism Project Launches Prison Newspaper Project on WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142256\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:93:\"https://wptavern.com/prison-journalism-project-launches-prison-newspaper-project-on-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:5036:\"<p>The <a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/\">Prison Journalism Project</a> (PJP), a non-profit organization founded in April 2020, trains incarcerated writers to be journalists and publishes their stories with the goal of empowering them to be a vital voice in criminal justice reform. Over the past three years, the project has published over 1,700 pieces of work from more than 600 incarcerated and incarceration-impacted <a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/our-writers/\">writers</a> representing 180 prisons across 35 states and three countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project is bringing important issues to light, such as <a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/02/24/its-still-a-covid-19-emergency-in-here/\">diminishing access to programs that further rehabilitation due to COVID-19</a> and the <a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2022/02/04/the-failure-of-drug-treatment-in-prisons/\">failure of drug treatment in prisons</a>, first-hand accounts from incarcerated individuals that expose the inadequacy of state and federal prisons to meet the needs of those in their care. These stories and more are featured on the organization&#8217;s website, which is powered by WordPress and <a href=\"https://newspack.com/\">Newspack</a>, a project from Automattic that provides a publishing platform for small and medium-sized news organizations. Newspack includes professionally designed themes and a set of pre-configured plugins, like Newspack Newsletters and WooCommerce Subscriptions, that help drive audience and revenue. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week the PJP <a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/prison-newspaper-project/\">launched</a> the Prison Newspaper Project, which aims to connect prison publications with a broader general audience, including educators and researchers. At its peak, U.S. prisons running their own newsrooms published 250 prison papers in 1959. The prison press has declined significantly since then, despite massive improvements in the available technology for telling their stories. As of February 2023, the PJP counts 24 operational, prisoner-run news publications across 12 states.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Prison Newspaper Project has indexed these publications into a&nbsp;<a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/prison-newspaper-directory/\">prison newspaper directory</a>. It also has a new category section on the site called &#8220;<a href=\"https://prisonjournalismproject.org/category/from-prison-newspapers/\">From Prison Newspapers</a>,&#8221; where the organization highlights and amplifies the work of incarcerated writers across various publications. Their work is republished to PJP&#8217;s wider audience, offering a window into the incarcerated population and the conditions where they are living.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While most of the prison newspapers in the PJP&#8217;s directory run on legacy systems or are only available via print-versions with digital archives, a few have online publications. <a href=\"https://sanquentinnews.com/\">San Quentin News</a> is one that runs on WordPress, publishing beautiful stories of the humanity and artistry of those behind bars. One story features San Quentin artist Idalio Villagran, who &#8220;takes prison-constrained creativity and resourcefulness to another level, crafting beautiful roses of various colors from state-issued bread and Kool-Aid.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https://sanquentinnews.com/roses-are-red-mostly/\">Roses are red . . . mostly</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Another post features the work of San Quentin artist Edgar Zarate Martinez, who is keeping his Mexican cultural heritage alive through his paintings that reflect his yearning for his family.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https://sanquentinnews.com/for-love-and-honor/\">FOR LOVE AND HONOR</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>PJP was founded by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Shaheen Pasha at Penn State University in 2019, after teaching journalism at San Quentin State Prison and Hampshire County Jail in Massachusetts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the other indexed prison publications don&#8217;t have an online presence, so the Prison Newspaper Project is vital for connecting them and bringing more exposure to prison journalism. Getting these publications online isn&#8217;t part of the current scope of the project, but there is a big opportunity here to modernize these newsrooms with WordPress and help them find a global audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Prison Newspaper Project is committed to regularly updating the list of active publications in the directory. People can submit newspapers or magazines not yet listed by emailing&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:editorial@prisonjournalismproject.org\">editorial@prisonjournalismproject.org</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As this section grows, we hope to offer you more resources on the history of this remarkable part of the fourth estate,&#8221; Prison Newspaper Project Editor Kate McQueen said.</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, 24 Feb 2023 23:08:35 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"Post Status: WordCamp Asia Wrap-up\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=147369\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"https://poststatus.com/wordcamp-asia-wrap-up/\";s: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:6725:\"<p>I know you\'re wondering. And yes, I showered.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a matter of fact, the WordCamp Asia team was very deliberate in considering disability needs from the start of Contributor Day through to the announcement of WCAsia 2024 at closing remarks. The hotel was perfect. The venue had elevators and automatic doors (or security stationed to open doors). I couldn\'t have asked for more.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-wcasia-by-the-numbers\">WCAsia By the Numbers</h2>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"752\" height=\"564\" src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_5800-752x564.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-147370\" />\n\n\n\n<p>You can see by this screen that WCAsia succeeded in attendance and contributors. In addition, there were 60 speakers, 53 orgainzers, over 80 volunteers, and 29 people on the AV team.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Contributor Day</h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A sneak peak of the photographs we will be publishing from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCAsia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WCAsia</a> <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f913.png\" alt=\"🤓\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br />Huge thanks to the Contributor Day Team Leads! <a href=\"https://t.co/A4hpwank6U\">pic.twitter.com/A4hpwank6U</a></p>&mdash; Shusei Toda (@shuseitoda) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/shuseitoda/status/1627617457988050944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2023</a></blockquote>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>I was fortunate to be a table lead for Contributor Day. We onboarded many photographers who submitted photos to the WordPress Photo Directory for the first time. Topher DeRosia and I moderated almost 250 photos in one day, while discussing with contributors what makes a good photo, what isn\'t allowed to be added to the directory, and how every contributor gets a badge on their .org profile. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>From what I heard from other table leads, every one of the teams onboarded new contributors and accomplished their goals for the day. It was truly inspiring.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Sponsors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of being off in another part of a building, the sponsor area was in the center of it all. To get from point A to any other point you either had to go through or around the edges of the sponsor booths. I imagine this was incredibly helpful for sponsors, and, honestly, it made it the perfect place to run into people, make connections, renew connections, and grab some awesome swag.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>The Selfie Challenge</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I put out a challenge that if people posted selfies with me I would donate $5 per selfie to <a href=\"https://bigorangeheart.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Big Orange Heart</a>. (Up to $500 total.) I\'m please to say that not only did I meet that goal (with well over 100 selfies with our amazing community) but <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carlhancock/status/1628156351636508672?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carl Hancock of Gravity Forms matched it</a>, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/insta_wp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vikas Singhal of InstaWP</a> matched it at 50%. All told we raised $1250 for BOH!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Q&A; with Matt Mullenweg</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I asked a question to Matt during the Q&A; Friday morning.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>With the wave of layoffs and hiring freezes we have seen in the WordPress community lately, what do you think we, as a community, can do to create more jobs in our ecosystem and stop the anxiety and fear that comes with layoffs like this?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt\'s reply was a bit less than I hoped, basically encouraging anyone who has been laid off to sharpen their WordPress skills, market themselves as freelancers to build a portfolio, and encourage local businesses to get on WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the people who have been laid off are already big names in WordPress and have a portfolio to back it up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it still begs the question &#8211; how can we support those who have recently lost jobs in massive layoffs and what does it say about the adoption of WordPress if companies are scaling back? While I don\'t have the answer, I\'m watching closely.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you find yourself job searching in WordPress here are a few resources:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/jobs/\">The Post Status Job Board</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://WPCareerPages.