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This month we feature Daniel Kossmann, a software engineer from South America who shares his enthusiasm for WordPress at every opportunity.

The People of WordPress series features inspiring stories of how people’s lives can change for the better through WordPress and its global community of contributors.

Daniel’s adventure into WordPress began in 2009 when he needed a way to publish and share articles on films. From that small spark, he now enjoys an interesting and varied career in Brazil and beyond, and an ever-expanding community network.

Following WordPress and its new features fascinates Daniel and he is always looking for ways to share what it has to offer with others. His initial focus on WordPress for content publishing soon became a wider appreciation of the platform’s capacity for building communities and careers. 

Daniel has served as a community organizer for seven years in Curitiba, Brazil and co-organized four annual WordPress Translation Day events in the city. Community building initiatives, like these, bring in new volunteers and help spur on local user groups.

Now working as a software engineer manager, Daniel maintains his interest in supporting the WordPress community through a newsletter in Brazilian Portuguese.

Finding WordPress to publish content can be life-changing

Daniel’s web development skills were initially self-taught, and built on his interest in technology and from his earlier interest in video games. He developed systems in ASP and PHP, and created online resources to teach others how to create websites.

When the time came to choose his academic path, he had no doubt that it would be something related to computers and picked Computer Science at the Federal University of Paraná.

“In order to focus more on content rather than coding, I ended up getting to know WordPress. It was love at first sight!”

In 2009, he launched a public blog about films that became a hub for cultural content related to cinema, literature, and comics. The blog had collaborators from several cities in the country. He found WordPress an easy tool for publishing articles. It allowed him to spend more time on writing content rather than having to use his software engineering skills to write code.

Discovering what the software was capable of, he soon wanted to build themes and features in WordPress to customize websites.

As he searched for learning resources, he came across an event focused on WordPress actually happening in his own city. WordCamp Curitiba 2010 had a deep impact on Daniel.

“Other tech events I attended charged more than double this WordCamp, but hadn’t offered half of the things it did.”

Daniel was inspired not only by the talks but also the kindness shown by others at the event. His inherent shyness meant he had to step out of his comfort zone to socialize. However, the friendliness of attendees and the welcome he received made this less foreboding. He was hooked by the community he met, and he pledged to volunteer at the next WordCamp and even apply as a speaker.

Less than two years later, Daniel helped to organize WordCamp in Curitiba 2012, and this was where he gave his first public talk. It was an important moment in his journey. He is determined to keep improving his public speaking skills each time he presents, and help others to do so too.

From WordPress user to entrepreneur

Daniel had dreamed of starting his own company since childhood. Following his university graduation in 2011, he decided to fulfil that dream. He started a web development company, envisioning it as a creative project lab.

Initially, he worked with a variety of systems and programming languages. Soon, he realized that maintaining multiple solutions took considerable time and effort. So he opted to use a single platform, WordPress. It offered ease of use for his clients and the possibility of offering various types of websites.

“This decision allowed me to dive even deeper into the system, making better and faster-to-deliver solutions for my clients,” said Daniel.  

As the company grew, he expanded the services it offered to include support, maintenance, courses, consulting, and optimized hosting for WordPress. This gave Daniel access to a wider range of clients and greater specialization in the WordPress platform.

Even as a small company, Daniel wanted to give back to the WordPress community. Through using this open source software, the business had not faced the costs of using commercial platforms. He felt he should invest back into the software and its community it as much as he could, from sponsorship of events to collaborating in the Contributor Teams.

His community contributions include speaking at meetups and WordCamps to share what what he has learned in his day-to-day work. “It was always and still is a big pleasure to be able to make these contributions,” he affirmed.

In 2019, he decided to close his company after eight years and start a new chapter in Development Coordination. His focus and support for WordPress continues to this day.

Supporting local: re-energising the Curitiba’s WordPress community

After WordCamp in Curitiba in 2012, the community there took a break from organizing events. Three years later, Daniel was eager to help restart meetups in Curitiba. He connected with others in the Brazilian community to find a way forward to support both end users of WordPress and firms using the platform. Through instant messaging tool Slack, a rebooted meetup was organized in August 2015. All the planning was done virtually and they only met for the first time in person on the day of the event.

