{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "user_comment": "This feed allows you to read the posts from this site in any feed reader that supports the JSON Feed format. To add this feed to your reader, copy the following URL -- https://wptavern.com/category/news/feed/json -- and add it your reader.", "next_url": "https://wptavern.com/category/news/feed/json?paged=2", "home_page_url": "https://wptavern.com/category/news", "feed_url": "https://wptavern.com/category/news/feed/json", "language": "en-US", "title": "News – WP Tavern", "description": "WordPress News \u2014 Free as in Beer.", "icon": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/cropped-tavern-favicon.png", "items": [ { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149617", "url": "https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-16-7-introduces-font-management", "title": "Gutenberg 16.7 Introduces Font Management", "content_html": "\n

Gutenberg 16.7 was released this week, packed with several features that are headlining the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release. This will be the last plugin release that will be rolled into the next version of WordPress.

\n\n\n\n

Font management with the new font library is now available for testing in the plugin. These features standardize a way to add font collections to WordPress’ new font library, so plugin authors can register lists of fonts and users can install the ones they want. It also enables font foundries to create their own WordPress plugins to provide access to their fonts.

\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Font Library\u00a0manages fonts independently of a site’s active theme, allowing users to install, remove, and activate fonts from various sources in WordPress. This works in a similar way to the Media Library.

\n\n\n\n

After updating to Gutenberg 16.7, users can navigate to Styles > Typography to manage fonts.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

From there, users can launch the Font Library, which loads in a popup screen, and browse all of the installed fonts. A Google Fonts tab allows for installing additional fonts that will be loaded locally from the user’s server. This gives site editors more freedom in selecting the typography for their websites instead of relying on a theme or plugin to provide font options.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Gutenberg 16.7 also brings several important enhancements to patterns. Users can now import and export patterns as JSON files from the Patterns screen, making it easier to share patterns to other WordPress sites.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

The “My Patterns” category designation has also been reinstated to the post editor’s inserter, based on feedback after it had been removed.

\n\n\n\n

Inside the the inserter in the post editor, pattern filters have been relocated to a dropdown at the top of the pattern list panel, along with a sticky header to help with navigation.

\n\n\n\n

Other notable highlights of Gutenberg 16.7 include the following:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Gutenberg 16.7 includes 331 pull requests from 88 contributors. For more details on all the enhancements, bug fixes, accessibility, performance, code quality, testing, and tooling improvements, check out the full changelog in the release post.

\n", "content_text": "Gutenberg 16.7 was released this week, packed with several features that are headlining the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release. This will be the last plugin release that will be rolled into the next version of WordPress. \n\n\n\nFont management with the new font library is now available for testing in the plugin. These features standardize a way to add font collections to WordPress’ new font library, so plugin authors can register lists of fonts and users can install the ones they want. It also enables font foundries to create their own WordPress plugins to provide access to their fonts.\n\n\n\nThe\u00a0Font Library\u00a0manages fonts independently of a site’s active theme, allowing users to install, remove, and activate fonts from various sources in WordPress. This works in a similar way to the Media Library.\n\n\n\nAfter updating to Gutenberg 16.7, users can navigate to Styles > Typography to manage fonts. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom there, users can launch the Font Library, which loads in a popup screen, and browse all of the installed fonts. A Google Fonts tab allows for installing additional fonts that will be loaded locally from the user’s server. This gives site editors more freedom in selecting the typography for their websites instead of relying on a theme or plugin to provide font options.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGutenberg 16.7 also brings several important enhancements to patterns. Users can now import and export patterns as JSON files from the Patterns screen, making it easier to share patterns to other WordPress sites. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe “My Patterns” category designation has also been reinstated to the post editor’s inserter, based on feedback after it had been removed.\n\n\n\nInside the the inserter in the post editor, pattern filters have been relocated to a dropdown at the top of the pattern list panel, along with a sticky header to help with navigation.\n\n\n\nOther notable highlights of Gutenberg 16.7 include the following: \n\n\n\n\nGroup blocks can now have custom names, making it easier to know what they are in the List View\n\n\n\n\u00a0New Social Link icon for the X service (formerly known as Twitter)\n\n\n\nNew ability to toggle \u2018nofollow\u2019 setting for inline links (rich text only)\n\n\n\nAdd aspect ratio to image placeholder\n\n\n\nImage block: Revise lightbox UI to remove \u2018behaviors\u2019\n\n\n\nImage block: UI updates for the image lightbox (redo)\n\n\n\n\nGutenberg 16.7 includes 331 pull requests from 88 contributors. For more details on all the enhancements, bug fixes, accessibility, performance, code quality, testing, and tooling improvements, check out the full changelog in the release post.", "date_published": "2023-09-29T18:15:38-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-29T18:15:40-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/letters.jpg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149624", "url": "https://wptavern.com/ollie-theme-faces-pushback-from-wordpress-theme-review-team", "title": "Ollie Theme Faces Pushback from WordPress Theme Review Team", "content_html": "\n

Mike McAlister, creator of the\u00a0free Ollie theme,\u00a0has been working towards getting his theme approved for hosting on WordPress.org. Ollie went into public beta in April 2023 and gained momentum over the next few months when McAlister previewed the theme’s new onboarding wizard.

\n\n\n\n

WordPress users have been slow to adopt the block editor and block themes by extension. In 2022, only 54% of respondents to WordPress’ annual survey have used the block editor, four years after it was introduced. Block themes have trickled into the official directory, far behind the lofty goals set for their expansion. The sluggish movement towards block-based sites has led some to speculate on whether there will ever be a market for commercial block themes.

\n\n\n\n

Ollie was designed to make onboarding to a block theme easier and the Site Editor more approachable, so that users don’t have to start from a blank canvas. The theme’s demo boasts “a 40-hr head start” on setting up a new WordPress website, thanks in part to dozens of patterns for fast page building. Ollie’s built-in onboarding experience aims to drastically reduce the amount of time users spend getting started.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

After receiving significant pushback from the Theme Review team during Ollie’s three weeks in the queue, McAlister has put up a poll requesting feedback on how he should proceed.

\n\n\n\n
\n

After a very rocky (and downright combative) theme review process at https://t.co/SPJ2MEtIlL, I'm not sure if it's the right place for our @BuildWithOllie project.

I'm torn and would love your input. More context below and a poll at the end.

— Mike McAlister \"\ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83d\ude80\" (@mikemcalister) September 28, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Although provisionally approved by veteran theme reviewer Justin Tadlock, who said the onboarding functionality should be allowed until WordPress core offers a standard solution, Ollie was met with heavy criticism from other members of the team.

\n\n\n\n

“The setup wizard is plugin territory,” UXL Themes founder and theme reviewer Andrew Starr\u00a0said. “Why not make this as a plugin that would work with any block theme? A plugin could be inspiration or a nudge to improve the core experience.”

\n\n\n\n

McAlister responded to this question in the Trac ticket for the review and in posts on X. He maintains that a plugin is a “far worse experience for the end user” and for his team as the maintainers of the product. Also, since the plugin review queue has 1,249\u00a0plugins awaiting review with developers waiting an average of 98 days for an initial review, a plugin for Ollie’s onboarding experience would likely not be live until next year.

\n\n\n\n

“As a compromise and show of good faith, I’ve chopped down the onboarding wizard to a fraction of what it was,” he said. “No dice. Still, it continues to be a highly contentious issue that is causing folks to publicly question my intentions and integrity. Disheartening to say the least.”

\n\n\n\n

Automattic-sponsored contributor Justin Tadlock, who helped author the guidelines in question many years ago and who has historically been widely esteemed for his impeccable judgment in regards to the grey areas of content creation in themes and the necessity of preserving data portability, weighed in on the ticket after performing the initial review:

\n\n\n\n
\n

As someone who co-wrote the original guideline for settings to use the customizer, I can say with 100% certainty that we never meant that to be a hard line drawn in the sand. The team reps can and have always had the capability to mark a theme as a “special case” (there’s even a tag for this in the backend, or there was when I was a rep). And there are themes where we felt like the functionality was unique enough to give it a bit of wiggle room. That was a position that we took when we wrote the “settings must be in the customizer” guideline. While I’m no longer one of the team reps, I feel like this settings page feature is unique enough to mark as a “special case.”

\n\n\n\n

With block themes, some things must be reevaluated because the customizer is not available by default and is not an expected part of the block theme experience. In fact, this guideline is very specific to classic themes. Nothing has been written yet for block themes. Whether that’s a good thing, I don’t know. This could be a good moment for experimentation.

\n\n\n\n

I disagree that the settings page should be packaged as a companion plugin. That defeats the purpose of its inclusion in the theme, and it would create an additional hurdle for the users who would benefit the most from this feature.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Yoast-sponsored contributor Carolina Nymark contends that allowing this onboarding experience will set a precedent that erodes the standard the team is trying to uphold for the ecosystem of themes hosted on WordPress.org and gives Ollie an unfair commercial advantage:

\n\n\n\n
\n

“That settings pages are not allowed is in many ways unrelated to the customizer. And if we really want to angle it that way, it would be way easier to re-enable the customizer link in the theme.

\n\n\n\n

It is about having a standard that is easy for all theme authors to use and easy to review.
It is about not opening up the reviews to another situation with incredibly difficult and time consuming reviews of code that the theme developers themselves don’t understand because they copy-pasted it and managed to cause all sorts of errors and security issues.
Where that feature “lives”, in the customizer or on another page, is not the issue.

\n\n\n\n

I would like everyone to also consider that the Site Editor is not at all far away from solving the problem with the initial template selection. It does not solve all onboarding steps, like getting to the Site Editor, but it is improving.

\n\n\n\n

Compare it with the use of TGMPA. There is a problem that needs solving and a solution has been agreed upon where the theme author and reviewers only need to adjust a few variables and text strings.

\n\n\n\n

If something similar could be reached here I would support it.

\n\n\n\n

This is not about a special case, because it is an unfair commercial advantage over other theme developers.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Ollie is a beautifully-designed multipurpose theme of the highest caliber, the likes of which WordPress.org doesn’t see very often. If expanding block theme adoption is an important goal, these are the kinds of experiences you want people building for WordPress users. It may be time to redefine theme guidelines based on the possibilities that the block editor enables, instead of saddling block themes with antiquated constraints for the sake of maintaining a more expedient review process.

\n\n\n\n

“Just because there are problems with onboarding it doesn’t mean that a theme, any theme, is the right tool just because one can put code in it,” Nymark said. “Plugins extend features, themes display content.”

\n\n\n\n

Given the amount of pushback from the Theme Review team, McAlister is now torn about removing everything “extra” to get Ollie in the directory for better distribution, or to keep the innovations in place and forego the directory in favor of independent distribution. So far, the results of his poll are overwhelmingly in favor of McAlister distributing the theme himself.

\n\n\n\n

“I\u2019m passionate about innovation and getting the most out of all the possibilities that modern WordPress affords us,” McAlister told the Tavern. “We were tasked to ‘Learn JavaScript Deeply’ not to remain where we\u2019ve been for so long, but to push the boundaries and scope out the future of WordPress and what\u2019s possible.

\n\n\n\n

“So we designed and developed Ollie\u2019s educational dashboard and onboarding wizard to help users get over some of the hurdles they\u2019ve been plagued with for so long when setting up a new site or switching to a new theme. We even designed it in a very core-inspired way to match the site editor to create a very cohesive experience. The feedback has been inspiring!”

\n\n\n\n

After posting about his experience with the Theme Review team, which McAlister characterized as “rocky (and downright combative),” the community following his work on Ollie over the past year has rallied around him with advice and support.

\n\n\n\n

“I am torn about this,” Joost de Valk commented on McAlister’s poll on X. “I feel WordPress needs these onboarding experiences. Very very much. Should it be in themes? Not sure. Should the theme repository block this stuff? I don\u2019t think so\u2026 we should be open to experimenting with this a bit more.”

\n\n\n\n

McAlister said that even as the theme’s creator, he is torn about the decision as well.

\n\n\n\n

“I built this as a good faith attempt to help people onboard into block themes and hopefully even help drive adoption,” he said. “My intentions are pure and steeped in 15 years of doing it ‘the WP way.’ It\u2019s an attempt to move the needle, worth a shot anyway.”

\n\n\n\n

“I always felt that onboarding like this should be part of Core,” Yoast-sponsored contributor Ari Stathopoulos commented. “The current experience for a newcomer to WP is not a good one. We have to start somewhere\u2026 if it\u2019s in themes, then so be it.”

\n\n\n\n

WordPress’ Theme Review team has a critical choice here, whether to stifle innovation and throw the book at one of the most highly anticipated block themes, or identify this as a special case where the author has the users’ best interests at heart.

\n\n\n\n

Many participants in the discussion on X encouraged McAlister to distribute his work independently, citing examples of other WordPress products that have found success in doing so. This would be an unfortunate loss for WordPress.org where the project is essentially shooting itself in the foot by clinging to outmoded guidelines in order to deny high quality block themes that are innovating to create a better user experience. In pursuit of a more robust offering of block themes, the last thing WordPress needs to do is chase away its trailblazers.

\n\n\n\n
\n

Generally speaking, given the amount of pure sh*t available in the .org repo, the fact that they wont welcome you with open arms just stinks.

Self distribute.

You've got something incredible here.

— Anthony (@ant_thedesigner) September 28, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

“Since this morning, there has been an overwhelming amount of feedback telling me to avoid the WordPress.org directory,” McAlister said. “I\u2019m kind of bummed by this because I think it says something about the directory that a lot of folks think but few want to say out loud.

\n\n\n\n

“Personally, I want the directory to succeed and be an inspiring and resourceful jump-off point for new WordPress users! It\u2019s the front page of our open source project, of our community. It should be a showcase of the finest our community has to offer. But today, I\u2019m disheartened and not sure if it\u2019s the place where I want to put some of my best work to date.”

\n", "content_text": "Mike McAlister, creator of the\u00a0free Ollie theme,\u00a0has been working towards getting his theme approved for hosting on WordPress.org. Ollie went into public beta in April 2023 and gained momentum over the next few months when McAlister previewed the theme’s new onboarding wizard.\n\n\n\nWordPress users have been slow to adopt the block editor and block themes by extension. In 2022, only 54% of respondents to WordPress’ annual survey have used the block editor, four years after it was introduced. Block themes have trickled into the official directory, far behind the lofty goals set for their expansion. The sluggish movement towards block-based sites has led some to speculate on whether there will ever be a market for commercial block themes.\n\n\n\nOllie was designed to make onboarding to a block theme easier and the Site Editor more approachable, so that users don’t have to start from a blank canvas. The theme’s demo boasts “a 40-hr head start” on setting up a new WordPress website, thanks in part to dozens of patterns for fast page building. Ollie’s built-in onboarding experience aims to drastically reduce the amount of time users spend getting started.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAfter receiving significant pushback from the Theme Review team during Ollie’s three weeks in the queue, McAlister has put up a poll requesting feedback on how he should proceed.\n\n\n\n\nAfter a very rocky (and downright combative) theme review process at https://t.co/SPJ2MEtIlL, I'm not sure if it's the right place for our @BuildWithOllie project. I'm torn and would love your input. More context below and a poll at the end.— Mike McAlister (@mikemcalister) September 28, 2023\n\n\n\n\nAlthough provisionally approved by veteran theme reviewer Justin Tadlock, who said the onboarding functionality should be allowed until WordPress core offers a standard solution, Ollie was met with heavy criticism from other members of the team.\n\n\n\n“The setup wizard is plugin territory,” UXL Themes founder and theme reviewer Andrew Starr\u00a0said. “Why not make this as a plugin that would work with any block theme? A plugin could be inspiration or a nudge to improve the core experience.”\n\n\n\nMcAlister responded to this question in the Trac ticket for the review and in posts on X. He maintains that a plugin is a “far worse experience for the end user” and for his team as the maintainers of the product. Also, since the plugin review queue has 1,249\u00a0plugins awaiting review with developers waiting an average of 98 days for an initial review, a plugin for Ollie’s onboarding experience would likely not be live until next year.\n\n\n\n“As a compromise and show of good faith, I’ve chopped down the onboarding wizard to a fraction of what it was,” he said. “No dice. Still, it continues to be a highly contentious issue that is causing folks to publicly question my intentions and integrity. Disheartening to say the least.”\n\n\n\nAutomattic-sponsored contributor Justin Tadlock, who helped author the guidelines in question many years ago and who has historically been widely esteemed for his impeccable judgment in regards to the grey areas of content creation in themes and the necessity of preserving data portability, weighed in on the ticket after performing the initial review:\n\n\n\n\nAs someone who co-wrote the original guideline for settings to use the customizer, I can say with 100% certainty that we never meant that to be a hard line drawn in the sand. The team reps can and have always had the capability to mark a theme as a “special case” (there’s even a tag for this in the backend, or there was when I was a rep). And there are themes where we felt like the functionality was unique enough to give it a bit of wiggle room. That was a position that we took when we wrote the “settings must be in the customizer” guideline. While I’m no longer one of the team reps, I feel like this settings page feature is unique enough to mark as a “special case.”\n\n\n\nWith block themes, some things must be reevaluated because the customizer is not available by default and is not an expected part of the block theme experience. In fact, this guideline is very specific to classic themes. Nothing has been written yet for block themes. Whether that’s a good thing, I don’t know. This could be a good moment for experimentation.\n\n\n\nI disagree that the settings page should be packaged as a companion plugin. That defeats the purpose of its inclusion in the theme, and it would create an additional hurdle for the users who would benefit the most from this feature.\n\n\n\n\nYoast-sponsored contributor Carolina Nymark contends that allowing this onboarding experience will set a precedent that erodes the standard the team is trying to uphold for the ecosystem of themes hosted on WordPress.org and gives Ollie an unfair commercial advantage:\n\n\n\n\n“That settings pages are not allowed is in many ways unrelated to the customizer. And if we really want to angle it that way, it would be way easier to re-enable the customizer link in the theme.\n\n\n\nIt is about having a standard that is easy for all theme authors to use and easy to review.It is about not opening up the reviews to another situation with incredibly difficult and time consuming reviews of code that the theme developers themselves don’t understand because they copy-pasted it and managed to cause all sorts of errors and security issues.Where that feature “lives”, in the customizer or on another page, is not the issue.\n\n\n\nI would like everyone to also consider that the Site Editor is not at all far away from solving the problem with the initial template selection. It does not solve all onboarding steps, like getting to the Site Editor, but it is improving.\n\n\n\nCompare it with the use of TGMPA. There is a problem that needs solving and a solution has been agreed upon where the theme author and reviewers only need to adjust a few variables and text strings.\n\n\n\nIf something similar could be reached here I would support it.\n\n\n\nThis is not about a special case, because it is an unfair commercial advantage over other theme developers.\n\n\n\n\nOllie is a beautifully-designed multipurpose theme of the highest caliber, the likes of which WordPress.org doesn’t see very often. If expanding block theme adoption is an important goal, these are the kinds of experiences you want people building for WordPress users. It may be time to redefine theme guidelines based on the possibilities that the block editor enables, instead of saddling block themes with antiquated constraints for the sake of maintaining a more expedient review process.\n\n\n\n“Just because there are problems with onboarding it doesn’t mean that a theme, any theme, is the right tool just because one can put code in it,” Nymark said. “Plugins extend features, themes display content.”\n\n\n\nGiven the amount of pushback from the Theme Review team, McAlister is now torn about removing everything “extra” to get Ollie in the directory for better distribution, or to keep the innovations in place and forego the directory in favor of independent distribution. So far, the results of his poll are overwhelmingly in favor of McAlister distributing the theme himself. \n\n\n\n“I\u2019m passionate about innovation and getting the most out of all the possibilities that modern WordPress affords us,” McAlister told the Tavern. “We were tasked to ‘Learn JavaScript Deeply’ not to remain where we\u2019ve been for so long, but to push the boundaries and scope out the future of WordPress and what\u2019s possible. \n\n\n\n“So we designed and developed Ollie\u2019s educational dashboard and onboarding wizard to help users get over some of the hurdles they\u2019ve been plagued with for so long when setting up a new site or switching to a new theme. We even designed it in a very core-inspired way to match the site editor to create a very cohesive experience. The feedback has been inspiring!” \n\n\n\nAfter posting about his experience with the Theme Review team, which McAlister characterized as “rocky (and downright combative),” the community following his work on Ollie over the past year has rallied around him with advice and support.\n\n\n\n“I am torn about this,” Joost de Valk commented on McAlister’s poll on X. “I feel WordPress needs these onboarding experiences. Very very much. Should it be in themes? Not sure. Should the theme repository block this stuff? I don\u2019t think so\u2026 we should be open to experimenting with this a bit more.”\n\n\n\nMcAlister said that even as the theme’s creator, he is torn about the decision as well.\n\n\n\n“I built this as a good faith attempt to help people onboard into block themes and hopefully even help drive adoption,” he said. “My intentions are pure and steeped in 15 years of doing it ‘the WP way.’ It\u2019s an attempt to move the needle, worth a shot anyway.”\n\n\n\n“I always felt that onboarding like this should be part of Core,” Yoast-sponsored contributor Ari Stathopoulos commented. “The current experience for a newcomer to WP is not a good one. We have to start somewhere\u2026 if it\u2019s in themes, then so be it.”\n\n\n\nWordPress’ Theme Review team has a critical choice here, whether to stifle innovation and throw the book at one of the most highly anticipated block themes, or identify this as a special case where the author has the users’ best interests at heart. \n\n\n\nMany participants in the discussion on X encouraged McAlister to distribute his work independently, citing examples of other WordPress products that have found success in doing so. This would be an unfortunate loss for WordPress.org where the project is essentially shooting itself in the foot by clinging to outmoded guidelines in order to deny high quality block themes that are innovating to create a better user experience. In pursuit of a more robust offering of block themes, the last thing WordPress needs to do is chase away its trailblazers.\n\n\n\n\nGenerally speaking, given the amount of pure sh*t available in the .org repo, the fact that they wont welcome you with open arms just stinks.Self distribute.You've got something incredible here.— Anthony (@ant_thedesigner) September 28, 2023\n\n\n\n\n“Since this morning, there has been an overwhelming amount of feedback telling me to avoid the WordPress.org directory,” McAlister said. “I\u2019m kind of bummed by this because I think it says something about the directory that a lot of folks think but few want to say out loud. \n\n\n\n“Personally, I want the directory to succeed and be an inspiring and resourceful jump-off point for new WordPress users! It\u2019s the front page of our open source project, of our community. It should be a showcase of the finest our community has to offer. But today, I\u2019m disheartened and not sure if it\u2019s the place where I want to put some of my best work to date.”", "date_published": "2023-09-29T01:07:07-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-29T01:21:05-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/screenshot.png", "tags": [ "News", "Themes" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149557", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-opens-2023-annual-survey", "title": "WordPress Opens 2023 Annual Survey", "content_html": "\n

WordPress has launched its 2023 annual survey, which is open to the entire community, including users, site builders, plugin and theme authors, and contributors.

\n\n\n\n

The 2022 survey collected responses from roughly 3,400 people, including approximately 800 contributors, a decline in submissions from previous years. The 2022 survey introduced the Likert scale, a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. The total number of questions were reduced, with socio-economic questions mostly removed.

\n\n\n\n

WordPress is still evolving the survey format to get a better understanding of the community’s sentiments and values.

\n\n\n\n

“This year, like last year, the survey has undergone some improvements to the flow and question set,” Automattic-sponsored contributor Dan Soschin said. “A new platform is also being piloted, offering an updated interface, enhanced multi-lingual support, expanded analysis and visualization tools for the results, and more. The new platform also has built-in accessibility and privacy controls, ensuring the survey meets the diverse needs of the WordPress community.”

\n\n\n\n

The 2023 survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. It collects information on some basic demographics, various community involvements, preferred WordPress editor, how and why you are using WordPress, and more. Several questions allow the community to weigh in on the most frustrating aspects of WordPress, areas that need more attention, and whether or not the current WordPress roadmap reflects respondents’ needs and desires for the future of the project.

\n\n\n\n

In addition to English, the survey is available in nine widely-used languages, which participants can select from a drop-down menu at the top of the page. All the data collected in the survey will be anonymized and WordPress does not associate IP addresses or email addresses with the results.

\n", "content_text": "WordPress has launched its 2023 annual survey, which is open to the entire community, including users, site builders, plugin and theme authors, and contributors. \n\n\n\nThe 2022 survey collected responses from roughly 3,400 people, including approximately 800 contributors, a decline in submissions from previous years. The 2022 survey introduced the Likert scale, a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. The total number of questions were reduced, with socio-economic questions mostly removed. \n\n\n\nWordPress is still evolving the survey format to get a better understanding of the community’s sentiments and values.\n\n\n\n“This year, like last year, the survey has undergone some improvements to the flow and question set,” Automattic-sponsored contributor Dan Soschin said. “A new platform is also being piloted, offering an updated interface, enhanced multi-lingual support, expanded analysis and visualization tools for the results, and more. The new platform also has built-in accessibility and privacy controls, ensuring the survey meets the diverse needs of the WordPress community.”\n\n\n\nThe 2023 survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. It collects information on some basic demographics, various community involvements, preferred WordPress editor, how and why you are using WordPress, and more. Several questions allow the community to weigh in on the most frustrating aspects of WordPress, areas that need more attention, and whether or not the current WordPress roadmap reflects respondents’ needs and desires for the future of the project. \n\n\n\nIn addition to English, the survey is available in nine widely-used languages, which participants can select from a drop-down menu at the top of the page. All the data collected in the survey will be anonymized and WordPress does not associate IP addresses or email addresses with the results.", "date_published": "2023-09-27T18:53:37-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-27T18:53:39-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pencil.jpg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149512", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-4-beta-1-released", "title": "WordPress 6.4 Beta 1 Released", "content_html": "\n

WordPress 6.4 Beta 1 was released today on schedule, led by an underrepresented gender release squad. It includes the last five releases of the Gutenberg plugin (16.2,\u00a016.3,\u00a016.4,\u00a016.5,\u00a016.6) along with the upcoming 16.7 release and 190 tickets for core.

