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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. 

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!

Since we launched the Automattic for Agencies program earlier this summer, we’ve helped agencies save thousands of dollars and countless developer hours.

Today, we’re making it easier than ever for agencies to connect with potential clients by presenting the new WordPress.com Partner Directory. This directory lists top-tier agencies for our customers who are looking for a partner for their web development projects.

If your agency’s growth is top of mind, there’s no better time to join Automattic for Agencies. In addition to saving time and money, your company could be eligible for a listing in our official partner directory, paving the way for more qualified leads and, ultimately, happy clients.

Get your agency in front of eager customers 

When someone needs a professional website, it can be hard to find the right agency to work with. Sifting through search engine results and going through credentials takes a lot of time and energy, which can leave them exhausted before they even get to your digital door. With the launch of the partner directory, we’re making it easier for consumers to find and connect with vetted, talented agencies—like yours.

When you apply to the agency directory, your application will be reviewed to assess critical areas like security, performance, and adherence to different business requirements. Accepted agencies can showcase their profile across the Woo, Jetpack, and Pressable brand directories via a single listing.

Visit our knowledge base for information about detailed application steps and criteria for inclusion as well as agency tiering and benefits.

Join Automattic for Agencies today

In addition to our curated directory, the Automattic for Agencies program brings together powerful hosting and a professional suite of plugins and tools in a flexible platform that allows your team to focus on building beautiful and functional websites.

At its core, Automattic for Agencies allows for the bulk purchasing and reselling of WordPress.com hosting plans (along with WooCommerce and Jetpack plugins). Our platform also equips you with direct referrals and invoicing, license management, and monitoring tools to assess security and performance needs across all your sites.

As an added bonus, Automattic for Agencies gives your agency access to volume discounts for your clients. Your first WordPress.com site starts at $30 per month; but with ten or more sites, the price drops to just $10 per site, per month. (All WordPress.com sites purchased through the agency program are on our powerful Business plan.)

Those savings coupled with our referral incentives make Automattic for Agencies a potent combination for growing your agency’s offerings and profitability.

Get started today and connect with new clients

Ultimately, our goal is to funnel more business your way, so that you can keep doing what you do best.

Join us this week as Josepha takes a personal journey down memory lane to her first encounters with WordPress. In this episode, she shares the story of her very first WordPress website, the excitement of getting involved with WordCamps, and how those early discoveries shaped her rewarding path in the WordPress community. Whether you’re a seasoned user or new to the platform, Josepha’s reflections will inspire you with insights from her earliest days in WordPress.

Credits

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

Show Notes

• Josepha’s Blog
• WordPress Playground
• Small List of Big Things
  • WordCamp US arrives this week (September 17-20)
    • WP Briefing: It’s your first WordCamp? Welcome!
  • Upcoming WordPress Meetings
    • Data Liberation Project
  • WordPress Events
  • Make WordPress
• Have a question you’d like answered? Submit them to WPBriefing@WordPress.org.

Transcript

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

[00:00:28] (Music intro)

[00:00:39] Josepha: Folks, this week is WordCamp US, and over the past week or so, I spent a fair amount of time talking to people about that first-time experience. And as with any person who’s talking about their version of a shared experience, I started thinking back to mine.

I think my first experience of WordPress was not typical, though. I had never even heard of WordPress when I first went to a WordCamp. I think, I think most of the time people have heard of it before, but I was just there for the plot. So, like many people in my generation, all of us old people of the internet, I was first online with things like Angelfire and GeoCities.

[00:01:16] Josepha: When I went to college, I was keeping friends and family up to date on what I was up to with a little, like, newsletter? And then Zanga made it to our college campus, and eventually, so did Facebook. And I was one of those kids kind of like half-breaking sites with HTML and CSS I found online. I was changing layouts like every week to suit my mood.

Then, when I graduated and found myself in a city with more talent and more competition than I’d actually accounted for, and started to realize that this online stuff I’d been doing for fun might actually be something that I needed to use as a tool professionally. So, I first went out and reserved my screen name everywhere I could think of.

[00:02:01] Josepha: And we’re talking, like, LiveJournal, WordPress.com, Blogger, all the things, and eventually wound up building my first site on Weebly. And it was super ugly. I’m not able to design things. I have an okay sense for a design that is good, but like, left to my own devices, it’s gonna be what that was, which is like a tie dye background for some reason, and had everything organized into little, like, blocks, I guess? You know, like, old magazine layouts? And it technically had everything that I wanted, but it wasn’t necessarily the best version of any of those things either. I could write a little bit about myself and my services, I could add a few photos, there was a way to contact me, and I could do it all by myself.