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WPCareerPages.com</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23wordpressjobs&src=typed_query\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter posts</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.underrepresentedintech.com/resources/\">Underrepresented in Tech Resources</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Photos, Photos, Photos</h2>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see how truly impactful the first WordCamp Asia was, one has only to look into all of the smiling faces captured in selfies and more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few places to look:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WCASIA&src=typed_query\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter #WCAsia</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://photos.app.goo.gl/WEUjLaPbS2zyz9fM6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Photos</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/michelleames/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Instagram Photos of Bangkok</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Thanks to the Organizers and Volunteers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Asia seemed to go off without any issues (though anyone who has ever organized a WordCamp knows there are always hiccups). If there were, the attendees didn\'t see them. (Other than the technical glitches in the Q&A; with Matt Mullenweg, which was still handled very well.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would add my thanks to all of the voices praising the organizers and volunteers that made WordCamp Asia so amazing. From the updates on the website to the after party, you all provided information, hospitality, and an incredible warmth to the event. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you a million times over.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordCamp Asia 2024</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"752\" height=\"564\" src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_5827-752x564.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-147581\" />\n\n\n\n<p>And to the organizers for WC Asia 2024 &#8211; wishing you the best as you continue this new legacy. I know you\'re up to the challenge!</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"752\" height=\"564\" src=\"https://cdn.poststatus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/organizers-752x564.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-147582\" />WC Asia 2024 Team (photo credit <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ratneshsonar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ratnesh Sonar</a>)\n<p>This article was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 24 Feb 2023 05:29:40 +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:18:\"Michelle Frechette\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"WPTavern: Automattic Releases Bibimbap, a Free Block Theme for Restaurants\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=142258\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://wptavern.com/automattic-releases-bibimbap-a-free-block-theme-for-restaurants\";s: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:2858:\"<p>Automattic has a new theme in the WordPress Themes Directory. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/bibimbap/\">Bibimbap</a>, named for a beloved Korean comfort food, is a restaurant theme. It is described as &#8220;simple and fun&#8221; but does not come with a live demo, so users will need to be prepared to work with patterns to get their restaurant sites put together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The home page pictured in the screenshot displays a full width Cover block with an image as the background, a call to action, and some contact information. Bibimbap features the Cooper Hewitt typeface throughout for paragraph text and headers.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The theme comes with five custom block patterns for building restaurant websites:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Contact pattern with a map, location, and hours</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cover block pattern for restaurant Specials</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Default footer</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Restaurant menu</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Menu add-ons</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>I took the theme for a test drive and found that is not very intuitive in its current state, although the patterns are nicely designed. When first installed and activated on a new site, the theme looks blank with nothing in place and no hint of how it can be made to look like the screenshot.</p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>The most ideal experience a block theme can provide gives the user a ready-to-go website that looks like the demo, or at least provides a full-page pattern that is easy to insert. Bibimbap has missed a few opportunities to make the theme more user-friendly. Although it is also available on WordPress.com under the Business plan, the preview is similar to the experience of installing it on a self-hosted site. With no live demo available, it&#8217;s difficult to know where to go after installing it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Site Editor, users will need to navigate to the <em>wp-custom-template-home</em> template to edit the home page template. If this is a new website, users will also want to create a new page and assign it to use the <em>wp-custom-template-home</em> page template to get the right design.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The home page header design is not available via a pattern, which would make the theme so much more versatile and easy to use, especially in the case of multi-page websites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the theme comes with just a handful of patterns, they work well dropped onto the page in any order. </p>\n\n\n\n<img />\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, this theme is a good option for those who know their way around WordPress and the Site Editor. It makes it fairly quick to build a restaurant website with a cohesive design. The problems with user-friendliness can be easily remedied with a few full-page patterns and a bit of thought towards the experience after activating the theme.  <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/bibimbap/\">Bibimbap</a> is available for free from WordPress.org.</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, 24 Feb 2023 03:55:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Sarah Gooding\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"Post Status: Launching a WordPress Product in Public: Session 2\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=147564\";s:7:\"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://poststatus.com/launching-a-wordpress-product-in-public-session-2/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70349:\"<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-group eplus-wrapper has-theme-palette-2-color has-theme-palette-8-background-color has-text-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hirethere\">Corey Maass</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> share the messiness of building a WordPress product live. They reveal the initial version of <a href=\"https://crop.express/#welcome\">Crop.Express</a>, a plugin designed to crop a featured image within the WordPress workflow and discuss their progress and ongoing development. </p></div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer eplus-wrapper\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"yoast-reading-time__wrapper\"><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__icon\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__spacer\"></span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__descriptive-text\">Estimated reading time:  </span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__reading-time\">65</span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__time-unit\"> minutes</span></p>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/planet/feed/#h-transcript\">Transcript</a> ↓</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hirethere\">Corey Maass</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> share their initial version or MVP of the product they are building, <a href=\"https://crop.express/#welcome\">Crop.Express</a>.  Together they work through enhancing UX, selecting the right business model, crafting marketing messages, and more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top Takeaways:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Work Out the Workflow. </strong>You will teach people how to use your product with demos or tutorials. While you want to make adjustments to improve UX, you don’t want to constantly change the workflows for your product. Being thoughtful on the front end can result in better usability and less change.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Business Models. </strong>Building a product also means determining a business model.<strong> </strong>Offering some functionality for free can gain exposure for a base product. Adding a pro or paid version with increased value to deliver a better end product for a customer.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus on Feedback.</strong> As a product builder, you work to anticipate pain points and solve for them. With a quality product, you will solve real struggles for users. But there is a reason users are uninstalling. Accessing their input and experience could be the key to taking your product to the next level.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-mentioned-in-the-show\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f517.png\" alt=\"🔗\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> Mentioned in the show:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://crop.express/\">Crop.Express</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.canva.com/\">Canva</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://elementor.com/%5C\">Elementor</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-you-can-follow-post-status-and-our-guests-on-twitter\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f426.png\" alt=\"🐦\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"eplus-wrapper\">\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hirethere\">Corey Maass</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/corymiller303\">Cory Miller</a> (CEO, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/lemonadecode\">Olivia Bisset</a> (Intern, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/post_status\">Post Status</a>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper has-background\">The <strong>Post Status Draft</strong> podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png\" alt=\"📝\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /><br /><br /><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/post-status-podcasts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Browse our archives</a>, and don’t forget to subscribe via <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8ySkU5c2M4UA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/c/PostStatus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress-post-status-draft-podcast.simplecast.