WordPress 6.7 Beta 1

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 01-10-2024

WordPress 6.7 Beta 1 is ready for download and testing!

This beta 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, set up a test environment or a local site to explore the new features.

How to Test WordPress 6.7 Beta 1

You can test Beta 1 in any of the following ways: 

WordPress Beta Tester Plugin Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.
Direct DownloadDownload the Beta 1 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
Command Line (WP-CLI) Use this WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=6.7-beta1
WordPress PlaygroundUse a 6.7 Beta 1 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser. No setup required–-just click and go!

The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.7 is November 12, 2024. Your help testing Beta and RC versions over the next six weeks is vital to ensuring the final release is everything it should be: stable, powerful, and intuitive.

How important is your testing?

Testing for issues is a critical part of developing any software, and it’s a meaningful way for anyone to contribute—whether or not you have experience.

If you encounter an issue, please share it in the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums. If you are comfortable submitting a reproducible bug report, you can do so via WordPress Trac. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.

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

WordPress 6.7 will include many new features that were previously only available in the Gutenberg plugin. Learn more about Gutenberg updates since WordPress 6.7 in the What’s New in Gutenberg posts for versions 18.5, 18.6, 18.7, 18.8, 18.9, 19.0, 19.1, 19.2, and 19.3.

What’s New in WordPress 6.7 Beta 1

WordPress 6.7 Beta 1 contains over 500 enhancements and over 500 bug fixes for the editor, including more than 200 tickets for WordPress 6.7 Core. Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming:

Meet the Twenty Twenty-Five theme

Launching with WordPress 6.7, the new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Five, embodies ultimate flexibility and adaptability, showcasing how WordPress empowers you to tell your story with a rich selection of patterns and styles. Inspired by glimpses of natural beauty and ancestry heritage, it evokes ideas of impermanence, the passage of time, and continuous evolution–mirroring life’s journey. Experience effortless site creation with Twenty Twenty-Five and follow its progress or report issues on this GitHub repo.

Zoom Out to Compose with Patterns

The Zoom Out view simplifies your editing experience by allowing you to create and edit at the pattern level rather than focusing on individual blocks. Easily toggle this view from the toolbar to streamline your site-building process, making it faster and more intuitive to design pages using patterns.

Media improvements 

Now supporting HEIC image uploads–automatically converted to JPEG for maximum compatibility–you can add high-quality images without worrying about browser support. Plus, enjoy auto-sizing for lazy-loaded images and expanded background image options at both individual and global levels, giving you greater control over your site’s visuals and performance. 

Expanding Block Supports

Several blocks now come with expanded support options, enabling even more design possibilities. Notably, the long-requested shadow support for Group blocks has been added, a big win for designers and theme developers!

Preview Options API 

The latest WordPress release enhances the Preview Options in the block editor, empowering developers to customize content previews. A new API allows plugins and themes to add custom items to the preview dropdown menu, enabling users to see content in different formats or environments. This flexibility enriches the editing experience while maintaining the existing familiar Preview dropdown structure.

Refined Data Views

The Data Views introduced in 6.5 continue to be improved. This release is focused on refining the experience with a few new features aimed at making these views more flexible for customization and more functional to use. 

Manage Block Bindings Directly

The Block Bindings API now features an interface that lets you connect attributes with dynamic data to be bound to block attributes, solving many use cases for custom blocks and powering other features, like overrides in synced patterns. Updates to this API in 6.7 polish the underlying APIs, improving the overall user experience, and add a user interface (UI) that allows you to connect attributes with their binding sources. This new UI makes it possible to create bindings directly in a block instead of needing to use the Code Editor.

Simplified and Smarter Query Loop Block

The Query Loop block is improved, as it now automatically inherits the query from the template by default, eliminating the need for manual configuration. This means your posts display immediately in both the editor and on the front end, streamlining the process so users can focus on content without extra configuration needed.

Edit and Control Font Size Presets

An enhanced Styles interface allows for greater flexibility when creating, editing, removing, and applying font size presets. You can now easily modify the presets provided by a theme or create your own custom options. A key feature is the ability to toggle fluid typography, which enables responsive font scaling with additional options for finer control over responsiveness.

View Meta Boxes in the iframed Post Editor

A new split view option has been introduced that allows you to access both the editor canvas and metaboxes while editing. This change will provide a consistent WYSIWYG experience between the editor and front end views.

