How often do you consider the domain name when deciding the credibility of a website? Do you know how a domain-specific email address could influence your communication with clients or followers?
Few things convey your brand’s identity like a carefully selected custom domain, and in our newest webinar, “Mastering Custom Domains,” we aim to eliminate any uncertainties around incorporating this crucial element into your WordPress site.
In this session you can expect to learn about:
Choosing and registering a custom domain that amplifies your brand and boosts credibility
Connecting your domain to your WordPress.com site for a seamless user experience and improved SEO
Employing best practices for domain management, email setup, and more
This free webinar is perfect for everyone, from beginners to experienced WordPress users. The session concludes with a live Q&A segment, so come prepared with your questions!
We’re offering the webinar at three different times this week only, well-spaced so that any timezone around the world should find a convenient option:
Mark your calendar for these other upcoming webinars
Don’t miss our other webinars for June, where we’ll guide you through the powerful capabilities of the WordPress Site Editor. Both are designed to equip you with the tools needed to enhance your website’s functionality and aesthetics in ways that were not possible before.
Site Editor vs. Page Editor: Editing your entire site in WordPress
In this in-depth session, we will walk you through the process of modifying every aspect of your WordPress site, from the header to the footer. With the new Site Editor tools, total site customization is now within your grasp, even if you’ve never written a line of code.
We take a deep dive into how you can customize your site header to reflect your brand’s persona, making it more attractive and easy to navigate. An effective header is crucial in establishing your online identity, and our experts will show you how to edit it with ease using the WordPress.com Site Editor.
All our WordPress.com webinars are presented live and designed for site owners of all levels in mind. Whether you’re just starting out or already have some WordPress experience under your belt. We wrap up each hour-long session with a live Q&A, offering you a chance to interact directly with our experts.
Be sure to bring all your website-related questions and an eagerness to learn. See you there!
The atmosphere was electric at WordCamp Europe (WCEU) 2023 in Athens, Greece, as WordPress celebrated its 20th anniversary and the opportunity to gather in person for inspiration and engagement. More than 2,500 individuals from 94 countries came together in person or through the live stream to participate in a remarkable three-day event (plus Contributor Day) filled with talks, networking, and learning opportunities. The event concluded on June 10 with a captivating keynote address by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and Gutenberg Product Architect Matías Ventura, who highlighted the advancements and upcoming milestones of the WordPress Project.
One significant update shared during the keynote was the successful reactivation of WordCamps. This time last year, we organized eight in-person WordCamps, and by the end of 2022, the number had risen to 23. Thanks to the enthusiasm and involvement of the WordPress community, we are already on track to organize 25 WordCamps in the first half of this year alone.
Josepha also emphasized the importance of the upcoming Community Summit on August 22-23. This in-person gathering brings contributors together across the WordPress open source project, fostering cross-project discussions vital for future growth and sustainability. For more information, visit the official Community Summit website.
Discussing the Five for the Future (5ftF) program, Josepha highlighted the impressive growth in active contributors and company pledges over the past year. She also underscored the expansion of the WordPress ecosystem, citing examples like Openverse, which now provides access to nearly 800 million images and audio files, all easily accessible in the Site Editor.
Another exciting addition to the WordPress repertoire is WP Playground. This new feature allows users to build WordPress applications instantly in the browser without needing a PHP server. This tool provides a swift and seamless experience, reducing the installation time from five minutes to a near-instantaneous 500 milliseconds. The application of WP Playground may seem like magic, but its practical application promises tangible and revolutionary benefits for WordPress users.
Matías Ventura then took the stage to share updates on Gutenberg. Through a visually stunning video built entirely with blocks, he showcased the six-year development journey and the transition from words to blocks to a final design. The upcoming WordPress version 6.3 will mark the completion of the first two phases of Gutenberg, consolidating all these features into a cohesive and user-friendly experience. He also highlighted the introduction of features such as the Wayfinder tool, Style Book, and the ability to save patterns, further empowering users to own their web presence and voice.