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Simplecast</a>, or <a href=\"https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P\">RSS</a>. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f3a7.png\" alt=\"🎧\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"eplus-wrapper\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript</h2>\n\n\n\n<h2>Session 2 Corey & Cory Launch a WordPress Product Live  </h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: [00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome back to post status. Where we\'re, um, Corey Moss and I are session two.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Launched a WordPress product in public, and you\'re getting to see all the, you know, um, kinks and rough edges. But what we hope really comes through is that we\'ve had these really good conversations and we\'re like, we\'re okay with not, we\'re being imperfect and showing how this product works, at least with us.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So hopefully it helps somebody else inspire somebody to do better. Um, but, all right, Corey, I have to be the first admit as my partner in this, um, donate my homework. Excuse, excuse. I was frantically in between meetings, trying to like, be creative with the read me text. Mm-hmm. Um, But I, um, so I have to say that first and foremost, and then second.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know you shared a cool feature that we were talking about that I was like, Hey, we can put this on the backlog. And you\'re like, no, it\'s here, it [00:01:00] is . Um, so I haven\'t even got to see that. But, um, that, that\'s kind of my update. But what, what things do you have or want to talk about?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Um, yeah, I, it, it. Uh, like I\'m on top of my stuff, you know, by getting these updates to you.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I mean, I\'m in the same boat. I promised, uh, last Wednesday that, you know, within a day or two I would have this other feature implemented. And it was like last minute on Friday that I actually, or even Monday, that I was like, oh crap, I owe us this thing. So, um, yes, technically I got my paper written and handed in, uh, and you didn\'t, but it doesn\'t mean I wasn\'t up until 6:00 AM the, the morning of writing the paper.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, you know, so, I mean, again, these are, these are the realities. You know, I, I\'ve [00:02:00] got client work, I\'ve got numerous products that need updating and bugs fixed, and, uh, life goes on. And so, you know, we\'ve, we\'ve fit this stuff in, in between. When we can. I mean, and, and I think that that\'s too, like where we\'re at, right?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like right now, this is, uh, an idea that we\'re, you know, we\'re still in the garage phase or we\'re still in the, like, we can\'t make this a priority yet because it\'s not out there. It\'s not, we don\'t have users to satiate, we don\'t have revenue to chase. We don\'t have, you don\'t, you know, you\'re doing the marketing and you don\'t have anything to market.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, I mean, this is, this has been my MO for a long time where if I\'ve got a new idea for a new product, it\'s just gotta get shoved in between all the other stuff that is at the moment, more important.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: It\'s always a game. And this of juggling, I think. And I [00:03:00] swore to myself, I was like, I\'m gonna stop juggling, but I juggles for so long with Ithe stuff.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like, as an entrepreneur and doing these type of things, you\'re owning all the responsibility and, um, but it\'s really good to have someone that understands we\'re all juggling, um, back and forth. Um, well, would you want to like, look at where we\'re at now from the plugin side, since you\'ve got, you\'ve done your, you\'ve done more than your homework, by the way.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, do you wanna share your screen? Do you want me to share?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah, let me, let me share because I\'ve got it, um, set up pretty readily here, I think. Um, so what we\'re talking about, um, is the, the very first version of this plugin and I just don\'t wanna. Because we are so professional, um, [00:04:00] you know, I need to carefully culminate the experience that people will have.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, how do I top left or Let\'s do this. Move the screen. Full screen. Uh, move the window. . All right. Um,  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>nope, that won\'t work. Share screen. Let\'s try this again. Where\'s the plate? Blue window. There we go. Share. All right. So hopefully you can, you\'re seeing a, a WordPress install. Yep. Um, so, uh, for the nerds out there, um, I\'ve got this, um, are we still recording?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: No, we are now recording again, . Oh, awesome. I pause it.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So now we\'re [00:05:00] actually recording . So we\'re on session two. Everybody, for the recording sake of launching the WordPress product in, in, in public. And you\'re seeing all the foibles, particularly mine. But Corey\'s now showing us 0.001 version of the. Right.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Um, yeah, what everybody missed is us discussing how, just how, uh, we are the epitome of professionalism and, um, it all works out in the end.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the, you know, part of the point of, of this whole experiment recording is, is to see the kind of, uh, the messiness, the behind the scenes, the, um, so, uh, for the nerds, uh, I\'m using, I, I use local WP to develop locally, um, and to run sites locally and stuff like that. So that\'s what you\'re seeing here is just a local site of vanilla WordPress install.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, um, so we\'ve got version, you know, 0 0 1 [00:06:00] installed, um, crop Express, and then where that puts us is, We had talked about lots of different features, um, but decided that our m v p, our, let\'s just add some value to the world version, um, is, is just the ability to crop the featured image. Um, so what we\'re doing here is, uh, we still have a featured image panel on the side here.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, whoops. Oh, come on. Don\'t. We have a featured image panel on the side in, in the block editor. Um, but this is actually our custom panel and we\'re hiding the built-in featured image panel. Um, and we say select and crop an image. And so here\'s the new UI that I was talking about. Um, I\'ve moved some things around and, um, I still think that I want to make one more change where I wanna put these two buttons on top of each other [00:07:00] with a sort of, um, broken image or a, a place.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, a, your image will appear here soon because right now if I say upload an image, um, and I choose an image, um, It just, right now it just says, you know, here is the, the name of the file selected. But I think much more, you know, to most people, they\'re gonna wanna see a little thumbnail of the image that they\'ve selected, again, to kind of prove like, okay, wait, I chose the right one.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, and so then you choose, uh, this is when you\'re cropping it. Do you want to crop a square? Do you want to crop 16 nine? Um, and then the first fanciness that, uh, you said, boy, it would be slick if was being able to crop a circle. So that\'s now there, but, so we\'ll start with a square. In a square, you say, crop it, and you get into the cropper.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so this is where you can zoom around and you select your image.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: [00:08:00] And um, Hey, real quick, Corey, how does it go if you want to crop back out, like you go, oh, it\'s too tight. Will it, can you push back out?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Um, so there\'s, there\'s zoom in and out here. Ah, ah, okay. Okay, okay. On the bottom because Yeah, I didn\'t, what the, the better way to, to manipulate this is actually the, the mouse wheel.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like I\'m zooming in and out here with the mouse wheel. I got you. Um, but we can\'t assume that everybody has a mouse wheel. Um, right. So, um, I think eventually maybe we want a slider, but for now, I just wanted us to have something so you can zoom in, um, and then, and then move it around kind of thing. Okay.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Can you go back to the previous screen first? Oh, go ahead.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: If you have something else. Oh, just, and, you know, so there\'s, um, yeah, lots of different ways to kind of move this around. It\'s, I think it\'ll take a [00:09:00] little, everybody\'s gonna have to kind of get used to it. They\'ll get used to it. Um, yeah, there\'s also a new preview in a new window.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So like if you\'ve, if you\'ve zoomed in before you actually set crop this and set this as your featured image, um, it\'ll open a new window with the result. So you can, you can see it. Oh, that\'s cool. Um, so if you go back, you can say, crop a circle and go to crop it. And so there\'s your circle. Um, and that will now save as a p and g with transparent around it.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this is, you know, I think again, when, when you mentioned it, I was like, oh snap, that\'s gonna be really slick because it\'s now really common that you\'ve got avatars images of people are circles. I think that\'s just a very common pattern. So the fact that we can offer that here, um, is very cool. And then the, the other new.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I was [00:10:00] insisting on, um, as of last week was, um, you had said, okay, maybe version one, but it was like, no, we need this. So the circle is a nice to have. I think that\'s gonna be really fun and cool to talk about as a feature, but not totally necessary. Whereas choosing an image from the media library to me, was a non-starter.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cuz you, once you brought it up, I was like, yeah, you can\'t, again, you know, one of the things I kept talking about last week was I\'m trying to do a lot of product development for this from the perspective of my clients. And I\'m like, my clients half the time, like they\'ll crop an image and then they\'ve got no idea.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once they\'ve uploaded it, they\'ve got no idea what happened to it. Is it on the desktop? Is it in their download folder? Whatever, whatever. So, um, we need to be able to essentially recover, you know, start over using an image from the media library. So that\'s now supported. Again, you select an image, [00:11:00] pick your shape and size and all that.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, you know, here\'s one that I\'ve pre previously cropped as a square. So that\'s what you\'ve got. But you can like zoom in on our little person here. Um, are you double&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: clicking or are you doing your scroll?