Template Registration API

With this release, developers can now more easily register custom block templates without complex filters. Streamline your development process and create custom templates with ease. 

The features included in this first beta may change before the final release of WordPress 6.7, based on what testers like you find.

Get an overview of the 6.7 release cycle and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.7-related posts in the next few weeks for further details.

Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta & Release Candidate

The WordPress community sponsors a monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities. This reward doubles during the period between Beta 1 on October 1, 2024 and the final Release Candidate (RC) scheduled for November 5, 2024. 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.

Just for you: a Beta 1 haiku

Lines of code arise, 
Testing shapes the future path,  
WordPress grows once more.

Props to @annezazu, @cbringmann, @courane01, @desrosj, @marybaum, and @preithor for reviewing and collaborating on this post!

The Future of the Social Web Is in Good Hands

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 30-09-2024

Social media, in its current form, is broken and chaotic. A new organization, the Social Web Foundation, aims to change that. This initiative has launched with a clear mission: fuel the growth of the fediverse and make the social web a better place for everyone.  

Automattic, WordPress.com’s parent company, is excited to be part of this movement and to support the Foundation’s vision for a healthier, more diverse social web.

What is the Social Web Foundation?

Founded by leaders in the open social networking space, including Evan Prodromou, Tom Coates, and Mallory Knodel, the Social Web Foundation is focused on fostering a financially sustainable, decentralized social web. It will empower users and creators by enhancing platform diversity, encouraging innovation, and promoting user safety across the fediverse.

The Social Web Foundation’s immediate focus is on building the infrastructure needed to connect users and developers across platforms. The Foundation will also work to educate the public, policymakers, and developers about the benefits of the fediverse while continuing to improve the ActivityPub protocol and the tools that power it.

Automattic’s role in supporting the Social Web Foundation 

Automattic has a long history of championing open source software and open standards, and we believe the fediverse plays a critical role in shaping the future of the web. That’s why Automattic is eager to collaborate with the Social Web Foundation to ensure a stronger, more open ecosystem for all users.

Matthias Pfefferle, Open Web Lead at Automattic, said, “We’re excited about the launch of the Social Web Foundation and its mission. We’re eager to collaborate with the Foundation to expand platform diversity and enhance the support for various content types—especially long-form content—within the fediverse, fostering greater interoperability across the ecosystem.”

Alongside Automattic, companies like Mastodon, Flipboard, Ghost, and Meta have expressed their support for the Foundation’s mission. As Eugen Rochko, Founder and CEO of Mastodon, states, “Mastodon is committed to the fediverse and proud to back the Social Web Foundation’s efforts to build a stronger, more open, and dynamic social web for all.”

Federating WordPress.com with ActivityPub

For creators using WordPress.com, there’s already an easy way to join the fediverse. The ActivityPub plugin federates your WordPress.com site, allowing readers on other fediverse platforms like Mastodon and Pixelfed to follow your site directly. This integration gives creators even more control and reach, offering a seamless way to distribute content across multiple networks while maintaining ownership of what you publish.

Why this matters

As the Social Web Foundation builds out its program, Automattic and WordPress.com are proud to be part of the next wave of social networking. The ability to control your own data, interact across platforms, and have a say in the future of the social web aligns perfectly with our own values as an organization dedicated to empowering creators and users worldwide. And with the ActivityPub plugin, WordPress.com users can easily join in, helping to build a more open and federated web.

To learn more about the Social Web Foundation, visit their website, or follow them at @swf on the fediverse.

Also be sure to catch up on all things fediverse with our five-part YouTube series, The Fediverse Files.

WP Engine Reprieve

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 27-09-2024

I’ve heard from WP Engine customers that they are frustrated that WP Engine hasn’t been able to make updates, plugin directory, theme directory, and Openverse work on their sites. It saddens me that they’ve been negatively impacted by Silver Lake‘s commercial decisions.

On WP Engine’s homepage, they promise “Unmatched performance, automated updates, and bulletproof security ensure your sites thrive.”

WP Engine was well aware that we could remove access when they chose to ignore our efforts to resolve our differences and enter into a commercial licensing agreement. Heather Brunner, Lee Wittlinger, and their Board chose to take this risk. WPE was also aware that they were placing this risk directly on WPE customers. You could assume that WPE has a workaround ready, or they were simply reckless in supporting their customers. Silver Lake and WP Engine put their customers at risk, not me.

We have lifted the blocks of their servers from accessing ours, until October 1, UTC 00:00. Hopefully this helps them spin up their mirrors of all of WordPress.org’s resources that they were using for free while not paying, and making legal threats against us.

Our Contributions Towards a Stronger Open Source Future

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 27-09-2024

As an open source project, the WordPress software relies on contributions from individuals and businesses alike to remain a healthy and innovative ecosystem. 

Individuals can contribute in a number of ways, from writing code to organizing meetups to working on WordPress’s accessibility. Companies can contribute by permitting their employees to allocate part-time or full-time hours to WordPress. 

For the latest WordPress release Automattic provided over 3,500 core contributions—over half of all WordPress 6.6 contributions—at the hands of 105 individual contributors. 

Given that WordPress powers over 40% of your favorite websites, it’s in the best interest of every company that benefits from WordPress to give back to the project and community. 

This idea is codified in WordPress’s Five for the Future initiative. Any company that profits from the software—including every business offering hosting for WordPress—is encouraged to put 5% of its resources back into WordPress development.

At Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, we take this responsibility very seriously. 

Automattic employs just under 2,000 people. Over 100 of them work on the WordPress project full-time. In terms of workforce hours, this puts the company at almost exactly 5%. 

Contributor day at WordCamp Europe 2024.

Though this is not a requirement and it is not policed by the WordPress Foundation, every company that profits from WordPress should think about the long-term health and vibrancy of the WordPress ecosystem. At Automattic and WordPress.com, we’re proud to give back and to constantly be thinking about bettering WordPress as a whole when we’re working on features, squashing bugs, and generally doing our best to democratize publishing for the entire world.

As a customer—whether you’re a developer at an agency or an aspiring creator—you have a say in the future of WordPress. You have options when it comes to hosting. We recommend that the dollars you spend go towards a WordPress host that acts as a good steward of open source philosophy—like WordPress.com.

WP Engine is banned from WordPress.org

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 26-09-2024

Any WP Engine customers having trouble with their sites should contact WP Engine support and ask them to fix it.

I won’t bore you with the story of how WP Engine broke thousands of customer sites yesterday in their haphazard attempt to block our attempts to inform the wider WordPress community regarding their disabling and locking down a WordPress core feature in order to extract profit.

What I will tell you, that pending their legal claims and litigation against WordPress.org, WP Engine no longer has free access to WordPress.org’s resources.

WP Engine wants to control your WordPress experience, they need to run their own user login system, update servers, plugin directory, theme directory, pattern directory, block directory, translations, photo directory, job board, meetups, conferences, bug tracker, forums, Slack, Ping-o-matic, and showcase. Their servers can no longer access our servers for free.

The reason WordPress sites don’t get hacked as much anymore is we work with hosts to block vulnerabilities at the network layer, WP Engine will need to replicate that security research on their own.

Why should WordPress.org provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us?

WP Engine is free to offer their hacked up, bastardized simulacra of WordPress’s GPL code to their customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it, with them getting all of the profits and providing all of the services.

If you want to experience WordPress, use any other host in the world besides WP Engine. WP Engine is not WordPress.

Hot Off the Press: New WordPress.com Themes for September 2024

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 24-09-2024

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Check out the latest themes in our library, including great options for brats, foodies, and beauty bloggers. Take a look below.


Partygurl

Partygurl WordPress.com theme homepage.

Tap into your brat summer vibes all year round with our brand new Partygurl theme. Inspired by the now-iconic bright green and simple typography from Charli XCX’s Brat album, this styling will immediately identify you as someone who’s done with the “clean and polished” aesthetic of sameness that you see across the web.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


RecipeBook

RecipeBook WordPress.com theme homepage and blog post page.

RecipeBook is a warm, vibrant theme made for foodie content creators who want their recipes to shine. Inspired by the charm of old-school cookbooks, RecipeBook pairs eye-catching colors with bold typography. The homepage invites discovery with a handy category list and flexible Query Loop block, making it easy to showcase your culinary creations. Whether you’re sharing recipes or creating food collections, RecipeBook offers a playful yet functional design to help you dish out your passion for cooking.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


Goodskin

Goodskin WordPress.com theme homepage.