Although they did not have much initial experience in event planning, the meetup organizers were determined attendees should have fun and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. They wanted people to feel comfortable socializing and to chat before and after the talks. The tips that attendees shared at every meeting were one of the most successful elements of these user-focused meetups.

For Daniel, getting up in front of people to introduce the meetup was still not easy. However, he knew continuing to practice and improve his self-confidence was the only way to overcome his shyness. This determination and sense of achievement inspires him to encourage others to present talks and share the tips he uses when presenting.

The Curitiba meetup continues to flourish. Though Daniel has moved to supporting the community in new ways, he has a lasting fondness for it. It has made him an advocate for local groups at the heart of the WordPress community. He believes the shared interest and enthusiasm for learning at meetups helps to increase attendees’ interest in both the software and its community, and their willingness to participate .

Sharing the benefit of WordPress across Brazil

In June 2019, Daniel created a newsletter to spread content about WordPress in Brazilian Portuguese and inspire others to create content in the language. Translating, Daniel believes is a powerful way to make WordPress more accessible to people who do not speak English, which is the case for a lot of people in Brazil. In 2021, Daniel started writing regularly about WordPress on his blog too. He continues to publish weekly news, tutorials, tips, and share events.

Advice to future WordPress contributors

Daniel believes that the WordPress community is a key strength of the platform. It attracts people with a range of technical skills and backgrounds, and strives to have a diverse and open space for exchange.

There are so many ways to contribute to WordPress without working with the code. He said: “I’m a big evangelizer of learning in public. A great way to collaborate is to create your blog in WordPress itself and share your journey of using it, and to write about tips and useful resources. This will eventually lead you to the official WordPress documentation and, the more you use it, the more opportunities for improvements you will see. Then you can start contributing to improving it. Besides this, you can pick a plugin or theme that you use and help with its translation.”

He added: “My biggest advice for those who are starting to contribute to WordPress is to start with a small step, maybe solving an easy bug or fixing a typo, and create a routine to consistently work on it, like an hour every weekend.”

Daniel has made several lasting friendships, received professional referrals through his participation in community events, and enjoys a career that continues to have variety and new things to learn.

His final message is to join WordPress meetups locally or online in other cities, and be inspired like he has been for 14 years and still counting.

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

Thank you to @kossmann for sharing his adventures in WordPress.

Thank you to Abha Thakor (@webcommsat), Larissa Murillo (@lmurillom), Meher Bala (@meher), Chloe Bringmann (@cbringmann) for research, interviews, and contributing to this feature article.

The People of WordPress series thanks Josepha Haden (@chanthaboune) and Topher DeRosia (@topher1kenobe) for their support.

On episode forty-eight of the WordPress Briefing podcast, Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy reflects on the closing of Gutenberg phase two, and what that means in the larger context of the project.

Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to wpbriefing@wordpress.org, either written or as a voice recording.

Credits

Editor: Dustin Hartzler
Logo: Javier Arce
Production: Santana Inniss
Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod

Show Notes

Removing Block Editor Beta Label GitHub Issue
Reporting Bugs
make.wordpress.org/design
Contribution Conversations: Improving the Contributor Journey
Contribution Conversations: Ending the Eternal September
Contribution Conversations: WordCamp Mentorship
WordCamp Asia Livestream Info

Transcript

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:00] 

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, Jospeha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:40] 

We’ve barely gotten moving here in 2023, but even so, WordPress is already working toward its next major release– coming to us at the end of March. You’ve probably heard by now that with this release comes the “end of Phase 2.” But for a lot of folks, that’s raising some questions about what to expect.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:01:00]  

So I’m gonna spend a little time today sharing what I currently know. Let’s start with what that phrase does mean. Firstly, all of the projects, with the exception of two, I believe, in the Phase 2 scoping ticket, will be shipped in the Gutenberg plugin before WordPress 6.2 release comes out. Barring any major breaking issues, those will then land in that major release in WordPress 6.2.

So, like, 99% of the features we considered in scope for Phase 2 will be in core by April. It also means the block editor may finally shed its beta label. We’ve been discussing that possibility with the input of the community over the course of the last few major releases, and we’ll do the same as we get ready for the 6.2 release as well. That discussion is tracked over in GitHub, and I can share a link to that in the show notes. For anyone who is a little super nerd, like me, the ticket number is 39293. 