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Well, uh, uh, I\'m, I\'m, uh, moving the box around. Okay, there we go. Yeah, so, and that\'s where it\'s like, I\'m clicking and dragging.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. So, yeah, it\'s, go ahead.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: So I\'m side bared on like product for a second and more, so I wouldn\'t even do this, explain it if we weren\'t live, but, um, cuz I know, you know, these things, I\'m, this is where I dig in on product personally is I go, okay, I use myself as the default, but I know that\'s, there\'s some ancient practices I have, for instance, but, I think our biggest thing is showing them how the workflow, like it\'s gonna take out this amount of time [00:12:00] for you to go over here from a marketing side too.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And product is like, how are you cropping today? It\'s probably piece together stuff. Maybe somebody\'s in Canva or something like this. But the workflow we\'re doing is like you\'re writing up post-it. You go in, what\'s your, you know, do you do your feature demos first? Do you do it third? And when you do that, you\'re gonna save this workflow over here.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. . And the re, the reason why I was just asking some of these questions is to know myself and to make sure I calibrate and go, okay, we\'re gonna be teaching people. Mm-hmm. because you get, you teach somebody a workflow and you don\'t want to change workflows very often. And so that\'s why I was just asking cuz I, you, you\'ve seen this a hundred times, but like any little edge in the flow of the process is something we\'ll be watching where people get tripped up.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if I understand that, I can help . Um, so I think that was really good. Could you go back to [00:13:00] the previous screen for a second? Sure.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: So from the work, and I think, I think where you, you know, what you\'re bringing up now is exactly the right thing at the right time, because what I\'ve been focused on is, to me this is, this is slightly better than a proof of concept.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. It\'s like we, we have now proven that we can upload an image or select an image. We can crop it in a few different ways. It saves as the featured image, all of, you know, I\'m clearly, I\'m using the WordPress blue. These are not pretty things, you know, the buttons are inconsistent in, in inconsistent places, you know, so now is the right time for you to start looking at this from a products perspective and Me too, and going, okay, so what\'s actually gonna be, We don\'t want to deviate too far from like WordPress patterns that people are used to, but this is where we start to make it our own product and a product that\'s fast and easy to [00:14:00] use.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: So I think my first thing, um, reaction to this is it\'s the, it does the job we need where we don\'t have to go into too many of the, you know, really fine tuned ui ux stuff, but like, it does the job. Mm-hmm. . But we were talking last week about like, you know, opinions trying to in, kind of push a reaction back from, um, the users.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, I just wanna mention that note. I don\'t think I have anything particular, but like, to me, this is functional, what we\'re trying to do, like this gets the job done and it\'s maybe not the most elegant, modern design we\'ve ever seen, but it, it\'s clear, um, And he gets the job done.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yep. Doesn\'t work on mobile.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh, I don\'t know if it ever will, cuz that\'s kind of a lot of functionality to try to do on a phone. [00:15:00] Um, but at some point we will review that.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Um, what I\'m curious about is we have selected five ratio sizes and two shapes. We put the functionality, which I think, thank you for putting the media li library in there.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that\'s, that, that was a really, really good decision. I just never know if I go, can we get that in there? What that might look from a timeframe, but I love that you made that decision. So it seems like we\'ve made some assumptions for them. Like, Hey, here\'s the common aspect ratios. What I\'m gonna bet like five bucks on is one of our first things we\'re gonna get is, can you do, and it\'s gonna be this, oh my god, 50 flavors of.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uh huh process. But from a product standpoint, if you\'re able to take a step back for a second, what do you think will get some reactions from Yeah,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: I, I think you\'re exactly right. And I think that [00:16:00] every, cuz every theme I think has their ideal image, size, shape, et cetera. Um, we, and, and so one of the things that I\'ve got in the back of my mind is, um, the next step is, or one of the next things we\'re gonna need is essentially I\'m envisioning, and this is an assumption, but I\'m envisioning there\'s, there\'s two roles.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Involved here. One is, again, because from the, from the, from my situation, there\'s Corey who controls and sets up the website, and then there\'s clients who go in and are publishing story after story. And so Corey needs an admin, like, I don\'t want, uh, my clients to have four, three or three four. There\'s nothing on our website that\'s those aspect ratios.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, and so [00:17:00] I want an admin screen that only admins meaning me have control over that says, you know, what aspect ratios, what essentially what, you know, what options are available for featured images. And I\'m gonna go in and I\'m gonna say square and 16 nine, not nine 16, and nothing, four three. Um, I might or might not even let them choose a shape, you know, and then, and so I\'m gonna clean that up.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>or I\'m gonna select options so that then when the client goes in, there\'s, you know, there\'s one option or some, you know, or something&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: like that. So switching gears over to marketing and mm-hmm. , you know, business model stuff. That\'s where I go, okay, that seems like Corey a del, uh, free does this better image cropping outta the box with a lot of template sizes, ratios that like, does a job that could get us bigger [00:18:00] exposure for the base plugin.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then I just see right there, the way you were describing, it\'s like there\'s the pro or the paid side, which is, hmm, I\'m a developer, I\'m an agency. My clients mess this stuff up all the time. I\'m gonna preset it and right there I go. That\'s value to an agency. One, they\'re gonna get a better end product for their customer.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can, they can have some opinions about it, like if you wanna limit them, but like you do this from a client facing side too. But that right there from a business perspective is where we go, okay, there\'s the start of our pro. Love it. You know, are we adding some value to that? Like they don\'t want them to mess up their theme.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, and you know, even on a bigger perspective, maybe there\'s 10 people on a website or something mm-hmm. , you know, going in. But, you know, I could think of higher ed in this instance or something where it\'s like, no, they shouldn\'t have 16 by nine option. Never. Right. You know?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. I, yeah. And [00:19:00] I, I, one of the things that immediately jumps out at, you know, first of all, you, my bad habits are showing, right.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think in terms of product and feature. And so I\'m like, I\'m, I\'m by default, I\'m, I\'m, I go down those rabbit holes immediately and I love that you immediately are like, here are the people . Which my brain doesn\'t even, I mean, I\'m, I\'m talking about me and roles and stuff, but I\'m not, it doesn\'t register consciously.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas you immediately are like the difference between a free version, a person, mom and pop shop, or a power user on their own website installing a plugin. They\'re still gonna have great options. It\'s still gonna bring them a ton of value, which I think is, is awesome. Um, and we can do some simple ways to, cuz it\'s like, I don\'t want people to install and go, well I need, you know, instead of 16, nine, I need 1610.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So [00:20:00] uninstall. Mm-hmm. . So we\'ll have to think about some ways to give. Some more options so that, you know, we accommodate more people. But I love that you\'re immediately going, okay. You know, but, but there\'s a different version for a different role. A different kind of person. A different kind of user. Um, cuz I, because I mean, as we always talk about it, it\'s like B2C and b2b.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. You know, b2b, there\'s, there\'s more opportunity, there\'s more money, there\'s more investment in tools and whatnot. So that just makes more sense.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: This is where I want to be watching, but I never, I have, I go into these things with some kind of a straw man, you know, avatar. Yeah. But the, how it\'s worked way better for me is not, I\'m not clairvoyant and go exactly this.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I go, okay, here\'s my straw man. We have use cases around that. We think there\'s others. And then what I love Corey is [00:21:00] like, Those first responses, even if they\'re bad, are helpful. Yeah. But what I tried to train the team and I themes is like try to a long answer in their question. Figure out what are they trying to get done.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. But, and then that helps us. Like lineate, it was probably two or three years into Ithe where I was like, oh, it\'s do it yourselfers and what we call builders, you know? Mm-hmm. people building stuff for other people and then we could create product better. But my hypothesis for all this is like I wrote down bloggers, anybody that does rapid WordPress content creation.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. , that could be our big base, right? Mm-hmm. . And then you just gave me a use case\'s, like I\'m delivering project to Clint. I don\'t want them to mess it up cuz it\'s gonna cause problems for us. Ding ding. I just found it\'s worth, there\'s a value numbers assigned to that. Absolutely. Which we can talk about when we get to like the pro and licensing and stuff.