Tag Archives: Site

Five for the Future Site Relaunched with a Block-Based Design – WP Tavern

[ad_1] After revamping the WordPress.org homepage, Theme Directory, Plugin Directory, Pattern Directory, and HelpHub, the Meta team has now updated the Five for the Future site. Members of the Meta, Design, and Community teams collaborated to redesign and launch the site in time for WordCamp US 2024. A Fresh New Look Developer Relations Advocate Nick Diego shared, “ This visual update is part of an ongoing effort to create a consistent design language across WordPress.org… This change marks the beginning of modernizing Five for the Future.” New Home page The update features a block-based child theme built on top of the shared WordPress.org parent theme, streamlining aesthetics and simplifying future updates. Key changes include: All content has been converted to blocks, making it easier to manage and update. The layout, typography, and color scheme have been standardized to align with the broader WordPress.org ecosystem. A new contributor testimonials section featured both on the homepage and as a dedicated page, showcases the experiences and contributions of community members An updated pledges directory lists organizations committed to contributing to the Five for the Future initiative.  What’s Next? Future plans include adding new features and content, such as case studies and more testimonials from participating organizations. A Five for the Future blog and newsletter are also in the pipeline.  Nick Diego added, “Forthcoming updates will aim to improve organization profiles by listing activity, automating emails, enhancing onboarding, and adding options for sponsored contributors. The goal is to showcase the strength and impact of Five for the Future with a refreshed, feature-rich website.” You can suggest improvements or report issues with the new theme by opening a ticket on GitHub. For updates on upcoming WordPress.org changes, join the #website-redesign Slack channel. [ad_2] Source link

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5 Best Job Board Plugins to Power Your WordPress Site

[ad_1] Whether you want to advertise for internal positions, or showcase some of the best employer openings in your industry, all of WordPress’ best job board plugins can help. They give you the features and functionality you need to display available positions, and may even give you tools to manage resumes and other related facets. In this post, we’ll look at the best job board plugins for WordPress. Here’s a full breakdown of what the article will feature: First, let’s discuss what job board plugins are and why they’re great for showing off current employment positions. Why Your Site Needs Job Board Plugins (And What to Look For In the Right One) In short, a job board plugin lets you create and manage online job listings and applications on your WordPress website. Of course, this type of plugin serves as a vital connection point between an employer and other job seekers. This means you’ll want to choose the right plugin. While you can manually implement job listings on your site, we don’t recommend it. Instead, a job board plugin offers significant advantages. It can automate different aspects of the job posting process, which reduces your effort and saves you time. In turn, this can keep your job boards up to date and will offer greater value to job seekers. In terms of features and functionality, job board plugins typically include ways to handle almost the entire job search process. Here are some of the ways a plugin might help: You can post job descriptions, categorize listings, and manage incoming applications. Depending on the plugin, you may be able to create custom application forms that feature the ability to upload resumes (and even read them). For end users, automated job alert functionality and detailed search options will enhance the User Experience (UX). Overall, job board plugins can be an essential asset for any WordPress site that wants to establish an efficient and effective online job marketplace. Over the rest of the article, we’ll look at some of the best job board plugins we can find. 5 Best Job Board Plugins to Power Your WordPress Site Here is our list of five of the best job board plugins for WordPress. The list is in no order, although later we’ll try to rank them. For now, let’s discuss the available options. 1. Job Manager and Career First up is ThemeHigh’s WordPress Job Manager and Career plugin. It has a lot of power to help streamline the job recruitment process. This plugin is could be ideal if you need an efficient way to manage listings and job applications. Here’s a snippet of what it gives you: You can create and manage job openings without effort. Candidates will be able to apply directly from a dedicated career page on site. The application management tools give you comprehensive insights into applicants’ details. You can find suitable candidates fast using advanced search functionality. Applicants can share their documents through an uploader – ideal for resumes. You can keep candidates informed about their application status through automated email notifications. In terms of pricing, the plugin offers three subscription options: A single-site license for $49 per year. Licenses for five sites is $99 per year. 25 site licenses are $149 per year. Overall, the Job Manager and Career plugin offers a flexible and comprehensive feature set makes it a valuable addition for businesses of all sizes. There’s also a free version available to try out the plugin’s features. 2. WP Job Openings The WP Job Openings plugin offers a comprehensive set of features and functionality to help you manage your recruitment process. It’s a streamlined design that will suit organizations of all sizes. The plugin is a slick tool that includes a whole host of different aspects suitable for building and running a job board: It includes an intuitive career page creator, complete with pre-built layouts. The application tracking system lets you monitor, rate, and filter applications directly from the WordPress dashboard – all from a single screen. You’re able to build email notification templates and send messages to applicants, complete with real-time notifications. There’s lots of flexibility to create and customize application forms. If you have development knowledge, there are plenty of available hooks to help you customize the plugin to your exact needs. Pricing options for WP Job Openings work on site license limitations, rather than functionality restrictions: Individual: $69 for a single-site license. Professional: $139 for up to five sites. Agency: $399 for as many licenses as you need. Note that there’s a free version available too. On the whole, WP Job Openings is a versatile way to set up a job board for all sorts of sites, such as corporate websites, staffing agencies, and more. We like pretty much everything about this plugin, and it’s one for your shortlist! 3. WP Job Manager If you want the ultimate in WordPress integration for your job board, the WP Job Manager plugin will be near the top of your shortlist. It’s an Automattic product – the leading WordPress contributor – so using this plugin is almost a guarantee of compatibility with the platform. As such, it’s pleasing that WP Job Manager includes a wealth of functionality: Shortcodes let you integration searchable and filterable job boards with ease. Front end forms let employers submit and manage job listings without logging into the back end. You have customizable RSS feeds to help display jobs elsewhere, or to let others subscribe. Job listings use Google’s Job Posting Schema to ensure they display well in search engines. Candidates can apply for jobs through email or a dedicated link. The core WP Job Manager plugin is free, although it offers paid extensions too. However, you can get them all as a bundle. This costs $159 per year for a single site license, and $329 for a developer license without limits. Given the extendability of WP Job Manager, it could suit lots of site types. You get the ability to tailor the

