WordPress 5.5 Beta 2
July 14th, 2020
WordPress 5.5 Beta 2 is now available! This software is still in development, so it’s not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version. You can test WordPress 5.5 beta 2 in two ways: Try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (choose the “bleeding edge nightlies”…
My Long Journey to a Decoupled WordPress Gatsby Site
July 13th, 2020
As a professional research biologist, my playground used to be science laboratories filled with microscopes, Petri dishes, and biology tools. Curiosity leads many scientists on their journey to discoveries. Mine led me to web design. I used to try learning HTML on my lab desktop while centrifuging extraction samples or waiting for my samples to…
WordPress 5.5 Beta 1
July 7th, 2020
WordPress 5.5 Beta 1 is now available for testing! This software is still in development, so it’s not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version. You can test the WordPress 5.5 beta in two ways: Try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (choose the “bleeding…
The Month in WordPress: June 2020
July 1st, 2020
June was an exciting month for WordPress! Major changes are coming to the Gutenberg plugin, and WordCamp Europe brought the WordPress community closer together. Read on to learn more and to get all the latest updates. WordPress 5.4.2 released We said hello to WordPress 5.4.2 on June 10. This security and maintenance release features 17…
My Flywheel Landing Page
June 15th, 2020
Flywheel is my WordPress hosting partner here. I use Local every day for my WordPress local development environment and use their hosting for all my WordPress sites as part of my whole flow, so I’m glad they aren’t just a sponsor but a product I use and like. Last November some of their crew came…
Adding a Custom Welcome Guide to the WordPress Block Editor
June 15th, 2020
I am creating a WordPress plugin and there is a slight learning curve when it comes to using it. I’d like to give users a primer on how to use the plugin, but I want to avoid diverting users to documentation on the plugin’s website since that takes them out of the experience. What would…
WordPress 5.4.2 Security and Maintenance Release
June 10th, 2020
WordPress 5.4.2 is now available! This security and maintenance release features 23 fixes and enhancements. Plus, it adds a number of security fixes—see the list below. These bugs affect WordPress versions 5.4.1 and earlier; version 5.4.2 fixes them, so you’ll want to upgrade. If you haven’t yet updated to 5.4, there are also updated versions…
Equity and the Power of Community
June 6th, 2020
Over the past week, I’ve been thinking a lot about George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. I have been thinking about white supremacy, the injustice that Black women and men are standing up against across the world, and all the injustices I can’t know, and don’t see. The WordPress mission is to democratize publishing,…
The Month in WordPress: May 2020
June 2nd, 2020
May was an action-packed month for WordPress! WordPress organizers are increasingly moving WordCamps online, and contributors are taking big steps towards Full Site Editing with Gutenberg. To learn more and get all the latest updates, read on. Gutenberg 8.1 and 8.2 Gutenberg 8.1 was released on May 13, followed quickly by Gutenberg 8.2 on May…
How to Use Block Variations in WordPress
May 6th, 2020
WordPress 5.4 was released not so long ago and, along with other improvements and bug fixes, it introduced a feature called Block Variations. I had a chance to use it on one of my recent projects and am so pleasantly surprised by how smart this feature is. I actually think it hasn’t received the attention…