WordPress Playground, an experimental project that uses WebAssembly (WASM) to run WordPress in the browser, makes it possible for users to quickly test plugins and themes without having to set up a local development environment.
Ordinarily, testing a plugin or theme with Playground requires visiting playground.wordpress.net, which will instantly create a real WordPress instance with admin access without having to install PHP, MySQL, or Apache. It runs inside the browser using a SQLite database. Adding a plugin or theme to the instance is as easy as appending the slug to the URL when creating the test site:
A new Chrome browser extension, created by LUBUS, a development agency, makes this even easier by adding a “Playground” button to theme and plugin pages on WordPress.org. Users can fire up a sandbox instance to test drive a theme or plugin in just one click.
I tested the extension and it works as advertised. It’s a neat little shortcut for launching a Playground instance without having to remember the URL or get the plugin/theme’s slug to append to it. The video below shows a site created with a selected plugin installed in under 20 seconds.
“We have been using Playground internally a lot for testing out plugins, and quick demos for internal or client meetings,” LUBUS founder Ajit Bohra said. “We often find a plugin or theme which we would like to test drive. It involves copying the slug of the theme or plugin and using them in the URL. To make this quick we thought of building and quick browser extension to add a button on wordpress.org to quickly launch a plugin or theme in the Playground.”
Bohra posted his process of creating the extension in a thread on X. He used the Plasmo framework, which offers a dedicated runtime for building browser extensions, taking the project from idea to built in approximately 30 minutes.
Bohra said the browser extension is currently a proof of concept that he would like to further extend with more settings based on feedback from users. He also hopes to collaborate with the Meta team in the future to see something like this added to the plugin and theme pages on WordPress.org so that users don’t have to rely on a browser extension.
Equalize Digital, a WordPress accessibility products and services company, has added a new frontend highlighting feature to its free accessibility checker plugin, which is used to perform audits on self-hosted sites. The feature was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), through Equalize Digital’s consulting work on the new NASA websites.
Equalize Digital was contracted to perform accessibility testing, user testing with screen reader users, and provide accessibility governance recommendations.
“As part of the contract for those services, they also contracted us to develop this feature for the plugin,” Equalize Digital CEO Amber Hinds said. “They have an enterprise license but we decided in collaboration with them that we would make it a feature in the free plugin so everyone could benefit, not a paid-only feature.
“They were actually really interested in that because it’s part of their mission to give back to humanity.”
Prior to developing the frontend highlighting feature, the accessibility checker plugin only had reports inside the post edit screen, with output that is nearly indecipherable for less technical users who are not accustomed to reading HTML.
The new frontend highlighting feature makes the accessibility report’s output far more approachable for users who may not be developers. It puts a “view on page” link next to each issue found in the report, which brings users to the frontend where the element in question is highlighted with a dashed pink box. It also displays a panel that explains the issue in a way that is easier to understand as well as how to fix it.
The report in the admin has been updated as well so that it’s easier to read. A new image column displays any images related to issues and the Actions column includes a “View on Page” link leading to the issue highlighted on the frontend.
Hind said her team is working on making the tool more friendly to content creators and not just a development tool. The plugin will stay on the NASA website to help their team as they add and edit content over time.
“In the future, we’re planning to add the ability to jump to the element in the block editor as well,” Hinds said. “(That’s slightly tricky because we scan the whole page, not just the content area so we have to exclude elements created by other parts of the editor or theme.)”
“Our goal is to make accessibility testing easier for every WordPress user, not just developers,†Equalize Digital CEO Amber Hinds said. “Accessibility Checker was developed to include a robust free version with this in mind. We want to make building websites that work for people with disabilities standard practice and were excited to work with NASA to make accessibility testing reports easier for non-developers to understand and take action on. Adding this feature to the free plugin was a no-brainer for us. We’re looking forward to seeing more WordPress website owners finding and fixing accessibility problems on their websites.â€
This year’s WordCamp US includes a Community Summit, an invitation-only contributor-focused event that will take place prior to the main conference on August 22-23, 2023, in National Harbor, Washington, DC. It will be the first summit in six years, since the last one was held in Paris, France in 2017.