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:02:00] 

So not only if you’re going to memorize it and be one of those cool WordPressers who can call tickets to mind based on the numbers. This is a good one because not only is it an important topic, to be able to recall, but also it’s a palindrome, so you get to be fancy and know that forever. 

But anyway, I’ll put a link to it in the show notes for all the rest of us. Fingers crossed that we get to remove that label this time around, but also, the acceptance criteria on it are pretty clear. So it’s really a matter of yes or no on all of the columns all the way down.

So what does that phase not mean? Firstly, it does not mean that we will stop accepting user feedback or bug reports on any features up to this point. It is always encouraged to file a ticket on track or GitHub detailing any bugs that you’ve encountered. If you’ve never reported a bug before, don’t worry. We have all been there. I’ll gather a link or two with some information for first-timers. 

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:03:00] 

If you ever run into me at a WordCamp, feel free to ask me about my first bug-reporting experience. And after you’ve heard that, you will immediately go and file that bug that has been sitting screenshotted on your desk for six months because it honestly cannot get any worse than my first one.

Secondly, it definitely does not mean that we will stop shipping refinements to the user experience. As much as I’d like to say this isn’t true, I think all open source contributors know that no matter how much you test a solution, you can’t actually account for all possible use cases when you work on a project this size.

So as we find things that we didn’t realize were a little rough to use, we will, of course, make the effort to smooth those workflows as quickly as possible. So that’s my little reassuring tl;dr for what that phrase means. If you are listening to this and haven’t spent much time in the block editor as it exists today, I encourage you to do so.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:00] 

It has really changed substantially since it was first merged in 2018, and it represents thousands of hours of research and problem-solving and creation, and outreach. If you know someone who has contributed to the project or whose content helped you make sense of some inscrutable part of it, also maybe, drop them a line and let them know you appreciate their hard work.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:26] 

That brings us now to our small list of big things. Firstly, we are thinking a lot right now about the paths to contribution. Both at the start of your contribution journey and as you grow into a long-term, seasoned contributor. There are a couple of different discussions related to that right now. So there are actually two project-wide discussions that are on make.wordpress.org/project.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:05:00] 

And then there’s one that is specific to WordCamp membership, and that is on make.wordpress.org/community. You can head over to any of those and share your experiences, thoughts, and any wild ideas that you have. 

The second thing on my small list is that there are a lot of pages across wordpress.org that are getting shiny new designs.

If you want to get involved in those discussions, or you just wanna catch early previews of what’s coming to the site, you can hop over to make.wordpress.org/design or join the design team meetings in Slack. 

And the last thing is that WordCamp Asia is coming quickly, my friends. This event is near and dear to my heart. I hope to see a lot of you in person, but if you won’t be able to make it in person, we still have you covered. There will be a live stream, and the schedule for that is already on the site. It shows the times for each session in your local time zone so you can easily decide which presentations you absolutely must see right in the moment.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:06:00] 

And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thanks for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.

Last month at State of the Word, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shared some opening thoughts on “Why WordPress” and the Four Freedoms of open source. In this recent letter, she expands on her vision for the WordPress open source project as it prepares for the third phase of Gutenberg:

“We are now, as we ever were, securing the opportunity for those who come after us, because of the opportunity secured by those who came before us.”

Josepha Haden Chomphosy

December brought with it a time for reflection—a time to look back, celebrate, and start planning new projects. Read on to find out what 2023 holds for WordPress so far.

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WordPress is turning 20!

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of WordPress’ launch. The project has come a long way since the first release as it continues to advance its mission to democratize publishing. From its beginnings as a blogging platform to a world-leading open source CMS powering over 40% of websites.

Join the WordPress community in celebrating this important milestone. As the anniversary date approaches, there will be events, commemorative swag, and more.

Stay tuned for updates.

WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for March 28, 2023

Work on WordPress 6.2, the first major release of 2023, is already underway. It is expected to launch on March 28, 2023, and will include up to Gutenberg 15.1 for a total of 10 Gutenberg releases.

The proposed schedule includes four Beta releases to accommodate the first WordCamp Asia and avoid having major release milestones very close to this event.

Read more about the 6.2 schedule and release team.