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WordPress Rebrands FSE as “Site Editor” – WP Tavern

[ad_1] While WordPress’ site editing capabilities have been in development, the term full-site editing (FSE) has been widely used but sometimes poorly understood outside of contributor groups. Three months ago, WordPress’ Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy proposed renaming FSE to something more user friendly. After a lengthy discussion, Haden Chomphosy has announced the decision to use “Site Editor” going forward: Landing on Site Editor was the result of two key considerations. Firstly, Site Editor offers a clear and simple description to users with a range of technical skills. Secondly, there was substantial support for Site Editor, particularly from the Polyglot community, as the term that translates most effectively into hundreds of different languages. As we heard at WordCamp US 2022, better multilingual support is an important future direction for WordPress, so choosing easily translated terms is an important step.  Site Editor also keeps the spirit of its original FSE codename as the powerful, full collection of features it encompasses. As a bonus, it also doesn’t cost us anything from an SEO or marketing standpoint, since it’s a simplification of the existing term. Haden Chomphosy said the change is not necessarily a rebranding, but WordPress’ official documentation, including Learn.WordPress videos, and many third-party resources are replete with references to FSE. The Full Site Editing Outreach Program may also need to be renamed. Haden Chomphosy said WordPress users can still expect to see or hear the term FSE around – it’s not a situation where every instance needs to erased. The recent decision to use the term “Site Editor” should be considered an official update to WordPress’ shared lexicon, and Haden Chomphosy encouraged contributors to begin updating the documentation immediately to reflect the change. Category: News, WordPress [ad_2] Source link

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New Missing Menu Items Plugin Adds Site Building Links to WordPress Admin – WP Tavern