Following the keynote presentation, the WordPress leadership engaged in a lively Q&A session with the audience, further illustrating the continuous evolution within the WordPress Project. This session highlighted how the WordPress community innovates, iterates, and continually improves to create a better platform for today and tomorrow.
Join the global community and be part of the WordPress journey toward a brighter future!
Reblogging is a way to show appreciation for another creator’s work while also providing your own audience with a valuable piece of news, work of art, or thought-provoking opinion. We recently made a few significant improvements to the experience of reblogging to make it more customizable for you while also ensuring the original creator gets the credit they deserve.
What’s new with reblogging
1. Freedom to choose your title
You’ll now find the title field empty when you’re taken to the editor to reblog a piece of content. Rather than automatically using the original post’s title, you’re free to add your own flair. This allows you more creative freedom and reassures your audience (and the original creator) that you’re not simply passing off another person’s work as your own.
2. No more default featured image
We’ve also changed the automatic import of the featured image. This helps avoid the appearance of content duplication while also helping you manage your site’s media storage limits more effectively. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with text only, though — you can still add your own featured image to the reblogged post.
3. A new way to embed
Lastly, we’ve replaced the Quote Block with the core Embed Block for the post you’re reblogging. This change provides a more accurate representation of the original content and makes for a nice visual experience for your readers. Here’s what it looks like:
How do I reblog a post from the WordPress.com Reader?
Reblogging a post within the WordPress.com Reader is a simple process. Here’s how it works:
1. Navigate to the Reader by clicking on the “Reader” tab in your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Browse through the posts until you find one you’d like to reblog. Click on the “Share” (arrow) button located at the bottom of the post.
3. Select the site that you’d like to reblog this post to.
4. You’ll be taken to the editor, where you can add your own title along with any additional thoughts or comments.
5. When you’re ready, click “Publish” to share the post on your own blog.
A more enjoyable experience for all
We believe these changes will make reblogging a more respectful and gratifying experience for everyone. As always, we’re eager to hear your thoughts. Try out the new process and let us know what you think!
Imagine being able to quickly generate all types of content—headlines, entire posts, even translations—with the click of a button. Imagine significantly reducing your effort and time spent staring at a blank screen.
Say hello to Jetpack AI Assistant.
Jetpack AI Assistant is seamlessly integrated as a block within the WordPress.com editor. (If your WordPress site is hosted elsewhere, the AI Assistant is also available through the Jetpack plugin.) This powerful new tool is still in the experimental phase, but here’s just a sampling of what it can already help you do.
5 ways you can make writing a breeze with Jetpack AI Assistant
Create customized content
Jetpack AI Assistant utilizes a conversational system so that you can “chat” with it in natural language. Enter a prompt, such as “Write a list of Tokyo’s must-visit destinations,” and watch as the Assistant crafts an engaging piece of content. Compelling blog posts, detailed pages, structured lists, and comprehensive tables can be created in seconds.
Perfect your spelling and grammar on the fly
Ensure your content always reflects professional standards with Jetpack AI Assistant’s spelling and grammar correction features.
Adjust your tone to match your audience
Whether you’re aiming for formal or conversational, Jetpack AI Assistant can adjust the tone of your content to your goals and audience makeup.
Find that perfect creative title
Struggling to find a good title that will really capture your audience’s attention? It can be the hardest part of writing a post! Jetpack AI Assistant has you covered by reading the text and then creating suitable and compelling headlines.
Translate your writing with a single click
The Jetpack AI Assistant can translate your text into numerous languages, allowing you to effortlessly reach across locales and cultures.
And that’s just the start of what Jetpack AI Assistant can do.
Can this really be free?
Yes, it can! For a limited time, Jetpack AI Assistant is free to use for all WordPress.com customers.
Activate the block with the Inserter or the “/” command shortcut. (If you didn’t know, here’s a fun tip: Hit the “/” button while in the post or page editor and type the name of the block you’re looking for. In this case, it would be “AI.”)
Your rocketship to seamless content creation
This is just the beginning! We’re working to expand Jetpack AI Assistant’s capabilities, so stay tuned for even more exciting features in the coming weeks.
Try the AI Assistant today and discover an even more streamlined creative process in WordPress.com.
May has been a month of celebrating WordPress and the open source community that makes it possible. In honor of the project’s 20th anniversary, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy reflected on this journey and the opportunity to build a better future for those who come after:
The more our community invests in itself and supports one another, the stronger WordPress and the open source software movement become.
Read on for highlights of this milestone and the latest updates in the WordPress space.
WordPress at 20
May 27, 2023, marked the 20th anniversary of WordPress’ first release. Since its inception by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in 2003, the project has transformed the digital publishing landscape and enabled millions of people to craft their stories.
WordPress enthusiasts from all over the world gathered at more than 130 events to celebrate this important milestone. WP20’s commemorative book, Building Blocks: The Evolution of WordPress, was published in tandem and documents some of the most significant moments and changes of the last decade of the project.
Join Josepha Haden Chomphosy in Episode 55 of WP Briefing as she looks back at the 20 years of WordPress and how the community made WordPress what it is today.
WordPress 6.3 aims to bring a cohesive site editing experience by introducing expanded functionality, richer interfaces, and a dedicated focus on refinement.
WordPress 6.2.2 became available for download on May 20, 2023. This release was a quick response to resolve a regression introduced in 6.2.1, specifically with shortcode support in block templates, and to further patch a vulnerability already addressed in the previous version.
Three new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:
Gutenberg 15.7, released on May 3, 2023, brings a new direct option to upload and replace a site’s logo from the block settings sidebar. Other enhancements include easier access to duotone filter controls via the style settings sidebar and an update to fluid typography to refine responsiveness.
Gutenberg 15.8 shipped on May 17, 2023, and includes a new “Pages” item in the Site Editor sidebar to edit pages without leaving the interface. Moreover, this version brings the ability to navigate through revisions in the global styles interface and to preview block themes inside the Site Editor.
Gutenberg 15.9 is ready for download as of May 31, 2023. The latest Gutenberg release comes with a new command tool and several enhancements to the Site Editor experience, including a more intuitive drag-and-drop function for moving blocks.
The latest Core Editor Improvement post highlights features such as revisions and the ability to preview block themes, and how they enable a smoother site editing experience.
Team updates: Next-generation WordCamps, proposal for a Sustainability Team, and more
The Community Team proposed broadening the purpose of WordPress events to “spark innovation and adoption by way of accessible training and networking.” This opens the door to organizing a more diverse range of formats focused on specific topics and audiences.
The Polyglots Team rebranded the WP Translation Playground tool as Translate Live and announced improvements that make translating plugins and themes easier.
Meet Stacks—the first community theme born from the Community Themes initiative. This theme is designed for creating slide decks that can be used for a presentation.
Find out how WordPress and its global community of contributors made a difference in Stefano Cassone’s life in the latest edition of People of WordPress.
What is WordPress Playground, and why it matters? WP Briefing Episode 56 discusses the benefits and potential of this tool with special guests Rich Tabor and Adam Zielinski.
The latest call of the Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach Program invites you to test some features being worked on to upgrade and polish the experience of using the Site Editor. Share your thoughts by June 8, 2023.
Version 22.5 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.
Which next generation of WordPress events would you like to see? Share your ideas and start exploring new event formats this year.
Join WordPress project leadership on June 10 at WordCamp Europe 2023 to hear about the latest developments and what’s next for WordPress. Check out the schedule for details.
Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.
Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy in the 57th episode of the WordPress Briefing as she discusses the Contributor Mentorship Program to help increase the success of new contributors over time.
Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to wpbriefing@wordpress.org, either written or as a voice recording.
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, Joseph Hayden Chomphosy. Here we go!
(Intro music)
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:40]
Over the course of this year, there has been a lot of research and examination of the contributor funnel in the WordPress community. That research confirms some assumptions about what most contributor stories have in common: the hurdles, the general paths taken, and the way that problem-solving was done. Then in February of this year, Hari Shanker published a proposal for a mentorship program for WordPress.