Goodskin is a great theme for beauty bloggers and skincare enthusiasts. With its light, calming aesthetic and clean layout, Goodskin provides an elegant space for sharing your routines, product reviews, and more. The theme includes thoughtful features like a sidebar for easy navigation and a product rating pattern to highlight your favorite finds. Available in three soothing color variations—Jojoba, Blush, and Eyeshadow—Goodskin offers a serene, sophisticated platform that allows your content to glow.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


Luxus

Luxus WordPress.com theme homepage, in three style variations.

Luxus is the perfect look for beauty salons wanting to make a sleek, no-fuss impression. Designed with simplicity in mind, Luxus gives the essentials—services, location, hours, and contact information—right away on the homepage, making it easy for clients to find what they need.

Optimized for mobile right out of the box with a clean, single-column layout, Luxus offers a seamless experience for your busy, on-the-go clientele. With the luxurious Ojuju font for headings and the classic Hanken Grotesk for body text, this theme exudes elegance while keeping the focus on what matters most.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.


To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Personal plan or above. Partner themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $99/year each on the Business plan and above.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or you can click below:

WP Engine is not WordPress

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 22-09-2024

It has to be said and repeated: WP Engine is not WordPress. My own mother was confused and thought WP Engine was an official thing. Their branding, marketing, advertising, and entire promise to customers is that they’re giving you WordPress, but they’re not. And they’re profiting off of the confusion.

I spoke yesterday at WordCamp about how Lee Wittlinger at Silver Lake, a private equity firm with $102B assets under management, can hollow out an open source community. Today, I would like to offer a specific, technical example of how they break the trust and sanctity of our software’s promise to users to save themselves money so they can extract more profits from you.

WordPress is a content management system, and the content is sacred. Every change you make to every page, every post, is tracked in a revision system, just like the Wikipedia. This means if you make a mistake, you can always undo it. It also means if you’re trying to figure out why something is on a page, you can see precisely the history and edits that led to it. These revisions are stored in our database.

This is very important, it’s at the core of the user promise of protecting your data, and it’s why WordPress is architected and designed to never lose anything.

WP Engine turns this off. They disable revisions because it costs them more money to store the history of the changes in the database, and they don’t want to spend that to protect your content. It strikes to the very heart of what WordPress does, and they shatter it, the integrity of your content. If you make a mistake, you have no way to get your content back, breaking the core promise of what WordPress does, which is manage and protect your content.

Here is a screenshot of their support page saying they disable this across their 1.5 million WordPress installs.

They say it’s slowing down your site, but what they mean is they want to avoid paying to store that data. We tested revisions on all of the recommended hosts on WordPress.org, and none disabled revisions by default. Why is WP Engine the only one that does? They are strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem, giving our users a crappier experience so they can make more money.

What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it’s something that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it.

This is one of the many reasons they are a cancer to WordPress, and it’s important to remember that unchecked, cancer will spread. WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think is ok to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years.

If you are a customer of “WordPress Engine,” you should contact their support immediately to at least get the 3 revisions they allow turned on so you don’t accidentally lose something important. Ideally, they should go to unlimited. Remember that you, the customer, hold the power; they are nothing without the money you give them. And as you vote with your dollars, consider literally any other WordPress host as WP Engine is the only one we’ve found that completely disables revisions by default.

PDX + WCUS 2024: A Recap

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 21-09-2024

I love Oregon sculpture at The Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon USA

WordCamp US (WCUS), North America’s largest WordPress event, hosted over 1,500 attendees from around the world at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, from September 17 to 20.

Over four days, WordPress professionals and enthusiasts came together to explore the latest advancements and use cases, collaborate on open source projects, and strengthen community connections.

A dedicated team of more than 40 volunteers, led by Aaron D. Campbell, Julia Golomb, Katie Richards, and Sandy Edwards, made the event possible.

Building WordPress

Contributor Day brought together over 400 contributors across 25 teams to support the WordPress project. As with any Contributor Day, participants learned and collaborated while tackling key projects, including triaging issues, exploring performance improvements, advancing the Twenty Twenty-Five theme, and preparing for the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release.

Contributor Day 2024 at WordCamp US
WordPress contributors discussing all things design at WCUS 2024’s Contributor Day.