[ad_1] If you are going all in on building sites with the new full-site editing (FSE) experience, then you may have noticed a lack of menu items that will deliver you directly to the tools you need to use. It may be because the Site Editor is still in beta, or because WordPress leadership may still be discussing whether to rename FSE. Perhaps it’s better that users don’t blindly stumble into FSE templates from the main admin menu, but some of these site building features are buried away with no quick access. For example, you are three clicks deep before arriving at Template Parts. Managing reusable blocks is also a tucked away on a separate screen that can be accessed through the post editor but sends you to a new page. If you’re using the block editor, and reusable blocks Do yourself a favor cut and paste this at the end of your website: /wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=wp_block Then bookmark it. — Ben LayerWP & WPDeals.email (@benswrite) October 26, 2022 When LayerWP founder Ben Townsend brought attention to this in a tweet, Roy Sivan responded with a link to a new free plugin that creates quicker access to these menus. Missing Menu Items expands the admin menu with links to reusable blocks, navigation menus, templates, and template parts, so they are all one click away. It adds them to the Appearance menu under the Editor (beta) link: If you are regularly working with Reusable blocks or editing navigation and templates, this plugin will save you some time and help you zip around the editor faster. Missing Menu Items was made by Easily Amused, the creators of Block Styles, a commercial plugin that lets users further customize core blocks with unique styles and boasts “fully responsive block-level design control.” The team will be adding more useful menu links and admin improvements in future releases. Users can contact the development team with menu item requests and they will consider them. Missing Menu Items is available on WordPress.org. Direct support is available for those who have purchased a BlockStyles membership, and community support can be found in the plugin’s forums on the directory. [ad_2] Source link

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Navigate Your WordPress Site Like You’re DC’s Flash

[ad_1] The WordPress admin dashboard, also called WP admin, is the mission control for your blogging or business website. It lets you create and manage pages, change styling with the help of themes, add functionality using plugins, and do much more. However, you don’t get any shortcuts or actions for quick navigation, meaning it could take you a while to get around pages and complete specific tasks. That’s about to change, though, because a new plugin offers a fast and easy way to control your WordPress site. CommandBar for WP Admin is a plugin that lets you move quickly through pages, take contextual actions related to the content, and search for anything on your site. It’s designed to boost your productivity with quick actions and shortcuts to get stuff done in the WordPress admin and Gutenberg editor. But how easy is it to set up and configure? And is it really the fastest way to navigate your WordPress website? Get the answer to these questions and more in this hands-on review of CommandBar for WP Admin. CommandBar for WP Admin: Overview CommandBar for WP Admin enables you to find specific pages and content within a few clicks. It’s built to drive step-change improvement in WordPress navigation, from finding an item to editing it in minutes. The plugin works with both WordPress admin and the popular Gutenberg editor, making it easy to control various aspects of your site. Here are the key features of CommandBar: Spotlight-style search: By offering instant search for anything on your site, including posts, images, or even orders and products, the plugin makes navigating WP admin blazingly fast.  Pro shortcuts: It’s not just pages, though. All critical actions in WordPress admin, like post creation, are just a few clicks away. Plus, you can add custom keyboard shortcuts for any common task, such as changing a post’s category or inserting an image.  Contextual editor actions: CommandBar is useful for editing actions, too. You can jump to recently edited items or take contextually relevant actions quickly while editing a post or page. Hands-On With CommandBar for WordPress Now for the exciting part: I’ll show you how to install CommandBar and use it to control your WordPress website. First, download CommandBar for WP Admin from its WordPress.org directory listing or official website. Then, log into your WordPress dashboard and install it via the Plugins tab. Alternatively, you can search for “CommandBar” in the plugin library and click “Install Now.” Launching CommandBar To access CommandBar in the WordPress dashboard after it’s installed, enter CTRL + K (on Windows or Linux) or ⌘K (on Mac). The shortcut will open CommandBar in a modal in the center of the page. Alternatively, you can click the “Find anything…” button in the header to launch the plugin. Searching Pages, Posts, Media, etc. Once the plugin is installed, it’ll automatically hook into your existing pages, media, orders, etc. This makes it quick and convenient to find anything you have available in WordPress. For example, you can search for posts by entering their title or keywords in CommandBar: Article Continues Below The plugin also shows a preview of the post content, which can be really helpful for seeing what it’s about and how it’s organized. Plus, you can change the post’s title without having to open the post. Any changes will be reflected under the Revisions section in CommandBar: If you have WooCommerce installed on your site, you can also search for orders using parameters such as the customer’s email and billing address. Navigating Through WordPress In addition to content search, CommandBar offers navigation commands that let you quickly jump between sections of the WordPress admin dashboard. For example, if you type “comments” in the plugin field, it’ll take you to your comments section within seconds. CommandBar ships with some navigation shortcuts already set, but you can set your own shortcuts for going to a specific section. To do so, hover over the section you want to create a shortcut for and click “Add shortcut.” Using Contextual Actions Another thing you can do with CommandBar is take contextual actions. This are small but important actions that let you get stuff done quickly. Let’s say you want to edit the price of a product you created in WooCommerce. Instead of scrolling down the product page, you can just type “Price” in CommandBar to jump to the relevant section. Content Creation with Gutenberg CommandBar has deep integration with the Gutenberg editor, which makes it easy to perform content-related actions. Let’s say you decide you want to add an image to a post. In CommandBar, type the phrase “image” and click “Insert image at cursor” to execute an action. Then, search for and choose a relevant image to insert it in your post. (P.S. You can also add a caption and alt text to an image before inserting it inside your post’s content). And besides adding an image to your post, you can change its title and category, as well as preview it before you hit that publish button. CommandBar also offers quick actions for adding pages, posts, orders, etc. Plus, it keeps track of the pages you visited recently so you can quickly get back to any work in progress. Overall, CommandBar for WP Admin is a really handy tool for sifting through and performing actions on your WordPress website. It’s incredibly fast, too, and doesn’t have any competition at the time of writing.  CommandBar for WP Admin Pricing CommandBar is free to use on WordPress websites. You can access all the features discussed above without paying any fee. Final Verdict WordPress admin is powerful and brimming with exciting options. However, navigating it swiftly can be challenging, especially if your admin has bulked up a little over time. Fortunately, CommandBar for WP Admin exists to help you control your site and get stuff done faster than you could ever do on your own. You get a robust search function, handy shortcuts, and contextual editor actions to control all the important stuff that

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Gutenberg Contributors Explore a New Browse Mode for Navigating the Site Editor – WP Tavern

[ad_1] It’s easy to get lost while trying to get around the Site Editor unless you are working day and night inside the tool. The navigation is jumpy and confusing, especially when going from template browsing to template editing to modifying individual blocks. A large PR is in progress for redesigning this UI with the introduction of a “browse mode” that would make the experience feel more like a design tool. Gutenberg lead engineer Riad Benguella opened the PR as a continuation of the ongoing work on this project, which has its roots in ideas and explorations that have been fermenting since 2019. He shared a video that roughly demonstrates the target for the proposed UI changes. It essentially introduces a “navigable frame” where users can select from a menu of features on the left. More detailed efforts on improving the animations and placement of the menu items is happening simultaneously within the ticket. The original idea was to include the “Navigation menu” item inside the sidebar, but Benguella removed it in favor of keeping the PR contained to simply adding the “edit/view” mode. Although such a large PR has the potential to introduce a slew of regressions, Benguella said there is no other way around a big PR due to the the necessity of the structural changes to how the site editor is organized. He is attempting to keep it narrowly focused and not try to tackle features like browsing capabilities and adding UI (template lists, global styles, etc) to the sidebar. The idea is not without some pushback. Alex Stine, Cloud Platform Engineer at Waystar, warned against introducing another Mode into Gutenberg, saying it “feels kind of reckless considering we haven’t refined existing modes for all users.” He noted that Gutenberg already has select/edit mode contexts. “This was a feature basically added for screen readers only,” Stine said. “I am hoping this will one day be removed, but we’re not quite there yet. “I think the community is trying to solve the wrong problem. If Gutenberg itself did not have such a complex UI, there would not be the need for a hundred different modes in a hundred different contexts, blocks, or even editors. We have gone so crazy making everything so quickly, no one thought about how to unify the interface across all editors. This feels like it could be another patch to a bigger problem.” Stine cautioned against growing the UI for something that ultimately doesn’t make things any simpler. “In a sense this PR doesn’t introduce any new mode, it just redesigns the current navigation panel a bit,” Benguella said in response. “I think it’s an opportunity to improve the a11y of the navigation in the site editor. “The confusion in this PR is that it’s not about another mode in the editor itself, it’s higher level, it’s how we choose which template and template part to edit before actually entering the editor.” Although the project’s contributors have been referring to it as “browse mode,” it is essentially a redesign for the existing UI to make it more intuitive for users to navigate. Gutenberg may not need any more new “modes” but the site editor is in dire need design improvements that will unify the experience and make it less chaotic for getting around. During the most recent core Editor meeting, Gutenberg contributors called for feedback on the big PR, since it has so many moving parts and needs more scrutiny. It’s not ready to land in the next release of Gutenberg yet, but the concept is rapidly taking shape and may expand to include more features in the sidebar once the basic structure is in place. [ad_2] Source link

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How to Use Git to Push Your Local Site Live

[ad_1] Lots of companies go to great effort to make website development straightforward for the average user. This makes sense, because there are site owners who don’t have (or want) the time to learn every aspect of running a local site. However, with a bit of research, you can use Git to handle the process of pushing your site live. This gives you a little more security, and once you set everything up, an easier path for making site changes. Even so, getting to that point is admittedly tough. There are lots of prerequisites to consider, skills you need to have, and tools to hand. Also, you’ll need to think through the process the first few times, because there is a lot to remember. However, using Git to push a site live is possible for almost every user, and it doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. For this tutorial, we’re going to show you step by step how to use Git to push a local site to a live server. First, let’s run over some of the tools and technologies we’ll feature in the post. An Introduction to Git For the unaware, Git is a Version Control System (VCS). It’s a way to save and record the changes you make on a project – often a app or a website. It’s something we touch on elsewhere, but you’ll need to know more about it for this tutorial. The typical way to use Git is through a Command Line Interface (CLI) – if you have experience with the WP-CLI, it’s a similar approach. You’ll use commands to mark and organize the files you work on in a number of ways: Before you issue commands, files will stay ‘unstaged’. This means they are not part of your Git ‘repository’ (the directory that stores your history). You’ll issue a command to stage all or some of your files, at which point you can still work on them. When you finish, you commit the files to the ‘repo’ from the staging area. This is akin to saving those changes. It can be more complicated than this, but for the most part you’ll use only a handful of commands to carry out day-to-day work with Git. Using Git for Team-Based Development Git is a key tool for development teams, because each developer will open a different ‘branch’ within the same repo. This means everyone can work on the project without affecting the files for others. At regular intervals – often as the last task of the day – the team will commit changes to the repo. A senior member of the team will then look to ‘merge’ all of the branches and changes together to the main or trunk of the repo. At this point, you’ll have the definitive set of project files within the repo. For a single developer – likely you – Git still has value as a kind of incremental saving tool. You’ll open a new branch, work on your site, then stage and commit those changes. It means you can do whatever you like on the branch without affecting any other file on your site. When you want to commit (or delete) you can do so. A Quick Primer on Local WordPress Development Before we move on, we should note that working on your site away from your live server is a recommended typical practice. If you don’t yet do this, check out our piece on how to install WordPress. Also, you might want to consider a dedicated app to work on your site. Local by Flywheel is a good option, but so is DevKinsta. Regardless, there are lots of ways to create a local site, and it’s something you’ll want to have in place. Why You’d Want to Use Git to Push a Local Site Live The main reason you’ll want to use Git to push your site live is one we mention above: Flexibility. The nature of Git means you’ll have a main branch that serves as the definitive set of project files. However, you can open up as many new branches as you need – indeed, it’s the exact way large teams use Git at scale. With this approach, you can create a new branch to work on your site’s homepage design, without the need to affect your core files. Consider a branch a kind of clone that you merge back into your main branch through staged commits. However, there are a few other reasons why Git is useful: You can host this Git repo in any location. GitHub and GitLab are two sites that focus on hosting Git repos. From there, you can bring in other team members or developers if you need extra support. You’re even able to migrate a site with ease. Of course, you won’t need to work on your live site, which is fantastic from a security- and performance-related viewpoint. However, you can choose to only push the files you work on. This offers immense benefits because you don’t need to touch your WordPress database. This is the key goal of website staging, and it’s possible to do using Git and a local install. However, to get to this point, you’ll want to have a number of tools, skills, and prerequisites on hand. Next, we’ll go through what they are. What You’ll Need Before You Use Git to Push Sites Live (Tools and Skills) It’s worth noting what you should already have in place before you even think about what extras you’ll need. For example, make sure you have the following to hand: A local version of your current website. Access to your hosting control panel and server as an administrator. From here, you can consider what else you need to use Git with your local site and live server: You’ll need to install Git on your computer. You often achieve this through the command line. Speaking of which, you’ll want to have knowledge of how to use the

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How to Choose WordPress Themes for Free Download (Without Compromising Your Site)

[ad_1] We all know that choosing a theme is an important consideration for any WordPress website. Though, just as crucial is how much you spend on the theme itself. Of course, while free and premium solutions exist, it’s tempting to use either ‘flavor’ without understanding why. Choosing WordPress themes for free download is good decision in lots of cases. Even among free WordPress themes, you can find sub-categories. For example, you have freemium themes designed to make you upgrade. There are also free themes with big scopes and plenty of integrations. Of course, there are also simplistic, one-trick pony themes that are great for small blogs and niche sites. Selecting the right one will take some thought, although it’s not a complex task. As such, this post will discuss how to choose WordPress themes for free download, and what to look for. Before this, we’re going to talk about why a free theme could work for your website. Why Themes for Free Download Can Be Ideal for Your Site Free WordPress themes get a bit of a bad rap. This is, in part, due to design choices for the WordPress Theme Directory. It’s not intuitive, and the previews don’t give you the true scope of a theme. You can understand why every theme uses a default layout set by WordPress, but a number of themes can suffer. In other words, the presentation of free themes isn’t optimal, and it’s hard as a result to see the benefits of them compared to premium solutions. In our opinion, there are a few positives for using themes for free download: They cost nothing to use, which is the ultimate in a budget-friendly solution. A free theme could perform better than a premium version because it’s often presenting a stripped back feature set. Less elements to load means a faster site all around. Because a free theme can be more basic, you’re able to better customize your site using code and plugins. For some of these points, we’re offering a generalization to some extent. In fact, this is a good opportunity to talk about the differences between WordPress themes when it comes to cost. The Difference Between Free and Premium WordPress Themes Of course, the main difference between free and premium themes is the cost. Though, even here there are a few caveats to consider based on the type of theme you’re looking at. First though, let’s give you a quick rundown of how these themes differ in a broad sense: Free themes often give you no customer support. What’s more, there’s no update guarantee. It’s the classic ‘as-is’ warranty. With premium themes, the price you pay goes towards dedicated support, regular updates, and more customer-facing features. A premium theme means that a developer can dedicate more time and effort to the project as a whole. Because of this, you often get new features on a regular basis. There’s also more longevity. Within the broad scope of free and premium themes, you also get freemium solutions. These are often WordPress themes for free download, but with some kind of reduced feature set. The idea is that more desirable features require a payment to use. It’s fair to say that the majority of ‘useful’ themes within the WordPress Theme Directory are freemium, but there are great ‘free forever’ options too. Where to Find Free WordPress Themes for Free Download Speaking of the Theme Directory, this is a good time to discuss where to find WordPress themes for free download. Of course, the first place we recommend is the WordPress Theme Directory: This is the largest and most-focused collection of themes for free download around, so it makes sense to begin here. Each theme will show the same information: The developer, a version number, when the theme had an update, how many active installations the theme has, and a set of user ratings: There’s also a blurb for the theme, and some other details relating to translations, the number of downloads a theme has per day, and more. The point here is that each theme sits on a level playing field (which has pros and cons as we discussed). Elsewhere, you could also trawl theme developer websites for free solutions. We would recommend targeting those developers with good premium themes and reputations. It’s likely that a company will put a comparable amount of effort into all of its products, as it could impact user trust. For example, our sister site MeridanThemes has Meridian One: Though, hoping to stumble across a stellar free theme isn’t a viable strategy, especially if you’re short on time. Reading trustworthy WordPress blogs can help you here. Of course, WPKube offers lots of roundups on free themes, as do a number of other blogs. Though, you have to assess whether a blog has affiliations or other biases that may promote themes for reasons other than that they’re good. This isn’t always a red flag, but it helps to know this information before you opt for a theme. How to Choose WordPress Themes for Free Download (Without Compromising Your Site) While you may think choosing a WordPress theme for free download takes less effort than a premium solution, this isn’t true. In fact, it’s harder to see the relative merits and drawbacks of a free theme in lots of cases. This means you need to carry out more in-depth research for each one you consider. To do this, we have a four-point checklist for you: Settle on the key features and functionality your theme needs. Check out how much you can customize a theme, as this will give you more flexibility. See what other integrations are available for your theme, such as page builders, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and forms. Read user reviews, weigh up the ratings a theme receives, and check out any other relevant information you need to make a decision. There’s lots to get through here, so let’s go! 1. Decide On What Your Theme Needs to Do For

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#7 – Ajit Bohra on Gutenberg, Full Site Editing and React – WP Tavern

[ad_1] Jukebox #7 – Ajit Bohra on Gutenberg, Full Site Editing and React Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:46:59 Subscribe Share About this episode. On the podcast today we have Ajit Bohra. Ajit is a keen advocate of WordPress, having used it and committed to it, for many years. He’s a full stack developer working at Lubus which is based in Mumbai, India. His team works with WordPress as well as offering solutions built with Laravel and React. He’s on the podcast today to offer up his opinions about the near future in WordPress and why he’s confident that the project is moving in the right direction. To make matters easier to digest we break up the podcast into three distinct sections. Starting off with Gutenberg we discuss where the Block Editor is at right now and what Ajit sees as the benefits of a Block based approach to content building. We go into some concrete examples of why Ajit thinks that the Block Editor is preferable to the Classic editor as well as discussing some of the projects that he’s been working on to enhance the editing experience for his team and the community. We also talk about the pace of development and whether or not it’s keeping up with the expectations of WordPress users. We then move onto a detailed conversation about Full Site Editing which is going to play a pivotal role in WordPress’ utility going forwards. The power that it will offer non-technical users to build out their entire site is an exciting prospect, but right now it’s still a work in progress. Ajit talks about why Full Site Editing is needed to compete in the CMS market as well as how Block Patterns will make site building much easier in the future. Finally we get into the subject of WordPress’ need to move towards a future in which React is playing a vital part in the software’s Core. Why does Ajit think that the project needed to move away from a PHP based platform; after all, it was easy to work with and people had become very familiar with how to build sites using their PHP skills. It’s a case of having to keep up, and as Ajit says, he thinks that you have to unlearn to learn. We briefly discuss the resources which Ajit used to up-skill, websites that he frequents and courses which he recommends should you wish to take the plunge. In parts the audio is a little choppy, in fact this is a second pass at recording this episode, but I felt that the message contained within was well worth publishing despite that, and I hope that you do too. Useful links. Ajit’s Twitter account Lubus BlaBlaBlocks Beginner Javascript ES6 Javascript 30 React for Beginners The Net Ninja YouTube channel The Beginner’s Guide to React Epic React Is WordPress Development Really All That Hard To Get Into Today? Transcript Nathan Wrigley [00:00:00] Welcome to the seventh edition of the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast all about WordPress, the software, the events, and the community. Every month, we’re bringing you someone from that community to discuss a topic of current interest. If you like the podcast, please share it with your friends. You might also like to think about subscribing so that you can get all the episodes in your podcast player automatically. And you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player, or by going to WP Tavern dot com forward slash feed forward slash podcast. You can also play the podcast episodes on the WP Tavern website, if you prefer doing it that way. If you have any thoughts about the podcast, perhaps the suggestion of a guest or an interesting subject, then head over to WP Tavern dot com forward slash contact forward slash jukebox. Use the contact form there and we’d certainly welcome your input. Okay, so on the podcast today, we have Ajit Bohra. Adit is a keen advocate of WordPress having used it, and committed to it, for many years. He’s a full stack developer working at Lubus, which is based in Mumbai, India. His team works with WordPress as well as offering solutions built with Laravel and React. He’s on the podcast today to offer up his opinions about the near future in WordPress and why he’s confident that the project is moving in the right direction. To make matters easier we break the podcast up into three distinct sections starting off with Gutenberg, we discuss where the block editor is at right now and what Ajit sees as the benefits of a block based approach to content building. We go into some concrete examples of why Ajit thinks that the block editor is preferable to the classic editor, as well as discussing some of the projects that he’s been working on to enhance the editing experience for his team and the community. We also talk about the pace of development and whether or not it’s keeping up with the expectations of WordPress users. We then move on to a detailed conversation about full site editing, which is going to play a pivotal role in WordPress’ utility, going forwards. The power that it will often non-technical users to build out their entire site is an exciting prospect, but right now it’s still a work in progress. Ajit talks about why full site editing is needed to compete in the CMS market, as well as how block patterns will make site building much easier in the future. Finally, we get into the subject of WordPress’ need to move towards a future in which React is playing a vital part in the software’s core. Why does Ajit think that the project needed to move away from a PHP based platform? After all, it was easy to work with and people have become

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Squarespace vs WordPress: A Comparison of 2 Site Publishing Giants

[ad_1] Building your website needs a stellar solution at the base. Squarespace vs WordPress is often a point of comparison for many users. In short, both platforms are user-focused, and easy to use. Even so, there’s a bit more you need to consider when weighing up both solutions. For example, price is often a prime consideration. It’s not something you should focus on too much though. Given this, we’ll compare Squarespace vs WordPress on a few different yet common aspects. By the end, you’ll have the information you need to make a decision. Introducing Both Platforms You’ll have heard of both Squarespace and WordPress even before reading this article. They are two of the most popular platforms for creating your website. Even so, they both have their differences. First, we’ll offer an introduction to each platform, before getting onto the comparison itself. Squarespace Squarespace will be familiar if you’ve watched educational or other learning videos on YouTube. It seems as though every channel is sponsored by Squarespace. What this shows is how well Squarespace promotes itself compared to WordPress – and for good reason. It’s an all-in-one website builder platform. In other words, it looks to offer everything you need to build a site out of the box. This is great news if you need to get up and running in a flash. You’re able to apply a template to your site to control its look, and add essential functionality such as contact forms, email marketing, and much more besides. The pricing is competitive too, and Squarespace offers a free trial to entice would-be converts. The whole package is tempting for both new and experienced users. WordPress Of course, WordPress should be familiar to you if you’re a regular WPKube reader. It’s the Content Management System (CMS) that has a 40 percent market share. It’s an open-source solution for publishing your website, and aims to give you the core functionality you need out of the box. In contrast to Squarespace, the idea is to extend the platform using selected themes and plugins. As such, WordPress isn’t as easy to get up and running with, but the power under your fingertips belies its modest visuals. How You Should Compare Squarespace vs WordPress Because your choice of site platform impacts almost every other decision you make, there are a few consideration to keep in mind. Here are some of the main ones: Does the platform let me take my site elsewhere? Am I able to build on top of the platform? What can I achieve with my chosen platform? How much does everything cost? The answers you find here will determine what you’ll need to look for in each solution. It could also bring up more question – always a good thing. Our advice is to test out each platform as much as you can. We’ll get onto pricing later, although both Squarespace and WordPress are available for free (which is an oversimplification). Once you’ve road tested both platforms, set your plans aside for a week or two, then come back. At this point, you can make a rational decision about which solution is best for you. Squarespace vs WordPress: A Comparison of 2 Site Publishing Giants Over the next few sections, we’ll look at Squarespace vs WordPress. We have four key areas that should tell you a lot about each platform: As we said, this won’t cover every question you have, but it’s a great starting point for your own research. As such, let’s tackle the UX of both platforms first. 1. Squarespace vs WordPress: Ease of Use The UX of any app or tool is vital for attracting users. Given this, it makes sense to take a look at this first. The good news is that both Squarespace and WordPress have a well-designed experience. This makes sense, given how popular both platforms are. Once you open a Squarespace account, you’re presented with a selection of templates. It’s clear what you should be doing, and it’s a productivity marker: Hovering over your chosen template lets you begin using it straight away: There’s a helpful Assistant to get you started, and it includes a checklist of essential ‘first site’ tasks: In contrast, WordPress has more of an ‘aged’ look, despite work over time on the CMS’ visuals: The main dashboard is full of screen elements to help you get an overview of your site. While it may look overwhelming, having all of the admin panels visible in a left-hand menu lets you navigate to pages in a snap. It’s a similar case with Squarespace, but it’s more of a singular page than a bunch of separate ones. Winner: We’d say Squarespace takes the point on this one, although WordPress is no slouch when it comes to UX. 2. Squarespace vs WordPress: Features and Functionality Neither platform is going to fail this comparison, although they both take a different approach to what’s included by default. Squarespace is an all-in-one builder. In other words, it’s a closed-source solution with an ecosystem to match. This is great for getting started and productive site management. In contrast, it’s poor if you want to take your site to another platform, or can’t find the functionality you need (more of which later). Even so, there’s plenty to get your teeth into. You’re able to create pages, design them using a stellar editor, and more: On the flip side, WordPress has the Block Editor. It’s under constant development, although we’d say that it’s not yet ready to tackle Full Site Editing (FSE). A cross-over aspect of Squarespace is that it offers much more by default than WordPress. For example, you have powerful email marketing, eCommerce, and analytics built into the platform: In fact, there’s so much here that we can’t do it justice. On the flip side, WordPress is lean. Out of the box, it lets you create posts and pages, edit them with the Block Editor, and not much more: While on the surface this might seem

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