The WP Minute

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute WordPress is amazing not just because it’s a great tool to publish words on the internet, but that it has the potential to encourage you to learn more about the web — if you want. If you remember the golden age of automobiles, enthusiasts would change their own oil or make the repairs themselves to avoid bringing them to the dealership. An act to save a few bucks or just because you loved the idea of doing the work yourself. Back then, cars weren’t powered by computer chips or electric motors — they were mechanically pure — this was your rig. You rolled up your sleeves, got out your toolbox, and slid under the chassis of your daily driver. Not only were you learning how cars were built, you were extending that knowledge to work on other cars as well. Industry knowledge that lead folks to have a career in automobiles, wherever that took them.There was a whole economy of DIY auto mechanics — a whole industry, really. Chilton Books used to publish guides for the DIYers which included detailed diagrams of the cars they were repair until the internet accompanied by the production of more complex cars laid waste to their business. Breaking apart a car to learn how it worked just wasn’t feasible anymore. You could even draw the parallels of open source WordPress to the likes of a closed source Webflow, for instance. Sure, you can learn how to build and design website with Webflow — in fact you kinda need to know how to before you dive in — but that mechanical purity is what’s missing. In other words, you can’t dismantel Webflow and see how it’s doing its thing, but you can with WordPress. You can’t bring closed source systems to a different hosting server and reconfigure the stack to get it dialed-in for optimum performance or to change where you store your data — you can with WordPress. The big debate happening right now is understanding who WordPress is for. What kind of software are we building? It’s certainly trending towards a more competent website builder for the everyday user, but I also think it’s ushering in a new type of developer class as well. Developers are finicky. They are mostly stuck in their ways, have their preferred toolset, and come equipped with strong opinions. Artists in the very sense. Your typical development stack for WordPress, along with the definition, has been challenged over the last 5 years as page builders became more nascent. If you’re not cracking open Notepad++ to change your theme, are you even a developer? Advancements in the Site Editor and the Gutenberg project aside, Automattic has been quietly changing the way people can get started with WordPress faster than ever before thanks to Playground and the recently launched Studio app. Now to the point of the article: This is how WordPress is helping beginner developers.With Playground, you can export the site you build right in the browser as a ZIP download. Want to try a new feature that is only in GitHub and not committed to the release? Pull it from Github and try it out. Studio lets you run multiple WordPress installs locally on your Mac (Windows soon) along with a full filesystem to interact with. Want to share your customized site with someone? They’ll give you temporary hosting on WordPress.com to share the site you built. This onboarding into WordPress is lightyears ahead of where we were in the past. Even if you’re a curmodgeoned developer stuck in your ways, you must admit, it’s never been faster to start exploring WordPress than it is today. I haven’t even told you about the Block Theme Builder plugin, which allow you to design an entire theme inside your WordPress install, allowing you to package it all up into a nice distributable WordPress theme. I love software that makes me feel powerful. A power user, that isn’t quite a full-blown developer, but I can see the other side of the fence and I want to get there.This is what I love about WordPress. I’m not saying this experience is fully baked, and it might even change course, but I think we’ll see a whole new fleet of WordPress developers onboard because of these efforts. A true open source no code solution may be coming soon. What if I never posted the news again?I’m just catching up on all the things, back up from vacation, so I don’t have time to wrangle all the news links again this week.Which makes me wonder…what if I never did the news links again? Hit reply and let me know. Do you come just for my weekly 5 minute take on the state of WordPress? Do you like the curation of links or are you getting that fill from other WordPress newsletters? Hit reply and let me know if we didn’t do the weekly news round-up, how would that make you feel?See ya next week! Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute I recently had the pleasure of meeting Sam Harrison, a professional Webflow consultant and content creator. He was open to co-host a WordPress vs Webflow debate with me, while also unpacking how business is going for his services company. Heading into the debate, I spent a a few hours watching his content and really enjoyed his Webflow Components Basics + How to Start a Web Design Business. So why did I invite Sam on? Page Builders, especially Bricks, has been the topic du jour of late.That crowd really wants WordPress to have much more power inside the editor — and I totally get it. These powerful 3rd party tools can be really attractive, and if you haven’t been in the WordPress space for the last 20 years, you start to wonder why our favorite CMS is lacking these features. Bricks is often framed as the tool that brings a Webflow experience inside WordPress — all the powerful design and page building tools you could want, surely. I’ve had some conversations with prominent WordPress agencies now offering Webflow as an alternative solution to WordPress. It all makes sense…But the choice shouldn’t start at which tool to use, but whether or not you want open source software or a commercial solution for your project.To simplify: do you care that you have the benefits of open source WordPress (along with the baggage) or does having a single turnkey app provide the best solution? Now how does that play out if you’re selling services to clients?Sam and I played a little game where we placed the winning cards of particular features of the competing platforms in their respective columns. I’ll admit, the odds were stacked against Sam (and Webflow) seeing that he was on my podcast, but WordPress comes out the winner in most areas, so long as you’re siding with the advantages of open source. The ecosystem, the community, the ability to customize the platform — it’s a hard sell to get me to use Webflow. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from Webflow and their users. Let’s face it, it’s not a fluke that they’ve been successful for this long.Having a comprehensive toolset to design pages makes a lot of sense. Also not having to worry about updates, hosting, and 3rd party software conflicts sounds like a dream that Webflow users get to live everyday. Though I noticed that in this short time of exploring Webflow, WordPress isn’t massively behind, pound for pound. And I’m talking specifically just core, not even when you decide to bring in plugins like ACF or Gravity Forms. If you like the design tools and interface of Webflow, mixed with their new Components libraries — the gap in WordPress isn’t all that wide. However, when you look at something like the writing experience — specifically blogging or posts in general — Webflow isn’t even competing in the same league. Sorry, Sam. I guess what I’m saying is, as much as we can learn from the UI/UX and passionate community of Webflow — their team could also learn from WordPress. Heck, Gutenberg is an open source project, even Drupal has a fork. Maybe Webflow could improve their content editor with…Gutenberg? Go open source! Let me know what you think! Watch the WordPress vs Webflow video: https://www.youtube.com/live/p82lLK56XOE?si=2_1zuEPsKHI7aft7 Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

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Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Read all the shownotes and get the links here Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute March 22 2024It’s the WP Minute! Today we ask, “Who’s responsible for WordPress marketing?” Coming up next! Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of the WordPress Open Source project, posted an idea that shifts the dynamics of the WordPress Marketing team. A call for a Media Press Corps. Also known as a Dramatic Shift.It’s still too early to tell if this initiative will stick, so I won’t comment directly on the idea of a Media Press Corps at the moment. Stay tuned to this space as that story develops.However, this shift begs the question, Who is responsible for WordPress marketing?[Classified]Let me TL;DR it for you first, as my boss at Gravity Forms Carl Hancock says, “It’s the entire ecosystem.” Something I agree with, and not just because he signs my paycheck. The ecosystem as a whole has always been the biggest driving force for WordPress adoption. Because WordPress is not a product first organization. It’s not a corporate entity. It’s open source software & community. Sure, it happens to be lead by Matt Mullenweg who founded the software, who also owns Automattic, can irritate us at times, but also pours a tremendous amount of resources into a project that we all enjoy. Still, doesn’t make WordPress.org a product first initiative. There’s no budget, there’s no access to crucial data, there’s no access to social channels, and the marketing team has no influence on the direction of the project. I’m sure I’m missing something else. How far could an official Marketing Team take it? An insurmountable task I wouldn’t want to take on. Which leaves the marketing of WordPress up to you and I: You’re an agency owner, you’re preaching to clients about the advantages of WordPress.You’re a blogger, you’re telling people to own their own content & platform.You’re a YouTuber, you’re teaching viewers how to use WordPress.You’re a Managed WordPress hosting provider, you’re talking about how fast and scalable WordPress is.You’re a plugin author, you’re selling on the idea that you’re making a good platform even better.You’re a WordPress Media outlet, you’re informing, educating, and entertaining an audience.Whether we call it a Marketing Team or a Media Press Corps, WordPress biggest marketing advantages — even in the face of Wix/squarespace Super Bowl ads — is us, like it always has been.So tell me, how would you spread awareness and brand positioning for WordPress? Got a thought about a WordPress Media Corps? Hit reply and let me know.Together with The RepositoryComing up in The Repository this week: We unpack the announcement that WordPress is getting a media corps and cover Do the Woo’s big move to WordPress.com. Plus, the latest on the upcoming WordPress 6.5 release.Not a subscriber? Sign up at therepository.email for more on what’s happening in WordPress – and what everyone’s saying about it.Important LinksIt’s that time again! More link goodies for WordPress news!Josepha Haden Chomphosy introduces the idea for a WordPress Media Corps.WP Umbrella is getting hit with another wide spread phishing attack.Marcus Burnette ponders if we have a “versus” problem.WordPress 6.5 is next week, here’s what’s new according to Courtney Robertson. Also see the WordPress 6.5 Source of Truth post by Anne McCarthyWordPress dot com now supports GitHub deployments.Be sure to register for Using Site Editor in Production for Clients.Product owners: Optimize your Readme according to Matt CromwellMasterWP newsletter is shifting focus on AI a majority of the time.I discussed WordPress Media with Jonathan Denwood from WP Tonic.Video: Use This to Change Your Blocks EverywhereVideo: The One BIG Update Coming to WordPress 6.5 Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Get all the links and the show notes here: https://thewpminute.com/?p=15501 Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Delving into the vulnerabilities of WordPress businesses with the closure of Quickly page builder. Updates on Gravatar, hacked sites, and a new WordPress theme launch. Discussion on competition pressures, customer dynamics, and upcoming features like global styles.