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. And we confirmed on the huddle by the way too. Like several of the agency owners were like, oh yeah. [00:22:00] What my challenge will be in marketing, our challenge will be in marketing is I think if we can as succinctly as possible, go see this problem and somebody go, fills that pain going, yeah. Like I did when you go, I\'m working on this thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was like, I, I instantly felt that pain. That\'s when, when we\'ll start to see some interesting metrics. A part of this. I think. So like I was thinking like even if we showed this, like, I don\'t know how we do this on the marketing set, but you\'re like, Hey, I\'m, I\'m a rapid, you know, content creator type person going in there, and then I have to go over here and find my workflow.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep. You know, and then come&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: back this other site, or I have to open Photoshop, I have to&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: do.dot. And then I think some of the best potential pro features for this are gonna come from the, but I want this. And those are simply the, like the, oh, I want it to be exactly this. [00:23:00] Dimensions. I say it by the pixel, whatever that is, you\'re like, ding, ding.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe that\'s something you\'ll pay money for.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Well, and, and I mean, the other opportunity for this, I think is, um, I\'m, I\'m very far out of the theme market. Um, it\'s not even, even in, in the, the decade plus that I\'ve been in WordPress. Like I\'ve done mostly custom development, but I\'m envisioning like a c f advanced custom fields can get in, can be embedded in other things.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\'m kind of envisioning, again, I know we\'re, we\'re moving more towards, you know, full site editing and all that kind of stuff. But, um, a theme that has our functionality built in, because the theme is built specifically to show off a 16, nine image. You wanna prevent your users from uploading anything that isn\'t [00:24:00] 16.9.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I can also see some sort of like the developer version that, that is embeddable, you know, as a must use plugin or something that, um, yeah. You know, so then, so then the theme, because imagine, uh, a theme developer, again, if a, if, if my experience and assumptions are correct, um, a, a theme developer is getting hit with tickets that are like, your demo looked great, but then as soon as I started uploading my pictures from my phone, the layout\'s broken.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, what the hell? So, you know, if there was, if a, if it was embedded or built into a theme that had the, that limited the end user from making mistakes, you know, which isn\'t really them making a mistake, but you know what I\'m saying?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Um, yeah. So let me say this coming before I do these, cuz I don\'t want it to think that we\'re gonna, I don\'t want it to.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bloat V1 release. Um, I think this is ready for v1. [00:25:00] I agree. The second thought I just had is when you should keep talking about themes. I think about, I, I wrote down here, cadence Astra, generate, press, whatever. Uh, I mean, let\'s throw in elementary in there. Um, I\'ve got at least three of those four connections to say like, it might be worth us seeing what, let\'s say cadence for instance.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, we run that at posts, like, okay, what are those features in their themes? And maybe take a browse, but we have connections with these theme groups mm-hmm. To say like, we could get some adoption through helping their user. You know, we\'re a third party free add-on kind of thing. But that could help us get some adoption.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s something I can, I can put on my plate, uh, for sure is to one, look around some of those themes and just see, um, , but you know, those four as elements or technically isn\'t a theme, but you know, cadence [00:26:00] Astra generated press are hot themes. Mm-hmm. , you know, that we can get some adoption for,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: you know, like, and I\'m, and I\'m a Beaver Builder user deeply, but, and they allow, and I know Elementor also allows, uh, custom modules.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So again, down the road, if we think that there\'s a market for this, then a, there\'s the Beaver Builder Image module. Elementor I\'m sure has the similar, you know, but there\'s a,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: we could just hook into And that\'s another paid pro feature too.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Exactly. You know, I love it because, I mean, people, people buy.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other, other add-ons or additional modules or module sets or whatever. Like, I don\'t, I, um, I don\'t want to get too far down there, but that\'s also like, I love the, the, uh, obviously as a, as a developer, I am most comfortable with developing as marketing. And so, you know, integrating with Beaver Builder, if we show up absolutely on, on their [00:27:00] marketplaces, then people are going, oh, what\'s this Crop Express thing?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: I just talked to Robbie a couple days ago on Slack, so Yeah, absolutely. I should have included B Builder too. Um, so that\'s like on the future, that\'s on the backlog for the marketing business stuff to get some adoption. But what I\'m doing on this course, so, you know, is like building a case. Mm-hmm. of like, we\'ve selected a pretty narrow workflow issue, but I, you\'re helping me with those thoughts is build a case for that pro side of, oh, cuz I\'m already building a case for like, there\'s an agency package that\'s, Has the pro.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yep. That\'s, you know, if we can continue to build, find, and build value in this. I, I love that because there\'s so many bigger builder Elementor Yeah. Um, developers that use that love it. And both those tools and to go, here\'s something that\'s gonna make your clients, [00:28:00] well, it\'s gonna make your life easier as the agency.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause they\'re not gonna put something stupid within the layout . Um, and it won\'t slow down their site that causes performance issues. Right, exactly. Or, you know, just doesn\'t look right. Yeah.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. And that was the, uh, it\'s, it\'s sort of a, we, we won\'t actually do this, but one of the things that popped in my head when you were talking about how do we illustrate the difference that this.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plugin will make for you, as I was picturing, a, uh, a marketing site where all of the images are wrong. Like Yes. The wrong Oh, yes. You know, like it overlapping text or like way too long or whatever. And there\'s like, click a button to see the difference that our plug-in will make. And then all the images are like&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Corey.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. Like there\'s, there\'s a page. Like, let\'s do that because it\'s like, that\'s the raw [00:29:00] emotional obvious effect that connects. Like, I, I think I told you, you know, 10 years ago, my, my mom put, and we had feed rotating images in the theme, and it was like, yeah, , you know, just sewing, like showing, Hey, ever, ever have this, there\'s a beautiful design, you know, of a site.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the image is just like, . And then go, that\'s our, that\'s our agency. Marketing thing is like tired of this, like this is a point.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Love it.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Crop express&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: even. Oh man. Even, even just a carousel. Cuz like, I literally was dealing this with, dealing with this with a client the last couple of days was like a carousel where like an Im, one of the images, not kidding, was this was like as tall as it should be, but an inch wide.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the next picture was like the, you know, and, and they\'re like, why is it stretched out? And it\'s like, cuz the carousel is forcing it to fill the space, you know? So it\'s like if [00:30:00] we just put in a whole bunch of janky images and then was like, click a button or see the carousel where it\'s like all of the images are sized correctly without a ton of effort.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like now you get it, you know,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: protect your clients from themselves. Like we would build tools and they\'d be like, yeah, you can basically make it as ugly as you want. This is protect your clients from themselves. But there\'s that. So we\'re fleshing out these two avatars, which maybe this one is. Maybe it ends up being the free one, but it gets to this one, which we think, my hypothesis might be, there\'s money here.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protect your clients from themselves, protect your work from themselves. Um, but this one could be something that shows, like ever trying to like, add all the tools you crop and like ever. I don\'t know, there\'s something there, but we\'re fleshing out the use case to me of a problem. Then I think there\'s more around this base problem, like we\'re coming to a belief of, [00:31:00] you know what I mean?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like over here it\'s like everybody\'s built a site and the clients have like rurally screwed it up. Yeah. And, but we\'re also hitting a pain point where they\'re trying to create content and this is in the way. So I, I love those two avatars. You.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yep. Um, I, the other thing that comes to mind is like, I mean, it\'s, it\'s protect clients from themselves so that they stop sending you emails.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. You know, as, or stop opening support tickets.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Sean from, uh, Sean Heskes from WP 1 0 1 basically created that, his thing, his entire little empire over there on that scenario, tired of your customers complaining about the, or, you know, asking these sets of questions and that\'s how they built it. So, like, that\'s part of that marketing material.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\'ll remember on the pro side is mm-hmm. , you know, stop messing up your work, protect them from themselves. . [00:32:00]&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yep. Yeah. And if you can, and if we get so that it\'s configurable, so it\'s like, okay, you\'re setting up a new site for a, for a client. This might be a, a process that you do over and over again, or it might be a one-off, whatever.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But one of the steps, you know, you\'re installing the theme that you like, you\'re in, you\'re plugging in those templates, page templates, you know, setting up the nav, whatever. And then just one of the things is you install Crop Express. You go in and you say, you know, only let them upload 16, nine. Um, I also think, you know, there\'s, there\'s others.