\n\n\n\n

If you are following Gutenberg development, many of these features have already been released in the plugin. The most notable highlights of features and improvements coming in 6.4 include the following:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

WordPress 6.4 will also include many accessibility and performance improvements that will improve workflows and speed for all users of both Block and Classic Themes. A detailed testing guide is available that covers all the key features and how to test them, with video demos for each.

\n\n\n\n

Beta 2 is expected on October 3. WordPress 6.4 will be the third major release of 2023, and is scheduled for November 7.

\n", "content_text": "WordPress 6.4 Beta 1 was released today on schedule, led by an underrepresented gender release squad. It includes the last five releases of the Gutenberg plugin (16.2,\u00a016.3,\u00a016.4,\u00a016.5,\u00a016.6) along with the upcoming 16.7 release and 190 tickets for core.\n\n\n\nIf you are following Gutenberg development, many of these features have already been released in the plugin. The most notable highlights of features and improvements coming in 6.4 include the following:\n\n\n\n\nFont Management – allows users to manage a font library independent of their active theme, along with Font Face support for server-side\u00a0@font-face\u00a0style generation and printing\n\n\n\nBlock Hooks – enables developers to automatically insert blocks into content relative to another block\n\n\n\nLightbox for Images – core support for lightbox functionality for image blocks\n\n\n\nExpanded Design Tools – background images for Group blocks, aspect ratios for image placeholders, alignment settings for synced patterns, and more\n\n\n\nCommand Palette updates – improved design, new commands, better consistency across existing commands\n\n\n\nList view enhancements – usability improvements allow for renaming Group blocks, viewing media previews for Gallery and Image blocks, and duplicating blocks with a keyboard shortcut\n\n\n\nNew Twenty Twenty-Four default theme – a multipurpose block theme that will ship with a collection of templates and patterns that lend themselves to a wide variety of use cases. See a demo at 2024.wordpress.net.\n\n\n\n\nWordPress 6.4 will also include many accessibility and performance improvements that will improve workflows and speed for all users of both Block and Classic Themes. A detailed testing guide is available that covers all the key features and how to test them, with video demos for each.\n\n\n\nBeta 2 is expected on October 3. WordPress 6.4 will be the third major release of 2023, and is scheduled for November 7.", "date_published": "2023-09-26T23:04:37-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-26T23:04:39-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/32594098207_d40ba35451_k.jpg", "tags": [ "News", "WordPress" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149493", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-expands-two-factor-authentication-interface-to-include-security-keys", "title": "WordPress.org Expands Two-Factor Authentication Interface to Include Security Keys", "content_html": "\n

WordPress.org began testing two-factor authentication (2FA) as an opt-in feature in May 2023. The interface and functionality are still in beta but it’s operational. This week contributors have expanded support for 2FA with a new interface for adding security keys, which are more secure than the one-time passwords.

\n\n\n\n

A logged in user can set up the keys by visiting their WordPress.org profile, scrolling down to the “Security” section, and clicking on the support forum profile link.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Users who have two-factor authentication set up can click on “Two-Factor Security Key” and follow the instructions to set them up.

\n\n\n\n

This update to the interface also adds Time-Based One-Time Passwords\u00a0(TOTP), which are generated from the user’s chosen authentication app on their device and changed every 30 seconds. WordPress.org currently defaults to using security keys over the time-based on-time passwords, but contributors are working on making that configurable in the future.

\n\n\n\n

Additions to the interface also include the ability to generate backup codes, which enable access when users don’t have their 2FA security key or app configured. The backup codes come with a note of caution from Automattic- sponsored Meta contributor Steve Dufresne, who has been working on the 2FA project:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Regardless of whether you are using security keys or a Time-Based One-Time password,\u00a0make sure you generate and print backup codes. If you lose your primary key/device and don\u2019t have a backup code, you will lose access to your account forever.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Dufresne encouraged WordPress.org users who haven’t set up 2FA to go ahead and do so. Any bugs can be reported to the project’s\u00a0GitHub repository.

\n", "content_text": "WordPress.org began testing two-factor authentication (2FA) as an opt-in feature in May 2023. The interface and functionality are still in beta but it’s operational. This week contributors have expanded support for 2FA with a new interface for adding security keys, which are more secure than the one-time passwords.\n\n\n\nA logged in user can set up the keys by visiting their WordPress.org profile, scrolling down to the “Security” section, and clicking on the support forum profile link. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUsers who have two-factor authentication set up can click on “Two-Factor Security Key” and follow the instructions to set them up. \n\n\n\nThis update to the interface also adds Time-Based One-Time Passwords\u00a0(TOTP), which are generated from the user’s chosen authentication app on their device and changed every 30 seconds. WordPress.org currently defaults to using security keys over the time-based on-time passwords, but contributors are working on making that configurable in the future.\n\n\n\nAdditions to the interface also include the ability to generate backup codes, which enable access when users don’t have their 2FA security key or app configured. The backup codes come with a note of caution from Automattic- sponsored Meta contributor Steve Dufresne, who has been working on the 2FA project:\n\n\n\n\nRegardless of whether you are using security keys or a Time-Based One-Time password,\u00a0make sure you generate and print backup codes. If you lose your primary key/device and don\u2019t have a backup code, you will lose access to your account forever.\n\n\n\n\nDufresne encouraged WordPress.org users who haven’t set up 2FA to go ahead and do so. Any bugs can be reported to the project’s\u00a0GitHub repository.", "date_published": "2023-09-26T17:02:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-26T17:02:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/keys.jpeg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149460", "url": "https://wptavern.com/matthaus-klute-acquires-social-link-pages-plugin", "title": "Matthaus Klute Acquires Social Link Pages Plugin", "content_html": "\n

WordPress developer Corey Maass has sold his Social Link Pages plugin to Matthaus Klute, an independent WordPress consultant and developer with Alpha Particle. It’s another story of small plugins changing hands, where developers get the opportunity to test ideas and business models. Even the most modest creations have value in a thriving marketplace where business owners are willing to invest in these types of assets to expand their own offerings.

\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Maass created Social Link Pages after taking a course on how to market himself as a musician and DJ. The course required him to sign up for\u00a0Linktr.ee, a popular “link in bio” landing page service.

\n\n\n\n

“In typical developer fashion, instead of paying $8 a month, I thought ‘I should build this,'” Maass said. “So I spent hundreds of hours building Social Link Pages for WordPress.”

\n\n\n\n

Initially, Maass built the free version with most of the basic bells and whistles found in other link-in-bio page builders. After getting some pushback from the Plugin Review team, who Maass said were “skeptical about why we needed a ‘mini WordPress inside WordPress,’ the Social Link Pages plugin was approved for the directory.

\n\n\n\n

Over the next year he added features that he needed while figuring out the right extras for a Pro version.

\n\n\n\n

“Along the way, a user contacted me, asking if the plug-in could be white-labeled and used to build her own SaaS,” Maass said. “Shortly thereafter I released the Pro and Community (i.e. SaaS) versions of the plugin.

\n\n\n\n

“Then I took a day job and stopped working on it for about a year and a half. I took the commercial versions offline. I barely looked at the plugin because there were almost no support requests.”

\n\n\n\n

When Maass’ day job ended 18 months later, he went back to the plugin and was pleasantly surprised to find it had 1,000 active installs. This encouraged him to make some major updates and add new features.

\n\n\n\n

The first marketing effort he made was to put Social Link Pages on AppSumo. At that time they were just opening up their marketplace.

\n\n\n\n

“In the marketplace, you don’t benefit from AppSumo’s larger email campaigns, but I think Social Link Pages got a lot of eyes from people looking for good lifetime deals,” Maass said. “I sold about 80-lifetime licenses and was surprised to find that only two or three were ever actually claimed. I’ve since heard of other plugin developers who have had the same experience. Apparently, a lot of people collect lifetime deals, but never actually use them. So in the end it was free money.”

\n\n\n\n

Over the next few years, Maass continued to add features but his interest was waning.

\n\n\n\n

“The plugin did what I needed on my own sites, so I was not inspired to keep adding features just because I could,” he said. “I also saw a lot of new link-in-bio apps come online, though none were specific to WordPress. And I wanted to move on to new ideas.”

\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of 2023, while considering all of his projects, Maass said he “could not find the willpower to market Social Link Pages as it should be.” He knew he was no longer the best owner for the plugin, so he listed it on a couple of sites dedicated to selling small software products.

\n\n\n\n

Social Links Plugin Sells for $3K

\n\n\n\n

“I’d always heard the correct pricing for a software product is 12-18 months of revenue,” Maass said. “Social Link Pages was only making about $125 per month at the time, but I was selling a complete business, already set up with e-commerce, multiple products, email automation, and more.

\n\n\n\n

“I listed it at $5000. I heard from a dozen or so potential buyers, all of whom asked for charts and spreadsheets I did not have. I’m a developer and guilty of ignoring a lot of the standard sales and ‘biz dev’ practices. As I was asking too much based on what was ‘on paper,’ I did not find a buyer. I unlisted Social Link Pages, figuring I’d try again in the future.”

\n\n\n\n

Maass tried again in the summer, listing the plugin in Post Status and a couple of other solopreneur-focused communities. He also dropped the price to $3,000.

\n\n\n\n

“Immediately I heard from a number of interested buyers who saw the value in what I was selling,” Maass said.” I probably could’ve brought the price back up to $5000 again, but I wanted to see the plugin go to a new, better owner.”

\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, Maass sold his Kanban for WordPress plugin to Keanan Koppenhaver at Alpha Particle. After discussing with Matthaus Klute, a developer who works with Koppenhaver, Maass knew he had found the right buyer.

\n\n\n\n

“He’s a thoughtful developer with WordPress experience interested in building a product business,” Maass said. “We met up in person at WordCamp US in DC in August 2023, and spent a few hours moving all accounts to his name and getting him set up. It was a fun experience to do in person.”

\n\n\n\n

Klute said Maass came to him highly recommended from others who had purchased plugins from him in the past. After he spoke with his lawyer, they proceeded to do an in-person asset transfer at WordCamp US (WCUS).

\n\n\n\n

“I wasn\u2019t actively shopping for a plugin, however I\u2019ve always had a passing interest in asset and/or small businesses acquisitions,” Klute said. “Corey’s plugin caught my attention for several reasons. It fit well within my budget, boasted an active user base, and generated consistent recurring revenue.

\n\n\n\n

“With my 9 -5 spent coding, the prospect of having an existing solution that I could focus on marketing rather than building was enticing. Lastly, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the plugin ecosystem.”

\n\n\n\n

Klute said Maass’s experience played a crucial role in ensuring a smooth transfer. He had all the plugin’s accounts and services separated from his other entities, making it easily transferable. While at WCUS, they conducted a few Zoom sessions to explore the plugin’s codebase in-depth.

\n\n\n\n

“Despite the focus on marketing, I do have a few ideas for the plugin roadmap,” Klute said. “I’m looking at the possibility of a digital business card functionality similar to Blinq and also exploring ways to enhance the plugin\u2019s compatibility with WooCommerce for my dynamic shop functionality for e-commerce businesses.”

\n", "content_text": "WordPress developer Corey Maass has sold his Social Link Pages plugin to Matthaus Klute, an independent WordPress consultant and developer with Alpha Particle. It’s another story of small plugins changing hands, where developers get the opportunity to test ideas and business models. Even the most modest creations have value in a thriving marketplace where business owners are willing to invest in these types of assets to expand their own offerings.\n\n\n\nIn 2019, Maass created Social Link Pages after taking a course on how to market himself as a musician and DJ. The course required him to sign up for\u00a0Linktr.ee, a popular “link in bio” landing page service.\n\n\n\n“In typical developer fashion, instead of paying $8 a month, I thought ‘I should build this,'” Maass said. “So I spent hundreds of hours building Social Link Pages for WordPress.”\n\n\n\nInitially, Maass built the free version with most of the basic bells and whistles found in other link-in-bio page builders. After getting some pushback from the Plugin Review team, who Maass said were “skeptical about why we needed a ‘mini WordPress inside WordPress,’ the Social Link Pages plugin was approved for the directory.\n\n\n\nOver the next year he added features that he needed while figuring out the right extras for a Pro version. \n\n\n\n“Along the way, a user contacted me, asking if the plug-in could be white-labeled and used to build her own SaaS,” Maass said. “Shortly thereafter I released the Pro and Community (i.e. SaaS) versions of the plugin.\n\n\n\n“Then I took a day job and stopped working on it for about a year and a half. I took the commercial versions offline. I barely looked at the plugin because there were almost no support requests.”\n\n\n\nWhen Maass’ day job ended 18 months later, he went back to the plugin and was pleasantly surprised to find it had 1,000 active installs. This encouraged him to make some major updates and add new features.\n\n\n\nThe first marketing effort he made was to put Social Link Pages on AppSumo. At that time they were just opening up their marketplace.\n\n\n\n“In the marketplace, you don’t benefit from AppSumo’s larger email campaigns, but I think Social Link Pages got a lot of eyes from people looking for good lifetime deals,” Maass said. “I sold about 80-lifetime licenses and was surprised to find that only two or three were ever actually claimed. I’ve since heard of other plugin developers who have had the same experience. Apparently, a lot of people collect lifetime deals, but never actually use them. So in the end it was free money.”\n\n\n\nOver the next few years, Maass continued to add features but his interest was waning. \n\n\n\n“The plugin did what I needed on my own sites, so I was not inspired to keep adding features just because I could,” he said. “I also saw a lot of new link-in-bio apps come online, though none were specific to WordPress. And I wanted to move on to new ideas.”\n\n\n\nAt the beginning of 2023, while considering all of his projects, Maass said he “could not find the willpower to market Social Link Pages as it should be.” He knew he was no longer the best owner for the plugin, so he listed it on a couple of sites dedicated to selling small software products.\n\n\n\nSocial Links Plugin Sells for $3K\n\n\n\n“I’d always heard the correct pricing for a software product is 12-18 months of revenue,” Maass said. “Social Link Pages was only making about $125 per month at the time, but I was selling a complete business, already set up with e-commerce, multiple products, email automation, and more.\n\n\n\n“I listed it at $5000. I heard from a dozen or so potential buyers, all of whom asked for charts and spreadsheets I did not have. I’m a developer and guilty of ignoring a lot of the standard sales and ‘biz dev’ practices. As I was asking too much based on what was ‘on paper,’ I did not find a buyer. I unlisted Social Link Pages, figuring I’d try again in the future.”\n\n\n\nMaass tried again in the summer, listing the plugin in Post Status and a couple of other solopreneur-focused communities. He also dropped the price to $3,000. \n\n\n\n“Immediately I heard from a number of interested buyers who saw the value in what I was selling,” Maass said.” I probably could’ve brought the price back up to $5000 again, but I wanted to see the plugin go to a new, better owner.”\n\n\n\nTwo years ago, Maass sold his Kanban for WordPress plugin to Keanan Koppenhaver at Alpha Particle. After discussing with Matthaus Klute, a developer who works with Koppenhaver, Maass knew he had found the right buyer. \n\n\n\n“He’s a thoughtful developer with WordPress experience interested in building a product business,” Maass said. “We met up in person at WordCamp US in DC in August 2023, and spent a few hours moving all accounts to his name and getting him set up. It was a fun experience to do in person.”\n\n\n\nKlute said Maass came to him highly recommended from others who had purchased plugins from him in the past. After he spoke with his lawyer, they proceeded to do an in-person asset transfer at WordCamp US (WCUS).\n\n\n\n“I wasn\u2019t actively shopping for a plugin, however I\u2019ve always had a passing interest in asset and/or small businesses acquisitions,” Klute said. “Corey’s plugin caught my attention for several reasons. It fit well within my budget, boasted an active user base, and generated consistent recurring revenue. \n\n\n\n“With my 9 -5 spent coding, the prospect of having an existing solution that I could focus on marketing rather than building was enticing. Lastly, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the plugin ecosystem.”\n\n\n\nKlute said Maass’s experience played a crucial role in ensuring a smooth transfer. He had all the plugin’s accounts and services separated from his other entities, making it easily transferable. While at WCUS, they conducted a few Zoom sessions to explore the plugin’s codebase in-depth.\n\n\n\n“Despite the focus on marketing, I do have a few ideas for the plugin roadmap,” Klute said. “I’m looking at the possibility of a digital business card functionality similar to Blinq and also exploring ways to enhance the plugin\u2019s compatibility with WooCommerce for my dynamic shop functionality for e-commerce businesses.”", "date_published": "2023-09-25T13:44:34-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-25T13:44:36-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/social-link-pages-plugin.jpeg", "tags": [ "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149369", "url": "https://wptavern.com/block-visibility-3-1-0-adds-woocommerce-and-easy-digital-downloads-controls", "title": "Block Visibility 3.1.0 Adds WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads Controls", "content_html": "\n

When WordPress contributor and developer Nick Diego\u00a0released version 3.0 of his Block Visibility plugin earlier this year in March, he made all the Pro features available in the free version, with the exception of a few that would take more time. The plugin, which is used on more than 10,000 WordPress sites, allows users to conditionally display blocks based on specific user roles, logged in/out, specific users, screen sizes, query strings, ACF fields, and more.

\n\n\n\n

In the latest 3.1.0 update Block Visibility has added the missing WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) controls. These features were originally planned to be merged into the free version in April but required more development to improve how they work on sites with large product/download catalogs.

\n\n\n\n

The WooCommerce controls include 18 conditional visibility rules with full support for products with variable pricing. It allows users to show or hide blocks based on products, cart contents, customer purchase history, and more.

\n\n\n\n

“There is one notable change to the product-based rules,” Diego said. “Previously, you had to select which product you wanted to target with the visibility conditions. While this is still possible, Block Visibility can now detect the current product.

\n\n\n\n

“This functionality is extremely useful on product pages, single product templates, and product grids (Query blocks).”

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

The EDD controls allow users to show or hide blocks based on downloads, cart contents, customer purchase history, and more. Since EDD doesn’t have as many block-powered layouts as WooCommerce, Diego did not include the “Detect current product” feature.

\n\n\n\n

“The EDD visibility control currently has no product-based rules,” he said. “If greater block support is added to EDD in the future, such as an EDD Products block that supports inner blocks, expect more functionality.”

\n\n\n\n

Block Visibility 3.1.0 also adds a new Command Palette command to “Manage Visibility Presets,” which requires WordPress 6.3+.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
image credit: Block Visibility repository – PR #84
\n\n\n\n

Diego said he doesn’t plan on adding any new integrations to the plugin but will continue improving existing controls. Now that all the features from the Pro version have been merged into the free plugin, users who have the Pro version installed can deactivate it after upgrading to version 3.1.0.

\n", "content_text": "When WordPress contributor and developer Nick Diego\u00a0released version 3.0 of his Block Visibility plugin earlier this year in March, he made all the Pro features available in the free version, with the exception of a few that would take more time. The plugin, which is used on more than 10,000 WordPress sites, allows users to conditionally display blocks based on specific user roles, logged in/out, specific users, screen sizes, query strings, ACF fields, and more. \n\n\n\nIn the latest 3.1.0 update Block Visibility has added the missing WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) controls. These features were originally planned to be merged into the free version in April but required more development to improve how they work on sites with large product/download catalogs.\n\n\n\nThe WooCommerce controls include 18 conditional visibility rules with full support for products with variable pricing. It allows users to show or hide blocks based on products, cart contents, customer purchase history, and more.\n\n\n\n“There is one notable change to the product-based rules,” Diego said. “Previously, you had to select which product you wanted to target with the visibility conditions. While this is still possible, Block Visibility can now detect the current product.\n\n\n\n“This functionality is extremely useful on product pages, single product templates, and product grids (Query blocks).”\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe EDD controls allow users to show or hide blocks based on downloads, cart contents, customer purchase history, and more. Since EDD doesn’t have as many block-powered layouts as WooCommerce, Diego did not include the “Detect current product” feature.\n\n\n\n“The EDD visibility control currently has no product-based rules,” he said. “If greater block support is added to EDD in the future, such as an EDD Products block that supports inner blocks, expect more functionality.”\n\n\n\nBlock Visibility 3.1.0 also adds a new Command Palette command to “Manage Visibility Presets,” which requires WordPress 6.3+.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nimage credit: Block Visibility repository – PR #84\n\n\n\nDiego said he doesn’t plan on adding any new integrations to the plugin but will continue improving existing controls. Now that all the features from the Pro version have been merged into the free plugin, users who have the Pro version installed can deactivate it after upgrading to version 3.1.0.", "date_published": "2023-09-22T22:07:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-22T22:07:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-22-at-10.01.39-PM.png", "tags": [ "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149346", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-plugin-review-team-onboards-new-members-releases-plugin-to-flag-common-errors", "title": "WordPress Plugin Review Team Onboards New Members, Releases Plugin to Flag Common Errors", "content_html": "\n

WordPress’ Plugin Review Team continues to dig out from under a massive backlog that has grown to 1,260 plugins awaiting review. Developers submitting new plugins can expect to wait at least 91 days, according to the notice on the queue today.

\n\n\n\n

“Currently there are 1,241 plugins awaiting review,” Automattic-sponsored Plugin Review team member Alvaro G\u00f3mez said earlier this week.

\n\n\n\n

“We are painstakingly aware of this. We check that number every day and realize how this delay is affecting\u00a0plugin\u00a0authors.”

\n\n\n\n

Although the backlog seems to be getting worse, G\u00f3mez published an update outlining new systems the team is putting in place to get the situation under control. He likened it to patching a hole in a boat, as opposed to simply prioritizing bailing out the water.

\n\n\n\n

“During the last six months, the Plugin review team has worked on documenting its processes, training new members, and improving its tools,” he said. “Now, thanks to your patience and support, the tide is about to turn.”

\n\n\n\n

The team has now onboarded two rounds of new members, with three more reviewers added recently, and has a system in place to make this easier in the future. After receiving more than 40 applications to join the team, the form will be closing at the end of September.

\n\n\n\n

They also sent plugin authors still waiting in the queue an email asking them to self-check their plugins to meet basic security standards, as another effort to mitigate the growing backlog.

\n\n\n\n

“We find ourselves correcting the same three or four errors on +95% of plugins and this is not a good use of our time,” G\u00f3mez said. “Once authors confirm that their plugins meet these basic requirements, we will proceed with the review.”

\n\n\n\n

A new plugin called Plugin Check has just been published to WordPress.org for plugin authors to self-review for common errors, which will eventually be integrated into the plugin submission process.

\n\n\n\n

“Once the PCP is merged with\u00a0this other plugin that the Performance team has been working on, it will provide\u00a0checks for a lot of other things,” G\u00f3mez said. “When this is completed, we will be in a better spot to take in feedback and make improvements.

\n\n\n\n

“In the short term, we are going to ask authors to test their plugins using the PCP before submitting them, but our goal is to integrate the plugin as\u00a0part of the submission process\u00a0and run automated checks.”

\n\n\n\n

So far plugin authors have reported a few bugs and issues with the plugin not recognizing files or giving unintelligible errors. These issues can be reported on the GitHub repo, which is temporarily hosted on the 10up GitHub account but will be moving to WordPress.org in the near future.

\n", "content_text": "WordPress’ Plugin Review Team continues to dig out from under a massive backlog that has grown to 1,260 plugins awaiting review. Developers submitting new plugins can expect to wait at least 91 days, according to the notice on the queue today. \n\n\n\n“Currently there are 1,241 plugins awaiting review,” Automattic-sponsored Plugin Review team member Alvaro G\u00f3mez said earlier this week.\n\n\n\n“We are painstakingly aware of this. We check that number every day and realize how this delay is affecting\u00a0plugin\u00a0authors.” \n\n\n\nAlthough the backlog seems to be getting worse, G\u00f3mez published an update outlining new systems the team is putting in place to get the situation under control. He likened it to patching a hole in a boat, as opposed to simply prioritizing bailing out the water.\n\n\n\n“During the last six months, the Plugin review team has worked on documenting its processes, training new members, and improving its tools,” he said. “Now, thanks to your patience and support, the tide is about to turn.”\n\n\n\nThe team has now onboarded two rounds of new members, with three more reviewers added recently, and has a system in place to make this easier in the future. After receiving more than 40 applications to join the team, the form will be closing at the end of September.\n\n\n\nThey also sent plugin authors still waiting in the queue an email asking them to self-check their plugins to meet basic security standards, as another effort to mitigate the growing backlog.\n\n\n\n“We find ourselves correcting the same three or four errors on +95% of plugins and this is not a good use of our time,” G\u00f3mez said. “Once authors confirm that their plugins meet these basic requirements, we will proceed with the review.”\n\n\n\nA new plugin called Plugin Check has just been published to WordPress.org for plugin authors to self-review for common errors, which will eventually be integrated into the plugin submission process.\n\n\n\n“Once the PCP is merged with\u00a0this other plugin that the Performance team has been working on, it will provide\u00a0checks for a lot of other things,” G\u00f3mez said. “When this is completed, we will be in a better spot to take in feedback and make improvements.\n\n\n\n“In the short term, we are going to ask authors to test their plugins using the PCP before submitting them, but our goal is to integrate the plugin as\u00a0part of the submission process\u00a0and run automated checks.”\n\n\n\nSo far plugin authors have reported a few bugs and issues with the plugin not recognizing files or giving unintelligible errors. These issues can be reported on the GitHub repo, which is temporarily hosted on the 10up GitHub account but will be moving to WordPress.org in the near future.", "date_published": "2023-09-22T13:51:11-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-22T13:51:13-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cHJpdmF0ZS9sci9pbWFnZXMvd2Vic2l0ZS8yMDIyLTA1L3N2MTk5NDM5LWltYWdlLWt3dnVnNzFmLmpwZw.jpg", "tags": [ "plugin review", "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149315", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-accessibility-day-2023-announces-diverse-speaker-lineup-doubles-sponsors-from-previous-year", "title": "WordPress Accessibility Day 2023 Announces Diverse Speaker Lineup, Doubles Sponsors from Previous Year", "content_html": "\n

WP Accessibility Day (WPAD), an independent 24-hour virtual conference, has published its schedule for the upcoming event on September 27, 2023. Co-lead organizer Amber Hinds reports that more than 1,248 people have registered for the event so far with attendees across 30 different countries. Approximately 50% of attendees are from the U.S.

