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Get an overview of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-8/\">6.8 release cycle</a>, and check the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\"> Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-8/\">6.8-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for more information.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 6.8</strong>: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/\">Read the Beta 1 announcement</a> for details and highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to test this release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your help testing the WordPress 6.8 Beta 2 version is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important.&nbsp; <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\">This detailed guide</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you encounter an issue, please report it to the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\"> Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums or directly to<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"> WordPress Trac</a> if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"> known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curious about testing releases in general? 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Your help testing Beta and RC versions over the next six weeks is vital to ensuring the final release is everything it should be: stable, powerful, and intuitive.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How important is your testing?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing for issues is a critical part of developing any software, and it’s a meaningful way for anyone to contribute—whether or not you have experience.&nbsp; <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\">Details on what to test in WordPress 6.8 are here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you encounter an issue, please share it in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums. If you are comfortable submitting a reproducible bug report, you can do so <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">via WordPress Trac</a>. You can also check your issue against this list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curious about testing releases in general and how to get started? Follow along with the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\"> testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\">#core-test channel</a> on <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\">Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 will include many new features that were previously only available in the Gutenberg plugin. Learn more about Gutenberg updates since WordPress 6.7 in the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\"> What’s New in Gutenberg</a> posts for versions<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/09/what-is-new-in-gutenberg-18-5-05-jun/\"> </a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/10/09/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-9-31-may-2/\">19.4</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/10/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-5-23-october/\">19.5</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/11/06/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-9-31-may-2-2/\">19.6</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/11/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-7-20-november/\">19.7</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/12/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-8-4-december/\">19.8</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/12/18/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-9-19-december/\">19.9</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/01/11/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-0-10-january/\">20.0</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-1-and-20-2/\">20.1, 20.2</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-3-18-february/\">20.3</a>, and 20.4.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s New in WordPress 6.8 Beta 1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a polish release, with user enhancements throughout incorporated into the latest Gutenberg updates. WordPress 6.8 brings a luster and gloss that only a polish release can.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 Beta 1 contains over 370 enhancements and 520 bug fixes for the editor, including design improvements, polishing the query loop, and more than <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;milestone=6.8&amp;group=component&amp;max=500&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;col=component&amp;col=version&amp;order=priority\">230 tickets for WordPress 6.8 Core</a>. Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming:</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Editor improvements</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Easier ways to see your options in Data Views, and you can opt to ignore sticky posts in the Query Loop. Plus you’ll find lots of little improvements in the editor!</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Style Book comes to Classic themes</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Style Book now features a <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/68036\">structured layout</a> so you can preview site colors, typography, and block styles more easily. You can use the Style Book in classic themes with editor-styles or a theme.json file and includes clearer labels, and you can find them under <code>Appearance &gt; Design</code>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Support for Speculation browser API</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 introduces native support for speculative loading, leveraging the <a href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Speculation_Rules_API\">Speculation Rules API</a> to improve site performance with near-instant page loads. This feature prefetches or prerenders URLs based on user interactions, such as hovering over links, reducing load times for subsequent pages.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By default, WordPress 6.8 applies a conservative prefetching strategy, balancing performance gains with resource efficiency. Developers can customize speculative loading behavior using new filters, since the API does not include UI-based controls. The existing <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/speculation-rules/\">Speculative Loading feature plugin</a> will adapt to the core implementation, allowing deeper customization.&nbsp; Please test this feature in supported browsers (currently Chrome 108+ and Edge 108+, with more browsers evaluating) and provide feedback on <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62503\">#62503</a> to help refine its implementation.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Major security boost</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing, which <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/17/wordpress-6-8-will-use-bcrypt-for-password-hashing/\">significantly hardens WordPress.</a> Other hashing is getting hardened, too, throughout the security apparatus. You won’t have to change anything in your daily workflow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The features included in this first beta may change before the final release of WordPress 6.8, based on what testers like you find.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get an overview of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-8/\">6.8 release cycle</a> and check the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-8/\"> 6.8-related posts</a> in the next few weeks for further details.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Caveat on testing 6.8 Beta 1 in versions older than 5.1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to an update made to the upgrade routine during this release, (see <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/59803\">r59803</a>), any upgrade from versions older than 5.1 will fail. Folks are working to resolve this specific issue, so please hold off on reporting on this while testing the Beta 1 release.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta &amp; Release Candidate</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress community sponsors a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/security/2024/02/12/welcoming-2024-with-wordpress-6-5-beta-1/\">monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities</a>. This reward doubles during the period between Beta 1 on March 4, 2025 and the final Release Candidate (RC) scheduled for April 15, 2025.&nbsp; Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies. You can find those on the <a href=\"https://hackerone.com/wordpress\">HackerOne page</a> and in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/about/security/\">security white paper</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Just for you: a Beta 1 haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>March winds shift the tide.<br>Hands unite in open source;<br>WordPress moves ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>marybaum</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>mamaduka</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/michelleames/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>michelleames</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/bph/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>bph</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>jorbin</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>joemcgill</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/krupajnanda/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>krupajnanda</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>desrosj</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/benjamin_zekavica/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>benjamin_zekavica</a> <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/lysyjan87/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>lysyjan87</a></em> <em>for reviewing and collaborating on this post!</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18582\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38:\"Shaping Tomorrow at WordCamp Asia 2025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/02/shaping-tomorrow-at-wordcamp-asia-2025/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:04:04 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"WordCamp\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18515\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:394:\"Over 1,400 attendees from 71 countries gathered at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, and nearly 15,000 more joined online, for WordCamp Asia 2025. It&#8217;s the people. It&#8217;s the friendships and the stories. Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder The flagship WordPress event started with a dedicated Contributor Day, followed by two days of engaging talks, [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Nicholas Garofalo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56710:\"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C512&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"WordCamp Asia 2025 attendees gathered for a group photo\" class=\"wp-image-18521\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C512&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C384&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-WCAsia-02-21-PM_1280x640-1-scaled-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Over 1,400 attendees from 71 countries gathered at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, and nearly 15,000 more joined online, for WordCamp Asia 2025.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-1 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignwide has-text-align-center\"><blockquote><p>It&#8217;s the people. It&#8217;s the friendships and the stories.</p><cite>Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder</cite></blockquote></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>The flagship WordPress event started with a dedicated Contributor Day, followed by two days of engaging talks, panels, hands-on workshops, and networking. Notable guests included WordPress Cofounder <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/\">Matt Mullenweg</a> and Gutenberg Lead Architect <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matveb/\">Matías Ventura</a>, who were joined by a diverse lineup of speakers and panelists.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the event, the sponsor hall buzzed with activity as companies from across the WordPress ecosystem showcased their latest products, engaged with attendees, and offered live demos and giveaways.&nbsp;Each day, attendees refueled with diverse food offerings featuring Filipino favorites, turning meals into a prime networking opportunity where new connections were made and ideas were exchanged.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Ways to Engage</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This year’s event introduced several new programs to the schedule:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Solutions Spotlight</strong>—a series of dynamic 10-minute lightning talks that gave an inside look at innovative products, cutting-edge strategies, and real-world solutions from top-tier sponsors, all designed to help attendees succeed in the WordPress ecosystem. These fast-paced sessions offered a unique opportunity to discover how leading brands are solving challenges, empowering users, and shaping the future of WordPress.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>YouthCamp</strong>, a dedicated event for kids and teens ages 8-17, offered a full day of free, hands-on sessions designed to spark creativity and introduce the world of WordPress and open source. Through interactive workshops covering web basics, design, and development, participants gained practical skills while exploring the power of building online.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The new <strong>Career and Social Corners</strong> enhanced networking, fostered meaningful connections, and created new opportunities for those within the WordPress community. Career Corner was the go-to space for attendees exploring career opportunities, connecting with sponsors, and discovering exciting new roles. 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class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18527\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18527\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260636f0aa&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18524\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18524\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1926-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260636f4ae&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18530\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18530\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260636f8d6&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18525\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18525\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1963-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"18616\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18616\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18614\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18614\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220_153813-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" data-id=\"18615\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18615\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1367&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260636feca&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18528\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18528\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1902-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606370213&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18534\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18534\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1886-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606370627&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18531\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18531\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1885-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606370a0d&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18536\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18536\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n</figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Key contributions included resolving a critical media bug, advancing vertical text editing in Gutenberg, and refining the editing experience with dozens of issue closures. Performance optimizations and accessibility improvements abounded, joined by seven fresh patterns, and over 44,000 newly translated strings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>New tools and workflows were explored to enhance testing and development. The day also saw meaningful conversations between hosting providers and users, improvements to event organizing processes, and hands-on training.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With innovative ideas, new faces, and significant progress across multiple areas, Contributor Day reinforced the spirit of open source collaboration that drives WordPress forward.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Future is WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On the first full conference day, attendees gathered to celebrate the power of open source collaboration and innovation. Opening remarks from global and local event leads reflected on the incredible journey of WordCamp Asia, tracing its roots back to the first Southeast Asian WordCamp in Manila in 2008. This full-circle moment underscored how the WordPress community has flourished over the years, driven by shared knowledge and a commitment to an open web. The excitement continued with a highly anticipated opening keynote from Matías Ventura, who shared insights into the future of Gutenberg and WordPress, inspiring attendees to embrace the next wave of innovation and creativity in content publishing.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How WordPress is Evolving | Insights from Gutenberg’s Lead Architect at WordCamp Asia 2025.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Zgv2q5NHBA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The day then began in earnest. Talks highlighted new ways to integrate WordPress with external applications, opening possibilities for more interactive and scalable digital experiences. Simultaneously, content strategists and marketers explored evolving best practices in SEO, learning how to optimize their sites for visibility, engagement, and long-term growth. These sessions emphasized the importance of adaptability in a constantly evolving digital landscape, ensuring that WordPress users stay ahead of industry trends.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Workshops throughout the day provided hands-on learning experiences tailored to a wide range of skill levels. Developers refined their expertise, gaining practical knowledge they could apply to their own projects. Accessibility advocates led discussions on designing for inclusivity, showcasing strategies to make WordPress-powered websites more navigable and user-friendly for people of all abilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the conference continued into the afternoon, conversations expanded to performance optimization and emerging technologies shaping the future of WordPress. A dedicated session explored AI-driven workflows, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can enhance site performance, automate repetitive tasks, and create more personalized user experiences. These discussions showcased the evolving role of WordPress as a versatile platform that extends beyond traditional publishing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first day culminated in a thought-provoking keynote panel, WordPress in 2030, where industry leaders explored the future of the platform. The discussion covered the expanding open source community, emerging technologies, and the role of education and mentorship. Panelists shared their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges ahead, encouraging attendees to actively shape the future of WordPress by contributing, innovating, and advocating for an open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"442\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x.jpg?resize=1024%2C442&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Panelists Noel Tock, Hong Phuc Dang, Jon Ang, Courtney Robertson, and Raquel Manriquez discuss WordPress in 2030\" class=\"wp-image-18561\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C442&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C129&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C331&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C663&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-CleanShot-2025-02-22-at-07.42.19%402x-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C883&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Returning for the final day of WordCamp Asia 2025, attendees explored a new set of sessions designed to push the boundaries of web development and strategy. Technical discussions on advanced Gutenberg block development highlighted innovative ways to build more dynamic and interactive content experiences, while another session examined performance optimization strategies to enhance site speed, accessibility, and overall user engagement. Content creators and marketers gained valuable insights into audience growth, effective storytelling, and data-driven content strategies to maximize impact.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final sessions of the conference reinforced WordPress’s adaptability and innovation, equipping attendees with new skills and strategies.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q&amp;A</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As the final day drew to a close, Matt shared historic photos from WordCamp Davao 2008 in the Philippines, and then answered questions from the audience.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Exclusive Q&amp;A with Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp Asia 2025 – Insights &amp; Future of WordPress!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/LEm2NXwbZKc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions covered a variety of topics, incluiding: publishing on the open web, AI, headless WordPress, education, and Matt’s personal motivations. It was clear throughout the Q&amp;A that the future of WordPress is as bright as the island-themed attire at the event’s after-party.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all the hard-working organizers who made this event possible, the speakers who took the stage, the visitors who ventured to Manila, and everyone who tuned in from around the world. Our hope is that every WordCamp attendee leaves with new knowledge, new friends, and new inspiration to build a better web.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped has-border-color has-darker-grey-background-color has-background wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-color:#1c2024;border-width:20px;border-radius:2px\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606371287&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" 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data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18547\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18547\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-T2S_5388-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1367&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d26063717f8&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" 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srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1800-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1800-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1800-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1800-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1800-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606371d5f&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18532\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18532\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1861-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260637202e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18529\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1860.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18529\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1860-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1860-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1860-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1860-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, 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class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18545\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-250221_12-35-12_N7A00461_NExT.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18545\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-250221_12-35-12_N7A00461_NExT-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-250221_12-35-12_N7A00461_NExT-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, 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srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-DSC_2549-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-DSC_2549-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-DSC_2549-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-DSC_2549-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-DSC_2549-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg 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src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18546\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250221-IMG_3709-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1367&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606372e16&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18540\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18540\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250222-b9848a28-a181-47dc-80af-4d2eb6a72756.jpg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n</figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Be sure to mark your calendars for other major WordPress events in 2025: <a href=\"https://europe.wordcamp.org/2025/\">WordCamp Europe</a> (Basel, Switzerland) and<a href=\"https://us.wordcamp.org/2025/\"> WordCamp US</a> (Portland, Oregon, USA). Then join us in Mumbai, India for WordCamp Asia 2026!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18515\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:25:\"Report: WordPress in 2025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/02/wordpress-in-2025-report/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 15 Feb 2025 03:19:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"General\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18475\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:379:\"This year is set to be transformative for WordPress, yet many decision-makers risk overlooking the immense opportunities ahead. Our new “WordPress in 2025” report highlights why WordPress should be a cornerstone of your long-term strategy. Stay ahead of the curve—read the report now to see how WordPress can drive growth and innovation for your business in the [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Noel Tock\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3721:\"\n<p>This year is set to be transformative for WordPress, yet many decision-makers risk overlooking the immense opportunities ahead. Our new <strong>“WordPress in 2025”</strong> report highlights why WordPress should be a cornerstone of your long-term strategy. Stay ahead of the curve—read the report now to see how WordPress can drive growth and innovation for your business in the years to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"647\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C647&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18476\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C647&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=300%2C189&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=768%2C485&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=1536%2C970&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-WPORG-2.jpg?resize=2048%2C1293&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the key points we explore:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As proprietary &#8220;next-gen&#8221; CMS hype fizzles out and enterprise budgets shift priorities, open-source CMSs like WordPress are primed to gain ground in the commoditized CMS space. WordPress&#8217; maturity and extensibility provide a high starting point for innovation.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>WordPress&#8217; Block Editor has seen tremendous investment, amassing over 34,000 commits &#8211; more than entire competing CMS projects. New capabilities like Full Site Editing (FSE) give enterprises unprecedented ability to enable no-code site building.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just as being the first user-friendly publishing tool propelled WordPress&#8217; initial growth, AI presents a similar opportunity. WordPress&#8217; contributor community can build not just AI features, but an exciting multi-agent, LLM-agnostic ecosystem representing an intelligent content operating system.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pure-play headless vendors are working backwards to add no-code editing, while WordPress has long supported robust headless capabilities alongside its mature editor. For complex sites, hybrid architectures leveraging both are the pragmatic path forward.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WordPress-in-2025-Report-Noel-Tock.pdf\">Download the full WordPress in 2025 (PDF)</a> report directly to learn more.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don’t miss WP:25, the virtual event.</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://humanmade.com/wordpress-in-2025-event/?utm_campaign=41192678-WordPress%20in%202025&amp;utm_source=event&amp;utm_medium=Noel%20sales%20outreach&amp;utm_content=event%20landing%20page\">Save your spot at our free event, WP:25</a>, exploring the future of WordPress and featuring key people working with many of the ideas discussed in the report. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the report&#8217;s author, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/noel_tock/\">Noel Tock</a></strong> — Having built his first website back in 1995, Noel has long been watching the evolution of the CMS space. As a co-owner at one of the leading enterprise WordPress agencies, Human Made, his belief in the power of open source is as great as ever. Human Made is a WordPress VIP Gold Partner specializing in DXP, headless, AI and more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18475\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"WordCamp Asia 2025: Manila Magic\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/02/wordcamp-asia-2025-manila-magic/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:04:45 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"WordCamp\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18482\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:409:\"The first major WordCamp of the year is here! WordCamp Asia 2025 lands in Manila, Philippines, from February 20-22, bringing together open source enthusiasts, developers, and WordPress professionals from across the region—and the world. With three packed days of learning, networking, and collaboration, this year’s event promises fresh insights, dynamic discussions, and plenty of opportunities [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Bernard Meyer\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4837:\"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/444990627_474578655140578_2659126618470753960_n.jpg?resize=1024%2C536&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"WordCamp Asia 2025\" class=\"wp-image-18491\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/444990627_474578655140578_2659126618470753960_n.jpg?resize=1024%2C536&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/444990627_474578655140578_2659126618470753960_n.jpg?resize=300%2C157&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/444990627_474578655140578_2659126618470753960_n.jpg?resize=768%2C402&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/444990627_474578655140578_2659126618470753960_n.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The first major WordCamp of the year is here! <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/\">WordCamp Asia 2025</a> lands in Manila, Philippines, from February 20-22, bringing together open source enthusiasts, developers, and WordPress professionals from across the region—and the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With three packed days of learning, networking, and collaboration, this year’s event promises fresh insights, dynamic discussions, and plenty of opportunities to connect.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Solutions spotlight</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the conference days, multiple presentations will focus on the solutions provided by our amazing sponsors. This is a great opportunity to learn more about their initiatives and solutions.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/solutions-spotlight/\">Explore the solutions spotlight</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keynotes, panels, and deep dives</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The main conference, which will be held on February 21-22, will feature <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/schedule/#day-2\">a lineup of notable keynote speakers</a>, including digital innovation leaders and open-source advocates. Attendees can expect diverse sessions on business strategy, development of best practices, and technical advancements.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those looking to sharpen their skills, presentations will dive deep into topics like SEO for WordPress, performance optimization, and AI-powered content creation. Plus, don’t miss the electrifying WordPress Speed Build Battle, where developers race to create stunning sites in record time.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">YouthCamp</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>On February 22, WordCamp Asia 2025 will host <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/youthcamp/\">YouthCamp</a>, a pre-registered event designed to introduce young minds to WordPress and its endless possibilities. This initiative aims to engage the next generation of WordPress users, developers, and contributors through hands-on activities and interactive sessions</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing Q&amp;A with Matt Mullenweg</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg will wrap up the event with a live Q&amp;A session on February 22. Whether attending in person or tuning in online, you can catch his insights live on the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@WordPress\">WordPress YouTube channel</a> at 4:00 p.m. Philippine Time (08:00 UTC).</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">After party</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As the sun sets on WordCamp Asia 2025, the excitement continues with the After Party (theme: Island Vibe)! Get ready to experience the vibrant spirit of the Philippines with a lively gathering at <a href=\"https://www.picc.gov.ph/\">The Forum at PICC</a>. Expect a night filled with great conversations, music, and a celebration of the WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get WordCamp-ready</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Secure your <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/tickets/\">WordCamp Asia 2025 tickets</a> (if you haven’t already!)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Browse the <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/schedule/\">full schedule of sessions</a> to plan your experience</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow WordCamp Asia on<strong> </strong><a href=\"https://x.com/WordCampAsia\">X</a>, <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/company/wordcampasia/\">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wordcampasia/\">Instagram</a> for real-time updates</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, be part of the conversation! Whether you’re attending in Manila or following along online, share your experiences using <strong>#WCAsia</strong> and <strong>#WordPress</strong>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manila is calling—see you at WordCamp Asia 2025!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18482\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"WordPress 6.7.2 Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/02/wordpress-6-7-2-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:52:23 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18445\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:371:\"WordPress 6.7.2 is now available! This minor release includes 35 bug fixes, addressing issues affecting multiple components including the block editor, HTML API, and Customize. WordPress 6.7.2 is a short-cycle release. The next major release will be version 6.8 planned for April 15, 2025. If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Aaron Jorbin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8487:\"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress 6.7.2 is now available!</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This minor release includes <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-7-2/\">35 bug fixes</a>, addressing issues affecting multiple components including the block editor, HTML API, and Customize.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.7.2 is a short-cycle release. 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Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-wporg-props-long\"><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin\">Aaron Jorbin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ajlende\">Alex Lende</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/alexandrebuffet\">Alexandre Buffet</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bowedk\">Andreas Pedersen</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz\">Andrew Ozz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ankitkumarshah\">Ankit Kumar Shah</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/apermo\">apermo</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/benniledl\">Benedikt Ledl</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bernhard-reiter\">bernhard-reiter</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ironprogrammer\">Brian Alexander</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/cbravobernal\">Carlos Bravo</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/poena\">Carolina Nymark</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/coquardcyr\">Cyrille</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/danielpost\">Daniel Post</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/darerodz\">darerodz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dpcalhoun\">David Calhoun</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/get_dave\">David Smith</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dmsnell\">Dennis Snell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dhewercorus\">dhewercorus</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dougwollison\">Doug Wollison</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ellatrix\">Ella</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/im3dabasia1\">Eshaan Dabasiya</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/fabiankaegy\">Fabian Kägy</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/gaambo\">Fabian Todt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/flixos90\">Felix Arntz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ffffelix\">Felix Renicks</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/franciscabusas22\">Francis Cabusas</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/frankbiganski\">Frank B.</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka\">George Mamadashvili</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ghinamt\">ghinamt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/glynnquelch\">Glynn Quelch</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/gziolo\">Greg Ziółkowski</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jameskoster\">James Koster</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jsnajdr\">Jarda Snajdr</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdnd\">jdnd</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeryj\">jeryj</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson\">Joe Dolson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill\">Joe McGill</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jonsurrell\">Jon Surrell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/juanwp22\">juanwp22</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jrf\">Juliette Reinders Folmer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/karthickmurugan\">Karthick</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mt8biz\">Kazuto Takeshita</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ryelle\">Kelly Choyce-Dwan</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ketanniruke\">Ketan Niruke</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/0mirka00\">Lena Morita</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/levskipg\">levskipg</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/maciejmackowiak\">Maciej Ma?kowiak</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/santosguillamot\">Mario Santos</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mboynes\">Matthew Boynes</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mayanktripathi32\">Mayank Tripathi</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/czapla\">Michal Czaplinski</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mcsf\">Miguel Fonseca</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/presstoke\">Mitchell Austin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mreishus\">mreishus</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27\">Mukesh Panchal</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/assassinateur\">Nadir Seghir a11n</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/narenin\">Narendra Sishodiya</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nareshbheda\">Naresh Bheda</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/neotrope\">neotrope</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ndiego\">Nick Diego</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/oglekler\">Olga Gleckler</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/parthvataliya\">Parth vataliya</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/swissspidy\">Pascal Birchler</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/paullb\">paullb</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/pitamdey\">Pitam Dey</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/redkite\">redkite</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rishavdutta\">Rishav Dutta</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/robertstaddon\">robertstaddon</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rvoigt\">rvoigt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mi5t4n\">Sagar Tamang</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sainathpoojary\">Sainath Poojary</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/seanlanglands\">seanlanglands</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/SergeyBiryukov\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/coffee2code/\">Scott Reilly</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/shyamkariya\">Shyam Kariya</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/smerriman\">smerriman</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sabernhardt\">Stephen Bernhardt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sukhendu2002\">Sukhendu Sekhar Guria</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/TobiasBg\">TobiasBg</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hellofromTonya\">Tonya Mork</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vishy-moghan\">Vishy Moghan</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter\">Weston Ruter</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wongjn\">wongjn</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/yogeshbhutkar\">Yogesh Bhutkar</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/zaoyao\">zaoyao</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to contribute</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/report/6\">pick a ticket</a>, and join the conversation in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a> and <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C080HLPP2Q6\">#6-8-release-leads</a> channels. Need help? Check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/\">Core Contributor Handbook</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Props to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson/\">@joedolson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill/\">@joemcgill</a> and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a> for proofreading.</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18445\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"Joost/Karim Fork\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/01/jkpress/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 11 Jan 2025 02:06:06 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Meta\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18394\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:319:\"Making great software, great product that stands the test of time and not just survives but thrives through monumental technological shifts is incredibly hard. That challenge is part of the reason I love doing it. There is never a dull day, and the reward of seeing the code you wrote used by the most amazing [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Matt Mullenweg\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9904:\"\n<p>Making great software, great product that stands the test of time and not just survives but thrives through monumental technological shifts is <em>incredibly hard</em>. That challenge is part of the reason I love doing it. There is never a dull day, and the reward of seeing the code you wrote used by the most amazing creators in the world is an indescribable pleasure. <strong>When I see what people create with WordPress, some days I feel like I’m grinding pigment for Leonardo da Vinci or slitting a quill for Beethoven.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>In open source, one thing that makes it even harder to ship great software is bringing together disparate groups of contributors who may have entirely different incentives or missions or philosophies about how to make great work. Working together on a team is such a delicate balance, and even one person rowing in the wrong direction can throw everyone else off.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That’s why periodically I think it is very healthy for open source projects to fork, it allows for people to try out and experiment with different forms of governance, leadership, decision-making, and technical approaches. As I&#8217;ve said, forking is beautiful, and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/10/spoon/\">forks have my full support and we&#8217;ll even link and promote them</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://joost.blog/\">Joost</a> is a self-proclaimed leader in the SEO space, an industry known for making the web better. He asked for and <a href=\"https://joost.blog/leading-marketing-communication-for-wordpress/\">I gave him WordPress marketing leadership responsibility</a> in January 2019 and <a href=\"https://joost.blog/why-im-stepping-down-from-my-wordpress-marketing-role/\">he stepped down in June of 2019</a>, I think we would both agree in those 5 months he was not effective at leading the marketing team or doing the work himself.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://marucchi.com/\">Karim</a> leads a small WordPress agency called <a href=\"https://crowdfavorite.com/\">Crowd Favorite</a> which counts clients such as Lexus and ABC and employs ~50 people.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are men I have shared meals with and consider of the highest integrity. I would trust them to watch any of my 15 godchildren for a day. These are good humans. Now go do the work. It probably won&#8217;t happen on day one, but Joost and Karim&#8217;s fork, which I&#8217;ll call JKPress until they come up with a better name, has a number of ideas they want to try out around governance and architecture. While Joost and Karim will be unilaterally in charge in the beginning, it sounds <a href=\"https://joost.blog/wordpress-leadership/\">like they want to set up</a>:</p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A non-profit foundation, with a broad board to control their new project.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>A website owned by that foundation which hosts community resources like a plugin directory, forums, etc.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>No more centralized and moderated plugin and theme directories with security guidelines or restrictions are what plugins are allowed to do like putting banners in your admin or gathering data, everything done in a federated/distributed manner.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The trademarks for their new project will either be public domain or held by their foundation.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Modernization&#8221; of the technology stack, perhaps going a Laravel-like approach or changing how WordPress&#8217; architecture works.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teams and committees to make decisions for everything, so no single person has too much power or authority.</li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://marucchi.com/wordpress-leadership-continued/\">Karim has a similar post</a>. Joost says he has the time and energy to lead:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So <a href=\"https://twitter.com/photomatt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@photomatt</a> &#8211; I saw the post by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/automattic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@automattic</a>.<br><br>I&#39;m ready to lead the next releases. I am sure plenty of people and companies are willing to help me and we&#39;ve got plenty of ideas on what we should be doing.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WordPress</a></p>&mdash; Joost de Valk (@jdevalk) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jdevalk/status/1877731220135538728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, as core committer Jb Audras (not employed by me or Automattic) points out, within WordPress we have a process in which people earn the right to lead a release:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Before leading any major release of WordPress, please start with leading a minor one <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jdevalk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@jdevalk</a>. Then, apply to be Triage Lead or Coordination Lead Deputy for a major release. These are the steps everyone in our community should follow before claiming to run « the next releases ».</p>&mdash; Jb Audras (@AudrasJb) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AudrasJb/status/1877833087473565785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However in Joost and Karim&#8217;s new project, they don&#8217;t need to follow our process or put in the hours to prove their worth within the WordPress.org ecosystem, they can just lead by example by shipping code and product to people that they can use, evaluate, and test out for themselves. If they need financial or hosting support is sounds like WP Engine wants to support their fork:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We appreciate <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jdevalk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@jdevalk</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/karimmarucchi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@karimmarucchi</a> thoughtful call for constructive conversation, change and evolved leadership within the WordPress community. Moments of disruption challenge all of us to reflect and to act.<br><br>WordPress’s success as the most widely used CMS is not the…</p>&mdash; WP Engine (@wpengine) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wpengine/status/1870242287218790849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 20, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Awesome! (Maybe it&#8217;s so successful they rebrand as JK Engine in the future.) WP Engine, with its half a billion in revenue and 1,000+ employees, has more than enough resources to support and maintain a legitimate fork of WordPress. And they are welcome to use all the GPL code myself and others have created to do so, including many parts of WordPress.org that are open source released under the GPL, and Gutenberg which is GPL + MPL. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joost also is a major investor (owner?) in <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/\">Post Status</a> (which he tried to sell to me a few months ago, and I declined to buy, perhaps kicking off his consternation with me), so they have a news media site and Slack instance already ready to go. He also is an investor in <a href=\"https://patchstack.com/\">PatchStack</a> and appears to be trying to create a new business around something called <a href=\"https://progressplanner.com/\">Progress Planner</a>, both of which could be incorporated into the new non-profit project to give them some competitive distinctions from WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make this easy and hopefully give this project the push it needs to get off the ground, I&#8217;m deactivating the .org accounts of <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joostdevalk/\">Joost</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/pirazo/\">Karim</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sereedmedia/\">Se Reed</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/idea15/\">Heather Burns</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mor10/\">Morten Rand-Hendriksen</a>. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to try different leadership models or align with WP Engine to join up with their new effort.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, on top of my <a href=\"https://automattic.com/\">day job running a 1,700+ person company with 25+ products</a>, which I typically work 60-80 hours a week on, I&#8217;ll find time on nights and weekends to work on WordPress 6.8 and beyond. Myself and other &#8220;non-sponsored&#8221; contributors have been doing this a long time and while we may need to reduce scope a bit I think we can put out a solid release in March.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joost and Karim have a number of bold and interesting ideas, and I&#8217;m genuinely curious to see how they work out. The beauty of open source is they can take all of the GPL code in WordPress and ship their vision. You don&#8217;t need permission, you can just do things. If they create something that&#8217;s awesome, we may even merge it back into WordPress, that ability for code and ideas to freely flow between projects is part of what makes open source such an engine for innovation. I propose that in a year we do a WordPress + JKPress summit, look at what we&#8217;ve shipped and learned in the process, which I&#8217;d be happy to host and sponsor in NYC next January 2026. The broader community will benefit greatly from this effort, as it&#8217;s giving us a true chance to try something different and see how it goes.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18394\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"WordPress Themes Need More Weird: A Call for Creative Digital Homes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/01/wordpress-themes-need-more-weird-a-call-for-creative-digital-homes/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:53:06 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Design\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18358\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:409:\"The modern web has gradually shifted from a vibrant tapestry of personal expression to a landscape of identical designs, where millions of websites share not just similar structures, but identical visual language, spacing, and interaction patterns. As we collectively gravitate toward the same “proven” layouts and “conversion-optimized” designs, we’re not just losing visual diversity – [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Nick Hamze\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7673:\"\n<p>The modern web has gradually shifted from a vibrant tapestry of personal expression to a landscape of identical designs, where millions of websites share not just similar structures, but identical visual language, spacing, and interaction patterns. As we collectively gravitate toward the same “proven” layouts and “conversion-optimized” designs, we’re not just losing visual diversity – we’re ceding control over how we present ourselves to the world. This matters because genuine self-expression online isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about maintaining spaces where authentic voices can flourish.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When every blog has the same hero section, when every portfolio follows the same grid, when every restaurant site looks interchangeable, we create an echo chamber of sameness. The cost isn’t just visual monotony – it’s the slow erosion of the web’s ability to surprise, delight, and showcase truly individual perspectives. WordPress, with its emphasis on complete ownership and control, offers an opportunity to break free from this convergence of design, allowing creators to build digital spaces that truly reflect their unique voice and vision.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of WordPress themes like album covers. They should have personality and create an immediate visual impact. The web has become too sanitized, with everyone chasing the same minimal, “professional” look.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Great themes should:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Have a strong point of view – like how Kubrick (the classic WordPress theme) defined an era with its distinctive header gradient. Don&#8217;t try to be everything to everyone.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Embrace specific aesthetics boldly – whether that’s brutalist design, pixel art, hand-drawn elements, or distinctive typography. Create themes that excite people rather than just working for everyone.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Design for specific use cases – like a theme for photographers that’s all about full-bleed images or a theme for writers that treats typography as art or a theme for musicians that feels like an album cover.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Break some rules thoughtfully – because not every theme needs a hamburger menu. Not every theme needs to be mobile-first. Sometimes constraints create character.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We need more themes that make people say “Wow!” or “That’s different!” rather than “That’s clean and professional.” The web needs more personality, more risk-taking, more fun.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>After spending countless hours digging through the WordPress theme repository, searching for designs that break the mold and spark excitement, I came up nearly empty-handed. Don’t get me wrong – there are plenty of well-built themes out there. But where’s the daring? The personality? The unexpected?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve got a wild theme idea burning in your mind – that portfolio theme that looks like a vintage trading card collection, that blog theme inspired by zine culture, that restaurant theme that feels like a hand-drawn menu – now&#8217;s the time to build it. WordPress desperately needs your creativity, your weird ideas, your willingness to break the visual rules. The future of the web shouldn&#8217;t be a monochrome landscape of identical layouts. Let&#8217;s make WordPress themes exciting again. Let&#8217;s make the web weird again.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/psychedeli\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18360\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/psychedeli.webp?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Psychedeli theme\" class=\"wp-image-18360\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/psychedeli.webp?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/psychedeli.webp?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/psychedeli.webp?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/psychedeli.webp?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></a></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/kawaii-chan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18362\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/kawaii.webp?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Kawaii-Chan theme\" class=\"wp-image-18362\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/kawaii.webp?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/kawaii.webp?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/kawaii.webp?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/kawaii.webp?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></a></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/lowfi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18361\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/lofi.webp?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"LowFi theme\" class=\"wp-image-18361\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/lofi.webp?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/lofi.webp?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/lofi.webp?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/lofi.webp?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></a></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/bedrock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18364\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/bedrock.webp?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Bedrock theme\" class=\"wp-image-18364\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/bedrock.webp?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/bedrock.webp?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/bedrock.webp?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/bedrock.webp?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></a></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/feelingood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"18363\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/feeling.webp?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Feelin’Good theme\" class=\"wp-image-18363\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/feeling.webp?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/feeling.webp?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/feeling.webp?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/feeling.webp?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></a></figure>\n</figure>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18358\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Holiday Break\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:49:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/12/holiday-break/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 20 Dec 2024 00:36:59 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"General\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18328\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:362:\"In order to give myself and the many tired volunteers around WordPress.org a break for the holidays, we&#8217;re going to be pausing a few of the free services currently offered: We&#8217;re going to leave things like localization and the forums open because these don&#8217;t require much moderation. As you may have heard, I&#8217;m legally compelled [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Matt Mullenweg\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2315:\"\n<p>In order to give myself and the many tired volunteers around WordPress.org a break for the holidays, we&#8217;re going to be pausing a few of the free services currently offered:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New account registrations on WordPress.org (clarifying so press doesn&#8217;t confuse this: people can still make their own WordPress installs and accounts)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/\">plugin directory</a> submissions</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New plugin reviews</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/\">theme directory</a> submissions</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">photo directory</a> submissions</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re going to leave things like localization and the forums open because these don&#8217;t require much moderation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you may have heard, <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/10/24318350/automattic-restore-wp-engine-access-wordpress\">I&#8217;m legally compelled to provide free labor and services to WP Engine thanks to the success of their expensive lawyers</a>, so in order to avoid bothering the court I will say that none of the above applies to WP Engine, so if they need to bypass any of the above please just have your high-priced attorneys talk to my high-priced attorneys and we&#8217;ll arrange access, or just reach out directly to me on Slack and I&#8217;ll fix things for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope to find the time, energy, and money to reopen all of this sometime in the new year. Right now much of the time I would spend making WordPress better is being taken up defending against WP Engine&#8217;s legal attacks. Their attacks are against Automattic, but also me individually as the owner of WordPress.org, which means if they win I can be personally liable for millions of dollars of damages.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to fund legal attacks against me, I would encourage you to sign up for WP Engine services, <a href=\"https://wpengine.com/plans/\">they have great plans and pricing starting at $50/mo and scaling all the way up to $2,000/mo</a>. If not, you can use <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/10/wp-engine-promotions/\">literally any other web host in the world that isn&#8217;t suing me and is offering promotions and discounts for switching away from WP Engine</a>.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"18328\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"State of the Word 2024: Legacy, Innovation, and Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:90:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/12/state-of-the-word-2024-legacy-innovation-and-community/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 16 Dec 2024 21:28:22 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"state of the word\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18205\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:282:\"On a memorable evening in Tokyo, State of the Word 2024 brought together WordPress enthusiasts from around the world—hundreds in person and millions more online. This event marked the first time State of the Word was hosted in Asia, reflecting the platform\'s growing global reach.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Nicholas Garofalo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:88259:\"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"State of the Word 2024\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/KLybH5YvIPQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On a memorable evening in Tokyo, State of the Word 2024 brought together WordPress enthusiasts from around the world—hundreds in person and millions more online. This event marked the first time State of the Word was hosted in Asia, reflecting the platform&#8217;s growing global reach. The setting couldn’t have been more fitting: a city where tradition and technology coexist in seamless harmony. Tokyo, much like WordPress itself, reflects a powerful blend of legacy and innovation, craftsmanship and technology, and moments of vast scale balanced by serene stillness.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignwide has-text-align-center\"><blockquote><p>Tokyo is a city you feel.</p><cite>Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder</cite></blockquote></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>During the event, the concept of <em>kansei</em> engineering emerged as a central theme. This Japanese design philosophy seeks to create experiences that go beyond function and aesthetics, focusing on how something feels. As highlighted during the keynote, this principle has quietly influenced WordPress’s development, shaping its design and user experience in ways that resonate on an instinctive level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The evening also celebrated Japan’s deep-rooted connection to WordPress. Nearly 21 years ago, Japan became the first country to localize WordPress, long before a formal translation framework existed. It all started with<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/topic/localization-help-needed/\"> a single forum post from a user named Otsukare</a>, launching a translation project that helped WordPress become a truly global platform. Seeing how far the Japanese WordPress community has come—both in market share and cultural influence—was a powerful reminder of what shared purpose can achieve.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260638eb7a&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photo of Matt exhibiting some of the community\'s wapuu creations\" class=\"wp-image-18208\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-182521-8400-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Wapuu, WordPress’s beloved mascot, was also born in Japan. What began as a simple idea for a fun and friendly representation of WordPress evolved into a global phenomenon. Thanks to Kazuko Kaneuchi’s generous open-source contribution, Wapuu has been reimagined by WordPress communities worldwide, each version infused with local character. This uniquely Japanese creation has helped make WordPress more welcoming, approachable, and fun wherever it appears.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress Growth in 2024</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg highlighted significant achievements that underscored WordPress’s growth, resilience, and expanding global presence in 2024. He shared that WordPress now powers 43.6% of all websites globally. In Japan, WordPress’s influence is even more pronounced, powering 58.5% of all websites. This remarkable statistic reinforces the platform’s enduring role as a cornerstone of the open web and accentuates Japan’s deep-rooted commitment to the WordPress ecosystem and its developers’ significant contributions.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"260\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=1024%2C260&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18339\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=1024%2C260&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=300%2C76&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=768%2C195&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=1536%2C390&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/marklet-share-world-japan.jpg?resize=2048%2C520&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress sites using languages other than English are expected to surpass English-language sites by 2025. German recently overtook Japanese as the third-most-used language, though Japanese remained close behind. Meanwhile, emerging languages like Farsi experienced rapid adoption, reflecting the platform’s expanding multilingual ecosystem. In Southeast Asia, languages such as Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai saw substantial year-over-year growth, signaling broader adoption across diverse regions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Core downloads surged to nearly half a billion annually, with the notable releases of WordPress <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-5/\">6.5</a>, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-6/\">6.6</a>, and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-7/\">6.7</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress’s design and development ecosystem flourished as well. Over 1,700 new themes were uploaded in 2024, bringing more than 1,000 block themes to the official repository and reflecting increased interest in modern, flexible site design.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin ecosystem also saw record-breaking activity this year. Plugin downloads surged toward 2.35 billion, representing a 20% year-over-year increase. Plugin updates exceeded 3 billion and are on track to surpass 3.5 billion by year’s end. Notably, the Plugin Review Team made transformative improvements, drastically reducing the average review wait time. Their efficiency gains were complemented by the launch of the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-check/\">Plugin Check</a> tool, which reduced submission issues by 41% while enabling the team to approve 138% more plugins each week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These accomplishments showcase WordPress’s resilience, adaptability, and ever-expanding influence. As the platform continues to evolve, its global community remains at the heart of its success, driving innovation and ensuring that WordPress thrives as the leading tool for building the open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-2-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-right:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Help shape the future of WordPress: Join a contributor team today!</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Make WordPress</a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advancing the Platform</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress lead architect, Matías Ventura, highlighted WordPress’s evolution through the lenses of writing, design, building, and development, demoing various pieces of new and forthcoming enhancements.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260638f25a&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Write, Build, Design, Develop\" class=\"wp-image-18219\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.059.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Writing</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The writing experience in WordPress saw notable advancements this year, with an improved distraction-free mode that helps users to focus on content creation without interface distractions. Now you can directly select the image itself to drag and drop it where you want, even enabling on-the-fly gallery creation when you drop images next to each other.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the introduction of block-level comments in the editor, currently an experimental feature, promises to reshape collaborative workflows by enabling teams to leave notes directly on blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These enhancements all work together to make writing, composing, and editing in WordPress feel more fluid, personal, and pleasant than ever.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Design</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with new default theme Twenty Twenty-Five, more than 1,000 block themes offer tailored starting points for different site types, including portfolios, blogs, and business sites. Designers can also utilize the improved Style Book for a comprehensive view of their site’s appearance, ensuring a smooth design process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Design work isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s also about creating the right environment and guardrails. It’s important that users can interact with their site, add content, replace media, and choose sections without needing to know the layout details. We’re implementing better default experiences to help you focus exclusively on the content or on the design, depending on your needs at the moment.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This all works seamlessly with the zoom-out view, where users can compose content using patterns without having to set up every individual block. Having a bird’s-eye view of your site can really help you gain a different perspective.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These design capabilities scale with you as your WordPress projects grow. WordPress&#8217;s approach to design is systematic: blocks combine to form patterns, patterns form templates, and templates help separate content from presentation.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260638f6c9&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18302\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/sotw-2024_keynote_vFINALFINAL-english.037.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Building</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress’s content management capabilities allow working at scale and across teams. Central to this is the introduction of Block Bindings, which merge the flexibility of blocks with the structured power of meta fields. This feature allows block attributes to be directly linked to data sources like post meta, reducing the need for custom blocks while creating deeper, more dynamic content relationships. The familiar block interface remains intact, making complex data management feel seamless. This connects naturally with our broader work on Data Views for post types and meta fields.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These updates reinforce WordPress’s role as a powerful content management system by connecting its core primitives—blocks, post types, taxonomies, and meta fields—more intuitively.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Development</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, Matías showcased a range of groundbreaking tools that empower WordPress developers and streamline their workflows. One of the highlights was the new Templates API, which has simplified the process of registering and managing custom templates. Future updates to the API will allow users to register and activate templates seamlessly, enabling dynamic site customizations such as scheduling different homepage templates for special events or swapping category archives during campaigns. This flexible approach offers developers greater creative control in a standardized way.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The session also explored the Interactivity API, designed to deliver fast, seamless website experiences by enabling server-rendered interactivity within WordPress. Unlike JavaScript-heavy frameworks, this technology keeps everything within WordPress’s existing ecosystem, bridging the gap between developers and content creators. Attendees saw live demos showcasing instant search, pagination, and commenting—all without page reloads—while maintaining a perfect performance score of 100 on Lighthouse. In addition, it was announced that responsive controls will receive significant attention, with new features being explored, like block visibility by breakpoint and adding min/max controls to the columns block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress Playground also emerged as a game-changer, allowing users to spin up WordPress sites directly in their browsers, experiment with Blueprints, and manage projects offline. With improved GitHub integration and expanded documentation, WordPress developers now have a more accessible and powerful toolkit than ever before.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An AI Future</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Returning to the stage, Matt noted that Gutenberg’s evolution is paving the way for AI-powered site building while keeping creative control in users’ hands. A recent speed building challenge on WordPress’s YouTube channel showcased this potential, with <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ndiego/\">Nick Diego</a> using AI-assisted tools and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/welcher/\">Ryan Welcher</a> building manually. While the AI-assisted approach won, the key takeaway was that AI isn’t here to replace developers but to enhance creativity and efficiency.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AI Takes On HUMAN in WordPress Speed Build Showdown &#x1f525;\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjw6KWahFlk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Community Impact and Global Reach</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard took the stage, she emphasized WordPress’s commitment to its open-source mission and the power of its global community. Mary shared her passion for defending WordPress’s principles, reaffirming that when users choose WordPress, they should receive the authentic, community-driven experience that the platform stands for. This commitment to clarity, trust, and open-source integrity is central to ensuring WordPress’s long-term sustainability and success.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260638fbcd&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photo of Mary Hubbard, WordPress Executive Director\" class=\"wp-image-18227\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193636-0177_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Hubbard, WordPress Executive Director</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, WordPress’s global influence surged through expanded educational programs, developer contributions, and grassroots initiatives. The platform’s social media following grew to 2.3 million, while major events like WordCamps and live-streamed gatherings attracted millions of attendees and viewers, connecting people worldwide.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://learn.wordpress.org/\">Learn WordPress</a> introduced Structured Learning Pathways, offering tailored tracks for beginners and developers, fostering a growing network of creators eager to learn and contribute. Grassroots programs flourished, with WP Campus Connect bringing WordPress education to Indian colleges and innovation competitions in Uganda empowering young creators. In Latin America, the Community Reactivation Project reignited meetups across nine cities, fostering a network of over 150 active members and setting the stage for three new WordCamps in 2025.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress’s efforts also advanced through <a href=\"https://openverse.org/\">Openverse</a>, which expanded its free content library to 884 million images and 4.2 million audio files, serving millions of creators worldwide and supporting WordPress’s broader mission of democratizing publishing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether through educational platforms, developer-driven innovation, or community-led projects, WordPress’s ecosystem continues to nurture shared learning, creativity, and collaboration, ensuring its growth and relevance for future generations.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Japanese Community Highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nukaga/\">Junko Fukui Nukaga</a>—Community Team rep, program manager, and WordCamp organizer—noted that WordPress&#8217;s prominence in Japan contributes to an economy now estimated to exceed 100 billion yen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October of 2024, the Japanese WordPress community celebrated DigitalCube’s IPO on the Tokyo PRO Market, marking a milestone for the local WordPress ecosystem. Major contributors like Takayuki Miyoshi’s <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/\">Contact Form 7</a> plugin surpassed 10 million active users, while companies like Sakura Internet and XServer built specialized WordPress infrastructure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Community events in Japan have also flourished, with 189 local meetups held throughout the year, fueled by dedicated volunteers and organizers. Translation Night gatherings have ensured WordPress remains accessible to Japanese users, reflecting a thriving collaborative spirit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt gave special recognition to Japan’s standout contributor, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wildworks/\">Aki Hamano</a>, a Core Committer whose exceptional efforts elevated WordPress development over the past year. Hamano-san made an impressive 774 contributions to WordPress core, earning 162 props for WordPress 6.5, rising to 274 props for 6.6 as the second-highest contributor, and securing the top spot with 338 props for 6.7.Other notable Japanese contributors included <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/atachibana/\">Akira Tachibana</a>, an active Docs Team member, and Nukaga, recognized for her exceptional community organizing efforts. Additionally, 13 Japanese contributors supported 5.4% of WordPress 6.6 development, showcasing the country’s growing influence in the WordPress ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Data Liberation</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on the progress since the initiative&#8217;s launch last year, the focus remained on ensuring that WordPress not only becomes more powerful but also embodies freedom in its deepest sense—the freedom to move content anywhere, collaborate without limits, and create without constraints. This vision extends beyond individual sites to a broader web where content flows seamlessly across platforms, enabling unrestricted creativity and innovation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One compelling example demonstrated how easily ePub files could be imported into a WordPress site, integrating seamlessly with existing designs. This represents the initiative’s broader goal: making content migration and integration effortless. WordPress Playground plays a critical role in this vision by enabling easy site migration through a simple browser extension. With Playground as a staging area, migrating and adapting sites becomes intuitive and accessible.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q&amp;A</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The floor was opened to questions in both Japanese and English.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"State of the Word 2024 Q&amp;A\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/XPhQFSAvKVw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions from the audience, including <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Vice\"><em>Tokyo Vice</em></a> author Jake Adelstein, covered the future of blogging, WordPress performance, the impact of AI search, and what democratizing publishing means today. Matt shared his excitement for more open platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as his recommendations for optimizing your site for both humans and AI. A common thread throughout was that a personal website is an important part of your digital identity, and WordPress allows you to<a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=piano-block&amp;blueprint-url=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fplugins%2Fwp-json%2Fplugins%2Fv1%2Fplugin%2Fpiano-block%2Fblueprint.json%3Frev%3D3166994%26lang%3D\"> express yourself in fun and unique ways</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Panels</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After attendees enjoyed a special performance by the pianist, Takai-san, industry leaders, creators, and innovators took the stage for panel discussions about the present and future of WordPress, moderated by Mary Hubbard.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"State of the Word 2024 Panel Discussions\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qt5FOQYX1nE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Publishing in the Open</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Featuring:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mieko Kawakami, Japanese Author and Poet&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Craig Mod, Author of Things Become Other Things&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder and Automattic CEO</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This first panel explored the transformative power of open-source publishing. Panelists shared insights into how open publishing has influenced their creative journeys, expanded audience engagement, and shaped storytelling across cultural boundaries.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Publishing in the open has defined what I’ve done. All the best connections I’ve made in live have been the result of publishing in the open. &#8211; Craig Mod</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Publishing in the open, like WordPress, is about building community, mutual connections, and putting power back into the hands of creators.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Future of WordPress in Japan and Beyond</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Featuring:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hajime Ogushi, mgn CEO</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Genki Taniguchi, SAKURA internet Inc. Senior Director</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder and Automattic CEO</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The second discussion highlighted WordPress&#8217;s remarkable growth in Japan and its broader global impact. The discussion covered the drivers behind Japan&#8217;s adoption of WordPress, its thriving ecosystem of WordPress-based businesses, and emerging trends in web development.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Compared to other CMSs the WordPress Japanese is much easier to use. &#8211; Hajime Ogushi</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The group discussed plugins such as <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/\">Contact Form 7</a>, the affordability of hosting WordPress, and local meetups and events</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all the guests who joined us on stage, those who ventured to Tokyo, and everyone who tuned in from around the world. Today’s event showcased how a free and infinitely flexible platform, an active global community, open innovation, and a commitment to a fully democratized web make us better at being who we are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>From Tokyo, Arigatou Gozaimashita!</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-0 is-cropped is-style-rectangular wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d26063909b9&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18249\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18249\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-202835-8841-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606390c8e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18262\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-164917-7983-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18262\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-164917-7983-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-164917-7983-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-164917-7983-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-164917-7983-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 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data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18274\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18274\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-163201-7815-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 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https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-142237-0135-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-142237-0135-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-142237-0135-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606391e97&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18260\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18260\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-181648-7911-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d260639217c&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18251\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18251\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-203524-8925-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606392432&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18229\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18229\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C1151&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?resize=1025%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1025w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-190404-0124_web2k.jpg?w=1334&amp;ssl=1 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d26063926f8&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18230\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18230\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-193131-0170_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606392a0c&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18233\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18233\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194151-8562-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606392d1d&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18236\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18236\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-194444-0195_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393001&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18231\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18231\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C1151&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?resize=1025%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1025w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200909-0238_web2k.jpg?w=1334&amp;ssl=1 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393333&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18228\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18228\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-200404-0226_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393613&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18272\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18272\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210737-9358-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393925&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18305\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18305\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-211905-9455-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393bf4&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18269\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18269\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204404-9012-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606393edf&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18257\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18257\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-204317-8995-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d26063941f9&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18271\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18271\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210835-9366-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606394521&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18279\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18279\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-212042-9462-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d26063947e4&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18275\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18275\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-210855-9369-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 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1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-213938-9563-_web2k.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			aria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;67d2606395090&quot;}\" 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data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on-async--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-async-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18266\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-213722-60568-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18266\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-213722-60568-_web2k.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-213722-60568-_web2k.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2024/12/20241216-Automattic-213722-60568-_web2k.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, 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My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, creating a successful business in enterprise WordPress, and working to foster the WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice. Or by going to wptavern.com/feed/podcast, and you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, I&#8217;m keen to hear from you and hopefully get you, or your idea, featured on the show. Head to wptavern.com/contact/jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today, we have Rahul Bansal.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul is the founder and CEO of rtCamp, a large agency that specializes in enterprise grade WordPress projects. He began his journey quite differently, starting as an individual blogger back in 2006, discovering WordPress in 2007, and gradually transitioning from being a publisher to a freelance developer, before founding rtCamp in 2009.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, rtCamp is an enterprise grade WordPress consultancy agency operating globally and trusted by clients such as Google, Meta, Automattic, News UK and Al Jazeera.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul sheds his light on working with enterprise clients in the WordPress space. Many of us are familiar with WordPress in the context of small businesses and blogging, but the enterprise space demands additional layers of security and scalability. Rahul explains the factors that set enterprise projects apart, and why meticulous code reviews, and security audits are essential when working at this level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He talks about the opportunities in the enterprise space, recounting how rtCamp initially stumbled into enterprise level projects, not even realizing their potential until a client&#8217;s high expectations led to a decision to market themselves as an enterprise agency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also discussed the role of WordPress in enterprise environments, from why Gutenberg has become a credible selling point due to its powerful editing capabilities, to how the platform&#8217;s flexibility supports varied enterprise needs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul also gets into the importance of positioning. How historical context offers advantages, and the expanding market that makes WordPress a compelling choice for large clients today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towards the end, we explore rtCamp&#8217;s innovative intern program, aimed at growing the WordPress talent pool, and the way they&#8217;re contributing back to the WordPress project, a win-win for the business and the broader community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever considered what it takes to work with WordPress at the enterprise level, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to wptavern.com/podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so without further delay, I bring you, Rahul Bansal.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast today by Rahul Bansal. Hello.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:47] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Hello.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:48] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It is very nice to have you on the podcast today. We&#8217;re going to talk about the enterprise, which I confess is something that I only really know about because people talk about it. I&#8217;ve never worked in the enterprise, I&#8217;ve never worked with enterprise clients. So Rahul is here. He&#8217;s very much in the enterprise as you&#8217;re about to find out, and he&#8217;s going to educate me all about that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Rahul, I wonder if you wouldn&#8217;t mind just for a minute or two minutes, just tell us who you are, what you do in the WordPress space, where you work, your position there, and so on. A little potted bio.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:18] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Currently I am founder and CEO of rtCamp, which is a large agency specifically dealing in enterprise grade WordPress projects. I started quite differently, like I started as a individual blogger, back in 2006.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2007 I found WordPress. I started developing with WordPress in 2007. And slowly from being a publisher, I become freelance developer, and then around 2009 rtCamp started. So I&#8217;ve been with rtCamp for the last 16 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:04:46] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s been quite a journey. I see the name rtCamp everywhere. And we should just say, so it&#8217;s spelt, lowercase r, lowercase t, and then Camp with a capitol C, a m p. Go and Google that, and have a look at what the team over there doing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How big has the team grown to? How many employees, staff do you have over there now?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:05] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So currently we are 230 people, all spread over.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That is truly an enormous agency. So bravo for growing that. That&#8217;s really incredible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first question that I want to ask though is, when does normal WordPress become enterprise WordPress? At what point do we cross the Rubicon where a site is, I don&#8217;t know, big enough, or your agency is working with a different type of client? Can you define what you think that means? And I&#8217;m sure that if you&#8217;re on the cusp of being an enterprise agency, this is something that, you know, may be slightly confusing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:05:37] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Firstly, there is no formal definition to that. Many agencies believe they&#8217;re serving enterprise space when they&#8217;re not. Some people are actually serving enterprise space, but they don&#8217;t realise it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in my opinion, it&#8217;s where the requirement changes a lot. Like, for example, if we&#8217;re building a small WordPress site, which I don&#8217;t consider as an enterprise site, we will be tempted to pick first theme and plugin that matches our need, like if it works, if it gets a job done, that&#8217;s it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then in enterprise space, there is a lot of security and scalability concerns. These two concerns are very big. Something might be working all right, but then when you look at the code, you realise that there&#8217;s going to be a security issues, or there could be scalability issues. Many times, indy developer person, they design small WordPress plugins. They don&#8217;t have data or big enough site to test it on a large installation. So those things are not tested on really high traffic website. So enterprise can mean really high traffic website, with a lot of scalability requirement.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, the traffic can be less, but the security requirement can be enormous. Consider the White House website. It was on the WordPress with the previous administration, and it&#8217;s again, on the WordPress with the new administration. So in both cases, I don&#8217;t think White House, like a website we can classify as a very high traffic website, but it is a very sensitive website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would be a lot embarrassing if that site gets hacked. So every piece of code that goes into White House website, which agency is working on it, will be thoroughly checked for security attack, for audit, for all the compliances. And this additional efforts is what makes it enterprisey, in my opinion.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, so it&#8217;s not necessarily the size of the client, or the fame, for want of a better word, of the client. It&#8217;s more about the kind of work that you&#8217;re doing in the background. So custom code largely, because you simply at that scale cannot have something off the shelf.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:28] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So we can have things off the shelf. The thing is, you cannot just take it and use it. You still have to own it in that sense. Like, for our clients also, we go and use many things from WordPress plugin directory. But then when we put it on this website, it is kind of like signed by us. So it&#8217;s like we have to verify, even if it is not coded by us, we have to verify line by line that it is following best coding practices, database queries will scale with high traffic, if it is a high traffic website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many checks and balances in place. So no matter if you are doing in-house, like as a custom coding, or we are buying a premium plugin or using a free plugin, everything has to go through certain checks. And those checks are very expensive to do, because that&#8217;s a human labor. You have to literally go through things line by line. And in many cases, you have to put extra efforts to make it scalable with their existing system.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because usually a large enterprise won&#8217;t use just a website in silos. It&#8217;ll be part of multiple system like authentication system, where if an employee joins a large organisation based on some rule, they might get automatic access to their website. Likewise, if they leave organisation, their access should be automatically revoked, or they have some CRM integrations, data integrations, some kind of asset, like digital asset management solution integration.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So all these have to be connected, and this all need to work together. So a lot of effort goes in doing these extra things, which are either don&#8217;t exist for small websites. So, enterprise website that I&#8217;m talking about, this can be really unknown website. We have a client which is basically a government public origin fund. Common people don&#8217;t even know about them, but they basically want pretty much all the big companies we know. Like, they have stake in all the big companies. Their asset is something like $400 billion in under management.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people don&#8217;t even know that company. But then it&#8217;s very sensitive because that money they&#8217;re managing is public money, it&#8217;s not like VC fund. It&#8217;s actually state reserve. Now, seriousness, we need to demonstrate in the security is very high, because if something gets hacked or somebody uploads the wrong investor report or something like portfolio report, it can have a lot of consequences.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:09:32] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It kind of sounds to me as if the assurance that you are giving an enterprise client is basically that what we&#8217;ve built is, as far as we can tell, it&#8217;s bulletproof. We&#8217;ve gone through it line by line. We may have custom coded bits and pieces, but certainly the bits that we didn&#8217;t custom code, we are totally guaranteeing that this is going to be robust.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And also it&#8217;s sounds a bit like, if a client at an enterprise level approaches you and they say, can you do this? Your answer is yes. Basically, yes, we can do it. We can do it with WordPress. There may be a cost, but we can do it. There&#8217;s almost no scenario where a client would come to you and say, can you do this, forget the money, can you do it? The answer&#8217;s never no. The answer&#8217;s always going to be yeah, yeah, we&#8217;ll figure it out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:15] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So that&#8217;s the thing, like if the budget has no limit then there is no limit on technology. Most often, like even where enterprise agency, WordPress has this large spectrum. So we end up with a lot of low quality leads, where somebody knocks on an enterprise agencies&#8217; door and they really have budget constraint. They really want something really good out of the box, but they don&#8217;t want to pay for it. Or they don&#8217;t want to pay as high as it&#8217;ll require to deliver that kind of solution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some enterprises, budget is no limit, but then we try to be mindful of resources. For example, many enterprise agencies, including us, if you go to their GitHub account, they would have list of published themes and plugins. Most commonly plugins, themes rarely are used off the shelf. So we will build these plugins to ensure that the cost of rebuild project is less, like if we have to deliver another project, we try our best that we reuse as much as possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s the open source spirit, that the entire WordPress committee follows. We use many times solutions that are already put in open source by our competing agencies. They also use our solution. So that&#8217;s where the enterprise solution with WordPress is also affordable. The right enterprise client that we target, usually have higher budget than we would need to develop because we are competing against a lot of experienced managers, which are very expensive, super expensive.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when I is super expensive, I&#8217;m just talking about licensing fees. Before you hire an agency to write custom code for you, you have already paid a lot of money just for the right to use the software. With WordPress, that right to use costs zero. And then all the nice agencies in WordPress space, big, small, no matter what size they are, try their best to reuse existing solutions, to bring the cost down.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So enterprise WordPress, relatively, cost less than other enterprise CMS, but then it certainly costs a lot than building a small website. Like, you cannot go to an enterprise agency and expect in $500 your site to be built perfectly, because the requirement gathering phase, like talking to all stakeholders and understanding all the solutions they use inhouse can take like many days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:15] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So you may have answered this question just now with what you&#8217;ve just said. I feel that you&#8217;ve definitely gone into this territory, but it sounds like there&#8217;s a lot of line by line checking of everything. So for example, if you use a plugin off the repo, you&#8217;re going to go through that one line at a time. And you said this can be an expensive process. You&#8217;ve also said that obviously there&#8217;s benefits of using WordPress because you can take things that other people have used and so on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I guess at some point there&#8217;s got to be some sort of tipping point where you think, okay, WordPress is going to be good for this project, but it might not be good for that project. Is it always WordPress for you? Do you always lean into WordPress, or does there come a point where you say, do you know what, with the custom things that this particular client wants and what have you, lets just build the thing ourselves, let&#8217;s not rely on the CMS, or do you always lean in on WordPress?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:01] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Maybe it&#8217;s the nature of our positioning that we rarely get things that we cannot do in WordPress, so we always do things in WordPress. The boundary varies with how much off the shelf WordPress we&#8217;ll use, and how much custom we&#8217;ll use. In one of the project, I remember there was a specific data crunching process that we needed to build. And we felt that it&#8217;ll be better if it is built as a microservice and run independently.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we built that in Python, but then it was talking to WordPress REST API. So that freedom we have from client, for example like that microservice, that microservice was never visible to any of the client&#8217;s editorial team. Everything they were doing, their only interface was WP admin. There was no second login or no second interface to them. It was just something was running on some server and magically data was going inside and outside WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s the power of WordPress. It has so many APIs to communicate with outside world, like rest API, GraphQL, and even from the traditional XML-RPC. That WordPress can coexist with other systems very nicely. And that&#8217;s where we never face that, can we do this on WordPress or not? It&#8217;s like, can we do everything on WordPress, or do we need to put some minor things outside WordPress?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And those decisions are not the engineering limitation. Like, that microservice, we could have put it in WordPress also, but we felt that its architecture was more suited for independent microservice. That was the right call, it turned out to be right call. Much later that microservice grew independently.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> If we rewind the clock to the beginning when you were just beginning with WordPress and beginning the agency that ended up being rtCamp with your 230 odd employees, did you intend for what&#8217;s happened to happen? Did you always know that you wanted to grow something to the point where it became, air quotes, enterprise with many, many employees, or did it just evolve over time unexpectedly?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:49] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Yeah, it all happened unexpectedly. Like, I started as a professional blogger. I used to make money from advertising, affiliate marketing. So it&#8217;s like, I wasn&#8217;t doing anything remotely related to agencies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So one thing led to another and then I started freelancing. Then even after freelancing, when I started rtCamp as an agency, because I was coming from bloggersphere, most of my initial client were bloggers, like independent bloggers. Somebody wanted a theme, somebody wanted a plugin, somebody wanted a sidebar, which sidebar just used to be a lot more popular in those early days of blogging. Like, people used to have MySpace, like experience on the web, like lots of widgets, email submission form, this pop up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So in fact, the first enterprise client that walked into our door, that&#8217;s why I said like many agencies don&#8217;t even realise when they mingle with enterprise space. I kind of felt very irritated because they asked so many questions. They got our reference from LinkedIn. We had zero, we were not even using enterprise word anywhere in our branding, marketing, anywhere at all. But back in 2010, also, we made a good name for ourselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So anybody who shouted, hey, any WordPress references, our name used to pop up on social media. So we got that. And they sent us a very large procurement checklist, which we never heard of. All of our projects were like email exchange, two, three emails, money via PayPal, and emails used to be contact. Like, whatever you committed on email is the contract.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And suddenly there comes like this long PDF, Excel sheets with check boxes. Do you have a data storage policy? This policy, that policy. If we end up filling this, we&#8217;re not going make any profit with this project. So then one of my teammates said, let&#8217;s price in that. Let&#8217;s price in and see if they can afford it. So we literally added another zero to our pricing, literally like 5 times, 10 times. And we said like, hey, this is our minimum, do you want to go ahead?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I said, sure, like this is peanuts. And they were worried like, do you understand the project? You are quoting very less, your starting point is very less than our internal budget. So they came to our office, they were based in India. Luckily they were in the same city. They came to our office to audit us physically. They put like remarks like, you don&#8217;t have a fingerprint scanner in your biometric sensors in your office entry. There is no employee log.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we are not storing any of your data. So this office is not the building where your data will reside. Your data will reside on AWS, or all those cloud servers. And then they got convinced. WordPress was very small then, and we were the only known agencies, which was fully committed to WordPress at that point. So they didn&#8217;t have choice two, three, so they kind of crossed the fingers and gave us that project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It took six months to close. I was very pessimistic. It&#8217;s only after two, three years that we realised that they&#8217;d become our largest client by a huge margin. All my blogger friend put one side, and this single client, one side. And that revenue was growing very nicely, year on year. Renewals, they had this retainers, every year they were renewing without asking questions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I realise that it&#8217;s very hard to win these big clients, but once you are in it becomes very smooth journey, henceforth, like after that point. And then I think 2014 around, after two, three years data, when I saw that this client was consistently, for the last three years in a row, our biggest client. Zero sales effort, zero account issues, no negotiation on pricing, and everything was smooth.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So then I thought like we should go in to some enterprise space, and luckily around that time I had a call with Chris Lema. Chris Lema used to be available for consulting calls on Clarity. I&#8217;m not sure if that service is still around. And I still remember it was exactly 33 minutes that I talked to Chris. He repositioned rtCamp. In 33 minutes he gave me some amazing breakthrough idea.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And after that call, first time we told ourselves, we are enterprise WordPress agency from today. Until 2014 we were not identifying ourself or branding ourself as an enterprise workplace agency. That moment was the first time when we put in bold letters on our homepage, in SEO Meta, everywhere we added, we are enterprise, enterprise, enterprise WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Can you remember that moment? So if you cast your mind back, when you added the zero and sent it, and there was obviously some suspicion in your mind that nothing&#8217;s going to come of this or what have you. Can you remember the feeling? So it&#8217;s an odd question because I&#8217;m asking you about your feelings, but can you remember the feeling when they came back and said, oh yeah, this is not as expensive as we&#8217;d imagined? That really must have opened up an entirely new world for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:00] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Yeah. So firstly, it was very unexpected because we were selling like WordPress projects for $100, $50, $500. The biggest was $1,000. We still remember we built a complete BuddyPress plugin for $900. And we were like so happy when that client sent us $100 tip. He rounded up to $1,000 and we were partying, like with that extra $100, we throw a party to our team.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And suddenly this client comes and they said, $5,000 is okay? Are you kidding me? Because they sent so much data I didn&#8217;t want to fill in, so I just thought, let&#8217;s just give them a number and they will walk away. We&#8217;ll not appear as a company who didn&#8217;t want to fulfill their data request. I thought, I will give them a reason to walk away, but then it didn&#8217;t walk out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially I was still skeptical because they really demand too much data. Just imagine, we were like some 20 people agency at that time, and we spent three to six months in back and forth sales call. We didn&#8217;t have typical sales team at that point. Writing those long answers. We were not even understanding questions. The problem was not that we didn&#8217;t want to give data or we didn&#8217;t take security seriously, there were things that we never heard of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was all like foreign language to us. What are they asking? Why do they want to do that? I was not expecting lifetime revenue, that concept was not in our books then. So it was project, money in, money out, end of email, site goes live. Then the recurring revenues hosting companies. We were not into selling maintenance contract.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it was a project kind of thinking like big, big economy mindset. So even with 5,000, I thought like, the amount of effort they&#8217;re putting us, we won&#8217;t be left with any decent margin after this project. And that was a true case. For first year there was not much margin left because they had put us through a lot of work to fulfill that project. And then we realised we underquoted after that also, because when the data, we had to talk to their Microsoft vendor. They were using Microsoft SharePoint. There were many rough edges that we had no idea could happen to us.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In year one, they were the highest revenue, but project was in loss. It&#8217;s only a year, two, three, it was very good profit. And then we have the strategy that we call now land and expand. Land big accounts, no matter whatever price point you wanted to do, go aggressive, and then once you are in, then you spread within the organisation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Oh that&#8217;s an interesting insight. So land and expand. Land the client, the big fish, if you like, with the knowledge that if you maintain the relationship over many years, the profit can build up. Not necessarily year one, but maybe a bit in year two, and year three, and year four, it&#8217;s beginning to mature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, it sounds like such an interesting story. And, again, I&#8217;m going to rewind back to before 2014, so before you added enterprise to your website and have you. Do you think if you had begun your journey today, that you would have the same capability to expand in the same way? Because it feels like there are now quite a few players. Perhaps when you began that was less of the case. You were competing in a much less crowded marketplace.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it feels like everybody&#8217;s intent now is to become an agency which can call itself enterprise. And I&#8217;m imagining that you got your foot in the door at a really nice time where you became a name that everybody could trust, and the recommendations come in because of prior work, but maybe that would be more difficult now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:22:08] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> The market is much bigger now. In fact, just imagine WordPress market share. When we were building the first initial websites, there was not even custom post types that were present in WordPress. So all the WordPress plugins, we used to do a lot of hacks. There was not standardisation. So a lot of things happened with WordPress as a platform. WordPress evolved. The market share has become so big. It&#8217;s easier to sell. We have so many examples like from White House to large publishers. And globally, it&#8217;s not like just the American companies are using WordPress. India&#8217;s second largest publisher also uses WordPress. So does Al Jazeera in Qatar.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there are many big websites all over the world so it makes WordPress easy to sell. The market is big. There is a precedence where you can pitch somebody, this is WordPress used by so and so. I believe that no matter which lead you are dealing with, so if you have a lead from a certain industry, a certain geography, you will find a WordPress success story in their geography. You will find WordPress being used by your prospect&#8217;s competition. That makes it easier to sell WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, yeah, the competition is more because opportunity is bigger. The pie is a lot bigger. Otherwise we would&#8217;ve stuck to the same size. Every year we are adding more people because we are able to get more work for them, even with these new agencies coming up. In fact, it&#8217;s easier to build WordPress agency, or any kind of enterprise grade agency now, because the recipe is quite clear. Because we can look at how other agencies are doing and you can take some lessons from them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that time we had no idea. Like, in fact, we didn&#8217;t have the idea that we should position ourselves enterprise grade agency, that was the call with Chris. Before that call, we had no idea that we should be labeling ourselves as an enterprise grade agency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:42] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> If clients approach you, and it sounds like this may not be the case. It feels like people are approaching you because you build WordPress, not inquiring whether or not you would do a WordPress project for them. What are the one or two bits that you always bring out when a client says, well, why would we go with WordPress? What are the one or two top line items which you think, okay, if we&#8217;re going to build you a website, we&#8217;re going to choose WordPress, and here&#8217;s the best reasons at enterprise? So we&#8217;re not talking about a mom and pop store, that it really doesn&#8217;t matter if it goes down a bit. What are the one or two things which you bring out when an enterprise client wants to know why WordPress?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:24:18] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> First we want to reassure them that WordPress is the right platform. So this is a difference between a product company and agency. A product has a landing page, which is more similar, it gets us to a lot of people. But an agency pitch is tailored for every client, every prospect. So our first goal is to find competition. So which are the competitors for this particular client, prospective client, and see if they&#8217;re using WordPress. If your competition is using WordPress, you will feel a lot more comfortable going after it, because nobody wants to be first, especially in large enterprises.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another way we define enterprise is that, when you are not buying from out of your pocket. In a large organisation, your job is not to save the money or find cheapest solution, your job is to deliver result so that it can go very nicely in your annual review report. I still believe people, especially in enterprise, are looking for safety as a first because they know that they have budget to build anything under the sun.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So usually we say less like, WordPress can do this, WordPress can do that. Because for everything that WordPress or any platform doesn&#8217;t do out of the box, they have budget. What they need to know is that it&#8217;s secure, it&#8217;s safe, it&#8217;ll scale well. And if some government approaches us, so we show that public sovereign fund, that they&#8217;re managing. So that client has a special permission with us, like we cannot refer them publicly, that government agency, but we can refer them to other government agencies in private conversations. So that is how we convince like, okay, this is similar people to you who are using WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think safety is still the first thing that people are looking for because, it&#8217;s not even WordPress, it starts with open source. There is something, somebody did some marketing where people believe or have this misconception that open source will be easy to hack, because you can see the code, you can easily hack. That is our first step. If client mentions it explicitly, we go all in. Even if the client doesn&#8217;t mention it, if the prospect says that we are looking for rating interest, we still will verify. Are you sure that you are sorted on WordPress being safe? Any concerns, any doubts?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then features, because WordPress has no match. And I&#8217;m not saying this as a WordPress agency. The Gutenberg editor itself alone is miles apart. If you go to any other platform, the editing capabilities are nowhere close to Gutenberg editor. Gutenberg editor demo itself is a deal breaker in many cases. We just show them Gutenberg editor, and they&#8217;re like, wow, is this possible? Is this thing real? Is this some mockup? No, this is website. After the call, we are going to send you a URL, go and try your hands on. This is no fake, that vaporware demo where you see something on my screen, but in reality it doesn&#8217;t work like that. This is the real website. Go and try it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s really interesting because in the non-enterprise, that message hasn&#8217;t necessarily landed. Gutenberg is, it&#8217;s very divisive issue, isn&#8217;t it? Whether you use it or not. And it&#8217;s curious that you are saying that it&#8217;s one of the key things which leads to the success.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you just dig into that a little bit? What are some of the aspects of Gutenberg which make the clients think, okay, this is great, this is perfect, this is just what we need? What are some of the features that you draw out of the block editor?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:19] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So I think the main difference that we feel like compared to the consumer WordPress, I would say. The consumer WordPress access technologies on very different platform, like proprietary. Just imagine somebody is using Instagram to create reels. With that mindset they come to WordPress Media Library and expect video editing experience like that to happen in WordPress, they will be disappointed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But here we&#8217;re talking to people in large companies, very large companies, using legacy systems, probably from the nineties. They might have a desktop application to update a webpage, some ugly looking forms. We even have a memory where a client, their publishing workflow they had to write an article using a very poorly designed HTML web form, and they had to upload images via FTP. And then they had to reference images in document. There was no drag and drop interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So now if somebody like this person comes to Gutenberg, it&#8217;s like an iPhone moment for them. With that being said, Gutenberg itself is a very powerful editor. We haven&#8217;t come across a case where somebody said, oh, this is not flexible. As I said, like enterprise have a very good balance around the feature versus maintenance. For example, so Gutenberg may have one or two features less compared to a third party page builder, but then being part of Core, they&#8217;re assured that five years down the line, it will be very well maintained.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Security is more important to them because one less plugin means one less attack vector. Less things to break, less things to train, less things to maintain going forward. We as an agency develop so many sites on Gutenberg that we have our own libraries and our own patterns. So it&#8217;s like, whenever a requirement comes, we can easily map it to Gutenberg.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:28:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think that&#8217;s the difficult thing to imagine if you&#8217;ve never built your own block or you&#8217;ve never delved into patterns. But certainly at the enterprise level, if a client comes to you and said, we have this repeatable thing, and we need to put this repeatable thing on page every time. And honestly it&#8217;s real chore. And you can build a block, and they drop the block in, and now they just fill out some fields, drag an image in here, and suddenly, boom, it&#8217;s exactly on the front end what were expecting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s that kind of thing, isn&#8217;t it? It&#8217;s that, almost like an app inside of an editor. So we&#8217;ve got a block which consumes perfectly the content that you want, and we can adapt it if your needs change. But if you&#8217;ve never really gotten into that, it&#8217;s hard to imagine. It&#8217;s just a bunch of paragraphs and images, but it&#8217;s not, it&#8217;s so much more powerful than that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:34] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> One thing I would say that, if you look at any large corporation, they have something called design systems, where they have their brand guidelines across products, not just websites like, across mediums like print and everywhere. With Gutenberg, it is very intuitive and easy to map the design system into WordPress. So that is where Gutenberg shines, that you can create patterns, you can create theme json. You can give them a starting point which blends very well with their existing design system.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is where half of the job gets done. Like, compared to indie hackers or small businesses, large enterprises are not running after lots of plugins. They don&#8217;t want to try a hundred plus blocks plugin, a plugin with 200 blocks. They want to restrict number of choices. They want to have less number of blocks, but properly weighted with the user&#8217;s guidelines. So it&#8217;s like, the freedom they demand is easily given by Gutenberg, and with the assurance of, it is going to be around long term. It&#8217;ll be very well maintained. It&#8217;ll be very well supported, and performance. I still feel Gutenberg has much better performance, the markup, SEO qualities, top notch.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think it&#8217;s just the constraints that you can put around that editing experience. So if the client comes and they want this inexperienced user to be able to create content but have boundaries so they can, I don&#8217;t know, they can add an image here and it will be, it doesn&#8217;t matter, they just put it in and it will output perfectly. And here&#8217;s where the text goes, but they can&#8217;t change the fonts, you&#8217;re not allowed to change the color and what have you. All of those kind of constraints around the editing experience. It&#8217;s just miraculous really what&#8217;s possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think it gets lost because the majority of people, I&#8217;m imagining using WordPress are sort of tinkering with Core blocks and it can become confusing. There&#8217;s lots of choices. You try one thing and it doesn&#8217;t work out, and you throw your hands in the air. But if you&#8217;ve built the perfect thing, then all of those guardrails are in place and it will output the perfect thing every time. I think that&#8217;s really interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you grow, and how do you find your next employees? Because I&#8217;m guessing at the level that you are now at, you must have some fairly exacting specifications when you put out a job description. And WordPress is becoming an increasingly JavaScript based thing. Lot more technical difficulties. Where do you find your talent, and is it becoming harder to find?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:40] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> This would be unique to literally us. We have what we call our own training center where we, every year we take some 50 students from college, who recently graduated. Every six months we take 25 to 30 students from colleges. We put them through six months of training, like a complete, they get paid to learn WordPress for six month. They have no obligation to continue with us. They can join our competition, they can do anything with the WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we really get this talent and this job is very popular in India. So this training we run, the pay scales are very popular in India. So last year also we had some 90,000 applications for 60 positions. We literally have to build a platform. So we have a campus adding platform, its name is Chitragupta. Chitragupta is basically is responsible for managing the ledger of your good and bad work. So in Hindu mythology. So we built  Chitragupta, which basically scans your GitHub repos and assigns your grade.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And those 9,000 people gets graded. And then we interview from top to bottom until 60 positions gets filled. So last time we had to interview some 1,200 students, by the time 60 students got selected.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we put them to the six month training. Our course is public, so people know what is going to be in the course, and so we find a lot of passionate people. Many times by the time they join our course, I&#8217;ve already gone through it from the public website that we have learn.rtcamp.com. From there, they already have checked it. And then we put them through the six month training. After that, this thing we started this year only. After six month training, we put them six months into the WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So WordPress Core has a mentorship program running on for new contributors. So this year we enrolled 10 people, managed by Automattic and Google employees, senior employees. So they are mentoring this people for further. So first year we, we invest them heavily. Zero revenue, only investment in year one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then from year two, we start getting, like some client work done from them. And this is something turned out to be very great for us from last three years. At some point we felt, there are same number of people switching between agencies, and net new addition to the WordPress worker pool was getting stagnant, especially around Covid.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I felt the way people used to discover life with WordPress, or a professional life with WordPress was mostly through WordCamps or meetup groups, and when that Covid happened, we suddenly missed those years, when new people didn&#8217;t come to the WordPress, as many as they used to come before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there was this gap that started hurting large agencies, like us. Because if we look at a small website, then the enterprise budget appears a lot, but there&#8217;s always a limit. No company approves unlimited budget for any venture. Like for every project there&#8217;s a budget. It&#8217;s usually large enough, but there&#8217;s always a number and, as talent was getting more expensive, WordPress was getting unaffordable at some point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I talked to some medium publishers, medium sized publishers, not the big ones, who complain a lot. Like the good WordPress agencies are either sold out or too expensive. It&#8217;s like WordPress is suddenly getting unaffordable, and that is when we started in this hiding experiment, where we onboarded people every year. And this is, we are doing from last four years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we have been hiring for many years, but early it was 5, 10 people. This massive scale of hiring we started from last three to four years. And, it turned very well for us. Like all these people in second year clocked, like in agency billable hours is a very big metric, and in second year, these people clock 90%, more than 90% billable hours.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:08] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s incredible. What a great idea. Can I just ask, just to clarify with that, is that an in-person thing? So you come to a place where 60 people gather, and the tuition is taking place in the same room, or is it an online thing or?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:23] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So before Covid it was, it used to be in the same room, but the scale was 20 people at that time only. After Covid, we made it completely remote. It&#8217;s now completely remote. It&#8217;s still in the same time zone because, these are the Zoom calls, recordings. The time zone synchronization is needed. So that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s currently India only. But we are expanding it to other territories, and we are seeing like if we can create similar talent pool in other part of the world. Because,early it was in n office, then it went remote over Zoom. And this year, it is going async. We have a dedicated department, which is called Learning and Development Department.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So our agency head has implemented most lessons in a synced way, so that people can wake up at different time. And so it&#8217;s like they won&#8217;t get blocked. They can learn asynchronously, they can complete this six month course asynchronously.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:11] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> It just sounds like the appetite is incredible. The numbers that you just mentioned there, I think you said something like 1200 or something like that, people for 90 places. That&#8217;s just remarkable. So the appetite really is there. It seems like such a commendable project as well, in that you are putting out a limited, you know what, you can manage. 60 people out into the workplace. Some of them may end up working with you. Some may end up working with your competitors. But you&#8217;ve put 60 people out there who are really credible at pushing the boundaries of what WordPress can do, and hopefully just making a start on their career.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:44] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:45] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> But I know that it&#8217;s not just limited to that. And, I would like to get into this just before we finish, because I think this is important. Over the last few years we see these metrics every year of companies who put time into the WordPress project in general, in a whole manner of different ways. They may be sponsoring events. They may be committing staff to Five for the Future and what have you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the company, your company, rtCamp, it always seems to be right at the forefront of that in a growing way. I&#8217;d just like to applaud you for that and give you an opportunity to say what it is that you do so that we&#8217;ve got an impression of just how much good you are doing apart from obviously, having a very profitable agency and what have you, how much good you&#8217;re putting back into the community as well. So just outline your commitments to the WordPress project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:29] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So, as I mentioned that, so we have multiple ways of contributing. So as we hire a lot of from college, unfortunately we cannot have a lot of Core committers with us, but we take care of the other end. For example, these 10 people, we have a commitmentt now internally that every six months, so we will put 10 people full-time, like full-time as in literally full-time. A hundred percent of their time will go in working on WordPress project for six months.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then this will be rotated by next batch. So in rotation there will be at least 10 people. As we grow further, then we&#8217;ll make it 15, 20. And we want to keep this ramping up this number. So there will be always, WordPress Core will have enough junior people to pick the task. So, that good first issues will, somebody will be looking at them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we have a QA people, work into the QA team, other teams. I myself as WordCamp organizer, for WordCamp Asia. We have other people contributing to different part of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have a training course, which is public domain, in public domain. We started that much before learn.wordpress.org is there. Now  learn.wordpress.org is there, it is much better resource. But then this course was there for many years, and many other agencies use it. So that is one of the way to build human capital. So this word actually drives me a lot. We want to consciously put our efforts in developing human capital of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because in the end, it&#8217;s people that do the job, no matter how fancy it is. You need a human to put a prompt to the AI. ChatGPT won&#8217;t build things on its own. You need to, you need a human to ask creative questions. And we want to ensure that WordPress economy continues to grow, and it never falls short of people. So we hire a lot of junior people. We put into the workplace. We publish our videos tutorial. We publish our training material also in the public domain.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many companies use it, and we expect no link back, also, no credit. Because sometimes they have a apprehension that if they know, this is why rtCamp course will, for, example, our training course site doesn&#8217;t require registration. So if you&#8217;re sending your employees to learn WordPress on our site, we won&#8217;t track them. We won&#8217;t solicit them. We have no way of knowing who&#8217;s learning. Google Analytics just shows traffic. A lot of traffic is coming to those training sites, but we have no personally identify information tracked there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:39:45] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I would imagine that in every aspect of your business, except this, maybe, there&#8217;s gotta be some measurable ROI. Okay, we put this in, we get this out. Do you have any metrics to measure your commitment to the community, or is it just putting your finger in the air and thinking, okay, last year, our business did this, let&#8217;s put, I don&#8217;t know, whatever it might be. Do you have a pro forma that you stick to? A number of hours, a number of people? Or is it just, yeah, this feels right this year. Because you can&#8217;t measure this. And in some cases, I imagine people would think, yeah, they&#8217;re probably overdoing it a little bit over there and what have you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:40:21] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> So, we have a top line mandate that, so it&#8217;s like, internally we divide engineers in three categories in rtCamp. The junior ones were like less than two years in rtCamp. The senior ones like two to five years. And lead levels were like more than five years with us. The junior one, we target 20% of their time for WordPress Core. And the medium level, the seniors, 10%, and lead level is 5%. Lead level is very hard, because we have very less lead engineers. The demand supply gap is more evident on senior and lead level. But then, these metrics are, so our office structure is that we have some called business needs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So every people need to submit their 20% report. Not only they need to submit the hours report, like they have their hours went into the WordPress Core or different part. They have to compile what are the issues they solved. It&#8217;s not like you&#8217;re just making time entries. You have to tell in the leadership quarterly review that I have 50 people in my business units, and together they clock 3000 hours. And this is what we achieved in 3000 hours. And this is approved. The props messages we see in WordPress Slack, those screenshots, if our employee names is mentioned, are taken screenshots and filing into those review reports.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three people got props from my team. The WordPress Core release notes, like with major releases. So those contributor list also presented by them. If somebody&#8217;s doing some make WordPress blog post or activity, those are also tracked by them. So the heads compile this report, from like bottom ups and then present in leadership meeting. So this is not accidental.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The material ROI is very hard to measure. We cannot say that, oh, we made like X dollars because of this effort. I think, as a salesperson, when I tell a client like, hey, I&#8217;m going to give you an engineer who knows WordPress very well. I&#8217;m more confident if that person has contributed six months to the WordPress Core. And their patches is weighted by some amazing people in WordPress community, especially senior ones. It&#8217;s like a win-win situation for all. This gives me a very, very well trained people to sell.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:42:16] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s exactly how I was just thinking about it. This kind of win-win cycle of you put people into WordPress, and obviously at a junior level, more time and I can understand that. That makes sense. Presumably the ones who are more experienced, they&#8217;ve got other work to be doing. But also they&#8217;ve probably gained a ton of experience doing those prior years of extra hours.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you put the hours in, but also they contribute to Core, but they get experience back out. They&#8217;ll be exposed to all sorts of different things that your projects would never have put them in front of, presumably. So they&#8217;ll be touching on subject matters. Getting into plugins, themes, blocks, code, Core, whatever it may be in a whole range of different ways than they would be. So like you say, it&#8217;s like you slap my back, I&#8217;ll slap yours a little bit. Win-win. WordPress wins, you win.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:43:06] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> There are three wins here. The person, that student, who came right out of the college, and usually in college, people here, people have some negative perception about professional life. That companies are evil. You are going to do labor. Somebody will steal your credit, and here they&#8217;re on their own. Like they go into the WordPress community on their own. They sign a patch with their name. They file a Trac ticket with their name. They get props in their name. They get treated very well by contributor. If somebody makes mistakes, WordPress committee is full of nice people. Nobody&#8217;s going to pull them down. Nobody&#8217;s going to shout at them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everybody corrects them with respect and compassion, and that helped them grow as a person. Like, they become better human. They become better coder. And that empathy, we see that, when they become senior engineers, and when they&#8217;re reviewing some junior&#8217;s code, they remember that, hey, when I was, it was my first day in WordPress community, and I made that patch. I made one mistake, but somebody was nice to me, so I have to pass it on. So that niceness cycle continues.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, the biggest win is that these people like, who has an incredible job satisfaction. They love open source more. Many of them don&#8217;t join for the love of open source, they&#8217;re at a point when they, join rtCamp, they&#8217;re at a point when their college is ending. They just want to get a job, and secure a financial life. Whatever jobs comes their way, they&#8217;re okay with it. Open source, closed source, not much preference. But once they&#8217;re in, and then we take them through this one year of tour, like six months in training center, then six months in WordPress community, they become the advocate of open source for life.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that is a very most important win for us because we want people to believe in open source. We don&#8217;t want them to say open source is good because their company is selling it. We want them to have that faith that open source is the right way to do things. And that faith is very important for growth. You cannot mug up your mission statement and stand for it.. You have to believe in something to stand for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:45:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> What a profoundly interesting thing to have said. I think that&#8217;s just fabulous. I think your company is doing so many interesting things. It&#8217;s obviously, financially it&#8217;s working out, but just the position that you&#8217;ve painted there of the way that you are treating your employees, and the autonomy that you&#8217;re giving them, and the future opportunities that you are giving them. And the training opportunities giving them, just remarkable. And I&#8217;m profoundly impressed by what you&#8217;ve been doing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, time is our enemy. We&#8217;re going to call it a day there. Rahul, thank you so much for chatting to me today. That has been an incredible journey. Long may it continue. I wish you and rtCamp all the success that you can possibly have the future.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:45:39] <strong>Rahul Bansal:</strong> Thank you, Nathan. Thanks for having me on this podcast.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today we have <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul286/\">Rahul Bansal</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul is the founder and CEO of <a href=\"https://rtcamp.com/\">rtCamp</a>, a large agency that specialises in enterprise-grade WordPress projects. He began his journey quite differently, starting as an individual blogger back in 2006, discovering WordPress in 2007, and gradually transitioning from being a publisher to a freelance developer, before founding rtCamp in 2009. Today, rtCamp is an enterprise-grade WordPress consultancy agency, operating globally and trusted by clients such as Google, Meta, Automattic, NewsUK, and Al Jazeera.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul sheds light on working with enterprise clients in the WordPress space. Many of us are familiar with WordPress in the context of small businesses and blogging, but the enterprise space demands additional layers of security and scalability. Rahul explains the factors that set enterprise projects apart, and why meticulous code reviews, &nbsp; and security audits are essential when working at this level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He talks about the opportunities in the enterprise space, recounting how rtCamp initially stumbled into enterprise level projects, not even realising their potential until a client’s high expectations led to a decision to market themselves as an enterprise agency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also discuss the role of WordPress in enterprise environments, from why Gutenberg has become a credible selling point, due to its powerful editing capabilities, to how the platform’s flexibility supports varied enterprise needs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rahul also gets into the importance of positioning, how historical context offers advantages, and the expanding market that makes WordPress a compelling choice for large clients today.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towards the end, we explore rtCamp’s innovative internship program aimed at growing the WordPress talent pool, and the way they are contributing back to the WordPress project; a win-win for the business and the broader community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve ever considered what it takes to work with WordPress at the enterprise level, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful links</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://rtcamp.com/\">rtCamp</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/\">White House website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/\">Al Jazeera website</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://campus.rtcamp.com/\">Campus at rtCamp</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://learn.rtcamp.com/\">rtLearn</a></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:97:\"Do The Woo Community: Effective Collaboration with Clients and Teams: A Chat with Zach Hendershot\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=92561\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:95:\"https://dothewoo.io/effective-collaboration-with-clients-and-teams-a-chat-with-zach-hendershot/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:237:\"In this episode, Adam and Emma discuss effective collaboration with Zach, CEO of Miruni, focusing on setting clear expectations, minimizing manual tasks via automation, and enhancing communication for better client and team interactions.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:49:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"Gravatar: Top Strategies for Reducing Friction in Sign-Ups\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"http://blog.gravatar.com/?p=2830\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:50:\"https://blog.gravatar.com/2025/03/11/sign-up-flow/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17831:\"<p>Creating effective sign-up flows presents a challenging balance. Users expect quick, frictionless experiences, but businesses need quality data to better serve their customers. To get this information, they often overload the sign-up process, leading to high abandonment rates and lost opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully, there is a way to find balance – and we’re talking about more than just user-friendly designs. Advanced strategies like intelligent data collection timing and progressive disclosure techniques help maintain healthy conversion rates while gathering essential user information. These approaches, combined with AI-driven personalization, can transform a standard sign-up process into an engaging experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reducing friction while maintaining control over data collection might seem daunting. However, by implementing strategic optimization techniques and tools like Gravatar&#8217;s developer API, you can significantly reduce friction points in their sign-up process.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, let’s see how you can do just that while still collecting valuable user data that allows for personalization and improves the overall user experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Essential strategies for reducing sign-up friction</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When talking about sign-up friction, a common topic is form optimization, but that’s only the beginning. You need a bit more if you want to create better sign-up experiences and reduce drop-off rates while still maintaining high data quality.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, <a href=\"https://www.newbreedrevenue.com/blog/progressive-profiling-and-how-to-use-it\"><strong>progressive profiling</strong></a><strong> allows you to collect user information gradually</strong> rather than overwhelming new users with lengthy forms like these:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"3432\" height=\"1716\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/badsignup_iag.png\" alt=\" Example of a bad sign-up form with loads of information\" class=\"wp-image-2833\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of requesting all details upfront, ask only for essential information during sign-up, and additional data can be gathered as users engage with your product.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"3433\" height=\"1716\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/goodsignup_iag.png\" alt=\"Example of progressive profiling in a sign-up\" class=\"wp-image-2834\" />\n\n\n\n<p>You can also <strong>use email-based </strong><a href=\"https://docs.gravatar.com/\"><strong>profile systems like Gravatar</strong></a><strong> to make the process even easier.</strong> By integrating Gravatar into your sign-up flow, you can automatically populate user avatars and profile information using just an email address. This eliminates several manual entry steps.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://docs.gravatar.com/getting-started/\"><img width=\"3242\" height=\"729\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/gravatar_integration_cta.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2632\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Delayed email verification keeps users engaged</strong> by letting them access your app immediately after sign-up. <a href=\"https://www.chargebee.com/\">ChargeBee</a> is a great example of this approach:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New users enter the platform right away by filling in the more important details.&nbsp;</li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1724\" height=\"1290\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/chargebee-sign-up-form.png\" alt=\"Chargebee sign-up page\" class=\"wp-image-2835\" />\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They verify their email address only after signing in.</li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"374\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/chargebee-email-verification-message.png?w=660\" alt=\"Chargebee email confirmation message\" class=\"wp-image-2836\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, <strong>smart forms with predictive error prevention catch potential issues before submission</strong> rather than returning users to a form with error messages. This real-time validation helps users complete sign-up forms correctly the first time.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1302\" height=\"546\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/example-error-prevention-chargebee.png\" alt=\"Example of predictive error prevention on Chargebee’s sign-up page\" class=\"wp-image-2837\" />\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Intelligent data collection: When and what to ask&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Making smart decisions about when to request user information can significantly impact sign-up completion rates. A strategic approach starts with distinguishing between essential and non-essential data.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Essential information typically includes:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Email address (for account creation).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Password.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Username (if required).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-essential information such as company name, last name, job title, team size, and phone number can definitely wait.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Custom triggers help time additional data requests effectively.</strong> For example, only ask for team size after users show interest in collaboration features. Or request company details when someone visits the enterprise pricing page.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"3432\" height=\"1716\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/signup_iag.png\" alt=\"Example of custom triggers for additional data\" class=\"wp-image-2838\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Profile enrichment through </strong><a href=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/2024/08/26/gravatar-api-tutorial-for-app-developers/\"><strong>integrations and APIs</strong></a><strong> offers another powerful approach. </strong>By combining email-based profile services like Gravatar with progressive data collection, you can build comprehensive user profiles without overwhelming new users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gravatar&#8217;s API can automatically populate non-essential information from a user&#8217;s email address, eliminating the need to ask for basic profile details during sign-up. This approach maintains high conversion rates while still gathering valuable user data.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How Gravatar simplifies user onboarding</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1504\" height=\"1050\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/profile-as-a-service-gravatar-new.png\" alt=\"Gravatar for developers – Profiles-as-a-Service homepage\" class=\"wp-image-2839\" />\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://gravatar.com/\">Gravatar</a> transforms the traditional sign-up process by automatically populating user profiles through a single email address. This approach eliminates multiple manual entry steps that often cause users to abandon sign-up forms – according to a <a href=\"https://www.wyzowl.com/customer-onboarding-statistics/\">2020 study by Wyzow</a>, 80% of users have deleted an app because they found the initial setup process too complex.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why major platforms like <a href=\"https://github.com/\">GitHub</a>, <a href=\"https://openai.com/\">OpenAI</a>, and <a href=\"https://www.atlassian.com/\">Atlassian</a> use Gravatar to enhance their sign-up experiences.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By implementing Gravatar&#8217;s REST API, developers can instantly access a rich set of user information:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Display names and avatars.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Professional information.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biography and location.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Language preferences.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pronouns.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social and professional links.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>User interests.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Work history.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social connections.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This enriched data collection happens without requesting additional information from users during sign-up. Instead of presenting new users with lengthy forms asking for profile details, applications can pull this information automatically through the Gravatar API.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The benefits extend beyond the initial sign-up. </strong>With comprehensive profile data available immediately, applications can <a href=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/2024/08/16/user-experience-personalization/\">create personalized experiences</a> from the first interaction:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Customized welcome messages using the user&#8217;s name.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interface language set to user preferences.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Content recommendations based on stated interests.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contextual features based on professional background.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Team collaboration suggestions using work history.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social connections through matched interests.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Location-based content and recommendations.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Implementing Gravatar also helps solve common onboarding challenges:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reduces form abandonment by minimizing required fields.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eliminates the need for users to upload profile pictures.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maintains consistency across multiple platforms.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Allows users to update their information in one place.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports both individual and role-based personalization.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enables automatic profile updates across integrated services.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The system respects user privacy by letting individuals control what information they share. </strong>Users can maintain multiple profiles with different levels of detail tied to separate email addresses, giving them full control over their online presence while still providing valuable data for personalization.</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"331\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/verified-profiles-privacy-settings.png?w=660\" alt=\"Example of privacy settings for a Gravatar profile – toggle switch for API access\" class=\"wp-image-2840\" />\n\n\n\n<p>For developers, integration is straightforward through the <a href=\"https://docs.gravatar.com/api/profiles/rest-api/\">REST API</a>, with comprehensive documentation and support available. And since Gravatar is free for both users and developers, it offers a cost-effective way to enhance sign-up flows and improve user engagement from the start. The API&#8217;s design focuses on developer experience, making it simple to implement and maintain while providing powerful personalization capabilities.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Real-world examples: Successful Gravatar implementations</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s see how different websites use Gravatar to make signing up and getting started super simple.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://platform.openai.com/signup\">OpenAI</a> offers a perfect example of a streamlined approach:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Users sign up with their email and create a password.</li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"473\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/open-ai-signup-page.png?w=660\" alt=\"Creating an account on OpenAI\" class=\"wp-image-2841\" />\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Their profile picture automatically appears from Gravatar.&nbsp;</li>\n</ol>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"391\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/open-ai-gravatar-profile-pic.png?w=660\" alt=\"Profile picture on the OpenAI website \" class=\"wp-image-2842\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No extra steps are needed. </strong>This small touch adds a personal element to their AI platform experience right from the start.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http://wordpress.com\">WordPress.com</a> takes this integration even further. When someone signs up, the platform automatically pulls in everything from their Gravatar profile – their bio, display name, social links, and even their location and interests.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"339\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/wordpresscom-gravatar-integration-info.png?w=660\" alt=\"Profile information on WordPress.com\" class=\"wp-image-2843\" />\n\n\n\n<p>This means new bloggers can jump right into writing instead of spending time filling out profile forms. Plus, any changes they make to their Gravatar profile automatically update across all their WordPress sites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other popular platforms also use Gravatar in creative ways to make things easier for their users:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Developer platforms:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/\">GitHub</a> shows Gravatar avatars next to code contributions, helping developers build recognition in open-source communities.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"273\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/github-gravatar-profile-pic.png?w=660\" alt=\"Profile picture on GitHub\" class=\"wp-image-2844\" />\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://about.gitlab.com/\">GitLab</a> uses Gravatar to personalize project dashboards and team features.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaboration tools:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://www.figma.com/\">Figma</a> automatically loads team member profiles to help people connect faster.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://slack.com/\">Slack</a> shows profile pictures in chat to help teammates recognize each other.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://trello.com/\">Trello</a> adds Gravatar photos to cards and boards to make project tracking more personal.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The best part? <strong>Users only need to update their info in one place – their Gravatar profile.</strong> That single update gets reflected everywhere they use these tools, making it super convenient to keep a consistent online presence.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Optimizing mobile sign-up experiences</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Making sign-ups work smoothly on mobile devices has become essential, with <a href=\"https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mobile-tablet\">mobile traffic now exceeding 60% of all web visits</a>. But mobile users face unique challenges – smaller screens, touch interfaces, and often spotty connections. Here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/2024/09/03/app-onboarding/\">create a mobile-friendly sign-up</a> flow that gets results.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Start with the basics: optimize every element for touch.</strong>&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Buttons need to be at least 44&#215;44 pixels, with enough spacing to prevent accidental taps.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make forms finger-friendly by adding ample padding between fields.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stick to readable font sizes – 16px minimum for text inputs to prevent automatic zooming.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Smart keyboard handling makes a big difference too. </strong>Set the right input types (email, tel, number) so users get appropriate keyboards. Group similar fields together to minimize keyboard switches. For example, keep all text fields together, then numeric fields.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simplify data entry by:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Enabling autofill where possible.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"330\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/rememberme_iag.png?w=660\" alt=\"Example of autofill during sign-up\" class=\"wp-image-2845\" />\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Offer social login options optimized for mobile.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"660\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/signin_iag.png?w=660\" alt=\"Example of user-friendly social media sign-up buttons on mobile devices\" class=\"wp-image-2846\" />\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Using Gravatar to auto-populate profile info from email addresses.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adding real-time validation to catch errors early.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"660\" height=\"355\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/example-password-instructions-during-signup.png?w=660\" alt=\"Example of real-time validation of a password\" class=\"wp-image-2847\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Break up longer forms into logical steps with clear progress indicators. </strong>Each step should fit comfortably on a mobile screen without scrolling. And remember – every field you require is another chance for users to abandon the process. Only ask for what&#8217;s absolutely necessary.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, <strong>test your flow on multiple devices and screen sizes.</strong> What works on a large iPhone might be frustrating on a smaller Android phone.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Get started with Gravatar&#8217;s developer tools</strong></h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready to streamline your sign-up process with Gravatar? Their developer tools make integration surprisingly simple. The new REST API gives you instant access to user profiles with just a few lines of code.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting started takes just three steps:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Register for a free API key at <a href=\"https://gravatar.com/developers/new-application\">Gravatar&#8217;s Developer Dashboard</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use the interactive console to test API endpoints.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow the comprehensive documentation to add Gravatar to your app.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The API lets you fetch rich user data like:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Profile pictures and avatars.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Display names.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Professional details.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Social links.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Location preferences.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Custom profile fields.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Best of all, <strong>users control what information they share.</strong> You just need an email address to start pulling available profile data. This balance between functionality and privacy makes Gravatar great for both developers and users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to explore more? <a href=\"https://gravatar.com/developers/contact\">Get in touch with our team</a> today, and we can discuss specific integrations for your platform.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://docs.gravatar.com/getting-started/\"><img width=\"3242\" height=\"729\" src=\"https://blog.gravatar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/gravatar_integration_cta.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2632\" /></a>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:19:10 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Ronnie Burt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 6.8 Beta 2\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18619\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-2/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5777:\"<p>WordPress 6.8 Beta 2 is now ready for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This beta version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites.&nbsp; Instead, you should evaluate Beta 2 on a test server and site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test WordPress 6.8 Beta 2 in four ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Plugin</strong></td><td>Install and activate the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\"> WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Download</strong></td><td>Download the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.8-beta2.zip\">Beta 2 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Command Line</strong></td><td>Use this<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/cli/\"> WP-CLI</a> command: <code>wp core update --version=6.8-beta2</code></td></tr><tr><td><strong>WordPress Playground</strong></td><td>Use the <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?php=8.0&wp=beta&networking=no&language=&multisite=no&random=y4q1rn88xn\">6.8 Beta 2 WordPress Playground instance</a> to test the software directly in your browser.  No setup is required–just click and go! </td></tr></tbody></table>\n\n\n\n<p>The current target date for the final release of WordPress 6.8 is <strong>April 15, 2025</strong>. Get an overview of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-8/\">6.8 release cycle</a>, and check the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\"> Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-8/\">6.8-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for more information.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 6.8</strong>: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/\">Read the Beta 1 announcement</a> for details and highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to test this release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your help testing the WordPress 6.8 Beta 2 version is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important.&nbsp; <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\">This detailed guide</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you encounter an issue, please report it to the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\"> Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums or directly to<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\"> WordPress Trac</a> if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of<a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\"> known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\"> testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the<a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\"> #core-test channel</a> on<a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\"> Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta/RC</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Between Beta 1, released on March 4, 2025, and the final Release Candidate (RC) scheduled for April 8, 2025, the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/security/2024/02/12/welcoming-2024-with-wordpress-6-5-beta-1/\"> monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities</a> is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the<a href=\"https://hackerone.com/wordpress\"> HackerOne page</a> and in the<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/about/security/\"> security white paper</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beta 2 updates and highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 Beta 2 contains more than 14 Editor updates and fixes since the Beta 1 release, including 21 tickets for WordPress core.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 1 using these links:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/6.8?since=2025-03-05&until=2025-03-10\">GitHub commits for 6.8</a> since March 4, 2025</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&changetime=03%2F05%2F2025..03%2F10%2F2025&milestone=6.8&col=id&col=milestone&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&order=id\">Closed Trac tickets</a> since March 4, 2025</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Beta 2 haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Second wave refines,<br />Lines of code like rivers flow,<br />WordPress finds its form.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Props to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ankitkumarshah/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>ankitkumarshah</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vgnavada/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>vgnavada</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/krupajnanda/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>krupajnanda</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/michelleames/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>michelleames</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>audrasjb</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>marybaum</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ecgan/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>ecgan</a></em> <em>for proofreading and review.</em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Mar 2025 15:46:13 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Jeffrey Paul\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"Do The Woo Community: What’s a WordPress Site Without a Blog?\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://dothewoo.io/?post_type=blog&p=92636\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://dothewoo.io/blog/whats-a-wordpress-site-without-a-blog/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:179:\"In September 2024, we relaunched our community-focused blog, emphasizing its importance for site substance while highlighting the relevance of blogging amidst evolving technology.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Mar 2025 11:01:14 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:108:\"Do The Woo Community: Securing the Supply Chain, Insights from the WordPress 6.8 Update with John Blackbourn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=92331\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:106:\"https://dothewoo.io/securing-the-supply-chain-insights-from-the-wordpress-6-8-update-with-john-blackbourn/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:250:\"John Blackbourn discusses significant security enhancements in WordPress 6.8, notably switching to Bcrypt for password storage. The conversation highlights evolving perceptions of open-source security and upcoming events like the CloudFest Hackathon.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 11 Mar 2025 10:08:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:113:\"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog 115 – Gutenberg Releases 20.2, 20.3, 20.4, WordPress 6.8 and WordCamp Asia\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=37944\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:87:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-115-wordpress-6-8-wordcamp-asia/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:42986:\"<p>Add a summary/excerpt here</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-115-wordpress-6-8-wordcamp-asia/#shownotes\">Show Notes</a> / <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-115-wordpress-6-8-wordcamp-asia/#transcript\">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/\">Sandy Reed</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://markuraine.com/\">Mark Uraine</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Production:&nbsp;<a href=\"https://icodeforapurpose.com\">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-larger-font-size\" id=\"shownotes\"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Special guest: Jessica Lyschik</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://x.com/jessicalyschik\">https://x.com/jessicalyschik</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@jessicalyschik\">https://www.youtube.com/@jessicalyschik</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2tsT25ETnVSM20xS3ZoNDhpTkhwUVhlM2J0UXxBQ3Jtc0tsY2NmeEdxT01xdEMzMlR4WWxjYll2bGoyMXlSZVZFZm82alVtS3hpdW01Y3U1R3U0RGVBT19lbEhQeXNYeTcxZ0EwaVg4YUlYV2ZGR085ZXA1U0pYYzdSelRnejR5cDBHUm1pZDRpQi1fdHRPbkw3UQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fprofiles.wordpress.org%2Fluminuu\">profiles.wordpress.org/luminuu</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Community Contributions</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/02/customize-wordpress-embeds-to-match-your-theme/\">Customize WordPress embeds to match your theme</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://nickdiego.com/speed-building-a-carousel-block/\">Speed building a carousel block</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s released</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-1-and-20-2/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 20.1 and 20.2?</a>&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-3-18-february/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 20.3? (18 February)</a>&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/releases/tag/v20.4.0\">Gutenberg 20.4 Changelog</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s in active development or discussed</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/\">WordPress 6.8 Beta 1</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\">Help test WordPress 6.8.</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/06/speculative-loading-in-6-8/\">Speculative Loading in 6.8</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/17/wordpress-6-8-will-use-bcrypt-for-password-hashing/\">WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did you like this episode? <a href=\"https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog\"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ping us on X (formerly known as Twitter) or send DMs with questions. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes\">@gutenbergtimes </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bph\">@bph</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/\">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li>\n</ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\" id=\"transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Hello and welcome to our 115th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. In today&#8217;s episode, we will talk about Gutenberg releases 20.2, 20.3, and 20 .4, and a little bit of WordPress 6.8 and WordCamp Asia. I&#8217;m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and a WordPress developer advocate working for Automattic and still recovering from my cold that I brought back from Manila.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And today, I&#8217;m happy to get to chat again, it was Jessica Lyschik, front-end developer at Greyd and also core contributor to the WordPress open source project. We both just returned from WordCamp Asia.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hello, Jessica. How are you today? How is your jet lag?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Hey, thanks for having me. I think the jet lag is, by now, done, I would say. So I&#8217;m back to the European time zone, but I also caught a bug after returning and had to take off a couple of days to get better. But by now, it&#8217;s like another week has passed. I&#8217;ve been working normally and yeah, I&#8217;m back to normal and preparing for the next event next week, which is CloudFest.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: You&#8217;re going to CloudFest. Wonderful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I had to cancel my participation in CloudFest because I have a bum knee. And my doctor said, &#8220;Well, going to another congress where you run around like crazy from one thing to the next, it&#8217;s probably not conducive to your healing that bum knee.&#8221; It sucks at one point, yeah. But on the other hand, &#8220;Okay. I don&#8217;t have to travel.&#8221; It&#8217;s another&#8230; Yeah, I can concentrate on some of the work again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: And get enough sleep, which is something you do not get on conferences and stuff like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Especially, CloudFest. I think every evening there is a festival or a party or something.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: You can actually make it work. I do it the same on WordCamps. It&#8217;s the same for me. So it&#8217;s just when you are deciding where do you want to go, maybe not just be there as the first person and leave as the last person. But come late, leave early, and then just try to make it work for you. And it&#8217;s, of course, different for everyone. Some people are just like, they want to be everywhere and they need to go everywhere. And I&#8217;m more like, I need some breaks in between because otherwise that&#8217;s not going to work.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah, I&#8217;m pretty much the same way. However, sometimes I&#8217;m just so present in the moment, in the conversation, that I can really lose track of time. And then these are people I&#8217;ve never going to see for the next year or so, or maybe two. So at least, that was at WordCamp Asia. Where you&#8217;re only going to go to that particular family reunion and almost feels like that. Once a year and you need to catch up on what happened with other people, and there were so many good things to happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordCamp Asia<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what are your takeaways from WordCamp Asia? Do you have anything that will say, &#8220;Okay. Yeah, that was very surprising&#8221;? Interesting. New.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: It has been my first time to the Philippines, I don&#8217;t know about you, but I think it has been a very interesting couple of days there in Manila. I did not get to see so much about Manila itself, unfortunately. The jet lag coming to Manila also hit me very hard. So the day I had planned to do something, go out somewhere did not happen. But I saw the Mall of Asia, which was like a gigantic mall where you could get your daily steps in very easily and not walk around the same circle for 10 times or something like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I found very interesting was the food. I think the food was pretty good there. There was a lot of variety. We had a lot of Filipino food during the conference days, which I found pretty amazing. There&#8217;s a lot of seafood and fish in there. I&#8217;m not such a fan of seafood, but I tried the other things and they were all pretty good. So, I did not have anything that I didn&#8217;t like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. I was really&#8230; Not surprised, but it was quite unusual that the vegetarian as well as the vegan options are so particularly tasteful and very&#8230; I have a big variety there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> That&#8217;s true.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And I got to chat with Dan, who is a former chef, who was on the organizing team and responsible for all the food. And he just has such a passion for the Filipino food and knows everybody in Manila to pick the right caterer for the events. It was really interesting, yeah. I also got to talk with a lot of Automatticians, but they all had the same T-shirt on, so all of a sudden, I was recognizing my fellow, my coworkers. And we don&#8217;t get to see each other during the year, especially in other teams so much. So, it was really interesting for me.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like to hang out at the Do The Woo. Bob had&#8230; I think he started that last year in WordCamp Europe, that he is actually a sponsor and has a spot in the sponsor hall where people can hang out. And he invites his cohorts to spend an hour there. Or other people that he collaborates with, to just spend an hour there. So they can also say to their friends, &#8220;Okay. If you want to talk to me, I&#8217;m at that hour, at the Do The Woo booth.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh, nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> But that was an interesting experience, yeah. So, I did that. And I was surprised how many people are actually in my talk because the such a niche topic which was about Playground and how to create demos with blueprints. And being the last session before Matt&#8217;s keynote and Q&amp;A, I thought maybe they&#8217;re not going to be a whole lot of people in that talk, but I was surprised. There were, at least, 50 or 60 people there. Yeah, it was cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik: </em>Yeah. Well, that&#8217;s nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> I was there too, I have to say.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Oh, right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> I was at the very far back. Yeah, but it was quite interesting to go back and see, &#8220;Okay, this is&#8230;&#8221; I already know what blueprints are so it&#8217;s not that big of a deal, but going into the details again, it&#8217;s like, &#8220;Oh yeah, I remember that. Oh, I forgot this. Oh, okay.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, it was a very good thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> That was good. Yeah, good. So it was something for beginners, for the intermediate, and for the advanced. I was hoping about that. We will have WordCamp Europe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, I&#8217;m not saying that. It&#8217;s not out yet. But yeah, announcements will come.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Nice. I had a pretty good Speed Build as well with Nick, and that was a lot of fun. Nick tried to tackle the website with AI, or at least the top part with the slider with AI. Unfortunately, people said I won. I think Nick also did a great job. I felt a bit sad. Everyone&#8217;s clapping for me and cheering for me more than for Nick. It was like a bit disappointing. It&#8217;s like he tried. I would&#8217;ve never tried this with AI because I do not have the patience in 30 minutes to create something with AI. So I decided just to go, &#8220;Okay, do it in normal stuff. Just build some blocks, build some patterns there and do it.&#8221; But it was a lot of fun and it was great to see that afterwards, Nick also tried to not fix it, but further enhance it to make it an actual usable block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was pretty cool to see. He showed me the demo the next day. That was very nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And I think he blogged about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yes, he did.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So, I&#8217;m going to share that link in the show notes when I find it fast. Yes, Speed Build Carousel Block. Because people are always asking for carousel blocks. Why isn&#8217;t that in community, I say. I&#8217;m going to put it in a community contributions. You&#8217;ll find it in show notes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think the two of you saying, &#8220;Okay, I&#8217;ll go back to what I know, what is fast, and what I know how to accomplish.&#8221; And then the other approach was that, &#8220;Well, let&#8217;s, under pressure, do something new.&#8221; But it&#8217;s also the, how do you approach learning new things? And sometimes you say, &#8220;Okay, I&#8217;m not going to learn it because I need to get my stuff done, and I know how to do this and I get it done.&#8221; When you learn new things, your task becomes more as an inspiration rather than the success because you might not end up accomplishing your task with the new thing. Because of course you are in a learning mode, you need to learn a lot.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I compare that with my first experience with the spreadsheet on the computer, MultiPlan was that. So I&#8217;m dating myself, but yeah, it was in the early &#8217;90s. MultiPlan was even ahead of Excel from Microsoft. I had a big spreadsheet from the accountant and I said, &#8220;Oh, that should be much easier to be done in a spreadsheet on a computer.&#8221; So I spent all day, or all night actually, learning how to do this and put the spreadsheet in. But of course, it took me 6 or 8 hours. And if I would&#8217;ve done it just with a calculator, I would&#8217;ve calculated the whole spreadsheet probably in two hours or something like that. So, it&#8217;s not how long it takes to do something the first time when you learn this. It&#8217;s how long it takes when you do it a second time, because you need to discard the first time most of the time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I found that a lot of people who learn block development, what took me a half an hour with short code took me three days in doing it as a block. I said, &#8220;Yeah, that&#8217;s the first time you learn of things. Of course, it takes longer. Of course, it takes&#8230; You&#8217;re all going to changing your brain into the new paradigm. But how long does it take the second time around? Is it faster or is it better?&#8221; Anyway, this is the philosophical Birgit in a horsey voice. Let&#8217;s go back.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So WordCamp Asia, it was the first time for me in the Manila, and I actually planned a couple of days. Not a couple, a few days. Four days. Did some sightseeing, so I went to the historic sites of the Spanish occupation. I saw the monument for the atrocities that happened in the Second World War, and I learned about the current contemporary arts in two art museums. And I went downtown to the new business district there with a nice park and shops left and right on the street. It&#8217;s a pedestrian area. It&#8217;s beautifully done. And I also discovered a few street art that were purposefully put on that place as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that was quite interesting. Of course, I overdid it and I got my bum knee from there. So yeah, it was a little painful than going on the conference and going in the&#8230; The venue was quite vast, I found.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> You had to walk a lot?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, you had to walk a lot. But I found all the escalators, so that was good. I didn&#8217;t have to do stairs so much. But yeah, it was a walk a lot. I like the Automattic booth was really big, but there was other&#8230; Hostinger was really big out of the usual. I also saw Mark Westguard of this WS Forms. He is on every flagship and shows off his plugin. I have to think really hard to get back to that because there&#8217;s the whole week, two weeks after that that already took over my life.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Community Contributions<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Which brings us back to, &#8220;Okay, let&#8217;s record that rest of the show.&#8221; So, we had a few releases. So on the developer blog, Robert Meszaros published an article on customizing WordPress embeds to match your theme. And I think that&#8217;s very interesting to an approach to make sure that all the embeds that you use are actually matching your theme and you don&#8217;t use it out of the box. So he has some nice examples in there, and some great code snippets in how to do all of that. It&#8217;s definitely something to go back to, to make a better theme or a better site view for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah, I think it&#8217;s a nice finishing touch when you&#8217;re creating a new website that really embraces embeds. I didn&#8217;t know about this, to be honest. I just saw it today. And I think it&#8217;s really great. It&#8217;s not something super big, but when you have a brand new website and have put so many thoughts and hours into the design, and then there comes this embed that just looks like it&#8217;s not meant to be on this website, then I think this is a great example of how tweaking the sites essentially can make an embed also look like it&#8217;s part of the website and not just some part of default WordPress that just pops up somewhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, that hasn&#8217;t gotten a whole lot of love.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah, that&#8217;s true.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, he shared this. For instance, one example is that out of the box, the featured image of a post that you embed has some border around, and he just shows you how to make that image go all the way to the corners. That&#8217;s such a small little detail, but it shows the attention to detail. And when you have all your cards that you have, your postcards in the query loop all having the same design, and all of a sudden, the embed doesn&#8217;t&#8230; It really stands out. It doesn&#8217;t&#8230; And it also distracts the reader from, &#8220;Why is this different? What I haven&#8217;t seen yet?&#8221; It has some nice little features on how to change things. Some great sailing pictures here. So, take a look at that and spruce up your site with some of the little things and big things.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s Released &#8211; Gutenberg 20.2<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All right. So now, we come to Gutenberg 20.2 that was released in January, to be exact.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> End of January, I think.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Do you want to start out with what we are talking about?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah. So, this was one of the two. I think I did the Gutenberg blog post on this one. So yeah, this wasn&#8217;t such a big release. It was rather small compared to the previous ones. Also, it was combined with, I think, 21.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> 21, yep. And we talked about that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> 20.1 release? Yeah. So, there isn&#8217;t that much going on in this release. It&#8217;s rather smaller bug fixes and some polishing overall. And I think one of the interesting things was that in the post content, you can now define the heading colors on a more global level. I think this was also a highlight from my blog post when I remember correctly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Mm-hmm. Yeah, I really like that you can now have the details block be more like an accordion with a name attribute. So it&#8217;s not in the UI, but you can do it in the&#8230; It&#8217;s in the UI, but you have to go to the advanced section to give all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh, okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, to give it all. To get this all done. It&#8217;s not for someone who doesn&#8217;t know what to do, that kind of thing. It&#8217;s not intuitive for site builders, so you need to give it a block name so it shows up as a summary. A block name about a name attribute.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh. So, when you give it the name.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Sorry. Yeah, you need to give it a name attribute in the advanced section so the CSS that is built knows, &#8220;Okay. This is all one section. And one is open, the other ones are closed.&#8221; So, it kind of has accordion package.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> So they all need to have the same name in this name tag, so then it automatically brings this only one of these sections is open. Okay, got it. Apparently, I missed that one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, great.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> But it&#8217;s okay. Now, we talked about it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Yeah, that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re here for. Two eyes see more than one. Four eyes see more than two.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Definitely.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I also wanted to point out that the WP env local development tool now has WP-MyAdmin support as well as Multisite support. It had it before, but now it&#8217;s also documented so you know how to use it. That&#8217;s why I wanted to point it out because…</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Documentation</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh, I didn&#8217;t know it had this. You had this phpMyAdmin in the WP env.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> I&#8217;m not using PHP. We are so confused. I&#8217;m not using WP nth Multi&#8230; Multisite or WP env fit-all?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> WP env.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Ah, okay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. It&#8217;s when you&#8217;re working on Gutenberg, on your Gutenberg, something you can do. Just WP nth and it spins up a local WordPress instance with that particular folder. It also supports Multisite that came with 20.8.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, you&#8217;re right. There were quite a few bug fixes in there and some polish in terms of previews. And also, some panel changes that have been in the last few Gutenberg releases, and also for the ones for the next. That&#8217;s a refactor of things. It was 20.2. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> It&#8217;s a bit tricky with the numbers of 20.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah. God.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik: </em>&#8230; in the brains of WordPress people.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. So that brings us to 20.3, which was released just two weeks ago.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg 20.3</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: We were all hanging out in Manila.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, it was actually before or right on February 18th and it was released. Yes, we were all hanging out already. On travel, on planes. Yeah, my plane was&#8230; I was&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> On planes, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So, it was 12 hours to Singapore and then there&#8217;s another 3 1/2 hours from Singapore to Manila.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh, I did the same route.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> It was kind of 15 hours flight, but then you have to be 2 or 3 hours earlier at the airport. You have a layover in Singapore, and then you have to transfer from the airport to the hotel and&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah. I think I calculated something, like 23, 24-ish hours door to door, so it&#8217;s not just like a 15 hour flight. But yeah, you have to count in all the waiting time. I had to travel to Munich airport two hours, so that all adds up to this whole ordeal of&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traveling to Asia is easy. No, it&#8217;s not.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Enhancements</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> No, it&#8217;s not. Yeah. So Gutenberg 20.3 also has a not particular big features coming in, but some nice additions. And one of them is that the social links now of a Discord logo that you can add to it. The query block now, that is really nice. It has an option to ignore sticky post. It took a while to get the sticky post into the filter, but then there&#8217;s also the need that sometimes you need a query loop that ignores the sticky post.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah. It&#8217;s definitely something that you&#8217;re used to this when you&#8217;re doing classic themes and just have all the opportunity with the WP query nth function. And it&#8217;s great to see that these little things and&#8230; Even if you do not use them that often, that these are still now available. That just makes transitioning to block themes and block inside it are so much better because you finally have all the options. But maybe not all yet for the query loop, but we are getting there. Let&#8217;s put it like that. We are getting there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> For sure, yeah. There was a major push in that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you want to take the next one?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> The yet another one of completing the options that you have on block is the RSS block got border and spacing support. And also, duotone settings got improved, they now have a reset button and improved toggle rendering. Let&#8217;s have a look what this does.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, the reset button has gotten quite the attention now that it was missing on a few of those color pickers or so, or panels. So, what did you find out?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh. I think it&#8217;s also, these are such tiny changes. But once you have them, you realize it&#8217;s so much easier to clear colors or remove something that you would have needed another four clicks or something, and then it&#8217;s just one. So it doesn&#8217;t seem like big things, but it slowly improves over time. And I think this is what the editors actually need right now, this refinement. Because there&#8217;s always been in the past pushing big projects, new features, and now it&#8217;s more like, &#8220;Okay, we are in the situation, but the best we can do is basically to do the housekeeping and fix the smaller things and polish it.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Birgit Pauli-Haack: Yeah, and the smaller things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think it&#8217;s for the user. Very important to have a consistent interface. So, if you put a background color in and you have a reset button, why don&#8217;t you have a reset button on the shadows? So, shadow panel. Or why can&#8217;t I have a reset button on the text color, for instance, if it was missing. So it&#8217;s definitely, you cannot take that cognitive load. You lower that quite a bit by having an inconsistent interface. Also, with border and spacing support, if the block doesn&#8217;t have it and all of a sudden it doesn&#8217;t match what you want, then you go over looking for things. And the spacer block is not always the best solution for things. It&#8217;s not a bad solution, but it&#8217;s not the best because once a panel gets or a block gets spacing support, now you have to chase down all the spacer blocks to take them out. So, it&#8217;s kind of interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> That&#8217;s true, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> The next one is there was a bug fix or maybe a revert on the quick inserter, that it didn&#8217;t search the patterns anymore when you put a search parameter in there. And that has been restored. So I think although that&#8217;s bug fix, or I think it&#8217;s bug fix, it&#8217;s definitely worth pointing out. So, a missing feature comes back. Yay.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> We just talked about it having the same options on blocks. Like, archives and categories got the color support. So, you can now have select colors on the archives and category blocks. Yet another one of those because then, people try.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you do not have them, it&#8217;s like, what do these blocks do not have? Why can I not change the color there? Then, people go to CSS and then it&#8217;s not needed actually if these settings would just be provided right from the start. But yeah, it&#8217;s like a living project. So, here we are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Or what I always did when I didn&#8217;t have color support, I put it in a group block, and then of course it blows up the nesting of my blocks. So there are always ways around it, but once things then come into the editor, you need to think about how your workaround needs to be worked around.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I think those were the few things that I wanted to point out. Did you see anything else that you wanted to point out?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> No, I don&#8217;t think so, but I&#8217;ve been just scrolling through it. It&#8217;s been a good chunk of bug fixes, some accessibility improvements, some performance improvements, good quality tools.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg 20.4</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> All right. That brings us to Gutenberg 20.4, which is also the last Gutenberg release for which the enhancements made it into 6.8. After that, it&#8217;s all bug fixes that go into the release, and any new enhancements coming into Gutenberg will be reserved for the next release. What is it? 6.9? We don&#8217;t know yet when that&#8217;s going to be, but&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what&#8217;s in there? There is a conditional enable the new default rendering mode for pages. I highlighted that. And I heard from quite a few people that they like that there is a default rendering mode for pages, but I have not seen yet the use case for it. So, why are people so excited about this? But yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> That&#8217;s a very good question. You already had this show template. That&#8217;s already in there. That&#8217;s a good question. Why it&#8217;s so hyped? Maybe, I need to test it out. That&#8217;s probably a problem.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven&#8217;t gotten to looking at the latest releases on an actual site yet because WordCamp Asia, being sick, being busy at work, life happens. I only heard this week, things were a bit off, and template parts were actually missing from if you had 6.8 Beta 1 running. So there have been some hiccups there as well,</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. We definitely need to track that down here. So now, there is a persistence. So you could have a show template preferences, but now there are also sport, which is pretty cool. There was a time where you started with a new page, and first you saw all the patterns that are labeled for new pages, page layouts. That modal was removed, and now it&#8217;s back. So, it&#8217;s a 50/50 thing what people want and what don&#8217;t want when they use that. So, that&#8217;s also an interesting development.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> I mean, the problem with the modal&#8230; I mean, it wasn&#8217;t removed. There was an option, because I worked on this part as well. It got an option to be disabled in the settings when you&#8217;re on a site where you have to add new pages over and over again, and you know what you want to put on a page. You do not need this modal popping up every time. So, it was more of a user enhancement so that you can decide, &#8220;Okay, do I need this model every time or do I just turn it off?&#8221; So, there was that part.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not aware if it&#8217;s back yet. I heard people saying to remove it completely. But yeah, there&#8217;s a lot of different use cases how you would like to&#8230; Some people want the model always to be on because they don&#8217;t know what they are doing, basically. They just want to pop on a template or a pattern there and are good to go. And there are people who would like to just start writing first. There are people who maybe, want to use it but don&#8217;t want to be bothered all the time. It&#8217;s one of these things where a lot of different use cases clash together, and then it&#8217;s just so hard to actually find what is it, where is the&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> The middle ground there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> What&#8217;s the thing? Where&#8217;s the middle ground that we can go and implement it that way? So, kind of everyone or the majority of people is okay with it. There will always be people who are like, &#8220;I don&#8217;t like this. I want it to be different.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> But that&#8217;s basically impossible to make it happen for everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Right, yeah. Another problem was when you say, &#8220;Oh, I don&#8217;t want the starter modal,&#8221; it was hard to get the layouts, if you wanted, to get to patterns and get the layouts because there was no category for that. So, you had to assemble them from a list of patterns or from multiple pattern categories to put those page layouts together. And I think&#8230; I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s here or it was in an earlier version where they restored or created a category for patterns for the starter content. I think that was part of that, or how can we do that better for our users.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So there is now a pop-over on the left-hand side to show post template. If there is one to give you additional options, I think there. The next thing is that pull quote finally has the assignment styles that was missing for a long time. That you couldn&#8217;t do left, right and all of that, or wide. So, it has it now. It&#8217;s all about persistence. And border control got the reset button.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yes. It&#8217;s, again, these tiny things that make or break something, or your experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bug Fixes</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. And post comments count also have received border support. That&#8217;s cool. So now, you can have it stand out some more. Post formats have still be a little bit of a hit-and-miss with the block themes, but sometimes somebody says, &#8220;Okay, well let&#8217;s fix that some of the things.&#8221; And now, you see title and description for post formats in your templates. So in the list of templates, you can now see which are the templates for your image formats, for your link format, and if they are templates for that. So, that&#8217;s really cool.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there&#8217;s an interesting bug fix that drove me nuts for a while, was that the text and color picker were overlapping each other in the format library. And that is fixed, thank God. Thank you so much.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Documentation</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there are some documents updates. There&#8217;s obviously, the problem that a lot of features come in and the documentation hasn&#8217;t been updated. So, that has been rectified for the block variations using get_block_type_variationblock. And then also, removes the nodes for block hooks that it only supports static theme elements because that&#8217;s not true anymore. Block hooks also support dynamic blocks. All right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Yeah, nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So, that was that for 20.4. That was just released this week, and we are recording this on March 7th. Just to say that.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s in Active Development &amp; Discussed &#8211; WordPress 6.8 Beta<strong>                                                       </strong></h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what&#8217;s an active development? And discussion brings us to WordPress 6.8 in Beta has been released. Beta 1 has been released. And you can follow along on the WordPress.org announcements or news. So, there will be Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3 and Release Candidate 1, 2, and 3 before the final release on April 15th. The test team has published, for the last few releases, always a Help Test, the next release. And this one is not different. There&#8217;s Help Test WordPress 6.8, and it helps&#8230; Well, you can help making this release the best that it can be. Finding all the bugs, not all of it, but report them. Find as much many. Try to break it as often as you can. Report the bugs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I have found another incentive on, actually, heeding to the call for testing is to learn more about the new features because instructions are very well done, compliments to Krupa Nanda, to learn more about the new features or the enhancements and how are they supposed to work so you can distinguish them. So, is it me that I don&#8217;t know how this works? That I don&#8217;t get it? Or is that a bug? So, they went to great lengths to do that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also use Playground to test things. You don&#8217;t have to spin up a new WordPress staging site or something like that to test things. Yeah, you can go to make.wordpress.org/test to find the post or you look for the show notes on the Gutenberg Times and click on that link.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Jessica, the WordPress 6.8 is characterized as a polished release. Is there anything that stands out for you coming to 6.8 that you&#8217;re excited about?</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I do. It&#8217;s a polishing that I think is&#8230; I mean, as I said before, given the situation that we are in, I think this is the best that we can do. And yeah, I&#8217;ve been just scrolling through these Call for Testing blog posts that you just mentioned. And it is really thoroughly, so I would actually be excited to dive into this and do the testing because this is pretty well done.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think about 6.8 and the coming releases&#8230; I haven&#8217;t been paying too much attention to what is in 6.8 apart from a few things that we highlighted today, and I have probably forgotten again because I was just out of the office for two weeks.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Speculative Loading in 6.8</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I think what&#8217;s also interesting is this speculative loading thing. I think there was also just a blog post these days. So, this speculative loading is, when I understood correctly, something like a browser? Like, the browser offers this API and WordPress has added its performance improvements. The performance team will probably come after me if I do not say this correctly. But from what I understood, it&#8217;s improving overall performance of a WordPress website by using these speculation rules. So it&#8217;s about what can be prefetched or what makes sense to be prefetched next, so that when you actually click on a link on the website, it loads faster because it already knows what I have, what the browser has to load in this case.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think this is something very interesting that might be bumping up the performance of a few websites. So, that will be interesting to see what the actual impact will be once 6.8 is out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I&#8217;m excited about that too. I think the browsers are now pretty well caught up with that. Not all browsers have all the features all the time, but this is something that, I think, has a big footprint around all the browsers being Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I link in the show notes too, Felix Arntz has published&#8230; Has worked on this feature, in the feature plugin before. And now, it&#8217;s coming to 6.8 and the dev note has been published now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I just checked on Can I Use, and it&#8217;s actually Safari and Firefox do not support it at the moment. Chrome, Edge, and Opera do. So, there is still a bit of a&#8230; It&#8217;s not a hundred percent on all browsers, but a good chunk of browsers already support this. So I hope these other browsers, Safari and Firefox, will catch up on this because it sounds pretty promising from a performance point of view to use these speculation rules.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> I keep scrolling through the dev notes that have been published. They&#8217;re not in bulk coming out until Release Candidate 1, but John Blackburn also published a dev notes about the new encryption for the password hashing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Oh. Yes, I forgot this one.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Which there&#8217;s not a whole lot of things for users to do or even for developers. It&#8217;s just to know that the passwords are now hashed differently and increase the security of any of the passwords quite exponentially, which is really good. So, thank you for Felix and John to publish the dev notes early for that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All right, I&#8217;m sure we are going to talk about WordPress 6.8 some more on our next show when we know a little bit more what&#8217;s in there and what&#8217;s not in there. Thank you so much, Jessica, for being here. As always, the show notes will be published on <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">GutenbergTimes.com/podcast</a>. This is episode 115. And if you have questions and suggestions, just send them to <a href=\"mailto:Changelog@GutenbergTimes.com\">Changelog@GutenbergTimes.com</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, a plea for all those who use Spotify for their podcast pleasure, you can leave comments there. And also, check some of the stars so people know what they can expect on the show when they discover that on Spotify. Shopify. Well, yeah. So, thanks for listening and goodbye until the next time. Thank you, Jessica.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Thank you. Bye.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Bye.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sun, 09 Mar 2025 09:21:58 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"Matt: Real WordPress Security\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=140118\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:46:\"https://ma.tt/2025/03/real-wordpress-security/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2753:\"<p>One thing you&#8217;ll see on every host that offers WordPress is claims about how secure they are, however they don&#8217;t put their money where their mouth is. When you dig deeper, if your site actually gets hacked they&#8217;ll hit you with remediation fees that can go from hundreds to thousands of dollars.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They may try to sell you a security plan that <a href=\"https://www.godaddy.com/web-security/website-security\">for example at Godaddy goes from $300 to $700 a year on top of your hosting</a>. (Don&#8217;t be fooled by the low entry price, look at renewal.) It&#8217;s <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/webhosting/comments/16yqtsj/my_websites_has_been_hacked_malwares_has_been/\">heartbreaking to hear stories</a> of non-technical people forced into these high fees to fix something their host should have prevented in the first place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a host is powered by <a href=\"https://wp.cloud/\">WP.cloud</a>, it doesn&#8217;t need to do this because hacks are so incredibly rare. (That&#8217;s why it may appear more expensive, but the total cost of ownership or being a WP.cloud-powered host is much lower when you factor in human time.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One problem we&#8217;ve had on <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/\">WordPress.com</a> is we do all these amazing things and don&#8217;t tell anyone about it, something we&#8217;re trying to change with our focus this year on developers and developer tooling. One great example is <strong>we&#8217;re so confident about our security, if your site gets hacked we&#8217;ll fix it for free! </strong>We&#8217;ve actually been doing this for the better part of a decade, just never mentioned it anywhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://pressable.com/\">Pressable</a> (which is WP.cloud-powered) does a better job talking about these things and <a href=\"https://pressable.com/features/manage/wordpress-hack-recovery-assistance/\">has a nice landing page on malware cleaning and hack recovery</a> that says essentially the same thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress has done a ton over the years to move the hosting industry around upgrading PHP and MySQL, PHP extensions, free SSL, and in general using our clout to advocate for user rights and freedoms from even the largest hosting companies, and I&#8217;m proud to say there are a good number, for example the ones you see at WordCamps, that have not just embraced these values but actually been more commercially successful as they&#8217;ve done so. I hope security and auto-upgrades not just for core but for plugins and themes becomes the next standard. (<a href=\"https://jetpack.com/features/security/automatic-plugin-updates/\">Jetpack does this</a> for free, <a href=\"https://cloudup.com/cdrjMTE6nfa\">some hosts charge $100/yr per site</a>.)</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Mar 2025 11:07:49 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:119:\"Gutenberg Times: WordPress 6.8, Studio updates, Customize Embeds,  and other Theme Design notes — Weekend Edition 320\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=37892\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:122:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22788:\"<p>Hi there, </p>\n\n\n\n<p> That was quite a long pause in February. Did you miss me? I am  back now and have a ton of great updates, videos, tutorials, and products for you in this newsletter. I won&#8217;t catch up on everything that was going on in the last four (😮) weeks. Most of it is fairly timeless.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how have you been? What have you been working on? Hit reply and clue me in! I missed you and your emails. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a fantastic weekend!</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ol><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#wordpress-6-8\">WordPress 6.8 </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg Plugin releases</a></li></ol></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a><ol><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/wordpress-6-8-studio-updates-customize-embeds-and-other-theme-design-notes-weekend-edition-320/#wordpress-developer-blog\">WordPress Developer Blog</a></li></ol></li></ol>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We had a few Gutenberg plugin releases and WordPress 6.8 is progressing nicely. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wordpress-6-8\">WordPress 6.8 </h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 release cycle goes into the hot phase. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/\"><strong>WordPress 6.8 Beta 1</strong></a> was released this week and is, in general, characterized as a polish release, with user enhancements throughout incorporated into the latest Gutenberg updates. &#8220;WordPress 6.8 brings a luster and gloss that only a polish release can.&#8221; <strong>Jeffrey Paul</strong>, release co-coordinator wrote in the release post. WordPress 6.8 RC1 is scheduled for March 25, 2025, that&#8217;s also the time around which the Fieldguide will be published. The final release will be on April 15, 2025. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Test team rep, <strong>Krupa Nanda</strong>, published the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\"><strong>Help test WordPress 6.8.</strong></a> This release offers a chance to find and report bugs while learning about the new features in WordPress&#8217;s next major version. Nanda&#8217;s instructions and short videos help you understand how these new features work. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"gutenberg-plugin-releases\">Gutenberg Plugin releases</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jessica Lyschik</strong> posted a summary of two Gutenberg plugin releases. In <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-1-and-20-2/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 20.1 and 20.2?</a>&nbsp;</strong>she highlighted:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Content preview for pages in DataViews</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Menu name shown in list view</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Color pickers in Navigation, Social Icons and Post&nbsp;Featured Image&nbsp;get Clear control</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Content block: color options for headings added</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-1-and-20-2/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"332\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Content-preview-pages.png?resize=652%2C332&ssl=1\" alt=\"Content Preview for pages in Dataviews\" class=\"wp-image-37896\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fabian Kägy</strong> published the release post <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-3-18-february/\"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 20.3? (18 February)</strong></a> and highlighted two new updates: </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ignore sticky posts in query&nbsp;loop</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add social icon block variation for Discord</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-3-18-february/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"484\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ignore-sticky-posts-query-loop.png?resize=652%2C484&ssl=1\" alt=\"Screenshot of the sidebar option to ignore the sticky post in a query loop block. \" class=\"wp-image-37897\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/releases/tag/v20.4.0-rc.1\">Gutenberg 20.4 </a></strong>is now available for testing. It marks the last Gutenberg version to make it into the upcoming WordPress major release.  </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p>🎙️ Latest episode: Jessica Lyschik and I chatted through the latest Gutenberg plugin releases 20.2, 20.3 and 20.4, talked about our WordCamp Asia experience and the upcoming WordPress 6.8 release. Gutenberg Changelog 115 episode will come out over the weekend. </p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"652\" height=\"206\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-18.02.51.png?resize=652%2C206&ssl=1\" alt=\"Jessica Lyschik and Birgit Pauli-Haack recording Gutenberg Changelog 115 \" class=\"wp-image-37930\" />\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been a while since we saw a new plugin with a collection of Blocks makes it into the plugin repository.  Thanks to WP Weekly<em>&#8216;s <strong>Davinder Singh Kainth</strong></em>, for discovering it. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/frontis-blocks/\"><strong>Frontis Blocks</strong></a> and created by the team called <em>WP Messiah </em>(What a name! 🤦‍♀️) and provides 27 Blocks. It&#8217;s works with all themes, among them the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/themes/frontis/\"><em>Frontis theme</em></a> by the same developers. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bud Kraus</strong> shares in his blog post for <em>Hostinger</em> <a href=\"https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/customize-woocommerce-templates-with-gutenberg\"><strong>How to customize WooCommerce templates with Gutenberg blocks</strong></a>. He explains the shopper journey and how to access and change templates like the Product Catalog, Single Product, Cart, and Checkout pages. Customization involves adding or changing blocks in these templates. However, some templates, like Cart and Checkout, have limited options to keep them functional. The tutorial shows WooCommerce’s move towards an editing experience that allows non-programmers to customize their online stores.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/customize-woocommerce-templates-with-gutenberg\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"502\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Editing-the-product-catalog-template-using-Gutenberg-blocks.png?resize=652%2C502&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37908\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Get inspiration from the <a href=\"https://specialprojects.automattic.com/\"><strong>Automattic Special Projects</strong></a> team, that just published their new <a href=\"https://specialprojects.automattic.com/\">site</a>. You can browse a selected list of projects and learn how they built it. You&#8217;ll find on the list Seth Godin&#8217;s blog, the Buckminster Fuller Institute or Noma. The team also started sharing their tools, the plugins, and blocks they built and open-sourced. I am particularly intrigued by the <a href=\"https://specialprojects.automattic.com/tools/accordion/\">Accordion block</a> and the <a href=\"https://specialprojects.automattic.com/tools/query-loop-load-more/\">infinite scroll query loop</a> variation. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of tools, the<strong> <a href=\"https://github.com/0aveRyan/classact\">ClassAct</a></strong> plugin by <strong>Dave Ryan</strong> might be useful for theme developers and Sitebuilder. It&#8217;s a microplugin for acting on Additional CSS classes per-block in the WordPress Editor. On X (former Twitter), Ryan shared a video of how it will show up in your block&#8217;s sidebar.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://x.com/iamarinoh\">Henrique Iamarino</a></strong>, WordPress Theme designer at Automattic, discusses a new approach to designing WordPress themes in his article <a href=\"https://automattic.design/2025/02/19/beyond-templates-reimagining-wordpress-theme-design/\"><strong>Beyond Templates: Reimagining WordPress Theme Design</strong></a>. He focuses on moving away from old, static templates to more flexible and dynamic design systems. The article highlights the need to give users tools for greater customization and creativity in creating websites. By changing the design process, Automattic aims to make WordPress themes more adaptable and user-focused while ensuring they are accessible and easy to use.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://automattic.design/2025/02/19/beyond-templates-reimagining-wordpress-theme-design/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"340\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/beyond-templates-themes-1-1-web.png?resize=652%2C340&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37906\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bud Kraus</strong> had an awesome month! In his Kinsta post, he shared how to <a href=\"https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-block-theme-development/\"><strong>Build a block theme using the Create Block Theme plugin</strong></a>. This plugin is a must-have for whipping up WordPress block themes. You can start from scratch, clone something you like, or create child themes, all within the WordPress Site Editor. It lets you save theme changes, play around with style variations, and even export your themes as zip files. Plus, you can tweak theme metadata, check out the <code>theme.json</code> file, and reset your theme whenever you need to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2024&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: <strong><strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\">2020</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2021/\">2021</a></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2022/\">2022</a></strong></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2023\">2023</a></strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>James Le Page</strong>, AI lead at Automattic, has worked on the <a href=\"https://github.com/Jameswlepage/excalidraw-block/\"><strong>Excalidraw Block</strong></a>. It is a custom WordPress block that allows users to embed an Excalidraw editor directly into the post editor. This block provides a seamless way to create and edit diagrams within WordPress. On X (former twitter) LePage <a href=\"https://x.com/jameswlepage/status/1890895984298697086\">posted a short video</a> to show off the block&#8217;s capabilities. The code is available on GitHub put needs a build step to install it successfully on your WordPress site.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JuanMa Garrido</strong> wrote about his <strong><a href=\"https://juanma.codes/2025/02/10/hooks-in-wordpress-from-a-stack-trace/\">Understanding how WordPress Hooks work from a Stack Trace</a></strong>. He shared how to use stack traces to analyze WordPress hooks, helping developers see how hooks work, find errors, and improve their use in plugins and themes. By looking at stack traces, developers can track function calls, identify triggered hooks, and fix plugin conflicts. This method is essential for troubleshooting complex WordPress sites where multiple hooks operate at once, ensuring everything works well together and aiding in debugging custom code related to hooks.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>In his the video &#8220;<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slvCox_ByKw\"><strong>Cooking with AI: Creating New Recipes with Cursor AI</strong></a>&#8220;, Ryan Welcher set out to improve his use of AI tools for developers in 2025. Specifically, he’s setting up Cursor AI to help him generate new recipes for the <a href=\"https://blockdevelopercookbook.com/\"><em>Block Developer Cookbook</em></a> more quickly and with better examples. </p>\n\n\n<div width=\"100%\" class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"toolbelt-video-wrapper\"></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Aslam Multani</strong> of Multidots recently published <a href=\"https://www.multidots.com/blog/gutenberg-blocks-development-wordpress/\"><strong>How to Develop Custom Gutenberg Blocks for WordPress: A Step-by-Step Guide</strong></a>. This blog post explains how to create custom Gutenberg blocks, covering everything from setting up your development environment to debugging block code. It starts by detailing what Gutenberg blocks are and the requirements, such as having a local WordPress installation and knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, PHP, and WordPress plugin development.<br />To make a custom block, it suggests using the <code>create-block</code> tool to set up a new plugin and explains the necessary file structure, including <code>build/</code>, <code>src/</code>, <code>edit.js</code>, <code>save.js</code>, and <code>block.json</code>. The post guides you through installing the block plugin and automating the build process with <code>npm start</code>, highlighting the functions of <code>Edit</code> and <code>Save</code> and using the <code>RichText</code> component for user interaction.<br />It also covers customization options like adding support for color and spacing, setting default properties in <code>block.json</code>, and creating nested blocks with the <code>InnerBlocks</code> component. Lastly, it touches on internationalization (i18n) using the <code>__()</code> function and provides an example of a testimonials block to demonstrate these ideas. However, it misses discussing when to use different tools, such as block styles or variations, before creating a Custom Block.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>A new version of the local development tool, <strong>Studio</strong>, was released: <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/blog/2025/02/24/studio-preview-sites/\"><strong>Introducing Preview Sites: Pushing the Limits of Collaboration with Studio</strong></a>. The WordPress.com blog post highlights upgrades to “Demo Sites,” now “Preview Sites,” enhancing local development and simplifying sharing with clients and teammates. Key improvements include:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Increased Storage: Expanded from 250 MB to 2 GB.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>More Sites: Doubling from 5 to 10 preview sites.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Personalized URLs: Shorter, user-specific URLs.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Timeline: Available for seven days post-update. </li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The name change to “Preview Sites” emphasizes their role in showcasing work-in-progress and collaboration. Enhanced Preview Sites are available to all Studio users, with existing Demo Sites converting automatically.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://wordpress.com/blog/2025/02/24/studio-preview-sites/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"367\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-07-at-15.25.36.png?resize=652%2C367&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37926\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wordpress-developer-blog\">WordPress Developer Blog</h3>\n\n\n<div width=\"100%\" class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\"></div>\n\n\n<p>Two new post on the Developer Blog might catch your attention:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Troy Chaplin</strong> took on the monthly round up <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/02/whats-new-for-developers-february-2025/\"><strong>What’s new for developers? (February 2025)</strong></a>. The post mentioned WordPress 6.7.2 with bug fixes and enhancements, and took a look ahead to WordPress 6.8’s data view and performance improvements. Gutenberg celebrated its 8th birthday with versions 20.1 and 20.2, introducing enhancements to blocks and UI customization. Updates include improvements to the Navigation, Page List, and Social Links blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Róbert Mészáros</strong> guides you through his tutorial on how to <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/02/customize-wordpress-embeds-to-match-your-theme/\"><strong>customize WordPress embeds to match your theme</strong></a>. He discusses different ways to adjust WordPress embeds to fit a site’s theme and branding, covering basic CSS styling, advanced changes like modifying excerpts, ensuring uniform image formats, adding features like a “like” button or publication date, and creating custom embed templates. The article also reviews the history of WordPress embeds, the default embed view, and loading template files from a plugin, encouraging developers to try these options and enhance WordPress embeds.</p>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/02/customize-wordpress-embeds-to-match-your-theme/\"><img width=\"652\" height=\"392\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/customize-wordpress-embeds-to-match-your-theme-custom-style-1536x923-1.png?resize=652%2C392&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37902\" /></a>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now also available via <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\">WordPress Playground</a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">Email me </a>with your experience</p>\n\n\n\n<p><img alt=\"GitHub all releases\" src=\"https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge\" /></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? </em><br /><em>Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">them via email</a> or</em><br /><em> send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">For questions to be answered on the <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, <br />send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Featured Image:</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>\n\n\n<form class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait\" action=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/\" method=\"post\"><div class=\"ngl-form-container\"><div class=\"ngl-form-field\"><label class=\"ngl-form-label\" for=\"ngl_email\"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class=\"ngl-form-input\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"ngl-form-input-text\" name=\"ngl_email\" id=\"ngl_email\" /></div></div><button type=\"submit\" class=\"ngl-form-button\">Subscribe</button><p class=\"ngl-form-text\">We hate spam, too, and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone <br />except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay\"><div class=\"ngl-message-svg-wrap\"></div><div class=\"ngl-message-overlay-text\">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_list_id\" id=\"ngl_list_id\" value=\"26f81bd8ae\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ngl_double_optin\" id=\"ngl_double_optin\" value=\"yes\" /></form>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:45:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"Do The Woo Community: Do the Woo Friday Shares, March 7, 2025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://dothewoo.io/?post_type=blog&p=92516\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://dothewoo.io/blog/do-the-woo-friday-shares-march-7-2025/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:194:\"WordPress continues to lead in enterprise solutions, showcasing new tools, addressing gender inequality in leadership, and enhancing WooCommerce functionalities while promoting community events.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:59:01 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:85:\"Do The Woo Community: Designing Products Users Love, A Deep Dive with Shahjahan 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+0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"Do The Woo Community: Making the Right Decisions for Your WordPress Business\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://dothewoo.io/?post_type=blog&p=92253\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://dothewoo.io/blog/making-the-right-decisions-for-your-wordpress-business/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:219:\"Building a business in the WordPress and WooCommerce ecosystem requires careful decision-making. Here are some insights on pricing strategies, plugin vs. SaaS choices, and the benefits of strong partnerships for growth.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:48:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:85:\"WPTavern: #159 – James Kemp on WooCommerce Innovations and Trends in Selling Online\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=188026\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:99:\"https://wptavern.com/podcast/159-james-kemp-on-woocommerce-innovations-and-trends-in-selling-online\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:47634:\"Transcript<div>\n<p>[00:00:00] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case WooCommerce innovations, and trends selling online.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice, or by going to wptavern.com/feed/podcast, and you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, I&#8217;m keen to hear from you and hopefully get you, or your idea featured, on the show. Head to wptavern.com/contact/jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So on the podcast today we have James Kemp. James is the Core Product Lead for WooCommerce. After working with WooCommerce, running a plugin shop for 10 years, he joined the team at the end of 2023 to help shape the future of e-commerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>James talks about his journey with WordPress and WooCommerce, and explains his role at Automattic, where he&#8217;s tasked with connecting the community&#8217;s feedback to the developments in WooCommerce, ensuring that the Woo platform continually evolves and improves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He discusses the innovations within WooCommerce, the challenges of balancing the needs of small and large scale stores, and how the team navigates an environment filled with both competitors and opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He gets into the positive impact of WooCommerce&#8217;s recent rebranding, and how the system positions itself amidst the ever-growing competition from SaaS platforms like Shopify.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>James shares his insights into the trends shaping e-commerce, like the seamless integration of newer technologies and consumer buying habits.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re keen to understand the breadth of WooCommerce&#8217;s impact on e-commerce, or are curious about the direction of online shopping, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to wptavern.com/podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so without further delay, I bring you James Kemp.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am joined on the podcast by James Kemp. Hello James.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:02:50] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Hello, how are you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:02:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, good. Nice to speak to you. James is on the podcast today to talk all things WooCommerce. And he really is a very, very credible person to talk about WooCommerce, because James is the Core Product Lead for WooCommerce over at Automattic.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, when I say that title, James, I don&#8217;t really know what it means. Will you just enlighten us? And also, if you feel like throwing some other biographical information at us about your history with WordPress and things like that, feel free.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:03:17] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Of course. Yeah, I mean, we&#8217;ve spoken a couple of times on a podcast like this. I don&#8217;t know if we&#8217;ve done the Tavern one before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah, as a quick introduction, I started using WordPress in 2009, and I started building with WooCommerce in 2011. And from that time I worked with customers and specifically like building websites for customers who needed websites.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in that time I built up a collection of plugins, which I sold on a premium basis, which eventually turned into IconicWP, which was a WooCommerce plugin shop with 14 or 15 premium plugins. Sold that, well, that was acquired in 2021 by Liquid Web, Stellar. And I stayed there for a couple of years, carried on working. My whole team came over with the acquisition. We carried on just working as we were really, but under this kind of bigger brand of products and WordPress software, which was quite nice. It was nice to kind of get that experience from companies selling products like we were, but they were at a much bigger scale than we were at the time. That was a nice experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, yeah, towards the end of that, I reached out to Paul, who was the CEO, at the time, of WooCommerce, and just kind of said, I feel like I could have a good impact on WooCommerce itself, is there anything there for me? And I was kind of open to whatever that might look like. There was no job description that I applied for. I just kind of reached out and said, this is what I want to do, this is what, I like doing, this is what I&#8217;m good at. And then, yeah, here we are just over a year since I joined.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I joined as a product manager. And like you say, now I&#8217;m a Core Product Manager, which is a new role within WooCommerce. So a Product Manager would be, and for context, there&#8217;s eight or nine Product Managers within WooCommerce. When I joined, we each kind of had an area of focus. So my area was order management. So any project or improvement or just, my day to day would be looking at order management and, how can we make this better? It kind of shifted outside of that a bit as well into other areas. But each Product Manager has that kind of role where they&#8217;re focused on one kind of key area of WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there was never really any product manager that had an overall vision of the whole product. And that&#8217;s what the Core Product Manager role is. So I&#8217;m less focused on one specific area, and more focused on just, how can we make the whole thing better? And part of that role is kind of connecting the dots a bit. One team&#8217;s working on this, another team&#8217;s working on that, how do they overlap? But also connecting the community dots to the stuff that we actually put out there. So, what are people asking for? What are the common kind of requests that people have, or the complaints that people have? Or even the positives that people have and, how can we make those things better?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> So is there just one of you? So there&#8217;s one Core Product Lead. There&#8217;s not multiple of those.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:18] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Oh gosh, that&#8217;s really interesting. So you&#8217;ve got like the 10,000 mile high view of the entire project. And so you are kind of open to suggestions, innovations, improvements, tweaks, that all comes under the purview of your job.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:06:32] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Correct, yeah. There&#8217;s different areas. There&#8217;s what we call product, which is kind of the user facing experience. And by user I mean merchant, and probably customer as well, so the visual aspects of the product that people interact with. And then there&#8217;s the platform side of things, which are backend architecture and performance and all those kinds of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;m primarily focused on the front end aspect, not front end but, you know, the core experience we call it. I am actually focused a lot on the platform side of things at the moment as well, because the person who usually does that is on sabbatical, so I&#8217;m kind of helping out a bit there. And it&#8217;s quite nice to have, you know, that understanding as well, for approaching core experience type things. And it also encompasses the WooCommerce app and many of our premium extensions, many of our marketplace extensions, premium or free.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:22] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;m guessing that if you ask anybody the question, is their inbox pretty full? You know, the to-do list that you have is pretty full, everybody would probably say, yeah, I&#8217;ve got plenty on my plate. But it sounds as if you may well have a lot on your plate.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I don&#8217;t know if there&#8217;s a lot that you&#8217;ve got to deal with in there, and you&#8217;ve got a lot of ideas, and innovations that you&#8217;d like to push forward. But is it fair to say that there&#8217;s a ton of innovation still to be done inside of WooCommerce?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:07:46] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, for sure. It&#8217;s something that I&#8217;m still trying to figure out. Like, how do you stay on top of all of these things and, where is my input within this most valuable? Because I&#8217;m still working alongside all the other product managers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And actually that&#8217;s been really nice to kind of connect with a product manager that&#8217;s working on something specific, and work with them to make that the best it can be for WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah, I&#8217;m still trying to figure out how to like organise all of these things so they&#8217;re not just in my head, but they&#8217;re out there in a manageable way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:08:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> How do you get intelligence about what needs to be done? I mean, obviously there&#8217;s the team within Automattic that you deal directly with, I would&#8217;ve thought of, but do you keep your door of your office kind of half open a little bit? Are you prepared to listen to community suggestions?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And again, I&#8217;m not trying to get you to give out your email address or anything, but is there that element still? Do you still listen to people out in the community, users, and what have you? Do they come directly to you, or is there some kind of filtration process which people have to go through in order to get ideas in your head?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:08:46] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> There&#8217;s many ways. Yeah, I think one of the things that I love most is talking to the people that actually use it. And I do that primarily on X or Twitter. I talk to a lot of people over there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The downside to that is the majority of them are agencies and developers. It&#8217;s not a downside, the downside being that I don&#8217;t get that kind of open communication necessarily with merchants directly. So if I want to talk to a merchant that&#8217;s more of a filtered, as you say, it&#8217;s an intentional, you know, I have to reach out to a merchant and schedule a call and all that kind of stuff. There is the occasional merchant on X, but it&#8217;s not their stomping ground.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, I&#8217;m also in the Slack, the WooCommerce community Slack. Some of what I&#8217;ve implemented is these kind of external channels within our own Slack. So one example of that is a project we&#8217;re working on for fulfillment statuses, where I got Becca from Kestrel WP and Patrick Garman from Minesize into one of our internal Slack rooms to discuss and kind of help shape this project. So they&#8217;re directly involved in that way in stuff that we&#8217;re working on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think something that we really want to do is be really transparent with like, this is what we&#8217;re working on. You may well have seen over the course of the last year or so that that has been the case, via GitHub discussions, via the Developer Blog, via Slack, the community Slack. But yeah, I love getting feedback from people on Twitter. I still don&#8217;t know what to call it, Twitter or X.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:10:18] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I often wonder if the sort of inside baseball of WordPress is a little bit hard to penetrate, because I&#8217;m imagining there&#8217;s a lot of people who use WordPress that in a million years have never opened up the WordPress Slack, GitHub is not a thing for them. And I&#8217;ve always wondered how people such as yourself, you know, in senior positions get that information. How does it get to you? And X, Bluesky, whatever the alternative is, that&#8217;s a really interesting way of kind of completely circumventing that process. I will make sure that your profile, your X profile is linked in here and then people can reach out on that basis. Yeah, that&#8217;s great. Thank you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s just paint the picture of Woo, and how big it is because we keep hearing the statistic. The one that everybody talks about is this 43%, which is the WordPress statistic. And I never quite know how to manage that in my head, what that exactly means. But a fairly sizable number is also the e-commerce side, the WooCommerce side of WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where are we at in terms of the web, and in terms of WordPress, how much of WordPress is WooCommerce, and how much of the internet is Woo? And every time I hear this number, it changes a little bit. But every time I hear it, it&#8217;s still breathtakingly large.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:24] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, that&#8217;s an interesting one actually. In terms of how much of WordPress is Woo, I&#8217;m not sure on that. I think we could probably calculate that based on the figures I do have, which is how much of e-commerce is WooCommerce, and that is 37%.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> 37%. Okay, so whatever the percentage is, be it the top million websites or the top 10,000 websites, whatever that metric is, let&#8217;s assume that that&#8217;s solid and safe. 37% is done on a WooCommerce platform. That is breathtaking.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:11:56] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Which is a huge amount, for the listeners, and for you if you want to check it out later. If you go to woocommerce.com/newsroom, we update these numbers every month. We have some numbers there, like there&#8217;s 3.6 million live installations. 37% of e-commerce sites are powered by WooCommerce. There&#8217;s 1,000 plus official marketplace extensions. That&#8217;s actually going to grow, I think substantially this year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then, yeah, some other stats that are listed there, which I think are useful to keep an eye on. And there&#8217;s, I believe the team that updates those numbers kind of, they take the data primarily from Store Leads, which is a data gathering outfit. And I think they kind of dial them back a bit, rather than, you know, inflating them, I think they actually go the other way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:41] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> In terms of the trend of that, so the 37%, I&#8217;m not looking at that chart at the moment, but is your impression that, has it stagnated, has it gone up broadly in the last, let&#8217;s say five years, something like that? Is WooCommerce basically growing, stagnating, declining?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:12:54] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Over the five year, I would expect it&#8217;s gone up. There&#8217;s no graph to look at. There probably is somewhere, but I don&#8217;t have it in front of me now. But I do know that this was updated this week, I believe. And it was updated from 35% to 37. So there&#8217;s definite growth there. And I would expect, just the nature of e-commerce in general, that that number&#8217;s grown over the course.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:13:16] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> When you say that, what&#8217;s the thing in your head which is promoting you to say the nature of e-commerce? Because I really don&#8217;t follow e-commerce, but I have this impression that during the lockdown period, 2019 and on, it felt like everybody, for very credible reasons, had to move whatever they were selling to an online format. So I imagine there was a bump there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But also it feels like the world is now inundated with pocket size technology, which means that I can buy anything 24/7, no matter where I am. And so it feels like high streets in the UK, the shutters are going up. Bricks and mortar shops seem to be closing. Certainly where I live, that is a broad trend. It&#8217;s not particularly rapid, but it&#8217;s definitely a trend.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;m imagining that the confluence of mobile technology, ubiquity of internet connection, computers available all over the place, certainly in the country where you and I both live. It feels like this inexorable rise, this trend towards purchasing things at 4 o&#8217;clock in the afternoon, sitting on a sofa, a bus, wherever you might be. It does feel like that&#8217;s the way the world is moving. Are those kind of the intuitions that you have when you say WooCommerce is rising for obvious reasons?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:14:23] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, exactly. I think just the nature of the internet and the online world has kind of exponentially grown since its inception, right? And I would expect that e-commerce will grow with it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think one of the greatest things about the internet is that you can buy online. I should look into the history actually, but I can&#8217;t imagine what the thought process was back when the internet was invented. Did they imagine that e-commerce would be a thing? That people would buy stuff, even from the other side of the world, and have it shipped out to them in a matter of days or weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I just think as technology evolves, and we&#8217;ve seen the boom in AI, and just the boom in like generational development on computers, and coding and all of that is advancing, and I think e-commerce will follow suit as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:15:12] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it feels like there&#8217;s no place but an upward trend for e-commerce. Now, whether or not WooCommerce fits into that landscape perfectly in the next decade, we&#8217;ll see. But it feels like I, and I can really only rely on myself, I feel like I&#8217;m going to buy more things online in the decade to come than I am this year. It feels like each and every year, my desire to get on my bike and go into the town centre dwindles, and I&#8217;m far more likely to buy things online.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now the merchants have pivoted their offerings so that, you know, if you don&#8217;t like it, you can freely return it and things like that. So even the impediments that were there have suddenly changed, and it&#8217;s just remarkable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And also the mere fact, just capture in your head for a moment, the fact that you can get all of this for no money down. The WooCommerce platform, and I know, in order to get the best out of it, you will definitely want marketplace things, third party, but other places as well. But the thing is free. It&#8217;s completely free. And I find that utterly remarkable. I just think that&#8217;s breathtaking in all honesty, that that&#8217;s available.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:16:15] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, I think it&#8217;s one of the key selling points about WooCommerce is that you can get started for free, as close to free as possible, when you account for hosting and transactional fees that naturally come with any platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But on top of that, with WooCommerce specifically, and with the age of AI now, you could make WooCommerce do what you want it to do for free. And every site could be tailored to specific needs, and like a specific execution of functionality without too much technical knowledge, which I think is really interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you&#8217;ve seen people are building apps, and I&#8217;ve built a few as well, specifically for needs that they want to solve. I saw one yesterday, I think it was Maddie on, Twitter, I can link to it. She built an app to automatically put an emoji over faces in photos. I don&#8217;t know if you&#8217;ve seen, when parents share photos of other people&#8217;s children and that kind of thing, they typically put an emoji over the face. She said she was getting annoyed at having to do that with every photo. But we&#8217;re in that era now where you can kind of roll these things with no technical knowledge, whether the output is good, I think is questionable, but it&#8217;s pretty good.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:17:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Does the advent of AI, and what you&#8217;re suggesting, you can add your third party stuff, if you like, for want of a better word, to WooCommerce with the assistance of AI. Does that undermine the longevity of the free, open source WooCommerce project? Because I imagine that there&#8217;s a lot of underpinnings there, you know, the marketplace that WooCommerce, as I imagine those plugins that are sold to add different functionality and what have you, that must in some way pay for the freeness of it all.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does AI, does that concern you? You know, that if we erode the need to purchase third party software in order to get out what you desire, yeah, does that erode the possibility of WooCommerce being free in the future?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:05] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> I don&#8217;t think so. I think it assists. I think it depends what you&#8217;re making. Like, I wouldn&#8217;t want to build out a full subscriptions platform just using an AI prompt. And maybe that will become more advanced in the future. I think as someone running a business, you don&#8217;t want to be dealing with this code yourself, maintaining it, making sure it stays up to date. And I think that&#8217;s the case for, or that has been the case since e-commerce software existed. There used to be a trend of rolling your own e-commerce solutions, and I think that&#8217;s less likely to happen these days.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:18:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s a good point. If you think about just a regular WordPress website, if it&#8217;s just a brochure site with no e-commerce attached, go with the AI, you know, it seems like there&#8217;s loads of scope there. But obviously if you&#8217;ve got the compliance, and the financial obligation, and all of the law that underpins an e-commerce shop, I imagine there are impediments in people&#8217;s heads which will say, wait, did an AI make that? Are we really going to trust that? So maybe it inoculates itself given the nature of the websites which are in question.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, just moving on, tell us a little bit about the kind of people that are using WooCommerce. Now, I know this is a very, very broad question, but in my head, for some reason I have it, that a significant amount of people that are using WooCommerce will be small stores. But I&#8217;m guessing also maybe WooCommerce really does dig deep into the enterprise as well. Does it run the gamut of everything? Or is there a kind of focus for you, and teams within Automattic because there&#8217;s a certain type of clientele which largely consume WooCommerce?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:19:37] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, it does kind of span everything. So people just starting out either want low cost, in which case WooCommerce is an obvious choice. You can start setting things up, especially for brand new e-commerce, whereas they&#8217;re just selling single products. There&#8217;s nothing too technical there that would require an expense of some kind. So it&#8217;s super easy to spin up a WooCommerce site and test it out pretty much free.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, we have that audience. It&#8217;s not necessarily our focus, our focus is primarily the higher revenue, higher traffic e-commerce stores, because that&#8217;s the aspiration for anyone selling, right? They want to become successful, they want that to be their business, is e-commerce. And those are the users that we&#8217;re focused on. And then naturally anything we do for them is going to trickle down to benefit the people who are just starting out with the platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it does span a wide range of users, but we do focus in on the higher revenue and high product volume, high traffic, those kind of things. Or at least that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re focusing on this year. That target evolves over time. But that&#8217;s been our focus for most of my time since I&#8217;ve been here. So it&#8217;s nice to have that vision of who&#8217;s using it and what we can do to make the platform as good as possible for them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:20:52] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> We have this expression in the UK, Jack of all trades, master of none. I don&#8217;t know how that works outside of the boundaries of the UK, but it basically means if you try to be everything to everybody, you sort of succeed at nothing. It&#8217;s something akin to that basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;m wondering if there are bits of WooCommerce which you have to manage those sort of trade offs. Like, okay, if we build this thing, which feels like it&#8217;s a real enterprisey thing, how is that going to work with our more modest users, let&#8217;s say?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or if we really focus on the more modest users, how are the enterprise going to feel like that? And it not being a niche, and it being the full spectrum of sites out there, yeah, at times that must be actually quite frustrating, I would&#8217;ve thought.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:21:29] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> It&#8217;s a challenge, yeah. It&#8217;s something that we&#8217;re working on at the moment, is making the base of WooCommerce have the majority of features for the majority of users, the features that you&#8217;d expect in an e-commerce platform, which I&#8217;ve touched on in other podcasts if you want to go and find them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it&#8217;s a process called More in Core, which is the kind of code name for it. Where we&#8217;re just trying to build out the base product to have the majority of things that merchants and builders need, without needing to go and find all these plugins and custom development and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the challenge is which features. The features that people need are going to change depending on what type of store they&#8217;re running. So I&#8217;ve seen a lot of people want subscriptions in Core. And then I&#8217;ve also seen the complete opposite where people don&#8217;t want subscriptions in Core because they see it as bloat. There&#8217;s a challenge there for sure, to figure out what that kind of sweet spot is without being bloated, but also without nickel and dimming, and making the average number of plugins required too high or too low.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:22:28] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;ve often thought that if I worked at Microsoft on Windows, the software, the OS, it would be my constant annoyance that I had to think about every possible permutation of hardware that could ever be used. Whereas if I worked for Apple and was working on the Mac OS project, it&#8217;d be like, there&#8217;s just this one set of hardware, it&#8217;s just so much more straightforward, we build it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I imagine that commercial rivals, things like Shopify, and we can get into that in a moment, probably have it easier in that sense because there isn&#8217;t this, well, I know that they have an ecosystem of sort of third party apps, I believe they&#8217;re called. But there isn&#8217;t this whole backwards compatibility thing that 5,000 different plugins that bind into WooCommerce and what have you. And so I guess you&#8217;ve always got to be taking real careful steps when you develop a new feature or tweak anything, which maybe the other platforms don&#8217;t have to think about in quite the same way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:23:16] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, I actually posted about that exact thing on X or Twitter earlier. I&#8217;m just going to call it X. I want to call it Twitter, but I&#8217;m going to call it X. It&#8217;s a challenge because, and this touches on the 37% number, like any update we roll out is affecting over a third of all e-commerce stores online, which is a crazy number.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has to be backwards compatible, it has to be rolled out in a way that isn&#8217;t going to break things. There&#8217;s a lot more consideration that needs to happen because of the multitude of environments that could exist. There could be bad hosting, there could be good hosting. There could be low performance, high performance, number of products, different plugins, different themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a platform like ours, that is one of the greatest challenges, but also one of the greatest strengths as well, because of how flexible it is. In a platform like Shopify, like you say, they have an app marketplace, but it&#8217;s a lot more restricted. There&#8217;s only really a handful of ways to do something. Whereas with WooCommerce, you&#8217;ve kind of got full control because you are hosting it yourself. You can pretty much do anything. Which, like I say, is a challenge, but also a strength.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It requires navigation, and I touched on this in a, I do a monthly, Inside wooCommerce podcast. The last one that went out was with Julia, who is the lead for our release process. And it&#8217;s worth a listen, because it&#8217;s quite interesting to hear, now, how we roll out releases and how we&#8217;re able to test and watch for signals for issues that might arise. And be able to roll it back, fix that, and then roll out the updates. There&#8217;s quite a nice process there now, which we&#8217;ll obviously refine as time goes on, but yeah, it&#8217;s a challenge.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:24:59] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> More recently, and we don&#8217;t need to get into the story behind it, but there is a story behind it. But the Automatticians, so the people that work for Automattic, have in some cases been repurposed. So their work that they&#8217;ve been doing for many years in one direction has now been pivoted. And I think it&#8217;s probably fair to say that focusing on things which generate revenue is a crucial part of the decision behind that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m wondering if that&#8217;s had an impact. So this whole thing is not really that old, it&#8217;s maybe only five, six weeks old, something like that, so maybe it hasn&#8217;t yet. But I&#8217;m wondering if it&#8217;s had actually a positive impact on the teams that you work with, or maybe there&#8217;s steady away, no change.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:25:38] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> I would say there&#8217;s no change actually. I mean, WooCommerce has always been, we&#8217;re building a free product, but we are also a business, and we&#8217;ve always been a business. We wouldn&#8217;t be able to afford to put out a product and not have any money coming in to continue developing it. There&#8217;s always been a business aspect to WooCommerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But yeah, the teams that have kind of moved off of the open source contributions that they were making previously, I haven&#8217;t seen any of them come over to WooCommerce. And maybe they have, if they come in as engineers, then I probably wouldn&#8217;t see that anyway. But yeah, in my day to day, I haven&#8217;t seen an impact. But, you know, Automattic has multiple products and experiments and things that exist outside of WooCommerce, and I honestly don&#8217;t dig into them too much. I&#8217;m very focused on the WooCommerce side of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:26:27] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> You&#8217;ve recently, I say you, WooCommerce recently had an entire upending of the branding. If you don&#8217;t follow it very closely, it may be that you haven&#8217;t seen this story, but maybe it was not that long ago in the last week or so. It feels like the message dropped that a lot of the branding has been redone, and I often look at rebranding and I think why all that effort?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What was really the point of that? What was the need to upend everything, and make people have to see something new? And I&#8217;m just wondering if you know what the point of that was? I mean, it&#8217;s nice. It looks lovely. Don&#8217;t get me wrong. I thoroughly love it. But I&#8217;m curious as to what the reasoning was. Did it feel stale previously? What was going on there? Do you know?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:27:06] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> All of the above, yeah. So I&#8217;ve known about the branding, in its current form of, what it&#8217;s gonna be like since maybe October last year. And it&#8217;s been really interesting to watch. If you compare what we had previously against this, it&#8217;s clear like why it had to happen. The branding that we had previously was the same branding that WooCommerce had when it was initially formed via WooThemes. If you compare it, it just looks out of date. The colors are flat and, not very inspiring. And the new branding now allows us to be a bit more modern, I think. It&#8217;s modernized the brand.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it also opens us up to be able to go out and do more effective marketing and acquisition that we haven&#8217;t done prior. Branding isn&#8217;t just changing the logo and updating some colors. There&#8217;s a whole array of assets that come with it, and like a story behind the assets and what we&#8217;re trying to put out there into the world. Which we didn&#8217;t have before, we just had a logo and some colors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:28:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> There&#8217;s this sort of nod to a shopping cart in the W of Woo, which is actually quite clever, I think. And you&#8217;re right, it does just smack of more modern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a complete non-designer, I can never summon up the vocabulary to express why I think something looks good. But saw the new branding, and I saw the video that was associated with that, and I did think, yeah, that&#8217;s great. That looks really great, but I can&#8217;t for the life of me tell you why it looks great.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But interestingly though, was there a market push, not just because it was stale, and let&#8217;s move this conversation into the rise of the SaaS. Because over the last period, the Wixs, the Squarespaces, the Shopify and all of these other things, I&#8217;m sure there&#8217;s many more. They&#8217;ve brought to the market a fairly affordable alternative. There&#8217;s nothing free, as far as I&#8217;m aware, but it&#8217;s a fairly low monthly cost. And I imagine over time these companies are eating up some of the new people, maybe even taking people from WooCommerce. I imagine it&#8217;s a bit of ebb and flow and what have you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But was it that, were they becoming more professional, more visible in the world? Super Bowl ads and all that kind of thing. Was there some of that in the rebranding as well?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:29:14] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, I imagine so. I think if you look at our branding previously, I don&#8217;t think it was necessarily thought out as a brand as such. I think it evolved over time. Whereas this was, the rebrand was much more focused, who are we trying to connect with here? What type of customer are we trying to pull in? And how can we reach them? What do they want to see? And I don&#8217;t think we had that before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yeah, definitely it helps us compete with these SaaS solutions that are quite easy to pitch. You know, influencer can pitch this stuff, because they have cool branding and, it&#8217;s hard to say really.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like I think you could say about any product, like if Apple had a really badly designed, like 3D Apple from the nineties as their logo. In this modern era of what you expect from a brand, and a brand that&#8217;s powering 37% of all e-commerce or, I don&#8217;t what Apple&#8217;s market share on mobile devices is, but I imagine it&#8217;s pretty high.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s just something that needs to be considered, and there needs to be a thought process behind why we look like we do, and who we want to attract with that. And we didn&#8217;t have that before with the previous speech bubble thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:30:25] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I remember listening to, I believe it was Bill Gates, this is many years ago, and Bill Gates was asked a question by an interviewer and it was, what keeps you awake at night, in terms of the longevity of Microsoft? And he said three things. Google, Google and Google. And basically he&#8217;s terrified of Google.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m gonna pitch the same sort of question to you. Of the SaaS things out there, are there any bits out there which make the Woo team think, oh gosh, that&#8217;s interesting. We need to copy that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does the sort of gouging out of the pricing, their very affordable pricing, those kind of things. How do you cope with that? How do you compete with that, with something which is basically free? I don&#8217;t know if that keeps you awake at night.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:31:06] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Obviously like any business has its competitors. There&#8217;s nothing that&#8217;s come up that we&#8217;ve been like, oh, we&#8217;ve got to copy that and we&#8217;ve got to get that in. It&#8217;s more like comparatively are we offering an equal playing field to a potential customer?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this ties back into the More in Core stuff that I was talking about. Is there stuff that not just Shopify, but other platforms have in their core offering, and this may be like low priced or free plans, or there&#8217;s other self-hosted versions as well that exist. They are comparatively free. Are we offering the same functionality? Do we have those essential features available? Yeah, we do, but do we charge for them? Probably, if there&#8217;s stuff that&#8217;s missing, there&#8217;s probably a premium extension for it. Or there&#8217;s a free extension for it, but it requires the merchant to go out and find it, rather than like us presenting it to them as a solution when they need it contextually.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, things like that are definitely considerations. We need to be innovating, and we need to be keeping up as well. That could be said about any platform versus another platform that there&#8217;s always, again, going back to Apple, Apple and Samsung have this kind of to and fro.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, it&#8217;s a consideration for sure. The target audience of someone going onto Shopify versus someone going onto WooCommerce is slightly different. The kind of core things that they are looking for are what we need to be offering.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:31] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, that&#8217;s interesting because if I was a WooCommerce user, which as I explained I&#8217;m not, that would be the sentence I needed to hear, I think. The people working in the offices and the places where you are working is, okay, we are keeping an eye on what the competition are doing. And if something is a moving, shaking feature, which is upsetting the industry and everybody wants it, then you&#8217;ve at least got your beedy on it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:32:55] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> That&#8217;s one part of it as well. What are the competitors doing, but also what are our marketplace sales saying? What are the trends saying in e-commerce, even TikTok, Amazon, like all those kind of things that aren&#8217;t directly related to what we do, that&#8217;s accounted for as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And also what are the customers saying? And we touched on it earlier, but we have a whole, what we call the feedback river, which is just a big database of feedback from everywhere. From within the plugin itself. From support. From reviews and from wordpress.org, and like all of these places combined into one database. So yeah, I think you have to keep an eye on all of it. And the challenge is figuring out is this essential? What percentage of users actually want this specific thing?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And actually that&#8217;s always been a challenge, like even working on much smaller scale products at Iconic, it was always hard if a customer reaches out and says, oh, I wish it did this, it was hard to say no to that, because you are excited that someone&#8217;s using it, and they want to adapt it to their own use case. But you have to take into account, is the effort to implement this going to be valuable for everyone? Is this the priority for the majority, or is it just going satisfy this one person? You have to do that at scale now, or I have to do that at scale.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:14] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I know that time is short, so I&#8217;m just going to pivot just for one final question before we leave and it&#8217;s, it really has nothing to do with WooCommerce specifically, although it may? And that is, I&#8217;m just curious if you know of any interesting things which are happening around the periphery of e-commerce that you personally are finding interesting and engaging. Something that maybe our general audience won&#8217;t have come across, because they&#8217;re not deep in the weeds of it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>That could be inside WordPress. I dunno, the Interactivity API, or it could be something the browsers are thinking about doing, or third party vendors who&#8217;ve got some curious technology that we might not have heard of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, really just any interesting thing that James has spotted lately that you think we might want to look at?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:54] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, I dunno whether I have anything that nobody&#8217;s ever heard of.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:57] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> That&#8217;s fine.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:34:58] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> There&#8217;s a definite rise in platforms offering their own e-commerce. So, TikTok, commerce and all that kind of stuff is growing. And you touched on, something before we started the call actually, which kind of relates to that, the ability to see something on a device and just purchase it there and then. And within TikTok you get that experience. Within a typical e-commerce platform, you have a flow that you go through. You&#8217;ve got the cart, and then the checkout. You&#8217;ve got to populate details. So yeah, I think there&#8217;s gonna be a, an evolution into how quickly can I buy something. And that&#8217;s what the merchants want. Whether it&#8217;s good for the population and spending habits, I&#8217;m not entirely sure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I personally love the experience on, like Amazon, for example, and I don&#8217;t know how long they&#8217;ve had it, it&#8217;s been there a while now. But on product pages, you don&#8217;t need to go through the cart process, you can just click buy now. Although that has tripped me up a couple of times.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, me too.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:35:54] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> You press buy now, and it goes on some card that you never use.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yeah, I think that is a definite kind of trend, that I&#8217;ve seen a lot of. And I think we touched on something earlier as well, which I haven&#8217;t seen much in the way of solutions to it. But one of the key things about people buying from a brick and mortar is that they can try on the product and they can physically see the color of a product, and touch the product. Which is possible. You can order now and it&#8217;s getting a lot easier to return stuff. But can you do that with a sofa, for example? So, I expect that we&#8217;ll see some innovations around that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:33] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Sort of augmented solution, where you can drop room and, yeah, size it up, and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:38] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah. I don&#8217;t know what that looks like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:40] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> No, and it will be sort of a strange simulation of reality, but probably enough to get a proportion of the people over the wire, I would&#8217;ve thought.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:48] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Yeah, for sure. There&#8217;s been AR stuff for a while now, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:36:51] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, and things like, you want to put a logo on a t-shirt, here&#8217;s what that look like on the t-shirt. Those kind of things.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think for me, one of the most, most interesting things is what the mobile wallets have done to my capacity to spend. I just that is remarkable. Especially out in the real world where you take the Tube in London, the underground, and you just don&#8217;t do anything anymore. You just walk by a thing, and your phone&#8217;s in your pocket, and it registers it, and you walk out and at the end of the day you get a bill, and so these kind of seamless solutions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:21] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> I don&#8217;t feel like you have that so much on a computer though.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:24] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> No, but I wonder if that&#8217;s coming with, I don&#8217;t know, biometrics. Like purchase this, put your finger print in, your done.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:33] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> I think that would be nice. I still populate, I use 1Password, so it does it for me, but I still populate the card.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:37:39] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> An intermediary, a trusted intermediary getting in the way. Yeah, it&#8217;s interesting. Again, I wonder if those kind of things might be handled natively by browsers, and things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, we&#8217;re sort of staring into the future, and we&#8217;ve no idea. But I know that you&#8217;ve got to go in about 30 seconds time, so I will just round it off by saying James Kemp, fascinating chat about all things WooCommerce. I appreciate it, and all the hard work you and your team are doing to democratize e-commerce. Is there anything you want to add just before we round it off? Maybe a Twitter handle or something like that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:08] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> I&#8217;m jamesckemp on most things. C, the letter C. Yeah. The only thing I&#8217;ll add is just, if you have questions, ideas, theories, my dms are open there, so I&#8217;m happy to hear it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:21] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Well, thank you very much, James Kemp. Been a pleasure chatting to you today. Really appreciate it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[00:38:25] <strong>James Kemp:</strong> Thank you very much.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>On the podcast today we have <a href=\"https://x.com/jamesckemp\">James Kemp</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>James is the Core Product Lead for WooCommerce. After working with WooCommerce running a plugin shop for 10 years, he joined the team at the end of 2023 to help shape the future of e-commerce.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>James talks about his journey with WordPress and WooCommerce and explains his role at Automattic, where he&#8217;s tasked with connecting the community&#8217;s feedback to the developments in WooCommerce, ensuring that the Woo platform continually evolves and improves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He discusses the innovations within WooCommerce, the challenges of balancing the needs of small and large-scale stores, and how the team navigates an environment filled with both competitors and opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>He gets into the positive impact of WooCommerce&#8217;s recent rebranding, and how the system positions itself amidst the ever-growing competition from SaaS platforms like Shopify. James shares his insights into the trends shaping e-commerce, like the seamless integration of newer technologies and consumer buying habits.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are keen to understand the breadth of WooCommerce&#8217;s impact on e-commerce, or are curious about the direction of online shopping, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful links</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/\">WooCommerce</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://iconicwp.com/\">IconicWP</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://kestrelwp.com/\">Kestrel WP</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://mindsize.com/author/pmgarman/\">Patrick Garmen</a> from Mindsize</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/newsroom/\">Woo Newsroom</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://storeleads.app/\">Store Leads</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/12/12/woocommerce-in-2025/\">Details about &#8216;More in Core&#8217;</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://dothewoo.io/podcasts/inside-woo/\">Inside Woo podcast</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://x.com/jamesckemp\">James on X</a></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Nathan Wrigley\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:82:\"Do The Woo Community: Decentralized Social Networks &amp; WordPress with Alex Kirk\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=91326\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"https://dothewoo.io/decentralized-social-networks-wordpress-with-alex-kirk/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:178:\"In the episode of Open Web Conversations, Matthias talks with Alex about the Friends plugin, decentralized networks, and transforming WordPress into a social networking platform.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Mar 2025 13:54:45 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"Do The Woo Community: WP Day and WP Zone at CloudFest 2025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"https://dothewoo.io/?post_type=blog&p=92418\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"https://dothewoo.io/blog/wp-day-and-wp-zone-at-cloudfest-2025/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:195:\"CloudFest 2025 will occur from March 17-20 in Germany, featuring the WP Zone to connect WordPress and cloud communities, offering networking, tools, and collaboration opportunities for attendees.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:31:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"HeroPress: From Warfare to WordPress: How We Survived and Transformed\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=7787\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:188:\"https://heropress.com/essays/from-warfare-to-wordpress-how-we-survived-and-transformed/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-warfare-to-wordpress-how-we-survived-and-transformed\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7839:\"<img width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/030325-min.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: WordPress kept us afloat. It fed us.\" />\nHere is Aleksandr reading his own story aloud.\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Dedicated to the third sorrowful anniversary of the war. With gratitude to our European partners.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-company-built-in-the-heart-of-kharkiv\">A Company Built in the Heart of Kharkiv</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the war, our company was thriving in the center of Kharkiv — a large, developed, and beautiful million-strong city. We lived and worked just 45 kilometers away from what turned out to be a massive ticking time bomb.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had just completed a beautiful new office renovation — a space filled with energy, collaboration, and ambition. At the time, DreamDev had two divisions: one handling large-scale projects with Laravel and Vue.js, and the other — a WordPress agency primarily working with Elementor and WPBakery.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We believed our future lay in big, ambitious U.S. projects. We chased tight deadlines, endured weekend calls, and thrived under pressure. It was exhausting and stressful, but we had no idea that the real challenge was yet to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-february-24-2022-the-day-our-world-collapsed\">February 24, 2022 – The Day Our World Collapsed</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>No one believed war was possible. Even as rumors spread, we convinced ourselves: </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;This can’t happen. Not here. Not in the 21st century&#8221;&nbsp;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, at 4 AM on February 24, our world turned upside down. Our work chats flooded with messages: &#8220;The war has started.&#8221; Explosions shook the city. The sky turned red with fire. Deafening sounds filled the air. We later learned they were Grad rockets, but at that moment, all we felt was shock, fear, and disbelief.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our brand-new office stood empty. The streets outside looked like a scene from a dystopian movie — people running, children crying, cars were abandoned. As we hurried to gather what we could, Russian tanks were already at the city’s outskirts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And just like that, a new chapter of DreamDev’s story had begun.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-survival-mode-when-there-s-no-plan-just-action\">Survival Mode: When There’s No Plan, Just Action</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We left Kharkiv, seeking shelter in an old house on the city’s outskirts — a place built before World War I. A war from another time, yet history was repeating itself. Our memories from those first days are scattered, and fragmented — banks stopped working, teammates went silent, chaos spread. We had no answers. But we had work. So, five days into the war, we sent out a message to our partners: <em>&#8220;Please don’t worry. We are still working.&#8221;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-losing-everything-and-gaining-something-even-greater\">Losing Everything – and Gaining Something Even Greater</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Then came the real test. Most of our U.S. partners left. A major Norwegian project was scared to death of the news and canceled the team of 3 developers and a PM working for them. We lost our biggest contracts. But something we never expected happened:<br />Every single one of our European partners stayed. Not only that — they gave us even more projects.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>They believed in us. They supported us. And because of them, we survived. Laravel projects disappeared. We lost key developers. But WordPress kept us afloat. It fed us. It fed our families in the hardest moments.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we focused on what we did best: custom, complex WordPress development.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team kept evolving. We became our own sales department, reaching out from a century-old house while watching missiles hit the heart of Kharkiv and fighter jets fall from the sky.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;I will never forget the sound of a plane flying over my head. The mushroom cloud rising above the Officers&#8217; House. The windows in my home were blown out by the blast wave.&#8221;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>At that time, only four of us remained in Kharkiv — two founders, our HR manager, and a project manager. Everyone else had left.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-back-to-the-office-and-into-the-fire\">Back to the Office – And Into the Fire</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After six months of working from home, we made the decision: Return to the office. Every commute felt like it could be the last. But we had no choice — we had to keep moving forward.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the end of 2022, we fully committed to what we did best: custom WordPress development and complex UX/UI design</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was hard. It was frustrating. But it was stimulating. At this point, it felt like a survival game.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-blackouts-bombs-and-business-as-usual\">Blackouts, Bombs, and Business as Usual</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s power grid, the country was plunged into darkness. The only sound? Generators humming in the streets. We spent hours hunting for an internet connection, sitting in gas stations, just to tell our partners: </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;We are alive. Your project will be delivered on time.&#8221;&nbsp;</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>With no electricity, no news, and no phone signal, we kept working. Our European partners kept us afloat.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-team-that-never-stopped\">The Team That Never Stopped</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>By 2023, almost our entire pre-war team was gone. New faces joined, but the spirit remained the same: Adapt. Survive. Deliver.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>We worked without electricity, without water, without heating. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Some in Kharkiv, some in Poltava, some in Dnipro. But we never stopped building. Reflecting on the past, it&#8217;s hard to believe that we were able to endure and remain steadfast.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2024-wordpress-is-changing-so-are-we\">2024: WordPress Is Changing. So Are We.</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, WordPress is evolving — the rise of low-code and no-code solutions is shifting the landscape. The war’s impact on the European economy&#8217;s growth and projects is slowing down. But our partners — the ones who stood by us — were still here.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2025-the-war-continues-but-so-do-we\">2025: The War Continues, But So Do We</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The war isn’t over. And yet, the partners and teammates who believed in us never left. This is more than just WordPress development. This is resilience. This is survival. This is the future we are building together.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7787_60f515-6b alignfull kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top\">\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7787_2a9fc3-fa\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading7787_deaaf3-3e wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\">Editor&#8217;s Note: The normal fee for the banner for this essay will instead be donated to a charity that supports Ukraine.</p>\n</div></div>\n\n</div></div><p>The post <a href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/from-warfare-to-wordpress-how-we-survived-and-transformed/\">From Warfare to WordPress: How We Survived and Transformed</a> appeared first on <a href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 05 Mar 2025 06:00:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Aleks Bochlin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 6.8 Beta 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=18582\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10437:\"<p>WordPress 6.8 Beta 1 is ready for download and testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This beta version of the WordPress software is under development.</strong> Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, set up a test environment or a local site to explore the new features.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Test WordPress 6.8 Beta 1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can test this beta release in any of the following ways:&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>WordPress Beta Tester Plugin</strong></td><td>Install and activate the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Download</strong></td><td>Download the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.8-beta1.zip\">Beta 1 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Command Line (WP-CLI)</strong></td><td>Use this <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/cli/\">WP-CLI</a> command: <code>wp core update --version=6.8-beta1</code></td></tr><tr><td><strong>WordPress Playground</strong></td><td>Use a <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?php=8.0&wp=beta&networking=no&language=&multisite=no&random=r8nny4q18x\">6.8 Beta 1 WordPress Playground instance</a> to test the software directly in your browser. No setup required–-just click and go!</td></tr></tbody></table>\n\n\n\n<p>The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.8 is <strong>April 15, 2025</strong>. Your help testing Beta and RC versions over the next six weeks is vital to ensuring the final release is everything it should be: stable, powerful, and intuitive.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How important is your testing?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Testing for issues is a critical part of developing any software, and it’s a meaningful way for anyone to contribute—whether or not you have experience.&nbsp; <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/\">Details on what to test in WordPress 6.8 are here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you encounter an issue, please share it in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums. If you are comfortable submitting a reproducible bug report, you can do so <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">via WordPress Trac</a>. You can also check your issue against this list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curious about testing releases in general and how to get started? Follow along with the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\"> testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\">#core-test channel</a> on <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\">Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 will include many new features that were previously only available in the Gutenberg plugin. Learn more about Gutenberg updates since WordPress 6.7 in the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\"> What’s New in Gutenberg</a> posts for versions<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/09/what-is-new-in-gutenberg-18-5-05-jun/\"> </a><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/10/09/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-9-31-may-2/\">19.4</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/10/24/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-5-23-october/\">19.5</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/11/06/whats-new-in-gutenberg-15-9-31-may-2-2/\">19.6</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/11/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-7-20-november/\">19.7</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/12/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-8-4-december/\">19.8</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/12/18/whats-new-in-gutenberg-19-9-19-december/\">19.9</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/01/11/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-0-10-january/\">20.0</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/08/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-1-and-20-2/\">20.1, 20.2</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-20-3-18-february/\">20.3</a>, and 20.4.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s New in WordPress 6.8 Beta 1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a polish release, with user enhancements throughout incorporated into the latest Gutenberg updates. 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The existing <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/speculation-rules/\">Speculative Loading feature plugin</a> will adapt to the core implementation, allowing deeper customization.&nbsp; Please test this feature in supported browsers (currently Chrome 108+ and Edge 108+, with more browsers evaluating) and provide feedback on <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62503\">#62503</a> to help refine its implementation.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Major security boost</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing, which <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/17/wordpress-6-8-will-use-bcrypt-for-password-hashing/\">significantly hardens WordPress.</a> Other hashing is getting hardened, too, throughout the security apparatus. You won’t have to change anything in your daily workflow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The features included in this first beta may change before the final release of WordPress 6.8, based on what testers like you find.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get an overview of the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-8/\">6.8 release cycle</a> and check the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-8/\"> 6.8-related posts</a> in the next few weeks for further details.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Caveat on testing 6.8 Beta 1 in versions older than 5.1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to an update made to the upgrade routine during this release, (see <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/59803\">r59803</a>), any upgrade from versions older than 5.1 will fail. Folks are working to resolve this specific issue, so please hold off on reporting on this while testing the Beta 1 release.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta &amp; Release Candidate</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The WordPress community sponsors a <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/security/2024/02/12/welcoming-2024-with-wordpress-6-5-beta-1/\">monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities</a>. This reward doubles during the period between Beta 1 on March 4, 2025 and the final Release Candidate (RC) scheduled for April 15, 2025.&nbsp; Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies. You can find those on the <a href=\"https://hackerone.com/wordpress\">HackerOne page</a> and in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/about/security/\">security white paper</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Just for you: a Beta 1 haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>March winds shift the tide.<br />Hands unite in open source;<br />WordPress moves ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Props to <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>audrasjb</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/marybaum/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>marybaum</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>mamaduka</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/michelleames/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>michelleames</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bph/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>bph</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>jorbin</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>joemcgill</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/krupajnanda/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>krupajnanda</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>desrosj</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/benjamin_zekavica/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>benjamin_zekavica</a> <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/lysyjan87/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>lysyjan87</a></em> <em>for reviewing and collaborating on this post!</em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Mar 2025 17:09:45 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Jeffrey Paul\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"Do The Woo Community: All Things CloudFest Hackathon 2025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:28:\"https://dothewoo.io/?p=92329\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://dothewoo.io/all-things-cloudfest-hackathon-2025/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:210:\"In this podcast episode, hosts and guests discuss the upcoming CloudFest Hackathon, focusing on project contributions, collaboration opportunities, and the engagement of first-time partners to enhance outcomes.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:46:26 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"BobWP\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:26:\"Matt: On Lenny’s 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