Celebrating WordPress

At WCUS 2024, the inaugural Showcase Day highlighted how enterprises like Disney Experiences, The New York Post, CNN, Vox Media, and Amnesty International are leveraging WordPress across a variety of industries. With 19 sessions, attendees gained diverse insights into WordPress’s wide-ranging capabilities and features.

Disney at WCUS 2024
Showcase day presentation by Alexandra Guffey and Katrina Yates of Disney on Gutenberg’s use in a complex ecosystem of sites.

Sustaining WordPress

Joseph Jacks at WCUS 2024
Keynote presenter Joseph Jacks shares thoughts on the future of OSS.

Joseph “JJ” Jacks, founder of OSS Capital, kicked off the first day of programming with a keynote about how open source will dominate the next wave of software. In looking at emerging trends in tech, he expressed how closed core, or closed source, software is hitting a plateau. Commercial open source companies are able to disrupt and forge the path for a shift in the space. 

Sharing his optimism for the future, JJ highlighted emerging projects OSS Capital is excited about and emphasized that the most successful open source companies thrive by generating more value than they capture.

Learn WordPress

The second half of the conference featured more than 20 sessions and workshops across three tracks. Topics ranged from leveraging AI in WordPress to getting the most out of wp-admin.

Thursday’s dedicated networking session brought attendees to the sponsor hall to explore and connect with the vast ecosystem of hosts, plugins, agencies, and service providers. The WordCamp US Lounge, located within the exhibit hall, held focused discussions on hosting, neurodiversity, inclusivity, and content marketing.

Friday began with a fireside chat between TIME’s CTO Burhan Hamid and WordPress VIP’s CMO Tim Hossain. The duo discussed how TIME’s implementation of reusable components allowed them to scale and support major traffic-generating topics such as Taylor Swift’s Person of the Year, House of the Dragon, and political events.

Troubador Typewriter at the Code is Poetry Lounge, WCUS 2024
WordCamp attendees stopped by the Code is Poetry lounge to try their hands at the vintage Smith Corona and have a poem written by the Typewriter Troubadour.
Campfire Lounge at WCUS 2024
Attendees take a break in the center of the exhibit hall at the “campfire” where various discussions were held throughout the event.

Q&A with Cofounder Mullenweg

In a dynamic keynote, WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg delivered one of his “spiciest” WordCamp presentations, combining insights on WordPress’s open-source future with a creative twist. He opened by reading his recent post that explores open-source philosophy, touching on themes of freedom, collaboration, and the ongoing influence of open-source projects like WordPress. Mullenweg also critiqued companies for misleadingly labeling proprietary models as open source, stressing the importance of true open source licenses for the future of software freedom.

Matt further emphasized WordPress’s ecosystem-driven development and highlighted the Five for the Future initiative, an effort to avoid the tragedy of the commons and ensure that WordPress thrives for everyone. His speech addressed community concerns about companies profiting off WordPress without giving back and urged attendees to support companies that contribute to the platform’s growth.

Before diving into the Q&A segment of the presentation, Matt expressed the importance of recognizing:

“What we create together is bigger than any one person.”

Matt Mullenweg speaking at WCUS 2024 in Portland, Oregon USA
WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg on the main stage at WCUS 2024.
Matt Mullengweg and Brian Richards taking the stage at WCUS 2024.
Matt Mullenweg and Brian Richards on stage at WCUS 2024.

Save the Dates

In his closing remarks, emcee Brian Richards expressed gratitude for the fantastic work the event organizers and volunteers contributed to produce WCUS 2024.

Brian reminded attendees to save the date for WordCamp US 2025, which will once again take place in Portland, Oregon, from August 26 to 29, 2025. 

WCUS 2024 Attendees gather for a group photo.
Attendees gather at WCUS in Portland, Oregon.

No WordCamp is complete without an after-party, with this year’s taking place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Attendees concluded a week of WordPress with refreshments while visiting the exhibits—including a submarine and planetarium—and posing in the photo booth.

Stay connected

WordPress events enable technologists, open source enthusiasts, and community members around the globe to meet, share ideas, and collaborate to drive WordPress and the open web forward.

Mark your calendars for State of the Word (Tokyo) on December 16, 2024, 2025’s WordCamp Asia in Manila, WordCamp Europe in Basel, Switzerland, and WordCamp US in Portland, Oregon!