Historically, the summit has offered contributors the rare opportunity to hold in-person discussions on important topics across teams. In order to ensure the gathering is diverse and inclusive, previous community summit organizers have included a travel assistance program to remove the financial barriers of attending.
The 2023 Community Summit travel fund is providing $48,000 in travel assistance, thanks to a group of sponsors that includes Automattic, A2 Hosting, Elementor, and Weglot. The funding will support 38 attendees with roundtrip transportation ($31K for 24 people) and hotel stays ($16,500 for 66 hotel nights for 22 people).
Attendees have been reminded about the non-attribution guideline which enables the event to offer a safe and inclusive environment for collaboration where comments are not attributed to specific individuals. Discussions, photographs, recaps, and summaries can be shared as long as they abide by the non-attribution guideline.
The schedule has been published, featuring 26 discussion topics. Contributors will have dedicated sessions to discuss the criteria for delaying the upgrade of foundational tech, understanding contributor leadership roles, refining Five for the Future for a robust WordPress community, accessibility in the WordPress project, open source participation in global legislation, backwards compatibility in Gutenberg, among other interesting topics that lend themselves to cross-team collaboration.
The WP Community Collective (WPCC), a non-profit organization created to support individual WordPress contributors and community-led initiatives, has funded its first fellowship. Alex Stine, a fully blind individual contributor who has been working with the WordPress Accessibility team since 2016, is the first recipient of the funds designated for the fellowship.
WPCC reports that the fellowship received donations from 59 individuals and organizations that want to support the cause of improving the open source project’s accessibility. The organization uses Open Collective as the fiscal sponsor for its 501(c)3 status, enabling donations to be classified as charitable giving. All donations coming into the organization are transparent and publicly documented.
The fellowship provides Stine with five paid contribution hours per week for six months, which allows him to continue his work on accessibility reviews and patches in WordPress core. It includes a travel stipend for WordCamp US where Stine is volunteering as a co-organizer and participating in the Community Summit. As the first to embark on a WPCC fellowship, Stine will also help establish a framework for future Accessibility Fellowship cohorts.
“I am really excited for the future as this will allow me to commit real time to improving the project,” Stine said. “The support I received from the community shows me there are others who recognize the importance of accessibility.
“Time itself is the biggest win here. The funding allows me to focus more of my day on WordPress and less on side work. The main projects include the Gutenberg post editor.”
Stine recently conducted an accessibility audit of Gutenberg, which shows the current state of the block editor in WordPress 6.3. This video is very enlightening for anyone who hasn’t yet seen how Gutenberg works with assistive technology like a screen reader.
Stine has performed many accessibility audits for different products in the WordPress ecosystem. The fellowship funds enable him to continue his contributions on existing WordPress open source accessibility initiatives without having to take on as much consulting work.
group.one, a European cloud hosting and digital marketing services provider, has acquired the BackWPup, Adminimize, and Search & Replace plugins from Inpsyde. Together the products have more than 1.1 million active installs and will join group.one’s growing portfolio of WordPress products, which include WP Rocket, Imagify, and Rank Math SEO.
Inpsyde sold the plugins to focus more on its consulting and product services.
“This sale lets us concentrate on our core competencies and work more closely with our clients, like PayPal, Payoneer, and Mollie, providing the know-how to develop and reach their full potential with new avenues for advancement,” Inpsyde CEO Alex Frison said.
 The acquired plugins will be managed by the development team at WP Media, one of group.one’s brands, expanding its offerings beyond optimization and SEO to include backup and site management capabilities.
“Backup and recovery solutions are crucial to protect websites against data loss and we look forward to further developing BackWPup, along with Adminimize and Search & Replace,” group.one CEO Daniel Hagemeier said. “Together with WordPress hosting from WP.one and one.com, and our flagship products WP Rocket, Imagify, and Rank Math SEO, WordPress users can now come to group.one to optimize, secure, maintain and promote their online presence.â€
When asked what specific features are being prioritized on the immediate roadmap, group.one representative Simon Kraft said “the smooth transition over to WP Media” is their focus following the sale. He was unable to comment on whether the commercial versions of the acquired plugins would be subject to any pricing changes.
WordPress.org’s support forums are a vital resource and communication tool for users supporting their own sites and developers extending the software. Visiting the forums often means users have gotten stuck somehow and need to have a successful support experience in order to continue on their WordPress journeys. They are looking for help deciphering the meaning of error messages, migrating sites, debugging their sites after an update, and many other common struggles of self-hosting.
A ticket on Meta trac, which was opened three weeks ago, proposes that WordPress.org remove auto-closure from support forum threads and instead add a warning that the thread is old. Threads currently auto-close after a year unless manually closed sooner than that.
Amber Hinds, plugin author and CEO of Equalize Digital, made a case for instances where it is necessary to respond to an old thread:
As a plugin dev, we forgot to subscribe to a plugin’s forum and only saw support threads many months later. Currently, there is no way to provide assistance on these threads.
If a user requests a feature that is not currently available and you release it many months later, it would be nice to update their support request and let them know.
Hinds referenced a conversation on Post Status’ Slack where Matt Mullenweg recommended removing the closure for old threads completely and adding a warning in its place:
Let’s move away from auto-closing to just having a warning that you’re replying to an old thread
Not all participants in the discussion are in favor of leaving support tickets open. Several contributors contended that this approach can lead to unproductive replies piling up or multiple people jumping in on threads with similar unrelated issues, making it difficult for developers to solve the original request.
“Old topics mostly attract spam, me-too-pile’ons and random replies, its very rare when an actual reply is needed to something that has no activity for six months,” WordPress support forums moderator Yui said.
“Current policy is to leave such topics closed, however, making an exclusion and manually reopen it at request can be made possible when the reasons for it are compelling (It can be discussed on Support team weekly chat, if needed).”
WordPress accessibility contributor Joe Dolson is in favor of giving plugin authors the ability to determine when a thread gets closed, a modification that partially addresses the issues at play.
“It would help alleviate it to give plugin authors the ability to close a thread,” Dolson said. “Though when you have thousands of open support threads, that would still be a pretty significant potential burden.
“I think there should be a better way of handling closed support threads – it’s a problem that auto-closed threads literally *cannot* be re-opened because they’ll just auto-close again. But I’m dubious about just leaving them open.
“At the least, I think that removing the auto-closing *must* come with some ability for plugin authors to close threads; otherwise this would become totally unmanageable.”
Changing thread closure policy could also impact the metric displayed on plugins, indicating how many issues have been marked as resolved in the last two months. If more people are allowed to jump in on threads with them open, the resolved threads metric may not be as meaningful.
Hinds recommends a hybrid approach, keeping auto-close in place but allowing plugin contributors to reopen threads, restarting the clock for auto-closure.
“I discovered 12 support tickets yesterday on a plugin I had not realized we were not subscribed to, which I want to at least comment on to see if they still need help,” Hinds said. “I can’t do this. It’s a frustrating experience for me and clearly a poor user experience for the original poster or anyone else who encounters that thread with a similar problem.
“Another option might be to auto-close them but add a button that allows them to be reopened by plugin contributors that sets another six-month (or maybe a shorter time period) timeline before auto-close.”
It’s easy to forget that most people do have a vast network of WordPress professionals available to answer questions for them on Twitter or other networks, so the forums remain an important lifeline for users. Contributors have not yet come to a decision about whether leaving threads open for longer will provide a better experience or not. The discussion on changing the auto-close policy continues on Meta trac.
The country’s biggest WordCamp is back and bigger than ever! WordPressers from all over the world will descend on National Harbor, Maryland for WordCamp US 2023. You can expect informative talks, interesting networking, and killer after parties.Â
Since 2015, WCUS has been a staple of the WordPress community providing a place to come to together to celebrate WordPress, meet new people, and catch up with old friends.
This year’s conference will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Contributor Day is on August 24 with the conference occurring August 25 and 26. Organizers are expecting over 1,700 attendees over the three days.Â
Can’t make it in person? Live stream WCUS for free here, and catch all of the full sessions after the fact on WordPress.TV.
Let’s take a look at what you can expect from WordCamp US 2023.
WordCamp US Basics
Every WordCamp is different, so even if this is your first or seventh time, these tips and tricks will help you focus on learning and growing WordPress skillset.
The Venue
The conference will be held in three rooms in the Gaylord Convention Center. Though it will be clearly marked, see the map below to make sure you don’t get lost.
You won’t want to miss the Sponsor Hall where WordPress companies host demos, meet customers, and most importantly, give out SWAG. Make sure you pick up all your stickers, socks, and shirts, and come say hi to the WP Engine team at Booth 301! You’ll score one of WP Engine’s legendary WCUS t-shirts, and you can chat with WordPress experts about the latest in WordPress development, including headless WordPress, Advanced Custom Fields, and WooCommerce.  Â
What to Bring
WordCamps are made up of very rewarding but very long days. You won’t want to miss a minute of programming so it’s important to arrive prepared.
Here’s our WordCamp essentials packing list:
Comfortable shoes for running between talks easily.
A water bottle. It is going to be hot and humid, so make sure you’re staying hydrated.
Phone and computer chargers, or external chargers. There will be charging stations throughout the venue, but those can fill up fast.
A bag for SWAG. Trust us, you will walk away with more than you intend to.
Quick and easy snacks. Lunch and light snacks will be provided with your ticket, but you don’t want to have to leave the venue mid-afternoon to grab a bite.
Optionally, business cards. We know it sounds outdated, but business cards are still the easiest way to quickly give someone your information.
Don’t Miss These Talks
Just like previous years, there will be three tracks of talks from experts all over the world. Whether you’re fitting in a lighting talk or setting aside more time for a workshop, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Make sure you go through the schedule and mark off the talks that you want to attend. Here are some we’re excited about seeing.Â
Contributor Day
Ahead of the talks is Contributor Day, a day where volunteers get together to contribute back to the WordPress project.
This is a great place for first time contributors to dip their toes into the process. If you are feeling nervous about contributing or just need the dedicated time to do so, sign up for Contributor Day and work among friends.Â
Day 1- Friday
Day one is chock-full of content! Let’s dive into some talks you can’t miss.
Kicking things off, we’re excited to stop by developer Shambi Broome’s talk, How to Make a Difference in the World. The talk looks at the importance of teaching WordPress to high school students and empowering the next generation of developers to keep WordPress dominant for years to come.
Saturday is another jam-packed day with talks you won’t want to miss.
WordPress Executive Director, Josepha Haden Chomphosy discusses the Future of WordPress. On the heels of the 20th Anniversary of WordPress, Chomphosy will look at how we can move the CMS forward.Â
Don’t miss this panel called BlackPress: Amplifying Black Professionals in WordPress. Join panelists Ray Mitchell, Maestro Stevens, Destiny Kanno, and George H. Woodard III as they discuss how to empower Black individuals in WordPress.Learn how and why BlackPress was created, look at ways the community can better support Black individuals, and more.Â
Finally, end the entire conference with the keynote presented by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. The talk will go over the benefits of an open source ecosystem and how we can keep it healthy in the future.
What to Do After the Conference
After you have filled your brain, it’s time to fill your heart with sightseeing and after parties with friends.
After Parties
Friday night from 7:00-9:00 pm, WP Engine is hosting a networking event at Topgolf National Harbor. Stop by for food, drinks, and a unique golf experience as well as the opportunity to expand your WordPress Rolodex. Don’t forget to RSVP here.  Â
You came all this way, you might as well see some sights! Just minutes from the hotel is the Capital Wheel, a massive ferris wheel that offers incredible views of the harbor.Â
Being only minutes away from Washington D.C. gives you access to US monuments such as The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, The White House, and more. Beat the heat with thousands of free museums, or take a walking tour of the National Mall.
See You There!