And now we’ve got a pilot program that’s been defined and is waiting for your feedback. If you’ve not read the post about the contributor mentorship program, for one do it. But if you would rather hear a synopsis from me, don’t worry, I’m about to give you a 10-cent tour.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:01:22]
First up, who is doing this? This pilot program has been outlined by a community working group. We often have working groups in WordPress, and they almost always have specific projects around events or programs, or code updates. Since this working group is focused on a project-wide program, there is project-wide representation in it. All the names are at the bottom of the post, which you can find in our show notes. But it’s got folks who contribute with code or contribute with time or contribute with design folks who are self-sponsored or corporately sponsored, just a nice mix of people. The program as a whole, though, is being stewarded by Hari Shankar, a longtime supporter of and contributor to WordPress.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:02:06]
So next, what is this for? There are a few goals for the program. But the overarching goal is to increase the success of new contributors over time. We can all agree that if we were to have 1000s of new contributors every day, but they couldn’t find their way to impactful contributions or meaningful connections quickly, then we would have done them a disservice. And they probably won’t continue to be part of the community without a bit more effort.
The when and the where are essentially “right now and right here,” so that brings us finally to Why. Why are we doing this mentorship program? Apart from to help people who want to contribute have an easier path to success – which frankly is enough of a reason anyway – the why is wrapped up in our overall philosophies in the project. If we believe that good ideas can come from anywhere and that contributions of any size matter. And that open source is an idea that can change our generation and that we are democratizing publishing, then bringing new people brings new ideas, and beginner contributions can grow over time. We can maintain this idea, this concept of open source, into the next generation and to future generations. And always keep our sights on the open web. To learn more about this and other project-wide initiatives, swing by make.wordpress.org/project or check the links in today’s show notes on wordpress.org/news/podcast.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:03:53]
Which brings us now to our small list of big things.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:03:56]
First on the list is WordCamp Europe. That’s coming up at the end of the week on June 8 through 10th in Athens, Greece. There will be a major update from Matt and friends, so even if you aren’t there in person, keep an eye out for those recordings. But for those who are there and you’re curious about the mentorship program or anything else to do with WordPress and contributing to the project, you can come find me or Angela Jin, Hari will also be there, Chloé will be there, Héctor will be there, lots of people, and we want to hear your thoughts and answer your questions.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:27]
Second is a call for brainpower! A call for your brainstorms! On the subject of the next generation, we’ve got a discussion going on about the next generation of WordCamps. We’ve been discussing what new types and varieties might be available, and that might make sense for people as we get back to in-person events. So if you’ve got a kind of WordCamp that you’ve been desperately wanting to try, now’s the time to let folks know about it.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:54]
And the final thing is the second volume of The WordPress history book called Building Blocks: The Evolution of WordPress is now available for download in several formats as well as on GitHub. Stop buy, give it a read, and relive some of the highlights of the past ten years of the WordPress project.
[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:05:12]
And that, my friends, is your smallest of big things. Thanks for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I’m your host Josepha Haden Chomposy, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.
Since its debut last December, we’ve been improving WordPress.com Newsletter to meet the needs of writers and creators everywhere. Now we’re introducing a big update — the ability to add paid subscriptions and premium content, whatever plan you’re on. Including the Free plan.
Here’s the deal — you can now kickstart your newsletter without spending a penny, build your audience, and then add paid subscriptions into the mix at any point. It’s a great way to explore the shape of your newsletter without paying upfront while giving your readers a way to support your work at any point along the way. If you want to keep on growing, our paid plans provide lower transaction fees and all the features you need to manage and scale your newsletter and website.
Let your readers fuel your creativity
Paid subscriptions let your fans support your art, writing, or project directly. Once your creativity has captivated your audience, there’s a good chance some of them will gladly give something back by supporting your work financially.
And it’s not an all-or-nothing game. You can still put out free posts to grow your readership, enable one-time tips and donations, or keep some of your content exclusive to subscribers.
Take more creative control
We’re all about giving writers and creators the power and flexibility to do things their own way.
From selecting beautiful visual themes, customizing them to make everything feel more like you, or turning your newsletter into a full-fledged website or store, you’ll save time, cut costs, and have a bunch fewer logins and browser tabs to navigate by keeping everything under one roof.
Then, as your newsletter flourishes, you can tap into a universe of plugins, themes, and design patterns with affordable upgrades, whenever the time’s right. That means you can scale smoothly from a free newsletter to one that starts helping you earn, without feeling penned in by a rigid plan or restricted features.
Kickstart your newsletter
Whether you’re thinking of starting up a paid newsletter from scratch or ready to take your existing one up a notch, there’s no better time than now.
Signing up for Newsletter is the quickest route to writing, publishing, and expanding your audience from scratch. And if you’re switching from another platform? No worries, you can bring existing subscribers along for the ride during the setup process.
Amplify an existing site with newsletter features
But you don’t need to start from zero. At WordPress.com, any site can add or become a newsletter. If you’ve been thinking about growing your audience, you’ve got the Subscribe Block and Newsletter Patterns at your disposal to get up and running quickly. They’re the perfect duo to transform a fleeting visit into a lasting bond.
Getting started
Once you’re all set up, introducing paid subscriptions or content gating to your newsletter is simple stuff. Whenever you publish a post, just tick a box to make any post available to everyone, subscribers-only, or just the paying ones.
Here’s how to get started:
Log in to your WordPress.com dashboard.
Click on “Earn” in the Tools section.
Set up a Stripe account to start receiving payments (or connect your existing account).
Configure your payment plan to establish your subscription fee and cadence.
Your readers will be able to pay for subscriptions directly from your site, with transaction fees as low as 10% of revenue on the Free plan, decreasing as you level up to our paid plans, down to a 0% fee on the Commerce plan. Payments are processed through Stripe and are available in the countries where Stripe is currently supported.
You’re in great company
With over 20 million emails sent out every day by WordPress.com to pretty much every country in the world, rest assured that your newsletter will land in your audience’s inbox reliably and securely. And as your audience grows, you can sit back comfortably knowing that WordPress.com is finely tuned to scale with your ambitions. However far you want to take things.
What’s next?
Newsletter is ever-evolving, and we’re always on the case refining the design, experience, and offerings for writers, creators, and publishers like you. We’re all ears for your ideas for our next steps in making it easier for more people to publish and earn from their work, without barriers to getting started.
With WordCamp Europe 2023 in June, we feature Stefano Cassone, a web designer, photographer and volunteer translator, who believes his life has been transformed through WordPress and its community.
The People of WordPress series shares inspiring stories of how people’s lives can change for the better through WordPress and its global community of contributors.
Stefano with a laptop covered in WordPress event stickers
Stefano has always been fascinated by the internet. His initial learning in the 1990s was through joining friends at a local pub where they could explore how websites were structured and learn to use chat software.
This led to Stefano creating websites for fun in 1998, and his first paid job was for the shop where he bought comics. He turned to content management systems (CMS) to speed up the creation process for sites, but found he needed more documentation to really understand their capabilities. Then he read a magazine article about WordPress, a CMS which was being used to make incredible blog sites, and was supported by an international community and documentation. Over time, Stefano started using that documentation to work on websites in Italian.
WordPress provides a life-changing turning point
Stefano describes himself as an introvert. He found that WordPress helped him to work from home, to develop his skills and the quality of what he could produce, as well as build his self-confidence.
A catalyst for the turning point in his life and career was the discovery of an area for events on the WordPress dashboard. On this page, he found a forthcoming local meetup in Rome.
In November 2017, Stefano took the step to go along to this event, led by a curiosity of what he might discover and intrigued by how a software could be supported by a vast community. The topic at the event was on WP-CLI, a command line interface for WordPress. He recalled that he felt outside his comfort zone as he did not regard himself as a developer and at that point, had only used the software for simple jobs. He wondered whether using the software as his only CMS was going to be a long term option and if these meetups were suitable for him.