\n\n\n\n

WPAD has attracted an influx of new voices this year. All speakers, excluding sponsored sessions, are first-time speakers at the event.

\n\n\n\n

“We were nervous initially about speaker applicants, but we actually received a lot more speaker applications than last year and also more applications that were higher quality than in previous years,” Hinds said. “It was hard to decide!”

\n\n\n\n

The keynote address will feature a conversation between Jennison Asuncion, co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and Joe Dolson, an accessibility consultant and co-founder of WordPress Accessibility Day. Attendees will learn how to perform usability and accessibility tests on their websites, how to build an accessible WordPress pages and posts using the block editor, simple ways to make email more accessible, how to understand color and contrast requirements in WCAG 2, and more.

\n\n\n\n

Based on the stats for speakers (of people who opted to give the info), WPAD’s organizers have succeeded at recruiting a diverse lineup for the event:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

“These were the hardest decisions we’ve had to make yet in selecting the WordPress Accessibility Day speakers,” Speaker Team lead Joe Dolson said. “There were so many truly excellent ideas proposed. As a result, our speakers include people who work across many different aspects of the web – inside and outside the WordPress community. I feel like we’ve ended up with an excellent cross section of topics, so we have something to offer for developers, policy makers, content creators, or community organizers.”

\n\n\n\n

WPAD secured non-profit status earlier this year through a fiscal sponsorship partnership with\u00a0Knowbility, an Austin-based digital accessibility advocate and services provider. One of the reasons the organizers wanted to manage it independently of the WordPress Foundation was to reserve the option to do things like pay speakers for their time and expertise. Speaker pay is one expenditure for the event, which is supported by corporate and community sponsors.

\n\n\n\n

Hinds said it was easier to attract sponsors this year and that the sponsors team received positive responses fairly quickly. They also added a microsponsorship option earlier this year (previously it was only on the registration form) and were able to recruit more businesses as microsponsors.

\n\n\n\n

The team’s goal this year was to get enough sponsorships to cover the cost of the event itself, make a donation to Knowbility (part of the event’s fiscal sponsorship agreement with them), and have enough leftover to cover year-round expenses, such as Google workspace, Buffer, domain registration, and hosting.

\n\n\n\n

Hinds said the organization met its sponsorship goals at most tiers, due to the hard work of the Sponsors team leads Bet Hannon and Joe Hall, along with the generosity of the community in supporting the event.

\n\n\n\n

“We are thrilled to have doubled the number of sponsors this year over last year,” Hannon said. “I think this reflects the increasing awareness about accessibility as an issue to be addressed, as well as the wider WordPress community coming together to sponsor an event providing high quality accessibility education.”

\n\n\n\n

New in 2023: WPAD to Broadcast via Zoom

\n\n\n\n

In addition to a whole new crop of speakers this year, WPAD is offering t-shirts for the first time as a thank you gift to attendees who want to make a donation when they register.

\n\n\n\n

“We had a lot of people ask us last year how they could get a t-shirt, but they were only available to organizers, speakers, and volunteers,” Hinds said. “This year they\u2019re available during registration so anyone can get one.”

\n\n\n\n

Last year the event was broadcast via an embedded YouTube video on the WPAD website with third-party embeds for chat/Q&A and the live transcript.

\n\n\n\n

“We got feedback from attendees that this did not work well because they didn\u2019t have control of the layout of the video,” Hinds said. “It was particularly limiting for attendees who rely on the sign language interpreters; they needed the interpreter video to be larger. Other people said that they found the interpretation to be distracting or they needed the slides to be bigger so they would be easier to read.”

\n\n\n\n

The 2023 event will be live streamed using Zoom, which recently introduced a sign language interpretation view that allows hosts to assign interpreters.

\n\n\n\n

“Attendees can choose to view the sign language interpretation in a separate window,” Hinds said. “With this new feature available, we decided to change to Zoom webinars. We have one long 24-hour webinar that people can jump in and out of as they see fit, and each attendee can set a view for speakers, slides, signers, and captions that works best for them.”

\n\n\n\n

Registration for the event is free and it’s still open. Attendees have the opportunity to receive virtual swag and win prizes from the sponsors. Organizers have also gotten the conference pre-approved for continuing education credits for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals\u00a0Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS)\u00a0and\u00a0Certified Professional in Core Competencies (CPACC)\u00a0certifications.

\n", "content_text": "WP Accessibility Day (WPAD), an independent 24-hour virtual conference, has published its schedule for the upcoming event on September 27, 2023. Co-lead organizer Amber Hinds reports that more than 1,248 people have registered for the event so far with attendees across 30 different countries. Approximately 50% of attendees are from the U.S. \n\n\n\nWPAD has attracted an influx of new voices this year. All speakers, excluding sponsored sessions, are first-time speakers at the event.\n\n\n\n“We were nervous initially about speaker applicants, but we actually received a lot more speaker applications than last year and also more applications that were higher quality than in previous years,” Hinds said. “It was hard to decide!”\n\n\n\nThe keynote address will feature a conversation between Jennison Asuncion, co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and Joe Dolson, an accessibility consultant and co-founder of WordPress Accessibility Day. Attendees will learn how to perform usability and accessibility tests on their websites, how to build an accessible WordPress pages and posts using the block editor, simple ways to make email more accessible, how to understand color and contrast requirements in WCAG 2, and more. \n\n\n\nBased on the stats for speakers (of people who opted to give the info), WPAD’s organizers have succeeded at recruiting a diverse lineup for the event:\n\n\n\n\n10 countries\n\n\n\n67% female, 30% male, 3% Nonbinary\n\n\n\n14% LGBTQ\n\n\n\n41% non-white identifying\n\n\n\n2 first time speakers who have never spoken at any event.\n\n\n\n11 of the 27 speakers identify as having a disability. (41%) – There are speakers who identify as blind/low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, have limited mobility, and learning disabilities.\n\n\n\n\n“These were the hardest decisions we’ve had to make yet in selecting the WordPress Accessibility Day speakers,” Speaker Team lead Joe Dolson said. “There were so many truly excellent ideas proposed. As a result, our speakers include people who work across many different aspects of the web – inside and outside the WordPress community. I feel like we’ve ended up with an excellent cross section of topics, so we have something to offer for developers, policy makers, content creators, or community organizers.”\n\n\n\nWPAD secured non-profit status earlier this year through a fiscal sponsorship partnership with\u00a0Knowbility, an Austin-based digital accessibility advocate and services provider. One of the reasons the organizers wanted to manage it independently of the WordPress Foundation was to reserve the option to do things like pay speakers for their time and expertise. Speaker pay is one expenditure for the event, which is supported by corporate and community sponsors.\n\n\n\nHinds said it was easier to attract sponsors this year and that the sponsors team received positive responses fairly quickly. They also added a microsponsorship option earlier this year (previously it was only on the registration form) and were able to recruit more businesses as microsponsors.\n\n\n\nThe team’s goal this year was to get enough sponsorships to cover the cost of the event itself, make a donation to Knowbility (part of the event’s fiscal sponsorship agreement with them), and have enough leftover to cover year-round expenses, such as Google workspace, Buffer, domain registration, and hosting.\n\n\n\nHinds said the organization met its sponsorship goals at most tiers, due to the hard work of the Sponsors team leads Bet Hannon and Joe Hall, along with the generosity of the community in supporting the event.\n\n\n\n“We are thrilled to have doubled the number of sponsors this year over last year,” Hannon said. “I think this reflects the increasing awareness about accessibility as an issue to be addressed, as well as the wider WordPress community coming together to sponsor an event providing high quality accessibility education.”\n\n\n\nNew in 2023: WPAD to Broadcast via Zoom\n\n\n\nIn addition to a whole new crop of speakers this year, WPAD is offering t-shirts for the first time as a thank you gift to attendees who want to make a donation when they register. \n\n\n\n“We had a lot of people ask us last year how they could get a t-shirt, but they were only available to organizers, speakers, and volunteers,” Hinds said. “This year they\u2019re available during registration so anyone can get one.”\n\n\n\nLast year the event was broadcast via an embedded YouTube video on the WPAD website with third-party embeds for chat/Q&A and the live transcript. \n\n\n\n“We got feedback from attendees that this did not work well because they didn\u2019t have control of the layout of the video,” Hinds said. “It was particularly limiting for attendees who rely on the sign language interpreters; they needed the interpreter video to be larger. Other people said that they found the interpretation to be distracting or they needed the slides to be bigger so they would be easier to read.”\n\n\n\nThe 2023 event will be live streamed using Zoom, which recently introduced a sign language interpretation view that allows hosts to assign interpreters. \n\n\n\n“Attendees can choose to view the sign language interpretation in a separate window,” Hinds said. “With this new feature available, we decided to change to Zoom webinars. We have one long 24-hour webinar that people can jump in and out of as they see fit, and each attendee can set a view for speakers, slides, signers, and captions that works best for them.”\n\n\n\nRegistration for the event is free and it’s still open. Attendees have the opportunity to receive virtual swag and win prizes from the sponsors. Organizers have also gotten the conference pre-approved for continuing education credits for the International Association of Accessibility Professionals\u00a0Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS)\u00a0and\u00a0Certified Professional in Core Competencies (CPACC)\u00a0certifications.", "date_published": "2023-09-21T23:49:28-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-21T23:49:30-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-21-at-11.40.38-PM.png", "tags": [ "accessiblity", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149225", "url": "https://wptavern.com/community-team-invites-organizers-to-apply-for-hosting-next-generation-wordpress-events", "title": "Community Team Invites Organizers to Apply for Hosting Next Generation WordPress Events", "content_html": "\n
\"\"
Attendees of NextGen WordCamp Bengaluru – image credit: WordPress.org
\n\n\n\n

WordPress’ Community team is evolving the WordCamp format to promote adoption, training, and networking for professionals, leaving the flagship events to focus more on connection and inspiration.\u00a0This change opens the door for more creative concepts around the events’ new mission:

\n\n\n\n
\n

WordPress events spark innovation and adoption by way of accessible training and networking for users, builders, designers, and extenders. We celebrate community by accelerating 21st-century skills, professional opportunities, and partnerships for WordPressers of today and tomorrow.

\n
\n\n\n\n

A group of eight pilot events were confirmed in June, and two recent “NextGen” WordPress events have already happened, including a community-building workshop in Japan, and WordCamp Bengaluru, a one-day event featuring the local culture and a walking tour of the city.

\n\n\n\n

The Community team has compiled a list of more than three dozen concepts to inspire NextGen event organizers. The list spans a wide range of ideas, such as college campus based groups, sponsor networking days, show and tell night, job fairs, events for agencies, WordPress retreats, and many more.

\n\n\n\n

Anyone who is interested to host one of these new event types is invited to fill out a form that the Community team has created to capture ideas for future events – either before the end of 2023, or during the first half of 2024. Organizers will be asked to identify a category for their proposed event from among the following:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Although the form is presented as a survey, it’s more of an interest form, which is why it collects the respondent’s contact information. Respondents who indicate they are willing to have a discussion about their ideas may be contacted by the Community team.

\n", "content_text": "Attendees of NextGen WordCamp Bengaluru – image credit: WordPress.org\n\n\n\nWordPress’ Community team is evolving the WordCamp format to promote adoption, training, and networking for professionals, leaving the flagship events to focus more on connection and inspiration.\u00a0This change opens the door for more creative concepts around the events’ new mission:\n\n\n\n\nWordPress events spark innovation and adoption by way of accessible training and networking for users, builders, designers, and extenders. We celebrate community by accelerating 21st-century skills, professional opportunities, and partnerships for WordPressers of today and tomorrow.\n\n\n\n\nA group of eight pilot events were confirmed in June, and two recent “NextGen” WordPress events have already happened, including a community-building workshop in Japan, and WordCamp Bengaluru, a one-day event featuring the local culture and a walking tour of the city.\n\n\n\nThe Community team has compiled a list of more than three dozen concepts to inspire NextGen event organizers. The list spans a wide range of ideas, such as college campus based groups, sponsor networking days, show and tell night, job fairs, events for agencies, WordPress retreats, and many more. \n\n\n\nAnyone who is interested to host one of these new event types is invited to fill out a form that the Community team has created to capture ideas for future events – either before the end of 2023, or during the first half of 2024. Organizers will be asked to identify a category for their proposed event from among the following:\n\n\n\n\nWP expertise level (beginners, intermediate, advanced)\n\n\n\nFocused activity (training, recruiting, networking, contributing, conferencing, etc)\n\n\n\nJob status (students, fresh graduates, job seekers, freelancers, business owners, etc)\n\n\n\nIdentity-based (women, castes, BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQI+, tribes, age, etc)\n\n\n\nContent topic focused (designers, block development, SEO, etc)\n\n\n\n\nAlthough the form is presented as a survey, it’s more of an interest form, which is why it collects the respondent’s contact information. Respondents who indicate they are willing to have a discussion about their ideas may be contacted by the Community team.", "date_published": "2023-09-21T21:26:05-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-21T21:26:07-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wordcamp-bengalaru.png", "tags": [ "Events", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=149118", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-plugin-pages-add-download-link-for-using-plugins-on-self-hosted-sites", "title": "WordPress.com Plugin Pages Add Download Link for Using Plugins on Self-Hosted Sites", "content_html": "\n

WordPress.com plugin pages have been updated to include a download link for WordPress.org plugins listed in the .com directory. These are the listings that are scraped from WordPress.org. The plugins are available for free on WordPress.org for self-hosted sites but can only be used on WordPress.com with a paid subscription.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Logged out view of WordPress.com plugin pages
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The text in the sidebar includes a link to an article explaining the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. It appears on both the logged-out and logged-in views:

\n\n\n\n
\n

This plugin is available for download to be used on your\u00a0WordPress self-hosted\u00a0installation.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Themes hosted on WordPress.com have a similar notice with a link to download the theme and use it on a self-hosted site.

\n\n\n\n

This change comes as the result of developers raising concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search in some instances. During that discussion, many developers were surprised to learn that their plugins created for WordPress.org were also listed on WordPress.com as only available with a paid subscription. Patchstack responded by updating its readme file\u00a0to ensure that WordPress.com users and visitors are made aware that the plugin is available for free in the official WordPress plugin repository. This response may not be necessary now, unless developers want to include a direct link to their plugins.

\n\n\n\n

In a discussion on Post Status Slack, some plugin developers said they would prefer a link to the actual plugin page where they can see and participate in reviews. The omission of a link back to WordPress.org may be intentional, as it would take users off of the .com site, which does not facilitate customers upgrading to paid plans in order to use plugins.

\n\n\n\n

Some developers had also asked Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg to noindex those pages, but he said that WordPress.com users should also be able to search Google for the listings.

\n\n\n\n
\n

I think it should show up for .com users who are Googling, and Google appears smart enough prioritize correctly. That\u2019s a SEO benefit, and not at the expense of any plugin authors.

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 19, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Some developers have asked to know what percentage of their active installs come from WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org, or other hosting platforms. Mullenweg said there are currently no reports for this but that the data could be interesting.

\n\n\n\n
\n

There are no reports currently for plugin installs by web host. I could see that being interesting, though, especially with how some hosts bundle.

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 18, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

“If people are providing more distribution to unaltered plugins, I think that’s great,” Mullenweg said during the discussion last week. “Happy for all our plugins to be duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet.”

\n\n\n\n

When asked if WordPress.org could extract the data for known plugin distributors, like WordPress.com, Mullenweg said, “.com or any other host could share plugin info if it\u2019s allowed by their privacy policy. Also it\u2019s fairly trivial to get plugin info from crawling sites.”

\n", "content_text": "WordPress.com plugin pages have been updated to include a download link for WordPress.org plugins listed in the .com directory. These are the listings that are scraped from WordPress.org. The plugins are available for free on WordPress.org for self-hosted sites but can only be used on WordPress.com with a paid subscription.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLogged out view of WordPress.com plugin pages\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe text in the sidebar includes a link to an article explaining the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. It appears on both the logged-out and logged-in views:\n\n\n\n\nThis plugin is available for download to be used on your\u00a0WordPress self-hosted\u00a0installation.\n\n\n\n\nThemes hosted on WordPress.com have a similar notice with a link to download the theme and use it on a self-hosted site.\n\n\n\nThis change comes as the result of developers raising concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search in some instances. During that discussion, many developers were surprised to learn that their plugins created for WordPress.org were also listed on WordPress.com as only available with a paid subscription. Patchstack responded by updating its readme file\u00a0to ensure that WordPress.com users and visitors are made aware that the plugin is available for free in the official WordPress plugin repository. This response may not be necessary now, unless developers want to include a direct link to their plugins.\n\n\n\nIn a discussion on Post Status Slack, some plugin developers said they would prefer a link to the actual plugin page where they can see and participate in reviews. The omission of a link back to WordPress.org may be intentional, as it would take users off of the .com site, which does not facilitate customers upgrading to paid plans in order to use plugins.\n\n\n\nSome developers had also asked Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg to noindex those pages, but he said that WordPress.com users should also be able to search Google for the listings.\n\n\n\n\nI think it should show up for .com users who are Googling, and Google appears smart enough prioritize correctly. That\u2019s a SEO benefit, and not at the expense of any plugin authors.— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 19, 2023\n\n\n\n\nSome developers have asked to know what percentage of their active installs come from WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org, or other hosting platforms. Mullenweg said there are currently no reports for this but that the data could be interesting. \n\n\n\n\nThere are no reports currently for plugin installs by web host. I could see that being interesting, though, especially with how some hosts bundle.— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 18, 2023\n\n\n\n\n“If people are providing more distribution to unaltered plugins, I think that’s great,” Mullenweg said during the discussion last week. “Happy for all our plugins to be duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet.”\n\n\n\nWhen asked if WordPress.org could extract the data for known plugin distributors, like WordPress.com, Mullenweg said, “.com or any other host could share plugin info if it\u2019s allowed by their privacy policy. Also it\u2019s fairly trivial to get plugin info from crawling sites.”", "date_published": "2023-09-20T16:27:33-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-20T16:28:36-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-20-at-2.41.03-PM.png", "tags": [ "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148993", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wp-tavern-launches-forums", "title": "WP Tavern Launches Forums", "content_html": "\n

WP Tavern is launching forums today. If you have ever sat up all night with a feverish infant, searching for answers on a mommy messaging board, hunted down solutions for obscure bugs, or wasted an entire afternoon on a subreddit, then you know that forums are not dead.

\n\n\n\n

Since the early days of BBSes (Wikipedia link for you young whippersnappers), which housed prototypical forums before the advent of the World Wide Web, modern forums have evolved and established themselves as a stalwart, timeless medium for asynchronous communication, fostering communities, and sharing knowledge among individuals with diverse interests and needs.

Today we will begin exploring how forums can help expand conversations that originate on the Tavern, especially within the comments of a post. Our new forums are powered by bbPress, which enables readers to create discussions by visiting the comment section of an article and clicking on \u201cCreate forum topic from comment\u201d based on comments that you find particularly insightful.

\n\n\n\n

Under the forum called \u201cDiscussion\u201d you will find topics that have been created based on article comments. This offers readers a way to engage further with comments that spark larger discussions, long after the article has been published and comments have closed. This feature is available alongside traditional bbPress forums where logged-in users can create topics.

\n\n\n\n

If a forum topic already exists for a comment, a link labeled \u201cContinue Discussion in Forum\u201d will appear on that topic, leading to the ongoing forum discussion. This prevents people from creating multiple forum topics from a single comment. These topics will include a link back to the original comment at the top of the thread. It is also still possible to add regular (non-forum) replies to comments as usual.

\n\n\n\n

Readers must be registered and logged in order to post on the forums. At this time, topics and replies will continue to be moderated before they are published. We have tried wild west commenting style in the past and it doesn’t work well for raising the level of discourse and engagement that we hope to have in our forums. Come join us, introduce yourself, and start some new topics.

\n", "content_text": "WP Tavern is launching forums today. If you have ever sat up all night with a feverish infant, searching for answers on a mommy messaging board, hunted down solutions for obscure bugs, or wasted an entire afternoon on a subreddit, then you know that forums are not dead. \n\n\n\nSince the early days of BBSes (Wikipedia link for you young whippersnappers), which housed prototypical forums before the advent of the World Wide Web, modern forums have evolved and established themselves as a stalwart, timeless medium for asynchronous communication, fostering communities, and sharing knowledge among individuals with diverse interests and needs.Today we will begin exploring how forums can help expand conversations that originate on the Tavern, especially within the comments of a post. Our new forums are powered by bbPress, which enables readers to create discussions by visiting the comment section of an article and clicking on \u201cCreate forum topic from comment\u201d based on comments that you find particularly insightful.\n\n\n\nUnder the forum called \u201cDiscussion\u201d you will find topics that have been created based on article comments. This offers readers a way to engage further with comments that spark larger discussions, long after the article has been published and comments have closed. This feature is available alongside traditional bbPress forums where logged-in users can create topics.\n\n\n\nIf a forum topic already exists for a comment, a link labeled \u201cContinue Discussion in Forum\u201d will appear on that topic, leading to the ongoing forum discussion. This prevents people from creating multiple forum topics from a single comment. These topics will include a link back to the original comment at the top of the thread. It is also still possible to add regular (non-forum) replies to comments as usual.\n\n\n\nReaders must be registered and logged in order to post on the forums. At this time, topics and replies will continue to be moderated before they are published. We have tried wild west commenting style in the past and it doesn’t work well for raising the level of discourse and engagement that we hope to have in our forums. Come join us, introduce yourself, and start some new topics.", "date_published": "2023-09-19T13:48:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-19T13:48:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/comment.jpg", "tags": [ "bbPress", "forums", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148845", "url": "https://wptavern.com/openverse-wins-2023-open-education-award-seeks-community-feedback-for-2024-roadmap", "title": "Openverse Wins\u00a02023 Open Education Award, Seeks Community Feedback for 2024 Roadmap", "content_html": "\n

Openverse has landed an Open Education Award for Excellence in the Open Infrastructure category. Open Education Global (OEG) is a non-profit organization that supports the use of open education to expand education access and affordability. Its annual awards recognize outstanding contributions to the Open Education community and its network of resources.

\n\n\n\n

Openverse is one of 16 winners selected from more than 170 applicants. The award reviewers suggested Openverse “should be the primary recommended search for OER development,” due to its clear licensing and easy, one-click attribution, among other features:

\n\n\n\n
\n

That easy attribution feature (one-click copy for a full formed Creative Commons attribution) might be reason enough for an award, but the features to filter searches by source collections and other parameters (image orientation, specific license) provides seekers of open content important affordances to find clearly licensed media they can reuse.

\n\n\n\n

Openverse should be the primary recommended search for OER development, as the licensing is explicitly clear, not subject to third party owners writing their own license), being of great value for projects that mix content from multiple sources.\u00a0

\n
\n\n\n\n

Openverse has made significant progress since coming under the WordPress project’s umbrella. In the past year, the team has added usage analytics, made major improvements to its user interface, moved Openverse out of an iFrame, added filtering and blurring of sensitive results (nearing completion), among many other technical improvements. The team is requesting feedback as they begin planning the 2024 roadmap.

\n\n\n\n

“This project thrives on collaboration, and as we begin plotting our course for 2024, we want to hear from\u00a0you,” Automattic-sponsored Openverse data engineer Madison Swain-Bowden said. “Have an idea that could improve Openverse? Noticed a feature gap we haven\u2019t addressed? Have suggestions to improve existing features? We are eager to hear all about it!”

\n\n\n\n

Anyone who wants to contribute a proposal regarding Openverse’s future can publish a comment to the team’s blog post requesting feedback. For more information about Openverse’s current projects and those that are on hold, check out the notes from the team’s most recent monthly meeting.

\n", "content_text": "Openverse has landed an Open Education Award for Excellence in the Open Infrastructure category. Open Education Global (OEG) is a non-profit organization that supports the use of open education to expand education access and affordability. Its annual awards recognize outstanding contributions to the Open Education community and its network of resources.\n\n\n\nOpenverse is one of 16 winners selected from more than 170 applicants. The award reviewers suggested Openverse “should be the primary recommended search for OER development,” due to its clear licensing and easy, one-click attribution, among other features:\n\n\n\n\nThat easy attribution feature (one-click copy for a full formed Creative Commons attribution) might be reason enough for an award, but the features to filter searches by source collections and other parameters (image orientation, specific license) provides seekers of open content important affordances to find clearly licensed media they can reuse.\n\n\n\nOpenverse should be the primary recommended search for OER development, as the licensing is explicitly clear, not subject to third party owners writing their own license), being of great value for projects that mix content from multiple sources.\u00a0\n\n\n\n\nOpenverse has made significant progress since coming under the WordPress project’s umbrella. In the past year, the team has added usage analytics, made major improvements to its user interface, moved Openverse out of an iFrame, added filtering and blurring of sensitive results (nearing completion), among many other technical improvements. The team is requesting feedback as they begin planning the 2024 roadmap.\n\n\n\n“This project thrives on collaboration, and as we begin plotting our course for 2024, we want to hear from\u00a0you,” Automattic-sponsored Openverse data engineer Madison Swain-Bowden said. “Have an idea that could improve Openverse? Noticed a feature gap we haven\u2019t addressed? Have suggestions to improve existing features? We are eager to hear all about it!”\n\n\n\nAnyone who wants to contribute a proposal regarding Openverse’s future can publish a comment to the team’s blog post requesting feedback. For more information about Openverse’s current projects and those that are on hold, check out the notes from the team’s most recent monthly meeting.", "date_published": "2023-09-18T18:00:45-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-18T18:00:46-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-18-at-5.57.11-PM.png", "tags": [ "Openverse", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148756", "url": "https://wptavern.com/new-plugin-adds-citations-and-bibliography-block-to-wordpress-editor", "title": "New Plugin Adds Citations and Bibliography Block to WordPress Editor", "content_html": "\n

Citations is a new plugin created by WP Munich\u00a0and the team at\u00a0Luehrsen // Heinrich, a German WordPress agency. It makes it easy to create in-text citations and assign them a specific source. Most of the existing plugins that do this are for older versions of WordPress. This one is created specifically for those using the block editor.