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically it\'s wherever. For me, one of the end goals is wherever WordPress uses images to, ideally wherever WordPress uses images, we\'re there for you . Um, but like, you know, we become that, that middle, um, middle layer so that it\'s like, oh, you\'re in the media library. You can upload these kinds of images [00:33:00] or these sizes and shapes.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are in the, you know, you have a custom post type that\'s all about people, you know, you\'ve got users, well then you want that circle option, whatever it is. But it\'s like being able to configure each one of those SY scenarios and lock it down so that then again, when you know, you\'ve got, you\'ve got a membership site, you know, if, if a u a new user clicks the Add my Avatar button, They have to crop a circle, you know, things like that.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then being able to basically inject our functionality in all those places so that it just, you know, prevents chaos. It prevents all those bugs, it prevents all those layout breaking changes. Um, you know, that, and frankly, anybody interacting with the website could make based on, you know, by uploading images.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: So it seems like we wanna be paying attention to a lot of how. As we\'re scrolling through the web, how people [00:34:00] utilize featured images. Mm-hmm. , and there might be some things here too, like this circle add-on. I would use this just for Mike Demo came on as a new columnist at, uh, post status. And I, I came back to this problem  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so like, I might go into WordPress somewhere and or this and crop it, so I\'ll just can save it rather than trying to hunt it down on the internet.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Um, well, and this is, I think, I think the other, the other thing that we wanna do on eventually on the marketing site, right? Like right now, crop Express is a cropper crop express.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The website is a cropper. Yeah. And so I, I still like the idea of this is a WordPress plugin, but somewhere on the marketing site is like the ability to try this. So there\'s a front end friendly. You know, crop an image. And so like, you know, it\'s a, it\'s a, it\'s a nice little web utility. And then also our website subsequently gets listed on all those, you know, infinite number of websites that [00:35:00] list all the free little utilities that are out there.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, all the ones that convert image, image types or compress images or convert PDFs to JPEGs or whatever it is, like Crop Express as a free online simple image crop can get listed. So again, marketing,  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: it\'s content built in content marketing. I love that. Exactly.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Exactly. Um,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: well that means we should maybe keep note of that public site too, because like, hey, you\'re, you\'re right on, there\'s another level of adoption that I just kind of glossed over, but the fact that someone would need, like the circle thing, you just need to, you know, there\'s the a hundred sites that do all these different things and they sh slam ads at you and you\'re like, or you can come here.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utility. And then, by the way, if you want to buy, if you need the word press plug in, here it is. That\'s Visibility Pro to do that. Mm-hmm. , which leads me all back to co I love that. Like I\'ve never had something like this where it\'s built in content [00:36:00] marketing, so that\'s something to keep track for sure.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Um, and I think, I think this is what you just said, I just wanna finish the thought.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, but not only, you know, not only having a crop, but it\'s like we basically using the same code base. We have a dozen different crops that are basically just a dozen different configurations of our crop. And so if you google for crop and image in a circle, the circle cropper pops up. And if you crop, if you say a square, the square cropper pops up.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\'s all the same thing. So it\'s no, it\'s no extra, not really any extra work for us, but a phenomenal s e o opportunity.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: So I just did that. That\'s so interesting. Cro. Um, yeah, there\'s search stuff I\'ll have to look through cause I just Googled that. Mm-hmm. , because I mean, those are, those might be really good ways.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And again. Okay. So [00:37:00] all that talk front, you know, the actual crop.express website, the plugin and everything. Um, back to like feedback loops. Mm-hmm. . So I think the only other thing be besides meeting Readme done for V1 launch of this and the repo, um, is thinking for me is th on my agenda is thinking through the feedback loops.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>How are we gonna get that feedback? Yep. Because what we want to do is like, I\'m not saying we do it on this screen that you\'re showing, but like ideally there\'d be like, once something else needs something else mm-hmm. and it goes to a mechanism that. You know, a forum, a trailer board, whatever stuff common, combine, whatever we wanna do, but like something where we can like, cuz that\'s what I\'m most interested in is that feedback loop, you know?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, absolutely. Um, um, where they go, I want custom spec, custom specifications. Cool. You\'re, we\'re working on that in version two or [00:38:00] pro or whatever we, you know, decide to do. Yeah. But the feedback loop to me would be the only thing I can think of before launch. Yeah. Before V1 MVP launch.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. I mean that\'s, you know, one of the magic aspects of WordPress plugins is absolutely the WordPress directory.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I know a lot of people that\'s not, I don\'t know if that\'s true. There\'s more conversation lately about not having a free version. And I, I understand and, and appreciate that perspective, but the, the opportunity that. Is missed. There is the, the discoverability inside that directory. And it\'s like, I want, because my, my initial, I say that because my initial reaction is, yeah, well, I mean, first of all, we need to go through the process of getting approved.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like that\'ll take a week. Um, but just because it\'s there, it\'s like if you launch an [00:39:00] app online, you know, and, but don\'t tell anybody about it. You know, did it happen? Falls in the woods. Yeah. Whereas you put a plugin in the repo, the likelihood is that, you know, you\'re, you\'re gonna start to get a trickle unless you\'re, unless you\'re, there are no keywords or you know, you\'re using.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truly random wording or whatever, but people are gonna start, you know, you have to assume that, that some people search for the word crop and we\'re gonna, we won\'t be number one, but you know, you\'re gonna start to see a trickle of users. So yeah, we, we do want whatever we want from the beginning, we want from the beginning kind of thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, yeah, it is, it\'s easy enough to add. I mean, there are a couple of options just to flush this out. Like we could link to a Contact us form on the website. Um, we could build a little, you know, the little, a little modal that pops up right in [00:40:00] place, which is probably the right answer, because it\'s less friction.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\'t open a new window. It doesn\'t, you know, so it have feedback and it opens a text area. They type and, and we, we get it. Um, so something like that, you know,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: in, in plugin, you mean in WordPress port.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. Um, not in dashboard, but it\'s like looking at, you know, our on, once our modal opens for cropping, we have a little, you know, link.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like the, yeah, A little link. A little button. It\'s like, you know, the, every website now has the, um, help desk or whatever, the little icon that\'s always floating in the corner that inevitably pops up with texts, , that you then have to close. Um, you know, but we could have something similar right next to crop, crop, the big crop button.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, we could have a little button that says, you know, feedback. Uh, I mean, we can, we can kind of take this as far as we want, [00:41:00] but I think, and I think inversion 0 0 2, like we can actually on install, we can, we can throw up a little notice or something that\'s like, Hey, we\'re a new plugin. We\'d appreciate feedback, but at least for now, like there is at least a button that will, again, you know, one click type.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click send and we get something.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Um, so I think if we were able to do something like maybe it\'s in that modal, uh mm-hmm. that you just showed me, it\'s like request a feature. Mm-hmm. , um, just a little link. Someone that says, request a feature, there\'s an action to it, and then they\'ll go to the Crop Express site.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think see that there\'s an online tool too, but the form is there and you\'re just like, tell us what you\'re wanting. We\'re, we\'re trying to make content creation easier. We\'re not, we\'re specifically starting, I guess with image, we\'re trying to make image, I don\'t know, [00:42:00] there\'s some word there of like making your, it\'s a part of content creation to me.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Workflow easier, faster, and then get that feedback that goes to both of our emails, and then we can continue to talk about that. Yep. I think if we could just, if we could maybe put that in a modal. Do you like it? Are you okay with it being in that modal right there? Absolutely. Just like absolutely a little link down somewhere outta the way.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. It\'s cuz at that point it\'s topical, right? Like you don\'t, you know, you, you don\'t want it somewhere on the website. You don\'t want it hard to find. And so it\'s like, I\'m cropping, this is pissing me off. Oh look. A link where I can tell them that this is pissing me off. You know? That\'s exactly the moment we want to capture their thinking.