At the meetup, people were talking about a forthcoming event, called WordCamp Rome. Through his research, he saw that there was a lot of enthusiasm for this event. This intrigued him and he wondered if it would show him that he could have a career using the software after all.
Unfamiliar with WordCamps, Stefano found it difficult at first to know what he could go to and how to get involved, but he persevered and attended the event.
“The WordCamp was a great discovery: talks at all levels from basic to those for developers, advanced and very advanced. I was immediately struck by the enthusiasm of the volunteers. It was an environment where I felt very comfortable, so much so, that I asked myself how I could participate in some WordCamps.”
Stefano Cassone
From this event, Stefano was encouraged by those he met to consider applying as a volunteer for a future WordCamp.
There was also much talk at the event about ‘Slack’. It was new to Stefano, but with help from those attending, he signed up for the messaging tool Slack, used by the WordPress community. He was still unsure how he could contribute, and if he would be welcome.
Joining thousands of volunteer translators of WordPress
Italian General Translation Editors at WordPress Italia 2022
Stefano took the plunge and was excited to find there was a team called Polyglots. In this team, people from across the world translate the WordPress software into many different languages. He started with translating a theme he was using in his work. Little by little he became more interested in plugins and attended meetings with other translators. He offered his skills to translate into Italian themes and plugins in general and as his experience grew, he took on the volunteer role of a General Translation Editor. He also took care of the translation into Italian of the WordPress Core. More recently he has joined the group of translators for the HelpHub, which is part of the WordPress documentation system.
He said: “Participating in the WordPress Slack has helped me enormously: I’ve met a lot of people who I now call friends. Moreover, by translating, I learned a lot about how themes and plugins work.
“It’s a great way to contribute to WordPress, especially for someone like me who is not a developer. Translating also allows me to fully understand how WordPress works.”
“I always say that translating themes, plugins, and the Core software is the best way to learn WordPress, better than any course or book.”
Stefano Cassone
Sharing skills to support Open Source WordPress
Stefano volunteering as a photographer at a WordCamp in 2019 with other contributors.
Stefano’s growing commitment to the open source WordPress project was further boosted through his volunteering. He was a volunteer at WordCamp Rome 2018 and participated there in his first Contributor Day where he had the opportunity to translate the software with others.
He was also able to bring his own hobbies and skills to help the project grow and reach others. One example was his passion for photography, and he volunteered as a photographer for many other events in Italy organized by the WordPress community. He said: “This commitment to the community also allows me to have fun: being a photographer means having the opportunity to walk around the halls and capture moments of the life of a WordCamp.” The more WordCamps he attended, the more he wanted to be part of and keep contributing to the wider WordPress community.
Contribution to WordPress is inspiring
Stefano at the Support Table at a WordPress Contributor Day
When Stefano was asked to become an organizer for the WordPress meetup in Rome in October 2019, he knew he wanted to be part of reaching and supporting more people in his area. He faced challenges with finding venues, but a greater issue was to come: the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spurred on by the Italian WordPress community as a whole, he was determined that the meetup was still needed. The regular event was transformed into an online meeting. He was able to gain help from people he had met as a volunteer to share their expertise with meetup attendees.
The community in Italy also worked together to put on WordCamp Italia online. It brought together the organizers of previous meetups and WordCamps, and new contributors too. Stefano volunteered in both online editions of this camp, including being part of the social and communication team. He found it to not only be a fun experience but also one that helped him grow professionally and learn from so many others.
He went onto help restart the Rome WordPress meetup in-person meetings in May 2022 and was an organizer for the third WordCamp Rome and volunteering for camps in 2023.
What will WordPress bring you?
Stefano inspired by his journey at WordCamps asks what will WordPress bring you?
“Persona and professional growth and friendship” are some of the things they have brought Stefano. Contributing boosted his confidence and willingness to try new opportunities in his work.
He said: “The best thing I got out of joining the WordPress community was the chance to collaborate with some people on a working basis and, I have to say, that was incredible. Being with many of them you have an incredible opportunity to grow in knowledge, you just have to be ready to learn. With WordPress you never stop learning.”