\n\n\n\n

Citations introduces a new menu item to the rich text formatting toolbar. Users can highlight the text they want to cite, click ‘Cite’ in the toolbar, and then define the source in the pop-up by inputting the source information into the fields provided.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

The Citations plugin includes one Bibliography block, which will be automatically populated with all the sources of the in-text citations added in the content. Citations are linked to the corresponding source inside the Bibliography block. The block can be positioned anywhere in the document, although readers likely expect it at the bottom.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Users can edit the citations and the sources in the Bibliography block by clicking on them.

\n\n\n\n

What’s the difference between citations and WordPress’ core Footnotes block? Although both are used in academic and scholarly writing to provide references and additional information about sources used in a document, there are a few key differences.

\n\n\n\n

Citations credit the original source of the information with all the source details in the bibliography at the end of the document. Footnotes are more flexible in that they can include additional context or comments at the bottom of the document, to keep the text from becoming too cluttered with explanatory notes. They may also be used to source citations with the author, title, and publication details, but do not always follow the bibliography format.

\n\n\n\n

The Citations plugin also includes a pattern that will insert some Lorem Ipsum paragraphs with citations and a sample bibliography with sources at the bottom. This gives users an idea of how the plugin can be used to structure a document for citing sources, if they are just getting started. Users can search for “Citations Demo” in the pattern search bar to find it.

\n\n\n\n

Download the plugin for free from WordPress.org, or give it a test drive using WordPress Playground.

\n", "content_text": "Citations is a new plugin created by WP Munich\u00a0and the team at\u00a0Luehrsen // Heinrich, a German WordPress agency. It makes it easy to create in-text citations and assign them a specific source. Most of the existing plugins that do this are for older versions of WordPress. This one is created specifically for those using the block editor.\n\n\n\nCitations introduces a new menu item to the rich text formatting toolbar. Users can highlight the text they want to cite, click ‘Cite’ in the toolbar, and then define the source in the pop-up by inputting the source information into the fields provided.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Citations plugin includes one Bibliography block, which will be automatically populated with all the sources of the in-text citations added in the content. Citations are linked to the corresponding source inside the Bibliography block. The block can be positioned anywhere in the document, although readers likely expect it at the bottom.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUsers can edit the citations and the sources in the Bibliography block by clicking on them.\n\n\n\nWhat’s the difference between citations and WordPress’ core Footnotes block? Although both are used in academic and scholarly writing to provide references and additional information about sources used in a document, there are a few key differences. \n\n\n\nCitations credit the original source of the information with all the source details in the bibliography at the end of the document. Footnotes are more flexible in that they can include additional context or comments at the bottom of the document, to keep the text from becoming too cluttered with explanatory notes. They may also be used to source citations with the author, title, and publication details, but do not always follow the bibliography format.\n\n\n\nThe Citations plugin also includes a pattern that will insert some Lorem Ipsum paragraphs with citations and a sample bibliography with sources at the bottom. This gives users an idea of how the plugin can be used to structure a document for citing sources, if they are just getting started. Users can search for “Citations Demo” in the pattern search bar to find it.\n\n\n\nDownload the plugin for free from WordPress.org, or give it a test drive using WordPress Playground.", "date_published": "2023-09-18T13:43:08-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-18T13:43:10-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/citations-plugin.png", "tags": [ "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148825", "url": "https://wptavern.com/developers-claim-damaged-trust-following-public-confrontations-with-wordpress-leadership", "title": "Developers Claim Damaged Trust Following Public Confrontations with WordPress Leadership", "content_html": "\n

The WordPress community is ending two days of heated discussions that rapidly descended into a mire of unbridled emotional confrontations across multiple social channels, following a tweet from John Blackbourn that raised concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search.

\n\n\n\n

Developers expressed concerns about the SEO impact of the practice of cloning WordPress.org’s plugin directory for use on WordPress.com, with no backlinks to the original plugin. Another concern is that it perpetuates the longstanding confusion between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

\n\n\n\n

“I don’t think the SEO concern is real, and by that I mean that besides John’s screenshot, which I think is related to the .org en-gb subdomain decision/bug,” Matt Mullenweg told the Tavern when asked whether WordPress.com is considering not indexing these pages that duplicate content from WordPress.org.

\n\n\n\n

“For general searches I’m seeing .com 5 pages down,” he said. “Just looking at traffic to those pages, they don’t seem to be getting much if any from search engines! So I’m not really concerned about SEO of those pages.

\n\n\n\n

“The vast majority of the traffic to those is to logged in users. When they click ‘manage’ they can easily install it across multiple sites or see where it’s already installed, which actually works across .com and Jetpack sites.”

\n\n\n\n

He offered a similar explanation to Freemius founder Vova Feldman on X, who claimed that WordPress.com has an SEO advantage over independent plugins.

\n\n\n\n
\n

I think you're built on an assumption which is easily testable and false in my tests so far: "DOT com has an SEO advantage…"

As an easy one to look at, I did a logged-out search for [seo plugin for wordpress]. First page of results is now ads, from WP Engine, SEMRush, AIOSEO,\u2026

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 14, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Plugin developers also expressed concerns about new users arriving to a plugin’s duplicated page on WordPress.com and seeing that the plugin is Free only on the (paid) Business plan. This gives the visitor the impression that the plugin isn’t available for free elsewhere, because there is no link back to WordPress.org with an explanation.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Many WordPress.org plugin authors were not aware until recently that their plugin pages are being scraped for use on WordPress.com. Yesterday, Patchstack updated its readme file to ensure that WordPress.com users and visitors are made aware that the plugin is available for free in the official WordPress plugin repository, using the following text:

\n\n\n\n
\n

This plugin can be downloaded for free without any paid subscription from the official WordPress repository.

\n
\n\n\n\n

“I was at a Python conference last week and a guy came to our booth and said he has a WordPress site but he hasen\u2019t been able to purchase any plugins yet,” Patchstack CEO Oliver Sild said. “I told him that they are all free, and then it turned out he had a WordPress.com site where he has to pay to install any plugins. These people think that THIS IS the WordPress.”

\n\n\n\n

When asked if WordPress.com could at least link back to the .org plugin for logged-out views to eliminate some of the confusion, Mullenweg confirmed that he told Sild that WordPress.com would work on adding links to the .org equivalent page this week.

\n\n\n\n

“But that confusion that people claim is causing huge issues for WordPress isn’t supported by the numbers or growth of non-.com solutions over 17 years now,” Mullenweg said.

\n\n\n\n

“So at some point we should stop accepting it as within our top 100 issues for WordPress.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s much more likely like a road bump for some newbies, than an actual blocker, not unlike learning the difference between categories and tags, or how to identify a normal-looking comment that’s actually spam.”

\n\n\n\n

In response to WordPress developer Daniel Schutzsmith saying that WordPress.com is causing confusion for OSS, Mullenweg contended that it “creates a false dichotomy between WP on .com and ‘open source software.’ Every site on .com is part of the OSS community as much as on any other host.

\n\n\n\n

“When there is confusion, it assumes that it’s a top issue for WordPress. Nothing about WP’s growth, including vis a vis other projects, indicates that the existence of a .com and .org with the same name has held us back.”

\n\n\n\n

In support of his claims about the growth of non-WordPress.com solutions, he cited a W3Techs report on hosting company usage stats with extrapolated revenue on Post Status Slack.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

“On revenue: If you extrapolate out public domain numbers with plan pricing, and look at public filings like the amount GoDaddy makes from hosting and what % of that hosting is WP-powered, you pretty quickly see that GoDaddy, Newfold/Bluehost, Siteground, Hostinger, and WP Engine make more than .com from WordPress hosting.,” Mullenweg said. “You can check out those companies on the five for the future page.”

\n\n\n\n

Mullenweg has previously criticized large hosting companies for what he perceives to be a lack of support for the open source WordPress and WooCommerce projects in proportion to how much they benefit from the use of these platforms. His comments in Post Status yesterday indicate that while he is still unsatisfied with their core contributions, he acknowledges these companies as important to WordPress’ overall growth.

\n\n\n\n

“By the way, despite not looking great for core contributions, I think each of those companies has been essential for the growth of WordPress, and particularly the work they invest into upgrade PHP, MySQL, core auto-updates, plugin auto-updates, and security are crucial for the health of our ecosystem,” Mullenweg said.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s ‘cynically cool’ to hate on some of the bigger ones, but it’s a free and open market, none of their WP users are locked in and could easily switch to other hosts if they weren’t happy with the price and value they were getting. In fact by that measure, you could argue they’ve all done a much better job than .com at connecting with customers. Maybe I spend too much of .com’s engineering and investment on things like 2fa/passkeys, reader/notifications, stats, the mobile apps, Gutenberg, and Calypso and not enough on marketing or paying off affiliate host review sites.”

\n\n\n\n

The Damaging Community Impact of Public Confrontations

\n\n\n\n

Mullenweg continued to be active on Post Status Slack and X (Twitter) throughout the day, attempting to debunk claims that Automattic is exploiting open source contributors for profit. These interactions included personal attacks which followed after Mullenweg blocked WordPress Marketing Team co-rep S\u00e9 Reed who claimed that he is standing in the way of contributors improving the open source project and that he was “vilifying, dismissing, and insulting” the WordPress community.

\n\n\n\n

Some perceived him blocking Reed as him shutting down criticism, despite the fact that he said this is the first person he has ever blocked on Twitter. Although her comments were tangential to the original issue (the impact of the WordPress.com plugin listings), they became a focal point after Mullenweg lashed out at developer and product owner Dan Cameron who accused him of “actively doing more harm than good.”

\n\n\n\n
\n

Dan, you've built the Search Everything plugin which was popular early on, at some point got sold to Zemanta and abandoned. Hasn't been updated in 6 years.

You did "Smart eCart" for five years which lost to WP-eCommerce and Woo.

You did Sprout Apps / Invoices which has 2k\u2026

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 14, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

I reached out to Automattic-sponsored WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden-Chomphosy who said she did not have additional comments about what has happened with the recent confrontational exchanges, nor the impact on the community.

\n\n\n\n

“I find it kinda refreshing to see Matt throw an elbow or two and stick up for himself,” WP All Import Product Manager Joe Guilmette said in Post Status Slack.

\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s not the greatest look, but that\u2019s for his PR people to sort out. I don\u2019t have any idea how I\u2019d handle being criticized so heavily for years by the people who built businesses and careers on a project that I helped bring in to the world, but it probably would be a lot worse than calling a few people out on Twitter.”

\n\n\n\n

Others who gathered in various Slack instances, watching things play out on Twitter, felt collectively traumatized by witnessing the interactions between Mullenweg and different community members.

\n\n\n\n

“I think Matt did way more damage this time than ever before,” one prominent WordPress consultant said, requesting to remain anonymous. “It generated good but quite wearied and sad expressions of grief and anguish in my company Slack and no doubt many others.

\n\n\n\n

“The instantly and deeply (however crudely researched) personal nature of Matt\u2019s attacks leads people to paranoid fears that he has a shitlist of enemies who are just regular people, not giant companies etc. It\u2019s a fearsome kind of punching down where the community gets stuck in the psychological position of the children of an abusive parent. Different personalities and different perspectives based on our own experiences lead us to different coping responses. But it\u2019s very ugly now to have the paranoia confirmed as Matt basically taunted the fact that he feeds on what he\u2019s told second or third hand about things others say about him in private.”

\n\n\n\n

Matt Cromwell, Senior Director of Customer Experience at StellarWP, said that discussions that start and stay on X/Twitter generally have very little fruit, especially when resolving something as complicated as the WordPress.com plugins SEO issue.

\n\n\n\n

“The community keeps leaning on this platform for these discussions but things like the impact of duplicate content on two sites both called ‘WordPress’ requires more nuanced and trusting conversations which Twitter can’t provide,” Cromwell said.

\n\n\n\n

“Mullenweg used the whole thing as an excuse to make so many of the plugin owners that drive WP adoption feel small. It was extremely hurtful to the trust product owners put into the leadership of the WP project. I expect to see more product owners prefer to build SaaS integrations with WP rather than dedicated products because they don’t trust that Mullenweg has their mutual interest in mind at all anymore \u2013 and I don’t see a way for him to ever put that genie back in the bottle after this behavior both on Twitter and in Post Status Slack.”

\n\n\n\n

WordPress developer and contributor Alex Standiford said Mullenweg’s public confrontations yesterday are “a bad look for WordPress, and deflate the passionate contributors who genuinely believe in WordPress.” Despite recent events, he continues to believe in the larger impact of people building open source software together.

\n\n\n\n

“I believe that WordPress isn’t software,” Standiford wrote on his blog. “It’s not community. It’s not a single person, no matter how significant that person thinks they are. I believe that WordPress is the manifestation of a belief that the web is at its best when it’s open. If I genuinely believed that forking WordPress would be good for WordPress, and the web, I’d contribute to it over the existing platform in a heartbeat.”

\n", "content_text": "The WordPress community is ending two days of heated discussions that rapidly descended into a mire of unbridled emotional confrontations across multiple social channels, following a tweet from John Blackbourn that raised concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search.\n\n\n\nDevelopers expressed concerns about the SEO impact of the practice of cloning WordPress.org’s plugin directory for use on WordPress.com, with no backlinks to the original plugin. Another concern is that it perpetuates the longstanding confusion between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.\n\n\n\n“I don’t think the SEO concern is real, and by that I mean that besides John’s screenshot, which I think is related to the .org en-gb subdomain decision/bug,” Matt Mullenweg told the Tavern when asked whether WordPress.com is considering not indexing these pages that duplicate content from WordPress.org. \n\n\n\n“For general searches I’m seeing .com 5 pages down,” he said. “Just looking at traffic to those pages, they don’t seem to be getting much if any from search engines! So I’m not really concerned about SEO of those pages.\n\n\n\n“The vast majority of the traffic to those is to logged in users. When they click ‘manage’ they can easily install it across multiple sites or see where it’s already installed, which actually works across .com and Jetpack sites.”\n\n\n\nHe offered a similar explanation to Freemius founder Vova Feldman on X, who claimed that WordPress.com has an SEO advantage over independent plugins.\n\n\n\n\nI think you're built on an assumption which is easily testable and false in my tests so far: "DOT com has an SEO advantage…"As an easy one to look at, I did a logged-out search for [seo plugin for wordpress]. First page of results is now ads, from WP Engine, SEMRush, AIOSEO,\u2026— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 14, 2023\n\n\n\n\nPlugin developers also expressed concerns about new users arriving to a plugin’s duplicated page on WordPress.com and seeing that the plugin is Free only on the (paid) Business plan. This gives the visitor the impression that the plugin isn’t available for free elsewhere, because there is no link back to WordPress.org with an explanation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMany WordPress.org plugin authors were not aware until recently that their plugin pages are being scraped for use on WordPress.com. Yesterday, Patchstack updated its readme file to ensure that WordPress.com users and visitors are made aware that the plugin is available for free in the official WordPress plugin repository, using the following text: \n\n\n\n\nThis plugin can be downloaded for free without any paid subscription from the official WordPress repository.\n\n\n\n\n“I was at a Python conference last week and a guy came to our booth and said he has a WordPress site but he hasen\u2019t been able to purchase any plugins yet,” Patchstack CEO Oliver Sild said. “I told him that they are all free, and then it turned out he had a WordPress.com site where he has to pay to install any plugins. These people think that THIS IS the WordPress.”\n\n\n\nWhen asked if WordPress.com could at least link back to the .org plugin for logged-out views to eliminate some of the confusion, Mullenweg confirmed that he told Sild that WordPress.com would work on adding links to the .org equivalent page this week.\n\n\n\n“But that confusion that people claim is causing huge issues for WordPress isn’t supported by the numbers or growth of non-.com solutions over 17 years now,” Mullenweg said. \n\n\n\n“So at some point we should stop accepting it as within our top 100 issues for WordPress.\n\n\n\n“It’s much more likely like a road bump for some newbies, than an actual blocker, not unlike learning the difference between categories and tags, or how to identify a normal-looking comment that’s actually spam.”\n\n\n\nIn response to WordPress developer Daniel Schutzsmith saying that WordPress.com is causing confusion for OSS, Mullenweg contended that it “creates a false dichotomy between WP on .com and ‘open source software.’ Every site on .com is part of the OSS community as much as on any other host. \n\n\n\n“When there is confusion, it assumes that it’s a top issue for WordPress. Nothing about WP’s growth, including vis a vis other projects, indicates that the existence of a .com and .org with the same name has held us back.”\n\n\n\nIn support of his claims about the growth of non-WordPress.com solutions, he cited a W3Techs report on hosting company usage stats with extrapolated revenue on Post Status Slack.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“On revenue: If you extrapolate out public domain numbers with plan pricing, and look at public filings like the amount GoDaddy makes from hosting and what % of that hosting is WP-powered, you pretty quickly see that GoDaddy, Newfold/Bluehost, Siteground, Hostinger, and WP Engine make more than .com from WordPress hosting.,” Mullenweg said. “You can check out those companies on the five for the future page.”\n\n\n\nMullenweg has previously criticized large hosting companies for what he perceives to be a lack of support for the open source WordPress and WooCommerce projects in proportion to how much they benefit from the use of these platforms. His comments in Post Status yesterday indicate that while he is still unsatisfied with their core contributions, he acknowledges these companies as important to WordPress’ overall growth.\n\n\n\n“By the way, despite not looking great for core contributions, I think each of those companies has been essential for the growth of WordPress, and particularly the work they invest into upgrade PHP, MySQL, core auto-updates, plugin auto-updates, and security are crucial for the health of our ecosystem,” Mullenweg said. \n\n\n\n“It’s ‘cynically cool’ to hate on some of the bigger ones, but it’s a free and open market, none of their WP users are locked in and could easily switch to other hosts if they weren’t happy with the price and value they were getting. In fact by that measure, you could argue they’ve all done a much better job than .com at connecting with customers. Maybe I spend too much of .com’s engineering and investment on things like 2fa/passkeys, reader/notifications, stats, the mobile apps, Gutenberg, and Calypso and not enough on marketing or paying off affiliate host review sites.”\n\n\n\nThe Damaging Community Impact of Public Confrontations\n\n\n\nMullenweg continued to be active on Post Status Slack and X (Twitter) throughout the day, attempting to debunk claims that Automattic is exploiting open source contributors for profit. These interactions included personal attacks which followed after Mullenweg blocked WordPress Marketing Team co-rep S\u00e9 Reed who claimed that he is standing in the way of contributors improving the open source project and that he was “vilifying, dismissing, and insulting” the WordPress community. \n\n\n\nSome perceived him blocking Reed as him shutting down criticism, despite the fact that he said this is the first person he has ever blocked on Twitter. Although her comments were tangential to the original issue (the impact of the WordPress.com plugin listings), they became a focal point after Mullenweg lashed out at developer and product owner Dan Cameron who accused him of “actively doing more harm than good.”\n\n\n\n\nDan, you've built the Search Everything plugin which was popular early on, at some point got sold to Zemanta and abandoned. Hasn't been updated in 6 years.You did "Smart eCart" for five years which lost to WP-eCommerce and Woo.You did Sprout Apps / Invoices which has 2k\u2026— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 14, 2023\n\n\n\n\nI reached out to Automattic-sponsored WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden-Chomphosy who said she did not have additional comments about what has happened with the recent confrontational exchanges, nor the impact on the community. \n\n\n\n“I find it kinda refreshing to see Matt throw an elbow or two and stick up for himself,” WP All Import Product Manager Joe Guilmette said in Post Status Slack.\n\n\n\n“It\u2019s not the greatest look, but that\u2019s for his PR people to sort out. I don\u2019t have any idea how I\u2019d handle being criticized so heavily for years by the people who built businesses and careers on a project that I helped bring in to the world, but it probably would be a lot worse than calling a few people out on Twitter.”\n\n\n\nOthers who gathered in various Slack instances, watching things play out on Twitter, felt collectively traumatized by witnessing the interactions between Mullenweg and different community members.\n\n\n\n“I think Matt did way more damage this time than ever before,” one prominent WordPress consultant said, requesting to remain anonymous. “It generated good but quite wearied and sad expressions of grief and anguish in my company Slack and no doubt many others.\n\n\n\n“The instantly and deeply (however crudely researched) personal nature of Matt\u2019s attacks leads people to paranoid fears that he has a shitlist of enemies who are just regular people, not giant companies etc. It\u2019s a fearsome kind of punching down where the community gets stuck in the psychological position of the children of an abusive parent. Different personalities and different perspectives based on our own experiences lead us to different coping responses. But it\u2019s very ugly now to have the paranoia confirmed as Matt basically taunted the fact that he feeds on what he\u2019s told second or third hand about things others say about him in private.”\n\n\n\nMatt Cromwell, Senior Director of Customer Experience at StellarWP, said that discussions that start and stay on X/Twitter generally have very little fruit, especially when resolving something as complicated as the WordPress.com plugins SEO issue. \n\n\n\n“The community keeps leaning on this platform for these discussions but things like the impact of duplicate content on two sites both called ‘WordPress’ requires more nuanced and trusting conversations which Twitter can’t provide,” Cromwell said. \n\n\n\n“Mullenweg used the whole thing as an excuse to make so many of the plugin owners that drive WP adoption feel small. It was extremely hurtful to the trust product owners put into the leadership of the WP project. I expect to see more product owners prefer to build SaaS integrations with WP rather than dedicated products because they don’t trust that Mullenweg has their mutual interest in mind at all anymore \u2013 and I don’t see a way for him to ever put that genie back in the bottle after this behavior both on Twitter and in Post Status Slack.”\n\n\n\nWordPress developer and contributor Alex Standiford said Mullenweg’s public confrontations yesterday are “a bad look for WordPress, and deflate the passionate contributors who genuinely believe in WordPress.” Despite recent events, he continues to believe in the larger impact of people building open source software together.\n\n\n\n“I believe that WordPress isn’t software,” Standiford wrote on his blog. “It’s not community. It’s not a single person, no matter how significant that person thinks they are. I believe that WordPress is the manifestation of a belief that the web is at its best when it’s open. If I genuinely believed that forking WordPress would be good for WordPress, and the web, I’d contribute to it over the existing platform in a heartbeat.”", "date_published": "2023-09-15T17:34:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-16T11:58:49-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/broken-egg.jpeg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148773", "url": "https://wptavern.com/woosesh-2023-publishes-speaker-lineup-launches-seshies-awards", "title": "WooSesh 2023 Publishes Speaker Lineup, Launches Seshies Awards", "content_html": "\n

WooSesh 2023, the virtual conference for WooCommerce store builders, will be broadcast live on October 10-12. This year’s theme is “Next Generation Commerce.” Registration is not yet open, but the speaker lineup and broadcast schedule have just been published. Over the course of three days, WooSesh will feature 31 speakers across 23 sessions.

\n\n\n\n

The event will kick off with the State of the Woo address, delivered by WooCommerce CEO Paul Maiorana and other product leaders from the company. Speakers will cover a wide range of topics like complexities of sales tax and product taxability, accessibility, block themes, security, AI tools, and automation, with case studies and workshops mixed in.

\n\n\n\n

New in 2023: The Seshies

\n\n\n\n

WooSesh organizer Brian Richards is launching “The Seshies” this year, a community awards ceremony that will recognize the best examples of the WooCommerce ecosystem across six categories: Innovation, Store, Extension, Agency, Developer, and Community Advocate.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
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The Seshies will include a community awards ceremony that will celebrate the winners. Anyone can nominate candidates for the awards, and participants can even nominate themselves and their own WooCommerce projects.

\n\n\n\n

“These awards are something that have been on my heart for quite some time,” Richards said. “And now, after 6 years of hosting WooSesh and 10 years of running WPSessions, I think I’ve amassed enough authority and (critically) a wide enough reach to deliver awards, on your behalf, that have real meaning.”

\n\n\n\n

The week before the event, Richards plans to publish the top three nominees in each category. The community will vote throughout the first two days of WooSesh and the winners will be announced on the final day. Winners will receive a digital badge of recognition and Richards said he is also working on producing physical awards to ship to winners anywhere in the world.