This post is a collaboration between the contributors who produce content for wordpress.org/news and the WordCamp US Communications Team.

Props to the following contributors for the work reviewing/contributing to this post: @rmartinezduque, @juliarosia, @brettface, @eidolonnight, and @cbringmann. Thank you to the Photos Team for supplying images for this post and the official WordPress social media accounts throughout the event: @gwallace87, @m_butcher, @correliebre, and @zstepek.

Democratizing Core Contributions: A Guide to WordPress.org Badges 

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 19-09-2024

WordPress is an open source project, meaning anyone can contribute to the software, regardless of skill level. You probably first think of writing code, but it goes beyond that: whether you’re submitting patches, translating content, or organizing events, your contributions matter and are essential to the ongoing success of the WordPress project. 

This collective effort ensures WordPress remains accessible, secure, and innovative. Plus, it’s a chance to work alongside passionate individuals who share a love for WordPress and the open web.

When you contribute, you not only get that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with giving back, but you also get a virtual badge on your WordPress.org profile. Today’s post is going to explore the ins and outs of these meaningful additions to your WordPress C.V.  

What are WordPress.org profile badges?

In the WordPress community, badges aren’t just for scouts—they’re symbols of contributors’ dedication to the power of the open web and professional achievement. No matter your role in the WordPress ecosystem, profile badges highlight your contributions to the open source project that powers over 40% of the web.

If you’ve been part of the WordPress open source project in any capacity, you have a WordPress.org profile that looks something like this (you can find Daniel’s, which is pictured below, here: https://profiles.wordpress.org/danielbachhuber): 

Note: this is your WordPress.org profile, not your WordPress.com profile. 

What may be different about your own profile are all those cool badges—or lack thereof. If you don’t have (m)any, you’re probably thinking, “Those are cool! How do I get those?” 

Think of these badges as your WordPress resume. They are visual markers that help showcase your contributions to the core WordPress project. As you can see, these badges appear on your WordPress.org profile, giving others a glimpse into your involvement and expertise.

Badges are earned for a number of contribution types—in fact, there are 30 different badges you can show off. Whether you’re writing code, answering questions in the forums, helping translate WordPress into other languages, or organizing meetups and WordCamps, there’s a badge for nearly every type of contribution.

Beyond just being a fun visual, though, profile badges are a way to build your reputation within the WordPress ecosystem and signal to others that you’re an engaged, knowledgeable, and reliable member of the community.

Why badges matter 

Profile badges are more than just digital stickers—they come with a few tangible benefits: 

  • Get recognized for your efforts: Whether you’re a plugin developer or an accessibility contributor, badges are a public way of being recognized for your hard work. It’s a way for the community to say, “Thank you!” 
  • Build credibility: If your career is related to WordPress, your badges are a symbol of your expertise and commitment. Potential clients or hiring managers can see your dedication to the platform, which can set you apart from other providers or job candidates.
  • Increase your networking opportunities: Badges can also serve as a way to connect with others who share similar interests. If you’re active in the WordPress community, your badges show that you’re invested, making it easier to forge connections with others who are just as passionate.

Badges are a reflection of your journey within the WordPress community.

All the possible WordPress.org profile badges. 

How to earn WordPress.org profile badges

Earning WordPress badges is all about getting involved. All you need to do is create your profile (if you haven’t already) and start contributing. Here’s a breakdown of some common badges and how you can earn them:

1. Core Contributor

The Core Contributor badge is awarded to those who contribute directly to WordPress Core. This can include submitting code patches, testing new features, or reporting bugs during development cycles.

To earn this badge, you don’t have to be a coding wizard—there are plenty of ways to contribute to WordPress core, even if you’re just getting started with development. Testing, providing feedback, and reporting bugs are all valuable contributions that can help you earn this badge.

2. Meetup Organizer

If you’re passionate about building local WordPress communities, organizing a meetup is a great way to get involved. To earn this badge, you’ll need to officially register your meetup group through WordPress.org and organize regular events. It’s a fantastic way to contribute to the community and make connections with fellow WordPressers in your area. 

Don’t forget about WordPress.com’s free hosting offer for any local meetup website. 

