Why We’re Partnering With Perplexity

Posted by download in Software on 30-07-2024

One of our key values at Automattic is that access to knowledge, software, and media is for everyone, not just the gatekeepers. That’s why we’ve built our company on the foundation of open source principles. And it’s why we’ve decided to partner with Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine that lets you research on the web like never before. Think of it like a mashup of a search engine, online encyclopedia, and AI-powered conversation—an entirely new way of surfacing knowledge. When you type in a question, Perplexity searches the internet for answers in real time and provides results that include footnotes, live updates, and links to the original source. 

Being part of Perplexity’s Publishing Partners Program means that knowledge from WordPress.com can now be included in the variety of answers that are served on Perplexity’s “Keep Exploring” section on their Discover pages. That means your articles will be included in their search index and your articles can be surfaced as an answer on their answer engine and Discover feed. If your website is referenced in a Perplexity search result where the company earns advertising revenue, you’ll be eligible for revenue share.   

Here’s an example of how it might look:

Perplexity is partnering with select media outlets like TIME, Der Spiegel, Fortune, The Texas Tribune, and Entrepreneur. WordPress.com’s network of incredible content creators makes us a desirable partner for a cutting-edge answer engine. In addition to the revenue share, the partnership offers a great opportunity to drive traffic to your website. 

We’ll share more details of how it works as this partnership evolves, including how we’ll be distributing revenue-share payments to those whose content qualifies. If you want to opt out, we already offer the ability to opt out of content sharing. And remember: We’re always experimenting. Building relationships with AI companies allows us to advocate on behalf of our customers; if we determine that the partnership isn’t a perfect match or doesn’t serve you, we’ll reevaluate what we’re doing, so that we stay true to our mission. 

The first line of our company’s creed is “I will never stop learning.” That’s the spirit in which we’re exploring our partnership with Perplexity. If this works out the way we hope it will, both sides win—an exciting new answer engine will have a wide pool of quality content to serve people, and you’ll get to share in the success of their platform.

Automattic for Agencies x Endoh Collaborative: A Match Made in WordPress Heaven

Posted by download in Software on 26-07-2024

Endoh Collaborative is blazing a unique and powerful trail as a queer-owned, feminist digital agency. Their aim is to create effective, engaging, and accessible websites and visual brands to help nonprofits, purpose-driven businesses, and progressive organizations. Ultimately, Endoh wants to empower their clients to grow, thrive, and make a lasting positive impact.

Aiding Endoh in their journey is Automattic for Agencies. With a unified dashboard—including site overviews and real-time monitoring—as well as a host of other client management tools, Endoh gained freedom and efficiency, allowing them to spend time on their clients rather than their infrastructure.

Become an Automattic partner and gain access to discounted pricing, commissions on referrals, premier support, and cutting‑edge tooling.

Customizable Footer Credits Are Here 

Posted by download in Software on 24-07-2024

From the earliest days of WordPress.com, the bottom of every site on our platform has featured a default phrase in the footer credit area. Today, we’re handing the reigns over to you: every website using a block theme, on every plan, can customize the footer credit to say anything at all. 

That footer space offers a small and potent opportunity to showcase your creativity and unique tastes. Whether you’re buttoned up or just plain silly or somewhere between, visitors will get a little hint as to the personality behind the brand. 

Examples: 

  • Made with love and WordPress
  • Brought to you by the best minds on the planet
  • Handmade with care since 2003  
  • Bob Ross rocks  

Okay, that last one was my six-year-old daughter’s idea. But you get the picture: you have total freedom to display anything you want in the footer credit—or nothing at all. Of course we’d be honored if you still include WordPress.com in your footer, but no harm, no foul if not. 

Not using a block theme? Make the switch 

This new customization is only available on sites using block themes. These are themes that use blocks for every part of the site, whereas “classic” themes are still utilizing CSS and other coded elements. 

You can find out which type of theme your site is using by hovering over “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your dashboard. If you see “Editor,” you’re using a block theme. If you don’t, you’re using a classic theme. 

We’re big advocates of using block themes, as these unlock the most powerful WordPress features available today. If you need help converting your theme, check out this handy guide

How to customize your site’s footer credit 

In about 30 seconds flat, you can have a custom footer credit: 

  1. Access your Site Editor from the “Edit Site” button in the top menu bar when on your website’s homepage. You can also find it from “Appearance” on the left-side menu of your main dashboard. (Click here if you need help finding it.
  2. Scroll down to the footer credit (i.e. “Designed with WordPress”) 
  3. Edit the text as you would in any other block on your site. 
  4. Save your changes and you’re all set. 

Keep in mind that you can edit and add nearly any block in the footer area—text, social links, images, buttons, etc. 

Just like that, you have more options at your fingertips. That’s what we’re always striving for at WordPress.com. If you’re not on a block theme yet, we strongly encourage you to make that switch. Choose one today: 

Let us know in the comments what you think of this new feature and always feel free to drop in ideas for other things you’d like to see. 

WP Briefing: Episode 84: A WordPress 6.6 Sneak Peak

Posted by download in Software on 22-07-2024

Join WordPress Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, as she offers an exclusive preview of the upcoming WordPress 6.6 release, accompanied by special guest Meher Bala, the release’s coordinator. Don’t miss this opportunity for an insider’s look!

Credits

Host: Josepha Haden Chomphosy
Guest: Meher Bala
Editor: Adam Daly
Logo: Javier Arce
Production: Brett McSherry
Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod

Show Notes

Transcript

[00:00:00] Josepha: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing, the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of some of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project and the community around it, as well as get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go! 

[00:00:28] (Intro Music) 

[00:00:40] Josepha: Last week, we released WordPress 6.6, and I had a chance to chat with a long-time contributor and member of the Release Squad about it. Today, I have with me Meher, and she was, well I guess I will let her tell us what she did with the release, but at the time of this recording, yesterday we had the WordPress 6.6 release, codenamed ‘Dorsey,’ and so Meher, welcome to the WordPress Briefing.

[00:01:05] Meher: Hi, thank you for inviting me. It’s nice to be here.

[00:01:09] Josepha: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do in the WordPress project, how long you’ve been contributing, and then the role that you played in our big, big mid-year release?

[00:01:19] Meher: So my name is Meher. I’m a front-end developer. I’m also a CEO of KDC. I’m also a codable expert in WordPress. I started with contributing into the marketing field. Then, slowly, for 5.6, I got to be on the release squad, learned about training, about how the release goes, process happens. From that time onwards, I’ve been part of marketing or, basically, I’ve been part of the marketing team for all the releases. For 6.6, I picked to do the Release Coordinator, something different, something new, wanting to know what goes into it. 

[00:02:03] Josepha: That is a big leap from like hanging out in marketing to going to be the Release Coordinator. Before we get into the release itself, just what made you think to yourself, I would like to do that? I would like to stand up and wrangle all of these contributors across the world. Make sure we get a release out?

[00:02:20] Meher: I wanted to try something new. Like even in WordCamp, each role is different. So, even in the release, I wanted to try each different things. And like 5.6, I was in documentation. Then, I was in marketing. So then I got used to marketing, so I stick with my, no, I stuck with marketing.

[00:02:39] Josepha: Yeah.

[00:02:40] Meher: So this time, I want to try something different, and I want to see, you know, how easy was it to be a Release Coordinator because it’s a Release Coordinator, see, you know, it’s, it’s a like a big thing coordinating so many people so many different teams going on, working together, and so yeah, it was fun.

[00:02:58] Josepha: Great. I’m glad that you found it fun. I always worry when people make big shifts. I’m like, did we put enough documentation to make it clear? Are they going to find it easy to get started or not? And I think you did a really great job with it. So congratulations, since that happened just yesterday, less than 24 hours ago.

[00:03:16] Meher: Yes, less than 24 hours.

[00:03:21] Josepha: Yeah, yeah. So, from your position as the Release Coordinator, what are the biggest, like, one or two features that you really were excited to see get in this release?

[00:03:32] Meher: Oh, one of the biggest features was the style override patterns.

[00:03:37] Josepha: Oh, yeah.

[00:03:38] Meher: Which I found very useful because a lot of people are using patterns. So, you know, patterns override; if you wanna change something on a specific page, it’s really useful then just to, you know, recreate a second pattern and then to match up and all. And second, which I liked as a user, was the publish box on the post becoming very clear, very, you know, cluster-free, very minimalistic, and just so comfortable that a normal user will actually understand what is there instead of going to each dropdown and figuring out what needs to be done. So, for me, I think as a developer and user, these two are the fun features, which I like, which 6.5 had, so. There are many other features as well. These are the two great features.

[00:04:28] Josepha: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think that anyone can argue about the importance of making things a little easier to see, a little easier to use. It’s been a little bit since WordPress was like fall into it easy to use. I feel like we have been the easiest of the robust CMS systems for like a long time. I know I said CMS systems. That’s like saying pin number. I know that the S in CMS is systems, but anyway, that notwithstanding, we’ve been the easiest of the complex solutions for a long time, and I think it’s always great when we, when we take a moment to be like, what could we make a bit easier to just like, no instructions required you get in there and you can tell like, what any individual thing will do without necessarily, like you said, having to go into drop downs and reading a bunch of stuff a little guesswork is okay. And also, it’s clear that none of it is dangerous. And so I think that’s, I think that’s a a good change myself. So, I agree with your assessment.

