	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"Do The Woo Community: A Journey and the Evolution of WooCommerce with Beka Rice";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:28:"https://dothewoo.io/?p=84508";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:76:"https://dothewoo.io/the-journey-and-evolution-of-woocommerce-with-beka-rice/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:45636:"<div class="wp-block-group has-border-color has-light-gray-background-color has-background has-small-font-size has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-49 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p class="has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9acf640b7ba38a84a982fc35d618387f">This show is sponsored by&#8230;</p>



<div class="wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-48 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-11 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<div class="wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-47 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-group has-base-background-color has-background wp-container-content-21 has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-46 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<img width="1650" height="1650" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/avalara-logo-_dtw.png?resize=1650%2C1650&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-75400" />
</div>
</div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<p class="wp-container-content-22"><strong><a href="https://developer.avalara.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Avalara</a></strong>: help developers make sure their Woo projects are tax compliance done right with Avalara&#8217;s API. Visit their extensive developer resources today.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>



Episode Transcript
<div class="wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p>Zach:<br />Zach Stepek here again with Carl Alexander for another episode of the Do the Woo Dev Chats. Carl, how are you doing, man?</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I had a good WordCamp EU, but I got Covid, so I&#8217;m slightly recovering from that now. I&#8217;ll be muting my phone so I can cough silently in my apartment, but otherwise, I&#8217;m doing quite well. How about you?</p>



<p>Zach:<br />While you were in Europe getting Covid, I had bronchitis in the US. It’s just been a fun month for respiratory things, evidently.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Yeah, apparently summer is now the time for respiratory issues. Usually, we&#8217;re from the north, so it&#8217;s a winter thing. Winter is when all the bugs come out.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Yes, unless you&#8217;re talking about cicadas, which have been recent. Those are the bugs that came out this summer for a lot of the Upper Midwest and a bunch of other places too. So that&#8217;s been fun. And we as developers, of course, know how to deal with bugs evidently. It’s been a very interesting month, watching some of the changes around Do the Woo. If you&#8217;ve missed that and you just come to listen to the dulcet tones of myself and Carl talking with developers about nerdy things,</p>



<p>Carl:<br />It&#8217;s mostly your dulcet tones. I don&#8217;t think my tones are dulcet at all.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Well, some people may be attracted to the accent, my friend. That being said, if you haven&#8217;t heard about the changes around Do the Woo, Bob did a great episode summarizing what shows there are now. We&#8217;re up to 12 shows, so I encourage you to check out some of those other shows if you haven&#8217;t yet. The most recent is our Enterprise WordPress and WooCommerce show, which is pretty cool, partnered with the Scale Consortium for that. So really cool stuff. But yeah, we&#8217;re growing and changing, and that&#8217;s always nice to see. This month we have decided to invite a friend I&#8217;ve known for a very long time now, Beka Rice, to join us here on the dev chat. Let&#8217;s start out, Beka, by introducing you a bit and seeing how you have been in the last month.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yes, I am one of the lucky folks who did not get Covid from WordCamp Europe, so very grateful for that. I had enough respiratory illnesses this winter that I am glad to be done with it, but it&#8217;s good to see you guys again. As Zach noted, I&#8217;m Beka Rice. I&#8217;ve worked with WooCommerce since 2013, maybe even before that. It&#8217;s been a long time—since I think version 1.4 if I go back in time a bit. I was one of the original folks at SkyVerge; Max, Justin, and I were partners there. We worked at SkyVerge for a long time and were acquired by GoDaddy in 2020. I still worked in the Woo ecosystem but had a number of other responsibilities and projects I was working on there as well. I left earlier this year after a few years of doing some really cool stuff but wanted to be back working with a small team. So now I have reentered the Woo atmosphere and am very excited to be back doing specific work with a small team again at Kestrel. It was nice to reconnect with a lot of people at WCEU, so if you were one of them, it was very good to see you again.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Yeah, no, that&#8217;s quite a journey. I tell the story of how I got into WooCommerce—building a website for a record label I was part of, using the white light theme back in the day.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />It wasn&#8217;t Canvas?</p>



<p>Zach:<br />No, I used white light because it had the look that I was after. Those were very interesting days. One of my favorite parts of that time period was the fact that it was kind of the Wild West of WooCommerce. The fork had just happened recently, and we were all starting to adopt it and get into it. There was this Trello board with all these ideas for integrations and plugins, and people would go in there, claim the things they wanted to build, and then build them. Suddenly, we had this ecosystem of plugins and extensions for WooCommerce that started to grow. You and Max and Justin were very early in all of that. I know there were some cards that were claimed that you didn&#8217;t end up building. One in particular was taken over by someone else when the bandwidth just wasn&#8217;t there to do it. I think that was subscriptions, right?</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Well, I would have to ask them if that was a card they had talked about or not, but there were a number in the early days. I think &#8220;Wild West&#8221; is a great way to describe it because the community was so small at that point that you had a couple handfuls of developers who had gotten into WooCommerce, but there weren&#8217;t very many. There were more integrations and ideas and extensions than could simply be built by that small group of people. So certainly Max and Justin were earlier with that. I wasn&#8217;t developing anything at that time myself; I was more so doing documentation and support. But yeah, there were a lot of things that got built, some things that didn&#8217;t, some ideas that probably were big misses still. But with subscriptions in particular, that landing with Brent was probably a great thing all around. You can&#8217;t be mad about a really fantastic piece of software that someone else built.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />I don&#8217;t think so. Honestly, the ecosystem wouldn&#8217;t have Action Scheduler if that hadn&#8217;t happened. For those who don&#8217;t know, WooCommerce Subscriptions is what birthed Action Scheduler, which is the way WooCommerce handles asynchronous tasks in the background. Brent Shepherd and his team did all the work to make that happen. I still have my blue T-shirt, the collaborative T-shirt between SkyVerge and Prospress, the Subscriptions team. One of my profile photos that I frequently go back to is me wearing that shirt with a leather sport coat over it next to a performing arts venue that&#8217;s now five minutes from my house. It’s one of my favorite pictures, and it was taken by my former business partner, Scott.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />A lot of fond memories of those times for sure.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />We were still technically just exiting that Wild West era when the first WooConf happened, and we all got together in Austin. What year was that?</p>



<p>Beka:<br />The second WooConf in Austin? Yeah, I think it was 2015.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />You and I both spoke at 2017; we were secondary keynotes then, so that was Seattle.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />We&#8217;re testing our memories here, Zach. But yes, there was one in San Francisco early on that was much smaller, then Austin, and then Seattle. All were really wonderful conferences. I would love to see something like that again in the Woo ecosystem.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I tell them all the time, every WooCommerce event. Zach can&#8217;t go, but I crash all the WooCommerce events and consistently remind them they should have a dedicated WooCommerce event.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />A few people are calling for that now, and it&#8217;s a common thing. We miss it because it was our chance as a community to not only gather and be a community of builders and developers in one location but also a way to show off the cool stuff that&#8217;s been happening.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, it’s hard in Woo, right? With it being decentralized, you don&#8217;t always have a view of what other people are doing. There&#8217;s no one source, not even Automattic, that knows every WooCommerce site out there. I think it was super valuable to see that across the community.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />For me, it was more networking. I was trying to find agencies that specialize in that or people that worked with it more because it&#8217;s hard at WordCamps. It’s people doing a bit of everything, so it&#8217;s hard to find the people that specialize in that. I&#8217;m actually really thankful I broke in because Bob sent me an invite that he couldn&#8217;t go to the first WordCamp Asia in Bangkok, and that got the ball rolling for me. A lot of WooCommerce people hang on the sidelines a bit at these WordCamps, so it&#8217;s hard to know who specializes in it, what the big agencies are, the big plugin companies, the big extension companies, who&#8217;s doing cool stuff. It’s just really hard to find them.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Yeah, it is, and I think Brian has done a great job with WooSesh, trying to keep some of that alive virtually, but virtual events don&#8217;t compare to being in person with a group of people. It&#8217;s still fun. I enjoy them. I love what WooSesh and WordSesh have done for the community, but it&#8217;s different than gathering in person.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Some conferences, like WPCampus, do a hybrid. I got accepted to speak this year but couldn&#8217;t go physically, so I declined because I&#8217;m like you. I think the physical connection aspect, the physical networking in person, is way better than virtual. So if that&#8217;s your goal, it&#8217;s really important. Conferences, it’s hard when you do purely virtual. I think it&#8217;s good that some events are trying to do this hybrid format at least to accommodate the speakers because it&#8217;s also about the speakers. It costs a lot of money. I think WPCampus actually has a bit of a stipend, but WordCamps don&#8217;t. So there’s financial accessibility, a question of how comfortable you are traveling. So I think it&#8217;s great to have these hybrid events, but for the speakers and attendees, there&#8217;s a big difference.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />It is. Right now, the designer and developer community are coming together in a virtual and physical hybrid event for Figma, right? Figma has their Config event happening yesterday and today as we&#8217;re recording. They&#8217;ve taken a hybrid model as well. They have a limited number of in-person tickets that sold out, and everybody else can attend virtually, which is pretty cool. I hope to see</p>



<p>more events do that, take that hybrid approach, limit the number of attendees, but offer the people who couldn&#8217;t attend in person to attend virtually. It seems to be a really good model. The hardest part with that model is the participation of virtual people compared to those in person. I don&#8217;t think anybody&#8217;s really cracked the code on that yet. We&#8217;ll see, though. We&#8217;ll see if somebody figures that one out.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I remember there were these little virtual pixel 16-bit hallways during Covid. Some people, you could walk around and I was just like, no, thank you. I&#8217;m a bonafide nerd. I&#8217;m 41, started coding at seven. My first computer was a Phillips, which I learned something insane, that Phillips spawned ASML and so did TMSC. I always associated Phillips with shaving razors, but apparently, they were really good at computers.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />They did a great job in the semiconductor industry and other parts of the computer industry. They&#8217;re also huge in medical. They’re kind of everywhere. I worked on a project back in my Adobe days. I was working on a Flex application built for a subsidiary of Siemens called Sorian, called Med Suite. It was an electronic medical record system built entirely in Adobe Flex.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />See, I find it interesting that you guys got into programming and the tech ecosystem prior to, let&#8217;s say, Woo or WordPress. Woo and WordPress is actually what got me into the ecosystem. My background was not in tech. I used WordPress early on to manage my website. The reason I learned HTML and then CSS was trying to insert tables on a website. How do I do this? There&#8217;s no WordPress to do a table. How do I do tables? Then, after you learn HTML and CSS, you keep going—PHP, you start to learn JavaScript. Even though I wouldn&#8217;t consider myself a very talented developer at this point, it’s never been my focus. I learned a lot about building and got into different ecosystems, different applications, worked extensively in Shopify, but have worked on e-commerce platform infrastructure as well. Since you&#8217;ve done other things outside the ecosystem prior to working with Woo and Prospress, and I have post working with it, how do you feel like the ecosystem these days compares? It&#8217;s definitely more mature than the early days. As a developer, if you were coming into this ecosystem today, are there things you would expect that you don&#8217;t see?</p>



<p>Zach:<br />I think if I were coming in new right now, the thing that would bother me the most is how to add a table that I can actually use in the block editor to call back your table story. The table block kind of sucks right now. Sorry to those responsible for that block, but at least I filed a bug report.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, now you’re responsible for giving them the feedback.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />It&#8217;s inflexible. There&#8217;s barely anything you can do with it beyond displaying data. Not a lot of options to customize beyond that. The ecosystem is interesting. It is at this inflection point between what it used to be, primarily PHP, and what it&#8217;s becoming, this hybrid of PHP and React, JavaScript, and whatever new technology we want to insert next. The interaction API isn&#8217;t react. It&#8217;s something else. I can&#8217;t remember what the framework is. Is it Alpine JS?</p>



<p>Carl:<br />No, we were saying they should have. We had a conversation with Marcel and Mike when we did our joint. I have a lot of thoughts on the current state because I teach a lot of programming. I wrote an object-oriented programming book for WordPress developers that teaches computer science topics. It’s a huge loss to WordPress that you can&#8217;t do what you went through.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, it&#8217;s really easy to get started with React, and then 27 steps later, now you can finally write some code.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Yeah, exactly. It’s not easy. There&#8217;s a lot of… I think now more than ever, WordPress needs to think about developer experience more if they want to go that route. Before, PHP by itself offered a really good developer experience because you could just literally edit a file, FTP it up. Okay, you&#8217;re cowboy coding, but you could get something done. You could change something and see the effect.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Well, you could see your white screen of death, but then you got to see your effects later.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Then you fixed it, or you could display errors there. It felt more accessible for somebody with no programming background. Now it&#8217;s like, oh, I have to learn react templates. I have to learn this. I have to learn that. But forget about that because does my thing even build right now? I think it&#8217;s a huge loss to the ecosystem. I&#8217;m starting to get to the point where, I mean, things change. Nothing stays the same forever. But I think it&#8217;s more obvious than ever that WordPress, yes, it&#8217;s more mature, but the whole community nature of it is not really the same either. My favorite analogy is that it&#8217;s more like a corporate-backed open source project like MySQL. MySQL is super boring. Nobody knows who works on MySQL. It’s Oracle that must sponsor a lot of developers. WordPress is not quite the same, but it&#8217;s not the kumbaya of open source where people can make contributions. But there needs to be a focus on developer experience, especially in the PHP ecosystem. You&#8217;re competing with JavaScript, which is really popular. Then on the other side, you have something like Laravel that actually does care about developer experience. It’s completely different. If I told somebody to learn something in PHP, now I&#8217;d tell them to try Laravel. They’ll be closer to doing what you wanted to do, which is edit a template file. The syntax is different, but I see HTML tags. I can add some HTML tags. There&#8217;s some stuff there. I don&#8217;t have to compile it. There&#8217;s just so much tooling around it. How do you bring new people in? WordPress used to attract people that never did programming. That’s the best part. That’s what I find the most exciting. I think that&#8217;s what makes the community so diverse. People came from so many different backgrounds, just learned WordPress, and could contribute and build a company like yours. Well, you&#8217;re at your second company now, but SkyVerge was a big company, got bought by GoDaddy, and it started with somebody editing HTML files and adding tables. That&#8217;s amazing. To me, that&#8217;s crazy. So that&#8217;s why I think about that a lot.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, the diversity one is interesting. I certainly don&#8217;t have a problem at all with a project evolving and becoming more mature. There were parts of WordPress that needed that. If we go back 10 years, the Wild West wasn&#8217;t the way.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />No, absolutely.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />We&#8217;ve all seen the good and bad side of that. I think the biggest thing that I see sometimes is if you don&#8217;t have that kind of diversity of thought, you develop pieces of the project in a certain way. I sometimes see that with blocks. Exactly, your point about the table block. One of the things I&#8217;ve seen in WordPress is it was so accessible to me because of how extensible it was. You learn about actions and filters and the hook system, and you&#8217;re empowered to change something without having to completely write your application. Literally with a code snippet, six lines of code, I can change a thing. It gets addictive in a way where now I&#8217;ve changed this thing.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Absolutely.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Then you learn more. Within a couple of years, I was like, I really want to write my own plugin and started writing my own plugins. You progressively learn. I&#8217;m not saying my path is the right one or even a good one, but that extensibility is what got you in. It empowers a lot of people to use the software and made it popular. Sometimes with the block ecosystem, and I&#8217;ve had conversations with the Woo folks about that, who have been very receptive, which is wonderful, without that extensibility or ability to modify things, it makes the project less accessible to those tinkerers. People just trying to build a website for some local business that contracted them and is like, can you do this? It sacrifices some of the interoperability that&#8217;s unique to commerce. If you&#8217;re a publishing site, a block may be the most atomic piece of your workflow. I put a form here, a button there. But from our perspective, working in WooCommerce, that&#8217;s not the smallest piece because another extension needs to modify that too or add something of its own into your form. That&#8217;s been challenging. The diversity of thought of people who have grown up in open source and with that extensibility and playing in the sandbox with everybody else versus in isolation is something I feel is missing in modern day. I don&#8217;t know if you feel the same way.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />I do to a point. I&#8217;ve provided feedback on some of the blocks WooCommerce has released, like the cart and checkout blocks. They are these monolithic pieces. They&#8217;re not separated well and weren&#8217;t extensible for a while. It wasn&#8217;t easy to extend them. They finally added the ability to add your own text blocks to the checkout, which was missing. I think the more we think about blocks, the more we have to think about blocks at the atomic level and how they compose into larger patterns. The patterns weren&#8217;t fleshed out when WooCommerce blocks started. I get why the checkout block and the cart block are more these monolithic block components, but now they would be better suited to being a pattern, a composition of numerous blocks that make up all those individual pieces. We would finally get back to some customizability and the ease of customizability on WooCommerce pages. We wouldn&#8217;t be back to the level of code we had the ability to tweak and customize before, but we&#8217;d have a clear delineation between front end and backend development. The visual display being separate from the backend processing makes sense long-term because it gives us</p>



<p>more flexibility. As it sits right now, we&#8217;re getting there, but we&#8217;re not there yet. I just taught a course for Solid Academy talking about WooCommerce fundamentals with people who haven&#8217;t dove into WooCommerce yet. My favorite thing when teaching WooCommerce is showing people the Business Bloomer visual hook guides for the first time. They have this light bulb moment of, oh, so that&#8217;s what hooks are, that&#8217;s what they&#8217;re supposed to do. That&#8217;s what actions and filters are. Actions interrupt the flow of code, do something, and return control, and filters take an input, modify it, and return it back. Those are the two things we have from a code perspective to change how things work by overriding how they do by default. Just this eye-opening moment for developers where they see those visual hook guides and it clicks. Oh, okay, these are all the things and this is where they live, and this is why overriding that hook or changing its priority does what it does. That&#8217;s the power of where we&#8217;ve been. We have to make sure we don&#8217;t lose that.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, I would agree. With PHP, it’s a little easier versus something more event-based like JavaScript. It&#8217;s easier for a newcomer to grasp. I don&#8217;t lament that we’ve ruined WordPress. It&#8217;s a big step forward. People who have been in Woo as long as we have, we’ve seen some things. There’s the adolescent phases of version 1.6 to 2.0 or 2.3 to 3.0. Those were huge jumps for the project. There&#8217;s a lot of pain to grow up as an ecosystem. I feel like this phase is like that for me, but I’m also back in the ecosystem. It&#8217;s a good change and will make things better. The biggest thing is preserving that superpower of the ecosystem, that interoperability between different code projects merging into one execution stream at runtime. How do you preserve that and welcome different builders into that workstream? I think it&#8217;s a little scary. People are scared because that results in bad things sometimes. But the net positive of the kinds of sites people can create is really cool. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />I&#8217;m reminded of the commercials for State Farm. &#8220;We know a thing or two because we&#8217;ve seen a thing or two.&#8221; We&#8217;ve been through the trenches of building WooCommerce sites larger and more complex than imagined. It&#8217;s amazing that open source can do that. It can enable something that even the creators had no clue was a possibility when they were starting out. I don&#8217;t think Mike and James had any idea that something they were working on would power billions of dollars in commerce.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Every year, right? Billions every year. They’ve published the global GMV of WooCommerce sometimes in WooSesh. It’s probably even an underestimate from what I’ve seen. Last time they estimated WooCommerce powers tens of billions.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />It&#8217;s hard to get an estimate.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, because there&#8217;s no centralization. I&#8217;ve looked at different ways to estimate, but it’s hard to know how much revenue is online versus offline for some businesses that use it.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Some people use it internally.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />At least tens of billions.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I know from indirect clients that they use it just for internal warehousing and internal customers. If you&#8217;re a big company…</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Running your own swag store.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Yeah, exactly. It could be a swag store or just managing inventory between divisions. In big companies, the financialization is interesting. It’s impossible to track all that usage.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />The cool thing is they do that because you can customize it. It has those crazy diverse use cases because of that customization. Your software can work together easily with other software.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />It’s the only option. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m still really bullish. Even if Shopify is great, if you want a self-hosted thing, your other option is Magento, and that&#8217;s not really a road most people want to go on. That&#8217;s really exciting. Just from a developer aspect, it&#8217;s not necessarily lamenting, but it comes from being around programming for so long.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, you care about it. You want it to be better.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />But also, I love programming. You described it the best way. You can make little changes and feel empowered. It&#8217;s the empowerment. You put a filter, six lines of code, and it did something. And you&#8217;re like, holy crap, I&#8217;ve done something. That’s addictive. How do you get people to that space as fast as possible with as little technical knowledge as possible is really important, even if you&#8217;re not the flavor of the month framework. That&#8217;s the essence. Things can mature and not stay accessible, and that&#8217;s okay. But if you want to think about the health of the ecosystem and bringing new people in, I was really heartened to meet a couple of 23-year-olds at WordCamp EU. I thought we were all late thirties, early forties people. There weren&#8217;t a ton of them, but a few. That&#8217;s really important. It doesn&#8217;t have to be cool, but you want to make it something they&#8217;re not like, okay, boomer. It&#8217;s always going to be like, oh, I want to try the newer thing. It’s good to keep that in mind. The harder it is, the more people don&#8217;t want to do it, and the harder it is to bring people in, which affects health of products, hiring, maintaining talent.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />You don&#8217;t want to become COBOL in a few years, right?</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Yeah, exactly. I&#8217;m trying not to say COBOL, but basically not become COBOL. There&#8217;s a big gap between that, but this idea that it&#8217;s good for the ecosystem too, for indirect reasons.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />The accessibility becomes a big thing. It reminds me of what General Assembly did for Rails and how easy it was for people to pick up and start learning. By the end of six weeks, they build a small web app. I hired a lot of Rails developers. Some of our software was Rails with a React front end. As a small company, we didn&#8217;t always hire people that junior, but it was amazing how people could have no code experience but have an interactive web app they built by the end because of how accessible the ecosystem was. Carl, to your point, that&#8217;s a good measure of how well you can thrive and get people in the door. Not people like us who do this all day, every day, and build software for the platform. It&#8217;s people building WordPress websites and need to customize something for a client. Can they do it? If there&#8217;s not a plugin that exists or it only gets them 90% of the way there, have we made it easier for them to get on board and try?</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I always try to think empathetically. PHP is my sixth or seventh programming language. I&#8217;m not a representative person, so I always try to think. I think programming is a life-changing career that anybody, regardless of educational background, could get into. Anything that empowers people to do that, to have that opportunity, is huge. WordPress attracted people that never did programming. That&#8217;s the great thing. A lot of people career changed into WordPress, built companies, sold companies, made money, learned even more complicated things. It was great. That&#8217;s always what&#8217;s in the back of my mind.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />A couple of things based on what was just discussed. We have a newer podcast here at Do the Woo, part of the All Things WordPress and WooCommerce podcast, called The Next Gen, with Allison Dye and Sophia DeRosia talking about WordPress and the next generation of WordPress. It&#8217;s interesting to see what that looks like from their perspective as younger people in this ecosystem. I&#8217;m excited about the next generation of WordPressers. There’s a lot of possibility and potential. I&#8217;m excited about newer community members driving us forward. Also, I got into computers by breaking something. There’s an inherent desire to tinker that comes with being a developer. I was tinkering before I knew what I was doing, and I ended up breaking my grandmother&#8217;s brand-new computer. I ended up on the phone with my friend&#8217;s dad, Tom, who worked at Baxter Labs in their IT department. He was the only person I knew who could help me fix what I had done. I spent hours on the phone with him, and he took his time to help me rebuild the operating system when I was nine or ten years old. That pushed me to understand that tinkering may have a cost, but it also has a benefit. I never stopped tinkering. I encourage anybody interested in development, sitting on the builder side thinking, wow, I really like hearing Zach and Carl talk about development, but it seems daunting to get into it. Just tinker. At the core of what we&#8217;re talking about, the block ecosystem changes tinkering in a way that makes it more difficult. I would encourage people who are newer to WordPress to look at the Roots Project with Radical. It uses the Roots stack and the Roots ecosystem. They have this thing called ACORN that lets you use Laravel inside WordPress. It&#8217;s a completely different way of looking at things than the block editor. It has ways to use and build blocks with an HMR-supported build setup. These are really cool things as part of a nice starting point if you&#8217;re interested in trying something different than what WordPress core does by default. It’s the power of an open-source ecosystem that allows people to build anything because we have all the code. That’s powerful. Sometimes we lose sight of that as a community that&#8217;s been in it. If we were working in a closed-source ecosystem like Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, or Weebly, we don’t know the internal workings. We have a set of integration points, but that’s the limitation. We can only talk to the things we&#8217;re allowed to. It’s harder to build highly custom things. One of the things I talk about frequently is that Woo</p>



<p>Commerce enables non-traditional stores. We have a ton of capability for selling physical products, but we can also, due to plugins, do things that are significantly different. We can do event ticketing, bookings, hotel reservations. Try that with Shopify out of the box. WooCommerce is highly focused on physical products. It’s not particularly great at virtual products. It can do it, but not particularly well.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />You need apps to do that.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Yes, you need the booking plugin. Virtual products, event ticketing, time and resource-based booking, accommodation booking, membership sites, online courses, charitable giving, fundraising, peer-to-peer software subscriptions—these are all business models powered by WooCommerce. Think beyond physical products. These are things plugins enable. All these things are possibilities inside the WooCommerce ecosystem. That&#8217;s insane. There’s no other e-commerce platform that can do all those things and do them well. That’s a strength.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />If you were getting into the Woo ecosystem to build things right now, how would you use that information? Would you be building booking plugins? What would you be doing if you were listening to this?</p>



<p>Zach:<br />I would shift my definition of e-commerce because what we think of as e-commerce is generally the Amazon model of selling a product and shipping it. Shipping at such a low cost that margins are low. It’s hard to make money without volume when your margins are low. Amazon changed the physical product world. I would change my definition of commerce to be anything that involves transacting through a website.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Using Woo with a framework to do that.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Absolutely.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Exactly. I agree with that.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />You heard it here, folks. If you&#8217;re a new developer, building the next invoicing app for plumbers is the way to go. I agree. Service businesses and other kinds of businesses—you see them more commonly on Woo because they can&#8217;t use anything else.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />In addition to that, you have these restricted product categories that don&#8217;t have other choices. These restricted product categories are growing by leaps and bounds.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Shout out to all the vape stores out there.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />There are sites I know of in restricted categories doing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales in a month just through WooCommerce. That&#8217;s because we have the capability to build payment gateways and plugins that tie to high-risk payment processors willing to take that business. That’s the open-source nature of WooCommerce and WordPress.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Or selling gray market stuff. But one of my favorite WooCommerce sites is a Canadian site to buy magic mushrooms. It’s WooCommerce, and it’s the coolest site. They went all out with a Miami Vice aesthetic. But they can do that. What you can host, what you can sell, what payment options you have is important. So I really like Zach’s idea of expanding, really think about e-commerce literally as electronic commerce. Are you doing commerce online for anything? Like you said, plumber, wedding DJ, book gigs as a wedding DJ and charge for it. Anything. It lets you do that. That’s the real way to think about the platform.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />I favor people I can pay online for things, even a DJ or booking something. If I can do it and pay online, I feel like it usually indicates people are more serious about their business versus someone I have to call and book.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Oh, interesting.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />The four to six times a year I book a haircut, I do it online. That&#8217;s how I reserve that person&#8217;s time. I do the same with my doctors, my therapist, and all the other services I consume regularly. All the booking is done virtually now. I’m not calling somebody to set these appointments up. Building these tools increases accessibility to services for people who wouldn&#8217;t want to book them because of the friction involved. Friction is a killer. I know we&#8217;re talking about development, but these things are important to know. Friction is a killer. Statistically, the abandonment rate is 57%. Friction is enough for them after making a purchase decision to cancel, to abandon their decision. They&#8217;ve decided to give you money, and now 55% of shoppers say friction is frustrating enough to quit a purchase. Crazy. Friction can exist in multiple ways. For some people, making a phone call to a location to set up an appointment is terrifying.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Don&#8217;t make me call. I&#8217;m extroverted and will talk to anybody at a conference, but don’t make me call for support. I just want to do it online or via form or email.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Building these tools increases the accessibility of these services to people who normally would not want to book them because of friction. I think the future of commerce is going beyond the Amazon model. It’s a great model. It works well. But people who look at things more creatively and don’t just copy Amazon will see huge returns. Experimentation will be rewarded in the coming years because e-commerce is growing. The industry segment is growing. It’s already billions more than we thought it would be and will be billions more. I think we’re crossing the trillion-dollar threshold this year in the US for e-commerce transactions. So much money is being transacted online. For anybody thinking, wow, I really want to get into this space, do it. Beka is a testament that you can get into this space, build things people love, and get a call from someone as crazy as GoDaddy, be acquired, build product inside a large organization, then exit and come back in and start again with another plugin company, Kestrel. I can’t wait to see what you, Max, and Justin do with Kestrel. It’ll be a lot of fun to see the future unfold. But we’ll leave that for another podcast.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />You ended with a cliffhanger, Zach.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />That’s how we get you back.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />We’re talking about having you come back for a product chat in the near future. Be on the lookout for it. Have Beka come back in and talk more about the story behind Kestrel and where Kestrel is going. It’s been a joy talking the history of Woo and some of the thoughts we have around where things are going and development in general. Thank you for joining us this week. Before we wrap up, I always give Carl the opportunity to ask any final questions he has.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I don&#8217;t have any follow-up questions. I’ve just really enjoyed the discussion. I thought it was really good.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Carl&#8217;s going to ask when I start building block tooling. Don’t ask me that, Carl.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />I wouldn&#8217;t invest in block tooling until they can say, okay, we&#8217;re done. Some people tried to build abstractions around blocks, but it’s so volatile and unstable that it’s not worth the investment to maintain that.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, I&#8217;d agree. You need to work with Woo and WordPress core to make those things happen. The cool news is we&#8217;re seeing it. It’s super exciting to see something change.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />There&#8217;s an opportunity.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Yeah, that&#8217;s why I&#8217;m back, right?</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Maybe there will be an ACF for blocks eventually or something to abstract away and make it easier for people to do these blocks. But I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s right now.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />I think ACF block is the ACF block.</p>



<p>Carl:<br />Yeah, ACF blocks are cool too, but you know what I mean. Something…</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Yes, absolutely. Something that&#8217;ll be a landmark shift in how we build with the block editor. That&#8217;s definitely something on the horizon. Some tools are really close already. We’re in a good position to usher in a new future together as a community. For those watching some of the drama in this community, remember you have a choice to engage in that drama or ignore it. You have the ability to change this ecosystem by participating. That’s the wonder of open source and contribution. Despite what some people may think or the feelings some may have, we all have the possibility and potential to influence where the future goes. That’s what I remain focused on. No matter how small a voice you have, you have a voice. Use it.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Beautiful.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Thank you.</p>



<p>Beka:<br />Well said.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Now that I&#8217;ve ended on a high emotional point, Beka, how do people find you on the internet?</p>



<p>Beka:<br />I&#8217;m around. I&#8217;d love for people to check us out at kestrelwp.com. As Zach mentioned, we&#8217;ve acquired a number of plugins for Woo to ramp back up. We&#8217;re excited to be back in the space. I&#8217;m on Twitter, B-E-K-A-R-I-C-E. Happy to chat and love to hear what people are building. If you&#8217;re in the Woo space and getting into some new projects, let me know how I can help.</p>



<p>Zach:<br />Awesome. As always, if you have ideas for what you’d like to hear about on a Woo DevChat, go to your favorite social media platform and use hashtag bug Bob. We&#8217;re still going to make this thing happen. Hashtag bug Bob. Bob will listen to your feedback or just go to Do the Woo.io and contact us there. We want to hear your feedback. If you want to participate in a dev chat, we&#8217;d love to hear your ideas and hear from you directly. On behalf of myself, Carl, Bob, and the entire Do the Woo team, thank you for listening and being part of this amazing community.</p>
</div>




<p>Welcome to another episode of <strong><em>Woo DevChat</em></strong> and join hosts <strong>Zach Stepe</strong>k and <strong>Carl Alexande</strong>r as they dive into a lively discussion with <strong>Beka Rice, a seasoned WooCommerce expert and product architect at Kestrel.</strong> </p>



<p>In this episode, Beka shares her journey through the evolving WooCommerce ecosystem, the challenges and opportunities in the world of development, and the exciting future ahead with her new venture, Kestrel. Whether you&#8217;re a seasoned developer or just starting out, this episode is packed with insights, reflections, and forward-thinking ideas. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Highlights</h2>



<p><strong>The Evolution of WooCommerce</strong>: WooCommerce has evolved significantly from its early days, becoming more mature and complex. The community has grown, and the ecosystem now includes a diverse range of plugins and extensions.</p>



<p><strong>Challenges with Blocks</strong>: The transition to using blocks in WordPress and WooCommerce has created new challenges, particularly around extensibility and ease of customization. Blocks need to be more flexible and easier to work with for developers.</p>



<p><strong>Developer Experience</strong>: There&#8217;s a need to improve the developer experience within WordPress, especially for new developers. Ensuring the platform remains accessible and easy to tinker with is crucial for attracting new talent.</p>



<p><strong>Diverse Use Cases:</strong> WooCommerce supports a wide range of business models beyond just physical products, including virtual products, event ticketing, bookings, membership sites, and more. This versatility is a significant strength of the platform.</p>



<p><strong>Importance of Community</strong>: The open-source nature of WordPress and WooCommerce allows for a collaborative community where developers can contribute, innovate, and influence the future of the platform. This community-driven approach is vital for continued growth and improvement.</p>



<p><strong>Focus on Reducing Friction</strong>: Reducing friction in ecommerce transactions is essential. Making it easier for customers to interact with businesses online, whether through booking services or making purchases, can significantly improve conversion rates.</p>



<p><strong>Future Potential</strong>: There is excitement about the future of WooCommerce and the potential for new innovations. The community is looking forward to seeing how new tools and approaches, such as those developed by Kestrel, will shape the ecosystem.</p>



<p><strong>Encouragement for New Developers</strong>: The conversation emphasizes the importance of welcoming and supporting new developers in the WooCommerce ecosystem. Tinkering and experimenting are encouraged as ways to learn and grow in the field.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Links</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong><a href="https://kestrelwp.com/">KestrelWP.com</a></strong></li>



<li><strong><a href="https://x.com/Beka_Rice">Beka on X</a></strong></li>



<li><strong><a href="https://x.com/kestrelwp">Kestrel on X</a></strong></li>



<li><strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/kestrelwp/">Kestrel on LinkedIn</a></strong></li>
</ul>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Tue, 09 Jul 2024 08:15:44 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:62:"WordPress.org blog: WP Briefing: Episode 83: Learning Pathways";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://wordpress.org/news/?post_type=podcast&p=17489";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:64:"https://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/episode-83-learning-pathways/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35146:"<p>Discover how Learning Pathways can guide you through your WordPress journey with clarity and purpose. In the latest episode of WordPress Briefing, host Josepha Haden Chomphosy welcomes special guest Wes Theron to discuss the newly introduced Learning Pathways. These curated lesson sets are tailored to various experience levels, roles, and use cases, ensuring a personalized learning experience for every WordPress user. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Credits</h2>



<p>Host:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/chanthaboune/">Josepha Haden Chomphosy</a><br />Guest: <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/west7/">Wes Theron</a><br />Editor:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/dustinhartzler/">Dustin Hartzler</a><br />Logo:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/javiarce/">Javier Arce</a><br />Production:&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/bjmcsherry/">Brett McSherry</a><br />Song: Fearless First by Kevin MacLeod</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Show Notes</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/">Learn.WordPress.org</a>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-developer/">Beginner WordPress Developer</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-user/">Beginner WordPress User</a></li>
</ul>
</li>



<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/playground/">WordPress Playground</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1pJFUVKQ7ETacCXdCCxwdAo-_xciwlQJ">Learn WordPress YouTube Playlist</a></li>



<li><strong>Small List of Big Things</strong>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/06/wordpress-6-5-5/">WordPress 6.5.5 is now available!</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/community/2024/06/15/wordpress-contributor-mentorship-program-q4-2024-call-for-interest/">WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program Q4 2024</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-6/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WordPress 6.6 Official Release</a>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYdkXAx7qw">What’s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6</a></li>
</ul>
</li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/meetings/">Upcoming WordPress Meetings</a></li>
</ul>
</li>



<li>Have a question you’d like answered? Submit them to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:wpbriefing@WordPress.org">WPBriefing@WordPress.org</a>.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Transcript</h2>



<span id="more-17489"></span>



<p>[00:00:00]&nbsp;<strong>Josepha:</strong>&nbsp;Hello, everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing, the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project, some insight into the community that supports it, and get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I’m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Here we go.</p>



<p>[00:00:28] (Intro music)&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:00:39] <strong>Josepha:</strong> As a steward of the WordPress community, one of the big overarching questions that I grapple with is how to make sure people who have just found out about us know how to get around. Obviously, there&#8217;s the contributor path, which is important to me because I am especially concerned with the longevity of our little open source community, but there&#8217;s also a path for folks who are learning how to use the software.</p>



<p>[00:01:03] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And so, joining me today to talk through a project called Learning Pathways is Wes Theron. Wes, welcome to the WordPress Briefing.</p>



<p>[00:01:11] <strong>Wes:</strong> Good day. Thank you very much for having me. It&#8217;s a pleasure.</p>



<p>[00:01:13] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Before we get into this project that we&#8217;re talking about, do you want to just tell me a little bit about who you are and what you do with the WordPress project?</p>



<p>[00:01:22] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah. So, as you know, my name is Wes Theron. I&#8217;m based in New Zealand, and I&#8217;m an instructional designer. And, I am part of the Training Team. So, most of my life revolves around creating learning content for learn.WordPress.org.</p>



<p>[00:01:38] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Oh, that&#8217;s quite a life. Teaching people how to use WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:01:42] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah, I teach WordPress. We run online workshops. I create video tutorials, courses, and now, of course, this great project we&#8217;re working on, Learning Pathways.</p>



<p>[00:01:52] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah. So, I&#8217;ve talked about Learning Pathways a few times here on the podcast, but for folks who have not heard me talk about it or who just need a more in-depth understanding, why don&#8217;t you tell us a little bit about this project as it stands today?&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:02:06] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah, so when Learn started out, I think the main goal was to just get learning content on the site. But, in May of last year, we shared an individual learning survey with folks, and we were hoping to basically find out what are the needs of the learners? What are learners after? And from that individual learner survey, we actually learned a few things. We learned that tutorials, courses, and online workshops were the most used content types. We also saw that web-based learning is the most popular learning method. And then there was a clear need for a structured way of consuming learning material. And that&#8217;s basically where the Learning Pathways project was born; to create Learning Pathways that basically target various types of learners, but also various skill levels. So July of last year, we started with outlines, creating outlines for these learner pathways.</p>



<p>[00:03:10] <strong>Wes:</strong> And then, in October of last year, we actually started creating content. So, the first learner pathways we started working on was the User Learning Pathway and the Developer Learning Pathway. And what that entails is of course, creating a Learning Pathway for beginner users, intermediate users, and then advanced users.</p>



<p>So that&#8217;s how we kind of broke it up. And last week, the Beginner Developer Pathway was actually published, so that&#8217;s very exciting. And a few weeks before that, the Beginner WordPress User Pathway. And yeah, of course, we&#8217;ve got many other pathways in the pipeline that we want to work on. For example, a Designer Learning Pathway and even a Contributor Learning Pathway.</p>



<p>[00:03:57] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah, when we&#8217;re talking about pathways, what we mean is, like, we are figuring out what you probably need to know when you first arrive and then helping you to identify what you build on based on what your goals might be.</p>



<p>[00:04:11] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Like, obviously, the beginner user, the goal is basically just like, learn how to get WordPress doing stuff at all. Like that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s an easy goal to understand. But when you all were doing the work to figure out what needed to be in the pathway for a beginner developer, and as you&#8217;re looking towards doing the work around intermediate and advanced topics, like how are you all able to determine what most likely you need in those various steps in the learning process?</p>



<p>[00:04:42] <strong>Wes:</strong> So, of course, a lot of research went into that. When we created the outlines for these Learning Pathways. We shared it with the community. We asked for feedback. And yeah, a lot of research was done to make sure we cover all the all the bases. </p>



<p>[00:04:59] <strong>Josepha:</strong> I know that there were a couple of different proposals about how to, like do skills assessments, maybe? There was something where like we were talking with companies that employ WordPress folks in the ecosystem, and then we were talking to WordPressers who were currently trying to make sure that their skills were advanced enough to get those jobs. And we were trying to figure out like the distance between those and where we actually have some concerns around like the language choices that they need, like basic developer language choices and jargon that goes in there and stuff like that.</p>



<p>[00:05:34] <strong>Josepha:</strong> So this, if I recall correctly, the research for this has been going on for like maybe two or three years, right?</p>



<p>[00:05:42] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah, definitely. And we&#8217;ve reached out to many stakeholders within the WordPress community. And as you say, even agencies, and businesses, you know, trying to find out what do they want people to know when they employ them. And yeah, then of course, speaking to the community, speaking, speaking to folks at WordCamps reaching out to folks an online workshops.</p>



<p>[00:06:04] <strong>Wes:</strong> So, yeah, it&#8217;s definitely been an ongoing process and also seeing what resources are lacking and what needs to be there.&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:06:12] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah, so, the very first, the very first iteration of any training that the WordPress project was offering on, I think it was on learn.WordPress.org, but I don&#8217;t actually know for sure, was a troubleshooting workshop, because when you are trying to figure out WordPress for the first time, when you are trying to figure out any software for the first time, being able to figure out what went wrong is a really important part of that. And so that was like the only workshop that existed over there for quite some time. And so it&#8217;s really nice to see how we have really, not only created a bunch of resources in general, if you all have not looked at learn.WordPress.org lately, it has, like, workshop outlines that you can use to do a training by yourself at your meetup group or at a school or whatever it is.</p>



<p>[00:07:08] <strong>Josepha:</strong> But then also, I want to say it was maybe two, three years ago, that you all, as a team, the Training Team, started doing these online workshops. And so, when you created the Learning Pathways, considering like how much time and research has gone into this project overall, did you all have learnings that came from those workshops that you had already done? Is this like a collection of workshops or is this something where you can do it at home and learn by yourself and then go someplace else and learn more about WordPress? Like how does that function in what we have already?</p>



<p>[00:07:45] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah, so maybe I should first, maybe let&#8217;s define a learning pathway. So I, I thought about this, but a learning pathway, I would say, is a route taken by learner through a range of modules, lessons, and even courses to build knowledge progressively. So it&#8217;s similar to a course, but of course usually covers like a specific topic or subject where learning pathways usually have a larger goal.</p>



<p>[00:08:11] <strong>Wes:</strong> So I wouldn&#8217;t say that the online workshops form part of the Learning Pathways project. And maybe I can also clarify that the teacher notes or the lesson plans that you refer to is something that&#8217;s also changing going forward. </p>



<p>[00:08:23] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Oh, good. Because I wrote some of those, and I am not an instructional designer. And so, ha!</p>



<p>[00:08:30] <strong>Wes:</strong> We&#8217;ve actually decided to move away from having two different content types. So, we had tutorials. You know, video tutorials, and we had lesson plans, and as you said, the lesson plans were notes that somebody could use to run an online workshop or to go to a WordCamp or at their local meetup and use that to teach something. But moving forward for Learning Pathways, we are actually just going to have one content type, namely lessons. And then lessons from part of creating a course or lessons from part of creating modules and then Learning Pathways. The other exciting thing, and something we haven&#8217;t mentioned, is that at the end of this month, when we launched the Learning Pathways or the first few Learning Pathways, it actually coincides with a website redesign.</p>



<p>[00:09:18] <strong>Wes:</strong> So, yeah, beyond the lookout, hopefully, learn.WordPress.org is going to have a brand new face at the end, from the end of July or, yeah, or August. So, yeah, that&#8217;s very exciting.</p>



<p>[00:09:30] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Excellent. Excellent. So, you said that these Learning Pathways are part of a larger goal. Is that a goal for your learners or a goal for WordPress? A goal for the team?</p>



<p>[00:09:40] <strong>Wes:</strong> I would say all of the above.</p>



<p>[00:09:42] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Goals for everybody. We&#8217;re like the Oprah of goals. Don&#8217;t come get me, Oprah. That&#8217;s all I got to say about it.</p>



<p>[00:09:48] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yeah, I think for us as a team, at the end of the day, we want folks to be able to use the content and find the content and utilize all the learning material on learn.WordPress.org. And then, of course, at the end of the day, for learners, we want folks to be able to succeed in whatever they are trying to do. Is it to build their own website? Is it to maybe find a job as a developer? And. Yeah, I mean, the list can go on.</p>



<p>[00:10:21] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah. So, on the subject of wanting to help people succeed, I think that as far as I hear from the majority of contributors that I have worked with over the years, like helping other people figure out how to do this and making sure that they can succeed is always something that is top of mind for contributors to open source probably in general, but definitely to WordPress. Like, we really care about helping other people figure out how to have the same sort of benefits that we&#8217;ve had in the project and with the software. So if you have somebody who is familiar with all the bits and pieces of WordPress and really, really want to like show up and help teach some things. Is it the case that they can take part in like running a Learning Pathway? Is it something where we mostly need people to help us build some content? Like if we&#8217;ve got people who are just desperate to help other people succeed in WordPress, what kinds of things can they show up and help do on this project?</p>



<p>[00:11:22] <strong>Wes:</strong> Yes, please come to the Training Team. There are many ways to get involved. If you just want to review content, you can do that. But yeah, we do have a need for content creators, folks, you know, creating a video lesson or putting their hand up and saying, I will actually create an entire module or an entire learning, a Learning Pathway. We do have some awesome contributors that&#8217;s part of the Training Team that are already doing that. Some people are writing scripts. Some folks are actually, you know, creating everything from the beginning to the end. So they are writing the script, they recording the video, publishing the video, et cetera. And then we&#8217;ve, of course, have people reviewing content. We&#8217;ve got folks running online workshops. If maybe creating video content is not their, is not their forte, they can can run online workshops. So yeah, many ways getting involved.</p>



<p>[00:12:16] <strong>Wes:</strong> But Josepha, I wanted to point something else out that I haven&#8217;t done. I think there was a real need for Learning Pathways because, at the moment, if somebody new to WordPress or new to developing with WordPress wants to find learning content. You know, where do they go? What&#8217;s the main platform to go to? I think most people probably go to YouTube, right?&nbsp;But a lot of the content there are, are scattered and fragmented. </p>



<p>So a lot of learning material or learning about WordPress is all over the place. It&#8217;s not in one place. And as I said, a place where you can actually learn from A to Z, learn progressively learning in a structured way. Yes, we know there are courses available that you can pay for, but the awesome thing about this project is that we are providing these Learning Pathways, these learning resources, for free for folks to be able to work through at their own time. I know that&#8217;s something else you asked earlier on. So yes, this is a course in quotation marks; this is a Learning Pathway that somebody can start whenever it suits them, you know, in the comfort of their own home, and they can work through the Learning Pathway from the beginning to the end. Or, if they feel I actually know everything taught in module one and two, I&#8217;m going to start at module three, they can do that. They basically come in at their skill level.</p>



<p>[00:13:43] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yes. I think it&#8217;s really important to try to meet people where they are. And I know that it&#8217;s difficult because, like, we don&#8217;t take a lot of data from our users. You don&#8217;t have to give us basically anything in order to use WordPress. And by basically, I mean you literally don&#8217;t have to give us anything to use WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:14:01] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And so we always have some difficulty in figuring out what is it that our users need the most in order to succeed the quickest. And so I agree that there was a real need for this not only because, like, there&#8217;s plenty of content for getting from, like, some knowledge to a good amount of knowledge. There&#8217;s almost no content around, like, I didn&#8217;t know CMSs existed until yesterday, and now I need to quickly learn how to do it because it&#8217;s become a thing I need to do in my job. There&#8217;s some really clear, like use cases for being able to onboard quickly and progressively.<br /><br />And I understand that, like, having a clear, structured way to learn doesn&#8217;t always fit with the idea of meeting people where they are. But I do really think that, that like what you were saying, it can be as structured as you need it to be. But also, if you get into it and you think to yourself, you know, I know this information already. I can move on to the next module. I can move on to the module after that. Similar to the way we do that at WordCamps also. If you get into a session and you thought it was going to be useful for you, and you discover that it&#8217;s not once you&#8217;re there, you don&#8217;t have to stay. You can go to a different room where they&#8217;re teaching about SEO if it turns out that you don&#8217;t need to learn about JavaScript today.</p>



<p>[00:15:23] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And I think that that&#8217;s, it&#8217;s kind of the value that this is hoping to bring, like, because it is a little bit built one on top of the other when you discover that you have already learned something, you can easily try out the next step and know that it&#8217;s probably a good next step.</p>



<p>[00:15:38] <strong>Wes:</strong> Exactly. And if you maybe want to teach this to other folks. The plan is to, you know, we had lesson plans. We have a lot of lesson plans on Learn. But the plan is also to, instead of having, as I said, two different content types, is to have lessons but then add a tab where you can click on teacher notes and actually teach something as well if that is your goal. But yes, our lessons and modules also include quizzes and, hopefully, some practical activities. We&#8217;ve incorporated WordPress Playground where, where folks can actually, you know, test out what they&#8217;ve learned or test their knowledge. So yeah, I agree with you that you can basically join the Learning Pathway wherever you feel the most comfortable.</p>



<p>[00:16:28] <strong>Josepha:</strong> So we&#8217;ve been kind of in the weeds of the project itself, the program itself, and if you want to like do stuff with that and in that. Let&#8217;s switch gears a little bit and talk about just what people who are wanting to join those pathways would need to know. Do you have any advice for somebody who is just today learning about these Learning Pathways and they think to themselves, I definitely want to sign up for one of those. Like, for one, how do they get started? And for two, your like top two or three bits of advice for as they get started? </p>



<p>[00:17:05] <strong>Wes:</strong> So you can make your way to learn.WordPress.org, and you can basically open the, the pathway, and you can start wherever, wherever you want to. We have made it possible to actually view these pathways or our content without logging in with your dot org profile. The other thing I also wanted to mention is that our content is actually hosted on YouTube now.</p>



<p>So the great thing is we have these pathways within YouTube as well. So, folks can go to the, YouTube channel and see our content. And, of course, that basically reaches a very wide audience. And hopefully some of those videos will also bring people to the dot org site so that they can access the content.</p>



<p>[00:17:57] <strong>Josepha:</strong> I think it&#8217;s great that you don&#8217;t have to sign up for a profile. If you are a brand new WordPresser and ran into this in your dashboard and are listening to this podcast now. So dot org profiles are a place where you can kind of log your activity in the WordPress community and the WordPress project. You do not have to have one in order to use WordPress. You don&#8217;t have to have one in order to look at these courses or to learn from them. But I always think that it&#8217;s kind of nice to get your profile set up so that people kind of know who you are and what you&#8217;re doing. And then also your activity shows up. Like, you can see that you enrolled in the course and you get to know for yourself that you made some progress. I know that when you&#8217;re getting started, it&#8217;s hard to, like, see your progress because you don&#8217;t know how far you have to go. And so, like progress when you&#8217;re starting out is really difficult to feel is real. And so I like it just so that you have a few reminders to yourself, like, look how far I&#8217;ve come as you&#8217;re trying to figure out how far you still have to go. And so I like that a lot. </p>



<p>[00:18:58] <strong>Wes:</strong> You won&#8217;t be able to access all the content on Learn without your dot org profile. But one of the things we&#8217;ve made possible is to access these Learning Pathways, the new ones being launched without, you know, removing those blockers. So, of course, when you work through a Learning Pathway, you will be able to track your progress, and you will be able to see which lessons you have completed. So yeah, one of the pieces of advice I would give to somebody starting with the Learning Pathways actually to first go through the modules. And go through the lessons to see which things you know and feel comfortable with so that you don&#8217;t waste time maybe going through the first module and say, oh, I know this, and you&#8217;ve wasted time. Rather do a bit of research, a bit of reading, and then find the right place for you to start the journey.</p>



<p>[00:19:45] <strong>Josepha:</strong> That&#8217;s excellent. I also, just as a learner, I try to always learn some stuff. And also, as you get older, it&#8217;s harder and harder to learn things partially because like you&#8217;re in a set path, but also, and here&#8217;s my advice to new learners: you worry about looking foolish. Like you, you worry, you&#8217;re showing up, and you don&#8217;t know anything about anybody else in the classroom. And so there&#8217;s this feeling of like, what if I&#8217;m the only person who does not know how to make this work? What if I&#8217;m the only person who can&#8217;t figure out what Wes meant by &#8220;Playground&#8221; or whatever it is? There&#8217;s this real feeling of looking silly when you&#8217;re doing something like this.</p>



<p>[00:20:25] <strong>Josepha:</strong> I can&#8217;t control what anybody else says or does to anyone else, unfortunately. But what I can say is that I think that there&#8217;s never a bad time to start something you wish you had done, right? Like, the best time to have learned how to use your CMS, your website, make your website work was probably a year ago or something, but the second best time is today. And so, like, why not go ahead and get started and be part of that small group of adults that are learning new things every single day? I think that&#8217;s great. And so that&#8217;s my tip is to just embrace looking silly sometimes because you&#8217;re making some choices about your future, and that&#8217;s always a good choice.</p>



<p>[00:21:04] <strong>Wes:</strong> And I would also say test your knowledge. So you&#8217;ve mentioned WordPress Playground. And as I said, we&#8217;ve incorporated into the Learning Pathways, but sometimes you watch a video, or you read something, and you feel like, oh yeah, I know this, but you know, the proof is in the pudding. So go and test it out. Use a test website or use WordPress Playground and test yourself to see if you can actually implement this or do something. So yeah, that&#8217;s definitely one of the other tips I want to highlight; you know, they also say you, you learn by doing.</p>



<p>[00:21:38] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah, absolutely. And also, like if you have gotten to a point you&#8217;ve done the learning, you&#8217;ve done some practicing, you think you&#8217;ve got it and want to like try to figure out what other things can be done with it. I recommend this is how I did a lot of my early WordPress learning to organize an event with your local meetup.<br /><br />Like, I did not know enough about WordPress when I started organizing WordPress meetups. I literally knew nothing. And I basically brought people in and was like, hey, we need people to teach us about this, us being half me. Come in and teach us. And, and that can be a really good thing, partially because, like, you get to know your local folks and see what&#8217;s going on and get a sense for, like, what is out there, especially if you&#8217;re learning this in order to run a business or to accomplish something for your job that you already have, like knowing what&#8217;s out there is super helpful. But then I find that once you embrace the fact that sometimes you will look silly, and that&#8217;s the only way that we can know we&#8217;re learning something. Like once you&#8217;ve embraced it, having some people who are willing to look a little silly with you is kind of, kind of fun, kind of nice. Also, like we&#8217;re all going to look at this problem that we definitely don&#8217;t understand and hopefully look like, at the end, we know what we&#8217;re doing, but between looking at it the first time and at the end of this meetup, we&#8217;re all going to look a little bit silly, ask silly questions. And I think that that&#8217;s a really helpful thing, too. But yeah, knowing some basic information is a great place to start before you do that, especially if you get anxious about looking silly. And I think these pathways are going to really help to get folks a little bit of a leg up on those big questions that they have as you&#8217;re starting to learn how to use WordPress.</p>



<p>[00:23:18] <strong>Josepha:</strong> So we talked about, like, tips and tricks for learners in general. But if you had something that you wanted to share with us that, like, you&#8217;re really excited about for either the Training Team or for the Learning Pathways in general, I think the Learning Pathways are slated to be shipped by, like, end of September or something. So, like, a lot of them are coming quite quickly.&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:23:38] <strong>Wes:</strong> So I am most excited about the website redesign and the new look and feel of the website. And also, you know, one of the goals for us as a Training Team is for learn.WordPress.org to be one of the places people come to and learn about WordPress. And I feel these Learning Pathways and the new website redesign and all the hard work that&#8217;s gone into this project is hopefully going to, make that happen. As I said, our content is also available on YouTube. So we&#8217;ve really tried to make it easy for folks to find our content and also now to digest our content in a progressive and in a structured way. Because, you know, learning is hard. And hopefully, these Learning Pathways have made it easier for folks to, as you said, to build on your knowledge. You know, a lot of times, there&#8217;s knowledge gaps. And I think that&#8217;s what makes learning so hard. And hopefully with these pathways, you can build that knowledge one step at a time.</p>



<p>[00:24:44] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Yeah. And as is the way with open source, like we can only make these pieces of content better if you all show up and help us like try it out, learn some stuff, and tell us what was confusing. Tell us what was too big a step. Cause yeah, you&#8217;re right. There are some knowledge gaps and when you&#8217;re on the other side of knowing something, it is so hard to tell how big a step is, you know?</p>



<p>[00:25:11] <strong>Wes:</strong> Exactly.</p>



<p>[00:25:12] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And so we need y&#8217;all to come in here and tell us very plainly as a new learner like that was eventually what I needed, but this part here was especially confusing. This part over here was too like too many little steps like we just we&#8217;re trying to make sure that it works for you WordPressers, future WordPressers of the world. And so yeah, come build some learning with us over here on the Training Team.</p>



<p>[00:25:35] <strong>Wes:</strong> And yes, please, we want feedback because, as you say, as we iterate, we want to improve. So there will be a place where you can provide feedback, and at the end of the pathway where there will also be a satisfaction survey for folks to to complete.</p>



<p>[00:25:50] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Great. Well, folks, we&#8217;re gonna have a bunch of links in the show notes. There&#8217;s so much stuff out here to learn with and about WordPress. Wes, thank you so much for joining me today.</p>



<p>[00:26:01] <strong>Wes:</strong> Thank you for having me. And I will see you all on Learn.</p>



<p>[00:26:05] (Music interlude)</p>



<p>[00:26:12] <strong>Josepha:</strong> That brings us now to our small list of big things. Although I have to say we have a bunch of links that we&#8217;re going to share in the show notes. If you&#8217;re listening to this in a place where there are not show notes, you can head over to WordPress.org/news. That&#8217;s where we keep all of those. If you are lucky, we also will help you find it on Twitter/X, but I think that it&#8217;s hard to find things over there these days. So WordPress.org/news is your best bet. Now, it is time for the small list of big things.</p>



<p>So, first up on my list is that WordPress 6.5.5 is now available. It&#8217;s got a few fixes in it, some maintenance things and some security fixes as well. I recommend that you update your sites immediately. You can download it from WordPress.org/download, or you can just visit your WordPress dashboard. If you&#8217;re on a managed host, they may have already done this for you, too. But auto-updates, manual updates, CLI updates. However, you want to get it done, get it done. But it is recommended to do this as soon as possible. 6.5.5.&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:27:16] <strong>Josepha:</strong> The second thing on my list is that the WordPress Contributor Mentorship program has a call for interest out. This is a program that we launched about a year ago as well. And we had such a good bit of success at the end of the first round in February that there was significant interest in doing another cohort. So, that program connects seasoned WordPress contribution experts with folks who are new to contributing and offer a fantastic opportunity for mentees to gain hands-on experience contributing to WordPress while their mentors share their expertise and improve their leadership skills. So, most of the time, what you are going to be contributing to is probably a release of WordPress, but there are also a lot of opportunities to contribute to things like the Training Team that we&#8217;ve been talking about today and other teams as well. Not everything is focused all around our release cycle. We have things happening in the WordPress project literally all the time. It is a project that never sleeps.&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:28:17] <strong>Josepha:</strong> Speaking of projects that never sleep, our next official release, our second release of the year, is coming out. WordPress 6.6 is coming out just about a week from now. It is the second major release of 2024 and has a lot of things in it that you will want to check out. If you have not yet seen the hallway hangout where we take a look at what was happening in the release, what we intended to get into the release, take a look at it. And if you haven&#8217;t tested it yet, if you are one of our plugin developers, if you are building something on top of WordPress core, now is the time to check that out and test it against your products.</p>



<p>And then the final thing is that it&#8217;s a new month, my friends. Here we are in July, and we have a ton of things happening in the project. That&#8217;s the theme of my small list of big things: the project that never sleeps. But we have a lot of team meetings that are happening. If you haven&#8217;t attended one in a while or even if you have never attended one of these meetings and you were trying to figure out when to start, now is as good a time as any. You can join your fellow community members and contribute to the WordPress project. And there are ways that you can do that from home and from your computer and for some parts of the project, like from your phone, if you are taking photos out and about and submitting those. So check out make.WordPress.org/meetings. It&#8217;ll give you a sense for everything that&#8217;s happening. Do not get overwhelmed by that calendar. You can just choose which team you think is most interesting to you. </p>



<p>[00:29:45] <strong>Josepha:</strong> And that, my friends, is your small list of big things. Your small list of never-sleeping things. Don&#8217;t forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app or subscribe directly on WordPress.org/news. You&#8217;ll get a friendly reminder whenever there&#8217;s a new episode. If you liked what you heard today, share it with a fellow WordPresser. Or, if you had questions about what you heard, you can share those with me at WPBriefing@WordPress.org. I&#8217;m your host, Josepha Haden Chomphosy. Thanks for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing, and I&#8217;ll see you again in a couple of weeks.&nbsp;</p>



<p>[00:30:15] (Music outro)</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Mon, 08 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:14:"Brett McSherry";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:86:"Do The Woo Community: Reflections on the First WordPress State of the Word in NYC 2021";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=5150";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:85:"https://dothewoo.io/reflections-on-the-first-wordpress-state-of-the-word-in-nyc-2021/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19806:"<p>Now I&#8217;m not talking about the State of the Word&#8217;s that we hear from Matt at WordCamps. I am talking about the first one that was a stand-alone event and how I not only was able to attend, but I had quite the experience on the train. </p>



<p>Also, I am moving over some content from my other site Do the Woo to here as we will no longer have text posts over there. Only podcast episodes. So as a result I am going to make this quite the post by adding the original posts from Do the Woo and linking back to some so I have this experience archived somewhere. </p>



<p>So let me take you back to December 2021.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-follow-do-the-woo-to-the-state-of-the-word-2021">Follow Do the Woo to the State of the Word 2021</h2>



<p><em>published December 6, 2021</em></p>



<p>Last week on the podcast I announced the cross-country journey I am taking to attend the <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2021/11/state-of-the-word-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>State of the Word in New York City</strong></a>. As we get closer to the date, the reality of this 8-day adventure is drawing nearer.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Join Me For the Trip</h2>



<p>Let&#8217;s get one thing straight off. This is not about a train trip where I kick back and enjoy the scenery along the way. Well, okay, I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll enjoy it, but this is more about bringing together the community through my ears and eyes. As much as as wish each one of you were on this train, although that is physically impossible, this is my chance to bring a different perspective on this years State of the Word from Matt Mullenweg.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Sights, Sounds and Experiences</h3>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-heading-to-the-wordpress-state-of-the-word-2021/">In this podcast I shared how this all came about</a>.</strong> And moving forward, it is almost impossible to tell you everything that will take place. But I can promise you podcasts, videos and posts with insights of the State of the Word. Plus pictures of community we meet along the way and in New York City. And I can&#8217;t do this without some snippets of the actual journey across the US. The details are not here now, but will transpire over the duration of the trip.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">How to Keep Up It All</h3>



<p>There are two perfect ways to follow along on this adventure.</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://dothewoo.io/sotwevent/"><strong>Bookmark our special landing</strong></a> where you will find it all</li>



<li>Follow the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WooTrainClan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>hashtag #WooTrainClan on Twitter</strong></a></li>
</ol>



<p>If you are subscribed to the Do the Woo podcast, you will at least catch all of the conversations and updates done via our episodes, but trust me, there will be a lot more than that.</p>



<p>However you choose, I am hoping to bring to you the first ever unique event centered around the <strong>WordPress State of the Word</strong>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-thanks-to-these-sponsors-for-sending-do-the-woo-to-the-state-of-the-word">Thanks to These Sponsors for Sending Do the Woo to the State of the Word</h2>



<p><em>published December 7, 2021</em></p>



<p><strong>The WordPress and WooCommerce community never ceases to amaze me.</strong></p>



<p>When I came up with the idea of this 8-day event wrapped the State of the Word NYC, I knew it could be big. At the same time it was nearing the end of the year and it&#8217;s not the best time to approach companies about sponsorships. In fact, when your goal is to get things solidified within a week, that is another thing.</p>



<p>But thanks to four incredible sponsors, <a href="https://poststatus.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Post Status</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.godaddy.com/en-ph/pro/hub-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>GoDaddy Pro</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.cloudways.com/en/woocommerce-hosting.php?utm_source=dothewoo&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=sotwwoo&utm_id=sotw"><strong>Cloudways</strong></a> and <a href="https://mindsize.com"><strong>Mindsize</strong></a> who stepped up to the plate, the Do the Woo adventure is happening.</p>



<p>So please visit their sites, or give them a shout out on Twitter. Because when it comes to WordPress, and yes, WooCommerce, it&#8217;s all about community.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-do-the-woo-is-talking-about-the-state-of-the-word">Why Do the Woo is Talking About the State of the Word</h2>



<p><em>published December 10, 2021</em></p>



<p>Over the next week or so, the content here on Do the Woo will be primarily focused on the large WordPress community and the upcoming State of the Word.&nbsp; Likely WooCommerce will poke up here and there, but you will notice an obvious wider perspective on all of the content during this time through Dec. 18th.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Woo and WordPress, It&#8217;s All Good</h2>



<p>The first obvious reason is apparently the fact that I have created this trip/event around State of the Word.</p>



<p>But the second reason should also be obvious and it&#8217;s something I talk about a lot here. It&#8217;s the simple fact that WooCommerce sits on top of WordPress. Right? Just about everything that happens with WordPress affects WooCommerce builders in one way or another, ultimately affecting the end user or client.</p>



<p>Again, as I have said time and time again, if you build with Woo, you must keep on top of WordPress.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">And There&#8217;s the Community</h3>



<p>I have been hanging in the WordPress community for 15 years. During that time I have met incredible people and yes, started doing the Woo. With a history like mine, it&#8217;s easy to build event around the bigger ecosystem. Now I will admit that this is not a WordCamp I am going to and I won&#8217;t see as many people as I would have. But the times are weird and we are all doing what we can. But it will be able to share this experience with those online as well as those I get to see in person, both on the way to the State of the Word and during it.</p>



<p>The community will also hear reflections of Matt Mullenwegs talk from community members and myself on the return home.</p>



<p>So yes, I do the WordPress and I Do the Woo.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-eat-and-run-with-chicago-wordpress-peeps-on-the-way-to-state-of-the-word">An Eat and Run with Chicago WordPress Peeps on the Way to State of the Word</h2>



<p><em>published December 13, 2021</em></p>



<p><em><strong>Best laid plans of mice and men</strong></em></p>



<p>If you listen to this podcast (link coming soon), you will hear the story of how <a href="https://twitter.com/mpmike"><strong>Mike Demo</strong></a> from <a href="https://www.codeable.io"><strong>Codeable</strong></a> made his plans to jump on the train (not literally) for the leg from St. Paul to Chicago. This transpired into a dinner for some Chicago WordPress peeps. Long story short, plans where made at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Chicago and invites were sent out.</p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_0521.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-5486" />



<p>Then if you listen to this <a href="https://dothewoo.io/serendipity-a-chat-with-susan-ramsey/"><strong>podcast</strong></a>, you will hear how I ended up running into Susan Ramsey, longtime WordPresser and friend, from Fort Worth, Texas. Yes, and she joined the dinner.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Chicago WordPress Rules</h3>



<p>It was so cool for both Mike and I to have dinner with <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/bgardner">Brian Gardner</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/onehappystudio">Susan Ramsey</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/sds52">Steve Stern</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/beckyddesign">Becky Davis</a></strong>, <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/KKoppenhaver">Keanan Koppenhaver</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/zstepek">Zach Stepe</a>k </strong>and<strong><a href="https://twitter.com/RobertJacobi"> Robert Jacobi</a>.</strong></p>



<p>Even from my perspective it was an interesting group relationship-wise. I have known Becky and Brian from way back at Chicago WordCamp, 2011 or thereabouts. Susan has always been on my radar with her past activities in the Genesis community and, of course, my co-hosts of this podcast, Zach and Robert. But it was also very cool to meet two new faces, Steve and Keanan. Because of the limited time and where I was sitting I got to know Steve a bit better, but hoping I will have the chance with Keanan in the future.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Trains Will Run Late</h3>



<p>Yes, we learned how trains, especially at this distance, can and will run late. In fact two hours late. As Mike and I had done a podcast on the train and hung out and just chatted, as we grew closer, Mike would frantically check the updates as minutes were slowly being added to the delay. But, hey are we going to let what came as a 2 hour late arrival spoil the party. No way.</p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_0515.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-5488" />



<p>Robert Jacobi made he was there to greet everyone. When we got off the train, Mike took off to grab a cab while Susan and I looked for the place that would hold my bags. She was damn good at helping me find the right place.</p>



<p>Mike did make it, gave the cab drive a $20 bill for a $7 fare, and started the party going. We followed and soon were enjoying appetizers and conversation.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The Best Part</h3>



<p>Sure, I arrived around 7 and by 8:00 was in the Hard Rock shop grabbing a gift for Judy. Of course I was behind Mike who was stocking up on his Hard Rock findings. As I made my way back to the train station, looking at the photo of the group, I could do nothing but smile, thinking about how much fun everyone seemed to be having, catching up IRL, laughing, telling stories. Seeing each other for the first time in awhile.</p>



<p>It was a joy to see and made me think about this amazing community we have in WordPress.</p>



<p>So again, thanks to <a href="https://www.codeable.io"><strong>Mike and Codeable</strong></a> for helping bring an amazing highlight to my trip of the #WooTrainClan</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-podcasts-on-the-trip">The Podcasts on the Trip</h2>



<p><em>podcasts published from November 30, 2021 &#8211; December 22, 2021</em></p>



<p>I ended up doing podcasts before I left, on the train, at the hotel and a few other places. Here are the links to those. One of the train podcasts was completely by luck. So happens a WordPresser I know was on the same train car. Amazing!</p>



<p><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-heading-to-the-wordpress-state-of-the-word-2021/"><strong>Do the Woo is Heading to the WordPress State of the Word 2021</strong></a></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/just-a-quick-note-on-the-do-the-woo-trip-to-nyc/">Just a Quick Note on the Do the Woo Trip to NYC</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-community-chat-with-cami-macnamara-in-seattle/">A WordPress Community Chat with Cami MacNamara in Seattle</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/thinking-of-my-sponsors-while-traveling-through-montana/">Thinking of My Sponsors While Traveling Through Montana to State of the Word</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/serendipity-a-chat-with-susan-ramsey/">WordPress Serendipity: A Chat with Susan Ramsey</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/random-thoughts-on-the-train/">Random Thoughts on the Train Traveling to State of the Word in NYC</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/mike-demo-riding-the-woo-train/">Mike Demo Riding the Woo Train</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/pre-state-of-the-word-2021-with-adam-warner/">Adam Warner Talks About the Upcoming State of the Word</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/pre-state-of-the-word-2021-with-daniel-schutzsmith/">Daniel Schutzsmith Shares Thoughts on the Upcoming State of the Word</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/pre-state-of-the-word-2021-with-cory-miller/">Cory Miller from Post Status on Community and State of the Word</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/post-state-of-the-word-topher-cate/">Topher and Cate DeRosia Talk HeroPress and the State of the Word</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/state-of-the-word-mark-westward/">Thoughts on the State of the Word from Mark Westguard</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/the-beginning-of-the-end-wootrainclan/">The Beginning of the End, State of the Word and the WooTrainClan</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/matt-mullenweg-on-woocommerce-at-the-state-of-the-word-2021/">Matt Mullenweg on WooCommerce at the State of the Word 2021</a></strong></p>



<p><strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/last-thoughts-on-the-state-of-the-word-from-the-community/">Last Thoughts on the State of the Word from the Community</a></strong></p>



<p>And before I left NYC and caught that train home, had the time to grab a nice lunch out with Bud Kraus, Robbie Adair and Cate and Topher Derosia</p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_0648.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-5518" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oh-and-then-there-was-state-of-the-word-2022-in-nyc">Oh, and Then There Was State of the Word 2022 in NYC</h2>



<p>Of course, when it came around the next year, I opted to do this again but plane instead of train and no podcasting.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-the-woo-is-headed-to-the-state-of-the-word-nyc-again">Do the Woo is Headed to the State of the Word, NYC, Again</h3>



<p>It&#8217;s that time of the year, or at least for the second year in a row. <strong>Matt Mullenweg will be giving the State of the Word again in New York City</strong>. And yes, once again I will be making the trek across country to attend.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What is and what was</h4>



<p>You may or may not recall that last year, due to a misunderstanding with flying and ID&#8217;s required, I ended up taking a roundtrip adventure on a train to NYC. In fact I have <strong>several posts here that not only talk about the adventure, but also podcasts that were done along the way as well at in NYC</strong>. I don&#8217;t need to go into the details again, but let&#8217;s just say I have opted for a flight this time. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f642.png" alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" /></p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Time for connection, reflection and optimism</h4>



<p>So you may be asking why I used the resources to fly six hours one way for a three hour event. Well, first I feel I need to be there to represent Do the Woo. And I am able to do this because of the <strong>support of our Pod Friends</strong>.</p>



<p>But it also is perfect timing for the end of the year.</p>



<p><strong>Connection</strong> &#8211; this goes without saying. Although a small crowd, maximum of 50 people, I always look forward to connecting with my WordPress friends. In fact, sometimes smaller is better.</p>



<p><strong>Reflection</strong> &#8211; when Matt reviews the year, for some it may seem to be only on the surface. But post-state of the word gives me time to think about what he has said. What it means to the community. And what it means for our efforts here at Do the Woo. For me personally, it has more meaning and goes deeper when I experience it in person. Plus it gives me something to think about on the flight home.</p>



<p><strong>Optimism</strong> &#8211; I am by nature optimistic. And though there can be skepticism, doubts or even drama for others, each year always brings me optimism in the future of the project.&nbsp; Which lends to the whole experience that I have before, during and after the State of the Word.</p>



<p>I do admit I am lucky that I can attend. And yes, again I have my sponsors to thank for that. Also, there is a part of me that hopes the SOTW could be worked to be given at all of the flagship WordCamps, as it had been done with WordCampUS before. But knowing that it plays on the end-of-the-year, maybe I am too optimistic there.</p>



<p>If you are one of the few that are able to attend, and we haven&#8217;t talked about meeting up yet, let me know. NYC, here we come!</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-state-of-the-word-dinner-with-some-woo">A State of the Word Dinner with Some Woo</h4>



<p>As you likely know from earlier posts and podcasts, I was able to attend the State of the Word this year in New York City. All because of our Pod Friends.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">When a community comes together</h4>



<p>Since I would be there on the night before the event, <a href="https://meetmichelle.online/"><strong>Michelle Frechette</strong> </a>and I started a conversation with others who were attending. &#8220;How about getting together for dinner?&#8221; Of course, as with any WordPress event, large or small, you will find those interested, both old and new friends. And the fact that the hotel we both were staying at had this very convenient restaurant and bar, well, it was an easy decision.</p>



<p>Except when you call to make a reservation, get a failed call notice, and learn from the hotel that the restaurant is closed.</p>



<p>This led into more conversations with those attended, and those not. Apparently with the size of most restaurants in NYC being small and, to add to that, the holidays, well, finding a reservation for 10-11 people turned into a challenge. The fact that I had left this to only a few days before the dinner didn&#8217;t help.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">It takes a community</h4>



<p>We are a hearty group and don&#8217;t give up easy. Along came superhero <a href="https://nevharris.com/"><strong>Nev Harris</strong></a> suggesting he calls the American Express concierge to help and recommend some restaurants was a game saver. And although what we found was an outdoor heated patio, with temperatures in the low 30&#8217;s F, we couldn&#8217;t be picky. Luck was on the side of this WordPress group and we felt we were treated to a semi-private room where good food, drinks and conversation took the stage.</p>



<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/51C33347-33A0-4015-A2D4-199FB6D0B253_1_105_c.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-5492" />



<p>Of course, once you have had a terrific Italian dinner there is no better place to extend the holiday cheer than for a few of us to visit Rockefeller Center.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_1504-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-5491" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-state-of-the-word-2023">State of the Word 2023</h2>



<p>Which brings me right back to where we are. Will I be attending SOTW at the end of this year? You just never know, but once I get started&#8230;.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp US 2023, Another Fantastic WP Memory";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4815";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:65:"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-us-2023-another-fantastic-wp-memory/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:17398:"<p>Well, it was inevitable that I should post a recap of WordPress US. I am writing this after returning to my home and office in Porto on Monday morning, this being Thursday of the same week. And I&#8217;ll tell you, I am just starting to get over my exhaustion.</p>



<img width="1024" height="576" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bobwp.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4941" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-trip-to-wcus">The Trip to WCUS</h2>



<p>Flying back to the states, I loved the way over. No overnight experiences for me, and leaving at 7:30 am Porto time, arriving in National Harbor 7:30 pm EDT. Of course, during the flight I started with breakfast, then a drink and lunch and segued into dinner at some point which ended with a snack. Lot&#8217;s of food and can&#8217;t honestly remember when I ate what. </p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2733.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4934" />




<img width="1024" height="683" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Photo-on-8-22-23-at-10.55-AM-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4833" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2742-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4834" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2743-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4835" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2744-1-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4837" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2753.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4836" />




<p>I did meet a few friends when I landed, but by then I was pretty much half asleep. It was nice seeing my good friend Mark Westguard right off the bat.</p>



<img width="768" height="487" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mark-and-bob.jpg?resize=768%2C487&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4843" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-first-day-in-national-harbor">The first day in National Harbor</h2>



<p>Unlike my other WordPressers who were already there, the next day I was not part of the Community Summit nor did I have the desire to be a tourist in Washington DC. The latter did not tempt me with the heat or the sights. </p>



<p>So I spent the day hanging around the hotel/convention center to make life easy. Now the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center is enormous. And I mean freakin&#8217; huge. It kind of reminded me of those large cruise ships, although I have never been on one. It&#8217;s set up quite well. You never really need to leave and everything is overpriced. But hey, that&#8217;s America, right?</p>



<p>The morning I spent wandering around the grounds, inside and out.</p>




<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4860" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2755-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4859" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2756.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4856" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2757-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4861" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2758.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4854" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2759.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4858" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2764.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4853" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2760.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4857" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2761-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4855" />




<p>The other part of the day Mark and myself just did this and that. Lunchtime we went and had some drinks and nachos. After that we just roamed around the hotel and Mark was obviously delighted to find his logo with all the sponsors on the entryway to the conference center.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2769-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4862" />



<p>Then we had Casey join us, Mark&#8217;s better half, and dinner time where at even more food. </p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2770-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4863" />



<p>So after a day of local exploring, drinks and food, we did what any normal WordCamper would do. We went to a party, WP-Includes Summer Fest. </p>




<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2771-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4869" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2772-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4868" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2774.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4867" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2775.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4865" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2776.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4872" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2779.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4870" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2781.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4866" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2782.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4871" />




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contributor-day">Contributor Day</h2>



<p>The next day was Contributor Day. And guess what? It was amazing. So much so that I didn&#8217;t take one photo as I was busy listening and interjecting every once in awhile. But I did snag the group photo from that day just to share the all the groovy WordPressers who were part of that day. By the way, photo credit goes to Shusei Toda. </p>



<img width="1024" height="683" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/F4UzCE7WMAAIWhS.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4874" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wordcamp-us-the-event">WordCamp US, the Event</h2>



<p>As with most WordCamps, I find myself so busy connecting with old and new friends, and just being a happy WordCamper that I never take as many photos as planned. But, I do the best I can do.</p>



<p>Of course, I cannot go without thanking my sponsors, A2 Hosting, Avalara, Hostinger, GoDaddy, Jetpack and Weglot. Oh, and yes, WooCommerce! </p>




<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2788.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4881" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2794-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4877" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2795.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4880" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2797-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4879" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2798.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4878" />




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-the-woo-a-pseudo-sponsor">Do the Woo, a Pseudo Sponsor</h2>



<p>And then this happened. My friends over at Multicolab were not able to use their sponsor booth. Anil Gupta was able to attend, but he had problems with getting his team over to the US. So his table sat unattended and barren.</p>



<p>I had a chat with Anil as he is a good friend of mine, and also a past sponsor of Do the Woo. Long story short, I took over the booth and used it for the DTW hq at WordCamp US. So I had the opportunity to be able to do some podcasting as well as meet many of our listeners. </p>



<p>Here is Anil sharing some thoughts on WordCamp. </p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2824-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4883" />



<p>Here is my makeshift booth.</p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2799.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4885" />



<p>And some of our podcast guests.</p>




<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2823-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4889" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2837-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4887" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2839.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4888" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2847.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4890" />




<p>And a very special podcast. Three WordPressers from the Spain WordPress community did a show, and they did it all in Spanish. What fun!</p>



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2829.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4893" />



<p>As it so happened during contributor day, also at the event I didn&#8217;t get as many photos as I would have wanted. Was just too busy enjoying IRL conversations. But here are just a few more friends that I caught.</p>




<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2851.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4895" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2825.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4898" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2787-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4899" />




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-a-flagship-wordcamp-without-nathan-s-head">What&#8217;s a Flagship WordCamp without Nathan&#8217;s head</h2>



<p>Now for those of you who know Nathan, you get it. For those that don&#8217;t, well I will add a mysterious moment to your life. A good friend and fellow podcaster of mine, Nathan&#8217;s head often shows up in the weirdest spots, or simply frightening people here and there. And the second day started out with just that. </p>




<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2802-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4917" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2803-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4910" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2804-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4907" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2806-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4909" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2807-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4912" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2802.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4918" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2808-3-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4914" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2815-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4903" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2803.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4911" />



<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2818-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4904" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2804.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4908" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2809-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4906" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2813-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4915" />



<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2817-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4920" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2810-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4905" />



<img width="1024" height="768" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2812-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4916" />



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2811-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4913" />




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-after-social">The After Social</h2>



<p>As with tradition of WordCamp US, the social at the end of the second day was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Quite the impressive museum. Now I am not a huge fan of museums. I could also say that it was mostly bones, stuffed or recreated animals, rocks and overpriced jewelry, but nonetheless it was quite breathtaking. </p>



<p>A lot of people had a great time and it was also filled with conversation, laughter and yummy desserts with old and new friends. </p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2860-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4923" />



<p>And what is a museum visit without posing as a museum exhibit.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2855-2-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4925" />



<p>Of course my friend Miriam had to catch as I ventured into the fossil display where I discovered an old acquaintance, Joe the Tyrannosaurus. As I gently touch the bones of his neck on display, I pondered our prehistoric life together.</p>



<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/F4f6OdpXsAAvT_w.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4928" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-it-s-why-i-do-what-i-do">It&#8217;s Why I Do What I Do</h2>



<p>In a nutshell, I do WordPress because of the community. And events like WordCampUS is like a moment of pure oxygen. So much laughter, conversation, hugs, food and drinks with old and new friends. I wouldn&#8217;t have it any other way. </p>



<p>And I leave you with one last photo. As I was flying home, something outside my window reminded me of that museum. Can you guess what that is?</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_2872-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4931" />



<p>Hope to see you at WordCamp Asia in 2024.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:83:"Do The Woo Community: WordPress 6.3. Our Heroes, the Release Squad and Contributors";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4706";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:79:"https://dothewoo.io/wordpress-6-3-my-heroes-the-release-squad-and-contributors/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:1386:"<p>The last time I wrote a post on a WordPress major release on this blog was sometime ago, where I was doing more tutorials and education pieces here. A previous focus of the life of this blog, now archived into oblivion.</p>



<p>But hey, can you imagine how many posts have been published and will still be published about 6.3? I cannot fathom that number.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-release-the-people">The release, the people</h2>



<p>I don&#8217;t have to tell you about the features. Nor do I really need to tell you about what makes this happen, and the incredible people who contribute their time and expertise to each release. </p>



<p>Well, I lied. On the latter, I do have to tell you. Because every time that a major release comes out, and I head over to WordPress.org to see the post. It&#8217;s always fun to read about the jazz artist that it was named after, revisit the features, but I always stroll to the bottom to see my heroes first.</p>



<p>The release squad and the contributors. And for each and every one of you, my sincere gratitude and appreciation for making this community what it is. Also, a big virtual hug.</p>



<img width="1000" height="2645" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WordPress-6.3-Release-squad-and-contributors.png?resize=1000%2C2645&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-4713" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:52:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Europe 2023. Amazing.";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3702";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:49:"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-europe-2023-amazing/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12637:"<p>If I could put every experience I had, every conversation, and every laugh or hug here in this post, I would. But it would be a very long post and, of course, I would have discovered something I missed, or several things, thus even a longer post. </p>



<p>This was my second WordCamp Europe, but my first living here in Porto, Portugal. That fact alone, and the love I am getting from the community here, would be worth a post in itself.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-community">The Community</h2>



<p>It&#8217;s never surprising when I hear from anyone talk their experience at a WordCamp, community and people are always in there, often being what they loved most. And for me there is never an exception. New friends. Connecting with old friends. And so much laughter, and yes, food.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Sponsors and the Venue</h2>



<p>The venue was fantastic. Although I must admit at first it was a bit overwhelming as the sponsors winded around different parts and hallways. Some of the small biz sponsors were concerned being off the beaten path, but that changed quickly, at least for the ones I talked to. </p>



<p>Fact is I started going around to the booths, meeting people, saying hi to others and stopping for so many hugs and conversations, it took me 3 hours just to do that. On the second day, I spent an hour easily just with the Small Biz sponsors. </p>



<p>Now I talk to a lot of WordPress businesses and I know there are always questions about  sponsoring WordCamps and the value behind it. So I am going t<a href="https://barn2.com/blog/wordcamp-europe-sponsorship-story/">o share a great post from my friend Katie Keith from Barn2 Plugins, where she shares their first experience sponsoring</a>. If you ever had questions about sponsoring, make sure and read it.</p>



<p>If you missed any of the sessions, or were not able to make it, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@wordcampeurope/streams">you can find all of them here from the livestream.</a></p>



<p>As I said, there is a lot more I am still digesting and it will also settle in my brain just in time for WCUS. But I do want to thank the organizing team, the volunteers for their hard work in making it so amazing. And of course, the sponsors who make it possible. </p>



<p>I leave you with this. Some great WordPress peeps. (and a few taken by others, plus my mug occasionally).</p>




<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyZ9OvrXsAM3z1j-1024x683.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3773" />



<img width="300" height="211" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FE139717-AE09-4616-BFD7-68FFC0E540C2_1_105_c-e1686922323139-300x211.jpeg?resize=300%2C211&ssl=1" alt="WordCamp Europe 2023" class="wp-image-3707" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/954C73E6-6A97-4E0F-B7FD-0D5344E9A663_1_105_c-e1686922229852.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3708" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/97A20DDC-C7E0-40B4-934F-71883C07AEDD_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3709" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/468089F2-B3FF-4A9A-9880-61302EB35D75_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3710" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1E66450F-0FA1-49A9-9FE9-49C0BA170C3B_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3711" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/0A53E9ED-D02D-4519-BB97-DE74E5B6832C_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3712" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/9ED1B5CC-F3F7-4D32-A369-65476A696D9B_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3713" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/04AAEF7F-EAA6-4E12-B9C5-007EB22A1988_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3714" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/56E4154B-2FA2-4CB4-A9E1-7CA13DBE29FE_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3715" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/02CBEC08-ACD3-43B0-982C-8CB3C16DB3BD_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3716" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DC7362CD-ABCA-471E-8028-43052C75288A_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3717" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/8BF9EC52-8CE6-41E4-ADD2-BF3EA8090F87_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3718" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/683993A1-5E3F-4E81-A5A3-10123525B0F3_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3719" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/5BA05077-32AB-46B3-9274-AB2E61A6AF00_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3720" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/4FF3C170-EC5E-4941-8A3B-2890C9CDA25E_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3721" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/B99F10C0-1893-4657-81E9-2794B8CE4A0D_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3722" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/3D246BBB-626D-44E0-BC00-5F710EA799C2_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3723" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CE1E312A-F124-4EE6-A0A6-4C99FFD2953B_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3724" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/3D79CBBE-EA50-48FD-876B-F469BAF2EEA8_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3725" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ACBBDEB8-88A0-4854-B538-A439D4226501_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3726" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FEEE728B-05C4-4A0E-BE24-570F5E4709AB_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3727" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/491C1F4E-1A81-4ED3-9826-9FEA02478092_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3728" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/99A01295-FE45-4E0A-9996-F1400656EF58_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3729" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/5C4E4C74-AFAD-4E63-907D-8A1662C622B8_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3730" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/81855AE3-B086-45BD-AD63-66636F3CC94D_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3731" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/956706FF-375A-4D1A-9C16-B426B2471D42_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3732" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/898C8520-1770-4C9C-B0EE-92F5A27A98AA_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3733" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/785A33AD-7108-45D8-B2A3-550870FAB265_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3734" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/0E9EF259-9281-47D7-B3D1-360B4BC2EF65_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3735" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/78C3FDC5-8C6D-4543-84F1-B16F5A7F7510_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3736" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/E7656355-91B6-4C38-919B-5D22E03F0D1B_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3737" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/E05393A6-6987-4AE7-976E-B8A8DEBBD6DE_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3738" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/32D8D871-D9E3-4FF1-9C65-CF245A996C33_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3739" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/D2E8EA51-E27A-42F8-83C9-430099C37E6E_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3740" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/0B8F570C-F0F2-4854-9EB2-F0C1865B6C19_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3741" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/21F627EC-41AB-45E3-822B-BEF1C1C3B615_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3742" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/09B47AE1-E1E0-4014-B613-E2E36E47971F_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3743" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BA3F4F90-2FAD-497A-BFB1-765A8DB09109_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3744" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/B7C600B0-B6A9-432E-94D6-953DA0D7FA8C_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3745" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/EA9CB071-2476-4AFC-B589-762A88082357_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3746" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/19369C59-01E7-4D29-89C3-A980726AC578_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3747" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/AD93CBF5-00A3-48F6-AE09-4171DE46BE3C_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3748" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1258EE12-2635-4DC2-8793-411B171C6FB9_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3749" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/8D56ABBD-81E1-4390-A69B-38DA724727EF_1_105_c-e1686921631547.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3750" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FE796986-42A9-4CCB-9C2C-39DC776C51B7_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3751" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/21D68A67-768B-427D-A927-ACC79D6A84C3_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3752" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/248F2595-1254-46A2-9938-97A3F674157F_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3753" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/EFD136F3-CDA1-4B37-8DAB-FB65E93EE8F1_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3754" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/7B22354B-95F8-4855-A978-4027958A2CD6_1_105_c.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3757" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyDGmp9akAEgRj_.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3758" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyfstMTaIAAMQWe-576x1024.jpeg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3759" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyIIKwJWYAclHLZ-1024x768.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3761" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyIIiQ6WYBAZEUp.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3760" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyLdeDZXgAIsG82-1024x768.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3763" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyK7abXWYAAwC_t.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3762" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyLe_ZnWAAACUmP-1024x768.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3764" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyLJWo4WcAEisFH-1024x768.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3765" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyP6Nb-XoAEvB4V-768x1024.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3766" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyPinCEaYAA6yoY-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3767" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyQS0qsXoAIDzlT-1024x473.jpeg?resize=1024%2C473&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3769" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyQWwDJWIAMx4kU-768x1024.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3770" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyrZEYYWAAc26z1-768x1024.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3771" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyWp6DlWIAIlw0G-576x1024.jpeg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3772" />



<img src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FyQd8NDXgAAuLlN-1024x683.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-3768" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:59:"Do The Woo Community: 20 Years. That’s a Lot of Community";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3448";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://dothewoo.io/20-years-thats-a-lot-of-community/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:431:"<p>In May I was fortunate to <strong><a href="https://wordpress.tv/2023/05/30/20-years-thats-a-lot-of-community/">speak at WordCamp Lisboa about community</a></strong>. It had been awhile since I&#8217;ve spoken at a WordCamp, but I had a lot of fun.</p>



<p>If you are interested in my elaboration of the future of the community, <a href="https://dothewoo.io/future-of-the-wordpress-community/">listen to this show here.</a></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:72:"Do The Woo Community: WordCamp Asia. Energized, Graciousness and Empathy";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=1625";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:39:"https://dothewoo.io/wordcamp-asia-2023/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:9885:"<p>For 13 years I have been going to the smaller and local WordCamps and when the first flagship WCUS started, I jumped on the opportunity and have been lucky enough to attend all of them so far.</p>



<p>Last year, I attended my <strong><a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-headed-to-wordcamp-asia/">first WCEU</a></strong> which of course was far from their first. It was an amazing event and even <strong><a href="http://https//portobobwptrainer0.wpcomstaging.com">pushed us to move to Porto</a></strong>, which we are doing end of March.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-then-comes-wcasia">Then comes WCAsia</h2>



<p>Judy and I were excited that we would be able to attend the <strong><a href="https://asia.wordcamp.org/2023/">very first WCAsia</a></strong>. Neither of us had been to any part of Asia, so Bangkok was soon to be our first.&nbsp;</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1562-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1626" />



<p>Now with all that comes for anyone attending a WordCamp, it can be anything from intimidating, to exciting, or both. I did not know what to expect from this very first flagship event. I knew that it would be good, but I didn’t know I would be blown away.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The event itself</h2>



<p>The event was held on the top floor of what&#8217;s called Iconsiam. A gigantic mall with a conference center.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1748-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1627" />



<p>And everything about the organization of the event was top notch. The sponsor area was strategically placed. And I personally experienced a volunteer approaching me a few times and asking how I was doing and if they could help with anything. It was amazing.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Contributor day</h3>



<p>This was my second contributor day. And it did not disappoint. I spent my time with the Community team and we had several very good discussions. Of course a lot of time was put into the day-long event from both organizers and volunteers. And I had to get a shot of all the team table leads from around the world.</p>



<img width="1000" height="519" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Contributor-day-leads-WordCamp-Asia-2023.jpg?resize=1000%2C519&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1629" />



<p>This was just how big contributor day was.</p>



<img width="1024" height="683" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WordCamp-Asia-2023-Contributor-Day-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1630" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Two days of WordCamp Asia</h2>



<p>The minute I walked in that morning and headed straight for the expo area, this is what I saw. It was one of the most busy WordCamps I had ever been to, at least from this perspective. And the vibe in the air is what I believe energized everyone.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1595-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1628" />



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The community, the people</h3>



<p>There is no single word to describe all the new and old friends that I met with. There were hugs, fist bumps, handshakes, and a lot of conversation. I had the chance to meet people who had literally been reading or listening to my stuff for over a decade. It was incredible humbling. </p>



<p>Although I don&#8217;t have these tagged, here is are bunch of selfies and other pics that were taken by others and myself. </p>





<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Three things really stood out to me</h2>



<p>As I mentioned earlier, this was likely the best WordCamp I have been to. If asked, I would have to say that there are three words that come to mind if I was to describe it as a whole.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The energy</h3>



<p>I have never been to a WordCamp that had as much energy as I experienced here. I’m sure it was a combination of it finally happening for the Asian community (the first time it was cancelled due to covid), the pride they felt and the fact that so many of the attendees were experiencing their very first WordCamp of any size.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Everyone seemed hungry for community and education. Even the sponsors who frequent many WordCamps, the teams they brought were energized and kept very busy. There was a vibe of this energy with everyone you met.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I know that both my brand BobWP and Do the Woo is very popular in that part of the world. But until you are able to talk, shake hands or hug, you just don’t know. I met strangers and people who I have been connected with online for a decade or more. I was in what felt like hundreds of selfies with friends and new friends. The energy there was contagious and even by day two, it did not let up till closer to the end of the day.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The graciousness</h3>



<p>This is probably the most powerful word that stuck with us during our entire stay, both at the event and beyond. We felt welcomed wherever we went. The kindness and consideration of each individual we had contact with and I had contact with at the event, was something that added to the energy I previously talked about.</p>



<p>Culturally, between the greeting with a bow and hands held together, and those who held their hands over their hearts as they approached you, other parts of the world could learn from those warm and loving gestures and how they made us feel each and every time.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The empathy</h3>



<p>Empathy has always been a huge part of my life, and I wish more people would naturally feel it in all circumstances.</p>



<p>As I mentioned previously, a lot of the attendees where first time WordCampers. Because of the nature of our business, many are introverts and that first event experience can be overwhelming. But it was different. There was a natural born vibe of empathy coming from everyone. </p>



<p>The vendors talking to community members. People meeting each other for the first time. Questions asked and answered. I would often catch pieces of conversation near me, and more times than not there was a tone of empathy. A tone that said we are the community and here to help each other, no matter who you are, what skill level you have or where you come from. The glass was half full, if not brimming over.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Of course all the other stuff</h2>



<p>There was so much to the event, but at the same time the entire experience.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Having a little fun and a good laugh</h3>



<p>There is nothing better than a good laugh. You may or may not know <strong><a href="https://wpbuilds.com/">Nathan Wrigley from WPBuilds</a></strong>. A great friend of mine and a treasure to the WordPress community. Unfortunately Nathan could not make it, so our friend <strong><a href="https://wsform.com/">Mark Westguard from WS Form</a></strong> created a &#8220;Nathan head&#8221;. And it started popping around here and there at WCAsia. Make sure and click on the images so you can easily find &#8220;Where&#8217;s Nathan?&#8221; </p>





<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Nom nom</h3>



<p>The food was incredible. I’m not a foodie as much as many who travel, but the tastes I experienced are really beyond words. I am still deciding my favorites between Thai, Indian and Japanese.&nbsp;Unfortunately, I am terrible when it comes to taking pictures of our food. In fact, I likely got more from the food served on our flights than at the event.</p>



<p>There was this amazing Espresso Martini that we had, in some kind of a chalice at a restaurant in a local marketplace. </p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/69856627392__9179F4B0-106B-43AC-A12F-D6A40A1FDD91-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1678" />



<p>And the best experience I had was a cup of Spicy Coconut Soup with Scallops at a restaurant in the Iconsiam. Unfortunately I didn&#8217;t think to take a picture until I was half-finished. Trust me, the untouched presentation was pretty impressive. The taste, out of this world.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1757-768x1024.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1679" />



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bangkok</h3>



<p>And then there was the host city. As mentioned, this was the first time Judy and I have been in Asia. The city was interesting and amazing at the same time. The weather was another thing. We spent an extra three days and found we could spend very little time outside because of the heat and humidity. Average days temp while while there were around 94<strong>°F</strong>&nbsp;/ 34<strong>°C</strong>. We thought we would either melt away or simple pass out. But between the hotel, a boat ride down the river and a few other places, I do have a few shots to share with you. </p>





<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What have I left out?</h2>



<p>Likely a lot. But still recovering from jet lag and a good chunk of this post was written on the flight back. </p>



<p>If we connected at WCAsia, you are now a big part of one of my favorites memories since using WordPress.</p>



<p>And if you were an organizer, volunteer or sponsor this year, a big thanks and hug for one amazing event. You should be proud of what you did and the community that you brought together. </p>



<p>Until WordCamp Europe&#8230;.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/bobwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_1760-1024x768.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-1714" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"Do The Woo Community: The State of the Word experience";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:24:"https://bobwp.com/?p=585";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://dothewoo.io/the-state-of-the-word-experience/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5731:"<p>I have purposely chosen to not revisit the actual message delivered at State of the Word. There has been a lot already said and I don&#8217;t really need to add to that pile. In fact, I have listed a few posts at the end here that will give you that overview.</p>



<p>I arrived in New York City late Tuesday evening. The SOTW was not beginning till noonish on Thursday. But I was pretty sure Wednesday would be my &#8220;hang out with friends and community day&#8221;. Of course I was not disappointed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-community-is-where-community-goes">Community is where community goes</h2>



<p>Mid-morning on Wednesday, I ran into<strong> Michelle Frechette and her friend Julia</strong> in the hotel lobby. Hungry and in need of caffeine, I joined them for a bit of time at Starbucks. Returning to the hotel, we ran into Rich Tabor, and set a time to find a restaurant and have lunch. The four of us ended up at an Italian place, which would be the first of two that day.</p>



<p>Then came a break before I met <strong>Robert Jacobi, Rich Tabor</strong> at Nancy&#8217;s Whiskey Bar across the street. Where eventually we were joined by <strong>Robbie Adair and Bud Kraus</strong>. Although we didn&#8217;t get a group shot then, Robert did grab a shot of Rich and myself.</p>



<img tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rich-Tabor-and-BobWP.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1" alt="Rich Tabor and BobWP" class="wp-image-586" width="768" height="576" />Thanks to Robert Jacobi for the photo



<p>After that came dinner. <a href="https://dothewoo.io/a-state-of-the-word-dinner-with-some-woo/">I shared a bit of that experience on my podcast over on Do the Woo</a>, which in a nutshell ended up being a fantastic Do the Woo dinnner in a heated patio at yet another Italian restaurant.</p>



<img width="768" height="1024" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_0063-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1" alt="Do the Woo Dinner in New York City" class="wp-image-587" /><em>Do the Woo Dinner at State of the Word 2023 with Michelle Frechette, Allie Nimmons, Bud Kraus, Nev Harris, Aaron Campbell, Rich Tabor, Timothy Jacobs, BobWP, Robbie Adair, Julie and Ryan Marks.&nbsp;</em>



<p>Following that feast, a few of us ended up at the Rockefeller Center.</p>



<img width="800" height="764" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WordPress-people-at-Rockefeller-Centeer.jpg?resize=800%2C764&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-588" />Michelle, Nev, Ryan, Julia, Robbie and BobWP



<p>And that was the day of true community. Friends coming together and just simply having a great time.</p>



<img width="1024" height="576" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/dothewoo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rockefeller-Center-New-York-City.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1" alt="Rockefeller Center New York City" class="wp-image-589" />



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">State of the Word Day</h2>



<p>Of course the day of the State of the Word has it&#8217;s fair share of community. From a casual get together at a cafe beforehand, to the event itself and rounding that off with a small dinner with Robert Jacobi, Robbie Adair and Nev Harris.</p>



<p>The entire day, day two, filled with community. Old and new friends.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Conversations at SOTW</h3>



<p>I cannot possibly share with you the conversations I had at the event, primarily because I had too many and cannot recall each one. But a couple of instances stick in my mind.</p>



<p>First, I met<strong> Zandy Ring, COO at Tumblr</strong>. This was not only a fun conversation but also very timely as I dive into the Tumblr world as BobWP. It&#8217;s been an interesting platform to sort out. And the insights that Zandy shared with me confirmed I was doing the right thing by taking my time and finding my groove there. </p>



<p>Secondly, I had a chance to chat with <strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong> a couple of times. The best thing about the SOTW event if Matt is in his element there. The smaller crowd gives it a much more relaxed feeling and I sense that he is truly enjoying himself. </p>



<p>And the cool thing. There would never be the opportunity where I would be able to share with him the new stuff we are doing over at Do the Woo in the new year. But this event gave me that chance. And even better, he loved what we were going to be doing.</p>



<p>Now with both of these conversations, I was fortunately to be given the opportunity to have them. But I did for two simple reasons.</p>



<p>The WordPress community is incredible, no matter who you meet</p>



<p>I am extremely fortunate to have such amazing sponsors for Do the Woo that made it possible for me to represent DTW at the event.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Learn more about the State of the Word</h3>



<p>Matt&#8217;s SOTW was great and there was some really cool stuff he shared. But I am not into reinventing the wheel, so here are a few options for you to catch up with it if you haven&#8217;t already. </p>



<p>Over on WPTavern, <a href="https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2022-matt-mullenweg-highlights-gutenbergs-progress-announces-new-community-tools">State of the Word 2022: Matt Mullenweg Highlights Gutenberg’s Progress, Announces New Community Tools</a></p>



<p>The WPMinute has an a<a href="https://thewpminute.com/state-of-the-word-2022/">udio version if you are on the go, as well as some key takeaways.</a></p>



<p>And of course, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2022/12/sotw-2022-a-celebration-of-the-four-freedoms-of-open-source/">over on WordPress.org, you can catch the full video.</a></p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:45:50 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:140:"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #103 – Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and Updates from the Training Team ";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:53:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=29223";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:106:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:57010:"<p>In this episode, Nadia Maya Ardiani and Birgit Pauli-Haack discuss the create block theme plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and updates from the training team.</p>



<p><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/#shownotes">Show Notes</a> / <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-103-create-block-theme-wordpress-6-6-training-team/#transcript">Transcript</a></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Editor:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/">Sandy Reed</a></li>



<li>Logo:&nbsp;<a href="https://markuraine.com/">Mark Uraine</a></li>



<li>Production:&nbsp;<a href="https://icodeforapurpose.com">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li>
</ul>



<p class="has-larger-font-size" id="shownotes"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Special Guest: Nadia Maya Ardiani</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiamayaardiani/">LinkedIn</a></li>



<li><a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/ardianimaya/">WordPress profile</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2024/01/16/contributor-spotlight-nadia-maya-ardiani/">Contributor Spotlight: Nadia Maya Ardiani</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/author/nadiaardiani">Content Specialist at Hostinger</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.hostinger.com/blog/birgit-pauli-haack">Birgit Pauli-Haack: Fostering Community Spirit Through Knowledge Sharing</a> by Nadia Maya Ardiani</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Announcements</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/25/recap-hallway-hangout-theme-building-with-playground-create-block-theme-plugin-and-github/">Playground, Create-block-theme plugin, and GitHub</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/">Recap Hallway Hangout: Exploring Grid Layouts</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYdkXAx7qw">Developer Hours: What’s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6</a></li>



<li>July 8th, at 16:00 UTC: <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/hallway-hangout-section-styles-and-other-block-style-variation-updates/">Hallway Hangout: Section styles and other block style variation updates</a></li>



<li>July 9th, 2024, 15:00 UTC – Developer Hours: <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/">Editor unification and extensibility in WordPress 6.6</a>.</li>



<li>July 23, 2024, at 15:00 UTC <a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/">Developer Hours: Do you really need a custom block? Let’s explore alternatives.</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Training team updates</h3>



<p><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/tag/contributor-spotlight/">Contributor Spotlight series </a></p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Gather Press</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://gatherpress.org/">GatherPress.org</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/training/2024/06/27/training-team-testing-gatherpress/">Training team testing </a>Gather Press</li>



<li>&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/gatherpress/">https://wordpress.org/plugins/gatherpress/</a></li>
</ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">New Courses</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-user/">Beginner WordPress User</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/intermediate-wordpress-user/">Intermediate WordPress User</a></li>



<li><a href="https://learn.wordpress.org/course/beginner-wordpress-developer/">Beginner WordPress Developer</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s released</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/">Create Block Theme plugin 2.3</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-18-7-03-july/">What’s new in Gutenberg 18.7? (03 July)</a></li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WordPress 6.6</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/wordpress-6-6-rc2/">WordPress 6.6 RC2</a></li>



<li><a href="https://nomad.blog/2024/06/26/wordpress-6-6-source-of-truth/">Source of Truth on WordPress 6.6</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4D1dHTZvQQ">WordPress 6.6 – Huge Changes Coming Soon!</a></li>



<li>Dev Notes
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/updates-to-the-interactivity-api-in-6-6/">Updates to the Interactivity API in 6.6</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/miscellaneous-editor-changes-in-wordpress-6-6/">Miscellaneous Editor changes in WordPress 6.6</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/section-styles/">Section Styles</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/21/wordpress-6-6-css-specificity/">WordPress 6.6 CSS Specificity</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/roster-of-design-tools-per-block-wordpress-6-6-edition/">Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.6 edition)</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/20/site-wide-background-images-in-wordpress-6-6/">Site-wide background images in WordPress 6.</a></li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/19/theme-json-version-3/">Theme.json version 3</a></li>
</ul>
</li>



<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/28/editing-custom-fields-from-connected-blocks/">Editing custom fields from connected blocks</a></li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What&#8217;s in the works</h2>



<p><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfive">Twenty Twenty-Five</a> </p>



<p class="has-large-font-size">Stay in Touch</p>



<div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Did you like this episode? <a href="https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li>



<li>Ping us on X (formerly known as Twitter) or send DMs with questions. <a href="https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes">@gutenbergtimes </a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/bph">@bph</a>.</li>



<li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li>



<li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li>
</ul>
</div></div>



<p class="has-large-font-size" id="transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Hello, and welcome to our 103rd episode of the Gutenberg Changelog Podcast. In today&#8217;s episode we will talk in detail about Create Block Theme Plugin, WordPress 6.6, Gutenberg 18.7, and updates from the training team too. Maybe not in that order.</p>



<p>I&#8217;m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and a full-time core contributor for the WordPress Open-Source Project sponsored by Automattic’s Five for the Future Program. </p>



<p>I&#8217;m delighted to have again as co-host, my dear friend, Nadia Maya Ardiani from Indonesia, member of the WordPress training team, translating Learn WordPress content. And in her day job, Maya creates content for the Hostinger blog and social media. So glad you can make it this time, Maya. How are you today?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Hi, Birgit. It&#8217;s very nice to be back here. How are you by the way?</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m good. So glad we&#8217;re doing this. And it&#8217;s summer in Munich.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s always summer here in Indonesia.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, I definitely have to visit sooner or later.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes, please.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Rather sooner than later because time runs out.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. The last time you invited me, I think it was around WordCamp. After I came back from WordCamp US and you were not attending it. And this time it&#8217;s the other way around. You&#8217;re attending WordCamp Europe and I&#8217;m not, and I&#8217;m getting so FOMO of everything. So yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. FOMO is something that I&#8217;m looking at for now. Also for WordCamp Canada. There are some great speakers on there. But I am really looking forward. Are you coming to WordCamp Asia in the Philippines next year? You don&#8217;t know?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I plan to. I plan to. So hopefully, we can meet again.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I hope so too, in-person. Well, did you know that the call for speakers is out for WordCamp Asia?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, not yet.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I haven&#8217;t checked.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So dear listeners, if you want to come to WordCamp Asia and be on the speaker roster, now is the time to get your creative juices going on what you want to talk about. All right.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Announcements</h3>



<p>Before I forget again, because I did the last time, I want to mention our new music for the intro and the outro. So this is the second episode actually with new music dear listeners, and I hope you like it. A 100 episodes is a great run for Homer Gaines’ music that we started out with and we used for 100 episodes. But I&#8217;m also grateful that he allowed me to use his music for free. So big prompts to Homer Gaines. And I&#8217;ll share again the link to his music channel on Spotify or what was the other one? SoundCloud.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> SoundCloud.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yes. Yeah, thank you. The new jingle, or what you call it, whatever you call it, is actually created by Udio, and that&#8217;s an audio AI site. Which I just was trying out. And the prompt was Jango Edwards style intro music, and it&#8217;s called Manouche Morning. I share the link also in the show notes, so you can go to the site and try out your music tastes. But let me know what you think about it, dear listeners. And also, of course, Maya.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I really like it, because it sounds like something that you can hear from a gramophone and take you back to another time. And it&#8217;s really a nice change of vibe. Because before we have this cool guy, a cool person, who is more very chill and very calm person, and this time it&#8217;s more happy-go-lucky. So yeah, I think it&#8217;s really great. And it&#8217;s like Morning Spirit, like the name.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> You kind of get in a different mindset there. And I learned in between that music actually changes, depending on which music of course, your brainwaves. So your alpha waves and your mood. I find it really interesting. So I read more about it. Well good. So that&#8217;s music. Well, either comment on the episode or send me an email or just ping me on Twitter what you think about the music.</p>



<p>So last episode, we talked about the upcoming events and now those events have taken place, and I can share the recordings in the show notes. If you are a theme developer, but you are not so much into code and want to use the Site Editor to create your theme, the Hallway Hangout where Beatrice Fialo demonstrated how she changes a theme and then used to create Block Theme Plugin to save all the changes that are normally in the database to the theme files and then make those theme files part of Version Control and GitHub.</p>



<p>So that process she demonstrated very closely. And on the recap post, I actually also spelled out the steps so you can really follow along. It was really a cool event. And you can actually design a theme and Site Editor and still update the theme files and handle it in Version Control. That was one of the big questions we had on the Outreach channel.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah. I personally also really love Playground because it really helps for content creation as well. Because I don&#8217;t have to keep on tweaking my WordPress site, even though that&#8217;s a special site for testing. But it&#8217;s very handy to have it. I can just test everything there and then forget about it.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I don&#8217;t have to reset everything. So, yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Yeah. You don&#8217;t mess up the site that you use for other things. Yeah. Totally get it. And so I use local or used to use local, and I have probably 25 sites in there. Because I spin up a new site for everything. But that also clogs up my computer, although I have a terabyte of hard drive. But it still clogs up my computer. Because every single site has all the WordPress files, and with Playground I have nothing stored there except what I wanted to store in the browser or something like that.</p>



<p>So, yeah. The other event was the exploration of Grid Layouts. It was also a Hallway Hangout. And Isabel Brison, also a regular co-host here on our show, gave a great demonstration on how to handle blocks with Grid Layout or the other way around, how to work with a Grid Block, which is a subset of the Group Block. And she showed off the 6.6 features, but also what she&#8217;s working on for 6.7 in an experiment. So that&#8217;s also something, if you are keen to learn more about Grid Layout and what you can do with it, definitely watch that recording.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. People already starting to work on 6.7. It&#8217;s like, wow, so fast.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. So once decided when the Beta 1 is of major release, then it was also decided which Gutenberg Plugin version will make it from the new feature point of view. So the week the Beta 1 is released, that&#8217;s the week where the Gutenberg Plugin released, and that&#8217;s the last release with new features.</p>



<p>So Beta 1 was on June 4th and the release candidate for 18.5 was already out. So those features made it into the major 6.6. And everything else afterwards, 18.6 and 18.7hat we&#8217;re going to talk to now, are either bug fixes and they will be ported to the release on WordPress but all the new features that add UI, that are enhancement to existing things, stay in the plugin.</p>



<p>And Isabel Brison, and I think Robert Anderson, they were working on the Grid Layout, they actually started that experiment way earlier, but they were not ready to make it public. So if you want to test out what she showed off in the Hallway Hangout, you need to enable that experiment on the experiment page in Gutenberg before you can actually see that feature.</p>



<p>So there&#8217;s multiple levels of how you learn about new things. And if you want to get in early, the experiment page on the Gutenberg Plugin gives you a clue what people are actually working on. Some of them are pushed forward like the data views or the Grid Layout, and some of them are a little bit stale because there hasn&#8217;t been enough feedback to move forward with a lot of things.</p>



<p>Going back to the announcements or to the upcoming events, there&#8217;s also in the show notes a link to the recording of the developer hours, what&#8217;s new for theme developers in WordPress 6.6, where Nick Diego and Justin Tadlock were talking about all the good things that are coming, especially the overrides to sync patterns and also grid, but also most prominently the section styles, that&#8217;s it, block styles, and how that works with the reduced specificities for custom CSS.</p>



<p>So you can override. Well, how you can override some custom styles and block style. It&#8217;s a little bit highly technical, and if you&#8217;re not into that, the last part might be a little bit too technical, but it&#8217;s definitely worth checking out.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And then there&#8217;s a set of upcoming events in July on Monday, you might not have listened to that, next week, July 8th there&#8217;s a Hallway Hangout where Justin Tadlock and Nick Diego are talking about the section styles and block style variations, want to discuss with the extenders what are the challenges and what are the problems or questions. Bring them all to the Hallway Hangout. That&#8217;s on July 8th, 1600 UTC.</p>



<p>Then on July 9th, there&#8217;s a Developer Hour, Editor, Unification and Extensibility in WordPress 6.6. That&#8217;s with Ryan Welcher and Nick Diego. And they talk about how the slot fields and all the other extensibility works now for post editor, site editor, template editor. They&#8217;re all now one interface or almost, in how you can take advantage of it. And the additional ways to add your own interfaces to the sidebar.</p>



<p>Then July 23rd at 1500 UTC is another Developer Hours, and that covers that topic, do you really need a Custom Block? And it explores the alternative, and it was one of the things that early on, but more and more you have already built in ways to modify core blocks without having to create your own blocks. So be based on the core blocks. And with pattern overrides, there&#8217;s another feature there where you can say, okay, maybe I don&#8217;t need my Custom Block. And the other part is the Block Bindings.</p>



<p>So for custom fields, that you don&#8217;t need a block for each custom field, your customer needs. So you could actually use the Block Bindings for that and bind those information or the values to certain core blocks. It&#8217;s not available for all the blocks, but it&#8217;s 6.6. Block Bindings came with 6.5 and all extended, especially the editing part in the interface for 6.6. All right.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Training Team</h3>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And speaking of events, so currently the training team is, we are trying to test GatherPress. So it&#8217;s like an event management application and it&#8217;s open source. So we are thinking, why not? We&#8217;re trying to move through this platform, we are looking for a tool that can help us to improve the flow management of our Learn WordPress online workshops, for the scheduling stuff.</p>



<p>And we hope that by testing it, we can try to meet the diverse needs of even organizers and members of the WordPress community in general. And it&#8217;s not just training team members who can test it. Everyone basically can test it. And I will put the invitation to test it in the show notes. And the main areas that we follow will be including its ease of use and then the registering process, and then the editing attendance feature, and basically any other stuff that stands out.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> That&#8217;s great. Thank you so much for bringing that to the show. I totally dig it. And I remember having conversations about replacing Meetup as the tool for the local Meetups with multi-site, for all the 700 local Meetups when I was a Meetup organizer in &#8217;16 and &#8217;17, so this is great that it comes together now.</p>



<p>Recently, the GatherPress Plugin is also now available in WordPress Plugin Repo, so you can also test it on one of your other sites. You don&#8217;t have to use it for WordPress events. But yeah, I&#8217;m going to look at the invite. So that is really cool. When I look at the plugin page, it has blocks for everything and it has for RSVP, add to calendar, the online event, event date, menu and all that. So this is really great. And maybe could even be used for other events, not just WordPress events.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And I myself haven&#8217;t tested as well, so sharing this also became a reminder for me to test it. Because it&#8217;s really great to have this alternative.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Absolutely. Oh, and speaking of the training team, there are three courses that came out in the last couple of months. One is the beginner WordPress user. So if you start out as a WordPress content creator and/or site owner, this is definitely a course to go through because it explains some of the WordPressy things that are a little bit harder to know. It&#8217;s like your driver&#8217;s license course for WordPress. Sometimes we just need a refresher as well. And I just realized that there&#8217;s also an Immediate WordPress User course out there. So I think it just went online. And for those who are….</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;s very new.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. Have you worked on those?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Actually, these three stuff like Beginner WordPress User and then Beginner WordPress Developer, and then Intermediate WordPress Developer. WordPress user, sorry, they&#8217;re all part of the Learning Pathway Project. So lately we try to create learning pathway. Because sometimes people get into learn.wordpress.org and became like, oh my God, there&#8217;s so much stuff to learn. Where do I start?</p>



<p>So we&#8217;re thinking maybe it will help if we can have separate learning pathways, for example, for people who don&#8217;t have enough technical background, they can start by the Beginner WordPress User. As you already said, it&#8217;s like the driving license for WordPress. It&#8217;s a really nice way to put it. It&#8217;s when you want to really learn from the basics. And then we have Beginner WordPress Developer. It&#8217;s for those who want to start developing for WordPress.</p>



<p>And then we have Intermediate WordPress User. So it&#8217;s for people who already have basic fundamental knowledge and then they want to level up their use of WordPress. Maybe for content creation, they want to make it more effective, and then they want to explore the advanced features. So this is what everyone can learn from this.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. No, really, and I know there&#8217;s a lot of work that goes into that, especially because WordPress changes so much in the recent year. What I also like is that the single lessons are actually available separately. You don&#8217;t have to go through the course or finish one lesson to go to the next. You can just look at the list of the course and then pick the lessons where you want to expand your knowledge. Or when you say, okay, I need to dive deeper in that topic, and hopefully the lesson covers that.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s a really good way also for people who actually build sites for others, to say, okay, if you want to learn that, why don&#8217;t you go to that lesson, instead of having to do that training themselves. Although it builds trust, sometimes it can be a bandwidth. You don&#8217;t have the bandwidth as a freelance developer or as a small agency to do all the training. And having an official site where you can point people to for certain explanations or for certain tools, on how to use them, is definitely a feature also very well-built for agencies that are out there and working with clients. You are pretty much the first line of support. So that definitely gives you support in supporting. I like that.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Support in supporting.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. So check out the <a href="http://learn.wordpress.org">learn.wordpress.org</a> site and the three courses we will have in the show notes for you. And of course, yeah, the Beginner WordPress Developer course covers all the things that you might need to at least get started. Because there&#8217;s a lot of tutorials out there that assume a certain knowledge of certain things.</p>



<p>And I know because I work with the writers on the developer blog on the WordPress Developer Blog, and some of it is kind of how can we get to the meat of that particular tutorial without having to explain about everything WordPress.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Everything.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So now we can point to the WordPress Developer lessons and say, okay, here you can beef up thinking about this or this and that. So it&#8217;s great fundamental work that the training team is doing there.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. And we try to facilitate the many ways people might prefer to learn. Some people prefer to learn audio/visually, some people prefer to just read it, because they can do it anytime and anywhere, and also for the accessibility reasons.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Excellent. Yeah, definitely. That was the section about the training team. Well done on the training team and everybody else out there.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What’s Released &#8211; Create Block Theme Plugin<strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></h3>



<p>So that brings us to the section, what&#8217;s released. And before we dive into WordPress 6.6 some more, I just wanted to give a shout-out to the latest release of the Create Block Theme Plugin. It has become my most favorite plugin that I actually use. And the team working on has released version 2.3 with a few more capabilities.</p>



<p>And now you can add image credits to the theme modal. So there&#8217;s a theme modal where you can put all the information about a theme that you create in there. And there&#8217;s now also a section for the image credits if you use somebody else&#8217;s images in there that are not commonly licensed or public domain. So you can add this to it.</p>



<p>External links are now translatable. So the translation team, whoever and polyglots wants to translate a theme can do that. There is a new About section in the editor that helps you with what the various pieces are about. And the landing page in the plugin has been majorly improved from the design, and it now looks a little bit more like that plugin is. And then now the font settings. When you clone a theme, the font settings actually persist over the cloning part. So what the original theme is doing you can do. The clone theme is also respecting that.</p>



<p>And then there were quite a few bug fixes and all that. But it&#8217;s so great how this plugin actually evolves throughout the times and goes along with the WordPress features. I think that they&#8217;re working now on some pattern management, but they need to wait for the core to finish developing. Sometimes the heart of the matter, if you want to create, you can create patterns in the interface, but you need to export them separately and not with the theme. So that&#8217;s kind of a major stepping stone.</p>



<p>And then the styles and section styles, they haven&#8217;t implemented that yet. But it&#8217;s coming along and stay tuned.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">WordPress 6.6</h3>



<p>So for WordPress 6.6, release candidate two is now available for testing. Today, we are recording this on July 4th, thinking July 4th to our American listeners. Happy Independence Day. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And enjoy the summer coming in. But no rest for the wicked. WordPress 6.6 is scheduled to come out July 16th. That&#8217;s 12 days away. And there is with the release candidate one, also the Source of Truth came out, a compendium, it&#8217;s a book about that, WordPress 6.6. Compiled or composed, edited, authored by and&#8230;</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Curated.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Curated By Anne McCarthy. It&#8217;s all you want to ever learn about 6.6 in any detail, about every feature. It might not interest everyone. But you can actually&#8230; She tags each feature for the intended user, like this is the theme author, plugin author, end user or enterprise level or for everybody. So you can actually use the browser, find function for the tag theme author, and then go just hop from one occurrence to the next and read it that way. That&#8217;s how I do it.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> If you need a shorter version, Jamie Marsland summarized the most important feature in this video and calls it WordPress 6.6, huge changes coming soon.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> As a content writer, I am so thankful that Anne McCarthy always creates this source of truth every time there&#8217;s a major release. So it became our source of truth, literally, to write anything about WordPress.</p>



<p>So it&#8217;s also interesting that today&#8217;s marketing team, from the make teams shifting to Media Corps. Because it&#8217;s expanding the possibilities for the Source of Truth. Now that we are going to have that one place, one central to getting everything about WordPress and being updated on it. So it&#8217;ll be really helpful for content creators especially.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah, it&#8217;s actually meant for content creators. It&#8217;s not so much for end-users, because that also can be quite technical. So Jamie Marsland, in his video, points out pattern overrides, the grid layout, and we all talked about the negative margins, the custom shadows, and as well as the data views.</p>



<p>And there were actually for the developers additional def notes since the last episode were published, and one was the updates to the interactivity API, miscellaneous editor changes. These are smaller changes, but still don&#8217;t overlook them. A definite about section and styles, is definite about the CSS specificity. That&#8217;s a very difficult word for me.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Me, too. It&#8217;s a tongue-twister.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And it reflects how hard it is to talk about that as well.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, yeah. 6.6 specificity.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Specificity.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So many S.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And then there&#8217;s a roster of the design tools per block that&#8217;s just a table of lists, all the blocks, and then which design tool, line, typography, color, dimensions, background image, gradient, yay, duotone, which block does what. And then there&#8217;s another dev notes about the theme JSON version three that also covers the style variations or the section style variations, how you can manage them through theme JSON.</p>



<p>Maya, from all the small and big features, what intrigues you as a content creator the most?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I actually want to say the zoom out view, but sadly, based on the 6.6 Source of Truth, it&#8217;ll be available on a future release. But I was like, if it&#8217;s finally available, it&#8217;ll be a game changer, because I can&#8230; Instead of cut and then move it to somewhere else by scrolling up or down my mouse and put it on the wrong part of the website, being able to zoom it out will be, oh my God, it will be&#8230; What is it in English? Sorry. It&#8217;ll be really time-saving.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I can definitely see that. Because we are so focused on the block or on the section kind of thing that sometimes you need a full view of a page. And the zoom out view is&#8230; We are looking at things sometimes only for the block section and what&#8217;s in front of us, but the zoom out view gives you actually a view of the full page and how everything fits together.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s very important when you look at template previews or on pattern previews or even on when you go through the categories of patterns and then you see the pattern, how would that fit in into your full page kind of thing? Yeah. But if I understood it correctly, it wasn&#8217;t all that seamless to use. It was always a little bit of a surprise when it happened that the team still wanted to&#8230; And nothing is hated more than a surprise by an end user. What did I do?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Did I do something wrong?</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. That&#8217;s the first question I always ask. What did I do? And how did that happen? So they wanted to finesse that a little bit more and make that usage a bit more intuitive. So apart from what&#8217;s not in 6.6.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> What else?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I think it&#8217;s the unified editor experience. It just makes sense to me to have the featured image position way higher than before, because before it&#8217;s down there. Now it&#8217;s way up there. Because when we create a blog post after finishing the text, the first thing that comes to mind is what feature image we will put there to represent the blog post.</p>



<p>Because having a proper and featured image is also important for the SEO and for branding, especially if we name the featured image with the keyword that we target, it&#8217;ll boost the SEO performance as well. And I like how the publish flow looks more compact and less distracting. Because some stuff gets inside when we click something and&#8230;</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> The three-dot menu.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes. It can be also less intimidating for newbies because there&#8217;s not so much stuff right there. And then I&#8217;m also interested in the pattern overrides, because it will be so handy and time-saving. And also help create a cohesive design across the site, especially for no-code or no designer, non-designer users, and then also the negative margins because it unlocks the design possibilities for us who don&#8217;t really design in our daily lives. So yeah, it will look really cool, I think.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, absolutely. And I like the combination between the grid block and the custom shadows. And then now you can have some overlap of images and text, and you don&#8217;t have to use a cover block to have that because it&#8217;s hard to organize that. Yeah,</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>It&#8217;ll be so fun to play with.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Yeah. Great tools in there for designers that are no-coders. Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of cool. Yeah. I&#8217;m a total fan of the pattern enhancement that comes with 6.6. It&#8217;s not only the set pattern overrides that were punted from 6.5, I like the additional time, which really helped with the feature to bring it in. Because now you see it in the sidebar which content you can override and how they&#8217;re called.</p>



<p>And to create this, you can actually guide your users, which piece of the pattern you can override. So there&#8217;s a sidebar on that, when the pattern comes in you really see it. And there&#8217;s also the full pattern management, is made available for sites that use a classic theme. So they get a menu item in the WP admin and also all the pattern management screens. So that&#8217;s a big deal for the classic themes because they still dominate the space of course.</p>



<p>Not everybody changes themes every two years, but users can take advantage of the broader template part and pattern management. And theme developers can also make those available for their users. So I&#8217;m really happy about that. Yeah, we talked about the grid layouts. I&#8217;m absolutely a fan of that. And because you can have so much more design, although I want to do something like a Pied Mondrian kind of style, and I am….</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani</em>: Oh, yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Looking forward to doing that. And now you can also create your own drop shadows and you don&#8217;t need a theme developer or a developer for it or wait for core. You can create your own drop shadows with the color, how they lean, what&#8217;s the angle and what&#8217;s the distance from the thing. It&#8217;s not available for all blocks. But I think it&#8217;s still only for four blocks, but it&#8217;s definitely changed for the content creators to make some interesting things.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yep, yep.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And one thing I really like is that it&#8217;s finally coming to WordPress, and that is, to use….</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>What is that?</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: The tab button to indent list items?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, yeah, yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Every time.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani</em>: Yeah, I forget about that too. It&#8217;ll be really nice too.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And because it trips me up every time I know I&#8217;m going to use it very much. I have not learned to work around it. Why can&#8217;t I do this? So I try it every time I use a list that needs to have multiple hierarchies. So I&#8217;m really happy about that. Thank you.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Finally.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>The time that I don&#8217;t spend in WordPress, I spend in Google Docs. So some things from Google Docs. What drives me crazy in Google Docs is that I can&#8217;t just highlight something and put a link underneath with copy paste. That kind of trips me up in Google. And I was like, Google, get on with it. And GitHub can do it, WordPress can do it, you can do it too. And this was the other way around. Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of what Google does nicely and WordPress does.</p>



<p>We talked a little bit on the podcast already about the new screens coming, called the data views. And those are the admin screens, that insight editor to manage pattern pages, styles, navigation and templates. And as they are tested for more admin redesigns to come. And yeah, I&#8217;m really excited about that because it kind of gives you a little view into the future, and also lets you already use it and see how that works well for you.</p>



<p>I know for 6.7, they&#8217;re looking at making those available for the media library and also for the post because those two things on the content side, they still use the old WP admin for various reasons. Most of it because of the extensibility that needs to be built in, because a lot of plugins kind of tap into these screens right now.</p>



<p>But the 6.7 is probably going to have at least some first versions of that in that. If you&#8217;re a plugin developer, you might want to check out theWordPress&nbsp; component package data views. And there&#8217;s also one that contributors are working on, it&#8217;s called data forms, maybe to make them work for your plugins or at least test them out, and what it would bring for you later on in a year or so.</p>



<p>And then of course, the last feature that I am really happy about is the extensions of the Block Bindings, they were a big deal in 6.5, but the enhancements that coming in 6.6 is even more useful for site owners and site content creators, because WordPress now offers various ways where you can update the custom fields through the Block Binding screen.</p>



<p>So the meta boxes that are on bottom of your screen are not the best interface. They also don&#8217;t have any validation and all that, but you can now change it right in the block. So if you have a typo of inner value for the meta, thinking of a book, if you have a typo in the author. Or you can change the author right there in the block, as well as if that&#8217;s in the archive, you can use those Block Bindings also in the archive pages through your templates, but users can then change, oh, this is a wrong date, or this is a wrong location. They can change it right there in the archive pages in the editor.</p>



<p>So it&#8217;s kind of nice to have that now built into the Block Editor, what before you actually needed custom blocks for it or you needed ACF for it or parts or something like that. But now you can just have the custom fields connected with blocks still in the early stages of course, but it&#8217;s not complicated fields or complicated connections. But it&#8217;s a start and it might make….</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>We&#8217;re getting there.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;s getting there. And it might make quite a set of custom blocks redundant if you could use those for that. And you don&#8217;t have to maintain the code for that. Yeah, that&#8217;s what I think about 6.6. What I like and what&#8230; I am really looking forward to it.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s less than two weeks from now, I think.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> 12 days from today.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 12 days.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So this comes out on Sunday, and you have only 10 days once you listen to that.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 10 days.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Or maybe today, Thursday. Well, it comes out on Sunday, so you only have eight days.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Gutenberg 18.7</h3>



<p>But that was not the only thing that was released today or this week. The WordPress 6.6 release candidate two, it was Gutenberg 18.7. Total of 115 PRs were merged in Gutenberg 18.7 with seven first time contributors. Yay.</p>



<p>I was going to look at that and hope they contribute not only their first contribution, but also because now they&#8217;ve got the process right that there will be many, many more contributions from those users.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Of course, of many contributions after this.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right, right. Yeah. And with WordPress 6.6 at our doorstep, many contributions are focused on bug fixes. So there&#8217;s not a whole lot of new features in there, but what we are talking about, some of them are really&#8230; We will find in 6.7, but let&#8217;s talk about them.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Enhancements</h3>



<p>So there is now a content panel for template parts, and that is good because now developers, and when you create templates in the editor, you can add a description and that shows up in the content area for that template. So you can make your theme a little bit more descriptive. Then the next one is, we talked about the published workflow, right?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Mm-hmm. Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And there is the Sticky Toggle, which is something that means the sticky post.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yes.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> That is&#8230;</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s now under&#8230; It will be under&#8230; Wait, I forget.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Those three dots.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, it&#8217;ll be under the status and visibility. And I think that will be great because it makes it more clear what sticky means, especially for non-English speakers and beginners. Because I remember the first time I learned using WordPress, I was confused what does this sticky mean? Because I was trying to make my first blog post and then I tried this sticky feature and nothing happened. Of course, because my post is only one. So I cannot see what this feature actually does. So by moving it under status and visibility, I think it makes it more intuitive. Because by that we know that, oh, this sticky might be related to the visibility. Oh, it&#8217;ll stick to somewhere in the website.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I think you&#8217;re right. And it&#8217;s also not the first&#8230; The first few blog posts you probably wouldn&#8217;t need to know about Sticky Post to get that into your feature set that you would need. So why is it there? Yeah, you&#8217;re totally right. Yeah. What they also did in 18.7, why am I still two years, in 16?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Numbers are also hard.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, numbers are hard, especially for writers. But I&#8217;m actually a number person, so&#8230;</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Ahh. Yeah, yeah. Number person and alphabet person.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> I used to say, so it&#8217;s a real miracle what word people do with numbers. Because I looked at budgets from word people that didn&#8217;t work out. But off my tangents now. So one feature that comes with 18.7 is the alignment of the naming models. So we are renaming and naming quite a few things. One is we renamed the sections in the pattern overrides. We renamed template parts, we renamed posts and pages, titles, and all these models, they looked a little bit differently every time. So they are now aligned and use the same design.</p>



<p>So it makes it less of a friction, because every time you see something different, you think there might be something different, but there isn&#8217;t. So that&#8217;s really good for quality of life improvement on that. So we haven&#8217;t talked a lot about the writing mode support for blogs. What is that? That is&#8230; Do you know what that is? Have you ever used it?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> I tried it, but not really applied it to my daily process. But I think it opened more design possibilities. Because we can make any other element to be vertical or there are so many possibilities that we can do with the layout and then with the message that we want to share to the world.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so you could pretty much say in the fonts you see in the three dot menu in your font, typography, things you see, vertical alignment or orientation, is I think what you see. Font orientation.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Oh, yeah, orientation.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So you can then say, okay, I want this headline to be vertically aligned with the paragraph that it kind of comes after. So it actually will be on the left-hand side instead of on top of it, but it is vertically aligned. And yeah, as you said, it&#8217;s a nice design tool to break up the wall of text, I call it.</p>



<p>So when you use headers and list items and all that, they need to be visually attractive at one point, so you can end this PR or with 18.7, the feature of the vertical alignment comes to other blocks. The writing mode support is now also available for buttons and verse and side tagline blocks and side title blocks. Not just for headings and paragraphs. There&#8217;s a theme JSON settings in there, and you can also kind of see it then in your style blocks. So I think that&#8217;s a great feature to have, that is added to a few more blocks.</p>



<p>So wonderful. Another tool, it&#8217;s not a tool, but what has changed, and you will see it in 6.6, is that with the entity that you&#8217;re editing. So what do I mean by that? Is it a pattern or is it a block or is it a template? And now you get a document bar on top of the screen that actually tells you where you are. And that document bar is now also available in 18.7 Gutenberg with the style book and the style revisions. So it&#8217;s one more piece of getting the orientation right for a content creator. So what am I actually doing? And I liked it for templates and for pages. So am I in template mode or am I in page editing mode, which is kind of a little different.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah, I checked the GitHub issue and still cannot really comprehend what we will get from this feature? But then you just explained about it. It makes me, oh, yeah, yeah, I will&#8230; looking forward to this. That&#8217;s why even though I&#8217;m not really a technical person, I&#8217;m still keeping notes and updating myself of all these updates. Because, oh, this one, I might need this. And just taking notes of everything.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. And the last one, it&#8217;s also a very small thing, but it&#8217;s really improved the quality of life of these new features. And I&#8217;m sad it&#8217;s not going to come to 6.6. Not that I&#8230; Because it&#8217;s the tool top to hover over the color and to typography presets. So if your theme has, or if you&#8217;re a theme developer and you create color and typography presets for your theme, then the user can hover and identify that color palette or what typography, what&#8217;s the font like or what do you call those fonts. And you can then point people to it in your documentation and say, well look at that. Well look at this. And the Tooltip helps you identify really the things that are on screen. All right. Do you want to add something to the Tooltip?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah, I just want to say that this will be very handy for working with teams because you don&#8217;t have to pick that one that is the third one from the top. You can just say the name of, what is it? The color presets. The color palette. So yeah.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bug Fixes</h3>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah. No, you&#8217;re right. Yeah, it&#8217;s really hard to organize it. So we mentioned quite a few bug fixes in there. And there is one in there that we are talking about, that&#8217;s the writing flows, split the heading into a default block. You can split a block and then it&#8217;s still going to be a heading.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. Because sometimes when we enter in the middle of the heading and then it creates another H1, let&#8217;s say. It just didn&#8217;t make sense to have&#8230; Why do we want to have two heading one in a row? So yeah, it just makes sense to have when we enter, it automatically becomes a normal text like that.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, a normal paragraph block. Or when you get carried away with writing a headline and say, ah, no, I want to break it and do that as a subheading. Yeah. Yeah. So that&#8217;s a very good fix. You can also now, it fixes the custom color palette. Because that was always a little bit hard to use when you wanted to create new ones.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. I also found this one really useful because sometimes, especially for brands, some brands have that very specific color and by being able to create the custom color palette, it will help us to have a website in our signature color.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Right. Yeah. And this fix actually makes that workflow much smoother and you don&#8217;t have to fiddle around with it too much. And the next one is that for the grid, we talked about the experiment, about the grid interactivity, and it now allows blocks to be positioned in manual mode using drag and drop.</p>



<p>So the handing of grid and grid cells is going to be much easier. And even in the manual mode you can use drag and drop to place your blocks on the grid. There were two things that I want to&#8230; There are quite a few documentation PRs that fix or add to the documentation, which is always appreciated.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Documentation</h3>



<p>The interactivity API docs now have an addition of the WP-async directive documented. It&#8217;s for the developers when they go out and grab some data from somewhere and how to push that into the website. And then for the Query Loop Block, it clarifies some explanation about the variation examples that are in core, so developers can handle them. And I think that was it, what we have for Gutenberg&#8217;s 18.7. Yes, we are almost through.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What’s in Active Development or Discussed</h3>



<p>We have one section for the&#8230; What&#8217;s in active development or discussed, and I just wanted to let you know that the GitHub repo for the next default theme can&#8217;t….</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Twenty Twenty Five.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Very good. We did not plan this.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Yeah.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And I connected with Carolina Nymark who created the repo, and she just said that it&#8217;s pretty much right now just to put the placeholders in. Because the release team for 6.7 hasn&#8217;t been announced yet. And the default theme Co leads, will be part of the release team. So we need to wait for that. But if you have any input or any ideas for Twenty Twenty Five, you can definitely create issues there and start and raise your hand if you want to contribute however you want.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> The Twenty Twenty Five will be part of the last release of this year.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Which is WordPress 6.7.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> 6.7. Oh, yes.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yes. Yeah, it&#8217;s the next release and it will come out in November. But I think the release date is before Thanksgiving, so it&#8217;s November 12th. So it&#8217;s way before Black Friday and all the holidays are going to start. At least in America, between Thanksgiving and New Year, nobody really, everybody shops and not a whole lot of people work.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Yeah. It&#8217;s time for&#8230; Have fun.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, it&#8217;s time to have fun, but also to keep websites stable so the online shopping spray is not interrupted. And because that&#8217;s where most people make the year&#8217;s revenue.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Gift giving time.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> It&#8217;s giving time, it&#8217;s buying time. It&#8217;s Black Friday time, it&#8217;s Cyber Monday time. It&#8217;s all the discounts that come around for that. Yes. Yeah. So I&#8217;m so happy that you were on my show, Maya. Or on our show.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Me, too.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> And it&#8217;s always wonderful to chat with you about WordPress and all the things content creators do with it. So when people want to connect with you, where would they find you?</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So you can find me on wordpress.org, of course. And then I have LinkedIn as well, and Twitter and Instagram. But lately I&#8217;ve been taking social media time off.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Okay.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> So if anyone wants to get in touch with me, I think wordpress.org. And maybe if you want to read anything related to me, so in training team, we recently developed&#8230; We have a new initiative, so it&#8217;s Contributor Spotlight. So we celebrate the journey of training team contributors. It&#8217;s initiated by Courtney Paulo-Kranzke or Courtney PK, we call her. It started this January, I think. And yeah, you can all read it on the training team made WordPress Blog.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Oh, wonderful, wonderful. I&#8217;m going to put a link in the show notes to that profile.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Thank you.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, thank you for that initiative. It&#8217;s always good to read the stories, contributor stories. And I will add your LinkedIn and your WordPress Slack profile or WordPress Slack account as well to the show so you can all follow up with Maya.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Thank you so much.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> You&#8217;re welcome. As long as the show notes ,dear listeners, will be published on gutenbergtimes.com for WordPress Podcast. This is episode 103. And if you have questions or suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>, that&#8217;s <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. Or just ping me on Twitter like many people do. And if you enjoy the show, please, please leave a review on Apple or Stitcher or whatever your favorite podcast directory is, so other people can find it too. Again, thanks to Maya and thanks for listening, and goodbye.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani: </em>Thanks to Birgit as well.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Well, thank you.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> It&#8217;s always an honor.</p>



<p><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Thank you. And a great pleasure for me. All right, this is the outro. Listen to it and I&#8217;ll see you in two weeks or talk to you in two weeks. Bye-Bye.</p>



<p><em>Nadia Maya Ardiani:</em> Bye.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sun, 07 Jul 2024 08:59:49 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:98:"Gutenberg Times: Grid Layouts, curate the Editor experience, WordPress 6.6 — Weekend Edition 298";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:35:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=29127";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:103:"https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:19927:"<p>Hi there, </p>



<p>It was a fairly normal WordPress week, apart from the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/plugins/2024/06/29/password-reset-required-for-plugin-authors/">general password reset for all plugin committers</a> on the repository. That was highly unusual. </p>



<p>The release of WordPress 6.6 is moving along right on schedule.  <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2024/07/wordpress-6-6-rc2/">Release candidate 2</a> is out. The video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_UJQ0369c">Watch the Build: How WordPress Release Pages are Created in the Site Editor</a> allows you a look behind the scene of this part of the release process. </p>



<p>Gutenberg 18.7 was also released. Together with my friend Maya, I recorded  a Gutenberg changelog episode again, number 103. I just can&#8217;t get my head around that we already recorded over 100 shows. We also added new music.</p>



<p>This Weekend Edition has quite a few videos linked on what&#8217;s coming in WordPress 6.6, on Grid layouts, and Interactivity API. Something for everyone. To learn about new features and grasp their impact, it&#8217;s much easier to see them demo&#8217;ed in a video setting or screen share than just learn about it via a blog post or a podcast. </p>



<p>Wishing you a fabulous weekend! </p>



<p>Yours, 💕<br /><em>Birgit</em></p>


<div width="100%" class="wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block">
<p><em>PS: Thank you to <a href="https://x.com/chris_c">Chris Clarke</a> for sharing his <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/554667b23a/">Hong Kong Harbor photo</a> on WordPress Photo directory. </em></p>
</div>


<p></p>



<div class="wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">
<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>



<ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</a><ol><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#upcoming-events">Upcoming events</a></li></ol></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</a></li><li><a class="wp-block-table-of-contents__entry" href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/grid-layouts-curate-the-editor-experience-wordpress-6-6-weekend-edition-298/#3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </a></li></ol>
</div></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="0-word-press-release-information">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>



<p>First time release lead, <a href="https://x.com/kevin940726"><strong>Kai Hao</strong></a>, published Gutenberg plugin version 18.7 and highlighted in his release post <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-18-7-03-july/"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 18.7? (03 July)</strong></a>, the feature of moving grid items around via drag and drop in manual mode, and new content panels for template parts, allowing developers and users to add descriptions to those sections.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Nadia Maya Ardiani</strong> and I reviewed the latest Gutenberg version for our <strong>Gutenberg Changelog episode 103</strong>. We also discussed the latest learning path courses by the training team, upcoming events and WordPress 6.6. The episode will be published over the weekend and arrive shortly after at your favorite podcast app. It was lovely to chat with my friend, Maya from Indonesia again.</p>



<a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast"><img width="652" height="185" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-04-at-17.07.21.png?resize=652%2C185&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29190" /></a>



<p class="has-accent-color has-light-background-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-d93781e1cc752a3c931d2fecfcf49569">🎙️ Latest episode: <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-104-block-themes-gutenberg-18-8/">Gutenberg Changelog #104 – Block Themes, Gutenberg 18.8, WordPress 6.6</a> with special guest Carolina Nymark</p>



<p><strong>Tammie Lister</strong> <a href="https://x.com/karmatosed/status/1808098791708315820">wrote on X </a>(former Twitter): &#8220;Being sponsored to work on the WordPress default theme task force has been one of the most rewarding contribution areas for me in a while. I wrote a post about what has gone on so far. Thank you to everyone who supported me and collaborated.&#8221; You can read more about the project on her <strong><a href="https://binatethoughts.com/update-on-default-theme-focus/">Update on default theme focus</a>.</strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>The work on the default theme <strong><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfive">Twenty Twenty-Five</a> </strong>has begun with a fresh GitHub Repo. There isn&#8217;t much information available yet. After checking in with <strong>Caroline Nymark</strong>, who created the repo, I learned that the release squad for WordPress 6.7 hasn&#8217;t been announced; the repo is more a placeholder until the new theme leads are picked.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="upcoming-events">Upcoming events</h3>



<p><strong>July 8th, 2024 at 16:00 UTC &nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/hallway-hangout-section-styles-and-other-block-style-variation-updates/">Hallway Hangout: Section styles and other block style variation updates</a></strong>&nbsp;with Justin Tadlock and others: &#8220;At a technical level, the expanded tool set does not add too many new concepts to learn. However, in practice, working with these updates can present challenges and may even have you rethinking your approach to theme design.&#8221; says the description. </p>



<p><em>As already mentioned in <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/796-block-themes-games-a-changing-for-custom-fields-more-dev-notes-weekend-edition-297/#upcoming">Weekend Edition 297</a></em></p>



<p><strong>July 9th, 2024, 15:00 UTC </strong>–&nbsp;<strong>Developer Hours</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301834541/"><strong>Editor unification and extensibility in WordPress 6.6</strong></a>.</p>



<p><strong>July 23, 2024</strong>, at 15:00 UTC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meetup.com/learn-wordpress-online-workshops/events/301860423/"><strong>Developer Hours: Do you really need a custom block? Let’s explore alternatives.</strong></a>&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="0-p">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>



<p><strong>Isabel Brison</strong> showed us in a Hallway Hangout how to work with the Grid block and what will be in WordPress 6.6. After answering questions, Brison also showed us what she is working on in a Gutenberg Experiment. Learn more via the post <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/"><strong>Recap Hallway Hangout: Exploring Grid Layouts</strong></a>. </p>



<p>You can also try things out via this <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wordpress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/grid-variations/blueprint.json">Playground instance</a>. The experiment is already enabled. </p>



<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>Find summary, transcript shared resources via the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/07/01/recap-hallway-hangout-exploring-grid-layouts/">Recap post</a>



<p><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> published videos on YouTube around WordPress 6.6. for content creators and site builders.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdh1hKAuXSQ">Negative Margins, Grid Block, &amp; Custom Shadows</a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zidqPCJhze8">The power of a shared publishing flow &amp; unified extensibility APIs</a> </li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvEhnjbdyM">Bringing a Modern Patterns Experience to Classic Themes</a></li>
</ul>


<div width="100%" class="wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div>
</div>
</div>


<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Bud Kraus</strong> selected for you the <a href="https://www.hostinger.com/blog/wordpress-6-6-preview"><strong>6 Hot Changes Coming to WordPress 6.6</strong></a> on the Hostinger Blog. He highlights Pattern overrides, the Grid block, Sections Styles, Data views, Pattern management for classic themes and negative margins. Kraus provides screenshots and instructions on how to use the features. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>You might have waited for the video of WordCamp Europe&#8217;s edition of the Speed Build Challenge live on stage. <strong>Jamie Marsland</strong> published the actual Speed Build challenge and cut in from the Matt&#8217;s Summer Update and the Q &amp; A after. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVW4vdBdtuk&t=116s"><strong>Epic Showdown: Who will win WordCamp Europe&#8217;s First-Ever WordPress Speed Build?</strong></a> with Jessica Lyschik and Rich Tabor.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Stephanie Pi</strong> just announced <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/18/woocommerce-9-0-our-most-accessible-checkout-and-much-more/"><strong>WooCommerce 9.0: Our most accessible checkout and much more</strong></a>. It comes with an improved check-out experience, the next iteration of Product blocks, new REST-API endpoints for the refunds and much more.  Actually, <a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/20/woocommerce-9-0-1-dot-release/">WooCommerce 9.0.1</a> came out a few days later, fixing what caused a fatal error on installations. </p>



<a href="https://developer.woocommerce.com/2024/06/18/woocommerce-9-0-our-most-accessible-checkout-and-much-more/"><img width="652" height="416" tabindex="0" src="https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image.png?resize=652%2C416&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-29184" /></a>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<p><strong>Carlo Daniele</strong>, blogger at Kinsta, has all the pertinent information about WordPress 6.6 in his post <strong><a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-6-6/">What’s new in WordPress 6.6: Pattern overrides, Block Bindings API, Data Views, new design tools, and much more!</a></strong> You&#8217;ll find short explanations, screenshots, and code examples on how to implement some new features into your projects.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>



<p>One of my favorite plugins lately is the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/"><strong>Create Block Theme</strong></a> plugin. The team working on it just released version 2.3&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Add image credits edit capabilities to the edit theme modal by <a href="https://github.com/matiasbenedetto">@matiasbenedetto</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/662">#662</a></li>



<li>Make external links translatable by <a href="https://github.com/t-hamano">@t-hamano</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/663">#663</a></li>



<li>Add an about section in the editor by <a href="https://github.com/matiasbenedetto">@matiasbenedetto</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/667">#667</a></li>



<li>Landing Page: Improve design by <a href="https://github.com/t-hamano">@t-hamano</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/673">#673</a></li>



<li>Persist font settings when cloning a theme by <a href="https://github.com/mikachan">@mikachan</a> in <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/create-block-theme/pull/678">#678</a></li>
</ul>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2024&#8221;</a>&nbsp;</strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. The previous years are also available: <strong><strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/">2020</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2021/">2021</a></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2022/">2022</a></strong></strong>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2023">2023</a></strong></p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<p><strong>Nick Diego</strong> collected <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/07/04/15-ways-to-curate-the-wordpress-editing-experience/"><strong>15 ways to curate the WordPress editing experience</strong></a> and explained each of them in his latest post for the WordPress Developer Blog. Diego covered all possible ways from disabling parts of the design tools, Block directory or Pattern directory to Openverse. Also, how to unregister core block styles and variations or formatting options for RichText blocks. If you build bespoke themes for client projects, some of this might be quite useful to make the block editor a streamlined experience for the client&#8217;s content creators, and stay true to branding and design requirements.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor. </h2>



<p><a href="https://x.com/perezcarreno"><strong>Armando J. Perez-Carreno</strong></a> had a two-part conversation with <strong>Seth Rubenstein</strong> from the Pew Research Center, on how he and his team use the Interactivity API for their website. Rubenstein demonstrated the use of facets and the Interactivity API in creating dynamic and interactive blocks, as well as the concept of &#8216;atomic&#8217; blocks. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otFjPLOWWsc"></a></p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUXoZQRVJcY">The Interactivity API in Action, a conversation with Seth Rubenstein</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERXUMh1S2ws"></a></li>



<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDkvVTmVSRQ">Interactivity API: Getting Creative with Atomic Blocks</a></li>
</ul>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><a href="https://x.com/olawanle_joel"><strong>Joel Olawanle</strong></a>, technical writer at Kinsta, set out to help developers <a href="https://kinsta.com/blog/react-19-wordpress/"><strong>Preparing for React 19: a guide for WordPress 6.6 users</strong></a>. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p><strong>Magdalena Paciorek</strong> gave a talk on <a href="https://wordpress.tv/2024/07/03/building-custom-post-types-with-blocks/"><strong>Building custom post types with&nbsp;blocks</strong></a> at WordCamp Europe. The recording made it to WordPress TV for your perusal. In this session, she took a look at how to create bespoke WordPress websites that make use of custom post types directly in the site editor. Paciorek also explored how to build templates with blocks and examined different ways to extend the editor, including the use of block filters, block formats, custom block styles, block patterns, inner blocks, block locking, interactivity API, building our own blocks, and more. </p>



		
			<div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <div class="toolbelt-video-wrapper"></div></div>
			
			
		
		


<p><strong><a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review. </p>



<p>Now also available via <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json">WordPress Playground</a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">Email me </a>with your experience</p>



<p><img alt="GitHub all releases" src="https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/bph/gutenberg/total?style=for-the-badge" /></p>



<p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? </em><br /><em>Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href="mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com">them via email</a> or</em><br /><em> send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size">For questions to be answered on the <a href="http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, <br />send them to <a href="mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p>Featured Image: <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/554667b23a/">Hong Kong Harbor</a> photo by <a href="https://x.com/chris_c">Chris Clarke</a>, found in the WordPress Photos space. </p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" />



<p class="has-text-align-left"><strong>Don&#8217;t want to miss the next Weekend Edition? </strong></p>


<form class="wp-block-newsletterglue-form ngl-form ngl-portrait" action="https://gutenbergtimes.com/feed/" method="post"><div class="ngl-form-container"><div class="ngl-form-field"><label class="ngl-form-label" for="ngl_email"><br />Type in your Email address to subscribe.</label><div class="ngl-form-input"><input type="email" class="ngl-form-input-text" name="ngl_email" id="ngl_email" /></div></div><button type="submit" class="ngl-form-button">Subscribe</button><p class="ngl-form-text">We hate spam, too, and won&#8217;t give your email address to anyone <br />except Mailchimp to send out our Weekend Edition</p></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay"><div class="ngl-message-svg-wrap"></div><div class="ngl-message-overlay-text">Thanks for subscribing.</div></div><input type="hidden" name="ngl_list_id" id="ngl_list_id" value="26f81bd8ae" /><input type="hidden" name="ngl_double_optin" id="ngl_double_optin" value="yes" /></form>


<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide" />";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Sat, 06 Jul 2024 04:20:00 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:18:"Birgit Pauli-Haack";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:11:"
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:1:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:75:"HeroPress: An Essay From Japan, Interviews From Italy, Photos From Romania!";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:29:"https://heropress.com/?p=7226";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:189:"https://heropress.com/an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12318:"<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1566614a4ecc542f1.48731483-1024x576.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Colorful sunset at Sugar Beach, Costa Rica." /><div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_5cc667-2b"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>


<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_83e99e-fb alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_ac77f0-9d"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<a href="https://heropress.com/essays/freed-from-the-soil-lab/" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="300" height="300" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2015-WCORL-professional-300x300.jpg" alt="Jesse Petersen" class="kb-img wp-image-755" /></a>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_f0688f-e1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_bbac4c-c5 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">This week&#8217;s banner image is in memory of <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/freed-from-the-soil-lab/">Jesse Petersen</a> who left us on this date in 2017. Godspeed Jesse.</p>
</div></div>

</div></div>


<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_cec507-06"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>


<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_d1d005-3e alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_f7f055-32 inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_fa34bf-0f wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">HeroPress At WordCamp Europe 2024</h2>



<a href="https://europe.wordcamp.org/2024/accessibility-and-inclusivity/"><img width="1024" height="296" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/wceu_updates-1024x296.jpg" alt="WCEU Latest Updates" class="wp-image-6680" /></a>



<p>Well, WordCamp came and went.  We had a wonderful time, and like always met some people I&#8217;ve known for years, but never expected to get to meet in real life.</p>



<p>We did 4 interviews, check out these amazing people:</p>


<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_ef682a-a5 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_86e4c2-f5"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-karolina-vyskocilova/" class="kb-advanced-image-link"><img width="768" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_8348-768x1024.jpg" alt="Karolina pointing at her name on the contributor wall" class="kb-img wp-image-6929" /></a>
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_b49a16-9f"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_181d04-ef wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-karolina-vyskocilova/">Karolína Vyskočilová</a></h3>



<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_5d395a-8d wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Karolina is from Prague and has been active in the WordPress community for many years.  Despite that fact, I had never heard of her, which is one of the main points of these interviews.  Find all the new people!</p>



<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_karolina.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</a></p>




</div></div>

</div></div>

<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_7c50a9-ba alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_1f8bb5-b7"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<img width="1024" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/aida-1024x1024.jpg" alt="Aida Correa-Jackson" class="kb-img wp-image-7089" />
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_677a35-3b"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_6cd39f-8c wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-aida-correa-jackson/">Aida Correa-Jackson</a></h3>



<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_c5c0ec-57 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Aida is from Florida, but grew up in Brooklyn New York. She works hard on Kids Camp, and I won&#8217;t spoil the rest of it for you.</p>



<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_aida.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</a></p>




</div></div>

</div></div>

<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_fbc5c2-04 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_94fcc7-79"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<img width="768" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_5117-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="kb-img wp-image-7229" />
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_8d7f86-12"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_9d47e0-82 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-josephine-rahissa-ngo-nonog-and-herman-ngembu/">Josephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu</a></h3>



<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_c5dbd2-df wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Rahissa and Herman came to Italy from Cameroon and someone suggested they try WordCamp!</p>



<p><a href="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/wceu2024_josephine_herman.mp3">Here&#8217;s the audio from 4.</a></p>



Josephine (Rahissa) Ngo Nonog and Herman Ngembu Interview
</div></div>

</div></div>

<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_87b923-87 alignfull has-theme-palette9-background-color kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-2-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_68abf8-22"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<img width="576" height="1024" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thabo_topher-576x1024.jpg" alt="Thabo Tswana and Topher" class="kb-img wp-image-7194" />
</div></div>



<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_43cf02-5d"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h3 class="kt-adv-heading7226_02c072-53 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/voices-of-wordcamp-europe-thabo-tswana/">Thabo Tswana</a></h3>



<p class="kt-adv-heading7226_e267ab-ab wp-block-kadence-advancedheading">Thabo is from Zimbabwe originally, but since doing an Essay has had the means to move to South Africa!</p>



<p>Here&#8217;s the audio from our talk.</p>




</div></div>

</div></div></div></div>

</div></div>


<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_b7d0f5-fb"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>


<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_019df4-d1 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_295130-1d inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_f693a5-0a wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://heropress.com/">HeroPress.com</a> &#8211; <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/">A welcoming community that embraces authenticity – 本物らしさを受け入れる温かいコミュニティ</a></h2>





<a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/"><img width="600" height="600" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ben-2023-square-extra-small-1-scaled-1.avif" alt="Ben Evans" class="wp-image-7135" /></a>



<p>Ben Evans had a love for teaching that he was able to leverage in the WordPress community when the pandemic hit.</p>



<p><em>I had opportunities to be part of educational projects within Automattic. I coached Japanese support agents, created internal training materials, and developed a new onboarding program for new employees. These experiences rekindled my love for education.</em></p>



<p>Ben&#8217;s essay is <a href="https://heropress.com/essays/a-welcoming-community-that-embraces-authenticity/">available</a> on <a href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress.com</a>.</p>
</div></div>

</div></div>


<div class="wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7226_c424c9-73"><div class="kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center"><hr class="kt-divider" /></div></div>


<div class="kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7226_f839c6-b2 alignnone kt-row-has-bg wp-block-kadence-rowlayout"><div class="kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top kb-theme-content-width">

<div class="wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7226_72e536-04 inner-column-1"><div class="kt-inside-inner-col">
<h2 class="kt-adv-heading7226_2e134d-fe wp-block-kadence-advancedheading"><a href="https://hallwaychats.com">WPPhotos.Info</a></h2>





<img width="200" height="300" src="https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/97066503502793e94.69715830-scaled-1-200x300.jpg" alt="Kid on bike with yellow helmet on gravel, bird-eye view" class="wp-image-7234" />



<p>This week&#8217;s <a href="https://wpphotos.info">WPPhotos Info</a> is called &#8220;<a href="https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/">Yellow helmet from bird-eye view</a>&#8220;.</p>



<p>This photo was taken by&nbsp;<a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/psdtohtmlguru/">Hapiuc Robert</a> on an iPhone 15, wide camera. In the photo is his daughter riding her bike. He used to be a professional photographer and he takes advantage of every opportunity to get a good photograph.</p>



<p>The photo it’s an instant photo, he just takes out the phone, plane it above her and press the shutter button a couple of times.&nbsp;</p>



<p>His taught was that her helmet will look amazing a bird eye view, and it does! The photo was taken around the house on a gravel road.</p>



<p>Read more of the story at WP<a href="https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/">https://wpphotos.info/yellow-helmet-from-bird-eye-view/</a>Photos.info!</p>
</div></div>

</div></div>


<p>The banner at the top of this post is a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/">CC0</a> licensed <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/1566614a4e/">photo</a> by <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/author/pastelito/">Ericka Barboza</a> from the <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.</p>





<p>That&#8217;s it for this week! If you&#8217;d like to get this post in your email every week, <a href="https://heropressnetwork.com/newsletter">make sure you sign up</a>!</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://heropress.com/an-essay-from-japan-interviews-from-italy-photos-from-romania/">An Essay From Japan, Interviews From Italy, Photos From Romania!</a> appeared first on <a href="https://heropress.com">HeroPress</a>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 05 Jul 2024 21:51:47 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:47:"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 14.0.0 Release Candidate";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:32:"https://buddypress.org/?p=334508";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"https://buddypress.org/2024/07/buddypress-14-0-0-release-candidate/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3734:"<p>The first release candidate for BuddyPress 14.0.0 is now available!</p>



<div class="wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background wp-element-button" href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buddypress/buddypress/master/tests/blueprints/14-0-0-RC1.json" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Let&#8217;s test it!</a></div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<p>&#8220;Release Candidate&#8221; means that we think the new version is ready for release, but with the many possible specific WordPress configurations, hundreds of BuddyPress plugins and Thousands of WordPress themes, it’s possible something was missed.</p>



<p>BuddyPress 14.0.0 is slated for release&nbsp;on&nbsp;<strong>July 12, 2024</strong>, and&nbsp;<em>your</em>&nbsp;help is needed to get there — if you haven’t tried 14.0.0 yet,&nbsp;doing it now is a great idea!</p>



<p>You can test the&nbsp;<a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.14.0.0-RC1.zip">14.0.0-RC</a>&nbsp;pre-release in 5 ways :</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Try the&nbsp;<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/bp-beta-tester/">BP Beta Tester</a>&nbsp;plugin.</li>



<li><a href="https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/buddypress.14.0.0-RC1.zip">Download the release candidate here (zip file)</a>.</li>



<li>Check out our SVN repository:&nbsp;<code>svn co https://buddypress.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/</code></li>



<li>Clone our read-only Git repository:&nbsp;<code>git clone git://buddypress.git.wordpress.org/</code></li>



<li><a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/buddypress/buddypress/master/tests/blueprints/14-0-0-RC1.json" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Preview it into WP Playground</a></li>
</ul>



<p>A detailed changelog will be part of our official release note, but&nbsp;you can get a quick overview by reading the post about the&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.org/2024/06/buddypress-14-0-0-beta-1/">14.0.0 Beta1</a>&nbsp;release.</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Plugin and Theme Developers</h2>



<p>Please test your plugins and themes against BuddyPress 14.0.0. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to this specific&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.org/support/topic/buddypress-14-0-0-release-candidate/">support topic</a>&nbsp;so we can figure those out before the final release. We strongly advise you to have a look at the&nbsp;<a href="https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/category/development-notes/14-0/">14.0.0 developer notes</a>&nbsp;to figure out what to focus on during your testing.</p>



<div class="wp-block-spacer"></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How you can help</h2>



<p>Do you speak a language other than English?&nbsp;<a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/buddypress/">Help us translate BuddyPress into as many languages as possible!</a>&nbsp;This release also marks the&nbsp;<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#string-freeze">string freeze</a>&nbsp;point of the 14.0.0 release schedule.</p>



<p><em><strong>If you think you’ve found a bug</strong>, you can share it with us replying to this <a href="https://buddypress.org/support/topic/buddypress-14-0-0-release-candidate/">support topic</a> or if you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report,&nbsp;<a href="https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/">file one on BuddyPress Trac</a></em>.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Fri, 05 Jul 2024 04:15:42 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:12:"Mathieu Viet";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:80:"Do The Woo Community: How Much Woo Can One Cram in a Short Podcast with ChatGPT?";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=5572";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:78:"https://dothewoo.io/how-much-woo-can-one-cram-in-a-short-podcast-with-chatgpt/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:3526:"<p>A bit of fun today, or maybe not. I asked ChatGPT to <em>Give me a shorter script of a podcast where I mention WooCommerce or Woo, short for WooCommerce as many times as I can.&nbsp;</em>Well, if you know me, and my personality, I am a basically a mellow guy. So I took this one step further seeing that ChatGPT obviously doesn&#8217;t know me well and will deliver a monotone version of the results.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />



<p>[Intro Music]</p>



<p>Host: Welcome, Woo enthusiasts, to another exciting episode of WooWonderland, where we dive deep into the magical world of WooCommerce. I&#8217;m your host, [Your Name], and today&#8217;s episode is going to be an exhilarating journey through the enchanting landscape of Woo-commerce. Yes, we love saying Woo!</p>



<p>[Transition Music]</p>



<p>Host: Woo, woo, woo! Before we jump into the heart of today&#8217;s discussion, let&#8217;s take a moment to appreciate the incredible community that surrounds WooCommerce. Woo, you guys are amazing! Whether you&#8217;re a seasoned Woo expert or just starting your Woo journey, there&#8217;s always something new and exciting happening in the world of Woo.</p>



<p>[Woo Chanting]</p>



<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s talk about the latest Woo updates because, you know, staying current with Woo-commerce is crucial for all you Woo enthusiasts out there. The Woo team has been working tirelessly to enhance the Woo experience, and guess what? The latest Woo update is nothing short of spectacular. Woo!</p>



<p>[Applause]</p>



<p>Host: Speaking of updates, have you ever wondered how other businesses are utilizing Woo-commerce to elevate their online presence? Well, wonder no more because we have some incredible Woo-commerce success stories lined up for you today. These stories showcase the versatility and power of Woo. Woo-hoo!</p>



<p>[Background Cheers]</p>



<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s Woo our way into the realm of e-commerce trends. Woo-commerce is not just a platform; it&#8217;s a trendsetter! From headless commerce to mobile commerce, Woo-commerce is at the forefront of shaping the future of online businesses. Woo, it&#8217;s like the trendiest kid on the e-commerce block.</p>



<p>[Transition Music]</p>



<p>Host: And here&#8217;s a pro tip for all you Woo enthusiasts out there: if you want to optimize your Woo-commerce store for success, pay close attention. Speed up your Woo site, master the art of SEO, enhance the user experience — because a well-optimized Woo store is a happy Woo store. Woo-hoo!</p>



<p>[Background Cheers]</p>



<p>Host: Now, let&#8217;s take a moment to celebrate the Woo experts in our community. Being a Woo expert is like having a VIP pass to the coolest e-commerce party in town. If you&#8217;re not part of the Woo expert program, what are you waiting for? Join the Woo party and let the Woo-magic unfold!</p>



<p>[Transition Music]</p>



<p>Host: As we near the end of this Woo-tastic episode, I want to thank all our Woo fans for tuning in. Remember, whether you&#8217;re a Woo novice or a seasoned Woo master, there&#8217;s always something Woo-nderful to discover in the world of Woo-commerce.</p>



<p>[Closing Music]</p>



<p>Host: That&#8217;s a wrap for today&#8217;s WooWonderland episode. Until next time, keep woo-ing and stay enchanted by the magic of Woo-commerce. Woo you later!</p>



<p>[Music Fades Out]</p>



<p>Well, now you can see the reason why I shared this in text vs. audio. LOL</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:58:"Do The Woo Community: Building Community Without the Noise";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=4750";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:57:"https://dothewoo.io/building-community-without-the-noise/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:8328:"<p>When I first launched this site Do the Woo, I had written a post about this. I wanted to pull a bit from that before I bring you to-date.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-my-first-thoughts-on-community-and-noise">My first thoughts on community and noise</h2>



<p><strong>Dated October 20, 2020</strong></p>



<p>Tomorrow comes the official launch of this new site. And let me tell you, it’s been an amazing journey of learning and understanding myself as well as the audience I will be speaking to.</p>



<p>One interesting aspect of this is the main goal, connecting the Woo builder community. I talked about this on a previous post, but I would like to dive into the concept of connecting. And conversation.</p>



<p><strong>I was asked about  groups for Do the Woo</strong></p>



<p>What brought the idea of Facebook groups to mind was something that happened as I have been chatting with various people about my new site. When I talk about connections, conversation and community, a few times I was asked,</p>



<p>Are you creating a Slack Channel? Starting a Facebook group? Perhaps a forum? Where are you growing your community and letting them have a conversation?</p>



<p>When we go into or lurk in community chats, whether it’s a Facebook group, regular chatter on any social platform or even Slack, often we end up in the middle of a massive amount of noise. There is a lot going on. Conversations going left and right. Sometimes with a bit of anxiety, bitterness, and yes, anger.</p>



<p>Now I’m not saying that nothing good comes out of these conversations. But that isn’t the only way to connect and grow a community.</p>



<p>It can start with this, the art of listening. Remember when that was part of connecting? Taking the time to listen to someone else share their insights and perspectives. Getting a better understanding of that person, and often, the community they are representing. In fact, get three people together for a good conversation and I can guarantee that you will get a lot more out of it vs. endless streams and threads of online chatter.</p>



<p>Let’s take it a step further, though: personal connection. Learning about someone and then reaching out to them. Or perhaps, even having a connector that will help to introduce you to others in the community.</p>



<p>Yes, that’s it. I am the connector.</p>



<p>Whether it’s via a podcast conversation or a post interview, I am connecting you to a new face. Or it might even be me connecting you personally with someone else.</p>



<p>I get enough of that noise, or what you might consider chatter amongst dozens of people via social and other platforms. And yes, I enjoy that. But with Do the Woo, I am cutting through that noise while bringing the Woo builder community together.</p>



<p>So in the end, when I do conversations, they are one-on-one. A Zoom chat. A DM on Slack. Email and a variety of other ways. The point is, again, no matter how or where you do it, listen.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-now-it-s-today">Now it&#8217;s today</h2>



<p>So I was hoping as you read that you hung onto the fact that I wrote this over three years ago.</p>



<p>Since then, it has since resonated with me and, to be honest, I think it has always been a part of how I have built my own communities. The fact is we all do it in some way. For Woo builders, while keeping it on the business side of things, it may be a community of customers or clients. It may also be a community within a business you work for, or perhaps, colleagues of yours.</p>



<p>You may also build communities around you brand or business on your site, on social, on Slack, you name it.</p>



<p>There are community experts out there that will give you advice. There are also social media consultants that will do the same, specifically for social communities. The thing is that one size doesn&#8217;t fit all. And often that is what you will discover over and over when seeking advice on building your own community.</p>



<p>I have been building community long before I got into the WordPress space in 2006. With our other business, there were ways that we built our community, and some of this was long before we did it online. I don&#8217;t proclaim to be an expert on community building, but I can share my own experiences that have worked for me. No promises here that I will deliver the perfect piece of advice for your needs, but I am hoping this will give you a bit of a different perspective on community building and something to ponder on.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-community-does-not-need-a-bunch-of-noise">A community does not need a bunch of noise</h3>



<p>Now before I get into this part, understand that this is how it works for me, and in these last few years with Do the Woo, it has proven right for me. And by no means am I saying it&#8217;s the right way, or the only way.</p>



<p>I just feel that a lot of people never think about other options when building community. They tend to &#8220;jump on the bandwagon&#8221; of <em>engagement</em> and <em>active conversation</em> as the only way to build all communities.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-engage-or-die">Engage, or die</h3>



<p>Community and social media experts say you must engage. Or else why do it? Your community will not thrive without this engagement. It often is literally rammed down your throat. At the same time, engagement isn&#8217;t always clearly defined, and seen as this constant need to reply, comment and add your own opinion, advice or simply be part of the conversation, no matter what.</p>



<p>In fact, I have seen social media experts take &#8220;engagement&#8221; to a new and disturbing level. They constantly drop into conversations with replies like &#8220;nice&#8221;, &#8220;that&#8217;s great&#8221;, &#8220;cool&#8221; and &#8220;yeah&#8221;. If that is considered engagement, well, count me out. In fact, shouldn&#8217;t engagement also mean bringing value to a conversation. Not simple, meaningless replies that help you as they build up your metrics in your social media engagements.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-everyone-has-an-opinion">Everyone has an opinion</h3>



<p>This is the beauty of the human race. We all have an opinion and can freely express it. But on the other hand, at times, it&#8217;s nothing but added noise. How often do you see a thread of a conversation and it appears that most of the comments are left by people who never read what others have said. And alarmingly, more people appear to never have read the original comment.</p>



<p>As a result, it comes across as being all about &#8220;you&#8221;. You and what your opinion. It&#8217;s like a freaking room of people just shouting out what they are thinking, and ignoring everyone else. Nothing gets resolved and more times than not, it can turn sideways and end up being a never-ending debate or argument, instead of a discussion.</p>



<p>Now with both engagement and conversations, it&#8217;s not cut and dry. And neither of them are something that you should consider totally dismissing. In fact, depending on the goal of your own community, you may just ignore the advice I have given you so far.</p>



<p>With that all said, I simply bring these up to give you another thought to ponder on as you build your own community.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-is-this-all-going">Where is this all going</h2>



<p>This has turned into quite the long post and if you are still with me, I&#8217;m amazed. But hey, it also means you are listening, or perhaps, reading.</p>



<p>Do the Woo now has 14 co-hosts and more coming on board. On top of that I am constantly having people come in and host their own show, more of a one-off opportunity. And who knows what is next.</p>



<p>The fact is that each time you hear a show on Do the Woo, and you don&#8217;t hear me, well, that&#8217;s because I was listening. Behind the scenes, taking notes, and enjoying the conversations. Sure there is what you might consider noise in our community, but it&#8217;s softer, more viable and easy to focus on. There is a time and place for lots of noise in many communities, and that is where it will thrive and stay.  But for now, I&#8217;m in my happy place.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:67:"Do The Woo Community: The Perfect Marriage of Content and Community";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=5385";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:66:"https://dothewoo.io/the-perfect-marriage-of-content-and-community/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:2303:"<p>I typically don&#8217;t spend a lot of time in the past, but every once in awhile I become reflective. As I move into the next phase here at Do the Woo, well, that is when it happens.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-content-and-community-a-combo-that-hit-me-hard">Content and Community, a combo that hit me hard</h2>



<p>If you have been following my journey, you know that, since diving into WordPress 16 years ago, community and content have played a key role in what I do.</p>



<p>But when I set this site aside, BobWP in October of 2020 and <a href="https://dothewoo.io/do-the-woo-is-live-connecting-the-woocommerce-builder-community/">turned my focus on Do the Woo</a>, it was a transition that grew not only from the previous months of 2020, but all the years before that. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-an-interesting-thing-happened-back-in-2020">An interesting thing happened back in 2020.</h3>



<p>It can best be described as two-pronged: <em>community and content.</em></p>



<p>As we all know, in-person connections went down the toilet during COVID. Although I had not been traveling as much over the years prior to COVID, still, I found myself reaching out to more people online. More one-to-one conversations. More digital meetups. More forms of smaller online events. But, to be honest, I probably connected more with the community that than I have in any of the previous years in the space.</p>



<p>During that same year I found myself burning out on content creation around blog post tutorials. I have done these for years and I just couldn&#8217;t poke one more out at the keyboard.</p>



<p>So I decided to focus on more community-focused content, such as my podcasts and virtual meetings. It became a natural marriage of content and community.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-between-now-and-then">Between now and then</h3>



<p>So on reflection, this was one of the best moves I have made in my WordPress career. I continued on building the community at Do the Woo. Online connections grew, and then when IRL events started back up, well, they blossomed. That tie between content and commiunity have grown to be such a huge part of Do the Woo, and everything I do these days. And now on to 2024, the biggest year yet for Do the Woo.</p>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:"data";s:13:"
	
	
	
	
	
	
";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";s:5:"child";a:2:{s:0:"";a:5:{s:5:"title";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:73:"Do The Woo Community: 16 Years Later, the WordPress Origin Story by BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"guid";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:25:"https://bobwp.com/?p=3325";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:4:"link";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:54:"https://dothewoo.io/16-years-later-my-wordpress-story/";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:11:"description";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:4535:"<p>As I celebrate my own birthday today, many more than 20, I am reflecting on the years WordPress has been there for me. Oddly, I&#8217;m not sure where to begin except the beginning. And if I was to write a post to publish on the 20th anniversary of WordPress, it&#8217;s gotta be done here on BobWP.</p>



<p>Also, there lies the fact that I just returned from WordCamp Lisboa where I gave a talk on 20 Years of WordPress community. So it&#8217;s a bit on my mind.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-george-clooney-was-named-people-s-sexiest-man-alive-and-i-discovered-wordpress">George Clooney was named People’s sexiest man alive and I discovered WordPress </h2>



<p>These two events have nothing more in common than it was the same year, 2016. I can&#8217;t say I think George deserved it, but I had other things on my mind. In fact two things.</p>



<p>First this was the year I became a bit intrigued with blogging. Nothing that had me gasping at the thought of writing posts, but simply a curiosity. At the same time I was trying to step into the world of web design as we had been running a marketing and design company for 13 years. And as much as building a site thrilled me, which was equal to having my hand smashed in a door, I figured there had to be a better way than html and flash.</p>



<p>Time drifted by. Judy had started a blog on Typepad and didn&#8217;t give a crap where it was. She just wanted to write. As I eased into the next year, WordPress slipped into my consciousness more and more. It seemed apparent that this thing called WordPress was going to become part of my life one way or another. Seriously though, I didn&#8217;t have a clue to what extent.</p>



<p>For the next few years, up to 2010, bit and pieces fell together. I found a theme on a fairly new site called iThemes. The concept of these seemed to be luring me into creating a site for our business that didn&#8217;t look like shit. And that&#8217;s exactly what WordPress and the Corporate theme from iThemes did for me. Without any freaking code!</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The BobWP brand rises out of the ruins of ancient web design</h2>



<p>Now I am avoiding going through my 16 years of WordPress history, simply for the reason that I cannot afford to lose you through my years of pivots, twists and turns. It may make you dizzy and I don&#8217;t want you vomiting before I wrap this up.</p>



<p>But 2010 was the pivotal moment in my WordPress Story. Why? Well, I had been doing some blogging workshops the two years prior to that year. I was getting my feel for where I need to go with WordPress. I was starting to explore the community more and more from that day in 2006. And I liked what I saw.</p>



<p>So the time came to make the transition from our marketing and design firm, Cat&#8217;s Eye Marketing, to something that would let me do my WordPressy thing, whatever that meant and wherever it led.</p>



<p>I got rid of all our our &#8220;print&#8221; clients or the last few that we were hanging onto. Mentally I told myself I&#8217;m going all in on WordPress. Design, training and whatever else would come my way. And it was time to rebrand. Not the business, per se, but myself. I was going to be the brand. So after some contemplation, possible consumption of alcohol and severe mumbling to myself, I came up with BobWP. </p>



<p>Mmmmmmm. It was short and sweet. And the domain was available, go figure. But would people get it? Would someone that doesn&#8217;t know what I do, and doesn&#8217;t know WordPress find it to be puzzling? Would people say my business is Bobwup? </p>



<p>Honestly, those concerns and questions did not weigh heavily on me. Nor did the fact that I was tying myself into a personal brand, that, well, would likely die with me. I bought the domain, and made it happen.</p>



<p>And you may know the rest, the rest is history.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">I&#8217;m a WordPresser at heart</h2>



<p>I really do love the community. And at this point I&#8217;m here to stay. Right now I&#8217;m doing what motivates me the most. Connecting people. Raising voices. And meetings some of the coolest people I have ever known, both in these last 16 years and moving forward.</p>



<p>So as much as I find it kind of weird singing Happy Birthday to my dashboard, my computer or any part of the software, or thinking that WordPress could be my grandchild, I will say this.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Happy 20th Anniversary, WordPress Community</h2>";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}s:7:"pubDate";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:31:"Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:00:46 +0000";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}s:32:"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/";a:1:{s:7:"creator";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:"data";s:5:"BobWP";s:7:"attribs";a:0:{}s:8:"xml_base";s:0:"";s:17:"xml_base_explicit";b:0;s:8:"xml_lang";s:0:"";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:"type";i:128;s:7:"headers";O:48:"WpOrg\Requests\Utility\CaseInsensitiveDictionary":1:{s:7:"*data";a:9:{s:6:"server";s:5:"nginx";s:4:"date";s:29:"Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:36:15 GMT";s:12:"content-type";s:8:"text/xml";s:13:"last-modified";s:29:"Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:30:46 GMT";s:4:"vary";s:15:"Accept-Encoding";s:15:"x-frame-options";s:10:"SAMEORIGIN";s:16:"content-encoding";s:2:"br";s:7:"alt-svc";s:19:"h3=":443"; ma=86400";s:4:"x-nc";s:9:"HIT ord 2";}}s:5:"build";s:14:"20240802113211";}