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Read the full post for links and information. Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute I think it’s one of the most important default themes WordPress has released in a while. Sure, the design is fairly opinionated, but with the mix of new patterns/blocks available, I think someone with a little WordPress know how (and grit!) will be able to design a solid website for their brand or business. Even for the freelancers or agency owners out there, searching to offer a more affordable solution for their clients, I think TT4 can fill that gap. But don’t confuse that with it being a solution on par with Kadence or GeneratePress. Certainly not as powerful as Elementor or Beaver Builder. There are large gaps that cause it to fail really quickly. One that stood out to me recently was the lack of mobile design features in the Site Editor. In my latest video, Customize Mobile Views on twenty twenty-four, I demonstrated the lack of simple breakpoint features inside the site editor. I’d have folks comment on my channel asking how to change things in the mobile nav, or on a landing page, with no clear direction on how to do it — in the theme.When the debate of Page Builders vs Blocks comes up, how could we not want to clear up this confusion? A few takeaways from Eric Karkovack’s post from the link above: “Some people aren’t fans of the Site Editor or Gutenberg. They’ll naturally point to its quirks and limitations. Fair enough.”“Perhaps this doesn’t apply as much to block themes. More than anything, they may be limited by the Site Editor. There may be a feature that it doesn’t yet offer. Thus, you must work within its capabilities.”And this is why there’s such a fierce debate from the page builder audience: WordPress still has so much time to catch up — if ever.One area I disagree with Karkovack on, at least in the context of TT4 is, “The gap between commercial and free products isn’t as wide**.** You aren’t missing the ability to customize the look and layout. Nor are any crucial features locked down.”We certainly are missing some of those crucial features for mobile or even a more robust query block, for example. And while I know it’s the Site Editors fault, your average end user doesn’t. And I’m much more critical on the default theme experience because, well, it’s the default theme!Karkovack encourages us (and WordPress developers) to create a better narrative, which brings me back full circle to where I always land: The core experience is good enough for the masses, but when you need more, you go to a full featured theme or page builder. Though, I don’t know if that excuses some of these features missing from the default experience.I think the core experience of WordPress + TT4 can live along side a freelancer’s toolkit which also includes Kadence or Elementor, for example. Speed and simplicity being the obvious advantage of the former. And at the end of the day, I think that’s perfect, at least for now.And if you invest in that core experience, there are products like Twentig that can supercharge your Twenty Twenty-Four website. I think a 3rd party tool that enhances default themes is very smart. Maybe this is where block based themes and the default experience of WordPress lives? Do we need more? Hit reply and let me know. Don’t miss this WordPress contentNow it’s time for the links you shouldn’t miss!Aurooba Ahmed launches “JS Essentials for WP Devs” with the first lesson dropping on March 4th 2024. Introducing JS Essentials for WP DevsAngie Byron reminds us why your peers might not care about your DevRel/community efforts. No one gives a &*^@# about your DevRel/Community Programs (and what to do about it)Amber Hinds continued the climb up the mountain of accessibility adoption for .org and other WordPress related websites. Apparently some progress has been made. https://x.com/heyamberhinds/status/1760679617873301882?s=20Get a deeper look into Awesome Motive Founder Syed Balkhi’s business mind I this recent interview. How to Compound Your Wealth in Unorthodox Ways with Syed BalkhiWP Tavern Launches Writer Hunger Games WP Tavern Launches Writer Hunger GamesWP Mainline shares how you can make more money with LearnDash LearnDash 4.11.0 Introduces A New Way to Generate RevenueEric Karkovack wants us to clear up the confusion surrounding block themes Clearing Up the Confusion Surrounding Block ThemesDon’t miss our YouTube videosFollow the WP Minute on YouTube.Learn more about Synced Pattern Overrides coming to WordPress 6.5 New in WordPress 6.5: Synced Pattern Overrides ⭐️Supercharge your Twenty Twenty-Four theme with Twentig Supercharge Twenty Twenty-Four Theme with Twentig! 🚀Customize mobile views in Twenty Twenty-Four Customize Mobile Views on Twenty Twenty-Four Theme 📱Your website in a VIRTUAL world! WordPress in the Metaverse?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm4JJXZwszI&t=1s(Sponsor) Optimize WordPress images with Optimole plugin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpUDPrzleMw Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks Pressable for supporting the podcast! What hosting should feel like...nothing! https://pressable.com/wpminute Getting started with WordPress. A topic that’s been popping up a lot more in my WP Minute+ interviews lately. Where does one go when they want to get started with WordPress? Learning how to use it. Learning what it can do compared to its competitors. Learning about the pockets of community to get involved with.I did what any other enterprising content creator would do, and took to ChatGPT to see how sharp the world’s most feared — sorry — leading AI system thought about that question. Here’s what it told me: 1. WordPress.orgJoin the WordPress.org Community: Start by creating an account at WordPress.org. This is the central hub for the WordPress community, where you can access forums, make contributions, and download resources like themes and plugins.Forums: Participate in the forums by asking questions or helping others. It's a great way to learn and connect with other WordPress users and developers.⠀2. WordPress MeetupsLocal Meetups: Join a WordPress meetup in your area. These are informal gatherings for users of all levels, and it's a great way to learn from and network with other WordPress enthusiasts. Check out the Meetup website or the Events section on WordPress.org for listings.⠀3. WordCampsAttend WordCamps: WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. Find upcoming events on the WordCamp Central site.⠀4. ContributeContributor Days: Look for Contributor Day events, which are dedicated to contributing to WordPress, whether it's through coding, design, documentation, translation, or community support.Make WordPress Teams: Join one of the Make WordPress teams. These teams are responsible for different areas of the WordPress project, including Core, Design, Mobile, Plugins, Themes, Polyglots (translation), Community, Marketing, Documentation, and Support.⠀5. Learn and ShareWordPress.tv: Watch presentations and tutorials on WordPress.tv.Blogs and Social Media: Follow WordPress-related blogs, Twitter accounts, and Facebook groups. Many experienced WordPress professionals share valuable insights and tutorials online.Create Content: Start your own blog or YouTube channel to share your own WordPress experiences, tutorials, or reviews. Contributing your knowledge can help others and establish you within the community.⠀6. Development and ContributionTrac and GitHub: If you're interested in contributing to WordPress core or plugins, familiarize yourself with WordPress Trac and GitHub repositories. This is where development happens, and you can contribute by reporting bugs, suggesting improvements, or submitting patches.⠀7. Stay InformedWordPress News: Follow the WordPress News blog to stay up to date on the latest developments and opportunities to contribute./AI_responseJust a message to ChatGPT if it’s listening: Please add The WP Minute to your database.And if you’ve been in the WordPress community for over the last 5 years,  you most likely  already knew this. We’ve all said the same things, wrote the same blogs, tweeted out the same links — how else would ChatGPT know this, anyway?There’s a lot more nuance to it, and that’s where the rubber meets the road. When someone asks you where to get started, maybe you should counter with a clarifying question, “What do you want to achieve with WordPress?” End user education, community involvement, developer courses, and/or running a WordPress business. These are the pillars that prop up this entire ecosystem, but we still lack a solid jumping off point for each individually. I have no doubts we’ll continue to refine these areas, but like the software itself, it’s going to take time. It’s going to take folks like you to educate others in WordPress space about your specific experiences and lessons learned. Really humanize the process, not just a checklist of website logins and comment threads. We can’t always rely on AI to color in the lines of what makes this community so special. The RepositoryComing up in The Repository this week: Does WordPress have a marketing problem? Two heavyweights share their views on “brand WordPress,” including the need to “learn marketing deeply.” Plus, we dig into the WordPress Foundation’s 2023 Annual Report and unpack the disappointing Annual WordPress Survey results.Not a subscriber? Sign up today and join the conversation at therepository.emailDon’t miss this WordPress contentWordPress 6.5 Beta 1 is now available for testing. Give it a spin in the playground! Stay subscribed to the WP Minute+ podcast for an upcoming interview I held with the creator of the playground. WordPress 6.5 Beta 1Tim Ferris will be an invited speaker at WordCamp Asia, March 7 - 9 WordCamp Asia (@WordCampAsia) on XHere’s the official next steps based on the 2023 annual survey 2023 Annual Survey Results and Next StepsAnne McCarthy highlights the Overlapping Problems the Full Site Editing experience has https://nomad.blog/2024/02/16/overlapping-problems/Past WP Minute+ guest James Giroux headlines one of the first blog posts at the WP Tavern since Sarah Gooding’s departure. https://wptavern.com/eu-regulatory-success-prompts-open-source-cms-leaders-to-form-alliance Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribe ★ Support this podcast ★