What’s new in Gutenberg

Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 14.8 was released on December 21, 2022. This version features a reorganized Site Editor interface with a Browse Mode that facilitates navigation through templates and template parts. In addition, it includes the ability to add custom CSS via the Style panel and a Style Book that provides an overview of all block styles in a centralized location.
• Gutenberg 14.9 became available for download on January 4, 2023. It introduces a new “Push changes to Global Styles” button in the Site Editor, which allows users to apply individual block style changes to all blocks of that type across their site. Other features include typography support for the Page List block, and the ability to import sidebar widgets into a template part when transitioning from a classic theme.

Learn how Gutenberg’s latest releases are advancing the Site Editor experience to be more intuitive and scalable.

Team updates: WordPress big picture goals, new Incident Response Team, and more

• Josepha shared WordPress’ big picture goals for 2023, which support the vision set out in State of the Word 2022 and her recent letter to WordPress.
• Let’s welcome the newly formed WordPress Incident Response Team (​​IRT)—a group of contributors who will help as a community resource when behavior or actions do not align with the code of conduct.
• A number of Make teams have announced their team representatives for 2023, including Community, Core, Marketing, Polyglots, Themes, and Training.
• As part of the WordPress.org redesign project, the Theme Directory will soon get a refreshed look and feel.
• The return of in-person events and the Meetup Reactivation project are some of the highlights that marked a challenging but successful year for the Community Team. Learn more about what they achieved in 2022.
• #WPDiversity also celebrated its accomplishments in this report. Last year, the training group held 15 events attended by more than 200 participants.
• A Year in Core – 2022 provides a data overview of contributions made to the WordPress core codebase in the past year.
• Are you into WordPress development? Don’t miss this post on 2022’s most notable milestones and learning resources for block developers.
• The January 2023 editions of the Polyglots monthly newsletter and the Meetup Organizer newsletter are now available for reading.

Check out the 2022 State of the Word Q&A post, which answers submitted questions that Matt could not address at the live event.

Feedback & testing requests

• Join the latest FSE Program testing call to help strengthen the upcoming WordPress site editing experience. Leave your feedback by February 1, 2023.
• The WordPress Developer Blog is gathering ideas for content topics.
• Version 21.4 of the WordPress mobile app for Android and iOS is available for testing.

Have thoughts for improving the Five for the Future contributor experience? This post calls for ideas on how this initiative can better support the project and the people behind it.

WordPress events updates

• Get ready for WordCamp Asia 2023! The first flagship WordCamp in Asia is happening on February 17-19, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. Check out the schedule to learn more about the sessions and speakers.
• The WordPress Community Summit and WordCamp US 2023 will take place in Maryland, USA, in August 2023. You can now apply to join the organizing team and help bring the next WCUS to life.
• Join #WPDiversity with a free online workshop on How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC. The event will take place on January 28, 2023.
• Don’t miss these other upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Zaragoza, Spain on January 20-21, 2023
  • WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama, USA on February 4-5, 2023
  • WordCamp Cebu, Philippines on February 11, 2023

Would you like to be a speaker at WordCamp Europe 2023? Submit your application by the first week of February.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

The following folks contributed to this edition of The Month in WordPress: @cbringmann, @laurlittle, @rmartinezduque.

Social media is a great place to build and connect with your audience while promoting your offerings. However, you don’t own your social profiles or traffic. Creating a Link in Bio page with w.link enables you to truly own your content and traffic while tailoring it to increase your engagement and conversion rates across all of your social channels.

You can also embed Paypal, Amazon stores, an e-commerce store, and other features that allow you to continue earning money.

As a creator, we know how much effort and time goes into finding the right audiences and perfecting your offering. We know you already manage multiple deadlines and channels, with increasing competition everywhere you look. We wanted to make it a lot easier for you to handle your operations while making sure you can link to all your available channels and revenue streams.

Set up your Link in Bio with ease

Once you’ve picked a URL at w.link, simply choose your design, upload your profile image, tweak your site info, and add your links. You’ll be launching your Link in Bio site within minutes!

Once you add your unique link to your social profiles, you’ll be able to monitor traffic and stats from your WordPress.com dashboard.

We don’t limit the number of links you can have, so any time you have a new product, offering, or site to share, you can swap out a link and we’ll preserve your old links and traffic. Alternatively, you can add as many new links as you need to your Link in Bio site.