[00:05:27] Josepha: So the style override patterns, that’s part of the suite of design tools that we’re pulling together, right? 

[00:05:33] Meher: Yes.

[00:05:34] Josepha: in your experience, you said you’re the CEO of your company, like in your experience, does that feel like something that’s super useful for agencies or particularly useful for freelancers, or should it generally be useful for everyone?

[00:05:47] Meher: It will be useful from a small business point to a freelancer as well because we always try, like, in each page, we always, you know, there is some bits repeated, you know, so, patterns makes it easier, and syndicate pattern makes it more easier so that you can just duplicate and have one place to change. And, like, you have ten pages, you have one pattern across ten pages. The 11th page, you want the same pattern, but little change in that. It’s easier. It’s good because you can just change on that page, one particular thing and still go in the parent and change other things to reflect in that. So it will be very helpful for freelancers, small agencies. I do see big agencies take advantage of it. So overall, it should help everyone.

[00:06:35] Josepha: Good. Good. I, for one, isn’t it great when we can get a feature out that mostly is going to help everyone. But I have been especially interested in the features that we’re trying to get out that help that kind of like small to medium agency area. I feel like we have a lot of folks in the WordPress community who do exactly what you’re talking about. You’re getting something together. You have a mostly what you need across your site. You have one style that’s out there, but there’s this one area that you want to have a little bit more personality or a little less personality, depending on what your client is looking for, like this one is applying for jobs, and it needs to be a little less exciting or whatever it is.

[00:07:13] Josepha: I think that’s great that we have that option. So you don’t have to try to, I don’t know, hack your way through that. I know that we’re not a super get-in-there-and hack-on-it sort of group anymore these days, but I love that we still have that feeling of we’re gonna, we’re going to make this a safe hacking space for you. Just get in there and make it work. So that’s excellent. Excellent. So for you, then, personally, cause you wear a lot of hats, you’ve your front-end developer; you’re running your company, you’re working, you’re a codable expert. You’ve got all these things. So from your perspective, what is the thing that got into this release that was a surprising, like a diamond in the rough for you, like a surprising good feature when you just thought it was like an important feature at some point? Was there one that seemed like it was a good idea but became a great idea by the time it was out?

[00:08:00] Meher: Oh, I would say style variations because I did not expect the final style variation to be what it is. A theme developer can create the theme, can add styles, can add fonts, can give different design elements to the theme as a normal user when they when someone wants to just pull up a website, but they’re not good in design, or they don’t know which font to use. They choose which font, but then it doesn’t work. So if the theme provides an easy option just to shift the different styles they’re using and combining with the fonts. It is a much bigger opportunity for everyone because a normal user can just, they have a black and white site. I want to shift to a colorful site. Just go and see what the theme art has given you and shift it. So I think that I was surprised and I like the outcome. I’m sure my blogger friends also will like it because then they don’t have to depend on a designer to you know, give them color schemes and stuff.

[00:09:01] Josepha: Yes. Yeah. So unrelated. It’s only, it’s kind of related. I shouldn’t say it’s unrelated. It’s all about WordPress. And now it’s about color palettes. So, I have a new design on my blog. And unfortunately I am the sort of person that does need a designer to tell me what I meant by the thing I thought. And so, like, I had this idea of the sort of color palette that I wanted and was searching for color palettes inside themes, which I was not succeeding at. And eventually I had a designer who was happy to help you figure this out and get something out there. And they got me something that’s absolutely perfect. It’s got an excellent color palette and they redid some images for me. So it looks nice and hip and feels kind of modern. I think it’s great. But the one thing that I consistently felt confident to mess with while I was in there, because I think they did some custom work in there too, is all of the stuff that’s included in style variations. Like, I’m not touching colors because I can’t put colors together to save my life. But I was pleasantly surprised also by that particular feature. It gives you a feeling of I can change the face of this through the fonts or whatever it is. And I think that’s a nice, a nice thing.

[00:10:06] Meher: And it’s a, it’s a perfect combination. Color and font. Because a lot of people don’t know today’s time which font is good. Or which font is needed for an industry. 

[00:10:16] Josepha: Exactly. Fortunately, I’m a site manager of one. And so I just had to ask myself if I liked the font and moved on from there. So, oh. So, like I said, as we’re recording this, we are less than 24 hours past the release. How was your experience with this release? Was it enjoyable? Did it like expand your horizons? Were there surprises in how a release is run?

[00:10:43] Meher: There was no surprises because I’ve already been a part of a release. So I.

[00:10:47] Josepha: That’s fair. 

[00:10:49] Meher: You know, it’s depends on what happens on the day. But yes, behind the scenes, following up, just checking in to make sure, are we on time, do we need more time, or what needs, you know, how much more time is required. It was fairly good, I was only clearly concerned about on the day of the release, because there’s a lot of things to cover.

[00:11:09] Josepha: Yes. 

[00:11:10] Meher: Usually, the party of the beta and the RCs finish in less than hour or so. But the final has a lot more detailed steps and many people to ping, to get, you know, them on the day of the release.

[00:11:24] Josepha: Yeah, for folks who have never watched a release happen. So, I think a lot of the folks who listen to this podcast, they find it in the dashboard, they don’t necessarily contribute to WordPress. But, like, if you’ve never watched a WordPress release, we have these release parties for every beta that goes out, every release candidate that goes out, and then the general release. And I always find them so fascinating because, we have hundreds of contributors over the course of an individual release. And then we have probably 50, 60 people who show up at, for some of you all, in the middle of the night and are just being directed, like their attention is just being directed here and there.

[00:12:06] Josepha: And I love watching it because I, I’m always in the release channel. I’m in the core channel. All of these are in Slack. And then I’m also in the admin channel where you have to do the flipping of switches and packaging things. And it’s really interesting to see, almost like a scan of a brain where things are lighting up for various things. Like, you do the pre-testing in the release channel, and then you do the general testing in the core channel. And then we’ve got like a person who’s flipping switches in the back, in the admin area to make sure that it all gets together. And it’s just really interesting to see how it all works. And yeah, it’s a really fun thing.

Dear listener, if you have never, if you’ve never done this, you have another opportunity. And I think the next release is early in November or something. And even if you’re there as like a spectator, not necessarily ready to take part in the release, sometimes it’s kind of nice to see how much effort and how many people are showing up to work on any individual release.

[00:13:01] Josepha: This was your first time to lead the release parties, though, right?

[00:13:06] Meher: Yes. My first time releasing a release party. Also, to the spectators who have never been a part of release, you can just come and say hi. Like, yesterday, on the day of the release, there was one participant who joined for the first time, and she did contribute. And she was amazed by how smooth it went through. And for me, the best part of any release is seeing the green tick when people start testing. So, you know, everything is smooth sailing.

[00:13:34] Josepha: Yes.

[00:13:34] Meher: And we’ll reach the destination.

[00:13:36] Josepha: Yes. It’s, it is a real testament to how well and how closely all of these folks can work together, which if you stop and think about the fact that everybody’s like all over the world, it’s all across the globe that this is happening. It is why WordPress works, right? All of these people, all of you coming together to do this on behalf of this software. How cool that you had somebody who joined for the first time and then they were able to contribute immediately.

[00:14:02] Meher: Yes.

[00:14:03] Josepha: I love that. 

[00:14:04] Meher: Also, there are a lot of folks who’ve done it. So they’re always ready to help out. You know, if you’re stuck somewhere, as a first-time release lead, there were certain questions I had. There are a lot of people to guide you to the right direction or to say, this needs to go here, or you need to tell the audience this. A lot of support you get from the squad itself, plus the people who are not on the squad and who’ve done this.

[00:14:29] Josepha: Absolutely. I remember the first release that I led I was the coordinator of it and I believe it was 5.0. I believe it was the one that we put Gutenberg in core with, and it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever done. Not because I hadn’t been watching these releases happening for years, but because it’s different participating and watching and then being the person who is like you said, like making sure that things are still going on time that you understand when you need to say, like, there’s no way that this works for users right now. We have to take it out and all those things. And then, yeah, the day of, the first time that you have to run one of those global meetings, be like, ‘everyone, we don’t have time for this. Move on’. That’s always a really hard first time. Well, cool. That’s so exciting. So I have a last question for you, and that is, you’ve kind of let us into it, for first-time contributors to a release, especially anyone who’s thinking about joining the release squad for the first time, do you have any advice, anything that you wish you had been told when you were coming into this?

[00:15:32] Meher: Come with an open mind and come with a thought that there are people to help you. Ask in any channel. There will be someone or the other who will answer you immediately or a little later, depending on the time zone, and will guide you to the right person or right documentation where you can read up because there is a lot of documentation, good documentation on releases, how it handles and what team is needed, what they are supposed to do. So, you, you have a friendly bunch of people. Just ask.

[00:16:03] Josepha: Excellent. I love it. I love that advice. That was really good advice. Don’t be scared. Everybody has answers, and they want to give them to you. I agree. That is a real strong truth for the WordPress project. Last thoughts: anything you want to share with the WordPress community with our community of listeners here?

[00:16:20] Meher: Looking forward for new people joining the next release and seeing 6.7 new features, which I’m excited about, collaborative phase three coming into picture and excited about it.

[00:16:32] Josepha: Yeah. So you can come join us, make.WordPress.org/core, or you can join us in the Slack instance. You can go to chat.WordPress.org and get signed up for that. We coordinate all of this in the core channel, and we hope to see every new contributor that’s been on the fence. We hope you show up. There’s a new meeting every two weeks just for y’all. Meher, this has been an excellent conversation. Thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:16:56] Meher: Thank you for having me. It was fun.

