[ad_1] Frontity co-founders Pablo Postigo and LuisHerranz Automattic has acquired Frontity, the company behind an open source framework for building WordPress themes with React. The acquisition comes more than a year after the company raised €1M in funding in a round led by K Fund, with Automattic covering 22%. Frontity co-founders Pablo Postigo and Luis Herranz and their team will no longer be developing and maintaining the framework. Their new focus will be on contributing to the WordPress open source project and improving the full site editing developer experience. “After a series of conversations, Automattic offered to sponsor our team to work directly on the WordPress open source project,” Frontity’s founders said in the announcement. “In particular, to contribute our expertise in developer experience, frontend tooling, performance, and UX to the WordPress core itself, instead of doing so only for an external tool.” In a separate FAQ document, Frontity clarified that this acquisition does not mean the framework will be merged into WordPress, nor does it mean the team plans to bring React into the WordPress PHP or full site editing themes. The founders intend to apply their expertise to the Gutenberg project full time: Even though Frontity is a React framework, it doesn’t mean that we are going to push React to the WordPress frontend. We will look at the Gutenberg and full site editing space to identify those areas in which our work could have the most significant impact, and work closely with the WordPress community to help improve its developer experience. WordPress is already the best content platform on the web. We want to help it become the best development platform on the web. In addition to putting the Frontity team on improving developer experience, Automattic is also investing in other ways that expand its support of the Gutenberg project. The company has recently hired a new head of developer relations who is building out a team tasked with improving the developer experience with Gutenberg and full-site editing. Birgit Pauli-Haack is a new member of that team and Automattic is also sponsoring her curation of the Gutenberg Times publication and the Changelog Podcast. Frontity Framework Will Transition to a Community-Led Project As the result of the acquisition and the team’s reassignment to working on Gutenberg, Frontity’s founders are transitioning the framework to be a community-led project. The team has prepared to leave the project in “a stable, bug-free position,” with documentation regarding what features they were working on. The framework is used by many companies and agencies, including high profile sites like the TikTok Creator Portal, popular Catholic news site Aleteia, and Diariomotor, a popular Spanish automotive publication. “As far as we know, Automattic is not using Frontity Framework in any of its products,” Frontity CEO and co-founder Pablo Postigo said. “But we know there are a lot of Automatticians who have been following our progress closely. “We are aware that WordPress VIP does recommend Frontity for decoupled solutions, too. We are sure our experience and knowledge might be of help for this team as well.” The departure of Frontity’s founders and team introduces some uncertainty into the future of the framework. When asked if it can survive as a community-led project, Postigo was optimistic but not certain. “We still think that Frontity Framework is the best way to run a decoupled WordPress site with React and that this will be the case for a long time,” Postigo said. “It is still too early to know what will happen. Frontity has a great community behind it, there are a lot of great projects which are using the framework in production, and there’s also a nice group of really active contributors. We feel really positive about the future of the framework.” Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
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Announce Your Plugin to the World, Shout It From the Rooftop – WP Tavern
[ad_1] The easiest way to kill your WordPress plugin is to fail to let the world know about it. If you cannot manage a tweet, blog post, or quick note on Facebook, you may as well sign the death certificate then and there. I get it. I have been there. Not everyone is a marketing guru, so putting out the right messaging might seem like speaking in a foreign language. But no messaging at all? That will not bode well for your young project. Part of my job is finding plugins and sharing them with the community. Every week, I am on the lookout for that next great idea. Or, at least, a sort-of-good idea. I scour Twitter, regular blogs that I read, and official WordPress directories for plugins and themes. What I like most about writing about our beloved platform is not big business deals or the latest drama. While those pieces can be fun, I am most interested in what people create on top of the software. Whether a large company or an individual builds a new plugin, I am always excited when Monday rolls around. I can begin my search anew. Often, I will find a new plugin that looks promising, so I dive into it. I install and activate it. At times, I find something so interesting that I have no choice but to share it. However, most