WordPress core contributors have published a survey to collect feedback on how people are using the editor. The results of the short 15-question survey will assist the team in redesigning the editing experience in the WordPress admin. Participants are asked to identify how they use WordPress and if they use certain features like formatting buttons…
Today Jetpack announced that its users now have access to a collection of 165 free themes from WordPress.com. Jetpack users can browse, preview, and activate themes by visiting the WordPress.com Theme Showcase. WordPress.com has also added the ability for Jetpack users to upload a theme from its interface as well, a feature that targets those…
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is experimenting with open sourcing more of its code on GitHub. Code.mil invites developers from around the world to collaborate with federal employees on unclassified code. The Defense Digital Service (DDS), which brings in experts from top technology companies like Google, Amazon, and Netflix for short assignments, is organizing…
Bocoup, an open source technology and design consulting company, is recruiting for a new study that aims to “measure the impact of open work on developer well-being and productivity.” The company is partnering with MIT and UCLA to develop an open work email-bot that will interact with organizations that sign up to participate. The study…
Varying Vagrant Vagrants 2.0.0 was released yesterday with support for a YAML configuration file. This is a major improvement that gives VVV users more flexibility in customizing their configurations. The new vvv-config.yml file includes the defaults and users can create a vvv-custom.yml file to change the default provisioning. Utilities have been broken out into their…
John Maeda, Automattic’s Global Head of Computational Design and Inclusion, presented his third annual “Design in Tech” report at SXSW over the weekend. The previous reports have received more than two million views and this one is equally loaded with thought-provoking information about the future of the design industry. “Design isn’t just about beauty; it’s…
By now you’ve probably seen the viral clip of a father getting interrupted by his children while giving a live interview on BBC. Working parents everywhere, especially remote workers, could identify with the humorous embarrassment of the situation. Even those who have had pets interrupt Skype calls know the feeling. You want to be thought…
Open Source in Brazil is a new free eBook from O’Reilly Media that offers an inside look into the growth of Brazil’s free software community despite the country’s unique barriers. Brazil has a vibrant IT and startup culture and hosts the largest open source conference in Latin America, Fórum Internacional Software Livre (FISL). The conference…
Stack Overflow published its analysis of 2017 hiring trends based on the targeting options employers selected when posting to Stack Overflow Jobs. The report, which compares data from 200 companies since 2015, ranks ReactJS, Docker, and Ansible at the top of the fastest growing skills in demand. When comparing the percentage change from 2015 to…
Three years ago Google introduced its new reCAPTCHA v2 API, replacing distorted text challenges with a simple “I’m not a robot” checkbox for validating users. This was a welcome improvement over the fuzzy text in a box that frustrated and infuriated real humans. reCAPTCHA v1 is no longer supported as of May 2016 and most…
Google announced that it is retiring its official Adsense plugin, previously known as the Google Publisher plugin. For the past three years it has allowed WordPress users to easily add Adsense ads to their sites, enable mobile-specific ad layouts, and manage ads with a point-and-click interface. “After reviewing the AdSense Plugin for WordPress, we’ve decided…
WordPress.com released its new Chrome Add-on for Google Docs today. The free add-on allows users to edit documents collaboratively in Google Docs and then send the document directly to any WordPress.com site as a draft post. The add-on can also connect to Jetpack-enabled sites, offering the same functionality for self-hosted WordPress users. After installing the…
WordPress 4.7.3 is now available with patches for six security vulnerabilities that affect version 4.7.2 and all previous versions. WordPress.org is strongly encouraging users to update their sites immediately. The release includes fixes for three XSS vulnerabilities that affect media file metadata, video URLs in YouTube embeds, and taxonomy term names. It also includes patches…
NRKbeta, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s media and technology site, is experimenting with a new way of keeping comments on topic. A new plugin on the WordPress-powered site aims to ensure commenters have read the article by requiring them to complete a short, three-question quiz before opening the comment form. Visitors who get the questions wrong…
In January 2017, WordPress core design contributors posted a survey titled What are you using the Customizer for? The link was published on the Make WordPress Design blog and wasn’t widely shared, so it only received 50 replies. Responses were anonymous, but most seem to have come from the WordPress developer community. Despite the small…