[00:16:58] (Music interlude) 

[00:17:05] Josepha: Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to download the release and try it out on your own sites. As always, if you run into any bugs, let us know so that we can get them in the next point release.

And that brings us now to our small list of big things. I have a moderate-sized small list. The first one is that WordPress is a reminder, actually. It’s a lot of reminders this week if I get right down to it, but this first one is a reminder that one of our big-picture goals for 2024 was getting new users into our event series. Our goal, of course, is to warmly welcome more first-time attendees and new users, and future WordPressers at all of our events, and that’s something that you can help get done. So, for all of our event organizers, or if you have not organized an event yet and would like to, just so that you can meet the fellow WordPressers in your area or, get to grow your own network a little bit. We’ve got a few best practices that can help you to make sure that you have a good experience for first time attendees. For one, you should always consider some thoughtful event design. Craft your events with some first-time attendees in mind. You have to consider their needs and interests and potential barriers to participation. Second, it helps to have some targeted messaging. Ensure that you have promotional materials that highlight the benefits of attending, but also what new knowledge, skills, or professional connections folks will gain when they come. It’s also good to share success stories of past first-time attendees. And then just kind of a final note for that on outreach strategies. You should experiment with a range of marketing channels to reach professional new attendees. You can partner with local schools, professional organizations, and online communities who can help to spread the word.

[00:18:52] Josepha: The second thing on our small list of big things is a reminder that the Docs Team holds an online Contributor Day every fourth Tuesday. They’ve been doing this for about a year now. And I think that it’s one of the most engaging and fun new contributor experiences we have, which I realize might sound odd for documentation, but it’s a great team. It’s got a great number of team reps in it. And they’re looking for you. They’re looking out for you to come and join for your first time on a Contributor Day. The next one is actually tomorrow, July 23rd. I’ll have a link for that in the show notes.

[00:19:29] Josepha: And the third thing on our list is a reminder about online workshops. These are live sessions where you can learn alongside other WordPress enthusiasts, and they’re, you know, safe spaces where you can come as you are, develop new ideas, explore issues that you’re having, ask questions, network over shared interests, exchange theories, collaborate, and honestly, thrive on a bit of problem-solving together. New workshops are happening all the time. You can check out the schedule to join in on a live session and even watch some of the previous sessions to see if it’s for you. 

[00:20:03] Josepha: And the final thing on our list is that there is a recap up of the first Media Corps Briefing that was held on June 27th, and it provided media partners with an overview of the Source of Truth and updates that were planned for WordPress 6.6, that was released last week. Obviously, we just talked to Meher about it. But that particular session featured guest Anne McCarthy, who explained and demoed some of the upcoming features and answered a bunch of questions from the participants. The briefing was recorded and published on the WordPress YouTube channel. Apart from the recording, you can also find a summary, the full transcript, and other relevant links from the link in the show notes. 

[00:20:42] Josepha: And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Don’t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You’ll get a friendly reminder whenever there’s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard today, you can share those with me at WPBriefing@WordPress.org. I am your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. And I’m taking a little break from the podcast in August, and so I will see you again, my friends, in September. 

[00:21:15] (Music outro) 

WordPress 6.6 Is Here

Posted by download in Software on 16-07-2024

A few times a year, the WordPress open source software gets a major update, providing users with new capabilities, regular refinements, and important bug fixes. With hundreds of fixes and enhancements, WordPress 6.6 brings a new level of creativity, usability, and efficiency to your WordPressing.  

Here’s a quick tour of what this latest update offers folks on WordPress.com, starting with some of the basics about WordPress 6.6. 

Table of Contents

  1. The basics 
  2. More efficient views and navigation in the Site Editor 
  3. Unified and updated publishing flow 
  4. Override synced patterns with custom content 
  5. Automatic plugin rollbacks 
  6. New design elements
    1. Site background image 
    2. Negative margins 
    3. All-new grid support 
    4. Custom default shadow styles 
  7. Section-specific styles
  8. Block Bindings API upgrades 
  9. And more! 

The basics 

WordPress 6.6 is available right now and has likely already landed on your WordPress.com site. You may notice that many of these new features have been available on your site(s) for a few weeks or even months; we often roll out updates in waves on WordPress.com to allow for early access, testing, and iteration before these major updates are more widely released. 

Sites on WordPress.com are updated automatically. If you run into issues or bugs, always feel free to reach out to our expert Happiness Engineers at wordpress.com/help.  

More efficient views and navigation in the Site Editor 

The last couple major WordPress releases have dramatically reimagined the Site Editor experience. With 6.6 you’ll see a new side-by-side default layout when viewing and editing pages. 

Pattern management has also been better integrated, ensuring more efficient navigation and fewer clicks to get where you want to be. 

Amidst these bigger changes are a number of small enhancements to keyboard navigation, bulk editing actions, and the overall design and functionality of the Site Editor. 

Unified and updated publishing flow 

If you’ve spent time in the Site Editor, you’ll have noticed that it used to offer a fairly different experience from the page/post editor. WordPress 6.6 now offers a shared workflow for publishing, leading to smoother interactions when navigating between various elements of your site. 

As part of this unification, there’s also an update to the layout and design of the publish flow with more prominent displays for the title, publishing status, and featured image.

For all the plugin and theme developers out there, this particular update also makes it easier to extend the editor. Both the post/page editor and Site Editor now use the same slots and extensibility APIs

For users, this means a lot more plugins will be able to bring exciting features into the editor. For plugin developers, it means that it’s easier to implement your code to extend the editor’s capabilities.

Override synced patterns with custom content 

This new feature allows for editing specific blocks even when you’re utilizing synced patterns and styles. For example, if you have a pattern for a stylized button CTA, you can use this override feature to use different copy or even colors for different pages and button locations, while maintaining common elements. 

You can “Enable Overrides” from the “Advanced” section of the Paragraph, Heading, Buttons, and Image blocks, with more block support planned for the future.

Automatic plugin rollbacks 

When it comes to plugin management, WordPress.com offers unparalleled reliability and redundancy. In addition to the scheduled plugin updates that we recently introduced, WordPress core now offers automatic rollbacks when a plugin update fails. 

If you don’t utilize scheduled updates, your plugins will update automatically when new versions become available. 

In the past, if a plugin update failed, WordPress would leave the plugin inactive, which might render some parts of your website unusable or broken. In WordPress 6.6, the plugin is rolled back to the previous version, ensuring continuity with your site until you can diagnose and fix the issue. 

New design elements

WordPress 6.6 offers a handful of new customization options for designing and stylizing your site. Let’s explore the most impactful new features. 

Site background image 

Make an immediate visual splash with the new site-wide background image option in the Site Editor. Whether it’s a striking full-bleed photo or a whimsical graphic pattern, you have the freedom to choose size, position, and repetition. 

Negative margins 

You can now set negative margins for any block, allowing for more granular margin control. This enables users to more easily create overlapping design elements. Note that negative values must be entered manually rather than with the slider. 

All-new grid support 

With the Grid and Grid Layout blocks, you can quickly create professional-looking grids for your images, testimonials, videos, and more. The “Auto” option automatically generates mobile-responsive rows and columns while the “Manual” option provides more granular control. 

Custom default shadow styles 

From the Styles menu, you can now edit shadow effects, including changing the default shadow style for images, buttons, and more. You can also add your own shadow styles, giving your total control over this subtle and powerful design element. 

Section-specific styles

Here’s one for the theme builders out there. With WordPress 6.6, you have the option to define style variations for specific sections of a site, not just the theme as a whole. To enable this, you’ll have to edit your theme’s theme.json file and declare the style variation (click here for instructions). Once that’s set up, you will be able to quickly modify the styles of several blocks for areas like headers, footers, content sections, and more. 

As a bonus, section styles also work flawlessly with content imported from our public pattern collection.

Block Bindings API upgrades 

This release makes Block Bindings easier to use and more powerful. Originally available since WordPress 6.5, this feature allows users to connect (or “bind”) the content of a block to the data of a custom field. Here’s how to create that in a post. WordPress 6.6 takes it one step further by enabling the option to edit custom field data by just updating the block in the editor.

And more! 

There are hundreds of updates to WordPress in the 6.6 release. What we’ve highlighted above is a just taste of the most notable and visible features. If you’re a developer and want to look under the hood a bit more, you can find the full slate of goodies in this WordPress 6.6 Field Guide.  

Click below if you’re a developer and want to leverage the benefits of hosting your sites with WordPress.com:

*Photo and video credit: WordPress.org

WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey”

Posted by download in Software on 16-07-2024

Say hello to WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey,” named after the legendary American Big Band leader, Tommy Dorsey. Renowned for his smooth-toned trombone and compositions, Dorsey’s music captivated audiences with its emotional depth and vibrant energy.

Let your heart swing, sing, and sway to the deep brass notes of Dorsey’s Big Band sound as you explore the new features and enhancements of WordPress 6.6.

Hello, 6.6!

WordPress 6.6 delivers on the promise of a better web by bringing style, finesse, and a suite of creative possibilities to your site-building experience. This version helps you do more with ease, putting enhanced tools at your fingertips and giving you unprecedented power behind the scenes. You will find more ways to create beautiful, coherent design elements across your site, a new layout for quick page previews in the Site Editor, and the safety of automatic rollbacks for failed plugin auto-updates—among many other highlights.

