Opinion

  • FSE Program: Insights Into Switching Between Block Themes

    FSE Program: Insights Into Switching Between Block Themes

    Unlike routine testing rounds for the FSE Outreach Program, Anne McCarthy threw a bit of a twist on the Make WordPress Test blog earlier today. The announcement asks users to think about what they would like to see when switching between block themes. The test is open to anyone who wants to participate through September…

  • Ask the Bartender: How To Find Project Partners?

    Ask the Bartender: How To Find Project Partners?

    I was wondering, where should I go if I want to find a developer to work with on an idea? I have an idea for a product. I know the market well, I’m part of the target audience, and I just need someone else that would be passionate and interested in the idea just as…

  • Announce Your Plugin to the World, Shout It From the Rooftop

    Announce Your Plugin to the World, Shout It From the Rooftop

    The easiest way to kill your WordPress plugin is to fail to let the world know about it. If you cannot manage a tweet, blog post, or quick note on Facebook, you may as well sign the death certificate then and there. I get it. I have been there. Not everyone is a marketing guru,…

  • Adding Custom HTML Attributes With the Block Attributes Plugin

    Adding Custom HTML Attributes With the Block Attributes Plugin

    Earlier this week, websevendev released its fourth WordPress plugin to the official directory named Block Attributes. The extension allows end-users to add any HTML attribute to nearly any block. One of the problems with the WordPress editor is that it can be a bit fussy about customizing HTML. Blocks are built on a set of…

  • Why Did You Start Using WordPress?

    Why Did You Start Using WordPress?

    If there was a question that ever made me start feeling old, it might be this one. Last week, Marcel Bootsman asked via Twitter, “Why did you start to use WordPress?” WordPress community members chimed in with all sorts of reasons for hopping aboard, and Jeff Chandler of WP Mainline shared his journey on his…

  • Gallery Block Refactor Expected To Land in WordPress 5.9

    Gallery Block Refactor Expected To Land in WordPress 5.9

    Last week, a GitHub pull request I had been watching since October 2020 on the Gutenberg repository was finally merged into the codebase. It changes the structure of the WordPress Gallery block to be a container for nested Image blocks. The new format is expected to land in WordPress 5.9. For those who want to…

  • Gutenberg 11.3 Introduces Dimensions Panel, Adds Button Padding Support, and Speeds Up the Inserter

    Gutenberg 11.3 Introduces Dimensions Panel, Adds Button Padding Support, and Speeds Up the Inserter

    Earlier today, Gutenberg 11.3 landed in the WordPress plugin directory. The latest update introduces a new dimensions panel for toggling spacing-related block options. The Button block now supports the padding control, and the Post Featured Image block has new width and height settings. One of the release’s highlights was a speed improvement for both opening…

  • A Second Look at ElmaStudio’s Aino Theme and Companion Block Plugin

    A Second Look at ElmaStudio’s Aino Theme and Companion Block Plugin

    I am about a month away from my second anniversary writing for WP Tavern. There has been one project that I have followed since the beginning of this journey. In some ways, we are learning the ropes and growing in this block-based WordPress era together. In 2019, just before taking on this role, one of…

  • Early WordPress 5.9 Look: The Road Toward Deeper Responsive Block Design

    Early WordPress 5.9 Look: The Road Toward Deeper Responsive Block Design

    Gutenberg project lead Matías Ventura announced the Preliminary Road to 5.9 on the Make Core blog earlier today. He covered several big picture items, including several sub-points for each. He also linked to a GitHub issue with specific tasks and tickets that need work. The post covers notes on block patterns, navigation menus, the theme.json…

  • FSE Outreach Round #9: Building a Higher Ed Header

    FSE Outreach Round #9: Building a Higher Ed Header

    It feels like it has been ages since the WordPress community has had a call for testing Full Site Editing (FSE) features. The FSE Outreach Program was on a small hiatus. However, the WordPress 5.8 launch was also underway last month. The program is an open call for testing various components of FSE. Thus far,…

  • Emoji Toolbar Plugin Brings an Emoji Picker Back to the WordPress Editor

    Emoji Toolbar Plugin Brings an Emoji Picker Back to the WordPress Editor

    Earlier today, theme.es released its Emoji Toolbar project to the plugin directory. It is a simple picker that integrates with the WordPress Rich Text toolbar, allowing users to insert emoji directly from the editor interface. After Nick Hamze pulled his Emoji Conbini plugin from WordPress.org last year, there has been an emoji-sized hole in my…

  • Is WordPress Development Really All That Hard To Get Into Today?

    Is WordPress Development Really All That Hard To Get Into Today?

    Oh, how easily we forget the WordPress of 10, 15 years ago. We are spoiled. We are spoiled by the gluttony of documentation and tutorials, a wealth of knowledge created over more than a decade. We are spoiled by our own expertise, built-in our more vigorous youth, now sitting on our haunches as we have…