And so it was a good place to start. Not long after that, though, I graduated into the need for a more professional-looking website, and it was beautiful. I received a website; someone built it for me. It was beautiful; it had this elegant design. Had a lot of custom functionality, but it was built using ColdFusion. I couldn’t do anything to it. I couldn’t change anything. All minor changes just had to kind of wait until there was enough to make sense to use that maintenance time, that maintenance retainer that I had. It really was just kind of formal. It was an isolated snapshot of all of the sorts of information that was required to be on the web at that time.

[00:03:28] Josepha: And then, later that year, I went to my first WordCamp, and I moved my site over to WordPress. And for the first time, I had that kind of mixture of professional expression that was on top of something that enabled my own expression. And honestly, I didn’t learn much more about the software for a few years. It was doing what I needed it to do, how I needed it to be done, and that’s really what mattered to me.

And when I skip a few years ahead after that, a few years later, when I was learning by organizing Meetups and WordCamps that had speakers that I wanted to hear from, that had topics that I felt like I needed to learn more about, what I remember most about that learning period for me is that I knew that I wasn’t the first person to run into any of my problems, which meant that a solution was probably already out there, and I could find someone to come and teach us about their solution.

[00:04:23] Josepha: And also, I knew that if we were running into a new problem and started breaking things left and right, there was always a way back. I was never really too far away from success. Like I felt like I might be lost, but I still was pretty much findable. And I guess I always want that for new users of the open web now, like new members of our WordPress community.

I want them to feel like the breaking of things is fine and safe and that no mistake is irretrievable. I want us to have some place where perfection isn’t the point. Now listen, I know the software is complex right now. The admin is a little mismatched, your first choices are huge choices, and there are a million places to start.

[00:05:03] Josepha: So, all I can say is, start with what you need, and once you’ve got that, like the back of your hand, move on to what you need next. And keep doing that, bravely and messily, until what you’ve got is all you ever wanted. I’m gonna leave for you, in the show notes, a link to something called WordPress Playground.

It’s gonna launch a little WordPress site in your browser. There will be no host. It’s just all in the browser itself. And it will have the latest bundled theme on it, Twenty Twenty-Four, and the latest version of WordPress. And that’s it. Go in there and click around on the left-hand menu. Start a post, change a page, modify the theme.

Just play around a while. See if it’s something that seems fun to you or valuable, or if it’s something that you can use as a time capsule for your kid because that sounds like a nice little mix of fun and work. And remember, sometimes perfection’s not the point. 

[00:05:57] (Music interlude)

[00:06:04] Josepha: That brings us now to our small list of big things.

Folks, as I mentioned at the top, WordCamp US is happening this week. It is September 17th through 20th this year, quite a few more days. But that also means that we’ll have quite a bit more stuff to do. If you have your tickets and haven’t looked at all of the presentations occurring over the four-day event, remember to take a look at the schedule and pick out topics that are interesting. And remember, just because you picked it out before you went doesn’t mean that if you get in there and it doesn’t work for you. You can’t choose a different topic while you’re there. And as a bonus, if this is your first WordCamp that you’ve ever attended, I have you covered. You can check out my previous episode on all the things to remember for your first time attending a WordCamp. And we have a pretty active community as well. If you just have questions or want to get in there and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to a vegan restaurant for lunch; who wants to join me?’ You can do that, and you can definitely find somebody.

Also, there are some upcoming WordPress meetings. So, if you’re not attending WordCamp US but still want to connect with the community, there are a ton of team meetings that are happening. You can find those on make.WordPress.org/meetings, I think. So really, really easy URL to remember. You can join your fellow community members and contribute to the WordPress project there.

[00:07:18] Josepha: And I also wanted to just call your attention to a few really big projects that still need a little bit of help around the project. So, on the one hand, we have Data Liberation. That is still a really big project, but specifically, we are nearly ready to start working on some user-facing elements of that. It is being powered by Playground, and because the data liberation, the migration of one site to another, is so complex, once we get those elements built into Playground, I think it also stands to fix a bunch of the problems that we have across our user flow, our user experience for the project. Things like having better theme previews and being able to get a sense for what a plugin functionally will do for you versus what it says it’s going to do for you. And getting a sense for what the admin looks like, all of those things. And so, anyone who wants to learn more about contributing to Playground or to Data Liberation, I absolutely encourage you to go check out those meetings, see what’s happening, and get your hands a bit dirty with that.

[00:08:26] Josepha: We also have a bunch of stuff happening in our community space. If you had received this podcast from somebody because they were like, hey, I know someone who might like WordPress or who has just learned WordPress and has never been to an event or any other reason that you are listening to this but don’t yet know the community, there is an easier option than just jumping straight into a WordCamp like I did. You can go to a meetup. You can see there’s a widget in your dashboard that’ll tell you what your nearest event is, but if you put your location into that widget, and nothing comes up. Technically, that means that you have an opportunity to bring a bunch of people together to teach you stuff you wish you knew about your site right now. So you can wander over into your dashboard and see those, or you can also head over to the community area on make.WordPress.org and anybody over there is happy to help you get started. And let me tell you, it is a very low-effort sort of thing to do. Here again, perfection’s not the point. And so that, my friends, is your small list of big things.

[00:09:28] Josepha: Don’t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You’ll get a friendly reminder whenever there is a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at WPBriefing@WordPress.org. I am your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks. Or tomorrow if we’re all going to WordCamp US. 

[00:09:58] (Music outro)

You created your website for a reason. Whether it’s showing off your art, passing on family recipes, or selling boutique high-performance yo-yos. (That may or may not be Doc Pop’s example.) You created your website to reach an audience and to communicate directly with that audience.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way for you to connect with them and make it easier for them to follow you and engage with your content online? In this final episode of the Fediverse Files, ‪Doc Pop walks you through how to connect your WordPress site to the Fediverse using ActivityPub.

Federate your website today and get 25% off a WordPress.com Business or Commerce hosting plan by using coupon code federate25—or click below:

The reimagined Learn WordPress experience launched just over a month ago. It introduces Learning Pathways, a new approach to educational content from the Training team.

In case you haven’t explored the updated Learn WordPress site yet, take a peek at what you’ve been missing in this short and sweet virtual tour:

The reception of the new experience and Learning Pathways courses has been positive, with the average learner rating at 4.5/5 since the site’s relaunch. Here’s what learners have been saying:

The Training team is working hard to add more Learning Pathways to the existing roster, with the Designer and Intermediate Plugin Developer Learning Pathways already in progress. In the meantime, explore the four Learning Pathways at Learn WordPress.

There’s always more to learn.

When I stepped in to run WordPress.com while Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg was on sabbatical, my mission was to make WordPress.com the best and fastest host for WordPress developers and agencies. We cheekily called this initiative “Developers, Developers, Developers,” a reference to a certain point in tech history (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Since then, we’ve shipped a number of developer-focused features like GitHub deployments, a full hosting dashboard, and Studio, an open source local development environment. It’s been awesome to see the feedback rolling in:

WordPress.com has been crucial to my agency’s growth. Its intuitive UI allows me to quickly create sleek, functional websites for my clients, and their reliable hosting and support enable me to rest easy, knowing my sites are in good hands. —Brian Lalli, President @ moonrooster.com

WordPress.com really stands out with its exceptional performance and strong security. It’s a versatile platform that’s great for users at any skill level, and their support team is always incredibly helpful. For managed sites, we definitely think WordPress.com is the way to go. —Sonia Gaballa, Partner @ nudge.design

We aimed to provide clients with a reliable hosting service we could endorse without hesitation, ultimately resulting in satisfied clients. We found that service with WordPress.com. —Ajit Bohra, Founder @ lubus.in

As we round the corner into the final quarter of 2024, I’d like to offer a sneak peek into three themes guiding our work: performance, augmentation, and workflows. We hope you’re just as excited about them as we are, and we welcome you to join us in the journey by testing and providing feedback.

Answers for the age-old question: “Why is my site slow?”

WordPress sites should be fast, and it’s not always an easy thing.

When writing custom code, incorporating third-party libraries, or inheriting an existing site, it can be difficult to track down what’s causing poor performance and low scores. Is it a certain plugin, large photo sizes, slow code, or a combination of the three?

Our upcoming speed test tool innovates upon existing approaches to offer a set of performance recommendations tailored to your unique WordPress site. It will be totally free to use, and you’ll be able to sign up for regular updates. These notifications will come in handy as you change plugins, properly size photos, and optimize code because you’ll be alerted if anything changes unexpectedly.

In the not-so-distant future, the speed test tool will also be directly integrated into your WordPress.com dashboard. You’ll be able to see your performance across all of your sites, and better understand correlations between site changes and performance.

Interested in a free site performance consultation? Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter / X and I’d be happy to give you a demo!

Giving developers cybernetic powers

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming all types of knowledge work. Was that sentence written by me or ChatGPT? You’ll never know!

At WordPress.com, we think of LLMs as a powerful way to augment developers’ work and give them superhuman-like powers. They’re great at doing things for people—writing blog post outlines, generating code, and creating images—but we think they’re also great for teaching and educating. 

As one practical example, Studio is getting an AI assistant. The Studio Assistant is trained on WordPress-specific documentation and has access to a bunch of context about your site. When you ask it for help, like “update all my plugins using WP-CLI,” it will put together an answer based on your site specs as well as provide an explanation for the answer. 

Download Studio for free today, connect your WordPress.com account (free or paid), and hit me up on on LinkedIn or Twitter / X to get a sneak peek!

Speeding up your daily grind

When you’re developing on an open source platform like WordPress, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of different tools and workflows you can use to develop and ship websites. We’re focused on fostering quick and easy end-to-end workflows that help you deliver results that your clients love.

For example, you can now easily import sites into or export sites out of Studio. This is our first step towards a full, one-click WordPress.com syncing mechanism. Site cloning and a GitHub integration are also on our radar.

You also may have caught my tweet yesterday about our new Create Content Model prototype, which allows anyone to define custom post types and fields natively in the Block Editor.

“GAME CHANGING!” and “Incredible!” were two of the dozens of positive reactions. We hope that our prototype spurs productive conversations within the core community.

We’re also making it easier for you to make money. For example, through our Automattic for Agencies program, freelancers and agencies can create a custom cart with a hosting plan and/or plugins, and then send the link to the client to check out. No need to worry about handling client credit card information or billing clients separately—it’s all done within a slick, easy-to-use interface.

What do you want to see next?

This is just a quick preview of some of the big, impactful improvements you’ll be able to use soon as someone who hosts WordPress sites on WordPress.com. We’d love to know what other pain points you’d like to see us solve or features you’d like us to build! Either:

• Leave a comment below.
• Come see us at the WordPress.com booth at WordCamp US next week.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter/X.

---

Original illustrations from David Neal (aka Reverent Geek). Come get a free avatar from him at the WordPress.com booth at WCUS next week!

John Kostak has been building websites for longer than most social media networks have even been around. So splashy features don’t interest him much—he’s far more into performance, reliability, and compatibility. Which is why he and his company, Web Development USA, have been using WordPress.com from the start. 

In this fun Q&A, John shares more about his WordPress journey, what matters most to him as a developer, and a few of his favorite sites (in spite of the fact that it was like making him pick his favorite child). Note: The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

If John’s love for WordPress.com has you reconsidering your current hosting environment, you can learn more about our specs and get started at WordPress.com/hosting. 

Jeremy: How long have you been using WordPress and WordPress.com?

John: I have been building websites for about 15 or 16 years and started in a corporate environment for a large company. We never had an internal digital team and we basically created our own digital agency within this big corporate company. And that was pretty innovative back then. 

Then out of that, I spun off and started Web Development USA. That began in 2015, and so next year will be our 10th year, which is crazy to think about. But it went quickly because we really do enjoy this. And we look for people who find this to be a passion, as we do. 

Jeremy: Have you been using WordPress.com the entire time?

John: Yes we have. We started doing some testing with SiteGround and Elementor hosting, but we still like WordPress.com the best. You know you can go through a McDonald’s three miles away or 10,000 miles away on the other side of the planet and your lunch is going to be reasonably what you expect. That’s what WordPress.com feels like with its consistency and the familiarity of the UI and getting around. 

Jeremy: What do you like most about WordPress.com? Is it about ease of use on your side as a builder? Convenience for the customer? Both?

John: Resiliency. With Jetpack at the core and all the updates that it does, we just don’t have that much of a risk of things exploding, especially when we bring contractors in and out. We can always fall back to a previous state, and we have an exact record of it. We can get into PHP code. We can get into the very, very back end if we want. We can really be dangerous if we want, without being too afraid of it. 

Overall, it is certainly the all-around performance, security, and cadence that you use for backing up sites. 

Jeremy: What are some of your favorite features when building sites on WordPress? Do you have go-to themes, blocks, plugins, etc.?

John: Well, it’s changed over the years. We used to use standard old-school wireframe and theme templates that were very basic. And then we went into more “custom designer” mode, I would say, with templates and flashy designs. We graduated from Walmart t-shirts to Gucci t-shirts. And, you know, we enjoyed that for a while. 

Now we’re going back to robust wireframes and doing more from scratch. What’s more important now is really the entire stack, including performance and compatibility. You know, we just don’t have time to troubleshoot when we have some whizzy feature on the site. We don’t have time to go in and look for why the thing is down. So, we are sort of simplifying certain things and then standardizing on a certain stack.

Jeremy: What excites you about the future of WordPress.com? Are there any new features you’re especially excited to try out and use?

John: Honestly, we just don’t have time to get into a lot of that. We don’t look much to experimental features or anything like that. We’re trusting that by the time the feature or tool makes its way into being a standard of WordPress, it will be tried and true. We’re not looking for early adopter types of things anymore. 

The reality is that our value add is more about custom coding for integrations—maybe for a particular reservation system that has to shake hands and stay for a while on the site before it goes out to a third-party point of sale. It takes some custom coding there. That’s where our focus has really been—managed services and then a lot more programming. We’ve been onboarding more programmers in the last 18 months than we did the first eight years of the company.

Jeremy: Do you have a few favorite client sites that you can share?

John: Well, Jeremy, it’s like asking you who’s your favorite child. 

Jeremy: Depending on the week, I can give you a pretty good answer.

John: Yeah, that’s a good point! Sure, I have a few:

TuckMusic.com

appalachian-air.com

kdmconsults.com

Get started at WordPress.com today 

Even though WordPress.com provides the freedom and tools to create stunningly beautiful and innovative websites, that’s not why developers choose us. Folks like John Kostak rely on WordPress.com because we have the most performant, secure, and compatible infrastructure out there. If you made it this far, you already know that you don’t have to take our word for it. 

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WordCamp US 2024 rounds out this year’s trio of flagship WordCamps. Starting September 17, open source and WordPress professionals from around the world will touch down in Portland, Oregon, for four days of learning, connecting, and collaborating. 

There’s even more packed into the conference schedule this year, with the collaborative spirit of Contributor Day and the introduction of Showcase Day to kick things off.

New this year: Showcase Day

Showcase Day will spotlight innovative and impactful projects built on WordPress. Through a curated series of presentations, attendees will gain insights into how WordPress drives success across diverse industries, including enterprise-level implementations for clients such as Disney Experiences, The New York Post, CNN Brazil, Vox Media, and Amnesty International.

Keynotes, presentations, and more

Following Showcase Day, two programming days on September 19-20 will feature notable keynote speakers, including OSS Capital Founder Joseph Jacks and TIME CTO Burhan Hamid.

A roster of highly anticipated presenters will also speak on a wide range of WordPress topics, from business strategy to technical insights on WordPress Playground and the Interactivity API. Attendees can learn from case studies across sectors like education and nonprofits and get inspired by the WordPress Speed Build Battle. All the presentations will be live streamed throughout the conference on the WordPress YouTube channel.

A Networking Block will also offer opportunities to connect and explore potential collaborations within the WordPress ecosystem.

Closing session with Matt

WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg will close the conference with a live question-and-answer session. You can watch Matt’s Q&A on September 20, 2024, streaming live on the WordPress YouTube channel starting at 3:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (10:45 p.m. UTC).

Need help getting WordCamp-ready? 

• Get your WordCamp US tickets (if you haven’t already)
• Check out the full schedule of events
• Listen to Executive Director Josepha’s tips for WordCamp first-timers

Don’t miss any of the action—follow WordPress on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram. And when you’re sharing highlights, tips, videos, and photos from the conference floor, remember to tag #WCUS (and #WordPress) to bring everyone along for the experience.

Whether you’ll be joining us in person in Portland or watching online from elsewhere, we’ll see you very soon!

Since moving PostSecret to WordPress.com in 2013, Frank Warren’s iconic platform has empowered millions to share their secrets in a safe place. In the last ten years, that simple mission has propelled PostSecret to become one of the most highly trafficked ad-free blogs on the planet. In this video, Frank dives into the origins of his project and how Automattic’s tools help bring the mission to life.

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