Opinion

  • Global Style Variations, “Skins” for Themes, Have Landed in Gutenberg

    Global Style Variations, “Skins” for Themes, Have Landed in Gutenberg

    It was a busy week, and I almost missed one of my most-wanted components landing in Gutenberg 12.5 RC 1. The global style variations feature quietly snuck its way in as everyone else was getting acquainted with WordPress 5.9. The official release of version 12.5 is not expected until next week, but that did not…

  • Looking Ahead to WordPress 6.0: The Early Roadmap

    Looking Ahead to WordPress 6.0: The Early Roadmap

    With WordPress 5.9 only just stepping its toes out the door and greeting the world, the lead developers seem to have hardly taken a moment to catch their breath. Yesterday, Matías Ventura posted the preliminary roadmap for 6.0. It covers the general scope of the planned features to land this year. Version 6.0 is expected…

  • UXL Themes Releases Framboise, a Colorful Child Theme Variation of Alara

    UXL Themes Releases Framboise, a Colorful Child Theme Variation of Alara

    It seems that Andrew Starr is quietly building a legion of block themes. He is the sole developer behind UXL Themes and has released six of them in the past year, with most landing in the last few months. Framboise, his latest project, is a child theme of Alara. He promised a new design variation,…

  • If This Is Modern WordPress Theme Development, Sign Me Up

    If This Is Modern WordPress Theme Development, Sign Me Up

    I have had a block theme idea rattling around in my brain for a while. For months, I have considered building a single-page profile/card theme, and I finally sat down and put in the work over the weekend. In part, I just wanted to do this for fun. However, another part of me wanted to…

  • WordPress.org Gets New Global Header and Footer Design

    WordPress.org Gets New Global Header and Footer Design

    If you happened to be browsing WordPress.org on Sunday, you might have been in for a shock. The website got a bit of an upgrade. A partial one, at least, as developers implemented a new global header and footer across the site. This is the first stage of a longer-term overhaul of the site’s front…

  • Create Todo and Checklists in the WordPress Editor With New Plugin

    Create Todo and Checklists in the WordPress Editor With New Plugin

    Todo lists. Checklists. While there are differences in their purposes, their output is essentially the same. They are lists of items with boxes to tick off, and a plugin like David Towoju’s Todo Block allows users to create them. I first downloaded and installed the plugin two weeks ago, but it had a problem. It…

  • Ask the Bartender: Are There Any Compact and Personal Block Themes?

    Ask the Bartender: Are There Any Compact and Personal Block Themes?

    All the block themes seem to have something similar in how they look. Although unique in their own ways, being generally wide, spacy, and modular instantly make them look like they came from the same mold. This is not to say they’re bad though… I’m just not really fond of such design. I prefer something…

  • Nick Diego Forks Core WordPress Block, Creates Social Sharing Plugin

    Nick Diego Forks Core WordPress Block, Creates Social Sharing Plugin

    Raise your hand if you have seen this before. Yet another social sharing plugin. But, with the block system, all things are new again. Some things simply need to be ported over from their former PHP-based equivalents. Others are fresh takes on old ideas, and a few may set the standard for years to come.…

  • Wicked Plugins Launches UI-Based WordPress Block Builder

    Wicked Plugins Launches UI-Based WordPress Block Builder

    Last week, Wicked Plugins launched version 1.0 of its Wicked Block Builder. I have kept my eye on this plugin since its November 2021 beta release. The project promised that developers would be able to “effortlessly build custom blocks,” and I was finally ready to put that to the test. In the past two months,…

  • Creating Speech Balloons With the WordPress Block Editor

    Creating Speech Balloons With the WordPress Block Editor

    I do not know how I overlooked LIQUID SPEECH BALLOON. The plugin is less than a month shy of being three years old, and I follow block-related projects religiously. This one slipped through the cracks, at least until I haphazardly stumbled upon it when searching for something else entirely. It is also relatively popular for…

  • Automattic’s Livro Is a Minimal Block Theme for Writers

    Automattic’s Livro Is a Minimal Block Theme for Writers

    Sometimes the sweetest things in life are the simplest. Automattic’s latest block theme landed in the review queue yesterday, and I had to give it a spin. What I found was a minimally-elegant design that I fell in love with. Really. I even dedicated an entire demo post on my install to it: Well, that…

  • What Are Block Themes? What You Need To Know Before WordPress 5.9

    What Are Block Themes? What You Need To Know Before WordPress 5.9

    WordPress 5.9 is set to launch on January 25, and many users will be in for a surprise. The upcoming release will be the most monumental shift in how the platform works since the introduction of the block-based content editor in 5.0. Block themes, global styles, and the site editor will kick-start a new future…

  • Decorating Web Pages With the Grainy Gradient Block

    Decorating Web Pages With the Grainy Gradient Block

    Yesterday, Kelly Choyce-Dwan released a souped-up Spacer-type block. However, instead of just empty space on the screen, end-users can decorate the area with various gradient backgrounds. Grainy Gradient Block is just the type of plugin that I look forward to tinkering with. It is not complex. It stays in its lane. And, it is just…

  • New WordPress Plugin Offers a Markdown Editor Solution

    New WordPress Plugin Offers a Markdown Editor Solution

    Earlier today, a new editor plugin named Markup Markdown landed in the WordPress directory. It replaces both the classic and block editors with a Markdown solution. It is the first plugin by an author simply known as Peter, or @peter202202. As someone who almost always writes in Markdown, I did not think twice about downloading,…