of the time, I need a little push. To understand “the why” behind it. I do a quick check to see if they have written a blog post, tweeted about it, or shared it in some way. More often than not, nothing exists about it other than its listing in the plugin directory. And, reaching out to devs via email is often a hit-or-miss affair. When you do not announce your new project to the world, it feels like you are not passionate about it. I understand that some people simply hash out an idea and decide to drop it in the plugin directory. They are not in it for glory or even recognition. For them, it is just a piece of code they thought might come in hand for others. But, usage is the lifeblood of software. If no one else downloads, installs, and activates your plugin, can we really call it software? Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, whether it makes a sound is irrelevant if no one is around to hear it. I have been mulling over whether to finishing writing this post for months, unsure if I was ever going to hit the publish button. I initially scratched down some notes in early April, attempting to understand why so few go through the trouble of doing any marketing of their plugins. I reached out to Bridget Willard to get insight from someone with a rich history in the marketing world. She had just published How to Market Your Plugin the month before, so the timing made sense. However, I still felt too frustrated with the status quo in the WordPress community. A message from a reader wishing that we would mention alternative choices for plugin-related posts prompted me to revisit this. The truth is simple. So many projects fly under the radar because their authors begin and end their marketing by submitting to WordPress.org. “Marketing is communication,” said Willard. “At the basic level, you must ‘tell people’ you have a product. The basic minimum is a blog post with social posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It’s scary to market while you build, but that’s what the automobile industry does (along with others). You have to create the desire for the product — more than fixing a problem.” While she tends to focus on products and services, I asked her what developers should be doing regardless of whether their plugins are commercial or free. “I advocate with all of my being having a landing page on your main site (not a new site) promoting your plugin — while you’re building it,” paraphrasing from a chapter in her book. “Take signups for beta testers, start email marketing. The blog post is anti-climatic in many ways, and one or two tweets aren’t enough. Even better is to customize the sign-up ‘thank you page’ with something special — a video talking about your goals, for example. It’s not the time to have a tutorial or demo. This is about communicating your vision. “The sad thing is that many plugin developers don’t see the need to spend money on a ‘free’ plugin. The axiom is true, ‘it takes money to make money.’ If you want sales, you need marketing. The sale for a free plugin is a download, and those are just as important.” Part of me missed the old Weblog Tools Collection era. Every few days, the site would share a post with the latest plugins (themes too) with short descriptions of each. It was an easy win if you had no marketing skills. Developers could submit their new projects, and the team would share them with the community. When I was a young and upcoming developer, it was one of the only ways I knew how to reach folks in the WordPress community aside from pushing stuff from my own blog. Today, we have far more avenues for sharing our work via social networking. Of course, the downside is that you have to cut through the noise. In the long run, I would like to see an overhaul of the WordPress.org directory, focusing on the discoverability of plugins by feature instead of only popularity. Not all developers are known for their marketing skills. Having a little help from the directory they feed into could make it easier for budding developers to jump from hobby to business. Until then, let the world know about your plugin. Even if it seems like you are shouting into the abyss, you may just hear an answer from someone who noticed your passion. If nothing else, let us
Continue readingProposal for Adding Badges and Other ‘Learner Achievements’ to WordPress Profiles – WP Tavern
[ad_1] In December 2020, WordPress launched its new “Learn” platform with free courses, workshops, and lesson plans. Since then, the Training Team has continued adding more material. The latest proposal is an open discussion for the community on adding participatory badges for completing coursework. “I’d like to nail down what kind of thing we would like to see regarding recognising learner achievements on profiles,” wrote WordPress community manager Hugh Lashbrooke in the announcement earlier this month. The proposal, which now has a GitHub ticket, includes showing the following on a user’s WordPress.org profile page: A course’s completion in the activity stream. The user’s average grade from Learn WordPress. A new “Learning” tab for displaying completed courses with dates and the possibility of individual completed lessons, relevant grades, and other learning data. A new “Learner” badge for anyone who has completed one course. Currently, there are only two courses available. “That is changing as we develop new content,” wrote Lashbrooke in the post. “So my hope is that we will have these rewards in place now, and as content is created, the rewards will flow naturally.” One downside to the proposal may be publicly showing a user’s grades. “I’d be against showing the learner’s average grade publicly because it could lead to anxiety, stress, etc., and maybe even stop some people from participating in the courses,” wrote Stephen Cronin in the comments. “Eg: ‘What if I only get a C, will anyone take me seriously? Will it harm my chances of getting a job in the WP space?’ etc. Some people will thrive on that sort of competition, some people … not so much. And I feel like we should be as inclusive as possible.” Lashbrooke responded that showing grades could be an opt-in feature. However, I would question why it would be necessary to show grades at all. Bragging rights? Maybe. If we could somehow make it shareable via social media, it might be a fun way to get more people to participate. Several people in the comments were encouraged by the idea of social sharing. Adam Warner even proposed adding the Learn badges to the oEmbed WordPress block, making it easy for users to share their accomplishments on their sites. However, the first step should be to provide badges for completing a course. It is an easy win and could be automated. Most user profile badges are for direct contributions to the project, such as writing code or working on a team. However, at least some user-based participatory badges are available already. For example, there is a “Test Contributor” badge for providing feedback on calls for testing. One side advantage of a Learn achievement system could be for employers who are looking through an applicant’s history. It may help potential employees show off their competency in specific areas of the WordPress platform. Courtney Engle Robertson, Web Design and Developer Advocate at GoDaddy, questioned Matt Mullenweg during 2020’s State of the Word Q&A session on the role of the Learn platform as it pertains to the job market. Mullenweg said the first step is organizing the platform and making high-quality educational material available. However, he seemed open to the idea of having a self or administered certification down the line. It would allow people to show that they have completed or tested out of a course. “It wouldn’t be a perfect system, but it could be a nice way for people to learn more about WordPress,” he said. “And, hopefully, as they go through, since WordPress is open-source, improve the materials as we go through it, both from the point of view of making it more intuitive or easier to understand and also translating, as well. Because there is a huge demand for WordPress really all over the world now.” View the clip below from the State of the Word Q&A: “As someone who hires WordPress professionals, I would love to have a request in the job application to link up their WP profile so we can see competency through that learning platform,” commented Chris Badgett, the founder and CEO of LifterLMS, on the proposal. He also agreed with Mullenweg that people should be able to test out of a course. It would not make sense for those who have already acquired specific skills or knowledge to go through the motions of completing coursework they are already proficient in. “Creating quizzes or ‘post tests’ in the LMS with a standard minimum passing requirement to earn the achievement badge would help fulfill this,” he said. For now, some simple gamification via profile badges could boost participation and, perhaps, get more people involved in contributing to the Learn platform. This could also be the first step toward a WordPress certification system. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingACF 5.10 Introduces Block API v2 Support, Block Preloading, and Security Improvements – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) has released version 5.10, the first major release since the plugin was acquired by Delicious Brains. It introduces several new features that were previously experimental, closing out tickets that were started by previous owner Elliot Condon. The release enables HTML escaping by default, which helps prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. It runs content rendered by ACF through the WordPress wp_kses() function. There was a little confusion about how this works and the release post has been updated to clarify: “It’s important to note that this only affects content rendered by ACF in your WordPress dashboard or any front-end forms rendered through acf_form(),” Iain Poulson said. “This will not affect field values loaded through API functions such as get_field() and the_field(). We don’t make any assumptions about where you are using your field values within your theme and do not escape to them as a result.” Version 5.10 also introduces support for the WordPress Blocks API v2 for ACF blocks. WordPress 5.6 came with a new Block API that makes it easier for theme and plugin developers to style the block content with more consistent results matching the front end. The ACF