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. So simple. And, and that\'s simple enough. I mean, a web form that sends an email is, is, you know,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: I think if we just do that for launch, we\'re [00:43:00] good, man. This looks really nice. That\'s what we\'re trying to get it to do out. It\'s, it\'s hitting. Use case. And then we\'re opening just the feedback. Channel loop is the biggest thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And having those emails, this is what I did, you know, you like, come up with an idea now. Great ideas. They always suck. the, the good ideas. You\'re like, they probably, they might work, you know, but oftentimes you get, I got the Valida and I\'m sure you have over the years is like that validation from someone going, I want that.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well if so, my bet\'s gonna be one of the first like set of customs specification. Mm-hmm. . Um, at least we get some validation for that. Like, right. Oh, they want that. Cool.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: So like, or we, you know, we\'ve, uh, people talk about solving the problem or not, you know, if we solve 60% of the problem or they see the solution.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the [00:44:00] hill. Um, then, you know, then hopefully it\'s, cuz it\'s what, so I, I think I\'ve told you about this before. Like one, the pattern that I, part of what drew me into WordPress plugins as a business opportunity years ago was I saw how. Clients and website users, like I would spend hours and clients would spend, you know, gobs of money hiring to set up these websites, e-commerce, blogs, web apps, whatever it is.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so if it\'s e-commerce, then they should be, you know, their job is to add new products, to promote products, you know, to try to get sales. If it\'s a blog, then their job is to write content. And instead I would see them spend hours, you know, scrolling through the free plugins and going, oh, do I need a to-do list, you know, plugin inside my WordPress install, do I need snowflakes falling because it\'s Christmas time, [00:45:00] kind of thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. And it\'s like, it was. It was, it felt like, I mean this is all very, a very cynical view, but I, but I witnessed it. It was like they would essentially, it, you know, it felt like productive procrastination. Um, they felt, it made them feel like they were doing something, but they weren\'t actually doing the thing that they were supposed to do.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cuz what they\'re supposed to do is hard, and I can relate to that. I get that, you know, but, But the discoverability, you know, and this is, this is where I think that comes from, is people will just kind of go in there, here\'s, you know, an infinite num, well, there\'s 60,000 free plugins, you know, let\'s have some fun and try these things and it\'ll spark my imagination.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, the problem with that, of course, is that there\'s the, everybody, just about everybody is a tire kicker. Mm-hmm. , I\'ll install this, try it uninstall, I\'ll install this, try this uninstall. Um, depending on, you know, how specific of a problem they\'re trying to solve. And so, yeah, we want to, we, you, you [00:46:00] always run the risk of, um, you know, people, people trying it and leaving without getting any indication of, and again, it\'s like it solves a problem where it doesn\'t is the assumption.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\'s kind of like first gen startup thinking. Mm-hmm. , um, Whereas now the better way to look at it is like, does this, especially in the WordPress plugin world, it\'s like, does this start to solve the problem? Does this almost solve the problem? Because there\'s definitely a, uh, a pattern in WordPress of hobbling together a number of tools to solve the problem overall.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, yeah, how do we, how do we determine that we are almost solving the problem or we are part of that work chain? Or people are uninstalling because it\'s useless, or are they uninstalling because it doesn\'t quite get them there. But they, but we, if, if we added one more button, We would get them there.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do we determine that? So I like your focus on feedback,&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: and the way [00:47:00] I\'m always trying to do is sense out pain because people will pain for, you know, the whole str, I can\'t remember what the book is, but it\'s like, it\'s the pain and gain. But I, I\'ve spent most of our time with Ed. I themes with the pain just helping.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mean, at the first it was like themes, but then with plugins it was solving for some pain point. Now I\'m trying to rate this pain right now and then discover if there\'s more pain that we could like actually solve that. They go, sh I will pay you to solve this pain point for me. Yeah, I, I think we\'ve got some good thoughts there.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, but I\'m really hoping Corey, in this, that we discover something we hadn\'t thought of that we go, oh, a hundred percent this could go down that, down that path. And it could be. More lucrative than we\'re probably thinking. So I\'m kind of hoping for that. Yeah. Um, but I think we\'ve demonstrated enough that there\'s enough pain that we could, we could do and then we\'re gonna iterate on what we [00:48:00] hear back.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. Yeah. And if it\'s, and if it ends up, you know, there, there is an, a likely scenario that we put this out there, we get enough users that it does something, but not enough users or not, or we don. Understand that opportunity or, or it doesn\'t present itself for a while. Like I had that with social link pages that I built this thing out.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, and there was some ob the, the sort of the obvious like, oh, let me add more features and that\'s what I\'ll charge for. But I wound up just letting it ride for a year. Didn\'t think about it. I fixed a few bugs, but, you know, and it was after a year I had a thousand users, like, okay, there\'s something here.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it took that ramp up, you know, to try to discover. And I, and frankly, I still haven\'t. Nailed it. You know, so like you and I may end up having a lot of conversations.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Um, [00:49:00] this is why&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: four ways figured this&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: out. Maybe there\'s unicorns out there, the geniuses that are like, oh, everything I touch is a perfect product and it makes a bunch of money.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the rest of us are like just figuring it out, wanting to do something good and&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: figuring it out. I was counting on you, man. I thought you were that&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: guy. I\'m the leprechaun.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, now, yeah, I had something. I was thinking when you were saying that, I was like, ah, sorry. Maybe. Oh, this is like.org, the.org repo. There\'s conversations about that and I go largely when someone has an opinion like that, it\'s not one size fits all. It\'s just for their use case. It doesn\'t work. What I love about us, our conversations is we had deliberate, a deliberate conversation that we figured out this is enough for a.org.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>That let\'s say, doesn\'t go anywhere would solve a problem for us and we could probably be happy about it. Right. And at this level, [00:50:00] maybe, I don\'t know, technically speaking from your perspective, but like wouldn\'t require a ton of maintenance potentially. Right? Now I get it When we get into blocks and stuff that also showcases value.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like you wanted a block. Yes. Well that\'s Then is that a pain point then pay me for the SL solving that problem. But I know there\'s people@poopoo.org. I don\'t. Um, definitely not in every case that this case, I love it because you and I made it narrow. We\'re not trying, we didn\'t say this is the be all, end all image editing software for WordPress plugin in the repo and free.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We didn\'t do that. We made it very practical, purposeful, getting some of this feedback. So like that\'s why I\'m okay, because I think the free plugin could exist in perpetuity. We\'ve seen some. Jumping off points that go, maybe we weren\'t a case for a pro paid ver version of this. So yeah, I wanna come back to that dart org thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cause I hear it all the time too, and I\'m like, I don\'t know. For every case that went wrong, I [00:51:00] can probably give you five more. That went right?&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. Yeah. And it\'s, it, it\'s, it\'s not without its challenges. I mean, I answered a, a question in on post out this morning that was like, how do you maintain a free and a pro version?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, and I have solved that problem. For myself. And so wanted to put that out there, you know, but there isn\'t just as, you know, there somebody else even chimed in, like, how is this still not a solved problem? But it\'s, there\'s a reason for that. Like, too much development is too, uh, varied. And so there isn\'t one solution.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, yeah. But you know, so it\'s not without, its, it\'s foibles, but it\'s, um, that\'s not the right word, but it\'s not without its issues. But I, to me, the, the benefit outweighs the work, the extra work.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Yeah, I do too. Um, yeah, if you had built in, if we had 50,000 [00:52:00] people we thought were like blogger content stuff, it might be maybe a bit different story, maybe.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, but even then it\'s like you could generate interest for the time and investment. I understand it\'s taken to this part. I go. Let\'s put it on George, Oregon. See it? Yeah. Worth it. Oh, that leads me to my second, so we got the feedback loop. The other thing we want to do, this is something that\'ll be on my task, is on the website, something to go.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to see the next things you\'re doing, get on the email list that we, I think we set up. Yeah, we did set up. Um, I don\'t have that today. I just know I want to share with you so we can, you can help me on that. Keep me accountable to this. But the next thing I would want to do for on the marketing business side is um, start generating that email list feedback, number one, and then email and I\'ll, we should be thinking of something that could be an incentive to [00:53:00] the email.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mm-hmm. , you know, why you should get in the email. You know, I know we do, a lot of people do like 10% off stuff like that. We don\'t have the pro yet, but something that goes.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is enticing for this core user avatars we\'re thinking. Does that make sense? It does, yeah. Just to start building that email list and we get enough people and we can start actually pushing content out. Yeah. And then when we get new version, I only wanna just say that, so we set the tone for like next, next stage of like, I need to be thinking we too, you can add your ideas in.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is what we could do to help incentivize that email.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Yeah. Yeah. And I don\'t, I don\'t have, I don\'t have an immediate answer. Like what do they, um, what\'s it called? It\'s not click bait.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: opt. Yeah, it\'s click bait. It\'s, you can say it, it\'s&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: okay. Well, no, but it\'s the, you know, the, the incentive lead magnet.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>There it is. Thank you. Lead magnet. Um, you know, nothing [00:54:00] obvious comes to mind. I mean, who, who\'s gonna read the, you know, here\'s the expert guide on image cropping. Like, it\'s, no. You know, like, yeah. It\'s not that we\'re, we don\'t have, we don\'t have the authority, we don\'t have the, an, you know, the definitive answer.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\'t have, I\'ve definit. Built things like that, written things like that before, you know, because you\'re supposed to, but at this point I\'m a little skeptical of them. Um, you know, I don\'t think most people are scratching their heads about image cropping, and I don\'t think that there\'s some deep, you know, tech knowledge to be gained, uh, the right way to crop circles like the one&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: you\'ve never been to the image cropping meetup group, then it\'s fascinating  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Now I, the image crop conference coming this year, you know, I\'ll be&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: thinking of that. We, we were able to do it with a number of plugins to help juice that, but you\'re right, it\'s, it\'s watching [00:55:00] Paint Dry, but, But there\'s something I\'ll be thinking of that. Yeah, yeah. Um, I just know because when I added that loop in at Ithe, that was the circle.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. And a lot of WordPress company com product companies don\'t like email. And I\'m like, sure, maybe it\'s 10 years old, 50, whatever the, you know, however long email\'s been around. But I email marketing, that\'s what we grew ithe with. Most people don\'t really realize that unless they were getting our emails and it was like, Hey, that\'s the stuff we were doing on the scenes.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\'m blowing that way out of proportion for a crop express right now. But just going like, I want the path to be open to like have that direct marketing relationship with the customer.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: So. Well, and I don\'t, I don\'t, I don\'t care if you like email or not. If, if it works, then we\'ll then we\'re gonna use it.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. Like, it\'s not. You know, PE people have their preferences, you know, and we are not, that\'s a lesson I have to learn over and over again. Like, I\'m a power user, you know? Yeah. Just cuz I, I understand this, you know, [00:56:00] you know how to manage interruptions or something like that. You know, most people are still checking their email a thousand times a day.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: what I will do is like talking about this, you\'re pro, you\'re helping me more than, you know, from a product and marketing perspective because I like to have that person in mind and as best I can be that person and Sure. You know, and then go, because when I get clear down that it, that for me is a switch.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\'s like, okay, I understand our clients, like the day we kind of realized we\'re looking at our customer base going, these said the people look like freelancers, agencies, web, you know, web developers. This side over here, like, what\'s that dentist office doing? You know, you\'re like a dentist is, yeah. So it helped us and then that\'s when we started to do our marketing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that\'s what for, for me, is getting in their skin, getting in their workflow, trying to sniff out and get a picture where I walk [00:57:00] in their shoes and go, okay, this is what they need. Which by the way, we\'ve joked enough about these things. It\'s like there\'s gotta be a parody in here about the, you know, I don\'t know, there\'s something fun that we could do.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like cropping is watching paint drive, but could we make it quirky and fun? Right? Yeah. Put that in the point. Put that uh, in the column of stupid ideas. Corey Miller has.&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Well, I, I\'m the, I\'m the one that came up with, you know, we need a website that looks broken and then, you know, click the big, you know, crop express button that, that makes it all look sparkly and, and beautiful.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, and that\'s where we use the Snow Effect and, and a unicorn bo bounds by, what is it? Um, not Gravity Forms, gravity view that has the, you know, the astronaut, astronaut sing songs and all that stuff. I mean, I\'m, I am all for, you know, maybe this is your Safe Dad joke space. And so then we, we integrate more of that into, uh, into the marketing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Um, I [00:58:00] hope Lin, I hope either of our Lindsay\'s doesn\'t watch this thing. They\'ll be like, seriously, you guys are just doing dad jokes, which&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: is, Hey, sorry, go whatever. Hey Corey. But it\'s, it\'s, it\'s dad jokes as marketing, you know, so it\'s, they, it it\'s their retirement fund too, you know, , um, But yeah, with, with a, a little bit of of time left, like, let\'s get around to, um, you know, next steps where we\'re at, that kind of thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I, I\'m happy to put in the feedback form. Um, I definitely want you to install the plugin, mess around with it a little bit if there\'s, and, and if there\'s anything obvious that\'s annoying. Again, I think we\'re good enough. We\'re certainly good enough to get in the repo. You know, things will change quickly as we move along, but we\'re trying to just draw a line in the sand to get the damn thing out the door.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, you know, but if there\'s any, any obvious red flags, like, oh, hey, [00:59:00] you know, on when I installed it on my site, it everything\'s 90 degrees or something, you know, like, yeah, then let me know. Um, and then I hope I haven\'t. Made you stuck with like, the first version of the readme can be very simple. Um, you know, enough&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>to launch.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: I No, no, no. I, I stuck my, I stick myself quite a bit, get stuck on my own, but, um, I was looking at description as really the meat of it, you know, because that\'s what, that\'s what does the little blip at the top and the actual page text. Yeah. Um, insulation. I need to just go and find another plugin. Copy and paste that FAQs.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can keep that pretty simple. Do you want, do I need to do screenshots and stuff?  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: Nope. I mean, and, and none of this we need, none of this is, other than the description, none of this is [01:00:00] necessary to submit. Like, we don\'t need installation instructions to submit. We don\'t need f a Q to submit. Um, You know, we want enough of a description so that whoever reviews this gets a sense of, excuse me, who, who we are, you know, broadly speaking like that we are not trying to upload malware kind of thing.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\'s like, yeah, if, if we write three sentences that just kind of give them a hint of the direction we\'re gonna take this, um, then it, you know, like coming and, you know, feature image cropping done easy and well, you know, coming soon, you know, more ways to crop images. And WordPress said, well, you know, and again, in a few sentences is sufficient.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Um, okay. And then, you know, and then cuz you can. I\'ve definitely seen, heard, [01:01:00] read about like, you don\'t wanna update your readme six times a day. They will actually ding you for that. Um, you know, but there\'s nothing that says we can\'t upload, update the README every day or a couple of days. So it\'s like you can, you can iterate on it.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay. Pretty regularly, you know? Um, I think there\'s, supposedly there\'s, it\'s in the algorithm too that\'s like if you, if you only ever push updates that are the read me, they\'ll ding you as far as, you know, search optimization stuff. But like, none of the things we really need to worry about, I just want, like I\'ve, I\'ve submitted plugins before that I already had stubbed out, um, or mentioned a pro version and got feedback that was like, I see you\'re gonna do a pro version.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\'s like they definitely read it. To get and get sort of a sense of the intention, [01:02:00] you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, and so, um, and I, I mean, I no comment on pros or cons of mentioning that kind of stuff, but just I think, I think that\'s all we need. Okay. Okay. Um, but I, and from my perspective, like it\'s Wednesday, you know, ideally we get this out the door in the next day or two to submit, you know, start that process.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cory Miller: Okay. I\'ve got it now saved. Um, and I\'ll try to add more than two sentences in here, but yeah, I, this is the block I\'ve had on these things is I feel so far outta riding and doing things, and now I just do a lot of voice stuff. But, um, anyway, I, I\'ll get that done. Um, I\'m out this afternoon and then I\'ve got time, I\'ve got some blocks of time tomorrow, so, I don\'t think it should be a problem to get that to you.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me just say I\'ll get it to you tomorrow. Okay. [01:03:00] Then I get a little deadline for myself and I\'ll, do you think in the long description you said this, like, should we mention there might be a pro or say&nbsp;  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corey Maass: I, from, from the experience that I had, I would say no. Okay. Like, it, it definitely, I, on a, on a previous plugin, I, I got some pushback on the, the product itself.  </p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think that by mentioning Pro, cuz you, you, you get there, you know, still in the WordPress world there\'s a, a fair number of zealots, zealots people who are emphatic that everything should be free and so you run the risk of sort of rubbing somebody the