3. Accessibility

This badge is awarded to contributors who help ensure that WordPress remains inclusive and usable for everyone. Work in this area includes testing themes and plugins for accessibility compliance, contributing code that improves accessibility features, and helping write documentation and best practices. Your efforts here make WordPress more user-friendly for all. By working towards this badge, you’re playing a crucial role in making the web a more accessible place, one improvement at a time. 

4. Polyglots (Translation) 

WordPress is a global platform, and the Polyglots team is responsible for translating it into hundreds of languages. If you’re multilingual, contributing to translations is an incredibly valuable way to give back to the community.

To earn this badge, you can join the Polyglots team and start translating WordPress Core, themes, and plugins into your native language. Every contribution counts, whether it’s a single string or an entire project.

5. Support 

The WordPress support forums are a lifeline for users around the world, and those who actively help others solve their WordPress problems can earn the Support badge. Whether you’re answering questions, providing advice, or sharing your knowledge, this badge is for those who make the forums a valuable resource.

Earning this badge is simple: Get involved in the support forums and help other users navigate their WordPress questions.

This is just a sampling of what’s available. Remember, there are 30 total badges to earn! 

Show your commitment to the WordPress community 

While digital trophies are fun and all, WordPress.org profile badges are more than that—they’re a visual and visible reflection of your commitment to the WordPress community and open source project. No matter the type of contribution you’ve made, every badge tells a story of how you have helped make WordPress what it is today. 

Whether you have one badge or all thirty, every contribution pathway is meaningful. Make it your own and go deep, go wide, or do both in contributing to this one-of-a-kind project and community.

No matter your skill level, there’s always more to do in this grand quest of democratizing publishing for the entire world. Get involved, make a difference, and show off your badges with pride. 

Open Enrollment at WordPress.com: Free Websites for Students 

Posted by download | Posted in Software | Posted on 17-09-2024

Your online presence is paramount to the success and well-being of your future self. Whether it’s for sharing your latest creative project, building an impressive portfolio, or simply expressing your ideas, owning a personal website gives you the power to control your online identity. It’s a space where you can showcase your work, share your story, and set yourself apart in a sea of digital noise.

A simple website can, in fact, change the world. 

You are the future of the web 

At WordPress.com, we know that students are at the forefront of driving online culture. Michael Dell founded Dell while he was a student at the University of Texas. Google came to life when Larry and Sergey were at Stanford. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started Facebook. We could keep going. 

To kickstart your own world-changing ideas, we want to give you a free website. 

Starting this week, university students can get a free Premium WordPress.com website for one year. We’re offering this opportunity to the first 1,000 students who sign up.

Investing in yourself—here’s what you get with a WordPress.com premium plan  

A website is more than a tool. It’s an investment in your future. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive, having an online space where you can display your work, write about your passions, and connect with like-minded people is invaluable. From resumes to portfolios to blogs, your WordPress.com site will grow as you do.

Here’s what’s included when you take advantage of this free website offer: 

  • Free custom domain name for the first year: Choose a personalized domain that reflects your identity.
  • Premium themes: Kickstart your site with professionally designed, fully customizable templates.
  • 13 GB of storage: Plenty of room to host your photos, videos, and other media, with ownership that’s entirely yours.
  • SSL certificate: Your site is secure and protected by industry-standard encryption.
  • Ad-free experience: Build and manage your site without ads distracting your visitors.

No matter what you’re creating, WordPress.com’s Premium plan gives you all the tools you need to succeed.

How to secure your free website 

Here’s how you can grab this amazing deal:

  1. Submit the interest form ASAP: Head over to our campaign landing page and fill out the form with your details. Be quick—only the first 1,000 students will get the free site!
  2. Verify your student status: After you’ve submitted the form, you’ll receive an email asking you to verify your student status through VerifyPass. This step ensures that our offer goes to real students.
  3. Claim your free website: Once your student status is verified, you’ll receive a unique coupon code that allows you to create a new Premium plan website for free.
  4. Build your site: Choose your domain, select a theme, and start building! 

This offer is perfect for students looking to stand out in their personal and professional journeys. Don’t miss out on this chance to create a space that’s truly your own.

Get started right away  

Having your own website is a game-changer in an online world increasingly controlled by social media algorithms. You’ll stand out by breaking the mold and announcing yourself as an individual, unmoved by the platform of the moment. 

WordPress.com is here to help you take that leap.

Take control of your digital identity. Sign up now and claim your free website while spots are still open!