A domain that comes with unparalleled performance

Link in Bio sites powered by w.link are optimized  for the best performance across web and mobile, with spectacular load times. We know social media is a 24/7 job, so our never-sleeping servers ensure that business goes on (even while you sleep!) and we can handle the traffic with ease when your content goes viral.

Helping content creators win

Get started today with a free .link domain with any paid plan, or for just $0.99 for a new .link domain registration. We’re committed to investing in creators! Win it with w.link!

Want to learn more before jumping in? Read this article about all the tips and tricks we have ready for you.

As we settle into 2023, we’ve been thinking about ways to help you get the most out of your WordPress site throughout the year. That’s where the new Jetpack mobile app comes in! 

We know inspiration doesn’t wait for you to be sitting at your desk. It can strike anywhere. With the new Jetpack mobile app, you have the freedom to snap a photo to post while out on a walk, begin drafting your Bloganuary entry on your morning commute, or make tweaks to your content while on your lunch break.

Inspiration, we’re ready for you!

What’s more, the app brings the tools you need to manage and grow your site right to your fingertips: 

• Understand how your content is performing and know what’s resonating with your audience using Stats and Insights.

• Reply to comments on the go, see when your traffic is booming, and keep engaged with your audience with Notifications.

• Discover new bloggers and catch up with your favorite sites using the Reader.

We’re constantly working on new ways to improve the Jetpack app and make it the best possible way to WordPress on the go. Daily blogging prompts to help spark different content ideas are an example of one recent feature we’re excited to continue iterating on. In addition, you can now use the app to log into WordPress.com on your computer simply by scanning a QR code.

Have ideas for features or improvements you’d like to see within the app? We’re all ears! Let us know in the comments below.

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FAQ

What’s the difference between the WordPress and the Jetpack apps?

Your favorite Jetpack-powered features from the WordPress app – including Stats, Notifications, and the Reader – have a new home: the Jetpack app! These features will soon be removed from the WordPress app so that its focus will be on essential user and publishing tools. With the Jetpack app, you can expect the same attention to core features like managing and editing content, as well as next-level tools to grow your audience on a trusted platform.

How do I migrate my data and settings from the WordPress app to the Jetpack app?

If you have the latest version of the WordPress app installed, your data and settings will be automatically transferred to the Jetpack app. Data that will be transferred includes locally stored content, saved posts, and other in-app preferences.

Simply download the Jetpack app and you’ll be “auto-magically” logged in with all your content in place.

Is there an additional cost?

The Jetpack app is free to download and you can continue to use the same features that you enjoy with the WordPress app, at no additional cost.

Why are there two apps, and which should I use?

WordPress comes in more than one flavor and serves a diverse range of site administration needs. After listening to a lot of feedback around varying expectations, we settled on creating two options for you to WordPress on the go:

1. The WordPress app will focus on WordPress’ core functionality. If you’re looking for the essential tools you need to publish on the go, with support for offline editing and the ability to upload media straight from your phone’s camera roll, then this may be the app for you.

2. The Jetpack app is the premium mobile publishing experience for our super-connected world. With it, you’ll get all the essential tools that come with the WordPress app, plus a suite of features for growing your site. Track the performance of your content with Stats, get notified about comments and reactions with Notifications, and discover content and join communities with the Reader. Whether you’re new to publishing on the Internet or a seasoned veteran, have a WordPress site already or want to start a new one — download the Jetpack app today for a great set of tools to start or grow!

Either app is available for you to use. Once you’ve decided which app is best for you, please delete the other. Managing your site across both apps is currently unsupported and may lead to issues like data conflicts.

We’re excited to offer different apps to suit different needs and will be sharing further details over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we want to hear from you! Please feel welcome to comment on this post with any questions or feedback you may have.

Last month at State of the Word, I shared some opening thoughts about “Why WordPress.” For me, this is an easy question, and the hardest part is knowing which lens to answer through. The reasons that a solopreneur will choose WordPress are different than the reasons a corporation would. And while artists and activists may have a similar vision for the world, their motivations change their reasons, too. That’s why I always focus on the philosophical parts of the answer because I know that I am speaking as an advocate for many types of WordPressers. I have a few other reasons, too, which you may not be aware of as you use our software every day.

Why WordPress?