Doc Pop and Emily Schiola will be on site live-tweeting, conducting interviews, and meeting new people. We can’t wait to see all of you in person again!
What are blocks? WordPress has added a new resource to its website at wordpress.org/blocks that attempts to explain blocks visually with simple language. The landing page is aimed at those who are new to the block paradigm or those who may not yet fully understand blocks’ ease of use and powerful features.
Automattic-sponsored core contributor Anne McCarthy announced the new page on WordPress.org with a request for feedback, as this is the first iteration. The project was born out of ticket on GitHub which outlines the need for more effective block marketing:
Currently, there isn’t a page on wordpress.org that explains in a compelling way what ‘Blocks’ are or markets it very effectively on the website. We have a filter in the plugin directory, which is useful, but that page is lacking the context of what blocks are, what the block editor is, and why it is so exciting. There are other pages, such as the documentation, that explains what the block editor is, but IMO it’s a bit wordy and explains how to use the editor, but not necessarily why you should use the editor and why it is unique and exciting.
One important consideration for contributors working on this project is the overlap with wordpress.org/gutenberg. The Blocks page is more of a static brochure style introduction, whereas the Gutenberg page is a fully interactive demo that offers an overview of how the editor works. Although they are similar resources, they both have distinct purposes.
McCarthy created a tracking issue for the first iteration of this page, which functions as a mini roadmap for future improvements based on feedback she has already received. More accessibility improvements are coming in future versions, along with some sort of visual that will concisely demonstrate the connection between blocks, patterns, and themes. Contributors are also considering integrating WP Sandbox to make it possible to see blocks in action.
“This is intended to be a starting point and not a final destination,” McCarthy said. “Your feedback is welcomed and needed to get to the next iteration.”
The blocks page is one area of contribution where even people who are brand new to blocks could help to make the content more compelling and less confusing by leaving feedback on the post.
Blocks are something many casual WordPress users may still be trying to wrap their heads around, not to mention how they impact the ecosystem of plugins and themes. The Classic Editor plugin, which insulates users from the world of blocks, remains one of the most popular plugins with more than 5 million users. Its continued support is not guaranteed forever, especially as WordPress looks to revamp the admin design to be more similar to the block editor. This landing page’s marketing for blocks offers a safe entry point for those who are curious about the block editor and want to explore more resources.
The summit will cover practical use cases for AI in development, marketing, design, web agency management, and freelance services. It will include mixed formats, including case studies, workshops, and live panel discussions with Q&A.
Over the course of three days, speakers will give presentations in English from 10am – 2pm EST. The schedule features 10 speakers with commercial experience and proven success at applying AI to build WordPress sites. They will cover topics like how to build a search engine for a website using AI, AI tools for daily tasks, AI and accessibility, AI translations, and more.
If you are interested to learn more about AI’s impact on the WordPress ecosystem and how to apply it to agency work, add the event to your calendar and sign up for free on the Crocoblock website.
WordPress’ Themes team launched its Community Themes initiative earlier this year with the goal of bringing together contributors to build block themes year round, the same way that default themes are built and officially supported. Their first theme release was Stacks, a single-purpose theme for creating slide decks that can be used for a presentation.
The team has now released its second community theme called Blue Note, inspired by American jazz record label “Blue Note Records.” It’s more versatile than Stacks, as it can be used for writing/blogging, a personal website, portfolio, nonprofit, memorial, event, or other types of landing pages.
Although Blue Note does not package any style variations, it comes with 14 beautifully designed patterns inspired by jazz record covers. The patterns enable users to quickly add images with text or quotes with multiple designs for each. There are also patterns with striped images, an artful way to break up a single image, paired with text. Users can select from multiple headers and footers, among seven page templates and four template parts.
Blue Note was designed by Automattic-sponsored contributor Beatriz Fialho, inspired by her work on the State of the Word slides in 2020. It was developed during the WCEU contributor day with the help of more than a dozen contributors.  The Community Themes GitHub repository has other themes they are working on which are in various stages of development.
Check out Blue Note on WordPress.org and download it for free via the Themes browser inside the admin.