team has created a Block API v2 help doc with examples that help developers update their blocks and make use of the new block filters included in the update. Other features introduced in this release include block preloading turned on by default, a new full-height setting for blocks, opacity support for the color-picker, and many bug fixes. Next up on the roadmap for the plugin is adding WordPress REST API support to ACF field groups. “As API-powered JavaScript front-ends become more and more popular in the WordPress space, it’s clear that many of our customers want this functionality included in ACF core,” Poulson said. “We also plan to improve the performance of the plugin and work on other quality of life features. Now that our development team has a solid handle on the codebase and the release process, we can start working on these more complicated but long-requested features.” Shortly after the acquisition, Delicious Brains representatives published a pinned thread in the forum, clarifying expectations for free support and response times. The official support forum for both free and PRO users can be found at support.advancedcustomfields.com, which is more active than the WordPress.org forums. Since the plugin is more developer-focused, the team is taking a looser approach to support by giving the community a place to help each other: We rarely provide support in either forum. The exception is after a major release, when we keep an eye on both forums to spot any problems caused by the release. The primary purpose of both forums is for people in the WordPress community who are having trouble with Advanced Custom Fields to help each other. Response times can range from a few days to a few weeks and will likely be from a non-developer. We jump in now and then when the description sounds suspiciously like a bug. The release of version 5.10 is a good sign that ACF will continue to make progress under its new ownership and a reassuring milestone for the small minority of users who were unsure about the plugin’s future. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingAdding Custom HTML Attributes With the Block Attributes Plugin – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Earlier this week, websevendev released its fourth WordPress plugin to the official directory named Block Attributes. The extension allows end-users to add any HTML attribute to nearly any block. One of the problems with the WordPress editor is that it can be a bit fussy about customizing HTML. Blocks are built on a set of standards, and the markup is supposed to meet those expectations. If something does not fit, users see an invalid markup warning. However, there are times when users need to drop in a custom HTML attribute for various reasons. For example, I sometimes need to add a custom data- attribute for working with a bit of JavaScript. Since I know my way around code well enough, I typically write out the HTML in those situations via the Custom HTML block. But, that does not make sense when minor attribute additions are called for. WordPress currently allows users to add classes and IDs (called an “HTML anchor” in the admin) to almost every block. It does not allow for direct input of the dozens of other possible attributes that HTML supports. The use cases for the average user are few and far between. For those scenarios where some users could use the extra feature, the Block Attributes plugin is handy. The plugin is straightforward to use. It adds a new field named “Additional attributes” under the Advanced tab of every block. Users can add the attribute name and click the “Add” button. From there, it creates a new field for adding the attribute value. Adding an onclick attribute to a Button block. The plugin also supports multiple attributes. Once you add one, you simply use the same input field to create more. For my first test drive, I added a simple onclick attribute with a value of myFunction(). Then, I hopped over to my theme and created that function via JavaScript to output a simple message in the console. Everything looked good under the hood, and it worked. HTML view and console with custom JS for a Button block. Most of the use cases I have in mind are for integrating with JavaScript, and this was a simple example of what is possible. There are far more complex things a developer could do with such a feature. That is reason enough to keep this plugin in the toolbox — sometimes you need a wrench instead of a hammer. I could also see Block Attributes being used for adding ARIA attributes in other situations where it might aid accessibility. Users could add custom styles to a specific block via a style attribute with the plugin. However, unless this is a simple one-off, I would recommend against it. For more advanced use cases, Blocks CSS is a far more suitable plugin. It has a built-in syntax highlighter. Plus, a textarea is friendlier than a one-line text input box. The only downside to Block Attributes I have seen is upon deactivation. You will see the dreaded “this block contains unexpected or invalid content” message in the editor if you have added any custom attributes. The editor has managed to resolve any issues I have run into with the core blocks. Resolving block warning after deactivating plugin. Deactivating the plugin should not affect the front-end output. Because the custom attributes are a part of the HTML markup, they will still be there. The error message should only show in the editor. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingWordPress Classic Editor Support Extended for at Least Another Year – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Last week, I reached out to several members of the core WordPress committers to see if we could get an official word on whether Classic Editor support would continue beyond the mere months it seemingly had left to live. I received a semi-official answer but was asked to hold off on publishing for a more detailed and nuanced response. Earlier today, WordPress executive director Josepha Haden Chomposy announced the official decision. It was just as expected. The WordPress project would continue supporting the Classic Editor plugin for a while longer. “At the time, we promised to support the plugin through 2021 and adjust if needed as the deadline got closer,” she wrote. “After discussing this with Matt [Mullenweg], it’s clear that continuing to support the plugin through 2022 is the right call for the project as well as the community.” As of now, classic users have a one-year extension. However, the plugin will not suddenly stop working on December 31, 2022. That is merely the current deadline for the “full support” phase. It should continue working well beyond whatever date is set for that support window to close. Designer Mark Root-Wiley reached out to WP Tavern via Twitter last week, but others had been asking the same question for a while. For some, they needed to know if they could continue supporting specific client needs. For others, it was a bludgeon to use in conversations for all editor-related things. Whatever the reason, before today, the last word had been from a Make Core post in November 2018. “The Classic Editor plugin will be officially supported until December 31, 2021,” wrote core contributor Gary Pendergast in that three-year-old announcement. It was a shock for many at the time, uncertain whether the new block system would meet their needs. While three years may have seemed like plenty of time to ditch the classic in favor of the modern WordPress editor, the current stats show that the project still has a few miles yet to go. Currently, there are over 5 million active installations of the Classic Editor plugin. I am still waiting for a more specific tally, but no one has provided an answer yet. At best, we think the counter turns over at 10+ million, so we can speculate on the floor and ceiling for possible usage. Active installs are not the entire picture either. For example, we have the plugin installed here at the Tavern for legacy reasons but do not use it in our day-to-day work. We can likely disable it altogether. WordPress has no telemetry system for tracking the usage of such features. While the install total will not always make the picture clear, the current number supports the push for continued maintenance. “I think it’s important to note that the plugin is not going anywhere,” said core committer Jonathan Desrosiers. “It will continue to be listed on the .ORG repository for the foreseeable future.” He pointed out that understanding the next phase of the Classic Editor plugin meant looking into the level of effort required to support it since 2018. The overwhelming majority of the changes in that nearly three-year timeframe have come down to keeping up with: Text changes. Adjustments to prevent warnings/errors and promote consistency across supported PHP versions. Changes to deprecated action/filter hook calls. “It’s been almost three whole years, and the plugin has largely required very little maintenance to continue functioning, and the bulk of maintenance has been to limit warnings and notices in debug logs,” he said. The goal of the Classic Editor plugin was to help ease the transition to the block editor. Thus far, there have been eight major WordPress releases since the switch in version 5.0. “There’s a theory called the diffusion of innovations that looks to explain how, why, and at what rate new technology spreads,” said Desrosiers. “It separates adopters into several groups based on when they are willing to take the jump: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. I truly think that we have seen a good portion of the late majority beginning to move towards using the block editor. This can also be confirmed by the plugin’s install growth, which has been slowing and plateauing this year.” He had expected the previous deadline to mark the next stage of the Classic Editor plugin, called the “sunset” phase. It would be a time when the WordPress project moved from full support to encouraging late adopters to transition to the current editor to get the plugin’s numbers down. “The context I gave previously shows that, until now, that the level of effort needed to keep the plugin working on newer versions of WP has been pretty minimal,” said Desrosiers of the potential sunset phase. “I expect that pattern to continue thanks to backward compatibility. If any security issues or major problems are encountered, they’ll, of course, be fixed. Any incompatibilities with the plugin and newer versions of WP will be considered on a case by case basis, but little to no time will be put towards bug fixes.” However, this sunset phase will have to wait. We will not see it until at least the current support window closes on December 31, 2022. WordPress project leaders will need to reevaluate the plugin’s lifespan at that point. The other looming question would be whether core WordPress would move specific pieces of its system to the Classic Editor plugin, such as allowing custom post types to support the old editor or the meta box API. “There are no plans at this time to move any of the underlying ‘classic’ parts from core to the plugin,” said Desrosiers. “I’m sure that removing these parts will be evaluated at some point in the future, but when that will be is not clear.” Even when official Classic Editor support reaches a hard deadline, it does not mean such a traditional editing experience will cease to exist. Plugins like Disable Gutenberg have promised longer lifespans than the initial
Continue readingGoogle Search Completes Rollout of Link Spam Update – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Google announced today that it has completed its rollout of the link spam update, which was started a month ago. In an effort to combat sites using spammy links to manipulate rankings, the search engine has developed more effective ways to identify and nullify link spam across multiple languages. The update took a couple weeks longer than anticipated but the algorithmic changes that re-assess the ranking of improperly qualified links has now been fully rolled out. Commercial linking can be differentiated from link spam by specifying the appropriate rel attribute. For example, affiliate links must be identified to the search engine by rel=”sponsored” in order to not trigger any negative effects from the most recent update. Website owners and content creators should be aware of the search engine’s requirements when publishing affiliate links or sponsored/guest posts. While it is appropriate and ethical to disclose commercial links in the content of the post, this is no longer sufficient for Google. A post on the Google Search Central blog warns that this update carries a more strict response for sites that do not properly qualify commercial links: When we detect sites engaging in either publishing or acquiring links with excessive sponsored and guest posting without proper link tags, algorithmic and manual actions may be applied, similar to affiliate links. WordPress users who rely on plugins to manage sponsored and affiliate links will want to check to ensure they support the proper tagging for commercial links. Pretty Links, a link management and tracking plugin used by more than 300,000 WordPress sites, added support for the sponsored rel tag in version 3.1.0, along with sponsored toggle support in the block and TinyMCE editors. ThirstyAffiliates, another popular plugin active on more than 40,00 installs, has a global setting for adding rel attribute tags to links, which can also be adjusted on a per-link basis. The are many other affiliate link management, tracking, and cloaking plugins out there that may not have been updated with settings for easily designating relattributes in links. Those who do not want to have negative effects from the link spam update may need the ability to bulk update their links to comply. If you rely on a link management plugin, it’s a good idea to check the plugin’s settings, and alternatively the plugin’s changelog, to see what features are supported. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingWhy Did You Start Using WordPress? – WP Tavern
[ad_1] If there was a question that ever made me start feeling old, it might be this one. Last week, Marcel Bootsman asked via Twitter, “Why did you start to use WordPress?” WordPress community members chimed in with all sorts of reasons for hopping aboard, and Jeff Chandler of WP Mainline shared his journey on his site. These are the sort of discussions of nostalgia that I live for. What follows is my story. I began blogging in 2003. A friend had introduced me to a now-defunct service called Expage. We mostly used it similarly to the early Myspace craze, adding things such as shout-outs to friends, random GIFs, scrolling marquee text, and midi files that blared as soon as a visitor landed on the page. But, I soon began learning how to link together multiple “Expages” (you only got one page), eventually building something of a journal. After realizing the limitations of creating multiple accounts and passwords for different pages, I found Yahoo! GeoCities. After a short-lived stint with the service and being stifled by its roadblocks, I soon upgraded to a web hosting plan offered by Yahoo! with full PHP support. That meant I could do dynamic things like having multiple text files to store my blog post entries. Thus, began my journey into building my own blogging system. Over the next couple of years, I kept my online journal open to the world with what felt like duct tape and old-fashioned grit. I tried WordPress at some point along the way and took a dive into PHP-Nuke and a couple of others. I then jumped back to my own system. I knew just enough PHP to be a flashing beacon for hacker-bots to push those little blue pills if they had ever bothered looking in my direction. Of course, my blog was so obscure that its glaring security holes did not register on any radar. It was a week after I turned 21. On May 8, 2005, I had decided to get serious — yet again — about fixing my digital playground of a website. I would ditch any efforts of moving everything over to WordPress or another CMS. I was a lone wolf and was going to trek into the world wild web with nothing but my existing knowledge and instincts. It was a fun era on the web for me. I was also a college student with an ever-changing list of interests, often varying by the day. Building a custom blogging system has never been an easy feat, and managing it all through plain text files had become a burden. A mere five days later, I caved on my dream of managing a custom platform, but I needed to do so for my own sanity. I simply began using WordPress because it made it easy to manage blog posts. There were no special features like the editor, custom post types, or anything else that has brought so many others to the project. It was simply having a nicely organized posts management screen and the output of those posts on the front end. Relative to other systems at the time, it was also easy to install. At the time, I probably did not think much of it. It was just another project in a line of others that I had tested, but I am happy I took the leap. WordPress has given me a career and, often, a purpose in life. It allowed me to grow as a developer, designer, and writer. It may be blasphemy to say such things in WordPress circles, but my personal blog no longer runs on our beloved platform. After all these years, I have come full circle. My original goal was to build a flat-file blogging system, even though I did not know there was a name for such a thing back in the early-to-mid 2000s. I also did not have the requisite knowledge to build it at the time. However, in 2018, I coded my own system from scratch, and I loved every minute of that initial build. In part, I had a new project to tinker with, but it also carried a bit of the nostalgic factor of re-pioneering my early foray into the web. While a custom blogging platform works for my own purposes, it makes me appreciate WordPress even more. It is hard to understand how much work goes into something as seemingly simple as the front-end architecture until you build it from the ground up. And, let us just skip over any talk of creating a secure and accessible admin interface that is user-friendly. For any serious endeavor, WordPress is still my go-to solution — my personal site is a playground where I can afford to break things, after all. After our 16-year relationship, I do not see that changing at any point soon. As always, something exciting is around the corner. The platform keeps me on my toes, and I cannot imagine a world without it. How or why did you begin using WordPress? Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingGallery Block Refactor Expected To Land in WordPress 5.9 – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Last week, a GitHub pull request I had been watching since October 2020 on the Gutenberg repository was finally merged into the codebase. It changes the structure of the WordPress Gallery block to be a container for nested Image blocks. The new format is expected to land in WordPress 5.9. For those who want to begin testing it early, it should ship with Gutenberg 11.4 next week. However, you can grab the nightly test version from Gutenberg Times to see it in action now. To use the new Gallery format, you must enable it from the Gutenberg > Experiments admin screen. “If you have ever added a custom link to an image block and then tried to do the same on a Gallery image, you will understand the frustration and confusion of not having consistency between different types of image blocks,” wrote Glenn Davies in the refactor announcement post. “This inconsistency is because the core Gallery block stores the details of the included images as nested <img> elements within the block content. Therefore, the images within a gallery look and behave different from images within an individual image block.” At the surface level, the Gallery block refactor does not change much for many users. They will still add images to galleries as they have for years. However, for more advanced usage, it opens a world of possibilities. One oft-requested feature is the ability to add links to individual images in galleries. In the past, users could only link to attachment pages or the media file itself. Both options applied to all images. With the most recent change, users can modify each Image block, including customizing its link. Adding a link to an Image block within a Gallery. While this allows for handling something as simple as links, there is so much more that users could do. In a theme that I have been building, I have a custom Gallery block style that allows users to create a group of images with a Polaroid-style frame around them. It is something fun for folks who do not want the all-business-all-the-time look. Sometimes, I like to throw in a bit of whimsy. Polaroid-style frame