\n", "content_text": "WooSesh 2023, the virtual conference for WooCommerce store builders, will be broadcast live on October 10-12. This year’s theme is “Next Generation Commerce.” Registration is not yet open, but the speaker lineup and broadcast schedule have just been published. Over the course of three days, WooSesh will feature 31 speakers across 23 sessions.\n\n\n\nThe event will kick off with the State of the Woo address, delivered by WooCommerce CEO Paul Maiorana and other product leaders from the company. Speakers will cover a wide range of topics like complexities of sales tax and product taxability, accessibility, block themes, security, AI tools, and automation, with case studies and workshops mixed in.\n\n\n\nNew in 2023: The Seshies\n\n\n\nWooSesh organizer Brian Richards is launching “The Seshies” this year, a community awards ceremony that will recognize the best examples of the WooCommerce ecosystem across six categories: Innovation, Store, Extension, Agency, Developer, and Community Advocate.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Seshies will include a community awards ceremony that will celebrate the winners. Anyone can nominate candidates for the awards, and participants can even nominate themselves and their own WooCommerce projects. \n\n\n\n“These awards are something that have been on my heart for quite some time,” Richards said. “And now, after 6 years of hosting WooSesh and 10 years of running WPSessions, I think I’ve amassed enough authority and (critically) a wide enough reach to deliver awards, on your behalf, that have real meaning.”\n\n\n\nThe week before the event, Richards plans to publish the top three nominees in each category. The community will vote throughout the first two days of WooSesh and the winners will be announced on the final day. Winners will receive a digital badge of recognition and Richards said he is also working on producing physical awards to ship to winners anywhere in the world.", "date_published": "2023-09-14T23:34:32-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-14T23:34:34-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-14-at-11.25.03-PM.png", "tags": [ "woocommerce", "woosesh", "E-Commerce", "Events", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148817", "url": "https://wptavern.com/activitypub-1-0-0-released-introducing-blog-wide-accounts-and-new-blocks", "title": "ActivityPub 1.0.0 Released, Introducing Blog-Wide Accounts and New Blocks", "content_html": "\n

Version 1.0.0 of the ActivityPub plugin was released this week with major updates that make it possible to have a blog-wide account, instead of just individual author accounts, where followers receive updates from all authors. This new feature allows people to follow blogs on decentralized platforms like Mastodon (and many others) with replies automatically published back to the blog as comments.

\n\n\n\n

In the ActivityPub plugin settings, users can check “Enable blog” to have the blog become an ActivityPub profile. Authors can be enabled at the same time as a blog-wide profile.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
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Activities originating from a Blog profile can be further customized through the existing post content and image settings. Users can also set the activity object type to default, article, or WordPress post format which maps the post format to the ActivityPub object type. Supported post types include posts, pages, and media. Note that the blog-wide profile only works with sites that have rewrite rules enabled.

\n\n\n\n
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An experimental hashtags setting is also available, which adds hashtags in the content as native tags and replaces the #tag with the tag link. Users should be aware that it may still produce HTML or CSS errors.

\n\n\n\n

ActivityPub 1.0.0 introduces two new blocks – one for displaying Fediverse Followers and the other for displaying a “Follow” button to allow people to follow the blog or author on the Fediverse. The Follower system has also gotten a complete rewrite based on Custom Post Types.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Other notable updates in this release include the following:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Automattic acquired the plugin in March 2023 from German developer\u00a0Matthias Pfefferle, who joined the company to continue improving support for federated platforms. Next on the roadmap for the ActivityPub plugin is threaded comments support and replacing shortcodes with blocks for layout.

\n", "content_text": "Version 1.0.0 of the ActivityPub plugin was released this week with major updates that make it possible to have a blog-wide account, instead of just individual author accounts, where followers receive updates from all authors. This new feature allows people to follow blogs on decentralized platforms like Mastodon (and many others) with replies automatically published back to the blog as comments. \n\n\n\nIn the ActivityPub plugin settings, users can check “Enable blog” to have the blog become an ActivityPub profile. Authors can be enabled at the same time as a blog-wide profile.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nActivities originating from a Blog profile can be further customized through the existing post content and image settings. Users can also set the activity object type to default, article, or WordPress post format which maps the post format to the ActivityPub object type. Supported post types include posts, pages, and media. Note that the blog-wide profile only works with sites that have rewrite rules enabled. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAn experimental hashtags setting is also available, which adds hashtags in the content as native tags and replaces the #tag with the tag link. Users should be aware that it may still produce HTML or CSS errors.\n\n\n\nActivityPub 1.0.0 introduces two new blocks – one for displaying Fediverse Followers and the other for displaying a “Follow” button to allow people to follow the blog or author on the Fediverse. The Follower system has also gotten a complete rewrite based on Custom Post Types.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOther notable updates in this release include the following: \n\n\n\n\nSignature Verification: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/spec/security/\n\n\n\nSimple caching\n\n\n\nCollection endpoints for Featured Tags and Featured Posts\n\n\n\nBetter handling of Hashtags in mobile apps\n\n\n\nUpdate: Improved linter (PHPCS)\n\n\n\nFixed: Load the plugin later in the WordPress code lifecycle to avoid errors in some requests\n\n\n\nFixed: Updating posts\n\n\n\nFixed: Hashtag now support CamelCase and UTF-8\n\n\n\n\nAutomattic acquired the plugin in March 2023 from German developer\u00a0Matthias Pfefferle, who joined the company to continue improving support for federated platforms. Next on the roadmap for the ActivityPub plugin is threaded comments support and replacing shortcodes with blocks for layout.", "date_published": "2023-09-14T18:43:20-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-14T18:43:22-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screen-Shot-2023-03-13-at-2.08.21-PM.png", "tags": [ "activitypub", "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148759", "url": "https://wptavern.com/developers-raise-concerns-about-wordpress-com-plugin-listings-outranking-wordpress-org-on-google", "title": "Developers Raise Concerns About WordPress.com Plugin Listings Outranking WordPress.org on Google Search", "content_html": "\n

WordPress core developer John Blackbourn sparked a heated discussion yesterday when he posted an image of his WordPress User Switching plugin ranking higher for the WordPress.com listing than the page on WordPress.org.

\n\n\n\n
\n

Why has @wordpressdotcom replicated the entire https://t.co/oTA9NDVkFk plugin directory on its .com domain name? Searching for some plugin names now results in the .com page ranking higher than .org. Fuck the long term health of the FOSS project, let's make some money, right? pic.twitter.com/UD40BN3Z6g

— John Blackbourn (@johnbillion) September 13, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Blackbourn later apologized for the inflammatory wording of the original post, but maintains that .com plugin listings being displayed higher in search results is not healthy for the open source project.

\n\n\n\n

“This was a frustrated 2AM tweet so I could have worded it better, but the point still stands,” he said. “The plugin pages on dotcom are little more than marketing landing pages for the dotcom service and they’re strongly competing with the canonical dotorg pages. That’s not healthy.”

\n\n\n\n

Several others commented about having similar experiences when searching for plugins, finding that the WordPress.com often ranks higher, although many others still see WordPress.org pages ranked highest.

\n\n\n\n

Blackbourn said his chief concern “is the process that introduced the directory clone on .com either disregarded its potential impact on .org in favor of inbounds or never considered it in the first place – both very concerning given the ranking power of .com.”

\n\n\n\n

The tweet highlighted the frustration some members of the open source community feel due to the perennial branding confusion between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Nothing short of renaming WordPress.com will eliminate the longstanding confusion, but this is unlikely as Automattic benefits from tightly coupling its products to WordPress\u2019 name recognition.

\n\n\n\n

“Duplicate content confuses the human + search engines,” SEO consultant Rebecca Gill said. “Search engines won’t like it, nor will humans trying to find solutions to their problems. There is already enough confusion w/ .org + .com for non-tech folks. This amplifies it. Noindex .com content or canonical it to .org.”

\n\n\n\n

Participants in the discussion maintain that the duplication of the open source project’s plugin directory “creates ambiguity and confusion” but WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg contends it also gives plugin authors greater distribution.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s providing distribution to the plugin authors, literally millions and millions of installs,” Mullenweg said. He elaborated on how the cloned plugin directory is integrated with Calypso, WordPress.com’s admin interface:

\n\n\n\n
\n

.com has its own plugin directory which includes the .org one, it provides more installs and distribution to the plugin authors, which helps their usage and for commercial ones gets them more sales. The plugins are not altered. .com takes no cut for the distribution.

\n
\n\n\n\n

When participants in the discussion suggested that other hosts doing the same thing would create a wild west situation for plugin rankings, Mullenweg said he would not mind if the plugins were “duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet,” as they are all licensed under the GPL.

\n\n\n\n
\n

If people are providing more distribution to unaltered plugins, I think that's great. Happy for all our plugins to be duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet.

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 13, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Outrage against distributing WordPress.org plugins in this fashion was not universal in the discussion. A few commenters support this strategy and see it as beneficial for the long-term health of the open source project.

\n\n\n\n

“I’m all for it to be honest,” WordPress developer Cristian Raiber said. “Anyone could scrape those pages but not everyone gives back to WordPress and makes sure it’s here to stay for the next decades. Controversial, I know. But I prefer we build together instead of alone.

\n\n\n\n

“I fail to see how this is not an advantage to anyone who hosts their plugins (for FREE) on w[dot]org ?” Raiber continued in a separate response. “Is it about being outranked in Google’s SERPs for brand kws? Why has this generated so much outcry when the intent is clearly beneficial?

\n\n\n\n

“This FINALLY solves a friction point for potential buyers. Streamlined plugin installation and usage vs ‘here’s a list of 55 steps you have to take to install my plugin.’ Users want options, different uses cases and all. I want wp.com to make money so they keep growing this product.”

\n\n\n\n

XWP\u00a0Director of Engineering\u00a0Francesca Marano suggested that WordPress.com has benefitted from the branding and reputation of .org, which is built by volunteers. She also proposed that Automattic “has the resources to do a whole rebranding which would ultimately benefit both projects.”

\n\n\n\n

Mullenweg responded to these comments, defending WordPress.com’s efforts in fending off early WordPress competitors and cited Automattic’s preeminence in contributing back to core, despite taking in less revenue than some larger companies making money from the software:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Since its foundation, .org has benefitted from the branding and reputation of having a robust SaaS version available from .com, including a free version, something basically no other host does. Over 200M people have used it, and countless started on .com and then migrated to another host. The shared branding made it very difficult for services like Typepad to compete. You want to see what WP would look like without it? Go to Joomla.

\n\n\n\n

.com has also been the source of countless performance improvements, we deploy pre-release versions of core to millions of sites to find bugs and do testing, making WP releases way more stable for regular users and hosts. No company contributes more, even though many make more from WP than .com’s revenue. It would have been way easier to fork the software, not merge MU. Most hosts (and many community members) bad-mouth .com while not contributing a fraction back to core. Hosts spend tens of millions a year on ads against .com. I get attacked constantly.

\n
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In 2010, when the WordPress Foundation was created, Automattic transferred the WordPress trademarks to the Foundation, after having been the temporary custodian of the trademarks until that time. As part of the transfer, the Foundation granted Mullenweg use of the WordPress trademark for WordPress.com.

\n\n\n\n

This trademark was deliberately secured, and the company does not appear to be open to renaming the platform. This doesn’t mean WordPress.com can’t do anything to mitigate the confusion that scraping the WordPress.org plugin directory creates. Participants in the discussion suggested that WordPress.com forego indexing the pages they created for plugins that developers submitted to the open source project.

\n\n\n\n

“You can control SEO by telling search engines to not index those pages of open source software developed for .org on the .com domain,” WordPress plugin developer Marco Almeida said.

\n\n\n\n

“I have 20 free plugins on the repository and I don’t see how my plugins will benefit if we open this pandora box and normalize cloning these pages and diluting the WordPress.org importance on search engines.”

\n\n\n\n
\n

Dotcom can help by using schema markup that points to dotorg as the authority (using the "about" and/or "sameAs" properties). The dotorg pages already have the schema markup in place, you'll just need to point to it from dotcom.

This is helpful for dotcom too. Although Google\u2026

— Jeff Matson \"\ud83d\udc7e\" (@TheJeffMatson) September 13, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Developers who are just now discovering their WordPress.org plugins cloned to WordPress.com listings are also wanting to know how many of their installs come from WordPress.com so they can better understand their user bases. Mullenweg suggested developers who want a different listing for WordPress.com users can sign up for the .com marketplace.

\n\n\n\n
\n

well, this could be true, but as plugin author I don\u2019t know how many installations are on .com or .org, or how to show the plugin description/features in a different way to a .com user. I think that the main issue here is the directory cloning

— Simone Maranzana (@simo_m) September 13, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

Tensions remained high as the heated discussion continued throughout the day and into the evening with criticism flowing across X (Twitter), Post Status Slack, and other social channels, as many developers learned for the first time that their plugin listings have been cloned on WordPress.com. As long as a commercial entity shares the open source project’s branding, these types of clashes and friction will continue popping up.

\n\n\n\n

“Personally, I can\u2019t help but empathize with plugin authors that chose to support OSS and find the directory cloned in a commercial service, albeit free, with no access to stats,” Francesca Marano said. “As I mentioned before, the main issue is the confusion around the two projects.”

\n", "content_text": "WordPress core developer John Blackbourn sparked a heated discussion yesterday when he posted an image of his WordPress User Switching plugin ranking higher for the WordPress.com listing than the page on WordPress.org.\n\n\n\n\nWhy has @wordpressdotcom replicated the entire https://t.co/oTA9NDVkFk plugin directory on its .com domain name? Searching for some plugin names now results in the .com page ranking higher than .org. Fuck the long term health of the FOSS project, let's make some money, right? pic.twitter.com/UD40BN3Z6g— John Blackbourn (@johnbillion) September 13, 2023\n\n\n\n\nBlackbourn later apologized for the inflammatory wording of the original post, but maintains that .com plugin listings being displayed higher in search results is not healthy for the open source project.\n\n\n\n“This was a frustrated 2AM tweet so I could have worded it better, but the point still stands,” he said. “The plugin pages on dotcom are little more than marketing landing pages for the dotcom service and they’re strongly competing with the canonical dotorg pages. That’s not healthy.”\n\n\n\nSeveral others commented about having similar experiences when searching for plugins, finding that the WordPress.com often ranks higher, although many others still see WordPress.org pages ranked highest. \n\n\n\nBlackbourn said his chief concern “is the process that introduced the directory clone on .com either disregarded its potential impact on .org in favor of inbounds or never considered it in the first place – both very concerning given the ranking power of .com.”\n\n\n\nThe tweet highlighted the frustration some members of the open source community feel due to the perennial branding confusion between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Nothing short of renaming WordPress.com will eliminate the longstanding confusion, but this is unlikely as Automattic benefits from tightly coupling its products to WordPress\u2019 name recognition.\n\n\n\n“Duplicate content confuses the human + search engines,” SEO consultant Rebecca Gill said. “Search engines won’t like it, nor will humans trying to find solutions to their problems. There is already enough confusion w/ .org + .com for non-tech folks. This amplifies it. Noindex .com content or canonical it to .org.”\n\n\n\nParticipants in the discussion maintain that the duplication of the open source project’s plugin directory “creates ambiguity and confusion” but WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg contends it also gives plugin authors greater distribution.\n\n\n\n“It’s providing distribution to the plugin authors, literally millions and millions of installs,” Mullenweg said. He elaborated on how the cloned plugin directory is integrated with Calypso, WordPress.com’s admin interface:\n\n\n\n\n.com has its own plugin directory which includes the .org one, it provides more installs and distribution to the plugin authors, which helps their usage and for commercial ones gets them more sales. The plugins are not altered. .com takes no cut for the distribution.\n\n\n\n\nWhen participants in the discussion suggested that other hosts doing the same thing would create a wild west situation for plugin rankings, Mullenweg said he would not mind if the plugins were “duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet,” as they are all licensed under the GPL.\n\n\n\n\nIf people are providing more distribution to unaltered plugins, I think that's great. Happy for all our plugins to be duplicated and distributed by every host and site on the planet.— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) September 13, 2023\n\n\n\n\nOutrage against distributing WordPress.org plugins in this fashion was not universal in the discussion. A few commenters support this strategy and see it as beneficial for the long-term health of the open source project.\n\n\n\n“I’m all for it to be honest,” WordPress developer Cristian Raiber said. “Anyone could scrape those pages but not everyone gives back to WordPress and makes sure it’s here to stay for the next decades. Controversial, I know. But I prefer we build together instead of alone.\n\n\n\n“I fail to see how this is not an advantage to anyone who hosts their plugins (for FREE) on w[dot]org ?” Raiber continued in a separate response. “Is it about being outranked in Google’s SERPs for brand kws? Why has this generated so much outcry when the intent is clearly beneficial?\n\n\n\n“This FINALLY solves a friction point for potential buyers. Streamlined plugin installation and usage vs ‘here’s a list of 55 steps you have to take to install my plugin.’ Users want options, different uses cases and all. I want wp.com to make money so they keep growing this product.”\n\n\n\nXWP\u00a0Director of Engineering\u00a0Francesca Marano suggested that WordPress.com has benefitted from the branding and reputation of .org, which is built by volunteers. She also proposed that Automattic “has the resources to do a whole rebranding which would ultimately benefit both projects.”\n\n\n\nMullenweg responded to these comments, defending WordPress.com’s efforts in fending off early WordPress competitors and cited Automattic’s preeminence in contributing back to core, despite taking in less revenue than some larger companies making money from the software:\n\n\n\n\nSince its foundation, .org has benefitted from the branding and reputation of having a robust SaaS version available from .com, including a free version, something basically no other host does. Over 200M people have used it, and countless started on .com and then migrated to another host. The shared branding made it very difficult for services like Typepad to compete. You want to see what WP would look like without it? Go to Joomla. \n\n\n\n.com has also been the source of countless performance improvements, we deploy pre-release versions of core to millions of sites to find bugs and do testing, making WP releases way more stable for regular users and hosts. No company contributes more, even though many make more from WP than .com’s revenue. It would have been way easier to fork the software, not merge MU. Most hosts (and many community members) bad-mouth .com while not contributing a fraction back to core. Hosts spend tens of millions a year on ads against .com. I get attacked constantly.\n\n\n\n\nIn 2010, when the WordPress Foundation was created, Automattic transferred the WordPress trademarks to the Foundation, after having been the temporary custodian of the trademarks until that time. As part of the transfer, the Foundation granted Mullenweg use of the WordPress trademark for WordPress.com.\n\n\n\nThis trademark was deliberately secured, and the company does not appear to be open to renaming the platform. This doesn’t mean WordPress.com can’t do anything to mitigate the confusion that scraping the WordPress.org plugin directory creates. Participants in the discussion suggested that WordPress.com forego indexing the pages they created for plugins that developers submitted to the open source project.\n\n\n\n“You can control SEO by telling search engines to not index those pages of open source software developed for .org on the .com domain,” WordPress plugin developer Marco Almeida said.\n\n\n\n“I have 20 free plugins on the repository and I don’t see how my plugins will benefit if we open this pandora box and normalize cloning these pages and diluting the WordPress.org importance on search engines.”\n\n\n\n\nDotcom can help by using schema markup that points to dotorg as the authority (using the "about" and/or "sameAs" properties). The dotorg pages already have the schema markup in place, you'll just need to point to it from dotcom.This is helpful for dotcom too. Although Google\u2026— Jeff Matson (@TheJeffMatson) September 13, 2023\n\n\n\n\nDevelopers who are just now discovering their WordPress.org plugins cloned to WordPress.com listings are also wanting to know how many of their installs come from WordPress.com so they can better understand their user bases. Mullenweg suggested developers who want a different listing for WordPress.com users can sign up for the .com marketplace.\n\n\n\n\nwell, this could be true, but as plugin author I don\u2019t know how many installations are on .com or .org, or how to show the plugin description/features in a different way to a .com user. I think that the main issue here is the directory cloning— Simone Maranzana (@simo_m) September 13, 2023\n\n\n\n\nTensions remained high as the heated discussion continued throughout the day and into the evening with criticism flowing across X (Twitter), Post Status Slack, and other social channels, as many developers learned for the first time that their plugin listings have been cloned on WordPress.com. As long as a commercial entity shares the open source project’s branding, these types of clashes and friction will continue popping up.\n\n\n\n“Personally, I can\u2019t help but empathize with plugin authors that chose to support OSS and find the directory cloned in a commercial service, albeit free, with no access to stats,” Francesca Marano said. “As I mentioned before, the main issue is the confusion around the two projects.”", "date_published": "2023-09-14T00:05:39-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-14T08:00:47-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/plugin.jpg", "tags": [ "wordpress.com", "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148726", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-plugin-developers-renew-demands-for-better-plugin-metrics", "title": "WordPress Plugin Developers Renew Demands for Better Plugin Metrics", "content_html": "\n

It has be nearly one year since WordPress silently turned off active install growth data for plugins hosted in the official plugin repository, a key metric that many developers rely on for accurate tracking and product decision-making. \u201cInsufficient data obfuscation\u201d was cited as the reason for the charts\u2019 removal, but this opaque decision landed without any communication from those who had made the call in a private discussion.

\n\n\n\n

In a ticket originally titled \u201cBring back the active install growth chart,\u201d RebelCode CEO Mark Zahra made the opening plea for thousands of plugin developers who were asking for the return of this data. From those who simply host hobby plugins and enjoy the thrill of watching people use software they made to business owners who need this data to make critical decisions, the overwhelming consensus was that this data is valuable and should be available to those who are contributing to WordPress through plugins.

\n\n\n\n

In an appearance on the WPwatercooler podcast last year, Audrey Capital-sponsored meta contributor Samuel “Otto” Wood confirmed the decision was made through private channels via Slack DMs in a discussion initiated by Matt Mullenweg. He also revealed that the active install growth chart was removed because it was giving inaccurate data and that the data one could derive from it was inaccurate:

\n\n\n\n
\n

I read through all that discussion and we worked, they worked on it for a long, Scott and several people tried various things before removing it. They adjusted the values, they adjusted numbers. They, they went through a ridiculous amount of iteration and in the end, none of it worked. People were still using it even though it was giving them basically garbage. So finally removing it was the only thing to do. We did have a plan for replacing it. We just didn\u2019t have a plan for replacing it immediately. Nevertheless, giving them active install count numbers that are wrong is more harmful, we felt, to both users and developers interests than simply not giving them at all. 

\n
\n\n\n\n

Wood offered an explanation on the podcast that should have been delivered weeks earlier by those involved in the discussion on official channels. Despite the earlier data being flawed and “insufficiently obfuscated,” developers still want access to the raw data, not interpretations of that data.

\n\n\n\n

These are the posts that track the history and development of developers’ pleas to reinstate access to the data:

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

During the height of this discussion, developers made many suggestions for different data points that would be meaningful for tracking their efforts, and Matt Mullenweg responded that he was amenable to showing more stats to plugin authors about their plugins. No progress on this effort has been reported since then.

\n\n\n\n

 StellarWP Product Marketing Director Taylor Waldon has reopened this discussion nearly a year later, calling on Mullenweg to stop restricting access to plugin data from people who are hosting themes and plugins on WordPress.org.

\n\n\n\n
\n

Dear @photomatt

Without (real) Active Install data, we are not able to measure the success of our free product. Downloads is not the right KPI. Please bring it back.

Sincerely,
All WP Marketers with free products on .org.

If you agree, please RT, reply, etc. #WordPress

— Taylor Elizabeth Rose | Find me on Bluesky (@tElizaRose) September 5, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

“I talked to a bunch of folks at [WCUS] contributor day,” Paid Memberships Pro co-founder and CEO Jason Coleman said in response to Waldon’s tweet. “As far as I know, there isn’t any other current effort to update or replace the install count numbers or old ‘growth’ chart.'”

\n\n\n\n

Coleman put together a draft proposal with some ideas from his conversations. The document describes a common scenario where plugin developers are left in the dark about the growth or decline of their plugins’ active installations:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Imagine a developer with a plugin with 150k active installations. That developer has effectively 0 quantitative feedback on whether users of his plugin are growing or falling. The download count has a trend, but there is no separation between new downloads and updates. The download count tracks developmental pace as much as user growth. A bump in downloads could be due to a security vulnerability being patched or an influx of new users. The current active installations count is severely rounded and offers no feedback until such a plugin either gains or loses 33% of its users, which are drastically different outcomes.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Coleman contends that plugins hosted outside of WordPress.org are able to gather more meaningful metrics. Popular plugins have resorted to including features in non-WordPress.org add-ons or simply removing their extensions altogether from the repository for lack of data.

\n\n\n\n

His proposal includes a few metrics that would help developers better track their plugins, even if that data is only shown to the authors themselves:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Coleman’s draft is still in progress and so far he is the only one who has authored the document. If the recommended actions gain any traction, he said he hopes to be part of the contributor team that implements the changes.

\n\n\n\n

“The intention was to write something that could be proposed to meta team,” Coleman said. “But honestly, I thought I would write it up, it would get shot down, and then I could move on with my life. Even if nothing got updated, it would be more clear to me and others which parts of the .org code were in public repositories and which were in the private repositories. It would be more clear what the real issues are with the active installs count.

\n\n\n\n

“The communication around the removal of the active install growth chart caused many to lose trust in parts of the WordPress .org project. I thought some clarity around how things work and the real reasons around the changes would help to rebuild some of that trust that was lost.”

\n\n\n\n

WordPress.org has always been the most popular distribution channel for the most widely used plugins, but the data available has not kept pace with developer and business needs. Releasing the raw data, while respecting any privacy limitations, would allow developers to extract their own interpretations of that data and allow services to present it in creative ways.

\n\n\n\n

At the very least, this data should be available to developers (even if it’s not public) to help them better track the trajectory of their plugins and the efficacy of their marketing efforts. More data can only serve to improve the WordPress ecosystem’s ability to continue powering a multi-billion dollar economy. There are undoubtedly many technical requirements for supporting the release of this data, and they need to be prioritized if WordPress.org is to continue attracting the best products for distribution.

\n\n\n\n

“This is not about vanity metrics or inflating numbers for marketing purposes,” Coleman said. “This is about getting valuable feedback on the relative use of a plugin hosted in the .org repository so developers can make informed decisions and investments in those plugins.”

\n", "content_text": "It has be nearly one year since WordPress silently turned off active install growth data for plugins hosted in the official plugin repository, a key metric that many developers rely on for accurate tracking and product decision-making. \u201cInsufficient data obfuscation\u201d was cited as the reason for the charts\u2019 removal, but this opaque decision landed without any communication from those who had made the call in a private discussion.\n\n\n\nIn a ticket originally titled \u201cBring back the active install growth chart,\u201d RebelCode CEO Mark Zahra made the opening plea for thousands of plugin developers who were asking for the return of this data. From those who simply host hobby plugins and enjoy the thrill of watching people use software they made to business owners who need this data to make critical decisions, the overwhelming consensus was that this data is valuable and should be available to those who are contributing to WordPress through plugins.\n\n\n\nIn an appearance on the WPwatercooler podcast last year, Audrey Capital-sponsored meta contributor Samuel “Otto” Wood confirmed the decision was made through private channels via Slack DMs in a discussion initiated by Matt Mullenweg. He also revealed that the active install growth chart was removed because it was giving inaccurate data and that the data one could derive from it was inaccurate:\n\n\n\n\nI read through all that discussion and we worked, they worked on it for a long, Scott and several people tried various things before removing it. They adjusted the values, they adjusted numbers. They, they went through a ridiculous amount of iteration and in the end, none of it worked. People were still using it even though it was giving them basically garbage. So finally removing it was the only thing to do. We did have a plan for replacing it. We just didn\u2019t have a plan for replacing it immediately. Nevertheless, giving them active install count numbers that are wrong is more harmful, we felt, to both users and developers interests than simply not giving them at all. \n\n\n\n\nWood offered an explanation on the podcast that should have been delivered weeks earlier by those involved in the discussion on official channels. Despite the earlier data being flawed and “insufficiently obfuscated,” developers still want access to the raw data, not interpretations of that data. \n\n\n\nThese are the posts that track the history and development of developers’ pleas to reinstate access to the data:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWordPress.org Removes Active Install Growth Data for Plugins\n\n\n\nWordPress.org Plugin Developers Demand Transparency Regarding the Removal of Active Install Growth Data\n\n\n\nDiscussion on Replacing Plugin Active Install Growth Data Continues Behind Closed Doors\n\n\n\n\nDuring the height of this discussion, developers made many suggestions for different data points that would be meaningful for tracking their efforts, and Matt Mullenweg responded that he was amenable to showing more stats to plugin authors about their plugins. No progress on this effort has been reported since then.\n\n\n\n StellarWP Product Marketing Director Taylor Waldon has reopened this discussion nearly a year later, calling on Mullenweg to stop restricting access to plugin data from people who are hosting themes and plugins on WordPress.org.\n\n\n\n\nDear @photomatt Without (real) Active Install data, we are not able to measure the success of our free product. Downloads is not the right KPI. Please bring it back. Sincerely,All WP Marketers with free products on .org. If you agree, please RT, reply, etc. #WordPress— Taylor Elizabeth Rose | Find me on Bluesky (@tElizaRose) September 5, 2023\n\n\n\n\n“I talked to a bunch of folks at [WCUS] contributor day,” Paid Memberships Pro co-founder and CEO Jason Coleman said in response to Waldon’s tweet. “As far as I know, there isn’t any other current effort to update or replace the install count numbers or old ‘growth’ chart.'”\n\n\n\nColeman put together a draft proposal with some ideas from his conversations. The document describes a common scenario where plugin developers are left in the dark about the growth or decline of their plugins’ active installations:\n\n\n\n\nImagine a developer with a plugin with 150k active installations. That developer has effectively 0 quantitative feedback on whether users of his plugin are growing or falling. The download count has a trend, but there is no separation between new downloads and updates. The download count tracks developmental pace as much as user growth. A bump in downloads could be due to a security vulnerability being patched or an influx of new users. The current active installations count is severely rounded and offers no feedback until such a plugin either gains or loses 33% of its users, which are drastically different outcomes.\n\n\n\n\nColeman contends that plugins hosted outside of WordPress.org are able to gather more meaningful metrics. Popular plugins have resorted to including features in non-WordPress.org add-ons or simply removing their extensions altogether from the repository for lack of data. \n\n\n\nHis proposal includes a few metrics that would help developers better track their plugins, even if that data is only shown to the authors themselves:\n\n\n\n\nShare a more accurate active installations count with the owners of a plugin.\n\n\n\nShare more accurate version number counts with the owners of a plugin.\n\n\n\nDifferentiate the download count by type: website downloads, dashboard installs, dashboard downloads, updates, other (hits to the zip file).\n\n\n\nAllow plugin developers to define custom event triggers to be tallied and displayed to the plugin owners on the plugins .org profile page.\n\n\n\n\nColeman’s draft is still in progress and so far he is the only one who has authored the document. If the recommended actions gain any traction, he said he hopes to be part of the contributor team that implements the changes. \n\n\n\n“The intention was to write something that could be proposed to meta team,” Coleman said. “But honestly, I thought I would write it up, it would get shot down, and then I could move on with my life. Even if nothing got updated, it would be more clear to me and others which parts of the .org code were in public repositories and which were in the private repositories. It would be more clear what the real issues are with the active installs count.\n\n\n\n“The communication around the removal of the active install growth chart caused many to lose trust in parts of the WordPress .org project. I thought some clarity around how things work and the real reasons around the changes would help to rebuild some of that trust that was lost.”\n\n\n\nWordPress.org has always been the most popular distribution channel for the most widely used plugins, but the data available has not kept pace with developer and business needs. Releasing the raw data, while respecting any privacy limitations, would allow developers to extract their own interpretations of that data and allow services to present it in creative ways.\n\n\n\nAt the very least, this data should be available to developers (even if it’s not public) to help them better track the trajectory of their plugins and the efficacy of their marketing efforts. More data can only serve to improve the WordPress ecosystem’s ability to continue powering a multi-billion dollar economy. There are undoubtedly many technical requirements for supporting the release of this data, and they need to be prioritized if WordPress.org is to continue attracting the best products for distribution.\n\n\n\n“This is not about vanity metrics or inflating numbers for marketing purposes,” Coleman said. “This is about getting valuable feedback on the relative use of a plugin hosted in the .org repository so developers can make informed decisions and investments in those plugins.”", "date_published": "2023-09-12T16:24:26-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-13T12:29:16-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/chart.jpeg", "tags": [ "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148690", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wordpress-training-team-seeks-community-feedback-on-learning-pathways", "title": "WordPress Training Team Seeks Community Feedback on Learning Pathways", "content_html": "\n

Earlier this year, the WordPress Training Team published the results from the Individual Learner Survey completed in 2022. The goal of the survey was to identify the most useful and high-impact resources and content for Learn.WordPress.org and guide the future development of this community learning tool.

\n\n\n\n

One of the main takeaways of this survey was the need for a clear, structured, and user-friendly approach to presenting Learn WordPress content. This need was also confirmed by feedback from WordCamp Europe Contributor Day attendees.

\n\n\n\n

As a result, the training team launched the Learning Pathways on Learn WordPress project in July of this year. The objective of this project is to create and launch progressive user-friendly learning pathways tailored to different types of Learners on Learn WordPress. The training team anticipates that this project will be a year-long effort, working collaboratively with multiple different teams, including the Meta and Marketing teams.\u00a0

\n\n\n\n

Since WordCamp Europe, the Training Team has started the process of drafting rough outlines for learning pathways intended for Users, Designers, and Developers.

\n\n\n\n

In August, Automattic-sponsored training team contributor Wes Theron published a post on the training team blog, asking for community feedback on the proposed learning pathways.\u00a0

\n\n\n\n

I asked Theron why he feels this project is so important, and what feedback he would like from the community:

\n\n\n\n
\n

The Learning Pathways project focuses on improving the educational experience on Learn WordPress by creating personalized learning journeys for various learner profiles. These tailored pathways aim to enhance the Learn WordPress platform’s effectiveness and user-friendliness.

\n\n\n\n

We have drafted the rough outlines for learning pathways intended for Users, Designers, and Developers. We’re excited to get the community’s thoughts and ideas to help shape them further before moving forward.

\n
\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Training Team has set the deadline for feedback for the 15th of September 2023. If you would like to review the proposed learning pathways and provide your feedback, you can do so from the Looking for feedback: Learning pathway outlines post on the Training Team blog.

\n", "content_text": "Earlier this year, the WordPress Training Team published the results from the Individual Learner Survey completed in 2022. The goal of the survey was to identify the most useful and high-impact resources and content for Learn.WordPress.org and guide the future development of this community learning tool.\n\n\n\nOne of the main takeaways of this survey was the need for a clear, structured, and user-friendly approach to presenting Learn WordPress content. This need was also confirmed by feedback from WordCamp Europe Contributor Day attendees.\n\n\n\nAs a result, the training team launched the Learning Pathways on Learn WordPress project in July of this year. The objective of this project is to create and launch progressive user-friendly learning pathways tailored to different types of Learners on Learn WordPress. The training team anticipates that this project will be a year-long effort, working collaboratively with multiple different teams, including the Meta and Marketing teams.\u00a0\n\n\n\nSince WordCamp Europe, the Training Team has started the process of drafting rough outlines for learning pathways intended for Users, Designers, and Developers.\n\n\n\nIn August, Automattic-sponsored training team contributor Wes Theron published a post on the training team blog, asking for community feedback on the proposed learning pathways.\u00a0\n\n\n\nI asked Theron why he feels this project is so important, and what feedback he would like from the community:\n\n\n\n\nThe Learning Pathways project focuses on improving the educational experience on Learn WordPress by creating personalized learning journeys for various learner profiles. These tailored pathways aim to enhance the Learn WordPress platform’s effectiveness and user-friendliness.\n\n\n\nWe have drafted the rough outlines for learning pathways intended for Users, Designers, and Developers. We’re excited to get the community’s thoughts and ideas to help shape them further before moving forward.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Training Team has set the deadline for feedback for the 15th of September 2023. If you would like to review the proposed learning pathways and provide your feedback, you can do so from the Looking for feedback: Learning pathway outlines post on the Training Team blog.", "date_published": "2023-09-11T23:24:54-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-11T23:24:55-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Jonathan Bossenger", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/jonathanbossenger", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4fd3f3bbf5f32f9e4738a00d58bdbc57?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Jonathan Bossenger", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/jonathanbossenger", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4fd3f3bbf5f32f9e4738a00d58bdbc57?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pathways.jpeg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148679", "url": "https://wptavern.com/10up-merges-with-fueled-backed-by-insignia-capital", "title": "10up Merges With Fueled, Backed by Insignia Capital", "content_html": "\n

10up, a leading development agency and contributor to the WordPress project, has merged with Fueled, a technology consultancy that specializes in mobile and web application development. Together, the companies now employ more than 400 full time team\u00a0members, forming a digital powerhouse with expanded market reach across mobile and publishing sectors.

\n\n\n\n

“Fueled has built stand out iOS and Android apps \u2013\u00a0several of which I\u2019ve personally used \u2013 for clients like\u00a0Warby Parker,\u00a0Verizon, the United Nations, and even Apple themselves,” 10up President Jake Goldman said. “Just as 10up has\u00a0built some great mobile applications, Fueled has executed notable works in the web application space for clients like\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0and\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0\u2013 but content management systems and editorial experience has never been a core focus and strength. Until\u00a0now.”

\n\n\n\n

The merger transaction was made possible by investment from\u00a0Insignia Capital, a firm that previously invested in Fueled. Insignia has made Fueled’s merger with 10up its first major growth investment, paying to restructure the companies’ ownership model. All parties invested in the merger hold meaningful shares, with none of them holding a majority share.

\n\n\n\n

Goldman said 10up owners rolled over meaningful equity into the joint business, “but there was also a very healthy purchase of 10up equity to make this possible.”

\n\n\n\n

10up’s announcement hinted at more acquisitions in the newly combined companies’ future.

\n\n\n\n

“Insignia brings a whole new class of financial and investment capabilities to 10up and Fueled, with an appetite for responsibly paced growth through acquisition,” Goldman said. “They don\u2019t just bring capital \u2013 they also bring expertise and impressive\u00a0connections.”

\n\n\n\n

He further elaborated on their acquisition strategy as seeking to expand their combined capabilities “to compete with the biggest digital transformation agencies:”

\n\n\n\n
\n

In the broadest of terms, I think that we\u2019re pretty open minded to what we find in the market, but opportunities that meaningfully expand what we can offer – shoring up weaker spots in our capabilities – are going to be the most attractive. As examples, while we\u2019ve each done CRM and CDP integration work and strategy, I\u2019d imagine a first rate CRM and/or CDP consultancy with some great case studies and clients would be the kind of opportunity that would be particularly interesting.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Open Source Contribution Will Continue To Be a Priority at 10up

\n\n\n\n

Nearly 12 years after Goldman started 10up with what he said was “a small personal savings account and the sweat equity of more than a decade making websites and other media,” he is no longer the sole leader of the organization and will take on the role of Partner in the merged companies. Integral to the success of 10up, which Goldman has scaled to $40M+ in annual revenue, is its consistent commitment to supporting the open source ecosystem from which it has derived millions of dollars in value. Fueled acknowledged this in its announcement about the merger:

\n\n\n\n
\n

10up has long held a commitment to the open web, and open source contributions as a core value. This will remain a priority, especially towards the WordPress community, and will be further strengthened by the additional market reach gained from the merger.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Fueled shares this same ethos, which they intend to continue cultivating following the merger.

\n\n\n\n

“Fueled has always been supportive of open source, even if their part of the market (mobile apps) hasn’t embraced that model in the way web CMS has,” Goldman said. “They have open sourced projects (in fact, we incidentally found that we were using one!), and, like 10up, have fully embraced and focused on open technology solutions like NodeJS and React for web applications.”

\n\n\n\n

For the most recent WordPress 6.3 release, 10up had the second most contributions by company, with 290 contributions from 16 people, superseded only by Automattic, which boasts 83 contributors.

\n\n\n\n

\u00a0

\n\n\n\n
\"\"/
image credit: WordPress 6.3 contribution stats
\n\n\n\n

10up has consistently been among the top contributors to the software, which has been essential to the world-class publishing experiences the company has built for its clients.

\n\n\n\n

“That commitment to giving back to the web, making sure there’s a ladder for the next generation of developers to climb, and helping open technologies thrive remains with us,” Goldman said. “Our new business partners understand that this is deeply intertwined with 10up’s identity, and perhaps more importantly, our\u00a0success. It’s not\u00a0just\u00a0a generosity thing \u2013 it’s also good business.

\n\n\n\n

“Merging with and investing in 10up would be pretty foolish if you aren’t comfortable with the tools and platforms we use and prefer, most especially the web’s most popular open source CMS, and you can bet that being comfortable with that, and researching that question, was essential to their comfort with merging. In many ways, that’s a validation for WordPress.”

\n\n\n\n

10up and Fueled Will Gradually Merge Services and Administration, Pursuing Large Scale Digital Transformation Clients

\n\n\n\n

10up and Fueled will largely operate as two companies and close partners for the time being, sharing leads and pursuing customer growth together. Goldman said the vision is not to simply have web publishing/WordPress customers and separate mobile app customers but rather to go after large scale digital transformation projects.

\n\n\n\n

“That means having a fully integrated way to deliver everything from the mobile apps, to the website and CMS, to advanced e-commerce and CRM integrations (even if we may only provide one of those services to some clients),” he said. “That means we’re not just operating as separate companies in the\u00a0future, but truly merging and unifying our companies from leadership and sales on down through project and product management, user research and design, and engineering delivery.”

\n\n\n\n

Given that both brands hold considerable weight and influence in their respective markets, Goldman said they agreed “it would be incredibly foolish to discount that and rush to a single brand.” Instead, they plan to explore how the companies can work together.

\n\n\n\n

“We honestly don’t know where we’ll land on the external brand question, and didn’t think it was fundamental to the question of merging,” Goldman said. “We’ll be exploring and researching that question together, and any change would, again, be gradual and planned.

\n\n\n\n

“We all similarly agree that when we think out into the future, whether that’s 12 or 24 months from now (probably something in between), that we probably don’t want two separate, external, top line company brands competing for attention and oxygen in the space, to say nothing of competing for internal focus and resources.”

\n\n\n\n

He said that could play out in a number of ways, and may be a data driven decision. For example, 10up could evolve to be the brand name for the WordPress engineering services team or the company’s open source and productized solutions. Nothing has been predetermined about the branding.

\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, it appears to that the combination of companies will be a more gradual merging of services and administration.

\n\n\n\n

“In the mid term, maybe the next year, we want to focus on building a highly collaborative world class sales and growth operation, unifying back office (benefits management, financial operations, recruiting ops, etc), and looking at where some of our smaller capabilities and disciplines that aren’t very specific to 10up or Fueled delivery might benefit from joining forces and achieving some economy of scale,” Goldman said.

\n", "content_text": "10up, a leading development agency and contributor to the WordPress project, has merged with Fueled, a technology consultancy that specializes in mobile and web application development. Together, the companies now employ more than 400 full time team\u00a0members, forming a digital powerhouse with expanded market reach across mobile and publishing sectors.\n\n\n\n“Fueled has built stand out iOS and Android apps \u2013\u00a0several of which I\u2019ve personally used \u2013 for clients like\u00a0Warby Parker,\u00a0Verizon, the United Nations, and even Apple themselves,” 10up President Jake Goldman said. “Just as 10up has\u00a0built some great mobile applications, Fueled has executed notable works in the web application space for clients like\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0and\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0\u2013 but content management systems and editorial experience has never been a core focus and strength. Until\u00a0now.”\n\n\n\nThe merger transaction was made possible by investment from\u00a0Insignia Capital, a firm that previously invested in Fueled. Insignia has made Fueled’s merger with 10up its first major growth investment, paying to restructure the companies’ ownership model. All parties invested in the merger hold meaningful shares, with none of them holding a majority share.\n\n\n\nGoldman said 10up owners rolled over meaningful equity into the joint business, “but there was also a very healthy purchase of 10up equity to make this possible.”\n\n\n\n10up’s announcement hinted at more acquisitions in the newly combined companies’ future.\n\n\n\n“Insignia brings a whole new class of financial and investment capabilities to 10up and Fueled, with an appetite for responsibly paced growth through acquisition,” Goldman said. “They don\u2019t just bring capital \u2013 they also bring expertise and impressive\u00a0connections.”\n\n\n\nHe further elaborated on their acquisition strategy as seeking to expand their combined capabilities “to compete with the biggest digital transformation agencies:”\n\n\n\n\nIn the broadest of terms, I think that we\u2019re pretty open minded to what we find in the market, but opportunities that meaningfully expand what we can offer – shoring up weaker spots in our capabilities – are going to be the most attractive. As examples, while we\u2019ve each done CRM and CDP integration work and strategy, I\u2019d imagine a first rate CRM and/or CDP consultancy with some great case studies and clients would be the kind of opportunity that would be particularly interesting.\n\n\n\n\nOpen Source Contribution Will Continue To Be a Priority at 10up\n\n\n\nNearly 12 years after Goldman started 10up with what he said was “a small personal savings account and the sweat equity of more than a decade making websites and other media,” he is no longer the sole leader of the organization and will take on the role of Partner in the merged companies. Integral to the success of 10up, which Goldman has scaled to $40M+ in annual revenue, is its consistent commitment to supporting the open source ecosystem from which it has derived millions of dollars in value. Fueled acknowledged this in its announcement about the merger:\n\n\n\n\n10up has long held a commitment to the open web, and open source contributions as a core value. This will remain a priority, especially towards the WordPress community, and will be further strengthened by the additional market reach gained from the merger.\n\n\n\n\nFueled shares this same ethos, which they intend to continue cultivating following the merger.\n\n\n\n“Fueled has always been supportive of open source, even if their part of the market (mobile apps) hasn’t embraced that model in the way web CMS has,” Goldman said. “They have open sourced projects (in fact, we incidentally found that we were using one!), and, like 10up, have fully embraced and focused on open technology solutions like NodeJS and React for web applications.”\n\n\n\nFor the most recent WordPress 6.3 release, 10up had the second most contributions by company, with 290 contributions from 16 people, superseded only by Automattic, which boasts 83 contributors. \n\n\n\n\u00a0\n\n\n\nimage credit: WordPress 6.3 contribution stats\n\n\n\n10up has consistently been among the top contributors to the software, which has been essential to the world-class publishing experiences the company has built for its clients.\n\n\n\n“That commitment to giving back to the web, making sure there’s a ladder for the next generation of developers to climb, and helping open technologies thrive remains with us,” Goldman said. “Our new business partners understand that this is deeply intertwined with 10up’s identity, and perhaps more importantly, our\u00a0success. It’s not\u00a0just\u00a0a generosity thing \u2013 it’s also good business.\n\n\n\n“Merging with and investing in 10up would be pretty foolish if you aren’t comfortable with the tools and platforms we use and prefer, most especially the web’s most popular open source CMS, and you can bet that being comfortable with that, and researching that question, was essential to their comfort with merging. In many ways, that’s a validation for WordPress.”\n\n\n\n10up and Fueled Will Gradually Merge Services and Administration, Pursuing Large Scale Digital Transformation Clients\n\n\n\n10up and Fueled will largely operate as two companies and close partners for the time being, sharing leads and pursuing customer growth together. Goldman said the vision is not to simply have web publishing/WordPress customers and separate mobile app customers but rather to go after large scale digital transformation projects.\n\n\n\n“That means having a fully integrated way to deliver everything from the mobile apps, to the website and CMS, to advanced e-commerce and CRM integrations (even if we may only provide one of those services to some clients),” he said. “That means we’re not just operating as separate companies in the\u00a0future, but truly merging and unifying our companies from leadership and sales on down through project and product management, user research and design, and engineering delivery.”\n\n\n\nGiven that both brands hold considerable weight and influence in their respective markets, Goldman said they agreed “it would be incredibly foolish to discount that and rush to a single brand.” Instead, they plan to explore how the companies can work together.\n\n\n\n“We honestly don’t know where we’ll land on the external brand question, and didn’t think it was fundamental to the question of merging,” Goldman said. “We’ll be exploring and researching that question together, and any change would, again, be gradual and planned.\n\n\n\n“We all similarly agree that when we think out into the future, whether that’s 12 or 24 months from now (probably something in between), that we probably don’t want two separate, external, top line company brands competing for attention and oxygen in the space, to say nothing of competing for internal focus and resources.”\n\n\n\nHe said that could play out in a number of ways, and may be a data driven decision. For example, 10up could evolve to be the brand name for the WordPress engineering services team or the company’s open source and productized solutions. Nothing has been predetermined about the branding.\n\n\n\nIn the meantime, it appears to that the combination of companies will be a more gradual merging of services and administration.\n\n\n\n“In the mid term, maybe the next year, we want to focus on building a highly collaborative world class sales and growth operation, unifying back office (benefits management, financial operations, recruiting ops, etc), and looking at where some of our smaller capabilities and disciplines that aren’t very specific to 10up or Fueled delivery might benefit from joining forces and achieving some economy of scale,” Goldman said.", "date_published": "2023-09-11T17:12:15-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-11T17:12:17-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/10up-logo.png", "tags": [ "10up", "open source", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148596", "url": "https://wptavern.com/wp-includes-launches-women-in-wordpress-mentorship-program", "title": "WP Includes Launches Women in WordPress Mentorship Program", "content_html": "\n
\"\"
photo credit: Brodie Vissers
\n\n\n\n

WP Includes is a new initiative that launched this week with the goal of improving equal representation of women at global WordPress companies. It was founded by Human Made\u00a0COO\u00a0Siobhan McKeown\u00a0and\u00a0XWP\u00a0Director of Engineering\u00a0Francesca Marano.

\n\n\n\n

“I’ve been in WordPress a long time and I’ve met a lot of talented women but not enough in leadership roles. It’s time to change that,” McKeown said.

\n\n\n\n

The website states the founders’ mission in launching the initiative:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Disappointed by the lack of representation of women in leadership roles at companies in the WordPress ecosystem we\u2019ve decided to do something about it.

\n\n\n\n

We want to drastically increase representation of women in leadership roles at WordPress companies. We will do this by mentoring and supporting women to take the next step in their careers.

\n
\n\n\n\n

WP Includes is recruiting women leaders who are C-Level or Directors
at a WordPress company to volunteer as mentors and build a supportive network of mentees.

\n\n\n\n

The mentorship program lasts five months and calls for mentees/mentors goes out twice a year in September and March. Mentors commit to meet with mentees for a 1:1 on a regular basis and support them in achieving their goals. Mentee applicants are required to be working at a business in the WordPress ecosystem and actively developing their careers.

\n\n\n\n

WP Includes is accepting sponsorships from companies with some rigorous requirements:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Supporting organizations can also contribute by sharing open roles within the network and by providing mentorship to future leaders who may potentially be considered for leadership roles in the sponsoring organizations. This is effectively changing representation from the inside out with cooperating organizations contributing to the cultivation of the leaders they need in order to purse more diverse leadership teams.

\n\n\n\n

Prospective mentees, mentors, and sponsors can apply on the WP Includes website.

\n", "content_text": "photo credit: Brodie Vissers\n\n\n\nWP Includes is a new initiative that launched this week with the goal of improving equal representation of women at global WordPress companies. It was founded by Human Made\u00a0COO\u00a0Siobhan McKeown\u00a0and\u00a0XWP\u00a0Director of Engineering\u00a0Francesca Marano.\n\n\n\n“I’ve been in WordPress a long time and I’ve met a lot of talented women but not enough in leadership roles. It’s time to change that,” McKeown said.\n\n\n\nThe website states the founders’ mission in launching the initiative:\n\n\n\n\nDisappointed by the lack of representation of women in leadership roles at companies in the WordPress ecosystem we\u2019ve decided to do something about it.\n\n\n\nWe want to drastically increase representation of women in leadership roles at WordPress companies. We will do this by mentoring and supporting women to take the next step in their careers.\n\n\n\n\nWP Includes is recruiting women leaders who are C-Level or Directors at a WordPress company to volunteer as mentors and build a supportive network of mentees.\n\n\n\nThe mentorship program lasts five months and calls for mentees/mentors goes out twice a year in September and March. Mentors commit to meet with mentees for a 1:1 on a regular basis and support them in achieving their goals. Mentee applicants are required to be working at a business in the WordPress ecosystem and actively developing their careers.\n\n\n\nWP Includes is accepting sponsorships from companies with some rigorous requirements:\n\n\n\n\nAcknowledge gender disparity and a lack of representation in your organization, wherever it exists.\n\n\n\nProactively address gender disparity in your leadership and executive roles.\n\n\n\nWhen senior roles become available, actively seek to place women within those roles.\n\n\n\nSupport women within their career in your organization, working to ensure that any gender-related barriers are removed.\n\n\n\nCreate opportunities to showcase women leaders in your organisation so that they can act as role models for future leaders.\n\n\n\n\nSupporting organizations can also contribute by sharing open roles within the network and by providing mentorship to future leaders who may potentially be considered for leadership roles in the sponsoring organizations. This is effectively changing representation from the inside out with cooperating organizations contributing to the cultivation of the leaders they need in order to purse more diverse leadership teams.\n\n\n\nProspective mentees, mentors, and sponsors can apply on the WP Includes website.", "date_published": "2023-09-08T22:31:25-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-22T22:37:07-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/women-working.jpeg", "tags": [ "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148573", "url": "https://wptavern.com/acfs-2023-annual-survey-results-reinforce-plugins-focus-on-improving-the-block-building-experience", "title": "ACF\u2019s 2023 Annual Survey Results Reinforce Plugin\u2019s Focus on Improving the Block Building Experience", "content_html": "\n

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), one of the plugins WP Engine\u00a0acquired from Delicious Brains\u00a0in 2022, has published the results if its first annual survey. Although ACF reports more than 4.5 million active users, including PRO site installs, the survey only gathered feedback from 2,031 respondents.

\n\n\n\n

These results are more representative of the plugin’s developer community, as 81% of respondents are developers who maintain between 11-50 websites. 63% use version control for their codebase, and 27% manage dependencies with Composer.

\n\n\n\n

The survey showed that ACF is still an important tool for its early adopters, as 50% said they have been using it since its early days and 70% of all respondents use the plugin on all the websites they build.

\n\n\n\n

When asked what type of sites they are building, respondents had the option to choose multiple answers. Sites using Classic WordPress themes are the most popular followed by Hybrid themes, Block themes, and page builders. Surveying those who use the block editor, 56% report that they build blocks using ACF blocks.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

“It was cool to see the strong representation of hybrid and block themes,” WP Engine Product Marketing Manager Rob Stinson said. “It shows us that there is growing adoption of the modern WP editor experience amongst the PHP friendly crowd that is the ACF user base.

\n\n\n\n

“We had this scoped for upcoming releases anyway, but it reinforces our focus on improving the block building experience in ACF.”

\n\n\n\n

Among those ACF users building sites with page builders, the most popular selections include Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, and WPBakery Page Builder. Naturally, ACF Extended is the most popular extension used with ACF, followed by Gravity Forms, Yoast SEO, and ACF Better Search.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Respondents demonstrated high confidence in those maintaining the plugin, as 98% of them are comfortable updating ACF to the latest version. They are also confident in continuing to build on top of WordPress, as 91% of survey participants said they are likely to continue with the platform. For a more detailed look at the questions and responses, check out the 2023 annual survey results on the ACF website.

\n", "content_text": "Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), one of the plugins WP Engine\u00a0acquired from Delicious Brains\u00a0in 2022, has published the results if its first annual survey. Although ACF reports more than 4.5 million active users, including PRO site installs, the survey only gathered feedback from 2,031 respondents. \n\n\n\nThese results are more representative of the plugin’s developer community, as 81% of respondents are developers who maintain between 11-50 websites. 63% use version control for their codebase, and 27% manage dependencies with Composer.\n\n\n\nThe survey showed that ACF is still an important tool for its early adopters, as 50% said they have been using it since its early days and 70% of all respondents use the plugin on all the websites they build.\n\n\n\nWhen asked what type of sites they are building, respondents had the option to choose multiple answers. Sites using Classic WordPress themes are the most popular followed by Hybrid themes, Block themes, and page builders. Surveying those who use the block editor, 56% report that they build blocks using ACF blocks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“It was cool to see the strong representation of hybrid and block themes,” WP Engine Product Marketing Manager Rob Stinson said. “It shows us that there is growing adoption of the modern WP editor experience amongst the PHP friendly crowd that is the ACF user base. \n\n\n\n“We had this scoped for upcoming releases anyway, but it reinforces our focus on improving the block building experience in ACF.”\n\n\n\nAmong those ACF users building sites with page builders, the most popular selections include Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, and WPBakery Page Builder. Naturally, ACF Extended is the most popular extension used with ACF, followed by Gravity Forms, Yoast SEO, and ACF Better Search.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRespondents demonstrated high confidence in those maintaining the plugin, as 98% of them are comfortable updating ACF to the latest version. They are also confident in continuing to build on top of WordPress, as 91% of survey participants said they are likely to continue with the platform. For a more detailed look at the questions and responses, check out the 2023 annual survey results on the ACF website.", "date_published": "2023-09-08T13:27:52-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-08T13:27:54-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ACF-logo.jpg", "tags": [ "acf", "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148577", "url": "https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-16-6-introduces-block-hooks-improvements-to-toolbars-on-nested-blocks", "title": "Gutenberg 16.6 Introduces Block Hooks, Improvements to Toolbars on Nested Blocks", "content_html": "\n

Gutenberg 16.6 is available with progress on a feature that was formerly called auto-inserting blocks but has now been renamed to block hooks.

\n\n\n\n

In a previous release (16.4), Gutenberg introduced auto-inserting blocks as an experimental feature that allows plugin developers to specify a location in which the block will be automatically inserted, such as before or after a template. Users can then reposition the blocks after insertion using the editor tools.

\n\n\n\n

Gutenberg lead architect Matias Ventura proposed renaming the feature to block hooks to help developers understand how they work.

\n\n\n\n

“I’ve seen anecdotal feedback that\u00a0autoInsert\u00a0is not the clearest of descriptions,” Ventura said. “I’d like to propose renaming to the more familiar\u00a0hooks\u00a0terminology\u2014and ‘block hooks’ in more general terms\u2014to help folks understand the mechanics and purpose more rapidly.”

\n\n\n\n

This release also adds an inspector panel for block hooks, tentatively named “Plugins,” that displays blocks available for auto-insertion. It includes toggles to insert or remove them. The updated version of the feature also includes block icons (not shown below) to help differentiate the toggles.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
image source: Gutenberg repository PR #52969
\n\n\n\n

Gutenberg 16.6 brings improvements to toolbars on nested blocks, where the toolbar now stays attached to the parent block. This change is part of a broader effort to improve nested block experiences. Previously, the toolbar would move around when clicking inside the nested blocks, but this change makes it stay in place for a less chaotic editing experience. The updated toolbar behavior has been rolled out to Navigation, List, and Quote blocks so far.

\n\n\n\n
video credit: Gutenberg GitHub repository PR #53699
\n\n\n\n

This release includes a new keyboard shortcut for duplicating blocks within the List View: (CMD+Shift+d). It enables users to do more from the keyboard while navigating around the List View, instead of having to jump back into the block settings menu or editor canvas. Users can now click twice on the selected (or focused) block or multiple blocks to quickly duplicate them all in one go.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
video credit: Gutenberg GitHub repository PR #53559
\n\n\n\n

These highlighted features and more will be landing in the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release. Check out the Gutenberg 16.6 release post for the full list of new features, enhancements, bug fixes, and improvements to performance and code quality.

\n", "content_text": "Gutenberg 16.6 is available with progress on a feature that was formerly called auto-inserting blocks but has now been renamed to block hooks. \n\n\n\nIn a previous release (16.4), Gutenberg introduced auto-inserting blocks as an experimental feature that allows plugin developers to specify a location in which the block will be automatically inserted, such as before or after a template. Users can then reposition the blocks after insertion using the editor tools.\n\n\n\nGutenberg lead architect Matias Ventura proposed renaming the feature to block hooks to help developers understand how they work. \n\n\n\n“I’ve seen anecdotal feedback that\u00a0autoInsert\u00a0is not the clearest of descriptions,” Ventura said. “I’d like to propose renaming to the more familiar\u00a0hooks\u00a0terminology\u2014and ‘block hooks’ in more general terms\u2014to help folks understand the mechanics and purpose more rapidly.”\n\n\n\nThis release also adds an inspector panel for block hooks, tentatively named “Plugins,” that displays blocks available for auto-insertion. It includes toggles to insert or remove them. The updated version of the feature also includes block icons (not shown below) to help differentiate the toggles. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nimage source: Gutenberg repository PR #52969\n\n\n\nGutenberg 16.6 brings improvements to toolbars on nested blocks, where the toolbar now stays attached to the parent block. This change is part of a broader effort to improve nested block experiences. Previously, the toolbar would move around when clicking inside the nested blocks, but this change makes it stay in place for a less chaotic editing experience. The updated toolbar behavior has been rolled out to Navigation, List, and Quote blocks so far.\n\n\n\nvideo credit: Gutenberg GitHub repository PR #53699\n\n\n\nThis release includes a new keyboard shortcut for duplicating blocks within the List View: (CMD+Shift+d). It enables users to do more from the keyboard while navigating around the List View, instead of having to jump back into the block settings menu or editor canvas. Users can now click twice on the selected (or focused) block or multiple blocks to quickly duplicate them all in one go.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nvideo credit: Gutenberg GitHub repository PR #53559\n\n\n\nThese highlighted features and more will be landing in the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release. Check out the Gutenberg 16.6 release post for the full list of new features, enhancements, bug fixes, and improvements to performance and code quality.", "date_published": "2023-09-07T22:59:03-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-07T22:59:50-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/324623728b0e5ab87.20316826-2048x1152-1.jpeg", "tags": [ "News" ], "attachments": [ { "url": "https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/260811408-8ad934d1-043c-4c04-bc13-9bb2256bde6a.mp4", "mime_type": "video/mp4", "size_in_bytes": 689449 }, { "url": "https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/260364980-c37919e5-3b86-4ffe-8039-58d2ae590ed5.mp4", "mime_type": "video/mp4", "size_in_bytes": 1269942 } ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148575", "url": "https://wptavern.com/godaddy-retires-media-temple-brand", "title": "GoDaddy Retires Media Temple Brand", "content_html": "\n

Media Temple (MT) is closing its doors after 24 years in the hosting industry, with the brand now retired and customers fully migrated to GoDaddy. In 2013, GoDaddy acquired MT “to win the hearts and minds of developers,” as then-CEO Blake Irving told VentureBeat at the time. When it was purchased, the highly regarded brand was focusing on advanced technical services\u00a0that GoDaddy had not yet adapted, and the plan was to have MT operate independently with no changes for employees or customers.

\n\n\n\n
\n

Thanks for allowing us to serve you for 24 years. The time has come to say goodbye. We will miss you. Keep building amazing things!

— Media Temple (@mediatemple) September 5, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

The year following the acquisition, Media Temple launched its managed WordPress hosting product, joining the ranks of Flywheel, Page.ly, WordPress.com, WP Engine, and a handful of other companies that were working to elevate the hosting experience for WordPress users.

\n\n\n\n

In December 2022, MT announced it would be retiring the Media Temple brand and transitioning accounts to GoDaddy, while subtly acknowledging the sentimental place MT holds in many of its customers’ hearts:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Since joining GoDaddy, we worked hand-in-hand with them to incorporate the best of Media Temple into offerings, including improving GoDaddy\u2019s customer experience and leveraging Media Temple\u2019s unique expertise on what it truly means to run a world-class hosting organization. If you closely examine GoDaddy\u2019s hosting offerings, you will find Media Temple\u2019s fingerprints all around. From specialized teams who deal with complex hosting issues to programs like GoDaddy Pro specifically targeting creatives, Media Temple made its mark on GoDaddy.

\n
\n\n\n\n

Fans bid the brand farewell on Twitter, as its retirement marks the end of a chapter in web hosting history.

\n\n\n\n
\n

Basically the entire design community was sponsored by Media Temple back in the day.

I can\u2019t imagine a more omnipresent brand at the time. https://t.co/mmhdxEIHVy

— Josh Pigford (@Shpigford) September 6, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

When I got started circa 2003, it felt like every respected web designer was hosted by Media Temple.

They made being hosted by them feel cooler (really) than anywhere else. Geniuses.

I was a (mt) customer from 2007\u20132020 until @laravelforge made deploying magnitudes easier. https://t.co/HyhBxz5PZs

— Brendan Falkowski (@Falkowski) September 6, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

Woah. Somehow Media Temple always seemed so cool, the first \u201caspirational\u201d software in a way, where you\u2019d move when your blog was successful.

End of an era. https://t.co/tJobBqEPQf

— Matthew Guay (@maguay) September 6, 2023
\n
\n\n\n\n

In February 2023, Media Temple began migrating accounts to GoDaddy, with no action required from customers. Many of the products and services were already fulfilled through GoDaddy, decreasing the number needing to be migrated.

\n\n\n\n

Now that the process is complete, the brand will discontinue operations and move current resources into supporting customers inside GoDaddy. The company assured former MT customers that they will retain their current products and pricing for equivalent products with access to more tools.

\n", "content_text": "Media Temple (MT) is closing its doors after 24 years in the hosting industry, with the brand now retired and customers fully migrated to GoDaddy. In 2013, GoDaddy acquired MT “to win the hearts and minds of developers,” as then-CEO Blake Irving told VentureBeat at the time. When it was purchased, the highly regarded brand was focusing on advanced technical services\u00a0that GoDaddy had not yet adapted, and the plan was to have MT operate independently with no changes for employees or customers.\n\n\n\n\nThanks for allowing us to serve you for 24 years. The time has come to say goodbye. We will miss you. Keep building amazing things!— Media Temple (@mediatemple) September 5, 2023\n\n\n\n\nThe year following the acquisition, Media Temple launched its managed WordPress hosting product, joining the ranks of Flywheel, Page.ly, WordPress.com, WP Engine, and a handful of other companies that were working to elevate the hosting experience for WordPress users.\n\n\n\nIn December 2022, MT announced it would be retiring the Media Temple brand and transitioning accounts to GoDaddy, while subtly acknowledging the sentimental place MT holds in many of its customers’ hearts:\n\n\n\n\nSince joining GoDaddy, we worked hand-in-hand with them to incorporate the best of Media Temple into offerings, including improving GoDaddy\u2019s customer experience and leveraging Media Temple\u2019s unique expertise on what it truly means to run a world-class hosting organization. If you closely examine GoDaddy\u2019s hosting offerings, you will find Media Temple\u2019s fingerprints all around. From specialized teams who deal with complex hosting issues to programs like GoDaddy Pro specifically targeting creatives, Media Temple made its mark on GoDaddy.\n\n\n\n\nFans bid the brand farewell on Twitter, as its retirement marks the end of a chapter in web hosting history.\n\n\n\n\nBasically the entire design community was sponsored by Media Temple back in the day.I can\u2019t imagine a more omnipresent brand at the time. https://t.co/mmhdxEIHVy— Josh Pigford (@Shpigford) September 6, 2023\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen I got started circa 2003, it felt like every respected web designer was hosted by Media Temple.They made being hosted by them feel cooler (really) than anywhere else. Geniuses.I was a (mt) customer from 2007\u20132020 until @laravelforge made deploying magnitudes easier. https://t.co/HyhBxz5PZs— Brendan Falkowski (@Falkowski) September 6, 2023\n\n\n\n\n\nWoah. Somehow Media Temple always seemed so cool, the first \u201caspirational\u201d software in a way, where you\u2019d move when your blog was successful.End of an era. https://t.co/tJobBqEPQf— Matthew Guay (@maguay) September 6, 2023\n\n\n\n\nIn February 2023, Media Temple began migrating accounts to GoDaddy, with no action required from customers. Many of the products and services were already fulfilled through GoDaddy, decreasing the number needing to be migrated. \n\n\n\nNow that the process is complete, the brand will discontinue operations and move current resources into supporting customers inside GoDaddy. The company assured former MT customers that they will retain their current products and pricing for equivalent products with access to more tools.", "date_published": "2023-09-06T23:36:11-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-06T23:36:13-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-06-at-11.28.35-PM.png", "tags": [ "hosting", "media temple", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148515", "url": "https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-blocks-11-0-0-adds-product-collection-block-in-beta-10-9-0-integrates-product-button-with-the-interactivity-api", "title": "WooCommerce Blocks 11.0.0 Adds Product Collection Block in Beta, 10.9.0 Integrates Product Button with\u00a0the\u00a0Interactivity API", "content_html": "\n

WooCommerce is experimenting with improving the store experience through the addition of the Interactivity API to the WooCommerce Blocks plugin. The new API, which was announced earlier this year, will allow developers to build interactive blocks that support frontend experiences where visitors can interact with content without having to refresh the page. The WordPress contributors working on the API are encouraging developers to test it with their own blocks.

\n\n\n\n

WooCommerce Blocks 10.9.0, released in mid-August, integrated the Product Button with the Interactivity API to support real-time counter updates for the mini-cart, smoother animations, and better transitions from \u2018Add to Cart\u2019 to \u2018Loading\u2019 status to show the quantity in the cart when a product is added.

\n\n\n\n
WooCommerce Blocks PR #10006
\n\n\n\n

The difference is subtle but creates a much smoother shopping experience with nearly instantaneous feedback for the user. Contributors are also exploring how the Interactivity API can be used to improve frontend filters, including the rating, price, stock, and attributes filters. The API will eventually land in Gutenberg and WordPress in the future, but in the meantime WooCommerce is experimenting to see how the plugin’s blocks can benefit from it.

\n\n\n\n

Version 11.0.0 was released last week introducing the new Product Collection block in beta:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Like the Products block, you can choose what criteria affect the list of blocks displayed to shoppers and control the product layout in the list/grid by the various element blocks.

\n\n\n\n

Unlike the Products block, which is a\u00a0Query\u00a0loop block variation, this block is a standalone block, enabling us to tailor the block further to better meet the\u00a0merchant\u2019s needs.

\n
\n\n\n\n

The Product Collection block is very similar to the Products block from which it was forked, except it is not built as a variation of the Query Loop. It comes with improvements around Inspector controls as compared to the current Products block, as well as a basic set of patterns. The block already has the Interactivity API integrated for the same improved frontend performance.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Product Collection block – image source: WooCommerce Blocks 11.0.0 release post
\n\n\n\n

Version 11.0.0 also enables manual migration of Products to Product Collection. An upgrade notice will appear in the Inspector Controls, informing users that they will get more features with the Product Collection block:

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

As the Product Collection block is still in beta, WooCommerce Blocks has not yet changed existing templates that have Product blocks. The development team is looking for more feedback on this block before moving it out of beta. Check out the release post for more enhancements and bug fixes.

\n", "content_text": "WooCommerce is experimenting with improving the store experience through the addition of the Interactivity API to the WooCommerce Blocks plugin. The new API, which was announced earlier this year, will allow developers to build interactive blocks that support frontend experiences where visitors can interact with content without having to refresh the page. The WordPress contributors working on the API are encouraging developers to test it with their own blocks.\n\n\n\nWooCommerce Blocks 10.9.0, released in mid-August, integrated the Product Button with the Interactivity API to support real-time counter updates for the mini-cart, smoother animations, and better transitions from \u2018Add to Cart\u2019 to \u2018Loading\u2019 status to show the quantity in the cart when a product is added. \n\n\n\nWooCommerce Blocks PR #10006\n\n\n\nThe difference is subtle but creates a much smoother shopping experience with nearly instantaneous feedback for the user. Contributors are also exploring how the Interactivity API can be used to improve frontend filters, including the rating, price, stock, and attributes filters. The API will eventually land in Gutenberg and WordPress in the future, but in the meantime WooCommerce is experimenting to see how the plugin’s blocks can benefit from it.\n\n\n\nVersion 11.0.0 was released last week introducing the new Product Collection block in beta:\n\n\n\n\nLike the Products block, you can choose what criteria affect the list of blocks displayed to shoppers and control the product layout in the list/grid by the various element blocks.\n\n\n\nUnlike the Products block, which is a\u00a0Query\u00a0loop block variation, this block is a standalone block, enabling us to tailor the block further to better meet the\u00a0merchant\u2019s needs.\n\n\n\n\nThe Product Collection block is very similar to the Products block from which it was forked, except it is not built as a variation of the Query Loop. It comes with improvements around Inspector controls as compared to the current Products block, as well as a basic set of patterns. The block already has the Interactivity API integrated for the same improved frontend performance.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProduct Collection block – image source: WooCommerce Blocks 11.0.0 release post\n\n\n\nVersion 11.0.0 also enables manual migration of Products to Product Collection. An upgrade notice will appear in the Inspector Controls, informing users that they will get more features with the Product Collection block:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs the Product Collection block is still in beta, WooCommerce Blocks has not yet changed existing templates that have Product blocks. The development team is looking for more feedback on this block before moving it out of beta. Check out the release post for more enhancements and bug fixes.", "date_published": "2023-09-05T23:59:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-05T23:59:24-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/product-collection.webp", "tags": [ "woocommerce", "E-Commerce", "News" ], "attachments": [ { "url": "https://wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/256799240-f8b16c63-49a7-4448-8553-3c81b8d85844.mp4", "mime_type": "video/mp4", "size_in_bytes": 181393 } ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148507", "url": "https://wptavern.com/human-made-to-host-ai-the-next-chapter-virtual-conference-on-september-14-2023", "title": "Human Made to Host \u201cAI: The Next Chapter\u201d Virtual Conference on September 14, 2023", "content_html": "\n

Human Made, a leading enterprise WordPress agency, is organizing a followup event to the community’s first ever AI for WordPress virtual conference that it hosted in May 2023. The second edition is called “AI: The Next Chapter” and will take place online on September 14, 2023, at 10AM EST.

\n\n\n\n

The first event had 13 speakers and drew more than 600 attendees. It focused on WordPress and AI tools that people are building with the emerging technology. (Videos of all the sessions are available on YouTube.) This next edition will explore some of the wider societal, ethical, and tech issues related to the subject.

\n\n\n\n

The keynote and intro will feature Matt Mullenweg on “AI and the future of WordPress,” along with Human Made CEO Tom Willmot. Dr. Eleanor Drage, a senior research fellow at the University of Cambridge and co-host of The Good Robot podcast, will be speaking about AI and gender. Open source LLM researchers from Georgian will also join for a panel discussion on why they believe open source AI is the best way for companies to leverage this technology.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Registration is free and participants can sign up on the event’s website. A confirmation email is sent out to registrants and more information will follow via email.

\n\n\n\n

Human Made has developed a keen interest in fostering exploratory dialogue through these events, as the company is working on AI products and custom implementations for clients. At the first event, the agency showcased some early work in the Altis Accelerate plugin and have been working with clients to determine how AI can augment existing marketing and editorial workflows.

\n\n\n\n

“The progress and innovation we\u2019re seeing in AI is so rapid at the moment that it kind of demands you stay close to it, keep following what\u2019s happening, and keep learning,” Human Made Marketing Director Alex Aspinall said. “AI is one of our core areas of focus, across all parts of the business, so we\u2019ll definitely be building, sharing, and hosting more in the space in the months to come. Doing all this in the open is really important to us, so the events are a great platform.”

\n\n\n\n

During the first event, Aspinall reports that Human Made saw registrations and participation across a wide range of business verticals and role disciplines, with conversations continuing months after the first event.

“While there are a few businesses and individuals building things, experimenting, and commercializing their work in the area, the vast majority are still finding their way through, figuring out how best to implement AI to deliver tangible benefit to their companies, their clients, their teams, and their day-to-day lives,” Aspinall said.

“Despite the level of advancement we\u2019ve already seen, we\u2019re still right at the start of this thing, which is really exciting. There\u2019s a lot to learn, and considerable edge available for those experimenting and putting things in place. Imagine what we\u2019ll be talking about this time next year!”

\n", "content_text": "Human Made, a leading enterprise WordPress agency, is organizing a followup event to the community’s first ever AI for WordPress virtual conference that it hosted in May 2023. The second edition is called “AI: The Next Chapter” and will take place online on September 14, 2023, at 10AM EST.\n\n\n\nThe first event had 13 speakers and drew more than 600 attendees. It focused on WordPress and AI tools that people are building with the emerging technology. (Videos of all the sessions are available on YouTube.) This next edition will explore some of the wider societal, ethical, and tech issues related to the subject. \n\n\n\nThe keynote and intro will feature Matt Mullenweg on “AI and the future of WordPress,” along with Human Made CEO Tom Willmot. Dr. Eleanor Drage, a senior research fellow at the University of Cambridge and co-host of The Good Robot podcast, will be speaking about AI and gender. Open source LLM researchers from Georgian will also join for a panel discussion on why they believe open source AI is the best way for companies to leverage this technology.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration is free and participants can sign up on the event’s website. A confirmation email is sent out to registrants and more information will follow via email.\n\n\n\nHuman Made has developed a keen interest in fostering exploratory dialogue through these events, as the company is working on AI products and custom implementations for clients. At the first event, the agency showcased some early work in the Altis Accelerate plugin and have been working with clients to determine how AI can augment existing marketing and editorial workflows. \n\n\n\n“The progress and innovation we\u2019re seeing in AI is so rapid at the moment that it kind of demands you stay close to it, keep following what\u2019s happening, and keep learning,” Human Made Marketing Director Alex Aspinall said. “AI is one of our core areas of focus, across all parts of the business, so we\u2019ll definitely be building, sharing, and hosting more in the space in the months to come. Doing all this in the open is really important to us, so the events are a great platform.”\n\n\n\nDuring the first event, Aspinall reports that Human Made saw registrations and participation across a wide range of business verticals and role disciplines, with conversations continuing months after the first event. “While there are a few businesses and individuals building things, experimenting, and commercializing their work in the area, the vast majority are still finding their way through, figuring out how best to implement AI to deliver tangible benefit to their companies, their clients, their teams, and their day-to-day lives,” Aspinall said.“Despite the level of advancement we\u2019ve already seen, we\u2019re still right at the start of this thing, which is really exciting. There\u2019s a lot to learn, and considerable edge available for those experimenting and putting things in place. Imagine what we\u2019ll be talking about this time next year!”", "date_published": "2023-09-05T18:09:23-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-05T18:09:25-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-05-at-6.05.01-PM.png", "tags": [ "ai", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148460", "url": "https://wptavern.com/patchstack-reports-404-vulnerabilities-affecting-1-6m-websites-to-wordpress-org-plugins-team", "title": "Patchstack Reports 404 Vulnerabilities Affecting 1.6M+ Websites to WordPress.org Plugins Team", "content_html": "\n

After an accumulation of undisclosed and unpatched vulnerabilities in plugins hosted on WordPress.org, Patchstack has reported 404 plugins to WordPress’ Plugin Review Team.

\n\n\n\n

“This situation creates a significant risk for the WordPress community, and we decided to take action,” Patchstack researcher Darius Sveikauskas said. “Since these developers have been unreachable, we sent the full list of those 404 vulnerabilities to the plugins review team for processing.”

\n\n\n\n

Ordinarily, reporting plugins to WordPress.org is a last resort for challenging cases after Patchstack fails to find a way to contact the vendors. In this case, many of these plugin authors have included zero contact information in their extensions or are not responding to communication attempts. Patchstack has characterized it as a “zombie plugins pandemic” due to the overwhelming number of abandoned plugins affecting more than 1.6 million sites.

\n\n\n\n

The WordPress.org Plugins Team has acted on the report by closing more than 70% of the plugins.\u00a0In June, the team\u00a0added six new sponsored volunteers\u00a0and opened applications for more team members but have struggled with managing a formidable backlog of plugins waiting to be reviews. The backlog is climbing higher and is now over 1,119 plugins with a 71-day wait time.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Adding plugin vulnerability issues, where hundreds have to be closed, only adds to how long developers have to wait to get new plugins reviewed.

\n\n\n\n

As of August 31, 2023, Patchstack reports the following stats associated with these reports to WordPress.org:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Patchstack is urging developers to add their contact details to their plugins’\u00a0readme.txt\u00a0and/or\u00a0SECURITY.md\u00a0files. To streamline security issue management, the company has created the Patchstack\u00a0mVDP (managed vulnerability disclosure program)\u00a0project, which is free for developers to join. Patchstack validates the reports that come through, rewards the researchers, and passes them to the vendor to be addressed.

\n\n\n\n

The company is also advocating for a dashboard alert when a plugin or theme is removed due to security reasons, as WordPress does not currently give the user this information. Their researchers will soon be submitting more reports that may result in closed extensions.

\n\n\n\n

“We are preparing more similar lists for the WordPress.org themes repository and repositories focused on premium products,” Sveikauskas said. “We are currently processing about extra 200+ similar vulnerabilities.”

\n", "content_text": "After an accumulation of undisclosed and unpatched vulnerabilities in plugins hosted on WordPress.org, Patchstack has reported 404 plugins to WordPress’ Plugin Review Team. \n\n\n\n“This situation creates a significant risk for the WordPress community, and we decided to take action,” Patchstack researcher Darius Sveikauskas said. “Since these developers have been unreachable, we sent the full list of those 404 vulnerabilities to the plugins review team for processing.”\n\n\n\nOrdinarily, reporting plugins to WordPress.org is a last resort for challenging cases after Patchstack fails to find a way to contact the vendors. In this case, many of these plugin authors have included zero contact information in their extensions or are not responding to communication attempts. Patchstack has characterized it as a “zombie plugins pandemic” due to the overwhelming number of abandoned plugins affecting more than 1.6 million sites.\n\n\n\nThe WordPress.org Plugins Team has acted on the report by closing more than 70% of the plugins.\u00a0In June, the team\u00a0added six new sponsored volunteers\u00a0and opened applications for more team members but have struggled with managing a formidable backlog of plugins waiting to be reviews. The backlog is climbing higher and is now over 1,119 plugins with a 71-day wait time. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdding plugin vulnerability issues, where hundreds have to be closed, only adds to how long developers have to wait to get new plugins reviewed.\n\n\n\nAs of August 31, 2023, Patchstack reports the following stats associated with these reports to WordPress.org:\n\n\n\n\n404 vulnerabilities\n\n\n\n358 plugins affected\n\n\n\n289 plugins (71,53%) \u2013 Closed\n\n\n\n109 plugins (26,98%) \u2013 Patched\n\n\n\n6 plugins (1,49%) \u2013 Not closed / Not patched\n\n\n\nUp to 1.6 million active installs affected\n\n\n\nAverage installs per plugin 4984\n\n\n\nHighest install count 100000 (two plugins)\n\n\n\nHighest CVSS 9.1\n\n\n\nAverage CVSS 5.8\n\n\n\n\u201cOldest\u201d plugin \u2013 13 years since the last update\n\n\n\n\nPatchstack is urging developers to add their contact details to their plugins’\u00a0readme.txt\u00a0and/or\u00a0SECURITY.md\u00a0files. To streamline security issue management, the company has created the Patchstack\u00a0mVDP (managed vulnerability disclosure program)\u00a0project, which is free for developers to join. Patchstack validates the reports that come through, rewards the researchers, and passes them to the vendor to be addressed.\n\n\n\nThe company is also advocating for a dashboard alert when a plugin or theme is removed due to security reasons, as WordPress does not currently give the user this information. Their researchers will soon be submitting more reports that may result in closed extensions.\n\n\n\n“We are preparing more similar lists for the WordPress.org themes repository and repositories focused on premium products,” Sveikauskas said. “We are currently processing about extra 200+ similar vulnerabilities.”", "date_published": "2023-09-02T00:31:27-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-02T00:31:28-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/patchstack_logo_light.jpg", "tags": [ "security", "News", "Plugins" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148317", "url": "https://wptavern.com/review-signal-publishes-2023-wordpress-and-woocommerce-hosting-performance-benchmarks", "title": "Review Signal Publishes 2023 WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting Performance Benchmarks", "content_html": "\n

Kevin Ohashi from Review Signal has published his 2023 WordPress and WooCommerce hosting performance benchmarks. This is his 10th round of capturing performance data from hosting companies that opt into the testing. Ohashi’s methodology tests two metrics through a variety of methods: peak performance and consistency.

\n\n\n\n

The benchmarks include a LoadStorm test designed to simulate real users visiting the site, logging in, and browsing (uncached performance). They also test cached performance, SSL, WP queries per second, performance on some computational and database operations, and a WebPageTest that fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. As part of the consistency testing, Ohashi also measures uptime using HetrixTools and Uptime Robot for a minimum of three months.

\n\n\n\n

Participants pay a standard, publicly documented fee, based on the price tier of the product being tested, to cover the costs. Ohashi does not accept sponsorships for the tests, and has become one of the most trusted sources for unbiased performance reviews of WordPress hosting plans.

\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Ohashi tested 31 companies across 72 plans and seven pricing tiers, with tests nearly identical to previous years. He made minimal adjustments to the LoadStorm test script to improve performance and make it compatible with newer versions of k6.

\n\n\n\n

The website makes it easy to review results at a glance by using a star system. Hosts that achieve “Top Tier” status receive a full star:

\n\n\n\n
\n

This is awarded to companies who maintain 99.9% uptime throughout the entire testing and show little to no performance degradation during load testing, primarily focused on error rate and consistent response times. Error rates above 0.1% and response times above 1000ms* will keep a company away from achieving Top Tier marks.

\n
\n\n\n\n

The half star indicates “Honorable Mention” status, which is given to companies that came close to Top Tier but fell just short, such as struggling slightly on a load test.

\n\n\n\n

Among budget hosts in the <$25/month category, the majority of hosts (16/21) rang in at the Top Tier level. Those who did not earn Top Tier status were held back by inferior performance on the the LoadStorm test for the most part, even though several still took top scores in other aspects of the testing.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

There are fewer participants at the $25-50 plan (and other more expensive plans) but the results are similar to the budget hosts, with A2 Hosting, Cloudways, and Stromonic edged out of contention for Top Tier. All three failed to achieve Top Tier for any of the plans tested this year.

\n\n\n\n

In the Enterprise tier ($500+), the majority of participants handled the LoadStorm test without issue. When testing cached performance, Ohashi found that the overall field of participants is getting faster:

\n\n\n\n
\n

Excluding Seravo, every company was 33ms average or below and 43ms p95 or below. Compared to last year where the fastest average was 6.4 ms and p95 was 20ms. There are four companies this year below both of those levels. The performance at the Enterprise tier is mind bogglingly fast and getting even faster which is hard to comprehend when last year’s 6.4ms was beaten by 4 plans this year.

\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

Most of the entrants in the WooCommerce category earned Top Tier status, with the exception of Blallo and Cloudways, both of which stumbled on the LoadStorm test. The hosting plans tested range from $25.95/month – $99/month. The WooCommerce-specific tests collect average response times, total requests, errors, and other metrics across four different profiles:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A more detailed breakdown is available on the WooCommerce benchmarks results page.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

It’s important to note that the tests do not clearly identify a winner or top performer. They also don’t take into account other aspects of the WordPress hosting experience, like reviews, support, and features. Ohashi tests the defaults for all of these plans, but if there are more optimization features that can be customized for sites (which are not clearly outlined in the initial setup) then those are also not taken into account. The methodology simply focuses on performance, so it’s just one factor of hosting, albeit a very important one.

\n\n\n\n

“As far as surprising results, I keep thinking ‘Are we nearing the point that we won’t see much improvement?’ and each year the whole field gets faster and faster,” Ohashi said. “Even improving on sub 10ms times between years. For example, in the <$25/month tier, in 2022 there were 3 companies with <50ms average response time on the Static k6 test. This year there are 10. I also saw 100ms+ improvements from the other (slower) side bringing up the whole field a meaningful amount. Everyone is getting faster and faster.”

\n\n\n\n

Why Are Some Managed WordPress Hosting Companies Missing?

\n\n\n\n

There are many leading WordPress managed hosts that are notably absent from Ohashi’s benchmarks, whose inclusion would be helpful for a deeper understanding of market. I asked him about a handful of them and he reported that WP Engine, DreamHost, and Kinsta declined to participate this year, to name a few. GoDaddy took a year off but may be back next year.

\n\n\n\n

The major reasons for hosts not wanting to participate fall into a few categories, and bad performance is chief among them.

\n\n\n\n

“Some companies perform poorly or poorly relative to price and don’t want to participate anymore,” Ohashi said. “They usually talk about other ‘intangible’ values that you can’t measure. I think good performance should be a default for every hosting company, and good companies shouldn’t be afraid of bad results – if they actually plan on improving their services.

\n\n\n\n

“But some would probably rather spend fortunes on marketing instead of better engineering, and bad results aren’t going to help their marketing. I personally love seeing companies who participate year after year despite mixed results. I respect the companies who consistently earn Top Tier are doing a great job. But there’s something special about companies willing to put themselves out there regardless of the results, because it’s a public and open commitment to improving.”

\n\n\n\n

Ohashi said that occasionally the timing doesn’t work out where a host is going through a major engineering overhaul during the testing and doesn’t want the platform benchmarked when they are about to release a new one. In this case some opt to skip a year.

\n\n\n\n

The costs of the benchmarking can also be prohibitive for some smaller hosting companies. Ohashi raised prices by $250 across all tiers this year (eg. $100->$350, $500->$750) to cover his costs. Although this doesn’t seem like much for a hosting company, they also have to pay for the servers for four months, and have the staff/resources available to work with Ohashi on organizing, executing, and debugging issues. 20i, Krystal Hosting, Nexcess, and Pressable agreed to sponsor upstart companies in the space for 2023.

\n\n\n\n

Another reason some hosts don’t participate is a lack of interest or value. They don’t see how they can use the benchmark results to their advantage.

\n\n\n\n

“Some companies don’t get as much value from the benchmarks as others,” Ohashi said. “Performance across the board has gone way up. It’s harder and harder to stand out.

\n\n\n\n

“I think some companies may view it as an instant validation and reason for customers to come busting down the doors. But there are a lot of great companies offering great performance. Earning Top Tier status means you’ve got a performant hosting platform. It’s great, and it can help validate some customer needs/desires in the decision making funnel, but it won’t magically generate tons of sales.”

\n\n\n\n

Ohashi said he has put together notes for hosting companies that earned Top Tier status to help them leverage more value this year from a marketing perspective, based on what he has seen some companies do with their results. Creating more value for participating companies is something he is actively working to improve upon.

\n\n\n\n

Although Review Signal had approximately 35,000 people visit in the past year, Ohashi doesn’t think the traffic captures the full value of the benchmarks very well. The people who dig into these metrics are those who have a large impact on where their WordPress clients host their websites.

\n\n\n\n

“The people who care about the benchmarks are seriously into WordPress / hosting / performance,” Ohashi said. “It’s a lot of agencies, developers, large website owners and hosting people. One way I’ve measured impact is by going to the major WordCamps (EU/Asia/US) and talking to people. The number of folks who are aware of the benchmarks there was surprisingly high to me. The people who are interested enough to spend time at WordCamps are the same folks interested in reading the benchmarks. It’s not the largest number of people who read them, but it is the largest impact people who read and value them.”

\n", "content_text": "Kevin Ohashi from Review Signal has published his 2023 WordPress and WooCommerce hosting performance benchmarks. This is his 10th round of capturing performance data from hosting companies that opt into the testing. Ohashi’s methodology tests two metrics through a variety of methods: peak performance and consistency. \n\n\n\nThe benchmarks include a LoadStorm test designed to simulate real users visiting the site, logging in, and browsing (uncached performance). They also test cached performance, SSL, WP queries per second, performance on some computational and database operations, and a WebPageTest that fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. As part of the consistency testing, Ohashi also measures uptime using HetrixTools and Uptime Robot for a minimum of three months.\n\n\n\nParticipants pay a standard, publicly documented fee, based on the price tier of the product being tested, to cover the costs. Ohashi does not accept sponsorships for the tests, and has become one of the most trusted sources for unbiased performance reviews of WordPress hosting plans.\n\n\n\nIn 2023, Ohashi tested 31 companies across 72 plans and seven pricing tiers, with tests nearly identical to previous years. He made minimal adjustments to the LoadStorm test script to improve performance and make it compatible with newer versions of k6.\n\n\n\nThe website makes it easy to review results at a glance by using a star system. Hosts that achieve “Top Tier” status receive a full star:\n\n\n\n\nThis is awarded to companies who maintain 99.9% uptime throughout the entire testing and show little to no performance degradation during load testing, primarily focused on error rate and consistent response times. Error rates above 0.1% and response times above 1000ms* will keep a company away from achieving Top Tier marks.\n\n\n\n\nThe half star indicates “Honorable Mention” status, which is given to companies that came close to Top Tier but fell just short, such as struggling slightly on a load test.\n\n\n\nAmong budget hosts in the <$25/month category, the majority of hosts (16/21) rang in at the Top Tier level. Those who did not earn Top Tier status were held back by inferior performance on the the LoadStorm test for the most part, even though several still took top scores in other aspects of the testing. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are fewer participants at the $25-50 plan (and other more expensive plans) but the results are similar to the budget hosts, with A2 Hosting, Cloudways, and Stromonic edged out of contention for Top Tier. All three failed to achieve Top Tier for any of the plans tested this year. \n\n\n\nIn the Enterprise tier ($500+), the majority of participants handled the LoadStorm test without issue. When testing cached performance, Ohashi found that the overall field of participants is getting faster: \n\n\n\n\nExcluding Seravo, every company was 33ms average or below and 43ms p95 or below. Compared to last year where the fastest average was 6.4 ms and p95 was 20ms. There are four companies this year below both of those levels. The performance at the Enterprise tier is mind bogglingly fast and getting even faster which is hard to comprehend when last year’s 6.4ms was beaten by 4 plans this year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMost of the entrants in the WooCommerce category earned Top Tier status, with the exception of Blallo and Cloudways, both of which stumbled on the LoadStorm test. The hosting plans tested range from $25.95/month – $99/month. The WooCommerce-specific tests collect average response times, total requests, errors, and other metrics across four different profiles:\n\n\n\n\nProfile 1 (20%): Buyer \u2013 Homepage, add item to cart, go to cart, checkout (doesn\u2019t submit order)\n\n\n\nProfile 2 (10%): Customer (existing) \u2013 Homepage, login, view orders, view account details\n\n\n\nProfile 3 (20%): Browser \u2013 Homepage, visit 5 random product pages\n\n\n\nProfile 4 (50%): Home \u2013 Homepage only\n\n\n\n\nA more detailed breakdown is available on the WooCommerce benchmarks results page.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt’s important to note that the tests do not clearly identify a winner or top performer. They also don’t take into account other aspects of the WordPress hosting experience, like reviews, support, and features. Ohashi tests the defaults for all of these plans, but if there are more optimization features that can be customized for sites (which are not clearly outlined in the initial setup) then those are also not taken into account. The methodology simply focuses on performance, so it’s just one factor of hosting, albeit a very important one.\n\n\n\n“As far as surprising results, I keep thinking ‘Are we nearing the point that we won’t see much improvement?’ and each year the whole field gets faster and faster,” Ohashi said. “Even improving on sub 10ms times between years. For example, in the <$25/month tier, in 2022 there were 3 companies with <50ms average response time on the Static k6 test. This year there are 10. I also saw 100ms+ improvements from the other (slower) side bringing up the whole field a meaningful amount. Everyone is getting faster and faster.”\n\n\n\nWhy Are Some Managed WordPress Hosting Companies Missing?\n\n\n\nThere are many leading WordPress managed hosts that are notably absent from Ohashi’s benchmarks, whose inclusion would be helpful for a deeper understanding of market. I asked him about a handful of them and he reported that WP Engine, DreamHost, and Kinsta declined to participate this year, to name a few. GoDaddy took a year off but may be back next year.\n\n\n\nThe major reasons for hosts not wanting to participate fall into a few categories, and bad performance is chief among them.\n\n\n\n“Some companies perform poorly or poorly relative to price and don’t want to participate anymore,” Ohashi said. “They usually talk about other ‘intangible’ values that you can’t measure. I think good performance should be a default for every hosting company, and good companies shouldn’t be afraid of bad results – if they actually plan on improving their services. \n\n\n\n“But some would probably rather spend fortunes on marketing instead of better engineering, and bad results aren’t going to help their marketing. I personally love seeing companies who participate year after year despite mixed results. I respect the companies who consistently earn Top Tier are doing a great job. But there’s something special about companies willing to put themselves out there regardless of the results, because it’s a public and open commitment to improving.”\n\n\n\nOhashi said that occasionally the timing doesn’t work out where a host is going through a major engineering overhaul during the testing and doesn’t want the platform benchmarked when they are about to release a new one. In this case some opt to skip a year. \n\n\n\nThe costs of the benchmarking can also be prohibitive for some smaller hosting companies. Ohashi raised prices by $250 across all tiers this year (eg. $100->$350, $500->$750) to cover his costs. Although this doesn’t seem like much for a hosting company, they also have to pay for the servers for four months, and have the staff/resources available to work with Ohashi on organizing, executing, and debugging issues. 20i, Krystal Hosting, Nexcess, and Pressable agreed to sponsor upstart companies in the space for 2023.\n\n\n\nAnother reason some hosts don’t participate is a lack of interest or value. They don’t see how they can use the benchmark results to their advantage.\n\n\n\n“Some companies don’t get as much value from the benchmarks as others,” Ohashi said. “Performance across the board has gone way up. It’s harder and harder to stand out. \n\n\n\n“I think some companies may view it as an instant validation and reason for customers to come busting down the doors. But there are a lot of great companies offering great performance. Earning Top Tier status means you’ve got a performant hosting platform. It’s great, and it can help validate some customer needs/desires in the decision making funnel, but it won’t magically generate tons of sales.”\n\n\n\nOhashi said he has put together notes for hosting companies that earned Top Tier status to help them leverage more value this year from a marketing perspective, based on what he has seen some companies do with their results. Creating more value for participating companies is something he is actively working to improve upon.\n\n\n\nAlthough Review Signal had approximately 35,000 people visit in the past year, Ohashi doesn’t think the traffic captures the full value of the benchmarks very well. The people who dig into these metrics are those who have a large impact on where their WordPress clients host their websites.\n\n\n\n“The people who care about the benchmarks are seriously into WordPress / hosting / performance,” Ohashi said. “It’s a lot of agencies, developers, large website owners and hosting people. One way I’ve measured impact is by going to the major WordCamps (EU/Asia/US) and talking to people. The number of folks who are aware of the benchmarks there was surprisingly high to me. The people who are interested enough to spend time at WordCamps are the same folks interested in reading the benchmarks. It’s not the largest number of people who read them, but it is the largest impact people who read and value them.”", "date_published": "2023-09-01T17:17:38-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-09-07T18:21:00-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-01-at-1.13.36-PM.png", "tags": [ "hosting", "News" ] }, { "id": "https://wptavern.com/?p=148364", "url": "https://wptavern.com/performant-translations-plugin-now-available-on-wordpress-org", "title": "Performant Translations Plugin Now Available on WordPress.org", "content_html": "\n

After an in-depth performance analysis earlier this year revealed that translations can impact server response times, WordPress contributors proposed\u00a0half a dozen technical solutions for consideration to improve performance for the ~56% of sites that use translations.

\n\n\n\n

Performant Translations, a feature project by the core Performance Team, is now available as a plugin on WordPress.org. It incorporates some of the proposed solutions and speeds up translations by converting\u00a0.mo\u00a0files to\u00a0.php\u00a0files, allowing them to be parsed faster and stored in OPcache.

\n\n\n\n

It supports multiple file formats (.mo,\u00a0.php, and\u00a0.json) and multiple text domains and locales loaded at the same time. Existing .mo files get converted to .php\u00a0files which are then loaded by WordPress.

\n\n\n\n

A chart included on the plugin’s details page shows a significant page load time reduction when using the plugin, as compared to sites with translations that don’t use the plugin. The plugin brings translations very close to the same page load times as English (non-translated) sites.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

“With enough testing and feedback, we hope to eventually merge this plugin into WordPress core,” Performance Team contributor Pascal Birchler said when announcing the plugin on X.

\n\n\n\n

“In the coming weeks and months we will share more testing instructions and continue to improve the plugin. This will be made available via Performance Lab, too.”

\n\n\n\n

Users who are testing the plugin can report issues on the support forum or create an issue on the\u00a0GitHub repository.

\n\n\n\n

Performant Translations is considered to be a beta testing plugin but can be tested and used in production at your own risk. It doesn’t require any changes to settings or configuration after installation. The plugin can be safely removed after testing, because it essentially cleans up after itself. All .php\u00a0files it generates will be removed by the server once the plugin is deactivated and uninstalled.

\n", "content_text": "After an in-depth performance analysis earlier this year revealed that translations can impact server response times, WordPress contributors proposed\u00a0half a dozen technical solutions for consideration to improve performance for the ~56% of sites that use translations.\n\n\n\nPerformant Translations, a feature project by the core Performance Team, is now available as a plugin on WordPress.org. It incorporates some of the proposed solutions and speeds up translations by converting\u00a0.mo\u00a0files to\u00a0.php\u00a0files, allowing them to be parsed faster and stored in OPcache.\n\n\n\nIt supports multiple file formats (.mo,\u00a0.php, and\u00a0.json) and multiple text domains and locales loaded at the same time. Existing .mo files get converted to .php\u00a0files which are then loaded by WordPress. \n\n\n\nA chart included on the plugin’s details page shows a significant page load time reduction when using the plugin, as compared to sites with translations that don’t use the plugin. The plugin brings translations very close to the same page load times as English (non-translated) sites.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“With enough testing and feedback, we hope to eventually merge this plugin into WordPress core,” Performance Team contributor Pascal Birchler said when announcing the plugin on X.\n\n\n\n“In the coming weeks and months we will share more testing instructions and continue to improve the plugin. This will be made available via Performance Lab, too.”\n\n\n\nUsers who are testing the plugin can report issues on the support forum or create an issue on the\u00a0GitHub repository.\n\n\n\nPerformant Translations is considered to be a beta testing plugin but can be tested and used in production at your own risk. It doesn’t require any changes to settings or configuration after installation. The plugin can be safely removed after testing, because it essentially cleans up after itself. All .php\u00a0files it generates will be removed by the server once the plugin is deactivated and uninstalled.", "date_published": "2023-08-29T21:39:18-04:00", "date_modified": "2023-08-29T21:39:20-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" } ], "author": { "name": "Sarah Gooding", "url": "https://wptavern.com/author/sarah", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d12f506a8f9afba443178608fc9e2232?s=512&d=retro&r=r" }, "image": "https://149611589.v2.pressablecdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-11.19.49-PM.png", "tags": [ "polyglots", "translations", "News" ] } ] }