In addition to the new features, “Dorsey” continues to deliver the performance and accessibility gains you can expect from every WordPress release. Explore what WordPress 6.6 has to offer and get ready to let its features take your sites to new heights.

What’s inside

Add more design options to block themes

Create color or font sets to multiply design combinations across one theme. These sets offer more contained design possibilities, allowing visual variety within the site’s broader styling guidelines.

Simplify your workflow with a new layout for pages in the Site Editor

See all of your pages and a preview of any selected page with the new side-by-side layout in the Site Editor.

Auto-update your plugins with peace of mind

Enjoy the convenience of plugin auto-updates with the safety of rollbacks if anything goes wrong—offering your site a new level of security, enhanced functionality as it becomes available, and almost no time or bandwidth from you to make it happen.

Customize content in synced patterns

Make content changes in each instance of a synced pattern while maintaining a consistent style across them. Set these overrides for Heading, Paragraph, Button, and Image blocks when placed in a synced pattern.

Performance

WordPress 6.6 features important updates like removing redundant WP_Theme_JSON calls, disabling autoload for large options, and eliminating unnecessary polyfill dependencies. Other highlights include lazy-loading post embeds, a new data-wp-on-async directive, and templates in the editor that load approximately 35% faster overall.

Accessibility

This release includes 58 accessibility fixes and enhancements. These focus on foundational aspects of the WordPress experience, particularly the data views component powering the new site editing experience and areas like the Inserter, which provide a key way of interacting with blocks and patterns.

And much more

Visit the feature showcase for a full overview of all the new features and enhancements in WordPress 6.6.

Learn more about WordPress 6.6

Explore Learn WordPress for quick how-to videos, online workshops, and other free resources to level up your WordPress knowledge and skills.

The WordPress 6.6 Field Guide contains detailed technical information and developer notes to help you build with WordPress and get the most out of this release. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Developer Blog for updates, tutorials, and other helpful WordPress content for developers.

For information about installation, file changes, fixes, and other updates, read the 6.6 release notes.

The 6.6 release squad

Every release comes to you from a dedicated team of enthusiastic contributors who help keep things on track and moving smoothly. The team that has led 6.6 is a cross-functional group of contributors who are always ready to champion ideas, remove blockers, and resolve issues.

Thank you, contributors

The mission of WordPress is to democratize publishing and embody the freedoms that come with open source. A global and diverse community of people collaborating to strengthen the software supports this effort.

WordPress 6.6 reflects the tireless efforts and passion of more than 630 contributors in at least 51 countries. This release also welcomed over 150 first-time contributors!

Their collaboration delivered more than 1,900 enhancements and fixes, ensuring a stable release for all—a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress open source community.

!Benni · 1naveengiri · Aaron Jorbin · Aaron Robertshaw · aatanasov · abditsori · Abha Thakor · abhi3315 · Abhijit Rakas · abitofmind · Adam Harley (Kawauso) · Adam Silverstein · Adel Tahri · adrianduffell · Aezaz Shekh · Ahmed Kabir Chaion · ajfleming · Ajit Bohra · Akash Dhawade · Aki Hamano · Akira Tachibana · akmelias · Alan Fuller · Albert Juhé Lluveras · alesflex · Alex Concha · Alex Kozack · Alex Lende · Alex Stine · Alexandre Buffet · alexminza · allilevine · Alvaro Gómez · amanias1977 · Amber Hinds · Amir Abbas · amisiewicz · Amit Raj · Anamarija Papić · Anders Norén · Andre Ribeiro · Andrea Fercia · Andrea Roenning · Andrei Draganescu · Andrei Lupu · Andrew Hayward · Andrew Hutchings · Andrew Nacin · Andrew Ozz · Andrew Serong · André Maneiro · Andy Fragen · Aneesh Devasthale · Angela Jin · Anil Vaza · Ankit K Gupta · Ankit Panchal · Anne McCarthy · Anthony Burchell · Anton Vlasenko · Ari Stathopoulos · Artemio Morales · Arthur Chu · Artur Piszek · Arun Sharma · Arunas Liuiza · Ashesh Magar · Asiqur Rahman · Asish Chandra Mohon · Aslam Doctor · asmittle · Aurooba Ahmed · Ayesh Karunaratne · Balu B · bangank36 · Bart Kalisz · Beatriz Fialho · Beau Lebens · Ben Dwyer · Ben Keith · Ben Ritner - Kadence WP · Benjamin Pick · Benjamin Zekavica · benjpw · bernhard-reiter · Birgit Pauli-Haack · bissy · Bjarne Oldrup · Blackbam · Blockify · bnewboldbsky · Brad Jorsch · Brennan Goewert · Brian Alexander · Brian Coords · Brian Gardner · Brian Gosnell · Brian Haas · Bridget Willard · Brooke · Bruno Freiberger Garcia · burnuser · Caleb Burks · Candy · Carlos Bravo · Carlos G. P. · Carolina Nymark · cbirdsong · Chad Chadbourne · Charlie Merland · Chloe Bringmann · Chouby · Chris Reynolds · chrisdotdotdot · Christopher · Colin Stewart · ColinD · colle · comecaramelos · Constantine Vasilyev · CookiesForDevo · Corey McKrill · Craig Francis · crazytonyli · Cullen Whitmore · Curdin Krummenacher · cyrus11 · Dale du Preez · Damon Cook · Damon Cook · Dan Soschin · Dani Guardiola · Daniel Richards · darerodz · Darren Ethier (nerrad) · Darshit Rajyaguru · dav4 · Dave Page · David · David A. 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Kinney · Greg Ziółkowski · Guido Scialfa · Héctor Prieto · hakre · hanneslsm · Hans-Gerd Gerhards · Harit Panchal · Harsh Gajipara · Haz · heinvv · HelgaTheViking · Hinnerk Altenburg · Hit Bhalodia · Hitendra Chopda · humanify · huubl · Huzaifa Al Mesbah · Ian Belanger · ignatiusjeroe · Imran · inwerpsel · Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) · Isabel Brison · IT Path Solutions · ivanottinger · Jaap Weijland · Jack Stevens · jaclync · James Koster · James Wesley Goedert · Jamie Speller · Jan Boddez · Jansen Tolle · janthiel · Jarda Snajdr · Jarek Mazurczak · Jaroslav "Dero" Polakovic · Jason Adams · Jason Crist · Jason Johnston · Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems) · Javier Casares · jayanthparthsarathy · jdekhtiar · Jean-Baptiste Audras · Jeff Chi · Jeff Ong · Jeffrey Paul · jeflopo · Jenny Dupuy · Jeremy Felt · Jeremy Herve · Jeremy Pry · Jerry Jones · Jesús Amieiro · Jess · Jessica Lyschik · jhned · Jigar Bhanushali · Jip Moors · JiveDig · Joe Dolson · Joe McGill · Joen Asmussen · Johannes Jülg · John Blackbourn · John Espiritu · John Godley · John Hooks · John James Jacoby · Jon Surrell · jon092 · Jonathan · Jonathan Bossenger · Jonathan Desrosiers · Joni Erkkilä · Jonny Harris · jordesign · Jorge Costa · Jose Varghese · Josep Morán · Joseph Scott · Joshua Goode · Jossnaz · Juan Aldasoro · JuanMa Garrido · jules · Julie Moynat · Juliette Reinders Folmer · Julio Potier · Justin Tadlock · justnorris · Jyolsna J E · K. Adam White · KafleG · Kai Hao · Kajal Gohel · kamran8176 · Kapil Paul · Karlijn Bok · Karol Manijak · Karthik Thayyil · Kathryn Presner · Kellen Mace · Kelly Choyce-Dwan · keoshi · Kevin Hoffman · Khokan Sardar · killua99 · Kira Schroder · kitchin · Kite · Kjell Reigstad · kkmuffme · kmvan · Konstantin Kovshenin · kristastevens · kristenfisher427 · Krupa Nanda · Krupal Panchal · Kushang Tailor · kyleak · Lae · Lanre Smith · Lars Gersmann · Laura Byrne · laurelfulford · Lauren · Lauren Stein · Laurent Naudier · leemon · Lena Morita · Leonidas Milosis · Linkon Miyan · liviopv · Louis Wolmarans · Lovekesh Kumar · luboslives · Luigi · Luis · Luis Molina (interdevel) · luisherranz · Lyon Müller · Márcio Duarte · Madhu Dollu · Maggie Cabrera · Mai · Makdia Hussain · manfcarlo · Manoj Maharrshi · Marc · Marc Armengou · Marcelo de Moraes Serpa · Marco Ciampini · Marco Pereirinha · marherumr · Marie Comet · Marin Atanasov · Mario Santos · Marius L. J. · Mark Howells-Mead · Mark Jaquith · Mark Szymanski · Mark Uraine · Martijn van der Klis · Mary Baum · Mat Lipe · Mathieu Viet · Matias Benedetto · Matias Ventura · Matt Cromwell · Matt Medeiros · Matt Mullenweg · Matt Sherman · Md Abul Bashar · Md Sahadat Husain · Md Tofajjal Hossen · MD.NESAR MRIDHA · Meet Makadia · Meet Mehta · megane9988 · Meher Bala · Michael James Ilett · Michal Czaplinski · Miguel Fonseca · miguelsansegundo · Mihai Joldis · Miikka · Mikael Korpela · Mike Henderson · Mike McAlister · Mikey Binns · Minal Diwan · Miriam Schwab · miya · mkismy · Mohit Dadhich · Monzur Alam · Morais Junior · mrwweb · Muhibul Haque · mujuonly · Mukesh Panchal · musannifzahir · Mustaque Ahmed · myhro · mykolashlyakhtun · Mykyta Synelnikov · Nadir Seghir · Naeem Haque · Namith Jawahar · Narendra Sishodiya · Naresh Bheda · Nate Gay · Nazmul Hasan Robin · Nazmul Hosen · Nick Diego · nicmare · Nico · Nicolas Tatarchenko · Nicole Furlan · Nicole Paschen Caylor · nicomollet · nidhidhandhukiya · Niels Lange · Nihar Ranjan Das · Nik Tsekouras · Nilo Velez · Nirav Sherasiya · Nithin John · Nithin SreeRaj · nkeller15 · nosilver4u · obliviousharmony · Ohia ᚛ᚈᚐᚂᚐᚋᚆ᚜ · okat · Old account · Olga Gleckler · Oliver Campion · Oliver Schmid · OllieJones · Omar Alshaker · Paal Joachim Romdahl · Pablo Honey · Paolo L. Scala · Pascal Birchler · Patricia BT · Paul Bearne · Paul de Wouters · Paul Kevan · Paul Wilde · Pavan Patil · pavelevap · Pedro Mendonça · peiche · Per Søderlind · perryrylance · Peter Rubin · Peter Wilson · petitphp · Phi Phan · Pieterjan Deneys · Pinar · Pitam Dey · pkuliga · Pooja N Muchandikar · povilasstaskus · Praful Patel · Pranit Dugad · Prasad Karmalkar · Prashant Baldha · Pratik Londhe · Prem Tiwari · Presskopp · presstoke · printsachen1 · Priyanshii Vijayvargiya · Prottoy Sarkar Argho · QuietNoise · Rachel Baker · Rafael Galani · Rafał Całka · Rajan Lama · Rajin Sharwar · Ramon Ahnert · Ramon Corrales · Ramon James · Ravikumar Patel · Ravinder Kumar · Rejaul Alom Khan · Remkus de Vries · Remy Perona · renishsurani · retrofox · Riad Benguella · Rich Collier · Rich Tabor · Richard Korthuis · richardevs · Rishi Mehta · Robert Anderson · Robert Ghetau · Robin Cornett · rodionov201 · Rodrigo Arias · Rodrigo Primo · Roger · Rolf Siebers · Roy Tanck · Ryan McCue · Ryan Urban · Ryan Welcher · Sébastien SERRE · Sérgio Gomes · Sören Wünsch · s0what · Sagar Prajapati · sahilthakur02 · Sakib Mohammed · Sal Ferrarello · Sam Berry · Sam Brockway · samiamnot · Sampat Viral · Samuel Rüegger · Samuel Sidler · Sanne van der Meulen · Sarah Norris · Sarkar Ripon · Sascha Metz · Saulius Vikerta · Saxon Fletcher · Saxon Fletcher · scribu · script2see · Sean Fisher · Sergey Biryukov · Seth Miller · Seth Rubenstein · Shail Mehta · Shalin Shah · Shannon Smith · shaunandrews · sheulyshila · Shital Marakana · Shiva Poudel · Shiva Shanker Bhatta · Shreyash Srivastava · Shubham Kumar Bansal · Shuvo Mohajan · Siddharth Thevaril · siliconforks · Simone Maranzana · Siobhan · sirzooro · SJNBham · Sneha Patil · Spencer Finnell · Stefano Minoia · Stephen Bernhardt · Stephen Brook · Stephen Edgar · stephenmiracle · Steve Jones · steveblum · strangehill · strarsis · Sudip Dadhaniya · Sumit Bagthariya · Sumit Singh · SunilPrajapati · Suwash · syamraj24 · Sybre Waaijer · Syed Balkhi · Tahmid ul Karim · Takashi Irie · Takashi Kitajima · Tammie Lister · Taylor Gorman · Terence Eden · Teresa Gobble · Thakor Darshil · thelmachido a11n · Thijs · Thirumani Guhan · Thomas Kräftner · Till Krüss · Tim Brathärig · Tim Nicholson · Tim Nolte · Timo Tijhof · Timothy Jacobs · tmatsuur · TobiasBg · tobifjellner (Tor-Bjorn Fjellner) · Tom Cafferkey · Tomek · tomepajk · Tomoki Shimomura · tomxygen · Toni Viemerö · Tony G · Tonya Mork · Toro_Unit (Hiroshi Urabe) · Torsten Landsiedel · Trupti Kanzariya · tunetheweb · twstokes · tybor · Ugyen Dorji · Umesh Gupta · up1512001 · Vicente Canales · Viktor Szépe · Vinit · Vinita Tandulkar · Vipul Gupta · Vishal Kothari · vivekawsm · WebMan Design | Oliver Juhas · websitegenii · wesatintellitonic · Weston Ruter · whaze · Will Skora · William Earnhardt · WilliamG · Wojtek Naruniec · Yagnik Sangani · yankiara · Yann · Yannis Guyon · Yui · Yukinobu Asakawa · Yuvrajsinh Sisodiya · Zack Krida · Zafar Kamal · zieladam · zkarj · Zunaid Amin

More than 60 locales have translated 90 percent or more of WordPress 6.6 into their language. Community translators are working hard to ensure more translations are on their way. Thank you to everyone who helps make WordPress available in 200 languages.

Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who contribute to the support forums by answering questions from WordPress users worldwide.

Get involved

Participation in WordPress goes far beyond coding, and learning more and getting involved is easy. Discover the teams that come together to Make WordPress and use this interactive tool to help you decide which is right for you.

6.6 haiku

Six-point-six is here.
Make it all gorgeous; keep it
On brand, and relax.

How to Create a Beautiful and Functional Site for Your WordPress Meetup Group

Posted by download in Software on 11-07-2024

A few weeks ago at WordCamp Europe we announced free sites for local WordPress meetup groups. This initiative aims to support the WordPress community by providing free world-class hosting to promote your local meetups.

Today we’re bringing you a set of easy-to-use templates, along with some ideas on how to customize your community site. Let’s dive in! 

Building a WordPress community website

WordPress.com offers a huge variety of themes, but if you’re looking for a place to start, you can’t go wrong with Twenty Twenty-Four. It’s a community project, comes with a professional, polished look, and offers plenty of built-in patterns that make site building a breeze. It also lends itself beautifully to customization.

Twenty Twenty-Four already has a lot going for it, but we decided to take it a step further and offer a couple of custom, community-focused page layouts to go along with it. Our stylish homepage and events page templates will seamlessly integrate with your site. 

The homepage layout includes a welcome message, stats section, upcoming events, a blog, and a call for speakers. All of these are optional and can be removed or re-arranged as needed. Plus, you can supplement them with other patterns from the catalog, like social icons to promote your local group’s social media presence.

Let’s have a look!

Getting started with templates

First, you’ll want to activate the Twenty Twenty-Four theme on your site. Next, follow these steps to set up your homepage:

  1. Create a static page.
  2. In the “Add a page” modal select the “Events” category on the left, and pick the desired layout, following these steps
  3. Set the page template to “Page No Title.”
  4. Set your custom page as the homepage in the Settings → Reading section following these steps.

Repeat as necessary for the Events page, and any other page that you might want to add to your site, like About, Contact, or Blog.

The above page layouts can also be found in our pattern library in the Events category.

Customization options

Once you’ve applied a template, it’s time to make it your own. Customizing your site to match your group’s vision is easy. Don’t forget to grab official WordPress logos and other visual assets.

Change fonts and colors

Experiment with fonts and colors to make your design unique. Twenty Twenty-Four theme comes with six style variations that include different colors and fonts, and can be further adjusted as needed.

Swap template parts

Use the power of Site Editor to change the header and footer of your site. Twenty Twenty-Four comes with a selection of built-in options for the site headers and footers, so take your pick!

Add links to social media profiles

Use the Social Icons block to display logos that link to your social media profiles anywhere on your site.

Update your Meetup.com group page

Once your local community website is ready, don’t forget to add the link to your group description and the “Find us” section on your official Meetup.com page.

Over to you

We are committed to providing the best tools and resources for the WordPress community. What other patterns or templates would be useful for your meetup site? Share your thoughts and suggestions with us—we’re here to help you succeed!

WordPress 6.6 RC3

Posted by download in Software on 09-07-2024

WordPress 6.6 RC3 is ready for download and testing!

This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, please evaluate RC3 on a test server or a local environment.

Reaching this phase of the release cycle is a worthy achievement. While release candidates are considered ready for release, your testing is still vital to make sure everything in WordPress 6.6 is the best it can be.

You can test WordPress 6.6 RC3 in four ways:

PluginInstall and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
Direct DownloadDownload the RC3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
Command LineUse the this WP-CLI command:
wp core update --version=6.6-RC3
WordPress PlaygroundUse the 6.6 RC3 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.
Please test WordPress 6.6 RC3 in one or more of these four ways.

The target for the WordPress 6.6 release is next Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Get an overview of the 6.6 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.6-related posts in the next few weeks for further details.

What’s in WordPress 6.6 RC3?

Thanks to your testing (and many other contributors‘ up to now) this release includes eight bug fixes for the Editor and 18 tickets for WordPress Core.

Get a recap of WordPress 6.6’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC 2, you can browse the following links:

Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? You might want to make your first stop The WordPress 6.6 Field Guide. Then, check out this list:

You can contribute. Here’s how

WordPress is the world’s most popular open source web platform, thanks to a passionate community of people who collaborate on its development in a wide variety of ways. You can help—whether or not you have any technical expertise.

Get involved in testing

Testing for issues is critical to keeping WordPress speedy, stable, and secure. It’s also a vital way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.6. If you’re new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.

If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums. If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, you can also report it on WordPress Trac. Before you do either, you may want to check your issue against a list of known bugs.

Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

Search for vulnerabilities

From now until the final release candidate of WordPress 6.6 (scheduled for July 9), the financial reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities doubles. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.

Update your WordPress product

If you build themes, plugins, blocks, or patterns, your efforts play an integral role in adding new functionality to WordPress and helping bring new people and ideas to the most vibrant (and massive!) open source community in the world. 

Thanks for continuing to test your products with the WordPress 6.6 betas and release candidates. With RC3, you’ll want to make sure everything is working smoothly, and if it’s a plugin, update the “Tested up to” version in its readme file to 6.6.

If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.

Help translate WordPress

Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.

The RC3 haiku

One week to go. Then:
Open the paintbox! Try the tools!
Play a new jazz tune.

Props to @meher and @audrasjb. for peer review.

How We Built It: my.blog

Posted by download in Software on 09-07-2024

When Automattic launched the .blog domain extension back in 2016, our in-house team built a shiny new website to go with it. The vibe of my.blog very much matched the era, featuring a simple layout, a generic color palette, and a “just the basics” approach to the content and overall messaging. 

previous homepage design for my.blog
The previous iteration of my.blog did its job well, but was due for a redesign.

Eight years later, it was time for a refresh. 

Our special projects team recently revisited my.blog, giving it a totally new aesthetic and approach, as well as some cool new features. In this post, we’re going to give you a peek behind the curtain about how this new site came to be. The fresh design beautifully showcases what’s possible with WordPress. 

Take a look around my.blog and don’t forget to grab a .blog domain while you’re at it!  

Design inspo 

The first step for our team was to nail down a design motif. For any website project, starting here sets the tone for the entire site. What are the colors, styling, and typographical elements that speak to what you’re trying to get across?

Our design team presented two beautiful options, each with their pros and cons:  

The fluid layout of the lighter version, codenamed Lemon Softness, really stood out, whereas the tile or card layout of the darker version, codenamed Starfield, looked nice, but felt like more of the same on today’s web. 

On the other hand, the dark aesthetic of Starfield spoke a little more to our future-facing sensibilities. 

Ultimately, we combined them. The layout of Lemon Softness is what you’ll see on my.blog today (including a few very cool scrolling animations), while the Starfield inspiration shows up in Dark Mode toggle (the moon/sun icon on the top right). Also check out the “glass morphism” effect in the header at the top of the site, which blurs the imagery just a bit so that you can clearly read and navigate the menu.

Blogger inspo 

Of course, it’s not all about the design. Along with the bold new look, our team included a few features that will inspire bloggers of all stripes and encourage getting back into the habit. After all, blogging is actually thriving in our social media world. 

First, we wanted to ensure that “dotbloggers” (folks who use a .blog domain) were highlighted right on the front page. This carousel pulls posts from the “dotblogger” blog category

my.blog homepage featuring bloggers using a .blog domain.

Just a bit further down on the page, we decided to feature .blog sites; this carousel is actually populated dynamically from a .blog domain database. 

my.blog homepage carousel featuring websites with a .blog domain.

Finally, the team wanted to emphasize how powerful blogging can be. Just as “the death of the novel” has been overblown for at least 100 years, “the death of blogging” is a regular fixture of online discourse. The reality is that more people than ever before are blogging and seeing the value of having a corner of the internet that’s all theirs. To this end, we spent time crafting a manifesto that speaks to this: 

We hold this truth at the center of our mission and vision: content is valuable. When you publish online—whatever you publish—you are declaring your willingness to create and add something to our world.

Owning your domain means that you’re not at the whims of an ever-changing algorithm. It’s a claim of ownership and independence. A .blog domain is more than that—it’s a signal and a badge of authenticity that declares your particular corner of the internet as a space for stories, expressions, thoughts, and ideas. You’re an original.

A .blog domain is more than just the dynamic pillar of your online presence (though it is that too). It’s a stage for all of the utterly unique ways you share your story—in words, photographs, videos, podcasts, artwork, and more.

Resources for days 

Beyond the glitz and glamor, the .blog website also needs to provide practical resources for both registrars and dotbloggers. On the registrar side, our team made it especially convenient to access promotional content and visual marketing assets. When it comes to bloggers looking for a domain, the search page provides real-time results for what’s available and where you can purchase it. 

As a reminder, you can also buy a .blog domain directly from WordPress.com/domains—for just $2.20 for the first year, or for free if you purchase any annual paid plan.  

Take a look for yourself 

No need to take our word on the great job our special projects team did with the new my.blog website. Head over, click around, grab your own memorable domain name, and start (or restart) blogging today. 

WP Briefing: Episode 83: Learning Pathways

Posted by download in Software on 08-07-2024

Discover how Learning Pathways can guide you through your WordPress journey with clarity and purpose. In the latest episode of WordPress Briefing, host Josepha Haden Chomphosy welcomes special guest Wes Theron to discuss the newly introduced Learning Pathways. These curated lesson sets are tailored to various experience levels, roles, and use cases, ensuring a personalized learning experience for every WordPress user.

Credits

Host: Josepha Haden Chomphosy
Guest: Wes Theron
Editor: Dustin Hartzler
Logo: Javier Arce
Production: Brett McSherry
Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod

Show Notes

Transcript

[00:00:00] Josepha: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing, the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project, some insight into the community that supports it, and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go.

[00:00:28] (Intro music) 

[00:00:39] Josepha: As a steward of the WordPress community, one of the big overarching questions that I grapple with is how to make sure people who have just found out about us know how to get around. Obviously, there’s the contributor path, which is important to me because I am especially concerned with the longevity of our little open source community, but there’s also a path for folks who are learning how to use the software.

[00:01:03] Josepha: And so, joining me today to talk through a project called Learning Pathways is Wes Theron. Wes, welcome to the WordPress Briefing.

[00:01:11] Wes: Good day. Thank you very much for having me. It’s a pleasure.

[00:01:13] Josepha: Before we get into this project that we’re talking about, do you want to just tell me a little bit about who you are and what you do with the WordPress project?

[00:01:22] Wes: Yeah. So, as you know, my name is Wes Theron. I’m based in New Zealand, and I’m an instructional designer. And, I am part of the Training Team. So, most of my life revolves around creating learning content for learn.WordPress.org.

[00:01:38] Josepha: Oh, that’s quite a life. Teaching people how to use WordPress.

[00:01:42] Wes: Yeah, I teach WordPress. We run online workshops. I create video tutorials, courses, and now, of course, this great project we’re working on, Learning Pathways.

[00:01:52] Josepha: Yeah. So, I’ve talked about Learning Pathways a few times here on the podcast, but for folks who have not heard me talk about it or who just need a more in-depth understanding, why don’t you tell us a little bit about this project as it stands today? 

[00:02:06] Wes: Yeah, so when Learn started out, I think the main goal was to just get learning content on the site. But, in May of last year, we shared an individual learning survey with folks, and we were hoping to basically find out what are the needs of the learners? What are learners after? And from that individual learner survey, we actually learned a few things. We learned that tutorials, courses, and online workshops were the most used content types. We also saw that web-based learning is the most popular learning method. And then there was a clear need for a structured way of consuming learning material. And that’s basically where the Learning Pathways project was born; to create Learning Pathways that basically target various types of learners, but also various skill levels. So July of last year, we started with outlines, creating outlines for these learner pathways.

[00:03:10] Wes: And then, in October of last year, we actually started creating content. So, the first learner pathways we started working on was the User Learning Pathway and the Developer Learning Pathway. And what that entails is of course, creating a Learning Pathway for beginner users, intermediate users, and then advanced users.

So that’s how we kind of broke it up. And last week, the Beginner Developer Pathway was actually published, so that’s very exciting. And a few weeks before that, the Beginner WordPress User Pathway. And yeah, of course, we’ve got many other pathways in the pipeline that we want to work on. For example, a Designer Learning Pathway and even a Contributor Learning Pathway.

[00:03:57] Josepha: Yeah, when we’re talking about pathways, what we mean is, like, we are figuring out what you probably need to know when you first arrive and then helping you to identify what you build on based on what your goals might be.

[00:04:11] Josepha: Like, obviously, the beginner user, the goal is basically just like, learn how to get WordPress doing stuff at all. Like that’s, that’s an easy goal to understand. But when you all were doing the work to figure out what needed to be in the pathway for a beginner developer, and as you’re looking towards doing the work around intermediate and advanced topics, like how are you all able to determine what most likely you need in those various steps in the learning process?

[00:04:42] Wes: So, of course, a lot of research went into that. When we created the outlines for these Learning Pathways. We shared it with the community. We asked for feedback. And yeah, a lot of research was done to make sure we cover all the all the bases. 

[00:04:59] Josepha: I know that there were a couple of different proposals about how to, like do skills assessments, maybe? There was something where like we were talking with companies that employ WordPress folks in the ecosystem, and then we were talking to WordPressers who were currently trying to make sure that their skills were advanced enough to get those jobs. And we were trying to figure out like the distance between those and where we actually have some concerns around like the language choices that they need, like basic developer language choices and jargon that goes in there and stuff like that.

[00:05:34] Josepha: So this, if I recall correctly, the research for this has been going on for like maybe two or three years, right?

[00:05:42] Wes: Yeah, definitely. And we’ve reached out to many stakeholders within the WordPress community. And as you say, even agencies, and businesses, you know, trying to find out what do they want people to know when they employ them. And yeah, then of course, speaking to the community, speaking, speaking to folks at WordCamps reaching out to folks an online workshops.

[00:06:04] Wes: So, yeah, it’s definitely been an ongoing process and also seeing what resources are lacking and what needs to be there. 

[00:06:12] Josepha: Yeah, so, the very first, the very first iteration of any training that the WordPress project was offering on, I think it was on learn.WordPress.org, but I don’t actually know for sure, was a troubleshooting workshop, because when you are trying to figure out WordPress for the first time, when you are trying to figure out any software for the first time, being able to figure out what went wrong is a really important part of that. And so that was like the only workshop that existed over there for quite some time. And so it’s really nice to see how we have really, not only created a bunch of resources in general, if you all have not looked at learn.WordPress.org lately, it has, like, workshop outlines that you can use to do a training by yourself at your meetup group or at a school or whatever it is.

[00:07:08] Josepha: But then also, I want to say it was maybe two, three years ago, that you all, as a team, the Training Team, started doing these online workshops. And so, when you created the Learning Pathways, considering like how much time and research has gone into this project overall, did you all have learnings that came from those workshops that you had already done? Is this like a collection of workshops or is this something where you can do it at home and learn by yourself and then go someplace else and learn more about WordPress? Like how does that function in what we have already?

[00:07:45] Wes: Yeah, so maybe I should first, maybe let’s define a learning pathway. So I, I thought about this, but a learning pathway, I would say, is a route taken by learner through a range of modules, lessons, and even courses to build knowledge progressively. So it’s similar to a course, but of course usually covers like a specific topic or subject where learning pathways usually have a larger goal.

[00:08:11] Wes: So I wouldn’t say that the online workshops form part of the Learning Pathways project. And maybe I can also clarify that the teacher notes or the lesson plans that you refer to is something that’s also changing going forward. 

[00:08:23] Josepha: Oh, good. Because I wrote some of those, and I am not an instructional designer. And so, ha!

[00:08:30] Wes: We’ve actually decided to move away from having two different content types. So, we had tutorials. You know, video tutorials, and we had lesson plans, and as you said, the lesson plans were notes that somebody could use to run an online workshop or to go to a WordCamp or at their local meetup and use that to teach something. But moving forward for Learning Pathways, we are actually just going to have one content type, namely lessons. And then lessons from part of creating a course or lessons from part of creating modules and then Learning Pathways. The other exciting thing, and something we haven’t mentioned, is that at the end of this month, when we launched the Learning Pathways or the first few Learning Pathways, it actually coincides with a website redesign.

[00:09:18] Wes: So, yeah, beyond the lookout, hopefully, learn.WordPress.org is going to have a brand new face at the end, from the end of July or, yeah, or August. So, yeah, that’s very exciting.

[00:09:30] Josepha: Excellent. Excellent. So, you said that these Learning Pathways are part of a larger goal. Is that a goal for your learners or a goal for WordPress? A goal for the team?

[00:09:40] Wes: I would say all of the above.

[00:09:42] Josepha: Goals for everybody. We’re like the Oprah of goals. Don’t come get me, Oprah. That’s all I got to say about it.

[00:09:48] Wes: Yeah, I think for us as a team, at the end of the day, we want folks to be able to use the content and find the content and utilize all the learning material on learn.WordPress.org. And then, of course, at the end of the day, for learners, we want folks to be able to succeed in whatever they are trying to do. Is it to build their own website? Is it to maybe find a job as a developer? And. Yeah, I mean, the list can go on.

[00:10:21] Josepha: Yeah. So, on the subject of wanting to help people succeed, I think that as far as I hear from the majority of contributors that I have worked with over the years, like helping other people figure out how to do this and making sure that they can succeed is always something that is top of mind for contributors to open source probably in general, but definitely to WordPress. Like, we really care about helping other people figure out how to have the same sort of benefits that we’ve had in the project and with the software. So if you have somebody who is familiar with all the bits and pieces of WordPress and really, really want to like show up and help teach some things. Is it the case that they can take part in like running a Learning Pathway? Is it something where we mostly need people to help us build some content? Like if we’ve got people who are just desperate to help other people succeed in WordPress, what kinds of things can they show up and help do on this project?

[00:11:22] Wes: Yes, please come to the Training Team. There are many ways to get involved. If you just want to review content, you can do that. But yeah, we do have a need for content creators, folks, you know, creating a video lesson or putting their hand up and saying, I will actually create an entire module or an entire learning, a Learning Pathway. We do have some awesome contributors that’s part of the Training Team that are already doing that. Some people are writing scripts. Some folks are actually, you know, creating everything from the beginning to the end. So they are writing the script, they recording the video, publishing the video, et cetera. And then we’ve, of course, have people reviewing content. We’ve got folks running online workshops. If maybe creating video content is not their, is not their forte, they can can run online workshops. So yeah, many ways getting involved.

[00:12:16] Wes: But Josepha, I wanted to point something else out that I haven’t done. I think there was a real need for Learning Pathways because, at the moment, if somebody new to WordPress or new to developing with WordPress wants to find learning content. You know, where do they go? What’s the main platform to go to? I think most people probably go to YouTube, right? But a lot of the content there are, are scattered and fragmented.

So a lot of learning material or learning about WordPress is all over the place. It’s not in one place. And as I said, a place where you can actually learn from A to Z, learn progressively learning in a structured way. Yes, we know there are courses available that you can pay for, but the awesome thing about this project is that we are providing these Learning Pathways, these learning resources, for free for folks to be able to work through at their own time. I know that’s something else you asked earlier on. So yes, this is a course in quotation marks; this is a Learning Pathway that somebody can start whenever it suits them, you know, in the comfort of their own home, and they can work through the Learning Pathway from the beginning to the end. Or, if they feel I actually know everything taught in module one and two, I’m going to start at module three, they can do that. They basically come in at their skill level.

[00:13:43] Josepha: Yes. I think it’s really important to try to meet people where they are. And I know that it’s difficult because, like, we don’t take a lot of data from our users. You don’t have to give us basically anything in order to use WordPress. And by basically, I mean you literally don’t have to give us anything to use WordPress.

[00:14:01] Josepha: And so we always have some difficulty in figuring out what is it that our users need the most in order to succeed the quickest. And so I agree that there was a real need for this not only because, like, there’s plenty of content for getting from, like, some knowledge to a good amount of knowledge. There’s almost no content around, like, I didn’t know CMSs existed until yesterday, and now I need to quickly learn how to do it because it’s become a thing I need to do in my job. There’s some really clear, like use cases for being able to onboard quickly and progressively.

And I understand that, like, having a clear, structured way to learn doesn’t always fit with the idea of meeting people where they are. But I do really think that, that like what you were saying, it can be as structured as you need it to be. But also, if you get into it and you think to yourself, you know, I know this information already. I can move on to the next module. I can move on to the module after that. Similar to the way we do that at WordCamps also. If you get into a session and you thought it was going to be useful for you, and you discover that it’s not once you’re there, you don’t have to stay. You can go to a different room where they’re teaching about SEO if it turns out that you don’t need to learn about JavaScript today.

[00:15:23] Josepha: And I think that that’s, it’s kind of the value that this is hoping to bring, like, because it is a little bit built one on top of the other when you discover that you have already learned something, you can easily try out the next step and know that it’s probably a good next step.

[00:15:38] Wes: Exactly. And if you maybe want to teach this to other folks. The plan is to, you know, we had lesson plans. We have a lot of lesson plans on Learn. But the plan is also to, instead of having, as I said, two different content types, is to have lessons but then add a tab where you can click on teacher notes and actually teach something as well if that is your goal. But yes, our lessons and modules also include quizzes and, hopefully, some practical activities. We’ve incorporated WordPress Playground where, where folks can actually, you know, test out what they’ve learned or test their knowledge. So yeah, I agree with you that you can basically join the Learning Pathway wherever you feel the most comfortable.

[00:16:28] Josepha: So we’ve been kind of in the weeds of the project itself, the program itself, and if you want to like do stuff with that and in that. Let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about just what people who are wanting to join those pathways would need to know. Do you have any advice for somebody who is just today learning about these Learning Pathways and they think to themselves, I definitely want to sign up for one of those. Like, for one, how do they get started? And for two, your like top two or three bits of advice for as they get started? 

[00:17:05] Wes: So you can make your way to learn.WordPress.org, and you can basically open the, the pathway, and you can start wherever, wherever you want to. We have made it possible to actually view these pathways or our content without logging in with your dot org profile. The other thing I also wanted to mention is that our content is actually hosted on YouTube now.

So the great thing is we have these pathways within YouTube as well. So, folks can go to the, YouTube channel and see our content. And, of course, that basically reaches a very wide audience. And hopefully some of those videos will also bring people to the dot org site so that they can access the content.

[00:17:57] Josepha: I think it’s great that you don’t have to sign up for a profile. If you are a brand new WordPresser and ran into this in your dashboard and are listening to this podcast now. So dot org profiles are a place where you can kind of log your activity in the WordPress community and the WordPress project. You do not have to have one in order to use WordPress. You don’t have to have one in order to look at these courses or to learn from them. But I always think that it’s kind of nice to get your profile set up so that people kind of know who you are and what you’re doing. And then also your activity shows up. Like, you can see that you enrolled in the course and you get to know for yourself that you made some progress. I know that when you’re getting started, it’s hard to, like, see your progress because you don’t know how far you have to go. And so, like progress when you’re starting out is really difficult to feel is real. And so I like it just so that you have a few reminders to yourself, like, look how far I’ve come as you’re trying to figure out how far you still have to go. And so I like that a lot. 

[00:18:58] Wes: You won’t be able to access all the content on Learn without your dot org profile. But one of the things we’ve made possible is to access these Learning Pathways, the new ones being launched without, you know, removing those blockers. So, of course, when you work through a Learning Pathway, you will be able to track your progress, and you will be able to see which lessons you have completed. So yeah, one of the pieces of advice I would give to somebody starting with the Learning Pathways actually to first go through the modules. And go through the lessons to see which things you know and feel comfortable with so that you don’t waste time maybe going through the first module and say, oh, I know this, and you’ve wasted time. Rather do a bit of research, a bit of reading, and then find the right place for you to start the journey.

[00:19:45] Josepha: That’s excellent. I also, just as a learner, I try to always learn some stuff. And also, as you get older, it’s harder and harder to learn things partially because like you’re in a set path, but also, and here’s my advice to new learners: you worry about looking foolish. Like you, you worry, you’re showing up, and you don’t know anything about anybody else in the classroom. And so there’s this feeling of like, what if I’m the only person who does not know how to make this work? What if I’m the only person who can’t figure out what Wes meant by “Playground” or whatever it is? There’s this real feeling of looking silly when you’re doing something like this.

[00:20:25] Josepha: I can’t control what anybody else says or does to anyone else, unfortunately. But what I can say is that I think that there’s never a bad time to start something you wish you had done, right? Like, the best time to have learned how to use your CMS, your website, make your website work was probably a year ago or something, but the second best time is today. And so, like, why not go ahead and get started and be part of that small group of adults that are learning new things every single day? I think that’s great. And so that’s my tip is to just embrace looking silly sometimes because you’re making some choices about your future, and that’s always a good choice.

[00:21:04] Wes: And I would also say test your knowledge. So you’ve mentioned WordPress Playground. And as I said, we’ve incorporated into the Learning Pathways, but sometimes you watch a video, or you read something, and you feel like, oh yeah, I know this, but you know, the proof is in the pudding. So go and test it out. Use a test website or use WordPress Playground and test yourself to see if you can actually implement this or do something. So yeah, that’s definitely one of the other tips I want to highlight; you know, they also say you, you learn by doing.

[00:21:38] Josepha: Yeah, absolutely. And also, like if you have gotten to a point you’ve done the learning, you’ve done some practicing, you think you’ve got it and want to like try to figure out what other things can be done with it. I recommend this is how I did a lot of my early WordPress learning to organize an event with your local meetup.

Like, I did not know enough about WordPress when I started organizing WordPress meetups. I literally knew nothing. And I basically brought people in and was like, hey, we need people to teach us about this, us being half me. Come in and teach us. And, and that can be a really good thing, partially because, like, you get to know your local folks and see what’s going on and get a sense for, like, what is out there, especially if you’re learning this in order to run a business or to accomplish something for your job that you already have, like knowing what’s out there is super helpful. But then I find that once you embrace the fact that sometimes you will look silly, and that’s the only way that we can know we’re learning something. Like once you’ve embraced it, having some people who are willing to look a little silly with you is kind of, kind of fun, kind of nice. Also, like we’re all going to look at this problem that we definitely don’t understand and hopefully look like, at the end, we know what we’re doing, but between looking at it the first time and at the end of this meetup, we’re all going to look a little bit silly, ask silly questions. And I think that that’s a really helpful thing, too. But yeah, knowing some basic information is a great place to start before you do that, especially if you get anxious about looking silly. And I think these pathways are going to really help to get folks a little bit of a leg up on those big questions that they have as you’re starting to learn how to use WordPress.

[00:23:18] Josepha: So we talked about, like, tips and tricks for learners in general. But if you had something that you wanted to share with us that, like, you’re really excited about for either the Training Team or for the Learning Pathways in general, I think the Learning Pathways are slated to be shipped by, like, end of September or something. So, like, a lot of them are coming quite quickly. 

[00:23:38] Wes: So I am most excited about the website redesign and the new look and feel of the website. And also, you know, one of the goals for us as a Training Team is for learn.WordPress.org to be one of the places people come to and learn about WordPress. And I feel these Learning Pathways and the new website redesign and all the hard work that’s gone into this project is hopefully going to, make that happen. As I said, our content is also available on YouTube. So we’ve really tried to make it easy for folks to find our content and also now to digest our content in a progressive and in a structured way. Because, you know, learning is hard. And hopefully, these Learning Pathways have made it easier for folks to, as you said, to build on your knowledge. You know, a lot of times, there’s knowledge gaps. And I think that’s what makes learning so hard. And hopefully with these pathways, you can build that knowledge one step at a time.

[00:24:44] Josepha: Yeah. And as is the way with open source, like we can only make these pieces of content better if you all show up and help us like try it out, learn some stuff, and tell us what was confusing. Tell us what was too big a step. Cause yeah, you’re right. There are some knowledge gaps and when you’re on the other side of knowing something, it is so hard to tell how big a step is, you know?

[00:25:11] Wes: Exactly.

[00:25:12] Josepha: And so we need y’all to come in here and tell us very plainly as a new learner like that was eventually what I needed, but this part here was especially confusing. This part over here was too like too many little steps like we just we’re trying to make sure that it works for you WordPressers, future WordPressers of the world. And so yeah, come build some learning with us over here on the Training Team.

[00:25:35] Wes: And yes, please, we want feedback because, as you say, as we iterate, we want to improve. So there will be a place where you can provide feedback, and at the end of the pathway where there will also be a satisfaction survey for folks to to complete.

[00:25:50] Josepha: Great. Well, folks, we’re gonna have a bunch of links in the show notes. There’s so much stuff out here to learn with and about WordPress. Wes, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:26:01] Wes: Thank you for having me. And I will see you all on Learn.

[00:26:05] (Music interlude)

[00:26:12] Josepha: That brings us now to our small list of big things. Although I have to say we have a bunch of links that we’re going to share in the show notes. If you’re listening to this in a place where there are not show notes, you can head over to WordPress.org/news. That’s where we keep all of those. If you are lucky, we also will help you find it on Twitter/X, but I think that it’s hard to find things over there these days. So WordPress.org/news is your best bet. Now, it is time for the small list of big things.

So, first up on my list is that WordPress 6.5.5 is now available. It’s got a few fixes in it, some maintenance things and some security fixes as well. I recommend that you update your sites immediately. You can download it from WordPress.org/download, or you can just visit your WordPress dashboard. If you’re on a managed host, they may have already done this for you, too. But auto-updates, manual updates, CLI updates. However, you want to get it done, get it done. But it is recommended to do this as soon as possible. 6.5.5. 

[00:27:16] Josepha: The second thing on my list is that the WordPress Contributor Mentorship program has a call for interest out. This is a program that we launched about a year ago as well. And we had such a good bit of success at the end of the first round in February that there was significant interest in doing another cohort. So, that program connects seasoned WordPress contribution experts with folks who are new to contributing and offer a fantastic opportunity for mentees to gain hands-on experience contributing to WordPress while their mentors share their expertise and improve their leadership skills. So, most of the time, what you are going to be contributing to is probably a release of WordPress, but there are also a lot of opportunities to contribute to things like the Training Team that we’ve been talking about today and other teams as well. Not everything is focused all around our release cycle. We have things happening in the WordPress project literally all the time. It is a project that never sleeps. 

[00:28:17] Josepha: Speaking of projects that never sleep, our next official release, our second release of the year, is coming out. WordPress 6.6 is coming out just about a week from now. It is the second major release of 2024 and has a lot of things in it that you will want to check out. If you have not yet seen the hallway hangout where we take a look at what was happening in the release, what we intended to get into the release, take a look at it. And if you haven’t tested it yet, if you are one of our plugin developers, if you are building something on top of WordPress core, now is the time to check that out and test it against your products.

And then the final thing is that it’s a new month, my friends. Here we are in July, and we have a ton of things happening in the project. That’s the theme of my small list of big things: the project that never sleeps. But we have a lot of team meetings that are happening. If you haven’t attended one in a while or even if you have never attended one of these meetings and you were trying to figure out when to start, now is as good a time as any. You can join your fellow community members and contribute to the WordPress project. And there are ways that you can do that from home and from your computer and for some parts of the project, like from your phone, if you are taking photos out and about and submitting those. So check out make.WordPress.org/meetings. It’ll give you a sense for everything that’s happening. Do not get overwhelmed by that calendar. You can just choose which team you think is most interesting to you.

[00:29:45] Josepha: And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Your small list of never-sleeping things. Don’t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You’ll get a friendly reminder whenever there’s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at WPBriefing@WordPress.org. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thanks for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks. 

[00:30:15] (Music outro)