His top recommendation is: “Join your local meetup or think about organizing one, it will introduce you to an amazing world. Don’t be afraid to meet people at WordCamps and Contributor Days, because you will learn more there than in dozens of courses. Talk to people at those events and don’t worry. The WordPress community is inclusive so you’ll always feel welcome, and you will see enthusiasm like you’ve never seen at other IT events. Sign-up and get involved.”
Share the stories
Help share these stories of open source contributors and continue to grow the community. Meet more WordPressers in the People of WordPress series.
Contributors
Thanks to Stefano Cassone (@deadpool76) for sharing about his adventures in WordPress.
Thank you to Abha Thakor (@webcommsat), the late Surendra Thakor (@sthakor) and Meher Bala (@meher) for interviews, writing the feature and collaborating on images, to Chloe Bringmann (@cbringmann), Mark Smallman (@marks99), Nalini Thakor (@nalininonstopnewsuk), Mary Baum (@marybaum), and Maja Loncar (@majaloncar) for help with reviews.
The People of WordPress series thanks Josepha Haden (@chanthaboune) and Topher DeRosia (@topher1kenobe) for their support.
This People of WordPress feature is inspired by an essay originally published on HeroPress.com, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories might otherwise go unheard. #HeroPress
Our community team recently traveled to Bangkok, Thailand to meet with longtime WordPress.com customers Karin and Nok Phisolyabut. They’re the owners of Yarnnakarn, a small arts and crafts studio that specializes in telling stories through contemporary ceramic pieces.
Part of why we love this studio, in addition to their beautiful work, is because Yarnnakarn espouses a deep commitment to sustainability and supporting their community. They continuously explore and experiment with new techniques to reduce their impact on the environment, including working with local materials and craftspeople. Rather than focusing on uniformity and quantity, they seek beauty in the flaws and imperfections innate to each natural ingredient, creating truly unique pieces.
Yarnnakarn’s work can be found all over the world and we’re thrilled that WordPress.com has helped them in that journey. Watch the video below to tour their shop, hear their story, and find out how they use their website to grow their reach.
Visit WordPress.com/customers to get 30% off your first year of the Business plan, or click below:
Whether you want a simple blog that highlights recent posts, a visually stunning portfolio, or an online home for your small business, your website should be just as unique as you are. That’s why we’re excited to introduce a new site design tool that guides you through the process of creating a memorable custom homepage.
Our designers have put together a library of hundreds of patterns, colors, and fonts that you can mix and match for whichever distinctive vibe you’re going for.
When you create a new site at WordPress.com, you’ll now find the option to start from a Blank Canvas. This is where you become the designer (with a little help from us): We’ll guide you through decisions on layout, colors, fonts, and more. No matter your goals for your site, we have the building blocks to help you turn your creative vision into reality.
Pick the perfect palette
Paint your patterns with the click of a button, applying custom color palettes to your entire page via our global styles feature. Our simple tools allow you to take the artistic lead on your site. Are you Blueberry Sorbet? Midnight Citrus? Perhaps a moody Charcoal? We have dozens of colorful options to set a mood that works for you and your audience.
Find a fitting font
Whether something stately and classic or sleek and modern, the typeface you use sets the tone for everything you’re trying to do with your site. Our thoughtful and engaging one-click font pairings will have you feeling like an expert typographer in no time.
Edit with ease
Patterns? Check. Colors? Check. Fonts? Check. You’ve got the basics of your site set up. Now it’s time to harness the power of the Site Editor. Bring your page to life by adding images, content, products to sell, and more. As you get comfortable, continue to experiment by adding or removing patterns, playing with colors and fonts, and making your site look and feel exactly the way you want it to.
Click below to get started with our DIY site assembler:
Need some extra help? Our new Quick Launch course will guide you through what to include on a compelling homepage, and how to tie it together with our new DIY design assembler. Additionally, here’s a few more resources to get you started with designing on WordPress.com:
