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";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:16:"WordPress Planet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:8:"language";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2:"en";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"WordPress Planet - http://planet.wordpress.org/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"item";a:50:{i:0;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:11:"
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"HeroPress: DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://heropress.com/?p=2113";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:131:"https://heropress.com/donatewc-getting-people-wordcamp/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=donatewc-getting-people-wordcamp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4050:"<img width="800" height="533" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/23950564_1505660479.8301.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Image of a plane wing with the sunset on the horizon" /><p>One of the first addons for HeroPress I ever thought of was sending people to WordCamp who might have a hard time getting there. HeroPress started out to be a voice for people on the fringe of WordPress, and being outside the ability to go to WordCamp practically defines the fringe.</p>
<p>I never could figure out the logistics of how to make it work. How is money handled? International law? So the idea languished.</p>
<p>On the other side of the world, <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/getting-a-life/">Ines van Essen</a> had the same idea. She&#8217;s far more clever than I though, and she&#8217;s making it happen. She&#8217;s starting a new organization called DonateWC, specifically to help people get to WordCamp.  Not just local WordCamps, but the large ones like WordCamp Europe and WordCamp US. Trips that can cost multiple months, or even a years salary.</p>
<p>I am so so so excited that this is happening, Ines is my hero.</p>
<h2>How You Can Help</h2>
<p>To get things really rolling Ines needs some funds.  I mentioned logistics earlier; if this isn&#8217;t handled properly a tax agent somewhere is going to come investigating. A non-profit org needs to be created, a logo needs to be created, a site needs to be built, a board needs to be formed, etc. Getting started costs money.</p>
<p>So <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/startup-cost-for-donatewc">there&#8217;s a GoFundMe page for DonateWC</a>. All things considered she&#8217;s not looking for very much money right now, we can DO THIS.</p>
<p>If we can make this thing work it&#8217;s going to really change lives. Please help out if you can, and keep an eye on the project. The first person to get sent to WordCamp is going to make history.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=DonateWC%3A%20Getting%20People%20to%20WordCamp&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fdonatewc-getting-people-wordcamp%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fdonatewc-getting-people-wordcamp%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fdonatewc-getting-people-wordcamp%2F&title=DonateWC%3A+Getting+People+to+WordCamp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/donatewc-getting-people-wordcamp/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/23950564_1505660479.8301-150x150.png&description=DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/donatewc-getting-people-wordcamp/" title="DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/donatewc-getting-people-wordcamp/">DonateWC: Getting People to WordCamp</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 17 Sep 2017 20:42:29 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"WPTavern: Vue Project Launches Community Campaign on OpenCollective";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74756";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"https://wptavern.com/vue-project-launches-community-campaign-on-opencollective";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4392:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Screen-Shot-2017-09-15-at-2.13.34-PM-e1505502876371.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>With the recent news that <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-abandons-react-due-to-patents-clause-gutenberg-to-be-rewritten-with-a-different-library" target="_blank">WordPress is abandoning React</a> due to its BSD + Patents license, core contributors are now revisiting the discussion of the merits of other frameworks. Gutenberg development is currently on hold until a new library is chosen to replace React, and selection is likely to be imminent to prevent further delay.</p>
<p><a href="https://vuejs.org/" target="_blank">Vue</a> is once again a strong contender with a recent surge in enthusiastic support in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/2733" target="_blank">discussions on GitHub</a>, Mullenweg&#8217;s <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/09/on-react-and-wordpress/" target="_blank">announcement</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/permalink/1624213760974165/" target="_blank">social</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/advancedwp/permalink/1624383604290514/" target="_blank">media</a> posts. One of the chief concerns WordPress core contributors had regarding Vue in previous discussions was the longevity of the project and its dependence on creator <a href="https://wptavern.com/vue-js-creator-evan-you-weighs-in-on-wordpress-javascript-framework-discussion" target="_blank">Evan You</a>, who has historically done most of the development.</p>
<p>The Vue project has recently been taking steps to mitigate this drawback. Earlier this week You announced that <a href="https://medium.com/the-vue-point/vue-is-now-on-opencollective-1ef89ca1334b" target="_blank">Vue is now accepting financial support on OpenCollective</a>, a platform for funding open source projects in a transparent way. You already has a successful <a href="https://www.patreon.com/evanyou" target="_blank">Patreon campaign</a> where contributors are paying $8,815 per month to support his work on Vue, but the new <a href="https://opencollective.com/vuejs" target="_blank">OpenCollective account</a> will support the work of core contributors and community events.</p>
<p>&#8220;When I started the Patreon campaign, the primary goal was providing myself with enough income so that I can work on Vue full-time,&#8221; You said. &#8220;Today, as the Vue community grows, there are more and more contributions from the community, and OpenCollective’s transparent expense model could help us scale the financial contributions beyond a single developer.&#8221;</p>
<p>Just four days after launching, Vue already has an estimated annual budget of $9,895 on its OpenCollective account. You is still independently accepting contributions on Patreon to fund his full-time work on the project.</p>
<p><a href="https://preactjs.com/" target="_blank">Preact</a>, the other leading contender WordPress core contributors are considering, has had an <a href="https://opencollective.com/preact" target="_blank">account on OpenCollective</a> since late 2016. Backers and sponsors have contributed to a $16,091 estimated annual budget for the project.</p>
<p>Both Vue and Preact have growing networks of financial supporters and are not heavily influenced by a single corporation&#8217;s interests. WordPress core contributors continue to discuss the merits and drawbacks of the two frameworks on various places around the web, but the discussion is somewhat scattered and it&#8217;s difficult for participants to know where their feedback will receive consideration.</p>
<p>&#8220;The main options are actually all pretty good, and we&#8217;d probably be fine going with any of them, which is makes it a tough decision — objectively and technically there isn&#8217;t one clear without-a-doubt winner,&#8221; Matt Mullenweg said today in WordPress&#8217; #core-js Slack channel.</p>
<p>An updated post detailing the frameworks and technical considerations that contributors are now examining has yet to be published to the make/wordpress.org development blog. Having communication throughout the process of selecting the framework, instead of announcing it after the decision, would go a long way towards keeping the community informed and involved. We&#8217;ll be following the public discussion as it develops.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 15 Sep 2017 19:54:57 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"WPTavern: WordPress Abandons React due to Patents Clause, Gutenberg to be Rewritten with a Different Library";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74834";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:118:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-abandons-react-due-to-patents-clause-gutenberg-to-be-rewritten-with-a-different-library";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7411:"<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wrinkled-paper.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/6XVYR9HYNT">	Lalesh Aldarwish</a>
<p>This evening Matt Mullenweg <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/09/on-react-and-wordpress/" target="_blank">announced</a> on his blog that WordPress has decided to move away from React due to its BSD + Patents clause licensing. Gutenberg engineers will be rewriting the new editor to use another JavaScript framework and Automattic plans to rewrite Calypso as well:</p>
<blockquote><p>We had a many-thousand word announcement talking about how great React is and how we&#8217;re officially adopting it for WordPress, and encouraging plugins to do the same. I’ve been sitting on that post, hoping that the patent issue would be resolved in a way we were comfortable passing down to our users.</p>
<p>That post won&#8217;t be published, and instead I&#8217;m here to say that the Gutenberg team is going to take a step back and rewrite Gutenberg using a different library. It will likely delay Gutenberg at least a few weeks, and may push the release into next year.</p></blockquote>
<p>Mullenweg clarified that Automattic has been happy with React and that the company&#8217;s general counsel <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/issues/650#issuecomment-235086367" target="_blank">didn&#8217;t think they would ever run into the patent issue</a>. He also commended Facebook on being &#8220;one of the better open source contributors out there&#8221; and for making their intentions clear. Ultimately, Mullenweg decided that he wasn&#8217;t comfortable with the larger WordPress community inheriting the patents clause:</p>
<blockquote><p>Automattic will also use whatever we choose for Gutenberg to rewrite Calypso — that will take a lot longer, and Automattic still has no issue with the patents clause, but the long-term consistency with core is worth more than a short-term hit to Automattic’s business from a rewrite. Core WordPress updates go out to over a quarter of all websites, having them all inherit the patents clause isn’t something I’m comfortable with.</p></blockquote>
<p>After the Apache Software Foundation added Facebook&#8217;s BSD+Patents license to its Category X list of disallowed licenses, many open source project leaders and developers <a href="https://wptavern.com/react-users-petition-facebook-to-re-license-react-js-after-apache-software-foundation-bans-bsdpatents-license-in-dependencies" target="_blank">petitioned Facebook to consider re-licensing React</a>, as many React-based projects are now having to be rewritten. <a href="https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license" target="_blank">Facebook decided it wasn&#8217;t budging on the patents clause</a> and opted to continue protecting its own interests, fully recognizing that it may lose some React community members.</p>
<p>In the past Mullenweg has been outspoken about how Automattic was betting on React. Many in the community considered WordPress adopting React to be a foregone conclusion, given that both Calypso and Jetpack&#8217;s new admin interface were built on it, as well as WordPress&#8217; new Gutenberg editor. In making the costly decision to rewrite Gutenberg and Automattic&#8217;s products in another library, Mullenweg has demonstrated he is willing to lead the WordPress project in a direction where the community can feel confident about continuing to use and extend the software.</p>
<p>&#8220;The decision on which library to use going forward will be another post; it’ll be primarily a technical decision,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;We’ll look for something with most of the benefits of React, but without the baggage of a patents clause that’s confusing and threatening to many people. Thank you to everyone who took time to share their thoughts and give feedback on these issues thus far — we&#8217;re always listening.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gutenberg could certainly use the extra time and may gain a new crop of contributors, given that the learning curve for the new library isn&#8217;t likely to be as steep as learning React.</p>
<p>At the end of May, WordPress core contributors had <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-core-javascript-framework-debate-heats-up-contributors-narrow-discussion-to-react-vs-vue" target="_blank">narrowed their considerations for a new JavaScript framework to React and Vue</a>. It appears that <a href="https://vuejs.org/" target="_blank">Vue</a> is still a strong contender. After a commenter on Mullenweg&#8217;s post suggested switching to Vue, he replied that it has been frequently suggested and that the team has met with Evan You, Vue&#8217;s lead developer.</p>
<p>When I <a href="https://wptavern.com/vue-js-creator-evan-you-weighs-in-on-wordpress-javascript-framework-discussion" target="_blank">interviewed Evan You in June</a>, he said he didn&#8217;t have enough perspective on WordPress core to make an unbiased recommendation but offered feedback on some technical issues being discussed at the time. He also clarified some common misconceptions about Vue, which WordPress&#8217; React proponents had been using as leverage in their arguments against adopting it.</p>
<p>Mullenweg also confirmed in the comments of his post that <a href="https://preactjs.com/" target="_blank">Preact</a> is another library under consideration. Preact.js is a lightweight 3kB alternative to React that uses the same API but is MIT-licensed. Some are already speculating about Preact being the front-runner for the replacement, as Gutenberg already has a branch devoted to trying it.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">There is a Preact “try” Gutenberg branch. But there is no Vue.js “try” Gutenberg branch. <a href="https://t.co/mFRYTLIV3b">https://t.co/mFRYTLIV3b</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Carl Hancock <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f680.png" alt="🚀" class="wp-smiley" /> (@carlhancock) <a href="https://twitter.com/carlhancock/status/908510738066657281">September 15, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Also, Mullenweg&#8217;s comment that the decision &#8220;will likely delay Gutenberg at least a few weeks, and may push the release into next year,&#8221; seems to only be feasible if the team rewrites the project using Preact.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">For Gutenberg, not Calypso. I’d take a friendly bet like some booze. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>&mdash; Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/photomatt/status/908539602645827584">September 15, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Public reactions to the news that WordPress is shifting away from React have so far been overwhelmingly positive. Many are thankful and relieved that Mullenweg made the tough decision to change course and select another library after investing so heavily in React.</p>
<p>The discussion regarding the new framework continues behind closed doors and is not open to the public, although a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2732" target="_blank">pull request for using Preact in Gutenberg</a> is open on the project&#8217;s GitHub repo and some community discussion regarding the library selection is happening there.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 15 Sep 2017 05:39:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"Matt: On React and WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=47558";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"https://ma.tt/2017/09/on-react-and-wordpress/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3758:"<p>Big companies like to bury unpleasant news on Fridays: A few weeks ago, <a href="https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-react-s-license/">Facebook announced</a> they have decided to dig in on their patent clause addition to the React license, even after Apache had said <a href="https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-303">it’s no longer allowed for Apache.org projects</a>. In their words, removing the patent clause would "increase the amount of time and money we have to spend fighting meritless lawsuits."</p>
<p>I&#x27;m not judging Facebook or saying they&#x27;re wrong, it&#x27;s not my place. They have decided it&#x27;s right for them — it&#x27;s their work and they can decide to license it however they wish. I appreciate that they&#x27;ve made their intentions going forward clear.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Automattic used React as the basis for the <a href="https://developer.wordpress.com/calypso/">ground-up rewrite of WordPress.com we called Calypso</a>, I believe it&#x27;s one of the larger React-based open source projects. As our general counsel wrote, <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/issues/650#issuecomment-235086367">we made the decision that we&#x27;d never run into the patent issue</a>. That is still true today as it was then, and overall, we’ve been really happy with React. More recently, the WordPress community started to use React for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/02/17/dev-chat-summary-february-15th-4-7-3-week-3/">Gutenberg</a>, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/">the largest core project we&#x27;ve taken on in many years</a>. People&#x27;s experience with React and the size of the React community &#8212;  including Calypso &#8212; was a factor in trying out React for Gutenberg, and that made React the new de facto standard for WordPress and the tens of thousands of plugins written for WordPress.</p>
<p>We had a many-thousand word announcement talking about how great React is and how we&#x27;re officially adopting it for WordPress, and encouraging plugins to do the same. I’ve been sitting on that post, hoping that the patent issue would be resolved in a way we were comfortable passing down to our users.</p>
<p>That post won&#x27;t be published, and instead I&#x27;m here to say that <strong>the Gutenberg team is going to take a step back and rewrite Gutenberg using a different library</strong>. It will likely delay Gutenberg at least a few weeks, and may push the release into next year.</p>
<p>Automattic will also use whatever we choose for Gutenberg to rewrite Calypso — that will take a lot longer, and Automattic still has no issue with the patents clause, but the <em>long-term consistency</em> with core is worth more than a <em>short-term hit</em> to Automattic’s business from a rewrite. Core WordPress updates go out to over a quarter of all websites, having them all inherit the patents clause isn’t something I’m comfortable with.</p>
<p>I think Facebook’s clause is actually clearer than many other approaches companies could take, and Facebook has been one of the better open source contributors out there. But we have a lot of problems to tackle, and convincing the world that Facebook’s patent clause is fine isn’t ours to take on. It’s their fight. </p>
<p>The decision on which library to use going forward will be another post; it’ll be primarily a technical decision. We’ll look for something with most of the benefits of React, but without the baggage of a patents clause that’s confusing and threatening to many people. Thank you to everyone who took time to share their thoughts and give feedback on these issues thus far — we&#x27;re always listening.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 15 Sep 2017 00:59:15 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"WPTavern: First WordCamp Dublin Set for October 14-15";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74595";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:64:"https://wptavern.com/first-wordcamp-dublin-set-for-october-14-15";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4577:"<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dublin.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.ireland.com/en-us/what-is-available/sightseeing/destinations/republic-of-ireland/dublin/dublin-city/">Ireland.com</a>
<p>Following up on the success of WordCamp Belfast last October, the WordPress community in <a href="https://2017.dublin.wordcamp.org/" target="_blank">Dublin will be hosting its first WordCamp October 14-15</a>. Both camps <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-meetup-groups-in-belfast-and-dublin-are-planning-wordcamps-for-2016-and-2017" target="_blank">began the early stages of planning last year</a> and the two communities have shared some of the same organizers across their teams to help get these new camps off the ground in Ireland.</p>
<p>WordCamp Dublin will be held at <a href="http://business.dcu.ie/" target="_blank">DCU Business School</a> and ticket sales will be capped at 250. In truly affordable WordCamp tradition, tickets are only €35 and include access to two tracks of speakers on both camp days, catered lunch, and an after party on Saturday night in Dublin City Centre.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given it’s our first WordCamp Dublin it’s difficult to select a venue when we’ve no idea about how many people would like to attend,&#8221; co-organizer Colm Troy said. &#8220;But demand so far has been great so if you want a ticket I’d recommend getting one sooner rather than later.&#8221;</p>
<p>Most of the camp&#8217;s five organizers are also part of the Dublin WordPress meetup, which is fairly active with 25-30 people attending regularly. They meet the first Thursday of every month and host a local speaker to teach attendees something new. WordPress developers generally gravitate towards the more technical talks, while WordPress users are more interested in talks about improving and promoting their websites.</p>
<p>WordCamp Dublin will feature one track with advanced WordPress, coding, and development topics and a second track that covers aspects of running a business, growing website traffic, podcasting, and other related topics.</p>
<p>&#8220;​The Dublin WordPress community, based on what I’ve seen and experienced elsewhere (Buenos Aires, Paris, Vienna, UK, Italy), is pretty unusual,&#8221; co-organizer Rodolfo Melogli said. In addition to co-organizing the local WordPress meetup, Melogli also organizes the Dublin E-commerce and WooCommerce Meetups.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have complete beginners, who after years of using other CMSs have finally decided to start using WordPress,&#8221; Melogli said. &#8220;We have passionate bloggers, who have been exploiting the SEO and content management features of WordPress since the very beginning. Then, we&#8217;ve got successful themers, popular plugin developers and experienced WordPress freelancers. Making sure everyone is catered for at each WordPress meetup and at the upcoming WordCamp is our biggest challenge and main priority.</p>
<p>&#8220;The beautiful thing about the WordPress community, and especially in Dublin, is that you can have a successful theme seller sitting beside a complete beginner. And they both have things to share.&#8221;</p>
<p>Organizers have just announced the <a href="https://2017.dublin.wordcamp.org/speakers-2017/" target="_blank">full lineup of speakers</a> for the WordCamp and co-organizer Colm Troy said the team was &#8220;blown away by the quality and quantity of excellent speaking applications&#8221; they received.</p>
<p>The camp&#8217;s designers have created a new &#8220;blocky&#8221; style wapuu for the occasion to accompany the event&#8217;s modular design theme. They were aiming for a Lego-like wapuu while incorporating the cosmopolitan landmark &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin" target="_blank">Spire of Dublin</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordcamp-dublin-2017.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;​We have a couple of ideas floating around that will definitely add a unique Irish aspect to WordCamp Dublin but it’s too early to let the cat out of the bag on those yet,&#8221; Troy said. &#8220;In terms of what people can expect, Dublin and Ireland in general has a well earned reputation as one of the most welcoming places in the world. In many ways, our welcoming spirit is closely aligned with the ethos of the WordPress community and I think it’s going to be a really special weekend for attendees regardless of whether they’re new to WordPress or WordCamp veterans.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 14 Sep 2017 21:15:03 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"WPTavern: GitHub Partners with Facebook to Release Atom-IDE";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74752";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wptavern.com/github-partners-with-facebook-to-release-atom-ide";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3269:"<p>GitHub <a href="http://blog.atom.io/2017/09/12/announcing-atom-ide.html" target="_blank">announced</a> the launch of Atom-IDE this week, a new set of packages that extend its open source JavaScript-powered code editor to include IDE-like functionality. This first release includes packages that support TypeScript, Flow, JavaScript, Java, C#, and PHP.</p>
<p>&#8220;The start of this journey includes smarter context-aware auto-completion as well as a host of code navigation features such as an outline view, go to definition, find all references as well as other useful functions such as hover-to-reveal information, errors and warnings (diagnostics) and document formatting,&#8221; Atom engineer Damien Guard said.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/atom-ide.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Atom, which was open sourced in 2014, is relatively new to the world of text editors, but its directory lists more than 6,700 packages to extend its functionality. WordPress developers have created <a href="https://atom.io/packages/search?q=WordPress" target="_blank">more than a dozen packages</a> that support actions and filters, WP-CLI commands, documentation, and snippets for third-party plugins.</p>
<p>Those who have adopted Atom appreciate its extendability, but the most common complaint from the Atom community is that the code editor is noticeably <a href="https://discuss.atom.io/t/why-is-atom-so-slow/11376/193" target="_blank">slower than many others</a>. This has been a frequent <a href="https://discuss.atom.io/t/atom-is-painfully-slow/36298" target="_blank">topic</a> of <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8989606" target="_blank">discussion</a> for several years and its creators admit that <a href="https://discuss.atom.io/t/atom-feels-slow-or-is-consuming-too-much-cpu-or-memory/32662?source_topic_id=36298" target="_blank">performance isn&#8217;t one of its strongest features</a>. However, sometimes extreme performance issues can be caused by a package that a user has installed.</p>
<p>Atom partnered with Facebook&#8217;s <a href="https://nuclide.io/" target="_blank">Nuclide</a> project developers to develop the new <a href="https://atom.io/packages/atom-ide-ui" target="_blank">Atom IDE UI</a> package that uses Atom’s <a href="https://github.com/atom/atom-languageclient" target="_blank">atom-languageclient</a> library in displaying features supported by the <a href="http://langserver.org/" target="_blank">language server protocol</a>. Users who want to get started with Atom-IDE will need to install the Atom IDE UI package as well as an IDE language support package (i.e. <a href="https://atom.io/packages/ide-php" target="_blank">ide-php</a>).</p>
<p>Using Atom-IDE currently requires Atom Beta 1.21+. In the future the team plans to add support for more languages, which will most likely happen through outside package contributions.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the help of our community, we plan to expand the number of languages that Atom-IDE can support and make it possible for you to run and edit applications, making Atom-IDE a true IDE,&#8221; Damien Guard said. &#8220;We hope to see future language support for the great languages out there including Rust, Go, Python, etc.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 14 Sep 2017 02:12:02 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: Display Widgets Plugin Permanently Removed from WordPress.org Due to Malicious Code";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74768";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"https://wptavern.com/display-widgets-plugin-permanently-removed-from-wordpress-org-due-to-malicious-code";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6033:"<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-widgets/" target="_blank">Display Widgets</a>, a plugin with more than 200,000 active installs, has been removed from WordPress.org due to its authors inserting malicious code. SEO consultant <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-law-9444b637/" target="_blank">David Law</a> was the first to bring this issue to the attention of the plugin team after discovering that Display Widgets was inserting content into sites from external servers and also collecting visitor data without permission. He posted to the WordPress.org forums <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/display-widgets-plugin-v2-6-1-deleted-from-the-plugin-repository/" target="_blank">several</a> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/display-widgets-plugin-v2-6-3-1-includes-hacking-code/" target="_blank">times</a> to warn other users.</p>
<p>Wordfence has been warning its customers about the plugin during the past several months and published a <a href="https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2017/09/display-widgets-malware/" target="_blank">timeline</a> tracking how Display Widgets was removed from WordPress.org on four separate occasions. According to their independent investigation, the plugin included a backdoor that allowed the plugin author to publish spam content to the sites where Display Widgets is installed. It also prevented logged-in users from being able to see the content.</p>
<p><a href="https://pagely.com/blog/2017/09/malicious-code-display-widgets/" target="_blank">Pagely banned the Display Widgets plugin</a> from its hosting platform this week:</p>
<blockquote><p>For our customer’s safety, we have banned the plugin from our customer sites&#8230;The plugin will remained banned on our network until a time that we see someone has taken responsibility for the plugin and the future of patching its code.</p></blockquote>
<p>Display Widgets had recently changed hands, as it was acquired from the team that created Formidable Forms. The previous owners have issued a warning about the plugin on Twitter, advising users to remove it from their sites.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We don't have a way of contacting users of our old Display Widgets plugin. But if you are using it you should uninstall immediately.</p>
<p>&mdash; Formidable Forms (@FormidableForms) <a href="https://twitter.com/FormidableForms/status/907654976708726787">September 12, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>It is not yet confirmed whether the plugin was acquired solely for the purpose of distributing malware, but its new owners have been fairly persistent about getting it added back to WordPress.org after each of its violations.</p>
<h3>Display Widgets Users Advised to Update to Version 2.7 or Remove the Plugin</h3>
<p>Users have no way of finding out that they are running malicious code unless they hear about from their host, security company, or some other third party. They do not receive a notice in the WordPress admin about the plugin having been removed from the directory. Since Display Widgets was a fairly popular plugin, there are likely many sites that still have it active and those website owners are probably unaware of the spam content they are publishing.</p>
<p>Yesterday the plugin team issued a notice that <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/display-widgets-2-7-is-safe/" target="_blank">Display Widgets 2.7 is a clean version</a> that restores the plugin to version 2.0.5 before the malicious code was added:</p>
<blockquote><p>We will be leaving this version deploying updates, however at this time we will NOT be allowing for its adoption. The second owner has effectively destroyed any trust a person might have in the plugin.</p>
<p>Note: You CANNOT visit the page or download it as a new plugin for a reason. This plugin is done. It’s not supported, it’s not worked on, nothing. So if you have it, upgrade. Otherwise, find something else to use.</p></blockquote>
<p>Display Widgets is now likely to end up in the graveyard of abandoned plugins, but there are many other options for adding conditional widget display to WordPress sites. Jetpack&#8217;s <a href="https://jetpack.com/support/widget-visibility/" target="_blank">widget visibility module</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/widget-options/" target="_blank">Widget Options</a> by Phpbits Creative Studio, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-sidebars/" target="_blank">Custom Sidebars</a> by WPMU Dev, and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/content-aware-sidebars/" target="_blank">Content Aware Sidebars</a> are a few popular alternatives on WordPress.org.</p>
<p>The plugin team does not currently disclose why certain plugins have been closed or removed from WordPress.org, but they are working on providing better communication for users. One meta trac <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/2627" target="_blank">ticket</a> requests that closed plugins have a public page instead of disappearing completely. In another related <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/2860" target="_blank">ticket</a>, plugin team member Mika Epstein has proposed that when plugins are closed or disabled, there should be a dropdown for WordPress.org admins to select a reason why. She suggested the following as available options:</p>
<ul>
<li>Security Issue</li>
<li>Author Request</li>
<li>Guideline Violation</li>
<li>Licensing/Trademark violations</li>
<li>Merged into Core</li>
</ul>
<p>The issue with Display Widgets was fairly public as users posted about their investigations on the WordPress.org support forums and various companies issued warnings about it. However, many plugins are disabled without the public knowing why. Even a short explanation like the proposed examples above would be a major improvement over leaving WordPress.org plugin users in the dark. It would assist site owners in knowing whether they need to prioritize looking for an alternative or simply wait until the situation is resolved.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 13 Sep 2017 20:08:29 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"HeroPress: Making My Own Normal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2098";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:114:"https://heropress.com/essays/making-my-own-normal/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-my-own-normal";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8262:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/091317-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: There are more sorts of normal than I could ever imagine." /><p>As long as I can remember being normal was my only goal in life. If only I could be normal, then everything would be alright. There was not a lot wrong in my life when I was a kid, growing up in a small dutch town. I had a normal family with 2 parents (a mum and a dad) and a younger sister. My life was pretty normal. The problem was: It didn’t feel normal; I didn’t feel normal. You see, everybody was going through life living by certain rules and I lived my life not knowing those rules. Nobody told me, but apparently they told everybody else.</p>
<h3>Understanding</h3>
<p>When I was 35 I got diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. I cannot tell you how relieved I was after receiving such a clear diagnoses. All those years working so hard to fit in there was an explanation why I didn’t. Why I couldn’t. That was a big deal. It was not that I wouldn&#8217;t that I didn’t try hard enough or was to lazy. There was something different about me why I couldn’t. Not understanding the rules of life? Being clumsy and inappropriate in social situation? Being obsessed about some things and totally not interested in others? It was all part of the package.</p>
<blockquote><p>Getting the right diagnosis changed everything and at the same time it didn’t change anything.</p></blockquote>
<p>The problems I had to face were still the same. The way to handle them just got more clear. And there was help. I started reading books, I started therapy and I started working with a coach to find a way to integrate this new knowledge into my life. I started looking at what I needed (what??) and finding ways to take care of myself. I really thought this was it. I found the keys, I could learn the rules and finally be a normal person.</p>
<p>And then I got fired.</p>
<p>Having a job was a big part of being normal in my head. Getting fired ruined my chances of ever getting there. I was working as an assistant manager in the local library. I liked my job, and the people I worked with and they liked me. I loved going to work. But the library had to cut their expenses and I was one of the people that got fired. It happens but I was completely shocked.</p>
<p>My experiences with jobs were not good (to put it mildly). There wasn’t one I kept longer than 2 years. You can do the math; I had a lot of jobs since I started working. Some were fun most were not. I got fired many of times. Getting fired was not a new thing. Liking a job and not wanting to get fired and getting fired anyway was what upset me the most. So I decided to start my own company.</p>
<h3>Taking Control</h3>
<p>Looking back it was a ridiculous plan but strangely enough, it worked out. I started helping people with their Social Media and building website with WordPress.</p>
<p>I learned WordPress for fun. I wasn’t interested in computers or tech stuff. I was just a little obsessed with making a website for the domain name my boyfriend gave me for my birthday a few years earlier. I had nothing to say but was totally fascinated by what you can do with a website. It was like magic to me. Some written code turned into a beautiful page, or an ugly one. I wanted to know all about that. Building things with HTML and CSS was easy. Code is logic (and poetry of course;-)). It does what you tell it to do. If it doesn’t you did something wrong. Never a discussion about it.</p>
<p>I shied away from people. It was too confusing for me now that I found something that was so easy and logical.</p>
<blockquote><p>I could make money without seeing other people, it felt like heaven.</p></blockquote>
<p>For a while. This is really what makes this whole thing so disturbing. I want to be alone, but also want to be around other people. I appear to be good with people. A lot of people like me (who knew?!). They have no idea how confusing it is not knowing what the underlying rule set is others are acting by. It’s like interacting with someone from a totally different culture speaking a different language but both of you don’t know that. I got really good at guessing things through the years, but that didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. I also got really scared. Because not all people are understanding and friendly when you try to explain.</p>
<h3>And Then WordCamp</h3>
<p>In 2011 I went to my first WordPress meetup. I was shocked! These people did what I did and actually knew what they were doing and talked about it. I was blown away with all this new knowledge and information. I needed to know more and learn more. So I went back into my WordPress cave and studied, practiced and learned more.</p>
<p>WordCamp Europe happened for the first time in 2013 in The Netherlands. I signed up as a volunteer. I visited WordCamp NL the year before. As a visitor I didn’t know how to meet new people. That was a lonely experience. I loved the knowledge that was shared but I knew I had to find a way to talk to those people. I figured being a volunteer would give me something to do and a reason to talk to people. And it did.</p>
<p>I met new people, I was shy, I was scared, I acted totally inappropriate and I was exhausted for a week after the event but I did it. The people were nice. Some seem to like me and I had fun. This was a totally new experience. If only this could normal.</p>
<blockquote><p>I attended more WordCamps, always as a volunteer, that was my safe place.</p></blockquote>
<p>My confidence grew. The number of people I knew grew. The amount of fun I had grew. And never ever did I feel not normal. As my confidence grew I got more visible and things got even better. It’s an upward spiral. This year I held my first talk, at WordCamp London. I was MC at WordCamp EU in Paris en I am on the organising team for WordCamp EU 2018 (BIG things!).</p>
<p>Did these experiences end my quest to becoming “normal”?</p>
<p>When I turned 40 I decided to quit the quest. I was done trying to be normal. Not because I became normal but I broadened my worldview. There are more sorts of normal than I could ever imagine. It took me a while ( and a lot of redirections) to find the one that fits me best.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Making My Own Normal" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Making%20My%20Own%20Normal&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmaking-my-own-normal%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Making My Own Normal" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmaking-my-own-normal%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmaking-my-own-normal%2F&title=Making+My+Own+Normal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Making My Own Normal"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/making-my-own-normal/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/091317-150x150.jpg&description=Making My Own Normal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Making My Own Normal"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/making-my-own-normal/" title="Making My Own Normal"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/making-my-own-normal/">Making My Own Normal</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 13 Sep 2017 12:00:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"Wendie Huis in ‘t Veld";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"WPTavern: WordPress.org Adds New Support Rep Role for Plugin Pages";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74726";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:77:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-adds-new-support-rep-role-for-plugin-pages";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1424:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/collaboration.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress.org introduced a new feature for plugin pages this week that highlights official support representatives. Plugin authors can now find the UI for adding support reps under the Advanced View on the plugin page. Unlike the contributors and developers role, individual support reps do not have commit access and do not appear on the plugin details page.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/09/04/plugin-support-reps/" target="_blank">&#8220;support rep&#8221; role</a> is especially useful for larger plugins that have a support team managing the forum. It includes the ability to mark forum topics as resolved or sticky. Previously, only plugin authors were able to do this, which made it difficult for support teams to fully manage forum topics. Support reps will now have their interactions highlighted in the forum:</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/support-rep-reply.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Adding these official indicators to support reps&#8217; replies puts them in context within the thread and lends more authority to their answers. It is a small addition that will allow plugin shops to provide better support to their users. The feature is already active on WordPress.org and available for any plugin author to use.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 12 Sep 2017 21:38:35 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:125:"WPTavern: Gutenberg to Offer New Approach to TinyMCE in WordPress 5.0, a Plugin to Bring Back Old Interface Will be Available";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74639";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:135:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-to-offer-new-approach-to-tinymce-in-wordpress-5-0-a-plugin-to-bring-back-old-interface-will-be-available";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9397:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/typewriter.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/4OURRGDU7Z">Sergey Zolkin</a>
<p>The WordPress community is currently knee-deep in Gutenberg takes, as the new editor is poised to impact nearly every corner of the ecosystem when it <a href="https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-addresses-concerns-about-gutenberg-confirms-new-editor-to-ship-with-wordpress-5-0" target="_blank">ships in WordPress 5.0</a>. With billions of dollars flowing through the WordPress economy, tensions are high, as many people support themselves and their families with the revenue earned from products and services that have been built on the existing editor.</p>
<p>First impressions range from outright rejection of the new editor to those who embrace it and are hopeful for what it will bring to WordPress. For the past several years, most major new features added to WordPress have come through the feature plugin/feature project process where release leads and other contributors decide whether a proposed feature is ready for merge. The Gutenberg project is taking a somewhat different path to core in that Matt Mullenweg has already confirmed that <a href="https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-addresses-concerns-about-gutenberg-confirms-new-editor-to-ship-with-wordpress-5-0" target="_blank">Gutenberg will ship with WordPress 5.0</a>, but the release will come out when Gutenberg is ready. This approach is part of Mullenweg&#8217;s new strategy for core development that makes releases more project-based instead of time-based.</p>
<p>One of the most common concerns that developers and agency owners have about the plan to include Gutenberg in 5.0 is that they may need to hold back some of their sites from updating. The most vocal opponents have called for a way to &#8220;opt out&#8221; of Gutenberg so that it isn&#8217;t forced on their users.</p>
<p>In a post titled &#8220;<a href="http://valiantchickendigital.com/blog/wordpress-new-coke-moment/" target="_blank">WordPress is about to have its New Coke moment</a>,&#8221; Nate Hoffelder shared his first impressions of the new edidtor after taking it for a test run. He said he appreciates the changes it promises but was unable to figure out how to create the blocks in the demo and worries about the &#8220;average non-techie&#8221; trying to use the interface.</p>
<p>Hoffelder referenced Coca-Cola&#8217;s attempt to introduce New Coke in April 1985, which quickly ended in consumers calling for a return of the original flavor.</p>
<p>&#8220;My gut feeling is that if users share my frustrations with Gutenberg, they will demand the return of the old interface,&#8221; Hoffelder said. &#8220;But the official release is months and months away, so it is entirely possible that a UX (user experience) expert will force the Gutenberg developers to make Gutenberg easier to use before it is inflicted upon an unsuspecting public.&#8221;</p>
<h3>WordPress Users Will be Able to Restore the Old Editor with a Plugin after Gutenberg Lands in Core</h3>
<p>WordPress will move forward with the Gutenberg editor as the default experience in the 5.0 release, but Matt Mullenweg confirmed in a <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587616" target="_blank">comment</a> on his blog that a plugin will be available for users who want to restore the old editor.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg uses TinyMCE, so a better way to think of it is that Gutenberg is a new version of our approach to TinyMCE,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;It will be the default experience of WP, for people that want to use something more like what’s currently there we’ll have a plugin they can use.&#8221;</p>
<p>This should bring some relief to developers who will not yet have updated their extensions to work with Gutenberg, as well as agency owners who are not ready to give their clients access to the new editor.</p>
<p>In his post, titled <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason" target="_blank">We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason</a>, Mullenweg shared his vision for how the new editor will will re-imagine TinyMCE and the advantages it will bring for plugin editors:</p>
<blockquote><p>Plugin developers will be able to completely integrate into every part of WordPress, including posts, pages, custom post types, and sidebars without having to hack TinyMCE or squeeze their entire feature behind a toolbar button. Today, every plugin that extends WordPress does it in a different way; Gutenberg’s blocks provide a single, easy-to-learn entry point for an incredible variety of extensions. Some folks have already begun to port their plugins over, and are finding that they’re easier to build and have a much improved UI.</p></blockquote>
<p>For developers who are worried about the compatibility of their metaboxes, Mullenweg said <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587620" target="_blank">a plugin will be available for providing the legacy edit page for metaboxes</a>. One commenter, whose sites are heavily dependent on Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), asked if there is going to be a version of WordPress that will get long-term support for sites that can&#8217;t be upgraded to 5.0 without breaking.</p>
<p>&#8220;There won’t be a version of WP like that, but there will definitely be a plugin that gives you the legacy / old edit page. Make sure to let ACF know that Gutenberg compatibility is a top priority,&#8221; Mullenweg said.</p>
<p>Scott Kingsley Clark, lead developer of the Pods plugin, said this support for legacy PHP meta boxes is welcome news for the project but that Pods is also looking to get on board with Gutenberg once the project&#8217;s engineers have a solution for metaboxes.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m very excited to start using the new meta boxes from Gutenberg once the API supports it and gives us more to utilize,&#8221; Clark said. &#8220;As soon as that’s available, count us in for immediate adoption.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite assurances that a plugin will be available to restore the old interface, some are still concerned about how Gutenberg will impact the WordPress ecosystem. The average WordPress user has never heard of Gutenberg and its inclusion in 5.0 will be a major change.</p>
<p>In a recent article on WPShout Fred Meyer contends that <a href="https://wpshout.com/stop-presses-gutenberg-wordpress-needs-doesnt-go-nearly-far-enough/" target="_blank">Gutenberg doesn’t go nearly far enough</a> towards giving users what they really want, which he identifies as front-end editing and the ability to create layouts within post content.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg doesn’t go nearly far enough,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;It won’t make WordPress’ core content editor competitive with hosted builder solutions, or even with WordPress’ own themes and plugins (including badly built, bad-for-the-community solutions like Visual Composer.)&#8221;</p>
<p>Meyer believes Gutenberg has the opportunity to defragment WordPress&#8217; ecosystem of page building tools, but only if it moves towards providing &#8220;a feature-rich, developer-friendly, front-end page builder and content editor.&#8221;</p>
<p>In responding to feedback from the community, Gutenberg design lead Tammie Lister has said that the project is currently focusing on editing before tackling the page building experience. The team has also been <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587693" target="_blank">working with the authors of page builder plugins</a> ahead of the next focus on customization.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is still a little early to say what will happen to plugins and builders,&#8221; Lister <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587692" target="_blank">said</a>. &#8220;Initially, Gutenberg is focusing on the editor. The next stage is for the Customization focus (the building of pages). One thing that will need to happen is a lot of testing of existing plugins with Gutenberg. That’s how we can ensure things do work and limit issues. Ultimately, more and more plugins won’t be needed – or at least not so many together to achieve simple things. This benefits users and creates a better, more unified experience for all.&#8221;</p>
<p>If users&#8217; first impression of Gutenberg is that it is unable to deliver on all of the lofty promises of the project, they may return to the old interface en masse. WordPress will then have a battle to convince users to give it a another chance as the experience improves to include customization.</p>
<p>Multi-column layouts, which are the gateway to page building, are <a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-contributors-explore-adding-drag-and-drop-and-multi-column-support-for-blocks" target="_blank">not currently within the scope of the first official version coming to core</a>. Gutenberg&#8217;s one-dimensional, vertically stacking approach to designing pages isn&#8217;t very inspiring. This may frustrate average users whose expectations have not been tempered with the understanding that a future version will include an expanded page building experience. A plugin that allows users to opt out until it is an improvement over their current tools is going to be crucial for keeping the community happy.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 12 Sep 2017 04:22:44 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:100:"WPTavern: “The Final Word” Plugin Extends O2 to Pin a Highlighted Comment to the Top of a Thread";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74707";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/the-final-word-plugin-extends-o2-to-pin-a-highlighted-comment-to-the-top-of-a-thread";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3311:"<p>&#8220;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-final-word/" target="_blank">The Final Word</a>&#8221; is a new plugin that extends O2 to highlight a comment at the top of a thread. <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/o2" target="_blank">O2</a> is the plugin successor to <a href="https://wordpress.org/themes/p2/" target="_blank">P2</a>, Automattic&#8217;s group blogging theme that introduced quick posting from the front page with real-time comment updates. The code was <a href="https://wptavern.com/o2-is-now-available-on-github" target="_blank">released on GitHub in 2015</a> and it powers the <a href="http://make.wordpress.org" target="_blank">make.wordpress.org</a> blogs.</p>
<p>If you use O2 as a WordPress contributor or within another organization, then you have likely been a part of lengthy conversations that require a decent chunk of time to read and comprehend. Hugh Lashbrooke <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meta/2017/08/24/o2-plugin-request-the-final-word/" target="_blank">created The Final Word for use on the WordPress Community Team blog</a> so that long discussion threads could be summed up in a single comment. He likened the new feature as something similar to the &#8220;accepted answer&#8221; function on Stack Exchange or other support forums where the best answer floats to the top. Discussions in the Community P2 often involve decision making, and the plugin is useful for highlighting the team&#8217;s conclusion on a matter.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/top-comment.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The Final Word gives users who are able to edit the post the ability to mark a specific comment as the &#8220;top comment.&#8221; Other features include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>The top comment is displayed at the top of the comment list with a ‘view in context’ anchor link</li>
<li>The top comment is also highlighted in context in the thread</li>
<li>Only one comment can be selected as the top comment</li>
<li>The top comment flag can be removed</li>
<li>Includes basic styling for top comments</li>
<li>‘Top comment’ label can be translated and/or filtered</li>
</ul>
<p>The plugin currently will not work without 02 enabled because of its specific way of handling comments, but Lashbrooke said it may be updated in the future to work without O2. (While O2 is not theme-dependent, the plugin is also not guaranteed to work with every theme and is recommended to be used in combination with the <a href="https://wpcom-themes.svn.automattic.com/p2-breathe" target="_blank">p2-breathe theme</a>.)</p>
<p>The Final Word is now active on the <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/community" target="_blank">WordPress Community team&#8217;s blog</a> and is available for other teams to activate as well. With the number of O2 blogs that many contributors are subscribed to, there is a massive amount of information and discussion to keep up with. This plugin gives thread authors and team leaders the ability to summarize conversations and keep them more manageable for readers and participants. The Final Word is available on both <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-final-word/" target="_blank">WordPress.org</a> and <a href="https://github.com/hlashbrooke/The-Final-Word" target="_blank">GitHub</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 11 Sep 2017 04:10:58 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:91:"WPTavern: Equifax Launches WordPress-Powered Site for Consumers Affected by Security Breach";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74677";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/equifax-launches-wordpress-powered-site-for-consumers-affected-by-security-breach";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7328:"<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/security.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58441544@N00/2660230441">Lock</a> &#8211; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>
<p>Equifax has launched <a href="https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/" target="_blank">a WordPress-powered website</a> to connect with consumers affected by its recent security breach, which compromised 143 million customers&#8217; personal data. The exposed data includes names, birth dates, social security numbers, addresses, credit card numbers, driver&#8217;s license numbers, and other sensitive financial information.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/" target="_blank">equifaxsecurity2017.com</a> site was launched shortly after disclosure to give consumers information about the security incident. Equifax reports that the company has found no evidence of unauthorized activity on its core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases but is offering free identity theft protection and credit file monitoring services to U.S. consumers who enter their last names and last six digits of their social security number into its form.</p>
<p>Consumers are rightfully wary of the website, as the company is asking for more personal information in order to sign people up for another one of its products. Various <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/08/equifax_breach_notification/" target="_blank">news</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/why-the-equifax-breach-is-very-possibly-the-worst-leak-of-personal-info-ever/" target="_blank">outlets</a> are decrying the fact that the site is built on WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s more, the website which Equifax created to notify people of the breach, is highly problematic for a variety of reasons,&#8221; Ars Technica Security Editor Dan Goodin said. &#8220;It runs on a stock installation WordPress, a content management system that doesn&#8217;t provide the enterprise-grade security required for a site that asks people to provide their last name and all but three digits of their Social Security number.&#8221;</p>
<p>Goodin also referenced the output of <a href="https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users/" target="_blank">https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users/</a> which earlier in the day exposed the username for the site&#8217;s administrator before the page was protected.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/equifax-site-users-endpoint.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress&#8217; handbook has a section on reporting security vulnerabilities that explains <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/#why-are-disclosures-of-usernames-or-user-ids-not-a-security-issue" target="_blank">why disclosures of usernames or user IDs is not a security issue</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The WordPress project doesn’t consider usernames or user ids to be private or secure information. A username is part of your online identity. It is meant to identify, not verify, who you are saying you are. Verification is the job of the password.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, people do not consider usernames to be secret, often sharing them openly. Additionally, many major online establishments — such as Google and Facebook — have done away with usernames in favor of email addresses, which are shared around constantly and freely. WordPress has also moved this way, allowing users to log in with an email address or username since version 4.5.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress Core Security Team Lead Aaron Campbell clarified this section of the handbook to confirm that the users endpoint is intended to be an open API endpoint that serves public data.</p>
<p>&#8220;It does in fact include usernames and user IDs (among other things) for users that have published posts in a post type that is set up to use the API, but all the data is considered public,&#8221; Campbell said.</p>
<p>Campbell also said he is wary of entering personal data into the equifaxsecurity2017.com website, but not because it is using WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think the fact that it runs on WordPress is a concern from a security standpoint, with the caveat that I don&#8217;t know what ELSE it&#8217;s using,&#8221; Campbell said. &#8220;&#8216;Equifax&#8217; is a trusted brand, but it&#8217;s not the official Equifax domain and the SSL certificate doesn&#8217;t verify ownership. So you know your data is encrypted, but not necessarily who it&#8217;s being sent to since you don&#8217;t know who owns the site.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear why Equifax simply didn&#8217;t build out the information site on its own domain. According to security investigator <a href="https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/09/equifax-breach-response-turns-dumpster-fire/" target="_blank">Brian Krebs</a>, the company appears to have hired Edelman PR, a global PR firm, to handle its public response to the data breach, citing the username publicly displayed by WordPress&#8217; API. Edelman PR opted to use a free Cloudflare certificate to secure the site.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not only did <a href="https://twitter.com/Equifax">@Equifax</a> suffer a massive data breach, but their site about the breach is using a free shared CloudFlare SSL cert. ಠ_ಠ <a href="https://t.co/r4bvPpde1i">pic.twitter.com/r4bvPpde1i</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Daniel Lo Nigro (@Daniel15) <a href="https://twitter.com/Daniel15/status/905953979934187520">September 8, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Consumers were also off put by the verbiage of the arbitration clause included in the terms and services of the free credit monitoring, which appears to force those who sign up to waive their rights to participate in class action lawsuits against the company.</p>
<p>&#8220;I cannot recall a previous data breach in which the breached company’s public outreach and response has been so haphazard and ill-conceived,&#8221; Krebs said.</p>
<p>Kenneth White, a security researcher and director of the Open Crypto Audit Project, said on Twitter that he was amazed the site was running stock WordPress but that his comments specifically referenced the sloppy implementation of the site.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">intent wasn't to blast WP, this is just sloppy—default admin pages, default nginx errors, wonky certs, phish flagged…</p>
<p>&mdash; Kenn White (@kennwhite) <a href="https://twitter.com/kennwhite/status/906152286908551168">September 8, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Due to how the site was set up, it appeared to many consumers and researchers as Equifax&#8217;s way of stalling or perhaps even scamming those who may have been affected by the breach. Various browsers flagged it as a phishing threat, and some consumers found they were given different answers from the form based on whether they checked with desktop or mobile devices. In responding to the incident with a website that appears to have been hastily implemented for its own convenience and corporate interests, Equifax has missed an opportunity to reclaim any remaining consumer confidence from the public.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 08 Sep 2017 20:04:54 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:61:"WPTavern: SWFUpload Will Officially Be Removed From WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74660";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"https://wptavern.com/swfupload-will-officially-be-removed-from-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2000:"<p>SWFUpload is an open-source library that was used by WordPress in 2011 and earlier that allowed users to upload files. The library was abandoned and replaced with <a href="http://www.plupload.com/">Plupload</a> in WordPress 3.3, released in 2011. Despite being replaced, WordPress continued to bundle the library for plugins that didn&#8217;t migrate to Plupload. In 2013, the core team <a href="http://github.com/wordpress/secure-swfupload">forked SWFUpload</a> and maintained the project, applying security fixes submitted by contributors.</p>
<p>After six years of deprecation, the core team <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/09/07/removing-swfupload/">has announced</a> that SWFUpload will officially be removed from WordPress core. The team searched the WordPress plugin directory and <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41752">compiled a list</a> of plugins that contain references to swfupload in their code. <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41752#comment:4">According to Weston Ruter</a>, the list includes 128 themes and plugins.</p>
<p>Some of the most popular plugins include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wysija-newsletters/">MailPoet 2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-all-import/">WP All Import</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/profile-builder/">Profile Builder</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/flash-album-gallery/">Gallery Grand Flagallery</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The team is working on a way to provide enough backwards compatibility to ensure there are no JavaScript errors and an upload form is displayed instead of embedded Flash. Andrew Ozz also apologized to plugin authors noting that the list likely contains some false positives. If you use one or more of the plugins mentioned above, please get in touch with the author and ask if it will function <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/09/07/removing-swfupload/">without SWFUpload in core</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 08 Sep 2017 08:06:35 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"WPTavern: WordCamp Ann Arbor to Host Second WordCamp WarmUp";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74654";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-ann-arbor-to-host-second-wordcamp-warmup";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2080:"<p><a href="https://2017.annarbor.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Ann Arbor, MI</a>, is set to take place October 13-14 and for the second year in a row, organizers will host a secondary event called <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-warmup-an-experimental-event-aimed-at-breaking-the-ice-for-new-wordcamp-attendees">WordCamp WarmUp</a>. WordCamp WarmUp provides an environment for attendees to break the ice and meet new people before the main event.</p>
<p>Janelle Reichman is co-organizing WordCamp WarmUp. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been running my own WordPress business for about eight years,&#8221; Reichman said. &#8220;However, I attended my first WordCamp just last fall. I&#8217;ll never forget it &#8211; I was pretty much terrified.</p>
<p>&#8220;But then, I got an invitation to a WordCamp WarmUp. I couldn&#8217;t believe my luck. I couldn&#8217;t believe there was an event made exactly for people like me, who were shaking in their boots at the prospect of showing up at a conference and not knowing anybody.</p>
<p>&#8220;I attended the WarmUp, made friends, saw them all the next day at WordCamp, and ended up having an amazing and unforgettable time&#8221;</p>
<p>Unlike last year&#8217;s WarmUp, details for this years event will only be announced to WordCamp Ann Arbor <a href="https://2017.annarbor.wordcamp.org/tickets/">ticket holders</a>. The event is maxed out to fifty people and is available on a first come, first serve basis. Appetizers and beverages will be provided.</p>
<p>Rebecca Gill, founder of <a href="https://www.web-savvy-marketing.com/">Web-Savvy-Marketing</a>, organized <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-warmup-is-a-success">the event last year</a> and <a href="https://www.web-savvy-marketing.com/2016/10/recap-of-wordcamp-ann-arbors-wordcamp-warmup/">considered it a success</a>. &#8220;Not only did most WarmUp guests arrive right on time, we had a full room of WarmUp attendees and even had a few unexpected friends show up,” Gill said.</p>
<p>Ticket holders can expect to see an email with event details within the next few weeks.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 08 Sep 2017 03:14:21 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:116:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 1.1.0 Adds Autocomplete for Blocks, Developers Elaborate on How New Editor Will Work with Themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74545";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:126:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-1-1-0-adds-autocomplete-for-blocks-developers-elaborate-on-how-new-editor-will-work-with-themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4082:"<p>Gutenberg contributors continue marching forward this week on their relentless drive to improve the usability of the controversial new editor that will <a href="https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-addresses-concerns-about-gutenberg-confirms-new-editor-to-ship-with-wordpress-5-0" target="_blank">ship with WordPress 5.0</a>. Meanwhile, discussions about Gutenberg&#8217;s timing, implications, UI, architecture, and other aspects of the project continue across the web, as the community grapples with what this new editor will mean for the future of WordPress.</p>
<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/09/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-september-5/" target="_blank">Version 1.1.0</a> was released this week with a new autocomplete-shortcut for adding new blocks without leaving the keyboard.</p>
<p>Many testers have been frustrated with the amount of pointing and clicking required to create new blocks. Autocomplete for blocks is a new feature that partially answers this problem, but it relies on the user knowing that typing a slash <code>/</code> in a new default paragraph block will trigger autocomplete. It may also be added to other blocks in the future.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/autocomplete.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;We still need to get the point-click/tap interactions right since most people won’t discover, remember, nor use keyboard shortcuts,&#8221; Gutenberg engineer Matías Ventura <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587704" target="_blank">said</a> in response to user feedback on the plugin.</p>
<p>This release of the plugin adds the ability to remove images from the gallery block inline. It works smoothly and resizes the thumbnail previews to fit the available space after an image is removed.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/gutenberg-gallery-delete-image.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Version 1.1.0 also includes small updates like the ability to set links to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2628" target="_blank">open in a new window</a>, accessibility improvements to the add-new-category form, caption styling for video blocks, adjustments to column width calculation in the gallery block, and many other tweaks and improvements. The <a href="http://gutenberg-devdoc.surge.sh/" target="_blank">Gutenberg docs</a> also received <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2638" target="_blank">an updated design</a> and improvements to the content.</p>
<h3>A Preview of How Gutenberg Will Interact with Themes to Build Websites</h3>
<p>Gutenberg engineers elaborated on how they expect the new editor will work with themes in a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/31/gutenberg-themes/" target="_blank">post</a> on the make.wordpress./core blog. Matías Ventura published two video examples to demonstrate where they see Gutenberg headed on its journey towards becoming a full-fledged website building tool. Ventura said this is the long-term goal after the project completes the post and page editing milestone.</p>
<p>The first video shows how Gutenberg can be used for page building, starting with a blank slate and a theme that defines specific styles for blocks. The second one shows how a theme might include templates with blocks already in place that provide users with a guided page-building experience.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>These examples clarify some of the benefits the team is aiming for with Gutenberg and how WordPress theme authors will be able to build more user-friendly experiences on top of the new editor.</p>
<p>&#8220;These are quickly put together, but I hope it shows how things can progress even with very straightforward theme integration,&#8221; Ventura said. &#8220;As soon as we expand the scope and include more blocks (site title, site header, menus, more widgets, etc), and describe a way to store page templates as a «list of blocks», Gutenberg would be fundamentally capable of building an entire website.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 07 Sep 2017 20:02:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 287 – WordPress Meetups, Events, and WordCamps with Andrea Middleton";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74614&preview=true&preview_id=74614";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:102:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-287-wordpress-meetups-events-and-wordcamps-with-andrea-middleton";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1776:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by <a href="https://andreamiddleton.blog/">Andrea Middleton</a>, Dot org Wrangler at Automattic. Middleton supports WordPress community organizers by helping them <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/">plan community events</a> that inspire people to do more with WordPress, connect the community, and contribute to the WordPress project.</p>
<p>We discussed a variety of topics including, whether or not speakers should be compensated, regional WordCamps, and improvements that have been made to WordCamp.org. By the way, if you can lend a hand with <a href="https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/2992">this trac ticket</a>, it would be appreciated.</p>
<p>We also discussed the possibilities of expanding WordCamps to be more subject focused events. Last but not least, we talked about the successful <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-to-launch-experimental-wordcamp-incubator-program">WordCamp Incubator program</a> and whether or not it will continue.</p>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, September 13th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
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<p><strong>Listen To Episode #287:</strong><br />
</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 07 Sep 2017 01:59:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37:"HeroPress: Crafting the Life You Want";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2086";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:110:"https://heropress.com/essays/crafting-life-want/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=crafting-life-want";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9042:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/090617-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: WordPress turned out to be a tool that led me to meeting a fantastic community of interesting and friendly people." /><p>I grew up in a small country town in Poland, where life was pretty simple. People would know all the neighbors, they would pay each other visits every week to talk about what’s been going on in the community and to have a beer or two. It all seemed great until the moment when I got a bit older and went to Junior High School. My hair, unlike all other boys’, was long and I enjoyed listening to rock / metal music, the genre that was considered weird, unknown, maybe even evil.</p>
<blockquote><p>Suddenly this friendly community started treating me like an alien, someone they refused to treat as one of their own or spend time with.</p></blockquote>
<p>Almost every day I would get some beatings from school bullies, they would pull my hair, call me names, in short &#8211; my life became miserable. I had to find a way to survive, something to focus on.</p>
<p>That’s when I started spending even more time with my computer, playing Diablo (I even set up a Diablo fan club which became quite popular in Poland) and other multiplayer games that connected me with new people. All these interesting personalities living there, somewhere far away, (and the unforgettable sound of a dial-up modem) made me believe there was something good out there waiting for me.</p>
<p>Next, natural step was the analysis of how a game could be created. I spent months looking at the code and analyzing its components. There weren’t many tutorials back then, so sometimes it took a while to figure things out. But it all led to building my first website, which was full of tables and hundreds of colorful elements, everything was there! I was so proud of myself! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f642.png" alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>When I went to High School, I already knew a thing or two about coding and I wasn’t afraid to use it! I moved to a big city, got my first job as a graphic designer and started renting my own apartment.</p>
<blockquote><p>I was very young, full of energy and determination to change my life.</p></blockquote>
<p>After a while I got another job and another, and suddenly I realized that coding became an essential part of my life. Instead of learning chemistry and biology, I spent my nights learning new ways of improving my skills and finally was offered a pretty sweet job in a huge company, where I led a team of front-end developers. Yes, I was about 19, but I felt so mature. It’s so funny now, when I recall that feeling of accomplishing “everything”, but hey, I knew CSS ‘hacks’ on IE 6, I knew it all!</p>
<blockquote><p>Of course, I had heard of WordPress, but none of the ‘true’ coders would use it, so why would I want to dig into that?</p></blockquote>
<p>Well, I’m glad someone helped me change my mind. In 2010 my colleague invited me to join him on WordCamp. In Poland WordPress was still considered a cute little tool for creating internet blogs, so I thought going there would be a waste of time, but it turned out to be a life-changing experience. The opportunity to meet people from different countries, hear them talk about the growing possibilities of WordPress made me realize I was in the right place. The fact that a few people I met there are still my friends today only stresses the importance of that event.</p>
<blockquote><p>It simply dawned on me that it’s not really about the CMS or other technical elements.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress turned out to be a tool that led me to meeting a fantastic community of interesting and friendly people. And this was one of the reasons I wanted to delve further into WordPress.</p>
<p>Two years later I started cooperating with a company based in the United States. Their main tool to build sites on was WordPress, obviously. By the way, I’ve been with this company for over 5 years now and to be honest, I can’t imagine my life without those guys now, but I don’t want to keep you here too long, so let’s move on. I quit my safe, ‘nine to five’ job to the dismay of my parents and started working remotely. Everything was so new, so exciting, but at the same time physically and mentally exhausting. I was doing my master’s degree in e-business and I rarely slept through the night, mostly because my clients were from different time zones.</p>
<p>To make things more exciting, I applied for a grant from the European Union and registered my own little company in Poland. But hey, I still felt unsated. It took me around a year to decide to move my company to the United States and go there to manage it. Actually, part of this time was spent on convincing my wife to quit the job she didn’t like anyway, but again, no subplots.</p>
<blockquote><p>To say that moving to the States was easy would be a monstrous lie.</p></blockquote>
<p>Dealing with visas and all types of immigration documents is very time-consuming and caused us way too many sleepless nights, but eventually we got to California! I registered my company (again!), opened a bank account (you wouldn’t believe how difficult it was, so thank you, dear Russian lady for fighting with the system for over 2 hours!), and looked for a place to stay.</p>
<p>Almost 3 years have passed, I’ve been given a chance to work with amazing people whom I truly admire, and I work for and with a few startups that, I admit, are close to my heart. One of the projects my wife and I are working on is a platform (based on WordPress, of course) that will help freelancers find good, well paid projects. Again, right time, right place, no doubt about it.</p>
<blockquote><p>“I know you&#8217;ve heard it a thousand times before. But it&#8217;s true &#8211; hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don&#8217;t love something, then don&#8217;t do it.“ (Ray Bradbury)</p></blockquote>
<p>Very often people ask me if it’s all worth it, if I’m a masochist and enjoy burning the midnight oil, but I don’t see it that way. If I have a goal, whether it’s one to create a new website, or learn how to prepare real pierogi (dumplings) for my wife, I’m ready to spend as much time as needed to accomplish it. Sure, if it’s not something I truly ‘feel’, I might not be able to devote 100 percent of my energy to make it happen, but I like to think it’s a matter of making the right choices.</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s all rainbows and butterflies right now, I’m not a guy who spends his days surfing or drinking cocktails. To be honest I don’t think I’ll ever be that guy. I’m still working very hard and I rarely take days off, but at least when I go to bed I have a feeling that I’ve done all I could to help others and improve my skills as a front-ender, project manager and most of all, a human being.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Crafting the Life You Want" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Crafting%20the%20Life%20You%20Want&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fcrafting-life-want%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Crafting the Life You Want" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fcrafting-life-want%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fcrafting-life-want%2F&title=Crafting+the+Life+You+Want" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Crafting the Life You Want"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/crafting-life-want/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/090617-150x150.jpg&description=Crafting the Life You Want" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Crafting the Life You Want"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/crafting-life-want/" title="Crafting the Life You Want"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/crafting-life-want/">Crafting the Life You Want</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 06 Sep 2017 12:00:31 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Damian Samolej";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"WPTavern: Jetpack 5.3 Adds PHP 7.1 Compatibility, Better Control for WordAds Placement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74547";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"https://wptavern.com/jetpack-5-3-adds-php-7-1-compatibility-better-control-for-wordads-placement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2636:"<p><a href="https://jetpack.com/2017/09/05/jetpack-5-3-php-7-1-compatibility/" target="_blank">Jetpack 5.3</a> was released with compatibility for PHP 7.1, a task the Jetpack team has been working on <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/issues/6106" target="_blank">since January 2017</a> after they received multiple reports of <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/issues/6629" target="_blank">failures with PHP 7.1 when opcache was enabled</a>. This interfered with XML-RPC requests and some users reported issues managing their sites from WordPress.com and connecting to third-party apps. Downgrading to PHP 7.0 or disabling opcache in PHP 7.1 provided temporary workarounds for many users but this is no longer required as of Jetpack 5.3.</p>
<p>In January 2017, <a href="https://wptavern.com/jetpack-4-5-expands-monetization-with-wordads-integration" target="_blank">Jetpack added integration with WordAds</a>, WordPress.com’s advertising program. Over the past few years the program has evolved to get better at distinguishing sites with higher quality traffic and allocating earnings accordingly. This correction, along with industry-wide declining ad rates, has given publishers more modest earnings expectations after the first few years of unpredictable payouts. Jetpack 5.3 offers customers on the Premium and Professional plans more control over how ads are displayed.</p>
<p>This release adds the ability for publishers to display multiple ads and introduces more control options for where they can be placed. Since WordAds pays based on the number of impressions (combined with many other factors) and not the number of clicks, selecting the right combination of placement options is important for success.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordads-jetpack5-3.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Other notable changes and improvements include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Users can preview their sites without leaving WordPress.com</li>
<li>WordPress.com Toolbar updated to include link to comments</li>
<li>Omnisearch feature was removed</li>
<li>Improved performance in the admin by cutting back on unnecessary requests</li>
<li>VideoPress shortcode includes option to stop video from looping during autoplay</li>
<li>Fixed compatibility issues with plugins using TinyMCE</li>
<li>Re-added a filter for Widget Visibility that was accidentally removed</li>
</ul>
<p>For a full list of all the changes included in Jetpack 5.3, check out the plugin&#8217;s <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/#developers" target="_blank">changelog</a> on WordPress.org.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 06 Sep 2017 05:46:10 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"WPTavern: WordCamp Grand Rapids Attendees Share First Impressions of Gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74538";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:89:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-attendees-share-first-impressions-of-gutenberg";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2688:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordcamp-grand-rapids.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>While attending <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event" target="_blank">WordCamp Grand Rapids</a> I had the opportunity to interview developers and business owners about their first impressions of the new Gutenberg editor. Many attendees I spoke to had not yet heard of the project but were intrigued and decided to install the plugin on a test site. A few attendees were developers who have already contributed to Gutenberg and are experimenting with extending the editor.</p>
<p>Those who have tested the beta have varied concerns, depending on how they use WordPress in their professions. Some are waiting to begin testing until the plugin provides a more consistent experience. One of the most common concerns for developers is how the editor will handle meta boxes. Freelancers and agency owners are waiting to see how the new editor will affect their businesses.</p>
<p>&#8220;How much am I going to have to change what my company does as a business to build websites with this new tool?&#8221; Topher DeRosia asked.</p>
<p>Agency owner Sara Dunn said she is excited about what Gutenberg will bring to WordPress and undaunted by the prospect of getting clients acquainted to a new interface. She believes the project has a lot of potential to solve some of the most common client frustrations.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m excited about it, because I have a lot of clients who say they can&#8217;t stand WordPress because when they look at the backend and update their pages and posts, it doesn&#8217;t look how it looks on the frontend,&#8221; Dunn said. &#8220;I really think WordPress needs this move to compete in the future, and I&#8217;m excited about where it&#8217;s going.&#8221;</p>
<p>John James Jacoby, one of the developers who has contributed to Gutenberg and experimented with extending it, said he considers it to be a very ambitious project.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is probably one of the most important projects that anyone has worked on with WordPress in a number of years, in my opinion,&#8221; Jacoby said. &#8220;My take on it is that everyone has the responsibility to try to influence the direction that it&#8217;s going to take. If we care about the open web and the freedom of how people publish to it, then we should all try to join in and help with its ongoing development and make it as good as it can be if it&#8217;s going to end up as part of WordPress in the coming months.&#8221;</p>
<p>Check out the interviews below to see how attendees weighed in on Gutenberg.</p>
<p></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 05 Sep 2017 23:31:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"Dev Blog: The Month in WordPress: August 2017";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=4899";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wordpress.org/news/2017/09/the-month-in-wordpress-august-2017/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6420:"<p>While there haven’t been any major events or big new developments in the WordPress world this past month, a lot of work has gone into developing a sustainable future for the project. Read on to find out more about this and other interesting news from around the WordPress world in August.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Global WordPress Translation Day Returns</h2>
<p>On September 30, the WordPress Polyglots team will be holding <a href="https://wptranslationday.org/">the third Global WordPress Translation Day</a>. This is a 24-hour global event dedicated to the translation of the WordPress ecosystem (core, themes, plugins), and is a mix of physical, in-person translation work with online streaming of talks from WordPress translators all over the world.</p>
<p>Meetup groups will be holding events where community members will come together to translate WordPress. To get involved in this worldwide event, <a href="https://www.meetup.com/pro/wordpress/">join your local meetup group</a> or, if one is not already taking place in your area, organize one for your community.</p>
<p>You can find out more information <a href="https://wptranslationday.org/global-wordpress-translation-day-3/">on the Translation Day blog</a> and in the #polyglots-events channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>
<h2>WordPress Foundation to Run Open Source Training Worldwide</h2>
<p>The WordPress Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to provide educational events and resources for hackathons, support of the open web, and promotion of diversity in the global open source community.</p>
<p>In an effort to push these goals forward, <a href="http://wordpressfoundation.org/2017/call-for-organizers-introduction-to-open-source/">the Foundation is going to be offering assistance</a> to communities who would like to run local open source training workshops. A number of organizers have applied to be a part of this initiative, and the Foundation will be selecting two communities in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Follow <a href="http://wordpressfoundation.org/news/">the WordPress Foundation blog</a> for updates.</p>
<h2>Next Steps in WordPress Core’s PHP Focus</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2017/08/the-month-in-wordpress-july-2017/">last month’s</a> push to focus on WordPress core’s PHP development, a number of new initiatives have been proposed and implemented. The first of these initiatives is a page on WordPress.org that will educate users on the benefits of upgrading PHP. The page and its implementation are still in development, so <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/servehappy">you can follow and contribute on GitHub</a>.</p>
<p>Along with this, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/">plugin developers are now able to specify</a> the minimum required PHP version for their plugins. This version will then be displayed on the Plugin Directory page, but it will not (yet) prevent users from installing it.</p>
<p>The next evolution of this is for the minimum PHP requirement to be enforced so that plugins will only work if that requirement is met. You can assist with this implementation by contributing your input or a patch on <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40934">the open ticket</a>.</p>
<p>As always, discussions around the implementation of PHP in WordPress core are done in the #core-php channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>
<h2>New Editor Development Continues</h2>
<p>For a few months now, the core team has been steadily working on Gutenberg, the new editor for WordPress core. While Gutenberg is still in development and is some time away from being ready, a huge amount of progress has already been made. In fact, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/29/whats-new-in-gutenberg-august-29/">v1.0.0 of Gutenberg</a> was released this week.</p>
<p>The new editor is available as a plugin <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/call-for-testing/gutenberg-testing/">for testing</a> and <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/revised-suggested-roadmap-for-gutenberg-and-customization/">the proposed roadmap</a> is for it to be merged into core in early 2018. You can get involved in the development of Gutenberg by joining the #core-editor channel in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Making WordPress Slack group</a> and following the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">WordPress Core development blog</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Further reading:</h2>
<ul>
<li>On the topic of Gutenberg, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/">Matt Mullenweg wrote a post</a> to address some of the concerns that the community has expressed about the new editor.</li>
<li><a href="http://hookrefineandtinker.com/2017/08/jaiwp-an-alternative-project-to-wordcamp-india/">A new movement has started</a> in the Indian WordPress community named JaiWP — the organizers are seeking to unite and motivate the country’s many local communities.</li>
<li><a href="https://richtabor.com/merlin-wp/">Merlin WP</a> is a new plugin offering theme developers an easy way to onboard their users.</li>
<li>Ryan McCue posted <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/23/rest-api-roadmap/">an ambitious roadmap</a> for the future of the WordPress REST API — many contributions from the community will be needed in order to reach these goals.</li>
<li>Want to know what you can expect in the next major release of WordPress? <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/11/wordpress-4-9-goals/">Here’s a look</a> at what the core team is planning for v4.9.</li>
<li>To help combat the difficulties that Trac presents to WordPress Core contributors, Ryan McCue built an alternative platform dubbed <a href="https://github.com/rmccue/not-trac">Not Trac</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/2017/08/08/version-1-3-0-released/">v1.3.0 of WP-CLI was released</a> earlier in the month, adding a whole lot of great new features to the useful tool.</li>
</ul>
<p><i><span>If you have a story we should consider including in the next &#8220;Month in WordPress&#8221; post, please </span></i><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/"><i><span>submit it here</span></i></a><i><span>.</span></i></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 01 Sep 2017 10:02:16 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Hugh Lashbrooke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"WPTavern: WordCamp Grand Rapids 2017 Sells Out, Organizers On Board for 2018 Event";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74039";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8631:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wordcamp-grandrapids.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The 4th edition of <a href="http://2017.grandrapids.wordcamp.org" target="_blank">WordCamp Grand Rapids</a> was held last weekend at Grand Valley State University’s downtown Pew Campus. After a brief hiatus following previous events in 2012, 2013, and 2014, the WordCamp is back in action with first-time lead organizer <a href="https://twitter.com/mysweetcate" target="_blank">Cate DeRosia</a> at the helm.</p>
<p>Tickets sold out shortly before the event and the vast majority of them were local to Michigan. DeRosia estimates that 40% came from Grand Rapids and 60% of attendees were within an hour radius. She published the camp&#8217;s details with a local events webpage and set up a Facebook page to increase local awareness. Organizers also received contacts from the WordPress dashboard events widget and the local MeetUp announcement.</p>
<p>Despite being a relatively small WordCamp with 144 attendees, organizers had enough speaker submissions to fill three tracks with topics ranging from development and design to freelance best practices and scaling a business. Attendees characterized the organizers as &#8220;connectors&#8221; who have a natural gift for helping people and businesses get to know each other. DeRosia said one of the unique things about the lower Michigan WordPress community is its dedication to helping each other succeed with WordPress.</p>
<p>&#8220;The core group in Grand Rapids, and really across the lower half of Michigan, is highly experienced and sincerely dedicated to helping people,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;No one is fighting to be top dog on the pile. No one&#8217;s gloating. Meetups and WordCamps are ways to give back, to encourage and grow others in the community. The focus is on the opportunities that WordPress can provide anyone and a willingness to share their years of hard earned experience to help others succeed.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeRosia said the organizing team&#8217;s goal was to provide a little something for everyone and &#8220;an opportunity to learn what can be done and take that home to foster and grow at each individual&#8217;s own pace.&#8221; The event was marked by the friendliness and enthusiasm of the volunteers and provided several breaks and social times for attendees to exchange ideas and build relationships with others in the industry.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">4yrs ago I attended <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcgr?src=hash">#wcgr</a> and knew no one. Attended yesterday and it's all handshakes, high fives and hugs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/community?src=hash">#community</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcfamily?src=hash">#wcfamily</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f604.png" alt="😄" class="wp-smiley" /></p>
<p>&mdash; Kyle Maurer (@MrKyleMaurer) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrKyleMaurer/status/901914242626007040">August 27, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>WordCamp Grand Rapids had 13 volunteers who gave up their Saturday, including all of the organizers, and all of them were hands on the day of event. DeRosia&#8217;s teenage daughter Sophia, who has been volunteering at camps for years, also joined by contributing the event&#8217;s wapuu design and helping with operations. In the short interview below she describes how she came up with the idea for the wapuu and why she enjoys getting involved in WordPress events.</p>
<p></p>
<p>DeRosia had just four months to get the event organized and said she relied heavily on information and resources from other WordCamp organizers in Michigan. She stayed with the same venue from previous camps, which she said met her criteria for making things convenient for attendees: lunch was easily available, parking was easy to find (and free), and it was within a reasonable walking distance of hotels and the after party. The camp had no issues getting local sponsorships.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our sponsors were amazing,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;We came in late to the schedule and still had the sponsorship we needed with out any problems. It helps that as an organizing group we&#8217;ve created friendships in the community, but most of our sponsorship was local or regional which really helped cement the idea that another WordCamp in the area has value.&#8221;</p>
<p>DeRosia said with the number of people who left talking about the next event, she anticipates there will be another WordCamp Grand Rapids in 2018 and she hopes to help again as lead organizer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I knew tackling the &#8216;unknowns&#8217; of this first one (and doing it in a short time frame) was going to be emotionally difficult for me personally, but I also realized that most of what I was planning for this year would simply be able to move over into next year,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;In a sense, I was planning much of the next camp while planning the first.&#8221;</p>
<p>As a first-time organizer, DeRosia said she was impressed by the volunteers, speakers, and attendees&#8217; positive attitudes and their willingness to help given the short time frame.</p>
<p>&#8220;Aside from being terrified of what I didn&#8217;t know, it was actually a very positive experience,&#8221; DeRosia said. &#8220;I had tons of encouragement from our organizing team and the community at large. I was really able to build on the success of the first three Grand Rapids WordCamps, WordCamp Ann Arbor, and the newest area WordCamp in Jackson (MI). I had serious doubts that the community would even care about having another WordCamp (Was I just wasting my time?), but they proved that it&#8217;s a wanted commodity.&#8221;</p>

<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-155129"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-155129.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-sara"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-sara.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-br"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-br.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-stickers"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-stickers.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-jjj"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-jjj.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/wcgr-stickers2"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wcgr-stickers2.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-154730"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-154730.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-154854"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-154854.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-grand-rapids-2017-sells-out-organizers-on-board-for-2018-event/screenshot_20170831-155040"><img width="150" height="150" src="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screenshot_20170831-155040.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" /></a>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 31 Aug 2017 21:08:33 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:74:"WPTavern: Gutenberg 1.0.0 Introduces Drag and Drop for Adding Image Blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74447";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-1-0-0-introduces-drag-and-drop-for-adding-image-blocks";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3151:"<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/29/whats-new-in-gutenberg-august-29/" target="_blank">Gutenberg 1.0.0</a> was released this week as another iteration in the beta period that will continue on with 1.1 next week. Design lead Tammie Lister said the team decided &#8220;not let numbers set expectations&#8221; and will carry on at the same pace with weekly releases.</p>
<p>One of the most visible UI updates in version 1.0 is the new ability to <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2447" target="_blank">add image blocks by dragging and dropping them into the editor</a>. They can be placed directly within the content (between blocks) and also onto the image block placeholder. Gutenberg includes a blue line indicator for dropzones where users can place an image.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gutenberg-image-upload.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>After testing I found this feature works smoothly but is a little slow. The slight delay of uploading the image after placing it may leave the user confused about what is happening. However, feedback on this particular pull request indicates that the team is working on displaying an immediate reaction to the image having been dropped, instead of waiting for the upload to finish.</p>
<p>This release also <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/2452" target="_blank">merges the paragraph and cover text blocks</a>. Contributors agreed that the two blocks could be easily combined and the colors and font size options from the previous cover block have now been added to the block settings sidebar.</p>
<p>A few other improvements in this release include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reworked color palette picker with a “clear” and a “custom color” option</li>
<li>Further improvements to inline pasting and fixing errant empty blocks</li>
<li>Added thumbnail size selector to image blocks</li>
<li>Added support for url input and align and edit buttons to audio block</li>
<li>Restored keyboard navigation with more robust implementation, addressing previous browser issues</li>
<li>Added align and edit buttons to video block</li>
<li>Show “add new term” in hierarchical taxonomies (including categories)</li>
</ul>
<p>Overall, the experience of writing within Gutenberg is improving, and the 1.0 release announcement includes an animated gif to demonstrate a user typing in the paragraph block:</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/typing.gif?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The editor is getting better at staying out of the way when a user is writing, but the slightest mouse move within the paragraph block will slide all of the block&#8217;s surrounding controls into view. This experience can be a bit jarring, but it may be inevitable unless more of the UI can be buried under the inspector. The paragraph blocks currently display the most commonly used controls for writing text content, but I could see plugins hooking into this to create different types of writing experiences that either add more controls or pare it back to something more minimalist.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 30 Aug 2017 20:42:28 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:94:"WPTavern: WordPress.org Now Allows Plugin Authors to Specify a Minimum PHP Version Requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74438";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-now-allows-plugin-authors-to-specify-a-minimum-php-version-requirement";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2585:"<p>Although WordPress core currently maintains backwards compatibility with PHP 5.2.4+, plugin and theme authors are not required to do so. When developers include features that require more recent versions of PHP, it can break sites or cause otherwise unexpected behavior. As part of a larger effort to encourage users to upgrade their PHP versions, WordPress.org now allows plugin authors to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/" target="_blank">specify a minimum PHP version requirement</a> in the <code>readme.txt</code> file with a new Requires PHP header. It is displayed to users in the sidebar of the plugin&#8217;s description:</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/requires-php-version.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>This addition to the readme.txt file has been well-received by developers who are already updating their plugins in the directory with minimum PHP version requirements. It also complements WordPress’ Core PHP team&#8217;s recent efforts to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php" target="_blank">educate users about the benefits of upgrading PHP</a>, as the minimum supported version was released 10 years ago and hasn&#8217;t received security patches for nearly seven years.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a plugin developer (who maintains my plugins in my spare time), it is becoming increasingly difficult to build new functionality that works in older versions of PHP,&#8221; Paul Gilzow <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2017/08/29/minimum-php-version-requirement/#comment-43314" target="_blank">commented</a> on the announcement. &#8220;There are some things that simply cannot be done in the older versions, and in those cases, I have to build out functionality to check PHP versions and disable those features. That takes time and energy away from building out other new features.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress Core Committer Sergey Biryukov said the next step is exploring the possibility of <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40934" target="_blank">displaying a notice to users when they cannot install a theme or plugin</a> due to their installations not meeting the required criteria. Ideally, these notices would include host-specific instructions to assist users in getting their sites upgraded to a newer PHP version. This particular move could make a significant impact on the wider WordPress community, if popular plugins start triggering notices requiring newer versions of PHP.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 30 Aug 2017 18:13:08 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"HeroPress: Retiring Young From Bangladesh, Thanks To WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2064";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:158:"https://heropress.com/essays/retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=retiring-young-bangladesh-thanks-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:60068:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/083017-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: You can't always win. You have to learn from the journey and move on." /><p><span>When you are reading this, I am very near to celebrate my 33rd Birthday. I don’t know how this number &#8217;33&#8217; sounds to you, but in some ways, I feel it’s a big number. I know many of you would argue that 33 is not an age to be considered old. In this article I will share about my career with <strong>WordPress</strong> lasting over 13 years, and how I am planning to retire within a year, more or less. And if you are an <strong>Entrepreneur</strong> yourself or self-established person, I think this will be an intriguing discussion, I will add some key pointers from my life that lead me to this decision.</span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/edit_IMG_1358.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2067 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/edit_IMG_1358-1024x819.jpg" alt="Me Enjoying the Sun & Jetpack Tees after a long drive to Key West!" width="960" height="768" /></a>Me Enjoying the Sun &amp; Jetpack Tees after a long drive to Key West, FL!
<h3><b>What do I mean by &#8216;retire&#8217;?</b></h3>
<p><span>So, may be you are shocked to just see the title. The word ‘retire’ could be little confusing. Does that mean I am going to take leave from all of my ventures permanently? Will not be involved with anything day to day basis. And will be walking out in my beach-shorts in broad daylight, or vacationing endlessly anywhere in the world? </span></p>
<p><span>In some sense, Yes, in some sense, No. The kind of office I have I could literally go in shorts though, and my life has given me the opportunity to vacation as I want, almost!</span></p>
<p><span>But, yes, I am talking about taking leave from most of my ventures, at least not being involved day to day. And kind of taking a break to reflect more into life. I have been working tirelessly for a decade. I need some kind of breathing space, it&#8217;s not exactly what you think though. It’s kind of reboot. I will keep expanding the idea throughout the article. If you are really into, sadly you have to keep reading.</span></p>
<h2><b>So, who am I?</b></h2>
<p><span>I am not sure how boring this might get, but still, let me introduce myself. My name is <a href="https://asif.im"><strong>Asif</strong></a>, I am the CEO of <a href="https://wedevs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weDevs</a>, a large WordPress product company (in WordPress Ecosystem) with a team of over 45 people. I am also the Founder of <a href="https://arcom.com.bd">ARCom</a>, a decade old WordPress focused Media Company. I am involved with WordPress community since 2004 and been very actively involved ever since. </span></p>
<p><span>I have founded many startups in my Entrepreneurial career, including but not limited to (those are the successful one, but I obviously have fair share of failures as well)</span></p>
<p><a href="https://thetechjournal.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>The Tech Journal</b></a><span> &#8211; A Tech Magazine with a peak monthly user base of 10.2 Million.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://thedhakatimes.com/"><b>The Dhaka Times</b></a><span> &#8211; The Biggest Lifestyle Magazine in Bangla language (</span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers"><span>seventh most spoken native language in the world</span></a><span> by population) with average monthly 15-35 Million user base.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://wpdeveloper.net"><b>WPDeveloper.net</b></a><span> &#8211; A (half-baked) WordPress Product Marketplace, focused to solve simple problems in WordPress, connecting User with the Developers.</span></p>
<p><b><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-analytify/">Analytify</a> &#8211; </b><span>A very advanced and highlighted Free WordPress Plugin that makes Google Analytics easy inside WordPress, and helps ecommerce and other brands.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>I am also involved heavily in either as Founder or Investor, or many weird capacities at</span></p>
<p><a href="https://geekysocial.com/"><b>Geeky Social</b></a><span> &#8211; A progressive digital agency in Bangladesh, focused on Knowledge Leadership! </span></p>
<p><a href="http://aamarpay.com/"><b>AamarPay</b></a><span> &#8211; A Payment Processor.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://3rdbell.co"><strong>3rdBell</strong> </a>&#8211; Bangladeshi Online TV &#8211; A forward thinking digital brand, focusing on Video Content. Not exactly, but kind of disrupting Bangladeshi Entertainment Space like Netflix in the US.</p>
<p><b>Alo Venture</b><span> &#8211; Once very active, now semi-dead venture capital wing, invested mainly in mobile and game industry.</span></p>
<p><span>And ARCom is always rocking with several projects, for past few year we have a wing to handle Enterprise WordPress Support, and serving even Fortune 500 company, who rely on us entirely, and we manage their entire stack, month by month, for years.</span></p>
<h2><b>Enough of me!</b></h2>
<p><span>Is it? As this article is entirely about me, you have to tolerate a lot more. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" /></span></p>
<p><strong>This is going to be the biggest ever article published in HeroPress!</strong></p>
<h2><b>So, I always wanted to do WordPress?</b></h2>
<p><span>No, obviously not. In my childhood I always wanted to be <strong>a scientist, a Physicist</strong> to be exact. And it&#8217;s not just like an aim-in-life, I was literally very serious. I was always into Space Science. Later it grew more into Physics. To give you an idea how serious I was, let me tell you something. While going through some old boxes, I found out some paper-cutting from back in 1993(I was in 3rd Grade back then), about coverage of different space exploration, news about Pioneer, upcoming plan on a Probe in Saturn. I literally had a file to collect those. Back in that day, that&#8217;s what you could do most, without any internet, and from a remote part of <strong>Bangladesh</strong>.</span></p>
<p><span>I was not extremely good in school, it&#8217;s not like what you read in the story, never stood 2nd type(always 1st)! It&#8217;s more like I never stood 1st type! But I was good in math, I was always progressing, and the main blessing I had in my life was support of my parents, unlikely most parents in our time, they never pushed me into things, never tried to push their judgment into my life. When I advanced from one Class to another, making some progress, they were happy with it, and I always made progress. So, they were happy, I was happy being a mediocre-student. But the issue was, in my mind, I was the best. I know how childish it sounds, but I was really a child back then! I always thought that I am best if I try enough, and if I was given enough opportunity. So, Instead of trying to do best in the Class, I focused on many things, like starting a Detective Company to Secret R&amp;D Team, and none of those was a joke, we were serious. </span></p>
<h2><b>Reading!</b></h2>
<p><span>I always loved reading, and I was extremely lucky to have so much opportunity to read in my childhood. My house has some collection of children’s book, some cheap but interesting translation, my parents always brought me books on every possible occasion, as that&#8217;s what would make me happy. When that was not enough, I practically sneaked into most houses in the neighborhood. I was in 7th Grade at that time, and if a neighbor had an older kid they would have more books, and good part was if you show interest in reading books, and return it carefully, they would not mind to open up their bookshelf door for you, and most of them even loved me for this. Later on, I also finished up most of my relatives collection in the same town. Later on when in high-school everyone around knew I love books. Later on, this grew on my friends as well. I was lucky to have good childhood friends, who also enjoyed books as well. So, we would gift books to each others birthday, so we could read it ourselves. And few of my friend was very good students, and they always got some scholarship money, so we spend everything in our school life on books!</span></p>
<p><b>So, what was I was reading? Everything!</b></p>
<p><b> &#8211; Everything!</b></p>
<p><span>Starting from Children’s story later grew into Detective Story, Science Fiction, and later into the adventure story, literature, whatever comes into my hand. One interesting thing I also did from the very early stage, keeps track on what I am reading. It probably came from my hobby of collecting Stamps. We used to make notes and categorize our collection. So, I started doing the same for Books. I made a notebook, started noting and making a list of what I am reading, later on, I started to make some remarks, note, what I liked, what not. </span></p>
<h2><b>Writing!</b></h2>
<p><span>In my teenage life writing took even more meaning. I was always good at expressing myself, and creative writing. But when one of our best friends left the country, and the only way to communicate was to write letters, so, we started to do that. It took different turn very soon. We were enjoying writing letters so much, few of us in the same class who we see every day also started writing letters to each other. However, it was nothing like a love letter or anything related to the affair, we were writing about anything, everything. At one point we were in a competition who could write the longest letter. In this competition, one of my friends wrote a letter to me (again from the same class, sitting almost on my next desk! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f600.png" alt="😀" class="wp-smiley" /> ) over 50 pages, and to defeat her I wrote an over <strong>100-page long letter</strong>! </span></p>
<p><span>*If you are wondering what I wrote in those 100 pages &#8211; I have a very large family, where my relatives of great-great-grandfather’s cousin’s and their family are still very connected and if you saw me talking with any of them you would think they are my 1st Uncle or Aunt. So, what I did is wrote about my whole family tree, describing family history and later on describing each and every member I could remember! In my house we had a very old “Family Birth Register” (জন্ম কষ্টি খাতা), dating back in the early 1900s, I even took help from it!</span></p>
<p>Over all this had a different impact on our life. I don&#8217;t know how hard it is to believe, but I was into Bangla Literature, specially poem as well, I even had a notebook full with my own poem! One of our classmates even wrote a full-blown 150+ pages novel in that age! And I am still enjoying writing!</p>
<p><b>Dramatic changes in my Educational life!</b></p>
<p><span>As described earlier, </span><span>I was average in studies</span><span> but not extremely good. And I was happy about it! All my </span><span>close friends were very good students and would achieve the first or second position in class every time. Whereas, I was happy being in the 8th or 10th position. But as said in my mind I was the best!</span></p>
<p><span>Our educational system requires you to memorize and write as it is. But I was driven into reading books, and other things (also including playing Cricket seriously). I never tried to focus on memorizing anything. And from childhood, teachers grow an impression of what to expect from a particular student. So, for an example, my social science teacher knew for years what to expect from me, and it&#8217;s very hard to get past that impression. </span></p>
<p><span>When I was advancing from Grade 8 to 9, I took part in a Scholarship exam. </span><span>We prepared for a year. Only a handful of us was participating from our school, I was among those few, but I had literally zero chance to get the scholarship. I was not very bothered about it at all. But during the exam, we had to travel to another town to the exam, and it was in the month of Ramadan, and I did not break my fast. It was hard, I had 2 exams in a single day. When I came back home one day with my father, my mom was sad seeing me so tired and drained out. But was happy that I was still fasting. Then she told me something very simply, which started a chain-reaction in my life. She told me, &#8220;You think of yourself so highly, you spend all of your time with those same kids, who are doing so good in school. But if you really think of yourself so highly, why not try to reflect that in your grade?&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span>Maybe it&#8217;s very normal for parents to talk like that. But as my parents never compared me with anybody or always let me do in my way, I kept on thinking about this. </span><span>What clicked in my mind was that, i</span><span>f I am really good, I should be able to do good in any circumstances, if this requires me to memorize everything I could do that. If I want to be really that good, and be a good scientist, I need to learn to cope up and fight in any situation. </span></p>
<p><b>So, I changed myself, was even memorizing books, that I absolutely did not like!</b></p>
<p><span>In grade 9 &amp; 10, I studied very hard. I changed my lifestyle a lot. I changed the way I write in exam paper to change the impression of my teacher. Before I was always like studying in my mind, not writing what I just read, I forced myself in writing those answer I just read, it was very hard and boring at the beginning. But I had a very good private tutor, who guided me in every way. Later on my teachers in school helped in every way possible. In Bangladesh student have to take a part in a Certification Exam after 10th Grade, to advance in College, its called SSC, Secondary School Certificate Exam. I prepared for that. At the end of 10th Grade, I almost had the book fully memorized, I could write as it is, correct to each and every comma and space. I improved my english a lot. I learned some calculous which was not part of our curriculum, just to advance myself for college, and I knew if I had to do better in Physics I need to learn math and Calculous better. I did took part in more Prep test than most other students. And ultimately in the School Preparation Exam, I did extremely well to boost up my energy!</span></p>
<p><span>Everything was perfect, we took part in the big exam!</span></p>
<p><b>And I did not get the grade I expected!</b></p>
<p><span>Interestingly our batch did not get good grades in SSC</span><span>, we were the first batch in a new grading system, and we did not know that even before the exam, so none got perfect grade of 5.0, I got a very average grade(not bad, but not very good either). I was extremely disappointed, broken, but later learned to cope up.</span><span> I realized a good lesson of life that </span><b>&#8211; Even though you may work hard and go to great lengths to do everything possible, still you might have to deal with failures and disappointments.</b></p>
<p><span>Another good thing also happened in my life too. I moved from the small town I grew up, <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishwardi_Upazila">Ishurdi</a></strong>, to the Capitol of the Nation, <strong>Dhaka</strong>, and was able to get a chance in the entrance exam, of all big colleges in the country where I tried. This gave me a huge boost in confidence. I selected to study in <strong>Notre Dame College</strong>, in English Medium of Science. It was another controversial decision I made, for me a kid coming from rather a small town, and from Bangla Medium it was a tough decision, but I stick to it for the future, because I still wanted to be a Physicist, wanted to study further in my life, I knew I had to be in English Medium.</span></p>
<p><b>I had very hard time at the beginning of College!</b></p>
<p><span>At the start it was very hard, our whole group suffered a lot to cope up with new curriculum, our first semester in College was the worst. But later we learned to cope up, we were 130 students in our Group (famous Group 8 in Notre Dame College), we all were helpful to each other, not everyone had private teacher in this point, we shared our notes, I was living first time without my parents, I was also dealing with occasional sickness due to not eating properly. So, there was a lot of struggle, but by the end of 1st year, I was dealing with everything properly. I got a good friend circle, I was not only doing well in college, I was also enjoying my freedom and mostly dealing with anything life throws at me!</span></p>
<h2><b>My Introduction to Computer &amp; Programming!</b></h2>
<p><span>Actually, I always loved programming, before entering University I already knew some basic programming, like qBasic, FORTRAN, even some level of Pascal. The kind of society I grew up, a computer was extremely rare before the year 2000. I was kind of lucky to be able to learn basic computer usage starting from the year 1998, got my first computer in 1999. It was so rare to own a computer in that time for that part of the word, that I was not only the first kid in my class to own a computer, but only a handful of people in my town knew how to use a computer. So, though I am not from a very rich or privileged family, extremely lucky that my parents understood the importance in that time. </span></p>
<p><span>Another interesting aspect was unlike most people, I was not fully taken over by Computer Games. I am not saying gaming is bad, but most of the people I later see own a computer, the main thing they do with it was playing the game all the time. And you have to understand that almost pre-internet period in Bangladesh. I use the internet first in my life back in 2001. I was more into tweaking things, trying to create or modify the software or create very basic type tools. I am super amazed by internet from first interaction. The search engine was in its peak time, discovering new resource was easy. I tried creating my first webpage in Yahoo Geocities back in 2001, wap page generator was also taking shape in coming years. </span></p>
<p><b>Say Hi to WordPress in my life!</b></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Asif-R1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2068 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Asif-R1-1024x863.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="809" /></a>M Asif Rahman &#8211; Wearing Tees by WordPressian Group!
<p><span>      I created my first blog back in 2003 in Blogger, but while trying to add a sidebar and customizing home page look, I find it&#8217;s very difficult for me to do anything in ASP.net, then I found WordPress, back in the year 2004. I still remember reading Matt’s blog and write up about how the whole project is moving ahead from b2 cafelog. WordPress was so easy, I hardly knew any PHP in that time, but my HTML and CSS knowledge was well enough for me being able to edit my personal blog. At the start hosting was one issue, but again I was lucky to manage one. Later when WordPress.com came, I migrated my blog over there and was happy at the beginning, as less hassle. I was also heavily involved with forum community. There was some very large community for webmaster and developer, I loved PHPbb and other solution for forums as well. But after experiencing some massive vulnerabilities, which lead to a major data breach, I focused more on personal blogging and soon into web development. Wth WordPress it was extremely easy to create a website, plugin and theming turn out to be not a complex task. The community and developers contributing in this ecosystem were another main factors. I feel very connected with the whole ecosystem, eventually became habituated with this, and started to feel it&#8217;s my comfort zone.</span></p>
<p><b>How I started my career and company!</b></p>
<p><span>I was using the name A. R. Communication, an as an acronym of my initials (Asif Rahman) back in 2001 as well, but it was nothing serious, no particular business. When in college, to support myself I first started a Marketing Trainee job in a Multi-international company. It was convenient with my college time and location, and they were literally paying to learn things. I started it just the as need of money, but later I enjoyed marketing, corporate training, and even enjoyed sales training as well. But I never took that job a as career choice.</span></p>
<h3><b>My first venture!</b></h3>
<p><span>In the year 2003, before even going to Universities I started a full 4 color magazine, printed publication with a close friend of mine. It was a fun ride. The name of the magazine was “</span><b>Fortnightly Tumi</b><span>”, the Bangla word “Tumi” means “</span><b>You</b><span>”! It was a lifestyle Magazine. My family already had a history with the printing business, so I had some experience. We did this business very thoroughly if you consider this as our first venture. We did a proper market study, interviewed potential readers, organized group discussion, and got good funding. And we also started with bang! Hired renowned journalist and writer. I was barely <strong>19 years old</strong> that time, have very experienced people in my team over 50 years old, and managing them was good lesson. All together we published 3 edition, with good marketing trick we were able to sell 10,000 copy nationwide for that last edition, we had over 20 big brands in the country advertising with us. But still, that business did not work out. We had to shut down, as our investor (my friend’s family) want us to focus on our education instead of this, and we were probably way ahead of our time.</span></p>
<p><b>Too many choices after college!</b></p>
<p><span>I did fairly good in college, despite being in English medium. I applied for the various scholarship in different university all around the world, and was in a process of ISSB for Airforce as GD Pilot, the whole process was lengthy, and I was only doing it for 2 reasons.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span>One of my friends asked me to collect the form, as it was close from my house, and I thought why not fill up together.</span></li>
<li><span>GD Pilots also get the chance of studying Aeronautical Engineering and even switch to Engineering in future, and they will have a chance to study higher in that subject, which could open up my door for getting into Space Science. All for free, paid by Govt.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span>Interestingly I get past all the test and selected finally. But they informed me, I have to stay in GD Pilot as a cadet and will be commissioned in 2 years, but have to think Pilot as a career, I was confused, I never enjoyed or felt the passion for speed before in my life. And we had few months time before joining the Force.</span></p>
<p><span>In the meantime, I got so many opportunities in various universities. And one of my dream to study further in Physics was too close, as I got a chance in Uni Penn, and got a scholarship there as well. I had few other opportunities at Canada and Australia. I even applied for Visa for Australia as well, but later had to decide against all of those for some family and personal reason. </span></p>
<p><span>I ultimately left Air Force as well, me &amp; my parents agree that&#8217;sts not a good career choice for me, given the option I had. I got a scholarship at North South University in Electrical &amp; Telecommunications Engineering. And as I started my company seriously at beginning of 2004, then a University that offers Open Credit, where I am able to choose my workload, it was just convenient. So, out of all promising option, I almost chose the risky one, to make my own company and study in Bangladesh, at least for the Bachelor.</span></p>
<h2><b>The inception of ARCom:</b></h2>
<p><span>Actually, ARCom is the short version of A. R. Communications. As I found making website too easy with WordPress, and a new found talent was helping me as well. </span></p>
<p><span>Just as I never waste time on gaming, rather enjoyed my time to tweak things, creating new application. Instead of most people, when they visit a new website, they look at the shiny look, or how good or better information it provides, whenever I visit a good site, I was always thinking how they are making money, how is this built and sustained. This quest has helped me making our first successful business. It took years, it did not turn into something very big in a night. During University years I did make many different kinds of websites, in that time I started earning first from selling websites. That was during the year 2005 or 2006, it was long before Sitepoint turn into Flippa, back in the shining days of DigitalPoint! I used that money to buy more domain. I hired my university classmate to work with me. The first outsider I hired in my company was a designer, as I needed help in there. Later it kept growing over the year.</span></p>
<h3><b>First Big Success:</b></h3>
<p><span>Though I already enjoyed some good (if not very big) payday by selling a website, point to note here, I was selling website as a business, not like you design a site and sell, its more about creating a business, create a process and sell it for a 2X &#8211; 5X yearly profit. But my big success came after 2008. Everything was turning so well, I was done with my University. My company was already a Team of over 20 people, with an office of 2500 square feet space. We started </span><a href="https://thetechjournal.com"><b>The Tech Journal</b></a><span>, it worked so well in every aspect. As I was into writing blogs and also into the gadget. After the first iPhone release I was involved in many ways, from working with the secret group who were Jailbreaking each and every firmware, also new kind of responsive websites, I was also into News &amp; those kinds of stuff. And because of my quest to understand how a thing works, I had a good grasp already into Content Distribution. Facebook and other Social Media are playing a role in content and distribution already. It all helped.</span></p>
<p><b>The Tech Journal became very big!</b></p>
<p><span>Within 6 months of start, we ranked within top 20k website. I was enjoying the ride to play with monetization and taking things into next phase. At one pick point, we were ranked even within top 4000 websites in Alexa. I had a good team with me. I finished my university already, 3 of my University friend was working with me full time. We all shared same vision for The Tech Journal, and it kept on growing. Because of our experience with WordPress we kept on innovating, for us we could build anything in WordPress, I had a solid Development team as well.</span></p>
<h3><b>Marriage &amp; Beyond!</b></h3>
<p><span>I got married at 2009, I was 25 years old back then. I don’t know if there is any perfect age for marriage, but I felt that was the right time, I was doing good in business, was looking for more stability in emotional life as well. I suddenly found my long lost childhood friend, <strong>Bipasha</strong>, whom I did not have any communication for past 13 years, but suddenly fall in love and we decide to get married. <strong>Just like that!</strong> I will not go into details here(it&#8217;s already too big) how we studied together since 1st grade and got detached when we were in 7th Grade, but still got married 13 years later. We started a new life, life was never better!</span></p>
<p><b>Moving Further with WordPress:</b></p>
<p><span>Over the year WordPress kept growing so was I. I was writing, blogging, building things with WordPress. WordCamp was already something, but I was not able to attend or participate as I was still in Universities, but after finishing up, I decide to get more involved. I spoke in my first WordCamp in WordCamp Melbourne. For many years I was also very vocal about security and optimization, so I started to get so many opportunities into speaking and participating in various things. I still remember I spent one crazy summer in the US, participating 6 WordCamps, visiting 9 States and 13 cities in the process, starting from Boston and finishing at San Francisco! </span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asif-Speaking-At-WordCamp-SF-2014-V1.1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-2069" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Asif-Speaking-At-WordCamp-SF-2014-V1.1-1024x514.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="482" /></a>WordCamp SF 2014 &#8211; Mission Bay Conference Center
<p><span>I was very lucky to be able to speak at last ever WordCamp San Francisco.</span></p>
<p><b>Pursuing more into Investment!</b></p>
<p><span>It&#8217;s mainly because of <strong>The Tech Journal</strong>, I was involved in many tech conferences, and always getting the pitch from various startups. And my new grown circle of friends from WordPress and various other tech scenes, I already established a good connection in Silicon Valley. It was in the year 2009 when I made my first Angel investment, the credit must go to my friend circle, it was years before Angel List, there was offline syndicate where folks will share investment opportunity. But I really loved talking with young entrepreneur and seeing how new business works. I kept my focus in my sector, the field I understand. So, I mainly invested in tech. Out of several investments, one of my lucky ones was Facebook, I was able to invest in <strong>Facebook</strong> before their IPO, not very early, but still Pre-IPO stage, it was one of my lucky breaks. As I was already doing good in my business I tried to utilize it. I did not start investing because I had too much cash laying around, I started because I liked those opportunities, I wanted to help those ideas or startups.</span></p>
<h2><b>Moving into the US:</b></h2>
<p><span>I started another business in US, where my partner was from Orlando, I spent one Thanksgiving with my Wife in Orlando, really loved the place, people, and we already got a long term Visa, and had full opportunity to live anywhere we want. My company in Bangladesh was already in a stable phase, and as I was traveling heavily for years, my team was used to being managed remotely, so it was not a hard decision. But staying far from parents was hard. So, what we started maintaining both houses in Bangladesh and Florida. For years we spend some part of the year in US, rest in Bangladesh. </span></p>
<h3><b>Child &amp; Changes in Life!</b></h3>
<p><span>Like everybody else our life was bound to change when we had baby. In year 2014 we were getting for our first baby. We decide to stay in US, because of better medical facility and my involvement in different things. Just a month after speaking at WordCamp San Francisco in November we were blessed with <strong>Aaniyah</strong>. Actually, our life already changed when we were planning and waiting for the baby. I was feeling the work routine I have would never let me spend the time I want to have with my baby.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Laugh.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2070" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Super-Laugh-1024x691.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="648" /></a></p>
<h2><b>Analytify &amp; A New friendship!</b></h2>
<p><span>I became friends with </span><a href="http://www.adnan.pk/"><span>Muhammad Adnan</span></a><span> online back in 2014, he was working with his premium Plugin <a href="https://analytify.io/"><strong>Analytify</strong></a> back then. I found this as a real good project and started talking with him, giving him various advice, and we later decided to team up, and we released the first free version of Analytify WordPress plugin on 1st January 2015. It was a success, it completely revolutionizes how people use Google Analytics in WordPress. Later Adnan visited me in the US in 2015, and together we attended WordCamp Miami and had a good trip and drive to Key West! The most interesting part of the friendship lies somewhere else. I am a Bangladeshi, and Adnan is Pakistani. Both of our nation has a very bad past. Bangladesh was once part of Pakistan, back in 1971 we fought for about 9 months, and millions of people died in the process before we got Freedom and Declared Independence from Pakistan. But it creates a life long enmity between two countries. I know for an outsider it does not make sense to keep some feelings for that long, but for its very personal for us. Our country lost so much in that war, even if you speak about just my family, My Grandmother lost half of her family in that war, Bangladeshi especially have a very strong opinion about any Pakistani. But meeting Adnan, becoming friends, and working together made me realize few interesting thing, this feeling, this agony against any Pakistani was one-way. Most of the Pakistani did not have any idea what their Government or Army did, they hardly have idea about their Ancestors’ doing. They rather still consider us Brother! Some of the history he never knew, they never read in their history book. I would never know this if it&#8217;s not for </span><b>WordPress</b><span>, we would never meet, this change in understanding for both of us never happened.</span></p>
<p><span>And we together kept on growing <strong>Analytify</strong>, as the best Google Analytics Plugin in WordPress, and planning many interesting things together.</span></p>
<h2><b>Coming Back to Bangladesh!</b></h2>
<p><span>While I was staying and mostly investing in the US, I started investing in some interesting Teams in Bangladesh from the year 2012. Over the year, a few failed, but some really kept on growing. In the year 2016, in Pre-Trump period we were expecting our 2nd Baby, and it was too hard for us to manage alone in the US, and we both were missing our family. I want my kids to grow up having their family close to them, the way I grew up. I want my parents to feel close to them. Occasionally when we visited Bangladesh with our first child, I was quite blown away the way they loved and took care of the baby. It all made sense if we spend some more time in Bangladesh, and have the Baby in here. And the weird things going on with the US also motivated my decision. The kind of craziness we are seeing in the US, actually did not start just by having Trump elected. It goes way back. We were living in a  very peaceful neighborhood in Florida, a small town called Orange City, near Daytona Beach! But we could still feel the change in air. Our parents have a pending Immigration Application for near a decade, they are on the que to become US citizen anyway. We first tried to have them with us, but US Embassy in Bangladesh rejected that application, for absolutely no reason. And my other venture was already growing in Bangladesh. So, all together we decide to stay in Bangladesh for awhile, we moved in mid-2016.</span></p>
<h3><b>Welcoming Aadiyah into the Family!</b></h3>
<p><span>We had our 2nd Baby <strong>Aadiyah</strong> in September 2016, a bit ahead of time, my wife got little too sick, but we were able to handle everything because of having family together. We moved into a large Duplex house, to have enough space for the baby. We feel we are complete as family and never been this happy before.</span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_1610.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-2071" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_1610-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a>Complete Family!
<h1><b>weDevs &amp; My Legacy!</b></h1>
<p><span>I will discuss later my involvement in Bangladeshi WordPress Eco-system. But back in 2013 I first met <a href="https://tareq.co/">Tareq</a>, a very talented Bangladeshi Programmer, running a successful WordPress product company. He and his Partner <strong>Nizam</strong> built an amazing company, and they had few very interesting and super successful products for WordPress. I started helping as possible from my end, I want them to succeed and pushing them to move forward. I became an official partner and board member of <a href="https://wedevs.com"><strong>weDevs</strong></a> back in 2015. I was helping them to grow internationally and advising them as part of the board. We established a US company and kept on growing. Though I was in WordPress for very long time, my main company <strong>ARCom</strong> was never serious into WordPress Product. I released some of <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/asif2bd">our work</a> in Open Source via WordPress.org Plugin Directory, and with my growing experience with <strong>Analytify</strong> made me dig more into WordPress products.</span></p>
<p><span>Somehow at the end of 2016, <strong>Tareq</strong> and I was looking at our numbers for <strong>weDevs</strong> in 2016, we noticed something very important. Three of us spend more time digging deep into the numbers and re-analyzed our process and priorities. Soon we all came into understanding we have to take things forward with <strong>weDevs</strong>, the growth of the industry is very important if we want to be big in future this is the right time. They proposed to me if I could take over as <strong>CEO</strong>. Nizam was running weDevs successfully as CEO for years, and I never thought seriously about running another company, and my retirement plan was already in place. But we found this could be the best thing we could do in the year 2017, where I have little over 1.5 years before my planned retirement. </span></p>
<p><span>So, I jumped into the ship. I always dreamed to make a rocking and successful company in WordPress product space, and it was my chance. And as it&#8217;s already a running successful company, my goal here to build a legacy, instead of just making a profitable company, built a sustainable company, and proper team, a fine management, that could grow into future, that could </span><b>outgrow us</b><span>, something even bigger than us combined. </span></p>
<a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5190R.jpg"><img class="wp-image-2073 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5190R-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a>weDevs new office &#8211; Reception Area from inside &#8211; WordPress Flavoured!
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>So, I took over <strong>weDevs of CEO</strong> in January 2017, I took 2 months as the transition period and blend fully into the day to day system. We announced this officially in the month of March. Dhaka is a very jam packed city with the highest number of people living in per square miles in the world. We were already a Team of about 25 people. I still had few other business that I have to take care. So, we moved to a new large space. A total of 5000 square feet space, fully open, we built a unique office that could sustain us for next few year. I moved my house and office in the same area, called <strong>Mirpur DOHS</strong>. Me, my partners, and almost 12 of us together moved into this area together. As we now live within 2 min distance from the office, the Traffic could not bother us at all. We gave the option for our employees to move into too. We paid the moving cost, we even adjusted salary if they faced any increase of cost for housing or anything. We took time, but now our new office is complete, it&#8217;s one very interesting WordPress themed workplace.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5240R.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2074" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MG_5240R-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>We are growing further, our team of 25 people will soon <strong>become a team of  50+</strong>. We are working on new stunning products, we just launched a brand new super fast Form Builder plugin named <a href="https://wedevs.com/weforms/"><strong>weForms</strong></a>. It will revolutionize the way people build forms and create anything from just a simple contact form to organize a quiz. Our team built it entirely on Vue.JS, as a single page app. It&#8217;s unbelievably fast, almost nothing we have seen so far inside WordPress.</span></p>
<p><span>Our Team internally working very hard to update our existing product and we are working on some new things that I am incredibly looking forward to. Before I join, weDevs did not have a marketing team, we ran entirely autonomous. In last 6 months, we have built a sustainable Content &amp; Marketing Team. I am working tirelessly with my CTO &amp; COO to build a new culture. We have a two-way feedback evaluation process. I created a kind of unique in its way, a grading system where the company could give feedback to an employee, on exact point, and inform directly where they need to improve. It&#8217;s a kind of algorithm I have developed over the years and really helps you to make a happy and working team. In the same way, Employee also have the opportunity to give feedback to the company directly &#8211; about what makes them happy, how a company could help him grow more, or if the company is addressing every concern properly. We do this quarterly basis, and review in each quarter, so the improvement could always be tracked, graphed and addressed properly.</span></p>
<h2><b>Bangladeshi WordPress Community!</b></h2>
<p><span>This is another very proud thing I would like to talk about. When I first had a very detail conversation with Matt Mullenweg, back in 2011, he was very happy that I attending so many WordCamp, and be that much involved with the community, he asked me about WP community back my country, and told me if we are able to have a good group, a nice meetup and eventually a WordCamp, he will try to attend. I found a new role for myself, over the year we grew Bangladeshi WordPress community. Locally we have very growing and engaging WordPress Group, called WordPressians, we have over 21,000 Members in Facebook. We are a team of 15 Admin/Organizer who maintains everything, and it&#8217;s an open group so always evolving. Over the year, we 15 became very close to each other, and we all consider each other as best friend. We contribute in Open Source together, we hangout together, attend various WordCamps around together now, we plan day out together as well. This is another blessing happened to our life mainly because of WordPress.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_9881.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-2075" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_9881-1024x417.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="391" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Starting from 2013 we are official meetup chapter in Dhaka. We organized over 15 meetup, where each and every meetup of our could be considered little WordCamp, with 4-6 session, and had 150-300 attendees. We organized all of our meetup in our own platform, a WordPress plugin we created, so everything happened at &#8211; WPressians.net, not at Meetup.com, we did it with direct permission from WordPress Foundation. We have made WordCamp Application starting from 2013. And I even faced Organizer interview twice in 2014.</span></p>
<h3><b>But the sadness!</b></h3>
<p><span>There is one thing that hurt me a lot. Though me and our organizing team worked so hard to grow Bangladeshi WordPress community, but due to some miscommunication, we still don&#8217;t have any WordCamp yet. The foundation failed to take timely measures to proceed with our WordCamp application, we faced repeated issues in getting the proper timely response from them. Out of frustration and years of waiting back in 2015, we organized a CMS Conference in Dhaka, where we had over 10 speakers, and there were over 1500 attendees. So our team has proven their position, but things took so long from the Foundation. I wrote to foundation much time, there is one on-going conversation, still, we hope for the best, this the way Foundation handled our communication, shows the lack-of-attention clearly. I am almost devastated in this and very hurt! When I first attended and spoke in WordCamp Melbourne in 2011, I was the first Bangladeshi to ever do so. I but I kept on pushing. Now there is over 10 from even just our organizing team where they attended in various <strong>WordCamps around the World</strong>. Last year we attended WordCamp Singapore with a team of 9 people from Bangladesh. We are gaining experience, we are driven, but still lacking behind because of Foundation, sadly! I attended over <strong>50 WordCamps</strong> worldwide, I helped to organize over 10 WordCamps in various cities, but could not organize a single one in my home country for 6 years, this keeps bugging me all the time!</span></p>
<h1><b>My Future Plan!</b></h1>
<h2><b>Plan to retire by my next Birthday!</b></h2>
<h3><b>weDevs to keep on Growing!</b></h3>
<p><span>I am here at weDevs to create and fine tune the process and build the vision. I already described what&#8217;s happening in there. From my start as CEO we are seeing about 15% month to month growth in revenue and about 20% in market reach, We will keep on doing so and beyond. And we will probably get more result in long term, and building team, forming up a new culture and getting result certainly take more than 6 months.</span></p>
<p><span>So far the plan is to me stay in Day to Day involve up until June 2018. This is not an exact day plan, could change with time. But possibly by September!</span></p>
<h2><b>ARCom being Autonomous!</b></h2>
<p><span>I am running ARCom without much of daily maintenance for awhile now. I have Team Lead, Editors, Managers in place, that&#8217;s running their wing successfully for awhile now. There are few new plans and things my Team working, but all team has a lead, which they ran with ownership, and mostly sustainable. There are some places where we need some work, I hope it will be done by that projected time.</span></p>
<h2><b>Geeky Social, 3rdBell and my other venture!</b></h2>
<p><b>Geeky Social</b><span> has a solid team, and they are running amazingly. I am very proud of our team. I am part of the board and now serving as Chairman, and probably will continue to do so. I hope by next 6-9 months we will be even stronger financially, our month to month growth is already steady and growing, we are clear it will grow a lot from there. One of our core success is to grow beyond a cash-hungry business, which is incredibly hard if you are involved in Digital Media, and buying. But we got past that and now everything taking shape. I am very confident in the team and looking forward.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://3rdbell.co"><b>3rdBell</b></a><span> faced so much issues over the year, but now we have a solid platform, the founders are incredibly motivated. Me and other investors are looking forward. I am still involved as Technical Director, this role could extend for the time being when we go through some changes, but we have solid plan to move forward, and by mid-next year, it should be i a  different height.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>Me &amp; WordPress &#8211; going forward! </b></h2>
<p><span>I will have people to maintain my plugin, and provide even better support, and few of them are even joining next month, so it will be well taken care of. I will shift the community role mostly to new people and others. Next 9 months I will dedicate to have more Contributor from my community and circle. I will literally incubate contributor,  from Core contribution to Docs and Community team. I will drive more into sharing my experience and finding over the decade. Besides writing, which I think is my superpower(!), but still under used, I will drive more into Speaking. Those are my next upcoming  Session, if you are happened to any of those WordCamp, please say Hi!</span></p>
<ol>
<li><strong>WordCamp Colombo, Sri Lanka &#8211; 23rd September</strong></li>
</ol>
<p><b>Topic &#8211;</b><a href="https://2017.colombo.wordcamp.org/speaker/m-asif-rahman/"><span> Making Million in WordPress Plugin But Not Being Evil!</span></a></p>
<p><span>      2)  <strong>WordCamp Ahmedabad, India &#8211; 7th October</strong></span></p>
<p><b>Topic &#8211;</b> <a href="https://2017.ahmedabad.wordcamp.org/"><span>You heard content is the king, but are you paying attention to Content Distribution?</span></a></p>
<p><span>If you read so far, you should understand how relevant both topic to my life! </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><b>How could I financially sustain this?</b></h2>
<p><span>I am thinking, planning and working on this retirement plan for awhile now. The main question I got asked how could I financially sustain. I don’t know what kind of impression you have got so far by reading about my life. Yes, I own several successful ventures, running a very growing and profitable business, I also invested in the 20+ venture and was extremely lucky to enjoy some exit from the investment. But not in very big scale. Some of my investment looks promising, but that does not make me very rich in cash. So this plan further is not about having tons of cash in hand laying around, it&#8217;s more about having sustainable and ongoing earning. I do certainly have some exit I am looking forward to but my plan will not depend on it. I am confident now I could easily go beyond this month-to-month type calculation! </span></p>
<h2><b>The Hardest Part!</b></h2>
<p><span>When you grow business for over a decade, the main challenges are people. Like some successful venture, I also have businesses that are not cash-positive but has people involved with it for years. When you run a business, you become responsible for those people, their family depends on your decision, that type of responsibilities will limit you sometimes taking logical business decision. And really relying so much into people, and the fear of let going control could be hard dilemma any Entrepreneur could feel. </span></p>
<p><span>But over the year I learned,<strong> sometimes you have to let go to get things done for future, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith</strong>. So, I practiced that for some time now. I am positive that things will work out, and won&#8217;t break apart.</span></p>
<h1><b>Reason: Why I am doing this?</b></h1>
<p><span>In some ways I feel I am doing this for very long time. I have built team, product, faced hard time, and also enjoyed when things work out, I have gone through this circle so many times. There is always hard time and I have seen how it all ultimately always worked out. I kind of want to get out of this circle. Sometimes I feel tired. Though for a person like me who single handily started everything, broke so many barriers, it&#8217;s hard to get me tensed. I know how to deal with pressure, hard time, shitty situation. In some ways I am resistant to those. But when I reflect everything in my life I am very proud what I have done, what I have Achieved.</span></p>
<p><b>Monetary wealth did not make me rich! </b><span>But the experience and relation that I cultivated did. I feel rich because of this. </span></p>
<p><span>When I was still a teenager, dreaming to be a physicist, I had a very thorough vision of my future, I wanted to finish my PhD by age 25. Later in the course of life I became Entrepreneur. Then my goal was to become a millionaire  by age 25 and have a stable family. I was successful in that. I have the vision to built amazing WordPress team and product, I am doing that right now. </span></p>
<p><b>I want to move on, I would like to see greater meaning of life. </b><span>That does not mean what I am doing is great, it&#8217;s just going beyond. I always thought life has a bigger meaning for me, I always felt privileged, the kind of life I had, most people from my demography could not have, so I have bigger responsibilities! </span></p>
<h2><b>How &#8216;Big&#8217; is WordPress?</b></h2>
<p><span>WordPress is biggest CMS and No.1 solution to make Website, but how many businesses do you see worth over a $100M in WordPress Ecosystem? Or over $50M? Not much. And because of so much recent #WPDrama, one thing is very clear, we have a long way to grow. I kind of feel to make it too big, we even limited ourself as well. I do see the power struggle inside the community as well. The most respected person in the community, now have very large number of haters, and for few semi-valid reasons.<strong> That is sad, maybe we all need to rethink!</strong></span></p>
<h1><b>What will I do in future?</b></h1>
<p>Maybe I will <strong>drive deep into science</strong>, I will be still 34, even enough time to study something new! <span>Maybe I will just enjoy the break for awhile. Maybe I will try to find the better meaning of life. Or maybe will write a book, I don’t know, I want to keep the option open, have an open heart. I do certainly earn this freedom myself, I am very grateful to the list of endless great people that helped me throughout the decade of my career.</span></p>
<h2><b>Your kids to reflect You!</b></h2>
<p><span>We all want our kids to be like us, we want them to reflect us in a good way, and go beyond. But If we are not involved in every process of their life how could this happen? If you let your family, mainly wife to entirely take care of your kid how they are going to learn from you? Do you really believe just giving 1-2 hours a day will do the trick? It&#8217;s way more than that. I want to be an integral part of my kids’ life. I want to be fully involved in their process of growing up. In this whole thing, there is nothing related of deciding fate of their life. I have no expectation of making my kids something, I am fully open, they will decide their destiny, their own venture. I just want to help them understand this World, </span><b>be their Dad</b><span>, be the friend they could play with, be the teacher they need, as long as they need.</span></p>
<p><span>I will spend more time with my family, my 2 young daughters really need more of me, they will be 4 &amp; 2 by next year. They will go into school, perfect time for me to jump in.</span></p>
<h1><strong>Conclusion: For You!</strong></h1>
<p>If you came this far reading this, you could probably tell I enjoyed writing! My routine hardly gives me more option to do it regularly. I was meant to write this HeroPress article last year but was too busy, and the timing was too near of the 2nd baby&#8217;s birth!</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t expect others to try to retire early, but having a choice in life is important. Try to look back. Why do you work? Is it because of earning money? Just to survive, just to sustain your family? This should not be the purpose of human life. I believe our Creator created us for a reason, <strong>we are not meant to live and die selfishly like an animal. There should be more meaning of life other than trying to buy luxury!</strong></p>
<p>There is a Ted talk describing Humans, how evaluated to be Human, one of the core reason was we cooked, and gathered and stored food, so we spent less time like other Gorillas to try to find food and spend most of the days for that purpose. We cooked, it was easy to chew, and it gave us more free time, so we were able to innovate! Interesting theory, but surely intriguing.</p>
<p><strong>Life is not always about achieving it all. It&#8217;s sometimes about the journey. You can&#8217;t always win. You have to learn from the journey and move on.</strong></p>
<p>When I look back I do see, my decision to invest worked out many ways. <strong>As I diversified my venture it was a good move.</strong> I made many mistakes and described in details here as well, but I tried to learn and reflect that in my further life. I am who I am, because of the journey. I don&#8217;t regret any part of it. If I had the chance would I have done it differently? I don&#8217;t know, maybe that could be a different journey. My life is wrapped up entirely with WordPress, I am and will always be proud of that. But maybe I need to give myself a fair chance to see the world clearly. For past 13-14 years, I have worked every day on an average 14 hours of more, I still stay at the office for over 12 hours. But I don&#8217;t do it because I have to, I do it because I enjoy it. But this is taking too much of my life, I am too swamped up. This break is necessary.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><strong>Note:</strong> I really like to thank Topher &amp; HeroPress for giving me this opportunity and pushing me on writing this. I was very confused as it turns out this BIG. I thought it was just 2500-3000 words, I wrote almost on the fly, so was not looking at word count. Probably this is kind of my thing, if an idea is clear in my head, I don&#8217;t have issues putting it into letters.</em></p>
<p><em>Topher told me this is twice the size of the previous longest essay in HeroPress. <strong>I am glad if you read it completely! That&#8217;s also an achievement!</strong> Then why not spent few second more to say Hi in the comments, so I could know who read this far!</em></p>
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";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43:"Akismet: Akismet and Drupal, Together Again";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"http://blog.akismet.com/?p=1960";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://blog.akismet.com/2017/08/29/akismet-and-drupal-together-again/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1569:"<p>Akismet is used on millions of WordPress sites, but it isn&#8217;t only used with WordPress. In fact, Akismet can be integrated with any CMS, and <a href="https://akismet.com/development/api/#use-a-library">more than 30 Akismet libraries and plugins are available for non-WordPress systems</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.drupal.org/">Drupal CMS</a> has had an unofficial Akismet integration available via the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/antispam">AntiSpam module</a> since 2009, but it hadn&#8217;t been updated since 2012, and thousands of sites were still using it despite some significant bugs. In the interest of providing the best experience possible for Akismet customers, we&#8217;ve contributed some time and code, and <strong>we&#8217;re happy to announce that a new stable version of AntiSpam for Drupal is available.</strong></p>
<p>Version 7.x-1.6 can be downloaded from the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/antispam">AntiSpam project page</a> on Drupal.org. Please let us know about any issues you may encounter by leaving a comment below or by opening a ticket at <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/antispam">the issue tracker for the AntiSpam module</a>.</p><br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/akismet.wordpress.com/1960/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/akismet.wordpress.com/1960/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=blog.akismet.com&blog=116920&post=1960&subd=akismet&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 29 Aug 2017 19:16:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Christopher Finke";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:21:"Dougal Campbell: Bugs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:34:"http://dougal.gunters.org/?p=81413";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:48:"http://dougal.gunters.org/blog/2017/08/29/81413/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:550:"<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I seem to have a knack for finding obscure edge-case bugs in WordPress. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wordpress?src=hash">#wordpress</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/oembed?src=hash">#oembed</a> <a href="https://t.co/aucCSDb76H">https://t.co/aucCSDb76H</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Dougal Campbell (@dougal) <a href="https://twitter.com/dougal/status/902299942701674497">August 28, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="yarpp-related-rss yarpp-related-none">
</div>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:53:05 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Dougal Campbell";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:107:"WPTavern: Matt Mullenweg Addresses Concerns About Gutenberg, Confirms New Editor to Ship with WordPress 5.0";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74414";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:117:"https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-addresses-concerns-about-gutenberg-confirms-new-editor-to-ship-with-wordpress-5-0";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:6828:"<p>Matt Mullenweg published an appeal to WordPress users over the weekend in a post titled &#8220;<a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/" target="_blank">We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason</a>.&#8221; In it he offers a better look at his vision for Gutenberg, which he contends will be as transformative for WordPress&#8217; future as the first movable type printing was for Europe&#8217;s printing revolution.</p>
<p>Mullenweg identified the new Gutenberg editor as the tool that will enable WordPress to meet its competition and the opportunities available in the small business sector:</p>
<blockquote><p>WordPress’s growth is impressive (28.5% and counting) but it’s not limitless — at least not in its current state. We have challenges (user frustrations with publishing and customizing, competition from site builders like Squarespace and Wix) and opportunities (the 157 million small businesses without sites, aka the next big market we should be serving). It’s time for WordPress’ next big thing, the thing that helps us deal with our challenges and opportunities. The thing that changes the world.</p></blockquote>
<p>Automattic has been moving towards offering better support for small businesses with its 2015 <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-woocommerce" target="_blank">acquisition of WooCommerce</a> and steady commercialization of Jetpack, with plans targeted at business owners. The company is poised to capture even more of the self-hosted small business market by allowing customers to <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem" target="_blank">tap into WordPress&#8217; third-party ecosystem</a>.</p>
<p>However, many vocal opponents to Gutenberg (and the changes that will come along with it) are concerned that the project is being developed chiefly to serve Automattic&#8217;s customers and corporate interests.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg has been mainly introduced by one particular company which seems to be in urgent need to compete with other SaaS businesses,&#8221; WordPress theme development company owner <a href="https://www.mhthemes.com/" target="_blank">Michael Hebenstreit</a> said. &#8220;That’s fine, but then keep it as a plugin for at least 1-2 years, put it on WordPress.com (to gather real live feedback and usage data) and nobody will have any issues with that approach.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mullenweg addressed concerns that Gutenberg is being developed for Automattic&#8217;s customers in a <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/#comment-587598" target="_blank">reply</a> to a similar comment on his post.</p>
<p>&#8220;There definitely is a contingent that seems to think that, but if you think through it logically it doesn’t make sense: if it were just to benefit Automattic it would be far easier and more advantageous to just do Gutenberg unilaterally in Calypso, where it would primarily benefit WordPress.com,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;Doing it in wp-admin and core first involves a lot more discussion, public feedback, backwards compatibility concerns, and breaking a lot of new ground for how core uses Javascript, and because it’s in core the benefits will accrue to all hosts of WordPress, many of which directly or indirectly compete with Automattic. We are reading and trying to learn from all the negative feedback though, even when it’s from people who haven’t used Gutenberg much yet.&#8221;</p>
<p>Those who build websites for clients have voiced concerns about how Gutenberg will affect their businesses, whether the brand new interface will drive users away from WordPress. Developers and product owners are eagerly awaiting more answers on what it means for existing plugins and themes in the ecosystem, as the project has yet to iron out some of the more technical details regarding extensibility and support for metaboxes. This naturally raises concerns about Gutenberg&#8217;s timeline.</p>
<p>&#8220;Gutenberg will ship with WordPress 5.0, but the release will come out when Gutenberg is ready, not vice versa,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;We still have target dates to help us think about scope and plan for all the supporting documentation, translation, and marketing efforts, but we’re not going to release anything until Gutenberg is something the team working on it agrees is ready.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress users have been conditioned to anticipate releases on a regular schedule but the new approach to core development will allow for the next major release to wait until the targeted features are ready. Mullenweg confirmed in the comments of his post that Gutenberg will ship with a legacy interface to offer backwards compatibility for PHP metaboxes that have not yet updated to be JS-powered.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some things like toolbar buttons will definitely need to be updated to work with Gutenberg, other things like Metaboxes there will be no problem to provide a legacy interface for a few releases,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;But I would say that plugin authors should start updating their plugins in late September if they want to benefit from Gutenberg’s launch.&#8221;</p>
<p>One of the most prevalent concerns that remains is React&#8217;s licensing issues, which came to a head after the Apache Software Foundation added Facebook’s BSD+Patents license to its Category X list of disallowed licenses for Apache PMC members. Facebook&#8217;s engineering directors considered re-licensing the project but <a href="https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license" target="_blank">decided against it</a>, citing &#8220;meritless patent litigation&#8221; as the reason behind adopting the BSD + patents license. The WordPress project has yet to announce its stance on the decision.</p>
<p>&#8220;We anticipated a decision on React around the Apache deadline (closer to now), will have more to announce about WP and Gutenberg’s approach here in the next few weeks,&#8221; Mullenweg said.</p>
<p>He also reiterated how invested he is in the WordPress project and ecosystem as a whole. His post elaborated on the many benefits he anticipates for plugin, theme, and core developers, agencies, users, and hosting companies. He challenged the WordPress community to see Gutenberg in the same light.</p>
<p>&#8220;My life’s work is improving WordPress,&#8221; Mullenweg said. &#8220;I firmly believe that Gutenberg is the direction that will provide the most benefit to the maximum number of people while being totally in line with core WordPress’s philosophies and commitment to user freedom. So keep giving us your feedback, and let’s push through the fear together. It’s worth a little discomfort to change the world.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:01:11 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"Matt: We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:22:"https://ma.tt/?p=47503";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://ma.tt/2017/08/we-called-it-gutenberg-for-a-reason/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9263:"<p>Movable type was about books, but it wasn’t just about books. Ideas spread. Literacy spiked. The elite monopoly on education and government started to crack. Luther’s <em>95 Theses</em> were printed on a press, rocking Europe, and he issued &#8220;broadsheets.&#8221; Broadsheets became newspapers; newspapers enabled democracy. The printing press ushered in social, political, and economic sea changes. Gutenberg changed everything.</p>
<p>WordPress has always been about websites, but it’s not just about websites. It’s about freedom, about possibility, and about carving out your own livelihood, whether it’s by making a living through your site or by working in the WordPress ecosystem itself. We’re democratizing publishing — and democratizing work — for everyone, regardless of language, ability, or economic wherewithal.</p>
<p>WordPress’s growth is impressive (<a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/y">28.5% and counting</a>) but it’s not limitless — at least not in its current state. We have challenges (user frustrations with publishing and customizing, competition from site builders like Squarespace and Wix) and opportunities (the 157 million small businesses without sites, aka the next big market we should be serving). It’s time for WordPress’ next big thing, the thing that helps us deal with our challenges and opportunities. The thing that changes the world.</p>
<p>Gutenberg.</p>
<p>For those who don’t know we kicked off the Gutenberg project around the beginning of the year, <a href="https://ma.tt/2017/06/4-8-and-whats-coming/">I talked about it and we did our first public releases in June</a>, and the team has been doing <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/core-editor/">weekly updates</a> of the public beta plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/">that&#8217;s available for anyone to try out in their wp-admin</a>.</p>
<p>When Johannes Gutenberg’s press came out, people mostly used it to print the same religious text monks had been copying. It wasn’t until ten or fifteen years later that people started innovating and trying their hands at new kinds of writing, and the wheels of change started to spin faster. Now it’s WordPress’ turn to do the same. Gutenberg meets our challenges and opportunities head on while simultaneously benefitting everyone who makes a living working in the WP ecosystem. It’s about a lot more than just blocks. Our Gutenberg moves every part of the WordPress ecosystem forward:</p>
<p><strong>Developers and agencies</strong> will be able to create interactive templates that clients can easily update without breaking things or dealing with custom post types: Imagine a custom “employee” block that you can add to an About page that includes a picture, name, and bio. They’ll be able to replace most meta boxes, and they’ll get a chance to update old code or clients to work in this new paradigm.</p>
<p><strong>Plugin developers</strong> will be able to completely integrate into every part of WordPress, including posts, pages, custom post types, and sidebars without having to hack TinyMCE or squeeze their entire feature behind a toolbar button. Today, every plugin that extends WordPress does it in a different way; Gutenberg’s blocks provide a single, easy-to-learn entry point for an incredible variety of extensions. Some folks have already begun to port their plugins over, and are finding that they&#8217;re easier to build and have a much improved UI. I&#8217;m looking forward to highlighting those stories as we get further along and more people write about them.</p>
<p><strong>Theme developers</strong> won’t need to bundle tons of plugins or create their own page builders. There’ll be a standard, portable way to create rich layouts for posts and guide people through setup right in the interface, no 20-step tutorials or long videos needed. Every theme will be able to compete with multi-functional premium themes without locking users into a single theme or compromising their experience.</p>
<p><strong>Core developers</strong> will be able to work in modern technologies and not worry about 15 years of backwards compatibility. We’ll be able to simplify how menus, widgets, and the editor work to use a common set of code and concepts. The interface will be instantly responsive.</p>
<p><strong>Web hosts</strong> will have better signup rates, as Gutenberg opens up WordPress to an entirely new set of people for whom WordPress was too complex and hard to set up before. (Remember our goal: to democratize publishing.) Their churn rates will go down: they’ll stop bleeding customers to Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, and fewer people will abandon their sites because it was too hard to make things look they way they wanted.</p>
<p><strong>Users</strong> will finally be able to build the sites they see in their imaginations. They’ll be able to do things on mobile they’ve never been able to before. They’ll never have to see a shortcode again. Text pasted from Word will get cleaned up and converted to blocks automatically and instantly. (I pasted the first version of this post from Google Docs and it worked <em>great</em>. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.3/72x72/1f44c.png" alt="👌" class="wp-smiley" />) They’ll start manipulating their sites in ways that would have taken a developer. They’ll be able to move from blogging to using WordPress as a CMS without missing a beat. Editing posts will just work; they’ll write more. They’ll learn blocks once, and then be able to instantly use and understand 90%+ of plugins.</p>
<p>I could go on about how photographers will be able to create rich galleries, parallax images, and better portfolios, or how poets will finally be able to preserve whitespace as they write, but you get the idea. It’s big. It moves the WordPress ecosystem forward, but it also moves the whole web forward.</p>
<p>Which is scary! Because change always is, and this is a big one. But a scary thing is usually a thing that leads to growth, if you can push through it. Ten years ago, agencies and developers worried that software like WordPress would ruin their business because clients wouldn’t need help updating their sites any more, and would maybe even just start building their own sites. But their worse fears didn’t come true — instead, it created new opportunities for everyone.</p>
<p>(People were worried when the printing press was invented, too. A Swiss biologist warned against the “confusing and harmful abundance of books,” but I’d say it all worked out in the end.)</p>
<p>This is not to say that nothing will go sideways with Gutenberg, or that people’s concerns about it are unfounded. Making something people want is really hard to do and easy to mess up — we definitely have in the past. I share many of the concerns or worries with today’s version of Gutenberg, and we’re working to mitigate them. Gutenberg will ship with WordPress 5.0, but the release will come out when Gutenberg is ready, not vice versa. We still have target dates to help us think about scope and plan for all the supporting documentation, translation, and marketing efforts, but we’re not going to release anything until Gutenberg is something the team working on it agrees is ready.</p>
<p>And as we work, we’re listening: feedback on core and feature plugins gets read, heard, and considered. Every review of Gutenberg, even the rude ones, has a response. Seven months of vigorous and public debate, chats, tickets, and code changesets brought us to where we are today, and there will be  a fair amount more before we can present the Gutenberg vision in a mostly-complete state. I welcome it; apathy would worry me a lot more than disagreement or controversy.</p>
<p>Creating great software will never make every person happy. We’re not creating The Perfect Product, we’re choosing a path between many good options, weighing all of the inevitable trade-offs that come from a change, listening, shipping, and then doing it all over again. Iterating. My life’s work is improving WordPress. I firmly believe that Gutenberg is the direction that will provide the most benefit to the maximum number of people while being totally in line with core WordPress’s philosophies and commitment to user freedom. So keep giving us your feedback, and let’s push through the fear together. It’s worth a little discomfort to change the world.</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote blocks-quote-style-1"><p><em>Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men.</em></p>
<em>Johannes Gutenberg</em>
</blockquote>
<img src="https://i1.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2017/08/metalmovabletypeedit1.jpg?w=604&ssl=1" />
<p><em>Thank you to the <a href="https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress">WP Tavern conversation</a> that helped me write down many of these ideas, and <a href="https://kingofstates.com/">Michelle Weber</a>. This post started in Google Docs then revised in Gutenberg 0.9.</em></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 28 Aug 2017 02:23:40 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4:"Matt";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:11:"
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:30:"HeroPress: HeroPress Downloads";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://heropress.com/?p=2060";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:105:"https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heropress-downloads";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2606:"<img width="960" height="600" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/heropress-large-grey-brick-1024x640.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="HeroPress logo on a grey brick wall" /><p>Did you know that HeroPress has stuff you can download?  For a while now we&#8217;ve had a <a href="https://heropress.com/plugin/">plugin</a> available, but this evening I posted some <a href="https://heropress.com/downloads/">cool wallpapers</a>.  I made them about a year ago, but had them only on my personal site.</p>
<p>Now they&#8217;re available on this site as well. I&#8217;m interested to know if you like them, if you&#8217;d like more, and perhaps even see what you can make.  Please let me know in the comments.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: HeroPress Downloads" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=HeroPress%20Downloads&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: HeroPress Downloads" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fheropress-downloads%2F&title=HeroPress+Downloads" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: HeroPress Downloads"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/heropress-large-grey-brick-150x150.png&description=HeroPress Downloads" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: HeroPress Downloads"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/" title="HeroPress Downloads"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/heropress-downloads/">HeroPress Downloads</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 27 Aug 2017 23:59:32 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: Core Team Explores Idea to Automatically Upgrade Sites Running WordPress 3.7 to 3.8";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74408";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:104:"https://wptavern.com/core-team-explores-idea-to-automatically-upgrade-sites-running-wordpress-3-7-to-3-8";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2571:"<p>WordPress 3.7 &#8216;Basie&#8217; <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2013/10/basie/">was released</a> on October 24, 2013 and introduced automatic updates for minor releases to the masses. Although it&#8217;s not labeled as such, WordPress 3.7 has effectively acted as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_support">LTS version</a> or Long-term support. Security updates and crucial bug fixes have been <a href="https://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/">ported back</a> to previous branches up to 3.7.</p>
<p>In this week&#8217;s WordPress developer chat, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin">Aaron Jorbin</a>, WordPress core developer, <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503519922000557">asked</a> if it&#8217;s time to stop back porting fixes to 3.7-4.0 and instead, update those sites directly to 4.1.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/stats/">version statistics</a> on WordPress.org, 0.4% of tracked sites are using WordPress 3.7. &#8220;I would like to see a published proposal outlining reasons, usage data, and any tradeoffs/considerations and leave a bit of time for feedback before definitely doing this,&#8221; <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill">Joe McGill</a>, Core contributor <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503519968000494">said</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s unclear to me what are the things that <em>must</em> happen and what are the things that <em>should</em> happen before we take this step.&#8221;</p>
<p>Developers noted that WordPress automatically updates minor versions and that if protections are not built-in to automatically upgrading major versions, it could cause users to lose trust in the system.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to make sure all users with outdated installs get warned one way or the other. Then if they decide to turn updates off&#8230;,&#8221; <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz/">Andrew Ozz</a>, Core developer <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1503520516000632">said</a>.</p>
<p>After further discussion, the team agreed that upgrading sites from 3.7 to 3.8 would be a good stepping stone towards getting those sites up to 4.1. &#8220;It can also be done in the API so that we only do a small percentage at first and then stop and analyze and then increase the percentage,&#8221; Jorbin said.</p>
<p>A proposal will be crafted by members of the core team and published on the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core</a> site for further discussion.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 25 Aug 2017 21:20:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"WPTavern: Locating Restored Comments in WordPress Requires Detective Skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74406";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"https://wptavern.com/locating-restored-comments-in-wordpress-requires-detective-skills";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1836:"<p>Every now and then, I&#8217;ll come across a user experience in WordPress that makes me scratch my head. Earlier today, I needed to edit a comment&#8217;s details before restoring it from the Trash. However, WordPress doesn&#8217;t allow this without restoring it first.</p>
<p>After restoring the comment, it disappeared from the trash and nothing happened. This is not the user experience I expected and needless to say, I was annoyed.</p>
<p>Since restored comments do not appear at the top of the approved list because of their original published date, I searched the WordPress backend for comments by the author&#8217;s first name and found it after the sixth page of results.</p>
<p>At first, I thought about how it would be nice to be able to edit a comment&#8217;s details while it&#8217;s in the trash so I don&#8217;t have to search for the post or author to edit it. However, Mika Epstein raised a good point.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Think of that like computers. You can’t edit a document in the trash.</p>
<p>&mdash; ipstenu (((Mika E))) (@Ipstenu) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ipstenu/status/901152068534022144">August 25, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The other idea is that after restoring a comment, WordPress redirects me to the post where it was restored. It would be even better if it took me directly to the comment in the discussions meta box. However, users can hide these meta boxes from view via Screen Options, so I&#8217;m not sure how to account for that. Perhaps redirecting users to the post is enough?</p>
<p>After searching WordPress Trac and not finding a ticket related to this issue, <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/41731">I created one</a>. Please leave your feedback and suggestions either in the comments or on that Trac ticket.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 25 Aug 2017 19:37:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:55:"WPTavern: Playing the Role of Online Reputation Manager";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74400";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"https://wptavern.com/playing-the-role-of-online-reputation-manager";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3505:"<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve received requests from people wanting their comments removed from the site. I recently received a request from a reader that I remove a comment they made three years ago because it was showing up in Google search results for their name.</p>
<p>Normally, I ignore these requests as it makes me feel like I&#8217;m their online reputation manager. I asked my followers on Twitter what they would do if they received the same request.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">What are your terms of derive/ privacy policy? I probably wouldn’t delete but I would stop indexing comments.</p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Wiegman (@ChrisWiegman) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisWiegman/status/900117231979421696">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">yeah, probably. unless there’s a real good reason not to.</p>
<p>that said, your comments shouldn’t be indexing</p>
<p>&mdash; skin-covered coffee (@norcross) <a href="https://twitter.com/norcross/status/900112112395091968">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">depends on context. if it's spam &#8211; happy to. if it's standalone maybe. if I have to adjust whole conversation around removal &#8211; probably not.</p>
<p>&mdash; Andrey Savchenko (@Rarst) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rarst/status/900259136507711488">August 23, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Depends. Is it essential for preserving that persons privacy? Had other people responded to the comment? I’d have to weigh pros &amp; cons.</p>
<p>&mdash; Elpie (@elpie) <a href="https://twitter.com/elpie/status/900112216053231616">August 22, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The Tavern doesn&#8217;t have a privacy policy. It&#8217;s a blog that allows commenting where readers can choose to provide their name, email address, and URL. I don&#8217;t like deleting comments as it alters history and can make conversations look awkward.</p>
<p>Although there are privacy policies such as, the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_data_protection_en.pdf">Right To Be Forgotten</a> and <a href="http://www.eugdpr.org">GDRP</a>, there are other things to consider that can help determine if removing a comment is the right thing to do.</p>
<ol>
<li>Is the comment spammy?</li>
<li>Would removing it alter the conversation?</li>
<li>Is removing the comment the only way to maintain their privacy?</li>
</ol>
<p>I initially decided to trash their comment but discovered that removing a parent comment with replies also removes the replies. While this makes sense, this means that removing one comment can turn into removing many comments or an entire conversation.</p>
<p>Instead, I recovered the comment and removed their name, email address, and URL. This keeps the conversation in tact while giving back their privacy.</p>
<p>Many people who responded to my question suggested that comments shouldn&#8217;t be indexed by search engines. After giving it some thought, I&#8217;m conflicted. We&#8217;ve never had an issue before and we don&#8217;t receive so many requests that it&#8217;s a problem. We also highly value our comments and feel they should be discoverable like our content.</p>
<p>What are the pros and cons to blocking comments from search engines? What would you do if you were running the Tavern?</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 24 Aug 2017 21:12:53 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 286 – Upgrading PHP, Facebook Not Budging, and Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74394&preview=true&preview_id=74394";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-286-upgrading-php-facebook-not-budging-and-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2477:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I discuss a new initiative that will help educate users on the benefits of upgrading PHP. We share our thoughts on Facebook denying a request to remove its Patent clause from REACT&#8217;s license. We highlight a new onboarding wizard aimed at themes and discuss what Gutenberg means for the future of WordPress.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php">WordPress.org to Add New Page Educating Users on Benefits of Upgrading PHP</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license">Facebook Isn’t Budging on React’s BSD + Patents License</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/new-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard-makes-wordpress-theme-installation-and-setup-effortless">New Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard Makes WordPress Theme Installation and Setup Effortless</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/user-experience-tests-show-gutenbergs-ui-elements-can-benefit-from-better-timing">User Experience Tests Show Gutenberg’s UI Elements Can Benefit From Better Timing</a><br />
<a href="https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress">Morten Rand-Hendriksen on What Gutenberg Means For the Future of WordPress</a></p>
<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>
<p><a href="https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge">HomeBridge</a> is a lightweight NodeJS server you can run on your home network that emulates the iOS HomeKit API. It supports Plugins, which are community-contributed modules that provide a basic bridge from HomeKit to various 3rd-party APIs provided by manufacturers of &#8216;smart home&#8217; devices.</p>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 30th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: </strong><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via RSS: </strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/feed/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Stitcher Radio: </strong><a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Listen To Episode #286:</strong><br />
</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 24 Aug 2017 00:12:18 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"HeroPress: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2046";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:128:"https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wordpress-good-indian-women";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12158:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/082317-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: Nothing is better than a girl who writes code." /><p><a href="http://heropress.com/feed/#gujarati">આ નિબંધ ગુજરાતીમાં પણ ઉપલબ્ધ છે</a></p>
<p>Why has computing always been a boys’ club? I live in a society where women are not allowed to work in an office. People in my society think that all women have to do is take care of her family and stay at home. Narrow minded society. But I feel proud to say that I am not part of that narrow minded society.</p>
<p>I am so engaged in the world of the Computer and Technology since school time. I started learning about basic computer languages HTML, CSS and C. And believe me I was so good at it! Later on I choose Computer Engineering for my further study and completed Bachelor of Computer Applications. But I didn’t stop studying after that. I completed my Masters in Computer Applications.</p>
<p>I fell in love with the programming and working as freelancer. What is most interesting is that the platform I am associated with. WordPress! Everyday I woke up with a new task and go to sleep with a new idea. And that still goes on. I am a WordPress developer at the Elsner Technology and I am so proud of whatever work I do everyday.</p>
<p>With WordPress it feels like home, a part of my soul. And hey! it’s not the house of boys, there are so many girls associated with WordPress. In case if you don’t know WordPress theme review team is led by women. And since my society is not filled with the open-minded people I suggest “Girls, why don’t you learn/work/code from home?” After all, all you need is just a computer and an internet connection. Right? There are billions of things that you can do with this platform and you don’t even need to pay a penny.</p>
<p>WordPress is easy and designers like that. And who knows the better color combination and design better? You got the point. There are thousands of self-employed developers and designers using WordPress. In addition the rapid female created themes on platform can itself testify to the fact that women want to make websites too, and organizations like Women Who WP are so useful and makes the process more easy. WordPress is creating more and more for business owners and women are really good at tech businesses. And India is the house of the Startup business. Even the government is also making huge efforts behind it.</p>
<p>The Internet is saturated with WordPress. 27 percent of the entire internet relies on WordPress. From small startup to gigantic companies. Since my society is willing to keep women in the house, I would like to say that’s great. I am okay! I can work from home. But there is no excuse to sit back and let the boys have all the fun. There are plenty of ways to get involved in the WordPress community. And nothing is better than a girl who writes code.</p>
<hr />
<h1 id="gujarati">ભારતીય મહિલાઓ માટે વર્ડપ્રેસ સારું છે?</h1>
<p>શા માટે કમ્પ્યુટિંગ હંમેશા &#8216;છોકરાઓ નું ક્લબ છે? હું એવા સમાજમાં રહુ છે જ્યાં સ્ત્રીઓને ઓફિસમાં કામ કરવાની મંજૂરી નથી. મારા સમાજના ઘણા લોકો એવું વિચારે છે કે બધી જ મહિલાઓએ તેના પરિવારની સંભાળ રાખવી અને ઘરમાં રહેવું. રૂઢિચુસ્ત મનનું સમાજ છે પરંતુ મને ગર્વ લાગે છે કે હું સાંકડા વિચારોવાળી સમાજનો ભાગ નથી.</p>
<p>હું સ્કૂલના સમયથી કમ્પ્યુટર અને ટેકનોલોજીના વિશ્વ સાથે સંકળાયેલી છું. તે સમયે મેં કોમ્પ્યુટર ની ભાષાઓ એચટીએમએલ, સી.એસ.એસ. અને સી વિશે શીખવાનું શરૂ કર્યું. અને મારો વિશ્વાસ કરો હું તેના પર ઘણી સારી હતી. પછીથી મેં મારા આગળના અભ્યાસ માટે કમ્પ્યુટર એન્જિનિયરિંગ પસંદ કર્યું અને બેચલર ઓફ કમ્પ્યુટર એપ્લિકેશન્સમાં અભ્યાસ પૂર્ણ કર્યો. પરંતુ તે પછી મેં અભ્યાસ કરવાનું બંધ કર્યું નથી. મેં કમ્પ્યુટર એપ્લિકેશન્સમાં માસ્ટર્સ પૂર્ણ કર્યું.</p>
<p>હું પ્રોગ્રામિંગમાં ખૂબ ખોવાયેલી રહેતી હતી અને સાથે ફ્રીલાન્સર તરીકે કામ કરતી હતી. સૌથી રસપ્રદ બાબત એ છે કે જે પ્લેટફોર્મ સાથે હું સંકળાયેલી છું તે વર્ડપ્રેસ છે. દરરોજ હું એક નવા કાર્ય સાથે જાગું છું અને નવા વિચાર સાથે સૂઈ જઉ છું. અને તે હજુ પણ ચાલુ છે. હું એલ્સ્નર ટેક્નોલોજીમાં વર્ડપ્રેસ ડેવલપર છું અને દરરોજ મેં જે કંઈ કર્યું છે તેના પર મને ગર્વ છે.</p>
<p>વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે ઘરની જેમ લાગે છે, મારા આત્માનો એક ભાગ. અને હા! તે છોકરાઓનું જ ઘર નથી, વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે ઘણી સ્ત્રીઓ પણ સંકળાયેલી છે. એક વિષયમાં જો તમને ખબર ન હોય તો વર્ડપ્રેસ થીમની પરીક્ષણ ટીમની આગેવાની મહિલાઓ દ્વારા કરવામાં આવે છે. અને કારણ કે મારું સમાજ ખુલ્લા લોકોથી ભરેલું નથી તેથી હું સૂચવે છે કે, &#8220;સ્ત્રીઓ, તમે શા માટે ઘરેથી શિખવાનું/કામ કરવાનું /કોડ કરવાનું ચાલુ નથી કરતાં?&#8221; છેવટે, તમને જરૂર ફક્ત એક કમ્પ્યુટર અને ઇન્ટરનેટ કનેક્શનની છે. સાચું ને ? અબજો વસ્તુઓ છે કે જે તમે આ પ્લેટફોર્મ સાથે કરી શકો છો અને તમારે એક આની પણ ચૂકવવાની જરૂર નથી.</p>
<p>વર્ડપ્રેસ સરળ છે અને ડિઝાઇનર્સ તેને પસંદ કરે છે . અને કોણ સારી રંગ સંયોજના જાણે છે અને વધુ સારી ડિઝાઇન કરે છે? તો તમને લહાવો મળ્યો. હજારો સ્વરોજગાર ડેવલોપર્સ અને ડિઝાઇનર્સ વર્ડપ્રેસ નો ઉપયોગ કરે છે. આ ઉપરાંત પ્લેટફોર્મ પર ઝડપી થીમ્સ સ્ત્રીઓ એ બનાવી છે જે સ્વયંને એ હકીકતનું સમર્થન આપે છે કે સ્ત્રીઓ વેબસાઇટ્સ પણ બનાવવા માંગે છે, અને સંસ્થાઓ જેમ કે Women Who WP ઘણી ઉપયોગી છે અને આ પ્રક્રિયાને વધુ સરળ બનાવે છે. વર્ડપ્રેસ બિઝનેસ માલિકો માટે વધુ અને વધુ બનાવી રહ્યું છે અને સ્ત્રીઓ ખરેખર ટેકનીકલમાં વ્યવસાયોમાં સારી છે. ભારત એક સ્ટાર્ટઅપ વ્યવસાયનું ઘર છે. સરકાર તેની પાછળ પણ વિશાળ પ્રયત્નો કરી રહી છે.</p>
<p>ઇન્ટરનેટ વર્ડપ્રેસ સાથે સંતૃપ્ત છે સમગ્ર ઇન્ટરનેટનો 27% હિસ્સો વર્ડપ્રેસ પર છે. નાની શરૂઆત ની કંપની થી માંડી ને મોટી કંપીનીઓ . મારો સમાજ સ્ત્રીઓને ઘરમાં રાખવા માટે તૈયાર છે, તેથી હું કહીશ કે મહાન છે. હું ઠીક છું! હું ઘરેથી કામ કરી શકું છું પરંતુ પરંતુ પાછા બેસવાનો અને છોકરાઓને બધી જ મજા કરવાની કોઈ બહાનું નથી. વર્ડપ્રેસ કમ્યૂનિટીમાં શામેલ થવાની ઘણી બધી રીતો છે. અને જે છોકરી કોડ લખે છે તેના થી વધારે કંઈ સારું નથી.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Is%20WordPress%20Good%20for%20Indian%20Women%3F&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fwordpress-good-indian-women%2F&title=Is+WordPress+Good+for+Indian+Women%3F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/082317-150x150.jpg&description=Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/" title="Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/wordpress-good-indian-women/">Is WordPress Good for Indian Women?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Aug 2017 12:00:37 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Juhi Patel";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 2.9.1 Security Release";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=267671";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:65:"https://buddypress.org/2017/08/buddypress-2-9-1-security-release/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:944:"<p>BuddyPress 2.9.1 is now available. This is a security and maintenance release. We strongly encourage all BuddyPress sites to upgrade as soon as possible.</p>
<p>We fixed two regressions introduced in 2.9:</p>
<ul>
<li>Groups: fix group description truncation length on group screen.</li>
<li>Profiles: fix avatar quality when requesting avatar sizes larger than the user&#8217;s uploaded avatar.</li>
</ul>
<p>Importantly, BuddyPress 2.9.1 and earlier versions were affected by the following security issue:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) in the XProfile administration Dashboard panel.</li>
</ul>
<p>These vulnerabilities were reported privately by <a href="https://dk.linkedin.com/in/skansing">Ronnie Skansing</a>. Our thanks to Ronnie for reporting security issues in accordance with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/">WordPress&#8217; security policies</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 23 Aug 2017 11:44:17 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Paul Gibbs";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: Morten Rand-Hendriksen on What Gutenberg Means For the Future of WordPress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74359&preview=true&preview_id=74359";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/morten-rand-hendriksen-on-what-gutenberg-means-for-the-future-of-wordpress";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2507:"<p>As work continues on <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/">Gutenberg</a>, members of the community are discussing its impacts on WordPress&#8217; future. Morten Rand-Hendriksen <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gutenberg-morten-rand-hendriksen">considers Gutenberg</a> to be a watershed moment, &#8220;This is a revolution,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a watershed moment for WordPress. This is entirely new and fundamentally different from how WordPress works and how we work with it today. I cannot overstate it enough when I say this changes everything.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rand-Hendriksen suggests that Gutenberg will allow WordPress to graduate from being a blogging platform to a platform for managing views. If Gutenberg adds complexity to the user interface, he predicts many users will migrate to simpler, hosted publishing systems.</p>
<p>He also predicts that due to the REST API and Gutenberg, permanent fractures may develop between different segments of the community and user base.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s exciting to think about what could happen to WordPress and the web in general if Rand-Hendriksen&#8217;s optimism comes to fruition. &#8220;Whatever happens to WordPress’ user base, once Gutenberg is implemented fully, WordPress’ role in the wider web and internet community will change,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all these things actually work, and people find them useful, WordPress will herald in a new age of UI and UX exploration. Applications have followed WordPress’ lead before and will do it again if the new solution works.&#8221;</p>
<p>As for the future of WordPress, Rand-Hendriksen says:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote blocks-quote-style-1"><p>With the REST API in core and Gutenberg on the horizon, I am starting to see a new future for WordPress, one that looks nothing like where we are today. But this is true for the web as a whole as well.</p>
<p>Non-pointer interactions, AR/VR/MR, AI, content beyond the screen, all these things are already within sight and the web as we know it is on the cusp of its own wave of revolutionary changes.</p>
<p>The question I’m left to ponder is whether Gutenberg is what brings WordPress into that future.</p></blockquote>
<p>I encourage you to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gutenberg-morten-rand-hendriksen">read the entire post</a> as it provides a lot of food for thought. What do you think about his predictions and the impacts Gutenberg might have on the web as a whole?</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 22 Aug 2017 01:41:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"WPTavern: Facebook Isn’t Budging on React’s BSD + Patents License";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74333";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"https://wptavern.com/facebook-isnt-budging-on-reacts-bsd-patents-license";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7456:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/react.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Last month <a href="https://wptavern.com/react-users-petition-facebook-to-re-license-react-js-after-apache-software-foundation-bans-bsdpatents-license-in-dependencies" target="_blank">React users petitioned Facebook to relicense the project</a> (and its other open source projects) after the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) added Facebook’s BSD+Patents license to its <a href="https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved#category-x" target="_blank">Category X list of disallowed licenses</a> for Apache PMC members. Participants and subscribers to the <a href="https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/10191" target="_blank">GitHub thread</a> waited weeks for a decision on re-licensing while Facebook&#8217;s engineering directors discussed the matter internally. The request has now formally been <a href="https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-react-s-license/" target="_blank">denied</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to apologize for the amount of thrash, confusion, and uncertainty this has caused the React and open source communities,&#8221; Facebook engineer Adam Wolff said. &#8220;We know this is painful, especially for teams that feel like they&#8217;re going to need to rewrite large parts of their project to remove React or other dependencies. We&#8217;ve been looking for ways around this and have reached out to ASF to see if we could try to work with them, but have come up empty.&#8221;</p>
<p>The request for re-licensing had received 851 &#8220;thumbs-up&#8221; reactions on GitHub and many developers commented to say that the ASF&#8217;s policy disallowing the BSD+Patents license <a href="https://wptavern.com/petition-to-re-license-react-has-been-escalated-to-facebooks-engineering-directors" target="_blank">affects their organizations&#8217; ability to continue using React</a> and other open source projects from Facebook. Others said they would like to use React but the licensing makes it impossible for their companies.</p>
<h3>Facebook Cites &#8220;Meritless Patent Litigation&#8221; as the Reason Behind Adopting the BSD + Patents License</h3>
<p>Wolff&#8217;s <a href="https://code.facebook.com/posts/112130496157735/explaining-react-s-license/" target="_blank">post</a> announcing Facebook&#8217;s decision said that the team has not done a good job of communicating the reasons behind its BSD + Patents license and offered a more in-depth explanation:</p>
<blockquote><p>As our business has become successful, we&#8217;ve become a larger target for meritless patent litigation. This type of litigation can be extremely costly in terms of both resources and attention. It would have been easy for us to stop contributing to open source, or to do what some other large companies do and only release software that isn&#8217;t used in our most successful products, but we decided to take a different approach. We decided to add a clear patent grant when we release software under the 3-clause BSD license, creating what has come to be known as the BSD + Patents license. The patent grant says that if you&#8217;re going to use the software we&#8217;ve released under it, you lose the patent license from us if you sue us for patent infringement. We believe that if this license were widely adopted, it could actually reduce meritless litigation for all adopters, and we want to work with others to explore this possibility.</p></blockquote>
<p>The ASF&#8217;s decision to disallow the BSD+Patents license was for policy reasons, not a legal decision based on incompatibility. Greg Stein, commenting on behalf of ASF on a separate GitHub issue, <a href="https://github.com/omcljs/om/issues/882" target="_blank">said</a> that the ASF didn&#8217;t want downstream users of Apache code to be surprised by the PATENTS grant that was previously in RocksDB and is still in React. The organization wanted users to have no further constraints other than following the ALv2.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we respect this decision, it hurts to see so many great ASF projects get churned for policy reasons after using this license for years,&#8221; Wolff said in Facebook&#8217;s announcement. The company made it clear that they will not be re-licensing React or any other projects simply to satisfy ASF&#8217;s policy requirements.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have considered possible changes carefully, but we won&#8217;t be changing our default license or React&#8217;s license at this time,&#8221; Wolff said. &#8220;We recognize that we may lose some React community members because of this decision. We are sorry for that, but we need to balance our desire to participate in open source with our desire to protect ourselves from costly litigation. We think changing our approach would inhibit our ability to continue releasing meaningful open source software and increase the amount of time and money we have to spend fighting meritless lawsuits.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many from the OSS community expressed disappointment and frustration in their initial reactions on Twitter:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">“People like to sue us,” is a poor rationalization. This is weaponizing OSS under the guise of sharing. The whole post is disingenuous.</p>
<p>&mdash; Nicholas C. Zakas (@slicknet) <a href="https://twitter.com/slicknet/status/898732045442011136">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Facebook is often the ideal open source partner &#8211; but their patent stance here makes React use untenable to me. <a href="https://t.co/97VIR0le36">https://t.co/97VIR0le36</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Adam Jacob (@adamhjk) <a href="https://twitter.com/adamhjk/status/898734487718121472">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The React license allows Facebook to violate patents of companies that use React, and those companies can't sue to stop Facebook</p>
<p>&mdash; Feross (@feross) <a href="https://twitter.com/feross/status/898730336082776064">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yep, my team's required to pull all use of React because of the license. It's a corporate wide issue.</p>
<p>&mdash; Tyler Fitch (@tfitch) <a href="https://twitter.com/tfitch/status/898742063738494976">August 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>The issue requesting re-licensing has been <a href="https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/10191#issuecomment-323486580" target="_blank">closed on GitHub</a> and is now locked and limited to collaborators.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not clear how this decision will affect WordPress, as the project has yet to announce which JS framework it will be adopting for core. Automattic is heavily invested in React, having built Calypso and Jetpack&#8217;s admin interface with it. WordPress&#8217; new Gutenberg editor is also built using React, as the project&#8217;s chief contributors are employed by Automattic. The company&#8217;s legal counsel has said in the past that they are <a href="https://wptavern.com/automattic-will-continue-to-use-react-js-in-calypso-despite-patent-clause" target="_blank">comfortable using React for its products under the current license</a>, but other companies in the WordPress ecosystem may not be as amenable to having the framework included in core.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 19 Aug 2017 03:52:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:84:"WPTavern: WordPress.org to Add New Page Educating Users on Benefits of Upgrading PHP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74303";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:95:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-to-add-new-page-educating-users-on-benefits-of-upgrading-php";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3456:"<p>WordPress&#8217; Core PHP team has created a new <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php" target="_blank">GitHub organization</a> for initiatives focused on improving the use of PHP in the project. The first one they are tackling is <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy/" target="_blank">a new page on WordPress.org</a> dedicated to educating users about the benefits of upgrading PHP. Contributors are <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy-resources" target="_blank">collecting third-party articles and tutorials on PHP upgrades</a> to find inspiration for the project, which is temporarily codenamed &#8220;servehappy.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress&#8217; <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/stats/" target="_blank">stats</a> page shows that 14.2% of the all the sites it is tracking are running on PHP 7.0+. 40.6% of sites are on PHP 5.6, which is no longer actively supported but will receive security fixes until January 2019. This leaves 45.2% of all WordPress sites running on older, insecure PHP versions that have already reached end of life and are no longer receiving security updates.</p>
<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/wp-php-versions-8-18-2017.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>WordPress PHP Versions &#8211; 8.18.2017
<p>Contributors are using the <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy/issues" target="_blank">issues queue of the servehappy repository</a> to collect benefits and statistical data they can use to sell the &#8220;update PHP&#8221; proposition to users. The project is currently in the brainstorming phase, but the team will eventually whittle the ideas down to present the most effective benefits.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/servehappy-issues-e1503086149333.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;The primary task for the &#8216;servehappy&#8217; repository will be to open issues for the benefits we’ve come up with over the past few weeks, and discuss them one by one, whether they qualify for the page and how they can be framed in the most convincing way,&#8221; Felix Arntz said.</p>
<p>In addition to proposing the benefits of upgrading PHP, the page will also include a call to action and information about how to upgrade or how to approach your host for an upgrade. Contributors are discussing the page&#8217;s outline and are aiming to tackle the project in a friendly and sensitive way that doesn&#8217;t put stress on users.</p>
<p>&#8220;The section &#8216;<em>What should you need to know before doing an update?</em>&#8216; must not unnecessarily make the user worry,&#8221; Arntz said, recapping the thoughts contributors expressed during the team&#8217;s most recent meeting. &#8220;Let’s highlight possible issues, but not overestimate them. People should see upgrading as a good thing, and we should point them to how they can determine whether their sites are ready.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Core PHP Team will be getting in touch with WordPress&#8217; marketing team to request their expertise on refining the page&#8217;s approach. Anyone is welcome to contribute third-party resources or ideas to the <a href="https://github.com/wp-core-php/servehappy" target="_blank">servehappy project on GitHub</a>. Check out the most recent <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/08/17/php-meeting-recap-august-14th/" target="_blank">meeting notes</a> for a full summary of the project and its needs.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 20:37:06 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:92:"WPTavern: Chrome Version 62 to Show Security Warnings on HTTP Pages Starting in October 2017";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74301";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"https://wptavern.com/chrome-version-62-to-show-security-warnings-on-http-pages-starting-in-october-2017";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2444:"<p>Google Search Console has started sending out notices to sites that have not yet migrated to HTTPS. Chrome 61 is now in beta and version 62 is on track to begin marking HTTP pages as &#8220;NOT SECURE&#8221; beginning in October. It will show the warning if it detects any forms on the page that transmit passwords, credit cards, or any text input fields that the browser deems are in need of HTTPS protection. All HTTP pages in incognito mode will trigger the warning.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/chrome-warning.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>In January 2017, Chrome version 56 began marking sites that transmit passwords or credit cards as non-secure as part of its long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure. The warning will become more prominent as time goes on.</p>
<p>&#8220;Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS,&#8221; Chrome Security Team Emily Schechter said.</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/eventual-chrome-warning-for-http-pages.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>The email sent out from the Google Search Console urges site owners to fix the problem by <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6073543?utm_source=wnc_10038795&utm_medium=gamma&utm_campaign=wnc_10038795&utm_content=msg_100078324&hl=en" target="_blank">migrating to HTTPS</a>. Hosting companies that specialize in WordPress are making it easier than ever to make the switch. Many of them have added Let’s Encrypt integration to offer free certificates to customers. As of 2017, WordPress now only recommends <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-will-only-recommend-hosting-companies-offering-ssl-by-default-in-2017" target="_blank">hosting partners that provide SSL certificates by default</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks to the push towards HTTPS from Google, web browsers, hosting companies, and the <a href="https://wptavern.com/lets-encrypt-passes-100-million-certificates-issued-will-offer-wildcard-certificates-in-january-2018" target="_blank">100+ million certificates issued by Let&#8217;s Encrypt</a>, the <a href="https://ipv.sx/telemetry/general-v2.html?channels=release&measure=HTTP_PAGELOAD_IS_SSL&target=1&absolute=0&relative=1" target="_blank">percentage of pageloads over HTTPS is now approaching 60%</a>, according to Firefox Telemetry.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 17:14:31 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:43:"Lorelle on WP: WordPress School: Shortcodes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:37:"http://lorelle.wordpress.com/?p=14325";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:69:"https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/wordpress-school-shortcodes/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15281:"<p><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School taught by Lorelle VanFossen."><img /></a></p>
<p>WordPress shortcodes are abbreviated code placed into the WordPress Visual or Text Editors that expands into a larger code structure. As we continue with <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School free online course</a>, it&#8217;s time to explore the basics of WordPress shortcodes.</p>
<p>The following is the embed code for a Google Map, pointing to one of my favorite local museums, <a href="http://ricenorthwestmuseum.com/">The Rice Northwest Rocks and Minerals Museum</a> in Hillsboro, Oregon:</p>
<p><code>&lt;a href="https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052"&gt;https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052&lt;/a&gt;</code></p>
<p>When the post or Page is saved, WordPress.com automatically converts it to the embed code for Google Maps like this:</p>
<p><code>&#091;googlemaps https&#058;&#047;&#047;www&#046;google&#046;com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2792.809130780463!2d-122.94987648443889!3d45.57427677910247!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x54950456e76e254b%3A0xdfad5d11bde5b6cc!2s26385+NW+Groveland+Dr%2C+Hillsboro%2C+OR+97124!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1502560000052&amp;w=600&amp;h=450]</code></p>
<p>This is what you see in your Visual or Text/HTML editors. Doesn&#8217;t look like a map, yet, does it? </p>
<p>When the post is previewed or published, you will see the map like this:</p>
<div class="googlemaps"></div>
<p>The map is not a screenshot. It is interactive. Zoom in and out and move around on the map. The <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/google-maps/" title="Google Maps — Support — WordPress.com">Google Maps shortcode</a> taps into the Google Maps API allowing a live section of the map to be embedded on your site to help people find locations and directions. </p>
<p>Google Maps are a great way of providing instructions to the location of a store or company on a Contact web page. They are also fun to embed in a post about a favorite park, hike, fishing hole, vacation spot, or even create a custom map that charts your travels, hikes, or a specific route for shopping or exploring. </p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> <em>Google Map embeds are tricky. You need to search for the exact address and use that embed code. If you search for a business name, you may get an invalid server request from Google Maps. Also note that WordPress.com has made it easier to use shortcodes by skipping the extra code and converting links and embed codes automatically to shortcodes. This may require saving your post as a draft twice before you can see the results on the front end preview of the post or Page.</em></p>
<p>Shortcodes allow the user to add content and functionality to a WordPress site without knowing extensive code or digging into the programming of a WordPress Theme or Plugin. With the shortcut of a shortcode, WordPress users may add all sorts of customization features to their site.</p>
<p>There are a variety of shortcodes in the core of WordPress. WordPress Themes have the ability to enable or disable these, and add more, as do WordPress Plugins.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s experiment with the <a title="Archives Shortcode &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/">Archives Shortcode</a>.</p>
<ol>
<li>Add a New Page to your site. Title it &#8220;Site Map&#8221; or &#8220;Archives.&#8221;</li>
<li>Type in <code>&#091;archives]</code>.</li>
<li>Preview, then publish the post when ready to see a listing of all of the published posts on your site in a list.</li>
</ol>
<p>Check out my <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/site-map/" title="Site Map « Lorelle on WordPress">site map</a> as an example of what&#8217;s possible. </p>
<h3>What You Need to Know About WordPress Shortcodes</h3>
<p>Shortcodes come with WordPress out of the box, and also with WordPress Themes and Plugins. These snippets of code allow the user to add functionality to their site without touching the code. </p>
<p>The PHP code that enables the functionality, and adds the ability to use the abbreviated code to generate that functionality on the site, is called a <code>function</code>. </p>
<p>At its core, this is the function found to generate all WordPress Shortcodes:</p>
<pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate">//[foobar]
function foobar_func( $atts ){
	return "foo and bar";
}
add_shortcode( 'foobar', 'foobar_func' );</pre>
<p>The attributes, represented in this abbreviated version by <code>$atts</code>, are the instructions as to what the shortcode is to do.</p>
<p>In the expanded form with functionality, I&#8217;ve called the shortcode &#8220;elephant&#8221; and set up two attribute values, &#8220;trumpet loudly&#8221; and &#8220;stomp.&#8221; </p>
<pre class="brush: xml; title: ; notranslate">// [elephant foo="foo-value"]
function elephant_func( $atts ) {
    $a = shortcode_atts( array(
        'foo' =&gt; 'trumpet loudly',
        'bar' =&gt; 'stomp',
    ), $atts );

    return "foo = {$a['foo']}";
}
add_shortcode( 'elephant', 'elephant_func' );</pre>
<p>Depending upon what &#8220;foo&#8221; and &#8220;bar&#8221; represent, the results would be &#8220;trumpet loudly&#8221; and &#8220;stomp.&#8221; What these represent are HTML code, modifications to HTML code, and initiates the programming such as generating a list of all the posts you&#8217;ve published as an archive list.</p>
<p>Right now, you aren&#8217;t at the stage where you can program shortcodes and add them to WordPress Themes or create WordPress Plugins, so I&#8217;m not going to dive into these much deeper. You need to learn how these work and how to use them on your site, and the more you use them, the better feel you will have for what a shortcode can do on your site. </p>
<p>WordPress.com offers a <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/" title="Support — WordPress.com">wide range of shortcodes</a> to add functionality to your site. To learn about how to use these, see <a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">Shortcodes &mdash; Support</a>. </p>
<p>Here are some examples of shortcodes to experiment with on WordPress.com.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/" title="YouTube — Support — WordPress.com">YouTube Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/audio/" title="Audio — Support — WordPress.com">Audio Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/soundcloud-audio-player/">SoundCloud Audio Player Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/gallery/" title="Galleries and Slideshows — Support — WordPress.com">Galleries and Slideshows Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/instagram/" title="Instagram — Support — WordPress.com">Instagram Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/" title="Create an Archive using the Archives Shortcode — Support — WordPress.com">Archives Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/blog-subscription-shortcode/" title="Blog Subscription Shortcode — Support — WordPress.com">Blog Subscription Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/forms/contact-form/" title="Contact Form — Support — WordPress.com">Contact Form Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/google-maps/" title="Google Maps — Support — WordPress.com">Google Maps Shortcode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/recipes/" title="Recipes — Support — WordPress.com">Recipes Shortcode</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>More Information on WordPress Shortcodes</h4>
<ul>
<li><a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">Shortcodes &#8211; Support &#8211; WordPress.com</a></li>
<li><a title="Shortcodes &mdash; Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/">List of Shortcodes available for WordPress.com sites</a></li>
<li><a title="Shortcode &laquo; WordPress Codex" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode">Shortcode &#8211; WordPress Codex</a></li>
<li><a title="Support &mdash; WordPress.com" href="http://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/">Shortcodes for WordPress.com</a></li>
<li><a title="Gallery Shortcode &laquo; WordPress Codex" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Gallery_Shortcode">Gallery Shortcode &#8211; WordPress Codex</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/wordpress-shortcodes-complete-guide/" title="WordPress Shortcodes: A Complete Guide – Smashing Magazine">WordPress Shortcodes: A Complete Guide – Smashing Magazine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-add-a-shortcode-in-wordpress/" title="How to Add A Shortcode in WordPress?">How to Add A Shortcode in WordPress? &#8211; WPBeginner</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/7-essential-tips-for-using-shortcodes-in-wordpress/" title="7 Essential Tips for Using Shortcodes in WordPress">7 Essential Tips for Using Shortcodes in WordPress &#8211; WPBeginner</a></li>
<li><a href="https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/getting-started-with-wordpress-shortcodes--wp-21197" title="Getting Started With WordPress Shortcodes">Getting Started With WordPress Shortcodes &#8211; Envatotuts+</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Assignment</h3>
<p><img />Your assignment in these WordPress School exercises is to experiment with WordPress shortcodes, specifically the ones available on WordPress.com. </p>
<p>I&#8217;ve listed some examples of shortcodes on WordPress.com above, and you may find more in the <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/category/shortcodes/" title="Support — WordPress.com">WordPress.com list of Shortcodes</a>.</p>
<p>Your assignment is to use shortcodes to add features to your site. </p>
<ul>
<li>Create a Page called &#8220;Site Map&#8221; or &#8220;Archives&#8221; and add an archive list shortcode.</li>
<li>Add a Google Map to a post or Page using the Google Maps shortcode.</li>
<li>Add a gallery to a post or Page with the gallery shortcode, testing the various options (parameters) to get the look and feel you like best.</li>
<li>Add a recipe to a post using the recipe shortcode.</li>
<li>Find another shortcode with a variety of features to experiment with. See how many ways you can change the look and feel of the content. If you wish, blog about your discoveries with screenshots or examples in the post. Let us know about it in the comments below so we can come inspect your work.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>This is a tutorial from <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School</a>. For more information, and to join this free, year-long, online WordPress School, see:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/welcome-to-lorelles-wordpress-school/" title="Welcome to Lorelle’s WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/" title="WordPress School « Lorelle on WordPress">Lorelle&#8217;s WordPress School Description</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/tutorials/" title="Tutorials « Lorelle on WordPress">WordPress School Tutorials List</a></li>
<li><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/115251582756616355670" title="WordPress School Google+ Community">WordPress School Google+ Community</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/wordpress-publishing-checklist/" title="WordPress Publishing Checklist">WordPress Publishing Checklist</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/classes-and-workshops/wordpress-school/feedback-and-criticism/" title="How to Give Feedback and Criticism - Lorelle's WordPress School.">How to Give Feedback and Criticism</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="sig">
<p><img src="https://lorelle.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/sig.gif" alt="" /></p>
<hr /> </div><br />Filed under: <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/">WordPress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/category/wordpress/wordpress-school-wordpress/">WordPress School</a> Tagged: <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/learn-wordpress/">learn wordpress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/shortcodes/">shortcodes</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-2/">wordpress</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-guide/">wordpress guide</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-help/">wordpress help</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-news/">WordPress News</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-school/">wordpress school</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-shortcodes/">wordpress shortcodes</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-tips/">WordPress Tips</a>, <a href="https://lorelle.wordpress.com/tag/wordpress-tutorials/">wordpress tutorials</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/lorelle.wordpress.com/14325/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=lorelle.wordpress.com&blog=72&post=14325&subd=lorelle&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 11:02:13 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17:"Lorelle VanFossen";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:97:"WPTavern: New Merlin WP Onboarding Wizard Makes WordPress Theme Installation and Setup Effortless";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74230";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:108:"https://wptavern.com/new-merlin-wp-onboarding-wizard-makes-wordpress-theme-installation-and-setup-effortless";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5189:"<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/merlin-wp.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://themebeans.com/" target="_blank">ThemeBeans</a> founder Rich Tabor released <a href="https://richtabor.com/merlin-wp/" target="_blank">Merlin WP</a> on <a href="https://github.com/richtabor/MerlinWP" target="_blank">GitHub</a> in public beta this week. The project provides a beautiful experience for installing and setting up WordPress themes with all of their plugin dependencies, Customizer settings, widgets, demo content, and more.</p>
<p>&#8220;I was inspired by David Baker’s <a href="https://github.com/dtbaker/envato-wp-theme-setup-wizard" target="_blank">Envato Theme Setup Wizard</a> and was working to add it to my own themes but pivoted after realizing I was just putting a band-aid on the onboarding issues surrounding themes in particular,&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;It wasn’t a particularly grand experience and didn’t take care of the essentials the way I was looking for.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tabor said he wanted to make the onboarding experience much friendlier than what WordPress products are typically known for and needed a way to get his customers started on the right foot.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the years I’ve had countless &#8216;how do I get this page like your demo&#8217; and &#8216;where do I even start&#8217; questions — and my themes aren’t even particularly confusing/difficult to use.&#8221; Tabor said.</p>
<p>Ordinarily, users have to hop from screen to screen to install a theme, recommended plugins, and apply Customizer settings. Even an experienced WordPress user often has to refer to documentation to get a theme set up with the right customizations to match the demo. The video below shows an example of Merlin WP in action as it guides a user through setting up <a href="https://themebeans.com/themes/york-pro" target="_blank">York Pro</a>, a fork of one of ThemeBeans&#8217; commercial themes that is included in Merlin WP&#8217;s GitHub repo.</p>
<div class="embed-vimeo"></div>
<p>Merlin WP makes the process of setting up a theme nearly effortless for users. It also leaves less room for error or confusion.</p>
<p>Developers can add Merlin WP directly to their theme files. It includes a configuration file that allows for customization of any text string in the wizard. Theme developers add the Merlin class (merlin/merlin.php) and the merlin-config.php file, along with any demo content (included in the demo directory location specified in the merlin-config.php file):</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>content.xml</strong> — Exported demo content using the WordPress Exporter</li>
<li><strong>widgets.wie</strong> — Exported widgets using Widget Importer and Exporter</li>
<li><strong>customizer.dat</strong> — Exported Customizer settings using Customizer Export/Import</li>
</ul>
<p>Merlin WP was also developed to work seamlessly with <a href="http://tgmpluginactivation.com/" target="_blank">TGMPA</a>, a PHP library that many WordPress developers use to require or recommend plugins for their themes and plugins. It will automatically pull the recommended plugins into the wizard.</p>
<p>Tabor said his targeted distribution channel is commercial themes, though he believes Merlin WP could also be useful for themes hosted on WordPress.org.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m honestly not sure if it would be allowed,&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;I guess that’s where getting more eyes on the project and more input from the Theme Review team comes in handy. I have had a lot of feedback from authors who are eventually considering adding Merlin WP as an &#8216;up-sell feature&#8217; for their lite offerings currently on .org.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tabor estimates that Merlin WP will be in beta for another two weeks. There are a few issues he wants to resolve before bringing it out of beta. He is testing the wizard in his own products at ThemeBeans, which is what he built it for originally. The shop has more than 40,000 customers and Tabor plans to push the wizard live across his entire theme collection once the last few issues are resolved.</p>
<p>Merlin WP is GPL-licensed and <a href="https://github.com/richtabor/MerlinWP" target="_blank">available on GitHub</a> for any developer to use in open source projects. Tabor said he is considering creating a pro version but is not currently interested in pursuing an add-on model.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m considering having an advanced version, with different developer-level capabilities, such as EDD Software Licensing support (where theme users can enter their license key issued from the developer in the onboarding process),&#8221; Tabor said.</p>
<p>Tabor anticipates one of the main benefits for theme shops using Merlin WP will be a decreased support load where questions about initial setup and &#8220;how do I do this like the demo&#8221; become less common.</p>
<p>&#8220;Customers will have what they’ve purchased right off the bat (instead of installing plugins, installing a child theme, importing content, setting menus, widgets, etc),&#8221; Tabor said. &#8220;They will likely appreciate the ease-of-use and share that experience with others.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:19:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:82:"Post Status: Building a healthy remote company, with Tom Willmot — Draft podcast";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38655";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:81:"https://poststatus.com/building-healthy-remote-company-tom-willmot-draft-podcast/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1876:"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href="https://poststatus.com/category/draft">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008">on iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast">Stitcher</a>, and <a href="http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.</p>
<p>In this episode, Brian is joined by Tom Willmot, the CEO of Human Made. Human Made recently released <a href="https://handbook.hmn.md/">an employee handbook</a> as an open source document for anyone to use, copy, or learn from. Tom and Brian discuss several elements of the handbook, and how they approach these things at Human Made:</p>
<ul>
<li>Employee onboarding</li>
<li>Remote work processes</li>
<li>Communication</li>
<li>Employee feedback and mentorship</li>
<li>HR policies</li>
<li>And more!</li>
</ul>
<p>This was a fun episode. Human Made has some of the lowest turnover in our industry and it was educational to hear from Tom.</p>
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<h3>Sponsor: OptinMonster</h3>
<p><a href="http://optinmonster.com">OptinMonster</a> allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create &amp; A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new <a href="http://optinmonster.com/announcing-the-inactivitysensor-activity-logs-and-more/">Inactivity Sensor</a> technology.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:19:30 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Katie Richards";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:93:"WPTavern: User Experience Tests Show Gutenberg’s UI Elements Can Benefit From Better Timing";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74274";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:101:"https://wptavern.com/user-experience-tests-show-gutenbergs-ui-elements-can-benefit-from-better-timing";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2703:"<p>Over the past few months, <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gutenberg/reviews/">reviews for Gutenberg</a> have trended towards a love/hate relationship without much in between. To figure out why this is, Millie Macdonald and Anna Harrison of Ephox, the company behind TinyMCE, <a href="https://go.tinymce.com/blog/gutenberg-editor-success-lies-timing/">analyzed the feedback</a> and concluded that many of the issues likely stem from timing.</p>
<p>&#8220;In short, the nuances in the micro-interactions and timing of UI elements in Gutenberg are a little out of sync with what the user is doing at a point in time,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;For example, a user typing in a new paragraph is distracted when the decoration of the previous paragraph turns on.&#8221;</p>
<p>A common piece of feedback is that Gutenberg&#8217;s UI is clean but also cluttered. Harrison recorded a video of users copying and pasting paragraphs into Gutenberg and Medium.</p>
<p>In the video, toolbars and UI elements are displayed in Gutenberg during the writing process creating a cluttered look and disrupting the writing flow. In Medium, the formatting toolbar doesn&#8217;t display until text is highlighted and the + symbol disappears if it&#8217;s not interacted with.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Based on user testing, Harrison suggests refining the timing of when visual elements pop up in Gutenberg. &#8220;Right now, menus pop up when we are trying to type,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;They ought to pop up when we are trying to do something to words that have already been typed.&#8221;</p>
<p>Harrison <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/2279">presented their findings</a> and suggestions to Gutenberg&#8217;s development team. Tammie Lister, design lead for Gutenberg, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/2279#issuecomment-321379994">agreed</a> that getting micro-transactions right is important. &#8220;I see this as the type of refinement post version 0.9/1 can bring,&#8221; Lister said.</p>
<p>&#8220;A few things I am slightly obsessed with is having an animation pace, story and consistency to interactions. Just something to throw in when looking at micro-interactions. I&#8217;ve also been doing some self thinking about what the &#8216;feel&#8217; of emotion of Gutenberg should be. The one I keep coming back to is &#8216;calm&#8217; and &#8216;supporting&#8217;. Just another thing to throw in when looking at these smaller details.&#8221;</p>
<p>Developers thanked Harrison and Macdonald for collecting, analyzing, and sharing data with the team. Does Gutenberg feel heavy to you? Let us know what your experience is like writing content in Gutenberg.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 17 Aug 2017 23:06:27 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"WPTavern: WordPress Support Team to Host Free Workshop August 23 on Supporting Themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74257";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:96:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-support-team-to-host-free-workshop-august-23-on-supporting-themes";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3074:"<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/colored-pencils.jpg?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>Over the past few months the WordPress Support Team has been brainstorming ways to improve support across various aspects of the community. One new idea they are pursuing is <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/support/2017/07/the-developers-guide-to-supporting-your-themes-a-support-workshop/" target="_blank">hosting workshops</a> where WordPress.org theme and plugin authors can present how they approach supporting their free, open source products that have been released to the community.</p>
<p>Some users approach WordPress.org plugins and themes with realistic expectations regarding the support they might receive on tickets. Others approach these free products as if they were all built with large teams of professional support behind them, which is rarely the case. This often results in frustration, one-star reviews, and ultimately a bad reputation for products hosted in the official directories. It is also one of the primary reasons developers forgo putting products on WordPress.org and simply opt to host them on GitHub.</p>
<p>The new workshops will offer concrete strategies for bridging the chasm of expectation regarding support that exists between developers and users. WordPress.org theme and plugin authors will share the tools and ideas they have implemented to offer support while creating a positive experience for everyone involved.</p>
<p><a href="https://kpresner.com/" target="_blank">Kathryn Presner</a>, who supports hundreds of themes at Automattic, will be leading the first workshop titled &#8220;The Developers Guide to Supporting Your Themes:&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>Providing support for your themes offers tremendous opportunities to educate WordPress users, from explaining how to make a child theme to offering simple CSS customisations. It also presents challenges, like figuring out how to help people who aren’t tech-savvy or need support beyond the scope of what you can provide. While many developers dread doing support, with some concrete strategies and techniques in hand, helping users doesn’t have to be a chore – and can even be fun! This session looks at how to make your themes’ users happy while feeling a sense of satisfaction from your own support efforts – a winning combination in the world of theme development.</p></blockquote>
<p>WordPress.org theme authors will want to mark their calendars for <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20170823T1600" target="_blank">Wednesday, August 23 at 11 AM CDT</a>. The workshop will be broadcast live as a Zoom teleconference and will last for an hour, including time for a Q&amp;A at the end. Zoom can <a href="https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-Mac-and-Linux" target="_blank">run on desktop</a> and also offers <a href="https://zoom.us/download" target="_blank">apps for mobile devices</a>. The session will be recorded and available on WordPress.tv at a later date.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Thu, 17 Aug 2017 19:19:26 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 285 – Not Every WordPress Is the Same";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"https://wptavern.com?p=74233&preview=true&preview_id=74233";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-285-not-every-wordpress-is-the-same";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2894:"<p>In this episode, <a href="https://jjj.blog/">John James Jacoby</a> and I open the show by discussing our observations of social media lately. Our feeds are filled with anger and for me personally, Twitter is becoming less useful.</p>
<p>We discussed the news of the week, including a lengthy conversation about Automattic opening up the WordPress.org ecosystem of plugins and themes to Business plan customers. Near the end of the episode, we share the features we&#8217;d like to see in a syntax highlighter for the built-in plugin and theme editors.</p>
<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-foundation-to-sponsor-open-source-educational-events">WordPress Foundation to Sponsor Open Source Educational Events</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-forks-select2-releases-selectwoo-as-a-drop-in-replacement-with-improved-accessibility">WooCommerce Forks select2, Releases selectWoo as a Drop-In Replacement with Improved Accessibility</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-0-8-0-introduces-5-new-blocks-categories-text-columns-shortcode-audio-and-video">Gutenberg 0.8.0 Introduces 5 New Blocks: Categories, Text Columns, Shortcode, Audio, and Video</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem">WordPress.com’s Business Plan Gives Subscribers a Way to Tap into WordPress.org’s Third-party Ecosystem</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-to-focus-on-code-editing-and-customization-improvements-targeted-for-november-14">WordPress 4.9 to Focus on Code Editing and Customization Improvements, Targeted for November 14</a></p>
<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>
<p><a href="https://wpisnotwp.com/">WPisNotWP</a> by Caspar Hübinger, is a tiny progressive web app that outlines the differences between WordPress the open-source project and WordPress.com. Contributions to the app can be made on the <a href="https://github.com/glueckpress/wpistnotwp.com">project&#8217;s GitHub page</a>.</p>
<p>A deep dive into the WordPress user roles and capabilities API by John Blackbourn.</p>
<div class="embed-wrap"></div>
<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>
<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, August 23rd 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Itunes: </strong><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via RSS: </strong><a href="https://wptavern.com/feed/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Subscribe To WPWeekly Via Stitcher Radio: </strong><a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to subscribe</a></p>
<p><strong>Listen To Episode #285:</strong><br />
</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 23:55:22 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:90:"WPTavern: Gravity Forms Stop Entries Plugin Aims to Help Sites Comply with the EU’s GDPR";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74189";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"https://wptavern.com/gravity-forms-stop-entries-plugin-aims-to-help-sites-comply-with-the-eus-gdpr";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10232:"<a href="https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/steaming-mailbox.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>photo credit: <a href="https://stocksnap.io/photo/NRB5T25KRG">AJ Montpetit</a>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wider-gravity-forms-stop-entries/" target="_blank">Wider Gravity Forms Stop Entries</a> is a new plugin that helps website owners protect the privacy of form submissions by preventing entries from being stored in the database. The plugin was created by UK-based web developer <a href="https://jonnya.net/" target="_blank">Jonny Allbut</a> for internal use at <a href="https://wider.co.uk/" target="_blank">Wider</a>, a company he set up for handling WordPress clients&#8217; needs.</p>
<p>One aspect of complying with the EU&#8217;s <a href="http://www.eugdpr.org/" target="_blank">General Data Protection Regulation</a> (GDPR) is ensuring that contact forms do not store any personally identifiable data on the server. The regulation becomes enforceable in May 2018 and sites that serve EU citizens are preparing for the deadline with audits and changes to how they handle privacy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gravityforms.com/" target="_blank">Gravity Forms</a> doesn&#8217;t offer a built-in option to stop entries from being stored on the server but GF co-founder Carl Hancock says there are a variety of ways to accomplish this.</p>
<p>&#8220;If all you want to do is simply email the contents of the form and not store the data in the database as part of the route you&#8217;d like to take for GDPR compliance, this plugin would be one method of doing so,&#8221; Hancock said. He also referenced Gravity Wiz&#8217;s commercial <a href="https://gravitywiz.com/documentation/gravity-forms-disable-entry-creation/" target="_blank">Disable Entry Creation</a> plugin. Developers can also <a href="https://www.gravityhelp.com/documentation/article/delete-entry-data-after-submission/" target="_blank">delete entry data after submission</a> via a hook.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, the GDPR doesn&#8217;t preclude storing form entries in a database and is entirely dependent on the type of data you are storing and the other safeguards and functionality you have put in place,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a complex issue and I&#8217;m not entirely sure the EU fully understands the burden and implications that may come with it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ultimately, the requirement of compliance falls upon website administrators who are the ones collecting the data. It is their responsibility to select tools that will protect their users&#8217; privacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;While it won’t provide GDPR compliance on its own, Jonny’s extension is a much-needed step in the right direction,&#8221; digital law specialist <a href="https://webdevlaw.uk" target="_blank">Heather Burns</a> said. Burns consults with companies that need assistance in getting their sites GDPR compliant. &#8220;GDPR requires adherence to the <a href="https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/07/privacy-by-design-framework/" target="_blank">principles of privacy by design</a> and part of that is data minimization and deletion.&#8221;</p>
<p>WordPress has dozens of popular contact form plugins, both free and commercial. Many of them store entries in the database in case the recipient&#8217;s email has problems, preventing the communication from becoming lost. Site administrators who are concerned about GDPR compliance will want to examine the solution they have selected for forms. Burns advised that contact form plugins need to do the following three things:</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensure that personal and sensitive personal data from form entries is not stored in the database;</li>
<li>Provide configuration options to allow contact form entries to be automatically deleted after a certain period of time;</li>
<li>Ensure that all contact form data is deleted when the plugin is deactivated or deleted.</li>
</ul>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately the direction of travel has been the exact opposite: contact form entries tend to be stored in perpetuity on the database regardless of content or necessity,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;Contact form plugins with options to automatically delete form submissions after a certain period of time are rare. I&#8217;ve even seen contact form extensions which duplicate entries to a separate table, which, all things considered, is madness. We need to be developing towards data minimization and deletion, not retention and duplication.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last month JJ Jay <a href="https://tharshetests.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/wp-contact-form-remnants/" target="_blank">published</a> an analysis of how and where popular WordPress contact forms plugins store data. This is a useful reference for site administrators who are not sure how their chosen solution handles data collection and storage. She suggested a few questions for users to ask when examining contact forms:</p>
<ul>
<li>Can the option to store data be turned on and off?</li>
<li>At what granularity?</li>
<li>Can the data be deleted when the plugin is deleted?</li>
<li>What personally identifiable data, other than the data from each form, is stored? (i.e. <a href="https://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/10/eu-dynamic-static-ip-personal-data/" target="_blank">a user’s IP address</a>)</li>
<li>Is it possible to delete the submissions on an ad-hoc or scheduled basis?</li>
</ul>
<p>If you&#8217;re not sure what could be leftover in your database from other plugins, Jay has also created a &#8220;<a href="https://github.com/tharsheblows/mjj-whats-in-my-database" target="_blank">What&#8217;s in my database?</a>&#8221; plugin that administrators can install and access under the Tools menu. It is read-only and lists every table and its columns, so users can see if there are any surprises.</p>
<h3>British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) Hack Highlights the Danger of Storing Contact Form Entries in the Database</h3>
<p>In educating website owners about the dangers of storing sensitive personal data, Heather Burns often cites the 2012 British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) hack as one of the worst examples of the consequences of storing contact form entries in databases. The hacker, who was later jailed, stole thousands of records from the charity, which was running on an unknown outdated CMS with weak passwords. The site had not undergone a privacy impact assessment on its personal data collection and storage methods.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the services BPAS offers is access to abortions,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;Many of their service users come over from Ireland, where abortion is banned under nearly all circumstances. The site had a contact form where women could enquire about abortions. BPAS thought that messages were merely passing through the site; no one within the organization had any clue that a copy of each contact form submission was stored on the database. Somewhat inevitably, the site was easily hacked by an anti-abortion activist who downloaded the database. He found himself in possession over 5,000 contact form submissions going back over five years containing women’s names, email addresses, phone numbers, and the fact that they were enquiring about abortions. He then announced his intention to publish the womens’ data on an anti-abortion forum.&#8221;</p>
<p>The hacker was caught and arrested before he had the opportunity to publish the list. He received 32 months of jail time and BPAS was fined £200k for the data protection breaches.</p>
<p>&#8220;As well as criticizing the charity for their technical failures, the regulator called attention to the fact that no one on the staff had thought to ask the proper questions about the tools they were using; they were also angry that the site had a legalistic privacy policy which was clearly not worth the pixels it was printed on,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;All of these failures were deemed inadmissible and inexcusable by the data protection regulator. It is no exaggeration to say that women could have been killed because of a contact form.&#8221;</p>
<p>Auditing contact forms is just one piece of the puzzle for those working towards GDPR compliance. Burns recommends that site administrators conduct a privacy impact assessment of personal and sensitive data that is submitted through forms. Privacy notices should also be clear about how this data is handled and how long it is retained before it is deleted.</p>
<p>The GDPR was written to be extraterritorial and states that the regulations apply to any site or service that has European users. These sites are expected to protect EU users&#8217; data according to European regulations. Many American company owners are not yet convinced that this is enforceable outside of EU borders and have not invested in getting their online entities to be compliant.</p>
<p>&#8220;GDPR provides a very useful framework for user protection, which is now more important than ever,&#8221; Burns said. &#8220;I&#8217;m encouraging Americans to work to GDPR because it&#8217;s a constructive accountable framework that&#8217;s a hell of a lot better than nothing.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wider-gravity-forms-stop-entries/" target="_blank">Wider Gravity Forms Stop Entries</a> is currently the only plugin in the official WordPress directory that addresses GDPR concerns for a specific contact form plugin. Others may become available as the May 2018 deadline approaches. Jonny Allbut warns users in the FAQ to test the plugin with third-party GF extensions before adding it to a live site, as some extensions may rely on referencing data entries stored in form submissions.</p>
<p>I asked Carl Hancock if Gravity Forms might make storing form entries in the database an optional feature and he confirmed they are considering it.</p>
<p>&#8220;Yes, this is certainly possible,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;We try to avoid conflicts with available 3rd party add-ons for Gravity Forms to encourage their development,&#8221; Hancock said. &#8220;But unfortunately it is not always avoidable. It is a feature that has been requested numerous times in the past and I suspect with the GDPR it will be a feature that will be requested even more going forward.&#8221;</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 23:03:45 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:46:"Post Status: Free speech, privacy, and the web";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"https://poststatus.com/?p=38615";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:51:"https://poststatus.com/free-speech-privacy-and-web/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:7492:"<p>Politics and the web are intersecting more and more. In recent news, at least three WordPress related companies have been getting broad media attention.</p>
<p>In just a few days, we&#8217;ve seen GoDaddy <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/14/16143820/godaddy-and-google-wont-host-daily-stormer-domain">shut down a site</a> for violating terms and conditions, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40454089/wordpress-bans-website-of-fascist-group-linked-to-alleged-charlottesville-killer">as well as</a> Automattic. DreamHost received significant attention for <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/we-fight-for-the-users/">refusing to release site visitor information</a> to the US Department of Justice.</p>
<p>I think the most relevant angle for this website is to note that it&#8217;s important for web-based services to be prepared for the unexpected news cycles that revolve around web-based properties.</p>
<p>How well does your PR team know your terms and conditions? What&#8217;s your stance on free speech, and when can that cross a line into speech or content that your service is ready to limit? The definitions can be narrow; let&#8217;s look at Automattic&#8217;s decision to shut down a site called Blood and Soil.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a despicable site, and it has been for a while. Automattic is aware of the sites that exist on WordPress.com, and this isn&#8217;t their first rodeo with objectionable sites receiving lots of backlash from advocacy groups. For instance, the Guccifer 2.0 person or group that hacked the Democratic National Committee was on WordPress.com, and they still are. There are countless others, some hacking related, some simply vile or hate-filled.</p>
<p>So what makes a site cross the line for a particular service? GoDaddy&#8217;s Ben Butler <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40411086/activists-push-back-against-the-platforms-that-quietly-empower-hate-groups">described to Fast Company</a> that they draw the line between speech and violence:</p>
<blockquote><p>GoDaddy&#8217;s Ben Butler described to Fast Company that they draw the line between speech and violence:</p>
<p>“We strongly support the First Amendment and are very much against censorship on the internet,” writes Ben Butler, director of the Digital Crimes Unit for <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/">GoDaddy</a>, in an email. He adds that, “if a site promotes, encourages, or engages in violence against people, we will take action.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The GoDaddy decision (which Google followed up with as well) was especially interesting because they made the decision as the domain registrar, not a content host. In that case they weren&#8217;t actually providing the hosting service.</p>
<p>Automattic has similar policies. Specifically, they link to <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/user-guidelines/">user guidelines</a> within their <a href="https://en.wordpress.com/tos/">ToS</a>, which has a clause for &#8220;directly threatening material.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>Do not post direct and realistic threats of violence. That is, you cannot post a genuine call for violence—or death—against an individual person, or groups of persons. This doesn’t mean that we’ll remove all hyperbole or offensive language.</p></blockquote>
<p>They also have a specific policy (not directly linked from their ToS) for <a href="https://en.support.wordpress.com/terrorist-activity/">terrorist activity</a>, and a provision to allow them to remove content or users for any reason.</p>
<p>The terrorist in Charlottesville aligned himself with Blood And Soil, prompting Automattic to pull the plug —  as the line was crossed.</p>
<p>DreamHost&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/we-fight-for-the-users/">pushback to the government</a> was about First Amendment concerns as well, primarily with visitors:</p>
<blockquote><p>The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 <em>million</em> visitor IP addresses — in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of <strong>thousands</strong> of people — in an effort to determine who simply <em>visited</em> the website. (Our customer has also been notified of the pending warrant on the account.)</p>
<p>That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.</p></blockquote>
<p>Every host deals with requests that may not require visitor information but definitely do require account information. Automattic&#8217;s Paul Sieminski provided a helpful post on the <a href="https://transparency.automattic.com/2017/07/25/shining-light-on-national-security-letters/">types of requests they get</a>, and how they handle them.</p>
<p>The US has broad protections built into the First Amendment covering free speech. Platforms are not required to meet those protections; however, many are strident supporters of the First Amendment. Those protections are often for some of the most unpopular types of content. The Supreme Court has ruled there&#8217;s <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/08/14/there-hate-speech-exception-first-amendment/q9m4IqfQvbo24nnlnPor1O/story.html">no hate speech exception in the First Amendment</a>, and this ruling has been cited recently in a trademark case.</p>
<p>I think the author of the above-cited op-ed makes a good point:</p>
<blockquote><p>We can and should speak up against hate. As the Supreme Court makes clear, there’s no hate speech exception to the First Amendment. With that freedom comes a heavy burden for government officials like Baker and Walsh, who must try to keep protected speech from turning into acts of violence.</p></blockquote>
<p>The burden is also heavy for platforms who are dedicated to providing a place for unpopular opinions. There are many times when the unpopular opinion, or anti-government opinion, is incredibly important to protect. But when speech stems over into violence, then I believe platforms have not only a right, but also a responsibility to take a stand.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important for organizations to be educated about and consistent with their own terms of service, company-wide. I&#8217;m afraid these hard questions about speech, rights, and responsibility will be pretty common for a while to come. And as fast as information spreads — for instance, the calls for GoDaddy to shut down a hate site this week came in a fury, part of a quickly viral Twitter post — acting quickly and consistently will be incredibly important.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve talked about platforms and services with some control over their user base. The obvious other side of this is that there is a whole segment of our community with no control over their users. Your theme, plugin, and WordPress itself can be used without permission by absolutely anyone, and of course that&#8217;s by design. WordPress or a WordPress-related product could be identified and criticized virally for enabling objectionable users and content</p>
<p>As a community, are we prepared to respond to that?</p>
<p>PS: If you&#8217;re a journalist writing about WordPress.com and issues like these, please understand the difference between WordPress.com, owned by Automattic, and WordPress the software. <a href="https://poststatus.com/resources/wordpress-versus-automattic/">I wrote a handy guide for you</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:38:54 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:15:"Brian Krogsgard";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:41:"HeroPress: The Greatest Screenplay Writer";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:56:"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2033";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:126:"https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=greatest-screenplay-writer";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14463:"<img width="960" height="480" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/081617-1024x512.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Pull Quote: WordPress is not like any other open source communityI saw before." /><p>My upbringing was not quite usual Serbian upbringing. I was almost forbidden to do things I didn&#8217;t really love. My parents insisted on trying things and finding that deep passion. But I didn&#8217;t have to search and try. I always knew what I&#8217;d be when I grow up. As long as I remember, there was no doubt.</p>
<h3>A classical musician</h3>
<p>When I was 8 my mom took me to local music school for entrance examination. I was in! Oh, joy! Finally I was learning to play and sing, to read and write this new language. Italian. Oh, music scores too! There was a whole new world that my parents, or anyone in my family, didn&#8217;t know anything about and I was stepping into it. I was doing just fine in it.. and I couldn&#8217;t live outside of it.</p>
<p>As time passed, I finished elementary and high music school, went to music Academy, almost finished it and then my mother died. It was 2003. Two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. There was no time for grief and I couldn&#8217;t feel the joy. I just switched off and turned to the facts: I became a mom and a wife and I needed a job.</p>
<p>And what a job did I found. An opera prompter. Opera Prompter! God, I love that job. Every second of it for ten years. I was yelling at singers, singing, conducting, traveling, laughing and crying. My Italian was significantly improved. Working time was great &#8211; so much free time to be a mom, study for Academy, get a hobby&#8230;</p>
<h3>Opera prompter&#8217;s hobby</h3>
<p>In 2007 I was administrator in one English speaking forum with focus on software and hardware topics. It helped me to significantly improve my English. And my tech knowledge. Which was close to none when I registered. As one of administrators, occasionally I had to tweak site here and there. It was great! There was this code and when I would change something in code it would show on the site. Neat! I loved reading those files, finding patterns and parts written in humanly understandable forms. Later I learned those were called loops and conditionals. Also later I learned that this language is called PHP and that many other languages for building websites exist. Forum script was phpBB3.</p>
<p>I was never a gamer. Never understood the point of game, besides finishing it. I guess PHP was to me what games are to passionate gamers. Like a puzzle or sudoku.</p>
<p>At the same time my marriage was turning from bad into worse and in the beginning of 2008 I finally decided it was enough. We were working on Mozart&#8217;s “Don Giovanni” in Theater. I remember this so clearly because my divorce was just turning from bad into worse. Those few months lasted for centuries after which I still needed a lot of time to recover what&#8217;s left of my self-esteem. My complete mental and emotional health was destroyed after years of domestic violence.</p>
<p>2009 was important year for me. The cognition of possibility to have local server on my own machine and test everything before executing it on live site turned out to be very helpful.</p>
<p>In October I needed a blog script and friend recommended WordPress. It was 2.9 version. It didn&#8217;t really work well but everyone was writing about it. There were at least 5 new tutorials on various blogs every day. I was digesting them every morning with my first coffee. The ones I really liked I even reproduced in my shiny new localhost. Soon enough I developed a local monster with different widgets on each page, future posts archive, post series done with custom fields and God knows whatnot. This WordPress was slowly taking over my free time. Every second of it.</p>
<h3>So, the WordPress it is</h3>
<p>One day a friend of mine asked me to build him a website for his ensemble. And for money. Money? I never thought of getting money for this. This was too good of a hobby. But he&#8217;s a friend so I did it. Then another friend showed up with the same request. And another.. I became freelance WordPress developer before I could even understand what was happening. It wasn&#8217;t really a favor to friends any more. I was a single mom with mortgage. My daughter was in primary school, life costs became serious while the art-and-culture salary was silently and regularly reduced.</p>
<blockquote><p>I was freelancing every single minute I could. Sleeping was luxury I could afford on weekends.</p></blockquote>
<p>My dad was helping me tremendously. He was babysitting during theater&#8217;s rehearsals and performances in the evenings. When I&#8217;d get home, my daughter was sleeping, tomorrow&#8217;s meals cooked, dishes done and shining. I could go on like this but it was uncertain for how long.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013 I was recovering from what was supposed to be routine gallbladder surgery and what nearly cost me life. Almost fully operational, I was getting ready for next roller coaster known as a mix of school year, freelancing and theater&#8217;s season. Then my father died. Suddenly. In an accident.</p>
<p>Oh, this screaming silence..</p>
<p>I couldn&#8217;t think. Or breathe. For months. I needed someone to put the roller coaster on pause. Just.. Just a short one. To take a breathe. But there was no one. I was all alone with a 9 years old child who had to grow up fast. I had to grow up fast.</p>
<blockquote><p>All of a sudden I realized that I can not afford a single mistake any more. I can not be ill, get in debts, lose job. Or mind. I was the only one I could count on.</p></blockquote>
<p>In 2014 my theater salary got reduced once again. And again in following year. 30% in total. For ten years it never covered all of my monthly expenses but this was ridiculous. It was a time for me to stop playing it safe and see what I&#8217;m made of. That was probably the most difficult decision I have ever made. A heart breaking one. Stop being musician. So I quit being Opera Prompter and started working as a full time WordPress developer.</p>
<h3>Well, hello, World!</h3>
<p>I didn&#8217;t really know for which wage level my knowledge was. For years I was the only WordPress developer I knew in person. The rest were all online superstars I was learning from. So I started as a shy medior and the only WordPress developer in agency. It turns out that, for this agency needs, I was senior and soon enough I was organizing and leading development processes for new projects.</p>
<p>From the business point of view repeating similar projects makes you &#8220;niche expert&#8221;. I do understand that. But, as many other developers out there, I don&#8217;t like repeating the same tasks or projects. Not even once. I missed variety which led me to become more active contributor on wordpress.org.</p>
<blockquote><p>For years I was just contributing to codex here and there and never really thought about all the people behind WordPress.</p></blockquote>
<p>In my vague image, they were a bunch of really great developers and they were doing just fine. I was learning from them so I could not possibly help them. I would just be on their way.</p>
<p>However, in my attempt to find something interesting to keep my mind amused with, I came upon <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/chat/">Slack url</a> for communication between contributors on WordPress project. What a crowd! And not just developers &#8211; everyone! Doing all kinds of different bits, and all important. How odd. WordPress is not like any other open source community I saw before. So much more open and inviting! I remember reading through channels and thinking: &#8220;I could do this&#8221;, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;d love to learn that&#8221;, &#8220;This person is funny&#8221;.. I&#8217;m gonna stick.</p>
<h3>Antisocial extrovert in a more open open source community</h3>
<p>No matter how I tried, and I did try, I&#8217;m just not a people person. Among other antisocial treats, over the years I have developed a heavy dark humor which, more often than not, due to lack of social interactions I reveal in a completely wrong way. But these people seem not to mind so I thought to give it a try with them. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/planning-details/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a> is extremely important in WordPress community. No community wants bullies. But rare communities accept social weirdos and misfits. And this one doesn&#8217;t just accept them, it makes them feel like fits. That was a nice change.</p>
<p>I started attending local <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WP-Meetup-NS/">Meetups</a>, even gave <a href="https://www.meetup.com/WP-Meetup-NS/events/235186967/">a talk</a> on contributing to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/get-involved/become-a-reviewer/">Theme Review team</a> after which I was invited to join <a href="https://www.toptal.com/">Toptal platform</a> as a freelance developer. My social adventure got me volunteering on <a href="https://2017.belgrade.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Belgrade</a> and <a href="https://2017.europe.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp Europe in Paris</a>. I must admit there were &#8220;too many people at the same time&#8221; moments but there were lots of ways to stay involved with controlled dose of human interactions. I chose volunteering at Experts bar and it worked out just great. I really loved all the hugs though.</p>
<p>Today I try to keep my focus on just a few channels in make WordPress slack and my contribution wish list regularly updated. One can have only so many hours in a day. Most often you&#8217;ll find me in <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/?redir=%2Fmessages%2Fdocs">#docs</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/?redir=%2Fmessages%2Fcore-docs">#core-docs</a> channels, doing various stuff with <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/docs/handbook/about-the-docs-team/get-involved/">Documentation</a> team.</p>
<p><a href="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/milana-cap_wcbgd.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2036 size-large" src="http://20094-presscdn.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/milana-cap_wcbgd-1024x683.jpg" alt="Milana, on a rooftop baclony with some other people looking at her phone" width="960" height="640" /></a></p>
<h3>The Questions</h3>
<p>Among all the questions I get about my professional path, the most commons are &#8220;<strong>How come you made such a huge change from music to web development?</strong>&#8220;, &#8220;<strong>Did you go to school to become a developer</strong>?&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>Do you miss being musician?</strong>&#8220;. Answer to the first question is quite easy:</p>
<p>&#8220;Being musician and writing code are pretty much the same. They both require the same parts of your mental struggle and make you go through the same emotional tortures and enlightenments.&#8221;</p>
<p>The second question, however, is a bit more difficult to answer. In the light of the first answer, I could say that I was exposed to the required way of thinking. Practicing an instrument 6 hours per day for over a decade does teach you a couple of things about commitment. World of classical music is a world of magnificent talents and varieties which touches you all the way to the humble self where you find appreciation for being able to feel this way. Personally, I believe this is extremely important for developer &#8211; to be humble and grateful to person who helped them find this humbleness.</p>
<p>No, I don&#8217;t have a formal developer&#8217;s education. It doesn&#8217;t seem to prevent me from being developer. And no, I don&#8217;t miss being musician. Because I never stopped being one. I listen to classical music while I code and play piano when I have a difficult programming problem to solve. Feels so natural.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d like to say that everything turned out pretty good at the end but, as my father used to say: &#8220;Life is the greatest screenplay writer&#8221; and my life seems to be the witty one too. In expectation of future turns I&#8217;d recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4788Tmz9Zo&t=884s">Beethoven&#8217;s Symphony No.7, II movement</a>, some very loud laughs and lots of WordPress loops.</p>
<div class="rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button"><a title="Tweet: The Greatest Screenplay Writer" class="rtsocial-twitter-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=The%20Greatest%20Screenplay%20Writer&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light"><div class="rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button"><a title="Like: The Greatest Screenplay Writer" class="rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-linkedin-button" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgreatest-screenplay-writer%2F&title=The+Greatest+Screenplay+Writer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Share: The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div></div><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal"><div class="rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button"><a class="rtsocial-pinterest-button" href="https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/081617-150x150.jpg&description=The Greatest Screenplay Writer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Pin: The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div></div><a rel="nofollow" class="perma-link" href="https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/" title="The Greatest Screenplay Writer"></a></div><p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com/essays/greatest-screenplay-writer/">The Greatest Screenplay Writer</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:00:44 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:10:"Milana Cap";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"WPTavern: WordPress Mobile Apps Updated with a New Login Experience";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74197";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-mobile-apps-updated-with-a-new-login-experience";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4732:"<p>The WordPress mobile apps are sporting <a href="https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/an-updated-login-coming-to-the-wordpress-mobile-apps/" target="_blank">a new login experience</a> that Automattic&#8217;s mobile designers and developers released in the latest versions. The login flow has been completely redesigned to provide a more unified experience for connecting both self-hosted and WordPress.com-hosted sites. These flows were completely separate in the past and users were often confused about which one to select. The new design provides fewer opportunities for friction when logging in, an experience that likely determines many users&#8217; first impressions of the app.</p>
<a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/self-hosted-login-wp-mobile-apps.png?ssl=1"><img /></a>Self-hosted login on mobile apps
<p>&#8220;As we reimagined the login experience, there were a few key principles guiding us: keep it simple, minimize the distinction between a site hosted at WordPress.com versus somewhere else, and avoid anything that might be too clever,&#8221; Automattic mobile lead Eric Johnson said.</p>
<p>Users can now connect new sites by entering the URL and the mobile apps will automatically detect if the site is hosted on WordPress.com or not. The new login flow ferries users on to the next step based on what kind of site is being connected. This is available in version 8.0 of WordPress for Android and version 8.2 of WordPress for iOS.</p>
<p>The new login experience emphasizes the ease of using magic links for logging into WordPress.com. If the user enters and email address, the app will generate an authentication link and send it via email. This allows users to login without having to remember or enter a password.</p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/new-login-experience-wp-mobile-apps.png?ssl=1"><img /></a></p>
<p>If a user is entering the world of WordPress for the first time through the mobile apps, the new login experience also offers a short tour of the some of the features included in the app. These include WordPress.com features such as notifications, Stats, and the Reader. The apps, despite being marketed as the official WordPress mobile apps, are a product of Automattic and include a commercial upgrade path for WordPress.com services.</p>
<p>The idea of the apps functioning as a gateway to help the greater WordPress ecosystem gain more users (and eventually see some graduate to self-hosted sites), no longer seems credible now that WordPress.com has <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-coms-business-plan-gives-subscribers-a-way-to-tap-into-wordpress-orgs-third-party-ecosystem" target="_blank">entered the hosting space by allowing its customers to tap into third-party plugins and themes</a>.</p>
<p>The updated login experience, while more convenient for users, continues to blur the line between self-hosted and WordPress.com-hosted sites. WordPress for Android and iOS used to have their own separate blogs but all of the news is now funneled through WordPress.com&#8217;s news blog and the @WordPressiOS and @WPAndroid Twitter accounts seemed to have been abandoned in favor of marketing updates through WordPress.com.</p>
<p>In the past, many in the WordPress community have asked why the apps are not called the WordPress.com mobile apps, since they include features that are not central to the core publishing experience for self-hosted users. Last year when I <a href="https://wptavern.com/wordpress-for-android-5-7-adds-path-to-upgrade-wordpress-com-plan" target="_blank">interviewed</a> Maxime Biais, one of Automattic’s mobile engineers, he said the team had considered splitting the product into two apps.</p>
<p>“We considered having both WordPress and WordPress.com apps, but we rejected this because it doesn’t make it more clear,” Bias said. “It’s probably even more ambiguous when someone searches the Play Store for &#8216;WordPress&#8217; or &#8216;Blog&#8217; and finds both WordPress and WordPress.com apps.”</p>
<p>Now that that mobile apps have become a direct pipeline for new WordPress.com hosting customers, it may be time to re-visit the consideration of splitting the apps into two distinct products: one for WordPress.com&#8217;s commercial interests and one that officially represents the open source WordPress project for self-hosted users without any corporate interests. If the project&#8217;s official mobile apps are a key part of new users&#8217; onboarding experience, they should accurately represent the software as an independent platform that can be hosted with and extended by any number of free and commercial products in the WordPress ecosystem.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 06:33:48 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Sarah Gooding";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"WPTavern: WordCamp US to Experiment With A Community Bazaar";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://wptavern.com/?p=74138";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:70:"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-us-to-experiment-with-a-community-bazaar";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2237:"<p>In addition to taking place in a new location this year, <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/">WordCamp US</a> will have a <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/attendee-information/community-bazaar/">Community Bazaar</a>. An area will be set aside in the venue allowing those chosen to showcase their WordPress communities. Raquel Landefeld, Randy Hicks, and Dustin Meza are organizing the Bazaar.</p>
<p>Landefeld says the idea was inspired by the people who make up the WordPress Community. &#8220;We recognize that some local WordPress communities are thriving and some are just getting started,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>&#8220;What better way to help build community then by showcasing our local communities to the world. The thought is that smaller, newer, and communities just in their infancy, will be inspired with fresh ideas and or how-tos from the bigger and more established WordPress communities.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea is similar to that of a science fair where each community chosen will have a space to highlight why theirs is awesome.</p>
<p>The purpose of the event is to inspire growth while providing an opportunity for communities to learn from each other. There will also be metrics shared such as, number of meetup and WordCamp attendees, meetups per month, and unique qualities pertaining to the local groups.</p>
<p>The organizing team is looking for the inside scoop on local communities. &#8220;This is all about you and your local WordPress community,&#8221; Landefeld said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is your time to shine. Why is your community different, special, or amazing? Be showy! Forget modesty. Let your community’s awesomeness be a tool to inspire other WP communities just getting started or striving.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last year saw record growth for WordPress community events. In 2016, more than 62,566 people attended a local meetup in 58 countries and about one-third of those were new members. A total of 115 WordCamps were hosted in 41 different countries.</p>
<p>Those interested in participating in the Bazaar are encouraged to fill out the following <a href="https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/attendee-information/community-bazaar/">submission form</a> and provide as many details as possible.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:45:34 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:13:"Jeff Chandler";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:42:"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:8:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Tue, 19 Sep 2017 03:23:13 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Tue, 19 Sep 2017 03:00:10 GMT";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:4:"x-nc";s:11:"HIT lax 250";s:16:"content-encoding";s:4:"gzip";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20130911110210";}