for galleries. The problem with that block style is that it does not go far enough. For example, I also have Tilted Right and Tilted Left styles for individual Image blocks. However, users are unable to apply those within a Gallery. It would be easy to make those available to the entire set or randomize different “tilt” styles. However, the ideal method would be to control the design at the Image level. The same is true for other options. Users could do something fun like add block styles and mix in custom colors, borders, and more. Colored Polaroid-style frames with different “tilts.” There are other fun things users might be able to do, such as alternating square and rounded styles: Alternating square and circle images. The new structure may not be without some issues early on. WordPress will likely continue supporting the old format for a while for backward compatibility. All new Gallery blocks will be in the new. However, core should eventually automatically transform the old markup over. Theme authors who have added custom CSS will be those with the most potential work ahead. Attempting to support both the new and old markup could be an exercise in frustration. The new Gallery block has broken output with my custom theme — margins and widths are off. All styles for the new format begin with, at least, .wp-block-gallery.blocks-gallery-grid.has-nested-images. This will likely overrule custom theme styles. I have yet to figure out the obsession with chaining selectors in the core code. It creates a ton of code bloat and forces theme authors into a specificity battle. I am hoping this gets dialed back a bit. Either way, theme authors have plenty of time to test and implement any fixes if needed. In the long term, I am excited about the potential of breaking away from the idea of just adding images to galleries. For example, I would love to see a grid option for something like the following: Gallery with quote. Nesting a quote in the middle of my image gallery could be a fun block pattern idea that does not rely on a mishmash of stacked Column blocks. We will see what the future holds. For now, turning Gallery blocks into containers is a welcome step. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingGet Your Free Tickets to WordCamp US Online 2021 – WP Tavern
[ad_1] WordCamp US 2021 will be held online this year on October 1. The free, one-day event will be packed with speaker sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities for attendees. Organizers opened the call for speaker nominees earlier this month to speak on topics within the scope identified for this year: Connection, Contribution, and Inspiration: We want to hear about unsung heroes doing great things with the latest WordPress releases, about successful businesses that could only have happened with WordPress, educators who are using WordPress with their students, and inspirational stories of community and connection. We also want to hear about innovative technology implementations and cutting edge design methods that can inspire site owners to do even more with WordPress. The themes seem to be centered around the kinds of the stories one might hear at an in-person WordCamp around a meal, all of the organic connection that WordPress enthusiasts around the world have craved for the past 18 months. It’s impossible to recreate online but the event’s organizers are committed to spotlighting stories that will “help WordPress users find success with WordPress no matter how they use it.” The deadline to nominate speakers has passed, but those who were nominated can find a list of recommended topics on the talk submission page. Recommendations include block development, making and using block patterns, FSE (full site editing), why companies should prioritize open source contribution, inspiring WordPress stories, entrepreneurship, marketing, e-commerce, SEO, and more. Organizers seem set on bolstering the community during this difficult year of mostly online-only events. The talk submission page encourages speakers to find topics that will help users be successful on their journeys with WordPress: As our goals with programming this year aim towards creating content that will help WordPress users become more successful with the platform, your first submission could ideally be focused on teaching users something they didn’t know when they signed on for WordCamp US 2021. We want to ensure that the content covered at this year’s WCUS is memorable and shared, ensuring that, no matter if online, in-person or hybrid, all future WCUS events are seen as those not to be missed. The deadline to submit talk ideas is August 22 and prospective speakers are limited to three ideas. Organizers receive hundreds of submissions every year (more than 500 in both 2018 and 2019) and speakers are encouraged to send only their best ideas. Selected speakers will be contacted by August 27 and announced August 31. All sessions will be recorded prior to the event and recorded talks are due September 23. Tickets for WordCamp US went on sale this week. They are free but you must sign up on the registration page for your entrance pass. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
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