Most importantly, the Four Freedoms of Open Source. If you have already listened to State of the Word, you have heard my thoughts on the philosophical side of open source and the freedoms it provides. If you didn’t, then the tl;dr on that is that open source provides protections and freedoms to creators on the web that should be a given. There’s an extent to which the idea of owning your content and data online is a radical idea. So radical, even, that it is hard for folks to grasp what we mean when we say “free as in speech, not free as in beer.” Securing an open web for the future is, I believe, a net win for the world especially when contrasted to the walled gardens and proprietary systems that pit us all against one another with the purpose of gaining more data to sell.

A second reason is that WordPress entrepreneurs (those providing services, designing sites, and building applications) have proven that open source offers an ethical framework for conducting business. No one ever said that you cannot build a business using free and open source software. And I am regularly heartened by the way successful companies and freelancers make an effort to pay forward what they can. Not always for the sole benefit of WordPress, but often for the general benefit of folks learning how to be an entrepreneur in our ecosystem. Because despite our competitive streaks, at the end of the day, we know that ultimately we are the temporary caretakers of an ecosystem that has unlocked wealth and opportunity for people we may never meet but whose lives are made infinitely better because of us.

And the final reason is that leaders in the WordPress community (team reps, component maintainers, and community builders) have shown that open source ideals can be applied to how we work with one another. As a community, we tend to approach solution gathering as an “us vs. the problem” exercise, which not only makes our solutions better and our community stronger. And our leaders—working as they are in a cross-cultural, globally-distributed project that guides or supports tens of thousands of people a year—have unparalleled generosity of spirit. Whether they are welcoming newcomers or putting out calls for last-minute volunteers, seeing the way that they collaborate every day gives me hope for our future.

As I have witnessed these three things work together over the years, one thing is clear to me: not only is open source an idea that can change our generation by being an antidote to proprietary systems and the data economy, open source methodologies represent a process that can change the way we approach our work and our businesses. 

WordPress in 2023

As we prepare for the third phase of the Gutenberg project, we are putting on our backend developer hats and working on the APIs that power our workflows. Releases during Phase 3 will focus on the main elements of collaborative user workflows. If that doesn’t make sense, think of built-in real-time collaboration, commenting options in drafts, easier browsing of post revisions, and programmatic editorial and pre-launch checklists.

If Phases 1 and 2 had a “blocks everywhere” vision, think of Phase 3 with more of a “works with the way you work” vision. 

In addition to this halfway milestone of starting work on Phase 3, WordPress also hits the milestone of turning 20 years old. I keep thinking back to various milestones we’ve had (which you can read about in the second version of the Milestones book) and realized that almost my entire experience of full-time contributions to WordPress has been in the Gutenberg era.

I hear some of you already thinking incredulous thoughts so, come with me briefly.

There are a couple of different moments that folks point to as the beginning of the Gutenberg project. Some say it was at State of the Word 2013 when Matt dreamed of “a true WYSIWYG” editor for WordPress. Some say it was at State of the Word 2016 where we were encouraged to “learn Javascript deeply.” For many of us, it was at WordCamp Europe in 2017 when the Gutenberg demo first made its way on stage.

No matter when you first became aware of Gutenberg, I can confirm that it feels like a long time because it has been a long time. I can also confirm that it takes many pushes to knock over a refrigerator. For early adopters (both to the creation of Gutenberg and its use), hyper-focus on daily tasks makes it hard to get a concept of scale.

So I encourage you this year to look out toward the horizon and up toward our guiding stars. We are now, as we ever were, securing the opportunity for those who come after us, because of the opportunity secured by those who came before us.

Rather listen? The abbreviated spoken letter is also available.

On episode forty-seven of the WordPress Briefing podcast, Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares her vision and current thinking for the WordPress open source project in 2023. Rather read it? The full letter is also available.

Have a question you’d like answered? You can submit them to wpbriefing@wordpress.org, either written or as a voice recording.

Credits

Editor: Dustin Hartzler
Logo: Javier Arce
Production: Santana Inniss
Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod

Show Notes

make.WordPress.org/core
Join the 6.2 Release!
Submit Topics for the Community Summit!

Transcript

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:00] 

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.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:00:40] 

Last month at State of the Word, I shared some opening thoughts about why WordPress. For me, this is an easy question, and the hardest part is always knowing which lens to answer through. Though I always focus on the philosophical parts of the answer, I know that I often speak as an advocate for many types of WordPressers.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:01:00] 

So as we prepare ourselves for the start of a new year, I have a few additional thoughts that I’d like to share with you, my WordPress community, to take into the year with you. 

Firstly, the Four Freedoms. If you have already listened to State of the Word, you have heard my take on the philosophical side of open source and the freedoms it provides.

But if you didn’t, then the TL;DR on that is that open source provides protections and freedoms to creators on the web that I really think should just be a given. But there are a couple of other things about the Four Freedoms, and especially the way that WordPress does this kind of open source-y thing that I think are worth noting as well.

One of those things is that WordPress entrepreneurs, those who are providing services or designing sites, building applications, they have proven that open source provides an ethical framework for conducting business. No one ever said that you aren’t allowed to build a business using free and open source software, and I am regularly heartened by the way that successful companies and freelancers make the effort to pay forward what they can.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:02:02]

Not always for the sole benefit of WordPress, of course, but often for the general benefit of folks who are also learning how to be entrepreneurs or how to kind of navigate our ecosystem. And the other thing that I love about the Four Freedoms and the way that WordPress does it is that leaders in the WordPress community, no matter where they are leading from, have shown that open source ideals can be applied to the way we work with one another and show up for one another.

As a community, we tend to approach solution gathering as an us-versus-the-problem exercise, which not only makes our solutions better, it also makes our community stronger. 

As I have witnessed all of these things work together over the years, one thing that is clear to me is this: not only is open source an idea that can change our generation by being an antidote to proprietary systems and the data economy, but open source methodologies represent a process that can change the way we approach our work and our businesses.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:03:01] 

The second big thing that I want to make sure you all take into the year with you is that we are preparing for the third phase of the Gutenberg project. We are putting our backend developer hats on and working on the APIs that power our workflows. That workflows phase will be complex. A little bit because APIs are dark magic that binds us together, but also because we’re going to get deep into the core of WordPress with that phase.

If you want to have impactful work for future users of WordPress, though, this is the phase to get invested in. This phase will focus on the main elements of collaborative user workflows. If that doesn’t really make sense to you, I totally get it. Think of it this way, this phase will work on built-in real-time collaboration, commenting options in drafts, easier browsing of post revisions, and things like programmable editorial, pre-launch checklists.

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:04:00] 

So phases one and two of the Gutenberg project had a very ‘blocks everywhere’ sort of vision. And phase three and, arguably, phase four will have more of a ‘works with the way you work’ vision.

And my final thought for you all as we head into the year is this, there are a couple of different moments that folks point to as the beginning of the Gutenberg project. Some say it was State of the Word 2013, where Matt dreamed on stage of a true WYSIWYG editor for WordPress. Some say it was State of the Word 2016, where we were all encouraged to learn JavaScript deeply. For a lot of us though, it was at WordCamp Europe in 2018 when the Gutenberg feature plugin first made its way to the repo.

No matter when you first became aware of Gutenberg, I can confirm that it feels like it’s been a long time because it has been a long time. But I can also confirm that it takes many pushes to knock over a refrigerator. 

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:05:00] 

For early adopters, both to the creation of Gutenberg as well as its use, hyperfocus on daily tasks makes it really hard to get a concept of scale.

And so I encourage everyone this year to look out toward the horizon a bit more and up toward our guiding stars a bit more as well. Because we are now, as we ever were, securing opportunity for those who come after us because of the opportunity that was secured for us by those who came before us. 

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:05:33] 

That brings us now to our small list of big things. It’s a very small list, but two pretty big things. The first thing on the list is that the WordPress 6.2 release is on its way. If you would like to get started contributing there, you can wander over to make.WordPress.org/core. You can volunteer to be part of the release squad. You can volunteer your time just as a regular contributor, someone who can test things — any of that. 

[Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:06:00] 

We’ll put a link in the show notes. And the second thing that I wanted to remind you of is that today is the deadline to submit topics for the Community Summit that’s coming up in August. That comes up in the middle of August, like the 22nd and 23rd or something like that. 

We’ll put a link to that in the show notes as well. If you already have chatted with a team rep about some things that you really want to make sure get discussed at the community summit, I think that we can all assume that your team rep has put that in. But if not, it never hurts to give it a second vote by putting a new submission into the form.

