The WP Minute

In this episode, I unpack the big announcement behind FAIR — the Federated and Independent Repository — a new package manager initiative under the Linux Foundation. Scooped by The Repository and launched during WordCamp Europe week, FAIR promises decentralized plugin and theme distribution for WordPress, reducing reliance on wordpress.org and introducing a new governance model for the ecosystem. On paper, that's a huge shift.But I've got more questions than answers. Why the Linux Foundation? Is this really just for WordPress? And what does “a replacement for the ecosystem” even mean? For freelancers, agency owners, and power users like you and me, the pitch feels abstract. FAIR might offer technical insurance, but what does it actually do to help us build faster, better, more sustainable sites today?This episode is less about hot takes and more about critical thinking — exploring FAIR from the lens of a working professional in WordPress, not someone living in contributor Slack channels. I want to know how this changes our day-to-day, and whether FAIR will drive real innovation… or just become another layer of complexity.Key Takeaways:“This isn't a fork of WordPress — it's a backend distribution layer, a replacement for the plugin update plumbing we all rely on.”“I have more questions than clarity: is this really just about stability, or is it something much bigger?”“Adoption is everything. Without host and agency support, FAIR is just another plugin.”“WordPress has a packaging problem. FAIR needs to solve that — not just technically, but with messaging that speaks to the average power user.”“We want open source to thrive. But we also want clarity, transparency, and solutions that actually make WordPress better for our clients.”URLs Mentioned:FAIR press release from the Linux FoundationThe Repository's FAIR coverageAspirePressWPCCAlt Ctrl Org livestream ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribefounder of 10up and now a Partner at Fueled, to talk about a major agency evolution. Jake shares the journey from founding 10up in 2011 to its merger with Fueled in 2023, culminating in a rebrand that sees the combined entity operating under the Fueled name. He explains the motivations behind the merger, including the desire for diversification, access to broader resources, and positioning for enterprise-level digital transformation projects.Jake also discusses the continued investment in open-source plugins such as ElasticPress, ClassifAI, and Distributor, which reflect Fueled's commitment to supporting the WordPress ecosystem while solving real client problems. The conversation touches on the shift toward full site editing (FSE), the agency's custom internal toolkit, and how AI and no-code tools are transforming the web development landscape. Jake's new role allows for a better work-life balance and a renewed focus on brand storytelling and strategic initiatives.Key Takeaways:10up merged with Fueled in 2023, with the unified brand now operating as Fueled; 10up remains as the WordPress practice within the company.The merger was motivated by scalability, diversification, and the need for broader digital capabilities in the enterprise market.Fueled's new website was built using WordPress full site editing and custom internal tooling, completed in just 8 weeks.Jake is now a Partner at Fueled, focusing on strategic marketing, brand storytelling, and select client projects.Plugins like ElasticPress, ClassifAI, and Distributor continue to reflect the team's open-source contributions and enterprise-focused solutions.Important Links:FueledRelated Articles:Fueled Merges with 10up To Deliver Superior Customer ExperiencesFueled for the Future: A Renewed BrandHow Fueled Built Its New Website in 8 WeeksPlugins:ClassifAIDistributorElasticPressJake Goldman on LinkedIn ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeBeing a freelance web designer often means dealing with disruption. Sometimes, it's a client who needs a new feature built ASAP. But it can also come from a shakeup in the technology we use.Artificial intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly been a disruptive force. It has upended our workflows and made some of us wary of its presence. Are these apps here to help us or replace us?Perhaps AI site builders are the most cringe-inducing tools of them all. They claim to take the guesswork out of website creation. You don't need to know code or how to pick a font pairing. Provide a few details, and you have a functioning website.Several companies have released AI-based site generators; WordPress.com is among the latest. Our own Matt Medeiros took it for a spin. He “chatted” with a friendly bot that wanted to know more about his website needs. Within minutes, he had a website powered by WordPress.These tools aren't producing top agency-level websites just yet. Maybe they're a novelty for the time being. But they'll improve. With that comes the worry of their impact on freelancers. Will our potential clients choose a bot over a seasoned expert?Let's explore what AI site builders could mean for the future of freelancing. Do they signal the end of an era? Or are they just another tool for the DIY crowd? ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeThe web was once a bastion of free and cheap things. Free tools and services catering to professionals and novices were abundant. And even things that cost money were relatively affordable.This climate has been a boon to freelancers, agencies, and clients. WordPress and its ecosystem are prime examples of this in action. A free content management system (CMS) with a thriving market for themes and plugins has boosted many businesses. Meanwhile, third-party services like hosting and APIs allowed us to do more without spending a fortune.That meant lower costs to pass on to clients. It helped keep our services more affordable to small and medium-sized organizations and created the expectation of cheaper websites.Those days appear to be ending (if they haven't already gone the way of the dodo). WordPress product pricing continues to increase, as do the other services we rely on. It's all making for a difficult conversation with clients.No one wants to pay more for the same thing. But it's an unavoidable part of the current landscape. So, how do you approach clients with the bad news?It's all about preparation and communication. Let's explore ways to take the sting out of the discussion. ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeFreelancers have plenty of options for leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). It seems like a new tool or five comes out each week. And that doesn't include existing products with bolted-on AI features. The hype train has morphed into a rocket ship. This is great for OpenAI and other product makers, as they rake in cash and tons of publicity. But what about the rest of us? Specifically, those of us who make a living with WordPress. Are we gaining anything more than a few dog-and-pony tricks? Most importantly: Can AI help us make more money? There's some debate to be had on that last question. Some fear that AI will replace humans or devalue what we do. That using the technology will lead to our untimely demise as designers and developers. But maybe there's another way. Perhaps we can use AI to empower us rather than weaken our industry standing. I believe it's possible. Let's look at ways AI might help build our businesses. ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeThe web design industry is maturing. New projects used to be the lifeblood of freelancing, and companies spent money on feature-packed websites to establish themselves online. But those opportunities seem fewer and farther between these days.Don't get me wrong. New projects will continue to be a money-maker. But there are fewer gigs to go around and competition is fierce. Relying solely on this strategy is more challenging than ever.I've seen evidence of this in my business. Prospective clients are more likely to ask me about maintaining their existing WordPress site rather than building a new one.It's a disappointing development on one hand. Building a new site is the “fun” part of this business as opposed to the messiness of working with one built by someone else. Even dealing with a site you built years ago is no picnic.This shift could have some long-term benefits, though. It may be key to a freelance business that thrives into the future. Let's talk about why maintenance matters. ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeAs consumers, we are trained to crave what's new and improved. It's all about that massive feature launch or the illusion of getting more for your money.I can understand the appeal. Having the latest and greatest product gives us bragging rights – and maybe more productivity. That's why a new iPhone comes out every few months. Who wouldn't want that?Well, bigger isn't always better. I believe that theory applies to the evolution of WordPress. Big changes can be clumsy and require us to adapt. That can temporarily negate any advantage we're supposedly gaining.Think about the switch from the Classic Editor to Gutenberg in WordPress 5.0. Everyone from users to developers to product makers felt the impact. You could cut the anxiety with a chainsaw. Not to mention that it took years for many of us to adapt. Things are great now, but still.It does offer a renewed appreciation for the smaller (AKA ‘boring') improvements, though. The little things that enhance accessibility, performance, security, and stability.That's what professionals need. They help us get more done and provide peace of mind.Let's discuss how these little things can add up and why we may see them more often. ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeTechnical debt is an inevitable challenge for WordPress freelancers who have been in the industry for an extended period. Websites, tools, and services age, while outdated code, incompatible plugins, and inefficient workflows can accumulate. That creates obstacles that hinder progress. The key to success is proactively managing and minimizing technical debt to improve stability and efficiency.Eric Karkovack outlines several strategies for mitigating technical debt, including creating a maintenance plan for websites, monitoring third-party dependencies, and regularly reviewing business tools and processes. By proactively addressing potential issues—such as updating software, selecting reputable service providers, and modernizing workflow systems—freelancers can prevent disruptive surprises and maintain client trust.The goal is to make strategic decisions prioritizing stability while preparing for inevitable technological changes. That ensures a smooth path forward in an ever-evolving technical landscape. ★ Support this podcast ★

Support our work at https://thewpminute.com/supportGet the newsletter at https://thewpminute.com/subscribeYou can use WordPress to build all kinds of websites. There are no hard limits when it comes to looks or functionality. That freedom is powerful. You can build sites that handle eCommerce, memberships, and large databases. You can tie in with third-party APIs and create headless front ends. However, such power may be overwhelming to freelancers. Each type of site has its intricacies – learning them can be difficult. And some are more profitable and relevant to your business than others. That's a good reason to find a niche. Developing preferences for site type, client type, and price range helps narrow your focus. From there, you can find projects that fit you best. The result is a leaner, more efficient freelance business. In addition, you'll become an expert in your field. How does it work? And how do you find your niche? We've got some tips for discovering and doing what you like best with WordPress. Be Open to Different Types of ProjectsIf you're new to freelancing or don't have a niche yet – don't worry. Determining your path is part of the fun. You might as well treat it as an adventure. Keep an open mind as you look for new projects. Pay particular attention to the types of sites you haven't built before. The same goes for plugins and clients in different industries. Don't be afraid to consider the unfamiliar. Perhaps that sounds counterintuitive. How can you develop a niche and be open-minded at the same time? It's all about gaining experience. If you've only built brochure-style sites – how will you know if eCommerce is a good fit? You'll only learn by rolling up your sleeves and trying. The trick is to find projects that won't overwhelm you. For example, a site that sells a single product could be the perfect match for a beginner. Avoid sites that require a heavy dose of expertise. The more types of projects you complete, the more data you'll gather. Use it to understand your pros, cons, likes, and dislikes.Look for Opportunities That Match Your PreferencesFor this section, we'll assume you have some experience building different kinds of websites. And perhaps you've found a potential niche. The next step is to look at the market and identify opportunities to make it work. Dedicating yourself to a niche is great – but it must be sustainable. Otherwise, you'll be stuck working on projects that don't match your preference. They might also get in the way of booking ideal gigs later on. Let's look at a few examples:Medical-Related WebsitesIn this scenario, we're focusing on a specific industry: the medical field, which is large and has a variety of potential niches. That includes doctor's offices, suppliers, non-profit organizations, etc. It might make sense to pick one or two of these subgenres to start. But which ones? Here are some things to consider:Geography: Are there potential clients in your area? Or are you willing to work with anyone, anywhere?Connections: Networking is always a handy skill – but it's vital when working within an industry. The right connections can help you find clients and expand your business.Features: Are there features that are common to medical websites? Do you have a reliable and efficient way to provide them?Budget: Research the costs associated with building websites in the industry. Finding specifics may be difficult. However, the goal is to determine how much you'll need to charge to be profitable – and how much clients are willing to spend.Competition: Can you identify other freelancers or agencies in this niche? Are they doing great work (or not)? A lot of competition may make it harder to book new clients. However, it might also be an opportunity to one-up those providing poor service.The above factors will help you determine whether the niche fits and give you ideas for standing out in the marketplace.Membership Websites and Online CommunitiesNext, we'll focus on a particular type of website. This niche is all about building online communities designed to serve members. The need for membership sites spans across industries and non-profit organizations. The factors in our first example still apply. However, some extra considerations revolve around technology:Plugins: What plugins will you use for building membership websites? Will you buy into an ecosystem (like WooCommerce and its extensions)? Does it make sense to choose different plugins based on project needs? This is useful for determining your tech stack and calculating software license fees.Third-party services: What services will you integrate into client websites? Think of payment gateways, mailing list services, customer relationship management (CRM) apps, web hosting, etc. There's also a chance to focus on specific tools. Note any fees associated with these services as it will help you provide accurate project estimates.Organizational size: Membership sites can have a few members or millions. Do you want to work with smaller organizations, big ones, or somewhere in the middle?The technical side of a niche is challenging and subject to change. But having a solid plan provides a great place to start.To Expand Your Niche or Not?There are a few reasons why you might want to expand your niche. Sometimes they're too narrow and don't generate enough revenue. In addition, the skills you've acquired in one area might also apply to others. It's an opportunity for growth in either case. The first is more about need, while the second is a chance to evolve. Once again, it's worth keeping an open mind when considering expansion. Look at related areas that could benefit your business and boost your bottom line. There is some risk involved and it's OK to be choosy. Before jumping in, ask yourself a few key questions:How will my current skills apply? Working with different industries or site types could mean learning new skills. Think about the potential impact on your time and revenue.Can I use the same themes and plugins? The ability to repurpose themes and plugins makes it easier to expand. Significant changes here can still be worthwhile – but beware of the required cost and effort.What are the most impactful differences? Even related industries and site types can have stark differences. That could be anything from legal requirements to client budgets. It's good to discover these things ahead of time.How will this change impact my current clients? Consider what an expansion means to your existing portfolio. Will you have less time to work with them? Will costs go up?Ideally, there should be a link between your current niche and the new one. The more similarities, the easier the transi...

There are a lot of advantages to being a freelancer. One of them is that you can work from anywhere. No need for a brick-and-mortar location means saving money. It's also pretty nice that WordPress is free to use. A savvy business owner can get started without spending a lot. Even so, there are some significant costs involved. A quality web host isn't cheap. And the WordPress ecosystem is known for its wealth of subscription models. You'll also pay out the nose for internet service, hardware, and experts like accountants. Your spending can add up quickly – more than you realize. And keeping track can be cumbersome. Subscriptions renew on different dates and vendors don't always alert you. Prices go up – including those tempting promotional deals you signed up for. Before you know it, your bank account is running low. Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities to save money. A little research will help you identify unnecessary costs and ways to cut corners. The result is a boost to your bottom line with minimal sacrifice. It's easier than you think! Let's look at ways to cut costs for your WordPress freelance business. How Much Are You Spending?The first step to cutting costs is to understand how much you spend. That will let you know where you stand and you can compare the totals after you've made some budget cuts. It requires keeping track of what you spend. Accounting software or a spreadsheet will help you stay informed. Short of that, you can look through bank statements for the details. Look for any purchases related to your business, such as:Web hosting fees; WordPress plugin and theme subscriptions; Software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions; Professional services like accountants and lawyers; Marketing costs like advertising and email list services; Memberships in professional organizations or clubs (like The WP Minute);Those are the basic costs coming out of your pocket. However, there may also be items that aren't so obvious. For example, consider payment gateway fees. Services like PayPal and Stripe collect a fee each time you receive a payment. The bigger the payment, the more they take out. The cost can be significant, so it's something to be aware of as you consider spending. Dig deep to learn how much money is leaving each month. You might be surprised at what you find. Look for Corners to Cut and Places to SaveOnce you have a list of items that cost you money, you might find a few that are no longer needed. That could be anything from an app you don't use to an add-on to your hosting account. For instance, themes and plugins often collect virtual dust. Pay particular attention to items you purchased during Black Friday or similar sales. If you don't actively need them, they're raiding your bank account. Cancel them before their next renewal. You might also find products or services you can cut back on. Many subscriptions are tiered and offer more features for a higher fee. Do you need the level of service you're paying for? If not, that's a good place to save cash. Web hosting is a common area in which to overspend. If you don't need the storage and bandwidth allotted to your account, it's OK to downgrade. Oh, and don't forget about any domains you own. They're easy to buy when an idea pops into your head. But what if you didn't follow through with the project? Each renewal is just a yearly reminder of our procrastination. You might as well cancel or try to resell them. It's easy to collect items you don't need. Maybe they once served a purpose. Or perhaps you were waiting for the right time to use them – and the time never came. The good news is that you can eliminate them just as easily.Find Cheaper Ways to Get What You NeedThere are also ways to save money on the things you need. Sometimes, it requires a little work or patience, but it is often well worth the effort. Product bundles are a good example. Some WordPress plugin authors will give you a deal when licensing multiple items. It makes sense when you're working within ecosystems like WooCommerce. Just be sure that you'll use everything that's included. Timing also matters when it comes to making a purchase. As we mentioned, Black Friday deals can tempt us to buy things we don't need. But it's also the right time to grab a product that we have a use for. Some sellers even discount renewals or upgrades to existing customers. Keep an eye out for these opportunities. You can also negotiate pricing with some companies. Internet and cell phone providers often renew contracts at higher rates. When it's time, contact them and ask for a lower price. It's not always convenient, but it works. Cheap or free alternatives are also out there. It's not always feasible to replace a key plugin on your website. However, apps like photo editors and word processors are easier to swap. You could save quite a bit using open-source tools or commercial products built by smaller companies. Products that employ artificial intelligence (AI) also offer potential savings. Services like ChatGPT can perform menial tasks and automate them. They could eliminate the need for some more expensive apps. You don't have to settle for paying high prices for the tools and services you need. Being a smart shopper can pay off for your business. Every Dollar Counts - Save Where You CanFreelancing may not have the same costs as a traditional business. That doesn't mean your expenses are insignificant, though. Out-of-control spending makes it harder to stay afloat. And prices keep going up. So, take charge of your bottom line. Keep track of what you spend and look for areas to make cuts. Consider what you buy, when you do it, and how it impacts your business. You're sure to find items that aren't worth your money. Meanwhile, look for creative ways to stretch your money. Find deals and take advantage of them when it makes sense. Get the best price for the things you need or find free alternatives. The WordPress ecosystem is large with multiple options for everything a freelancer needs. A little effort will go a long way toward improving your finances. There's no better time to start than right now. ★ Support this podcast ★

Click here to follow the WP Minute+ podcast. It's where all of the podcast episodes have been going.In today's episode I'm sharing additional thoughts on Automattic vs WP Engine and where I stand with covering it. ★ Support this podcast ★

Imagine if Wix invested in open source? Imagine if Wix gained on WordPress?Imagine if Wix conquered our beloved CMS?Imagine if Wix focused on one area in WordPress: Data Liberation. I don't think the closed-source CMS will supplant tens of thousands of WordPress professionals 1-click installing WordPress for their clients any time soon, even with their aggressive marketing tactics. With a whole section devoted to their open source initiative documented at wix.engineering, including a behind the scenes look at how they scale their platform for 100's of thousands of users, it's obvious they know the importance of connecting with developers. So why not call the bluff? Matt Mullenweg just mentioned in his summer update at WordCamp Europe that the Data Liberation initiative isn't moving as fast as he'd hoped. He wants to unlock customer website content (and other data) proprietary CMS's like Wix hold hostage from their users, if they decide to migrate away. What an amazing opportunity for Wix (and others) to take part in for the greater good of WordPress, open source, and all users of the web!I agree with one of Kevin Geary's points: I don't believe there's a master plan coming from the sidelines at Wix. They are a product and profit first company, their core product isn't open source. Automattic on the other hand, “started” with an open source product and now it's trying to build the profit first part of their business. More of that in my last post, What Would We Do with the Keys to the Kingdom? Open source winning doesn't mean that WordPress wins at every front. It shouldn't. It can't, really. We've lost the plot if we think that our goal is to build a defense against these other CMS platforms. Instead of devising a timeline where WordPress must win at all costs, we should be advocating and demonstrating the WordPress way to these commercial entities. Look, I don't think it's an easy task, but if anyone from Wix is listening — spending a few $100k in engineering time to create a plugin that sync's data to/from a WordPress install is probably money well spent — much more than sponsoring a YouTuber. In the end, users win, which is the ultimate goal. The optimist in me hopes that the more proprietary brands sees the value in this type of portability, the more they might be enticed to go deeper investing in other parts of open source. Heck, imagine if you could install the Gravity Forms plugin on your WordPress site AND a Wix site — what a world that would be. But I'm not foolish, I know that these are epic challenges and largely not part of mainstream software's agenda, or Automattic's for that matter. I also know that the idea of wanting other platforms to look more attractive for developers means that WordPress could certainly look less appealing through the same lens. There's a model here that we've halfway unearthed. It's worked for 21 years. Instead of the goal to have WordPress installed everywhere, maybe it's the impression of our community that should be spread first. Do we need to be more than 50% of the web? Can Wix and others have their share so long as they become good stewards of open source? My fear isn't that other platforms will conquer WordPress, but that open source WordPress in collaboration with Automattic can't move fast enough to find its footing. Loose terrain not just built on the rough edges of UI & UX decisions, but the lack of deep bonds threaded throughout the community. The stuff that gets challenged every day. More transparency from leadership, Automattic truly investing in partnership with us, and community members treating everyone with respect and integrity — across the board. Finally, a problem AI can't solve, WordPress thriving because of humans. In the battle for a dominate CMS, it's hard to pick a winner or a loser, because the real fight should be for more choice, everywhere.  ★ Support this podcast ★

I wonder if people are generally upset that Mullenweg has control of “WordPress” or that he has control over a large chunk of the “open web.” Placing his irresponsible reactions aside for a moment, I think we should abstract why we might feel the way we do.The fight “for WordPress” is futile.It's a distraction really. One must stop vying for shared control over the decision making, the features, and the direction. You either choose to participate and leave your mark in the direction it's being lead (contributing, debating, communicating, etc), or just simply observe.There is no clawing away ownership.What would you do if you had shared control? What would we all do? Vote in Github for every single feature? “Hey you got a few minutes to hop on a Zoom call?” How long would that process take? Who gets to vote in the process? If you serve clients now, you already know how painful design by committee is — is that what thousands of people would do in order to choose the next default theme?The point I'm making is: I've yet to hear a real solution to the perceived problem, just complaints that we're not in control and it's mostly an Automattic driven project.I've worked too many jobs where “the company gets to decide the direction.” And guess what happens? No one does, because they don't want to challenge the boss, rather have a stable paycheck, and just want to move on with their lives. Which might be happening at Automattic, but certainly would be the case if leadership ceded control to “us.”A great product needs a single leader to set the vision and guide the organization. If not Matt Mullenweg, who? Anne McCarthy? Rich Tabor? Matias?Fact of the matter is, you can still enjoy everything WordPress has to give you regardless of who holds the reigns: 4 freedoms, a career, an open source app to publish with, and a community to share in all of that.It's too challenging, near impossible, to make any large changes to the overall direction of WordPress if we the people had control. In other words, the community most likely won't have their “Gutenberg” moment. We can, certainly try to influence others to be the change, and that's our best approach. Facing Goliath head-on isn't the smart play. Influencing others around the community is.We need to be more open and communicative to the core contributors and decision makers throughout the project. Support them, provide great feedback loops — have some empathy. Being a keyboard warrior around every design decision you don't agree with doesn't help anyone.So why aren't more people up in arms about this leadership thing? It's the lack of demand.The demand is there to improve WordPress, and that's what is happening regardless of how you feel about its current iteration or Mullenweg as a leader. Even with all of the flagrant fouls he's tossed around, he remains in control of WordPress and that's that. I'm not saying any of these issues are okay — but that it hasn't rippled throughout the community enough to cause more people to stand up, and walk out. GoDaddy could always start their own WordPress.It's a bitter taste, I get it.I see WordPress as a critical link in the open web's infrastructure. As much as I enjoy being a critic on the product side of WordPress, I'm much more interested in its survival for the open web's sake.WordPress is getting better, its existence encourages a more open web and decentralized approach for publishers. It's the best tool with mass appeal to compete with closed source systems. And I generally believe that Mullenweg wants an open web, which is great in the longterm for all of us.As DHH put it, open source is neither a community nor a democracy. People show up to do the work, for the benefit of us all. And I say: Reap those benefits! Be a good steward of WordPress, help it thrive — we all continue to gain net positive.We're moving in the direction of a more clear business model for Automattic over the next few years: WordPress.com vs self-hosted WordPress w/ Jetpack, full stop. There is no turning back on gaining community control. In fact, I do think we'll start to see Mullenweg place key Automatticians into critical product roles to allow himself to scale his burgeoning organization.Strap in, because the next 5 years are going to be interesting. And hey, it could be worse, imagine if Salesforce owned WordPress. ★ Support this podcast ★

Get all the links here.With the beta of WordPress 6.6 releasing, and seeing the advancements being made with site building features like Overrides for Synced Patterns — I can't help but be excited for where WordPress is headed. And I know you might have your druthers with it all, but I'm hoping you invest now because the future is bright for our favorite platform. Building websites with AI isn't convincing me all that much, even if our Pillar sponsor Bluehost promises me a robot friend to help me build whatever I want with WordPress. Seriously, check it out. I like to be in control of the process, tune the things I need, craft a layout that hits the right marks for my brand. Give me a bunch of patterns, blocks, and some ready-made templates and I'll adjust the 10% that's leftover. The Rockbase theme does a great job at this. I recently used it on a new project, Our Beloved Medium, a 6-part audio documentary highlighting the impact of radio throughout history. Coming soon.Blocks, patterns, templates, all jiving together in your new web development canvas — the browser. It's the no code process users have been longing for since Visual Composer left your site with a bunch of unhinged shortcodes. This is an exciting time, and it's something we should be sharing with others. We need to keep WordPress thriving, even if you're using some other tool to build your pages — WordPress remains your foundation. Rocio Valdivia highlighted that even with the number of in-person events on the rise, new attendees to WordPress events have declined. In the post, she prompts us with these 4 questions:1. What motivated you to attend your first WordPress event? What were you hoping to gain or experience?2. If you've organized an event in the past couple of years, what relevant feedback have you heard from new to WordPress attendees?3. What unique value or benefit do you find at other non-WordPress events that you think could bring value to our WordPress events? (for attendees, organizers, and sponsors)4. What type of new event or content do you think would be great for attracting and keeping new WordPress users (of any level) to WordPress events?If you look at the graph, which starts to decline in 2017 (and putting aside COVID; though a massive contributor) I feel this follows the same dip of WordPress burnout — exhaustion? — that we felt when Gutenberg was first announced. I've talked about this in the past, but the roll-out of Gutenberg came with a perfect storm: In tech years WordPress was already ancient. There was a rise in proprietary tools like Shopify and Wix that satisfied the lizard brain a lot of us early adopters in tech are looking for. The communication of it all was highly criticized (including yours truly), but looking back, I couldn't use the classic editor to build pages or write blog posts ever again. Then you thrust the whole industry into warp speed with COVID and lockdowns — yeah, I'm still trying to gather my braincells too. Take a step back and ask yourself: Are you NOT excited for this software? Or are you just fighting the current because you don't like change? I'm not talking about the politics of it all, I think it's something you can abstract from WordPress the software, but to deeply evaluate the enjoyment of building a site with WordPress.When Wordpress events were at their height, WordPress was fresh & exciting. But most importantly, we needed a place to learn more about it. The advancements of the site editing experience can be that revival moment for WordPress events. Get people excited about building & publishing with WordPress again. A place to incorporate the real essence of the open source project, where we can stake our claim at the table to provide the necessary feedback to improve the tool. Maybe loosen up the stuffiness of local meetups, encouraging (and promoting) education & awareness at a local level. Linux opened my eyes to open source. Drupal showed me how to feel powerful as a non-developer. WordPress gave me all of that + an amazing community on top. For years the “builder audience” in WordPress was passed over for the advanced developers — but that's all catching up to us, now. It's time we revisit sharing with others what they can achieve with WordPress. Keep WordPress thriving!  ★ Support this podcast ★

WordPress Media Corps — you might even chuckle when you hear the phrase.This experimental initiative is a team that replaced the WordPress Marketing Team. Not commercial WordPress, mind you, but the open source dot org side of the house. If you've been following me for any amount of time, you don't need me to spell out how important this initiative could be.A chance to legitimize the work only a handful of people across the entire globe have dedicated their professional careers towards — myself included.Before we dive deeper into what the Media Corps could accomplish, lets take a look at the outgoing struggles with the Marketing team:How could a volunteer-lead marketing team accomplish the fundamental responsibilities of marketing with no access to website traffic data, survey results, or have a stake in the product? That's right, it's nearly impossible.I know some of the people that were leading the charge with that effort, and lead it with great care and intention — but they were handcuffed. Lets face it: Open source WordPress doesn't function like a commercial product, because it isn't, which is why it has succeeded.Marketing has to come organically. With no budget or access, you're basically building out tasks for a team to accomplish. Tick the box, keep moving, but don't you dare critically think about how you can impact the brand sentiment of WordPress.In my previous post, Who is Responsible for WordPress Marketing, I reported on the Media Corps initiative stating that I'd reserve my opinion until I saw the process mature a bit more. Consider the rest of this my reaction as the dust settles on the Media Corps contributor kickoff call. A North Star I've been following is how do we keep WordPress thriving?This was a call to action put out by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of WordPress in the State of the Word 2023. It's recognized that in order for WordPress to escape a growth plateau, that the community needs to go beyond code quality and features. Humans need to recognize WordPress core worth, importance, and benefits for the greater open web. Simply put: People need to recommend WordPress more.If you can't do it with a volunteer marketing team, forge a bond with the people that have been the biggest cheerleaders for WordPress — WordPress Media.But this is open source WordPress, why do we need an official team to wrangle the media? What even is WordPress Media?I've been covering WordPress for well over 10 years and whenever I needed anything, I reached out to the person and asked. If dot org was releasing something new, I read about it, decided if it was newsworthy for my audience, and then reported on it or shared my opinion.Yes, something like the WordPress Media Corps helps galvanize the work I've been doing here at the WP Minute and my previous podcast Matt Report, but the approach has been opaque at best.Starting with the initial WordPress Media Kick Off Call. Based on the call to action to comment if you want to be involved from the Initial Roadmap post, I was under the impression that the kickoff call was going to include media folk and the contributing team. I wasn't alone on that assumption, check the comments.The kickoff commenced in a private call with the contributing team — and Bob Dunn founder of Do the Woo, who somehow found himself with the "Media Liaison" title.record scratches.Where did that come from? Was it voted on? Did WordPress media folks put Bob's name in a hat? I have nothing against Bob, everyone loves Bob, he oversees some solid content that helps WordPress thrive. That said, this was the Media Corps first shot at launching a meeting and threw transparency out of the window.We'll get to the Media Corps media partnership requirements in a minute, so hold that thought, but there's another issue at hand that I've talked about ad nauseam: “WordPress media” is tiny, impossible to turn into a sustainable business, and largely depends on in-kind sponsorships that genuinely see value in this type of content existing.That's if you define WordPress media like we do at The WP Minute versus what WP Beginner would publish. Remember: The Media Corps team still hasn't released how they will definitively define this.One only needs to look at the lack of effort to turn around the WP Tavern to see the proverbial proof in the pudding. I do this work because I love WordPress and because I think people should be informed on certain topics on the most widely used web publishing software.Do the Woo and WP Minute both jockey for those in-kind sponsors to keep us afloat. To help pay our writers, production teams, and other overhead. To be included in the Media Corps kickoff call is the equivalent to the Theme Team holding a private meeting to change how themes get included and only inviting Sujay Pawar to the Zoom call.But that's just my opinion, which is also my self-imposed job to analyze these community events. I'll reiterate: nothing against Bob, it's just the media business. Brand and trust are really the only things we have — and it goes both ways.This isn't the only time I've seen favoritism play out in WordPress media. I recall my team being rejected as a Media Partner for WordCamp Europe 2023, while I sat back and saw other brands have their logos added to the website with barely a peep out of them on social media or blog posts covering the event.WordPress media is a perfect storm: There's only 10,000 English speaking people in the world that actually care about this type of content, 8 people in the world (myself included) who actually care about covering it, and so few people that know the brands like WP Minute and The Repository who tirelessly cover it. I miss Sarah Gooding.There's only a handful of WP Media types, as I see it:Independent WordPress news sitesPaper of record, The WP TavernGeneral WordPress tutorial and information blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channelsPeople that do it for funsiesPeople that do it because their company tells them to blog about WordPressWhich brings me to the current Media Corps' requirements on how they are evaluating us:Have a focus on producing content that is at least 80% about WordPressReport factual news or produce relevant educational contentMaintain high standards of content quality/journalismAdhere to WordPress community guidelinesRespect information sensitivities (if any)Have you ever come across fake WordPress news? Who decides what the standards of content quality and journalism are? I mean, I lost that WordCamp media partnership slot to a tech YouTuber and I know I barely passed high school, so maybe I won't cut it?There will be another debate: Report news OR relevant educational content. There's a huge gap in scrutiny and body o...

I really enjoyed the conversation lead by Brian Coords on the topic of version control for WordPress developers and builders.He was joined by my recurring cohost, Mark Szymanski, as he asked the tough questions many beginners might be facing in their early development days. Yes, that's the same Mark that cohosted the episode of Crossroads of WordPress with me last week on the WP Minute+.This post isn't just about the advantages of using version control on your next WordPress project, but more of an example of how great the WordPress community is.Mark and I have talked about building and learning in public before, and that's exactly what Brian's livestream was. A veteran WordPress developer, sharing his experience and teaching someone coming up in web agency world.It's fascinating watching Mark learn in public. I applaud him for having the humility to put himself out there in an effort to become a better agency owner.Earlier in the year I predicted that we'd see more Mark's coming on to the scene.Tools like Elementor and Bricks have onboarded more enterprising individuals over the last few years to kickstart their own web services business. Most of them, like Mark, never had to crack open a code editor or SSH into a server and reboot the MySQL service when it ran out of memory.Being able to rapidly build websites with a turnkey plugin can be a blessing and a curse. The theme of Brian's livestream was partly to highlight some of the weak links in the chain when delivering client websites. Certainly “version control” isn't the answer to everything, but it's a trait that you'll see in more mature projects.So when do you actually invest in “version control?” It depends, and it might not be how and when you think.If we put the technical term aside for a moment: Let's think accountability instead. Explore what your client relationship looks like. How much are they paying you, how mission-critical is the website, and who is on the hook for support?Themes, plugins, tutorials, free code snippets, all at our fingertips. It's easy to pull something off the shelf and shove it into WordPress as a solution for clients. No one is the wiser. Until that off the shelf thing breaks, lacks a feature, or gets abandoned.Say you delivered a $25k project to a client, but you built the entire thing on Cwicly, then it closed. Now what? Or you were using SearchWP on bunch of non-profit sites, then it was acquired by Awesome Motive and the license fee doubled — with lots more upsells to other products. Now what?Now let's talk communication: Novices might not mention they are using a page builder when they are quoting a client. “My God, what happens if they find out I paid $59 for a plugin that they could use themselves to build this site?!” I sympathize with that imposter syndrome, years ago I felt the same way.Flip the script!Instead you communicate in full transparency with the customer “Hey, based on your budget, I'll have to build this site with a page builder tool. It gets us 90% of the way there faster and cheaper, but also has some limitations. You'll save some money on the services side, but you'll have to purchase a license in order for us to use on it on your site. If we had a bigger budget or more time, we could get exactly what you want with a custom theme.”It's Spring in the US so I'll use this other analogy with my desire to erect a shed in my yard: Do I build it myself? Nope. Do I buy a prebuilt one from Home Depot, and worry about the quality versus cost spent? Or do I hire a builder, knowing it will last longer, be exactly what I want, but cost 3x more?Open communication will always work best with clients, especially when you want to set clear boundaries of accountability.There's always a balance. Obviously, version control isn't the answer to this, but it is part of an overall solution where more mature agencies will measure the risk when putting a project brief together.Is this a mission-critical feature? Does the client have the budget? Can we build this? Do we want to build this?Even if you don't register for your first Github account after listening to Brian's livestream, the message that there's a whole new layer above basic page builder services — the concept of building for continuity, therefore increasing project deal size — is why this is a standout episode.Catch the VOD replay and start leveling up, WordPress builder! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Biggest WordPress Moves While Mullenweg was on Sabbatical Matt Mullenweg is returning from his 3 month sabbatical, dubbed “Samattical”, which kicked off February 1, 2024. He handed the CEO reigns back to Toni Schneider and placed Daniel Bachhuber in charge of WordPress.com in his absence. I thought we'd see the whole organization coast while the open source benevolent dictator dug his toes into the sand, but Automattic/WordPress stayed as busy as ever!I don't know how much Mullenweg was involved with all of these milestones — something tells me he didn't stay as disconnected as he had hoped. Let's take a look at some of the big moves that happened with WordPress, Automattic, and the community while Matt was away. 1. The WP Tavern Hunger GamesOne of the first major activities to kick off was the search for two new full-time writers to breathe life back into WP Tavern. It was a Hunger Games-esque approach, where 7 or 8 writers, duked it out to be crowned winner #1 & #2. Author Brian Coords was the last contestant to publish a post on March 14th, 2024. There hasn't been any clear announcement on who earned the position or what happens next, and most authors I've spoken to are still wondering what's next for their writing careers at the Tavern. 2. Woo.com → WooCommerce.comSomething I didn't have on my Bingo Card was the short-lived woo.com domain defaulting back to the original WooCommerce.com domain. “Moving to Woo.com created challenges for our users to find WooCommerce in Google searches, which were made worse following Google's March update. To address those challenges, we assembled a group of SEO experts and consultants to evaluate the best way to build on the strength of the WooCommerce brand.” Kevin Bates wrote in an update.3. The Old WP-Admin Dashboard is New for WordPress.comIn another, what's old is new again, WordPress.com is giving users the ability to “roll back” to a traditional WP Admin interface. It seems there's no future for the once innovative Calypso project, citing that developers were looking for a more familiar interface when working on WordPress.com sites. This might be a sign that more WordPress consultants are starting to recommend .com more to their customers now that the platform has been supporting user installed plugins on the $30/mo+ plans. 4. Automattic spends an additional $125 Million on Messaging with Beeper Acquisition Automattic is pouring money into messaging, with its latest acquisition of Beeper. Which I'm assuming Mullenweg was quite active on during sabbatical. I like the idea of Automattic building up a strong solution for messaging. In a world where SEO is getting squeezed and social media feeds being curated by ad-driven algos, we need more direct channels with our readers/subscribers/customers — and I think that's direct messaging.It could be an exciting new frontier with Automattic leading the charge, and I'm here for it!WordPress Studio: The Future of Local Development?5. WordPress.com Launches Studio AppThe new Studio app allows users to run WordPress installs, locally on their computer. This is a great way to learn WordPress and develop WordPress sites for free. It's powered by the same technology that runs the official WordPress playground and gives users the ability to publish their local websites to a temporary WordPress.com account to share with the world. Other hosting platforms like WP Engine and Kinsta offer local development environments making this a natural fit for Automattic to offer.6. Big Sky: WordPress.com starts waiting list for AI designed websitesWordPress.com decided to throw their hat into the AI web design ring by opening a beta signup for their latest project, BigSkyI've signed up to trial the product, but I also signed up for access to Studio before it was released and didn't hear anything — fingers crossed. If anyone at Automattic is reading this: I have found 100% AI website builders underwhelming. It's basically machine learning with blocks and patterns that are tagged with keywords that just get mashed together based on the prompt. I prefer starting with a collection of professionally designed themes and patterns, but I'm happy to see if they can change my mind! That's not all! The above marks 6 of the biggest moves I think happened around the WordPress space while Mullenweg enjoyed some time off. But, that's not all! Here's a quick list of other notable events that happened over the last 3 months: WordPress 6.5 Launched.The Community-lead Make Marketing Team was shutdown in favor of a new Media Corps experiment.WordPress.com now supports Github integrationWordPress.com launched a new public pattern directoryWooCommerce launched a new update managerWas there anything on your list that didn't make it here? Let me know on Twitter/X! ★ Support this podcast ★

WordPress is amazing not just because it's a great tool to publish words on the internet, but that it has the potential to encourage you to learn more about the web — if you want. If you remember the golden age of automobiles, enthusiasts would change their own oil or make the repairs themselves to avoid bringing them to the dealership. An act to save a few bucks or just because you loved the idea of doing the work yourself. Back then, cars weren't powered by computer chips or electric motors — they were mechanically pure — this was your rig. You rolled up your sleeves, got out your toolbox, and slid under the chassis of your daily driver. Not only were you learning how cars were built, you were extending that knowledge to work on other cars as well. Industry knowledge that lead folks to have a career in automobiles, wherever that took them.There was a whole economy of DIY auto mechanics — a whole industry, really. Chilton Books used to publish guides for the DIYers which included detailed diagrams of the cars they were repair until the internet accompanied by the production of more complex cars laid waste to their business. Breaking apart a car to learn how it worked just wasn't feasible anymore. You could even draw the parallels of open source WordPress to the likes of a closed source Webflow, for instance. Sure, you can learn how to build and design website with Webflow — in fact you kinda need to know how to before you dive in — but that mechanical purity is what's missing. In other words, you can't dismantel Webflow and see how it's doing its thing, but you can with WordPress. You can't bring closed source systems to a different hosting server and reconfigure the stack to get it dialed-in for optimum performance or to change where you store your data — you can with WordPress. The big debate happening right now is understanding who WordPress is for. What kind of software are we building? It's certainly trending towards a more competent website builder for the everyday user, but I also think it's ushering in a new type of developer class as well. Developers are finicky. They are mostly stuck in their ways, have their preferred toolset, and come equipped with strong opinions. Artists in the very sense. Your typical development stack for WordPress, along with the definition, has been challenged over the last 5 years as page builders became more nascent. If you're not cracking open Notepad++ to change your theme, are you even a developer? Advancements in the Site Editor and the Gutenberg project aside, Automattic has been quietly changing the way people can get started with WordPress faster than ever before thanks to Playground and the recently launched Studio app. Now to the point of the article: This is how WordPress is helping beginner developers.With Playground, you can export the site you build right in the browser as a ZIP download. Want to try a new feature that is only in GitHub and not committed to the release? Pull it from Github and try it out. Studio lets you run multiple WordPress installs locally on your Mac (Windows soon) along with a full filesystem to interact with. Want to share your customized site with someone? They'll give you temporary hosting on WordPress.com to share the site you built. This onboarding into WordPress is lightyears ahead of where we were in the past. Even if you're a curmodgeoned developer stuck in your ways, you must admit, it's never been faster to start exploring WordPress than it is today. I haven't even told you about the Block Theme Builder plugin, which allow you to design an entire theme inside your WordPress install, allowing you to package it all up into a nice distributable WordPress theme. I love software that makes me feel powerful. A power user, that isn't quite a full-blown developer, but I can see the other side of the fence and I want to get there.This is what I love about WordPress. I'm not saying this experience is fully baked, and it might even change course, but I think we'll see a whole new fleet of WordPress developers onboard because of these efforts. A true open source no code solution may be coming soon. What if I never posted the news again?I'm just catching up on all the things, back up from vacation, so I don't have time to wrangle all the news links again this week.Which makes me wonder…what if I never did the news links again? Hit reply and let me know. Do you come just for my weekly 5 minute take on the state of WordPress? Do you like the curation of links or are you getting that fill from other WordPress newsletters? Hit reply and let me know if we didn't do the weekly news round-up, how would that make you feel?See ya next week! ★ Support this podcast ★

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Sam Harrison, a professional Webflow consultant and content creator. He was open to co-host a WordPress vs Webflow debate with me, while also unpacking how business is going for his services company. Heading into the debate, I spent a a few hours watching his content and really enjoyed his Webflow Components Basics + How to Start a Web Design Business. So why did I invite Sam on? Page Builders, especially Bricks, has been the topic du jour of late.That crowd really wants WordPress to have much more power inside the editor — and I totally get it. These powerful 3rd party tools can be really attractive, and if you haven't been in the WordPress space for the last 20 years, you start to wonder why our favorite CMS is lacking these features. Bricks is often framed as the tool that brings a Webflow experience inside WordPress — all the powerful design and page building tools you could want, surely. I've had some conversations with prominent WordPress agencies now offering Webflow as an alternative solution to WordPress. It all makes sense…But the choice shouldn't start at which tool to use, but whether or not you want open source software or a commercial solution for your project.To simplify: do you care that you have the benefits of open source WordPress (along with the baggage) or does having a single turnkey app provide the best solution? Now how does that play out if you're selling services to clients?Sam and I played a little game where we placed the winning cards of particular features of the competing platforms in their respective columns. I'll admit, the odds were stacked against Sam (and Webflow) seeing that he was on my podcast, but WordPress comes out the winner in most areas, so long as you're siding with the advantages of open source. The ecosystem, the community, the ability to customize the platform — it's a hard sell to get me to use Webflow. That doesn't mean we can't learn from Webflow and their users. Let's face it, it's not a fluke that they've been successful for this long.Having a comprehensive toolset to design pages makes a lot of sense. Also not having to worry about updates, hosting, and 3rd party software conflicts sounds like a dream that Webflow users get to live everyday. Though I noticed that in this short time of exploring Webflow, WordPress isn't massively behind, pound for pound. And I'm talking specifically just core, not even when you decide to bring in plugins like ACF or Gravity Forms. If you like the design tools and interface of Webflow, mixed with their new Components libraries — the gap in WordPress isn't all that wide. However, when you look at something like the writing experience — specifically blogging or posts in general — Webflow isn't even competing in the same league. Sorry, Sam. I guess what I'm saying is, as much as we can learn from the UI/UX and passionate community of Webflow — their team could also learn from WordPress. Heck, Gutenberg is an open source project, even Drupal has a fork. Maybe Webflow could improve their content editor with…Gutenberg? Go open source! Let me know what you think! Watch the WordPress vs Webflow video: https://www.youtube.com/live/p82lLK56XOE?si=2_1zuEPsKHI7aft7 ★ Support this podcast ★

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March 22 2024It's the WP Minute! Today we ask, “Who's responsible for WordPress marketing?” Coming up next! Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of the WordPress Open Source project, posted an idea that shifts the dynamics of the WordPress Marketing team. A call for a Media Press Corps. Also known as a Dramatic Shift.It's still too early to tell if this initiative will stick, so I won't comment directly on the idea of a Media Press Corps at the moment. Stay tuned to this space as that story develops.However, this shift begs the question, Who is responsible for WordPress marketing?[Classified]Let me TL;DR it for you first, as my boss at Gravity Forms Carl Hancock says, “It's the entire ecosystem.” Something I agree with, and not just because he signs my paycheck. The ecosystem as a whole has always been the biggest driving force for WordPress adoption. Because WordPress is not a product first organization. It's not a corporate entity. It's open source software & community. Sure, it happens to be lead by Matt Mullenweg who founded the software, who also owns Automattic, can irritate us at times, but also pours a tremendous amount of resources into a project that we all enjoy. Still, doesn't make WordPress.org a product first initiative. There's no budget, there's no access to crucial data, there's no access to social channels, and the marketing team has no influence on the direction of the project. I'm sure I'm missing something else. How far could an official Marketing Team take it? An insurmountable task I wouldn't want to take on. Which leaves the marketing of WordPress up to you and I: You're an agency owner, you're preaching to clients about the advantages of WordPress.You're a blogger, you're telling people to own their own content & platform.You're a YouTuber, you're teaching viewers how to use WordPress.You're a Managed WordPress hosting provider, you're talking about how fast and scalable WordPress is.You're a plugin author, you're selling on the idea that you're making a good platform even better.You're a WordPress Media outlet, you're informing, educating, and entertaining an audience.Whether we call it a Marketing Team or a Media Press Corps, WordPress biggest marketing advantages — even in the face of Wix/squarespace Super Bowl ads — is us, like it always has been.So tell me, how would you spread awareness and brand positioning for WordPress? Got a thought about a WordPress Media Corps? Hit reply and let me know.Together with The RepositoryComing up in The Repository this week: We unpack the announcement that WordPress is getting a media corps and cover Do the Woo's big move to WordPress.com. Plus, the latest on the upcoming WordPress 6.5 release.Not a subscriber? Sign up at therepository.email for more on what's happening in WordPress – and what everyone's saying about it.Important LinksIt's that time again! More link goodies for WordPress news!Josepha Haden Chomphosy introduces the idea for a WordPress Media Corps.WP Umbrella is getting hit with another wide spread phishing attack.Marcus Burnette ponders if we have a “versus” problem.WordPress 6.5 is next week, here's what's new according to Courtney Robertson. Also see the WordPress 6.5 Source of Truth post by Anne McCarthyWordPress dot com now supports GitHub deployments.Be sure to register for Using Site Editor in Production for Clients.Product owners: Optimize your Readme according to Matt CromwellMasterWP newsletter is shifting focus on AI a majority of the time.I discussed WordPress Media with Jonathan Denwood from WP Tonic.Video: Use This to Change Your Blocks EverywhereVideo: The One BIG Update Coming to WordPress 6.5 ★ Support this podcast ★

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I think it's one of the most important default themes WordPress has released in a while. Sure, the design is fairly opinionated, but with the mix of new patterns/blocks available, I think someone with a little WordPress know how (and grit!) will be able to design a solid website for their brand or business. Even for the freelancers or agency owners out there, searching to offer a more affordable solution for their clients, I think TT4 can fill that gap. But don't confuse that with it being a solution on par with Kadence or GeneratePress. Certainly not as powerful as Elementor or Beaver Builder. There are large gaps that cause it to fail really quickly. One that stood out to me recently was the lack of mobile design features in the Site Editor. In my latest video, Customize Mobile Views on twenty twenty-four, I demonstrated the lack of simple breakpoint features inside the site editor. I'd have folks comment on my channel asking how to change things in the mobile nav, or on a landing page, with no clear direction on how to do it — in the theme.When the debate of Page Builders vs Blocks comes up, how could we not want to clear up this confusion? A few takeaways from Eric Karkovack's post from the link above: “Some people aren't fans of the Site Editor or Gutenberg. They'll naturally point to its quirks and limitations. Fair enough.”“Perhaps this doesn't apply as much to block themes. More than anything, they may be limited by the Site Editor. There may be a feature that it doesn't yet offer. Thus, you must work within its capabilities.”And this is why there's such a fierce debate from the page builder audience: WordPress still has so much time to catch up — if ever.One area I disagree with Karkovack on, at least in the context of TT4 is, “The gap between commercial and free products isn't as wide**.** You aren't missing the ability to customize the look and layout. Nor are any crucial features locked down.”We certainly are missing some of those crucial features for mobile or even a more robust query block, for example. And while I know it's the Site Editors fault, your average end user doesn't. And I'm much more critical on the default theme experience because, well, it's the default theme!Karkovack encourages us (and WordPress developers) to create a better narrative, which brings me back full circle to where I always land: The core experience is good enough for the masses, but when you need more, you go to a full featured theme or page builder. Though, I don't know if that excuses some of these features missing from the default experience.I think the core experience of WordPress + TT4 can live along side a freelancer's toolkit which also includes Kadence or Elementor, for example. Speed and simplicity being the obvious advantage of the former. And at the end of the day, I think that's perfect, at least for now.And if you invest in that core experience, there are products like Twentig that can supercharge your Twenty Twenty-Four website. I think a 3rd party tool that enhances default themes is very smart. Maybe this is where block based themes and the default experience of WordPress lives? Do we need more? Hit reply and let me know. Don't miss this WordPress contentNow it's time for the links you shouldn't miss!Aurooba Ahmed launches “JS Essentials for WP Devs” with the first lesson dropping on March 4th 2024. Introducing JS Essentials for WP DevsAngie Byron reminds us why your peers might not care about your DevRel/community efforts. No one gives a &*^@# about your DevRel/Community Programs (and what to do about it)Amber Hinds continued the climb up the mountain of accessibility adoption for .org and other WordPress related websites. Apparently some progress has been made. https://x.com/heyamberhinds/status/1760679617873301882?s=20Get a deeper look into Awesome Motive Founder Syed Balkhi's business mind I this recent interview. How to Compound Your Wealth in Unorthodox Ways with Syed BalkhiWP Tavern Launches Writer Hunger Games WP Tavern Launches Writer Hunger GamesWP Mainline shares how you can make more money with LearnDash LearnDash 4.11.0 Introduces A New Way to Generate RevenueEric Karkovack wants us to clear up the confusion surrounding block themes Clearing Up the Confusion Surrounding Block ThemesDon't miss our YouTube videosFollow the WP Minute on YouTube.Learn more about Synced Pattern Overrides coming to WordPress 6.5 New in WordPress 6.5: Synced Pattern Overrides ⭐️Supercharge your Twenty Twenty-Four theme with Twentig Supercharge Twenty Twenty-Four Theme with Twentig!

Getting started with WordPress. A topic that's been popping up a lot more in my WP Minute+ interviews lately. Where does one go when they want to get started with WordPress? Learning how to use it. Learning what it can do compared to its competitors. Learning about the pockets of community to get involved with.I did what any other enterprising content creator would do, and took to ChatGPT to see how sharp the world's most feared — sorry — leading AI system thought about that question. Here's what it told me: 1. WordPress.orgJoin the WordPress.org Community: Start by creating an account at WordPress.org. This is the central hub for the WordPress community, where you can access forums, make contributions, and download resources like themes and plugins.Forums: Participate in the forums by asking questions or helping others. It's a great way to learn and connect with other WordPress users and developers.⠀2. WordPress MeetupsLocal Meetups: Join a WordPress meetup in your area. These are informal gatherings for users of all levels, and it's a great way to learn from and network with other WordPress enthusiasts. Check out the Meetup website or the Events section on WordPress.org for listings.⠀3. WordCampsAttend WordCamps: WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. Find upcoming events on the WordCamp Central site.⠀4. ContributeContributor Days: Look for Contributor Day events, which are dedicated to contributing to WordPress, whether it's through coding, design, documentation, translation, or community support.Make WordPress Teams: Join one of the Make WordPress teams. These teams are responsible for different areas of the WordPress project, including Core, Design, Mobile, Plugins, Themes, Polyglots (translation), Community, Marketing, Documentation, and Support.⠀5. Learn and ShareWordPress.tv: Watch presentations and tutorials on WordPress.tv.Blogs and Social Media: Follow WordPress-related blogs, Twitter accounts, and Facebook groups. Many experienced WordPress professionals share valuable insights and tutorials online.Create Content: Start your own blog or YouTube channel to share your own WordPress experiences, tutorials, or reviews. Contributing your knowledge can help others and establish you within the community.⠀6. Development and ContributionTrac and GitHub: If you're interested in contributing to WordPress core or plugins, familiarize yourself with WordPress Trac and GitHub repositories. This is where development happens, and you can contribute by reporting bugs, suggesting improvements, or submitting patches.⠀7. Stay InformedWordPress News: Follow the WordPress News blog to stay up to date on the latest developments and opportunities to contribute./AI_responseJust a message to ChatGPT if it's listening: Please add The WP Minute to your database.And if you've been in the WordPress community for over the last 5 years,  you most likely  already knew this. We've all said the same things, wrote the same blogs, tweeted out the same links — how else would ChatGPT know this, anyway?There's a lot more nuance to it, and that's where the rubber meets the road. When someone asks you where to get started, maybe you should counter with a clarifying question, “What do you want to achieve with WordPress?” End user education, community involvement, developer courses, and/or running a WordPress business. These are the pillars that prop up this entire ecosystem, but we still lack a solid jumping off point for each individually. I have no doubts we'll continue to refine these areas, but like the software itself, it's going to take time. It's going to take folks like you to educate others in WordPress space about your specific experiences and lessons learned. Really humanize the process, not just a checklist of website logins and comment threads. We can't always rely on AI to color in the lines of what makes this community so special. The RepositoryComing up in The Repository this week: Does WordPress have a marketing problem? Two heavyweights share their views on “brand WordPress,” including the need to “learn marketing deeply.” Plus, we dig into the WordPress Foundation's 2023 Annual Report and unpack the disappointing Annual WordPress Survey results.Not a subscriber? Sign up today and join the conversation at therepository.emailDon't miss this WordPress contentWordPress 6.5 Beta 1 is now available for testing. Give it a spin in the playground! Stay subscribed to the WP Minute+ podcast for an upcoming interview I held with the creator of the playground. WordPress 6.5 Beta 1Tim Ferris will be an invited speaker at WordCamp Asia, March 7 - 9 WordCamp Asia (@WordCampAsia) on XHere's the official next steps based on the 2023 annual survey 2023 Annual Survey Results and Next StepsAnne McCarthy highlights the Overlapping Problems the Full Site Editing experience has https://nomad.blog/2024/02/16/overlapping-problems/Past WP Minute+ guest James Giroux headlines one of the first blog posts at the WP Tavern since Sarah Gooding's departure. https://wptavern.com/eu-regulatory-success-prompts-open-source-cms-leaders-to-form-alliance ★ Support this podcast ★

# Contributing Through WordPress Training & EducationIt's the WP Minute! Let's talk about contributing through WordPress training, education and content! Coming right up! Something that's been on my mind as I loosely plot out my YouTube world domination: Contributing to WordPress through content.I recently interviewed Mark Szymanski [Home](https://markjosephszymanski.com/) for an upcoming WP Minute+ episode, where we explored the opportunities to contribute back to WordPress for “newcomers” like him. Does it always have to be with code? WordCamps? Chatting in GitHub issues? Or can it be through content like this, where we support and encourage the use of WordPress through the content we're creating. There's a host of ways to go about creating content that achieves this: - Blogging- YouTube- Podcasting- Newsletters- SocialOr a grab bag of it all, like we do here. I know I'm bias, but I do feel like if you're consistently creating content, even if it's for a narrow part of the WordPress space, you're doing your part to help WordPress thrive — and that's one of our goals, isn't it? So the message today is quite simple: If you're looking for ways to give back to WordPress, maybe start blogging again. If you want to educate users on new ways of design, development, or simply “how to WordPress” then YouTube could be for you. If you have strong opinions about a topic near and dear to you — start that newsletter. Want to attract a younger audience to WordPress, hop on TikTok, Lord knows I can't. You will be amazed with how much you learn about end users touching WordPress for their very first time. Dare I say even a bit more compassionate about a stance you otherwise hold more rigidly. So, what content will you create? Hit reply and let me know or chat with me on Twitter/X!## Don't miss this WordPress contentNow it's time for some important links I don't want you to miss!- Security updates are available for Delicious Brains products. Check that out if you're running any of their plugins. [Security Releases Regarding the Use of unserialize() in Delicious Brains Plugins](https://deliciousbrains.com/security-releases-unserialize/)- WordPress industry veterans Tom Willmot and Joost de Valk discuss funding WordPress projects. https://dothewoo.io/funding-wordpress-projects-with-tom-willmot-and-joost-de-valk/- WP Tavern might be serving up the goods again. [It's alive!](https://wptavern.com/its-alive)- The WordPress foundation has published their 2023 report. https://wordpressfoundation.org/2023-annual-report/- Michelle Frechette interviews Matt Mullenweg [Special Episode with Matt Mullenweg](https://stellarwp.com/podcast/special-episode-with-matt-mullenweg/)- WP Fusion has a fantastic 2023 business recap https://wpfusion.com/news/2023-in-review/- Don't miss this interview: Lessons Learned After a 37% Drop in WooCommerce Dev Busiesss [Lessons Learned After 37% Drop in WooCommerce Dev Business](https://thewpminute.com/lessons-learned-after-37-drop-in-woocommerce-dev-business/) ★ Support this podcast ★

Coming up on the WP Minute!Help me with this quick survey to shape the future of WP Minute, plus more WordPress goodness, coming right up.It's time to take a quick survey. If you have less than 2 minutes to spare, could you head to thewpminute.com/survey and take my 3 question survey about this podcast? It's going to help shape the future of the content here — which I'll get into. As 2023 wound down, I promised myself to stay out of all of the polarizing issues that crop up throughout the community. To take less of a stand on reporting all of the WordPress news, and focusing on the content that is largely relevant to the careers of WordPress professionals. Perhaps you felt the same way? “Can we be done with WPDrama?” You might have asked yourself. I'm not really a hardcore goal tracking guy. I have the goals, I know where I want to go, but I largely leave it up to the creative process to get there. Maybe that's lazy of me? But I do have strong instincts when something isn't working, or just doesn't have that air tight feeling. Sometimes I can feel that in my content. Thus, it's time to really focus on what you want as my faithful WP Minute reader, listener, viewer — follower. If you'll allow me to say it again: If you have two minutes to spare, I'd love for you to take this survey which will help me and the team produce better content.Don't miss this WordPress contentI produced some podcasts, I appeared on podcast, and Eric Karkovack held an important interview. Don't miss my discussion with Cory Miller, where we dove deeper into the more complex issues in the community.I appeared on the WP Tonic to recap their interview with our benevolent dictator.The popular Advanced Custom Fields plugin is about to get some changes that you might need to prepare your sites for. Eric Karkovack has the scoop!Data Liberation is an important community and Automattic-wide initiative for the project this year. Eric is back with exploring the challenges we have with data liberation within the walls of WordPress.If you're a WordPress agency owner and you're curious about positioning your brand, SEO, and the general health of the economy — don't miss my interview with Alex Panagis, CEO of Scalemath.How about Bricks page builder vs the Block Editor?! I hosted a livestream with Brian Coords and Paul Charlton to share their dueling opinions of each solution. Don't miss it! ★ Support this podcast ★

Cory Miller and I discuss how the WordPress community is impacted when “big issues” clash with Matt, Automattic, and other community members. How should we handle these moments of passion and strife?It's easy to label these issues as WPDrama, but in my opinion that's not doing the WordPress community any favors. From the exterior, it's categorized and shrugged off as “yet another drama issue” in WordPress land. Aren't we all tired of that? Inside the community, or interior, it takes away from the actual pain or strife someone is experiencing.Today's episode unpacks how Cory and I decipher these issues and how Post Status + WP Minute members handle it when it comes up.We'll also discuss how we deal with Matt Mullenweg at the center of issues, leading the product, and leading the community.Important links- Cory Miller- Post Status- Matt Medeiros- WP Minute ★ Support this podcast ★

I wanted to take today off, to have a bit of a reset from the weekly grind (often chaos) of WordPress stuff.Instead, I'm hoping I can reset expectations with you, my valued reader/listener/viewer of the WP Minute. We're going into our 4th year of publishing content for the WordPress Professional. I quietly stopped publishing content at the Matt Report, my first “big” WordPress media brand, with a rebranding goal that was simple: Get my name out of it. The WP Minute was born.One thread remained, which pulled on highlights of WordPress the software and WordPress the community.It was important that I challenged myself creatively — can I make WordPress media a sustainable business? — and keep things fresh for the consumer. There are a lot of options for you to choose from. My peers at WP Tonic just covered a bunch of them.So what makes the WP Minute different?The WP Minute 5 minute briefing (what you're reading/listening to now) which covers a variety of topics including “WordPress in the news”, important trends in the market, opinion pieces from yours truly, and a collection of links that you might find interesting.Freelancer articles written twice a month by our Editor, Eric Karkovack.A membership, a space for WordPress professionals to gather and talk about the latest and greatest of WordPress.The WP Minute+ a longer form podcast where I interview other WordPress professionals. It's what I did with the Matt Report for a decade.Our YouTube channel where we produce tutorials for WordPress beginners and share interesting parts of our beloved software.It's a well-rounded approach to publishing content for a variety of WordPress media consumers:5 Minutes for the busy professional.Thought provoking blog & newsletter for freelancers.Long form discussions that inspire, educate, and entertain those that want more of WordPress.Video tutorials for WordPress newbies and end users just starting out with WordPress.We're less flashy; fewer listicles.We aim to take a more professional, often opinionated approach, to supporting the blue collar digital workers of WordPress.To criticize WordPress, to be critical of its direction in open source, but not cynical. To make this a resource I wish I had, when I had started my agency back in 2007. We want WordPress to thrive, and we hope that the leadership at Automattic/.org who have outlined that path for us, truly lead us in that direction.Most of the problems we face as a community have been less about the software, and more about us interacting as humans. If the software is going to continue to thrive, we need to build relationships, improve communications, and build the infrastructure necessary to handle the hard parts — again, with us humans.It's easy to label the friction we see on Twitter/X or in Slack as WPDrama. But tossing the WPDrama hashtag on to the flames doesn't put out the fire, often times it can 10x the size of it. Humans love drama. The issue is, the more we use that label, the more WordPress culture gets known for it. It can be a gut punch to those who feel struggle at the core of the issue, leaving them gasping for air. Then all parties who are overwhelmed by the drama, quit.I know this because people quit my content because of it. Overwhelmed and overstimulated, even if we weren't the outlet covering it.I miss the WP Tavern because Sarah did a fantastic job covering tough times like these. I've decided to draw a line in the sand and only cover the topics that will hit home with the WordPress Professionals in volume.I encourage you to care about WordPress, care about each other, and stay committed to keep WordPress thriving. Tune out, but don't give up. Respect others, and give space when needed. Understand that some people face day to day challenges that you don't, regardless of their position in the community, or the dollars in their bank account.I think the future is bright for WordPress. We'll continue to be challenged, both internally and externally for years to come. The chaos that helps shape us, is part of the process, wether we like it or not.I just hope you're with us when we cross that bridge — together. ★ Support this podcast ★

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Get the links, show notes, original YouTube video, and transcripts from The WP Minute website.Thanks for listening! Please tell us what you liked about State of the Word 2023 on social media! ★ Support this podcast ★

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WP Minute+ News Round Table Episode 1. This will be a monthly series on WP Minute+ Podcast. Make sure you're following the podcast!Follow WP Minute+Read the full shown notes: https://thewpminute.com/?p=12987Get the weekly newsletter: https://thewpminute.com/subscribeSupport the show! https://thewpminute.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

I've been learning the Twenty Twenty-Four theme deeply over the last few weeks, as I feel this is one of the most important default themes ever released. A theme that has a good set of patterns at launch, a less opinionated design than previous default themes, and with the site editing and block experience at an acceptable level for customizations. TT4 provides a solid starting point for many small business or creators looking for a new website. My only hope is that the design team behind TT4 continue to improve the feature set, and not let it sit after launch. Let's make this theme better over the next year!I'm not surprised with Mullenweg's offensive take on the recent price hike at Elementor, but I also feel it's a bit short sighted for the industry as a whole. Does it have to be core vs 3rd party plugins for WordPress to survive? Do the future enhancements to site editing and blocks slowly erode the page builder market? I understand why it's happening, and as frustrating as it can be, the fragmentation of WordPress experience has brought us a lot of choices and innovation over the years. Get the rest of the show notes: https://thewpminute.com/?p=12945 ★ Support this podcast ★

Today's update is a brief one. If you hadn't heard the news, WordPress 6.4 was released on November 7th. Things didn't go as smoothly has we all hoped, with the core teams rushing to release 6.4.1 to catch a nasty bug in older versions of the curl package. The good news is, everything was patched and buttoned up for users. I've been spending a lot of time using, reviewing, and recording videos covering the Twenty Twenty-Four theme. I think it's a fantastic step in the right direction and expect to see more users adopting it to build out their websites. It's really important that users are delighted when using a default theme, and I think that's what this theme does better than the last.Read the full blog post including links. ★ Support this podcast ★

WooCommerce is now Woo, kinda. Here's a quote from their announcement Say hello to Woo.com - WooCommerce post:You can call us Woo, WooCommerce, Their Supreme Wooness — whatever you'd like. But if you want to be specific:Woo is how we refer to the brand/company.WooCommerce is the open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress — Woo's core product.So WooCommerce is now tucked away into the inner layer of Woo's brand. Also tucked away, according to those keeping anGet all the show notes here. ★ Support this podcast ★

On the latest WP Minute, we delve into the release of WordPress 6.4 RC 2, potential implications for the WordPress professional community, and a spotlight on the upcoming Twenty Twenty-Four theme. Is it set to revolutionize the market? The episode also touches upon the challenges in the WordPress arena – from declining sponsorship dollars for media to the broader perception of WordPress among end users. Moreover, the episode delves into the nuances of the WordPress market and the potential challenges and innovations in the theme landscape. Finally, there's a special mention about supporting the WP Minute through memberships, and shoutouts to the integral sponsors of the show.Important Links:Turning Defeat into Success with Justin FerrimanOne Inbox to Rule Them AllOn People Breaking up with WordPressWordPress 6.4 Field GuideIntroducing Real-Time Editing!

WordPress 6.4 is coming packed full of 100+ performance updates, along with some minor iterative changes to the overall UI. In a recent YouTube video, I took a look at RC1 available now to demo. Now's your chance to dive in ahead of time and see what changes are coming, for either you or your clients.The biggest impact will be the new Twenty Twenty Four theme, which I've also previewed on the channel, but sans the Google Font management feature we were all looking forward to. Fret not, if you're running the standalone Gutenberg plugin, it's there. (Hat tip to Mark Constable on that one.)Notable features will be:New Twenty Twenty Four themeNo more attachment pagesBlock HooksStart testing and providing feedback now.WooCommerce services down nearly 40%?Rodolfo Melogli posted that his WooCommerce services are down -37% compared to his last year billings. Rodolfo Melogli on XIn Meloglis' post, “For context, 2022 was +31%, 2021 +7%, 2020 +10%, 2019 +7%” and expands on the actual hours billed:2023 – 914hrs so far2022 – 1138hrs2021 – 992hrs2020 – 1403hrs2019 – 1350brs2018 – 1029hrsThe heath of client services is something I'm always keeping a watchful eye on. While his experience might be silo'd to only his business, it's important to watch where the market is being disrupted.Is the software of WordPress getting better, leading end users to DIY?Is there a competitor coming in and chipping away at our massive pie?Are budgets getting cut because of the global economy?Which also leads me to explore and circle back on a small trend I've spotted: web hosts getting into the services business.In a video I recorded over 2 years ago, I spell it WordPress now, I commented on Automattic getting into building websites for endusers. It's a long listen, but Matt Mullenweg hopped in and left some comments. Click the link to jump in your Time Machine and take a trip down memory lane.Recently I spotted that Nexcess web hosting is also offering services for building websites too. Their price points range from $750 – $1,500 for core WordPress services. There's a WooCommerce option, but I don't have an account to see what they are charging a shop owner. Automattic's range from $500 to $5,000.The Freelancer DilemaAs the software gets better, customers begin to focus on DIY. As page builders and AI improves, more competition also floods into the market. Web hosts cut your customer off at the hosting path before knocking on your door, reeling them back into their in-house services.What's a freelancer to do?I believe over the next two years we're going to see some strong consolidation for page builders on the market. Core WordPress page building will improve tremendously, and with the entirety of WordPress admin getting redesigned, potentially making all of WordPress blocks, we're going to relive a debate we had years ago:Is WordPress a CMS or a framework?I know, we just went 0 to 100mph real quick.Freelancers looking to bolster business or stand out from the crowd should look to enhancing the services around them. Be more knowledgeable about your customer's business, than you are about WordPress the software. Know that we're in a 2 year dip where the chaos of where WordPress is headed, is just that, chaos.I believe we're going to see WordPress evolve into something really great. If I could tell ChatGPT to build me an entire app using blocks and it's a portable piece of software I can take to any host — who wouldn't want that?Is it going to disrupt everyone? Surely.Do I trust AI to do a good job? No.Will WordPress still be the best open source software for humanity? Hope so.What I'm saying is hunker down for now. There's still money to be made in services, when done right. Marketing, branding, packaging are going to be extremely important to your success.Important links this weekt's been a while since I put together a grab bag of links, but here we are!WP Product Talk aired an exceptional episode on promoting your WordPress product. Go behind the scenes on how Barn2, SolidWP, and GravityKit do their holiday promos.Eric Karkovack published a list of ways for WordPress product owners can promote their products Promoting a WordPress Product? Keep These Tips in MindMatt Mullenweg shares his opinion on Twitter charging $1 to save spam. Cost of Spam ★ Support this podcast ★

WordPress.org briefly introduced 1-click plugin previews this week. If you found yourself looking at the plugin page on the world's largest directory this week you could enter the official WordPress playground to explore what the plugin had to offer.The first problem? Well, it didn't work. This sent authors scrambling to understand why their plugins weren't working or more generally making the case for why this lead to a worse experience overall for the end user.The root of the issue, however, was that none of these changes were communicated to authors. No deadline, no opt-out — nothing.The changes have been reverted, and while I think this is a great idea — I mean, who would'n't want to try before you buy? — it needs much more thought, planning, and communication next time.Plugin authors: we're really seeing whose playground this really is these days aren't we?Ollie without onboardingOllie, the theme I covered in last week's monologue, is now available in the repo but looking a little thinner than when it started.The block theme that made a controversial splash won't offer its “innovative” onboarding experience for users. That feature will come in a plugin in the near future.Vote vote voteGet out and vote!The WP Weekly has launched its annual WordPress awards. Vote for all things WordPress, including this podcast. We're in section 20. If you love our podcast, please vote for us!Nathan Wrigley is also selling awards. Name yourself your own winner for only $20. All proceeds will be donated to WPCC The WP Builds WordPress Awards 2023Open source and AIMeta is trying to shake up the AI world, specifically OpenAI and Google, with its open source Llama model.“Open source drives innovation because it enables many more developers to build with new technology,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.This open source “debate” has spurred, apparently, a lot of debate in the VC world. Here's a recent episode of the This Week in Startups where in the first 5 minutes you can get some insight into what a billionaire investor thinks about it. Bill Gurley and Sunny Madra talk open-source vs. proprietary AI | E1825Open Source and AI is worth mentioning because Jetpack uses OpenAI, which isn't open source at all. I'm really curious to see what Mullenweg decides to do with the AI features in Jetpack and WordPress.com as he refines that product.Going all-in on a closed sourced product like that, after alerting us all to learn AI deeply recently would be…weird.Matt Mullenweg on the Silicon SlopesSpeaking of Matt Mullenweg, he recently appeared on a short interview at the Silicon Slopes Summit.He talks to a media personality about open source, Automattic, and remote work. I wanted to play a few clips that you might find interesting. The value of Automattic, the value of the WordPress ecosystem, and how he sees his role (at least to an outsider) in the community.“ Automatic's close to 2,000 people. The business has been very, very successful, valued at over seven billion dollars.”Matt MullenwegWordPress started very much just as a personal volunteer project. And it was really just about blogging, kind of that personal journaling. Over the years though, really in concert with the community.You know, I'm just a figurehead, really. All the good stuff from WordPress comes from the tens of thousands of volunteers around the world.Matt MullenwegOne cool thing is the WordPress ecosystem, which is over 10 billion a year of revenue going through it now is a lot of the companies look just like automatic and that they're often distributed, they do open source and everything.Matt Mullenweg ★ Support this podcast ★

The dust is settling on the Ollie theme's onboarding experience, which was set to be included in the theme's core functionality when author, Mike McCalister, submitted it to the theme repo.The onboarding experience bucked the trend of traditional themes and included additional functionality like an onboarding wizard, building pages with the click of a button, and embedding helpful content. You can see a walkthrough of it in my video on YouTube.This was viewed as innovative and something that the WordPress experience desperately needed.However, guidelines from the Theme Team generally draw the line at this type of functionality to go beyond what a theme should serve as: a presentation layer.Innovation. Who is responsible for innovation in WordPress?I view the Theme Team as drawing up the rules of the road for a wider range of new contributors and to safeguard end users. Help usher along the WordPress theme development experience for new contributors, guiding theme on building themes the “WordPress way.”To maximize what WordPress core features gives us, in a safe fashion. Which trickles down to the enduser. They get a theme that works with WordPress core, with code that meets WordPress standards, and is safe from malicious intent.Encourage developers to meet end user desires, all filtering through a volunteer-lead program. It's a true testament to Open Source.Back to innovation: Is the Theme Team also responsible for pushing innovation of WordPress?Sarah Gooding collected the feedback from WordPress leadership which was largely in favor of including Ollie's onboarding and seemed to think that this could be a useful “experiment” to progress the block based theme experience.In my world, this brings up two issues: There's no communication layer between WordPress Core and the Theme Team. No QA process. No product meetings. No roadmap overview.This is the most common issue in product development or enterprise software sales. Customer Z wants something that has never been developed before in the core product. Sales and corporate stakehodlers get excited because this could be a shiny new toy. CEO tells product team to develop it by end of next week.Time marches on, market shifts, and now that killer-feature is just worthless tech debt. CEO turns back to the stakeholders and wants to hold someone accountable for a failed product. Product Team says that the squeaky wheel sales person is the one that wanted this in the first place, but that sales person quit 6 months ago and is now working for Sales Force.There was no true process in place for the product team to pull from the lifestream of customer feedback from the rest of the organization.Remember, I said there were two issues…Humans be huma'ning and out for for commercial interests.Call a spade a spade. Maybe in this case, a theme author a Jetpack?Seriously. Automattic/Matt aren't the only entity out to commercialize their product. I assume, based on my interview with McCalister from seven years ago, he's going to have a commercial option. And, as I've said countless times before, there's nothing wrong with it, just say it, and not just Mike — everyone.This is the same issue I've been covering as a content creator and as a former theme author from 10 years ago, is that a majority of theme authors cycling through our volunteer-lead Theme Team have commercial interests at play.That's not a bad thing. Go ahead, secure the bag.It's that these moments in WordPress history, eventually expose the faults with a massive distribution powerhouse (that is WordPress.org) with loose community guidelines governing what could be 100's of millions of dollars worth of commercial theme upsells.“If that theme got in, what about me?”“If they are doing it that way, why can't we do it this way?”“How long will they be on the featured theme list for? What about us?”So there's whatabousim debt and real technical debt to consider when providing a pass to Ollie.Conclusion(I promised myself less of this type of content, but here I am.)Do I think what Mike built into Ollie is good? Yes.Do I think it helps WordPress users using his theme? Yes.But I don't see the upside in just this theme operating this way, making an impact across the entire WordPress ecosystem. The stress, attacks, and pressure placed on Theme Team volunteers alone don't make this worth it. They'll have to deal with 100's of authors coming in to build out their own experience. And when they don't pass the test? We rinse and repeat this vicious cycle.Commercial theme authors standing on their virtuous soapbox saying they are doing it “for the good of WordPress. Use our coupon code: GUTENBERG to save 20% at checkout.”Ollie can still make an impact by just existing in the market — even off WordPress.org. Heck, it already has. If it catches the eye of Anne McCarthy or Richard Tabor it might bring this kind of experience into core WordPress, which could be the best outcome for everyone.End users and theme authors.Or Mike could just a build a plugin or release set of code that any theme author could adopt into their theme to make this happen, which would leave a bigger impact on the community as a whole. Speaking of, I invited Mike on to the podcast, but he's declined for now.Anyway, that's the spirit of open source, and the excitement of being in the WordPress ecosystem. We're able to pluck a lesson out of the clouds of chaos, which we invest back into the foundation of WordPress' success.But I'll die on the hill defending the volunteers that are upholding the guidelines set in the community, operating in transparency, and for the good of WordPress as whole — Every. Single. Time.Impacts of AI on content and a look ahead to WordPress 6.4This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Jackson, talking all about content marketing and the impacts of AI.Brian was a prolific content marketer for Kinsta, and spent a portion of his life writing content for the brand during their growth cycle. Don't miss the episode if you want to learn how he's using at his plugin business, Forgemedia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFSvsiGoYGw Gutenberg 16.7 is out, which brought some new ways to manage fonts in WordPress and your patterns in site building. I reviewed those updates in my video on  ★ Support this podcast ★

I recently had the opportunity to chat with WP Minute Editor, Eric Karkovack, about some new services we are launching to better help WordPress product owners.Eric has been creating content for WordPress developers and designers for over a decade. But with recent shifts in the publishing landscape, he wanted to find new ways to serve WordPress brands by simplifying their complex products.So Eric has launched WP Product Writeup – a service to create high-quality, easy to understand white label content that gives WordPress products an edge in this competitive market. He can take his extensive WordPress experience and write product explainers, user guides, blog posts, and other materials to amplify a brand.On my side, I've realized that focusing on the small market of WordPress news is challenging. We love our sponsors and members, but I need to introduce another way to to help keep this site sustainable. So I'm shifting the WP Minute to offer Launch Services to directly help WordPress business owners get the word out. This includes written content from Eric, videos, sponsorship, and more.So if you need help explaining your product to everyday users in “marketing speak”, reach out to Eric at WP Product Writeup. And if you want to amplify that with a full launch campaign, check out WP Minute's services. We hope to keep empowering each other in the WordPress community.Key TakeawaysRecent shifts in publishing landscape have impacted writersEric launched WP Product Writeup to create white label content explaining WordPress productsI've shifted WP Minute to offer Launch Services to directly help products market themselvesOur deep WordPress experience allows us to simplify complex topicsGoal is to empower the WP community and develop sustainable businesses ★ Support this podcast ★

Hey it's Matt from the WP Minute. Did you know there's a professional group of WordPress'ers excited to meet you? If you're looking for a more casual WP Slack membership to join, chat about the news, and share your own content with our audience —  consider joining the WP Minute membership for $79/year. Get access to our group of merry WordPress bandits and help support our show. Head to thewpminute.com/support to join. ## Your 5 minutes of WordPress this week**RepoGate**Well, I'm glad _that_ (last) week is behind us. Or is it? Seems the most movement we've seen publicly from RepoGate is WordPress.com now showing a download and listing link for the “cloned” plugin listing. I'd say that's a technical win for plugin authors who aren't so happy WordPress.com is showcasing their code for an upsell to a paid hosting plan. Still no morale win, for the rest of us, however. “The thing that makes me uncomfortable is that my plugin is being used to help sell someone else's business.” Luke Carbis says on a recent episode of [Crossword](https://crossword.fm/episodes/repository-considerations). Carbis pontificates on having a robots.txt type of solution that allows plugin authors to disallow WordPress.com from listing their plugin.**WonderCart**This week on the WP Minute+, I had a chance to uncover exactly what a product manager does at Bluehost. Jocelyn Hendrickson joined me to share how she helps the e-commerce experience for customers, specifically in the WonderSuite & WonderCart products. Bluehost is a Pillar Sponsor of the WP Minute. We thank them for the generosity, and hope your brand might also become a sponsor too!**Gutenstats**Filed under: “I didn't know that was a thing!”, is the website gutenstats.blog. The tagline reads, “Gutenberg in Numbers. The Gutenberg block editor for WordPress is used by millions of sites — here's insight into how.Stats are from WordPress.com and sites running Jetpack. The post statistics only include posts created since late August 2018. The actual number is higher. - 81.7 Milllion active installs- 273.4 million posts written- 233 thousand written yesterday (as of this publication) If you want to see what the most popular blocks are across their tracking, head to gutenstats.blog to find out!## OutroThat's it for today's episode. Be sure to listen to our other podcast WP Minute+ you can find it for free, where you get this podcast. Search for WP Minute in your favorite podcast app, and add both because we have some great interviews lined up. Thanks to our Pillar sponsors Pressable.com and Bluehost.com. Thanks to our Foundation+ sponsors thewp.world without these sponsors, support from our paying members, and you the listener — the WP Minute wouldn't be possible. Get your brand in front of other WordPress professionals, become a Foundation sponsor today for $475 for the year. It's the best sponsor value in the industry.Head to thewpminute.com/support for more details, that's thewpminute.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

At the time of this publication, thirty-thousand plus eyeballs have landed on John Blackbourn's tweet that has sparked an event that goes well-beyond #WPDrama this week.It seems WordPress.com has publicly replicated the .org plugin pages. My peers at WP Tavern and The Repository have covered the many aspects of this debacle. I'm out of energy this week for anything more in-depth, so I'll leave you with these two things:Listen to my latest interview with Jon Clark of StellarWP. We're chatting about marketing automation, YouTube creation, and video games!The following text is are my thoughts on leadership and future of WordPress…There are many leaders in the WordPress space, doing great work, and that work quickly gets washed away through a storm of scathing outrage. When Josepha asked the community in her WCUS 2023 talk, “Why is it important that we are thriving?” The answer was, “because WordPress can change a life.”Words can also change a person's life.Simple words like developer meeting can make a WordPress power user feel like whatever's going on at that table, isn't for them. WordPress entrepreneur can cast a vibe of WordPress but with Shark Tank, and who wants that? Words that attack or summarize a persons worth through petty insults, that can change a life, immeasurably.For WordPress to thrive people must want to contribute. Contribute to code, to design, to meetings, and above all else, to the conversations about our beloved software. It's not about your code, your profits, your 5%, or your lowercase P — it's that you recognize how open source WordPress empowers us.It empowers us to do everything I just said — code, profit, 5% — and through this, it creates opportunity.Opportunity for you, and the people that you impact, through your work, with WordPress. This has a ripple effect. The more people that discover opportunity through WordPress, the wider that ripple spreads to the next person, and to the next person.Though there's an odd juxtaposition this week:A 100-year plan announced at WordPress.com to ensure your life's work is preserved for a generation to come. But, will WordPress last 100 years like this?To ask for a hand in helping WordPress thrive across members of our online and offline community in favor of spreading the larger mission: Democratize Publishing. But is that really the mission we're all on?You have to want this for yourself and for WordPress.I've been a critic of WordPress for a while. Not to be confused with being outright critical of WordPress. My angle has always been perched at the view of, what I call, the blue-collar digital worker.When a leader de-value's someone's position in a community, they aren't knocking down one person, but an entire group of people, that feel like their worth is being ripped from them. “If that person isn't good enough, how am I?” They might ask.When a leader mocks the accomplishments of one person, there's another person standing right behind them trying to find footing to reach that very same height of success. “Why should I continue if this isn't good enough?” They might ask.This is not thriving, this is soul crushing. Leadership loses the very thing they need in order for WordPress to thrive: Trust.Trust that people want to wake up and go do WordPress. Whatever doing WordPress means to them.Trust that we're all on the same shared mission of The Four Freedoms and to Democratize Publishing.Losing trust means you lose belief from the people on the mission with you. Sure, people will continue to write Iines of code for WordPress, because they need to survive. WordPress isn't going to get replaced anytime soon, and most humans aren't going to walk away from it as a means to their survival.But they will fall out of love for it, what it meant, and what it could be. There's no parade for leaders at the of this mission. We arrive home, shut the door, and put our laptops away.How was your day with WordPress?Two people started WordPress. Thousands of people have contributed lines of code to WordPress. Tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands!) have spread the good word of WordPress — faults and all.WordPress is amazing because it can change a life. I believe it. I am it. You are it.But after this week, I can't help but ask: Will WordPress thrive, or simply survive the next 100 years? ★ Support this podcast ★

If you missed out on WordCamp US 2023, today's episode will share some of the highlights from the talks of Matt Mullenweg and Josepha Haden Chomphosy. I urge you to watch the entirety of their presentations, but to also tweet at us to share your thoughts on the future of WordPress.Clips includeMullenweg's outlook to WordPress 6.4 and Twenty Twenty Four theme.What does WordPress and Collaboration look like?WordPress will look different soonA collab of LMS plugin providers takes shape“How to keep WordPress thriving” asks JosephaIn the newsHere's a list of the articles or links, mentioned in today's episode!FesteringVault is back with more annoyances.WordPress Accessibility Day 2023 (Look for an interview with Amber Hinds soon on WP Minute+!)WP Tavern highlighted These top agencies made a free WordPress for Enterprise PDF.Allie Nimmons says goodbye.There's a new Consortium on the block. ★ Support this podcast ★

There's a solid batch of headlines this week that I think you'll find interesting before you head out to WordCamp US next week.Speaking of, if you're headed to WordCamp next week, be sure to say hi! I'd love to hear more about your experiences with the WP Minute and any feedback you might have. The entire WP Minute squad will be there like Me, Eric, and Raquel.Equalize Digital is blasting off into outer space — literally!NASA selected Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker for automated accessibility testing in WordPress. To make reports easier to understand for non-developers, Equalize Digital developed the front-end highlighting feature. This feature adds a “view on page” link to each issue in Accessibility Checker's reports that, when clicked, takes users to the public view of the web page, highlights the element with a dashed pink box around it, and shows a panel explaining the issue and how to fix it.The WP Community Collective Successfully Funds the First Fellowship for the WordPress Contributor Community.The WP Community Collective is proud to announce the successful funding and launch of their inaugural Fellowship program, the WPCC Accessibility Fellowship. Long-term WordPress contributor Alex Stine was selected by the WPCC as the inaugural Accessibility Fellow as a result of his expertise in accessibility and seven years of experience as a WordPress contributor.group.one strengthens WordPress commitment with acquisition of BackWPup.WordPress plugin BackWPup is joining group.one, along with two newly acquired plugins Adminimize and Search & Replace, adding to the group's growing WordPress ecosystem. group.one acquired the three WordPress plugins with a combined base of more than 1.1 million users from German WordPress agency Inpsyde GmbH, bolstering the group's WordPress offering alongside flagship products WP Rocket, Imagify and Rank Math SEO.The Make Team announced a new Blocks page on WordPress.org intending to be a strong starting point for visitors looking to see what blocks can do within WordPress and beyond.Citing the original Github ticket created back in March 2023 from Ben Greeley “Currently, there isn't a page on wordpress.org that explains in a compelling way what ‘Blocks' are or markets it very effectively on the website. We have a filter in the plugin directory, which is useful, but that page is lacking the context of what blocks are, what the block editor is, and why it is so exciting. “My First Million podcast, co-hosted by Sam Parr the founder of TheHustle.co now owned by Hubspot, interviews Awesome Motive founder Syed Bahlki.2023 has drawn a lot of criticism around AM's products and how WP Beginner leverages it's content juggernaut for their products. I thought it was important to include an interview with Syed that didn't revolve around WordPress, but to understand his approach to business and life.We have some fresh new content on the WP Minute!This week Eric Karkovack wrote about what he's looking forward to experience at WordCamp US next week.I sat down with Paid Memberships Pro founder Kim Coleman to help me understand how she uses ChatGPT for her content and marketing needs. ★ Support this podcast ★

We have a packed episode today chock full of WordPress news goodness, including some audio clips from Courtney Robertson, Jeff Chandler, and Rich Tabor sharing what they love about WordPress 6.3. First up, Aurooba Ahmed shared her new project wphelpers.dev which gives you a snazzy UI for all core WordPress blocks and their functionality. You can expand each block and peel back the JS-y goodness that each block is powered by. Direct link right to the GitHub repo, and more developer features. If you're coding blocks or beginning to learn WordPress development, you'll want to bookmark this site. Post Status announced their upcoming WP Career summit.Join us for the WP Career Summit If you're looking for a career in WordPress, want to host a talk, or find out how to reach potential employers you won't want to miss everything happening on October 20, 2023 when the summit kicks off. The WP Tavern covered a recent story pertaining to the massive backlog of plugins to be reviewed at WordPress.org. The list includes over 900 plugins awaiting approval. Sarah Gooding cites “The volunteer team responsible for reviewing plugins has undergone significant restructuring after the departure of long-time contributor Mika Epstein”WordPress 6.3 is here! Pressable and GoDaddy have you covered with a top-to-bottom look at all of the great new features. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear more from our special guests about their WordPress 6.3 goodness.Anne McCarthy posted an overview on how to produce WordPress demo videos for official WordPress release announcements. I applaud the team for opening up this marketing effort to the greater community. The article is ripe with guidance on what to consider before creating a video tutorial, and how the overhead of creating an asset like this might need to be dispersed throughout many contributing members. I do have a hot take here: As a content creator, make your own video tutorials and post them on your own YouTube channel, blog, or social media platform before committing to something like this. While this might be the only way someone like me could ever get credit for contributing to WordPress, but I'd prefer not to have such a rigid approach to how I show off WordPress — warts and all. Before we wrap up, I want you to check out the latest content from WP Minute's editor, Eric Karkovack. This week he wrote a great piece exploring what it would take for other CMS's to catch up to WordPress dominance. I'm still amazed that the closest CMS to WordPress is Shopify. WordPress is roughly 10x that of the e-commerce platform.  ★ Support this podcast ★