And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.

At WordPress.com we’re always looking for ways to make building and running your web site simpler and more impactful (and more fun!).

One of the biggest challenges for any site owner is finding your readers, fans, customers, or subscribers. Until now, promoting your WordPress.com web site required multiple tools, online accounts, professional design and marketing skills, and – yes – lots of money.

That’s why we’re excited to announce Blaze, a new tool allowing anyone with a WordPress blog to advertise on WordPress.com and Tumblr in just a few clicks. How? By turning your site content into clean, compelling ads that run across our millions-strong network of blogs.

How Blaze works

If your website is hosted on WordPress.com, then head to wordpress.com/advertising and select your website — you’ll see a list of recent posts and pages you can promote. If your WordPress site isn’t hosted on WordPress.com, you can take advantage of Blaze through the Jetpack plugin.

Alternatively, when viewing the post or page list in your WordPress.com dashboard, click the ellipses (three dots) next to any individual post/page to bring up a new menu, then click “Promote with Blaze.”

Now you’ll be in the Blaze Campaign Wizard.

Once your ad is running, you can check how it’s doing in the “Campaigns” tab of the advertising page.

Our campaigns are billed weekly based on how many times your ad is shown, so you’ll only ever pay for what you signed up for. As always, you can find even more details about this tool on our support page.

This feature is currently only available to users with “English” set as their primary language, but we’re working hard on bringing it to other languages as well.

Let us know what you think about Blaze!

We’re excited to launch this powerful new feature, and we’re eager to get feedback. If you have any questions about it, challenges while using it, or ideas to make it better, please share them with our team. We’ll make sure a real person reads through all of the feedback, and we’ll be working tirelessly to make sure that this tool is something valuable for you.

2023 marks the 20th year of WordPress. Where would we all be without WordPress? Just think of that! While many technologies, software stacks, and fashion trends have come and gone throughout the past two decades, WordPress has thrived. This is due to the fantastic work and contributions of the WordPress community, comprised of thousands of contributors; and millions of users who have embraced the four freedoms of WordPress and the mission to democratize publishing.

Let’s celebrate!

Throughout the beginning of 2023, leading up to the official anniversary date of WordPress’s launch (May 27, 2003), a number of different events will celebrate this important milestone, reflect on the journey, and look toward the future.

Please join in!

Over the next few months, be sure to check WordPress’s official social media accounts along with the official anniversary website for updates on how you can be involved in this exciting celebration by contributing content, collecting cool anniversary swag, and much more. 

Use the hashtag #WP20 on social media so the community can follow along.

If you have something planned to celebrate that you would like to be considered for inclusion on the official website, please use this form to share the details.

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Below you’ll find the four newest themes that we’ve added to our library, with beautiful options for food-based businesses, podcasts, and bloggers.

To install any of the below themes, click the the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then simply 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 free to use for any user on a Premium plan or above, or can be purchased individually by those with free sites or Personal plans.

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, just click here:

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Twenty Twenty-Three

Twenty Twenty-Three is designed to take advantage of the new design tools introduced in WordPress 6.1.

With a clean, blank base as a starting point, this default theme includes ten diverse style variations created by members of the WordPress community.

Whether you want to build a complex or incredibly simple website, you can do it quickly and intuitively through the bundled styles or dive into creation and full customization yourself.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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Tazza (Premium Theme)

Tazza puts the spotlight on your products and your customers. This theme leverages Woo Commerce to provide you with intuitive product navigation and the patterns you need to master digital merchandising.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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Calyx

Calyx is a minimalist theme designed for single-page websites. Featuring a coming-soon pattern on the homepage, Calyx is a perfect choice to spread the word about the upcoming opening of a cafe, restaurant, or bar.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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Muscat

Muscat is a simple blogging theme with grid post templates and a centered post layout. Its geometric sans-serif typography contributes to a delightful, comfortable, and modern reading experience.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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Loudness

Loudness is a bold opinionated theme created with music education in mind. Use Site Editor tooling and relevant patterns to create a unique experience.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

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Stay tuned for more updates about new themes, patterns, blocks, and other exciting product updates! And be sure to click below to take a look at the entire showcase of themes we offer: